From Railroad Tracks To Country Radio

Transcript

Welcome To The Pod Zone

SPEAKER_00 0:37

It's another episode of Skip Happens. Subscribe to Skip Happens on YouTube and don't miss an episode.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

And uh here we go. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another edition of Skip Happens. Of course, my name is Skip Clark, and uh Skip's gonna happen tonight, but it's gonna be so frickin' cool. It's gonna happen like you've never seen it happen before. Uh, tonight, right here on the podcast, I've got a guy who's already been behind some of the biggest country songs. Uh, he's now stepping up and telling his own story. He's written uh smashes like uh Rockin a Hard Place.

unknown 1:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Yeah, I did.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Uh Corey Kent and This Heart, which is very cool. And um, of course, Jack and Jill. And I know there's a few others. Man, I went, I went online earlier and I just said, holy crap. A lot of it I didn't know and I should have known, but uh I didn't realize that you're gonna be in the pod zone tonight. Uh now he's making uh noise as an artist, and he's got a brand new song out. We're gonna talk about that here in a minute. It's hitting country radio pretty soon, if I'm not mistaken. I know we're gonna be playing it, The Wolf. I can promise you that. Uh oh yeah, from small town Missouri to Nashville. Uh, this dude's got one heck of a ride already. Jacob Hackworth, welcome to the pod zone. My friend, it's so good to see you.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Yeah, I'm stoked. I'm stoked to be here. Thanks.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Yeah, well, welcome to the house.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Yeah, man. This is this is sick.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

How often you just hit up radio stations. You're on the uh the radio tour, but how I don't I don't know if anybody's ever said, hey, come on over to the house. We're gonna do uh we're gonna bring you into a pod zone and we're gonna do the podcast.

Railroad Work And Learning Guitar

SPEAKER_01 2:20

First time. Definitely the first time for me. And I'm glad that it's this. Yeah, this is a perfect first time for me. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Thank you. No, I I I'm so glad you're here, dude. I'm actually a little giddy-giddy because you know, this heart with Corey Kent, and of course, you know, Bailey's song, uh, Rockin' a Hard Place. I get like, wow, this dude, this dude has written these number one songs. He's gonna be in my house. But uh, you know, you're like the unsung hero. When you think about it, you've been writing for how long?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Um, I mean, I I signed my first publishing deal in uh at the end of 22. Wow, 2022.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Okay. When did you move to Nashville from Missouri?

SPEAKER_01 2:57

I I moved at the end of 2019. That's when I made the the leap.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

And were you writing before you moved, or did you say this is what I want to do? And then you just kind of said, All right, I'm going.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

I I started I started writing. Um, I worked for the railroad out of high school for four years. Wow, how cool. Yeah, that's that was that's what I was gonna do for like that. Was gonna be my career. And um, you know, during that time I was young. I uh, you know, I wasn't old enough to go to the bars or do anything that any of the guys were doing. So I wound up buying a guitar and I'd always sang, but I was like, I mean, if I'm gonna sing, I gotta have a guitar or I look pretty goofy asking somebody to play for me all the time. And uh I bought a guitar and that was when I kind of that's when I got into the songwriting stuff.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Um can I ask, like, how young were you when you got your guitar? I mean, are you did you learn on your own a little bit later on? Yeah, and here you are?

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Uh yeah, I bought a guitar when I was 20 and then just YouTube chords and I sat in a hotel room and and worked 20, I think it was we worked 21 days on and six days off. So I was gone for 21 days. So I just spent my evenings picking up.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Because of the train. Yeah. What were you like a conductor?

SPEAKER_01 4:04

I was I was on track maintenance, so I built the train. Oh, okay. You're one of those guys. Yeah, I was swinging a hammer and doing it.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Oh man, no, no, that's not for me.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

I never realized how normal. Well, you're a big dude, so I was in a lot better shape then. I've definitely I've definitely gained a little little weight since I left the railroad.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

But you had to be in shape. Yeah. I had no choice. That's a tough job. I mean, I I could never do it. I sit in a radio station and push buttons, and that's how well I didn't know any better.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

I didn't know any better. I I was having fun, I was making good money. I was just gonna say the money had to be all right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was good. I mean, I was I was young. I mean, so you gave that up to go and do this. Yeah, sure enough. Yeah, yeah. I actually, I mean, it wasn't planned. I gave it up to be home more. And uh when I had got home, I was kind of like, well, I don't really know what to do with myself. And uh that's when I I met some people and started playing some shows around town.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Then how did you get into the songwriting aspect of it? You went to Nashville, you obviously you've done very well.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Uh, you know, I I see you just a couple of weeks ago in Nashville and listening to you and now signed with MCA Records, which is, dude, I just gotta put my beer up for that one. This is cheers. Cheers, yes, absolutely. Um that's huge. Who did you ever think this would be happening to you?

