Senator Marsha Blackburn :: The Constitutional Right to Create and Be Paid - Ep 49 Try That in a Small Town Podcast
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And I don't know if you know this, but we happen to propel careers here. We had Cash Patel on before he was the FBI director. And look at that. There you go. We had Kristi Noem on. We simply befriended Governor Kristi Noem. Now look at her. I don't know why.

don't want she knows. Travis has not told her yet. I don't think she knows. You know, I just look at her and say, shake it off. I'm going to go there. Senator, you're running for governor. Oh, wow. Wow. 2026 would be this is not live. It's just between us. Just between us. Yeah. Yeah. We won't tell anybody.

The Try That In A Small Town Podcast begins now. We are, this is, you're listening to...

But you guys better get your minds right.

Because we got to be thinking the highest level tonight.

still how high high okay you got to get your sights set high we have a very special guest we had senator marcia blackburn coming on i have no idea how she agreed to this i don't know why i don't either but uh i'll say this uh and we'll talk about it she's been a huge proponent of musicians songwriters artists in tennessee she likes to take care of the people in tennessee she knows that's a business that's uh

unique to Nashville. So it's going to be fun. Yeah. And diminishing. I mean, you know, she, since I've been in town, she has been at every function, every award show, ever NSA event with Barton Herbison. I mean, every, every she's, Oh, she's present, you know, as many times as possible.

you know, not just, I mean, she's, she's there, you know, and she really cares and she's, and she has also seen the songwriter community like us, seen it shrink, you know, over the last 20 years, you know, it was, I think Barton said like 4,000 songwriters, maybe 20 years ago. Yeah. And that's, that's, you know, not near that now. And we'll ask her that. Like, I mean, you know, there's a lot of things that I think, uh,

musicians and artists and people want to know. And we say this a lot. We have a lot of different people on this podcast. A lot of them happen to be artists or songwriters. We'll have sports people on. We'll have whatever. But we don't usually have politicians. But this one's... Well, they get intimidated. Yeah. And we get that. Yeah. I understand. Hey, I think I'm going to ask her if she's going to run for governor. Do you think I should do that? Please do it. Please do it.

I don't know if she'll tell you or not, but you should ask. You think? You should also ask her about Taylor Swift. I'm going to do it. You should also ask her about Taylor Swift.

Oh, the comments. Okay, I will. I'm going to do it. I'm doing it. Everybody knows I'll do it. You're both the big friends of Taylor Swift. All right. Let's not wait any longer. Let's get right to it. Senator Marsha Blackburn. I mean, this is intimidating. It is. And we dressed up for you. I wore my Titans hoodie tonight. But an advocate for songwriters like no other, though.

I mean, for years. I mean, every time. I know at the ASCAP Awards when Neil and I were there, you were there every year. And you've just always been supporting us. And so we just want to say thanks. We're thankful that you're here. For all the songwriters, thank you for everything you do. It is an honor and a privilege to do it. And as you all have heard me say, songwriters, our creators, our musicians,

have a constitutional right to benefit from their creations. It is an Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 guarantee to those who innovate and who create. So, yes, indeed, it's part of that constitutional duty to stand up and protect people.

the right of creators to be paid for their innovations. We like you. Amen. We should have had you on a long tour. It's true when we say we couldn't have said that better ourselves. We couldn't have. Absolutely not, you know. But you would say it in a different way, and you would put music behind it and take three minutes to tell the story, right? That's right. That's right. Well, and that's what makes Tennessee, and especially Nashville, so unique is

I mean, it's a town of artists, it's a town of musicians, and it's a town of songwriters, which is the most unique in the country or in the world, I believe. And you're heading up a few legislative acts which are hoping to protect especially the artists and the songwriters, which I think is awesome. And there's a couple I did want to get your definition or more of the opinion on. I know there's like the...

It's the fake. What is it? No fakes. Yes. Which I don't think people realize this. Like I could go home tonight and I could make a recording and it would be me singing, which you'd not want to hear. But then I could say, put this in the voice of Jason Aldean.

And it's all of a sudden you think Jason Aldean is singing this song. Oh, it's scary. It's very scary. But I know that you're trying to help and protect that, right? Absolutely. And I think it is so important that we see what AI is doing and recognize that. Now, there are some industries like logistics and advanced manufacturing and healthcare that...

are going to do very well with AI. It'll bring efficiencies. The federal government needs to use AI. And the problem that we have for our creators is they can take your likeness, they can take your voice, and supplant that to someone else and create an image or create a sound. So no fakes, guys.

will give artists the ability to have standing and then to take these bad actors to court.

and to remove that work and to keep them from benefiting. And that is something that with this technology, we don't have anything on the books, that gives the songer, that gives the musician, that gives the vocalist the right to have those protections. So this is a bill that would do that. It's bipartisan, by the way.

And, you know, we've been trying to get together a roundtable. Chris Coons, Senator Coons out of Delaware, is the lead Democrat on the bill. And he and I have been trying to work schedules and get a roundtable together. But, of course, since the first of the year, we have been in D.C. five days a week. So we've not been able to do that. But I thought it would be great.

And a couple other of my colleagues who do not have the opportunity to have songwriters or vocalists in their communities to come to somewhere like Nashville where they could sit down and hear from people, whether they're from music publishing or a recording studio or a label or the entertainer and find out what the vulnerabilities are of

how they've been created that would adversely impact their line of work and prohibit them from benefiting from that line of work. Yeah, and one of the biggest things you've said

Did, and it was a good while back, was the Songwriters Equity Act. But then it's also where we can – we've talked about this a little bit before – where songwriters, we have years sometimes of a catalog and things like that, and we can sell that because it's a business. You can sell that group and a percentage of that. Right.

