Jason Aldean: The Las Vegas Shooting, Transgenderism in Schools, and Politics in the Music Industry

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Here's our latest episode with Jason Aldean. Welcome to the Tucker Carlson Show.
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Here's the episode. So you've been famous a long time, and then you got way more famous with a single song not too long ago.
Yeah, it kind of seems that way. Yeah, it does kind of seem that way.
And how did you, where'd that song come from? So two of my bandmates, two of the guys that are in my band who I've been playing music with for 25 years, we started a publishing company.

I don't know, a few years ago, kind of started our own publishing company, writing songs and kind of keeping all of our stuff mostly in-house.

And I don't know.

That's not the way it's normally done in Nashville.

I feel like it's more the way it's starting to be done now, but it wasn't always that way.

And, you know, just, I mean, we're all on the road talking about the same stuff that everybody's talking about uh you know state of the country those kind of things what we agree with don't agree with what we're seeing and and uh you know those guys wanted to basically you know write a song about it and it was you know meant to be kind of our version of a country boy can survive the old hank jr thing you know and but you know make it relevant to what was going on now because we felt like it was you know there was a lot of stuff out there that nobody was talking about or calling people out for things and and so um it kind of came from those guys and they played it for me and i mean it was to me it was a no-brainer i mean it was, it was just like, man, this is everything that I feel. It's everything I want to say.
And it's something that nobody else is talking about. So, or at least in our world, in the music business.
And so we put it out, man. I was excited to put it out, excited to put it out as a single.
And, you know, obviously when that happens, you see, you know, a lot of the people in the label or whatever it is, you know, they're like, I don't know, you know, we'll see. A lot of times people in the business are just scared of how it's going to affect my career or their career or whatever it is.
And, you know, at some point, I just feel like you got to plant your flag somewhere and stand for something. And we put it out.
We put a video out that I felt like represented the song the way I saw it.

And once we did that, it just kind of snowballed from there.

We put the video out, and that started getting a lot of traction

when it got people trying to cancel the video or whatever.

And so it just kind of snowballed.

And next thing you know, everybody was checking it out,

trying to figure out what all the hoopla was about and and uh you know ended up being a huge song for us yeah i'd say yeah 64 million views on youtube try that in a small town uh as of today so the reaction to it was so intense positive but also negative right all these different news outlets went out of their way,

found the one guy on staff who'd grown up in a small town and been like, no, this isn't real. Yeah.
Well, I think that's one thing for me I noticed, man, was being in this business and just that situation for me, especially, I saw firsthand how the media can take something and really switch that narrative and lead you down a path that maybe it's just not true. It's like somebody writes a story and they say the headline is Jason Aldean releases pro-lynching racist song or whatever it is.
And it's like, man, that's not fact. I don't remember race being addressed in the song.
Right. song right but you know it's wild to me that they can go out and and media can go out and put that narrative out there and then you got all the other media outlets and you know how it works somebody says that you do one interview or one person writes an article then all the rest of them grab that one article and it's blasted out to everywhere and that becomes the story that that becomes fact or true or whatever and uh it was just wild for me to see like how how the media

could do that and sort of create something out of what shouldn't have been that big a deal you know

what i mean and so it was uh it was first time i'd not the first time i'd been involved in something

like that but i think the first time on on that not the first time I'd been involved in something like that, but I think the first time on that level, really. Did it bother you at all? I mean, it bothered me to a sense of like, man, that's not really, you know, you're taking it and turning it into something else, which I knew it wasn't.
But I've also been in the business long enough to know that I'm not going to go out there and start trying to defend myself to everything. I mean, if anybody thinks that I walked down the street, you know, was looking at places to shoot a video and went, man, let's pick a place where they hung a guy in front of the building.
That'd be great for, you know, my career. Great for the video.
Great for the story we're trying to tell. Like that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
You know, that courthouse is 10 minutes from my house. It was close.
You know what I mean? And so when you start having people take you down a path of that, well, he picked it because of this. I'm like, that's so stupid, but I'm not going to go out there.
It's an actual courthouse, right? Yeah, it's a courthouse where I go get my car tags from my car. So do you think that everyone who gets car tags there is endorsing lynching? It depends on who's writing the story, you know know it depends on what the story is that gets out there i think it just online people that go and start trying to find anything that has to do with anything i mean it just whatever if they don't like the song they want to figure out a way to prove their point right so this is a pro lynch that's where the pro lynching stuff came from that's where that stuff came from was that.
And it happened a hundred years ago. Like I would have never thought to go back and go through the history of that courthouse to make sure.
I mean, and in the South, I mean, if I'm being honest, if you go to the South and find any sort of courthouse, you'd probably be hard pressed to find one that didn't have some sort of racial issues at some point over the years. I mean, that just is what it is.
But anybody that thinks that we went out of our way to shoot a video there to have some underlying meaning for the video, it's just ridiculous to me. What were you trying to say with the song? What was the message? I mean, I think for me, it's just during COVID and the election that followed that and all the stuff.
I mean, it was just, I think for us, just looking at what was happening with the country and just, you know, it was just kind of in a mess. We're dealing with, I mean, I remember having our friends come over and sit across the driveway from us in lawn chairs because we didn't want to get, you know, closer than six feet from each other.
And it's just like that kind of stuff was going on. I'm watching TV.
People are burning our cities down. There's just tons of disrespect for our country, our police for all that stuff, you know, and it just, to me, it was like crazy.
It's like, I'm living in this country that's just not what it's supposed to be. And, um, I don't know.
It was just like, I know that people saw it. I mean, it was obviously been a big conversation.
You've talked about it a lot, just like the state of the country and those kinds of things. But, um, I don't know.
I just think it was really eyeopening for me during that time to be like, what are we doing right now? Like, this is so crazy and things that, I don't know, you just have things that, that come up that are like, they're trying to normalize things to me that just aren't normal and that I don't see as normal, that have never been normal. And to just try and force feed me that and go, no, but it is, it's normal that you have to accept this.
It's like, no, I don't, like, I don't agree with that. I don't agree with, you know, men playing women's sports and those kinds of, I will never agree with those kind of things and if you're trying to make that normal normal to me it's just never going to be that so you know when I start seeing stuff like that it's just me going like what are what is going on right now and I think that to me was kind of the what what lit the fuse for the song too and just the whole thing so um just trying to say like to say like, Hey, this is what I see.
And I don't know where I'm from. Like this just wouldn't be a thing.
Like it just wouldn't go down like this. Well, because there is a deeper truth.
It's not just you're from the South, obviously, but it's not just a regional thing. It's a matter of scale, like certain kinds of behavior, anti-human, anti-social lunaticatic behavior is only possible in a big city, actually.
Yeah. Because if you do behave like that in a small town, people know you, you know them.
Yeah, you get sniffed out pretty quick. Exactly.
Yeah. Why is that so offensive to say? I don't know.
I think it's, you know, a lot of people took it as a thread. Oh, well, that's a, you know, I heard all that stuff too.
Oh, well, it's a reference to sundown towns and all that kind of stuff. You know, it's like, you know, you're taking it as a thread oh well that's a you know i heard all that stuff too oh well it's a reference to sundown towns and all that kind of stuff you know it's like you know you're taking it as a thread or this or that it's like no it's just like you know when you have stuff like that that goes on small towns everybody knows everybody they look out for each other they uh you know i mean it just that kind of stuff just doesn't fly and and if it does it gets called out pretty quick and you know it's not going to be

a it may be a problem once maybe twice but that's going to be about it like something's you know somebody's going to get talked to or somebody's going to get you know dealt with on that stuff and it may be somebody meeting somebody in the back alley and just you know talking it out real well whatever you didn't see i mean the truth is you didn't see a lot of blm riots in rural Wisconsin. No.

