AMAs, Morgan vs. Post Malone, and Bruce Springsteen :: Ep 59 Try That in a Small Town Podcast
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15 locations at eSpaces.com. That's eSpaces.com. eSpaces.com. If I was Post Malone in that position, I would have gone, after the show, I'm calling up Morgan. I'm going, hey, dude, this is your award. I can't accept this. Well, maybe you did. We all know it. Yeah, he might have. It would be cool because he knows and everybody else on the planet and Mars knows that

Morgan Wallen deserves that award. I agree. At every award show that's ever televised it. But Tom Brady did not. Easy. Careful. No, Tom Brady could have played anywhere in the NFL and succeeded.

Okay. You're out of your depth. I'm not out of your depth. You're out of your depth. If you want to talk football with me, then let's go. The camera was on the Wake Forest coach, you know, who's been around for a while. He's a very solid coach. And they caught him on camera, you know, saying an explicit and then a, how do you say? What does the explicit start with? Well, F. It starts with an F. Okay.

And then, you know, I guess you would say this day and time a homophobic slur, you know, after that. So it's two Fs. Which one? Two Fs. Two Fs. Word one F, second word F. But an old school word. The Try That in a Small Town podcast begins now. Try That in a Small Town.

Welcome back. This is the Try That in a Small Town podcast coming to you from the Patriot Mobile Studios. There's good energy here tonight. There is. There's some good juju. It's just the four of us. Four of us. You never know what's going to happen. They're talking about the ratings. You don't. So let's introduce everyone. For those of you that are new to the podcast, we've got Neil Thrasher.

Neal Thrasher. Why don't you just use my full name? What is your full name? Joe Neal Thrasher. Joe McNeil Thrasher Jr. Joe Neal? Yeah. Is it? Are you a junior? Joe Neal. Joe Neal. Joe Neal. Joe Neal.

And then there's Kelly. Is that your given first name or middle name? Ronald, right? Ronald. Is that the first name? Ronald? No, it's not Ronald. I thought that. What is your given? John. John. John Kelly. We knew that. It should have been Linda. Yeah.

We already told that story. I know it. Present. How am I not remembering that story? Army. You remember that Army story? Yeah, it was a long one. Okay. Well, I don't remember a lot. Anyway, that's K-Lo. We have Tully. I know Tully's middle name. What's Tully's middle name? Martin. Martin.

I like that. Martin. Kennedy. Strong. Strong. Strong like bull. And then I am Kurt Fondue. Kurt Fondue. Michael Fondue. Yes, it's a never-ending flow of cheese. Or chocolate.

Can Ponte, yeah, I guess you could do that too. Yeah, there's chocolate. I don't know what I prefer. Chocolate. I do? Yeah. I'd rather clean the chocolate one than the cheese one after a party. Let me ask y'all something. When you're in show business, is there such thing as bad publicity?

Well, the adage would be that there is no such thing as bad publicity. You're asking if that is true or not. Yeah, yeah. Most cases I've found it's not. Well. It's good. It's a good thing. Publicity is just publicity. There are a couple instances where I would think the person would say this is not good publicity.

Well, look what Sheryl Crow did to us. She came out and bashed our song, and then she's right back in the news. Maybe that's a smart thing to do. Do you think it hurt Springsteen?

Oh, his rant that he. Yeah. So what was that? He was at a concert and then he decided he was overseas. He was overseas. And that was his first mistake. And then he decided. He felt comfortable over there doing it. So what did he do? He bashed Trump or what was it? The country in general? What did he say? It was pretty much both. Pretty much both. Yeah. So you're asking if that's good publicity? No, I don't think I am. I don't.

I just don't get it. I actually just don't get it. I don't know why he would risk that. I mean, we all grew up listening to... And he was America. Yeah. He was the dude we listened to, born to run, all this other stuff. I still say as much as...

The Born in the USA album, I still listen to that album. It still sounds amazing. Every song on that album is great. I love Springsteen. I hate it when they get to a point where maybe it's like the De Niro thing. It's exactly like that. Maybe you get to the point where you've got so much money and so much stature and you just feel this freedom.

To really just say whatever comes to your mind with zero filter because you don't need a filter when you've already got everything. So really, there's nothing to lose. That's very astute. Well, it's like Bono. Bono's the same way. I love you too. Yeah. But, you know, the last, what, 15 or maybe more years, he's been super outspoken. So I don't know. I think you just...

You don't care as much. Well, and it is the mainstream narrative of Trump bad.

Yeah, and like you said, no matter what happens, he's going to be fine. There will be a huge contingent of people. I don't think so. No, I mean, he's not going to go bankrupt. No, he's going to be absolutely fine. I'm talking about moving forward. Oh, yeah, but like Tully said, I think once you get to that point where you're so successful and so rich, I mean, his biggest days are behind him for sure as a celebrity. I will say this, though. I think, yeah, he's got plenty of money, and if that's all he cares about, then he's going to be fine. But guys like him –

As big as he is, they care about what people think about him. They care about that. And it affects him. I really do. I think he thinks most people back him.

And if he does, then I'm going to bring the age thing in to play here. I think De Niro, I think him, I think Springsteen, De Niro, all these guys. I think there's some wiring because of their age that is kind of misfiring up here. There's a little derangement. There is. There's a little bit of that going on, and it's starting to show, and they let their mouth go off when it shouldn't. Well, don't you think when you get older, and I'm not that old yet, but I'm getting there. The older you get...

the more maybe stuck in your ways you get and you become De Niro's age and Springsteen's age and you just become stubborn and you're set so set on something that no matter what someone says, you can't be talked out of it. Yeah. It's like my grandfather, you know, same way he was so stubborn until he passed away. Like you couldn't change his mind on anything. Is there any of that in there? And maybe getting older and just being so standing on that soapbox. So who do you think is the most stubborn at this table?

Oh, boy. That'd be me. He looked right at you, Neil. Who do you think's the most... And I take that as a compliment. Completely. Yeah, because you probably actually... I don't know if you'd define that as a compliment. I totally take that as a compliment. Thank you. Do you really think... Let me pose another question. Do you numbnuts really think... Do you think that...

Because you think that Springsteen and De Niro, not De Niro, I'll use this, I'll direct this to Springsteen. You think he knows anything about what he writes about Middle America? You think he knows anything about it? I think he did. He's a Jersey guy. I think he used to. Maybe back in the day. Do you think he knows he can relate to any farmer in Kansas at all?

Well, no, I'll say. But also, I might not be the guy to ask. I've never been a huge Springsteen fan anyway.

Well, I mean, I haven't either. I appreciate his talent and his art and his ability to write a song and deliver it. I appreciate all of that. But for them to sing the songs that they've sung over the years and be the staple of middle America and the heartland of America and all this stuff, and then they get up and start spewing stuff in another country because they're in another country. He would never say what he said in the States. He would never say that. For some reason... In his right mind, he would never say that. For some reason, Trump...

hit a button in some of these people that just blew the lid off of it. And it was like, just ripped the bandaid off. Isn't it funny how everything that we discuss about this stuff, it all comes back to Trump. Every bit of it. It always does, and you're right. But you're allowed to not... Look, I didn't like Biden as president. I didn't. A lot of people did. A lot of people didn't. We didn't.

That's my right not to like him. It's a lot of people's right not to like Trump. I still always respected the presidency. Yeah, you respect the presidency. What I don't, what I'd like to ask Springsteen, and maybe he'll come on. I don't know. Jim, have we put in the guest? Did you ask Springsteen yet? Okay. But I would like to ask him, I just want to ask him, okay, you definitely don't have to like Trump for sure. I just want, tell me why. Don't tell me because he's a racist and a rapist.

