Justin Andrews: Chasing Dreams & Changing Lives | Justin Andrews DSH #1338

Losing grasp of just great people, you know, and treat somebody like you want to be treated, you know, and you hear people talking to people and in a tone. And I'm like, man, I don't know if you even noticed that you spoke to that person that way.
Yeah. You know, it's just like you would.
Why would you speak to somebody that way? You know, and life is beautiful and people are beautiful. So treat it that way.
Absolutely. all right guys justin andrews country artists up and coming and about to make his uh his name known i think soon thanks for coming on man absolutely it's my pleasure thanks for having yeah you've been traveling a lot lately huh yeah i've been been moving here and there and and you know trying to make the dream happen like everybody else and i mean honestly it's it's been an exciting

start to the year so far we got a lot going and and you know looking forward to all the the shows we're going to do and i mean it's just to me it's you know growing up middle of nowhere you never thought you'd be where you're at right now yeah must be a big change for you huh it is yeah i mean i grew up in a little in a little small town and you know there was 16 in my graduating high school class.

What?

Yeah.

That was the size

of like my gym class.

Yeah.

Yeah, there was.

Well, I think there was

a lot of a little in a little small town and you know there was 16 in my graduating high school class what yeah that was the size of like my gym class yeah yeah there was well I think there was supposed to be 22 but some some of them didn't quite okay six of them didn't make it yeah so but yeah I mean it's just just trying to make it happen I mean I don't sometimes you you think about it in your brain you're like man I don't know how to make this work but but I'm just going to keep doing it and see what happens. Did you always have these big dreams, even when you were young like that in high school? Man, honestly, I always wanted to be a musician.
I knew that. My grandparents raised me when they were in their 50s and they had a traveling gospel band.
And so, you know, it was it was more like, you know, them them saying, Hey, you know, get up and sing a song, you know, me and my sister. And, and then it kind of turned into, I was watching, uh, movies with George Strait in it and stuff like that.
And then I kind of got that hunger to where I was like, man, I want to be George Strait. I love it.
Wow. Traveling gospel band.
First time I've heard that. Yeah.
It was, we would go to, go to to go to different churches and and just you know my aunts and my uncles and my dad would play a little guitar my cousin and all that and i don't know it was just i think it was just more of something to do and meeting people that were like you and you know yeah so something about church music makes your body feel good you know i'm not even like religious or anything but like just the energy from that type of music well i mean our church you know it was hooping and hollering and jumping up and down and running and all that you know it was pretty it's pretty active but i mean looking back at it now i mean i don't know why i mean i know why i love music and the reason why anybody loves anything is because that's what you like and it don't really matter if anybody else likes it or not.

Right.

But looking back at it now, I mean, we traveled to a lot of churches, did a lot of shows and, you know, playing with other people and meeting people and just enjoying ourselves and experiencing other cultures, really.

Because, I mean, we'd go to any church.

It didn't matter if it fell into, you know, our exact style of religion or whatever religion or whatever you know we just it was more so just meeting people I think and wow enjoying people so it didn't matter what branch of religion it was I mean it was all I mean we do like baptists and we do free will we do holiness and stuff like that but it was all for the same purpose you know and because everything kind of went hand in hand I guess that's That's why I love music. It kind of and food like those two things, like bring people together.
It doesn't matter what walk of life, you know, it's powerful. I don't know if there's anything makes me more happier than food.
They're talking the right guy about this. I'm up and it's weird because I'm a I'm a foodie.
Yeah. And I like everything like there's really not anything that I don't like.
Yeah, I like pretty much everything there. There is a tier list for me, but yeah, most food is really good.
So what is your favorite thing you've discovered here recently? Oh, in Vegas or just overall? Just anywhere. I didn't eat pho.
Have you tried pho? I have. I didn't eat that for like my whole life.
I just had some last night, some short rib pho. Oh my God.
That's what I had. I had that about two weeks ago.
Fire, right? yeah so good um i didn't really eat indian growing up indian food smacks oh yeah like some good curry i mean i i don't really like too spicy yeah and and so it's it's like kind of right there in the sweet spot for me it's that balance yeah sometimes it's way too spicy yeah and you're you're screwed for the rest of the night, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah.
You gotta be careful with certain,

100%.

Certain Indian curries are,

oh my God.

Well,

I mean,

I'd never tried it when I first moved to Nashville.

There was a restaurant and,

and I was working for this gentleman and,

and it was pretty much like,

um,

fire,

you know,

restoration for businesses and all that stuff.

And,

you know,

repairing sheet rock and doing all that stuff.