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Uh truly, I mean, I've I've thought about this a lot. And no, I mean, I I didn't even when I moved to Nashville, definitely before I moved to Nashville, it was always like a I mean, you see it, you see all these all these guys and girls that are, you know, blowing up and famous, and you hear them on the radio, and you're like, that would be insane to get to do that. But it was it's so far-fetched um in a place like where I grew up that you know it doesn't seem like something that you can actually obtain. And um, but when I started playing music, I slowly just became obsessed with it, and that's when I became obsessed with the songwriting um stuff, and I was just all the way in. And so from the time I quit the railroad, it wasn't it wasn't but little over a year, and I had moved to Nashville.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Yeah, it was it was quick.

Moving From Missouri To Nashville

SPEAKER_02 6:03

I mean, it was I mean Can I ask how old were you when you decided to go?

SPEAKER_01 6:07

I was 20, I was 22. Jeez. Yep. I was 22 when I moved. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

You're you're going to a city where you know you don't know anybody, but you're gonna make those connections. Yeah, you know, you gotta start somewhere. And every artist that comes into the pod zone, uh, we sit and we talk about that. Like, what was it like? You know, you made that move, you walked away from family, you went to you went to pursue your dream.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

It was scary. It was I mean, it was it was it wasn't as scary. I had two of uh two of my buddies um move with me, and they we played they were they play in my band still. Um, and so we we moved together to do it. Um and so it made it a little easier moving, but once we got there, you know, it was like, holy, what are we gonna do? You know, I mean, no jobs, no like nothing. You know, so we had to we had to kind of start at square one, but it was so fun looking back. At the time, I'm I was a little scared, but I mean it was it was a new place, you know, and it was way more change anything. Yeah, not a chance, not a chance.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

So you went from like uh a small town, West Plains, Missouri.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Yeah, sure enough.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

And you moved to the big city of Nashville. I I call it a big city now because yeah, it's a big city. It's growing. Uh it's grown it every year when we go back for our seminar, it's like, where did that come from? Where did that building come from? Who's that? It just keeps expanding. But uh, what's the most small town thing about you that Nashville still hasn't knocked out of you?

SPEAKER_01 7:29

The most small town thing about me, probably that I just like to ride around in my truck. I like to I love a dirt road. I I remember when I first moved to town, I drove probably 45 minutes one night at like four in the morning. I'd work I worked for the bars and I'd got off work and I drove so far out that um there there was no sign of me drinking a beer like I'd like to have done out in the country. But I uh I find I finally finally found some some dirt roads and I sat out there all night. Yeah, that's that's my that's what I love for sure. Yeah, it's a red dirt road.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Plenty of dirt road. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Um that's why I I I just bought a brand new canyon. I've had it two days, it's sitting out in the driveway. It's an off-road vehicle, and I you know thinking that that's pretty cool to get off-road.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

100%. It's the best feeling ever.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Pop the tailgate. I mean, I hate to say it, but pop the tailgate, have a cold one. No, I love saying that. Yes. Go somewhere, sit. Have a beer. Have a beer. Peace and quiet, man. Exactly. Um, I saw that Justin Bieber is one of your influences.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

100%. Yeah, really massive influence.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

All right, which honestly, you know, I respect. Be real though. How deep did that Bieber phase go with you?

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Uh well, he it was. I mean, I I definitely begged my mom to take me to the city. I definitely begged my mom to take me to Walmart so I could get the My World CD. And she bought the My World CD, which was his first record. And uh I I wore it out. I still I I could probably I could probably get through every song on the record, lyric for lyric, if I really, really tried. I I I wore it out. But I'm still a massive fan of. I'm not judging. Oh, hey man, I'm I'm that's good. I'm all the way in. I'm all the way in. I had the hair too. I love the flip.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Yeah, you know, I've it was hit it all going for it. Yeah, yeah. It was perfect timing. Did you see him on the award show here just recently? Oh, yeah. Yeah. It was like, I don't know what he was trying to do, though. Wasn't he just in his boxers?

SPEAKER_01 9:17

I think it was a pair of shorts. It might have been a pair of boxers. Yeah, I don't know. But uh, I mean, dude, he's just doing his thing. He's he's just a beaver, you know.

unknown 9:24

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Don't do that. Well, I wouldn't I wouldn't look as cool if I did it. I might freak some people out.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Yeah, no comment. All right. Uh did you um, you know, because doing what you're doing, did you ever stand in front of the mirror as a kid and absolutely perform like the room was sold out?

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Oh yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Really? Like that was you?

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Yes. I had like a like a I remember my mom had like an old dresser drawer with like the big mirror on the on the back of it, uh, and it had like a stool, and I had like a wiffle ball taped to it, and I would sit sit on the stool and totally totally dive in on the just like the broke down part of a show where the spotlights on you.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Who did you uh try to the hardest to sound like? Was it uh I made some notes here, Bieber, Flats, El Dean, somebody else?