Or South Georgia. No, it was all big cities.

All big cities.

You know, and that's, you know, and I don't think it's any big secret. I mean, a lot of the bigger cities are more, especially if they're Democratic-run cities or whatever.
I mean, they welcome that stuff almost, it seemed like. And it was just weird, man.
The whole thing was weird. And, you know, and i still don't think that we're out of the woods by far but it's it seems like it's somewhat kind of settled down a little bit from what it was in 2020 at least for sure well because the democrats are in control so they they call their dogs back their militias are at home right now waiting for someone else to take charge so they can wreck the country again.
But I mean, obviously, the idea that they couldn't control that, well,

Kamala Harris was sending them money. So yeah, they weren't controlling it.

For sure. So what kind of response did you get from your fans to that song?

You know, I think when you do something like that, I mean, I think there's going to be a lot of,

you know, it's probably gonna be a lot of people that were fans that don't like

the fact that I stand for this or I say this and, you know, and they kind of peel off and that's fine. You know, did that happen? I'm sure it did.
I mean, I don't know for sure, but I mean, I would assume law of averages means it probably did some, but I think also with that, you also have a lot of people that maybe were borderline fans or maybe weren't fans at all.

And go, man, I like that guy.

And, you know, I stand by what he's saying, too.

And and so what you lose, you kind of gain back.

And, you know, to me, it's more, it's not, it's less about the fans and stuff like that and more about me being true to who I am and, you know, being able to lay my head down at night, go to sleep, feeling like I did the right thing that day and that I did my part to you know raise my kids right and do everything I'm supposed to be doing that day and as a public figure not go out and be fake and tell people what they want to hear it's like you may not like what I have to say but at least you're going to know where I stand and so I heard that song and the first person I thought it was was Charlie Daniels, who I think had already died. And I love Charlie.
I could tell you, dude. I love Charlie.
He's passed away now, but he was definitely one of those guys that was like— But the spirit was the same. Yeah.
It's like you didn't have to like the guy. You were going to respect him.
Whether you liked him or not, you respected him and respected his opinion, and he tried to talk to you in a way that it wasn't talking down to you if you didn't think the way he did it was a conversation and and uh i had a ton of respect for him and uh got a chance to to know him really before he passed away and uh and yeah absolutely and i think there's a lot of a lot of similarities in in his music and in that song for us and well that was the first i thought long-haired country was the first thing I thought of when I heard that tune. So, but Charlie Daniels, I mean, you know, and Charlie Daniels politics kind of changed, but the spirit never changed.
He was always anti-authority. He was always suspicious of the man, you know, going back even 50 years ago, but he was always celebrated.
Like no one ever called him names. No.
Right. And he's a guy that I think he just called it out.
He called it the way he saw

it and

he just

if he saw stuff going on in the world

he didn't like or in our country or whatever, he'd write

a song about it, put it out there and

you like it or not, but here you go.

You're getting Charlie Daniels.

But there aren't too many more people like that left.

Well, because I think a lot of times in the business, it's almost, you're getting Charlie Daniels and, uh, but there aren't too many more people like that left. Well, because I think a lot of times in the business you're, you know, it's almost like you're, I don't know.
They want you to not step out and do those things. They don't want you to ruffle the waters a little bit.
You know, they don't want the waters to be rippled a little bit because it's, they don't know how it's going to affect your career, your fan base or whatever the case may be. And so I think it detours a lot of artists from going out and really being able to say what they want to say.
And a lot of times it's artists too. Artists are scared that if they go out and stick their neck out too far that they're going to lose some fans or maybe not win some awards at an award show or something.
And if that's the case, listen, everybody's got their own right to do things how they want to.

And I just, it's just not how I operate.

I mean, not to be mean, I know, you know, all these, you live in Nashville, you know, everybody, of course, because they all live there.

But kind of hard to call yourself an artist if you're afraid to express yourself, right?

Doesn't art require bravery?

I feel like it does, you know, and that was kind of one of my arguments with the song.

It's like, I'm an artist, like, you know, I'm not, you know, a political figure or whatever. It's like, I'm an artist.
I sing. So if I have, you know, I do my stuff through song and through shows and things like that versus getting on and, you know, you have a platform to do your thing and it's, it's killer and you're one of the best at it and and for me that's music that's how i do my thing and if there's something i want to say that's how that's how you get it out there and so but i think you know there's a lot of artists that are like i said just uh you know whether it's from record companies or management giving them you know what they think they should do or whatever the case may be but But I think a lot of people are just scared to step out

because they're scared of losing fans.

It's scared that it's going to affect their live shows.

They're not going to make as much money or win an award here and there.

I think it's starting to loosen up a little bit.

You're starting to see guys not scared to step out and speak as much.

I mean, there's been some in the country music world lately,

some of the younger guys that are coming up that have been more that way which is which is good to see i've noticed that yeah yeah it's been uh you know i would say probably over the last two years probably for sure you i've kind of noticed like wow it's all right that guy i see you over there you know guys like a cody johnson or um even parker mcc who's a young guy coming up. I mean, those guys are out there and they're newer artists and, you know, it could affect them and they're out there saying their piece.
And I'm like, all right, cool. We got some like-minded people now that aren't scared to go out and talk about it, which is cool.
Without using names, but since you do obviously live there and know everybody, it's your business, you've been in it your whole life. Do people ever talk about this off camera? You know, the artists ever talk about...
Just the political... Yeah, like I want to say what I think, but I'm kind of afraid because the label, my manager, they do.
For sure, yeah. And, you know, it's just...
When you're running a business like that, I mean, it's just there's a lot of money involved. there's a lot of people.
When you have an artist, there's a lot of people underneath that artist that work for them. A lot.
If they get hit, something happens. I think a lot of people look at the Dixie Chicks, that situation where the whole deal with Bush, and they went over and talked about Bush, came back that.
I mean, they just, it was done for them after that. And I think that is what a lot of artists look at.
It's like, man, well, if I say something, I could be, that could happen to me too, sort of thing. And, um, and I think that's one of the things that probably has deterred people over the years, especially in the country music world from speaking on things.
But, uh, I just think it's a different time now. Yeah, I mean, yeah, Dixie Chicks, that was an interesting thing.
I mean, they weren't entirely wrong about the Iraq War, in my opinion, though they were kind of annoying, I thought, but whatever. But a country artist should always be able to speak for America and normal people people that's the genre right exactly i mean that's

our thing i mean the country music fan base is blue collar you know it's the everyday american it's not you know the everyday farmer like those kind of people it's like you know it's it's not uh and i mean there are exceptions to the rule i just mean like overall and you know i mean country music is as tapped into the heartland as any type of music there is.