And we had to go in and we had to work on this, on this Indian restaurant. And, uh, I really was, was curious because like, when you walk into those places and you like, you know, loving food, you walk into a place and you just, and you smell and you're like, I wonder what that is, you know, and it was, it was specific.
And, and I had never tried Indian food before. And then after that, I wanted to, I was like, I want it.
Cause I want my nose and my tongue to match what's going on here, you know? And after I did, I loved it. Let's go.
Being in Nashville, where do you, where do you rank Southern food? You got that pretty high on your list. Yeah.
Um, I, I, I think I'm not really a hot chicken fan and that's kind of Nashville's thing. And, but I love chicken.
I love, you know, breaded, grilled, whatever doesn't really matter. But I mean, I think, you know, just steak and potatoes and, you know.
Yeah. Asparagus and things like that is probably about as good as it gets for me, a good steak.
Yeah, I'm with you.

Southern food I like.

Like, it's not a daily thing, though.

No.

Because it's so heavy.

Right.

So I'll eat it maybe once a week or whatever.

But daily, it'd be tough to live off Southern diet daily.

Yeah.

I mean, I'd probably be 30 pounds heavier.

And I don't know how.

And that's so true because I don't know how I've managed to stay as small as I am.

Because, I mean, in an old normal you know normal scene you would be 500 pounds and just just because I mean but I eat like a bird though like I will eat a little bit here eat a little bit because you're so busy right eat a little bit there and you know just last week I told my lady I was I was like you know how how have i went till three o'clock p.m and just realizing

that i haven't ate today yeah yeah you're so locked in right yeah that happens to me i'll be just filming non-stop or working on preparation for the guests and it'll be like 2 p.m i'm like i didn't eat yet today yeah yeah that's a good point man sounds like you're working hard i've been really big into like yogurt parfaits here recently oh i like yogurt greek yogurt just chop up some apples chop up some some raspberries some blueberries and grapes and put them all in there and drizzle it with honey and put some smoked almonds on that sounds good smoked almonds wow yeah i love me some fresh fruit i'm a big fruit guy growing up in new jersey oh yeah known as the garden state man got some good fruit out there but now i'm in vegas dude well i mean i'm in the desert i don't hardly eat at all when i'm in vegas and that's horrible because because i mean there's all all the fast food places then you have the really nice restaurants where you want to go sit with your chefs and all that stuff and michelin stars and all this but i never find myself eating at a lot of those because i'm like i need to get from point a to point b and that would require me to leave the casino to go do that. Right.
You know. So you'll settle with In-N-Out.
Oh, yeah. I mean, at some point, you know, you're having alcoholic drinks and then you really don't care what you eat.
Yeah. You know.
In-N-Out slaps. I mean, I'll eat it sober.
Like, it's really good. Well, my lady's from California and that's her.
That's her go-to. Yeah.
She loves it. Every time we go somewhere and there's an's an in and out, she has to go straight through to go do that.
Yeah. There's none on the East Coast, right? No.
Yeah. Nashville, Hattie B's.
That's what they're known for. Hattie B's.
We just recently got a Whataburger. Okay.
And Whataburger is my favorite. Really? Yeah.
Wow. I got to try it then.
They've got an avocado bacon burger. Love avocados.
Amazing. And I'm not a big avocado guy.
So I guess it's just, I think my palate is just weird. Like it likes, you know, different combinations of things.
Okay. What about guacamole? I like, well, so the weird thing about it is, and this is so strange and I've been to the doctor about this and everything.
If it touches the outside of my lips, my lips will swell up. But if it doesn't touch the outside of my lips, I can still eat it.
That's crazy. And it makes nothing.
What? So only your lip is infected? Only my lips. It'll swell up noticeably.
Whoa. I've never heard of that.
And it's just with avocados. Avocados.
Wow. That is interesting, man.
Yeah. Yeah.
I'm not allergic to anything that I know of. I didn't think I was either mean i can eat anything i mean i don't really even get sick like that's impressive because you travel a lot yeah i mean a lot of people get sick at that travel a lot i've never i've never had the flu i've never had a flu shot i never got covid i'm gonna knock on wood for you because i never i never got covid you know thanks that's insane i got it four times i mean And so i got a call from from my band leader one day and and he goes hey man you feeling sick and i was like i was like no not really why and he goes well i said i've just been on the phone with everybody today and the whole band has covid wow and he goes so just go get checked and you know because some of know, have no symptoms.
You know, you don't even know that you have it.

Yeah.

And so I went and got a COVID test, you know, and they shoved that thing into my brain.

It felt like.

For real.

And, and so tested negative and I was around the band the whole weekend.

And so I was like, I was like, okay, well that was weird.

Maybe just, just some freak thing happened.

