Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Country Jams: Toronto Mike'd #853

Episode Date: May 20, 2021

This 62nd Pandemic Friday, Mike kicks out country jams with Cam Gordon and Stu Stone. But first, a special appearance by Stu Jeffries.

it's time now for Pandemic Fridays Starring Toronto Mike, Stu Stone, and Cam Gordon What up, Mike? Toronto VK on the beat I'm in Toronto where you wanna get the city love I'm from Toronto where you wanna get the city love. I'm from Toronto where you wanna get the city love. I'm a Toronto Mike, wanna get the city love. So my city love me back, for my city love. Welcome to episode 853 of Toronto Miked, a weekly podcast about anything and everything.

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I'm Mike from torontomike.com. And joining me for the 62nd Pandemic Friday is Cam Gordon and Stu Stone. Yeehaw. Yeehaw. Where's your cowboy hat there, Stu? I was looking for one. The closest thing I could find would be a cowboy yarmulke,

but I didn't think it would have the same effect. I looked in the trunk. I can't even find my Leafs jersey, so I'm just, I'm wearing a blue t-shirt. That's the closest thing I have to anything sort of festive today, but yeehaw indeed. Wow, did I drop the ball not thinking of the Hillbilly Jim song as one of my songs? Well, you should save it. Go ahead, Cam.

I was shocked that that wasn't a choice. I didn't think I should have thought. It's like a ball drop on my part, but I still plan on having a victory today in a subject that people are expecting me to humiliate myself doing. Usually Brother Bill would be tapped in to do these sort of genre episodes,

but Bill, he's off riding horses right now, so he is not in the type of horses that Gino Vanelli sings about, not Rolling Stones. And that's pretty much where we're at right here. I don't have no cowboy hat. Listen, Brother Bill is roping the wind, of course.

I'm curious as to how you guys feel about country music in general before we dive deep into the country music genre. Like, start with you, Cam. Cam, would you consider yourself a fan of country um no no not not really i mean i i feel like the cliche answer is i like some of the old stuff is really good right oh you like hi uh billy ray well i mean like the dixie Chicks, like fourth album, sixth album. What do you call it? The Life is a Highway, Rascal Flatts. Jason Aldean.

Kane Brown. Don't know her. Him. So, yeah, not really. That said, there's some stuff I do like and appreciate and certainly the four jams I've chosen today fit into that category and the big hits. I have a bunch

of hits I chose today. So yeah, looking forward to this. I think this is a good topic. Get us a bit out of our comfort zone. Yes. Well, Stu, you're up, buddy. What are your general thoughts on country music as a whole? I mean, I just love it. That's bullshit.

Bullshit. No, I think it's great. You know, a lot of the great music of the 70s specifically has like a, you know, some of the popular sort of music, the southern rock and whatnot has a lot of country sort of, you know, the Eagles have some country in there. Oh, sure. But, you know, a huge country fan country in there sure but uh you know a huge

country fan everybody knows that about me uh i'm a big clint black guy i like trivus tritt uh i'm a huge brooks and dunn brooks and dunn guy alabama uh the oak ridge boys uh you know gatlin bros sure sure sure i have a fun fact about them in one of my presentations tonight. I'm a big country guy. And the FOSs, they know that about me. Big ol' hoss. The Judds were a big deal, as I recall. Judds, put a little love, put a little love.

I only know that from that commercial. I'm a honky-tonk man. Oh, baby, you try. It was like a honky tonk man Oh baby you try It was like a new country FM commercial Oh Larry Fedorek Was probably on the That was like the three songs that were It was like Dwight Yoakam

I'm a big Dwight guy I feel like he's a crossover guy Because he I feel like he played with some of the punk bands Like the Blasters and bands of this ilk. We'll talk about that. Hootie of the Blowfish. Hootie's a big country guy.

Oh, right. Yeah. Scratch golfer, too. Okay, so before we start kicking out the country, and again, I would say if you had asked me a couple of weeks ago, I'd be like, ah, country sucks, whatever. But again, like Cam. Reba.

Reba McIntyre. Reba's a big deal. But I like the old stuff. So I think new country, ah, country sucks, whatever. But again, like Cam. Reba, Reba McIntyre. Reba's a big deal. But I like the old stuff. So I think new country ruined me for country. But if I go back, and I'm going to shout out a podcast later in this episode that VP of Sales turned me on to that really focuses on the old stuff, and it's really cool shit. So I'm digging the older country, but I did a lot of homework,

and I did a lot of country listening this last week, and I got a new appreciation for the genre because what this genre does better than any other genre is it tells a story. Oh yeah. And that's all we do here on Pandemic Friday. We just tell stories. I mean, country music is just so wonderful.

I mean, you can just put it on. Oh my God. This is such a work. Can you Kim? This is such a fucking work. Call him out on his bullshit because I don't want, I want real talk. I don't want,

I want real talk. I don't want bullshit. I mean, country music is awesome. And that's how you feel in your heart. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Hell yeah. I've got the receipts to say otherwise too. Yeah. No, I don't think this is. Okay. Shout out to some country. We might have to like text Trudy. Like the,

like the, someone needs to be able to. Trudy. Someone needs to be able to... Trudy's watching, right? I hope she's watching. Yeah, I've never seen this man talk about country music, listen to country music. I think this is a total... You're not with me 24 hours a day, Cam.

So there is times where in my private life, I like to put on some country and listen to podcasts that Mike turned me on to. So VPSL turns me on to it. I turn on Stu and that's how it works. Hey, before we get into the country, I just want to say that on this very program, the Pandemic Friday episodes of Toronto Mic'd,

we pretty much broke the news. Loretta Lynn, Loretta Lynn. See, there's an artist I like quite a bit, Loretta Lynn. The Pill. Bonnie an artist I like quite a bit. Loretta Lynn. The Pill. Bonnie Raitt. I'm less of Bonnie, but I really do like Loretta Lynn, but we'll get to all these names soon. But we basically broke

the story here. Hebsey was our special guest. He popped on to surprise you guys during the Girl Jams episode, and I played Cordelia from Road Apples, and I dropped the fun fact that the original name of Road App apples was Saskadelphia. And then, you know,

Hebsey, you could tell by looking in his eyes, his beautiful eyes that he knew something. He's BFFs with Jake gold, who manages the tragically hip again. And no, that's a different guy. He's an FOTM though as well.

But Jake gold, um, had told Hebsey something and Hebsey was giving us big, big fat clues. And the news dropped this morning in the public realm that there's some unreleased hip material you can buy. They're calling it Saskadelphia. I will say, like, you know, when we learned, when was it that we learned that Jake Gold was back in the hip fold and taking over their catalog? This has a Jakeake gold manufactured project

timing everything the marketing all over it and i say that in like a very complimentary way dropping it right before the long weekend the cover art and the little teaser video you may have caught uh they just joined tiktok too i saw uh rob baker he was doing like kind of little guitar bits on there so like all all the pieces lined up very nicely. So well done to Jake Gold and the boys on this. Absolutely. So Saskadelphia is available now. It's cool.

I heard a little bit because FOTM Tim Thompson put together a like a promo video. And I heard a song called Ouch. I haven't had time to actually, you know, dive in and listen to the new. But we call it the new stuff but it's actually the old stuff because it's from the Road Apples time, which is like 1990 because they were going to make a double album and then they

cut a bunch of stuff and it got lost apparently and then surprise, here it is. So shout out to Hebsey for dropping the Saskadelphia news on Pandemic Friday. And that's fitting because Hebsey, of course, we learned last week was part of the announcement of one of the

Tragically Hip's other big projects. I think it was at Maple Leaf Gardens, he said. Yeah, he was at the Hot Stove Lounge. Right. By the way, we'll get to Retro Ontario in a second. Okay, well, let's do it now because I was going to share the mind blow with you.

I know you know, Cam, because you actually listen, but to Stu that, you know, we often debate, is James B famous? And this is the question. And I just... Of course it is, yeah.

It's become the go-to question to kind of conclude an episode with somebody who might have an opinion on the subject. And Retro Ontario made his triumphant return. He was fucking amazing. 90 minutes,

all killer, no filler. And I, of course I just asked him cause he's a good guy to ask is James B famous. I said, we've been talking about on pandemic Fridays and he drops this bomb. I didn't even know it was happening. Although I know Wikipedia now has the information cause a Rosie and great

TO updated it. So thanks to whoever that is. But James B the mind blow is, of course, that Retro Ontario himself, Ed Conroy, is working with FOTM Joel Goldberg, who directed the early Maestro videos and helped create Electric Circus,

and we're the cowboy who's now on this can of Great Lakes beer right here. They are making a documentary. Right now they're actively making a documentary about James B. Huge, huge. Holy smokes. Being B, I think was the name.

That's what I saw on Wikipedia. No, that's huge. Yeah, he's yeah, I mean, that'll be interesting. Like James B, I feel like Well, this is an appropriate show to make that announcement, Don. That's for sure. This interesting like James B I feel like this is an appropriate show to make that announcement Don that's for sure

this is the James B hub perhaps the only the beehive which I feel like was his club or something oh probably that guy you guys don't have the card he went his beak and everything I don't know if I like this Stu this Stu is very sarcastic I'm not being sarcastic

I want to tell you, I have some street cred when it comes to country music that will blow your mind. Okay? Okay, well, save it for your part. But what happened

to Cam's background? I was quite digging the... I was getting, like, the weird channeling around my head. So, like, I'm in my backyard. And since we mentioned Hebsey

and Cam knows... Like a pose. Cam knows a thing or two about Twitter. VPSales just reminded me in the live.torontomike.com chat that Hebsey dropped this bomb on Twitter. Oh yeah. That he tried heroin.

Yeah. Like a train spotting three. No, be honest. Okay. Have either of you two gentlemen tried heroin? Heroin. Stu can go first.

I mean, no. Okay, well, I don't know. Okay, Cam, have you tried heroin or is it too personal? No, no. No, it's not. I mean, I tried playing Scrabble with my mom on the app and that didn't go very well. She's unbeatable.

Like heroin, that's at least I believe. That's a deep dive. That's a needle in an arm, right? Yeah least I believe. That's a deep dive. That's a needle in an arm, right? Yeah, like a big commitment. I was going to say needle drugs are a big commitment. Right, like you got to be serious. I'm going down this rabbit hole now. The only needle

drugs I take are vaccines for COVID-19 and I know Cam takes steroids. Yeah, I take leftover AstraZeneca. Me too. Stuart! I will... Oh, my God.

Go ahead. I was just going to say... Whoa. Get that internet. The Lord has stepped in. Or something, was it not? Hey, Cam, say that whole sentence again because your internet shit the bed.

Yeah, I might have to go back inside. Okay. Yeah, I was just going to say, I love the timing of that tweet, too. Just random Sunday morning. Like, I picture Hebsey, like, in his bathrobe with a cup of coffee. Oh, he said he snorted it. I didn't know that was an option. Okay, that seems less...

That's how Cam and I prefer to do it. I'm so ignorant. Okay. Shout out, by the way, not only to VP of Sales, but also to Beck, who says, howdy, y'all, because she's in the country spirit, as you should be. And Dale Cadeau... Dan just took heroin right now. Did you see that?

Right in his mouth. Dale Cadeau is a big country fan of Vancouver. Can I drop my street cred for a second? Oh, yeah, sure. So there's a Canadian artist by the name of Gord Bamford. You ever heard of him?

Yes. He's a big country artist. Looks like Roger Clemens with a cowboy hat. Anyway, I was working on a music video set where he was for his song called Where a Farm Used to Be. And the director who was directing it had some sort of medical issue about an hour into the day and had to leave to get it treated. And I was put in the saddle to take over the video. And so I end up directing this video where a farm used to be. And then the video gets nominated for the best video of the year at the

Canadian country music awards. And it is credited to Harv. Harv from Jack of All Trades. If you've ever seen the movie, Harv was the producer of the video. And so Harv now is like this country award winning

director. And he didn't direct it and the other guy didn't direct it. This is a mind blow. That's, that's a fucking amazing story. Yeah. Yeah. That's a heavy shit right there. That's why, I mean, not.

We shot it in, we shot it in Stouffville. Of course you did. Home of Jeff Merrick, the FOT. Don't tell me that I don't have country cred. Okay. Okay. How has it taken this long for that nugget to drop? Like we're 60.

Where a farm used to be. That's the song. A hell of a jam, by the way. I listen to it all the time. Gord Bamford's like a big deal. Yes. He literally, I pitched him an idea. I was like, you look like Roger Clemens.

I was like, we should do a baseball video where you're like a pitcher for baseball. And we never, he ran into my partner, Adam, at an airport three or four years later and he said adam was like oh hey remember me we did where our farm used to be and he remembered me he was like hey how's stew love it there you go love it yeah you got your bonafide that beats cam and i don't have anything that's yeah i mean you guys can't touch that so i got nothing so how dare you cam how dare you and There was that time Cam and I went horseback riding at Dudu had set up

that petting zoo kind of gimmick and we rode on ponies and Cam was a little bit too tall to ride the ponies. A little bit. He started dragging along on the hay. Well, the thing like

turn around and like you know like on a horse. It was kind of like that. So just a little nip. This is the ponies for children, right? Cam was a tall child. It was all ages. How old was Cam

at this time? I think he must have been like 15 or 16. That's awfully old, yeah. He's probably 6'4". Prime all years. Thornhill Square, I think. Yeah. I think it was the parking lot of Thornhill Square decked out with the horses are sort of attached to a merry-go-round kind of thing

and they just sort of walk in a circle. And this is future FOTM, Doo-Doo the Clown. Wow. Stu also, on a dare, you know when you go to a petting zoo and they serve the feed in the ice cream cone? Like Stu, we got together

like five bucks stew took like two bites up yeah it's great it's delicious by the way i see why that's not true that's not so happy that's not true and country music is awesome also gourd bamper that's amazing uh freaking amazing so tonight is the first game of the leafs versus habs uh the first round of the Leafs versus Habs the first round of the playoffs this is the I guess I don't know what we call the quarter the semifinals of the Northern Division is that what we call this the Scotiabank Northern Division right so this is the semifinal so the goal is that this pandemic Friday ends before the puck drops

are you guys jazzed I'm super psyched about this I'm pretty fired up. I hear a young Cole Caulfield is going to be a scratch tonight. I thought he was like the next great thing for the Habs. But yeah, no, the Leafs would be a

major disappointment if they did not win this series. I would say that. Absolutely. We're heavy favorites. Absolutely. I think it's Leafs in three. That's my prediction. What do you guys say? The one thing that I love more than the idea of a Leafs Habs playoff series, and that's country music.

