SkiP HappEns Podcast
Skip Clark is a dynamic and captivating podcast host and radio personality who has left an indelible mark on the world of broadcasting. With a voice that can command attention and a personality that oozes charm, Skip has become a beloved figure in the world of entertainment. His passion for storytelling and his ability to connect with his audience shine through in every episode of his podcast and every moment on the airwaves.
Skip’s journey in radio began decades ago, and he has since evolved into a seasoned professional who effortlessly navigates the waves of the media industry. His deep knowledge of music, pop culture, and current events keeps his listeners engaged and coming back for more. Skip Clark's enthusiasm and authenticity make him a trusted voice in the world of podcasting and radio. His dedication to his craft and his commitment to providing quality content continue to make him a standout in the world of broadcasting.
SkiP HappEns Podcast
Due West: Harmonious Journeys, Grand Ole Opry Dreams, and Life on the Road
Hello everybody and welcome to Skip Happens podcast and, of course, the podcast where we dive deep into the story, songs and sounds behind some of country music's most exciting artists. Tonight is no exception. I'm your host, skip Clark, and I've got a great treat for you. Joining us are the incredibly talented members of the country music group Due West. From heartfelt ball balance to unforgettable anthems uh, these guys have been making waves in the industry with their harmonies and unique blended traditional and modern country music, and whether you've been following their journey for years or just now discovering their sound, uh, you're in for an amazing or at least I hope so an amazing conversation. I'm sure it's going to be amazing on your end, maybe not on my end you know, I know I'm under pressure this is pretty cool oh my god
Speaker 1:no you're amazing and I guess we're all amazing. Let's just say we're all we are, but um, you know before you on.
Speaker 4:Let's call it what it is.
Speaker 1:I love it. First of all, y'all can hear me, okay, through that phone, right? Absolutely yeah we had a little technical whatever you want to call it in the beginning, but we got it down. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I think TikTok was involved, I don't know. Something happened, it crashed.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I'll have to put my disclaimer up on his screen. That's yeah, you know we were talking before we went on the air and I said you know, I've been doing radio a long time and and I remember due west and I want to say it was like early 2000s, maybe 2005, 2007. You guys were there and you were trying to make a run at radio and trying to do your thing and the music was phenomenal, the harmonies. But can you take us back a little bit to those early years, the 2000s? How did you guys meet? And we'll take it from there.
Speaker 4:Absolutely so. We actually the three of us are from three different towns in the West, but we all moved to Nashville separately and we had a house party that was being thrown by a member of the Diamond Rio. It was a sister's house. His name is Dan Truman, the keyboard player, and he invited each of us and we showed up there and we were passing the guitar around that evening and Tim picks up the guitar, starts singing some songs.
Speaker 2:Uh, matt and I jumped in on harmony and it just that's where it was born yeah, wow, we came up with the name because we're all from the west and so we figured we had to have something in the west. We came up with due west, but that was. That was 20 years ago. We were nine years old and uh, so you know, we're excited to be turning, you know, be turning 30.
Speaker 1:So that'll be pretty cool. You guys have had a good run. Then I'm just saying yeah, but that's cool, I'll never forget the party.
Speaker 3:Brad never even talked to me. He talked to my wife first, but he didn't talk to me until I started singing. He thought my wife was cute. Well, you had to talk to him about something.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it. So we have, we got Matt, we got Tim, and who else, mr Brad, yeah. Brad I couldn't think of the name. I was having a brain fart. That's Brad. I don't try to point when I'm on camera because it's always like wrong. There you go, it's always the opposite.
Speaker 3:They always have three pointing back at you I was gonna ask you about the.
Speaker 1:Uh, you know the name of the band, but it all made sense once you guys said you were from three different towns out west and then y'all kind of got together, moved to nashville. But uh, tim, over there you're not from your utah's where you live, right?
Speaker 3:well, I did, to my credit. I've been. I lived in nashville probably 16, 17 year, oh wow. And then, um, I moved to bryce canyon to do a country music show. So I didn't stop doing the country music and I still come to nashville quite often and I have a room up here. That's right. So I just say, yeah, I live in n I live in Nashville.
Speaker 2:He gets to claim two states these days Tennessee and Utah.
Speaker 1:Well, that's all right, I guess. So I guess that's cool, but you know it's interesting.
Speaker 2:You brought up some of the you know when we first got going and we're working with some of those same people now. And now, now that we're out with this new single, it's kind of fun to see who's still at radio that we used to know back then. Of fun to see who's still at radio that we used to know back then. And some of these people are still there and they remember us and it feels like we're kind of closing that gap 10 years since we put out new music, which is wild.