Well, then I was in circles with people, you know, because then they'd be like, hey man, tested positive today, you know, just make sure y'all good because we were around each other and all this stuff still never got it. That's insane.
So I have no idea. Your immune system is just amazing.
Were you sick a lot early on? Like as a kid? No, I, uh, so my grandfather, he, uh, he had this metal shop and we would travel a lot and deliver metals and they would make like playground equipment out of it. Yeah.
And so we would go to Dallas a lot. And right before leaving Dallas, we would always hit the fruit market and we would load up, we would unload the truck, you know, when we were delivering the metal.
And then we would load up the back of the truck since it was empty with all kinds of fruits and veggies like that. like when i was growing up you never seen me without an orange or an apple or a pear wow you know grapefruit or whatever like i always had something in my hand that was fruit or veggie and so i think that has to have something to do with it must be and you are washing it you were just eating it right yeah that probably built your immune system because it's whatever's on there you're just eating it i mean i don't know what was on it but but i never noticed it when i was eating it i don't guess damn dude that's impressive there's a nasty flu going on right now i heard about so many people i know are getting and they're saying it's like the worst like the most sick they've ever been so i'm kind of worried but well my i'm worried about getting the flu just because like my my aunt kind of spooked me a little bit because she's a teacher.
And so they have to get a flu shot every year. And she was like, I'm just kind of scared that if you ever do get the flu, that it's just going to be really bad.
And I was like, Hey, don't put that on me. I was like, don't try to scare me like that.
It could get bad, man. I had a COVID and then that turned to pneumonia and yeah, I did get some strong antibiotics.
I still have some damage from that in my lungs really yeah i got an mri my lung has a what's it called a tear in it no really from coughing so hard yeah coughing up a lung is what they say i literally almost did that oh my god and that would suck for someone like you you need your lungs man it's you you never realize you know and i never realized it until you know like after you have like because i'll get like really bad allergies you know or a small case of you know an upper respiratory infection like either in the spring or the fall of every year and it's not anything major but you never notice like how much you're using your lungs until you get like a small sickness yeah Yeah. And then you're on stage and you're singing and you know that like a quarter of your air is gone.
Wow. It's not noticeable.
Oh yeah. From a little cold.
Yeah. And just having like a stuffy nose or whatever, you know, when you're up there singing, you can tell how like one side of your nose clogged up, how much the notes change.
That and it's just so weird because like one one day this nostril will be stopped up and then the next day this nostril will be stopped and so like it's it's it's weird how it affects you i get amazed when i see performers on stage not only singing but dancing while they're singing oh because you got to be like your lungs have to be in great shape for that i really don don't know. And going back to the 90s, watching Garth Brooks do his thing, you know, running back and forth on stage.
And while he's singing these notes, you can tell that he's, and I'm like, dude, I stand up there and sing and I move around and I entertain and I do all this stuff. But I don't know if I could ever have done that.
You got to be built different. Like Michael Jackson, Chris Brown.
Absolutely. They are literally doing a full workout.
Justin Timberlake. Yeah.
All these guys. Full workout while singing.
Have you ever seen Justin Timberlake in a concert? I saw him at the Super Bowl. Do you see that one? Super Bowl.
Yeah, that was impressive. Yeah, Super Bowl concerts are like my favorite to watch.
I've never been to a Super Bowl. What? I really want to.
Never been to one. Damn, you got to go.
Well, it might be too late, but New Orleans next week. That would be a little too last minute.
Yeah, your calendar is probably booked for the year at this point. Well, I mean, honestly, we're just trying to do all we can, you know, and honestly, I really would just love to just be on the road.
And this is, I mean, everybody would be like, oh, I bet you would. But I invest in people.
I love people. And when people see an artist, an up-and-coming artist, they're like, oh, he just wants to be the next thing.
Well, everybody wants to be the next thing. But my purpose and my reason for why I do what I do, I left a great job for 10 years to just chase a dream.
Right. And I enjoy people and people make me happy.

You know, like when

when we can share stories

about food or, you know,

like I really enjoy people.

And so that is why

I would love to be out

in the world

and doing these things

because people make me happy.

Yeah.