And so... overall and you know i mean country music is is you know it's as tapped into the heartland as any any type of music there is and so you know i don't know what i've noticed is i think sometimes you can watch the news or listen to the media or whatever and you know there's times where it makes you feel like they make you feel like you're crazy and then you look and go man is it me like am i crazy here and you know i think it's uh you know when you go out for me what i've seen is when i talk about things or or say something or whatever it's the amount of people that are like thank you you know and they come to to the defense of whatever's going on or just agree and say thank you man somebody's finally saying this and know, and it's the blue collar people and they are the biggest country music fans.
And it's not why, you know, it's not like I chose that because, oh, well, we can get more fans because country music fans are like this. It's like, man, that's just how I feel.
And I just feel like I'm a pretty average everyday guy that, you know, same thing as everybody else, man. I'm trying to raise my kids, raise good kids and provide for my family.
And, you know, I have a lot of people that work for me. I try to take care of those guys.
And I know that everything I say is under a microscope. Everything I do is under a microscope and everything I do affect could affect everybody underneath me that works for me and my family and everything.
But like I said, man, at the end of the day, I got to be able to like lay down at night knowing that I'm doing my part and being true to who I am. And that's really, really important to me.
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I asked your tour manager, how many people go on tour with you? 72. Was this number? Wow.
Yeah, it's a lot, man. It's like an invading army.
Yeah, it's grown over the years, though. You know, it's like you start and, you know, when we first started, we were on one bus.
I think there was eight or nine of us on a bus. And that was my first, you know, time going out on a bus.
It was me, my band. I had a tour manager and maybe two crew guys that ran with us.
And, you know, then it's like you go to two buses and all of a sudden you got 15 people out there. And then you go to three buses and there's, you know, 20.
And, you know, it just kind of keeps growing. Next thing you know, I mean, we're 19 years into this thing now, too.
How many buses now? Six or eight, something like that. and then there's eight trucks or something so it's it's still uh it's still a pretty big operation but we've we've even dialed it down to what it what it once was i think on the night train tour we had like 12 trucks and i don't know 10 buses or something so it was it was wild but uh but yeah it's we're in a And, you know, we've got a lot of people that work for us and it's been, uh, it's grown,

you know, over the years and, and kind of become a family out there.

It's my extended family on the road. And, and it's, you spend a lot of time with those guys, hell more time with them sometimes

than I do my own family.

So you get tight.

Parked right outside overnight, right outside our barn.

I pulled up this morning.

There it was.

What's that doing here?

Um, so your wife who was just here with us for lunch,

what a sweet person. She's not a public

figure, really, but she came out and made a public

statement about the lunatic gender mania stuff

and really got hammered for it.

I think my wife is very outspoken um you know and she's very i don't know very firm in her beliefs and and you know and it's it's tough man it's like you know you're trying to raise kids like we have a five and six year old i have a 21 year old and a 17 year old as well you know and it's like but you're trying to raise kids in an era. And we were talking about it earlier where, you know, you're trying to make things normal to me that aren't normal.
And, you know, and I think when she said that, you know, it was just like, you know, there's a certain group of people that are going to, I feel like there's people that are going to take offense to everything these days, no matter what you say. And obviously she said that, you know, people jumped all over that, but I mean, you know, I agree with her.
I mean, I feel like, listen, you know, if you want to be trans or do those kinds of things, like whatever, it's like, if you're an adult and can make those decisions and you're old enough to have the mentality to know what you're doing and know what that looks like for the rest of your life, that's one thing. If you're, as a kid, your parents are already instilling that in you and like all this stuff and letting, allowing you to do those things before you're of age to do, like you can't even vote until you're 18.
Like, why should you be able to do that? You know, or drink a beer until you're 21, but you can change your, like, it's just weird to me. And I think if somebody wants to do that and they're old enough to make that decision, hey, doesn't affect my life, whatever.
But you can't try to make that normal to everybody. Now it's just like a puppy.
It just is what it is. It's just not like that.
So your wife's point was if you're promoting

castration and gender confusion to children, that's evil. Yeah.
I mean, I don't really see that there's much debate about that, but nor do I, but like I said, these days, it doesn't matter what you say. I mean, you know, that's the thing.
Everybody's going to have different views on things and I'm very aware of that. Um, and that's fun.
I mean, I feel like people can have their views. It's whatever.
And I feel like you're free to talk about it, but don't be mad when I give you my opinion on it too. You know what I mean? I think that's where you can think that's okay all day long.
I'm never going to. You can talk to me too.
You're blue in the face. It's never going to change my opinion as far as that goes on certain things.
And I mean, you know, there are certain things I agree with certain things I don't on both sides of all that stuff. And so, but if it's something that to me, that's a, that's kind of a common sense.
It's a little asymmetrical though, because you're saying, as I often say, you know, you do, you do your thing and that's fine. I'll leave you alone.
If it doesn't affect me, it doesn't affect me. Do what you want.
That's the kind that's the kind of traditional american attitude that's not their attitude but don't shove it down my throat and try to make it normal like that like normalize things to me that just aren't like it's like you're trying too hard to to get me to like i don't know it's just it's weird to me they are working to shove it down your throat for sure you have no interest in shoving it down their throat or even seeing their throat i don't care like you know i like i do what you want to do i don't did that cause you any problems like internally in nashville were you at you know dinners or award shows or at the ryman and other artists come up and say i just disagree with you never to my face ever never now they may bark in the media or do whatever and you know throw a tweet up or whatever but never once has anybody come to me and had a conversation like what would you say the breakdown is among artists you know in nashville like what percentage would agree with you and what percentage wouldn't i don't know i mean that's kind of hard i mean there's uh you know i definitely think there's a couple different groups of artist types in nashville you know certain people kind of stick and run together, and certain people stick together and run together over here. So I don't know.
I mean, I know the people that I hang with and the people that I'm close to and kind of where they stand on things, and I also know the ones that probably feel the other way. Is that a big group? I don't know.
I mean, it's hard to put a number on it just because i feel like it's camps it's like you know this per this artist and that manager and their whole camp and whatever and then these guys and that camp and so you just kind of know i mean it's um it's hard to put a number on it but like i said i mean i know you know i hang out with my guys who are you know it never comes up it's never really a thing and if it is you know we're usually on the same page but um you find the ones that maybe don't agree with you as much they sort of keep their distance which is fine i'd actually probably prefer that actually sounds like a really good plan yeah what do you think of trump i love trump man yeah you know. How did you end up knowing Trump? So we ended up getting invited to New Year's at Mar-a-Lago one year.
And I think it was, you know, we had kind of started to become vocal about it. And honestly, when he ran in 2016, I mean, I was not political at all.
I didn't really get into it, didn't really understand it a whole lot. Didn't pay much attention to it.
And, uh, but I did think it was cool that here's this guy that is really not a politician. And at the time you had, you know, all the A-list stars were going, Oh, Trump's running for president.
They were all excited and almost kind of like it was a joke a little bit. And then he won, and I don't think anybody thought he would win.

And for the next eight years, it's been nothing but trying to just like

slander this guy, get him out, you know,

and just all the stuff you watch him deal with in the media.

And to me, it was just, I don't know,

we just kind of started speaking out about that stuff

and how we felt about it.