Tell me Hitler or Hitler. They just tell me why, because you know, the, the, uh, narrative gets spun crazy. So, because they, there's a genuine, I mean, they, they hate him. Like it's funny how it all comes back to him. Neil, were you the one that said that Eric church is not playing Springsteen? I had heard, I had heard, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not confirming this, but I had heard that, that, uh,

He had gotten, or there had been some boos when he went into Springsteen. Yeah, it's maybe something like that. And that's going to happen with his fan base. It's just going to happen. And I wouldn't doubt it for a minute. I wouldn't be a bit shocked if I was at an Eric Church show and he went into Springsteen and this wave of boos started happening. Yeah. And that he would have to take it out of his show. Wouldn't surprise me a bit. Well, Eric's the kind of guy that would leave it in his show for spite.

you know because eric and that'll blow over yeah and it's like anything else like you know a seven days news cycle you know will it affect springsteen no he he could put a tour tickets on sale and they'll sell out you know it's springsteen he's a legend and i love you really think so you think he'd sell out

I don't know if he's selling that anymore. Look what happened to the chicks. Look what happened to the chicks. I'm just saying. It's hard to, you know, where he did it. People love their country here, man. I know. I'm just, I'm trying to. Well, let's put it, I mean, he's overseas for a reason because he is making more money over there than he is here. That's so ball-less to do that overseas. I'm like, really? Yeah, and really, I don't understand. It's so safe. It's so safe to bash America from some other country. It's so easy to do that. And like I said, maybe it would be.

It's like who really knows that it happened, who doesn't know that it happened, who cares. I hate to see it because he is talking about our songwriters and our icons. He's up there. I'm like, Kurt, do I love everything he did? No, I love Born in the USA and some of his solo stuff, Tunnel of Love, I thought was great, really great. The same argument could be made for Mellencamp.

you know, Mellencamp's a miserable person. I know. From everything you hear, he's just a terrible, terrible, grumpy person. And he's terrible to people. He's awful to people. He's awful to people he works with or people that work for him. And, you know, I mean, it doesn't mean that I don't love the albums like I used to. But, you know, it's like with Petty. Here's a great thing. I'm the biggest Petty fan.

Love Tom Petty. He's inspired a lot of writers. I love Tom Petty. But he came out and basically said he really hates, this was like 2006, 7, 8, somewhere, how much he hates new country music. And I'm saying to myself, why is it, and I love Petty, but why is it like this genre has to stay in the old school box? Rock and roll, you can, rock and roll is such a wide genre. Yeah.

So many, you know. That's a good point. Radiohead's rock and roll. STP's rock and roll. Mellencamp's rock and roll. Petty sang when he was saying, I don't like new country music. It should be like this. Well,

It's not like traditional. Well, like you said, to your point, it's like, man, music evolves, whatever genre it is. I love Buddy Holly. Yeah. It doesn't mean that. They only usually say that because their career is on the decline. It's usually the only reason. That's the truth, I think. They only make statements like that. Well, when he said that, I think he had put out the last DJ, Petty Record, and that was a very strange kind of record, and maybe you're right about that. Love Petty, love Springsteen, love them all. It does...

I wonder if they're getting older. Like that's just like, it's real easy to dish your own country in from another country. It's really easy to do that. You sound real tough. Come across as just tough over there. Yeah. If he'd, if he'd have done that in fricking, you know, you know, Mississippi, uh,

Mississippi? I mean, Tupelo? If he was playing the Coliseum in Tupelo, Mississippi, and he can't say that. They wouldn't have let him say that. Yeah. He would have gotten booed off stage and lights would have come on. He would have gone back to the house. I'd just love to know what is going on. What's his main complaint right now? Hollywood elite. Hollywood elite. That's his problem. That's all their problem. Every one of them. They become Hollywood elites. Hmm.

Period. Started strong tonight. Well, I mean, it just is what it is. I like it. I mean, he's Sprungstein now. How do you feel about Beyonce winning best country album? I'm calling him Sprungstein. Sprungstein? What is he? He's Sprungstein. Sprungstein? Yeah, it's over.

sprung sprung stain it's good another hat perhaps right so let's do it oh my god i just gave everybody out there a reason to make another t-shirt yeah sprung stain you're on fire we won't make anything from it no no well let's keep you wound up uh how'd you feel about beyonce winning uh the

best, I didn't know what you wanted. What was the best country? Female country? I think I wrote it down because I knew Neil would know. No, no, no. I wrote a speech. Wasn't it a beautiful moment? What was it? The AMAs? Yeah, the American Music Awards. I'm like, you know what I got? At the end of the day, I started thinking, I'm like, who in Nashville allowed that to happen?

That shows you how powerless apparently some people are in Nashville to allow that to happen. Nashville doesn't have any power in that show anyway. They must not. They don't. It's fan voted.

And if you believe that... That's what it says on the website. Springsteen is a true American, if you believe that. That's what it says on the website. I know it. I looked it up, too. I looked it up. We've been over this. So you looked it up, too? Yeah. It said it's a fan-voted... Yes. Which is total horseshit. We all know that. So we're saying it's not fan-voted. No. It can't be. Jim, make a clip of this. Maybe we can go viral. There's no way. But I had a different thought on it, though. Like...

American Music Awards, like country is not near the biggest format of music. So there's more fans that would vote that wouldn't necessarily be country fans. So it makes sense that more pop artists would get most of the awards. Insert Nashville power, lack of, right there. For Nashville, as big as this city's become, and as big as country music, as big as Morgan Wallen is, as big as, I mean, we're streaming like crazy right now. He's streaming like crazy. For Nashville to let that happen,

Morgan did win something. It got bombed. It's kind of like our highway system, you know? They let it get bombed. We're too big. Now we can't get traffic in. I don't know how we got on traffic, but it's the truth. We have no power here. We have zero power here. Well, probably in the history of it, I mean, the Grammys, AMAs, man, Nashville's not super well represented anyway, right? I don't think it's brand new. Definitely not with the Grammys. That's always been the case.

For sure. It's always the pet LA, you know, what they want to have represent country music. Now, here's the thing. The Grammys, you've got a great memory.

It was me. Neil, you brought up a great memory. It was me. Neil, you're on fire tonight. You're on fire today. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It was me. It

We're at the Grammys playing Do You Want to Stay? And we have rehearsal the day before. And we're walking in to rehearsal. And we're in line. And literally, right next to me is Springsteen and his wife. And I could barely. I was like, what crap is this? We watch him do soundcheck. And that was a great year. Remember, Bruno Mars was exploding. Ricardini was there. Ricardini. Yeah, it was a great. He soundchecks. I'll never forget it. That soundcheck he had.

You would have thought it was Madison Square Garden on a Friday night. And this was whatever, it was morning. It's like 11 o'clock in the morning during soundcheck. He was jumping off the riser. I was like, man, this is amazing. And then you have this whole thing now where it's like one guy, Trump, has literally exposed everybody. It's like now we're talking about do we like Springsteen?

It's like, man, do I like, I mean, I think I do, but it's weird, isn't it? How like, so the last few years have been so. But he put himself there. It's his own fault. I agree, but it's crazy how that even, it made me think about, we weren't even talking about this kind of stuff

It wasn't that long ago. It's a shame we're having to talk about this stuff. We're talking about De Niro, who I really love De Niro. I was watching The Irishman today. Are you a De Niro fan, Kalo? I love a lot of his movies, but once he started coming out and bashing everything, it's hard to look at him differently. You just see it differently. I look at him like...

He's just a grumpy old man. Poor old guy's losing it. Who's the celebrity that you hate the most? Who's the celebrity that just irks you? I don't hate anyone. Okay, not hate, but just irks you. That was the most loving thing I've ever heard you say. That's a good question. I'm very critical of people. I don't judge anybody. I don't hate anybody. Okay, okay. Let's not go that far. Who irks you? De Niro. Yes. Does De Niro irk you? He's the first one that comes to mind. Yeah, for sure.

For sure. I mean, we're right there. I mean, the two that we've mentioned right off the top. I didn't think of it for a second. I'm sure there's others. Because we won't get any of these guys. But they're the most outspoken, you know, for our celebs. Yeah. For our political people that I don't like very much. How about like Ellen DeGeneres? I don't even care. You know what? Yeah, I know. She left. Great answer. Actually, I respect her.

because she's the first one that actually moved out of the country. So I respect her. She actually kept her word. The first liberal I've known of that's kept her word. Rosie O'Donnell did too. Good for her, man. I respect her. I'm glad she's gone. Good. I miss her so much. You know, Big Goldberg, it'd be cool if she moved. You know,

Again, here's another Whoopi though. So again, I agree. She's just angry. My son and my wife are in LA and he's out there. I can't remember. He was out there auditioning or something and they're at a restaurant and Whoopi Goldberg was like two seats away.

and Matt my wife now my wife goes no listen listen my wife goes Kelly that's Whoopi Goldberg you know she's famous and and he walked up to her and she talked to him for like 20 minutes just advice about acting and really sweet and so yeah I don't like I don't like where she how she says stuff and where she stands but yet wearing a MAGA hat though would she have done that

No. Well, I don't think so. No. Lord, no. No, it was nice of her to do that for a person. I agree. It brings me back to my thing. It's like, okay, Larry David. I love Larry David. Love Larry David. He hates Trump. He hates Trump. But I will not. I still love Larry David. Yeah. I have to. He's the funniest person I've ever seen. Yeah. So it just brings back to the point of like,

Trump and the hatred did to a lot of these people just like drove them crazy. Well, the funny thing is like Whoopi and Trump used to be, they used to be tight. A lot of these celebrities and Trump used to be tight. That's my question to you. Right. Uh-oh. How did Ted Danson do it? Because she is not a pretty woman. She is not. And I look at Ted Danson and say, dude, you like. Everybody's beautiful to somebody.

