Skip Happens Podcast - Every Boot Has a Story!

From Backyards To Big Stages

• Skip Clark

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SPEAKER_00:

Hello, everybody, and uh welcome to the Wolf Ten. Here we are. My name's Kip Clark, y'all know that. And of course, my good friend Drew Baldridge. And if you are a fan to the Wolf, which I know you are, you've seen him in town a few times. And uh, you know, he went from I want to say here to like here, and it's so freaking awful. I don't know if there's anybody that has worked harder at what you do, your craft, your passion, your dedication than you, Drew. How are you, my friend? It's good to see you.

SPEAKER_01:

So good to be seen, Skip. Thanks so much for having me on here. And this has just been a uh um man, it's been a whirlwind couple years for me. And you know, I owe that to Country Radio. You got y'all playing my my first single, She's Somebody's Daughter, and having you know, an independent number one, which is crazy and very just life-changing. And then last year that sent me on on tour with Cody Johnson and baby Zimmerman, and we went overseas with with Jelly Roll for 20 dates, and now we're about to we're gearing up to go out on the road with Luke Bryan this summer, which is just wild. Yeah, you know, I owe that all the country radio. You guys gave me a second top 10 with tough people, which is crazy. Now we have another song y'all are playing called Rebel, and man, I'm just very, very blessed. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

No, you know, we know good talent, and when we see somebody like you and somebody working as hard as you, you deserve to be heard and you deserve everything that is coming your way. I know you're out on tour with Luke because you're gonna be right up the road at CMAC. I plan on stopping by and saying hello that day. But uh, you know, I can remember uh it wasn't uh just a couple of years ago, you came out with some with uh she's somebody's daughter, and we were doing a show, and you you went, you drove, you drove your vehicle to to the uh to the venue. You opened up the trunk, you took out your merch, you were selling your merch. I mean, just you know, everything from the very get-go, from the beginning to where you are today.

SPEAKER_01:

Well man, you know, skip. I grew up on a farm and it was kind of just do it yourself, figure it out. You know, every we didn't have a very rich farm, we drove old tractors, and I watched my grandpa break down at every harvest, and he would be underneath the tractor trying to fix it. And you know, my brother would be there and he would be trying to fix it too, and we'd go get a part and we'd bring it back, and that part wouldn't work. And it was always I always just go back to that of you know, you just figure it out, you figure it out. And I'm I'm had my music career very similar to that. You know, I had a record deal for 10 years and that put out a couple songs that record company shut down and it was kind of like what do I do? And you know, I I wasn't gonna take no for an answer, I was gonna figure it out and um drove all around the country, just me in a little car and a backyards. Yeah, I was playing people's backyards and you know, hired my own radio staff and funded it with streams of the songs that were coming in on prayers, and you know, people like you would let me play shows, and I would drive up there and hope that I would sell enough merch to pay for my gas to get up the show, and and that always worked out. Um, you know, like I said, now we're life's very, very different, and having a bus and and people and and people that are I was telling my wife this last night. I have so many people on my crew now that it's not just me and how overwhelming that is when you start looking at, you know, I was in the studio recording last week, which I'm about to go right now and put vocals on those songs. And I was looking around the room, and I have a producer and I have this whole band, I have my manager, and I have my booking agent behind me, and I have, you know, my label head that's there, and all these people. And I just I got overwhelmed and was just like, man, all these people are counting on me, you know, to to win. And I have a lot of uh my band guys were also there and their salaries, and you just want to win because I I watched whenever we win, everybody wins around you as a team, and you just want everybody around you to have that success with you, and that's been one of the most fun parts of all this is having your team go with you.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, I I think back when you know you were playing those backyards and somewhere right here in central New York, little do people know, but you are actually in towns like Tully and areas that you know that surrounded Syracuse, and uh people had no idea that that was you, but you were doing the backyards. So when you look out now and you see the packed rooms, the the amphitheaters, the wherever you're playing, it's packed. What's the first thought that hits you?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh man, I don't know. It's uh like when I look down and I see people in backyard shirts, uh, that really hits me differently. You know, I think um when I go out there and when we were overseas and we were playing with jelly roll and it was stadiums of 20,000 people, and I was just you know, I was so humbled that I got to be in that position. You know, it really hits me of like, wow, I can't believe this is happening of 14 years of this dream and chasing it. But also I I look out and I see a lot of work that I have to do myself because you know, these are I I want to be the headliners of those places. You know, I look out and I see people that are just discovering me, or I see people that might not know every song I'm playing, and I want them to know every one of them. I want to be Luke Bryan and have 30 number ones where I can't even play all my number ones, you know, out at a show. And so, you know, I look out and I see, man, I I still have work to do, and I have this drive in me still to, you know, if I have to pack up my car and do it all over again by myself, I would have another hit because I just love making music that make people feel something. And you know, all three of my songs at radio have done that with Rebel and Tough People, and she's somebody's daughter, and I just uh I just want the music that I'm creating now for everybody to hear it. So I gotta I got work to do. I got work to do, Skip. I gotta keep going.

