Recorded Live in Cabo Mexico during the Boots on the Beach concert series, Steve and Captain Evil have on Randy Rogers, Josh Abbott and other special guests.
Steve & Captain Evil: The Podcast
Live From Cabo
(upbeat music) All right, here we are. - Hello. - I know it looks a little different, guys. We are in Cabo at Boots on the Beach. - A little different, it looks a lot different. - Looks a lot different. How about a round of applause for Boots on the Beach? Seven years. - We have a live audience today. - There's 3,000 people in here watching this podcast. It's awesome. Well, we're excited because normally we are in our home studio or we at the studio, we-- - And today they let you in the VIP lounge in your tank top. - Yes, I am in the tank top in the VIP lounge, but we're also in Cabo, so. I will also apologize for Renee Renee's not feeling well. Her voice is not great. - I would like to say it's 'cause I party too hard last night, but I didn't. I went together. - Either that or this is the biggest elaboration of not having sex with me. She's ever put together. - So far, so good. - She's like, "No, I'm sick, I have a sore throat." But we have a very special guest and because it's boots on the beach-- - We have a lot of very special guests. - Well, that's what I was getting at, is that because it's boots on the beach, there's so many talented humans here. And we get to interview some of those talented humans. And one of our good friends from New Brongfels, who we've had on the podcast, is gonna join us 'cause he has something really special going on. And I'll let him tell about it, but we do gotta talk about the fact that-- - I'm excited you know about it, but I don't know. - Well, what he's about to say is fucking blew my mind. Ladies and gentlemen, Randy Rogers. (audience applauds) Ah, a little mimosa, what is that? - A little mimosa, it's a cranberry. - Come on, please, please say cranberry, I think you just said it. - No, that's why I got it. - That's not, how do you say cranberry, that's fine, you want to-- - It's a-- - I don't know. - No, that's a fucking cranberry. That's a hard one. - I don't know. - But Randy, you've been doing this for how many years? Boots on the beach? - It's my, I think I'm the most tenured-- - I'm the longest running boots on the beach. - Yeah, because we came during COVID, and it was really funny 'cause, you know, it was kind of a, Mexico had COVID figured out. - I think I said it go fine. - Yeah, they were like, please come here. - Have you had our water and you think we're worried about fucking COVID? - You had to go through these like little machines that like, they sprayed you with something. - It was on the way. - Well no, hold on, so was it like legit COVID? Like in COVID? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. The first year I came, we were all in it. - That first summer after COVID. - What year is it? - I don't know, wait, wait, like what year did COVID happen? I don't have a cabinet spring break. There was spring break, and then the kids didn't go back to school. - Anyway, I think that I got my buckle 'cause Casey gives you a five-year anniversary belt buckle. - Don't be writing them out, dude, because all you guys got rooms with pools, I fucking did it. So I found that out. So if I don't get a buckle, I'm gonna have my feelings started. It's worth Casey. - The pools reserved for the swagger couples. - For the upside down, I know the pools. - I always tell everybody, we ever swing, I'll go first, and then after that, I'll be like, you know what? We're not into it. - Well, this is not cool, we're out. - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. - A fucking shot. But so Randy has this announcement in it, and I think it'll blow everybody's mind here. Tell us about what's going on because when you said that number, I'm like, two things came through my mind. Holy shit. - Yep. - That's a lot of years. And then the other thing made me go, we're not that old. But so give it the announcement. - Yeah, so Randy Rogers' band, August 23rd, re-release of the record "Rollicoster." 20 year anniversary of the album. - Is that crazy? 20 years "Rollicoster" came out, 20 years ago. - Yeah, Brady's over there, he's scared of podcasts. - Brady, come over here, come join us. - Come on, Brady. - So it has-- - Wait, was Brady there for "Rollicoster"? - Oh, in the band. Where are we? We were in a van. - Yeah. - Yeah? - We started in a suburban. - Wait, say that again. - 88's suburban. - Yeah, 88's suburban was the first ride. And then we made "Rollicoster," we were in a van. So yeah, same five guys. It was the first album that we made with the band that's still on stage. - How long were y'all touring before y'all got the deal to do the album? - Two years, maybe, three? - Yeah, I think it was two or three. - Yeah. So we had been playing all the songs live, which is totally backwards on how you do it now, right? You put out a record and then you start playing them. - Yeah, two rooms. - We have been playing all the songs. So I felt like we knew them pretty well. - But there's something special about that because you guys were the creators. You guys wrote it 'cause-- - Well, how weird is it that the band even stays together for 20 years now? The fact that it's still the same band 20 years later. - That's tough. (laughing) - It's next to impossible. But so what we did with the album is we went back to the original tracks. So we went back to the studio, we went back to the tape 'cause back then everything cut to-- - Fucking showing our age again. - The tape, right? - Yeah, real tape. - So we went back-- - And they cut it with razor blades? - Yeah, no pro tools. - Yeah, no computers. - No. - And so they went back and they just basically, I don't mind a big fan of going back and re-recording songs unless your name is Taylor Swift. - And they just re-doin' it. - Right? So I'm not a big fan of that. So I didn't want to try to re-create whatever that little magic moment was for us as a group. - Well, your voice has changed as an artist. - Well, yeah, my balls dropped. (laughing) - A lot of times you studio musicians, but did you all use studio musicians for that album or anything? - No, it was just us. We made that record in four days, the five of us, and Radney, you know, Foster. - But technology has advanced, right? - Yeah. - Since then, as well, right? - Yeah. - So all we did basically is go back, find the original tracks, and there's like these outtakes where like, I end a song and I'm like, oh, it's horrible, you know? So we put some of that stuff now on the remastered version and like, there's a lot of back and forth going on in the studio and like, just kind of inside jokes and stuff that we put on the album. So it's actually, and we sequenced it different. - Just-- - What do you mean by that? - Well, the song order is different. - It's all the order of the song. - Yeah, the song order is different too. - Why? - New setlist. - Yeah, new setlist, right? Just for fun. - Right, right. - Just set up a little. - To make it different. - I didn't really want to touch the actual tracks, right? I didn't want to go mess with it too much. I wanted to turn certain things up and turn certain things down. And then we did find little Easter eggs, if you want to call them that, on the tracks that we were able to-- - So what do they do? They take them and they download them and then they fix them from there? - Well, yeah, they take the original recording and then, you know, now that we live in this digital world-- - Yeah. Digitize it essentially. - Yeah. - But even, you know, I can always tell too, sometimes when I'm listening on YouTube music or Pandora or whatever, you know, you have to turn up the radio a little bit more because of, it's an old album or whatever. - The mastering. - The mastering, yeah. So now it's going to be crisp, clean. What's your favorite song? Well, I'll ask you first, Brady. What's your favorite song on that album? - Probably "Can't Slow Down." - Yeah? - Yeah. - Yeah, which is what we named the album over, you know, "Roller Coaster." - Uh-huh. - The song is called "Can't Slow Down." And I wrote it, I wrote it by myself. I wrote it because my girlfriend at the time, Amanda, she-- [laughter] - That bitch. - I said it. You didn't say it. - I was on-- - You fucked up. He's famous now. - I was on the road and I came home and I said, "Can I come over?" She's sitting in her trailer right now. - She said, "No." And I said, "Well, you're my girlfriend. I'm going to come over there." And when I did, she had a big ol' hickey on her neck. And I had been gone for two weeks. - I wasn't from you. - Yeah. - And what kind of girl gets hickeys? - Yeah. We broke up. - So she's Mexican. [laughter] - No. [laughter] - She was something. - Uh-huh. - Yeah. So, you know, that song, thank you, Brady, for saying that. But, you know, I wrote that song by myself. Somebody Take Me Home is my favorite song that was on that record. And I wrote it with Randy Foster. It was like one of my first songs I wrote with Randy. Maybe it was either tonight's not tonight or somebody Take Me Home. This first song I wrote with Randy and Kenny Chesney cut it. It was like, you know, all happening. You know, we were really young. - So how does it work once you write the song and then you guys bring in the music? How do you guys do that? - Well, I mean, I remember I'm a comic. I have no idea. - Well, we practice a lot back then. We don't practice now. I mean, like, we used to practice and we used to. - We'd sit down and work at parts. Like for that song and instance, Jeffrey Hill, the guitar player and I sat around with the man-lending guitar and drove him crazy while we're driving down the road and just trying to figure it out. - Just trying to figure it out. - Trying to come up with different parts that fit together and everything. To fit his original chord progression. - You can imagine we had a lot of time on our hands. I mean, we're in part of Van. - And when I didn't have that song. - It's a long way to drive the Amarillo, San Marcos. It's pretty much that original album was written in the van. - Most of it? - A lot of it. Or the La Quinta. - I mean, for you guys, it's got to be something special, right? - Yeah. I mean, like you said before, it's so impossible to keep a band together. Same five guys, 23 years now. I'm really excited about this. August 23rd