Skip Happens Podcast - Every Boot Has a Story!

He Lost His Fingers, Quit Music for 12 Years — Then Came Back | Jacob Smalley

• Skip Clark

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SPEAKER_02:

Hello, everybody. What's going on? This is Skip Clark and welcome to Skip Happens, the podcast. And tonight's guest, he is an independent country artist. His name is Jacob Smalley, and we're talking about the real side of Chasing Music. Uh he's got no label, no shortcuts, just the grind, the setbacks, and the moments that make it all worth it. I tell you, this guy, once you get to know him a little bit, you're gonna love him. If you've ever chased a dream or wondered what it really takes, this one is for you. Let's get right into it, Jacob Smalley. It's so good to see you, my friend. It's been a good to see you, Skip.

SPEAKER_00:

It has been a little bit.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think last time what uh we were in Nashville last February. I think that's the last time I saw you.

SPEAKER_00:

For CRS, that's right.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and that's what they CRS is not. Can't I can't remember Skip, but it's um ready hours seminars. Right. It's so good to see you. And I, of course, saying hello to your wife. She came on there in the beginning before we went live, but tech support. That's right. I know it's amazing how they have to do this stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, I don't know if you have you have kids, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, we have two, two little girls.

SPEAKER_02:

Two little girls. Well, I my son Zach, if I have anything technical going on, I just say, Zach, you need to come here and help dad meet. Right. Yep, yeah, you know how that goes. But absolutely it's good to see you, my friend. Uh, for people uh just finding you, who is Jacob Smalley off the stage? Who are you?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh I am a uh construction worker. I I build houses for a living. We own our own construction company, which keeps me busy when I'm not out on the road or or playing shows locally.

SPEAKER_02:

So yeah. So the music thing, it's something you've got a passion for and you're dedicated to it, but you also got something to fall back on, which is very smart.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Well, I looked at you know what Riley Green was doing and what Zach Toppler doing, and you know, it was all construction stuff. So I thought that's how you break into country music because you got to build houses first. So that's what I do.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I love that. So you built, wait a minute. Well, you you got the construction company, you must build right from scratch.

SPEAKER_00:

You we do, yeah. We we do everything from the ground up.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, where where are you though?

SPEAKER_00:

You're in the we're central central Missouri, so we're like uh Lake of the Ozarks.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, I don't want this question to sound stupid, and it may sound stupid, but uh when you build a house, are you do you actually are they on flat flats or do you have a basement? Do you have like a an actual cellar?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, there's a lot of slab homes here, but there's uh I mean there's probably 50-50, you know, depending on a lot of Missouri is sits on a ledge, so there's not a whole lot you can do unless you want to chip rock to dig a foundation.

SPEAKER_02:

That's gotta be that's gotta be difficult. What happens when you know? I know we're here to talk music, but certain things fascinate me. And what you do fascinates me. I could never do that because I can't pound a hammer or a nail. I have a tough time with the Phillips said screwdriver. I dude, I'm not, I'm just you see what I do. This is what I do, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you're good at what you do, so that's you gotta stick with what we're good at.

SPEAKER_02:

Did you build your own home?

SPEAKER_00:

I did, yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow, how cool.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and we actually we just sold the home that we built uh four and a half, five years ago. It just went under contract, so we are actually gonna start all over again and build again here at the end of the month.

SPEAKER_02:

So what um, you know, I know we need to talk music, but like I said, certain things fascinate me. Um, to build a home, how on the average, how long does it take to actually build a house from ground up? I guess it would depend on the size and all that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's it depends on the size. We just like my company just built a house in uh a little town close to where we live, and we broke ground on that, I think September 15th, and it's fully closed in, everything's ready for sheetrock and everything right now. So, I mean, it it's four or five months. You you can yeah, okay, and we we don't run a big crew or anything, it's my wife and I that pretty much do the whole thing.

SPEAKER_02:

So well, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Your wife is she's pounding nails and putting up two by fours and maybe some sheet rock and my wife is my cut man, yes. When you say cut man, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh well, she's you know, I she's the person that's given all the measurements and she's cutting lumber and handing it back to me the length that she's gonna be.

SPEAKER_02:

I love that. I love that. I love that. Do you um doing that? Do you get a lot of time to yourself to think about you know songs you're gonna write or when when all that comes up?

SPEAKER_00:

That that is um that is when a lot of my songs are written, actually.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, I am I just had to join right then.