By the way, Cambrio has joined the live chat and he says, that's a nice porch. You got there, Cam. So people are, are digging your porch there. I got some plaster. Porch, of course, is a fantastic

Pearl Jam song. Is Pearl Jam a country band? We're going to have that debate all night when you guys are kicking out. When Stu's kicking out the Allman Brothers or whatever, we'll be like, is that country? That's Jessica you're singing there.

Right? Jessica? That's what Hebsey brought. No, but Hebsey brought a different woman's name. Oh, Melissa? There's a lot of Allman Brothers jams named after women, but that's Jessica that Stu's doing and Hebsey did

Melissa. Hebsey with the almond. I was impressed. He went deep on that shit. So here's the deal. As you know, for the last several weeks, a very special guest has just popped on for each theme. So we're doing country music today,

and we're all going to each going to kick out four country jams. Is it Gord Bamford? Maybe. So what I'm wondering, because I'm expecting this person to arrive in four minutes. So I'm wondering if we can get an update, just if you have anything to share with the listenership about your life, anything going on in your world.

I know, Stu, do you want to promote some of these TV shows that you've got coming out? Sure. Dark Side of the Ring, season three is off and running, a big success. The first episode of the season was the third highest most viewed show in the history of the channel.

Wait, wait, wait, back the truck. Say that again? The premiere episode for season three was the third most watched episode in the history of the network. What network vice? It's on Vice TV in the States. It's on Crave in Canada and TSN. Well, congrats, buddy.

I would put that on my T-shirt and I would just wear that the whole time. Yeah, and ironically, the top one and two shows that have ever been viewed are also dark side of the ring episodes from previous seasons so there's a lot more dark side of the ring hopefully coming and uh you know schedule permitting um hopefully uh will be a part of that if uh yeah if the cards are dealt properly by the way not to trump the next 1236 episode but stew i know uh i don't know if you want to share this but i know you had some run-ins with the late New Jack who we lost in the last week. Yeah, New Jack.

If you guys don't know who New Jack is, there is a Dark Side of the Ring episode that is must-see TV that it's going to hopefully make its way into the folder. It is an episode all about New Jack. And this season, New Jack came back to Dark Side of the Ring to be interviewed for a different episode. And I'm the one that spent a couple hours with him. And this is only a few weeks ago.

Wow. And I was actually just watching the raw footage yesterday of it. And it was like haunting and funny and sad. And just it hit me in a whole different way. But yeah, I mean, he was a very polarizing guy. He had a lot of run-ins with the law he uh pushed the envelope in the wrestling world as far as like uh legalities go he has been charged with assault uh for things that happened in a wrestling match and had to go to court over

it uh several times uh one of his opponents actually was thrown off Of a 40 foot scaffold And almost died in a match So New Jack has a really crazy Story and Rest in peace You know the world of wrestling obviously Is loaded with colorful characters And that's why a show like Dark Side of the Ring can have Three seasons

It could be like 60 minutes It could just like run until You know like forever. Decades. There's so many stories. So, Stu, you realize. I saw that Cambrio mentioned the mass transit incident. There was this 18-year-old kid that wrestled, or I guess he was under 18.

He wrestled New Jack in a match. And New Jack like literally stabbed this kid in the fucking head, part of my language. No, you can swear on this program. The kid ended up killing himself a few my language. No, you can swear on this program. The kid ended up killing himself a few years later. Oh my gosh. This is all in that episode. Okay, well I gotta check it out. But Stu, you've now lost more guests

of your thing than I've lost of Toronto Mike in 10 years. Wow, that's a good thing because we can't afford any more loss. Okay. And you know, I love wrestling, but there's one thing that I love, of course, more than wrestling, and that's country music. So here we we are now I'm gonna crack open a Great Lakes normally I drink an IPA but I'm gonna take down a Canuck Pale Ale for the country episode so on the mic and then we're gonna let in our special guest to kick things off here on our country uh country

night so cheers to you are lumberjacks country though that's more like a bash I don't think they are are you ready though are you guys ready for some face to show up in the zoom to kick us off on our country music that's a country song isn't it are you ready all my rowdy friends

yeah I think you got cancelled too but you ready for this here we are here we go this is our favorite moment of each pandemic Friday who's gonna show up That's a good one. Yeah, I think he got canceled too. But you ready for this? Here we are. Here we go. This is our favorite moment of each pandemic Friday. Who's going to show up? Let's get nervous. Wow.

Okay. Oh, wow. Hey, boys. This is the great. In fact, I'll get this ready and I'm going to play this. But this is the great Stu Jeffries. Two Stu's. Stu squared. That's been a while. Two Stu's. Stu squared.

That's been a while. That's a first for me. Two live Stu's. Stu Jeffries. Two live Stu's. That's Stu Stone, fellow Stu. And there's Cam Gordon as well. Hey, guys.

Nice to meet you. Thanks for doing this, buddy. My pleasure. Anytime, Mike. Oh, man. Anytime. Okay. Can we do it again next week? I keep forgetting. I can't do that. I got to stop saying that. Yeah, you're too nice.

I will just share a couple of things about Stu Jeffries, a great FOTM, but he's kicking ass, taking names, doing mornings on Boom. You're still kicking ass, right, Stu? Still doing my best, Mike. Yeah, it's all working out well. We're always in a battle, it seems, as it gets towards the end of a ratings period. But yeah, it's fun. And it's like, as I told you so many times, I'm living the dream. Everything's great. Can't be happier. I mean, who's done more good rocking than Stu?

It's hard to imagine that there's anybody else. It's hard to imagine. Well, on that note, let me play a tiny little promo for that aforementioned program that made me think of you. I just thought of you immediately when I was thinking of country music, but here it is. Hi, I'm Stu Jeffries. Let's talk this week on Good Rockin' Tonight.

We got you exclusive interviews with Loverboy, currently enjoying their biggest hit ever with This Could Be The Night, as well as Animotion, back on the charts with i engineer and vienna's pride and joy opus who had a number one international smash with live is life we'll have the mr mr trivia winners and new videos from stevie nicks zz top katrina in the waves the outfield pointer sisters and jim foster we've got the top 20 singles and albums the latest rock news and so much more be here this week on good rocking tonight a little before the good rocking tonight as i remember and also if that's not an 80s snapshot of what was going on i don't know what is including the mr mr trivia winners ladies and gentlemen let's go yeah was it were

they take these broken wings is that them yeah they were yeah yeah broken wings yeah yeah kiri an underrated second uh effort totally as a matter of kiri i thought was way better than than broken wings but broken wings was what they'll always be remembered for and those guys had a kind of a funny story i had just got the job at good rock and and almost immediately was flown from vancouver to los angeles to go do the grammy awards that year i think so it's 85 or 86 or something like that. It's a little big. And then while we were in Los Angeles, they stretched it out for a week to do a bunch of interviews with the, the acts of the time and to go to David Foster's place so that he could do a

good, he could do a good rock and tonight show. So he was host. So basically I'm at Foster's place and I'm just sitting outside doing nothing while they're recording David and he's bringing in all these special guests and richard page from mr mr walks up and it's like hey daryl hall from hall and oats walks up and he's like hey it's okay to go in and talk and then uh uh we're even weird ellen yankovic shows up out of the blue to go in and do an interview and i'm just sitting in david foster's driveway going what am i doing here man this is so awesome okay where do? Firstly, is this before or after Tears Are Not Enough? Is this after Tears Are Not Enough?

Oh, yeah. Good question. No, yeah, it is. It's after Tears Are Not Enough. Okay. And just to remind everybody, by the way, all the deep dives of Stu are on Toronto Mike's feed here, and Stu does cry, which I think is an added bonus. Enjoy.

Yes, yes. I have to cry. But just a reminder, you took over for Terry David Mulligan on Good Rockin' tonight, right? Right. Yeah. Terry did it for a year and a half.

And I'm always vague on this story. And Terry and I are still friends and we talk once in a blue moon. But if I'm not mistaken, he, I think it was something about, it had something to do with he was looking for a longer contract than what CBC, he, I think it was something about, it said something to do with, he was looking for a longer contract than what CBC was offering, I think. And no hard feelings at all. And I guess he just, he didn't get it.

Or he went on too much music and that was already in the plans. I'm not sure. But yeah, I left the door open and it's funny. You kicked it down, baby. Oh, you're so kind. You know what? I just, I did an interview with somebody a couple of days ago on their podcast and was talking about the early days of good rocking and i had even posted this if they had social media back then i'd have been torn to shreds like it people um at that time were writing letters so there was um more of a chance that as you as you well if we remember

writing letters you get halfway through it and you kind of lose your motivation. You say, forget it, it's not worth it. But social media, it's immediate, right? So there's a new host on Good Rock and everybody loved Molly. And now there's this new kid from like Regina, Saskatchewan. Who the hell is he? And I would have been torn to ribbons. But luckily there weren't that many nasty letters

and the producer, the ones that did come in, the producer kind of kept aside and never showed me. So they kind of treated me okay but so before sorry between good rock and tonight and boom there was an awful lot of country music in your life like colleen rush home and you and other iterations but you were basically uh hosting uh programs on country music stations quite a bit of that time that's true yeah i was still's interesting. I was still doing, you know, pop and rock on radio. A gigzy gig. Yeah, exactly, for sure.

And at the time I was doing television before country music radio, and I don't think the effect of country music really hit me until I did the radio show with Colleen. It's funny, I did a few years of CMT hosting various shows there, including a Garth Brooks special. Wow.

And I dug it. It was all great. But it was like, it never really kind of went right to the heart until, for whatever reason, until we did radio. And when Colleen and I did that show together for three years at Country 95.3,

it was like we were just let into a club. It was so cool. So we're about to kick out a jam for you, Stu. So I'm going to play the song. I'll bring it down and then we'll listen to you. But just before I press play cam gordon and stew stone is there anything else you want to ask stew jeffries before i yeah go ahead cam i i this is more common stew um stewart stew stone and i went to a high school called thornley where we have two people sort

of in common one is your your I think now he's like part-time uh Jeff Spindell was a classmate of ours yeah right and played baseball with Jeff uh we called him Spinny back in the day that's an awesome nickname I gotta lay it on him when I see him that's awesome yeah and another alumni of uh Thornley where we went was also uh the one-time host of outlaws and heroes on much music uh the great bill wilichka wow right so there you go yeah yeah god we've all got a common bond and i'll tell you that there's something man there is something about country music that is so um unifying is that a word this is something that brings everybody together that's got a

a moment in time feel to it and a lifestyle feel to it that's so strong. It's like, wow. I mean, people, I think, connect more through that music than any other form of music, period. Well, let's play your jam, man, and then we'll talk about it. Can I ask a question or only Kim gets to ask? I have a one stew per episode rule. You know that, right? Okay, go ahead, Stew Stone.

Well, my question is a lot more important than Kim's. And I was thinking, like, you know, maybe when this pandemic is over, we could all get together for a lasagna at Palma Pasta or something like that. Oh, my God. Just talk shop. Look at the man works in the sponsor. There's nothing wrong with that right there. I'm in, guys. Now I'm curious, Stu, when you came, Stu Jeffries,

when you came over to kick out the jams, did you leave with beer and a lasagna? I can't tell what era that was. Uh, you, oh yeah, you, you, you made sure that I had plenty of beer. I passed on the lasagna. Um, I think I ate it. I think I ate it. No, it had nothing to do with the quality of the lasagna. Yeah, that's right.

Exactly. I was on a pass to fast that time. So yeah, no, um, but yeah, no, you, Mike, you're like the ultimate host, man. You make sure that everybody leaves with valuable prizes. There's nothing wrong with that. past the fast that time so yeah no um but yeah no you mike you're like the ultimate host man you make sure that everybody leaves with valuable prizes there's nothing wrong with that oh man you're a good man stew jeffries okay here's your jam okay so good i got no money in my pockets I got a hole in my jeans

How good is Keith Urban? I had a job and I lost it But it won't get to me Cause I'm riding with my baby It's a brand new day We're on the wheels of an angel Flying away And the sun is shining

And the sea road keeps on winding Through the prettiest country From Georgia to Tennessee I don't think there's a fighter guitar player. I was like a huge Mark Knopfler fan, and I still am. And Mark Knopfler's the man. And even Keith Urban says that Mark Knopfler is the man. Is Mark Knopfler playing on this song?

No, but Keith talks about him all the time. And we'll actually bust out Sultan's A Swing if it's a good interview. And he, I don't know, Urban gives him mad respect, as I do about him all the time. And we'll actually bust out Sultan's A Swing if it's a good interview. And he, I don't know, Urban gives him mad respect, as I do too. I love Mark. But boy, Keith can make that thing talk like that. Well, Mark Knopfler, the original Jewish cowboy. That's right.

And Mark was in the country doing some stuff too that I wonder if a lot of people know. But man, yeah. And that song, this Keith song, reminds me of Coll Colleen reminds me of the days of Country 95.3 and reminds me of country music's unbelievable uncanny ability to provide a perfect backdrop to a day you play this song it takes you back to a day right away and the day is always you know it's sunny it's happy it's windows down it's all of that and the fact that urban plays so flawlessly and sings his song like you know who wouldn't want to be me is it's even got a little bit of attitude to it i love it he's from australia right he is yeah married to nicole kidman now and i was gonna say cam is a huge nicole kidman uh guy so i figured he'd be all over this who isn't this is great actress yeah no kidding and keith like uh you know talking about living the dream

and settle down i think he was a truly troubled guy in the early days and um to see him just like completely happy and totally plugged in and you know that's the other thing too that guitar is an extension of him you very rarely see that people right it's like part of him what goes through the spirit comes through the strings and it it's like, man, nobody better. Hey, Stu, you mentioned Colleen Rusholm. Have you had any contact with her lately? It's getting confusing. Can you just call him like something else? Like Stuart? Call me SJ. That's fine. SJ. Mr. Jeffries, how's Colleen doing? Do you know? She's doing well. We talk or text, God, at least once a week, more times than not, two, three times a week. We're on the air at the same time together.

She's in Ottawa now. And so even while we're on the air, we'll text back and forth on how things are going. And she is doing fine and the same. Colleen is just one of the real good ones in radio that not only gets it, but it takes it for what, takes the medium for what it is. And that is a whole lot of fun. And she's got such a real vibe to her that is missing in so many people. And, you know, I miss working with her a lot.

