Best of The Program | Guests: Bill O’Reilly & Aaron Watson | 1/22/21

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Speaker 2 Hello, and welcome to the Friday podcast. We have things started right off the bat with Bill O'Reilly going over the week.

Speaker 2 He's got some interesting things to say about not only the week, but the future of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and Donald Trump that you don't want to miss.

Speaker 2 Also, we talked to the, what is he, the deputy prime minister of Poland. They are very concerned about freedom of speech being lost to these American tech companies.

Speaker 2 They've tried, they're trying now to put some new regulations on them. I don't like them for America, but the rest of the world is calling out and saying, hey, can you guys stop with this?

Speaker 2 Also, Aaron Watson stops by, country artist.

Speaker 2 All of his CDs and albums go to number one without any radio airplay. It's one of the most incredible stories since

Speaker 2 probably Johnny Cash, who got very little airplay, but he hits none, none whatsoever, and still has huge hits.

Speaker 2 We talked to him about the American soul, uh, and also a sneak peek of this weekend's podcast that you don't want to miss with Jason Whitlock.

Speaker 2 And you can get that if you're a play subscriber, you get it right now.

Speaker 2 If not, on Saturday around three o'clock in the afternoon, it will uh download and be ready for you to listen to Jason Whitlock's podcast. You don't want to miss it.

Speaker 3 You're listening to

Speaker 2 the best of the Blenbeck program.

Speaker 2 Goodness. We're starting the show with the author of Killing Crazy Horse, that best-selling book, that whole series of killing people.

Speaker 2 You're kidding me. And he is the guy.

Speaker 2 The no-spin news. He's that same guy? Bill O'Reilly.
Welcome to the program from BillO'Reilly.com.

Speaker 4 Thank you, Beck. How are you doing today?

Speaker 2 Well, you know, this has been an interesting week.

Speaker 4 What happened this week?

Speaker 2 Nothing. Nothing really happened.
Holy cow. Bill, where do you want to start on the week?

Speaker 4 Well, I think that, you know, all of the things that Americans are seeing in the aftermath of the inauguration are predictable.

Speaker 4 And, you know, I have a lot of liberal friends, and I told them during the election, look, I'm the same,

Speaker 4 you might not like Trump, I got it, everybody's got it, all right? The guy is very, very flamboyant. Let's be kind, flamboyant.
So you may not like his style, but if you vote for Joe Biden and if you

Speaker 4 get behind the progressive movement, you're going to get hurt. It's going to hurt you personally.
And most of them, yeah,

Speaker 4 you know, I can't be worthy Trump. And I said, well, how is Trump hurting you?

Speaker 4 How directly is President Trump hurting you? Silence crickets.

Speaker 4 We never had. Well, it's just the way he conducts it.
Yeah, all right, fine. So now

Speaker 4 Biden is doing exactly what the New York Times and Washington Post want him to do. This is a very important point that the legions of Beck listeners should consider.

Speaker 4 The country is being run

Speaker 4 by a man who craves approval

Speaker 4 from two newspapers, the Times and the Post.

Speaker 4 And that is how he's going to make his decisions.

Speaker 2 Though

Speaker 4 the executive orders he's going to sign.

Speaker 4 And it's frightening to me because these two.

Speaker 2 Hang on, what makes you say that? Because that is a terrifying thought. I mean, Donald Trump craved approval as well, but at least he was craving the approval of the American people.

Speaker 2 What makes you say that about Biden?

Speaker 4 Because if you look at what Biden has prioritized in his first two days,

Speaker 4 it's all 100%

Speaker 4 based on Washington Post and New York Times editorials.

Speaker 4 You want to run down a list? Yeah, go do it.

Speaker 4 Okay, open borders.

Speaker 4 Number one.

Speaker 4 Shouldn't be any

Speaker 4 inhibitions for anyone in the world to come into the United States and not do the paperwork and not follow the rules. So, Bill,

Speaker 2 you have done this job for many, many years. You have seen many administrations back and forth.
Is this the first one that has done something this large without a carrot to the other side?