And only pay capital gains taxes as opposed to employment taxes, right? Ordinary income. Which would kill us, you know? So it just gives you a chance to stay in the business longer. Can you talk about that for a second? Yeah, that was actually one of the first things that I got passed in Congress. And it was a tax bill.

And I had to take it through Ways and Means Committee when I was in the House at that point in time. And what I realized as I started...

Working with my colleagues that were there in D.C., I realized that they did not understand what a catalog was. A catalog is not an album. A catalog is your life work. That is, for you, a small business person, your business. That is your stock and trade business.

And so we were able to get this passed. And then when you do sell a catalog and sell those rights, you now pay cap gains on it as opposed to ordinary income tax, which is a big difference and allows you, the creator of that work, to keep money.

More of that, that nest egg that you've built up in that work. We love those lower tax, those lower capital gains taxes. We love it. It's so refreshing for someone in your position to talk to you about this because I feel like you really understand it. And I think most people in your position maybe don't. And when you're songwriting and you're trying to come up with these ideas and everything's a small victory in this business and all of it is just so...

You seem to have such a grasp of how much that means to us financially and creatively, you know? So thank you for all that. Oh, I'm happy to do it. You know, I tell Spotify. You know, you think you could get Elon to buy Spotify when you get back to Washington? I think that's a kind of out of my realm a little bit, but here's the thing, you know,

At some point, we've got to look at rates and royalties and say, why don't we focus on end use? Because radio pays for one thing but not the other thing. And, of course, we have the AMFM Act to straighten that out. They'll pay the songwriter. They don't pay the performer. Then you've got rates for streaming. You've got rates –

And it's really a hodgepodge. So at some point, we need to say, is this for just one-time use and listening? Is this for replication? Is this for commercial use? And then make certain that creators are paid for what they're creating. People would not go into Walmart and pick up a basket of things and say, well, this isn't much. I'm not going to pay for it.

But then they don't think about it if they're ripping a song or somebody's not getting paid when it comes to your entertainment. I always tell people, when you go into a restaurant, imagine no music. Go into any restaurant.

Just about any venue or any restaurant. Turn the music off and see what it feels like. You'd hear a lot of people chewing. Yeah, and you would see how important music is. Oh, yeah, that's your ambiance. Yeah, that's right. And you've always had an appreciation for it. Kurt and I were talking earlier because you are a musician, you know, when you're a kid and played piano.

and guitar. Right. Ukulele gave ukulele lessons. That's right. Wow. What we thought was interesting. What kind of answers did you do? Well, it's amazing. What I found interesting. Well, he's known me a while. Yeah. But is the fact that you said. That's right there. That you said. I was kind of peeking out there. It's telling us. What? What are you saying? Oh.

I love that. And the senator, I did mention to him, last episode I said, you're growing it out on the sides. I've got a haircut. Which I kind of love. I've got a haircut since then. Before you say, you know, I don't want to interrupt. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So,

But the senator would always look at the writers' names of the sheet music and stuff like that, which I found that fascinating because I never, even as a songwriter, I never did that. I didn't look at the writers' stuff, but you did. Yes. So you've always had an appreciation for writers, which I think is amazing. Yeah. Who wrote the lyrics? Yeah. You know, how did this come to be?

And I think it's fascinating to that. And of course, I started in church music like a lot of people. I know you did. He's old too. That's amazing. He is old. He's real old. Yeah.

I'm older than everybody at this table. Now, didn't we have this conversation? No, I don't know. I thought I was older than you. No, you're not. No, you're not. Let's talk about also, as long as we're on this music talk and the business, I know that you recently sent a letter to the FCC, and this is important too, because payola, people think that was a term that, and something that only happened in the 50s and then in the 90s and 2000s, but it still goes on.

And it just happens differently. And maybe an artist goes and plays a radio station show for free in order to get more airplay.

And I know that's something you're trying to protect the artists on. Can you speak to that a little bit? I certainly will. And it's so interesting how issues come back in a different form. Right, because this has been around for a long time. Yes, that's right. And I had some road musicians basically talk to me about this, people I would run into every once in a while, and a few artists. And they would say, hey, I would hear about this story.

a practice that had come to be with some of the large radio systems. And basically, if you were doing a tour and they were involved in the concert coming to town, then they would give you more airplay

If for certain cuts, if you would do a meet and greet for their advertisers, a private show for their advertisers. And this happens all the time. All the time. It happened to me a lot in the 90s. A lot. And they were saying people started using the term, this is just a new form of payola. So I started hearing more about it.

from a wider group of people. And I thought, there is something to this. So I sent a letter to Brendan Carr, who's the chairman of the FCC, who oversees all of this, and I said, I think this is an issue that we need to put some attention on and just see what is happening. I know the FCC has guidance on payola practices, and it seems that now it is...

coming forward in another form, and this is what it is. And so he sent out a letter, basically a warning, to the radio stations and then issued guidance to be certain they understand. If an artist is coming to town and they are doing a concert, that radio station cannot, they cannot tie down

a free show, free services of the artist and the musician to airplay. And it is a law. How do you police that? I don't even know. You know, I think that's one of those things that will be up to the FCC. For me, it was just, I've been...

I've been made aware of it. You wanted to bring light to it. As we typically do, I said, here, you might want to take a look at this and investigate it. You all tend to it, but here's what I'm hearing from some people that are on the road. That even gets more interesting to me, like when you're talking about benefits, benefits

Because radio stations will always ask artists to come, hey, will you come play a few songs for this certain benefit, right? So let's assume that Tully and I have a new duo.

