Charles Kelley: "I'm A Little More Country Club"

32:26Totally. They'd be like, it's going to be the same song. It is. Totally. And so I think the thing that's hard to your point about that is you kind of go, we did it, and then you realize, oh, gosh, we did it. Here's my advice for every artist. Just don't have your biggest song too early. You want to build up to that biggest song. No, I mean, it was huge, though. But you guys had had hits before that. Again, I'm not complaining. Like you said, we've had 11. We've had a lot of number twos. We've had a lot of number threes, which are hilarious, which arguably some of the number threes are bigger than our number ones.

32:55I know. So it's not about the numbers for me. It's literally about, you know, I think we've always stayed true to who we are and tried not to chase too much. but we have chased a couple times and usually it never works when you do, you know?

33:09Jon McLaughlin:So with some of the discomfort when need you now was so massive. Yeah. Was some of the, you know, you said you, you were not your happiest during that time when you should be right now. Was, was some of the discomfort because you're like, okay, it happened. Like it's happening. Yeah. Enjoy it now. It's like Christmas morning and you're like, all right, it's here. It's here. Like be happy. Yeah. Like the clock's ticking. It just was, we're pulled so many ways. I've never been like, we didn't say no to anything we did everything and it was just like there wasn't i remember like going over you know to europe and like being so jet lagged and you know like just going right into it yeah right putting right into the machine and like now you know we've learned to just pace it out and do and it's just so much of it you're just um you just felt like you're running on fumes a little bit um but it was just weird and to me too i just think the whole fun of making music is the grind and the rise up to something the yeah that's the the the dream of man this could be something when you have it it is it is this realization it's like wow it wasn't what i thought it was going to be it was like it's great but then it's such a you know what have you done for me lately you know kind of town with anything any job i think and so i don't know it's just uh i don't think i've it was able to appreciate the the ride we were on and until you know you get a little later on you look back on it um and you because you just you think oh well this is just the way it's gonna go i guess yeah every time we put a song out because there for a good five years it was like put a song out number one put it oh this is how it's gonna go and then you start hitting some walls and then you start second guessing yourself you start writing different than you used to you start yeah it's just all those little things but um i don't know it's just it feels good to be in a great place in my life where everything is starting to come into perspective that's age that's the variety it's having a family and just um i don't know i just don't feel like i like i said like i demand success like i used to it's just and there is a fun grind to this solo thing that i like i have no idea what it's going to do yeah and already just having like a top 10 on ac i'm like well i wasn't expecting that yeah because i told that's amazing i told my manager i was like i'm self-funding this i don't want to do a label because i don't because i don't want to like what's going to happen is they're gonna be like all right we'll we'll spend some money and then if i want to spend more money i'm gonna have to pay for it then they get paid first i said i want to just be full in yeah yeah i have you know i've been really smart money i said i want to invest in this project if i make it back that's great if not this is fun it's so fun this gives me way more joy than building uh an addition on the house for the money i spent on this thing yeah yeah and um it's just i don't know man it's uh it's fun to see it have some little moments and actually kind of have the desired effect which was wow i didn't expect that from him yeah that's what i wanted yeah and uh and i just enjoy it i mean like just even rehearsing with a band the other day for a couple things we got coming up i was like whoo i'm like dancing every like am i dancing too much like this this music makes me want to dance as i'm saying it too much because it's not like you're going to dance like just a kiss you know need you now but like this music when you're like you know i can't lose you and i'm dancing dancing girl and i'm dancing i can't stop my feet and i'm dancing i'm like man this is fun yeah so i feel like a like it is it's bringing out like a little character in me in a way so so you've mentioned sobriety so much which too you you have to think that you can enjoy it in such a different way oh i love it you know i mean i really do it's just a lightness to it there's not like a me trying to convince myself i went so hard for so long that i've done it i've done it all i've i've accomplished everything in that world i needed to do with my drinking i've seen some highs in it i've seen some lows accomplished everything i wanted to do with my drinking everything i've i know what it's like i know what it's like to walk in the room and have people sit you down oh it's one of those things the intervention here yeah yeah so it's like i've it there's definitely moments you miss it but for i've got i've got my memories of it and also just like anything just the same thing of like you realize that success isn't what you thought was you realize that like oh man i know like yeah to have those first couple drinks is fun it would probably make you know this cocktail party a little bit more fun for me to be at but i know where it's gonna go and i know what that feels like i don't have to worry about that so it's like there's so much more kind of interesting stuff in life now that i i get to enjoy yeah because i don't have this one yeah silly thing i mean it really is silly to think about that like Something that you sip on can literally be something that controls your thoughts in a way.