Speaker 4 Sure, because they believe they have a mandate

Speaker 4 to correct the Trump administration.

Speaker 2 And what gives them the feeling of this mandate with Congress and everything being so close?

Speaker 4 Yeah, but they don't care about that. They're basically saying, look, we have an opportunity now

Speaker 4 to

Speaker 4 put a progressive agenda onto the American people that we hope is going to be, you know, a long, long time. Right.
We're going to, you know, we're taking our shot now.

Speaker 4 Okay.

Speaker 4 But let's get back to the to the New York Times and Washington Post because you're absolutely right. This is frightening.

Speaker 4 So the first thing is the immigration. All right.

Speaker 4 Stop the wall. Anybody who wants asylum can come here, and maybe five years, six years from now, you'll get a hearing.
But in the meantime, you can do whatever you want.

Speaker 4 Well, if I'm a poor person anywhere in the world, I'm going, I'm getting there. Yep, me too.

Speaker 2 Me too.

Speaker 2 Yep. There's not even a lottery.
It's just go.

Speaker 4 Yeah, it's just like if I can get there, even if I have COVID, I mean, they're not putting COVID testing stations south of the border.

Speaker 2 Right. Right.
Right.

Speaker 4 People are marching up from Honduras and Guatemala. Trust me, they're not social distancing.

Speaker 2 And it's,

Speaker 2 and it's what's what's really important to point out, it's not. The people who are coming over.
It's not their fault.

Speaker 2 It's like Disney World saying, hey, we're just going to have free admission. You know?

Speaker 2 Next 100 days, it's just, we're not even going to check tickets and you can stay in the hotels and we don't really care. Of course, every family that could never afford to go to Disney would be there.

Speaker 4 And, but there's another component. You can come to Disney World and stay in our hotels, even if you have COVID.

Speaker 4 Come on in.

Speaker 2 Well, the COVID thing, can we just sidetrack here for a second? The COVID thing is ridiculous. First of all, his 100 million doses

Speaker 2 in 100 days. And Trump didn't have a plan.
No, his plan was a million vaccinations a day.

Speaker 2 So your plan is exactly the same as his plan was. Then on top of it,

Speaker 2 all of these states now saying,

Speaker 2 especially New York with Cuomo, okay,

Speaker 2 we've got to get back to business. The mayor of Washington, D.C.
opens up in-dining restaurants again, and she does it on the magical date of January 22nd.

Speaker 2 Yeah, here's all that.

Speaker 4 But if you run down the checklist, the big one is

Speaker 4 let as many people into the country who are living overseas as possible. Because if you do that, then Democrats will never again lose an election ever.

Speaker 4 Because eventually all these people will be given citizenship. And that was one of the first executive orders.
It was, all right, they're going to get the DACA and a pathway, eight years.

Speaker 4 I'll draw this legislation up and we'll pass it.

Speaker 2 11 million people may be made citizens in the next 100 days and stopping or pausing deportations for 100 days.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 2 So,

Speaker 4 again, my liberal friend, I go,

Speaker 4 Do you like this? Is this good?

Speaker 4 And then there's no

Speaker 2 answer.

Speaker 4 Okay. So that's immigration, and that's going to come back back to bite

Speaker 2 Biden in two years, not four years,

Speaker 4 because people are going to see the siege at the border. You're going to see the pictures.
Now, it won't be reported, but there are enough right-wing outlets and conservatives that you'll see it.

Speaker 4 The stats will be there, and all of that. The second thing is the economy.
So, people,

Speaker 4 you got to assume that in five months or so, in the sum by summer, that COVID will be at least under control. Most people will be vaccinated, and the economy will surge again.

Speaker 4 It will, because there'll be commerce much more than there is now. Money will be circulating.

Speaker 4 So the economy will get a nice bump.

Speaker 2 All right.