She is, but it's almost like we're still working together anyways. And we are the same stupid people we were back then. And very rarely do people sort of click like Colin and I did. And I miss her all the time. Do you miss, what do you miss more? Do you miss her or do you miss playing country music? You know, that's a great question. Thank you.

I feel like I'm, I don't feel like I'm as plugged into country as I used to be. But when Mike said, you know, what song do you want to hear? And then I immediately thought of Keith Urban. And I thought, no, I'm as plugged into country as I used to be. But when Mike said, you know, what, what song do you want to hear? And then I immediately thought of Keith Urban and I thought, no, I'm still plugged in. I just have sort of missed a genre now, you know, I've kind of, or a cycle. And I've heard now that everybody's, you know, bro country made it cycle. And then everybody's talking about that and how that's not real. And Ellen Jackson,

I heard the other day was complaining about how country has lost its soul and all that. And I thought, okay, well, here we are. It's the same thing over and over again. Everybody talks to everybody about the state of country. And there's always an opinion or two that, you know, The thing is when, when streaming sort of took place in the last, you know, 15 years, 10 years and really started picking up steam, but like before the streaming started paying people or record companies were

making money off it, were like not there was no way to make money and country music was like the last blockbuster you know it was for sure for sure yeah that's why you saw the swimming pool of country expand uh it was almost like the pool was at capacity everybody is all of a sudden trying country because they didn't want to make money. Yeah, for sure. You know, and what Darius Ruckus or Darius, Darius Ruckus, Darius Ruckus, a great example of Hootie and the Blowfish guy. Right. That just came out of nowhere. And they were real successful with Hootie.

It was no problem. But then it's all of a sudden, no, I'm going to do country. And why? But then the opposite of that, Taylor Swift starts country and then just, you know, jettisons. But also you see like you also see a lot of people from la uh songwriters like moving to nashville also in the last like yeah yeah everybody's kind of passion on on on country as jake sorry could i just something you mentioned just before it gets too distant you mentioned bro country i'm guessing this is like florida georgia line and like chris stapleton

oh it's more like it's more like country with like hip-hop drums yeah I should you know really yeah I should I should say that I I threw out bro country only because I've heard of the genre if I was asked to define it I probably couldn't I maybe I shouldn't have done that all I know is that it came from a very um sort of a yeah you're right like hip-hop drums a little like a definite rock feel in the background. But it was all it was all about feet on the dashboard and, you know, beer on the backside of the truck and stuff like it was very bro stuff. But having thrown that having thrown that out, I should have been a little more. I'm not as informed on bro countries. I should have. I just remember that was a genre and that was kind of what it was. OK, not as good as yacht rock, but still a good genre.

Yacht rock. Now, there's something I've come to love, man. There's, and you know, I love how yacht rocks embraced itself. Like, like Christopher Cross will say, yeah,

I'm yacht rock and I don't care. It's awesome. It's the best. And I think boom is a great place to actually, it's one of the few places that you can consistently hear a couple of great yacht rock tunes on it. Like everything on Boom is awesome. You can go from that 80s vibe to

you're exactly right, to Arthur's theme to whatever. It's pretty cool. Stu Jeffries, this was amazing. Here's how it works now. You're welcome to disappear into the abyss. You've served your time. You kicked ass. You took names, but it's up to you. We're going to kick

out Country Jam, so it's 100% up to you if you stick around. Some people stick around. Some people bolt. Mike, you know that, first of all, you know I love you madly, and I would, but we're doing like, usually dinner in the Jeffries household is around 6.30, 7 o'clock, but tonight, ladies and gentlemen, is game one.

Between the Leafs and the Habs, and I've got to get kids fed so I can plant my ass in front of the TV and watch the boys dominate. Maybe we'll hear some Stompin' Tom tonight. Who knows? It could be. It could be. There's the original bro country.

I love it. Guys, thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. Nice to meet you, man. Yeah, this was awesome. Nice to meet you, too. Thanks to Jeffries. Good rocking tonight.

See you, guys. Thanks, buddy. Take care. Bye-bye. I have to step away for five seconds, Mike. You go away for five seconds. I shouldn't be stopping for some country music i love it well cam's starting us off so here we now start with cam so it's gonna be it's gonna be great it's just gonna hate this yeah let's just uh and what do you think of uh stew jeffries as the special guest for the what a mensch i mean i i

just like a bullseye uh for who you could have in that role, just as someone who's worked in country music and then also more top 40 stuff too. And I know he's an FOTM. And yeah, one of the good guys. Oh, absolutely. And he's been working out like a fiend. So I almost had him take off his shirt, but he's ripped this guy.

He's making us all look bad. Really? Yeah. Okay. Is that like his only fans or where do we see those? I'll send you an making us all look bad. Yeah. Okay. Is that like I was only fans or where do we see those? I'll send you an email later with some pics in it.

Okay. Set up your first jam or I can just press play whichever you prefer. Yeah. Let's just, I mean, like I said,

it was interesting. I'll just say this, I only discovered when I started doing my research. These are literally four number one smash hits um that we're going to hear today i mean it's really interesting when you go back and look at the country charts just what was at the top of charts because i think we're all

it's all like tangential for us but uh yeah there's some jams i'm really excited to do this i love all four of these songs so let's let's let's let's get it done hello darling nice to see it's been a long time you're just as lovely as you used to be How's your new love? Are you happy? Hope you're doing fine Just to know it means so much to me What's that, darling? how am I doing? Guess I'm doing alright Except I can't sleep and I cry I'm only bringing this down so we can hear your fun facts and get to this puck drop,

but I will say what a great first choice. I really love this. Yeah, I mean, when I thought what would be a good place to start, I mean, just that opening, like, hello, darling. I mean, is there sort of anything more 70s country than that? Of course, that was the great Conway Twitty. One hit, one song also called Hello, Darling. One of his 37 number one country hits. I mean, this guy, top of the charts for decades.

country hits. I mean, this guy top of the charts for decades. So this was actually his fourth number one hit from March 1970. And within those 37 hits, there were actually five number one hits that were duets with Loretta Lynn. So had a long and storied career.

I'm telling you, I got so much time for Loretta Lynn too. Like, just amazing. Huge, yeah. I feel like we actually heard one of her tracks on a past Pandemic Friday. Portland, Oregon that she did with Jack White when he did that album.

Oh, that album's really good too. Yeah. Yeah. Van Leer Rose. It was great. I mean, it seemed like they were

trying to almost do like the Johnny Cash thing with her. Like introduce her to a new generation. And that album I remember being a big deal. I'm not sure what she did

subsequent but she's she's still with us is she not yeah she no she's still with us absolutely but if you look but go back and learn about songs she did like the pill and stuff like she was really cutting edge revolutionary especially for this ultra conservative genre yeah totally and i i think that's really just been a fact that you you know, it's almost like hipsters have just discovered that in the last five years, people like Loretta Lynn and perhaps more famously Dolly Parton, just, you know, what their contributions to not just like music, but like just kind of broader culture, like immense, where I think a lot of people of our generation,

kind of the Gen X types were perhaps quick to write off a lot of this music because of new country i already analyzed this in my soul i'm like why am i so like against country it's because of the new country that came with kiss 92.5 in like i guess you know and i don't know when that was early 90s or so mid 90s or whatever but you you think that's all the country and you don't realize there's stuff like this Conway Twitty jam you just played and it's like there's some cool shit going on here. Totally, yeah. And I feel like your mom's favorite artist, Kenny Rogers,

he seemed to be sort of in the middle because I mean I think of him mainly as an 80s artist but he obviously had like a first act and was, you know, kind of stuff that wasn't country music too. Before you finish these fantastic fun facts, there's some major breaking news happening in live.torontomic.com. This is huge.

But VP of Sales, these are his words. My dad tells me that Conway stole his girlfriend. That seems like that could have been like a Conway song. Maybe that was one. I'd love to hear more about that if we could get him on the line although i i do have a local tie-in to conway twitty here okay do it do it so his first number one song was a song called it only it's only make believe i don't know if you're familiar that song to be honest i'm not but this song he allegedly wrote it in hamilton ontario

when he was touring southern ontario in uh late 1958 this was in an article in the hamilton spectator wow like 15 years ago where they unurged he was playing at a place uh i think he was doing a small residence a place called the flamingo lounge in the hammer and uh i guess between sets or in his downtime wrote his first number one hit right there in ham, Ontario. Even though Conway, he was actually born in Mississippi. Not Hamilton.

Not Hamilton for sure. Now, I don't know if we're going to talk about Dollywood. Well, save it actually. You want me to just play my first jam? I don't know if Stu Stone is with us. Hold on. Conway Twitty?

Is that what I missed? Yes. Yeah, we went deep on Conway Twitty. Let me do one more fun fact. Oh, yeah. I love it. We'll get to the next song. So Dollywood, Dolly Parton.

There was also a place called Twitty City. Did you ever do a road trip with the boys? You went down to city uh not quite this was actually it's kind of his residence in uh hendersonville there's a song about this right take me down to twitty city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty the girls are shitty um leave the jokes to uh to the professionals guys yeah something like that um but yeah this was like kind of a tourist attraction where you could see the grounds.

There were gardens. They would do weddings. And it was sort of the Conway 20th State. Was Conway a staple of yeehaw? Hee-haw? Hee-haw, I should say. Hee-haw. Yeah, I feel like he was a regular guest.

I think he was a resident there. By the way, VP of Sales has some more on that story about his dad's girl being stolen by Conway. He says Conway came up and played in Hamilton for a few weeks. Remember, VP of Sales is from Hamilton. That's a key part of the story. My dad, this is not my dad, this is VP of Sales' dad, was playing in bands at some of the same venues.

And his girl up and left him for Conway. Oh, so that could have been the same trip where he wrote it's only make believe this is crazy it all goes together I love it and by the way I don't love they stole his girlfriend but everything else think about it yeah you know what you actually worked out well because if he

didn't steal her then he there would be no VP of sales this is like back to the future like yeah sliding doors 100% there would be no VP of sales. This is like back to the future. The sliding doors type thing. 100%. There would be no VP of sales on this live chat right now if Conway didn't steal that girl from VP of sales dead. And by the way, VP of sales has a name for what I described, that new country ruining country for me.

He says that's called getting achy breakied. So I got achy breakied. Can I kick out my first jam? Because I know both of you are going to have a lot to say about it and this ties in nicely with Dollywood

so here we go totally Jolene Jolene Jolene Jolene I'm begging of you please don't take my man Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene Please don't take him just because you can Your beauty is beyond compare With flaming locks of auburn hair With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green Your smile is like a breath of spring Your voice is soft like summer rain And I cannot compete with you, Jolie

So fucking good. Holy smokes. Classic. I had to fight Stu Stone. So fucking good. Holy smokes. Classic. I had to fight Stu Stone, literally fight him to keep this jam. I definitely did pick this song for those that want to know. This was on my list, but I graciously being the mensch cowboy

that I am, I let Mike feed his horse with it. I believe we're now working on the first come first serve rule of thumb here but this is of course jolene by dolly parton and uh this was released in 1973 so october 15th 1973 the very first single and the title track from her album so she had an album called jolene and this was the first single uh who is jolene so if you ask Dolly, Dolly says this Jolene character in this song.

And again, I mentioned this off the top, but country music as I listened to it, fantastic stories. Like it's all just a bunch of great stories. And I love stories. So again, I was achy breaky at a young age or a younger age. And it fucked me up for all this great story I was missing.

But Dolly Parton was at a bank. There was a bank clerk, like a red-headed bank clerk, and this bank clerk was flirting with Dolly's husband, Carl Dean. This is their local bank branch. And even though Dolly and Carl were newly married, so this character became Jolene, but the name Jolene, apparently that name came from a young fan who came on stage for her autograph,

but the character was that bank clerk flirting with Dolly's new husband. I feel like we've kicked this song out on Pandemic Fridays before, because I remember talking about there was like a Miley Cyrus cover that was

a few years ago. The Sisters of Mercy covered this. Was it on the girl's name? It wasn't on the girl jam. I don't think we heard this. We did hear Mandy, though, by Barry Mantle. Yes, we did definitely hear Mandy. Hey, so VP of Sales, I know you've come up a lot in this episode,

but can you find out, because you maintain the spreadsheet, just find out if we've kicked out Jolene already. I have few more fun facts though this is a mind blow okay are you sitting down i am yeah the day dolly pardon wrote wrote jolene so that very day that she wrote jolene she also wrote that day i will always love you, good day. Pretty good day. Yeah, solid. Pretty deep end. We're going to talk, and with my four jams anyways,

there'll be lots of discussions about like crossovers, etc. This particular song went to number one on the country charts, but did not fare as well on the Billboard Hot 100. Even though when you listen to it, you think it could totally like

rank on the Billboard Hot 100. even though when you listen to it, you think it could totally rank on the Billboard Hot 100. I feel like a song like this, it doesn't need to just be a country song. There are songs like this that anybody can make jokes they don't like country or like country, but everybody likes Jolene. Oh, yeah, you're right. It's one of those songs that transcends the genre, and it's just one of these classic kind of jams. In fact, I have great memories of Cam singing this song at a fundraiser a few years ago.

He had a couple of whiskeys in him. Yeah. It wasn't as good as Dolly's version. How could it be? It only peaked at number 60, 6-0 on the Billboard Hot 100. So definitely not a top 40 hit. We have confirmation from VP of Sales that we have never kicked out Dolly Parton's Jolie on Pandemic Friday. I'd like you to double check the receipts there.

But I will say that there is a mind blow if it's true. But there's definitely an urban legend that Dolly Parton is covered in tattoos that she, yeah, I've heard this and she, she always wears like long sleeve dresses and sort of high kind of stuff to hide it. But apparently she's like inked the off cup. Wow.

Do we know if that's, is that more like a Richard gear? Like everybody talks about it. Yeah. I definitely heard this. Yeah, like full sleeves, like just like kind of a Jim Rose circus sideshow.

Yeah, like FOTM Roddy Colmer just covered an ink here. Wow. By the way, in the news recently, we've all heard... I guess someone could look that up and see if that is true. Yeah, somebody, maybe we'll give that assignment to Beck because Beck seems to love this song, Jolene. So find out if Dolly's covered in ink.

She donated, of course, recently. Of course, recently. She donated a million bucks to vaccination research. The reason why she's the hero. And then she sang a different version of Jolene. I'm going to do it my best, so please don't throw any tomatoes at me. I'm going to do my best.