I'm not saying you're very agreeable. That's a girl. You're so agreeable. He's a people pleaser. I mean, Ted dance has money and he was at the top of his game. I mean, he'd come off cheers. Yeah. It was like crazy and movies and whoopee. That is a tough morning. Look, dude.

When the sun comes through the blinds and there's Whoopi, it's like, whoa, Ted. Whoopi. I'm just saying. Oh, my gosh. It is tough, though. That's my question to you guys. Back to the AMAs. Whoopi Goldberg or Ellen Jenner. I don't know. Ew.

What's the question, Neil? Do y'all... I mean, what did you think the first time? Well... No, when you saw Beyonce win female country and Post Malone win male country. I kind of thought, not in total line with Kayla, but it's...

That's the system, man. But what do you think personally? I want to know personally. Personally, I go, I see it. Whatever. I'm scrolling. I don't know if it was Insta or X or whatever. And I see that and I go, oh, my God, are you kidding? And I did laugh and I was pissed at the same time. And that takes me back to where I went mentally the first time. I was like, what is Nashville doing? How can we allow this to happen? Oh, they love it. What, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? They can't.

Are you kidding me? They love it. Really? You think so? The business people in Nashville, they love that Beyonce won that. Why? How does it benefit Nashville that she won? I think they love the look. Sorry. I don't know. Really? It's tough. I'm not saying the artists do. I'm saying the industry loves the diversity of that. There's no doubt. Let me throw this out there. Sorry. I see what you're saying. I can see every big label head. I get it. I totally get it. Every big label head, they love Beyonce.

That Beyonce won that. I mean, the artist. Because she's a pop artist. Yeah, they love the diversity of it. They love the look of it. They think it's going to help us in the pop world. Do you know why? And win fans. Do you know why? I will go down with a ship with this. Music Row, they will always be completely disconnected from the actual country listener. That's what they always miss. They always miss the mark that they're missing it now. Go out and look at the fan base. That's what Aldean's always done. Look at your fan base. No one cares who won that award.

But like, you know, Morgan Wallen, you know, he's, he's carrying the crown right now. Yeah. So, but he's competing. I mean, Morgan's like, take your word. I'll take my seven nights in a row at a stadium. Morgan didn't even show up to the awards. He was golfing with Tom Brady. Well, his award was with Post Malone though. Morgan was represented as a winner of what country song with Post Malone. With Post. Yeah. Right. Yeah. But, but,

It goes back to what we were talking about, about being fan voted. We all know that that's bullshit. The fan voted thing, everybody and their brother is going to vote for Morgan Wallen on every category that he's nominated in. Listen, Post Malone is huge. Morgan Wallen laughs at how Morgan Wallen is huge. So that makes me ask the question, does Post Malone go home with that award in his hand?

have his little spot cleared out on the shelf with a little spotlight for it and feel good about it and know and think that he's, that he legitimately won that. I think so. You really do. I do. I don't, he would be the only one on the planet that would think he deserved that award. If I was Post Malone in that position, I would have, I would have gone, ah,

After the show, I'm calling up Morgan. I'm going, hey, dude, this is your award. I can't accept this. Well, maybe you did. We all know it. Yeah, he might have. It would be cool because he knows and everybody else on the planet and Mars knows that Morgan Wallen deserves that award. Oh, I agree. At every award show that's ever televised, everybody knows it. Even he knows it. But they're doing this the same reason that they tried to cancel Morgan.

for that unfortunate incident that we all knew he met. It's the same reason he's bigger than ever. The more they ignore him and don't give him the awards, the bigger he gets. And everybody's talking about it. It should be Morgan's award. I couldn't accept the award. There's no way. There's no way. The only thing I'll say for Post Malone, which I agree with you on that Morgan's cleaning up, but...

You know, Post, he does love the genre. Like, he came to town and wrote with everybody. Well, he did it the right way. He did. I mean, we didn't deserve the award, but he did do it the right way. I'm not arguing. It's Morgan's award. I didn't bring this up to stick up for him, for Post Malone. I think he's badass. I think he's a, but he doesn't deserve that award. I agree. He didn't. I just wonder as a question to you guys, and you guys might know, um,

because the first time I heard of Post Malone, because I'm so freaking country, was when he started doing country stuff. What? I know, I'm just saying. There's a lot of country listeners that just got to start to know him once he started recording with every country star, period, right? I believe it. My question is, and Morgan is huge in the country and going out, was Post Malone already huge in a bigger genre and then came and captured country also? And if so, if it's fan voted, he would naturally win over Morgan Walling currently.

That'd be my thought about that. There's no way. You don't think that more people in the world knew who Post Malone was? No, that's not fan voted. It's not. It's bullshit. That's the first lie of the music business and the American Music Awards. All the awards are BS in their votes. Somebody proved me wrong.

Prove it that it's fan voted. I want to see it. I want to see how it's fan voted. I wasn't called. Nobody sent me a ballot. I don't know anybody on this planet. I know a lot of people, and everybody I know was not sent a ballot to vote for the American Music Awards.

Nobody. Hey, that's fair. It's probably an online thing. If I'm wrong, prove me wrong. It's not a mail-in ballot? Show me I want to see a fan-voted ballot. You want your early ballot. Send it to trythatinsmalltown.com and send us the, I want to see the official fan-voted ballot for the American Music Awards. Prove me wrong. Well, I got to get, I got to get it. Who's voting? Who's on their phone saying, you know? It's a good point.

Well, I mean, like you were saying, yes, he was a massive superstar in the pop genre, which, yeah, it's big. But I would also argue that Morgan has exceeded his level of superstardom. And no matter what, take out the genres. Morgan's in like rare air right now. He's like, nobody post if post alone goes and does his own show,

He's not selling what Morgan is. There's not even close. And that's saying something because during Beer, Bongs, and Bentley. Yeah, it was huge. And that album was monstrous and it is badass. I love that album. It's great.

um even the follow-up to the album is great they're really really good he goes into a stadium and sells eight nights in a row and he's millions i don't merch there's only one show that i can remember it was only there was only one award show that i can remember that was truly fan voted and y'all remember this the music city news awards you remember those awards you remember that dude yep you remember this was in the mid 90s when i was an artist

And I had seen a lot of those country artists in the 90s. There were so many that were selling platinum. Huge. Tracy Lawrence, Mark Chestnut, Tracy Bird. You had all these 90s. Garth was in there. Clint Black was in there. It was all these. Of course, Garth wasn't until the late 90s, but it was all these artists, and they were big, and it was just taken off like crazy. And the Music City News Awards was a big country music awards show back then.

And it was truly fan voted because I had seen Neal McCoy's show like four times because we opened for him. And I'm going, how is this guy not like – if you ever saw Neal McCoy's show back then. He still does. It was amazing. When he was younger and a little bit more limber, he was climbing – he was doing climbing ladders before Garth ever dreamed of it. I mean, he was doing all – and these people, he had a following like nobody else at that time. Mm-hmm.

And he finally, one year, I don't know what year it was, 96, 97, somewhere right in there. The year of Wink. He won Entertainer of the Year at the Music City News Awards. And that's when I knew that that was truly a fan-voted award show. Because all these people were winning that wouldn't normally. It's a great segue, because actually...

One song of the year at those music awards. You did? Yeah, me and Paisley did for He Didn't Have to Be. There you go. What year? There you go. It would have been 2000-ish. Wow. Yeah. That's unbelievable. And ironically, and I don't know this to be true...