SPEAKER_02:

I know I love it, I love it, I love it. As you know, I'm all over the road when I do these things, so that that's why it's what happens. But yeah, no, that's the official Cut Man. I love I never knew it was called a Cup Man before, but so that's interesting. So um when it comes to you um doing all this and you get a little bit of downtime and you think about songs, um what comes to mind? What is it when you all right? Let me put it this way when you write a song, is it uh about real life or is it something that you know just get it?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I no, my my songwriting is all inspired by something that has either happened in my life or in somebody else's life that I know. It's yeah, I I envy these guys that can sit down in a in a writer's round and and sit there and pump out six or eight songs in a day. For me, I have to have some inspiration that that spurred that idea into to being. And usually if I'm you know, have that happen and I'm in a creative place, I you know, it'll it'll be completed in eight or ten minutes. You know, it does not take long to write a song when I'm in that place, but I have to have something to write about. I can't just sit down and write, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

But I mean, it's everyday life though. You look around you. Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure. So much there. It's like when I do a radio show, all the show prep is around me. Yeah, I can talk about driving to work, I can talk about going to Walmart. I can there's so much I could talk about. Right. Must be the same when you do a song.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it is. Yeah, there's a lot out there to write about.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, Jacob, what uh what was the moment that you realized that uh this wasn't just a hobby anymore?

SPEAKER_00:

Um I I think that uh honestly at this point it is a hobby for me. It is the biggest dream I've ever had for as long as I can remember, but until until I can tell the cup man we're not cutting lumber anymore, we're going on the road full time. This is what I do too. Uh this is yeah, this is my form of living the dream until it becomes full time, you know. It and we're we're not um we're not out pounding the pavement every single week or anything. We you know, we we play every other weekend at best right now, and we have we've been playing some very big shows over the last two years, but uh yeah, to to make it the full-time gig would be absolutely incredible, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

So do you have somebody? I mean, because doing what you do and having the business, being a contractor, owning a company, do you have people that are employed by you that you could trust if you happen to uh say, okay, you know what, I gotta hit the road for a couple of months. I'm I've got an opportunity to go on tour. I'm just sure Luke Combs called when you want me to come out and open up for him.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Uh so what we do, um essentially we buy properties and build houses on them for ourselves to sell. So at that point, I am employed by my company to build houses. So I am the owner of the company, but I'm also the employee, which means I'm paying myself to build a house that when we're done, I'm gonna turn around and sell. So ultimately, I can just take off anytime I need to and go.

SPEAKER_02:

Is that which um oh, go ahead. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, it's it's it's just makes the whole uh music thing work really well because you know we have great relationships with some major amphitheaters in the Midwest. And we, you know, we did shows with Trace Atkins last year and and uh Gary Allen the year before. We did shows with Josh Turner this year, and those were opportunities. Um Josh and and Tracy Lawrence were touring together, and Tracy ended up sick and could not perform. And thankfully, we got the call to go and fill in for Tracy Lawrence.

SPEAKER_02:

So cool.

SPEAKER_00:

So having you know, running the business the way that we do gives me the opportunity to be able to just at a moment's notice go do that.

SPEAKER_02:

Go do that. Something you love. That's it's a perfect, it sounds like the perfect scenario for you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it it really works really, really well.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, because getting to know you a little bit, I know how much you love the music, and I know that you know you're just passionate about it and you're dedicated to your craft. Um, what was the very this is gonna be crazy? What was the very first song that you wrote? And do you still remember how bad or how good it was?

SPEAKER_00:

So a funny story. Uh, the very first song that I wrote uh was called A Much Better Man. I was 16 years old. Okay, and I went to Nashville, recorded a full uh 10-song album of original music, and I I forgot about that. That was like 21 years ago now. And um just the other day, my wife, because we're obviously we're packing stuff up, we're getting ready to move again. She she was going through some old boxes and she found this disc, this CD, you know, and it just said Jacob Smalley Masters on it. So she put it in a CD player, and it was that old CD. Then I never really did anything with it after I cut it. It was so terrible. I couldn't believe how bad it was.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, everybody I talked to and I asked that question, it's it's almost the same answer. It's like the song sucked. You talked about skip happening, it was happening with that song.

SPEAKER_00:

It was happening, you know. She thought they were great. Obviously, she's she's a a great supporter of what I do, but I just listened to that and went, Oh my goodness, that is so bad.

SPEAKER_02:

You didn't get rid of it though, right? Yeah, I mean you still have it.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah. And my daughters actually, we we made a copy, and the the girls listen to it in their little boom box up in their room all the time, so they love it.

SPEAKER_02:

So there you go. And how do they um, you know, being the dad of two two little girls? Um, first of all, I've got three daughters. Oh being a girl dad is there's nothing like it. There is not. There is not. Um, but uh, how do they uh like the fact that their dad is a guy that goes on stage, plays music, sings songs, gets the crowd riled up? What do they think about what you do?