Ready? Here we go. Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine. I'm begging of you, please don't hesitate. Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine. Because once you're dead, then it's a bit too late Oh, I just Right now as you played that I realized we didn't get the fucking screen cap With Stu Jeffries I think that sucks Photoshop him in One of his older photos

That'll be the first time we forgot to get We were so overwhelmed that the great Stu Jeffries popped in. We forgot to get the screen. He was in a hurry to get the fuck off. He's got to make dinner for the kids, and then he's got the leaf. He's got to warm up the lasagna that he... That he turned down, actually. I remember I made it for my family.

It was awesome. By the way, if he flakes on that lasagna dinner, there's going to be problems. I don't often extend that invite. I should have told him the next time he comes over, I'm giving him a Toronto Mike sticker from stickeru.com. That's where you get your kick-ass stickers. I was going to see if I could fix him up with my mom.

She's such a huge fan of his, but I guess he's spoken for. I believe he's spoken for, yeah. Back to Gord Martin now then, I guess. for yeah back to back to gourd uh martin now then i guess so i'm uh honored that i got to kick out some dolly thanks stew for letting me do that but you have uh another heavyweight champion you're gonna kick out you want to set up your first gym you know you may as well go big uh if you're gonna go big uh if you're gonna try to win a category that people are doubting your ability to win you gotta you know you gotta just hit a fucking grand slam right out the gate on the first pitch. Blame it on all my roots, I showed up in boots, ruined your black tie fair. Last one to know, last one to show, I was the last one you thought you'd see there.

And I saw the surprise, and the fear in his eyes, and I took his glass of champagne. And the fear in his eyes And I took his glass of champagne I touched a goose and honey we may be friends And you'll never hear me complain Cause I got a race in slow places Where the whiskey rounds and the beer chases my blues away I'll be okay Yeah, life's not big on social graces

Think I'll step on down to the oasis Oh, I've got friends in my own places I mean, listen, if you were going to do an episode of on bar mitzvah jams, you would hear the song celebration by cool Kool and the Gang or Chava Nagila. If you do an episode on country, you gotta play Friends in Low Places. I mean, this is an anthem. This is the Bon Jovi living on a prayer of any

country bar at 1230. This is the song you put on that everybody sings along to. And, you know, I really didn't discover this song until I had one of those moments, you know. I really didn't discover this song until I had one of those moments. You know, I had known, obviously, the song, but the impact didn't have that impact on me until I found myself in a peanut shell covered bar. And around 1230, the Bon Jovi living on a prayer journey,

just a small town boy or whatever that, you know what I'm talking about? Don't stop believing. That slot goes to this song and everybody just fucking stops what they're doing. Everybody's singing along and happy and hugging. And this is a, an anthem that had launched Garth Brooks into, into superstardom.

And, you know, he didn't write the song, but it's interesting how this song made him huge. I mean, Garth Brooks was working as a, Interesting how this song made him huge. I mean, Garth Brooks was working as a sort of had an Al Bundy type of life going where he was working as a shoe salesman. And he was singing. And I'm not reading notes here because I'm trying to get through this show fast.

He was a shoe salesman who was singing demos on the side. And he was a demo singer. And this was one of the songs that he demoed. Are we sure this is Garth? Yeah, it says Garth. Yeah, this is Garth Brooks. Okay, only because I'm confused because Dale Cadeau says Stu... There is another version that was recorded and released the same year. He says Stu dug deep to find the pre-Garth version.

Yeah, well, he's speaking of there is another version that was recorded. I think he's thinking of I Swear. No, no, he's not. I swear. That would have been a good one. So, yeah, I can find the – I know what he's talking about because there was another – See, I did not know that.

I thought this was a Garth original. Yeah, two songs. The same song was released by two, I did not know that. I thought this was a Garth original. Yeah, two songs. The same song was released by two different artists in the same year. It's one of those. And we love when that happens. There it is. We love when that happens. P.F. Fodder.

Hey, while you're looking, I just want to say that this is the favorite song of Troy Birch, who is the man at Great Lakes Brewery. So I tipped my Gordy Levesque to Troy Birch and we're kicking this out for him. This is really exciting, guys, because this is such a cool... The story behind this song requires... There's like a deep dive on this. The story could almost be a movie, but the lyrics to this song were, according to my research, to quote a great Magic School West cast member, according to my research to quote a great magic school was cast member

according to my research the lyrics of this song were written on a napkin this is literally like they wrote it on a fucking napkin back of the napkin stuff and it became and that's like the bet you know that's the magic sauce right there sometimes you know you write a script on a napkin sometimes you write a script on a napkin. Sometimes you write a song on a napkin and it turns into a cultural phenomenon. And that's what happened here. Sometimes it turns into toilet paper.

Let's just shout out the career. I find the career of Garth Brooks to be something enormous. This fucker just had hit... My mom was big on the Kiss 92.5 and she had the mug, the hugs and kisses mug. Sure. And Garth was the,

I mean, that guy was all over the place. And then you'd hear these songs and I remember the Thunder Rolls, which was sort of about domestic abuse. The Thunder Rolls. Yeah, they weren't, you know, and you're like, I know this is country

and he's got that twang or whatever, but fucking great song. I think without Garth there'd be no new country format. He was the only good guy in the whole new country scene. I don't know. He wasn't that crossover thing.

That's more like Billy Ray or Shania Twain or something. He's more of an authentic country artist, I think. But this song of course went to number one This song went to number one on the Billboard Country songs chart Number one on the Canada country songs chart

But I actually have A Garth Brooks tale A tall tale I was working for Chris Angel For a few years I was living in Las Vegas Working on his show. And after one of Chris's stage performances, he was like, hey, want to come with me to a party?

And I'm like, sure. And we went to this party. And sure enough, it's like Garth Brooks was like this was like he was announcing his residency, I guess, in Vegas at that point. And so we end up in a corner shooting the shit with Garth Brooks. And he couldn't have been like, I wouldn't have even known I was talking to Garth Brooks because he was such a humble, grounded guy that like you would just think you're like talking to some guy waiting in line to get a beer. Maybe you were. No, it was him. He was so cool. I got a photograph of me, Chris and him that I'm trying to find on my phone. But he was a really nice guy.

And I think the fact that I was with Chris probably helped the fact that he was so nice to me. But I was definitely like a couple of brewskis in, I guess we'll say. And I was like shooting the shit with him for a while. He was really cool. 62 weeks. 62 weeks we've had Stu Stone on pandemic fridays and only now we learn he worked for chris angel for a while i i was a producer of his tv show you knew that yeah i think i think he's mentioned that okay my apologies there's so much stewness like it's hard

to kind of oh there's time i mean that's how to find that photo but he got brooks is a really cool dude and so okay i heard he's a decent, but he's also kind of been the big resistor when it comes to streaming, right? Like, Garth is the guy who's like... Metallica of country music. Right. He's like... I know the Beatles held out for a long time. I know that.

But Garth Brooks, I think he's still holding out. Is that possible? You know, Michael Jackson's death probably opened up Beatles catalog options because didn't he hold the rights to most of their hits? Am I not crazy? Yeah, I can't remember if he bought them back, though.

I think maybe they bought them back or something. But with Garfield... It's crazy. Go ahead, Cam. I was just going to say, I think we've touched on this in past episodes,

but we are going to enter this age where all these decisions are going to be made by hedge fund people like Neil Young and Paul Simon. Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan sells off their catalog, yeah. Hey, I'm going to be made by like hedge fund people. It's like Neil Young and Paul Simon. Bob Dylan. Yeah.

Hey, I'm going to tease a very special episode. Holiday Monday, Victoria day. There's a very special episode of Toronto Mike. It is the 80th birthday of Robert Zimmerman. We know him best as Bob Dylan, and we're going to do it up right.

Me and my special guest, Lauren Honigman are going to pay tribute to Bob on his 80th. Yeah, one of our past pandemic. And he brought the Bob knowledge for sure. I mean, a lot seemed very firsthand too,

just as a guy who, you know, he must have been pretty young when like Bob was coming up. And nevertheless, he was kind of in the mix in the audience, I guess. So tune in for that. It's going to be something awesome.

All right, my friend, Cam Gordon, your second jam. Any words before I click play? No, I just have one. This is not a fun fact, but I did want to share it because it's just mildly interesting, if not tragic. Final word on Conway Twitty. We lost him in June 1993 at the age of 59 of something called an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Now, that sounds painful. But interesting, that was the same affliction that also killed both Albert Einstein and Lucille Ball. Yikes. Yeah. So some big names there that the AAA took down. Wow. Yeah. Conway Twitty, rest in peace.

I mean, it's been gone many, many years. And I know you chose the order. I'm going to play them in your order, but I do like the relationship between this jam and your fourth jam, for what it's worth. Yeah, yeah. No, there's a lot of connective tissue in between all my games. You actually have a mind blow before I kick out the jam, right?

Yeah, I'd say in the interest of time, I think I called it an interlude. We probably don't need to listen to that. It's just the artist talking about something. It's only a minute 48. We're going to be done before puck drop. Okay, yeah. While we listen,

I think I'll sort of set up some of the themes. So here's, I'll go right into it. So I'm going to play a minute 48 of this gentleman talking, and then I'm going to play a minute 48 of this gentleman talking, and then I'm going to play his jam. Cool? Works for me. Okay.

And I went to about the lowest that you could go on the booze. And then when I was at that point, I knew there was no out. I just, there was no good thinking at all. There was no way out of it. So I just didn't was no out. I just, there was no good thinking at all. There was no way out of it. So I just didn't care no more. So I went to the other stuff. I went to the drugs. And then I really got in bad shape.

I got down to about 105 pounds, they said. And I looked terrible. I looked awful. I sung terrible. And I was terrible. Hey, I looked awful, I sung terrible, and I was terrible. Hey, come on then, George. More than being concerned, I felt sorry for him because I saw a man that was destroying himself,

and I was helpless. You know, what could I do? There had been a lot of people that had tried and failed, but I felt like that somebody needed to do something. What have I done? You are drunk. I am not. Yes, you are.

No, sir. I was afraid he was going to die. I thought I was going to live forever. And we both had problems with drugs. Let him take me to jail. But you're not going to do that. Oh, I don't think I really was beginning to see it was out of control because i was so out of control i couldn't see anything wait a minute okay i think we can and uh so i called him to come out to the house he came out there and i said george

this is going to sound awful funny coming from me but you got it there and I said George this is gonna sound awful funny till I die she told him you'll forget in time as the years went slowly by she still prayed upon his mind He kept her picture on his wall Went half crazy down in the vale But he still loved her through it all

Hoping she'd come back again Kept some letters by his bed It in 1962 He had underlined in red Every single I love you I went to see him just today Oh, but I didn't see no tears All dressed up to go away

First time I'd seen him smiling you He stopped loving her today It placed a wreath upon his door And soon they'll carry him away He stopped loving her today We can shut it down now, man. It's over. That's it. That's it. That's the peak. Yeah.

That's it. Shut it down. And that! Just for those listening at home, Stu's showing us the photo of himself and Garth Brooks and Criss Angel and some other gentleman. That's a magician. His name is

Nathan Burton. Oh, he's a big deal. Is he not? I think he won America's Got Talent or one of those. Okay, he's a big deal. Is he not? Yeah. I think he won America's Got Talent or one of those. Okay. Very good. Anyway, George Jones, he stopped loving her today.

What a fucking heartbreaking song. Wow. Honestly, tell me a fucking story. I'm listening. I'm ready to cry over here. And there's a few weird fragments in that audio, actually, which is unfortunate. I don't know. I heard it in in the headphones but what a beautiful fucking song and yeah one of the greatest country and western songs of all time totally dale cadeau agrees with us yeah i i would totally agree i mean and we're seeing some patterns emerge about

you know so many songs about lost love and infidelity but i played that one to hear a bit of that clip off the start um if you guys remember you could hear a bit of it in that of a famous uh george jones stopped by police where he was like drunk off his ass and getting kind of surly with police officers this is something you'd see on like inside edition back in uh i think it was like the mid-80s just in rough shape and just hearing how... You could hear just like the sense of remorse in his voice because he was an immense talent, but just the guy who was real hard living.

It wasn't just drugs. I mean, you know, him and Hebsey trying to... Although I think George Jones was kidding aside, like more sort of amphetamines and stuff, but you know, even though like they're playing this beautiful music, like, I mean,

that's that James Taylor thing. Yeah. It's like, this guy's like, it seems like the most vanilla guy, but he was the biggest partier of anybody. Yeah. Or like mamas and the papas just like crazy stories and

Hollywood Mac Carpenters. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, Kim,orge is one of if you speak to next time you speak to some of these professional wrestlers that you talk to all the time they're like own cold steve austin and the undertaker and paul bearer these guys when they

were riding on and this was they listened to george that's like their favorite like yeah these whiskey drinking tough guys all have a soft spot for this sweet sensitive side of uh or these these tails that george you know only he can spin yeah absolutely and the i just love the production on this song i mean this song came out in uh i i always thought this was a 70s song but this actually in april 1980 was the number one hit so just that that started the 80s and i a real roy orbison vibe with a lot of production i mean i you know we could argue is roy orbison a country artist per se but like those kind of drums and the big sweeping chorus and just just like gorgeous stuff i don't think that roy is a country artist but he's probably capable of playing making country like those kind of drums and the big sweeping chorus and just, just like gorgeous stuff.

I don't think that Roy is a country artist, but he's probably capable of playing, making country music. But I would say that he was more of a rock. Yeah. He's one of those great debates though, because he can play both sides of the fence. I think.

Sure. Yeah. Pretty woman is his signature song and that's not a country song. Mercy. Okay. I just want song, and that's not a country song. Oh. Mercy. Okay. I just want to, before you continue, Cam, I want to say hi to Canada Kev. He says he's looking forward to the Bob Dylan birthday bash with Lauren on Monday. YYZgord, he says.

Moose Grumpy. Yeah. Good evening. This is YYZgord. Good evening. Good evening. He's joining in progress. Jokeroo!

Jokeroo! Shout out to Moose Grumpy, who's enjoying the country. He just joined in a little late. And Ian Service, this one makes me laugh quite a bit. Although, shout out to Jokeroo, who's also in the chat. Jokeroo! Ian Service says, what have I stumbled into? I think if you're used to our typical rusty...

This is Mike's idea, by the way. This is my idea. He tried to shoehorn. He was trying to set Cam and I up for failure, but we're showing him that we can do whatever. We are such an unstoppable monster that there's nothing he could throw at us. We've had good times. We've had tears.

We're only like five songs in. Honestly, I'm having, yes, if you joined us late, Stu fucking Jeffries was here and we have no photo evidence and we don't record these videos. Greg Jeffries was not here. I get that reference. All right, so any more fun facts?