Speaker 4 But,

Speaker 4 but, if you look at the subtext,

Speaker 4 everything

Speaker 4 that Biden is doing is designed to take more money away from

Speaker 4 the American worker.

Speaker 2 So I have to tell you, Bill, when you say the economy gets a bump, I think the big business, the banks and everything else, they're going to get a big bump.

Speaker 2 The banks have already said, if Biden does his taxes, we're just going to increase

Speaker 2 the interest rate on loans.

Speaker 2 And so they'll make their money.

Speaker 2 And you see it with two things that Biden has done this week. The Keystone Pipeline, 11,000 jobs, just gone.

Speaker 2 The second thing that he has done is he just went to his cabinet and said, I want you to look at the regulations

Speaker 2 that strengthen our agenda and play to our agenda.

Speaker 2 I don't care the cost of those. The first thing Trump did is, look, what is the cost of these regulations to the American people?

Speaker 2 And if it is costing the American people jobs or money, cut that regulation. Now, it's just the opposite.
I don't care what it does.

Speaker 2 This is going to hurt, this will help big business, and it will hurt small business, which is already almost dead, and the average American worker.

Speaker 4 It's already happened. Yeah.
So I don't know down in Texas what's going on, but here in Long Island.

Speaker 2 We're okay.

Speaker 4 All right.

Speaker 4 Gas, a price of a gallon of gas, gone up 12 cents.

Speaker 2 Because of, yeah, because of, yeah.

Speaker 2 They know what's coming.

Speaker 4 Right. They say, okay, well,

Speaker 4 he's going to conduct a war on fossil fuels, which he will, because the New York Times wants him to.

Speaker 4 And so we're going to get ahead of this,

Speaker 4 and we're going to jack up all the gasoline prices. And that will go everywhere.
But

Speaker 4 in New York, that's the crazy state,

Speaker 4 along with California.

Speaker 4 So we're already up 12 cents a gallon since Inauguration Day. Wow.

Speaker 4 Because you're absolutely right. These corporations, they know every trick in the book.
And they're not going to take

Speaker 2 a hit. No.

Speaker 4 They're going to pass the hit on to the folks. So again, I call my liberal friends.
I go, you know, did you see the gas prices? Putting gas in your big hummer. How about you that armor?

Speaker 4 You know, so it's going to take a while, Deck, but people are going to start to see that they're not as well off under progressive principles as they were under the free market Trump principles.

Speaker 4 They will start to see it. Now, I'm talking about people who work and generate money and who have homes and all of this.
Those are the folks I'm talking about, and that's most of the country.

Speaker 2 Well, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Speaker 2 I agree with you on that, but this $15

Speaker 2 an hour wage that Bernie Sanders is pushing through,

Speaker 2 if we make that a national wage, $15 an hour decimated Seattle, just decimated it. And you will see the people at the bottom of the ladder lose even more jobs.

Speaker 4 But they'll gain more

Speaker 4 benefits, entitlements. So already today, this morning,

Speaker 4 Biden signed the executive order increasing food stamps. So the people who will be laid off, and they will be, because the robots are coming to the fast foods and all of that.
So, Bill,

Speaker 2 let me ask you this question. I thought of this today when talking about this very thing where

Speaker 2 we're just reversing what happened four years ago. And when Trump came in, he reversed what Obama did.
We can't live like this every four years or eight years.

Speaker 2 We have got to decide if we are a socialist country or a free market and a free people or a people that just do what the autocrats tell us to do.

Speaker 2 Can we go on as a country going back and forth like this?

Speaker 5 Well, they don't understand.

Speaker 4 Most of the people don't understand the battle between free markets and socialism. They hear it, but do they know what it really is? No.

Speaker 4 But you're absolutely right that Obama is back.

Speaker 4 So it's really Obama running the country, not Biden. And everybody knew when Susan Rice was appointed Biden's top domestic advisor,

Speaker 4 that was basically, hey, Barack, tell me what to do.