SPEAKER_00:

They I don't think they understand how uh how cool their life is. Like this year, we've we were invited to two different times uh to be guests backstage at the Grand Old Opry and and went to you know hang out with Jimmy Fortune and all these people and and Daly and Vincent. You know, the girls are in there dancing with Daly and Vincent backstage at the Opry and all this stuff. And I just someday when they grow up and realize what that, you know, that was my dream as a little kid to get to go backstage at the Opry. They don't even know because you know they do not understand, you know, to to be walking around backstage with with Gary Allen. Uh, you know, that's not a thing that most kids get to do, right? But they they love every minute of it. We're doing a thing right now. Um, we kind of we don't play many bar shows, honestly. We we focus on mostly amphitheaters and festivals and things like that. And but we wanted to kind of get a little bit more locally known right here where we live. So we set up like a residency at uh this honky tonk down at Lake of the Ozarks. And you know, it's a bar, it's a full-on honky tonk, so it's not a show that I can bring the girls to. So this was their first experience of dad's gonna go play music, and you I'm not allowed to go. It didn't go very well.

SPEAKER_02:

Maybe if your wife is there, she could do a little FaceTime with them going, There's your dad's up there on stage, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, no, yeah, Ashley is always there. Uh, because she uh she's not only my cut man, she's my merch girl too. So she runs the merch booth while we're playing as well.

SPEAKER_02:

So you're there in the Ozarks, yeah. Wow, that was great. That was a great series, by the way.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't it was did you did you binge watch that? Did you watch that show when it was on? I did for a while until how real was it to you know the scenery? Was it shot there? Was it filmed close to where you are?

SPEAKER_00:

I think parts of it were like there were things in that show that I recognize that are you know, you know, 10 miles down the road from my house, sure, but I think a lot of it was not shot here as well, and yeah, probably not the the the whole story is kind of like this place is completely in off the rails, and it's really not like that. I mean, I think there's places in in Missouri in the Ozarks that are that way, but it it's yeah, I think every every area has a place that's a little bit off the rails.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, I don't really care where you are or what you're doing. I mean, it's there's a lot of that going on, but uh you know, um, is there a uh specific artist or concert that made you say, Yeah, this is what I want to do?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and initially uh that was in the bluegrass world. Uh it was Ricky Skags and Kentucky Thunder. That was the hottest thing on planet Earth for me growing up, and because I was a banjo player, and uh that's just all I ever wanted to do.

SPEAKER_02:

How did I I never knew you were a banjo player?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I played five-string banjoists. That was my first instrument.

SPEAKER_02:

Really?

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_02:

That is so cool. So do you still play it on occasion though? Do you pick it up at your gigs? I do not um after I'm hanging on the wall in the like in your office.

SPEAKER_00:

I do not even own one anymore, Skip. After I cut my hand, dude, because my fingers are are shorter than they were, it's really hard to fret that real thin neck that a banjo has. Like I would still uh play a six-string banjo because it's you know it's got a neck like a guitar has.

SPEAKER_02:

All right.

SPEAKER_00:

But yeah, it's kind of hard to play a real one. So you're a contractor, you cut lumber, cut lumber and fingers from time to time.

SPEAKER_02:

That's what I was just thinking. I don't mean to laugh, dude. Yeah, but when you said that, my fingers are a little bit shorter now. I kind of figured it was uh like a big oops. Yeah, real big oops. Oh my god, dude. Yeah, so I didn't know that like oh yeah, they had the that's the hands of a contractor right there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, so uh it um it stopped me from playing music for almost 12 years. I just quit after I cut off two of my fingers, one of them they were able to reattach. The other one is you know three-quarters of the length it should be.

SPEAKER_02:

That's a story in itself because they did reattach a finger, and I'm sure you still have maybe some feeling that well isn't there, I guess.

SPEAKER_00:

And yeah, no, there's yeah, and you I could cut them off again and not know it.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks for that, Jacob. Uh maybe next time we talk when you put your hand up, the fingers are now let's not do it again. No, I know, I know. I'll make sure your wife keeps your hands uh where they're safe. So right. Uh, you know, what is the hardest part of being an independent artist uh that fans don't see? What is what's the hardest part of that? Because you know, I talk to so many independents they all have a story, but they're all out, you're all out for the same thing. Your goal is pretty much the same. You want to make something of you know, your product is your music, but you don't want to tie yourself into a major label, you don't want to get into a lot of that, you want to have hands-on. But what is um what's the hardest part of being who you are?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I think uh for me, it's just knowing I don't want to say where to put your money, but what direction to go in. Because there's, you know, especially in in Nashville, you know, and we're there a lot, there's so many people that are, you know, will just suck you up and you know, buy this product, do this, you know, work with me, I'll make it happen. But nobody makes it happen. You if you don't make it happen yourself, it's not happening, right? And it's just it's a learning curve of I mean, really, I don't think you can trust anybody else to do it for you. It's just I have people I work with that I do trust, and but I'm not expecting that they're gonna make the dream come true. They're just right stepping stones to furthering your your your career, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you know, it's it's a scary thought when you think about you know the money and and all that that's going on, and some people get so tempted they could be the greatest person in the world, but I'm just temptation is always there. And so who do you really trust? I mean, you know, that's why I was kind of asking earlier if you were to hit the road. I mean, you got somebody that you can trust and make sure the job gets done and gets done right. So sure, you know, but uh yeah, I guess that would be a little bit a little bit different. Have you ever um I know you were talking about the time you took like 12 years off, but have you ever thought about quitting?