The great George Jones. Yeah, it's kind of sad because I, a lot of death in my fun facts, but George Jones, he, much like funeral home, shout out to Ridley funeral home because they're wonderful people. And if you have any questions about the whole process,

uh, it's never, it's never fun. It's awful when you lose somebody you care about, but you can talk to the good people at Ridley funeral home. Absolutely. Now, George Jones,

much like Conway Twitty, very prolific 10, number one singles and 69 top 10 singles. 69. We get a little chuckle. Now, his second last charting single was something called Beer Run, B-E-E-R-U-N, which is a duet, I think, with Garth Brooks. I meant to jot this down from the early 2000s. And this was from an album called The Rock Colon Stone Cold Country 2001. Now, I found no evidence that this has anything to do with wrestling,

but I find it kind of weird. There's an album that came out in 2001. The Rock Colon Stone Cold Country has nothing to do with WWE. Yeah, that is rather, even for me, on the sidelines. That's probably like a way to attract like mistake, mistake. Like I called, I called, you know, I can't even like come up with a joke here. Oh no.

Like Indiana Joe in the temple of doom. Sure. Yeah. Right. Right. Kirkland. Yeah. Dark Hall. Hey, that George Jones. Right. Kirkland. Yeah. Dark Hall. Dark Hall. Hey, that George Jones. What was his relationship with Tammy Wynette? Do you know? Was that like a drum fill? I'll just say let's get to that in a bit. OK, fine. Put a pin in that in a bit. So is it time? Go ahead. Go ahead. Final, final. We lost George Jones in May of 2013.

Alan Jackson, I'm not sure we're going to hear him. He actually sung this song at George Jones' funeral. I heard that. A very famous cemetery in Woodlawn, now Tennessee.

He's buried there. Include Marty Robbins. Yeah. Cam, your internet sucks. Boo. Porter Wagner. Oh, who helped launch Dolly Parton's career. I don't know if you're with us, Cam, because your

internet is shite. But Cam Gordon, when your internet comes back, Porter Wagner. I'm at a loss. What did you hear? I heard outlaw Ron Bass. I heard Porter Wagner, and I know he was instrumental in launching the career of Dolly Parton.

Stan Hansen? Yeah, no. I was saying he's dead. He is dead. That is a fun fact. Okay. That's hilarious. There you go.

I heard woodlawn I'm going to go through this again Famous people buried there Let's try it again Marty Robbins Big fucking deal Johnny Paycheck Take this job and shove it

This could be a little quiz for Stu Porter Wagner Who was a big deal Was also an inspiration For a famous wrestler could be a little quiz for Stu. Porter Wagner, we talked about, who was a big deal, help Ledge Dolly Parton, was also an inspiration for a famous wrestler, or the look of a famous wrestler. Stu, do you know who that is?

Ric Flair, the Honky Tonk Man? Both good guesses. Sika. It was not Sika, it was not Offa. It was actually the original look of Jeff Jarrett in the

WWE remember he had like the white cowboy hat and the strengths and the glasses

yeah apparently very referenced by Porter Reichner yeah the weird suspender he had a TV show

that's why he was so influential and instrumental in these careers because he had a

television show where he could have somebody like a Dolly Parton on and help give... Of course, With My Baby Tonight, great country jam. Hopefully you'll see him. Technically not Jeff Jarrett, sung by

the roadie. You ready for my second jam? Yeah. Hell yeah. I am an old woman Named after my mother My old man is another Child that's grown old His dreams were lightning

Thunder were desire This old house would have burnt down A long time ago Make me an angel That flies from Montgomery Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery. Make me a poster of an old rodeo. Just give me one thing that I can hold on to. To believe in this living is just a hard way to go

John Prine, Angel from Montgomery. Good choice. Is John Prine, I guess he's a country artist. I am open to the debate, but as I listen to it in my headphones, I'm putting this forward as a country jam. Like a folk singer that I guess could be listened to in a pickup truck, sure.

Yeah, and this is Montgomery, Alabama. I mean, that's sort of a country-ish location, I think. Well, I hear the slide guitar, steel guitar sound that you get in country music. Totally. I hear country, but but again it's open to open a debate so so the first jam i kicked out was dolly pardon who helped uh with the vaccine by donating a million dollars and of course we uh we lost john prine to covid19 so sadly he's one

of the many we lost to this uh terrible virus but here's a few more fun facts than that, of course. That's not a fun fact at all. That's a sad fact. But John Prine, he believes he was drawn to Montgomery as the song's setting because he was a big fan of Hank Williams, and Hank Williams apparently has big ties to Montgomery, Alabama. So that's what he thinks drew him to Montgomery. By the way, did I mention this

was the uh the song that the big hit that appeared on John I won't call it a hit because nothing John Prine did could be really called a hit but it was uh this song was introduced on John Prine's 1971 self-titled debut album and here's a couple of names of people who are credited with launching the career of John Prine. These names are going to be wild to you. One in particular, Roger fucking Ebert. So Roger fucking Ebert was writing for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1970. And then he heard, I think it was by chance, like he heard John Prine in like a bar called Fifth Fifth Peg in Chicago and then he wrote a review and it was like the first review John Prine ever received and in this review Roger Ebert said he was a great

songwriter and that was really like the catalyst like once this big review appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times people started like hey we got to check out this guy and and then everything kind of snowballed Chris Christopherson then kind of discovered him and helped launch him so shout out to roger ebert who's no longer with us famously uh panned gremlins famously panned gremlins exactly and he won a pulitzer i think that's the uh claim to fame for a very rare for music for a movie reviewer but chris christopherson like i was gonna say a full documentary documentary on Roger Ebert would be good. I watched it. It was fantastic. There's one.

Life and Everything. I'm trying to remember the name of it. I'll Google it. It's really good because, of course, he lost his speech because they took a bunch of his jaw out because of this cancer. Bobby Heenan, I believe. Is that true? I didn't know that about

bobby the brain heenan so he would speak with like the you know and then they were able to like reconstruct his voice because he had said so many words on his television program at the movies so they were able to use his own voice instead of like the voice stephen hawking used which was like that computer voice or whatever so they were able anyways this documentary is really really interesting i just want to say this this song has been titled to hell and gone it's been it's which was like that computer voice or whatever. So they were able to... Anyways, this documentary is really, really interesting. I just want to say this song has been titled to hell and gone. It's been covered to hell. It's been titled.

It's been covered a lot. But one of the fun names that covered that song is Leslie Spit Trio. So Leslie Spit Trio have an interesting great version of Angel for Montgomery. Toronto Zone. Yeah. That was in rotation at 680 CFDR. I specifically remember this. Yes.

And then the bigger names, the bigger American names who have covered this. I mean, from John Denver to Bonnie Raitt to Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, Brandi Carlile, Tonya Tucker. She's good. Brandi Carlile is good. Yeah. And shout out to Dave Hodge, who loves Brandy carlisle very very much and uh kicked linda carlisle also good yes heaven's a place on earth have you guys seen the go-go's documentary

i think bobcat had a role in it in the production of it yeah yeah it's in the folder speak of bobcat he actually had dave hodge i noticed was on the Bobcat podcast this week talking about baseball, which is kind of weird. I listen to that show. You heard that? Stu doesn't listen to Toronto Mic'd, only the Bobcat show. Bobcat. I only listen to Toronto Mic'd and not any other show other than Dana Levin's and On the DL with all that filthy mouth of hers.

Very important episode dropped today all about breast cancer. We need to talk more about breast cancer. Very serious shit. I will just say that John Prine was nominated for a Grammy in 1972 for Best New Artist. So shout out to John Prine, the late great. Absolutely.

Because you're talking about someone who we lost fairly recently, Mr. John, right? Right. And brought up somebody we lost, I guess, fairly recently in the last 10 years, Mr. George. I want to talk about somebody who we lost recently that is very important to me. And this is not me being sarcastic. And this is not me being sarcastic. Somebody who is an underappreciated talent that the world, if they only knew that every famous comedian, this was their favorite comedian. But I'm talking about the great Bob Einstein, no relation to Stuart Eisenstein, who you're hearing the voice of.

But Bob Einstein, of course, you might know him as Funkhauser on Curb Your Enthusiasm. You may know him as one of the original writers for the Smothers Brothers and him and his brother, Albert Brooks. Very prolific comedic writers. But there was some Canadian sort of connection to um bob einstein uh he was uh on the show bizarre uh which was shot in toronto my grandmother made an appearance on an episode it's a whole other story aging court yeah uh so uh and there was a character that uh bob einstein played on bizarre that went so well that it actually spun off into a whole sort of other thing where he got his own spinoff show and a children's Saturday morning cartoon and a line

of action figures and toys. I'm talking about the great Super Dave Osborne, you know, sort of a nod at Evel Knievel and just really funny stuff that dry sort of Bob Einstein delivery. Anyway, it's because of the Super Dave show that I first was exposed to the next song that I'm going to play. Which is a great country song. And shout out to Bob Einstein. Rest in peace. Mm. Ain't got no cigarettes out but two hours of bush and broom buys an eight, twelve, four-bedroom. I'm a man of means by no means. King of the road.

Third box car, midnight train. Great song. Love it. Trailer for sale. King of the road, midnight train. Great song. Love it. Trailer for sale. King of the Road, Roger Miller. Huge. Doing the research on the song, didn't realize this song is a massive hit.

That crossed one of the first country songs to actually cross over and be number one on the main charts. So this is a huge song for historic purposes in country music and sort of getting more sort of mainstream eyeballs on the genre back in the day,

back when rock and roll was sort of just making its way in. What year is this song from? This is from 1964, which is, that's, you're talking Rolling Stones and Beatles are like dominating the radio. So for this song to be a number one song

You know, think about that I mean, think about that Alright, I'll let you think, I'll wait But that's a pretty crowded space In 1964 on the radio For a country song called King of the Road To compete for airtime You're talking the Beatles and the Stones

And the whole revolution of rock and roll Was sort of unfolding on the radio at that point. Right. Without a doubt. No great choice. And just shout out to real quick, a shout out to FOTM,

Tyler Stewart, who worked with, uh, you mentioned the aforementioned, uh, super Dave, Bob Einstein, uh,

when he was working here in, uh, Asian court. Yeah, of course the Bob Einstein skit I'm referring to, you should look it up on YouTube. It's like probably the best super Dave clip that ever, where he is like strapped to the top of like an RV with a piano and he's

doing a cover of trailer, a king of the road. And he's singing the song and like you're following him and he's the truck's going and then it goes to clear a bridge. And of course, super Dave gets complete and the piano get completely smashed going under this bridge. It's really funny. I didn't do it just to describing it, but you know,

it was such a funny bit and like, this was the song. And so I only kind of knew this song from that skit. And then of course, as you get older, you hear it more often and it's obviously appeared in other places. It's been covered, probably the most covered song in, in country it more often, and it's obviously appeared in other places. It's been covered, probably the most covered song in country music, maybe.

I mean, this is the people who have covered this song. George Jones, Dean Martin, Jack Jones, James Booker, The Fabulous Echoes, Boney M., R.E.M., Johnny Paycheck, Glenn Campbell, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Boxcar Willie randy travis uh john stevens the statler brothers oh yeah from right uh the proclaimers the reverend horton heat wow there's the name i haven't heard jerry lee lewis uh still with us i mean james brown uh i'd like to hear that uh merle haggard willie nelson mart, Dwight Yoakam, Dolly Parton. I mean, it just goes on and on. All the people. So this is a big fucking jam. And it went to number one on the U.S. country chart, number four on the Billboard Hot 100.

Wow. But where did it place in Canada? Is this a quiz? I guess we'll never know because I'm not... It doesn't really matter. That's what I would ask. It doesn't fucking matter. We'll have to get Rosie Gray to move on.

Roger Miller, awesome dude. So cool. I have a picture. Me and Chris Angel hung out with Roger Miller. Hey, when did he die? Do you know that? Do you have that in the info package? I don't. But Ridley Funeral Homes probably

does have some sort of record. Do we know anything? He's like an artist. I don't really know anything about him personally beyond this song. Did he have other hits or do we know anything about Roger Miller? Actually, Mike and I are going to be doing a deep dive on Sunday night.

He died in 92. I hate to think I had to learn about it here. He died in 92. Yeah, Stu, we're still on for that? I want to do the 2.5 hour deep dive on Roger Miller. Miller time. I actually do want to throw this out there to you, Mike. There is a deep dive that I would like to do.

I'd like to do a deep dive episode that I think the FOSs would really appreciate. Both of them? And this is not a joke. Both of them would appreciate it. My mother and Cambrio. I'm talking about a deep dive on all songs that feature Michael McDonald. Sold. I'll set that one. And we just like mind blow after mind blow

you didn't realize that michael mcdonald sang background vocals on who's johnny by el de barge but you would learn that on this deep dive uh i'm saying all the big michael mcdonald hits that he appeared on so yeah the way, something that's... My mom who's here is loving that idea, by the way. I'd like Stu Stone to confirm something that we learned on the Retro Ontario episode. Sorry, this is a total aside. Go ahead.

Is it true that... I think I remember this right. Ed Conroy has been in touch with Stu Stone about appearing in a documentary about the Mad Hatter. Yeah, okay. Yes. Thank you for bringing this up, Cam. Ed just puts that down like it's no big thing.

And I'm like, what the fuck? I had a birthday party at the Mad Hatter, but I have even more perspective because my father had a store before Sluggers. It was called Sports Connection. It was called a sports connection. It was a comic book shop that my dad ended up moving into his, with his baseball cards and then baseball cards got so big.

He went on his own and did a baseball cards, but it was at that Bathurst and Eglinton, which was next door to the Mad Hatter. So my whole childhood pre sluggers was like running around and sneaking into the Mad Hatter and all that shit so I have a lot to offer that so you haven't filmed it yet we haven't shot it yet but

Eddie and I have gone back and forth Eddie I like that and he also dropped the bomb Eddie much like I learned John Gallagher the great John Gallagher is fleeing the city for Halifax. This is the big bombshell I learned this week. Whoa.

I know. Ed Conroy leaving the city for Port Perry. Yeah. Rosie Gray Tio needs to take notes during this episode. Who's the host of Toronto Rocks? There's a few. John Roberts. J few. John Roberts, JD Roberts,

we called him. The main one. The main one was, we had JD Roberts and then you had John Major who passed away. John, yeah. John Major.

Yeah. Was there another one? And then Brad Giffen? No. Dan Gallagher? You're running out of, Dan Gallagher, I feel like.