And we got invited to Mar-a-Lago for New Year's. Had you met him before? I'd never met him, never talked to him, never met him.
Uh, went up there. He invited me to play golf with him that morning.
And so I went and had breakfast with him, played golf, came back, had lunch and then saw him at the thing and just kind of hit it off. I mean, you've been around him, you know, he's, he's a, you know, he's a guy's guy, man.
You talk to him about sports or like whatever the case is. And he's just a, he's a cool guy.
And so I just kind of hit it off with him and kept in touch with him over the last few years and, um, try to see him when I can, you know, down in Florida, we lived down there part of the time, which is only, you know, I don't know, probably 45 minutes from Mar-a-Lago over there. So, you know, it kind of started like that.
It was like we had no intentions of getting political or any of those things. It just kind of happened.
And then, you know, with all the elections, like I said, the last eight years, just watching what happened and going through 2020, the election stuff and the BLM stuff and the COVID vaccine and all those things. It's just like, man, you're just watching all this stuff go down.
Like, what is going on right now? It's crazy. And so I think obviously having little kids made us get a little more involved and started paying attention to what was happening.
And it's like, man, I just, you know, my thing is I don't, I don't vote for, and this is true. I don't vote for the person, like as much as people may say that's a lie or whatever, you know my thing is I don't I don't vote for and this is true I don't vote for the person like as much as people may say that's a lie or whatever you know for me it's like which one of these groups is gonna take the country in the direction that I feel like it should be taken for my family my kids and like their future and those kind of things and to me that's what I base it on and I feel like personally for me that's him.
And so, you know, it just kind of became a thing, but it was never, you know, I mean, 10 years ago, man, I couldn't have talked to you about any politics at all. I'd be like, I don't know.
You know, it just was never really. It didn't seem like it mattered.
Well, it just felt like, you know, the country was doing what it does. I mean, it kind of go through its periods of whatever, but it was never crazy was never crazy it was still you know economy will go up and down and those kind of things but it wasn't just like a complete shit show you know what i'm saying and then all of a sudden when that happened it was like wow we got little kids and i'm like man i gotta send my kid to school and you know it's like we're talking about like the transgender stuff and it's like like, what do I do if he comes home? It's like, man, there's a girl in my class that's a boy or, you know, it's like, that's hard to explain to a five or six year old.
And people out there can say it doesn't happen. That's a lot.
It's happening in elementary schools. I know for a fact, because it's happened around places where we live.
In Tennessee. Yeah, man.
And it's just like, you know, I don't know. To me,

that's just one of those things where it's like, I don't want to have to explain those kind of

things to a five-year-old who doesn't get it. And shouldn't have to do that.
No, and shouldn't

have to. I shouldn't have to explain that to him.
So that's kind of where I'm at on it. But it's

those kind of things that made me kind of step up a little bit more than I had in the past.

Was there any downside to being, you know, seen with Trump, saying nice things about Trump? Again, you're always going to have people that, you know, somebody's going to bitch about something. I mean, that's just the way it is.
But I think until, you know, I finally just came to the conclusion of like, man, you know, I think I'm right. I just think I'm on the right side of this.
and like, you know, I just came to conclusion of like man you know i think i'm right i just think i'm on the right side of this and like you know i have a platform to be able to go out and and say stuff i mean there's other artists and actors and actresses and you know all these other celebrities that'll get on talk shows and all this stuff and they'll run trump down you know right there on live tv or kathy griffin holding up a Trump head that looks like they cut his head off. You know, all that stuff's okay.
You know, they don't, nobody says shit about that. But, you know, we start talking out about things and all of a sudden they're appalled, right? So, but, you know, to me, I just feel like I'm on the right side of it.
And it's like, man, if you agree with me, cool. And if you don't, that's cool, too.
I mean, it's not going to affect the way I view things or what I say or how I feel. I mean, I don't know.
It's just, it's a wild time. Were you surprised to see country stars at the Democratic convention? No.
I mean, I don't think so. I didn't watch it really, so I don't really know who was there.
But I'm not surprised. I mean, there's definitely that group that, you know, is more lines that way and, you know, more power to them.
Like if you want to do that and you think that's a good look for you and that's what you support, by all means, go do it. I mean, it's like anything.
It's like with me doing it. It's like, you know, get ready for the consequences, whatever that is, good or bad.
Just know that, you know, there may be some, and if you're good with that, then go do what you want to do. Yeah.
Live out your conscience. I agree with that completely.
So when you came out with Try That in a Small Town, it got pulled, right, from country music television? CMT, yeah. What happened? I i mean we basically sent so they get a heads up on a video we send that to them before it ever airs on tv you know it's like anything they look at all the videos coming in oh we're gonna add this one we're gonna add that one and then they put it in the rotation so they put in the rotation the song starts doing its thing then the song starts getting a lot of a lot song starts getting a lot of heat and a lot of the racial stuff started coming up into play.
Well, CMT immediately pulled it. Just to be clear, the song had nothing to do with race.
No. But the narrative that was getting put out at the time by everybody when the song came out, and it wasn't really the song as much as the video.
So when the came out because the video had a portion shot in front of a courthouse in front of which 100 years

ago there was some racial murder yes among other things i mean there was other stuff in there you

know they people didn't like that the blm clips were in there or like those kind of things oh

you know there was a lot of well the blm stuff is in there but you didn't put the january 6 stuff in

there and i'm like i mean it's just like your own video. Right.
I was like, it's my video. So shut up.
So anyway, um, but no, I mean, they, they pulled the video and, uh, do they give you warning? No, they just, they pulled it. And then the thing was they pulled it and they could have just pulled it and been quiet about it.
And it would have, you know, just kind of flew under the radar. but when they pulled it, they put out a press release letting everybody know that they pulled it and they could have just pulled it and been quiet about it and it would have you know just kind of flew under the radar but when they pulled it they put out a press release letting everybody know that they pulled it and kind of disassociated with the video or whatever the case may be and that was what everybody was like whoa what's going on and went and checked it out and then some people were like i don't get it you know i don't i don't understand what the drama's about and then other people are like you I see it.
I see what he's talking about. So at that point, you're going to see what you want to.
Who made that decision? To pull it? Yeah. I don't know.
That would have been somebody at the powers of B at CMT. Probably somebody out of the main office.
Probably not somebody in Nashville, but more somebody that really really is the string puller and oversees all that stuff but it made the song even bigger by far and it was something that we didn't know that was going to happen you know it's like hey here's our new single here's a video i thought it was really cool you i don't know you probably remember this do you remember the billy joe video or the song we didn't start the fire first course yeah so the video was all that stuff the berlin wall coming down and all this you know and really it was kind of that it was like that was sort of the video that i wanted to make was like a you know that kind of thing a montage that right evokes that period like 2020 was an amazing current events horrifying year yeah like the state of the country what happened yes this is it this is it in a three-minute nutshell and so that was the idea and um and so i was actually proud of it man i was super proud of the video to this day i think it's one of the probably the best video we've ever done and and so i was really excited for it and so when they pulled it it was kind of a deflating, man, really? Like people are accusing us of this and you guys are just pulling.

And we've had a long relationship with CMT over the years.

I mean, I've had some big moments in my career with them.

They've been a big part of helping launch my career early on with videos and those kind of things.

And so, you know, it was a little bit of a slap in the face for me.

And nobody called you?

I mean, somebody in the camp, you know, they would call like my publicist or somebody in the camp, but, you know, not me directly. And I got a call from management going, all right, CMT is pulling it.
And then they put the press release out and that's what made everybody want to go and look at it and figure out what the big deal was. And it just, from then on, man, it was just, it was on fire.
I haven't always been proud of the companies that have advertised on shows I've had over the years, but now that we have our own company, we decided, well, we're only going to take ads from people we like and agree with and admire. So it is with actual pride that we announce partnership with Bass Pro Shops.
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Check responses for accuracy. It's the Smuckers Uncrustables podcast with your host, Uncrustables.
Okay, today's guest is rough around the edges.

Please welcome Crust.

Thanks for having me.

Today's topic, he's round with soft pillowy bread.

Hey.

Filled with delicious PB&J.

Are you talking about yourself?