Then it must be. But somebody that was very close, because you're talking about Post Malone, somebody who's very close to Post Malone and said they had written with him, said that, and we're talking about how much that he loves country music and the genre and everything, which he does, everything I've read, that one of his favorite songs is He Didn't Have to Be.

that's what I heard I believe it too so that's what's kind of cool that's why and I became a fan it's a real song that's why it won well thanks thanks for bringing it up guys I mean I do think that he uh like Tony was saying I think he appreciates the genre and tried to do it the right way no doubt he tried to involve the songwriters the producers he went out and toured with Nashville guys like

It's a little different than the Beyonce situation. It's a lot different than the Beyonce. Yes. Which is even more of a reason why he should publicly give that award to Morgan. If he's a true country fan and he knows...

What's going on in country music. It'd be good PR. It would be fantastic. He should do it publicly. He should give that award publicly to Morgan Wallen. I don't deserve this. I appreciate it. Thank you, whoever voted for me, whoever that is. It wasn't the fans. And publicly give it to Morgan. He should do that. Well, maybe they're just... I would. They're just super tight, and they just talk about it on the phone and say, man, that was cool, you know, whatever. Morgan probably doesn't care. I don't know, but he probably doesn't. He may not. He may not care, but I'm just saying is...

From the outside looking in. That's what should happen. Everybody and their brother on Mars and here on Earth knows that Morgan deserves every male country artist award that there is out there right now. 100%, I agree. Well, I tell you, they should talk about Morgan Wallen and Garth, which is a cool parallel. Garth's first album was 89, right?

He ran from that point all the way through the 90s, pretty much top of the game. Morgan's doing the same thing. Morgan's going to be, because there was no one bigger than Garth. Garth was on specials on NBC. He was ruling, right? And that's kind of what Morgan's doing. And it's pretty incredible. He's the Scotty Scheffler of country music. Wow, Scotty Scheffler. He's on a run, isn't he? I don't get it.

That dude. You don't get it? Well, just look at his swing. I do get it. You mean the shuffle, his foot thing? It's amazing. He's one of the most amazing athletes I've ever seen. Pretty impressive. It's all about club face control. Who's your favorite golfer of all time? All time? Yeah. Oh, that's a good question. Did I say me? No, I won't. No, I'm kidding. You can definitely say you. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

no scotty scheffler is it bubba watson was because i'm all about these guys that know how to use their hands and these unorthodox swings that makes sense bubba watson has that i actually got to play with him at his home court really yeah i went down with gary the vox down to uh alworth in florida where and bubba was living in tiger woods old house where all the

The stuff went down when Tiger – What stuff? When he has the rack? When his wife hit him with the nine iron. And, yeah, and when he ran over the – Yeah. Bubba Watson was living in that house. Oh, I didn't know that. So I went with Gary LaVox down there, got on the bus. He goes – he called me up. Gary called me up one day. He goes, hey, you want to go play golf with Bubba Watson? I go, let me think about it. Yes. Yeah. And so I met him at the bus that night. We drove down. I woke up in the parking lot by the range by Tiger's old house.

And Bubba pulls up in his $50,000 golf cart and picks us up, and we go hit balls.

And all these other tour pros are pulling up and hitting balls and just talking. So I'm going, what am I doing here? That's amazing. Yeah, and then we played, and I got to play with Bubba. And just to watch his unorthodox swinging in person is amazing. And I've always been a fan of these guys who don't have – they're not real technical. They're just really good with their hands. Do you have his number? Can you get him on the podcast? No. Oh, you don't? I might get him. I don't know. I'll check into that. You know who I want to get is Phil Mickelson.

Phil Mickelson, I don't know if you follow him on X, very outspoken. He likes to get in the thick. I'd love to get Phil Mickelson. But Scheffler's that way, though. Scheffler's like he's so unorthodox. He has his own thing. He does his own thing, and he's beating everybody's brains out with it. You know what was really cool? Talk about Watson and Phil. So –

during the, was it 2021? During COVID? Me and you went down to the Masters. Yeah. And there was hardly anybody there at this Masters. Because you can't be outside with COVID. I don't know if you can do that. Yeah, it doesn't go. So anyway, but it was worked out good for us because we went to the Masters and no one was there. So we were literally, like from me to you, I'm standing watching Watson like hit the ball. And I watched him like,

hit a ball like around a tree, spin it. I was like, what? I never heard a golf ball sound like that. No, it's a different thing. And we saw Mickelson from me to you, DeChambeau. We saw... That ball exploded. DeChambeau, I saw a white puff of smoke and it was gone. But yeah, we were there at the Masters, dude. And first of all, that's a super exclusive ticket. Like you can't get those. I've played it. I know. I'm just saying that's...

I've played there. That's amazing. Yeah. I'll show it to y'all. That's unbelievable. But we were fortunate enough to be there. No crowds, nobody. We're walking around with everybody like this. We're following the foursome like this.

It was pretty cool. It was incredible. And people don't understand about Augusta and how me and Kalo got to play it. Oh, Kalo played it too? It was fun. Oh, yeah. And the thing about Kalo over here. Yeah. You know, I know he's got a new, he's got a one-year-old, year-and-a-half-old, new daughter. Yeah.

And he's kind of let his golf game slide. But Kalo was a four at one time. Well, so I keep hearing this. No, no, Kalo. I've watched Kalo hit balls on the range, and I'm going, I'd give my right arm to be able to shake the ball like he's hitting it. I'm serious. I'm dead serious. Go on. He's had that. No. And then you kind of lost the passion a little bit. You got married. Yeah. Had a new baby. Passion was taken from him. He didn't lose it. Gotcha.

You don't lose the passion when you get married. But when Caleb got married, I lost the passion. I didn't have time. The passion is ripped from you. Replaced with chores. It's stolen like a thief in the night. But I'm just going to tell you all, for our little golf match that's coming up, you need to prod Caleb over here to get on the range a little bit before we match up. What's the strength of Caleb's game?

The strength, the way he was putting. Not short. You were putting good the other day. It was yesterday. Yesterday. You were putting good yesterday. Because I think you weren't thinking. Yeah. And he was making a lot. I don't know what you shot, but you didn't hit the ball as well as you. I played bogey golf. I shot an 89. Dang, Caleb. All right, let's go. I'd love to shoot an 89. I'd love to. It would mean so much to me if I could shoot an 89. It really would. It would mean everything to me.

Really? Yes. If I could shoot an 89...

It would mean the world to me. It really would. If I shot 89, I would blow my brains out. Now, wait, it's not like that. See, that's the difference between me and you. Hey, Kerry, let's take a break real quick. It's getting really dark. Maybe we should. Actually, it's a good spot. Let's get a couple words from our sponsors. Hey, before we do take the break, let's talk a little bit. I need some of that wellness stuff. So the wellness company, that's one of those that we're super excited about.

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John Purtle's going to love that. Let's go to break. We'll be right back. This is a Try That in a Small Town podcast. My name is Glenn Story. I'm the founder and CEO of Patriot Mobile.

And then we have four principles. First Amendment, Second Amendment, Right to Life, Military and First Responders. If you have a place to go and put your money, you always want to put it with somebody that's like-minded. Of course. I think that's the beauty of Patriot Mobile. We're a conservative alternative.

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You like that? I do like it. It's actually, I like the size of it. It's like a little parlor guitar. Sorry, it never gets old. I know. You got to be careful what you say on here. Yeah, 100%. But I do love the guitar. I do love the guitar. Play us something, dude. It sounds pretty good, right, Jim? Sounds great. I recognize those chords.

Couple guys in first class on a flight from New York to Los Angeles. Kind of make a small talk, kill the time, flirting with a flight attendant. 30,000 feet above could be Oklahoma. You remember these chords? Oh, yeah. Y'all ever played this song?

Just a couple. Just a bunch of square cornfields and wheat farms, man. It all looks the same. Miles and miles of back roads and highways connecting little towns of funny names. Who'd want to live down there in the middle of nowhere? You think Springsteen would have wrote this? They'd never drove through the Annapurna.

Met the man who plowed that earth, planted that seed, busted his ass for you and me. I caught a harvest moon in Kansas. They'd understand why I got made. Those flyover states. So good.