John Major, but one of those hosts. He was video hits, I think. One of those hosts of Toronto Rock, Toronto Rocks was at my, I think. One of the hosts of Toronto Rocks was at my cousin's bar mitzvah. I don't know why I thought of that. Well, dig it up because I named the big three.

It was a big deal. Who was the FOTM who DJed your bar mitzvah? Brian Master. Hey, here's a bombshell from 1236. Okay, ready? There's a new Michael McDonald song that came out today. Wow.

Michael McDonald with, you ready for this? David fucking Crosby. Wow. Now there's a duet that we've been waiting for. Welcome to the live chat, Mark Weisblatt. Woo, so much stuff. Okay, I want to catch Puck Draw.

By the way, Mark Weisblatt, more than welcome to contribute to my Michael McDonald episode. He could join us. He wants to just Puck Draw. By the way, Mark Weisblatt, more than welcome to contribute to my Michael McDonald episode. He could join us. He wants to just fact check you. He wants to fact check you. Yeah, but it's Jim Steinman. Yeah, he loves meatloaf.

Here's a fun fact about Mark Weisblatt. Loves meatloaf. Okay. No accounting for taste. And I'm talking about the food, of course. Oh, yeah. I'm saying. Set up your third jam, Cam.

Oh, it's up to me? Oh, my God. Okay. Are you surprised? Yeah, I mean, another theme we're seeing that some of these songs were such big hits, they were crossover hits. Now, I want to have something. I was already, I want to make sure

I had some 90s schmaltz in the mix. I almost put in a song. This one's for the girls by Martina McBride. If you remember that. Made it look at love. I don't remember it, but I can imagine it. And I was going to do some Faith Hill or maybe someone like that. But I actually went back further into the 80s.

And this song, I was actually surprised to hear this was classified as a country song because this is a pretty big top 40 song. But then I didn't know a lot about the artist. I'm like, totally country. And this is another number one hit. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Put on your Bobby socks, baby Roll up your old blue jeans

There's a band playing down at the armory Definitely country. Yeah. I want to ride in your 55 T-Bird Drive through some old memories I ain't after your body, baby I just want you to dance with me I'm gonna bop with you, baby

All night long I'm gonna bop the night away I wanna make it a night like it used to be I haven't heard this song in like a hundred years. It was everywhere for a while. I remember it everywhere. I forgot that this song existed until right this second. I'm with Stu, and when you first sent me this cam, I'm like, oh yeah, that song was it everywhere. I forgot that this song existed until right this second. I'm with Stu, and when you first sent me this cam, I'm like, oh yeah, that song was just everywhere.

Well, I partially picked it because I want to look Stu Stone in the eyes and ask you a question. I want to buy a witch, baby. Is this a crossover song, country music, and yacht rock? It's got a real fucking bounce to it. It's because... No, this is not a yacht rock thing. I know it's not like a...

It's more like an 80s pop producer went in and did a country song. It's got that 80s drums. Schmaltz. The horns, that 80s horns. Yeah. Saxophone. Yeah. Like,

like zero edge, like, like every like corner sandpapered off. I don't think we said who the artist is. It's Dan seals. And the name of the song is bop. I want to bop with you, baby,

which I think, I think is, I want to have sex with you. Oh, the horizontal bop between the sheets. As Brett Michaels sang in Unskinny Bop. The genitals.

Dan Seal's brother is a Yacht Rock guy because his brother was in Seals and Cross. I'll just fucking strike that fucking fun fact from the list i'll go the next one well you asked me if it was yacht rock it's there now that this one you know it's been hard to work in a geography corner here because gretzky of the seals family thank thank

you um now where a lot of these musicians are from are like these tiny small towns. So quite often there's not other people who are born in the same place. Now, Dan Seals was born in McCart, McKamey, Texas. And there's one other famous resident. I don't know if you guys know who this is. Gary Gilmore. Of course. Gary Gilmore. No, I'm Dave Gilmore.

Hold on. Gary Gilmore. I said,'m thinking Dave Gilmore. Hold on. Gary Gilmore. I said, of course, and then I'm not David Gilmore. Remind me. Should I know? Tell me a bit more. I feel like I should know that. Gary Gilmore is someone who helped bring back capital punishment.

No, I don't know Gary Gilmore. No. Yeah, of course. The great Gary Gilmore. Was he a center for the Leafs in 93? I think. Okay. Should I move on?

Anyway, he was a guy who was actually incarcerated and he lobbied to have the death penalty actually brought back. He had killed two people because he, I guess he had a death wish and thought he deserved to die because he killed two other people. Anyway, I mentioned him to do a callback

to the episode with Brother Bill, the hardcore punk, even though this band was not really hardcore punk, a famous UK punk song, Gary Gilmore's Eyes by The Adverts. I'm just going to move on because I think this is... Well, Dan Seals, he dabbled in punk, right? There's also 30 Minutes Till Puck Drops, so yes.

Is that right? It's not a seven o'clock start, is it? I think so. Well, you Google it while the camera wraps up. I'm going to burn through this. Number one country hit in the US. Number one country hit in Canada. Number 42

on the Billboard charts, the pop charts. This song on the Canadian top 40 charts, number one hit. Number one hit. Fucking Bop by Dan Seals. I wanna bop by dan seals with you baby stew we have now 60 minutes okay stew yeah yeah okay now let's go to the god like every artist everyone my picks is like a ridley funeral home thing now dan seals died of lymphoma thank you in 2009 at the age of 61. Now, just before he died, he actually recorded two different duets

with Juice Newton of all people. Angel of the Morning, right? Yeah. Now, these are very interesting. One of these duets was of These Dreams by Heart. Okay. So that was one of them. And the other was a song I think we've heard

on past Pandemic Fridays, If You Don't Know Me By Now. You've got a CRTC takedown. That was the song that made me realize we need Ian Service to give us a pirate stream because we were never going to be able to do this episode on Facebook.

I sort of remember that. That's the song that did it. Last unfun fact about Dan Se dan seals also buried in woodlawn memorial cemetery down there in nashville tennessee wow i actually want to go there i i would i would love to see all all these greats baby buddy when you said woodlawn that was when your internet was conking out so we all heard park lawn and we assume that all these people were buried with harold ballard yeah no maybe jeff merrick did not put uh johnny paycheck and dan seals and uh george jones in the ground unfortunately shout out that would be a good story the brother who says that uh what does he say here that the biggest country this was the biggest country

crossover of the 80s he says the dan seals that's not true that's not true by the way i'm about to disprove him okay well i'm just quoting his little chat here anyway dan seals has a ton of fucking hits i did not know any of the other ones but he was a big fucking deal in the 80s 1236 points out that unlike the toronto mic podcast he has actually interviewed dead people. So is Stu Stone, apparently, sadly. But okay. I want to bop with you, baby. I can't believe it, Cam.

I totally have... There's like a void filled in my brain. I forgot about that song. I mean, that's one of the beauties of Pandemic Fridays. I love you, man. I really love you too, buddy. We have our moments, but we're working through it. I'd love to reach through the screen and give you a big old hug.

Well, you're double vaxxed. You can give him a hug. Okay, you ready? Yeah. I dedicate this song to FOTM Christopher Ward, who recently kicked it out and then got me diving deeper into it because I'm listening. It was like I was hearing it for the first time.

I've totally ignored the genre and I heard it again and I was like, what the fuck is this? What a story. Dan Seals song? This is Dan Seals' follow-up to Bob. Are you ready for this one? Here we go. Here we go. my brother was bailing hay and at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat

and mama hollered at the back door y'all remember to wipe your feet and then she said I got some news this morning from Choctaw Ridge. Today, Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. Papa said to Mama as he passed around the black... I have so many things to say.

I don't know what this is. Okay. You didn't listen to Christopher Ward kicking out the jams, that tells me. Nope. You're exposed, Mr. Gordon. All right, lots of facts. Okay, this song is called Ode to Billy Joe. The artist is a woman named Bobby Gentry.

Of the Gentries? Oh, because that's part of the story. Not of the Gentries. That was a country group, wasn't it? I think so, for sure. You can't call yourself the Gentries unless you're country, I'd say. Okay, so many things. I'm going to

burn through it because I don't want to miss puck drop, but this was one of those prototypical crossover hits because this country jam I'm listening to, Ode to Billy Joe, peaked at number 17 on the country chart, but went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. This is a number one Billboard Hot 100 hit, Ode to Billy Joe. And again, I think I might have heard it here and there but when i heard it through christopher ward's ears if you can imagine and heard him talking about it

it was like i heard it for the first fucking time and then i dove into the rabbit hole so here are some fun facts i'll go rapid fire it's one of rolling stones top 100 country music songs of all time this is in the top 100 that That line in the beginning after the first stanza there where she goes, today Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. What a story. This whole fucking story is interesting. And it's like, why the fuck did Joe McAllister jump off the bridge?

Like, what's the story there? Like, everybody's been talking about this for years and decades and they actually even adapted this into a film in 1976 they made a film called ode to billy joe where they tried to answer the question why did billy joe mcallister jump off the tallahatchie bridge well i'll tell you what they said in the film which i think is fucking bullshit nothing to do with the song they said bill said Billy Joe killed himself because he got drunk, had a homosexual experience. And then he, yeah.

So this is in the movie from 1976. So fuck all that. So this is a true story? No, I don't think it's a true story. But I will say one interesting thing. And I want to shout out a podcast that VP of Sales turned me on to. This podcast is called Cocaine and Rhinestones.

And it's just like country music stories. Country music, the songs are stories. Honestly, very interesting podcast. I recommend it. I'm working my way through season one. There's

a couple of seasons there. But what I learned from this podcast is that this woman, Bobby Gentry, she makes an appearance. She's only 40 years old, I should point out. So at the age of 40, she makes an appearance at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

This is 1982. She shows up. Then she disappears. I mean fucking disappears. She hasn't been recording. She hasn't performed. She hasn't been interviewed. Nobody knows where the fuck she is.

She just sort of checked out in 1982. Her and Rumble. Right. Maybe they're together. But by all accounts, by all accounts, Bobby Gentry is alive. She has not passed away yet. but where the fuck is she some reports say she's living in a gated community near memphis there's another report that says she's in this gated community in los angeles

i don't know where she is she just said i'm done 40 years old hasn't been heard from since but that song that i played go listen to ode to billy joe by bobby gentry because it's fucking amazing that that's like that's a good story i i like i really admire people who can just do that like take a step back and just say i'm fucking out and just like fade into the background it's uh easier said than done obviously with celebrity and especially in something like music that's just so kind of taste and like fame driven. Yeah, no doubt. Imagine doing it in 82 and here we are in 2021 and she's like,

we still don't know that we haven't heard a peep from her since 82. So, and she was, you know, very famous because she had a number one billboard hot 100 hit. Love it. So yeah, thank you so much. And it got me a chance to shout out that podcast that vps sales was uh recommended to me that i'm digging uh cocaine and rhinestones is what it's called stew the microphone is yours you know mike uh there's a lot of country uh i don't know it

would be influence or roots or seeds or whatever how how how to word this but in popular sort of spanish music there is lots of country roots to it and you know if you've ever you know seen some you know spanish acts play i mean there's a lot of country sort of twang in in in a lot of it. And the song I'm about to play right now, this is the number one country crossover song of the 80s. No offense to I want to bop with you, baby. And it's this is a song that if there should be a TMLX karaoke night, this would be a song that I think Cam and cam and i could do together um you know i know he likes to do it solo um performances mostly but this you know i'm curious if the

people listening would love to hear me and cam duet this song together so let's give it a little to all the girls i've loved before who traveled in and out of my door i'm glad they came along I dedicate this song To all the girls I've loved before To all the girls I once Cam's part Then may I say I've been the best For helping me to grow

I owe a lot, I know To all the girls I've loved before The winds of change are always blowing And every time I try to stay The rest of the chains continue rolling And they just carry me away Stu, they're giving you the victory in the chat here. Holy smokes.

Who gave you the victory there? Joe Carew said it's Stu Wins. Willie and Julio or Julio. Sorry, I don't say the chorus of feedback here. He'll spring to life. Well, I like the plate islands in the stream. I figured one of you guys would have hit that. But I went with with this one.

Of course, we're talking about big Willie style. Willie Nelson, the world's number one, the grandfather of Ganja, the invader of IRS, and a man who is ageless sort of in a Morgan Freeman way. Willie Nelson has sort of looked the same age for the last 40 years. Chew that. But what a fucking cool dude. Like, Willie Nelson, I mean, there's just legendary weed Willie Nelson stories.

Like, people don't realize this guy's like the snoop dog of country um he's so casual about it and he'll smoke you under the table um i have a photo of me and chris angel and uh willie uh but yeah i mean this is an interesting song because it doesn't really jump off the page as like a country song but it definitely topped the country charts uh this was a number one country track in canada number one country track uh in the united states uh on the main charts it only went to number five in the states but this is a number one country jam and you know if this song isn't successful cam enrique iglesias may not have happened right Enrique Iglesias may not have happened.

Right. There you go. This is where Julio sort of made his name in America. You know, he was obviously a popular crooner prior to this, but this was a song that really, like, propelled him to the front of the line. To All the Girls I've Loved Before was originally recorded in 1975 by another artist, the songwriter Hal David and Albert Hammond was originally recorded by Hammond in 75.

Right. So this was a cover that came out in 84, Iglesias and Willie. This is a breakthrough for Iglesias, as I've said, the biggest song of his life and good shit. They did a second, they did a second duo together a sequel if you will called spanish eyes i don't have i have vague memories of spanish eyes i'd love to hear it again but uh yeah i would say that that's probably not as good uh this song also won the

grammy for those who are saying this is not country well go fuck yourself because this won the grammy for the song of the year by the Academy of Country Music okay I'm going to take a cue from 1236 because I was going to do this anyways but my question is if there's a country artist like a Willie Nelson and they record something that's not country do we just accept

it as country you accept it as country if it won the country music song of the year okay because because in the headphones and I again I am going by the headphones. That's why I thought that John Prine song was country. But in the headphones, that song, To All The Girls I Loved, there's no country in it. Even the musicianship

and the playing. I guess it's the twang of Willie. If Willie is on the track, it's country. Okay, that's what I'm asking here. If Willie's there, it's country. If Wu-Tang Clan is on a song, it instantly is a hip-hop song, whether they're singing or yodeling

or reciting the Hav Torah. I don't know. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm not going to argue with you. Cam, Cam, as host of this... Number one on the country chart and the song that won the country chart of the year.