is when we're re-releasing roller coasters. It's my birthday. We're playing the Gramacy Theater that night in New York City. - Holy shit. - Oh, so you're going to have a party? - We're going to be on the East Coast and it's my birthday and it's a re-release and it kind of does sum up this career that we've had. We're so lucky. But also, we're so proud that it's the same five of us, like ups and downs, divorces, you know, crazy, crazy, near-death experiences. - Yeah, you're bringing each other's beards before you go on. - Oh, they've come back together after COVID. - Yeah, so it's like, it's a thing for us. And we're also getting in the studio with Jet Hughes, a phenomenal guitar player and been a friend of ours forever, Australian guy, who is a session player and A-list. There's no other way to say it. He's A-list. He's amazing. So we're actually riding and we're going, at the same time we're re-releasing this album, we'll be recording brand new stuff too. - It's so hard though, when you write such hits and then you have to literally follow yourself when you do another album. - I wouldn't say that we have any hits, but we have standards. Where's Wade? We don't have hits. - We get out of here somewhere. - We get out of here somewhere. - Yeah, we have standards and we have set a standard, I think, you know. I believe that. We set the bar, a lot of young people that are here at this event and a lot of young artists come up to us and they're like, how did you do it? Like, how have you been together this? - The hardest way. - The thing that hurts my feelings is this one, guys, you're like, you're my dad's favorite comedian. I'm like, fuck, you're dad? - Yeah. Like shit. - Yeah. - You're hurting. What the fuck? - What the problem is with us, brother, is we're in the middle, we're not young enough to be the super cool new young act and we're not old enough yet to be the new old guy. - To do the fifth retirement tour? - Yeah. - I could say Ray Wildy Hubbard would agree with me, you know, like, he's the cool old guy. - Right. - So we're not there yet. We're in the middle. So being in the middle is kind of nice. You know, we have to celebrate monumental things like 20 years of an album. - Yeah. - And I'll brag for you. You just sold out white water and New Broncos, Texas. Congratulations. - Yep. - Yep. - That's a big deal. - Yeah, wait. Wait and I just wrapped up two weeks to hold my beer and watch this, I don't know where it is. But we didn't kill each other. So... - That's nice. - No fist fights this year and, you know, we had a great run. - That's awesome, man. Congratulations. I can't wait to hear it. And I think everybody here can't wait to hear the remaster and give Randy a brand new round of applause. Yep. Oh, my God. - Did we get that on camera? - We got it. - And now I'd like to bring to the stage, thank you guys, to join us. None of us would be here if it wasn't for this couple, mainly his wife. - Yes, Melinda. - Yes, Melinda. Thank you for having us. - Let's give them a standing ovation. Casey and Melinda. - Hello. - Thank you both. - Thank you. - Join us. - Don't come in. Come sit. - And then push your chairs real close to hear you in the mike. - She dressed you nice. - Nobody follows the king. - The shirt still has the crease in it. She literally... - When it came out of the box, this is... - It's pronounced Ariate. - Ariate. - Ariate here in French. - I think. - Seven years of this? - Yes, your seven. - Yes, your seven. - Where was it born? - That's what I was going to say, I was going to say, I want to know, how did it start? Tell me the story, the idea between the two of you, how did boots on the beach start? - We tried like a little, I don't know if it's called a festival, but early on we went to Cancun, I think, and it was more like 50 people type of a trip, and then we didn't do anything for probably 10 years after that, and then you can take your... - We didn't really start during COVID, was that the first time? - No, before that. - Yeah, before that, but Casey had gotten an offer to do an event in the Bahamas, a festival, and it was the only people that were booked, it was Parker McCollum and Co-Wetzel, so Riot kind of, when they started kind of getting, you know, a little popular. - Some heat. - Some heat, and so Casey got an offer for it. And when we thought, okay, this will be cool, 'cause he's a little bit older, and these are like the young, new hip kids, you know? And as we got into it, it was kind of a hot mess. - Like she just got too old. - I mean, we know, we call him Uncle Casey. - Rainy's old. - Uncle Casey. - Uncle Casey. - Yeah. - It was kind of a hot mess. So I just... - But you, like you, from the outside looking in? - Yes, like this, we just made ourselves into this, and it's a hot mess, so I just kind of... - Took over. - Inserted myself. - Shot him. - And all this. - That's why I think... - And I just... Yeah, I mean, I just... Anyways. - So you did? - So I did. - Sort of planing the event. - I sort of planing it. - But you started doing it. - I mean, I don't want to say I took it over, but I just assisted. - Took it over. - But now you've taken it over. - It's definitely took over. - So then after... So after we did it, I'm like, I think this is something I could do better. And so I did, I guess. - And so you don't manage, Casey? - I do. - You don't manage. - Yes. - You don't keep... - What did that happen? - Day one. - Yeah. - Day one. - I've always been his manager. - Day one. - We've never... - Beautiful. - That's not beautiful. - 22 years. - People ask me like sometimes when they'll be like, "Oh, do you manage Steve?" And I'm like, "No, no. I want to stay married to the man. I don't manage him." Because it's definitely a complicated relationship. - Very. - Yes. - Very. But, you know, it's... When I look back and think about it, you know, a lot of this... Melinda made happen because it just wouldn't have happened any other way with anybody else. And it's, you know, doing what you do and what we do in music and everything else. There is a comfort and I don't always like it. I'm not always happy. But it's like, it's one of those things like, "There's no doubt that she's doing 100% what the best is for me." And even if we don't agree on that, there's no doubt that it's like... - I'm not even going to reason you for the tea. - That there's no other... - For the family. - There's no secret agenda. There's nobody else who has a master plan that doesn't... - There's no stipulation. - Right. There's nothing really involved me. And, you know, because you see it, you've been doing this a long time, too. I'm sure you've seen it a hundred times throughout when people like managers do some stuff and I'm like, "Was that really what was best for that artist?" - When I was an opening act, I'd have managers call me and they'd be like, "Hey, can you talk... Help me with it?" And I'm like, "Fucking call him." - How did that conversation with it? - Why are you using me to make this artist do what you want, you know? So, I agree with that. There's something special about, you know, and that's why when Renee produces and directs my specials, nobody knows my brand like her. - Yeah. - Right. - You know? And on the other hand, if I'm a little too male-heavy, she'll come up to me and be like, "That's kind of a dick thing to say." - But she needs someone to take up right now. - Yes, you do need that. - And you got to stay grounded, too, because, you know, at the end, I'm sure this and this is a thing, too. And it's really true of everyone who I think gets successful, though, you get to believe in your own hype. So you have to have someone around and say, "Hey, dumbass, you're not that cool." - Yeah, and take the trash out, why you're rock star. Get the trash and mow the yard. All right. - Yes, ma'am. I handle that right now. - Okay. - And then you're going, "I can't wait to be back in my fucking dream." - Yeah. When are we leaving again on this bus? - It's like you're treated right, so how did that, I mean, you, just from the beginning, you started managing. - I don't, I mean, we were dating, like, when I first started dating Casey, I was 20 years old, so. - Very similar. - And he was, he did rodeo. - She was the last 19-year-old I thought. - Oh, my gosh. - She was dying. - She is. - Congrats. - He was, he did rodeo. He was the team rober, so that was kind of what we did. Like, you know, we would, I would go to his little ropings on the weekend. - I went with, she said, "The little, I don't go for the little fans." - Yeah, it's cute. - She does make sure your head fits back in the new way, that's good. - And then we would, you know, go hang out in the stockyards. That's what we did, cause, and he always sang, like he always had his little guitar and he had his little song. - A little guitar. - A little thing, dude. - He's, you know, so cute. And, I mean, it's very strange. We had gone down to the stockyards to watch a friend perform at this little bitty place called Thirsty or Medellah, like I think, I'd say little bitty, cause it might've held like 82. - I mean, it was like 80 people. - I mean, it was, you know. - Somewhere around 80 people. - And anyway, so we, you know, we get into the night, we're watching everyone's having a good time, and all of our friends are there, and so they're telling the guy that was singing is actually this guy from Fort Worth named Joey Green, "Hey, can Casey get up and sing a song?" You know, he plays, and he wrote this song. - It's just probably the worst thing you can do to anybody that's on stage. - But it's like a friend, can you just take over and sing a song? - It's just a car. - But at that time, was it just a hobby? - Yeah, it was just something he did for fun. - Yeah, it just did for fun at the house. - But he'd already written the song. - Campfires. - Yeah. - So like, that was one of the- - One of my favorite songs. - So they're like, we're in the stockyards. Casey needs to get up and play the stockyards. So he did, and the manager of the bar's name was Eric. So after the show was over, he was like, "Hey, would Casey want to come and do some Thursday nights? Like, I'm trying to fill Thursday nights with the local guys." And I'm like, he doesn't like- - Who's ever said? - Yeah. - I know two songs. - Yeah, like he just- - It's gonna be a really short set. - You know, to be cute at the party. - Take a break for