Speaker 2:It doesn't feel like 10 years, but uh, we crossed paths with dean dylan and that's who produced this, yes, most recent project on us and um, we're lucky to to call him friend and we've written a lot of songs with him. Um, and this whole album actually we wrote with him and he produced it. But but we had all kind of gone our separate ways. Tim was running his little his dinner there and brad and I had gone jobs and we'd all kind of taken a hiatus between covid and a bunch of stuff. The world just got weird for a second yeah yeah, it kind of barely coming back.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And so when Dean kind of kicked us in the butt and said you guys aren't done yet, let's go make another record, you listen to Dean Dillon If you don't know who Dean Dillon is, he's a legend, a living legend, hall of Fame, country music, songwriter, all the George Strait stuff, of course, tennessee whiskey that chris you know, re-recorded and put out, made famous. But when dean dylan tells you you're not done and hey, we're going to make a record, you say yes, sir, that's right, yeah oh, yeah, with a name like that, yeah and to back up just a bit.
Speaker 3:I had brought dean dylan out to bryce canyon to do a show that I do out there songwriting show and that's when he said we need to call the boys and get the show back. So I guess it was a good thing that I went and did that country music show on Bryce Canyon. Cause it I don't know we may not have been back this strong which I'm really glad that we are and I'm glad that it turned out the way it did with Dean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when you guys all went like doing your own thing because, like you say, covid kind of changed the way we do things and see things and how we handle life in general uh, you guys just kind of just decided to do your own thing. And what was your own thing, matt? What were you doing?
Speaker 4:question well, oh me, I was selling real estate see yeah, brad yeah, brad.
Speaker 2:Brad started selling real estate. I actually was a handyman for a minute and then I got hired into the corporate world and I was managing commercial properties. I was a maintenance guy for five years. I was doing that. I sat behind a computer and I got to tell you and we've talked about this now that we're out doing radio tour and traveling around and starting to play shows and stuff again. There was a time that I would talk to people in my corporate world, that I would talk about the days when I was in a band. You know, I used to be in a country band. We played on the Grand Ole Opry.
Speaker 4:Really, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'd travel around and visit radio and play shows Really, and Brad had similar experiences. And at that time I thought in my mind and again, I think both these boys have had similar experiences where we were like, well, that was a thing of the past and you know, that's a cool, those were the glory days. But those days are over. So to be back out here and to be visiting radio, and then you know, it's like coke in a bottle when you, you know, when you hear your song on the radio again.
Speaker 2:And you know which we were getting to experience now, where you know you hear an air check and you hear, you know an intro and you hear your song coming on. It's like, ah, it's an awesome feeling.
Speaker 1:It never gets old. It never gets old when that happens.
Speaker 1:It never gets old um you know, and I, you know, you guys obviously have been around a little bit. I've talked to other artists that have been around a little bit as well and they've kind of did exactly what you did. But when they come back and they start doing the radio shows again, and it's like starting over, but they're loving every minute of it. And then they hear their song on the radio. And I'll tell you one group that did that was low cash and, um, I was talking to them just a couple of months ago and I was actually talking to preston today on a text. But, uh, you, uh, you know, I said what is it like? I said you guys have been to the top. You had number one songs. You did this and then, bam, nothing. And now you're back in here. You are doing a radio tour again, something you did how many years ago? He goes, dude, he goes, nothing like it. He goes, we're all, we're here, we're ready, we're ready.
Speaker 2:So Well, and I bet bet, and I bet he, they feel the same way and we love those guys, by the way, yeah, but I bet they feel the same way, like you, appreciate it more this time when, when it goes away, and then you maybe wonder if that was it, and then you get a chance to do it again. It's just sweeter and better and it's gonna be.
Speaker 2:It's gonna be fun. We're hope, we're hopeful and it's exciting, and you know it's going to be fun. We're hope, we're hopeful and it's exciting, and you know, it's just, we'll see what happens. We're ready to ride the ride again.
Speaker 1:I like that, I like that attitude, that that's cool and we, you know, as radio, we need you we need you. There's too many of this too much of that. We need you, and I know I'm speaking for a lot of programmers, so, but let's talk about you. Very distinctive harmonies, and it's such a defining part of your sound. How did you guys develop that signature style and how did you approach harmonizing as a group? Because it's cool.
Speaker 4:Well, it was really natural. We all sort of crossover in our our musical tastes with the great vocal bands of the 90s and 80s in country music, whether it's Alabama or McBride and the Ride, shenandoah, diamond, rio, great bands like that, that just it. It was already the road was already paved, so to speak. You know, and then it was really cool through our career to get to know a lot of those guys and become, you know, where our heroes become our peers.
Speaker 4:And it was cool. It was cool to hear like Terry McBride or Teddy Gentry of Alabama or whatever. They would all say the same thing. They would go you guys remind me of us.
Speaker 2:Best compliment ever.
Speaker 1:That is 100% yeah, wow.
Speaker 3:But it's interesting that Brad says that because, from my point view, um, I I've been in a lot of bands so and I've been the lead singer and people be like I'll sing harmony for you. Well, they start singing harmony and I'd be like please just play your guitar, please just stop. So I feel like, because I mean, I I hate I'm just now realizing this but all the bands I was in, my favorite bands were all the group bands and the harmony stuff. But it wasn't until that I finally sang with these guys. I could settle. I felt like I could settle hey, these are the guys I need to be hanging with, because, it's true, dude, when they started singing with me that first night, it was just like this wall of sound and it was incredible and I never felt that. But finally I was like, wait, this could be cool. And now I kind of feel like that was my void in music in the past.