SPEAKER_01 10:09

It was just a mixture. I I fell in love with with like the singing part with you know um with Bieber and then Rascal Flats and then the songwriting stuff with with with flats, and then I went to an Al Dean show and I was like, that dude's badass. Like that guy's way tougher than the other guys. I want to be like that. And um, you know, and I think that just it all just meshed into one. And people when I first moved to town, they they kind of they'd be like, Yeah, what's up, Jacob Al Dean? They'd kind of say that I sounded like Al Dean. And I was like, Don't say that. It's not good, right? Yeah, I don't want to sound like anyone, you know.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Yeah, maybe, but is that true as an artist? You don't want to sound like somebody else. I think that it's good. You may be influenced a little bit, you may have that, but you don't want to sound like that for sure. Am I correct by saying that? Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

I mean unique characteristics of I mean, everyone comes from something for falling in love with something musically. And so, I mean, you're always gonna have those characteristics, but uh yeah, you definitely want to be authentic in yourself, sure.

Influences And Finding Your Own Sound

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Wow, you know, I like I said, I saw you a couple of weeks ago, and just seeing you in that room with other other artists, up-and-coming artists, was it just it was a good time. And beat up, if you're watching this, uh kudos to you, my friend. 100%. Kim and I, we keep track of each other pretty close. He was a man, he was a good time. He definitely a good time. And it's great that you got the label to back you up to get you in there to do that. Uh people like your label reps. I know Summer is here tonight, but uh, everybody from the top all the way down, you know, they know good talent when they see it and when they hear it. And that night you just blew us away. And then Summer's like, I'm bringing them to your radio station. It's annoying now. You're bringing them to my house. Now we're here. Now we're chilling in the basement, and we're we're in the pod zone. Yeah, yeah, with a beer. With a beer. How often does that now? If you were at the radio station, we would not be having cold beer.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Yeah, well, I'm glad that we're doing it here. I'm definitely glad.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

I am too. Believe me, I am too. So you worked for the railroad uh before in uh before going all in on music. Uh sounds like the beginning of a country song. Have you uh taken those experiences and kind of put it to music a little bit? Being a songwriter?

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Can you man, I I was yeah, I think I I got asked that um just here recently. And I haven't I haven't sat down and wrote the like railroad song or anything, you know, that I'm like that I want to, but um, it's kind of one of those songs that I feel like are gonna it's just gonna happen when it happens. It's something I can't just like sit down and just do. It's it's uh it's but do you think about that? Uh I think about writing a railroad song or do I think about the railroad?

SPEAKER_02 12:33

Well, do you think about writing a railroad song because of your background?

SPEAKER_01 12:36

100%. Yeah, I think it would definitely be awesome to to have and like especially have something cool. But uh, you know, it's it's the railroad song. I've heard that, yeah. That really brantly Brantley had a uh song called Off the Rails. Oh, that's right. He's he's the man. I love Brantley too. Yep. Um so I mean he kind of he spoiled that one for me, but uh, you know, yeah, I definitely have thought about it, but I want it to be cool and I want it to be, you know, me, and um I just haven't landed on it yet.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

What was the first song that uh you know, what was the first song you learned on guitar that made you feel halfway dangerous?

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Oh, the first song probably should be.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

If my questions are a little out of bounds, no, I love this. I love this.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

That's a great question. Um, because I can remember. It was the Luke Combs' first record that came out, and uh that's like what I really like when I was learning to play. That's what I was like, man, this guy plays a guitar, writes all his songs, sings his ass off. I'm like, I want to do that, you know. So that's kind of what I fell in love with first. But um I think I can remember like I played a song called uh She Got the Best of Me. That was like one of the first ones that I learned. And uh that's I mean, it's still one of my favorites of his. And but uh yeah, I mean, he just he he had like a he used a pretty um, I'm not gonna say simple chord progression, but kind of. But it works. And uh, and but he I mean the melodies and the lyric, I mean, you don't need to have a crazy chord progression when you sing your ass off and write your ass off.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Oh, exactly. It works. Yeah, it does. Just comes together. It did work. Yeah. Tell me about um, tell me about your hometown, uh, West Plains. If I were to, I I would assume what's the population?

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Oh, I think it's like 11,000 now. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

Now. Yeah. Okay. So if I was to drive into White Plains, or West Plains, rather, uh, what would be the first thing I would see if I come in on the main drag?

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Um, it depends on which way you came in. If you came in on the north side, you'd see a um a like a truck stop called 14 Junction. That's what we call it. I think it's like a Phillips 66, but we all call it 14 Junction. Okay. And then if you came in on the south side, you'd run into you'd see a racetrack, like a dirt track. And then uh after a while, you'd see like a when you got to town, you'd see a Dairy Queen. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Yeah, that's all right. That's all right. I no Buckeys, though. No Buckies. I have my Buckeys shirt on, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

See, I'm a Buckeys fan. I am. I yeah. You gotta keep that one close to heart. That's a special place.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

You know, I get a lot of comments though when I wear this. There are no Buckeys around here. Oh, yeah. Not in the Northeast, you're not gonna find them, but everybody knows. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

You're one of the troopers. You're repping hard.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

I got nothing else, but I bought a t-shirt.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

I have I've had a dangerous shopping spree in uh Bucky's one time. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Tell me about it.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

I uh it was well, I I I just had um, you know, I was starting to get paid from the songwriting stuff, and um I went into a Bucky's for the first time and I walked out with like a$250 cooler. I think I spent like$400 there. I had like mugs. Did you fill it up like the Yeti cups? Yeah, oh you got it. I definitely filled it up. There was some beer in there. And um cool. Yeah, it was it was we still have the cooler. It's one of my favorite coolers, but uh uh yeah, I definitely I bought one of everything in there I felt like that day. It was like I had to do it though. Perfect timing.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

I love it. Whereabouts um now let's go but let's we would uh moving on to Nashville. Where do you live in Nashville? Are you like you don't have to tell me where exactly, but what part of town?