And the only reason we don't is because we knew it would be incredibly successful and we wouldn't get enough sleep. But if we did, and we're trying to get our record played and stuff like that, and somebody calls us from our hometown or whatever and said, hey, would you all come raise some money for these kids and everything? I would just be thinking internally, hey, if I do, they may add our record. So that gets a little tricky. Well, that's the whole thing. Years ago, being on a radio tour, every time you had a dinner with a radio station, the label takes a...

you know, uh, radio people out and we all sit in there and we're, I remember the old days were thinking, well, this is going well. We're probably yet another 10 spins in the station this week, you know, and that's how it was. Yeah, it was. Yeah. We did many shows like that. Well, and for nothing, for, for nobody even sitting there for the radio station, for the, for their advertisers, for whatever. And yeah, we'll add your record and they add it. And then they take it off the playlist, you know, a week later.

They kept their word, but they didn't say how long they would ask.

But it's not right. It's just not right to do people that way. Well, and that's what I would hear from people that were on the road. And as I said, I'm not in that business. We don't handle that type investigation at our level. That is for the FCC. But it is important when the people that I represent, my constituents,

when they're bringing an issue to me, it is incumbent upon me to turn that over to the appropriate agency. So we did. And hopefully it will. Hopefully they're doing their job. Yeah. Hopefully so. And all you can do is hear from guys like us. That's it. That's it. Well, I want to bring something to your attention, and maybe you can get it to the higher powers. Uh-oh.

Can we somehow keep daylight savings time? Listen, when... Please. Yes, yes. At least in Tennessee. You know, some states do it, right? Like Indiana. I mean, this is the craziest thing.

Because I have sponsored the bill for years that would say, pick one. I don't care which one you pick, but I'm tired of changing the clock. And you look at what it costs people and it costs companies to go in and do all these resets. And it is just absolutely ridiculous. Do you want more daylight in the morning or do you want it in the afternoon? Pick one.

I want to pick the more sunshine in the afternoon. Absolutely. I'm a musician. I wake up late. Look at everybody around the board. Look at everybody's mood.

When the time changes, everybody's, their whole mood changes. Their whole character changes. They're ready to work longer hours. No problem. We got more daylight. I like it dark. I prefer more dark. I get that. That's why I'm advertising on Windows. You guys know this. Where do you stand? Do you just want to stay one way? I would prefer daylight savings time. Me too. Year round. But I just say stop the madness of changing the clocks. Pick one, please.

I mean, it makes no sense at all to me that we change the clocks and then we change them back and then we change them, you know. What if we made it fun and just land somewhere in the middle? Do a half hour? Like 45 minutes. Why not? I'd just throw the whole thing off. Yeah, it would throw the whole thing off. I mean, why not? You just blew my mind. Why does it have to be... Can't we just...

do a half hour I'm going 31 minutes I'm going to go there Senator you're running for governor oh wow wow

2026 would be this is not live it's just between us just between us yeah yeah we won't tell anybody I'm giving a good serious look at running for governor yes and if I run I will win oh yes okay yes well you heard it here first yes 100% you're amazing if I run I will be the strongest conservative in the race

I believe that too. And I don't know if you know this, but we happen to propel careers here.

We had... I don't know if you know this. This is going to... We had Kash Patel on before he was the FBI director. And look at that. There you go. I'm just saying. We had Kristi Noem on. We simply befriended Governor Kristi Noem. Now look at her. I mean... So you made a good choice by stopping by. Your future's bright. Of course. So is it true that...

The whole demeanor, like in restaurants and hotels of D.C., changes with each administration. It does. I've always heard that. I wouldn't experience it myself. What are you talking about? People are happy, and they're hopeful, and it is like a...

A new attitude, but here is the way I kind of look at it. I think that there are important moments in the life of a family or the life of a country. And 1776, important to us. You look at how we really solidified ourselves as one nation in that period from 1861 to 1865.

You look at what happened around World War II when people said, and you look from 1938 to 1945, and people said, we are Americans. We are the USA. We can do this. We are the greatest generation. And I think 2024 was another of those pivotal starts for

The American people said, we are not giving in to DEI. We are sick and tired of ESG. We know that men and women are different. We believe in a strong military. We love our country, and we are not going to put up with this stuff. And they showed up, and they gave Donald Trump a mandate.

to get our fiscal house in order to get this country back on track and keep it on track. And I fully believe that the American people are expecting big things. I told my colleagues the other day, we were talking about it, and we're finding about $4 billion a day in cuts that we can do from Doge. Wow.

And I said, you know, let's not limit ourselves and say, well, we're satisfied with one and a half trillion dollars in cuts. Let's take every cut that we can get and let's get every dollar of fraud and waste out of the federal government because it is the taxpayer's dollar. It's not government's money. It is taxpayer money.

that is going to waste on these projects. We should, it may be $3 trillion, it may be $2 trillion, but let's cut it all. Then let's see what we've got. And then let's get government to the point that it is modernized to deliver all of its services and that we're

going to be able to meet the needs of people that need services and defend our nation and get our taxes low and secure our southern border and get inflation down and get busy with this and send that power and money back to the states.

for health care and education and regulation and benefits. And Tennessee should be. We have the potential to be. We should be America's conservative leader. Yes, we should. I absolutely love that. I've got to ask the senator what it was like the night the president gave the address. What was that vibe like inside the room?

I mean, for us, watching it on TV, we're like, what is going on? I can't imagine what it was like there. You know what? I was so pleased that he had a good time giving that address. I'm telling you. And I am so pleased that...

the response from the American people was what it was. I mean, everybody liked that. I think it was like a 70% approval rating or something. I

I think that the Democratic Party and their conduct, they could not stand up for a child that had survived brain cancer and a kid that was going to West Point and parents that had lost their children, a girl who had been injured in an accident with a guy playing in women's sports. They couldn't stand up and show gratitude for law enforcement.

And I thought the conduct was absolutely abhorrent. If you're not going to applaud, and if you don't like President Trump, don't take it out on people that have overcome adversity. Cheer for them. Cheer for them. And let the American people see that you are cheering for people that have overcome obstacles. Be on their team.