You know, and music makes me happy

and food or whatever

that people vibe with. I'm like, man, just do what you love and damn everything else.
Facts. I love that living, man.
I love that. What was your job? You said you had a 10-year job? Yeah.
So when I graduated high school and all of my friends were going to college and people were going to the military and all this stuff, and I was like, man, I really don't know what I want to do. And my older brother was working for this company in Yukon, Oklahoma.
And I was like, man, do I want to do that? I really don't. I mean, and I knew, I was like, man, I really don't want to go to college.
And I had great grades and everything like that. And I was like, I don't really want to go to college.
And everybody's going to OU, Oklahoma State, you know, going down to Texas and doing all this stuff. And I just had to talk with myself in the truck one day.
And I was like, I know you don't want to go to college, so don't go to college. And so my brother was working for this company and I was like, do they need any help? And he was like, yeah, they'll always hire people.
So I was the gopher guy, you know, go get this, go get that, you know, go get this, go get that. And, and then we started working for another company that was doing the same thing, but I did that for 10 years.
And, you know, it was like 290 days out of the year. Dad, I mean, you made, you made great money, but I mean, and then when you were off, you bought a brand new truck or you bought a boat or you bought a motorcycle.
And so where everybody, where I'm from is making all this great money, but they're broke because when they're off, you know, you work hard and you play even harder. Yeah, they spend it all.
And, but, you know, I mean, I made a lot of, everything's heavy, you know, somebody was asking me the other day, they was like, did you do anything like that Landman show? And I was like, I did a lot of things like that, like every day. It's a hard physical labor.
Seeing people get injured and some people losing their life and all this. I mean, I did it for that long, you know, and every single day is hard work, but like it's, everything's heavy.
Yeah. I respect people like that and construction workers and stuff.
That shit ain't easy, man. Physical labor, you can't catch me doing that personally, but I respect those guys for sure.
I mean, it's, that's how the world was. They're the United States, all these other countries, you know what I mean? You have the people that, that will do the stuff that you don't want to do.
Yeah, absolutely. And a lot of it, they get paid that good because it sucks.
No, it sucks. But listen, plumbers are making $150K a year, but it's needed, man.

Toilets clogged and people need skilled people like that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's cool, dude.

Where are you performing next?

I think we're doing Isla Mujeres in Mexico next.

Wow.

Mexico.

Mm-hmm.

So country's big out there?

Well, there's a lot of festivals that go on around the country and around the world and stuff like that. I mean, I was talking to a gentleman the other day about going to Denmark.
Mm-hmm. And they're a big country music loving family over there.
But we're doing Mexico. We're doing Fremont Street in Vegas.
That's going to do well there. In March, we're doing, I think we're going down to do Monday after the Masters.
I think we're doing that. But we're just trying our best to get out there in the world and just hoping people love it and hoping people love it as much as I do.
Yeah. Country's blowing up, man.
It's amazing. Great timing for you too.
It's amazing to me. I mean, I've never seen more cowboy hats and boots.
For real. You know.
Like even at the inauguration, I don't want to get too political, but like country was there. It was everywhere.
Yeah. The artists they hired, most of them were country.
Yeah. And it's, I love seeing it because I mean, I grew up in those little shithole honky tonks, you know, where, you know, you breathe 72 packs of cigarettes while you're in there, in there dancing around and you start to go into these bars, even, even not in Nashville and Oklahoma.
And I go to these bars and people are two-stepping, spinning each other around and doing all this stuff. And I'm like, what is going on? You know? And, and, and it's just, it's screaming back to how I grew up and, and it's, it's exciting to me.
Yeah, it is. There's even country bars coming to Vegas now.
Yeah. Aldean's bringing his bar, I believe.
Yeah, I saw that. Yeah.
And it makes my heart smile because it brings me back, where everybody grew up, that's their favorite place for the most part. And everybody loves where they grew up and everybody, but it makes my heart smile because it reminds me of home seeing what people are doing now in different places.
Yeah. Because you grew up in a real small town, so you were probably super tight with everyone.
Oh yeah. Everybody knew everything about you and stuff you didn't want people knowing about you and everything else.
It's good and bad, right? Yeah. I'm on the opposite.
My class had 820. Oh wow.
Yeah. It was huge.
But I had cousins in Pennsylvania, you know, 50 people. Yeah.
And they were tight with each other. And I would go there and play dodgeball and whatever, and it'd be fun, dude.
I worked in Pennsylvania for a little while in like Scranton area and stuff like that. And it reminded me a lot of home.
I could see that. Yeah, because it's a lot of family values.
It's a little prettier, greener, you know, but Oklahoma's flat and you can watch your dog run off for two weeks yeah you know and just but i like pennsylvania yeah shout out to pa um shout out to quakerstown pennsylvania yeah small little town up there but man you got acres of land you got farm animals you got a tight community sometimes you could live a very happy life not making that much i realized man people don't realize and i never knew when i was growing up i never knew that we were broke like i mean you you say if somebody drew you know you know somebody come down the road and they had a brand new truck you're like dang that guy's got a brand new truck right you know and he must be making a bunch of money and all this stuff and And I never knew until this moment that we were broke until I went over to my grandmother, like sheltered me a lot, wouldn't let me go out. You know, I was the baby boy.
Yeah. And so she would never let me go out and do anything or, you know, on my prom night, my senior year, I had to be home at 11 o'clock.
You know, I mean, it's one of those things. But I never knew that we were broke until my grandmother finally let me go stay at my friend Aaron's house.

And he had a TV in his bedroom.

And I was like, damn, y'all rich?

Because I didn't have a TV in my bed.

We had one TV in the whole house.

Wow.

You know, and so that's when, but we never knew it.

We didn't care.