Speaker 2:All of those bands are all watching right now and they're all offended.
Speaker 1:They should be, because they're terrible singers. I love it, I love it. What is, if you don't mind me asking, what is the age difference between you guys? You're all pretty close, or what?
Speaker 2:We're all close. We're all within a year. Okay, yeah, like I said, we're coming up in our late 20s, so you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I know you got that deal at nine. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:You know, actually, though it's funny you bring that up, because I feel like one of the things that's been encouraging in the last couple years, as we've, you know, gotten back with dean and his him kicking us in the butt and going back in the studio and making this record and stuff we're watching, um, we're watching, an emphasis seem to shift from a bunch of young guys that all look like soap opera stars.
Speaker 2:There's a lot, it seems seems like and maybe I'm just being hopeful and you know whatever but it seems like there's there's less of an emphasis on that and more just an emphasis on good music. You've got all kinds of different ages, it seems like that are that are hidden, that's true. You've got different body sizes and shapes and genders and sizes and shapes for real, and so it kind of feels like it opened the door, like it's okay, just come with great music, come with something that resonates with people and and we're gonna, we're gonna look past the fact that you guys are more seasoned. And actually it's funny. You brought up something a second ago about programmers and a lot of these radio guys.
Speaker 2:I we heard something the other day that said hey, look, you know you could look at it like this. Hey, the, you know the. The bad news is you guys are all getting up there in age, but one guy goes. The good news is you're getting up there in age meaning you guys are seasoned. You're not a bunch of young kids out there that we don't know what's going to happen. You're going to do stupid stuff out on the road or whatever. You know we're going to show up, we're going to work hard, we're going to put on great show. We're going to try to sound great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, be responsible, not trash you know, you say you know seasoned, but I'm going to tell you, never grow up, keep doing what you're doing and just have fun doing it. You don't ever want to really grow up, but being seasoned is good. You've got the experience behind you. You know that's. That's pretty cool. Yeah, that's why I like I'm never gonna grow up. I mean, I'm in my 60s and you know forget this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, clint daniels, remember that song. He says when I grow up, I want to be yes, yes, yeah there you go.
Speaker 1:When I grow up, I want to be a kid. Now. You've been doing this, you know, let's say over two decades and, uh, what has been like your most rewarding moment as a band wow, I know it's the first one that comes to my mind is is grandelopri standing in the stand in the circle.
Speaker 2:We did our our opry debut in 2012, excited to be getting back on the on the opry stage soon. Um, but that'd be one of the first things that comes to my mind, I think doing some shows for good causes has also been a really cool thing.
Speaker 4:Getting to be a part of St Jude has been amazing. Well, and then we actually did a show one time, and I don't want to get us off track.
Speaker 1:No, no, it's okay, because we go down different roads every once in a while. So feel free to do whatever you want to do.
Speaker 4:So we got asked to go sing for the patients in a burn ward. Oh man, oh no. And where? In a burn ward of a hospital.
Speaker 1:In a burn ward, okay, in a burn unit. I got you.
Speaker 4:So we got in there and I don't know what came over us, but we got in the first room and we sang a song called candles.
Speaker 2:And we got in the second room and sang a song called old flame and we were just pulling out our songs that we normally sing, covers that people would like, like. We walked into into the one guy's room and saw that he was an Alabama fan the group country group, alabama. So we're like oh one of the. I saw you standing at each other. Right, we didn't realize it was you that's a great cover, and then we get halfway into it, we're like oh no, our faces turn red.
Speaker 4:And it was really uncomfortable because we're singing about flames. So we left that room, we. And then we said well, let's just sing one of ours. And at the time our single was when the smoke clears, oh boy, and you can't make, you can't make this stuff up.
Speaker 1:It just got worse and worse and worse is that it's got to be like a nightmare. When you're having a bad day or something's going on, you think of the worst and that's got to be the nightmare yes, the worst part was we had a meeting after smoke clears and said, hey guys, let's not do this again and we did it and we did.
Speaker 2:When then we went saying bible in the belt, which has a line and it says, uh, mama set the whole church on fire. Yeah, it still burns deep in my soul, or whatever, like we're like, we quit, we packed it up and left, and I feel like at that point the whole, all the nursing staff and everything were like yeah, you guys, yeah, you guys, just get out of here.
Speaker 2:No, there was one more cool thing that we did recently. Uh, uh. I gotta bring this one up because we gotta remember it uh we did a show in uh in alabama with dean dylan and um oh yeah, and it's a. It's a tribute show, and it was at the von braun center, so it was packed out, which was cool. It was live taping, though, and so it's actually going to come out uh, probably in a couple months, like on hulu, or agency or cbs or netflix or something.
Speaker 2:But as part of that, we got to be there, which was huge, a huge honor to be a part of that and all of the people that dean um has influenced and and wanted to pay tribute. Dean showed up and they part of the night. They got all the people that dean um has influenced and and wanted to pay tribute. Dean showed up and they part of the night. They got all the artists that were performing in a big room and they took a big group shot of us. Oh, wow, and so we can say who's in it because, yeah, so so the picture we have and we can't show the picture yet because it's going to be an exclusive, but we've got a group, a professional group shot, and it's super straight. It's dean dylan and it's lean to be an exclusive, but we've got a group, a professional group shot, and it's super straight. It's dean dylan and it's leanne womack and it's pam tillis, cody johnson, johnson zach topp, riley green.