38:07I remember when I really tried to cut back on my drinking. And my tour manager at the time, Adam Boatman, he's down with Lauren Daigle. And I remember he said, I knew you had a problem when you were trying to slow down and cut back your drinking. And he goes, and all you did for four hours were talk about how you were going to pace out your drinks. pre-show, after show, and I said, what I'm going to do, I'm going to start. I'm just going to do one little shot of whiskey in here with some water. I'm thinking maybe, Adam, maybe an hour for a show I'm going to do this. Maybe during the show, instead of bringing me another whiskey, how about y 'all just bring me a Coors Light?

38:46Put it on ice. Put a little water. That's probably when I'll have the wine. If you can have some wine.

38:51Jon McLaughlin:The amount of energy. The amount of energy that you have to dedicate. He was like, that's what I knew. It wasn't when you were like, you know, a little too buzz. It was when you were talking and obsessing about how I was going to lay it out. So clearly. So clearly. And I'm going, I probably need a little power bar. I need a little something in my stomach. Power bar. Nothing mixes with whiskey like a power bar. It was when you said power bar. That's when we knew this was a problem. The thing that I so respect about what you did, I mean, being out with y 'all last year, I just thought this was so beautiful that every night you would have your moment, where you talk about it and then you do the song and to me i'm like it just takes so much power from it when you talk about it and to tell the audience and walk them through that thing because i think an easy thing to do especially in our industry would be like hey so we're going to keep this real tight yeah we're going to tell the people that need to know and then that's just going to be our thing but i think i just think it's something that it takes so much from its ability to be over you to go, hey, this is where I am.

39:53When it gives it positive power. Well, it's more so, I think some of the responsibility of someone that's gone through in his sobriety is to spread the message a little bit, but not do it. Because there is absolutely nothing wrong with drinking. But there is a lot of bad things about recognizing that you are an alcoholic. And I think it's, like you say, take a little bit of that power away from it because it's like anything. I mean, you could be addicted to your phone and I could be on stage talking. I mean, we all are. Talk about that. I want to write a song about that. I was at the airport the other day and I was like sitting and intentionally like, I'm not going to look at my phone.

40:39And I looked around and I swear to you, about 100 people in my vicinity, there may have been one person. but like everyone i'm talking like people my mom's age just you know heads down heads down heads down heads down and like or or like you go to dinner and it's like an entire family you're like this is wild this is like an epidemic yeah yeah like we are absolutely so addicted with like just and and so immune to having any like just sit with our thoughts anymore that is the common thread

41:15Jon McLaughlin:through all of it like like the cocktail party that you're talking about where this cocktail party would be so much more digestible with a cocktail and this airport weight for my plane would be so much more digestible with this phone it's like the common thread is like sitting with myself yes in like every angle of looking at that like literally sitting with myself or like being at this cocktail party with people i don't really know what if like i can't be that just just me yeah what if they don't like that yeah me there's really like you would have to really accept that probably that's probably step one yeah for sure well yeah it is and like you know you realize wow i really didn't i didn't like to talk to new people like i used to i just I was out there having a drink, and it loosened me up to kind of be a guy, but was that really me?