You know, we weren't starving to death. We had everything that we needed.
You know, we had clothes, we had shoes, we had food. And, you know, just grew up on a little farm and, you know, broke was good enough for us, I guess.
You know what I mean? Yeah. That's one of the side effects, I think, of social media.
Now everyone compares their life to other people's lives. Yeah.
So, you know, if you're broke, basically. Yeah.
But back then you could grow up and realize, oh,, oh, this is my life. Well, I mean, it was as simple as if we had steak one night of the week or something like that.
We were set. We're like, man, that was great.
That's awesome. You didn't worry about anything else.
Did you know your grandparents were strict at the time or you didn't know until later? I didn't realize it. Wow.
You know, because I mean, I knew, I knew that, you know, they were trying to keep us on the path of, of just, and it wasn't really extremely religious and it wasn't, you know, anything else. It was just, they're, they're trying to make you a good person, you know, and I didn't realize it at the time because, you know, there was a lot of scoldings and there was a lot of all this, you know, like every parent would do, you know.
But I'm glad of that because it made me and built me into the person I am. Yeah.
You know, and I think, you know, probably shouldn't say this, but I think more kids need more ass with themselves through these days. You know, because, I mean, when you go to restaurants or you go somewhere, you know, to a public event or something like that and kids are just going crazy, now I look at that and I'm like, somebody needs to get that kid.
It's probably going back to my childhood, but I realize now that it made me who I am. I feel that.
It made me the person that I am and to respect people and respect people's properties and their opinions. It's okay to it's okay to have whatever, you know, like it just made me the person that I am.
And I'm thankful that I got my ass whipped when I was a kid. I love that, man.
Yeah. That perspective is cool.
I got a couple of spankings growing up and of course I hated it at the time, but I was all over the place. I was jumping off the walls and like causing a scene, you know, I probably deserved it to be honest.
I did. There's no doubt that I deserved it.
Looking back, I'm like, man, I deserved every one of those. But you need to have that respect level of whoever your parents are, whether grandparents, parents, because if you don't have that, you're just going to do whatever you want.
Yeah. I mean, when I was in high school, you know, the wave of how to get back at somebody that did you wrong was keying their car, you know, or giving them a flat or whatever.
And I was just like, man, like the way that I was raised, somebody worked hard to get that, you know, and for you to destroy something that somebody worked hard for is a no-go for me, buddy. Yeah.
I was never a fan of that keying and flat tires or whatever. That seemed too extreme for me.
Man, if my grandfather found out I out i was doing that shit buddy so so what would cause you to do that to someone well in in in oklahoma it was you know somebody somebody cheated on you in high school or or you know or whatever and so they would go key their car or something like that and i'm just like and you're in high school at the time but growing way that I grew up is like, grow up, man, like be the bigger person, you know, but then you got to think about that. They didn't have the same raising that you had into where it's, you know, my grandparents were on top of me all the time, you know, just making sure that I'm doing what needs to be done.
And, and like I said, it wasn't strict and it wasn't like overbearing or anything like that. It just like when you say you're going to do something do it and if you need to do it do it you know your word is valuable absolutely it's gold yeah yeah there's a limit i think uh you know they call them helicopter parents when they're two hands-on and then you don't want to be the other end i've never heard that term oh helicopter yeah they're up your ass all the time and then the other way is not not any involvement at all.
And then the kid goes crazy. So you need to find that balance.

man it's it's just i feel like more and more every day that the world is just losing grasp of of just great people you know and treat somebody like you want to be treated

you know and you hear people talking to people and in a tone and i'm like man

i don't know if you even noticed like you want to be treated, you know, and you hear people talking to people in a tone. And I'm like, man, I don't know if you even noticed that you spoke to that person that way.
You know, it's just like, you would, why would you speak to somebody that way? You know, and life is beautiful and people are beautiful. So treat it that way.
Absolutely. When I went to Nashville for the first time last year, it was my first time ever in the South.
Yeah. first time ever in the south i hear heard all these people telling me in my ear that it's racist and all this shit right i didn't experience any of that to be honest man i hate that word so much you know it's to me it's you know like i said how i grew up is you know if if you love somebody you love you know, and it doesn't matter if they're black or white.
It don't like love everybody. I mean, and it's that sounds, you know, and this is not derogatory, like hippie ish.
But like to me is like, man, like how can you not care for somebody for them just being a human being? Yeah. You know, I can understand if they did something to you, you know, and you don't like that person for the person that he is or, you know, his character or his integrity.
But Nashville is pretty mixed up, you know, with the cultures and everything like that, you know, just making a great environment for people to live. Especially these days.

I don't think I've experienced it

in Nashville.

No,

but you hear all this stuff

about the South,

you know,

it's crazy.

So people have these

preconceived notions.

Yeah.

So you gotta be careful.

Yeah.

But yeah,

I experienced none of that,

dude.

So shout out to Nashville.

Nashville is,

like I've lived there

almost 10 years

and Nashville never ceases

to amaze me.