Speaker 4:Yeah, um, oh, wow, or uh, jamie johnson, jamie johnson, it's got, it's got uh on and on and on. What's the golfer's?
Speaker 2:John Daly, which is a random artist that performed Just kind of there. Drew Baldrige. Oh my gosh, I mean on and on and on and so that picture. Once we get to brag about that and share that, that's going to be a pretty cool feather in the cap for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and I'll look forward to that. It's going to be really cool. Yeah, it's a cool thing. You mentioned drew baldridge and yeah, he is somebody that really just really you know I know a lot of people talk about this but, being an independent artist, knowing drew as well not mean to throw names out there but we've had this conversation, him and I but and I had him come to syracuse and he did a show for us. He drove his own car, sold his own merch, he had it in his trunk, did it all on his own. She's somebody's daughter was dropping, we played it. He came, he sang it, song went to number one. Granted, it took a little bit, but you know why? Because he did it all on his own. He dug into his own pocket, pulled out his own change and paid for everything. I mean guy had a goal and said you know what, if it doesn't work now, I'm not going to do it. But it worked. Yeah, it did.
Speaker 2:and now he's got a follow-up yeah, follow-up, that's tough people doing great.
Speaker 4:Yep, we love drew and that's a great on them. For a lot of years written songs with them and everything yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:It's another example that just gives us hope and encouragement because we're independent right now too. You know we're, so it's like hey, it can happen. You got you know, just stick with it. And so talk to us a great song.
Speaker 1:Talk to me about the new single now, because you're back together. You're back on the radio tour. Uh, you want to get some music on the radio, and rightfully so, and I cannot wait to to really hear the full project. But tell us about the latest single.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you what it was hard to pick. I don't know if you've listened to the album, but it was already hard for us to pick songs to put on the album, but then to say which one's going to be the single was tough. So we had a lot of different opinions and a lot of people talking with us. But this ended up being a single. We're proud of it. We love it, especially the radio edit we've done. But this song is just one of those songs that just kind of fell. There was a groove going it, just kind of the idea was there and it just kind of went into place quickly. I believe it was written in an hour or so at dean's house in gunnison, colorado, and we're really proud of how it turned out.
Speaker 2:I think it's got two important elements which I which I think makes it easier to get behind for us and hopefully for radio and the fans. Musically it's great. It's got a cool, just almost like a mid-tempo rock and drive to it, and so musically it's got this, but thematically and lyrically I think it's going to resonate with people and basically, if you've ever had a toxic relationship or a situation that you didn't even walk away from and you just can't, you just keep coming back to it, which I feel like people can resonate, you know, agree with and and and resonate with um, that this will speak to you and and um. Yeah, it's going to touch. I think it's going to touch a nerve with a lot of people's uh, you know, habits, bad habits and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:I love that brad what. What's the name of it?
Speaker 4:it's called only heart.
Speaker 1:I'm breaking now does it sound like this it sounds almost exactly like that I'm gonna play like just a verse of it, so we'll just hold on here a second. I love the smiles when you hear your music, like I don't love you at all.
Speaker 3:It's like beating my head up against the door. Why do I keep coming back for more? There's always one more, one last time, and the only heart I'm breaking is mine.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. See the harmonies, the sound and the wow, wow, wow. See the harmonies, the sound, and you know there's a lot going on right there, and a lot in a good way that is pretty cool, Thank you, and if somebody views this somebody watching now or maybe down the road, because this will be posted you'll have the video as well. But if they want to get that single, can they log on to iTunes or go to social media or maybe download the whole album.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Yeah, you can go anywhere. That music is sold digitally. It's on Apple Music, it's on Spotify.
Speaker 2:Amazon, that's right.
Speaker 2:Pandora, you can Shazam it. We've got it available for everyone. And actually we've got vinyl too. We pressed up vinyl and something that you'll probably recognize different that that a lot of these artists are do especially the younger ones or ones on major labels and stuff. They're putting out singles. It's gone back to a singles game and they're Singles and and they're very rarely, it's a while before they get to a whole album. And we kind of did it backwards. We got our hands slapped a little bit Because we got the music done. We cut all. We're like, well, these are the 12 that we want on the album and His label, unwound records and we were just like, let's put it out, let's make it available. And we went ahead and and did the photo shoot, did the artwork, pressed it up on vinyl, we made CDs and we uploaded the whole thing. And so, yes, for people who want to go listen to the whole album, we invite you to do so and listen to it on vinyl, because that's the best experience, yeah.
Speaker 1:When you talked about, when you mentioned you got your hand slapped. I mean, uh, who slapped your hand? Because you're independent artists.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, all right, I get it all right yeah, yeah, when, when it comes to strategy, we get it now that there is, um, you know some, some, the mystery still that you want to do you know um, but it is a radio edit that that is now becoming available and it actually doesn't even drop till this coming friday. Um, and so there's some. It's a new. It is a radio edit that is now becoming available and it actually doesn't even drop till this coming Friday, and so there's some. It's a new, it's a secret, so it actually puts more music on iTunes. That's right. There's the album and the single can also be found a different version on the album.