Excellent. As a writer of that song, do you understand how great that song is? Can you pull yourself back and go, yeah, we got a good one there? You know, when I do realize it, because it didn't come from me. It came from up there. And it's like when I go to one of y'all's shows, when I go see y'all play, I can't wait to be out at the soundboard playing.

when y'all go into that song when y'all go into that song and i all i do is turn around and start doing this 360 and i'm watching everybody sing it and that's when i go i'm like oh my god well they know every and it's got a lot of words and it takes a lot of breath to sing it and i'm like these people know every single word of this song and that's when that's when you realize what you do for a living and that's when it's like you really appreciate

and that song has staying power it's still one of the biggest songs in our set you know you have a few of those in our set but you know that one in particular that's a special one I think of Jason Aldean when people think of Jason Aldean they go that's the song you were the one that helped create that that's just unbelievable and really

One of my favorite ones to play every night. Nice. Yeah. Look forward to playing that one. Even with that fancy chord in there. I know. And I have to give Delaney, I have to give Michael Delaney all the credit. How many times you hit that in a country song? I don't know if I would have gone there. I know I wouldn't have, but it's like, it's perfect. It's perfect. It's so good. That's so Michael Delaney. And you know what else it is? It's not an Aldine chord.

It's not an album. We've kind of put that in some other kind of songs, and he does not like it. He doesn't like those fancy chords. Maybe he was listening to the words on that. Hopefully. I think you're right. No, we were blessed with that one. That one came from above. We're just vessels, and it really did. Great song. Yes, it is.

Hard transition here. What's that? Hard transition. I read today. That's good. It better be good. Today. Yeah. Well, DHS has identified Nashville as a sanctuary city. Yeah. I heard that wasn't true. That's on the news, local news. I heard it. So is it true? Cause I thought they came out and said that it's not Bob Mueller's in trouble.

He's still rocking the news, ain't he? Because a few days ago, I thought they came out and had a press conference that said that that wasn't the case. Is it the case? Well, explain to people. Some people might not know what sanctuary cities are. What? Are we talking? Is that the mayor?

That's because of the mayor's story, that McConnell, right? So he had some kind of situation where he is aiding and abetting illegal immigrants. And they're still investigating all that stuff he's saying didn't happen. And one of the representatives, Andy Ogles, is that right? Anyway, he's pressing it really hard, investigating and things like that. But DHS...

has identified it uh nashville as a sanctuary city but nashville itself has not said there's thank god i mean you i don't want to become a fly around state yeah we used to be i mean we're known as the fly over state now i don't want to become a fly around state yeah telly kind of brought it up a few weeks ago you know you think of tennessee and it is a red state it is very red however nashville proper yeah it's pretty blue oh

Hence, Post Malone and Beyonce. That would be it. They want to become LA, I guess. It sounds like Nashville's like they want to be LA. They want to be Atlanta. The label heads for sure. That's their dream. They just, for some reason, I don't know what it is. The country fan, they're so loyal and they're so amazing. The fans of this genre. I don't know why they want to change it. It's weird. Right? Yeah.

We're out there. We live out there. And it's like...

You talk about Flaubert States. When you think about these people that have been coming to CMA Fest for 30 years, they have tickets. They've had tickets for 30, 40 years, and they keep coming. They're loyal. They're loyal. They keep coming. They keep coming, and we still want to change it. We don't want to – it's like Nashville doesn't want to honor the fan base that we've had for 40 or 50 years. It's really amazing to me. Actually –

Seeing even what we went through with our song, we had a lot of support. We also didn't get a lot of support from people that we probably should have on Try That in a Small Town. But that speaking to our fan base, what is it that you're fighting against? It was just really weird. The country music fan is so loyal. We see them out there. Heartland, that's what we're talking about. Why would you want to change that? That's who's coming to the shows. Yeah.

I don't know. How are you going to get us to the next topic, Kalo? I've never seen you guys so quiet in my life. Actually, we're just deferring to you because you were on a roll. No, we were like, I mean, some subject matter leaves us speechless. And we're like, we want to ponder it for a second and we want to think about it for a minute. Well, it's confusing because if you think about country music and you think about...

what that is and what that means to people and and we all have witnessed the business side of it pushing it the other way away from the same people that come every year to your shows if we said it a thousand times the demographic doesn't match the suits it's like people tend jason don't put out whatever you do don't put out try that i know it's right

And you can go back to dirt or an anthem for that matter, but Jason wanted to put that out there. Don't put that out to career killer. Try that in small town. Don't put that out. Whatever you do. He knows what his fan base wants. He knew it when he talked about the video, he knew what to put in that video, what he wanted to put in that video. It wasn't for, that was what he wanted, but he also knew that would resonate with his fan base. You know, and it's like, not only does he know what would resonate with his fan base, but,

He is the fan base. He is one of those people. That's how he grew up. You know what I mean? He's one of the few, too. What's that? He's one of the few, too. Yeah. I agree. I love the story. He remembers Nick in Georgia. I think it was Tracy Lawrence's show. He was a huge Tracy Lawrence fan. Still is.

where he remembers being first in line, doors opening, running in to get a good spot. That's why Jason is great. He relates well.

To his fans and what they go through to get there in the songs they want to hear. And you have a business music business person saying, no, that's not the right song. And Jason going, yes, it is. Yeah. You know, and I just don't think enough business people spend time on the actual road. I don't mean going to shows, hanging out in the, in the, in the green room. Yeah. I'm talking about going out in the lawn, go out in the lawn. It's the, it's the greatest tool we have ever,

really in our tool belt is seeing those people every year, they should walk out there and, and look around and see why something connects, you know, I was,

Flipping through Instagram the other day. I don't know if it was a Country Wire post or I don't know what it was, but they had Laugh Until We Cried. You know how they put songs over posts? Yeah. And that's a Kalo song. Oh, I know. It's a fantastic song. You want to do it? Thank you. You want to do it? Oh, wow. I think you've already done it. Why are we doing that? I think you should. I think you should do it.

Kalo, you've just been called out. Because I love that freaking song. I want to hear you sing Laugh Until We Cry. It's a whole step higher than I would play it. You can do it. I don't think I can. It's already high when I play it. It's in G, right? Through my closet the other day.

I don't know my voice. He can do it. I don't want to hear anything from you. You won't even pick up a guitar and you're a guitar player. I don't hear nothing from you. That's the one thing. That's the one problem I have with our podcast, folks. Okay, give it to me. All of our listeners. Give it to Fondue. I'm letting it go right now. It pisses me off. We're sitting here doing a podcast with Jason...

The staple of his band right here. Sorry, Rich. And I'm like, Kurt's his lead guitar player, and he won't pick up a guitar and play. Well, have I not told you guys I hate the guitar? No. I'll put it nicely. He doesn't have the passion for the guitar.

I do. It's not really the right thing to say. It was your words. I know what it feels like when somebody, look here, look here. I know what it feels like. Trust me. We know what it feels like to be in a room. It's like if you need a family gathering or wherever, it's like, hey, Neil, sing us one. And we get it all the time. I promise you, I have never played guitar at a family gathering.

There's not enough people there for him. He needs more people. We don't have any of our smoking lights and our things. It's an ego problem. And his tech's not here. But that makes sense. You know how we are about tech. I know how you are about tech. And your stuff's not there. That's funny. It's got to be right. My wife says it to me all the time. Yeah, I just. Folks, look here. Our listeners, to all our folks, all our listeners out there, I'm working on this for y'all.

I will get that son of a bitch to pick up a guitar. Language. And no, he's going to play. If it kills me, we're going to do one together. We're all four going to do one together. I'll play and then I'll get a tattoo right after. Yes. Stop. Salo, can you play that guitar? I don't know. Please.

This is me and Ashley Gourley a very long time ago. Ashley Gourley of 84 number ones or whatever it is. 83. 83, okay. This is the song we were talking about earlier in the show. Going through my closet the other day Found an old yearbook Flip right to the page of that senior trip Down there on that Panama Strip

We all started yelling when we smelled the beach Just couldn't wait to try fake IDs We only had a few days And a whole lot of memories to make And we were living Didn't waste one minute We talked and danced and drank and said goodbye Yeah, we laughed until we cried

Oops. Sorry, Kurt. Yeah. This past year, my family was sitting cross-legged around the Christmas tree listening to Granddad. We all knew he'd probably be his last. And he was cracking jokes and we were taking turns telling stories about fishing, lessons learned out on the porch with him. We all felt like kids again.