an hour. We'll be back. - And anyway, so he was like, "I mean, I can give you a free bar tab. I'm like, free bar tab, like, man, we're in, what night? Thursday night. - So I'm moving in here. - So I'm like, can you learn some songs for next Thursday? Can you invite all our friends to be a free bar tab? - It's a party. - And that was it. - That was it. That's all it started. - So let me ask you this. Because Renee and I definitely had a moment, 'cause we did this together, same, you know. I was already doing stand up when we met, but I was an opening act. I wasn't, you know- - He had two songs. - I had two songs. Yes. - Yeah. - But there was definitely a moment when we were living together that we really got to do a fight, really, where Renee was like, "I think you need to get a job." You know, where she was like, "You know, this isn't working. We're barely checked to check, like we're trying to figure it out." And that was a big moment for us. Does the job ever have that moment? - Well, I always worked, so- - Yeah. - Oh, what? - You had a sugar bottle. - Yeah, yeah. - No, no. - And he had a job too. - I had a job too. So we were, it was like 2002 when we put the band together and we're working through it. And it was still, you know, I would say a hobby at that point. We didn't, like, this was not our career. We did what we could, and we played anywhere that would have us type of thing. And we would go, and it was kind of almost a year to year, it's like, "Okay, we did a hold on to the year, and it was a little better. Let's go one more year." But we were still had, we had both careers, and we both worked, and then it was just like the next year. Okay, well, let's go again. It's a little better, and a little better, and a little better, and like 2008 was the first year, and we both just, we both quit our jobs, we bought a house, and it was like 220,000. I'm like, "Holy shit, how are we going to pay for this?" Like, do you know how much these payments are? I don't even think we can do this, and then it kind of got a little better, and we both quit our jobs, and she got, she was pregnant with our first kid, and I'm like, "I don't plan to sew." Yeah. That'll let us fire your ass. What is happening? And I'm like, man, this better work. I don't even know. We're going to live with somebody else, apparently. Somebody told me one time, and they said, "Kids are lucky." As they told us, they go, "You have a kid, and they bring luck, but I don't think it's luck. Oh, shit. I got to start taking this very soon." Yeah, get it together. Yeah. Yeah. This is serious. Someone else we have to take care of. Right. And really, I mean, from every year has literally been better than the last, and we're 22 years in, and I don't doubt that that's normal, but I think every year we've ever had is better than the last year. Was there ever a point when you talked about taking on another manager, or a manager tried to end cells? Oh, that's a good question. A question from her name. Yes. A question from her name. Because he's been through a lot of managers over the course of his career. I get it. Yes, we did. I guess after, when I think when I got pregnant with our youngest Zachs, it just seemed things were growing so fast at a rate, and he was on the road so much, and I started kind of feeling like, "Am I doing the best I can do for him at the rate that he's growing?" And we were doing major market radio, and it was just like, "There are fires everywhere." And I felt like maybe I'm doing him an injustice by being his manager, and maybe if he had a high-profile manager that it would take this and make it even bigger than it is. And so I did take some meetings and met with a lot of high-profile managers, and I was just like, "I don't know if this is Casey." And a lot of times, too, I think that especially from being from Texas, everyone just always wants to. Outside of Texas puts you in this, "Well, you're just a Texas act." It's like, "He's not just a Texas act." And really, Casey's more of a Midwest act that's his core fan base, and so it just seemed like I never met with anybody who really said the right things to me. This is our guy. You know, it was never that moment. I took a meeting with one guy, and he said he compared Casey to another artist, and I said, "You didn't even Google him. You took this meeting, and you didn't even look into..." To the research. At all. And so anyways, Casey just felt like he wanted to keep rolling with it the way we were rolling with it. Well, I think it's fucking worked out. Yeah, and Melinda's always, you know, things happen for a reason. Even bad things. Good things. She's a trooper. I don't know. I think the universe just always has a way. There's something coming. That's the reason this didn't happen, because this is coming. And to be ready for whatever that is. And just, like I said, you know, we could spend hours talking about the business, the music business. And then I think that's where a lot of people get lost. Music business. It's not just music, it's not just business, but they're intertwined. And I've always said if you don't take care of the business, you don't get to make music very long. I love Chappelle said something so great. They were interviewing him, and his dad went up to him and said, "Chappelle's dad says, "What are you thinking? What are you doing?" And Chappelle goes, "Well, you're a teacher, right?" And his dad says, "Yeah, I'm a teacher." He goes, "If I can make a teacher salary doing what I love, then I'm going to do it." And his dad goes, "You know what? That's the right attitude." And that's kind of how we approach it. Like, I didn't get in this to be famous. I got in it because I wanted to be a stand-up comedian. And Renee is an actor. She went to NYU the whole thing. There was a moment for us where we're like, "Hey, we got to make this, let's do this." So then we teamed up, but it's the same thing, we take, "Oh, shit, it's a business, too." And we have to make some money doing this. And luckily for all four of us here, it's worked out, and it's been a blessing, right? And this thing, my God, this is week three. Week three. Next year, we're doing four weeks in a row. I don't know if we'll survive four weeks, I mean, we're going to stick to three. Three's my limit. I've decided it's-- What has been your favorite moment in all of the boots on the beach? Because I will tell you-- There's a lot of moments. What happened? Last night, it was really magical, and I almost didn't want to, and I didn't, because when you go out on that beach and you see those chairs and those tables, and you guys get on stage, I mean, it is like something I've never been a part of. It's so picturesque, it's like we were on a movie set. When I walked out, there was like, "This is like a movie set." And it's really special when Bart Crowe's up there, and Europe there, and Fars up there, you guys are jamming out in a whole different thing than just going to your concert. It's a really special thing. Now, I have a question for you. Okay. Because-- Well, you asked her already. You said, "What's her favorite moment?" Oh, what's your favorite moment? What a man? I mean, there's so many moments. I feel like after every week, we're always like, "Oh my gosh, you know, this was so awesome or that was so awesome." But I think, I mean, obviously, I'm also a fan of music, of all these guys. And I think for me, being on the other side as a fan side, you know, you go to these big festivals and these events, and it's so much trauma. The lines and the waiting, and you can't go talk to the artists. The artists can't come out there like it would be total chaos, and, you know, who wants to deal with all that. And I think for this, like, as a fan, I think it's so cool that you get to come here, and it's small, and it's intimate, and all the guys are with you. Like we're all on the same vacation together. They're in the pool. You can walk up to them, get a picture, get their autograph, and it's just-- it's fine. You know what I mean? It's so manageable. Especially because they're always all working. So they don't get a lot of interaction, because we don't do a lot of shows together, other than if it's the festivals, you know, and the lineups are awesome. But usually the lineups, it's like the one guy on the lineup, you know, and everybody else you probably don't really know. But I think for me, watching them interact and just seeing the different friendships is super cool, because you're not going to see that anywhere else. Yeah, for sure. It's like-- I don't have a specific favorite moment, but for me, it's like summer camp, and these are, you know, it's like you're a kid again, and like, this is summer camp when I get to come hang out with my friends, because I don't see them. Yeah. You know? We don't live here. We're on the same work schedule. If I'm not working, they're definitely working, or it's been vice versa. So it's like-- Well, we were talking literally at breakfast, and he's like, "Yeah, we're going to be in your problem." And they go, "Great, man." You know, Renee and I would love to go see you. I go, "When are you there?" I go, "Well, fuck. I'm in your town that same weekend you're in my pocket." It's exactly. It's just a house walk. Yeah. That's summer camp, and it's just, I like seeing all the guys and hanging out with the guys, and it's not a, like I said, stressful festival event where there's a lot, just chaos going on. You can't just go out and hang out. But there's also a comfort level for you artists, right, that I saw where you guys are just fucking around, and joking around, and you screw up a song, we laugh about it, you know? Yeah. And the camaraderie, and making fun of Josh yesterday, it was his set. And I think he sang a song. But it was awesome. Yeah. It was cool to see everybody together and hanging out, but I will ask you this because, you know, last night you weren't there, because you weren't feeling well, you know, I definitely wanted to give it up to the wives of all of us, because I don't think people truly understand what our wives go through, and people look at us and go, "Oh, it must be nice. I hear that all the time." Yeah, right. But I would like you ladies to talk a little bit about the struggles of being married to a couple of aliens. I mean, it's hard when they say struggles because it comes with so many perks, right? Yeah. There