Speaker 1:That's right. So they could download it for like a buck twenty nine or whatever it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or if they've already got a streaming service that they pay for it. It's there, so, and we want to actually invite you to follow us on all those things. Sometimes people don't realize you can stream the music but follow us on Spotify and like cause. That way when we keep releasing new music it'll notify you and it'll say hey, do us is releasing another track, or whatever.
Speaker 1:So no, what you got to do is, when we get done tonight, give me those links and I'll put them on with this. You know, this interview, this podcast, so, which is so? Whoever want you know, it's right there in front of them. Which is pretty cool, pretty cool.
Speaker 2:You're the best. No, you're the best.
Speaker 1:You see, do West is back, baby. Yeah, Do West is back. That's what I like to like to say. What now? You said you're all in Nashville and you all live pretty close together. You know Tim comes in from Utah once in a while, but he's there a lot. But watch, you know what Does your watch just kind of randomly do?
Speaker 3:that and tell you to get up and start walking. Oh, all day today we've been in the car driving.
Speaker 1:It's been saying get up, get up and then when you get up to, when you go somewhere, it says good job, you know that's good yeah, sometimes when I'm moving too fast, it says you might want to just sit down and take a breath then I get my wife going. Guess what? I did 11 000 steps today. That's good honey. Uh, I did 575, and so, no, it's not that bad, I'm just kidding so if you guys weren't doing this?
Speaker 1:I know y'all you know, during that break you had things to fall back on. But what would you be doing now if you weren't doing this? The same thing Would you be like running some property service and maybe Brad would be selling mansions and Tim would be doing his country music show in Utah.
Speaker 2:I'd still be singing. I was going to say one of my favorite lines in the last five or six years of country music is that Luke Combs line that says that whole song's actually got that same sentiment. If I wasn't doing this, I'd be doing this and I think that, yeah, we'd be doing this and I, and I think that, yeah, we'd have to, we'd be forced to go, you know, get a real job and make money to pay our bills. But I feel, especially if we were living close to each other, we'd still be getting together at least on the weekends and singing together, because we love it just as much as, uh, as we ever have. And we used to say this years ago um, you know, if no one one was listening, it makes us smile when we lock on a chord and we're harmonizing and tied together. It feels good for us, it's therapy for us as well.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Have you, as individuals, been able to play with other groups? I know Tim does his thing, but do you? You anybody? We would know.
Speaker 2:I went out with Kelly Coffee for a little while. Really yes, oh my god.
Speaker 1:I was a big fan of Kelly back in oh my god was that. That was early 2000s and. I think I'm trying to look. I have. I think I have something from the label here on the wall in my studio. I can't find it, but it was Kelly Coffee and that was cool. Whatever happened to Kelly?
Speaker 2:I don't know. She made great records and I still listen to her music. Why? Wyoming is still one of my favorite songs, as I'm from Wyoming, but I don't know what happened to her. Texas Blades was her last single, that's right.
Speaker 1:You kind of wonder, maybe she'll come back. Yeah, you guys Just show them how it's done.
Speaker 2:Dude for due less, I'd love it. Sarah Evans is coming back. She's on tour.
Speaker 1:She's playing some of the casinos up here in the Northeast. I know that.
Speaker 3:Good for her.
Speaker 2:To brag on.
Speaker 3:Brad in the early. I know that. Oh, it's good for her. Well, to brag on brad. Uh, in the early days we were when we were doing our thing. We were doing a lot of stuff with blackhawk, writing songs with them, and brad got asked to be in their band to be the high harmony guy dude that is awesome.
Speaker 1:I was a big fan of blackhawk. Now we're starting to show our age and I've been doing radio for quite a while.
Speaker 4:Actually, Matt got asked to go out with Julianne Hough when she was opening for George Strait. I did.
Speaker 1:I don't even remember that. How could you forget that if you're going out with Julianne, hough Dude.
Speaker 3:We had gigs. We're priority Maybe. I tried to block it out of my mind.
Speaker 2:I know that would have been amazing To have those.
Speaker 1:Have all that between you and what you've done and where you're going and who you've been with says a lot too. I mean, you know, if none of these people had asked you to do anything for example, black Hawk or Julian Hoff, or you know it's that's a compliment. That's a compliment. Yeah, it really is. So that's a compliment. That's a compliment. Yeah, it really is. So let me ask you, how do you think music has changed over the years? You guys have been doing this a couple of decades now and, of course, if you listen to the radio, you go who's that? Who's that? This is a new guy, oh my gosh. And one thing I noticed with what we're doing at the radio station that I'm at is we will play a Brooks and Dunn song. I'm at is we, we will play a Brooks and Dunn song. Then we come out of.
Speaker 2:It Sounds crazy, but Post Malone and then you go to Eleni Wilson and then you go to Luke Combs and you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:That's the way it's working.