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Speaker 2 The Deputy Minister of Justice and a member of parliament in Poland, his name is Sebastian Kalata,

Speaker 2 and he joins us now from Poland. How are you, sir?

Speaker 2 Hello, Glen.

Speaker 2 I'm fine. How are you? I'm very good.
Thank you for coming on.

Speaker 5 It's a pleasure.

Speaker 2 We want to talk to you a little bit about what Europe is doing. You guys don't have the First Amendment that we have, a guaranteed right by our Constitution for freedom of speech.

Speaker 2 So you guys have to address it a little differently.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 2 you are one of the stronger voices, not only in Poland, but all in Europe, warning about what is happening with big tech. Tell me what it is like in Poland.
What's happening?

Speaker 5 Maybe we don't have a First Amendment because we have it's directly stated in our Constitution. The freedom of speech is one of the most important freedoms in our Constitution, in our tradition.

Speaker 5 And

Speaker 5 we saw that

Speaker 5 big tech companies, especially Facebook and YouTube,

Speaker 5 from time to time censor

Speaker 5 several

Speaker 5 content which

Speaker 5 is not illegal.

Speaker 5 For example, Christian or patriotic content

Speaker 5 and

Speaker 5 they they decide that this is hate speech. And we thought this disturbing because

Speaker 5 who will judge? Who will judge what is hate speech? And they are anonymous mod these anonymous moderators decide

Speaker 5 what is

Speaker 5 disputed publicly, what is discussed publicly. And we d we started to draft a bill on free speech on social media.
We finished drafting that bill on December. And

Speaker 5 we are aware that

Speaker 5 some kind of bill regulating big tech are in force right now in Germany and in France, but their approach is to force social media to delete some content.

Speaker 5 But our approach is to prevent the legal content from being censored. And

Speaker 5 we

Speaker 5 finished drafting our bill on December, and

Speaker 5 last week and last weeks, we saw

Speaker 5 this

Speaker 5 big dispute in the U.S. regarding banning Donald Trump, President Donald Trump.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 5 many

Speaker 5 publishers, many politicians right now are interested in our concept because we saw that freedom of speech is in danger and we want to protect it.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 we're talking now to the Deputy Minister of Justice of Poland about free speech.

Speaker 2 You know, in doing my work on history, Poland is a country that just gets walked on over and over and over again through history.

Speaker 2 If you just look at World War II, you're the gateway to Europe or the gateway to Russia. And

Speaker 2 the saddest tales, I think, come from these great freedom fighters who were fighting the Nazis only then to be occupied by the communists who did much of the same thing.

Speaker 2 So we don't have that here in America. In America, we don't have a history of somebody telling us what to do.

Speaker 2 And we're,

Speaker 2 I would say, a little soft, but we're very soft. We are very fat, and

Speaker 2 we just don't think it could happen here in America.

Speaker 2 Tell us what you're seeing, and is there a historic context that makes Poland more aware of the value of being able to say whatever it is you want to say.

Speaker 2 You know, our history is

Speaker 5 rich on the events

Speaker 5 where we saw censorship. In the 18th century, Poland was

Speaker 5 stolen away by free countries, and Poles were under

Speaker 5 slaves

Speaker 4 of Germany, Russia, and

Speaker 4 Habsburg, Austria.

Speaker 5 And in the 20th century,

Speaker 5 like you said, we were under communist power. And

Speaker 5 my parents remember the censorship, even in the eighties, of

Speaker 5 communist regime. We in Poland are

Speaker 5 very careful about freedom of speech.

Speaker 4 We think

Speaker 5 we are achieving freedom of speech because

Speaker 5 in some time

Speaker 5 we cannot free speak of our minds. I can give you a nice historical

Speaker 5 example of censorship on history because you mentioned that Poland was occupied by German Nazi and today

Speaker 5 we have a

Speaker 5 decision of Facebook which banned an advertisement a campaign by a Polish

Speaker 5 Institute of National Remembrance and this Institute wanted to present the history of

Speaker 5 cat or for children for children, Polish children in Wúc

Speaker 5 where

Speaker 5 they were like

Speaker 5 it was like a concentration camp and many of them died there.