SPEAKER_01 15:58

I I live in West Nashville now. Oh, okay. Yep, all right. I've kind of I've kind of lived um in every I feel like I well I lived in South Nashville, lived in Antioch when I first moved um with my buddies. We had a place there for a couple years, and then I moved in with my uh girlfriend, still my girlfriend now, and um I moved in with her, she lived on to Mumbrian, and that's it.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

The name I can never pronounce.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Yes, Demon Brewing or call it Demon Bro, whatever.

How Nashville Songwriting Really Works

SPEAKER_02 16:26

My very first trip to Nashville 20 some odd years ago, and uh back then they didn't have Uber and Lyft and all that, but we're taking a taxi, and uh and I said, I what's this Demon Bros Street? What is it?

SPEAKER_01 16:37

And they just look at you like I had to learn it because you know you you look like an idiot if you say it too much.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

I was the idiot.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

No, not you, but me in Nashville living there and on De Mumbrian Street. I had to learn it. I was from out of town. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You weren't, yeah. You had the perfect excuse. But then I moved to uh West Nashville. So now I still live in West Nashville.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Oh, cool. Do you ever do you like make the trip downtown? Are you playing in any of the bars down here? Every every artist has a bar.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

I mean, I have I shouldn't say every artist, but a good number of them now have bars with their names on it.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

100%. Do you get a chance to do that? I I used to. I used to play um down there. I mean, I'm sure you know the Omni. I played bar lines. We had a we had a weekly thing there.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

I know the Omni.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Um I've played I've played a lot of the bars on Broadway. Um, but I uh I don't I don't smudge anymore, but I I did my time, I feel like, you know. So but uh yeah, I still go down there. I mean, all of everything, you know, music is is downtown Nashville. Music Row, I go down there and write um as much as possible. Now being on radio tour.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Tell me about uh, you know, what's it like to write? Who are you writing with? Where do you go? I mean, you got you know, Corey Kent. Oh yeah. Uh this heart. Was that the first one?

SPEAKER_01 17:41

No, that was uh I'm trying to think when we wrote that. Um we wrote it, I think, in 23. Okay. Actually.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Yeah. But um, I mean, when you first start writing, and you s like when you first get to town, you're writing with anybody and everybody that'll that'll write with you. You know, you're just trying to write and craft that uh craft that thing. And um then it's slowly, you know, when you start having success, then you know, you sign a pub deal, and then you're going now, you're working in the pub houses and you're um writing at Warner and you're writing at the publishing places, and um you slowly kind of find that group that you write well with and um you kind of just dial it in and dial it in and dial it in. But I've wrote with everybody. I mean, Nashville's the songwriting hub of the country. I will rep that until I die.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Now, how did it go? You you've written these number one songs. So somebody, an artist comes in, or how does that happen? You write the songs and then they they pitch.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

Yeah, there's like a I mean, there's several ways that it can happen. Um, but you have publishers who um, you know, help you um book your calendar, and then they also help pitch songs, and they have pitch meetings where they go into the labels and work with AR and they find out what the artists are looking for, and then they kind of take what they have and hey, we have this and this and this, and um, you know, if the AR people enjoy it or if there's an artist in there, they'll know, hey, I really like that, and they'll they'll hold it and take it.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

When that when a song went to number one, what was that like? Did you know that it was like going, or did you like go, holy shit, my song? This is crazy. I'm a co-writer on that, and it went to number one. Yeah, I mean, you're running to the mailbox.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Yeah, it was it was a crazy thing. I mean, rockin' a hard place. I mean, it was just it was so massive that uh, you know, we kind of but that also that was my first cut ever. That was my first label cut. Oh, no way, um, yeah, major label song, and so I got to learn everything through that whole process. And uh, it was a lot of like, what does this mean? What does that mean? What does that mean? And then it was just a it was a big, you know, holy crap moment a lot of times, but yeah, definitely lost my shit. Yeah, yeah, I was freaking out.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

Yeah, it's good, and congrats on that because it wasn't only that, of course, this heart, which we talked about and some other ones.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

100%.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Um, but uh, and that's why before we went out with the lights and the cameras, I go, dude, why are you doing this? Because as a radio guy, and I look a little bit beyond the song, and I look at the songwriters, yeah, I've seen your name.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

All right, I'm on a few of them out there, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Yeah, and I was asking Alexa earlier at dinner going to say, okay, what songs did uh you know Jacob uh Hexworth write? Heckworth write. Yeah. And it'd come up and it it had Corey Kent and stuff like that. Oh yeah, man. Corey's cool.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