But they could not bring themselves to do that. But here's what I do think the Democrats have done. They have convinced themselves that they were right on November 5th and that everybody else was wrong. And they have refused to listen to the American people. And, you know, we talk a lot about issues that are 80-20 issues. The Democrats are with the 20-20.

It's unbelievable. They have left 80. And it's like they're completely out of step with the American people and where they are. I just think they are so off on the wrong track. And their conduct was...

I am hopeful that members of the Democratic Party will call their elected representatives out about that conduct. I asked somebody about that the other day. I was like, is there anybody in the party, in the Democratic Party, that has stepped up and go, hey, y'all, this is not working? Has anybody done that? The moment when that little boy...

The moment that little boy got the hug, Secret Service agent had his back. Tears. Just streaming. It was such an incredible moment. And to me, to see no one on the Democratic side stand up, really just ripped the Band-Aid off anyone who was wondering how they really, truly were. Because if you don't feel that, I mean, then you can't. And I was surprised that no one really...

Stood up at all and broke order with it. I don't know how y'all held your tongues over here on the right side. I don't know how everybody wasn't, I can't believe it didn't come on the hinge there for a second. You know, there is, when I was working my way through college selling books door to door for the Southwestern Company, I learned a really important lesson. And it is, don't waste your time worrying about things you cannot control. Mm-hmm.

I cannot control what the Democrats... I'm learning from you. Neal, she's looking right at you. I know. I'm like, and I see... Neal, we were right. I have to commend her on the whole Taylor Swift comment and stuff. And...

And you held your tongue on that one, and I would have come unhinged, and I'm learning from you. I hope you're a governor, and you're a good influence on me. Let me tell you. Because if Taylor Swift were to talk to me like she would talk to you, I would have come unhinged, and you— Taylor Swift is a talented young woman, and I am so pleased that—

that Nashville is the center of her creative universe. Yes. We have a difference of opinion, obviously. You're so nice. You're so nice. You're definitely going to win, Governor. There are no two ways about it. I think she was given bad information. Who has done more to fight human trafficking and sex trafficking?

Who has done more to protect kids in the virtual space? Kids Online Safety Act, Report Act, all these pieces that I've got. Who's done more to protect songwriters? Songwriters' Equity, Music Modernization. We've got No Fakes. We've got the Copied Act, the American Music Tourism Act, all these different bills. Does she know that? Yeah.

I don't know what she knows. Travis has not told her yet. I don't think she knows. You know, I just look at her and say, shake it off. Oh, where's the drum set? That's amazing. Hey, real quick, let's talk about the first 100 days. Actually, what are we, two months in? Trump's first 100 days. Yeah.

He can't do math. Yeah, right. The border is basically closed. Yes. Amazing. Inflation, down. Yes. Ukraine and Russia, peace talks. Yes.

Rosie O'Donnell has left the country. It's an amazing first couple months. How do you feel about the first 100 days? I am so excited about where we are after this first 50 days, I think it is, that we've completed. We have gotten President Trump's entire cabinet confirmed.

So that is phenomenal. Record time. And we're working on deputies and assistants and all of those other components at this point in time. And he is so aggressive. I just am so grateful that he's got so much energy that he is just going to it. It's every day. It's so much actually, someone's actually doing something. They voted in.

And now people aren't used to it. Like, oh, they're doing what they said they do. You're right. That's right. This can happen. He made promises. He is keeping promises. And he is doing a great job. J.D. Vance is going to go down in history as one of the best VPs ever.

And they are determined to shrink the size of government in Washington, D.C. And they will. And they will send that power back to the states. And the states are going to have to do good things with it. But...

I think it is phenomenal that when you look at the border, when you look at crime in cities, when you look at respect for law enforcement, when you talk about inflation coming down, when you look at getting people to the negotiating table using tariffs, because his goal is to get reciprocal tariffs or no tariffs. Right.

So that we can get the cost down. So that countries are not padding their economies because they're tariffing us. Yeah, people don't realize that. They're tariffing us huge percentages. Yes. That is what you call trade deficits. Right. And so we are continuing to...

push on this to get these things done soon. We know we've got a two-year window

And we're going to have to work every single day to get these things done. But with President Donald Trump back in the White House, our allies know they're an ally. Our enemies know they're an enemy. Countries know that they need to come to the White House and they need to negotiate with him. And they are coming and they are showing up.

And I'm on Senate Finance Committee. And I can tell you we've had the Canadian Ag Minister and Oil Minister and Finance Minister and Commerce Minister, all of them,

coming to the office. We've had all these countries with their different ministers of finance and economics coming into the office. They want to do business with the United States of America. That is a good thing. And we want that to be a level playing field that is going to help us to grow jobs and grow salaries

and build our economy. And that's a good thing. And that's a big part.

of the focus that we have is that prosperity and getting us back on the right track. Your timing as governor is going to be perfect. It is. I can't wait. You're Johnny One Note today. Do you think we'll get like the Doge dividends? Do you think that'll actually happen? Or will the dividends just go back into the American pot just to make everything stronger? Here's what I want is there's a process we do that is called re-investment.

And this is when we take savings like that and we cut it out of the federal budget. And the Office of OMB, Office of Management and Budget, has to ask us to make those rescissions. And we can pass that through both chambers of Congress. Then those programs and that funding goes bye-bye.

It is cut out of the budget. I want us to do as much cutting as we can. I do not want to leave one ounce of fat. You know, we need to doge everything out.

And then we need to put us on Ozempic for life. Federal government. And just, you know, take those GLP-1s every day, you know. And just keep this thing trimmed down and skinnied up.