Speaker 4:Yes, it works.
Speaker 3:It works. And how about Zach Topp? Oh, incredible.
Speaker 4:We love that the pendulum swings certain directions every every few years and yet at the same time it's like the music doesn't necessarily change that much sometimes, and maybe it's just the way that music gets to people is what changes. But it's amazing to hear some of these brand new artists come out and pay homage to stuff that we used to love in the 90s or whatever, and that sound.
Speaker 1:That sound like what zach top does you know? Sounds like the radio, or I never lie it's that 90s sound and they're loving it.
Speaker 2:They're loving it so they they are and you know. So, 20, 10, 15 years ago, whatever it was when we first started, we get accused of that a lot Like man, I love your artist, it's really. It sounds 90s and of course that was at the beginning of the bro country thing, kind of before that happened, and so we were competing with that and it was kind of working against us at times. Maybe that we sounded 90s. Our 90s influence was really, you know, man, you sound like shanado or wrestles hard or diamond, rio blackhawk, all those kinds of things. What I love about now, especially with zach top and now you know you're gonna see a lot more of it now that zach's having such huge success people are loving that 90s sound and so once again it gives us hope like, okay, well, cool, check out this, check out due west.
Speaker 2:You know, and and we also talk about you know, people get on these and I've heard Bobby Bones talk about this too, and a lot of people have opinions about this but it goes in waves when, when, when Anne Murray and Kenny Rogers were making country records, there were so many people that were pissed off about how pop it was, and then. And then they say, oh man and then it took. You know, ricky Van Shelton and Ricky Skaggs come in and hurt the backcountry. So every like the decades, people are mad about things being too pop or things being too pop. It's been happening forever and it'll continue to happen. That's right. But, like Brad said, people, you know, music moves people. People have an emotional response to music and so, regardless of how it comes across or what box you want to put it in that's one of the beautiful things about country music is that box has gotten giant, you know. It's such a huge box that now you call country music. You've got Shabuzy and Post Malone and Zach Topp and Duke West.
Speaker 3:And we prefer to play the way we play country music, the way we hear and the way we write it.
Speaker 1:And that's OK, that's you, that's what speaks to us. Yes, right, exactly, exactly. I always say it's evolving, music will always evolve and there's going to be people. That's not country. I'll tell you what's country you know. But no seriously. It evolves. You need to wake up and understand what's going on here. So you know what I like may not be what you like, but it's still country.
Speaker 2:Yeah, be be true to yourself as an artist. That's the advice I would give to any artists. That's, you know, finding themselves. Be, be true to you, be genuine, be authentic, because I think that's when you resonate with a broader fan base, is when they can. They might not even it, it might be a subconscious thing, but for whatever reason, they're resonant, you know they're connecting with your music and it's because of all you're authentic, it's an authentic place that you're coming from. I think that's one thing I'm most proud about this most recent album and this single is we got to the point in our life, in our career and our maturity level where we're like let's just be us and dean really helped us find that too and settle into that, like, oh there's lean into who you are, yeah no doubt, no doubt about that I got a question for you.
Speaker 4:I got a question for you all right, bring it on, baby, I'm ready.
Speaker 1:Who's who's your?
Speaker 4:favorite brand new, don't go there. It was a kind of emerging harmony trio that you remember from about 10, 12 years ago.
Speaker 1:You know it was due south. No, wait a minute. Due on the lawn, due on the lawn, do something right. Oh, due west, due west. That's right, and I wasn't kidding because I remember I do and you know you guys had some success, which is great, and it didn't. The world caved in, I don't know.
Speaker 3:Things changed, yeah yeah, well, you know, and I can say this now, but when we lost our record deal, kind of talking what we were talking about- that first. First thing they said to us is they said you need to sound more like Floyd Jordan.
Speaker 1:And okay, all right, stop that conversation. Where are they right now?
Speaker 2:Wait, say that again. You did glitch out.
Speaker 1:No, I'm just kidding. No, that was me. That was me. I was messing with you. You can hear me. You can hear me, right? No?
Speaker 2:seriously Hold on one sec. I don't know what's happening, but it's all glitchy. It's all glitchy, shoot, hang on, hang on, watch. And we're live. And we're live too.
Speaker 1:We're live, so I'm going to hang up Watch, watch. Now I'm going to call you back. Here we go, watch this.
Speaker 2:Is that better?
Speaker 1:Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
Speaker 2:It sounds like you're talking through one of those like electric Eddie voices. No.
Speaker 1:Hang on, dude, hang on, I'm going to hang up. This is sign language and we're live All right, so I'm going to stop. Okay, now see, we're doing the audio through the phone because they couldn't connect and now it's ringing.
Speaker 2:There we go.
Speaker 1:Hello, I'm calling about your car warranty.
Speaker 2:My extended car warranty.
Speaker 1:The extended car warranty, that Toyota that you're driving, that you might have gotten rid of about eight years ago.
Speaker 2:It's just about to end and you want to know if I want to renew it.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and we have a great deal.
Speaker 2:Tim has a way of stopping those.