42:15I don't know. Maybe it was. Maybe it pulled out of sight of me, but I look back at it, and I'm just like, I really don't like to be, and I don't care what people think. I'm like, I'll be at this party for 30, 40 minutes. I'm going to dip out. I can do an hour for dinner for an hour and a half. I'm not going to stay here all night, especially when everybody's like, that's not who I am anymore I'd rather be at home and open my book or you know so it is interesting though I mean I really admire the young kids when I go in some different meetings and I see like

42:47Jon McLaughlin:20 year olds doing this I'm like wow I cannot say that I would have been able to do that like I had so much to lose with my family my wife my band that I it it drove me to then have this realization But without that, I don't know why. So I really admire the young kids that can get a grasp on this thing before it takes hold of their life. John. Dave. It's me, Dave. Okay. I didn't know if it was you. I just went with a generic name because there are a lot of Daves. I got a haircut and I'm super ripped now. You know that feeling when your kid is driving somewhere and you realize it's been 20 minutes since they were supposed to get there?

43:25Jon McLaughlin:Oh, yeah. Hondo P. That's 100%. You don't want to send the like, where are you text? Yeah, sup. You know, but you're definitely thinking about sending the where are you text. Sup. Obviously. Exactly. I don't want to constantly check on my kids. No. I just want to know they're okay. And that's what I like about HeyPolo. Yeah, same. You can set up a smart notification so you can get an alert when someone gets home or leaves school. And for new drivers, you can even get speed alerts. Plus, everyone controls what they share. You can choose exact location, general area, or private mode. So it's about staying connected without feeling like you're being watched.

44:02Jon McLaughlin:And if there's an emergency, HeyPolo has an SOS button that can alert trusted contacts and share your exact location. That's right. Protect your loved ones without spying on them. Go to HeyPolo.com slash DadVille and use DadVille for 70 % off your first year. That's code DadVille at HeyPolo.com slash DadVille. Well, and to John's point, I mean, you know, it's funny. My kids have started like really hazing me about the phone stuff. And it's brought exactly that revelation to me. The same thing you just said. It's like, man, I do have this tendency to sort of like, if I get bored or I'm somewhere where I got to wait for something.

44:40It's not to be ashamed of. It's just something to recognize. Well, but it's funny when they, I mean, like having kids now that are at the age, you're like, dad. And I'm like, shoot. Or like, I'll get on to them about something. Hey, don't. Guys. And they're like, well, you're on your phone. I'm like, oh, God. Well played. you know shot across the bow it is hard to navigate that so so we sort of joked about this earlier but talk about the lady age name change what a crazy thing that was really tough man i mean i think you know who i really felt the most just hurt hurtful for it by was dave and hillary as you know are two of the nicest people yeah ever in the entire world i mean never deserve any hate coming their way and like the things that you know and hillary got a lot because it was like she's this female the lady and like hillary is the nicest most loving both of them are the most religious in this and i think that it just got to it just got such a twisted narrative of you know when it came i'm i'm i'm actually really proud we changed her name because to me with where we are in this world, we never thought about it.

45:53And I think there's something about growing up in the South. To me, when I came up with a name, I was like, I loved the style of an Antebellum. I was like, it's beautiful. And I was like, yeah. And I was like, we're going to be like this Southern sounding, warm Magnolia. That's how my thought feels when I hear that word. I never thought about it because I never had to think about it. That when people of color hear that word, that's triggering. So I literally was like, wow, I never thought about it that way. And so to me, even if it's just offending five people, I don't want anyone to ever think.