Not going to dispute that. Charts are charts. Cam Gordon, would you please elaborate a little here? As a host of this esteemed program, I feel like there's something there I can extract from you there. About this topic? That song we just heard. That song we just heard. Lovely song.

Very popular. Very popular. I'll say this. I mean, if it's on the country charts, it's a country song. Now, in the context of this award-winning podcast of ours, when we only have

the ability to choose four songs and there's so many great options to choose from, that's not one I personally would choose. It's a matter of taste. And that's Stu's business. Hey, I got to read it. We all bring it to the table.

I got to read this message that came in at live.torontomike.com. He says, this is worse than Metallica or Meatloaf ones that Mike got disqualified for. Sounds like someone else is dipping into the heroin stash saying a comment like that. I'm going to go with Jokeroo, who said Stu just dunked on 1236 and all the haters. Is Oat Bran around? Can we get Oat Brans? Who knows that I'm right? Where's Oat Bran when we need him?

Where the fuck's Oat Bran? Canada Kev, we very much respect this man's opinion. He's proven himself to be a great FOTM. He's like the most improved FOTM of 2021, I think. He's brought it. He says it's only country because Willie's on the track. And that's what I said. I said it's Willie is the one that makes it country.

So it's a country song. I could have played other Willie Nelson songs. I know, I know. But how would I have been able to challenge Cam to sing a duet with me if I played a different Willie Nelson song? So there is some entertainment factor in the selection of the song because myself and Cam, and perhaps Duda will be there. We'll be hopefully singing this song.

In person, mask free, maskless. Yes. Do some indoor dining. It'll be great. Slip Duda the Zoom link and he can come and make a final ruling on that. Okay. You know what? Like, let's just, this is going to be a Twitter poll this weekend.

Have a Victoria this weekend. Victoria Day weekend. Everyone's like chilling up by the 1236. Bless his heart. He says, sorry, Cambrio. You can't give this one to Stu. I think that 1236 must think it's 1237. He's wrong and he's out of time.

Oh, his argument goes because a song that goes to number one on the country chart is a country song. A song that wins the country song of the year is a country song. So it does not matter what he says. He's wrong. Okay, because I don't want to miss the puck drop. I'm very excited. And I have a seven-year-old who we hung up the pennant today. He's very excited.

He loves William Nylander. He's a big William Nylander fan. Does he have a jersey? Like, is he wearing? He has a jersey, yes. So, yeah, we'll don our jerseys. I have a couple. This was not a worse pick than Mike playing a Metallica song from a Wendell Clark YouTube video on

songs we learned from the movie television. I'm just reading. That was an all-timer. All-time horseshit. Yeah, I find that, like with a lot of our genres, I find it's tough to define. Like, with Yacht, I find it's tough to define. It's not tough to define.

Willie Nelson is a country artist. Move on. Okay, because the musicianship around the voice of Julio. He even named his number one country album to all the girls. This is on his album. Okay, Seuss. Okay, around the same time, the song Say, Say, Say. mccartney mj yes is that an r&b song right uh maybe r&b church better no better than that you can go is this a lot is that a latin hit is all the girls i love is that a latin song well there is a version where he sings in spanish that

probably because because julio glacius being on the track, does that make it a Latin song? Well, it probably does, yes. So it's a country Latin crossover. Sure. It's a meeting of the minds. It's bringing the best of both worlds together to create something magical. Like when the great Barbra Streisand teamed up

with the Bee Gees to do her masterpiece, Woman in Love. I just got called out for saying Aladdin instead of Latin. Did you know there's a word in Spanish? Guys, there's a song called A Word in Spanish. He's doing that. Elton John, yeah. Oh my God. I was going to do a spoken word for you.

Fucking asshole. This is going to be a bit. Latin, Latin, Latin. I just, somebody said I said Aladdin Which I do say so Latin Aladdin Can I kick out my final jam? No it's Cam's turn

Cam set us up for your final jam A word in Spanish That I don't understand Just before I Just before I do I can't believe fucking Stu Stone buried the lead Stu Mr. Denim? Yes.

We had a teacher at Thornley that we mentioned, Thornley Secondary School. Dead ringer for Willie Nelson. He was like a chemistry teacher. And smoked weed with the students. Did he have blue eyes crying in the rain? He did. He was a red-headed stranger.

Final pick. This was Red Headed Stranger. Final pick. This was the first song I thought of. Perhaps somewhat autobiographical. Not so much the content, maybe the name of the song. Maybe Mike can appreciate this one too. I fucking love this song. This almost seems in some ways like a novelty song. It's not at all because it's

fucking heartbreaking. I love this song. I love this artist. some ways like a novelty song it's not at all because it's fucking heartbreaking i love this song i love this artist this artist was like fucking messed up too it's a theme um let's hear it our little boy is four years old And quite a little man So we spell out the words we don't want him to understand like T-O-Y or maybe S-U-R-E-R-I-S-E but the words we're hiding from him now

tear the heart right out of me our D-I-V-O-R-C-E Kim. Kim. What? Why are you making me cry over here? I know. away I love you both and this will be pure why are you making me cry over here I know it's it's a tearjerker

this is a Tammy Wynette the song Divorce or spelled out D-I-V-O-R-C-E fourth and final number one country hit in Canada and the U.S. of my choices. Song about

divorce. Just the concept spelling out divorce. So like your little kid, little Joey. Well, you're divorced, right? Yeah. But I'm divorced as well, but I'm also the product of divorce. It's it's both ways.

Yeah. I mean, it fucking sucks. Like, it's a shitty topic in this song, even though it's not really like a downtrodden. It's sort of like a bouncy song, but oh my God, like the subject matter is just like brutal. But this is, you know, again, we get back. A lot of the country music is just about the saddest stuff and like failed relationships and addiction and death and all these other things like these are these are not light subject matters on the song. And I think Tammy Wynette was an expert on that. And is now a good time for you to share like the George Jones, Tammy Wynette dynamic?

Yeah, they were they were married um famously george jones i think was her okay let's let me see if i can get this right because they were both married a number of times so tammy wynette was married five times i believe george jones was her second husband from like 69 to 75. So this song was actually from 1968. This was between her first and second marriage, Tammy Wynette. Subsequently married three other times. Allegedly had a thing with Burt Reynolds in the 70s too, which is kind of interesting.

Who didn't? Who didn't exactly. Yeah, it was the 70s. This song's been covered a number of times i was getting a mind blow on a version by billy connelly of all people the scottish comedian yeah who's great he was in that uh head of the class right after um howard howard hessman left yeah and the boondog saints and all yes and other stuff. Yes, and he's very funny too. It was a really shitty version. It was about a dog going to the vet. Why this was comedy, I'm not sure.

There was also a version by Ben I think we heard on our Hardcore Punk episode, The Circle Jerks. Yes. Did a version from their 1983 album, Golden Shower of Hits. Definitely not country. And of course, I think Tammy also is one of the goats of the genre by far.

Her and George Jones are like the... Tammy Wynette is like she's like the baddest. She's a badass. I think Dolly Parton would probably even say that Tammy is the best, right? Yeah, Loretta Lynn's in the conversation too.. I mean, these are

some really strong, real kick-ass, really progressive ladies in their own way. Much better than Cam was going to play Where Have All the Cowboys Gone by Sean Colvin. Yeah, that's not country. That definitely would not be country.

Tammy Wynette faking her own kidnapping do we know about this allegedly sure allegedly yeah where she was allegedly kidnapped at gunpoint in the nashville shopping mall in 1978 claims the mask attacker physically assaulted her um what it actually was is the suspected she was actually being beaten by her husband her husband George Ritchie which is shitty Tammy went out also like had a lot of like addictions

like painkillers and stuff she actually had like 26 surgeries over the year for various ailments so a real tragic story a couple more fun facts none of these are fun this is just all like sad facts right this one's fun this is just all like sad facts right this this one's fun this is this actually be a new segment um mike we were deeming a bit about this

this is gonna be the northern lights force fit you had a couple of northern lights mentions on the retro ontario episode here's one for today in 1985 tammy winnett did a cover of dan hill's sometime when Touch, one of the great can-cone songs of the 70s. Dan Hill, of course, not just a member of Northern Lights, had a solo part in Northern Lights. Big deal. Big fucking deal. Did she ever do a cover of

I Wanna Bob With You, Baby? Yeah, that's the other Dan. Perhaps that was on the cutting room floor. I think that's the song that is going to stick with me throughout this episode. So you say you haven't thought about it in 35 years. Just because we're talking about Tammy Wynette,

one of her huge hits was Stand By Your Man. Stand by your man. Shout out to Laureline Lumpkin from The Simpsons who had Stand By Your Manager. Remember, that was the Tammy Wynette knockoff, if you will. Stand By Your Manager. was the Tammy Wynette knockoff, if you will.

Stand by your manager. Now, Tammy Wynette died in 1998. Give me something. Thank you. At the age of 55, she actually died of a blood clot, which is kind of a tough

way to go. Guess where she's buried? Park Lawn Cemetery. Um, guess where she's buried. Uh, park lawn cemetery. No, the aforementioned woodlawn ceremony. It's the ceremony. So cemetery,

I cannot talk today. How do we get Stu to stop using that? That's like when people die sound, that's the, that's the sound I play when we're talking about really funeral home. Gotcha. Oh, thateral Home. Gotcha. Oh, that's it. Okay.

That's fair. It's kind of the exorcist sound, right? Yeah. Now, she had a bit of a renaissance very briefly in the early 1990s. Somebody has already mentioned it. A song that was all over much music at the time and quite unexpectedly who did we see Steve Anthony and Eric M and Natalie Richard throwing to track

featuring none other than Tammy Wynette and Stu do you remember who was the band that Tammy Wynette guested with maybe if is it KLF? KLF right so let's hear that this isn't really mind blowing I'm sure everyone remembers this big fucking jam. All right. I'll use Soul Cyclist, let's put in a second here.

Come on, keep pushing. Five more, let's go. Bring the beat back. They're justified And they're ancient And they like to roam the land They're justified And they're ancient It's a banger.

It is a fucking banger. Like, it's aged really well, too. Oh, let me let Tammy finish here. Hold on. Oh, it holds up. And Cam, you remember a hundred years ago, you made a, like a fun fact. You Cam, you remember 100 years ago, you made a fun fact. You said, does anyone know what album from the early 90s opened with Kick Out the Jams, motherfucker?

Do you remember this? That's right. I own this. The White Room, I think it was called. I had the CD and it was a playthrough. I actually dug everything. Hey, let's go to Rockia. Yeah.

I mean, KLF is just such a fascinating band. This song was a huge hit top 10 in 18 countries here's one more final uh i'm gonna quiz stew here this song actually samples what i would consider a wrestling song it's kind of hard to tell and i had to listen to a bit but you can pick it out if you listen uh closely enough let me turn it up yeah not really this part but this next part i think Yeah, that's definitely like NWO Jimmy Hendrix. Exactly.

It's samples. Yeah, of course. That's Jimmy Hendrix, Voodoo Child's Slight Return, sampled in the song and obviously the theme song to Paul Cogan and Scott Hall. Two-Eyed Crew, My Seven Bizzos. There you go. So, I mean, Tammy Wynette, a surprise return to the charts in

the pre-Garage era. And totally brought this artist to people like me, who I would never have heard stand by your man or D-I-V-O-R-C-E. And then all of a sudden... I'll say a final comment, and I don't know if this is true.

Her appearing on this track reminded me a lot of Dusty Springfield appearing on Pet Shop Boys. Yes. Yes. I feel like I thought it was the same person when I was like young and I didn't really know much. They are the same deal. Now you're just old and don't really know much. And that.

And that. Well, we got to go, guys. We have 29 minutes here. Let's keep rocking. Absolutely. Bring the beat back. Okay, so yeah, I agree with you. I think that this brought Tammy Wynette to a different, younger audience

the same way that we were introduced to Dusty Springfield because of her cameo on the episode. I kind of disagree with that, to be honest. Go ahead, because Cam and I can't be wrong. Well, you certainly can. You're wrong every single fucking week on this show. I will say, I think that Tammy Wynette in this song is more of like, if you don't know that, you didn't know that.

It wasn't, I don't think that kids were walking around bumping Tammy Wynette because they heard her on this song. I think they probably didn't even realize it was Tammy Wynette. I don't, maybe I'm wrong. But when they talk to Tammy Wynette, because they heard her on this song. I think they probably didn't even realize it was Tammy Wynette. I don't. Maybe I'm wrong. But when they talked to Tammy Wynette on Much Music, which is where I got a lot of my info back then, then we would learn. Then they would tell you. They would literally play some fucking Stand By Your Man, and you'd be like, oh, shit.

This is a country star. Yeah, maybe. Maybe so. Maybe so. I'll give it to you. I mean, you're going to have to give it to me when I play my number one song, so I guess I'll give this to you. Right. Yes, right, right, right, right.

Is this the mind? Let me get out of the mind blow here. Well done. It's my final jam. I don't think there's a lot of surprise going on here. Are you ready for my final jam? Sure. Is Cam still here, or did he go watch the pregame show?

No, is my internet down? No, no, I can hear you perfectly. Here we go. Here we go. Everyone considered him a coward of the county He'd never stood one single time to prove the county wrong His mama named him Tommy, but folks just called him Yellow Something always told me they were reading Tommy wrong

He was only ten years old when he died in prison I looked at him because he was my brother's son I still recall the final words my brother said to Tommy Son, my life is over, but yours has just begun Promise me, son, not to do the things I've done Walk away from trouble if you can It won't mean you're weak if you turn the other cheek. I hope you're old enough to understand.

Son, you don't have to fight to be a man. Another great story. I love these stories. Oh, my goodness. Where do I begin? Where do I begin? You're kind of sandbagging me, but go ahead. Yeah, but I pick my jams first.

Anyway, hold your fire, Stuart. Okay, Coward of the County by Kenny Rogers. Okay, this came out in 1979, November 1979, the second single from his multi-platinum album, Kenny. Now, I've talked so often, I'm not going to repeat myself. If you want to go into the Toronto Mike feed, there's a short little bonus episode,

no number, it just says for Kenny. And it's basically me phoning my mom to tell her Kenny Rogers passed away. And I get very emotional even talking about this right now. I'm trying to hold it together. But there was one album my mom played over and over and over again.

It's like the only album I remember my mom ever playing. It was the greatest hits of Kenny Rogers. And this song was on it. This is like 1982, I want to say. This song was on it. And I knew all the Kenny Rogers songs from that album. And I really enjoyed them because it was like all I had as a young boy. And love this song.