And that's what the American people want to see. It's certainly what Tennesseans want to see. Awesome. Absolutely. Senator, we know your time is precious. We can't thank you enough for being here with us. And when you came on, I was going to ask if you've ever been with four more clueless or unqualified people. But then I thought, they make you sit with Democrats all the time. So...

We're very appreciative. What do you got? Well, I was going to see if you were going to ask her what we ask most of our guests each time they come. Go. Real quick. We'll end with this. What did you think the first time you heard Jason Aldean sing the song Try That in Small Town? I thought, yeah. You got it. That's great. What a great song. By the way, thank you for coming to the show. I love it. Growing up in a small town, I could totally relate to that. Love the song. We read your comment, and we appreciate you having our back.

You got it. 100%. Like we said, you've got the backs of all the musicians, artists, songwriters here in Tennessee. We're very thankful for you. You got it. And I appreciate you all. Thank you for having me on. Thank you, Sandra. Thank you very much, Sandra. My name is Glenn Story. I'm the founder and CEO of Patriot Mobile. And then we have four principals.

First Amendment, Second Amendment, right to life, military and first responders. If you have a place to go, put your money, you always want to put it with somebody that's like mine. Of course. I think that's the beauty of Patriot Mobile. We're a conservative alternative. Don't get fooled by other providers pretending to share your values or have the same coverage. Go to patriotmobile.com forward slash smalltown to get a free month of service when you use the offer code smalltown or call 972-PATRIOT.

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By the way, we're back and Kayla just said, what are we doing now? I need to know. I need to know. I know. Well, what we're saying is we were just talking as the senator left.

Sounds like she might run for governor. Sounds like she's confident. She wasn't expecting that. That's a baller answer. It wasn't that, like, I don't know, I'm thinking about it, I'm kind of weighing my odds. No, she went to straight, I'm going to win. Right, you figure the politician answer is that. Then she's like, no, yeah, I'll win. That was not a politically correct answer she gave us at all. I think she's got a good feel for the spirit of the country right now and the state right now. I think so, too.

What a great lady. Trump loves her. She can't lose. Smart. She's a winner. She's a winner. Kind of like us. Yeah, that's right. I'm thinking about running. I'm nursing. I wish you lived after that because you have the last name. How hard can it be? Yes. Kennedy, another one to cross the party line perhaps. Maybe. I don't know. I feel like my time's now.

Vote Kennedy. Maybe. Maybe. Vote Kennedy. And speaking of winners, I thought you were going to talk about the merch a little bit. Oh, the merch. I'm going to talk. Yeah, absolutely. This is my new turkey hunting hat I have on. I like that. Turkey season's coming up. It's right around the corner. I like that.

And who wouldn't want one of these camo Try That in a Small Town podcast hats? And then... Nice. Is this Kalo's hat? Yeah, I brought that just in case. Where can you find these hats by the way? TryThatInASmallTown.com Boom. Go to the store. These are available? Go to the merch. Go to the store. These are available. Right now.

You know how many turkeys I'm going to kill in this hat this year? Oh, my God. When is turkey season? I have no idea. Middle April. I think it's April 13th. Right after duck season. April 12th in Tennessee, and I'm pissed about that. We're all pissed. All the turkey hunters in Tennessee are pissed about that. Why? Because they took two weeks away from us. It used to open like at the beginning of April, end of March. The lack of turkey? No. That's their excuse. That's what I think. I don't believe it. That's their excuse. Oh, did they actually use that as an excuse? Yes.

I don't really know what their real excuse is. Well, did the bird flu go from the chickens to the turkeys? No, it did not. I wish we would have had this conversation with the senator. The flu has nothing to do with it. I don't know why. There's probably a liberal in charge of the TWRA. That's my guess. It's never even been hunting in his life, probably. That's probably what the reason is.

That's usually what the problem is. No, it's not a her. But anyway, we want our full turkey season back. If anybody's listening from the TWRA, I want it back. I want my two weeks back. Now, we need to have enough turkeys for Thanksgiving. I don't want to risk that. That's my favorite. Those are domesticated turkeys, Tully.

Yeah. I knew that. Yeah. Those are farm-raised turkeys. Not the ones I eat. Well, yeah. We're not talking about the ones that you actually kill and dress yourself. We want to go to Publix and get one. I need to take... Our listeners need to know that I need to take these three guys turkey hunting. I've been turkey hunting.

One of the worst experiences I've had. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really? You need to go with old Neil. Why? I don't even know nothing about it. No, I was in Texas with Tyler Farr. It was 155 degrees. Oh, is that when the cartel came up on your blind? And he's sitting there in a blind with Tyler Farr. And he's like, man, I'm the...

Best turkey caller in West side of Mississippi. I'm like, okay, this would be cool. And he starts doing this crazy sound and no turkeys come two hours. No turkeys come. We get back to the lodge. Everybody's got turkeys, six, seven turkeys laid out.

And not us, nothing. So anyway, I don't know. You need to go with old trash. What time do you have to wake up to go turkey hunting? You got to get up well before the sun comes up. I'm out. Well, we went in the heat of the afternoon. Maybe that was a problem. With a bottle of whiskey. So maybe that's what messed me up. You can go anytime. Really? Oh, yeah. Certain states cut it off at like 1 o'clock. But here in Tennessee, you can hunt all day. I've killed more turkeys in the afternoon than I have in the morning. Interesting.

because I can call my ass off. Give it to us, or do you have a little thing? No, I don't have my diaphragm with me. Now we're talking about preventing pregnancy. Yeah.

I have to put my diaphragm in my mouth. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't do that. That sounds disgusting. No, it's amazing sounding. No, it's a wonderful sound. Oh, gosh. It works. I hope my mother's not listening. Yeah, let's pivot. He calls all the ladies in. TK, you got this book in front of you. I think it's important. Actually, Jason Redman, a really good friend of ours, we had him on early on in the podcast. Navy SEAL. Navy SEAL, American Hero. His book, Trident, is an incredible story about what he went through.