46:36To me, that's like the worst thing you could tell someone is like you're a racist or something and you're like, whoa. whoa, like it's just such a strong, strong connotation. And so I was like, man, I don't know if I can move. You know, we were like, I don't know if we can move forward with that name and feel right about it. So we changed it. I don't think we had any idea of how polarizing it would be. Now, you can call it whatever you want, the woke. I mean, we are just not a political band. We are all about the music. And I just wanted everyone, I say I, we, just wanted everyone to know that we want everyone we love everybody we want everybody to feel comfortable and it got twisted so much where it just was like doesn't matter what you do in that situation the left sides the right sides whatever you want to call it they're going to have a strong opinion and they're always so much louder than the middle that actually i think people that knew us and and know our hearts behind it but it was tough man i mean so hard um just because you felt like you couldn't defend yourself there's nothing you could say in that moment but like all i can say is that it was we learned so much about ourselves we leaned on each other so much i definitely started amping up my drinking during that time which eventually led to this which i'm like everything happens for a reason yeah we talk about believing there's a god and having purpose and that everything is part of your story everything has always come in my life pretty easily with this band obviously we've had our ups and downs but i feel like it was the first time i had to actually like whoa wow like like this is this is a life-changing heavy moment for for us as a band to have to deal with and we dealt with it and we leaned a lot into our david hillary especially our spirituality when we used to pray about this stuff and uh it was just a tough thing but we learned a lot about it and i think it's just it's it's the world we live in where i think words matter and when you grow up in the south you're not thinking about it you know i mean you know even growing up when i was a boy i never thought about a confederate flag is is being associated with that until i got a little older because you would just see it around it was like this like oh it's just a southern history thing it's like well no it represents something and why are you holding on to it so you know i think i learned a lot about that and um you know i think over time people have realized especially people that know us the town i can't tell you how many people reached out and was like i can't believe i feel so bad for y 'all but i was like man we're gonna get through it we can handle it and you know because when you listen to our music our first number one was run to you i run from hate i run from prejudice i run from pessimism it's like we have never ever had anything but a welcoming loving you know musical uh you know uh message and so it was it was it was interesting but uh like i said learned a lot about well you know the thing that would be, I mean, this is so obvious, but I think it bears saying, the thing that would be especially hard for me if I were y 'all and what I'd grieve so much for y 'all was you're trying to do the right thing.

49:43It'd be one thing if it's like, well, this is kind of shifty, whatever. But you guys are going, hey, you know what? We've really learned a lot. We want to consider these things and to be considered we're going to change the name. And instead, you have this huge group of people who comes in and you're like, gosh, we're doing the right thing and we're getting single. Well, but it's just the world we live in. it's they want to be triggered like they want yeah that's the world we're living in right now where people want yeah to be triggered it's wild it's so wild and um but honestly our fan base they're not they're not a polarizing fan base i feel like our fan base knows our heart and knows you know what we're trying to do and it's like at the end of the day you learn from it you move forward and um you know it's always been about the music but well you know the thing too this is actually worth saying too is anybody that knew y 'all or had been around y 'all for any time that's what everybody called y 'all anyway and i think that's what we were thinking too our first show our very first show we made stickers that said lady a well that's what would be so frustrating

50:49Jon McLaughlin:to me if i were you guys going through that is like you you have this period of time however long it was where like it seems like the whole world is paying attention to this but but paying attention is too general i mean that's the problem like paying attention in quotes they are slightly paying attention yeah the way that they're digesting the story the way that they're i feel like i'm saying digesting a lot i love that jay hung can you work on that they're they're they're they're reading a snippet they're reading not even a snippet from they're reading like a snippet from a meme from us from a meme from a snippet yep exactly and then they're getting some version that is completely void of nuance.

51:28It has no, and that's the world we live in too. It's headlines. And the thing is, and there's never any follow-up to any of that stuff. I mean, I can remember like, Chris Young got arrested one time and I remember like, oh man, Chris Young got arrested and then later came back, he was like, we looked at the video, he was in the right, you never, no one ever heard about follow-up. That's not interesting anymore. It's not interesting anymore, but it's the world you live in, it's what you, it's what you, it's, I hate to say it's what you sign up for, but it's what you are stepping into when you get to a certain point and what I've always loved about our group is we have been able to, from a celebrity standpoint, run so much under the radar by being in a group.