The energy is something about, yeah, when I landed there, just energy felt amazing.

Yeah.

Certain cities you land at, you could feel it.

Nashville is one of those cities.

Man, I never saw it before.

And I packed up my bags one night in Oklahoma and I was like, I'm moving to Nashville.

So I packed everything in the car, drove into Nashville and it was dark when I got there.

And I come over the hill and the first thing I see is the skyline.

Skyline and I was like,

Thank you. Oh yeah.
And so when I moved to Nashville, I pulled over the hill and I saw the high, the high rises and the lights and all this stuff. And for the first time in my life, I was like, this is going to work.
I love that. You know, or if it don't work, you know, what level of success are you satisfied with? You know? And for me, it's just, I, like I said, I want to be out running the roads and making people smile and putting some boogie in their boots and, you know, just having a good time.

Yeah. There's a lot of talent in Nashville, man.
I mean, between country and between podcasts,

there's a lot of talented people out there. There's, there's a lot of, of talented people

there that I've seen that don't really know that they're talented because you get so desensitized

to great songwriters and living in Nashville and being there every day and living that life that I think the world kind of forgets about them a little bit. Yeah.
You know, and it's just because that town moves so fast, but it's a small town in a big city. And there's so many great people that I hope it never happens, but they'll never see the light of day just because there's so many people there doing it that some of these great people that I've seen, they'll just slip through the cracks.
Wow. Yes.
It's a competitive industry too. And you need the right team around you.
There's a lot of different factors, right? The timing. Yeah.
It's not easy. I mean, you've been at this for how long now? Man, I've been playing music for and singing most of my life, but I mean, I've been doing it professionally probably 11, 12 years.
Wow. That's nuts.
Not a lot of people are willing to dedicate that much time to something, you know? Well, you got to really want it. Yeah, no facts.
You got to really want to do it, you know, and there's good days and there good days and there's bad days, you know, there's, there's days when you wake up and, and you're like, man, is this, is this going to work or not? You know, but I've never been labeled as a quitter on anything ever in my life. And, and so if you tell me that I can't have it, watch me.
Yeah. You know, if, and if you don't want to help me do it, I'll do it by myself, and that's that's just a way that i that i've always looked at it and when you love music as much as i love music and the reason i love music so much is because you can hear a song that you haven't heard in forever or you've never heard it in your life and it can change the mood that you're in facts and i just it can take you any place like when you hear a song that you haven't heard from from middle school you know you remember where you were at what you were doing who you were with you know and all that and i don't know if there's anything else that does me that way just music and food like we're're bringing it back full circle now.
Those two things, man. Yeah.
I mean, we used to have, do you like moon pies? Have I had one? That sounds familiar. What is it? It's just like a chocolate covered flaky and it's got marshmallow in the middle.
No, I haven't had one. I heard of it though.
So that was a big thing in Oklahomalahoma so every every sunday before church my grandfather

would take me to the flea market and he would get me a yoohoo and a moon pie i've had yoohoos

the chocolate milk right yeah and the moon pies okay so amish people make those right

yeah i believe so yeah yeah that's how i know about it i don't know that i saw it at an amish

farm once i think oh you probably know that yeah i mean i just ate the shit out of them but,

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I mean, I just ate the shit out of them.

But my grandfather would get me a Yoo-Hoo and a Moon Pie.

And then later on in Nashville, I got to do some shows that was sponsored by Moon Pie.

And they put my face on the side of the box.

Wow.

And all this stuff.

And it's just like the full circle thing that you're talking about is like food, you know things like that and my girlfriend had never had a moon pie and now her nickname is moon pie for a reason i love it you know and so it was there's not a lot of things that that will make me smile more than great food and good people and music yeah you know it just. And that's why you don't screw people over, guys,

because there's so many full circle moments

when I look back on my life.

Like even with this podcast,

the guests I'm having on

are people I watched when I was a kid.

Like that's 15, 20 year full circle moment.

Yeah.

So I never burn bridges,

never scam,

never do any bad business with people.

You know,

your reputation's important.

Even when it probably deserves.

Oh, there's been people that deserve it for sure. Yeah.
been fucked over for sure you know and it's which i mean and you can agree with me on this like it is it's way harder to be a dick than it is to be a good person i think it's way harder yeah you know like i just because you got to put in so much effort to be a dick I mean there's been times where I have been but it was warranted you know I think everybody's had those days where you know but in the music business and and in your line of work as well and a lot of other you know lines of work you know you're not allowed to have a bad day you have to show up for people because people are showing up for you right you know and so if you're having a shit day tough shit yeah you can't get over it yeah get over it yeah you can't show that in your space right because it'll affect the way you perform absolutely damn that must be tough you know i mean there's always a a part of it you know in the music business to where you know you've met people that was one of you know? Yeah. And they turned out to be an asshole.
Hear that all the time. And movies and acting too.
Movies, you know, and, and so, and that might've been a bad day for that person. True.
You know, but the word of mouth travels so fast. And a lot of times, you know, people don't care and I don't care.
I mean, if you, if you tell me you're having a bad day, I'm like, I'm sorry, buddy.