are definitely so many perks. Lots of pros, lots of cons. But we had a moment where we were in New York doing press after we had filmed the Netflix special, and it had just come out. Good morning, America. And I was sitting with my college girlfriend. No big deal. Yeah, no big deal. It's just good morning, America. It's pretty exciting. But I was sitting with one of my college girlfriends, and she said, I think she could just tell, I was tired, I was worn out, because we're traveling with two. I have two littles. There are three and eight. And so that's a lot to play cheerleader, and then at that time, director two, and still be mama. And she goes, Renee, you know what? You're doing is not normal, right? And I think she could just tell. I was trying to keep up my appearance. We live in our little normal down in New Braunfels, and we're trying to keep childhood as normal as possible for our kids, and it was like, I needed her to give me that permission to just say, "It's okay, what you're doing is not normal. It's okay for it to feel hard sometimes." Yeah. It's definitely hard. I mean, I think especially like when you wear all the shoes, you know, like it's tired a lot. But I do want my kids to have normal life. I don't want my kids to grow up and resent like what we were on the road, because dad was on the road. Like I don't want them to feel that way. I want them to feel like I had a great life. I got to do all the things, normal things. Dad made all the things. You know, like I'd rather him be the one flying all over the place, trying to get here or there than me, strapping my kids on, going to all the places, trying to see dad. And Casey does, like he makes a huge effort to not miss anything with our kids. And obviously I do the schedules, so that makes it easier because I can, you know, schedule all the things around our kids' calendars because they both play all the sport. Our kids are very busy with two boys, 10 and 15, so I mean, it's all the things. And he does such a good job. But I think that for me, it's lonely, I think, you know, like you do go through the lonely part of when you can't go on the road. You can't be there because you have all the other responsibilities and without handling those responsibilities. It's even bigger than that for her. It's hard to have friends. Exactly. That was fun. There's nobody understands. Because it's petals. Oh, hey, we're all going to eat Friday night or it's, or there's a wedding or yeah, we're not. But you know, hey, there's a wedding, a friend's wedding. Like girls are going out Friday night and it's like, I got kids. Yeah. Well, dad's gone so mom won't be. Same. You like, I want to overcompensate because one parent's already gone, you know, and then you like, I always feel guilty. Like, gosh, I really go to dinner tomorrow night and you know, but yes, I do a lot of weddings alone. Party. Party one. A lot. A lot. And it's hard. But also to always try to just always look at the blessings and everything and how fortunate we are and like, I mean, I never would have thought this would be my life. I think I'm able to give my kids things. I was super poor growing up. I would never. I never thought I could give my kids all the things and the opportunities. I mean, just the opportunities they have. We're just talking about that. Yeah. Yeah. The kids have a batting cage in the back. Yeah. And they have two parents. I, you know, my mom was an addict growing up and got an addict. And so I feel like just the fact that my kids have a mom and a dad that both love each other and are both committed to the family is want to be great. Want to be good parents is huge for me. I mean, you know, for me, it's so heartbreaking too. And I think every artist in here, you know, when my daughter looks at me and goes, don't leave. And I'm like, oh, maybe I got to go like I got to go to work, you know, it is the most heartbreaking shit. Yeah. And what I did for my son, you know, we have a friend of his and his parents were friends with them. I actually broke down the hours for it. And I said, look, I go, this dad has this many hours, but he didn't get home from work until almost seven o'clock. Right. Yes. He has Saturday and Sunday with his kids. But I'm with you. I'm at the bus stop. I'm with you to take you to school. Yeah. I get. Yeah. You know, during the week, because I can do that, but it also makes us super dads. Right. Oh, yeah. I think he's super bad. Monday, Tuesday, killing it. I mean, killing it. It's all exhausted, but then your kids are like, all right, fuck, let's go. Yeah. I'm just like, I mean, I fly and travel and try to help coach my youngest is baseball team. The oldest is moved way past my skill levels and internet levels or Intel levels. But I'm like, I mean, I'm the guy, I'm like, I'm sitting at baseball practice when it's 100 degrees. I'm the only one there just watching. And I go, I go pick up my, we go to a little private Christian school in Fort Worth and I go get my kid every day for lunch. And they kind of talk to me and he's like, you can't do this ago. I promise you, I can. Yeah. There's no doubt. The check cleared mother. Yeah. Yeah. I'm taking him to eat lunch. I promise you. Watch this. I dare you to stop me. So it's like, I just take him lunch every day at school. I go there, pick him up and go eat and we go do stuff and he's like, he's the smartest kid I know. Like he makes hundreds. I'm like, he's going to be fine. Whatever, whatever the next class is like, it doesn't matter. Yeah. He's going to be fine. Trust me. So I'm his dad. I'm getting him. Let's go eat. We've also noticed too, like for us, you know, we connect more with people like yourselves because you guys understand it. Yeah. Very similar. You know, in our neighborhood, you know, and it's tough because I do hear those comments like, oh, you come home in your private jet last night, Torino, and I'm like, well, fuck you, dude. Like, I want to make my kids game. Yeah. I'm telling you that's, that's the move. You hear those things and it's frustrating for Renee and I, because they think that I work an hour a day. Right. And then, oh, you go get an hour of show and he's glorious. It's so much fun. It's just, oh, we see these beautiful truck stops and yeah, it's like, we're at a field in Nebraska. There's so much to do. It's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I ate 17 bugs last night in my show. Yeah. Guess what we got today? Barbecue again. We got barbecue. I can't. And you guys are from Texas. You love barbecue. We're going to hook you up. This is a, this is a, this is a third, this guy got third place in the county fair three years in a row. Third place. That's how good it is. Oh, and guess what? Now he wants to meet you. Yeah. Yeah. And his family, all the family. Yeah. And his cousins are here and they all want to be. So please tell him how good his horrible barbecue taste. I mean, we, we call it the circus. I mean, it is. It is a fucking circus. It is a circus. You know, and that we were in my green room was real small in Pittsburgh and I was outside and my road manager comes and goes, fuck you, you're not here because the green rooms, I go, I don't know any of them. They're all drinking my liquor. I don't know any of these motherfuckers. I'm out here. I walk in. They need to know what's going on. I don't know. Steve. Party. But I will say the people that always get kicked out of my shows are my friends. Oh, sure. Yeah. Your friends. I mean, saying it's like they're the ones always causing their phone like we just do no guessless tonight. It's like we don't have to ask our friends to leave or we don't have to call security on our own thingy. Oh, yeah. Oh, my friend. Yeah, that's why you didn't get the fuck out. Yeah. My fourth cousin. Fourth cousins. We're related. I swear to God. I'm a Donahue. Yeah. I'm a Donahue. I did ancestry.com. We're related. Was it a surprise to find out that the Midwest like just grabbed onto your music? We were really strong in the cowboy community and I think there's just some, you know, roots for me, for me growing up on a farm and, you know, I write those are the kind of songs. I really love those songs. I write those songs. They're factual and true and like believable. And I think that's a big thing with, especially with like authenticity. Yes. Authenticity. I've said it a million times. And I think people, I write stuff because it's true. And so it sounds true. And it's, it's said the right way because I hear songs that people who aren't cowboys that write cowboy songs on my, we don't say that shit. We would never say that. We don't say that shit. Yeah. So, you know, that would never be said that way. And so, but I think that community really embraces what we do because they're true stories or they're believable enough that they're like, man, that's, that's what it is. That's how it is right there. That's the real thing. I think it's very similar to Renee and I don't listen to you guys talk and I mean there's, I, there's such an appreciation from us, you know, when we walk on stage and I have moments where I'm looking out the crowd like, holy shit, you know, I did this. Yeah. How did this happen? I've said that a million times. Like, you know, this, this, like this get all in, I guess tomorrow, but, and if it did, we move on and figure out what we're going to do next, but I would look by and go, that was pretty cool. We'll just move the problem. Yeah. Yeah. Am I, I'm like, man, I don't know how we did that, but we had some good ass times. That was, that was, that was pretty amazing, you know, and I think Renee was talking about young guys all the time. And the number one, I think, I tell young guys and I don't know how much advice you get. Always take, keep a journal. Take notes, even if it's in your phone, write down every day, just something, give it's one sentence or if it's a paragraph, but keep a journal because I don't remember any of it. I don't. It's about 60%. I'm not sure what happened. Everything starts kind of looking the same, you know, it bleeds like, have I been here before? Every time I'm like, have we been on first question? We've been here before? He's like, yes. About seven times. I'm like, are you sure? This doesn't look familiar at all. I'm like, where are you from and they go, oh, Denver or whatever, I'm like, oh, this restaurant. And they're like, how do you know that? I'm