Oh, man, we were living, sitting there reminiscing. We talked and sang and traveled back in time. Yeah, we laughed until we cried. And then Kurt's amazing solo right here. We can overdub that. Which you won't hear right now. We can overdub that.

Seems like the best days under the sun Are every emotion rolling to one A little of this and a little of that Kind of happy and kind of sad Just the other night the baby was crying So I got out of bed and rocked her a while And I held her tight And I told her it would be all right

And my mind went back to a few years ago when we tried for so long we almost gave up hope. And I remember you coming in and giving me the news. Oh man, we were living, going crazy in the kitchen. We danced and screamed and held each other tight.

Yeah, we laughed until we cried. That's a great song. I'm sweating. So, Taylor, let me ask this. Obviously, when you sing the last verse, does that have, you know, it's a different kind of thing. Yes, it's a different emotion. Because before...

Yeah.

And I didn't have any kids, and now I have a 16-month-old girl. And so every time, even during the writer's round, we'll be singing that. Neil and I will be singing that. And it hits me totally different. It's an old song, right? Yeah, sure. But that verse makes it feel really brand new. And so sometimes it gets me. I kind of have to forget for a second so I don't lose it. It reminds me of country songs. It's not like it anymore, but when you wrote a country song like that in that era, it

You couldn't just sing a verse in a chorus because you didn't get the whole story of the song. That's right. And like that song, you can't play a verse and chorus of it. Right. That's right. You have to play the whole thing. Yeah. That's great. Great song, dude. I love it when you write songs that come back to haunt you. In a good way. That one. Yeah. Yours right there. That, I mean, comes back, not to haunt you, but it just, it means a little bit more. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Great song, buddy. Thank you, guys. Who's

Whose title was that? Do you remember? That was Ashley's. Actually, it was either the first or second. I get them mixed up. Ashley had came in, and at the time, he hadn't had any hits or anything like that. I'd had a few things, and he came in, and he said, well, I've got this one title. I've thrown it to six or seven people. Nobody's really liked it. And I thought...

well, he has a lot of respect for me. I said, what is it? And he said, uh, laughing till he cried. And I just loved it right away. And I could just kind of, you know, just like when you, when I threw out, try, try that small town to know, you guys like, Ooh, we know exactly where that goes. Same thing. You know, it was like, it was like, Ooh, I know what the first verse should say. I know what the second verse should say and the chorus and the basics. Not that you're, you know,

You're throwing out lines, but here's what the general stuff. And you got real excited. I got so excited about the Ashley said, uh,

I said, wow, you think it's that good? I said, dude, it's great. And he had me questioning my own ability. Because he's like, first off, why do you send me an idea that you don't like? But anyway, that was totally his. And then he just started rolling up that melody, never changed one thing of it, and it just rolled out. I think it's awesome that you did that. I think our listeners, and I hope that our listeners, love to hear where the song came from. Oh, I think so. And if we can incorporate more of that, like where did the song come from?

like when john morgan was on yeah you know or i don't know is he coming out like are we going to put this one out first or we're going to put john on is this we'll see so stay tuned for john because there's some extra bonus stuff oh yeah a lot of great stuff in that yeah he sings and it's it's just awesome to hear where the idea came from and i think i think our listeners love to hear

Where the idea of the song came from, hearing you sing it in its rawest form like you just did. That was the rawest. No, it's so good. But it's so good. I love hearing that more than I do anything. I really do. We'll find out. We'll put it on a paywall and see how much they really like it. I'm kidding, fans. I'm kidding. I know I can count on Ed. Should we take requests from our listeners? That's actually a great idea. Yeah.

But only songs that we've written. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I ain't playing brown-eyed girl. Although we could. This isn't middle-aged karaoke here. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Tell me, what are some of the songs? We've talked about this a lot. You know, we did cover bands. I mean, that's what we do. You know we're going to force you to play guitar. Oh, yeah. You know that, right? It's coming. I'll do it like when... Tell me, what did you do? Taking Care of Business, Brown Eyed Girl. What were some of the big songs? There were some staples like in the old our band days. Yeah. Taking Care of Business, sing Brown Eyed Girl. Yeah. I mean... Actually, what you need... Dark Side by Eddie and the Cruisers. What you got here, tell me, sing...

This is no kidding. I know Tully can sing. He can sing great. I know he can. But I've heard him. He shines. He shines on La Bamba. Oh, it's something else. You're kidding. I am not even kidding. I'm not kidding. La Bamba. He can do that, right? I swear to you. I can't wait. I was a huge, huge, like I love early rock and roll to this day. Richie Vounds, Buddy Holly.

And you're a connoisseur of early rock and roll. I love early rock and roll. I never knew this. I love it. It's actually was one of my very first, I mean, I loved, I was covered up in music as a kid. Like I just, I couldn't get enough of it. And I went through like a 50s phase when I was about 11, 12, 13 years old. And that's all I listened to.

And so I really, but that's where, you know, the Richie Valens stuff. Like I love Richie Valens, but Buddy Holly was who I really, I got a mean Peggy Sue too. Dude, this is all like, I never, this is brand new information. I never knew this. When we have Aldine on again, we should, we should hit some of those. Cause there's some, there's some great stories. Wait a minute.

Well, because, you know, when we're together, that's generally we'll do like karaoke night. Sometimes my karaoke go to is like Skid Row. It's all 80s. This is actually a great segment. What? So what is it? Skid Row? It's all 80s rocks lover boy. That's fantastic. Everybody.

Working for the weekend. I mean, I'm going there. I'm going there. Yeah, Vic, not many people can sing that. That's impressive. That's really impressive. Yeah. Tully's go-to. You have a few go-tos. I got a few. What's the one that you and Aldine always do together? The rock song. Lightning Crashes? Lightning Crashes. And then there's another one, too. What's the Three Doors Down song? No, I think I am thinking of Lightning Crashes. Yeah, by Live? Yeah. Kayla, what do you do?

I don't do anything. You do this. Here's why. Okay. Because years ago on one of the family Alaskan cruise and there was karaoke and a mom and dad are there, brothers there, nieces and all that stuff. And, and, and they said, Hey, you ought to get up there and do some karaoke. You know? And I thought, well, sure they'll have stuff. I thought, well, maybe they'll have something, you know, in, you know, in, in vain, you think, well, maybe they have something I've written. That'd be kind of easy to do. And I'd go up there.

But they had very little country. I think there was only one or two titles, and one of the titles they had was Live Like You Were Dying, right? And it's Tim McGraw, huge song. And I thought, well, I could do that because I've heard Tim Nichols, one of the writers, sing it at writers' nights over and over and over again. So I thought, well, surely I can do it. Yeah.

But it was just in a key that is so different from what I'm used to hearing Tim do it. Tim Nichols do it and not Tim McGraw, but Tim Nichols is the one I hear doing it all the time. And so in my mind, that's the note I was hearing. But it started like three keys higher and I never could find it.

Oh no, you couldn't find the pitch? I couldn't start. I mean, I was like, I came in completely off key and almost stayed there for like a whole verse. I was petrified. This whole thing. Mortified. And there wasn't enough whiskey in that whole room to make that okay. I saw a video of that actually. No, you didn't. Yeah, it was circling. No, it was before cell phones. We just put it out. It was before cell phones. Well,

We'll do that. We'll have the end of tour parties and we'll have that karaoke. Oh, my gosh. We'll just sing and, you know. Yeah, Aldino could do Drift Away. Drift Away. That's what you're going to hear. That'd be good. I remember back in the day, the late 90s or 97, whenever me and Jason started hanging out, it was probably, I guess, 99, whatever. We would go down to this little bar in Bellevue, Tennessee, and we'd do...

We've seen Cuts Like a Knife by Bryan Adams, which was, you know, we always had a good time doing that stuff. It's incredible. He still loves it to this day. Yeah, it's a good time. Oh, God, what do you got? What do you got? I think I need some WD-40 over here, Jim. You definitely need some. I hear it in all the episodes. Do you really? I hear it in all of them. Listeners, we got to, Ed, if you hear this, let me know. Ed's heard it. Ed's definitely heard it.