And you can take them anywhere.

Why'd you invite him?

And we are out of time.

Are you really cutting me off?

Uncrustables are the best part of the sandwich.

Sorry, Crust. So something that I hesitate even to ask you about, but I feel like I have to, you were performing in Las Vegas during the biggest mass shooting in American history.
And I didn't know until today when we were talking off air, first of all, like how, I mean, your bus got shot up. Yeah.
I didn't know that. I don't know, somehow.
Yeah. You know, there was a lot of details about that stuff that, there was probably details about that a lot of people don't know.
But yeah, it a wild night man my wife was eight months pregnant with our son who was in here earlier you met good boy and uh you know it's a scary time man it's like went out to play a show like i always do and you know you expect to go out there for an hour and a half two hours get done come back hang out with your guys and get on the plane or bus or whatever it is and go home. And, uh, you know, that night was just a different story and it was just a weird deal.
Um, you know, something that a lot of the guys in my camp, my crew and stuff, it kind of messed a lot of people up for a while, just kind of going through that stuff. And, um, and, you know, a lot of the guys that are with me, been with me for 15 years, plus some of them have been with me for 19 years.
And so, you know, it was tough, man. It was a tough thing to go through.
And I was telling you, like before, you know, the toughest part was going through all that. And then you get home and you're watching the news trying to figure out, all right, well, why did this guy do this? Like, what was his reasoning and why this show? And, you know, he never really got any answers on any of that stuff.

And still to this day, like we don't really know much about it.

I just, you know, you go and see the aftermath after it happened.

You know, there's bullet holes in the front of my bus and in the side.

My band bus, the windows got shot out of the band bus.

My bass player who was on stage to me,

one of my best friends in the world for the last 25 years,

was standing next to me, you know,

Thank you. Um, my bass player who was on stage to me, one of my best friends in the world for the last 25 years was standing next to me, you know, had a bullet lodged in the bass he was playing at the time.
So bullet hits the bass he's got on at the time playing. And so, yeah, I mean, there was some close calls for that stuff.
And, uh, a lot of stuff that, you know, I hadn't, I've never really gone way into detail about a lot of it, but it was wild. I just don't, I attempted to get to the bottom of that over a couple of months period.
I got pretty fixated on it. I made no headway at all.
Yeah. But I wasn't there.
I mean, it wasn't my show that got shot up in the biggest mass shooting in American history. Hundreds and hundreds of people shot.
Yeah. It was wild, man., man.
You know, and I went, uh, you know, I remember after that, it was like a couple of days later, you know, we, we got home and we were still kind of shell shocked from all of it. And Lauren Michaels had called me and wanted us to come do Saturday night live.
And I was like, man, I don't know. Like it's like we had shows scheduled that weekend that we went ahead and canceled.
It was like, of us wanted to play so let's just take a weekend let's try and get it together all of our gear was still sitting on the stage in vegas so we couldn't even play a show if we wanted to what do you mean on like literally on literally i mean i took my guitar off laid it on stage that night of the shooting and it stayed right there in that spot for two weeks while the FBI went out and, you know, did the crime scene and all the stuff. So we didn't have guitars to play.
And Lorne Michaels called us and wanted us to come do Saturday Night Live, do a cold opening and all the stuff. And I said, man, listen, I, you know, I got some stuff to say.
And if you'll let me do, you know, I don't want you guys writing stuff for writing stuff for me to, to talk about or say, or whatever. Let me write it and say what I want to say.
And Tom Petty had died when we were flying home, uh, the next day, Tom Petty, we got the news. He had died on the flight home.
And so I was like, man, just a crappy week. I was a big Tom Petty fan.
And so I was like, man, if you'll just let me say what we want to say and, and kind of play a song for Petty and just like tie all the stuff in like it's been a been a rough week you know and so um Lauren told me that was fine I could do what I wanted and so we went up there and called all the guys got everybody rallied up and went up there and played a show and I'll say this I mean that that crew and everybody that was on that show was really really cool to us that day and like very welcoming and stuff which was which was really needed I think for us at the time so they they helped us a lot to kind of get over that hurdle a little bit to get back and start playing and know that you know we had to pick up and keep keep moving we had a tour to finish we had another like four to six weeks left of the tour to go out and finish after that happened, which was tough.

So we did that and then came home and just kind of shut everything down for about six, seven months and went underground pretty good for a while.

My son was born during that time, so I got to come home.

He was born, which kind of helped take my mind off of it and stuff.

So it was a wild time. How many conversations, interviews did you have with the FBI? I didn't have any.
You didn't have any? I didn't have. Did I remember? I don't think I had any.
But you were performing. I didn't.
But they, I didn't. I mean, I didn't know much.
I might have talked to them one time. I mean, I was on stage.
I thought we had a blown speaker. No clue what was going on.
And so it wasn't until I got off stage and took my, you know, we wear ear monitors. And so I can't really hear anything except my band.
And so I just heard something sound like it was cracking, but it was the gun going off. It just didn't.
It was coming through the microphones and it just sounded weird, but I didn't know what it was. And so we got off stage and I took those out and I heard him shoot again.
And that's when I knew what was going on. I had no idea until I got off stage.
So he shot for almost 25 minutes, as I remember correctly. It was a long time.
It felt like an hour. So I don't know, I don't know, I don't know how long it actually was, but it felt like a long time.
Where were you during that? So I came off side stage. And like I said, my wife was eight months pregnant.
So the first thing I get over there. She was there? Yeah.
She was talking to some friends like up, you know, kind of actually closer to Mandalay where he was at. And I just came off.
And when I took my headphones out, I was like, first thing I said was, where's Britt? And one of my guys goes, I'm going'm going to get her and he went down the thing and as he was going down the steps to go get her she was coming up so he got her brought her over there to where i was at and we just kind of hunkered down for a while and i kept noticing the guy would shoot and then he'd you know there'd be like a little break where i guess he was going to a different window or whatever he was doing and and so i just told just told her, I said, the next time he stops like that, get up and start moving. We're going to the bus.
And so she got up and started heading to the bus and, uh, we got about halfway there and he started shooting again. And I just, she kind of froze up and I grabbed her, took her to the bus, got in the back of the bus and just kind of hunkered down back there.
And, um, so, but even while we were on there, I mean, the front of my bus took, I don't know, three or four rounds. The side took three or four rounds or whatever it was.
So, I mean, it was, it was, it was crazy. Well, the reason I asked about the FBI is that you may not have special knowledge, but it was your show.
I mean, you opened fire on your show, the J.S. Deltine show.
So you're kind of, by definition, a central part of the story. Yeah.
I mean, but I don't, and I could have it wrong. I mean, it was, I was a little bit in a daze back then when all that stuff was going on.
I don't recall them talking to me that I remember. But I also remembered going like, I don't really have anything to tell you.
It just sounded weird. And then they were shooting and I was just trying to get my pregnant wife somewhere and get her safe.
Like I had no idea where the guy was at. We thought he was on the ground backstage.
So we thought he was, you know, just backstage walking around mowing people down. That's what I thought.
That's why I was like, get up, let's get on the bus and at least, you know, get locked in there. And, you know, I got some stuff on the bus that will like at least you know even somewhat of an even playing field you know because i mean we just didn't know what was happening i didn't know the guy was having 60 stories up or whatever in a hotel we had no idea so um you know it was just it was just trying to piece all that stuff together and i really didn't have any information for for him.
Honestly, I'm like, man, I was playing. This happened.
I came off stage. Next thing I saw was, you know, trying to get off the bus and get everybody out of there to get them somewhere safe.
We didn't know what was happening. I was watching the news on my bus trying to figure out what was going on.
So even though I was living it in real time, I was waiting on the news to tell me what was happening because I had no idea. But did the FBI ever have information for you? Maybe, but I mean, they never called me about it.
I mean, they may have talked to somebody like in my crew, like, you know, one of my guys or something. But I never got any information as to like the why or, you know, what the motive was or any of those kind of things