Speaker 5 And Facebook banned this material to be promoted as a part of showing Polish Polish history and we see that there is a problem with censorship there is many there are many dangers

Speaker 5 in big tech companies

Speaker 5 which we should face we should try to regulate because in history you have many innovations like railways like phones

Speaker 5 and

Speaker 5 at the beginning it was a private,

Speaker 5 only private organization. But

Speaker 5 when the moment the when these devices were used by everyone in our lives,

Speaker 5 these companies create monopoles. And these monopoles in some way started to be regulated by the comp by the by the state, because every citizen must be protected.

Speaker 5 The rights of everyone of us should be protected. And freedom of is very important to be protected to preserve democracy itself.
So that's why we decided one year

Speaker 5 ago to start drafting this kind of bill. And now we are trying to adopt this law.

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 the difference here in the debate we're having right now is you're seeing Silicon Valley as a monopoly, a cartel, I think is what you've actually described it as.

Speaker 2 And so the government, what your proposal is, what you're moving towards, is the government has to decide what speech is hate speech and which is not.

Speaker 2 That concerns many of us and concerns me here in America for our system, because I don't want the government to decide what free speech is. That's not their role

Speaker 2 under our Constitution with the Bill of Rights. Our Constitution says that they cannot do those things.

Speaker 2 Are you concerned at all after seeing decades of oppression in Poland from an out-of-control government, are you concerned at all that that could be turned around against the Polish people if a bad government gets in?

Speaker 5 Our proposal is different than the similar proposals in Germany, France, or even the European Commission, because they presented also in December the

Speaker 5 project of regulation Digital Services Act, which

Speaker 5 obliged the big tech company to comply with European law. And our proposal is that the government may step in only if

Speaker 5 someone in Poland complains about being banned. So this decision of government is not about

Speaker 5 to

Speaker 5 order Facebook or Twitter or YouTube to

Speaker 5 delete your account or your content, but to restore it if the decision of big tech company

Speaker 5 is is not complying with Polish law. So we want to protect freedom of speech in this mechanism.
And

Speaker 5 thank you for this question because it's tricky if governments say, okay, okay, we are protecting freedom of speech and we decide which is what's legal and what isn't.

Speaker 5 And at the beginning

Speaker 5 in regulation, big tech companies,

Speaker 5 we want

Speaker 5 to

Speaker 5 protect even them from criticism of banning

Speaker 5 some stuff, because you have some

Speaker 5 some content which is which is illegal, like I don't know, pornography, terrorism, et cetera, and the government should be able to react. However,

Speaker 5 there is an area like freedom of speech, freedom of opinion,

Speaker 5 public discussions on on crucial topics. And the government

Speaker 5 should protect your right to speak freely. And our proposition is

Speaker 5 different because we want the government just

Speaker 5 to

Speaker 5 check if the ban given by big tech is

Speaker 5 in line with Polish law. So this kind of regulation

Speaker 5 could

Speaker 5 preserve

Speaker 2 some

Speaker 5 people, some users which are banned on social media because, for example, hate speech, and the government may say, no, it's not a hate speech.

Speaker 5 It's an opinion which is

Speaker 5 maybe hard, maybe controversial, but it is an opinion. And this opinion is covered by freedom of speech preserved by the Polish constitution.
And this is the effect we want to make.

Speaker 2 Talking to the Deputy Prime Minister of Justice, Member of Parliament of Poland, about the regulation of high-tech over in Poland,

Speaker 2 I thank you very much for your article in Newsweek and

Speaker 2 your

Speaker 2 wake-up plea to the United States and everything that you're doing for your country. I will tell you, I've been to Poland once.
It's absolutely beautiful. The history there is amazing.