Corey's a man. Um he crushed, he crushed that song, and um I was I was so happy that that uh that it hit the that it rang the bell and he deserves every bit of it, and I was so glad that he cut the song. So are you happy? Would you be happier as a songwriter or an artist? I mean, this was always what I wanted to do. This is why I moved to Nashville as an artist. Yeah, to to be an artist. And that was that was the end goal for me was to get to do this. Um but the songwriting stuff worked first, and um luckily I just had the the right people around me, and I assigned to the I signed with the right publishing and management deal uh with right management, and they just were like, uh, let's focus on the songwriting stuff because um my management's amazing. Coss Weaver, shout out um he's uh he's the man, and he kind of was like, You're this is gonna help you in the long run. Obviously, the artist thing is what we want to do, but you uh you're having a lot of fun right now and you're having some success. Let's let's really craft you know what you want to do as an artist, and I think focusing on the songwriting is gonna help that the most. And it did. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Yeah, so being a successful songwriter, which you are, uh it makes it easier or it makes it easier to do what you're doing, right? When you start putting your own artist project up.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Yeah, I mean, I have a ton of songs. Um, I know what I want to do as an artist and how I like the songs that I want to make. And um also I've made a ton of relationships with other artists and just music business in general, anyone and everyone that's that's in Nashville. I think it's it's just helped me in a million different ways, and I couldn't be happier with how it's I'm I'm grateful. I'm blessed, man.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

This is and you know, and that's That's one thing I have to say when it comes to the country artist and those of you that are writing and those of you that are you know the actual artists on the songs. I mean, everybody is just so humble. Everybody's so cool. You know, you're doing what you love. I'm sitting here doing what I love.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Yeah, it's a blessing.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

It is a blessing.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

We couldn't be any luckier.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Yep, and we have a and we have a beer.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

And we have a cold beer. Cheers.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Yeah, even the people in the background. There you go. Cheers. Cheers. But that's good. That's good. That's good stuff. It is definitely good. So you're a Bud guy, huh?

SPEAKER_01 22:29

I do like I like a Bud Light. It was the first beer that I ever drank, and I kind of had to tough my way through a few of them. There was definitely some drink on a red dirt road for sure.

Songwriter Success To MCA Artist

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Let me add, let's have a little bit of fun. What was the last thing that really made you mad? The last thing that made me mad? Dang, dude. That's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

I don't know. Because we all go through life. What was the last thing that made you mad? If I really thought about it, it would probably be, I mean, it probably today when I was trying to get in my hotel room and I had my luggage and my guitar and then I had some other stuff in one arm and I couldn't get the door open and get my suitcase through it. And it kind of pissed me off. But I I got in there. So the guitar is still in one piece. Thank God. We got good cases. That was probably my How do you handle when you get mad? How do you handle it? Uh just try to shut up and just don't let it get the best of me. Um I'm a smart man.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

Smart man.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

I don't get uh I don't get too uh irritated too often.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

Who was your first celebrity crush?

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Brittany Spears.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Wow, that came out like right away. I didn't even finish this.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

No, I don't blame you. Yeah, I can remember watching her on TV when I was little. Maybe not now, but yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, she's uh she's an amazing artist. She's done some amazing stuff, but it was definitely a wild, long time ago.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

What about junk food on the road?

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Junk food on the road, that's an easy one, man. I uh I I try to stay out of the snacks and stuff, but the late night food is where I've uh where I've lost the battle a few times. The pizza and the burgers, Taco Bell is dangerous.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

You know, I know exactly. When you know you're on the road, and for example, this is you know, you're on the road this week visiting different radio people, radio stations, uh doing what you have to do, but you're always on the go. Yeah, and it's like you're hungry. Oh, there's a Wendy's, there's a Burger King, there's a McDonald's. Let's go through the drive-thru. Yeah, you know, and then you just can't help it though.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah, and it's good, dude. It's a good day. She's probably got a salad in the bag or something, but she's I mean, she I feel like summer could eat anything and she's gonna be perfectly fine.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

Probably.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

I was not blessed that way.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

And I just eat, I mean, I'll just I'll house. So tell me about the response you're getting from artists. Who let's say who's the latest to text you?

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Um, I mean, I don't even know. I mean, Tucker, I mean, I'm I'm super close with Tucker, and he he called me. Um, he called me. You gotta get on the road with him, by the way. I was I was I'm on the road with him in the fall. I'm on I'm on there. He's brought me, he's bringing me back out. I was on, I went to the room.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

If you go to Red Rocks, I want to be there.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

We're going to Red Rocks. We're playing Red Rocks. I'm gonna lose my mind.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

Yeah. Have you ever been to Red Rocks? That is on. I think I might have told Summer this, and I did not realize that you and Tucker were playing Red Rocks. Yeah, but Red Rocks is on my bucket list. I that's one venue I would die to see.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Me too. I'm gonna, it's gonna be a full circle, just a crazy moment. Oh, dude. And I'm with my buddies Vincent and Tucker. I'm I mean Tucker. And um Vincent's gonna no, just Tucker. Tucker's a Tucker show. Sorry, okay. But um Vincent is a good friend of mine. But uh yeah, I'm out with Tucker for the Red Rock show, and it's gonna be it's gonna be awesome. I'm gonna lose my mind. I'm gonna like, I don't even know how to even think about walking out of that stage.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