like, because I've been there fucking a million times. Yeah. That's why I know every restaurant I know, every one, but I tell young guys is to enjoy the journey. Yeah. Right. You know, I don't think I was, you know, we were struggling and there's those moments of like, how am I going to make it? I want to be there. I want to be there. I want to be there. And I don't think I took the moment to go, I'm on my way there. Yeah. And I'll be okay. It's hard. Yes. And I'm going to get there. But that was also your ambition. Yeah, I was. Well, also I had no safety net. You know, I couldn't call dad and go, hey dad, you're going to pay my money. Right. Exactly. Yeah. That wasn't happening. What in a thing? Yeah. Was, you know, we did it on our own. And I'm really proud of that too. I'm like, I'm sure you are. Like, we did this on our own. And no one helped us. Yeah. We don't owe any buy anything. I wasn't best friends with Randy Rogers when he'd let me open all the shows for him. I just went out there and played my own damn shows, did our own shit. We did it ourselves. And I'm proud of that. And I am too. And Randy and I struggle with that, especially her, but she's a very, very classy, humble woman. And, you know, sometimes she's like, well, I don't want to wear my Rolex. And I go, you know what? Fuck that. We earned it. Yeah. You know, I stepped in my car for two months and a one more part of the room. No doubt. You know, we lived in a one bedroom apartment that was literally 350 square feet. Yeah. And I drove a 1978 K5 Blazer, not because I was cool, but because I could fucking work on it. Yeah. You know, and it cost me 2,500 bucks and we struggled and we worked hard for our things. And that's, we don't apologize for any more because we go, hey, we, we suffer and we work hard and we sacrifice a lot and we miss weddings and we miss birthdays and we miss all kinds of things, you know. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a given a take. But like it's, you know, like I said, I don't either. I mean, we, we built this on our own and we did it the right way. We did it our way. No one ever told me what song to sing, what closed to wear and I wasn't going to have it anyway. Right. So it's like, this is us and we did it. Yeah. There's a great feeling for us as well where we can go. We don't need you. Yep. You know, because Rene and I were self producing our own specials, you know, and when that's awesome, when Netflix came calling and they said, Hey, we'd like to offer Steven Netflix special. So, okay, here's the deal, shooting in Texas, my wife's the producer, my wife's the director. And if you say no, we don't give a fuck. We're doing it anyway. Yeah. For sure. You know, and Netflix was like, you got it. Let's go. So it is, it is special. I mean, there's something about Texans and Texas and the way that we were raised. Yes. Um, that, that makes us stick to our morals and this is what you've created here in Kabul. Thank you for having. Thank you for coming. Oh, thank you for coming. Yeah. We had no idea what to expect. I know. And if I don't call them like, you know, to ask someone to come, I'm like, they're probably going like, what are you talking about? Yeah. Well, but there's a sure. Well, for us, it's like, do we want to go on a work vacation? You know, we have to have that. Yeah. But when I knew that it was going to be people that I already knew and, and could hang out with, I go, yeah, let's do that because it's again, it's a Texas thing, it is like summer camp. It is. He hates to go on vacation, but this is the vacation he would tell you. Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah. You know, that's the, that's the thing too, is that I've done this for so long. And I've been to so many festivals, so many big name festivals and all this stuff. And I was like, God, they just, could we be treated a little better? Right. Could we have better food, better drinks, better service? Can you fly us, you know, a little better? And so I just- Could we get a green room? Yeah. I mean, just, and so I was, it was really important when we did this and we were going to put our name on it that it be, you know, I don't know if this is first class, first class, white trash, I guess, but I want it to be, I want it to be, I want it to be, I want art. I want. Yeah. I want artists to be like, man, I can't wait again, like this is, I look forward to this as much. They want, I want them to look forward to it as much because, man, I got paid. This is the great, the food's great. The drinks are great. I got a butler. Like we're hanging like this is, this is awesome. And so that was our really important to us when we started this thing. You can tell, you can feel it in the way the people are walking around the way they have accomplished that. Look at all these beautiful people. Give it down to his around of applause. Thank you. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Yeah. And now please help us welcome the habits Josh and Taylor, give them a round of applause. You look so nice. Thank you. You look like shit. I am, I am so happy to have you. You know, Josh and I became, yeah, okay, you know, Josh and I became fast friends. We have a great sense of humor. Josh and I, when we met it was just, you know, we've been wanting to have y'all in the podcast. I just like Steve was saying with the schedules, we've like never been able to make it work. And you're out on the street from us, but still when you're home, right? And it's like, oh, now you want me to go to fucking your Broncos to do a podcast, right? Yeah. But because of the Dotties. Here we are. Right. So I'm so excited to have you guys. Josh, you are, you are such an interesting character because you've kind of become the leader of this whole, you know, when I saw you guys play live, the panhandlers, you're kind of the leader. Tell me about like that whole love book scene and, you know, you coming up through that scene and how it all just kind of, how did you become the leader of it? Now you're not the first, but you kind of became the leader of it. Well, I'm, yeah, I don't know if I'm the leader or not, but, um, okay. So just coming from the love big scene, there's just a huge emphasis on songwriting. And so when you start playing open mic nights at the respected places in town, they don't want you to play covers. You have to play your own song. So it's pretty sink or swim, which is interesting because I think most bars want you to play covers that everybody knows 100% yeah, most bars do, right? And then the blue light and love it does not. And so that's what we would play and see you're immediately playing your own songs. And so it really forces you to get good, you know, or realize what it's like to play a crappy song in front of a lot of people because there's no applause and I can feel it. Right. And, um, and then just, I don't know, there's something about it. There's just a brotherhood of it and there's always a torch being passed from one person to the next, you know, and there's so many people that have walked those same streets before me, whether they grew up in Lubbock or the surrounding area like I did, or whether they went to tech like I did, yeah, I'd happen to be both, but it's a mixture of that. And anyway, so just through that process, the guy that I handed kind of the blue light baton to was William Clark Green and he would become one of my best friends. And he kind of handed it down to this kid named Kledo Cordero from the Flatland Calvary. And along the way, we became friends with songwriter John Baumann. And so one day I just had the idea to put together this little group with the four of us and tell songs and stories of the people of West Texas and the panhandle. But I think there's something special about you and your humility to be able to do that. And a lot of artists can't do that. That's exactly what I was about to say. A lot of artists are not willing to open gates or pass batons, as you said. Well, let's not talk about Casey and Randy like that. But it's a love book thing. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a Texas thing too, though. Yeah, I was kidding about that, obviously. I think we have a really good camaraderie in Texas, and yeah, sure, there's some competition. You know, you want to know if you outsold somebody or had more people, but at the end of the day, we all help each other out, hey, my guitar player is sick and can't make it or whatever. Do you guys know of anybody? And hey, is anybody playing this one market? You know, we really would love to do a show there with you. And where's the spot or what's, you know, sure. So there's just a lot of community within the Texas country group and I think the Lubbock group as well. Okay. Now to end up on the biggest TV show in the whole wide world, how was that? What was that? Yellowstone. Oh, yeah. Sorry. You know. Apparently it wasn't a big fucking deal though. It was really. I was at home like, oh, shit, that's the pandemic. Really special. We've had a friend's story of how, you know, stumbling into that restaurant and it's a story. Tell us the story. It was a stumble story. It was kind of intro to a little bit. Yeah, it was January of, I don't know, a few years ago, excuse me. And we were looking for something to do and it was early afternoon. So a lot of places were kind of closed between lunch and dinner and we stopped at what's the name of the place we stopped in. You're supposed to remember these things. I know. It'll come to me. And we stopped at this little place right over there by Billy Bob's and we walked in to have oysters and cocktails and they were kind of closed, but they recognized me. So they were kind enough to be like, hey, you know what? Come on in and we'll get you all taken care of. So we went in there and at the same time they were showing the place to a group of cowboys who were there scouting it out for NFR parties because I think that was the year that NFR was going to be in Texas. And so, anyway, there's this young songwriter that was there and we started, he recognized me. So we started talking really nice guy and he ended up being really good friends with Taylor Sheridan who produces and does Yellowstone and a lot of these cool shows. Anyway, he was like, yeah, I'm hanging out with him like next week, man. So I'm going to toss, I'll toss your name out there and see if he's interested