SPEAKER_00:

You're doing it, you're doing it, you're doing it, and I'm loving that. So Drew, I have to ask you this is there anything about those early days that you oddly miss?

SPEAKER_01:

Man, yeah, I miss uh not having opinions. I think uh I and I know that sounds crazy because I love my team and I love everybody around me. I'm very thankful for those opinions. But sometimes when it's just you, you're rolling and you're just like, hey, if this doesn't work, it's on me, you know. But when you're sending songs around and and all these things, they're just everybody's like, I like this one and I like this one, but this one's not my favorite, and then other people like that one too. And then you get in your head and you're like, Oh my goodness, which one is good and which one is not? And I just I think uh some of those opinions overwhelm me sometimes, and so I do I do miss that. And I do miss, and I know this sounds crazy, play in people's backyards in a unique way. Like, I'm trying to tell my team, like, give me 10 a year where I can go out and I can just post on socials, pick 10 people. Oh my god! Because I it makes me realize why I do this, it keeps my heart in line of like I'm gonna do this for people, it's not for glamour, it's not for um getting fancier trucks or whatever it is. It's like, no, this is like a real um decision discipleship for me. Like, I I love seeing what my music does in people's lives and helps them, and and so being there with the people is totally different than being in an arena, totally different than being in an amphitheater, um, or even in a club, you know, being one-on-one, seeing a little girl fighting cancer and being able to sing her tough people is is totally totally different.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you do need to enjoy some of the fruits of your labor because you're working very hard at what you're doing, and I know you already got you got lyric, and now he's gonna have a sibling, so which is what pretty much almost any day now, correct?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, we're not doing a lot of touring right now. That's why we're just writing and recording and in the studio because I'm only going out and playing like one show a week, flying out, flying back just in case, because we're you know, we're a month or so away from baby number two, a month and a half, and you know, we're another little boy, which is crazy. So we're gonna have two little boys running around, and my wife is such a rock star for letting me letting me do this, you know, letting me travel and be a creator. And this, I really believe that music and this lifestyle is not built for marriages, it's very difficult. And you know, you can really you can really go down a wrong path of putting music first constantly. So figuring out that balance of life of getting them out on the road and making sure I'm home enough, making sure I'm out on the road enough is something that I'm still still learning.

SPEAKER_00:

Don't let it consume you, but yeah, yeah, I mean you have to to a certain extent, but then again, you've got a great home life, you've got a beautiful home, beautiful wife, you got a little one, and another one on the way. Dad needs to be there. So, and you understand that. Talk to me a little bit about tough people, it hits hard, it doesn't sugarcoat life. I know you're talking about the little girl, you're talking about cancer. Uh, is that how did that song come about?

SPEAKER_01:

Man, I went in a writing room with two of my favorite songwriter buddies, um, and Adam Sanders and Jordan Walker. And they've, you know, Adam Sanders also wrote Rebel with me, and and Jordan Walker has co-written several songs of mine. And um, we were sitting down in there, and Adam goes, I've been saving this title for you because I feel like you're living it right now. And I was like, What do you mean? He was like, Man, you've started your own label, you're up against you're you're David versus Goliath, you're in the toughest time of your life, you're in a battle. And he said, It just says tough times, or no, he said hard times. Hard times make tough people. And he said, I just feel like you're super tough right now, man. You've had to, you've taken shots by every label in Nashville. And he said, I feel like this can relate to you. And Jordan sitting across from me is like, Why would you say hard times? Why don't you just say tough times make tough people? That makes more sense. And I was like, Yeah, I said, This really resonates with me, but we want to, I said, we need to make sure that it's not written about, you know, our lives of songwriters or anything. Like, my my life, my hardships are so small compared to what's really tough out there. And so we we sat down and wrote those verses really quick of real struggles that were going on. I mean, we even talk about school shootings in these verses, which I think some people are like, are you sure you can really put that out? And I was like, Man, at that time we had a yeah, we had a school shooting right here in Nashville, you know, at that moment. And I was like, what better way to highlight to to give honor to these people that are running in? I I can't do that. I I don't have that innate ability when bullets are flying to just go in and and say, Hey, I'm I'm here to protect. I don't have that, but tough people, there's tough people that do, you know, and I I can't imagine fighting cancer at four years old, but there's tough little girls and boys that do. And um, we had a big tornado here in Nashville, and I got I went over to Mount Juliet and I helped, you know, cut up some trees off houses and saw houses completely leveled. And those are tough people, and I wanted to raise them up. And I was so excited when when radio got behind this because a lot of people were telling me it's too real, it's too real. You're gonna nobody no way these people are radio is gonna want to play that. It's too, it's too hits home too much. And I was like, Man, this is what we need. This is what you know, I feel like radio and everybody out there actually needs.