from anyone from anywhere from anybody so that just seems like one of these moments in american history that was a big deal yeah people shot you know if we're going to be honest most of them trump voters and um maybe all of them really and we just sort of blew past it if you think about all the time the media spend, you know, in this very lurid way, reliving school shootings, and here's the biggest shooting in American history, and it's sort of never talked about again, and there's no even plausible motive, no one offers any motive at all, or any information about Stephen Paddock, who supposedly or apparently did this. What is that? I don't know.
It's weird. And, you know, when you go through something like that, it's, you know, you're kind of trying to figure out, like, man, was I supposed to be the target of this thing? Was it just an act of some guy just being evil and just wanting to do damage to just whoever? Like, you don't really know what it is.
Well, exactly. And so you get home and you're watching going, all right, well, FBI is on this and these guys will figure it out and you'll get some answers.
And it's like, it just never happened. And so for a lot of people that went through it, it was the like, wow, that's like, why, why did that happen to, why did he pick our show to do that? You know, but.
And you still have no idea. You still have no answers for that.
But, but I will say, man, I'm really proud of my guys, everybody that went through that to kind of saddle back up and have to go out and continue a tour. It wasn't easy.
It wasn't easy to go out and you're playing and you're playing amphitheaters and it's wide open and it's just like, man, it's just, it can be a little unnerving sometimes. Do you think the government was totally straightforward about what happened and why? I don't know.
I just find it odd that they, you know, can solve all these crazy crimes and all this stuff. And here's a guy that committed one of the biggest crimes in our country.
And it's like, we just thought we got nothing. You know, there's no computer, no, you know, he had a girlfriend or something or whatever it was.
And he had sent her to wherever he sent her with some money. And, you know, it was just a weird thing.
And I'm like, we never got any sort of anything. I mean, it was just never anything that made you go, oh, okay, I see that.
And how do you get thousands of rounds of rifle ammunition up to a top floor in a casino hotel? A bunch of suitcases, apparently. I don't know.
I mean, I remember that. They had video of him coming in with, you know, big suitcases full of guns.
Well, obviously full of guns now, but making multiple trips up the elevator and through the lobby with these big suitcases and getting up to his room. And so, you know, I don't know.
I know what everybody else knows, which is... I just think it's weird.
What we got from the news. Yeah, NBC News.
Yeah. And they have nothing.
Yeah. You visited victims in the hospital? I did.
So we played... We did Saturday Night Live.
That was on Saturday, obviously. And then as soon as that was over, left and flew back to Vegas, which was, I think, a week to the day of the shooting.
And just went in there, went to the hospital and started making the rounds, man, just going in, seeing all the people that were in there. you know some of them had like you know a leg wound or uh whatever and then some of them had

been shot in the head and like their families are in there like not knowing and it just sucks man

it was like you guys were Some of them had a leg wound or whatever, and then some of them had been shot in the head, and their families were in there not knowing.

It just sucks, man.

It was like, you guys were at my show. You guys came to hear our show, and that's why you're here like this.
It was a lot for me to process. you know and I think that was one of the first things I think for me

where it it took me out of being this you know this guy that was one of the first things I think for me where it took me out of being this, you know, this guy that was just having fun on the road, playing, living this great life and doing my thing or whatever.

It's like, you know what, man, this is bigger than all this stuff.

Like, this is a big, big deal.

And, you know, I had a lot of people that worked for me that were sort of looking to me going, what do we do now? You know, where do we go from here? And, you know, it's kind of like a lead by example sort of thing. And I'm like, you know, so that was the first time for me that I really had to kind of step up and be the boss.
Yeah. So to speak.
And, um, and I think it was good. It was a good thing.
As far as that goes, it was good for me. Uh, I think it kind of made me grow up a little bit, you know, even though I was already fully grown at the time, it still helped me to, I think maturity level wise, it was like really good for me as sad as it was.
And as, you know, it was just like, man, this is, this is a big deal. And, uh, going to the hospital, seeing those guys and, and just, you know, you start hearing the stories from everybody.
And it was heartbreaking, man.

I hated it.

I hated that happened.

And like you said, just to never have any reason for it

or get any closure on what that was all about has, you know,

it's just kind of been annoying.

And, you know, it's just wild that we can do all.

We can put a guy on the moon.

We can't figure that out.

Like, I don't know.

Assume.

I knew you were going to say that.

I knew you were going to say that. I don't know.
I'm reassessing everything. What do you think? If in fact we did, who knows? What do you think of Gavin Newsom? Not a fan.
You're not a fan. No, no.
You didn't even hesitate before rendering that judgment. Well, I mean, I just think you, you know, that's the thing where you just look at the state of California.
I think it just speaks for itself. I've been to California a lot.

There's some great people out there, man.

Big country music fans.

A lot of people that are out there that don't agree with his policies and everything.

But it's like their families are out there.

They've built lives out there.

And they don't want to leave the state just because of this guy.

So I just think what he's done to California is not good. and I would hate to see that the rest of the country look like that.
Well, I mean, his friend is running for president on the Democratic side. Yeah, well, there you go.
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Explore the tropics and save at Whole Foods Market in-store and online. so you you uh publicly went after gavin newsom yeah i don't think i went after him i just you know i just highly disagree with the guy you know what i mean i just you know i got a lot of friends that have come from californ California and that's why they left you know and you know this man I mean when all that stuff was happening in 2020 I mean that drove people leaving by in droves coming to Florida and tennis Nashville and all that stuff and you know and they're getting out of that because they don't they don't want to be there and live under that man and and so I'm just just not a fan do you think in the end that he's winning gavin newsom and people like gavin newsom or you and people like you are winning like are we becoming is the country going to be more like california or more like where you grew up i hope it's more like i grew up um you know like i said i mean there's parts of cal that are great, man.
I mean, you know, there's really cool parts of California. But I think, you know, when people think of California, they go to L.A.
You know, they think of L.A., San Diego, those kind of places. And I don't know who's been to L.A.
lately, but it's not a sexy town anymore. You know what I mean? No, not at all.
It's not good at all. It's like chlamydia town yeah it's it's rough man