Speaker 3:You know how to stop that completely. They get to the hey, what year is your car? Or they see what kind of car you have and you say I have a ford f-150. They see what year you see 1968. And usually, sometimes they say something. Most times, yeah I've done that.
Speaker 1:Call back tim. I've actually done that, which is like so what do you drive? Oh, I got this old dodge duster. I think it's a 72, 73, that's what driving man. I've had it for years. Man, I just love that thing. And then it's like hello. I'd love to put a warranty on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Exactly that's what you should do. Be interested in the warranty? Yeah, you guys will protect that right.
Speaker 1:You know what the problem? I mean, I know we're getting off, See, I go down these paths every once in a while, but my mother-in-law is like 96. All right, so these people call she doesn't drive anymore, but she's too nice to you know. And next thing you know she's caught in this, whatever, and she gets something in the mail and it's like no mom, what are you doing, you know, and that's that's the problem. That's the problem.
Speaker 2:So I hate that. That's that's the sad thing about a lot of those telemarketers and some of those scams that they take advantage of.
Speaker 1:You know people that are just too nice. My mom's one of those people too. That's just too nice. Mommy's got to hang up, but yeah, anyway, I can't. It was a nice young fun. That fellow sounded so nice. Mommy didn't speak english, let alone just saying anyways, you've got a great voice.
Speaker 2:By the way, skit, you've got a great who does it's? No wonder you you do. It's no wonder you do what you do because you got a great voice by the way, skit, yeah, he does. He's got a great who does? It's no wonder you do. It's no wonder you do what you do because you got a great sound.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you very much not as good as due west, though I don't. I can't. Oh, wait a minute. Yeah, uh, jayden, mary, do you know her? Uh, what's up are you? How are you? What's up are you doing, guys? So, anyways, jayden, that's cool yes, she can oh are you guys there? Yeah, we're here, we're here.
Speaker 1:I didn't know a lot of chatter nope, nope, you're just kind of breaking up a little bit, but you are that. Yes, she can hear we're good, we're good. Okay, all right, we're good. But see, that's. That's the cool thing about this platformer I use too. I can get to, you know, I can see the comments and plus, I think I'm only seeing what's on YouTube. Um, the Facebook would be a lot more, but yeah, I got to work on that.
Speaker 1:I got to work on that. So let me ask a few weeks I'm going to be flying in Nashville. Uh, I think that's seminar, the radio seminar. Um, I'm going to be staying at the Omni. I own a corner or bar lines If you guys want to come and hang out that would be awesome, you know because everybody that I talked to I would definitely love to say hello in person.
Speaker 1:You know, I'll buy a cold one. Who is that, jane? I'm glad to have you here. I'm single, not yet married, please, I do not know. Okay, all right. So, oh, man, all right. Speaking of that, so do you go to the gym? Do you work out? What do you guys do? Do you, do you, uh, do any of that?
Speaker 4:I, I, uh, I think about it. My watch tells me to, but I don't.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I go some time to time. I do a lot of walking, that's what.
Speaker 2:I do After midnight. Do you go after midnight?
Speaker 4:Walking after midnight Matt's pretty into it, he actually does ice baths.
Speaker 2:I do ice baths every morning. Does it help?
Speaker 1:Does it help Dude baths?
Speaker 2:I do ice baths every morning. You does it help? That does it help, dude? Um, the guy in the middle, I think he is single here. Um, it's true, jayden, he is no, the ice bath thing. The ice bath thing is changing my life. I really do. I get up in the morning, I go out on my back patio and I sit in 32 degree water. Just you know. I have to break the ice off of it a lot of times and I sit in it for three minutes and it's um. I could go on and on about it, but just try it sometime and look into it and actually research it, cause yeah, All right.
Speaker 1:So the reason, the reason I asked is I've never done that. However, as we talked before we went on the air, I was explaining how we are a big baseball family and, with our triple a team here in syracuse, for a great number of years, the washington nationals were the parent team. Now, because I'm one of their pa announcers and I, you know, just in with the team and all that, which is cool. It's great job, dude. So, um, we used to house the players. My wife and I would give up a room downstairs, which is now the pod zone, uh, but they used to. You know this bathroom, bed dresser, everything you need and we used to say here it is, if you want to stay here, you can stay here.
Speaker 1:So we had a lot of players stay with us throughout a whole lot of years, but they took ice baths. These athletes would. That's what they were doing. I'm like, dude, you're freaking nuts, just, oh. No, you know, a lot of them didn't speak english, but still it was. You know, we had a lot of, uh, latino players here and some of the real some of the players went to the world series yeah, well, dude brad's a huge baseball fan, by the way, yeah, so two thoughts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I saw that nice. Yeah, uh. One thing is you guys could connect all day about baseball. I guarantee it. The other thing is more selfish is you got to get us to come do an anthem on god bless america, whatever like? If you have any poll with god bless america or do you know anthems, we will kill it. We kill the anthem, we kill God bless America. So hook it up, bro. Hook it up. I'm working on it already. I have an idea.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk when we get done. I have a great idea and it could benefit both of us very much Cool.
Speaker 2:All right, it's due west everybody.