We need some WD-40. Can we get sponsored by WD-40? Sure. Okay. What are you doing? Did y'all watch any... You're not going to sing one? No, go ahead. Oh. Did y'all watch any of the... You had the regionals going on, you know, super regionals and... Yes, I did. Coming up. And so I'm a big Tennessee Vols fan, right? And so they got through. They beat Wake Forest. And it was in Knoxville and everything. And did y'all hear the controversy with the Wake Forest coach and everything? Yes, I did. So you had...

one of our third baseman, Andrew Fisher, he's a great player, good home run hitter, power hitter and everything. And we were leading at the time, the Vols were leading at the time. And I think he came up there and he's, you know, and those guys are, they're just juiced and just getting the crowd up and everything. And I think he was playing to the crowd a little bit. He's at home. And then the camera was on the Wake Forest coach, you know, who's, he's been around, you know, for a while. He's a very solid coach and

And they caught him on camera, you know, saying an explicit and then a, how do you say? What does the explicit start with? Well, F. It starts with an F. And then, you know, I guess you would say this day and time a homophobic slur, you know, after that. So it's two Fs. Which one? Two Fs.

Two Fs. Word one F, second word F. But an old school word. Like, you know... What's the second letter of F? Sounds like. Sounds like. Two syllables. Sounds like. When I was young and playing yard ball, playing football in the side yard. Hacky sack. Whatever we...

I got in trouble one time for saying the word. I called one of my friends bastard, and my mom was listening out the window of the house. I said, you bastard. I didn't know what it meant. Yeah. I had no idea. And we used to say that word, the F word. I was like, I didn't know what it meant. No, it covered everything. It covered everything. Right. It was like, you know. Bastard, you didn't know that. You're so cool.

like you are said your mother is don't talk about my mother we're innocent when it came to those words we were when we were young that's true we don't throw those that's true and probably that guy in no way was he thinking to himself you know anything that then something he said in high school you know just as right so but he took uh major heat from his ad everybody's too sensitive well you're right get over yourself everybody get over yourself it's a word

there's a couple words we don't say that we know we can't say yes that would forever be off the table I agreed but and that's that's one I mean you don't throw that around for the most part though everybody needs to chill out and they'll be so sensitive I'm not sure you could call me something that I'd be offended by especially fondue I mean no

Well, the important thing. You're an ever-flowing fountain of cheese. Well, the important part of the story as a Vols fan is after the coach got really mad and threw that out, then Andrew Fisher hit a two-run home run, which was fantastic. There you go. And you're going to the College World Series. They're going to play Arkansas, two out of three, starting Saturday. Then it goes through Monday, possibly, so it's two out of three. By the time this airs.

You're going to Omaha. I hope so. It'd be great. That's a great story. At least they can win a championship in some sport. But did you watch the WNBA game last night? That'd be a great story. That'd be great. What? Hold on. I love that. But did you guys watch what happened last night in the WNBA game? No. I'm one of 48 billion people that doesn't watch it. No. I'm sorry. It's true. You really didn't see it? It's amazing. No. No. Hold on. Are you being serious? Yes.

Please. This always gets me. I get up in the morning, my coffee, dog next to me, cranky, turn on SportsCenter. There's been a whole slate of Major League Baseball games, hockey playoffs, NBA basketball playoffs, and I've got to sit through a string of WNBA highlights. I'm like, what are you doing? No one's there. No one cares. They're playing with a tiny ball.

Even the highlights are like, wow, I feel like I could play in that league. I feel pretty good about my game. You know what? I do know what ESPN is doing because I obviously have an ESPN app. When I click on it, you know what the first stories are? WNBA. Yes. I wanted to bring it up. It's not basketball, football, or golf. I don't know why they can't just say thank you to Caitlin Clark.

Why can't they just thank her? Because she's the only reason that the WNBA is on the planet. Why can't they just say thank you? They don't like her, dude. Here's the thing. Even with Kaitlyn Clark, that's all well and good. She's great. She was really fun to watch in college.

Just pull the WMEA off. Kill the league. Take it away. No one cares about it. I want you to... I want a clip of this. He's true. He's speaking truth right now. He's putting my language right now. Anyone who loves the WMEA, please... You know who doesn't love it? Women.

Women don't love the WN. Who does like it? It's Tully Talk. I'm loving it. Come on, seriously. We know what's going on. There's no money. And then my favorite part is they're mad because they want their pay to be like the men get. I'm like, well, you're missing some major pieces. Crowds, viewership. Enough's enough. Let's find something else.

I mean, can I, as I know, this is, I don't think I'm offending anybody. have you seen the WNBA game? Not in its entirety. Just some of the highlights and some of the stuff that goes on with the Caitlin Clark and the other players that hate her and knock her down. You watch it for that because that's like a foosball. Yes, they're just knocking her all over the place, but she's, you know, she's, you know, but you haven't seen the game. No, the only reason I know about, you know, watching the women's basketball at all is because of Caitlin Clark. Yeah. Period. So that leads us to this topic.

Oh, boy. I watch women's softball. What? It's great. Well, yeah, women's softball is actually really good. Are you being serious? No, the softball, those girls are legit. And those pitchers, I mean, they're amazing. Well, hold on. Let's get to a story real quick. No, they're legit. Because we used to have the Aldean softball team. We have a good story. And don't forget what you were going to get to, but we got to say this. I've already forgotten. We used to go out and...

Play softball at least once a week. Sometimes it'd be against a competing radio station or whatever. We fancied ourselves a softball team. We were good. We were average. I play a lot of sports on the road. But anyway, we went to a, I forget what campus it was, but the women's softball team played on this field. And the women's pitcher challenged us to see if anybody could hit her. And it was a woman. It wasn't a man, right?

She was definitely a woman. Nowadays, you don't know. You're right. But she was definitely a woman, and she pitched, and I'm not sure anybody hit her. There were some foul balls. Yeah. It's legit. Fast pitch, softball, it was. No, it's legit. And Pickens, which is the starting pitcher for Tennessee Vols, she broke her own record, and I think it was 79.6 or 79.8, which the equivalent –

For guys, and the pros would be like 103, something like that. It's because the distance and all the stuff. But it's no way any of us is going to be hitting that ball. When women and men are actually equal in speed, the downhill. They never equal in speed. Actually, it is an equal speed. Women always wreck in NASCAR. It's not equal in speed, though, buddy. They never make it to the finish line ever in NASCAR. This is a women's NASCAR. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

There's been a couple of female drivers. Danica. Oh, yeah. That's right. Danica. Is it time for another break? No, no, no, no. No, this is perfect because it shows you that the car is the athlete, not the driver. Always. And she just did not. Danica Patrick did not ever. I don't know. And it wasn't a female-male thing. We'd love to have her on the podcast, by the way. When it comes to cars, it's never the female. It's the team thing. Well, she's a woman driver. Yeah. Yeah.

But she always got wrecked. She always got pushed out of the way. You know, anybody can drive fast.

Anybody. You can drive fast. We could put you in a NASCAR, in a race car right now, and we could teach you how to drive fast. How good are you in the mix? The car is the athlete, not the driver. But I will say this. If you put any four of us in a NASCAR race right now, you'd be dead last or never make it. It'd be impossible. It depends on how much training I've had.

I don't think we could start now. It's all about horsepower, dude. It's all about horsepower. In any industry, I don't think any one of us could start right now and get to the top of it. I could name you a handful of drivers that Earnhardt, he had in his heyday, he was the best driver out there. He had the best team. He had the best equipment, and nobody could beat him. Jeff Gordon, the same way. I could go down the list of NASCAR drivers. Yeah, it was a perfect combination of equipment and driver.

That's what it comes down to in racing. I don't know enough about it. Equipment and driver. But you're adding the driver now. That makes sense. You were just saying the car. You just said Tully could win. But if Earnhardt was driving somebody else's car that was not up to it, it doesn't come up to him. It's not up to him. He can only go so fast and drive that car until the wheels fall off only so far and still finish last. It's a combination of the driver and the car. Combination. Then that works. Tom Brady...

Did not. Easy. Careful. No, Tom Brady could have played anywhere in the NFL and succeeded. Okay. You're out of your depth. I'm not out of my depth. You're out of your depth. If you want to talk football with me, then let's go. Well, I want to talk college football with you. I've only played since I was six. But here, I'll say this about. But college football is different. Today it is. You're not like a pro football guy. In pro football. What's he talking about? You're not a pro football guy. We're about to find out.