52:04And that was the first time it was like we weren't running under the radar because we've been able to be like, I can go through an airport, get recognized two or three times, and then go play a show in front of however many people. And I love that. But if I go out to dinner with Luke Bryan, I'm like, how do you live? This is hard. like you have to literally become a different person and like accept that your privacy so i've always like bragged that it's like the most beautiful thing to be in a band because you can you can reach a certain level like maroon five other than adam levine would you recognize those guys they get to go play in front of 20 000 people a night and i guarantee you i i'm a big fan i don't know if i would recognize any other guys in the band and the only reason adam is because he's on the voice and all this you know so it's like it's just a certain level that you uh kind of put yourself out there so god forbid this thing blows up and i actually get recognized yeah i was gonna say watch this no it's not i i mean listen i i i have i have cautious optimism that it is going to have some sort of life uh but i i really just want it to be loved yeah consumed and loved because you do you make music you want people to hear it and how in the world do you get people's attention now there's so much music yeah i know so that's it we were going to ask about that exhausting

53:24Jon McLaughlin:like putting out new music now in 2025 compared to when you guys first put out music i mean the music business is totally different yeah what is your expectations now i have no idea i mean again self-funding this i'm like okay cool let's say it gets streamed a billion times what will i make a thousand dollars off that i mean that that was that was that was catering that day did you guys did you guys see when they people don't realize i mean to make a great record oh it's like if y 'all want crap put out there uh then then you know i mean we the music industry screwed themselves but like yeah guess what i'll do i'll spend 20 when my kid wants a new xbox game like yeah what do you mean he's gonna play it sometimes play or or audio book or whatever and you're like he's gonna you're gonna listen once music you'll listen to the rest of your life right it's not worth anything it's a it's a it's a very backwards bizarre concept but we did it to ourselves yeah i should say we the you know they did um the man thank you uh the man there we go uh but you know because they're clearly making money so it'd be it'd be an interesting thing but i again i'm just lucky i'm in a spot where i'm already kind of going into this using like the production of it the marketing of it is a loss leader it is a sunk cost and yeah if i want to go tour it i can make money off that but like to me i literally i want ears yeah i want at this point in my life i want a fresh set of ears listening to this stuff and digging it and like dancing around the living room with it maybe getting god forbid they get inspired by it i mean you know can you imagine god forbid um but i mean you know and i've had those moments even with my first solo record it was like you know or as far as you could that you were saying the song about like i've had so many people literally say like you know it didn't blow up but they were like this song like really helped change like the way i look at drinking and i'm on this journey and i just wanted to thank and I'm like, well, there you go.

55:31That was it. That was his purpose. And maybe there's a little bit of that as you get older in life. You know, the whole Richard Rohr in the second half of life. I just love reading his stuff. Like to me, that's my kind of, I feel like that guy is so open to like, that's my vision of spirituality that we don't have to define it so much, but it's all around us. It's in us. It's all, and we have this thing too in your second half of life where it's almost your purpose and your responsibility to pass on your knowledge. You have attained. We're past the point of like attaining and trying to feel like we've got to reach something out.

56:16And it's now going, how do we make the world a little bit better in some way? And I think we make the world better by listening to this record. Hey. There we go. So watch me do this transition. You said how much this is about Cassie. So you guys are pregnant again. We are. So this is so fun. So something I told John that we were laughing about that I think is just the best is that of the three members of the band, Kelly and Dave had their baby about a year ago. Is that right? Yeah. Not even maybe. Yeah. A little less than that. Hillary is pregnant again. Y 'all are pregnant. Yeah. Hillary's about to have her fourth girl in July.