I'm gonna I'm gonna get there. That place is just something about Red Rocks. There's something about that place. I don't know. I see the pictures, and you know, I I go on YouTube and I look at the videos and all the different artists that are, you know, have performed there. And and I hear from a lot of artists that they want to perform there, and I just, you know, it's just and I I've talked to people that have been there. It's just like wow.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

It's it, I mean, it's a dream venue to play in for a lot of people. And I mean, um, yeah, I can't even can't even think about it. I'm just excited.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

I'm excited for you, man. I'm gonna be full of it.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

I'll bring the bud light. Hey, there's gonna be definitely some of that happening for sure.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

What is uh is there something you require when you do these shows, like a as for a case of bud, or you want that in your dressing room or in the green room or whatever?

SPEAKER_01 26:21

I flip around a little bit. I mean, I love a like a good shot of whiskey, you know, before we go play, and I feel like that's kind of an obvious one, but I I mean I kind of switch it up. I'll do like Tito's ginger ale, splash of crayon. I always try to have that in the green room, or I'll do like Jack and Sprite. Have you ever had winter jack? Yes. Every Christmas when it comes out. Yes, yeah, I go grab it.

Road Life Questions And Green Room Rituals

SPEAKER_02 26:42

Dude, yes, yeah, that was I have two bottles of it up there that we didn't finish this year. And every Christmas when it comes out, I mean, I have to go get the winter jack. Here's what you do.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

I gotta know this because we usually just drink a bottle of it.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

No, no, no, and you can do that very easily because it is so good. Yeah, and it's so smooth. It's almost like an apple cider. Well, you get a crock pot, you dump the whiskey in there, go get some um cider, like caramel cider or whatever. Um, mix it all up, heat it up, drink it warm. It is I haven't done that, but that does. Dude, I'm telling you, when it's cold, I know here in the northeast, you know, we I mean, it's it's gotta be right up to like yesterday we had snow. So it's yeah, it's I'm trying to think.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

What is that? What is it called? Uh a hot toddy. Hot toddy. So it's kind of similar to that, but it's a cider version.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

Yeah, but it's cider. Yeah. And you mix them together, you put them in a crock pot, just warm it up.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Yeah. Yeah, we might have to try that. That might have to happen. It's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

You might want to do it after.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

I'll send you a picture of this one.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

I'll send you a picture. Definitely gonna have to.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Yeah, the winner jack's awesome. We've drank the crap out of it.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

What um what's the worst job you ever had? I mean, we talked about working on the railroad, but you know, I mean, we all go through things in life. I I had a lot of trouble.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Worst job I've ever had, I've kind of done some. I don't know. I've never, I mean, the hardest one would would have to be the railroad. That was like But that was hard. Yeah, it was hard.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

And I mean it's not that you disliked it, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:07

I mean, there was some, I mean, it's not that I disliked it. It's just one that you weren't super pumped to go do. Um, but it was you had to do it. It kind of, I would I was like I said, I was young, I never really thought about it. But I'm trying to think of something that I was just like, I hate this. Um oh dang. I'm okay. I worked for Amazon for a little bit and I hated that. I didn't like it.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

So wait a minute, you worked so were you delivering? Yeah, I delivered packages. Yeah. That was throw it on the front step, take a picture, and walk away.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Yes, and I mean I've like I've delivered like a whole half day with one shoe on because a dog chased me through the yard, lost the shoe, and it took the shoe, and I just couldn't get it back. How long ago was that? That was uh that was in 20 uh at the end of 2020, at the beginning of 21.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

All right, yeah, so like right around COVID.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Yep, that was my first job when I worked for Losers during COVID and they let everybody go, and then Amazon was my first job back.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

Oh, losers.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

Yeah, I worked for I was a bar back at Losers. You need more ice. Yeah, I was ripping ice, I was bringing plenty of it around. Stocked the fridge, lots of cases of beer.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Yeah, I got that guy over there's drinking us out of yeah, we need more Bud Light. But uh wow, that's crazy. What is the most Nashville thing you own now?

SPEAKER_01 29:17

The most Nashville thing I own? Man, probably uh Gibson J200. That's like that was like my dream guitar. So I got a I got a couple of them now.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

I was gonna ask, how many guitars do you have?

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Oof, I probably have seven or eight.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

Yep. I've uh and a different sound out of each one. Yeah, yeah. When you when you go to write, do you do you take a particular guitar with you, depending on what you're in the mood for? How does all that work?

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Uh I kind of have like one that there like the first guitar that ever that I ever got, my uncle, um, he sold it to me technically, but I never paid him actually come to find out. He reminded me that of that uh later on. But it was an Alvarez um acoustic, just no um pickup or anything. And I like to write on that a lot just because it it was like the first thing that I ever had. And uh, you know, I it was I had put stickers all over it, you know, when I was first starting, and that was also a Luke Combs thing. Shout out to Luke Combs. He was he did that, and I was like, Well, I've gotta do that.