Great guy. He came out to a show after the podcast, brought his wife out. Him and his wife wrote this book together, Mission Invincible Marriage, A Battle-Tested Guide to an Enduring Relationship.

It's pretty amazing. Him and his wife are inspiring. They wrote this book to just lend some knowledge and advice to couples. And I, you know, he sent that to you specifically. Well, to us, to the podcast. Yeah. It would take a much larger book. Yeah. When you get through with it, four or five months, pass it around to us. Does Jason Turkey hunt?

Redmond? Yeah, because turkey hunters, I mean, marriages are kind of on the rocks for turkey hunters. I know they're gone all the time. Well, whatever he's doing must be working because this book is... And honestly, what they've gone through as a couple, what he's gone through and how you get through that...

He's just one of my favorite people. He's an incredible person. His wife's amazing. Gary Sinise did The Forward. Nice. Yeah, check it out. Check it out. I definitely want to check it out. I do too. Proud of him. He's all about helping any way he can. He's a badass. We need more people. Jason, Erica, thank you for sending this. We will pass it around and hopefully our wives will appreciate what we've done.

I hope so too. I think we're getting there. Yeah, inch by inch. Hey, have you guys... I was going to ask and now I'm off put.

uh topical conversation have you guys been hearing the swatting going on you haven't heard swatting no it's like squatting but not swatting so apparently like you get a there's a call to the swap team that arrives at the house and it's basically like the new prank call and oh yeah it's like a deal and they're targeting conservatives like this is like happening all over now

But since you guys don't know anything about it, I guess we want to have this conversation. No, I want to know more about it. I've been off the grid for a good week and a half. Good for you. So I didn't look at any. Maybe I missed it. No, it's just been happening a lot lately. And it's, I don't know, it's just concerning because it's basically targeting conservative voices. Cough, cough. Especially you, Neil. Bring it.

Well, we'll save it for a different episode, but maybe swatting. I hadn't heard that one. Yeah, check it out. Check it out. So if like a SWAT team shows up in the front of them. Yeah, it's basically like a high-level prank call. Hey, somebody murdered somebody over at 1805 Johnson Street. They show up to your house, and it's a serious situation. They come busting in and stuff. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, that's nice. When you said swatting at first, I thought you were talking because we just talked about Jason Redman's book, Invincible Marriage. I thought you were talking about us reaching for our wives in a love-making gesture and then swatting. That was where my head was. I was so far away from that. Oh, my God. You're right. The segue wasn't that great. I was so far away. You're on fire tonight. I'm so far away. You are. You're on fire. I'm on fire.

Oh, my gosh. I don't even know where to go after that. Well, we could go to Tully. You had a point. I think it was about...

daughter's wife. Neil's daughter's wife's uncle. No. Allie, Neil's daughter, is getting married soon, right? Yes. So we talked about the menu and things like that. We always have thrash talk and so something came up where you questioned. I questioned something. You questioned the menu? I questioned them. Well, Allie was talking to me and Caleb before the podcast. I haven't seen the menu.

You haven't. No. You're about to. But you're paying for the menu. Yep. So, Ali said she just got the menu back. Uh-huh. And there's a braised short rib.

Which sounds right. It sounds in line. There's a chicken glazed with a very fancy sauce. That's okay. How do you guys know this before I do? Well, it's because we care about people and we were just asking Allie about her life. She had a menu in her hand, though? She showed you? No, she knows the menu. It's done, though. She knows the dollar amount. We didn't talk about that. But go ahead and get to the last... The most interesting part is when she said...

The vegan option. Yeah. It's a giant piece of cauliflower. But then, I don't know what's in it, but I was surprised...

That there is a vegan option? Kayla goes, that's a very liberal menu. That's for a man's man to be supplying all the food. We thought it was odd that you would have a vegan option. There's no vegans coming to her wedding. That you said, hey guys, shouldn't we get something for the vegans? What vegans? There's a vegan coming. Just telling you. What?

What vegans? There must be a vegan coming. It's more expensive than the short ribs. Absolutely. Well, that's always going to be that way. I know. Organic, all the vegan menu. It's always going to be more expensive. That's the way the limbs work. Tully wants to know why you approved it. Well, we wanted to know. I haven't approved it. You haven't seen it. We wanted to know, not just me. Right, Kalo? Yeah, we wanted to know. But if you're vegan, why not just eat the salad and the vegetables? Do you have to have the main course? Exactly.

You know why? Why? I'll tell you why. Okay. I'm not catering to vegans. No, no, no. There's nothing wrong with vegans. I'm going to answer your question. The reason is because if you don't have a vegan dish, they don't get to say, I'm vegan.

Because that's their favorite thing to do is to say, I'm vegan. It's true. They can't just pick around the stuff and they have to say, I'm vegan. No, I'm vegan. I'm vegan. They love it. That's their go-to. Some people do have food allergies. Well, I have food allergies, but I don't go on them. Just say that. But some people would have to eat vegan because of legit allergies. I agree. Yeah. Is there a dairy-free option on this menu? That I don't know. Yeah.

eat some freaking meat man geez man up eat some meat man up girl oh i love you guys now we'll say here's what i'll say um i have had an impossible burger

Yeah, actually, you introduced me to an Impossible Burger. Nice. What did you say, Caleb? The Joe Nichols restaurant? No. The Impossible? Very funny. And you didn't get any royalties for it either. He had to get a song in there. He plugged it that way. I'm trying. It's interesting. I mean, it's got the texture. Yeah. You took me to a place in New York City, and we had one, and it was actually pretty good. Yeah. But, yeah, it never can replace...