Speaker 2 I have friends that go over quite a bit, and they tell me, I've wanted to go back just to witness this, they tell me that

Speaker 2 your youth, the millennials in Poland, are wide awake and

Speaker 2 are some of the

Speaker 2 best scholars on freedom and

Speaker 2 liberty that are in the world. And I find that exciting that

Speaker 2 your younger generation is appreciating what was so long and hard fought for by your parents and grandparents.

Speaker 5 Very nice to hear that. And I I think that you should definitely go back to Poland.
And I will be happy to have a coffee with you in Warsaw.

Speaker 2 Oh, that'd be great. Thank you so much.
I appreciate it. The Deputy Prime Minister of Justice, Member of Parliament of Poland, Sebastian Colado.

Speaker 2 You're listening to the best of the Glenbeck program.

Speaker 2 You know,

Speaker 2 I have a good friend that

Speaker 2 I just love because he is one of the few people that is a big star that is actually

Speaker 2 100%

Speaker 2 real.

Speaker 2 And you hear it in his music. My friend is Aaron Watson, and he joins us now.
Hi.

Speaker 3 How are you, friend? It's been a while. I've been missing y'all.

Speaker 2 I know.

Speaker 2 Well, I love, I get emails from you from time to time, and then you'll say, oh, man, I just came up with this song, and you'll send it to me, and I can listen to it, and then you won't let me share it with anybody.

Speaker 2 And I've been dying to share this, so can we get right to it? Can you

Speaker 2 tell me where this came from?

Speaker 2 Was it over the summer you sent this to me?

Speaker 3 Yeah, you know, I

Speaker 3 had a little extra time on my hands this summer.

Speaker 2 Really? Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 You know, between the honeydew list and my new garden and the chickens. Right.
You know, my touring schedule kind of halted for a while. Yeah.
But

Speaker 3 I just,

Speaker 3 for me, over the last year, even before the pandemic, I thought to myself, I said, you know what?

Speaker 3 It's important that I start making more music with meaning.

Speaker 3 And

Speaker 3 I actually started this album before all of this.

Speaker 2 Nothing.

Speaker 3 But this,

Speaker 2 we've been building.

Speaker 3 It's been building.

Speaker 3 We've talked about it a couple years ago. And really, so much of the advice you've given me with your independent status and the way you think really inspired me to

Speaker 3 to make music for my fans make music for this country music that makes the world a better place even if it's only in my little corner just even if i'm only having a positive influence on my neighborhood or my community to do something

Speaker 3 that makes the world a better place. And I wanted to write a song where it's like, hey, you know what? This country country has been through hard times before.

Speaker 3 This country has had its ups and downs. And we need to stay positive.
We need to love each other.

Speaker 3 You know, I always tell people, they're like, you know, when they're talking about what's going on in Washington, D.C., I was like, you know what?

Speaker 3 I'm trying to focus on what's going on in Taylor County right now. You know, it's like, I want to make sure that I'm taking care of the people in my community.
And I think this song, American Soul,

Speaker 3 I want it to be a song that

Speaker 3 I'm not trying to change the world. I just want to make music that

Speaker 3 puts a smile on the faces of my fans, but also gets them

Speaker 3 when we're so surrounded with bad news all the time, kind of takes them back to

Speaker 2 and what you felt. I've listened to this over the summer over and over again, and I just loved it and have waited for the day.
Yes, today's the day. Today's the day that

Speaker 2 you can hear it. It's called American Soul by Aaron Watson.
Listen.

Speaker 2 All the old men at the diner telling tales too tall to tell.

Speaker 6 They're all bragging about the good old days and how this country has gone to hell. But as for me, I believe we got a hard land full of hope.

Speaker 2 We're coming back around because you can't hold down the American soul.

Speaker 6 It's the joy of grandma laughing and grandpa's funny jokes.

Speaker 2 It's the rumble of those old baseball cards flapping between the spokes. It's a fourth of July picnic.

Speaker 3 It's farmmade and rock and roll.

