SharkFarmerXM's podcast
John Stone from Nashville, TN 10-4-24
[Singing] [Music] And welcome again to Shark Farmer Radio. Hey! I'm your host Rob Sharkey. We're in the studio today just outside of Bradford, Illinois. Harvest has come to a grinding halt, but actually I'm happy with. Yeah, I'll have to say, we're playing catch-up this morning, which is really kind of nice. We have gotten some much needed rain. It's been a good month. Not much, two tenths, but I mean, bam, we were kind of desperate for it, which is so ironic with what's going on, you know, with the hurricane damage. But we were, it was very welcome, the two tenths we got last night. It was. So, all week we have been talking with different guests from, gosh, from Tennessee, from North Carolina, and talking about all that's going on with the hurricane relief, because darn it, it is not being covered like it should on TV. But there are some amazing farmers and ranchers and farm bureaus and all kinds of people who are raising a ton of money. Yeah, if you haven't heard much about it, check it out. It is unreal. Entire town's just gone. Literally gone. And they're having a hard time just getting bottled water, just getting food, just getting the basics, and of course sell towers are down. So, a lot of people haven't been heard from yet, and that's, that's crazy. So, today we are going to go down to Tennessee, and we're going to talk with John Stone and see what he's doing. Yeah, our old friend, John Stone, one of the best entertainers in Nashville. Oh my gosh, we see him in Kid Rocks, Honky Ton. I'm going to say the best, but you know, we're, we're a little biased. Absolutely. How you doing, John? Hey, Rob and Emily, I'm doing great. Harry, all this morning. Fantastic. We're talking about the hurricane, and John, I mean, you're, you're a country singer in Nashville, but you are, you're doing so much to try to help. I guess first question is, you know, why, what is your connection? Well, it just kind of happened organically, and this will be my second hurricane that I've helped out with. When Harvey hit Texas and Louisiana, my wife came to me one night and said that, you know, it just heavy on her heart to go help, and I said, well, I'll go hook, hook up the boat. And so I hooked up the boat, and we put out a little thing on Facebook. And by the time we got to Walmart, we had had, you know, close to $6,000 in donations on my Venmo. And we loaded up the boat with all the gas we could carry and all the supplies and water and food and headed out and did boat rescues and donated food and money and stuff. Down there at the local volunteer bar departments and stuff like that. And so I'm actually playing in North Carolina tomorrow. And so I was playing in San Diego, California, Monday for a company called Sarah wire, C-E-R-R-O. There's a big convention out there. And people started tipping me for a request like they normally do. And I got the idea, I said, hey, for every request, every dollar that y'all request a song with, I'll put it toward the hurricane relief and I'll match it out of my own pocket. And so I wound up with like $3,639 in cash tips. And so I matched that and then the company, Sarah wire matched that and so I went and bought a whole pallet load of new generators and extension cords. And there just happened to be a truck leaving out of Aslan City, my hometown, the day after I got back and I told them if they could wait one day on me, I would put a pallet of generators and supplies on there and they did. And so they took that to Butler County, Tennessee, sent me pictures and video of them unloading it and all the people there, helping disperse it and all that's on my Facebook. And so today I'm out rounding up chainsaw blades and I'm going to pick up another load of generators from Harbor Freight, who by the way gave us 15% discount on these generators there in Athens City, Tennessee, which allowed us to buy an extra generator. And I'm also sending hand washing stations and portable shower units to three different nursing homes, which a lot of people don't understand the nursing homes, don't have no power or water. So some of the older people that are bedridden or not able to, you know, go to the bathroom by themselves, these nurses have no way to clean them up. They have no way to wash their clothes, wash the bed linings or anything like that. So there's a lot of facets to this hurricane release that it's not just water and food, you know, there's all kinds of stuff that people don't think about, you know, the floods got the yellow jackets and hornets stirred up. So people that are out trying to say people's getting stung and some of them allergic to it, they need Benadryol, they need the EpiPans. It's just, it's never, if it's an infinite list of things that is needed right now, infinite. Yeah, that hadn't even heard about the stinging and that. I mean, it's like everything you try to do down there is just, it's in one step forward and one step back. First of all, thank you for, you know, doing that. That's, that's a lot of money out of your pocket. And then, of course, what you matched as well. Now, the people that are delivering them, are they, I mean, are they just individuals? Right now, well, the government hadn't even shown up for the first week. FEMA was not even on site by all the reports that I'm getting. And I'm, and this is second hand that I'm giving you. So I'm not saying this to be absolute fact, but everything that I'm seeing, they've just now shown up on site. And the problem is, they're confiscating people's shipments and turning people away and threatening these helicopter pilots that are going in