Well, no. And I'd be surprised that Neil will have a vegan option in his daughter's world. It's my favorite thing. Yeah, it's not that you're thinking wrong with it. It's not up to me. I haven't seen it yet. No, you're right. Well, you're right. It's definitely not up to you. No, it's not. I offered him 50 grand to just go get married and go to the courthouse. Just go on. That's so smart. What a great idea. That's so smart. Her fiance, Roger, wanted to do it. He's like, you know, the dudes always want the money.

Right. Take the money. You'll be married either way. Well, thankfully, it sounds like he's loaded. Why not start a nest egg? You know? I offered the cash. I did it for my first daughter, and I did it for this one, and they want the show. They don't want the cash. They want the show. They have the nest egg. It's you. No, they don't. That's a good point. No, no, no. Once they get married, it's over. Are eggs vegan? There are no more eggs. No, eggs are not vegan. Can anyone buy eggs anymore? Eggs are down.

Yeah. They're coming down. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, the price are coming down? Yeah. Yeah. It's going to. We talked about it a little bit on another podcast. I remember, you know, they were like, I don't know, it was, it equaled just a little under a buck an egg. I'm like, go buy some chickens if you don't want to buy eggs. Go buy some chickens. It's a lot cheaper. You got to build a coop. A lot of trouble. Yeah.

Yeah, I forget you don't work with your hands. You don't even carry your bass. You couldn't build a crew. Guys, we don't know what to do. We haven't played a show in I don't know how long. It's been a minute. It's been a little bit. Aldine texted, what was the other day? Or was it you that texted us and be like, oh my God, can we go please play a show? Just wandering around. Yeah. Have no purpose. It is kind of sad. You too. Oh no, we're sad. I know. Yeah.

we're all aren't touring it's for the listeners man hey like this is a good place to unload though right here on the try that in a small town podcast it's a good it's a good place for you too to unload you still look stage right what does that mean unload just your frustrations your boredom all of it hey uh i want to uh go to this real quick because i think this is going to be cool we've introduced this thing it's through speak pipe

And instead of people just submitting their questions via Instagram or X or whatever, it allows them, it allows us to hear their voice asking the question, which is kind of cool. So we've got a few. Do you guys want to see what we got? Oh, hey, Jim, what do I do? Just play this thing in the microphone and see if it works. All right. Let's let's find out what this one's from. It looks like I told them to leave their name and where they're from. I don't know if they did. We'll see what happens.

Hi, my name is Nick Bruno, and I was wondering what is your favorite memory from a recording session, if you have one. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my question. Well, Nick seems very polite, and I think we should answer his question. Tully, do you have a recording session moment that stands out to you?

That you can tell? That I can tell. I do have a favorite one, but I probably shouldn't. Yeah, probably shouldn't. Shouldn't tell it. What about the first time that we cut one of the songs that we wrote for Jason? I love it. I actually would go back a little further. I was going to say, try that in a small time. It was one of those moments. Totally one of those moments. But I often think about the first time that we went in to make the first record.

Just because we were all sure that that would be the last time that we went in, you know? So I remember like specifically starting that whole record with Amarillo sky and we played it down one time and walked back into the control room and it sounded so good. And I was like, wow,

This might actually work. This sounds pretty cool. You know what I mean? I just remember walking in there and then walking back into the studio to record it again. I was terrified, you know, through that first record. Well, because we didn't know what we were doing. Like, if you listen to that first record, which...

now and in the way we we hear things now you can tell with half of that record like we don't even know how to end the songs we'll just like play out like we'll just like do a vamp out of like noodling around and it just fades away you know but it was it was cool though because in that studio we're still record there today same studio treasure isle

But that's where we used to do all the old demos before we did the album, too. Like back in the old days, just learning how to be a band, right? That's an amazing thing right there, though, that you guys are still cutting Aldine's records at the same studio. Same studio, same engineer, same players. That's amazing. You know how rare that is? Yeah, I know. It's fun to talk about it because every time we show up there,

We talk about this, but usually it's because the place is actually falling down. Yeah. But you're right, Neil. It is rare to... I'm sitting in the same chair...

from you know 26 27 years ago it's amazing you know everybody's usually looking for a different place a different sound experiment with a new a new room you know and all that right you're right that's the mentality right if you know everybody thinks i mean at home everybody like probably thinks that we're sitting in this amazing looking building state of the art and this place barely has like

you know, heat and air. You can still smell the smoke. No, you can't. But there is a thing in that studio with that group of guys on the floor with Knox in there in their control room, Pete Coleman back there. Like, you know, Pete did like Blondie and the Knack and stuff recorded them. Yeah. Pat Benatar. I mean, he's it's old school and

Neil, you just nailed it. A lot of that rawness of that studio is part of the Aldine thing. Anyway, Nick, I really remember recording that first album like it was yesterday, really. Let's see what this one is.

Hey guys, I'm Carrie from Wake Park, Minnesota. And I have a logistics question from your instruments point of view. Can you take us through a day in their life on tour? Like who packs, transports and sets them up? Do they fly on a plane or do they ride in the back?

of a truck from stop to stop. Who tunes them? And how do you decide which guitar you're going to use for each song? And lastly, what is the worst onstage hiccup that you've had with your instrument and how did you handle it?

I hope this question doesn't strike the wrong chord. Very nice. Very nice. Nice. Well, that's a lot of questions. Let me see. What part do we want to get to? I want to know what mishap you've had. That's the one. That's part of her question. That's a good one to start with. Mishaps are really unfortunate. Have you dropped a guitar on stage?