Speaker 6 From town to town, you can hear the sound of the American soul.

Speaker 2 Jose, can you see

Speaker 2 the flag that you wave?

Speaker 2 Freedom made free

Speaker 2 in the home of the brave.

Speaker 2 It's the roots and the dudes from the hard hat to the steel toe.

Speaker 2 It's the hustle and muscle, blood, sweat, and tears above the backbone.

Speaker 2 The American soul.

Speaker 6 It's a words of amazing grace. It's born in the USA.

Speaker 6 It's those Yankees in the playoffs, those cowboys on a Sunday.

Speaker 6 It's a red, white, and blue.

Speaker 6 It's the yellow, brown, and black.

Speaker 6 It's those rotten old Republicans

Speaker 2 and those darn old Democrats. Say, can you see

Speaker 2 the flag that you wave?

Speaker 2 Freedom made free

Speaker 2 and the home of the brave.

Speaker 2 It's the roots and the boots from the hard hat to the steel toe.

Speaker 2 It's the hustle and bustle. Blood, sweat, and tears are real on the backbone of the American soul

Speaker 2 of the American soul.

Speaker 2 What's that can you see

Speaker 2 Flag that you wave

Speaker 2 Freedom made free

Speaker 2 in the home of the brave

Speaker 2 It's a root and a boost from the hard hat to the still toe

Speaker 2 It's the hustle and muscle blood sweat which is a build the bat for

Speaker 2 the American soul

Speaker 2 Aaron Watson

Speaker 2 to knock off a little rust.

Speaker 2 Take time to shine that penny

Speaker 2 so we can read in God we trust.

Speaker 2 Aaron Watson, American Soul.

Speaker 2 When I heard that, I heard something that I've really only heard Donald Trump try to relate to, and he did, which is

Speaker 2 the guy that nobody's listening to, the guy that nobody's noticing.

Speaker 2 You know? Absolutely. The little guy.

Speaker 3 It's the American people.

Speaker 3 I mean,

Speaker 3 that's what makes.

Speaker 2 The soul?

Speaker 3 The soul of this country. It's like they talk about the church.
It's not the building that makes the church. It's the people within the church that make the church.

Speaker 3 And that's what makes America America. It's not this select elected a few, elected few people that, that, that, that's not America.
That's part of our government. But

Speaker 3 this country was built on

Speaker 3 the American people. And I tell people, I was like, I don't care if Mickey Mouse is elected president or Donald Duck.
I care about my country.

Speaker 3 But regardless of who gets elected, I'm going to wake up every morning. I'm going to work hard.
I'm going to pay my taxes. I'm going to be the best dad that I can be.

Speaker 3 And I'm going to focus on the things that I can control. And I mean, I care about the future of this country.
I know you do. And that's why I thought to myself, you know what?

Speaker 3 What can I do to make an impact? And I was like, I have my music.

Speaker 2 The American people have,

Speaker 2 they're tired. They're tired and they're beaten down.

Speaker 2 And, you know, I listen to, are you familiar with the group AJR?

Speaker 3 I've heard of them. Okay.

Speaker 2 I think they're really good. My son turned me on to them, and I think they're really good.

Speaker 2 I listen to them, like I listened to them on the way in today, because their lyrics are positive. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 They're just, don't give up, you know, don't listen to what other people say, just do it, you know.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 everybody has their own gift. And instead of doing what everybody else is doing or you're doing what your gift is,

Speaker 2 and adding to the puzzle piece.

Speaker 2 Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 Can I ask you,

Speaker 2 because I know this, I used to be a music programmer

Speaker 2 for radio for a long time. And

Speaker 2 I know how the music industry works. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And I know how freaked out. I remember, you remember, Stu, were you with me when somebody in Nashville called me into their office and

Speaker 2 I had just started the Blaze and they said, Do you have any advice for us? Because it was the record industry was falling apart, falling apart.