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, no, uh I like that. I like that. The when I stopped playing music, it was because I physically could not play music, and that's actually when I started writing more. It I would sing and I would write, but I could not actually play the guitar. I tried to relearn left-handed and I could not do that, it just was so strange. Um, and then I I discovered that with the capo, I can change a lot of chord positions. You know, there's a lot of chords that I cannot form on the guitar anymore because my hands don't work that way anymore. But you know, being able to change things up with the capo and stuff like that, it allows me to still play.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, makes it happen. You know, you talk about that though. Is it um Trace Atkins? He's got like his pinky or his small finger is like stuck in a certain position because of an injury or something, and it just makes it hard for him to do certain things, right? So you're not alone, you're not alone, but uh you know, it just goes to show you can still do it.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and Trace looks good just with the guitar hanging around him, so he doesn't have to ever touch it.

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly, exactly, exactly. Um, and you know what's something you wish the music industry um did better for indie artists such as yourself? Um I know it's a tough question, I get it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean I think it would make indie artists' uh job a lot easier if the people in the music industry would even talk to us. You know, it for the most part you can I have a song right now that I am you know actively pursuing uh Trace Atkins, not Trace Atkins, um uh Travis Tripp to cut this song with me, and just you don't even get a response out of their people most of the time. You know, you you try to go through management or or whoever, and it's just if you don't have some major label backing you, they don't they don't pay attention to you whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02:

That sucks. It does, it makes it very hard, but um but you've done, I mean, you have pushed and you've gotten certain things done. I mean, that's how we we got to know each other, you know, a couple of years ago, yep. Uh through Music Row and all that, and you know, you had a song that was out there on the radio, you've got more coming out. It's just a matter of getting to that point and right jumping over that hurdle. And that's that's that's a struggle. It's a struggle.

SPEAKER_00:

It's a struggle, it's a it's a very expensive struggle, you know. The pushing to radio is very cool, you know, to have songs that charted on on uh music row and and stuff like that. That's that's very cool. Um, we have a song out right now. This is country music that is out on on music row stations all over the country. That's wonderful. That one I'm actually doing myself, uh, just be because of the financial thing, you know. Right now, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was not a good time to push to radio for us financially, but I decided I wanted to send that song anyways.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, but yeah, it's um I want you to tell us about that. Yeah, I I can hear that and I see that. Um tell us about the about the song that's out. Did you write it?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, it's a it's an original.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. It's um if somebody wanted to hear it, where could where could they go? I want I want our viewers to hear it, I want listeners to hear it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, it's it's available on any of your streaming platforms, it's available anywhere you can get music, so uh you can get it that way, or uh a lot of uh secondary radio stations are spinning it in in regular rotation. Um, I think there's 40 or 50 music row stations that have it, but it's called This Is Country Music, and it is just a song literally about country music, uh, you know, what it means to me, what it means to a lot of different people, you know, the history of it.

SPEAKER_02:

So when you get out and perform, you're basically right there close to your hometown, you're not really all over the place, so to speak. I know you said you make the trip to Nashville every once in a while, or quite often, and but other than that, um Yeah, we we go up to the northeast uh once a year.

SPEAKER_00:

We do go back to Maine and play festivals up there. Um and you know, we're working on some festivals in the Midwest and and some towards Pennsylvania, out that way a little bit, but yeah, it most most everything that we do is is right here close to home.

SPEAKER_02:

And and I was reading about about the northeast and being in Maine. You were kicking ass. You were Maine was good. You were the you were the guy to go see. Right. Um that that's pretty cool. I didn't really for some reason I didn't even think about that till I was reading a little bit before you went on the air. Um, and then you just mentioned it, but it was saying that you were like you were rocking the house everywhere you went in in the northeast in May.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, Maine was was uh was really good to us as far as music is concerned. I did you know the last year that we were there, I actually did not have a job. We played music, and that was that was that was my income.

SPEAKER_02:

That was your income. When was the last time you went to Maine?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh we were there in um August of this year.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, thanks for stopping.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. I did wave to you as we went through, because we went right through.