in any of your songs. And then literally like a month later, his music director for the show, Andrea, she emailed me, I'm not even sure how she got my email, but she emailed me and I connected her with management and the whole thing and then kind of went from there. So you knew it was coming? I mean, somewhat because they kept it pretty suspenseful. They were interested in our songs and then this is the song we're most interested in, they had to clear it. And then they never told us if they were going to use it or not. And then they finally confirmed. So you're watching every episode. Well, they finally confirmed, yeah, we're going to use it in the TV show. Did they tell you which episode? They didn't tell us for a while. Seriously. And then they finally told us like which episode it was. They do a really good job of keeping that pretty tight lift. Yeah. So. You know, we watched it at my mom's, right? Yeah, we did. Yeah. I mean, I just don't appreciate cool moments, but subtly sometimes. Sure. Yeah. It was super cool, but I don't want to be like narcissistic and be like, hey, everybody come over and celebrate me being on Yellowstone for 30 seconds. You know what I mean? What did it do for the career? I get to talk to you. Did you notice like an uptick in downloads? I mean, do not song specific. Yeah. I think that was a big deal for panhandlers. It really helped elevate that song, for sure. And I would assume that we saw some sort of residual uptick in streaming from all our individual bands as well. But I didn't really try to talk to them. I'll translate. Yeah, it is hard. Did the answer round go up? Probably your panhandler one. Yeah, probably panhandlers. Sorry. I'm just not good at that stuff. I really, you know, because it's so easy to get insecure doing this when if you really start going, oh, well, so and so has this many followers and so and so has this many streams and, you know, why don't we and this and that and it just becomes a game of quantifying success. And I don't really want to do that because there's so many different levels of success. That's very healthy of you. It's a constant struggle. Well, she's really have to work on that because I was real bad about, you know, I'd have a thousand positive problems. You're hilarious. We love you. You're great. Yeah. And that fucking one hits me right in the face. And I'm like, fuck this guy. You're not, you know, and everything. Hey, he's a ghost. He's a ghost. He was my burner account. I'm like, I'm going to kill this motherfucker. With your dog. Yeah. When you're done, we can get him. He's my burner account. Yeah. Josh said, and he bullshit. So let me ask you this. How did you guys meet? Because by the way, are your parents or your parents are awesome. My parents are here. Yes. I got to see them yesterday, and I met them at the charity we did. Yeah. Yeah. And we do need to talk about your charity for a little bit. Sure. How did you guys meet? A mutual friend that went to tech at different times than when we were there. But he was out with her and a group of people. I ran into her and she kind of introduced us. And we clicked pretty quickly and talked for a while. And our first date was that moment you just knew. It was so natural, the easiest conversation. It went on forever. We shut the restaurant down. It was kind of new. That happened to us when I was like, you're not leaving, are you? All the other ones leave. You're not. For some reason you're fucking choosing this. Yeah. It was awesome. We had a really amazing first date. And yeah, we kind of just knew. We definitely slow played it from there because I don't think either one of us were ready to be in a relationship. But it didn't take too many months for us to figure it out. Well, my first introduction to you guys was actually your charity event which Taylor chairs and handles. And I don't really have ever told you this, but I was so inspired by you watching you that night and what you do and the way you guys raised money. That was so, so impressive. And I don't think a lot of people know that about you. And I will tell you that that night affected my life. You know, and I am a big plus and comedians use jokes to hide their feelings. Sure. So when you guys showed that video, I had to leave. And Renee goes, are you leaving me right now? And I go, yeah, I'm fucking getting out of here. Because I got to follow this shit until jokes. Yeah. So I got to go tell them a little bit about your charity, why you do it, and the inspiration for it. Yeah, it's called Job Cares. It started 2017 timeframe. It started kind of more the basis of a lot of people come to these guys and they ask for support. They ask you to, you know, play some songs, raise some money, donate this, that, and the other for various causes. And he wanted to do something with that. Because you can't say yes to everything. Exactly. And it's hard to, you know, tell one person yes and another person no. And so he kind of wanted to find a way to fundraise and be available when a natural disaster occurs or someone, their child has cancer. And we need to get them a car so they can get to the hospital, whatever it was. So that's where it started. And then slowly we've kind of developed bigger events to fundraise for more specific reasons. That event was for a home that brings in women that have been trafficked and rehabilitates them. And that was very special because that was my first large event. And we donated $100,000 and I was blown away. And we're from 2017. So now we've donated about a million dollars to various things. And I'm very proud of that. Well, that event, you know, especially having kids, when you guys were showing the numbers of, if you don't know this, human trafficking is a billion, billion dollar business in Texas alone, not in America. You probably know the statistics. You might tell us a little bit because it blew my mind when I heard these numbers. But even when you guys broke it down in the presentation to the numbers and love it specifically. Yeah. And just the lack of like resources for these individuals that are coming out of that. There's some that have the option of like the emergency placement. But that's like 24 hours. And then these girls were young children, they're on their own. They have to figure it out. And so they end up kind of going back to where they were at before. And the cycle just kind of keeps continuing. They're having these facilities that will bring them in and give them education. Help them figure out what they're good at and give them a job and help them get on the right track is huge. When's the new one? What's the cause of this? You know, I had to take a little bit of a break because it's a taxing thing to do since I kind of run the whole thing. And then it's two of us putting it together and asking our friends to come in and support us and asking our other friends to buy the tables and the whole thing. So we're taking this year as a break. And next year we'll pick back up in probably in Austin. Yeah, yeah, came to closer to home. Yeah, I mean, love it's always felt like the right move because I'm from there. And such, you know, it's such a huge part of my career and everything. But now that we've lived in Austin, you know, I've lived in Austin for 14 years. And it's where we live and her parents live and a ton of our community and friends. It's like, why are we not doing something local? You know, so we've decided to take a year off. You know, we have kids the same ages as y'all, essentially seven and four. And it's, you know, it's not only obviously busy. I feel like everybody's kids keep some busy because it's always changing and evolving. But with them being this young, I want to really soak up as much time as I can and I'm on the road already so much. So yeah, we just decided to make a conscious effort this year to kind of pump the brakes on it and then we'll resume it next year. Do you guys take the kids on the road much? Not a whole lot. It's kind of a bit. It's hard. You know, I mean, especially because of me. It is kind of a whip. You're like, oh, this is great. And then you're like, oh my God, I'm exhausted. This is not so great. Yeah, especially because, you know, I don't know what time like you do your show. But, you know, most of my shows, it's such a fluid thing. I mean, one that we're playing after the rodeo at 10.30 and the next night we're playing at eight. You just never know. We're also traveling with an entire bank. Which is, you know, we're never lucky that it's me, a road manager and another comedian. Yeah. You know, so the times that we do bring the kids on the road, those are times I'll get a tour bus. Sure. Because I don't need a tour bus because I don't have 12 people, which by the way is good on my wallet too. Yes, it is. You're a smart man. I wish I could be a comedian. Yeah. But yeah, it's a lot and a lot of guys and a lot of stink and it's just not... Because then they have to change their lives. A great environment to just put your kids in. So every now and then, if it's just the right situation, sorry, I'm probably not close enough here. You know, like for instance, there was a week where I flew into Oklahoma City with my daughter, like got her after school. We flew into Oklahoma City. I played an early show. We stayed the night at my cousin's house or something like that and then flew home or whatever. And so it was super easy to do it for that and she loved it. But it's just too hard right now to take the kids out on the road. And you deal with some of the same things that the Donny used to do. Oh my gosh. I saw you giving me a name in the back corner. Everything y'all talked about. I'm like, they get us. I just wish we all lived in the same city. And then you girls can actually hang out. Yes. Yeah, it is hard. It's very challenging in ways that most people just don't understand and it's okay that they don't understand. And I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about things because like this is work. Look at where we're at. This is amazing. But at the same time, a lot of the same stuff. Weddings alone. Birthday parties alone, you know, scheduling everything around. We know Thursday through Sunday. It's not an option. We got to do things during the week. What kids are in school during the week to kind of limit what we get to do. So yeah, it's hard. Well, Renee gets mad at me because I'll