saving people. If they go in, threatening them with the rest. And thank God these good old boys are just saying arrest me. I'm going, you know, if you want to fight, let's fight. But I'm going to help these people wherever y'all been for the last week. And, and so yes, it's individuals that are coming in with their own helicopters. And their own supplies and their own money and locals out there on horseback and they're leading mule trains into these areas that you can't get to by any other means other than mule train or helicopter. And, you know, when they're out there on their side, the sides and the razors and the four wheelers. Doing what good old boys do, absolutely. All right, we got to go to break today. We're talking with John Stone. You can find him at John Stone Country on all these socials. We'll be back. All right, after the break. ♪♪ This segment is brought to you by Common Ground. Are you looking for an easy way to buy, sell, or lease your land? Well, check out Common Ground where they connect landowners and farmers and hunters too, by the way. Go to commonground.io. That's commonground.io. ♪♪ We've been doing a lot of hurricane talk this week. Man, it kind of affects you. You're just sitting in a combine in my air condition and, you know, little stuff happens. I'm like, "Oh, I got to get out of the cab and get that rock off the platform." And meanwhile, people, you know, they don't even have water or their medicine and stuff like that. It's just, it's hard to fathom that this can happen at this day and age. It is hard to fathom. And as I've been watching social media and so many of the people who are just kind of dancing around on social media this week, it kind of is irritating, isn't it? Because it's like you don't want to talk about, you know, the little things. You want to, you know, bring some light to what's really happening. Not just, not just the little stuff and the little first problems we have. So yeah, we were talking with Overmountain vineyards, Sophia Lilly, and they have turned, that's in North Carolina. They've turned her vineyard into kind of a, what would you call it, a station where everybody is? Operation center. Yes, they actually have a cell phone tower up because a star, or you'd say Starlink, that's not a cell phone tower, Starlink. Well, they had an emergency brought in a cell tower that took to, I don't know, they are ragtagging it, but they have internet cell service, kind of, as we heard yesterday, and power. Yeah, and their vineyards kind of turned it into a site for people to drop off things. So they're feeding people, they're giving them water, they're bottling water there at local creamery. It's amazing. Big bottom dairy. Big bottom dairy. Yeah, that's, that's an amazing story we have to, we have to get them on the show. We do. Yeah. But today, we got our old friend John Stone. He is the best performer in Nashville, one of the best performers I've ever seen. Go follow him, John Stone Country. John has been helping out. I didn't know you, you did this with other hurricanes, but this one in particular. So you've got these, I mean, how do you find out what, what's really needed there? I mean, because I, yeah, I would have thought water in that, but generator, I don't know if that would have came first to my mind. Well, I put a post on Instagram, which also links to my Facebook, that I was, what I was doing with these generators and stuff. And if anybody wanted to donate to my Venmo, they could, and I would put all the money toward that. Well, then I also asked if anybody had someone in that area that they knew that was affected or could put me in touch with people who's actually on the ground that's doing this. And so I started just getting these messages through Facebook and Instagram of, hey, call this number or check out this organization or my family lives there. And so the next load that I'm taking is going into, again, into East Tennessee, but they're flying from there into North Carolina. They have helicopters. They have daily deliveries of gasoline. And so they're getting, that's kind of a distribution hub. Like you said, they've been set up in that one denier. They've done that there here in Boulder, Tennessee. And, and so they're flying over into North Carolina and the different areas and trying to just find people in, you know, these helicopter pilots are looking for SOS signs on the ground, people flashing mirrors, waving their arms, and they're just dropping in and seeing what's going on if they need an immediate evacuation. Or if they need supplies, they got it on the helicopter. They leave it with them. And, you know, take their names and try to get messages out to their family that, hey, we're still alive, but, you know, we're, we're here, but we're, we're, we're hurting and get messages out to their family and stuff. And so, and that's, that's how I found out who and how to help. Okay, now that's, I mean, it's the power of social media. What gets me about this one is that the people, there's so many people out there that can't communicate. I mean, you know, lots of lots of the population lost cell service after that. Like Verizon had iPhones, my son, lost service, and it's like you cut off your right arm. You're so used to it. Not only cell service, Internet. I mean, the bridges are out. You can't even drive. I can't imagine some of the isolation that some of these people are feeling. There's more and more pictures coming out on social media and video and the destruction that we're going to see when this is over is going to be mind boggling. There are people that will never be found because they're under feet of mud and debris. That will never be recovered. And the stories that I'm hearing is just heartbreaking. And, you know, I'm just one of those guys that I've got, you know, my schedule, I said it myself and I've got a lot of time that I can dictate how I spend it. And I just can't sit back and see this day in and day out and not at least contribute something. Mm hmm. You're a stretch in my memory. You're from what Alabama originally? I am northeast Alabama. I've been in Tennessee for 22 years now. But it seems like this area that was really affected that. To me, it just seems like those are your people. They are. I'm a hillbilly. I came off a lookout mountain in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. And I am a hillbilly. 