56:48And then we found out we're having another boy in October. Oh, my gosh. It was a true shock. Really? My wife, we had not tried, but it was so hard. Because Ward is going to be 10 or still be 9? Yeah, he's not. He will still be 9. Still be 9, okay. His birthday is in February, but we were about to go do IVF for Ward, and just by the grace of God, we get pregnant. and so we were like and then we you know we kind of not really tried but like didn't try to prevent it for the next nine years it was like it's clearly not going to happen it was like a miracle that ward happened and we're like you know what we would brag we were like it's awesome being and having an only child like it's awesome so much attention we're obsessed with this kid i can't imagine having to share this love and all of a sudden literally like i'm i'm actually with sam mls writing and she calls because she was joking she's like i don't know if i'm like menopausal or something she's like something doesn't feel right i'm like maybe i'm early menopause and i was like i don't know what that is but no um that sounds like something you do when you're like 50 and she goes i want to go get a pregnancy test so she told you she's gonna make sure and i was like and i'm like i'm like cool i'm gonna go to my right just to feel yeah just to feel young and she's like i'm i was like i'm gonna go to my right like yeah whatever no but like yeah do it can't hurt to do it she calls me like mid-right and i mean she's like you're not gonna believe it i was like what and she's like i'm pregnant i was like oh my god oh oh my gosh and then it's like you're in the right yeah i'm in the right and so like i walk outside and it's just wild and for the first two weeks and she'll admit it too she i was kind of like oh this is amazing she got me a little she was like i'm 42 like i don't know if i could do this like i've just got you know she started kind of focusing on herself a little bit more and feel like we were at a point with ward so you know it was something that i told her i said people need to hear that that's okay too yeah that way so she you know i mean because she's got a lot of friends that just have babies too a little bit later in their age and so you know i said it's all going to be great but there was a little fear because you're like you know with a baby healthy all these things what it's going to be like life change but now it's like we're settling into it gosh we're excited no one's more excited than ward Oh, I'm sure.

59:14He's been begging for a sibling for years. Really? And we were like, ain't gonna happen, buddy. I was like, we could adopt and we might. That might be an option. We would love that. But we were like, I don't know. So I'm curious, because I think this story is so beautiful and it's so fascinating to me. Because you have... It happened with sex, Dave. Okay, thanks. I think we're good. Let's go ahead and wrap, guys. Dave, I told you that. Yeah. I was very thorough. Could you draw out what that means? Just so I know. No, so this is what is so cool to me about the all story. is that you have Ward nine years ago in the middle of just chaos.

59:46I mean, y 'all's career is moving. It's like this is the season where all, like you said, it's all systems go. You're all three, you're doing it. And then fast forward, you're established now. Life is so much more. You have your life. You can look out and see like, this is our life now. Like it's this wonderful thing. And so having a baby in those two things is fascinating. It really is wild. and i mean there's i've always considered myself a really good dad but when i look back i can definitely look at some moments where like even my drinking had gotten in a way of like spending more time or being this or that you know and so like to me like being able to like enjoy it through a new lens um i mean just even like with ward like my wife right now is out in italy at a wedding pregnant by the way in a wedding and like with ward last night and he's like in the bed with me and i'm like here and and at one point he leans over and he goes can you believe like and pretty soon like I'm going to be able to have my little brother right here and be like watch the movie and I was like it's going to be pretty wild it's just like it's so cool

1:00:53Jon McLaughlin:that's a unique thing to have like your son be at an age where he can get it conceptualize what's going to happen in the future it's going to be fun it'll be interesting as they grow up I grew up I had a big family. My parents, the first marriage, I had two oldest siblings, my sister Christy and my brother John. Now they were 10 years older than Josh and I. Same marriage. Oh, wow. They end up having Josh kind of unexpectedly and we're like, whoa, okay. He needs a homie. He needs a homie. So they had me. And then they get divorced and my dad... Also it would be great if both of them can sing really well.

1:01:33Whatever we do needs to be. But then my dad ends up remarrying and then I've got I had three half-sisters. One of them, unfortunately, passed really young. So I've got two living, you know, young. So there's six of us. And so we know what it's like to have the 10-year gap. And I know what it's like to have the 10-year younger gap. Jeez, that's crazy. And it is interesting, you know, I'm closest with Josh because of that. And so it is going to be interesting to see, like, how close. Because no matter how much he says, like, we're going to do everything together. I'm like, when you're 15 and you're 16 and that kid is five and six, you're gonna be thinking about girls or whatever it is that you're into at that moment and you know but so it's going to be interesting to watch this happen but uh gosh it's it's just going to be really it's just fun and i can only i keep coming back to it but i can only equate the blessing of it from getting sober yeah i probably would not have stayed with like my wife probably would have left me and gotten to that point where it was gotten so hard and she got so fed up with it and it was like every time I come home, you know, I was a happy drunk.