How can I, how can I help you, you know, along today?

Right.

Buy you a beer?

Need a dip of snuff?

Like, what do you need?

Need fat on the back?

You need a cry or a hug?

You know, I got you.

And, but you know, it's one of those things where, you know, like it's, I've met people

that I wish I never had met.

Yeah.

Because of a bad day or.

Yeah.

When you put these people on a pedestal, right. People you look up to and then you meet them.
It's like, you kind of get let down no matter what because you idolize them. Yeah.
I mean, because I always wanted to be these people that I saw, you know, and the people that I idolize as musical heroes and always wanted to be those, you know, in their shoes. I wanted to experience what they were feeling while these people are yelling their songs and and having a great time and you meet that person and you're like that just killed all those memories yep that that were positive you know and so yeah be careful what you wish for absolutely no you hear this it doesn't even have to be music artists just with anyone you look up to dude yeah it's crazy yeah so now just uh i just treat everyone the same dude yeah you know no are you a music lover i used to be um not as much anymore you know if i'm being honest and country wasn't huge where i grew up we kind of got a little do you consider taylor swift like country or oh yeah of course okay because I know some people are like no she's not anymore well she started out really really country yeah so that was like what I saw people listening to but not anything else past that where I mean I don't I don't get into the politics of things but because you know a it's your opinion yeah you know which you're entitled to but like I just don't get in dogfights with people about music or politics or religion and all this stuff.
I'm like, at the end of the day, I respect you for what you believe and do the same for me. Yeah.
You know, but I think Taylor started out really country. I think so too.
You know? Yeah. Now I listen to it with intention.
Like if I'm going to my basketball game, which I had one last night, I'll put on a playlist to get me pissed, get me angry, you know, stuff like that. If I'm trying to relive some old moments, I'll play some 2000s pop, whatever.
So yeah, I have more intention these days. So you're a hooper.
I am. Are you? I used to play.
Oh yeah? What was your, uh? I was a shooting guard. Okay.
Yeah. And, uh, I was talking to Marcus and he was like, you ever been to Australia? And I was like, I played basketball in Australia.
Oh, so you were nice. So I did like this international tournament and I played in Honolulu and I played in Sydney.
Wow. And so I was like, when they said international, I'm like, you said Hawaii.
Like, you know, that's what I'm thinking in my head. And they were like, no, no, you're going, you're going to Sydney also.
So I loved basketball, and I would never miss a Michael Jordan game. And Sean Kemp, but then you go back to the greats like Dr.
J and all these people. But some of my favorites, when I went home for Christmas this year, my grandmother was saying, hey, you still got a bunch of stuff out there in a tote that I found in the closet.

And I open it up and it's got my Alonzo morning jersey in it.

Wow.

It had Charles Barkley from The Magic and The Sons in there.

And I had, I can't remember what the Dream Team jersey was.

Dream Team.

Was that the USA team?

Yep.

Thank you. and I had, I can't remember what the dream team jersey was.

Dream team.

Was that the USA team?

Yep.

Pippen?

It wasn't Pippen.

I don't remember which one it was.

But I took all of them back to Nashville with me.

It's actually right here.

So if you can point them out.

Stockton.

No, it wasn't John.

Larry Bird.

Robinson.

Oh, it was Robinson. It was Robinson, yeah.
Nice. And yeah, I mean, but they're all like this big when I was younger.
Because when I graduated high school, I was 6'127 pounds. Wow.
You were skinny. I was small.
Damn. And so my grandfather's brother that passed away the same year that I was born, he was 6'7".
So when I hit eighth grade and I was six foot, I was like, man, we're tall. That's pretty tall in eighth grade, actually.
Yeah. And I never grew another dammy.
Oh, peaked in eighth grade? In eighth grade, bro. Damn, that's young.
I still grew till I was like 20. How tall are you now? Six, six, six, seven.
Six, yeah. Yeah.
But I was growing in college. Oh, really? Yeah college oh really yeah wow six foot and eighth is tall though you were probably dunking in middle school then man i i was i was dunking i so my this is insane to think and it still aggravates the shit out of the day i i never got my first dunk until i was in hawaii why when i was playing and because like I could get just high enough to where I couldn't get the ball through