SPEAKER_00:

It it is, and if you can uh you grab the heart, I mean that's that's half the battle right there. And country music has always been about getting through stuff. And uh do you feel a responsibility when you write songs like that?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I feel a responsibility, especially for like you know, our new single Rebel. There's a big responsibility with living the path that I'm preaching, you know, and and that is that is hard because we're you know, as a believer and as the path of that singer, you can be a hypocrite really quick, and there's a lot of eyes on you um to make sure you're walking right. And um, we're human, so we don't always walk right, you know what I mean? We we struggle, we have we have paths that that sometimes we fall, and um so so keeping that path of of trying to walk um in that light where people portray you is sometimes hard and difficult. And um, but I also feel like these are the messages that you know God God put on my heart that I need to put out into the world. And um, you know, somebody like Tough People when people are coming up and they're like, Do you have a hard time hearing how these stories are so heavy? And I'm like, but I feel like that's why I'm here because they need to talk about these stories, you know, they need somebody to lay them out. And you know, if they're fighting cancer, if they're you know, lost their dad, or that because of you know, hey, I listen to she's somebody's daughter to cope because my dad's no longer here, or you know, I just think lay it on me, you know, like I'm good. I'm good with that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, rebel rebel feels like a live show song. There's just everything about that with you out there belting it out. It's just I'm a rebel. I love this.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that's that's why we were pre-recorded it and made it the single. I think every time we played it live, it was a standing ovation. You know, I think um there was a lot of people that felt this way in the world that were glorifying wrong things, and it's not political, it's not a political statement of either side. You know, it's I've had I see in the comments where you know the left and the right are both saying it's for them, which I think is is perfect. That means that we hit the nail on the head.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, when you look at it that way, absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

And it's like, hey, this is this is about treating people right, showing love, being a good husband, walking away from temptation, being a good role model for your parents. Those are rebel qualities today. And I think too, like, I I know there's a I've seen you know people get arrested and they get mugshots on their t-shirts and they think it's really cool. And I've always had a hard, hard time with that. And I'm like, why are we glorifying this when there's other when there's really good things going on in the world that we could really glorify? And those are rebel qualities right now. And so, you know, I think the hook kind of says it all. If the whole wide world wants to dance with the devil, I guess you could call me a rebel because I just don't want to, I don't that doesn't, you know, that doesn't get me going. Seeing people do good is what really excites me, and that's what the song is about.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. And I love that twist on that. It's just it's the way it should be. Um, what is uh one moment, let's say, in the set that you look forward to when you get out there on stage?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh man, singing she's somebody's daughter, it's my favorite. It is uh it is a blessing like watching I've seen so many parents holding their daughters, big cowboy dads having their little girls in their arms and crying to them, and or just a mom and a and a little girl crying because their dad's no longer there, and just seeing the the impact that that song has made and and knowing that it's came it came from such a real place for me, for my wife. And um, that is that never some people always I've had other artists tell me it's like, man, I get so tired of singing my very first number one song, it just wears me out. And I'm just like, man, I don't know how this is like the song that changed everything for me. And so, no, I never I never get tired of it. I love seeing the impact that it's made. And in the set, as soon as I come out there, sometimes I'm like, Man, I wish I could sing She's Somebody's Daughter twice or three times because I just love it so much.

SPEAKER_00:

And and I understand why. And I I have three daughters, and I remember when that song came out and they asked for pictures of you know, us that work in radio with our daughters when you were presenting that song. I don't know if it was CRS or it was a concert or it was somewhere, but it was so to watch it go across the back screen with everybody with their daughters. I mean, I I'm the first to tell you, I ball like a baby, and that was so well.

SPEAKER_01:

Thanks, Kip. And we were out with Bailey all summer. I had all my fans send in pictures of them and their daughters. And I put them up, I put them up behind me on the wall when we sang that song. And it was it was always special if somebody noticed, recognized themselves. Um, I'm like, oh my goodness, that's me and my dad up there. So that's that's really special.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. And I remember I remember that show with Bailey. Your wife was with you, and I think Lyric was with you as well. And you brought them out on stage, and that was so awesome, brother. I think I took a picture and I sent it to you. So it was it was just it was just such a wonderful moment. Uh, she's somebody's daughter, was uh wasn't that with you and your wife in the wedding, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that that video is actually our wedding day, which is crazy to think about. A lot of people were always like, Did you put on a wedding just for that video? I was like, No, no, this was actually this was our wedding day, and we had the footage already. And obviously, being an independent artist and just trying to figure out an idea, I was like, Why don't we just her mom sent me a bunch of home videos and I went through all these home videos and found these spots of Katie as a little girl? And I said, Man, how how special would that be going back and forth from her home videos to where she is now as a woman? And um, and also there were some cuts in there of me singing in the uh in the studio singing the song. But it's amazing to see that how that video has just reached so many people and and uh you know been part of so many weddings, you know. Yep, and it always will.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, then that was a good start. I love that. Uh you've come a long way. Uh, when you're standing side stage before you walk out, what do you remind yourself? Oh man, I know I got weird questions.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's I'm excited, but also, you know, there's it just depends on the show. You know, there's there's a lot of different things. Like if you're out there and you know, the the crowd is is roaring and there's 12,000 people to remind myself, like, don't take it for granted because you know you don't know how long you'll get to do this. And and I know that probably sounds dark to some people, but I've had I've had record deals, I've lost record deals. I've you know been in this journey for a long time to see the roller coaster ride. And so going out and really enjoying that moment of of making an impact with my music and really seeing people connect to it is is something I love to do. And you know, there's there's some shows where you're like, oh man, this is a private gig, you know, I don't know if anybody knows. I'm sitting in the corner with my acoustic guitar. I mean, that still happens, you know, today where it's like, hey, can you fly up here and play for a you know, can you come across the country and play a Super Bowl party where there's gonna be a bunch of football players and really the only songs they're gonna know are your hits, you know? But we want you to play for 45 minutes, just you and a guitar, and you're like, oh my goodness, like then you got to prepare mentally totally different, you know, like going in and saying, Okay, well, I gotta be an entertainer here, and I really got to turn it on and figure out how I'm gonna make these people laugh and smile and feel something all at the same time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, quickly. Uh, I know I gotta let you go here, but the the best part of tour life, and what's the worst part of tour life?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh man, the best part now is traveling in a bus. Like, I cannot. I I did 14 years in a van, which was the worst part of touring, like 40 connerine van. Breakdowns, breakdowns is the worst part of touring, and I've pre I would put myself out there as the most breakdowns in country music history. I mean, I had so many breakdowns when I had a van and a trailer, and I'd be on the side of the road changing tires and and you know, dealing with oh my goodness, so many issues of my old van of just constant, constant breakdowns. And so driving myself 3 a.m., you know, to the next gig and waking up and no sleep. And so now being able to play a show and just get back there in my bed and lay down. Oh my goodness, that's there's nothing like that.

SPEAKER_00:

With that, with that being said, bus or hotel, bus for sure, because everything's there.

SPEAKER_01:

It just it's a house, it's your second house. You leave everything in the back. I have a closet, you know. It's definitely definitely bus, bus life. Even when we fly dates and we do hotels, I'm always like, Oh, I missed the bus. Because it's a topic green room, too, because wherever you're at, you have your space, and yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't expensive, but it's good to have. It's good to have, and you deserve it, and you've got it, and you're making it work. And I know we're gonna see you out to uh you're you're up here this summer, and uh hopefully everything will be good with the family. You're gonna have another another little boy. And uh, do you have a name picked out? Wait a minute, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, weren't you just putting it out there online? Did I see a Facebook hit okay?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we were just like, Hey, we're struggling. Lyric is such a cool name, and everybody was always like, Well, you can't name your second kid anything like just Henry or whatever, nothing against Henry's, but but just something that's like very basic because it's got to be everybody thinks it needs to be music related or something starts with an L. And so we're we've been struggling. We got a couple options, but last night I posted and was just like, Hey, throw your names in the comments. Let's see what we can do.

SPEAKER_00:

Did you um jump on AI and just kind of throw it in there and see what it comes up?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, nothing yet. We've tried it all, man. We've we've thrown it out there to the every AI system there is, and nothing come back that we're excited about.

SPEAKER_00:

I think we need to do a little bit of a contest to name your second little boy.

SPEAKER_01:

There we go, there we go. I like it. I like it.

SPEAKER_00:

There you go. Drew, I want to thank you for taking the time. I know we went a little bit over, but uh want to thank you for taking the time. It's always good to see you, my friend. I know we became friends a while ago, and you know, I see what you're doing out there, and I'll drop you a text every every so often. My little guy, Zach, a big fan. You've seen pictures of him. Uh you know, life is so wonderful. You're so blessed, I'm so blessed, and we're doing what we love. And uh, I just wish you much, much success. And I'm gonna see you uh real soon, I'm sure. So I can't wait, brother. Appreciate you, bud. Yeah, maybe at CRS. You're gonna be bouncing around. I think yeah, yeah. I'll see you there. We'll have a drink. All right, there you go. Drew Baldridge, everybody, and uh thanks for joining us, Drew. Have a great day.

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Skip Clark

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