it's just like that's such that could be such a great city and it is a great city was a great yeah the greatest and it's just like to watch like what they've done to it out there and it's just lack of i mean they just i don't know i don't know what it is but it's just it's not what it should be just look at like, dude, you got, you got one state to handle and clearly that's not working out for you. So like the last thing I want you to have to do is handle all the states.
You know what I'm saying? I mean, like one, I feel like you got your hands full with one. It's been such a disaster that you'd think people would say, look, it's not even a political question.
It's not Republican or Democrat or Gavin Newsom versus anyone else. It's like, we don't want to live in squalor where people are getting murdered and shoplifting is legal and all that stuff.
But, um, which that's the craziest one to me, the shoplifting thing, legalizing theft. Oh, just, well, if, if he's got under however much, you know, 500 bucks, you can't stop him.
I'm like, says who? Like, what do you mean? Well, you get arrested if you try and stop him. Oh, well, I mean, you know what I mean? Like, that's crazy to me that that's even a thing.
It's like, I mean, what do you do? Like, tally up his items before he leaves to figure out if you can stop him or not? Like, that's the stupidest thing I've ever seen in my life. But that's a prime example of just like, what are we doing? Like now anymore, it's okay to steal as long as you're not stealing too much.
It's never okay to steal. It's disgusting.
Well, it used to be that way, but now it's fine as long as you're not stealing over $500. So, but like, do you think that people are going to, the country will go back to sanity or will it get increasingly insane? I don't know, feel like you know time always has a way of uh it's like that old thing of like things always kind of come back in style you know what i mean it's like you wear a certain pair of pants long enough they're going to come back in style and i hope that that's kind of that yeah same but you know i hope that's it you know i hope at some point like you know clear heads prevail and people are like man listen all across the board it's like whatever we're doing here is is not working and it's just it's a mess and so until you know everybody kind of gets on the same page stops pushing their own agendas for their own parties and their own stuff like it's i don't see it getting better so i hope it does because i feel like how i grew up you know i mean i was born in 77 kind of a kid of the 80s you know the 80s were awesome man got to ride your bikes all over the place and you played outside and you know you didn't worry about and then there was stuff going on i mean there was you know cold war and all that stuff kind of stuff going on or whatever, but, uh, was that what it was in the eighties with the, I think that's what I called it.
Yeah. And so, you know, you always had that stuff going on.
And I remember laying in bed as a kid going, man, is there going to be a Russian rocket come through my window tonight? You know? So, you know, there's always been those kinds of things, but, uh, you know, I just think our country, man, like what it was founded on the beliefs and everything else and, and what we stand for as a country has just been kind of lost. I don't know.
I just feel like we're off track somehow. Is Trump going to win? Yeah.
I mean, I hope so. You know, hell I thought he was going to win in 22 Yeah, what happened there? In 20? Yeah.
I don't know. I think from my standpoint, there was a lot of, you know, it's never taken us that long to figure out who our president was.
Yeah. So, there was a lot of stuff going on, you know, in Georgia.
You had a water main break. Yeah.
Weird, it broke out election night. Yeah, it was just those kinds of things over and over.
And then, you know, so, you know, whether there was ballot dumping or whatever you want to call it going on during that time or not, I think to the average person out there, it looked shady. It looked like, you know, wait, Trump's in the lead.
And then all of a sudden water mains break. Well, let us count all these votes.
And then all of a sudden Trump stays here and Biden, you know, overtakes him. It's like, how is that possible? You know, I think there was a lot of that kind of stuff going on, which is why a lot of people questioned it.
And, you know, so I don't know. I think, like I said, I mean, I'm obviously a supporter of Trump.
I like, you know, do I think he can be brash sometimes and, and say some things that, you know, he probably could have a little bit better of a bedside manner. Sure.
I'll give you that. That's fair.
At the end of the day, I don't really care if he hurts your feelings or not. As long as like, as a country, we're moving in the right direction.
The economy is great. You know, there's jobs for people and people are working and making money and there's jobs created.
I mean, it's just a fact there's less crime. There's less, all those things.
People aren't having to steal for money and, and, you know, feed their families or do whatever. There's less of that because they're working, they're making money, they're doing well.
And I just, you know, I saw that when he was in office. And, you know, that's what I, one of the reasons I'm a supporter of his, I just like the direction that I feel like he would take us.
Yeah. So you're confident he could win again? Well, yeah.
I mean, I think you go and look. I mean, there's no, have you ever seen support for president? I mean, have you ever seen an army of support for president like with him?

I've never seen that.

I mean, not in my life.

I don't think I saw any Joe Biden signs in 2020.

And then in the end, he wound up with more votes as a senile man who could barely speak

than any president in history.

More than Barack Obama himself.

And I think that's where it seemed like a lot.

81 million seemed like a lot again. And I think that's where people are like, I don't know, man.
Like, hold on a minute. And so that's where a lot of the questions came up.
I hope that they figure out a way to do this election where it's fair. You know, I think you should have, you know, everybody should have to show ID.
You should be a registered voter that has to show ID. You should be a legal citizen from here.
You know, I mean, this border, everybody we're letting in the, through the border, you know, I mean, are we going to let them vote? Like, how does that work? I mean, I feel like, I mean, to me, it seems like that's the whole reason we're letting them in right now. Right.
So not to help the economy. That's right.
No. And so do I think he will win? I think if it's done legally and i think everything's on the up and up i don't see how he loses but we'll see so i gotta ask you since you're sitting here how do you write a country music song well what's the pro i've always wondered i like country music and i've always wondered like how do you what's the process like specifically well so i mean i think for me it's always you know finding a really cool title uh and and kind of wrapping a really a cool idea around that title you know so um whatever that is so the way i do it a lot of times is i'll i'll come up with an idea or a song title or whatever it is.
And so I'll send it to the guys I write with it. I'm like, Hey, this is what I got.
This is what I'm thinking. Like, here's the idea for the first verse.
Even before that, like, where does the idea come to you? I don't, I just think it's some of its life experience, you know, some of it. Are you like in the shower, mowing the lawn? Usually it's late at night.
So I'm a night owl. My wife likes to go to bed about 10 o'clock.
My kids are in bed like 9 o'clock, 8 o'clock. And so for the first time all day, my house gets quiet about 10 o'clock at night.
And so that's when I kind of start sitting there. You speak for many American men.
Yeah, I get really creative at night. And so I'll just sit there and start going through stuff, texting my guys and start trying to map out a song or something.
And then we'll get on tour or whatever and we'll kind of finish stuff up. But it's a process.
So you're like sitting in your living room. Well, used to.
I would go in. When I first moved to Nashville, I moved there as a songwriter.
I was signed to warner chapel which is warner brothers publishing company and so you know i would go into the office every day and i would write from 10 o'clock to four o'clock every day in a room no windows just sitting there trying to hammer songs out and now wait that's how it works you sit in a room that's how it used to work all the time and now you know what if you don, when COVID happened, everybody could do rights on Zoom calls. It's like you would do meetings on Zoom calls while all of a sudden you could write.
You know, you could be here in Maine. I could be in Tennessee.
We get on a Zoom call and just write a song. How does that work, though? You write the lyrics.
Someone writes the music. You get a track.
Like, anymore, it's like a Pro Tools rig or something just where you can i mean you got a like an ipad or something you can pull up a you know get something going just like a beat drum beat a little loop or something and uh put a guitar over it and start messing around and lyrics and you know it's just it's kind of in sections almost but i mean the idea the title and the idea are the main thing and then you kind of start building around that the song title yeah so like we had a so my mom her brother my uncle passed

away like earlier this year last year from dementia and so my cousin had been helping you

know really take care of my uncle for the last few years and kind of just been there for him for

everything and so i had a title the day he passed away i was like man the title was a song called um help you remember was the name of the song and it was just basically like you know her trying to you know he didn't know her every day so she would have to go remind him of who she was and all the things and so basically had this idea the title and and the idea around the song send it to those guys we start writing it and you know it's going to be a song that's on the next record but it is it's really cool and one of those songs it's just not you know it's it's not your typical radio song it's like bigger than that and i think it's i think there's a lot of people dealing with that kind of thing right now and i think it's gonna it's hit people really hard. But that's kind of the way I write songs.
But it's collaborative? It sounds like there are always multiple people involved in the song. Yeah, so there's usually probably four of us involved in it.
Same people? Yeah, one guy will build the tracks, and he plays guitar on it. And then one guy puts my bass player, he plays bass on it.