Speaker 1:We've been chatting for the last 40 minutes or so and, uh, I don't know, jayden, uh, what are you guys not answering for me? Well, you're not gonna type back.
Speaker 3:Uh, she wants to know how old you are um yep and you're all looking good.
Speaker 1:Oh boy, I I you sure you don't know this person? I'm definitely not one of mine.
Speaker 2:Well, jaden be sure to follow us on all of our social media. We're on TikTok, we're on Instagram, we're on Facebook, we're on YouTube, so reach out to us there. Follow us. We're kind of having a conversation with Skip right now, but we'd love to get back to you and answer some more of your questions as well.
Speaker 3:What was that dating? You got a match game call on. Tv yeah.
Speaker 2:You can find us on Bumble. You can find us on Tinder. Hinge, plenty of.
Speaker 1:Hinge. You swipe to the right or the left, I don't know.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 1:I have no idea. It's been a lot of years for me I haven't. But yeah, I get you. So if somebody wants to find out more about due west, you said on all the socials, just look at google, due west, it's going to come up. The music is on every platform that you can think of. Uh, it's all there. Um, look for them. They are. No, they're not new. They've been around a couple of decades and they're rocking and they're just as good as ever. So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:But thank you, man. That means a lot, really does mean a lot. Thank you, skip. No, I appreciate what you're doing.
Speaker 1:I was excited to see that, um, grassroots, who you know promote, is doing the promotion side for you. Um, I was excited to see that you were with them and when shannon reached out it's like absolutely and uh, you know, I really appreciate, I appreciate you taking the time to just kind of hang with me for a little bit, you know.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and we definitely got to connect to CRS. Oh, we are, we are. I'm always open for a cold one.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm not afraid, believe me, we always have a good time.
Speaker 2:We'll buy the first round. Well, you don't have to it's.
Speaker 4:It's cool it.
Speaker 1:It does feel like we already know each other, and have for a long time, so I appreciate that you know, um, I have a lot of fun when I do the podcast and, as you know, I do them at least twice a week and a lot of artists, a lot of well-established artists you mentioned pam tillis earlier. I've had her on, uh, I spent a night talking to martina mcbride. I've uh, you know, and then we get a lot of the you know a lot of the really new artists too, and they're looking for a break and it's pretty cool. So I just really appreciate you guys taking the time. Uh, thanks for joining us here tonight at skip happens. Anything else you want to say about what's the name of the band? Again? Just, uh, due west, oh yeah that's right, no wait a minute.
Speaker 2:It's right down, right there, there it is, there it is yeah you know it sucks because this camera it's everything's backwards I know next time we do this we'll have our, our technology figured out better on our end. We, we definitely want to come back on the show. I don't know if you ever have a repeat, you know in months or whatever but we'll come back.
Speaker 1:All I can tell you, if you're dropping something new you got something new going on I'm going to give you my. You've got my number now too, so you can drop me a text and say hey, dude, we're dropping this song or we're doing, we're going to be on the Opry, we want to come out and talk about it. Absolutely, I'll, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool, this is my own time, my own studio, my own podcast and the other thing about this. Just so you know and anybody that's watching this, 92.1 the Wolf is the country station here in town I do the afternoons, but every once in a while I take snippets out of my podcast and if something's going on with a single and we're playing it, I'll say hey. By the way, I sat down with the guys in Duke West and this is what they said about, you know, before when they took a hiatus, this is what they were doing and I'll air that little clip or something. It's kind of cool, oh cool, that's brilliant.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can double use it, yeah absolutely, and it's a benefit for everybody.
Speaker 1:So that's cool, pretty cool, all right. One last question. I know I lost. There you are, are you there? There you go, you're in and out with the picture, but all right. So, brad, what do you drive?
Speaker 4:I drive an Infiniti 250.
Speaker 1:Nice Ooh, all right, tim. Tim's a truck guy. I know Tim's a truck guy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, tim, tim's a truck guy. I know Tim's a truck guy. I drive a couple trucks. I got a 2011 Chevy Silverado Nice and I have a Nissan Frontier. Nissan Frontier gets around mountains a little easier.
Speaker 1:Yep, I went out, you know, in competition with the Frontier. I went out and just bought a Colorado. I bought the Trail Boss just a couple of weeks ago Well, no, it was in November, it's more than a couple of weeks ago, but I'm loving it and that's not meant to be a plug for Chevy or the Colorado. What about you, matt?
Speaker 2:I'm currently driving a Nissan Rogue.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 2:We actually use it for the radio tour.
Speaker 1:I know, I know, here comes Matt hey guys get in.
Speaker 4:My mom just bought one of those.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 3:I get it.
Speaker 1:You guys are awesome. I want to say thank you for joining me tonight. Skip Happens this is going to be posted and hopefully your viewers, when they see it that they will subscribe to Skip Happens on YouTube and enjoy all the great videos we have and hopefully you enjoyed the interview as well. Thank you, brad. Matt Tim, thank you, thank you, thank you, love you guys, love you guys. I want you all to have a great night and stay right there.
Speaker 3:We will.
Speaker 1:All right, are you there?
Speaker 3:Thank you.