SPEAKER_02 30:17

And uh as long as you don't do what Beaver did, don't go in your buttons. But I know.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

Um yeah, that was that's that guitar is one that I like to ride on a lot. Wow, that's cool. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

So do you have names for your guitars?

SPEAKER_01 30:28

No, I haven't I haven't named them. Um just guitar. Yeah, just I mean, I I guess what they're what they're actually called. Um I just my tailor. Yeah, the tailors are nice. I had a tailor for a little bit, but uh I sold it to uh I sold it to go home, and then we wound up going to the bar and I spent all my money at the bar. That was early on. Was it? Was it? Yeah, yeah. All right, okay, all right.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

You know, because this is a podcast called Skip Happens, uh, what's one story from your journey so far that people don't know yet, but really says everything about who you are?

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Oh man, that's a great question. One story that no one knows but explains a lot. Let's see. Ask me the question one more time. I'm so sorry. I know, I'm so sorry. All right, I gotta really think. All right, here we go.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Here, because I wrote it out. Good thing I did. Uh, and because this skip happens, what's one story from your journey that people don't know yet, but really says everything about who you are, J.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

Um I don't mean I think people are slowly finding out that um that I work for the railroad but um quit and moved to Nashville to make music. But I think that what that kind of explains who I am as as an artist. I'm I'm very eager to to do this, and this is something that I've always loved and dreamed of doing. And uh when it came time to actually make the leap, I've I've I did it, and I try to do that. Um I try to do that as much as possible in the scenario I'm in now uh with everything. You know, if I can if I can go play a show or I can come hang out with you, if I can go ride a few. I'll be back, man. But that's uh that's that's just kind of how I uh how I try to try to do this thing and and just be just be there every chance I get.

SPEAKER_02 32:13

You're so humble, as I said before. But uh, you know, I I talk to you and I talk to other artists, and it's you know, and by doing this with in the podcast setting, we get to go a little bit deeper. We get to find out who you really are.

SPEAKER_03 32:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:25

And you know what? And in most cases, if not all, you're just a human being. You're just a real person, you're just somebody that's living their dream, you're dedicated to your craft, uh, whether it's what I do, what you do. And it proves to people that are watching this or listening to this, whether it's here live or they watch it back, that you know what, you're just like them. They're just like you. And I think that is the most important thing. And it's it's always one fan at a time. And if you make that connection, you got a fan for life.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

1000%. You know, I was a fan first, and I was really concerts and I've studied everything and watched all the podcasts and interviews and obsessed over it.

Guitars Jobs And Full Circle Moments

SPEAKER_02 33:04

And yeah, I mean, I think you should do your own podcast. What'd you think you'd call it?

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Oh, what do you what do you think I'd call it? I don't know. The probably the hack show. Everyone called me, everyone called me a hack.

SPEAKER_02 33:15

Everyone called it. So yeah, I don't know. The hack show. What other um have you uh been out with Bobby Bones or any of those guys yet? No, no, I haven't. I'm sure that's coming. I've listened to uh listened to a million of the podcasts. Yeah. Do you have uh which one do you uh there's so many podcasts, everybody does their own thing, and we all have our own different style. Uh I'd love talking to the artist. So, but uh is there one in particular that you listen to?

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Um, and I was really big into listening to him. I loved listening to the to the Bobby Bone show. Okay. I l I loved his podcast. Yeah, he does a great job. I liked Whiskey Riff. I listened to them for a long time. Um, but that was kind of the only two that I really got into. I really liked watching the like live interviews where you could, you know, see them and like actually see how they reacted and all these artists and stuff. I was I was weird, but I was obsessed with it.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

You know, if somebody if I let's say I was to grab your phone right now and and and open it up and look at your playlist still, what artist would surprise me the most?

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Miley Cyrus, maybe. Yeah, she's party in the USA? Uh it's called Um Angels Like You. That's I've been on that song. I came out in 2020, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I know it. Yeah, I'm uh I've been obsessing over that. Or there's another there's another group called In Color that I'm that I've been listening to a ton and they're sick.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Absolutely. Wow, wow. Dude, did you um get a chance in uh to take in the show at uh at the Omni at CRS a couple years ago with with El Dean and all those guys?

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Um no, I mean I we played we played that we played bar lines um and but I didn't even know a lot of people stayed there until I was in the middle of playing Till You Can't, covering Till You Can't by Cody Johnson. And he he I had my stinking eyes closed and uh he walked up and tipped me. And I didn't even know it because I had my eyes closed the whole time.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Cody walked up.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Cody Johnson, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

Tipped me in uh uh how much was the tip?