get home. And she's like, I have a system fucker. Yeah. And then you get home and you ruin my whole shit. Totally. Because I already got him once. Yeah, he's like, oh, I'm trying to help. I'm like, you're in the way. Yeah, you're sorry. But like we do it this way and you're messing it up. I love Renee. He's like, what do you mean they're staying away? Come on. I'm like, get in the way. Totally. Totally. Yeah. It's every week too. It's a little like reset. It's a change in of the day. It's a change in of the day. Now we got to like make real dinners and it's like we can't just get away with like half dinners that we nibble on. It's a thing. Yeah. No, it's definitely, definitely. And then like you said, I'm the dad that does all the school events. It's kind of funny. People probably would think I don't do any. I'm the one who does all of them because Monday through Thursday. You're there. I don't have anything else to do during the day. I mean, don't get me wrong. There's songwriting sessions, meetings, you know, things like that. All balls and all the whole shit. But I mean, I'm always there at the kids' schools for the events. And none of the other dads are because they work normal jobs, you know? And then so I've become friends with a lot of moms. Yeah. And it's just funny. She's like hanging with the girls. That's Josh. She gets mad at me. She goes, you want to get a coffee? No. It's like, how about we get to school this morning? I'm like, well, the girls want to talk. Yeah. Totally. There's literally me. And I always make sure that their husbands are cool with it. Because I'm like, I don't want to think like, why are you hanging out with this one guy? You know, Steve will walk into the front office and be like, I wore this tank top just for you ladies. Yeah. That a boy. Well, I also want to make them laugh because I don't know, man. I don't know how they do it. Like, I will go into that school. They call it hallway heroes where our school, where you sign up. And I'm lucky because they all know me. I do hallway heroes. I know the fuck out. Why? But I only do a couple hours because I don't know how these teachers do it. You're supposed to sign up for the whole day and they give you, like, tasks to get help around the school. And the other dads do, and they come at it and they're like, are you leaving right now? I'm like, yeah, I'm going to get the fuck out of here. Because I'm here all the time. You guys get the whole day. And then they give them, like, tasks. And I don't get tasks. I hang out, party, and I get to be special. You're there for the energy and the vibe. Yes, yes. But no, I'm on the same page as you are, man. Give them what they can handle. Yeah. I just admire these teachers so much because two hours of it, I'm like, I got to get the fuck out of here. It takes all kinds of kinds, right? The Miranda Lambert song. It just, there's people who have that ability and patience level and empathy and all the other characteristics that you need to care for young children. And then they might not have that same ability to take care of teenagers in high school. And then there's those that do, you know, and then there's those that don't want to do any of that. And that's why that they go do other jobs, right? It's just, you know, it's a balancing act. And like you guys, we have the almost, ours is almost for, she's starting to kind of understand what's going on. Right. She's understanding that, oh crap, every weekend, that leaves, right? And then she'll also start going, wait a minute. That's different. Like people will stop that and talk to him. Yeah. So she's starting to figure out, like, hey, my life's not like theirs. Sure. You know, and my son too, my son, we dropped him off at camp and this year and he comes home and he goes, can you tell them who you are and you talk to my counselor? Because they're mean to me. I'm like, no, fuck her, they're being normal. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Our daughter, you know, definitely has a really good grasp on it since she's older. But even when she was luck's age, I think she kind of got it, but she kind of thought everyone had a band. Yeah. Right. Our kids, our kids think that like it's normal to just like hear a song and know that person. And they think that when anybody hears a song, like that's their friend singing a song. They're like, this is just, this is dad's friend. This is Mr. Kledo, Uncle Bill, like, he just, they think it's normal, like, it's not. So she's like, Dad, can you introduce me to Taylor Swift? Yeah. You might. That's going to be an issue. I'm going to be talking about it. I don't think I can do that. And maybe I go through practicing my homestead. Well, yeah, I do have some connections there, but it is funny. She just thinks like that I just know everyone and that everyone has a band. Yeah. So you're all like your friend. Gary was probably like five and our neighbor, he goes, I'm going on the road and Gary goes, Oh, comedian. And he's like, no, I'm not even mad yet, but he just thought you go on the road. Yeah. That's what you're doing. Yeah. And then they think obviously anytime we go somewhere that they should be on stage or the backstage backstage. Yeah. Well, I too too. That's a hard one. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So it's it's a lot of fun for them and then their friends and then the friends parents, you know, and that's a process too. I'm sure you've encountered where it's kind of like some of your kids, friends, parents are cool. And then some of them, you know, you're like, ah, I got a, I hope they don't talk to me for 20 minutes. You're going to get to comments or the, you know, I always get like the underneath, like we talked about earlier. I always get the like, oh, must be nice. Yeah. Well, of course you're here because you know, you only work an hour and it's like, you guys don't get it. I don't ever, you know, yeah, fortunately I've never gotten that. I'd probably be grumpy with some money if they said that. I'd be like, you have no clue how many hours a week I put into this. But our life, yeah, how much sacrifice gets put into our life and it's tough on a marriage. You know, yeah, it's because especially when you have two kids at our age because it's like there is no time for husband and wife. It is mommy and daddy. And now with Delilah doing activities, I'm like, I don't know how the fuck we're going to do this. Yeah. You know, because the eight-year-olds playing travel baseball and Jiu Jitsu and flag football, and then now Delilah's doing swim and dance and you're like, how, how do we do it? And then she's solo. Yep. Well, your time together is already limited because you're gone X amount of days a week. So now you're packing family time. Like if you want to go have dinner with art, you know, my grandparents or anything like that, we're so like packed into a few days and it's very hard. We're like the last people on each other's list at the end of the day and that's not the way they need to go. Yeah, because you don't want to just go to everybody. Yeah. You know? Well, our we have a big issue too. This is when I do have a weekend off. I want to see everybody. So I end up throwing a big party and then when I say, really, you think of fucking weekend off and it's a circus again? Yeah. So I want to see my parents and my sister, my cousins and my friends. And I get that too. But then it's also like the kids feel like, oh, we had this creepy party and we saw these people and that was fun. But then he goes back on the road again and they're like, wait a minute, we did get time with dad. I've tried to be really conscious over the years of balancing it out. I mean, I was just talking to my manager yesterday about finding a day in August to come up to Nashville to do something. And I was like, man, I just can't. He's like, well, what about these days? You don't have anything on your calendar. And I'm like, yeah, that's because I'm going to be at home with my kids, man. Like he doesn't have kids. He doesn't get it. So he's like, he thinks it's an open day. You can do this. And I'm like, man, I have to be present for my children and my wife and be a normal person. Somewhat normal person. Try to get that half of the time. I mean, I remember was it just a few months ago is this spring. I was gone a lot consecutively, like three or four shows a week every single week in a row, which I never want to do again. This year I learned that I'm too old for that. That was a young man's game for me. I don't want to play three or four shows a week every week anymore. It's just not me anymore. I've completely taken Sundays off. But my truck, I was just going to the grocery store to get something. And I started my truck and my son was playing outside. And when he heard it, he yelled out, dad, because he was sad. He thought I was leaving again. And that really crushed me. And so I just think from that moment, it really clicked to like, nope, got to dial it back. So now my daughter sees a suitcase, she's like, huh, what's happening? You're leaving again. It's tough. And sometimes they're cool with it because they get to do fun stuff. They know like if we both leave, they're going to some grandparent, right? So they know. It's like three donuts, cupcakes, they're like, we're good, we're yeah, they're eating all the things. They're like, we're fine. It's almost better if we both leave. If it's just me, then I feel like they get sad. But if we're both leaving, they're like, oh, I'm going to go to grandma's and run the show for a few days. See you later. For sure. Any questions for the habits? Uh oh. Anybody? A lot of them. No. Nope. Okay, the question was, what is your favorite country song of all time and why? Don't say your own. Okay. The question was, what is your favorite country song of all time and why? I already have that answer. I already have it in my head. It's not yours. No offense. It's not yours, but that's such a hard question. Well, I would say if I don't get to choose one of my own, which sounds really narcissistic, I guess, but like Jack Ingram and Willie Nelson, they've made comments about this in the past. Or it's like, I am my own favorite artist. If I wasn't my favorite artist, I don't know why I'd be doing this. Like I write songs that I like, right? So I'm not going to be like, well, I like their songs way better and I like mine. It's just