100% born and bred. And those people in those mountains that talk funny and that people call backwards and that don't have a lot is exactly, exactly the way I was born and raised and grew up. I'm absolutely one of those people. Mm hmm. I know you are as busy as anybody else in this world. I mean, for you to take your time and do this for, you know, people you don't know. You've always had that. You've always been willing to help. But yeah, Emily was the one that said, "Hey, have you seen what John's doing on his social media?" Well, and I love the way John says what he's doing with the money because, you know, so many people are going to be sort of lax to give because they're like, "Well, is my dollar really going to be spent?" So when John has people Venmo him, he says, "Okay, this is what I'm at. I'm at 3,000 today and I'm getting generators and here's how I'm spending your money and here's the load going out." And I love that because then that makes people feel like, "Okay, he's really using that money and he's sending it right today." And I post pictures of the receipts on exactly what I bought and where I bought it. And I post pictures of who I bought it from and the people shipping it. And I post pictures and videos of the people who received it and unloaded it. And because I'm the same way, I'm a little skeptic about giving my money to someone I don't know because there's so many scams in there. And as tragic as this situation is, there are people right now trying to contact these people with missing family to extort money from them saying, "I've got money. I've got information on your family and for $1,000, I'll tell you how they're doing and all that stuff." We need to hang those people. I'm sorry if this is live, but they need to be publicly executed. I'm sorry. I'm sick of that. I'm sick of people evil playing on the week and to help us. I'm just sick of it. But there are people out there doing that and a lot of meaning from this country. They're just seeing the videos and a lot of people are from this country. And from their own communities, they're doing it. We're going to pick this up. We've got to go to break, but yeah, we're going to pick this up on the other side. We're talking about Jon Stone. We'll be back right after the break. This segment is brought to you by Common Ground. Are you looking for an easy way to buy, sell, or lease your land? Well, check out Common Ground where they connect landowners and farmers and hunters too, by the way. Go to commonground.io, that's commonground.io. We've been kind of skipping wearing the world as well because we've been talking hearth, hurricane stuff. But we will get back to that. America's favorite segment. Today we're talking with Jon Stone. Now he is just outside of Nashville. He is one of the best performers you'll ever watch in your life. So if you ever get a chance to go to Kid Rock's Honky Talk or wherever Jon is playing, you definitely, definitely need to. All right, Jon, when we want to break, you were announcing your candidacy for what Senator? What are you thinking? I'm not sure. My daddy told me a long time ago it's better to be the king maker rather than the king. So I'll stay in the shadows for now. What about Kid Rock? Is he going to run for anything soon? You know, I don't know, as long as he's still touring and making money, I doubt it. But Kid Rock, man, I think he's one of the guys that rather be the king maker and be the engine rather than the pilot. So Jon, you mentioned a really neat organization, Samaritan's Purse, which I will say they are going to be all over down there, helping in big orange shirts. Everybody's talking about, you know, people have just started posting about the orange shirts showing up at their farm or their city and helping out. What do you know about Samaritan's Purse? The Samaritan's Purse is on the ground. They're there. And so instead of me promoting my Venmo or something, because I'm one person, I only do so much. They're an entire organization. And I would rather see people donate to them. They're out there, man. They're the ones getting stung by the yellow jackets. They're the ones that's out there helping organize these meal trains and getting the supplies on the helicopters and off the trucks and getting them to the people. So just if anybody wants to check that out, Google Samaritan's Purse, please donate to them. The Cajun Navy, I think they're there. I worked with them in Harvey down in Texas, Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana. And these guys are just a bunch of folks. When the hurricanes hit, they grabbed the little John Boats and four wheelers and whatever they can get, and they get in the water and start pulling people out, man. And they've got their own radio networks. Sometimes they know more than the actual, you know, officials on the ground because they have their own radio networks and two-way radios. And they get in there