the never got my first dunk until I was in Hawaii. Why? When I was playing.
And because like I could get just high enough to where I couldn't get the ball through the cylinder. And so, I mean, hundreds of days that I can remember my wrist being sore from banging it off the rim, but I never made one.
It would always back iron because I couldn't literally get it down. Because the ball is so big.
You had the height You had the height probably, but you just couldn't grasp the ball. I couldn't get it down.
So it pissed me off for so long. All my buddies are dunking in high school and all this stuff.
And they're like, dude, I get fast breaks in the game and stuff like that and just lay it up. Oh, they always give me shit for that.
Every time I'm wide open, they want me to dunk it. And you never do it? I mean, I'm gassed sometimes, you know? It's late game, like...
Or you're between steps and you're trying to figure out you can get the height. Sometimes it's awkward with the steps, yeah.
But no, I love hooping, bro. Ball is life.
Well, I seen the goal that was out front. And as soon as we was walking up, I was bumping into him like that.
I love it, man. Yeah, men's league, I look forward to every single week.
Dude you come to Nashville, just come. I played in the league last year and realized for the first time in 10 years, I was like, dude, this is not for you anymore.
Because my knees don't have it anymore. And so we get out there and we're playing in C League, pretty much beer ball.
Yeah. And they're throwing the rock to me and all this stuff.
And I'm trying to cross people over. And I'm like, that was slow as shit.
You know? Their minds, they can fots it up at your body. And then the first game, we show up to C League.
These guys are full court pressing this and stuff like this. And I'm like, hey, man, can we just calm down just a little bit? Well, I'll show up and we'll win for sure.
Yeah. So.
C League. wow.
They're full-court precedents. They don't even do that at the Lifetime League where I play right now.
It was amazing because there was three or four guys. We played the whole season.
There was three or four guys on each team that could walk on to any damn college. What? There's people out there dunking on us and shit.
And I'm like, wait a minute. What kind of C-Le this was pickup yeah you know i thought i thought we were you know like you're not breaking down and you know trying to guard me you know trying to press on me and shit when i'm trying to get a board okay so natural got hoopers hoopers i mean that if that's the c league i can't even imagine a league that's what i told him that's what i told him i was like i was like man if this is c league i want to come watch an a league game because any of those dudes could go play college at any major college and they would have them yeah you know that's nuts and so we were at red door the other night we were walking into red door and my buddy connor that that works there he's six six or six seven and we played together and he goes he goes man you gonna play this year and i was like man i don't think so dude i don't think i'm gonna have time and he goes yeah we're we're back in we're back in and all this and we we had guys that played college yeah you know all this stuff and these guys are beating us by 20 and she leaves and i told him i was like man i don't think i was like i was like by the way i was like that league's bullshit you know it just reminded me you know but that's funny man played against anybody from australia no i can't say like any big aussies different style though right oh man like yeah i never realized how good i wasn't you know and and so just big strong fast you know more physical right oh yeah very much so yeah it's a different game in europe too yeah when we were in syd I realized, because, I mean, six foot, I never grew.
And so I'm playing against these Aussies that are 6'6", 6'7", and when they come down, they get a board, they come down, their elbow is right here. You know? Yeah.
I mean, 6'6", is like the average height these days in the NBA. I know.
I grew up playing center. I'm like short for center now.
I can't play center anymore. Dude, my Oklahoma City Thunder is making a push this year.
They're nice this year. They might win it, bro.
I'm not going to lie. I hope Shea gets the MVP.
They're looking unbeatable right now. I don't know who could stop them, personally.
I mean, dude, we're beating people by 20, 25, 30. You guys only lost, what, seven games? Seven games.
Oh, wait, maybe the Cavaliers are good this season. Cavs are good.
I thought the Bucs were going to give us some trouble. Bucs are streaky, man.
Sometimes they'll be really good, but we'll see what happens. I hope we get it.
I mean, honestly, because Oklahoma City, I remember going to Oklahoma City and watching it when the Hornets were there when the hurricane came through. And so they were playing there and it's funny because there used to be such this really cool, groovy music scene for country music and red dirt music in Oklahoma City.
So you'd go watch Thunder Game and walk out and go into a honky tonk and watch somebody play some country. And that was right up my alley.
That's cool. Music and basketball and all that.
But now all those good bars are gone. But we've never won a title, and I just would love that for the city would love it for you guys you know yeah you need one that would bring the city together yeah yeah and oklahoma city's growing and and i don't know like everybody's asked me what's my favorite nfl team and i'm like i'm like well it's the titans now because like we i never had an nfl team in oklahoma you know yeah they never had one that's's a good point.
And so, I mean, I love sports.

It don't really matter what it is.

I'll watch it, you know?

Yeah.

But I hope we get it this year.

Absolutely.

Justin, it's been awesome, man.

Where can people keep up with you?

Justin Andrews' music on all platforms.

And thank you so much for having me.

Absolutely.

That was a blast.

We'll have to do part two in Nashville.

Get some food together.

Yeah.

Let's do it.

Let's do it.

Thanks for watching, guys.

Check them out.

See ya.