weird. Yeah. Especially when you have an emotional attachment to your routine. Right. I've written so many songs about her now that I love those and I've written songs about my kids, about my mom and my dad, but I'd say if I had to pick one outside of that room, I'd probably either go with Randy Travis's cut of forever and ever, amen, right? Because that was our last dance at our wedding. We did the whole clear the room out. It's just us and a photographer and we danced that song. It was just our own moment at that night and it's kind of our song. I've never heard of anybody doing that. I love that. Oh, shit. Now you're going to make us get married again. No, no, no, no. Where were we? We had some people a week or two ago and they were like, oh, we're doing like the, what do you call it when you get married again? Renewable. We wrote Renewable about Renewable. I was like, oh, no, I did it once. I'm good with that. I'm all in. Yeah. I don't know. I should say yes again. Mine is Highwayman. That's that. I think that's probably one of the greatest songs ever written. And on that note, before I forget, that is what's special about this community is that and looking at Varkro is that I can, my son listens to you all songs and he can listen to those songs and he loves them and that's what he wants to hear is you guys. We don't listen to pretty much anything else because the things you guys sing about are special and I can show my eight-year-old and he knows every word to all you guys in songs and that's really special to give it to other generations. Your favorite country song of all time? Oh, I can't think of my favorite country song of all time. The one that I play with. I'm just thinking of like the song. I thought it was Bootscoot Boogie. Now. Thank you, Breaky Art. You bitch, you fucking, you fucking idiot. No. I don't know if you've heard that Billy and Ray Cyrus audio, but that's what I'm trying to do. You know what I'm talking about? I do, but for those that don't, that was jarring. But now go back and look at the Billy Ray Cyrus audio, they call it his wife a bitch. I do that all the time, we just don't record it. I do not. Don't worry, babe. I will not release any of your audio. We're gonna have her heard over here. Oh. Allegedly. Allegedly. This podcast is going to trash. Tom Bernoui Mattress. Now, you were allowed to say one of his songs. Well, I just, it kind of probably, you know, day to day, it moves around a little bit. Favorite song that he wrote one and sing it as a surprise at our wedding. So I would probably have to say that that song would be my favorite song. Oh, I will say right now, tell us, daughters, daughters, you know what song for me is my father-daughter song is crossed my heart by George Strait. That is not a husband and wife song. That is a father-daughter song. And my little girl goes, Daddy, sing my song and I put it in the car and I've never cried so much in my fucking life since I'm having a daughter. That's a good one. Yeah. Bart. Favorite song? Bart wasn't prepared for that, he was prepared. Bart grows off camera. Middle-aged crazy, by J.D. Lewis. Middle-aged crazy. By J.D. Lewis, he said. Somebody said, "Why?" Because I went through it. Yeah. So you feel it? Yes, sir. And then the person that brought up the question, what's your fears? Neon moon. Neon moon. Neon moon. That's such a good song. That's a great song. No, but the casing must craves. It is your version, it's so good. What's in your casing? It's a woman song. It's a woman song. You're like, this song should have always been sung by a woman. Yes. That is a female song, neon moon. When you hear it from a woman, you go, "Yeah." When you hear it from a dude now, you're like, "Stop being a bitch, dude." Like, what are you doing in the corner under a neon moon crying a little bitch? Drink a whiskey and shut the fuck up. Now one of my favorite drinking fun is love by Roger Craig. Yeah. That's a great song. Yep. And then this dirty queen thing came about, man, tell me about that. So a cat of a long story, I'll try to keep it pretty short. They were looking for a rebrand a few years ago because it hit the 30-year mark of when they had come up with the jingle. Like I mentioned the other day, but people listening to the podcast weren't there. Dairy Queen Texas is its own entity. It's a different than Dairy Queen national corporate. Every single Dairy Queen in Texas is individually franchised by somebody. You can own more than one, but they're all kind of individually owned and they kind of have a union of sorts, right, an association where they all pay X amount of revenue and then this parenting company oversees all the advertising and campaigns and things. So they wanted to redo the song that they had done 30 years ago and they put together a list of Texas guys, Texas country singers that they would feel good about redoing it. And I don't want to say who was on the list, but there's me and three or four others and they kind of interviewed us on Zoom and then they chose me. But you also have a song where you mentioned Dairy Queen? Yeah, we recorded a song years ago that mentions Dairy Queen and I grew up in a small town called Idaloo and Lubbock was 10, 15 minutes away, but the good restaurants in Lubbock at least at that time were 20, 25 minutes away and I don't know, it was just like when you were in a crunch and you're in a bind to get it something to eat in Idaloo, you did not have a lot of options. And so Dairy Queen was, it really, but when you get older, you start to appreciate that because you're like, well, no other fast food restaurant went to all these small Texas towns that needed a variety and something to eat and because a lot of them thought, oh, well that's a town of 2,000 people, we can't, a restaurant, a Dairy Queen there won't survive or a fast food place, but Dairy Queen didn't have that mentality, they had the mentality of let's dominate every small town market in this state, it's genius, the Texas stop sign and so anyway, so I kind of have an appreciation for Dairy Queen doing that and anyway, it was really cool. So I went in the studio with a couple of my guys and we re-recorded the jingle, which was really interesting to do that because I'm not a jingle singer and it's... Oh no, it's a completely different process. Yeah, and I was just like, I don't want to be a jingle singer, but it was a fun experience. Chet cleared, and then as that developed, we had such a good relationship, they wanted to continue it and say, hey, what if we, I honestly don't remember if it was my idea or theirs, but we collaborated on doing my own mill where I got to have my own combo mill at this place. So you're going to give a little baby Josh Abbott going to Dairy Queen for a kitty call, and you never thought you'd be on the menu. Yeah, it's something. I mean, I think my friends and family, they just loved it. They thought it was the coolest thing to get to go to Dairy Queen and get a cup with my stupid face on there and I don't know, it's cool. How do you have a cup in the cupboard? Well, fast out. We have a stack of them. Fast out. My little town of Portland, Texas has the largest Dairy Queen in the world. Really? Yep. Well, next time we go to Port A, we should have to swap there. Largent has a train, little train that goes around the top. What? Oh yeah, it's a really cool Dairy Queen and same thing for us where, you know, after the baseball game, are we going to Dairy Queen? Yeah. You know, coach, can we go to Dairy Queen? You know, and when I was a kid in the summers, you'd round up 50 cents and you'd go get your little ice cream cone at the Dairy Queen. Yeah. So it is special. So it's been interesting, you know, it's just this other, you know, what do they call it, you know, a vertical or something that's an auxiliary or tertiary or something, you know, it's just another element to like what we do as a brand and a company and all of it has developed just because of what, you know, we've done as a band for 15 plus years now. It's really fun, but it isn't, it's kind of, I don't know, just kind of funny. I always smile that now every time I show up to Boots on the beach, I know Donna, he's going to make Dairy Queen jokes. Oh, yeah. Somebody was wearing a hat in the pool, Dairy Queen. I will say, you know, to wrap it up, man, it's always so much fun because I'm on the road, you're on the road, we very rarely get to hang out, but every once in a while, we end up in the same town. Vegas, usually. Yeah, Vegas. Well, I remember Kansas. Oh, yeah. That's right. I'm in Kansas and all of a sudden somebody was like, hey man, I'm going to this country concert. I was like, yeah, they have a country party. Oh, yeah, this Josh Abbott's playing. I go, what? I'm fucking on my way, you know, and I ended up in that, you had my jacket forever. And if I, you left your coat on my bus in Indianapolis. Was that in Indianapolis the other time? So we, yeah, we've crossed paths several times on the road. It's always fun when we get to, you know, hang out on the road. We absolutely love you guys. We need to spend more time together. We're not far apart. We're really new. And we'll come down and hang with you all on the Rogers. It'll be fun. Yeah. And the Bowens, they're down there too. Let the kids complain about us. Yeah. Oh, your dad leaves too fucking my dick hang down. We love you guys. Thanks for having us. Cheers. Thanks for being here. Thank you guys for joining us. Oh. Give the average round of applause. Thank you. Yes. Renee's going to thank our sponsors real quick and we're done. Thank you guys for being so sweet. Thank you. Thank you to All Sock Coffee. It is the best coffee. Drivenio 10 is your discount code. And Aztec Chevrolet, Aztec Ford and all the dealerships, give them an absolute chance to earn your business, please. Pick cherries, the app. If you don't have it on your phone already, download pick cherries, start listening to your favorite podcasts and clipping them out and sharing them with your friends. And Raw Westernwear and those of you that know our guests, please continue to love and support them. For those of you that do not know our guests, listen to their music, you'll absolutely love it. Guys are some of the most talented people in the world and their music is just absolutely amazing. We'll see you guys next time. Thank you. All right. Awesome. Thank you. Bye. [BLANK_AUDIO]