and embed themselves in the communities. And they're always a great organization to, they're the Cajun, the Koonats Cajun version of the hillbillies. You know, there's a flat swampy ground hillbillies. That's what the Cajun Navy is. And they're awesome. And they get in there and they do great work, man. So those are two organizations that I would love to promote to donate to. Because I know they're both on the ground right now. And they're in there. They're in the trenches. They're sweating. They're bleeding. They're crying. They're carrying people out as we speak. You know, you've alluded to the fact that, you know, it's hard to know what's going on because they don't have Internet, cell phone and that. When this does start coming out and the video start coming out, I mean, I hope these people get all the credit in the world. Rule America, whether you're talking the farmlands up here in the Midwest or the Appalachians. I mean, we know how to take care of ourselves to a point. But yeah, it is so frustrating. The fact that they've had to do this and not just, you know, had to maybe go without electricity, but you can't, you can't drive around. You can't drive to the store. There's no bridges. I can't imagine the stories that you're getting. It's I don't even want to talk about some of them, but it's just it's tragic. And there's people who is in there on the ground that are seeing things that have changed them for the rest of their lives. They will never, ever, never be able to unsee what they've seen and experienced and touched and witnessed. And thank God that I haven't encountered that yet. When I drop off this stuff and I finish my show on the way back, I'm going in with some chainsaws and try to help some people get some, you know, stuff out of their way so they can navigate at least some way. And hopefully I won't have to encounter any of that. But there's certain thing about a natural disaster. People run across, I'll just say this, dead bodies and stuff. When I was in Harvey, they told us, leave them there, where we are in. Let's see what what's the word they use. We're in like a tree. Well, no, they were just them where they were. Gosh, they were helping people get out, but I can't remember the they will do the recovery later. No, I got you find the deceased. And so right now they're still trying to they're still focusing on the the people who need imminent rescue. We're in rescue mode, not recovery. That's what I was trying to say. And so they're just having to to leave it like it is until they can get everybody accounted for this still alive and get them rescued. And then they will worry about the recovery. And then in that case with no power, where do you put them? Yeah, it has to be a code or somewhere that, you know, you know what I'm saying? There's just things that people don't think about. It's just it's a it's a tragedy and 360 degrees in every aspect of this entire deal because you can't get you can't get any kind of refrigerated units in there to take care of that type of thing. And you can't get the map because all the resources being used to help people stay alive. Well, you talked about the nursing homes. And that's really important too because a lot of people aren't thinking about that. I mean, you know, when you're without power and you're, you know, just basic necessities. I mean, just close for people and water and and some people have been without clean water now for for a week. So, yeah, it's, it's you bringing up those points really get people the wheels turn and it's so much more than just, you know, send in water. And even wash their hands. And, and they have no work to go to the bathroom. They can't flush the toilets. And then, you know, there's a sanitation issue. If it's collected in Vibe's where do they store it. There's no trash pickup. It's, it's, there's so many things that that you that your normal mind and normal mode cannot process. And my friend is a doctor and he's in Boone, North Carolina and he's overseas. Many nursing homes and he has, and he does, and he's going around. He's taking loads of, he has an airplane. He's taking loads of medical supplies in by truck and airplane. But that's the thing he's telling me. The main thing that they need right now is non potable water, just to wash their hands, clean their patients up, wash linens with, but they don't, they don't have washing machines, they don't have dryers. So, and, and I'm trying to get water trucks headed to some of their nursing homes right now. And then when I get this show behind me, and on Saturday, then I can concentrate on maybe running some, you know, because I have. A bunch of water tanks from my farm just running some water back and forth. And, and so it's just, that's the big thing for nursing homes is being able to clean up and, and, you know, get these patients out of squalor. Cause right now it's squalor that they're trying to live in because they can't wash anything. Mm hmm. So John, you're saying what we did to have the show yesterday. So that Venmo was at over mountain vineyards. That's at over mountain vineyards. That's a 10 on the end of it over mountain vineyards 10. That's a safe place to say. John, you suggesting people donate to Samaritan's Purse. Correct. Samaritan's Purse and you can google that or look up the Cajun Navy. And those two organizations I know are on the ground. They're doing great stuff over there. I mean, they're all right. That is right now with the people. Thank you. Thank you, John, for all you're doing truly, truly appreciate it. Thank you so much. My friend, be safe when you're out there. Everybody else will catch you next time. [Music]