Love the story. This song was not written by kenny rogers it was written by a couple of guys named roger bowling and billy ed wheeler and roger bowling is going to come up in a moment but let me just tell you another crossover hit like this song went to number one on the country charts but it went all the way to number three on the billboard hot 100 and what year is it from 1979 okay late 1979 though so it leaks into 1980 but this is another great story like a lot of these country songs are just great stories and this is like that it's got that moment when the when tommy beats the shit out of those three gatlin boys like who doesn't feel it? Fucking right. Tommy locks the fucking

door and just pummels these Gatlin boys. Savage beat them. Yeah, sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man. And this fucking story, I always remember it. Here's a fun story, a little interesting story anyways. So, the Gatlin boys, right?

A lot of people thought we were... Oh, it must be about the Gatlin brothers like that can't be a coincidence i'm here to tell you i've done my homework did my research it's not a fucking coincidence roger bowling and larry gatlin had this incident at the grand old opry i have a quote here uh from bowling talking about it he says uh actually it's larry gatlin talking about it. He says, actually, it's Larry Gatlin talking about it. So Larry Gatlin telling the story. He said, fuck you, Gatlin. I said, what?

He said, fuck you. I said, let me tell you something, Hoss. If we weren't in the Grand Ole Opry house dressed up in tuxedos, I would just open a boot shop in your ass oh the them fighting words i once had i once said those exact words to cam but larry gatlin doesn't know why roger bowling had this personal hate on for him he actually doesn't know what triggered this it's not like he slept with his girl or something like that but there was this incident at the grand ole opry

and shortly thereafter this fucking song comes out that Roger Bowling wrote the lyrics to, and it talks about the Gatlin boys. And those Gatlin boys, I mean, they raped Tommy's girl. This is some serious shit going down. That's why Tommy beats the shit out of them. They literally gang rape her. You guys listen to this fucking story in The Coward of the County.

Wow. Young Mike's mind is fucking blowing by this story, but because I'm now rushing, cause I see it's 707. I want to blow your mind. Uh, and then we can talk more Kenny, maybe when, when, when Stu kicks out his final jam, but this song I only discovered last week, there's this dance hall reggae song from sister Nancy. You probably know that name because she's so prominent in Jamaican dance hall. But in 1982, Sister Nancy puts out an album called One Two.

And she puts out this version of that song. And it's a fucking mind blow because when you listen to the song, you're going to hear some Coward of the County in it, although she calls it Coward of the Country. You're going to hear some fucking Banana Boat song. You're going to hear In the Ghetto. It's just fucking ridiculous.

So I'm going to play it for you right now. So prick up your ears and enjoy Coward of the Country by Sister Nancy. You think I'm a baller roller? And I just want to see the microphone. You know? Do it! Tell me I can start the baller roller. Sister, I can start the baller roller.

Tell me I can start the baller roller. I told my God I can start the baller roller. Tell me I can ride to, why too that the Rocky Road Why too, why too that the Rocky Road Sing Charlie Marley Charlie Why too, why too

that the Rocky Road Why too, why too that the Rocky Road Sing Charlie Marley Charlie And he said I was only ten When his father died in prison

I was his auntie, his mother, bigger sister, old man His daddy said, bro, miss me son Never to do the things your daddy done Walk away from trouble if you can You turn the if down, me the way If you turn, the other cheek I warned you this thing gets better even like I won't, I know we don't have time for it now, but go dig it up. The crazy part about that song is that she's like singing in a different key

than the rest of the music. Like she is not singing in tune at all and it's still so dope. But it's a completely different key than the music. So shout out to Sister Nancy, my great find of the week. Coward of the Country is what you want

from Sister Nancy. Sister Nancy is not fucking around with this. She's just singing her own fucking she's in her own key. Stu, set up your final jam. I just want to mention the tragedy that took place today. Those that don't know

the tragedy of... There's a long list of artists that got Hanson on a country music episode. Tim McGraw. Blake Shelton. Johnny Cash. Did we hear any Johnny Cash? No.

No. No. Luke Bryan. Are you out? No. The original Kenny. Kenny Chesney. Right.

I don't think that's the original. That's right. Paul Dean. Brad Paisley. Toby Keith. Stop. Chris Stapleton, Miranda Lambert. Shania Twain was not played. Or Hank Williams.

How about Hank Williams Jr.? Randy Travis. How about Terry Clark? Vince Gill. Boy Rodeo! Dierks Bentley. The Zac Brown Band. Casey Musgraves, Little Big Town,

the Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill, Patsy fucking Klein. The Reclos. Which is the walkers backwards, by the way. I should show you, though, where our heart lies because there's one artist that's going to be played for a second time. Wow.

And that shows you how important this artist was to the genre, not only because of his amazing voice and his amazing roasted chicken, but this has a plethora. But wait, Mike, hold on. Oh, I thought you wanted. OK. Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba. OK. I would have.

My favorite song by this guy is actually we're talking about Kenny Rogers, obviously. Kenny fucking Rogers. My favorite song by this guy is actually we're talking about kenny rogers obviously kenny fucking rogers my favorite song by kenny rogers is the gambler and that's not because i'm a hack it's because it speaks to me you know i love it i think it's a great song and has you know it's kind of cheesy in some ways but it does have like a cool sort of uh message like a life sort of lesson in that you can pull out of that they use use poker sort of as a metaphor for how to live your life. I think it's also FOTM Bob Ouellette's song, too, The Gambler. What a jam. What a jam. And of course,

Island's, you know, him and Dolly's song. We love that song so much. I could have gone that way. But I wanted to piss some people off in my victory lap. I wanted to piss some people off in my victory lap. So right to piss some people off in my victory lap so right now you're going to hear a kenny rogers song that was the number one country song number

one number one country song okay number one number one country song you get this you get you get what i'm saying also number one on the billboard hot 100 That might be the most successful Kenny Rogers song ever. Might be. I'd have to have somebody do the math on this. But I don't know if he has another song that went to the Billboard Hot 100 number one and number one on... I think it went to number one on four different charts. It's a big fucking jam. And it was on that greatest hits that I heard a hundred times.

So I know it and I love it. Let we go i thought this was gonna be we are the world because he was he was in usa And I love you. Whoa, major flashback. You have made me what I am. And I am yours. My love. There's so many ways I want to say I love you. Let me hold you in my arms forevermore. You have gone and made me such a fool I'm so lost in your love

And oh, we belong together Won't you believe in my song? Wow. Kenny Rogers, Lady, could be the most successful country song, period. It might be. It might be because it's like maybe Old Town Road. What song has had more of a prolific effect and crossed over in so many different ways? And also, Kenny's vocals on this track. Now, being a music expert that I am, it didn't take me long to sort of hear that song.

I guess it was last summer. I was sitting with my brother-in-law, not Adam Rodness, my other brother-in-law not adam rodness my other brother-in-law and we started sometimes get together and just ping pong music back and forth and i remember him playing this song and i hadn't heard this song in a long time it's not on my heavy rotation by any stretch but i know the song obviously very well and i heard it and i was like you know what that this doesn't sound like a Kenny Rogers song. The way that his vocals are, the way that he's sort of hitting certain notes and nuances. This does not sound like Kenny Rogers.

He's like, well, who does it sound like? And I'm like, you know what? I'm going to look this up. I bet you. I bet you that blank blank wrote this song. And he's like, no way. And then I looked it up. And sure enough, I mean, it's not really a mind blow.

It's so obvious. But I'd like to play the mind blow to blow Cam's like, no way. And then I looked it up and sure enough, I mean, it's not really a mind blow. It's so obvious. But I'd like to play the mind blow to blow Cam's mind, maybe. Lady I'm your knight In shining armor And I love you You have made me What I am And

I'm yours And you can hear Kenny's, like, Kenny just totally just did what he did on the demo, you know what I mean? He just embodied, like, totally just embodied. There's, like, line origin. Listen to the next part. It's so, like, when he gets to the chorus,

it just sounds exactly like Kenny. Let me hold you in my arms, oh evermore Let me hold you in my arms forevermore. You have gone and made me such a fool. I'm so lost in your love And oh girl We've been long together

You can go listen to this on their own channel. Just to clarify something, this song was written for Kenny. Yeah, by Lionel Richie. Oh yeah, of course. I want to make sure to clarify something that this is not a, like this song was written for Kenny. Yeah. By Lionel Richie. Oh yeah, of course. Yeah. But the demo would have been Lionel Richie singing on it and you would have,

Kenny would have heard that and then he would have laid down his vocals. I thought you were suggesting that this was a cover. Like, okay. You could clearly hear that this is a Lionel Richie song. Like you can clearly hear that this is a Lionel Richie song. It's interesting can clearly hear that this is a Lionel Richie song. It's interesting because Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers have a lot in common,

being that they were both sort of came from groups. Right. And they both were, people didn't think that they could succeed on their own. And Kenny was in a very successful group. And then Lionel and Kenny kind of teamed up on this song

and it launched Liona richie's career as a songwriter uh and people started taking him seriously and uh of course kenny has his biggest hit as a solo artist you know he had a lot of songs on the chart prior but this song of course was a big song a lot of people made love to this song a lot of children were were were probably conceived to this song. Conceived. So, yeah, I just want to shout out Kenny Rogers. Rest in peace. And I want to shout out Lionel Richie because Lionel Richie is the fucking man.

And, of course, we are the world. Kenny and Lionel got back together again there. Yes. But, you know, Kenny, not a songwriter, but one of these guys that really could sing a song really well. You know, Barry Manilow, maybe. Last week I closed with Barry Manilow, who's another guy who's not really a songwriter, more of a singer. But Kenny, different ballgame. Really, really profound guy.

And I guess it took me to get older. It's that goat's cheese theory. To be a little bit older, to sort of appreciate some of these types of songs it was really great diving into country music i love the genre just love it we don't believe you but it was really great it was a nice win for me and uh i thought that uh we did pretty good shout out to yyz gourd yyz Gord says that I picked the better Kenny song. I like this guy. Totally agree. But if I would have picked Mike's Kenny song, I wouldn't have been able to

have a Lionel Richie mind blow. I have to say that I will just, because it's a fun fact, I think. So Kenny records his lady in 1980 because Lionel Richie writes it for him after the Commodores or whatever. And then Lionel Richie doesn't record his lady that we're listening to right now until 1998. So there was a good

18 years difference between the two. You can hear Kenny's version and it just sounds like Lionel Richie and that's what clued me in. I heard it and I was like this sounds like a Lionel Richie song. And then my brother-in-law was like, no way. And then I looked it up and it's like, of course it's Lionel Richie. I think that was like

all over the cover of this album cover that I used to see all the time in the early 80s. I think it's like of course it's lionel richie i think that was like all over the cover of this piece this this album cover that i used to see all the time in the early 80s i think it was like includes lionel richie's lady or something like that like i think they use that to promote it but honestly i love lady what what are you saying there my friend cam well i was gonna say it i hate to like do this again is that a country song? Sure is. Kenny's version is. That's for sure. Oh, should I stop the music? Stop the rock and roll?

Just throwing it out there. Just throwing it out there. Oh, it's definitely... I mean, I can tell you where it charted. Not much. Not much. Not much twang, but okay. There's twang.

Go back to the Kenny version. There's twang. There's no twang. I would say Kenny Rogers' Lady. I think I hear some country in Kenny Rogers' Lady, but I don't hear any country and Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias is uh again my ears might not be working I'm not a musician I don't have that ability those broken uh headphones I gotta pick them up actually

street could hear it so I don't know oh that was uncalled for guys the country music episode of pandemic Friday on Toronto mics was I loved it I don't it was pretty did. Oh, that was uncalled for. Guys, the country music episode of Pandemic Friday on Toronto Mics was... I loved it. I don't... It was pretty good. I'm sure... Died in the barn. Love it.

I loved it. Go ahead. We should have played the good old hockey game to wrap it up. Rare episode with no canton, I think. Well, let me check the... We alluded to Dan... Right. Spivey. Dan. We alluded to Dan Hill.

The Pandemic Fridays or Northern Lights force fit. I'm reviewing the tape and there was zero CanCon in this episode. Interesting. Maybe next week we'll have to have a CanCon only episode to celebrate Canada. Well, we'll definitely consider that. I would love that. Final, before I do the end that, prediction for this Leafs Canadian series that literally the puck will drop in like 15 minutes. What's your prediction?

It's a best of five or seven? Seven. I'd like to see the Leafs get out of the first round and it would be really nice to see them beat the Canadians. That said, usually, you know, it's sports. You still got to play the game on the ice, and the Habs, anything can happen in a seven-game series. The Habs could win.

Let's hope that doesn't happen, because we're Toronto Maple Leafs fans. Is there a prediction in there somewhere? Yeah. I think the Leafs can win the Stanley Cup this year, if all things go well. I'll say the Leafs start somewhere. Leafs in six. I say Leafs can win the Stanley Cup this year if all things go well I'll start somewhere Leafs in six

I say Leafs in five Well then I'll just say Leafs in four Okay my son Jarvis thinks Leafs in three so there you go Con man there you go Add a boy Jarvis Shout out to Conway Twitty and the Hillbilly Jim

Uncle Elmer And that And that. Whoa. And that. Do you have a photo to take, Kim? Yeah, after this. And that. And let me finish this spiel here, and then we're definitely going to do a photo.

And that. And by the way, can I just say one quick thing? Real quick. This is not comedy. I'm going to be serious here. Hoping for peace in the Middle East. I want to put that out there. I know we didn't touch upon that.

That's sort of like people don't like to talk about that. But I just want to point out that I hope for peace over there because this is not a good thing that's going on for either side. So peace. That's my message of peace right there. And that brings us to the end of our 853rd show And that

You can follow me on Twitter, I'm at Toronto Mike Stu is at Stu Stone Oh he is Cam is at Cam underscore Gordon Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer Palma Pasta, they're at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U.

Ridley Funeral Home, they're at Ridley FH. And Mimico Mike, he kicked out the jams last weekend. He kicked ass. He took names. He's at Majeski Group Homes on Instagram. See you all. He's driving around with like a bang bus, right? Yes, he's got the whole van set up. It's wild. See you all. He's driving around with like a bang bus, right? Yes, he's got the whole van set up.

It's wild. See you all next week. This podcast has been produced by TMDS and accelerated by Roam Phone. Roam Phone brings you the most reliable virtual phone service to run your business and protect your home number from unwanted calls. Visit RoamPhone.ca to get started. Thank you.