And then all of us kind of do the lyrics

and things like that.

But they sort of map out like a cool,

sonically just make it cool,

like chord progressions and melodies

and those kinds of things.

And then we get in and start really tackling lyrics.

How do you know when you're done?

When we don't feel like we,

when we feel like all of our good ideas are gone. Like, you know, it's like, I don't know how I can write that line any better.
That's cool. And if it's a line or something that bugs us, we just keep working on it until we figure out we get it right.
And it's like, man, that's pretty good. I don't know how it's going to get better.
What's the longest you've worked on a song? Well, hell, we got one right now we've been working on for a while it's been written for a while but there's some stuff i wanted to change in it and uh words or music words so it's kind of like a song that name checks some other artists and stuff and so i got a really cool idea for it and i just haven't been able to piece it all together like i want to yet. And I've been working on that one for a few months now.

So you just never know.

Sometimes it happens fast.

Sometimes it's a couple hours and sometimes it's a couple weeks.

And if it's one that's really worth spending some time on,

you'll put some time in on it to make sure it's good.

If you know it's close, like this is close to being a really big song,

you want to make sure it's good.

You don't want to go, ah, it's good.

We wrote it in two hours.

It's like get the gist of it in two hours and then go back and just chip away at a song in two hours oh yeah wasn't very good but you know i can write one in 10 minutes with you but it's not gonna be very good chances are it's not gonna be very good i know greg allman wrote midnight rider while high oh yeah in like 15 minutes yeah well greg's awesome i got to play with him once yeah i mean the allman brothers kind of formed in my hometown macon georgia yeah i'm from so i grew up a huge fan of the allman brothers and you know they were just so ingrained into to that town that i'm from and and so as i got older and started getting on the road and playing shows those kind of things i got to do a show. We were doing like an acoustic thing and he started playing Midnight Rider.
It was him and Warren Haynes. And so I was just, I like looked over and looked at my guitar player.
I'm like, no way I'm missing out on this. So I just jumped right in on Midnight Rider, started singing with him, singing harmonies and stuff.
And it was, it was cool. It was the only time I ever got to play with him.
Who are the people in Nashville that the other artists revere who are universally admired? George Strait, I think, is that guy. Really? Oh, yeah.
He's our guy in country music. He's our Hank Williams Sr know, living legend guy that is the king of, of what we do.
And I think he will have that title forever. So he's a guy that everybody, you know, really looks up to.
I think Toby Keith was one of those guys, um, or at least was for me. Um, Reba, I think Reba is one that, you know, everybody, Dolly Parton, everybody loves Dolly too, you know, so there's some of those kind of acts, some of the legendary ones like that, that, you know, everybody loves them, obviously.
So the rest of us, eh, not so much. will you be doing this till you're George Straits age? I hope so man I mean you know I started playing bars when I was 14 15 years old

and you know I tell people this all the time. It sounds so cliche, but it's like, man, this is really all I know to do.
I mean, it was, I did this and I played baseball. That was the two things I was pretty good at.
And playing baseball meant I had to go to school for four years, which was not, that didn't sound very appealing to me at the time. And so, you know, I was already playing bars and stuff.
So I was like, man, let me just go do this for a year and see how it goes. And started playing college towns, college bars.
And it was over. Like, I knew, like, this is what I wanted to do.
That was as close as you got to college? Oh, yeah. And I was like, I knew immediately.
I'm like, man, this is what I want to do. And it's all I've done since I was, you know, 14 old for the most part and so i want to do this as long as i can and as long as i always said the fans will tell you when it's time to to quit or cut back you know if you're playing a 20 000 seat place and there's only 5 000 people there it's probably time to pack it up and maybe go home and and do something else for a minute but uh you know hope that never happens.
And as long as people come out, man, I'll be out there playing for sure. Last question.
How do you not get worn out after spending a life on the road, addicted to something, mess of a personal life, super unhealthy? You know, I think that's, I think a lot of times that kind of comes with the territory. I mean, you know, as 15 years old, I'm playing in bars with guys that are in their forties and, you know, I was, I saw a lot of stuff as a kid, you know, go in the band dressing room and there's Coke or whatever on the table or whatever these guys were doing.
And I just remember thinking to myself like like, I don't want to be playing a bar when I'm 40. You know, I don't want to have like a day job and then come do this at night when I'm 40 to make 50 bucks a night.
Like I just, it just wasn't like, I knew then that that was a stepping stone to do something else that I wanted to do. And so I think I was always like pretty aware of

that and always wanted to make sure that like, I try to take care of myself and it's hard, man. I mean, I went through periods on the road where, you know, I wouldn't live in the healthiest lifestyle either.
And, you know, never was like a hard drug guy, but like, I mean, I like to drink and have fun as much as anybody, you know, and there's times where you probably do that a little too much yeah um you know and i think you know even that stuff like it's taken me you know it took me years to kind of get a grasp on all of it you know because you become such a creature of habit you go out and it's groundhog day man you get on the bus you show up at a place hang out you do your show you hang out with the band after you drink a little bit get on the bus go to, do it. Well, when you start doing that and you're playing 200 days a year, you're drinking 200 days a year and doing that stuff.
And so I think it reaches a point where I think most everybody, you know, when it's starting out, you hit it hard. You're so excited to be out there and you're just, you know, running and sort of living life on the edge a little bit.
And then, you know, I met my wife and had our kids and, you know, she came out on the road and started giving me a little

bit more of like a, okay, this is more like home out here now. You know, it's like, it was just

different. It was a different mindset for me going in.
And you travel with your small children a lot.

A lot. Yeah.
Well, at least we did until they started school. Um, Memphis is in first grade.
Navy started kindergarten this year. So they're both in school now.
And so one of the things is wanting to make sure, like, our life is so not normal anyway that, you know, it's hard, man, when you're raising kids and you want them to have a normal childhood, normal life and all that. But then they come out and experience the things they do.
and that's so not so not normal that I think you know a thing for us this year is making sure she stays at home with them more to make sure they're in school and playing you know little league baseball and softball and doing all those kind of things too that's really important to both of us and um but yeah I mean for the last what has been for the C6 so for the last six years mean, they've been out, I mean, I would say probably 75 to 80% of the time I was out, they've been out with me for the last six years. So, and I love it, man.
I love having them out. And that's one of the things about this job is you tour, you're on the road constantly and, you know, and you miss your family, you miss your people.
Yeah, a lot. And it's tough.
It's a tough part of this business and uh to be in a position now to be able to carry them out and travel with them and stuff it's it's nice because when my older girls were little you know i hadn't hit that point in my career yet where i could you know have multiple buses and bring them out and kind of have a family bus and you know i was i was doing good to pay for the one bus i had and so uh you and then they started school and same thing with them. I wanted them to kind of have a normal childhood and upbringing, even though our life was kind of crazy.
And so it's been a little bit of a juggling act over the years trying to figure it out. But I feel like for me, you know, finally in a place that, uh, feel comfortable, like, you know, happy to go out on the road.
I love being out there and playing. I love coming home, you know, after a few days and seeing the family if they're not out there.
And it just, it works for me and it works for us and it's been really good. Well, I can tell it has been, which is what puts you in the top 1% for happiness.
Lucky man. Jason Aldean, thank you very much.
Buddy, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate you.
Thank you.

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