You agree. In NFL... Who do you think led the Patriots? Who was the main guy on the Patriots team? Who was the crew chief? Bill Belichick's girlfriend. Who was the crew chief at the Patriots? I am the biggest Tom Brady fan. Tom Brady was the crew chief. Without him, they don't win that many championships. I totally agree. Doesn't happen. But also, there's a system involved. And like...

Tom was perfect with Belichick and the way Tom thought and Belichick coach. It was a, it's a magic. That's what I love about NFL football. That combination. You can look back on those teams, you know, whether the Niners and all those teams and the coach and the quarterback, I love that about NFL. Like it's a, to me, it's a team. And I think if you asked if Brady would tell you the same thing, like that's why the Patriots had so many role players. Let me ask you this. I throw you a little wrinkle here.

Would Bill Belichick be Bill Belichick without Tom Brady? No, no. I'll tell you that. Or would Tom Brady be Tom Brady without Bill Belichick? Maybe not as well. Probably not. I think there's a magical thing that happens. It's very rare, that combination of winning. I agree with that. But Tom Brady would have... Because if Tom Brady goes to the Browns, he's never Tom Brady. He would have found a way. It's...

In football, it's all about the locker room. Well, look, though, you kneel. I've been there. I've showered with them. That's a whole different podcast. I've been there. Listen, though. I know what the locker room's like. It's not just that, though, because it's the scheme. That's why the Pats would get like a Wes Welker. And Gronk and all these guys through the years, they literally built this.

the system for tom to like succeed in you know it wasn't just what do you do with the buccaneers wasn't just yeah he won no no what do you do at the buck but he did bring his guys i rest my case what did he do he he he went to the buccaneers but neil and changed the whole dynamic of that whole program but you got a and won a super bowl this is where you're stubborn one guy

Listen to me. But you had a whole track record of how Tom played. A way Tom succeeded in the way that he thrived. Time for the guitar. Anyway, I mean, we're probably over at this point anyway. Neil, you got something to get to? No, I don't. I sit back and analyze and I listen to everybody. I listen to you. I listen to you. I listen to you. I love you guys.

But it's my last show. K-Lo? It's my last show. No, it's not. No, I respect everybody's opinions. That's where I'm going to leave it right there. No, no, no. No, it's good. Get it out. I'm an Alabama fan. Okay. Okay. I look at what's happened to the program and just the whole atmosphere around the whole program since Saban left. I look at it when he was there.

And I'm like, it's like, and it goes back to your Belichick argument. It's the leadership that's whoever's in charge, the leadership. And it's a team thing. It's a combination thing. But Belichick and Brady were like unbeatable.

They were. But it's also, to Tully's point, college is different in the NFL for that reason. You have to have the coach, the system in place in college. But I'm relating college to NFL now because of NIL. Okay. Now they're very, very, very, very close. Now we're talking, it's all about dollars now. It is. In both sports. Which leads me to...

I think college football is absolutely in a bad spot right now. I think you're right. And ironically, it's going to take somebody like Saban to kind of get it back to where it was. It's weird. They've opened Pandora's box, and I don't think they know how to close it.

But it's going to take Saban to do that. And it might be Saban that does it. And I think that's fixing to happen. Yeah. I really do. Somebody's got to take the reins and go, hey, because the NCAA apparently don't know what the hell they're doing. I think they're trying to turn it into the NFL. I do. And they're going to kill –

the innocence of college football forever if somebody like Saban doesn't take the reins and turn it back around where it needs to be. Yeah, I can't disagree.

You got anything to end on? Nope. I just ordered my dinner successfully. Did you really? Yep. What'd you get? Harissa chicken from, what do you call it? Hold on, did you get dinner for one? Kalo, I would think you would want to chime in on the college football thing. No, I felt like you were on a good roll. No, being a UT fan, I figured you'd want to. Tziki's.

Because I think Heupel has – I think I respect him for the way he's handled the situation with y'all's quarterback leaving. Yeah, I think he's done really well. I mean, but the whole thing you're talking about with the whole dynamic and the NIL, it's so – I mean, I don't know what one person is going to be able to –

fix all that. I mean, it's never going to be the same as it was. Yeah, for an outsider, like I said, you guys know I'm not like a huge... I know. Our fans know that you guys are NFL guys. We're college guys. But as the outsider looking a little bit... And I really do like college football. I love following the Bulldogs. Al Dean's more of a college guy than he is NFL. I will say, though, looking at it, you know,

I don't like it. No. Like, I know it wasn't perfect before. I know that there were things that weren't right, but now it feels way worse to me. They're going to fix it. You got guys making too much money, too young, for not the right reasons. And it's taken...

A lot of the innocence, like you said, I don't know if that's the right word either. Yeah, I didn't say innocence. It was no. No said innocence. Whatever. That part of it seems to have – because the one thing I love about college, they're out there trying their hardest. Because they love the game. Love the game. And also, look, they want to go to the NFL. But what's the motivation now? Is it to –

Just make the quick money? Is it to even get? Yes, it is. Well, and the thing of it is now it's bleeding into high school, and you're seeing high school kids. It's even going lower than that. You're right. And it's affecting 14-year-olds to 18. It's a thing, dude. It's a real thing. And it might be an episode later. It even affects the parents. Oh, 100%. Big time. Yeah.

On where they steer their child to go. Yeah. Money. Well, there's money being handed out in high school now, and it's just weird. I'm really glad that a lot of the players are getting compensated, you know, but

To some degree. It's just I wish they did it a different way coming out. Now it's just the wild, wild west. I don't know if you can ever do it. And for the fans, it definitely hurts the fan experience for sure. To Kalo's point, my whole thing at the beginning was, why don't you put it in a trust if they either get drafted or they graduate?

They get that when they leave. They shouldn't get it while they're playing. They should have something to look forward to. Put it in a trust. Put it out here. This is what you get when you graduate and or get drafted. Yeah, because now they could have that promise of this many million, and then next year somebody says, well, we'll add two million to it, and then they're gone. It's like an insurance policy. It's sitting out here waiting on you. Don't pay them while they're playing. Pay them when they're done. Yeah.

And they work toward that. It's a goal that they get to work for. It seems like common sense to me.

I don't know. Call Nick up. It's a good idea. I don't know. I was like, why? And while you're at it, get him on the podcast because he'd be great. Yeah. Big time. And Alden wants to meet him. And on that. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. Let's wrap this up. It's been fun. I knew there was some good juju in the room. Yeah. I do want to finish on one bill check. Okay. All right. You got me on it. Okay. Sorry, Kurt. No, end it. Give us something good.

On the true greatness of Brady and Belichick, you probably didn't follow the Pats through the whole run and see how they won the Super Bowls. Oh, yeah. A lot of that was defense. Bill was incredible defense, but Brady would manage the game. It's that perfect combination of him not having to be the guy to go throw five TDs every game, but managing the game. Brady won upstairs in his head.

That's how he won every game. He won every game. He didn't win it by his arm or certainly not by his being mobile. Yep. But he's very smart. And that combination of like Belichick and him is, that's what I miss. That's what I really miss. Brady's influence in the locker room. Yes. In my opinion, changed everything. Well, that's what winning does too. That's what it does. And it applies to every aspect of business, no matter what you do.

in life. Well, you're wrapping this thing up. No, I think it does. Tying the room together. What we do writing songs. Yeah. It's all about, I mean, his influence in the locker room changed the whole facade of that whole program. So Tom, what we're saying is please come on the podcast. Please. That'd be great to have you on. Be amazing.

Jim, invite Tom. We were on the fence whether we should invite him. Let's do it. Yeah. Let's do it. Let's end it here, guys. That was fun. Yeah. That was fun. Neil, did you get everything off your chest? I feel lighter. Yeah, you should. I do. All right. Neil called me.

He's called you a lot of things. I don't think that'll make it. It might not make it. That's Thrash. That's K-Lo. That's TK. I am Fondu.

It's amazing. Try that in a small town podcast. Thanks for watching, guys. Make sure to follow along, subscribe, share, rate the show, and check out our merch at trythatinasmalltown.com.