I have dropped. Okay. So that's a good one. So there used to be a bit in the show where I would swing my guitar around my neck. Pretty impressive. Kind of like ZZ. I don't know. No, theirs was like this, but I used to swing it around my neck. And, you know, you have what they call strap locks on your guitar and people to know that it locks the strap on to your guitar. Mostly when you buy a strap, you just kind of pull it over the button and

not that safe if you're going to swing it. So I did swing the guitar. It did. The strap locks did malfunction and the guitar went flying. Ooh, that can be dangerous. It could have been dangerous. I could have maybe killed somebody. You could have killed Aldine. Yeah, you're right. I could have been out of a job. Yeah.

uh yeah that guitar uh rest in peace so okay that's a mishap tell you want to talk about the second part too was uh different bases or guitars for different songs like i think that's i definitely have a lot unfortunately you know we've talked about this before like i grew up if you have one guitar that's amazing it's you oh my god i got this guitar and you think that's my guitar well i'm

I guess, unfortunately, or whatever. There's a lot of songs that have different tunings. They have different sounds. So I probably change guitars every song.

Now, I'll reintroduce the guitar through the set, but every song is a new guitar. I do have a tech. Tully has a tech. They tune the guitars. They're responsible for packing. They go on a bus just like we do, or I should say a semi, all the gear. They go town to town with it. What's her name that asked the question? I think it was Carrie. Carrie. Yeah, Carrie. You should see them without their techs.

It's really lonely. It's actually sad. It's actually really pathetic. I have a heart for him. I actually broke into a cold sweat at the Ryman when I realized, wait, where are my cords and my tuner? That was on me. You had to tune your own bass. Poor you. He's like, what are these lights? You know what? I mean, without getting too deep in the woods, it's like,

I don't even know how my guitar rig works anymore. Like there's, I have this ground control thing that if I want delay and reverb and chorus on something, I just press the pedal. I know that part, but it's like connected through some weird thing and goes back to different effect pedals on the back. And like, if something goes out, I'm like, if something goes wrong, you'll know it because one of our techs will be crawling on their knees, like,

Through the dark, up to the board, and fiddling with stuff. So I don't know how it works. Yeah, we're very thankful for all of our crew, the techs. Believe me, we're blessed. Like these guys say, it's to the point of ridiculous. We do have an amazing road crew, though. Yeah. I'd say one of the, I mean, I think, obviously I'm biased, but one of the best. You know, they're just incredible. When you got to have them. Yeah. Oh, well, I mean. It's impossible. We always walk out there after the show.

Because usually when they're setting up, we're not awake. These guys are up early. Oh, they're up at 7. So when we go get our coffee at 11, stuff's set up. And then after the show's done, we always walk in. They tear that stuff down so quick, like an hour. Yeah, you'd be amazed at how quickly they can tear down all the lights, all the staging, all the amps, everything.

And people don't realize this. You know, they see, you know, how many put you on stage? Five, six. And they don't realize there's an army of people that work with Jason Aldean, the Aldean army, that go there and they set up, like Tully says, at 7 a.m. They're tearing down at 1 a.m. And they're sleeping that five hours in between. I don't think they sleep five hours. Yeah, they might not. Not those guys. Sounds like my Monday morning. Atlanta. Atlanta.

You guys are borderline bubble people. Are we going back to the bubble? Yep, borderline. Borderline bubble people. Why do you say this? I don't know. Catering. Sleeping in. There are different levels of bubbles. They do offer vegan options at our catering as well. They do. And you have to for food allergies. You know what's funny, Neil? It's funny you said that because we always joke about it. It is living in a bubble for sure because play the show.

Get off stage about 1130. Hang out a couple hours. Get back in our bus and our bunks about three-ish. And we wake up and it all happens again in a different place.

So all that going around us, really, we are caught. I can imagine y'all's schedule coming off a tour to right now. Yeah, it gets different. That's where these books come in handy. A battle-tested guide to enduring relationship. That's a post-tour book for musicians as well. You bet it is. Oh, my gosh. Hey, guys, we got to wrap this up, but I kind of teased this early in the year.

I didn't know if it was true, but we do have some really big guests.

uh coming on and we're we're pumped and we're thankful we got some great people coming on so stick with us you're watching on youtube uh leave us a review ed you're killing the reviews yep do the uh do the five stars jim's waving at me for you don't try that in a small town.com and get some merch y'all we need to talk about e-spaces we need to talk about e-spaces real quick new sponsor yes you want to talk about your body that you take money from i'll play golf with him yeah

He owns a company, eSpaces, and we may wind up moving our studios. We don't know.

We're going back and forth, maybe. We may go back and forth. Yeah, it's unbelievable. On the road. Yeah, Eastpaces, they're built, their floors that they have in these high-rises downtown Nashville, and they got one coming over in Cool Springs. They're super nice. They're super innovative. The technology is super up-to-date. Yeah, it's so cool. It's really cool. And on Music Row, right? Yes. One close to Music Row? Mm-hmm. There's one on Music Row, and...

And they're going to be expanding probably. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know what we should do? What's that? This comes back to the RV bus thing. Oh. Try that on a small town tour, podcast tour. And we go out and we'll do it in a restaurant or local bar, small town. Yeah.

people come out take their questions don't give it away too early yeah be fun your wish might come true we'll expand later yeah there's more on that to come yeah restaurant bar you never know what's coming i love it patriot mobile we're thankful for them original glory always always a pleasure we love those guys i

I got to the YouTube. What else do we got? Hey, Instagram. Follow us on X, man. We need some followers, guys. Jump over. Get over to the X. I think that's about it, right? What an episode. Are you kidding me? That's a lot in this episode. That's a lot. Yeah. And there's a lot more to come. We're thankful for all of you. For Kalo.

For Thrash. For TK. And Cobb. I'm the Cobb. No, I don't know. I don't know. We haven't said it on yet. We'll figure it out. Yeah, you come. All right. Thanks for listening, guys. Make sure to follow along. Subscribe. Share. Rate the show. And check out our merch at trythatinasmalltown.com.