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Man, I didn't look. I didn't know. I didn't even know that he tipped me because I was like, I would have been taking the jar going, all right, what did he just put in there? I was I was more shell-shocked when I opened my so awesome. Yeah, everyone was kind of looking at him.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

And not looking at who you were, obviously. You know, is you're a songwriter or maybe.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

No, this is this is before anything. This is before I had any songwriting success. Oh, I got you.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

So that's going back a little bit. Yeah, I thought you were talking about that. No, no, no, I got you. I got you though.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Wow. Yeah, yeah, that was a that was a wild story. Yeah, it's cool.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

So, how long did it take you to write a song like Corey Kent's or Bailey? I mean, is it because I I'm talking to the people, as I mentioned, the artist, and they say, you know, we wrote this song in 20 minutes, and it went on to be a you know a smash. And I'm like, 20 minutes? Are you kidding me? They go, No, sometimes they just kind of fall right together. Next thing you know, and then there's other times that you know, you got a week of writing down notes and trying things, nothing's sounding right.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of I mean, I think when it comes to talking about how long a song took, there's no telling. But I mean, on you know, with with this heart, um, you know, from the time we sat down and drank our coffee and caught up and talked and hung out for a little bit and decided on what we were gonna do, we probably probably wrote it and had it um had the vocal done and the demo done in three hours, you know.

unknown 36:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

So it's it's just different, you know.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

You write some facts, you write some we did a show with Corey not not that long ago. So that's he's he's the man. He's the man, he's cool, he's cool, definitely cool.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

He's like the coolest guy.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

So you know, a couple of weeks ago when you performed in a suite in Nashville for all these radio people, yeah. Did you feel like holy shit, these people can either make me or break me? Or are you well, but or I was gonna ask, because of your background, already having the number one songs where you're like, all right, I'm cool with this. Yeah, I'm cool with this. But do you still get that?

SPEAKER_01 36:51

Yeah, I mean, I 100%. Uh, I mean, with this with the songwriting side of things, all you can do is write the song. Then once you've wrote it, it's kind of out of your hands. But now on the artist front, I uh I mean, I I can work my tail off and try to play that thing as much as possible and and try to show as many people and um hang out and and get to know everybody as much as I can. You know, it's it's it's a long game, I think, on the artist front. And um, it's definitely a relationship that I've enjoyed getting to make with everybody. And um, but yeah, I definitely was like, I gotta I gotta kick it in gear here. We gotta knock this one out.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

You know, I don't think you have anything to worry about, but if something did happen, I already know you don't. I mean, you've got these songwriting credits, you've got number one songs under your belt now. Um, but if you weren't doing this, what do you think? Would you still be with the railroad or what would you be doing?

SPEAKER_01 37:40

If I wasn't doing anything music, yeah. Phew.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

I don't know. Let's say, you know, all of a sudden something happened and uh I'm done with this.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

I mean, I think uh, I mean, I had a pretty good opportunity at uh at kind of working higher up in the radio in the railroad. So I'd I'd try not to do some of the grunt work that I that I once was doing and maybe try to find another position. But yeah, I mean, maybe the railroad. I know it a lot.

SPEAKER_02 38:03

So you know, I'm gonna be a little bit of a geek because um there's one thing. Trains and airplanes fascinate me.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

They're pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

They do. I, you know, I can sit at the airport and watch planes and just listen to the conversations and wonder what's going on. I got friends that are pilots with some major airlines, and uh, it's like, man, I wanted to do that, you know, but I'm happy doing what I'm doing. Don't get me wrong. But 100%. Still, and then with trains, you know, if we get a chance to take the train to New York City from Syracuse here, I mean that's it's a five-hour train ride, but it's awesome. You go down the Hudson and you see so much, and you can see it just amazes me.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

A whole nother like lay of the land.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

Yeah, it is. And you can bring a cooler on board.

SPEAKER_01 38:42

I didn't know that. I've never rode on those planes, but I would. Uh on the trains. Yeah.

Break And Music Tease

SPEAKER_02 38:47

Yeah, yeah. I thought you said planes. But uh, no, nope, yep, nope. Bring a cooler on board. You got Wi-Fi, you can do whatever you want. You can pop a Bud Light, sit there, enjoy the ride. My wife can have her wine, I can have my beer, we're good to go. That's a good time. We're good to go. Yeah. That's a good time. Uh we do that every once in a while. So uh, Jacob, so awesome, dude. Thanks so for humbling, man.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

This has been so fun.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

Well, it's the Skip Happens podcast. Make sure you tell your friends about it. You know, uh, we're gonna take a little bit of a break when we come back. You're gonna play, you're gonna play the single. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And maybe give us a little surprise. I don't know. It's up to you, whatever you want to do. We can do it. And uh so you're watching this, uh, just stay right there. We're gonna come right back. But uh Jay, I gotta make sure I get the name right because I I want to put an S. You know, you can't say it happens more than you know. It's hack worth. Yep. I don't know. It's it and I that's why I keep looking back. I hope I don't screw it up. But because I did that, I'm gonna screw it up.

SPEAKER_01 39:35

That's fine. Everyone always asks me, how much is a hack worth? And I and how much is it worth? Well, I had a principal one time that used to ask me every time I was late to school, he go, how much is a hack worth? And I go, Oh, not very much today.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

I love it. I love it. But uh, thank you for being here on Skip Happens. We're gonna come right back and we're gonna hear some music. So stay right there, everybody.