SPEAKER_02:

You went just oh dude. You know, you're not allowed to do that.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I will I will call you next time because we uh yes, yes, yeah. We we brought um we brought uh half of my band local here um was not able to go, so I actually drafted the guys from the old band in Maine to fill in for the guys that couldn't make it. And then we brought um we brought this just god of a guitar player called uh Clay Clear. He has a band here in central Missouri, insane guitar player. Uh he came up there and uh played lead for us on those two festival shows.

SPEAKER_02:

So well, uh you know, I'm gonna put the offer out there that if you go in that direction again, that you do let me know ahead of time and maybe we can help you out with a gig here too.

SPEAKER_00:

Sure. No, I absolutely I'll reach out for sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely that makes the that makes the trip up a lot shorter, you know. If if you have a stop off along the way, oh I make it worth a while.

SPEAKER_02:

We would have a good time, let me tell you. It would definitely would be good. And it is a haul. So you drove the whole the whole way, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

We do just like 27, 28 hours all the way through.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you you drive straight, straight through.

SPEAKER_00:

We drive straight. Well, with the girls, we stopped. Um, I think we stopped in Connecticut.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, with the girls, you stop every 10 miles for a pea break.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm these girls. I'm not gonna lie, dude, they they are incredible. We can leave we leave Missouri at three o'clock in the morning so that we get into Nashville, you know, fairly early in the day. Yeah, we might stop twice. Really? It's ridiculous. Well, it's they love the road, they just sit there and read their books in the backseat and listen to music, they love it.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh you know, I guess I guess the kids are different, but I know and I we travel to the Outer Banks, North Carolina every every year. Yeah, and I'm not I'm not on the road an hour, and I get honey, we gotta stop. Then I pretend, then I pretend I don't hear her, right? So I can keep driving. Yeah, and then we go, honey, if you don't stop, I'm gonna pee my pants right here. I'm like, all right, all right, all right, all right. Long stories that's a story we can have over a beer sometime. Um, but uh, anyways, it's crazy. Um, what sacrifices have you made to keep chasing the dream that you have? You must make some sacrifices along the way, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

A lot of time. Uh, my wife would tell you that uh one of the sacrifices she has made is that I play a major show every single year on our anniversary.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, dude.

SPEAKER_00:

It's like without fail.

SPEAKER_02:

That gives Skip Happens a whole new meaning.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Yeah. So we thought that um, you know, this year or this past year, it was not gonna be that way. We thought, oh, we're gonna go somewhere for our anniversary and and this and that. And then we got the call to play with Trace Atkins and Aaron Tippon, and I went, Well, well, there you go. I mean, babe, I'm gonna have to play this show.

SPEAKER_02:

Did she go with you though?

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely, so that's what we do for our anniversary. See, it's not that bad, yeah. And yeah, you get paid for the gig, get paid for the gig, you get to hang out with Trace Atkins and Aaron Tippin. It's not all that bad.

SPEAKER_02:

No, not at all. Not at all. Um, is there a song that you've released that means the most to you?

SPEAKER_00:

I would say uh sober is probably that song for me. It's uh just the massive impact it had on people. I just I was so shocked, you know. I literally wrote that song. I am not a sober person, like I we go out to Mexican, I'll have a margarita. But there there was a time when uh I was drinking a lot, like all the time, and that is actually coming out of that, is what inspired me to write that song. And it when I I posted an acoustic video of it, and within seven days it had been played over three million times, and I had received like 50,000 messages from people, and I just went from all over the world, from New Zealand and and countries I didn't even know existed were were messaging, you know, thanking me for writing that song, and I just I couldn't believe how many people it touched, you know. It was really amazing.

SPEAKER_02:

That is amazing, and you gotta think. I mean, look what we have at our disposal right now. We have social media, yes, and this is where you can put a song, you put it on. I mean, yeah, doesn't have to be on the radio every couple of hours. I mean, social media is it's it's gonna do hate to say this, but it'll do a much better job. I mean, it actually does out there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, it actually does. It's crazy. If if if you understood, like I think a lot of the the issue that us artists have is that we don't understand social media, and that is just as confusing as the music business is.