1:02:38I come home and it was like, have you been drinking? How much do you have a drink? And it was like, all right, now we're going to argue about it. And it just had gotten to such a point that that would not have happened. And we like fell back in love with each other. So we were probably making a little more of the sex. There we go. And we did, not to be too much, but I will say this one night, usually my wife's the pursuer, the aggressor. and this was the one night I was like I was like you know baby she's like I'm so tired I'm like come on you want it and she's like I'm really really tired let me just kiss on your neck and you know and sure enough she was like I'm pretty sure that was the only time that little window and she was like you made like you did this to me that's amazing But I think it's, again, I just think it's such a beautiful thing because, you know, this baby is coming into a season where, you just said it so well, like, your life is just so settled.

1:03:40It is. And it's so understood. And I think that's such a, you know, talking to our friends, we've had a few friends, my brother, I mean, Wirtz, like, who have had kids, like, in their 40s, like, their first kids. And I'm like, one of the real gifts, I think, of seeing that is that these kids, and I mean, obviously y 'all had we've had our kids in 20 in our actually 30s for me but like you know even then it's a little more crazy it's just a little more like you're still you know going and doing and running and gunning but having your kids a little later your life is settled and understood it's such a different thing you know it is it's gonna be I just think like with anything you get a little second chance to really enjoy it and learn from what you maybe have missed out the time before and that's a great thing I will say being in a group with two incredibly balanced people is like i probably could run and gun a little bit more even now and just in a different headspace i still like am not one to say no to many things and and their balance with family and stuff you know it does make it difficult when you got three people because it's like someone's always got a dance recital someone's always got something you're like at some point it's impossible at some point we're gonna have to miss we're gonna have to miss something yeah you know and they're going to be fine yeah but that that balance but but they do a really good job uh of of keeping me also too balanced and uh and so you know it's going to be it's just going to be a fun journey but um but yeah well it might have to miss a couple graduate might have to miss the birth of much you know what movie was that i don't know baby i mean you can't expect me to be was that dewey cox so can't expect me to ever i might have to miss the birth that is amazing walk hard I love that movie thank you so much and again the new record I was about to say come on I thought we were going to go track by track I'm kidding I'm kidding it's songs for a new moon by the time this is out it'll be done and it sounds so great I mean we were literally listening for your name it's so good it's a record for the summer too thank you man it feels it's fun to have it out there it feels good to have something that feels fun but also has a good little heart message behind it there's a lot of forgiveness there's a lot of redemption there's a lot of I don't know it's just it's very joyful light and gratitude yeah it's joyful I mean there are a couple you know slightly heavier themes but mainly it's all hope filled yeah but I think and like I said I think I think what a what a cool thing to have a record that started because a song and a feeling was so compelling not that you sat down like you said so well earlier and went I really want to make an 80s record let's go write it I don't know what it'll be about but that you do I mean I just God those moments of my career John I know you know the same but like where you're like kind of in between records you're like I'm just kind of and then you write something and you're like oh boy well I think I think too it also I was talking with Dave and Hillary I said for me to have a North Star to write towards because we've we've delved into a lot of different types of songs as a band we can do American Honey but we can also do Bartender you know or Downtown it's like and so to actually go not go into a writing room going you know when someone's like what do y 'all want to write you're like i don't know i love everything yeah yeah like make it it's like no yeah today you gotta you gotta fire up the synth buddy yeah like we gotta start with the synth and then and then you know that you're on a theme and you start lyrically it's like nope we're not going there it's got to be helpful it's got yes it's got to be redemptive so it was it was fun to actually have a lane that I was going towards.

1:07:19Well, and two, just to hear, again, like we said, to hear your voice in a way, I think for people that love your singing, like John and I do, to hear it do something that's new, because you're such a good singer. I think it's a real gift to those of us who like your music to go, hey, this is something new that you get to hear. It was fun to layer a lot of vocals, too. I feel like that was really fun. I got to stack, just stack up stuff. I was like, all right, let me try this. Yeah. So it was fun. You're like, suck it, Dave and Hillary. No, there's nobody better than me. Well, thanks for hanging.

1:07:52Thank you. Thank you. Enjoyed it.

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