Speaker 2 And they didn't they didn't have any idea what to do and I remember walking out of the office thinking boy they just don't get it

Speaker 2 you're the only and

Speaker 2 the first and I believe the only artist to chart at number one as an independent with almost no stations playing you

Speaker 2 which is

Speaker 2 incredibly unheard of yeah uh and very hard to do your last five albums have all charted top five, even though now

Speaker 2 corporate radio refuses to play you because of the pushback from the record labels because they don't want other artists to do what you've done because then they're out of business. Yeah.

Speaker 3 I'm definitely, my business model is a threat to the

Speaker 3 mainstream

Speaker 3 major label way of doing things because if all of a sudden you have all these independent artists out there not needing major record labels to to have radio success, then it puts them all out of a job.

Speaker 3 So it's the politics, but for me, it becomes very personal because music is the family business.

Speaker 3 So when I have program directors at stations that have been playing me, telling me, I'm getting calls from New York telling me I cannot play you anymore. It becomes personal.

Speaker 3 And for me, it's more, it's not like, I'm not bitter. I'm so blessed.

Speaker 3 I mean, just like you said, I mean, the reason why we charted an album number one on Country Billboard is because God's blessed me with the best fans in the world.

Speaker 2 I mean,

Speaker 3 what you've done for me with the Vacaro record, the Red Bandana record, I mean, it's been amazing. Your fans

Speaker 3 and my music

Speaker 2 go hand in hand. Yeah, they do.

Speaker 3 It's been amazing. I mean, before all this shutdown,

Speaker 3 you know, after every show, I'm hanging out at the the merch booth. You know, you buy a ticket.
I always tell people, you bought a ticket, the hugs are free, you know, after shows.

Speaker 3 So many of your people coming and supporting me. But it's one of those things where

Speaker 3 I finally have taken it very personal. There's been so many, we've done things.
We have, there's only been three songs in 60 years on. top 40 radio that have charted top 10 by an independent artist.

Speaker 3 And I think,

Speaker 3 well, Out of Style was the only one to do it in the last 20-something years.

Speaker 3 And then we had a couple of top 40s, but we started, we just, we got ousted, we got booted. And you know what? I thought to myself,

Speaker 3 I don't have to put up with this. I'm going to fight for my business.

Speaker 2 It's remarkable to me how we're fighting for our voice to be heard and we're independent. And everyone who's not independent is suddenly coming to us going, how do we do this? How do we do this?

Speaker 2 How can we do this quickly? How can we do this?

Speaker 2 Because they're snuffing out voices.

Speaker 2 People don't realize that the voice of the independent artist is also gone. It's just gone.
It is absolutely gone.

Speaker 3 And that's where I thought to myself, so it's, you know, I know.

Speaker 3 I know from a business standpoint that since I'm the custodian and the CEO at my label, that I need to be talking about everyone going and buying the new album, American Soul, or downloading it or streaming it, and it's out there now.

Speaker 3 But

Speaker 3 I put this album out last Friday, and then I went back in the studio two days later, and I recorded another record.

Speaker 2 Which you would never do if you were on a label. Never, never.

Speaker 3 But I'm hungry, and I'm fired up, and I'm excited about the music, and I'm excited about being that voice for not just independent artists everywhere, but the small businessman.

Speaker 3 I mean, you don't have to, I mean, I'm not going to go down without a fight. And rather than throw punches with my fists, we're going to do it melodically speaking.

Speaker 3 And it's fun, and I have something to say.

Speaker 2 Are you back on the road again?

Speaker 2 No, we had a little...

Speaker 3 We took the little four-month involuntary vacation.

Speaker 3 Had the time of my life. Yeah, we did too.
You know, you and I talked on the phone about it.

Speaker 3 And I've told people, I'm like, listen, shows were canceled, a lot of money was lost, and I made priceless memories with my family. Likewise.
And that's all you can do is look at it like that.

Speaker 3 I found ways,

Speaker 3 more than anything, it showed me that there is, you can find a way to get it done.

Speaker 2 No, no, no, no.