SPEAKER_02:

It can be, it can be. As I said earlier in this discussion, um, you know, if I need something, I'll call my son and say, Yep, Zach, I need I need a little help here. Dad's having an issue. Yeah. Yeah. And it's usually like, oh, I gotta do this, this, this, this, or good. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And um, I don't know, my son Zach is 25 now, but he's down syndrome. But he's still, I mean, he will he knows it all. So it's crazy. It's crazy. What's um I I wrote down some crazy questions here. What's the wildest or most unexpected thing that's happened at a show for you? Um everybody has those moments.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Well, I I've there's been a lot of those moments, so usually they're all caused by my stupidity. I think that one of the craziest things, we played a show. Uh, this was while I was still in Maine. We played a show with Colt Ford, and I went out on stage, and probably we'd been drinking and having a good time because it was a Colt Ford show. So, what what else would we be doing?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, it's smoking another, but yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And uh, so I went out. I think I played three songs before I realized that the sound man was screaming at me from right in front of the stage because my guitar was not plugged in. Oh no, you know, just completely, I'm just out there getting it, you know, kicking the crap out of it.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, you know, you'd think, well, I guess you're you're not on the you're not in the front out in front of the front end.

SPEAKER_00:

So and I don't, you know, I don't uh do well with ear monitors. That's that's another thing that I really that I don't I don't know how these guys wear ear monitors. I don't either. I truly get dizzy when I'm wearing them.

SPEAKER_02:

Really?

SPEAKER_00:

But uh so yeah, it I don't know how it happened, but yeah, I played at least three songs without my guitar plugged in.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow. That's that's funny, actually.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's kind of crazy. Looking back, it was funny.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, uh, what's your next big goal, Jacob?

SPEAKER_00:

Um uh my next big goal is uh probably a pipe dream, but I really want to cut this song with uh with Travis Tripp. And I'm I'm shooting for it with everything I've got and and trying to every yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm just going down every road I can go down to to get to him, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Well, I know, and they just keep digging because if you keep trying hard enough, chances are it could happen. And also, you know, you do know you know people. Have them really.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, it's the the whole the whole music industry. That is one thing I'm really um starting to figure out in a big way. It doesn't matter, you could be the the best writer that's ever been, but if you don't know people, nobody's ever gonna know that, you know. Right, right. If the whole industry is is uh relationships.

SPEAKER_02:

What um what advice would you give to somebody that wants to do what you're doing? You know, you you've been doing it, you've got you've got a gig. I mean, you've got your own company, you're you're living your dream of playing music, sure, but somebody else wants to do what you're doing. What advice when it comes to playing music?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh just be really prepared to work really hard because it's it's so easy. There's nothing I love to do more than go out and play shows. It is the highlight of my life, but I will tell you with this residency thing we're doing, for instance, we're playing back-to-back shows. We play Friday and then we play Saturday. And by the time I'm halfway through the show on Saturday, I am dead tired. You know, I worked all week and and I I worked all day Friday before the show, and then a lot of times because I own the company, I work Saturday before the show. Yeah, so if you're not just willing to go out there and kill yourself doing it, it that's that's what it takes. It's you want to do it for real.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you you gotta you gotta you gotta give to get. You do, you do, you really do and it's not cheap either. I mean, you put a lot on the line to get your music known, and I mean everything nothing's cheap anymore. We know that.

SPEAKER_00:

No, advertising is is very, very expensive. Having good gear that doesn't break down on you is very expensive. It's it's a lot to put in, but it is so much fun when you have those moments where you know you get called to fill in for for Tracy Lawrence because he's sick. That you know, that that is really cool. That is very cool, very cool. You're you're covering for you know your musical heroes that you listened to growing up. It it's it's pretty neat.

SPEAKER_02:

And Tracy's such a cool guy. I mean, he is he was doing stuff with uh Big D and Bubba, our morning show. He's been part of that whole uh, but you know, I got to know him a little bit uh by different things we had going in Nashville. He would be in the meetings and stuff, just just a great, great guy.

SPEAKER_03:

Great guy.

SPEAKER_02:

Um yeah, you know what? I I can't wait to hear this answer. What would you tell your younger self just starting out? Oh boy. You may you may use a lifeline here if you need to.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, I don't know, honestly. Um because I don't think they're I don't think I do anything differently.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you know, I that's your answer.

SPEAKER_00:

I I would have probably if I could go back and change it, which I can't, and I couldn't at the time, I probably wouldn't have given it up for you know 12 years. Um, because that's lost time and you'd be that much further down the road. But I really other than that, you just keep pounding the pavement, I guess, is yeah, just don't give up.

SPEAKER_02:

Don't give up. And how do you how do you handle uh maybe this would help too if you could tell somebody how do you handle criticism? Because you're gonna get a lot of people, you're out there pounding the you know the street, so to speak, trying to get your music played, you're gonna get the you know what, not right now, you know what, you you could do better, or you know what, even though you're doing great, but you're gonna get those people that no, no, this isn't gonna work. How do you handle the negativity?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of things like uh, you know, you'll be told, well, it's it's just not time, you know, you gotta do this first, and then you gotta do, you know, whatever, and in a few years, maybe you'll be to this point, and that's just not in it, in my opinion, I don't have a few years, you know. This is not a game that you do when you get old. It's right now or it's not ever. So I think honestly, if if somebody's telling me, you know, something negative about you know, you need to wait and try it later on, or or do it this way instead, I just go a different route. You know, yeah, it's totally there's got to be another way to get there. It that doesn't take two years, you know. Find the faster route.

SPEAKER_02:

If you figure it out, we'll get you back on. You can tell everybody else that too. Because do you know um Jennifer Bell?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh that name sounds very familiar.

SPEAKER_02:

Last I talked to her, it's been a little bit, she's been on the West Coast, but um, she's an independent as well. Uh she chimed in and said, Hey Skip, happy new year. Hi, Jacob. So that's all it just yeah, hi Jennifer. Yeah, very cool. Uh, she was at CRS a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_01:

So uh-huh.

unknown:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It's gonna be uh yeah, we're definitely going to that this year. So I look forward to uh, you know, I've gone for the last 20 some odd years, but it's it's always a good thing. Always a good thing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's fun.

SPEAKER_02:

So I gotta do you you and your wife have matching trucks that you drive to the job site.

SPEAKER_00:

We do not. I have my truck. We have uh the same brand of vehicle, though. We both we both drive Toyotas.

SPEAKER_02:

So there's a tundra, is it at least? Oh, okay. All right, all right, all right. I can yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's it's not the uh scaled down version, it's the older models.

SPEAKER_02:

Really?

SPEAKER_00:

It has the the the big uh V8 in it still.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice.

SPEAKER_00:

Worst the worst thing that uh Toyota ever did was make those trucks smaller and put a a six cylinder in them.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. But they're pretty nice. I will say that much. They are very nice.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, and what does your wife drive?

SPEAKER_00:

She drives the Highlander.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, now all right, okay, all right. I didn't know if just because you do what you do, you had like matching trucks to drive to them.

SPEAKER_00:

No, no, she has the tour vehicle, that's the car that gets us the Nashville in a hurry without tossing our an arm and a leg.

SPEAKER_02:

Totally get that, totally get that. But uh yeah, what um so I just it's amazing that you you have your company, you're doing all this, you're putting music out, it's being played on the radio. Um, you got the what we call secondary markets. I know that doesn't, you know, the only people that means anything to is radio people in ours, and everybody else, forget it. And as long as your music, and the way I see it, as long as your music's available online and through all the DSPs, I mean it's there for everybody.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_02:

And you know what? And I really thoroughly enjoy talking to the independent artist such as yourself. Because I'll be honest with you, there's a lot of mainstream artists out there, you listen to their music, then you listen to an independent, and it's like this is even better.

SPEAKER_00:

Sure.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, and it's happened, I've heard that. I mean, I I don't mean I'm not trying to uh you know diss anybody here. I mean, I love it all, but still there's a lot of music such as yours that uh needs to be uh heard more, needs to be out there, needs to you know be played more. But uh, you know, you get into some of these major stations, they're they're they just go with a very strict playlist, and that's that, which sucks for people like you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, sure. Yeah, it's it's a hard, hard market to break into, that is for sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Unbelievable. You know, Jacob, it's been great catching up with you. You know, too. And uh, you know, are the girls in bed?

SPEAKER_00:

They're not, they're probably watching a movie or or something.

SPEAKER_02:

They know you're you should have told them you were gonna be on and they could have tuned in. Then they could have in with it.

SPEAKER_00:

They are a hoop.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. What's um let me ask a couple of crazy questions. What's the last thing that Really made you mad.

SPEAKER_00:

The last thing that made me mad. Um well, the the last thing that made me mad, uh I I was uh running an excavator earlier today over on our new property, and uh I realized that where we wanted to build the house, we're not gonna be able to build the house because it's solid ledge and I can't get uh power over there underground.

SPEAKER_02:

So when you talk about ledge, that's rock.

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm. Wow, yeah, like it's just limestone, yeah. Yeah, you just can't chip away at it enough to I mean you could, but it would cost you so much money, it would be ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02:

How would you move? You know, I know we get away from the music, like I say, there's certain things that I can just chat about forever, but sure. How would you break that up? I mean, would you have to use some sort of explosive or are the the teeth on the excavator sharp enough to to chip away at it?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean they make you can get a rock hammer that goes on an excavator and it's it's like a hydraulic hammer, but it's like a jackhammer, but uh hey, there's one of the little monkeys.

SPEAKER_02:

Hi, I know your daddy from Nashville. Pretty cool, huh? You like to play shows. Do you like the music? Yeah, you do too. Oh, you're being shy. Now, which one is this? This is Anna Ray. Hi, Anna Ray. I'm Skip. I'm a friend of your dad's. You know where I am? I'm in Syracuse, New York.

SPEAKER_00:

Remember when we drove through New York?

SPEAKER_02:

He drove right by my house and waited. You're probably sleeping. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Is the youngest one in the spring?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Oh, okay. Oh, there you are.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm five. You're five. Yeah, this is great. Who's your favorite musician? Laney Wilson. You know, it's it has talked to Laney Wilson.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, yes. And uh, we've done some shows with her. She is uh a wonderful woman, and there's a good example of how people should be because she is so down to earth and just cool. She doesn't take fame like the way you think, you know, she's just like you and I. She's like your dad and I. We're just real people. Yep. Yep, yeah, exactly. So, do you know? Uh, you do you get snow? You don't get snow, right?

SPEAKER_00:

I we get we do from time to time. It doesn't stay around long, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, I was gonna tell the kids that if they wanted to play in the snow, we got two and a half feet the other day.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't know where they just took off to, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And if you drive just a few miles north of Syracuse, they got like five feet. It's what we call lake effect, blows in off the lake. It's just yeah, crazy. It's crazy. It's like it could be sunny here and a blizzard just a few miles away. It's crazy. Yep, crazy, crazy. Jacob, uh, quickly though, somebody wants to log out and and get a hold of your music. Uh, your website is what?

SPEAKER_00:

Jacobsmalymusic.com. And uh the same on all of your uh social media platforms as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep, just go and get the music. If they go to iTunes, they can download it. Exactly. And all of your music's up there, correct? I mean uh it is you got new stuff coming.

SPEAKER_00:

You've got a new song out now. Got a new song out now on radio. Um, we just released uh another song to streaming uh two months ago, I guess, called Let Me Live My Life. It's just a uh patriotic anthem, I guess you'd say. And um we probably got 12 or 15 more in the pipeline that I gotta go back to music city and record.

SPEAKER_02:

So when you go back to Music City, also known as Nashville, um do you take your band with you or are you using musicians that are available as musicians?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we use uh session musicians.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, okay. That's cool though, how all that comes together. A lot of people don't realize that.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, there's artists that do, but it's a wild process, you know. It you can do it, you know. We've we've actually uh recorded some stuff with the band, and we will record more stuff, uh, probably live stuff more than anything. Um it just takes so long. The the studio musicians, you know, they can go in and cut a song in eight minutes, they're amazing, and it's done, you know. And that studio time is not cheap, so it that you know it can get really expensive really fast.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and you know, those musicians are top-notch, like you say, they can bang it out. You just tell them what you want and they're gonna do it. Yep. Um, it's just it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's very cool. Um, it's very cool for me because I'm a music nerd, you know, to to have uh Scotty Sanders walk in and play pedal steel on my stuff, and and Brent Mason wrote the the lead uh solo to a couple songs, and it's just like that is so cool, you know. That's the same dude that played Alan Jackson's music, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Exactly, exactly. A lot of a lot of viewers or listeners don't realize that, but uh yeah, that's the way it works. It's it's pretty cool. Pretty cool, it really is. Um, I was gonna ask you something else, and I just totally had a skip happens moment. Um crap. But anyways, okay, okay, we can we'll we'll move on. But uh, I want to say thank you uh taking the time out of your night and uh being here tonight on Skip Happens. It's always good to catch up with you. Um, you're one of the good guys, and I look forward to um, you know, my wife will be with me possibly in in Nashville. Sure. I look forward to uh seeing all you say. Hello. Do you like to play in the snow? You like the snow? Yeah. All right, what's your favorite food? Do you like spaghetti? No, do you like Mexican food? Yeah. Do you like uh do you go to McDonald's? Mm-hmm. Are you a cat? Do you have pets? She has pets.

SPEAKER_00:

She has a cat and a dog.

SPEAKER_02:

Cat and a dog? All right, very cool, very cool. Yeah, we have we're a yellow lab family. So uh right, my friend, I'm gonna let you go, but thank you so much for joining Skip Happening.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02:

It's so good to catch up with you. Uh, like I said, you're one of the good guys. And um, you know, here's the deal.

unknown:

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh, if you're watching this and you're listening to this either way, and you leave uh wondering what's going on, you know what I'm just trying to think, find my notes here, but they're gone. But uh this if you're ever wondered about being an independent artist, doing what Jacob's doing, this is the podcast you need to listen to. This one right here. He it tells you the way it is, and uh it's gonna leave you like, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. So do me a favor though, go look up his music. Uh follow him on his on the socials, on the website, get it all. And uh, Jacob, thanks for being here tonight on Skip Happens. Tell the fam I said hello as well. Stay right there. All right, good night, everybody. Thanks for watching.

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Skip Clark

Host