Glamping Fails & "Taxpayer Funded" Camps: A Dadville Summer Update

24:01Jon McLaughlin:Like, I want to know all their stories, you know. But in their defense, like, they have been playing, you know, Beethoven and Mahler and, you know, Tchaikovsky. this is the water they swim in and they have to swim in it i mean they have to to get to this point you have to eat sleep breathe that kind of music and it's so intense so intense and and there's only so many chairs like that's the thing too people need to understand is like if you want to play in the new york philharmonic it is x amount of room in that and that's one of the most prestigious you know yeah group of players in the world and so to your point it's like it's not just that they did all that that's kind of like you know it's like uh it's the top of the top and so it's not just that you're good at what you've done you're one of the best in the world of what you've done because you're in that group yeah you know and i think sometimes when they play pop shows they get a band up there and they got you know guitars and a drum set and they're like why are we even no no one can hear the oboe player why am i even here shout out to all the oboe players which would include my brother-in-law, Peter.

25:12Huge shout out.

25:13Jon McLaughlin:Keep holding it down. But they were great. And it was just a great night. I've told you this. I would love the experience of sitting that close to a group of instruments just to feel that in my body. Like to be five feet away from an orchestra would be such an incredible acoustic experience. Oh, yeah. It never got old. I mean, Ben and I talked all the time about how... And that's Ben Rector. Ben Rector. Go ahead, sorry. But I plan on speaking with Ben Barnes about this. We talked all the time. There are a couple spots in the show. Ben has this song called California, where the end of it, we stop playing, and it's just strings.

26:04Jon McLaughlin:The strings plays this eight-bar thing, and it's gorgeous. and I just every time I just like close my eyes and I'm just smiling and I'm like I'm I maybe look weird to the audience members I'm in this like euphoric state but I'm like it doesn't matter yeah how often am I gonna be in this position where I can hear this absolutely it's incredible that's so cool and Ben is just he's just so good yeah so it's just it was the best and and excited to see what happens with his career. It feels like it's been a good start. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? I think it's going to work. I think people are going to start listening.

26:44There was a lot of people that were like, I don't know. Well, I had to say like,

26:49Jon McLaughlin:guys, guys. Give them a chance. Give them a chance here. Where are you guys going? Stop. Give them a chance. Ben's still got some songs. Stick around. Whoever told you, side note. Oh my gosh. I had somebody opening for me. this is years ago he was great he's a really sweet guy that too sweet actually he would play his opening set and like before his last song every night he would be like guys john mclaughlin's coming just stick around oh my gosh but he it was so sweet and oh he was being he was being oh my gosh oh wow but it was like to the point where you're like dude they're gonna stay i think they'll be here probably i feel like you're making if i were at the show and you were selling it that hard yeah i think i would be like i kind of want to leave yeah why does he have to sell it so yeah i had to be good i had a bit i loved with lady a when i was out with them in 23 a couple years ago where i'd always at the end of my set i'd be like hey and i just want to big thanks to lady a for closing out the show for me y 'all stick around you know it was always that's a tough slot that's the cleanup yes it's i mean there's so many great jokes that come with that um but yeah that's i love the i got to do that what what uh i mean i just feel like that is a in your career and i mean general you mine included it would just be like one of the highlights is getting to do those kind of shows and having done them you know i mean just like who knew you would ever get to do something like that i know what a cool thing thanks ben yeah let's do some more yeah i mean we i think we are gonna do maybe one more yeah so there's still for those who hadn't gotten to go there is one left and definitely it's worth the trip yeah very much worth the trip uh let's have your your uh catch up on the summer how's it going oh john i don't even been the only one getting stitches yep yeah and we know that snitches get stitches and so i told ben i was like you know this is what you get for tattling yeah um that's gonna be in the name of one of my books i'm gonna write some days this is what you get for tattling um but it's just pictures just hand-drawn pictures with my left hand um pictures from camp picture gosh what is that that would be potentially the saddest book of all time just collect so sad from homesick so stick figures with tears drawn in their eyes you know like Like, no, it's been great.

29:26We've had a good summer. We did a, you know. You had a birthday. I did.

29:30Jon McLaughlin:Since our last episode. I did. Came around again, thank goodness. Coming up at 48, John. How are you feeling about 48? When I was 38, I feel like I dealt with 40 when I was like 38, 39. So 38, 39 were kind of more, that's when I was more in my head about it. and then by the time 40 came around i had sort of emotionally dealt with it you mean how close i am to 70 now yeah yeah oh i mean it's close it's within the gravity it's yeah you can turn your thrusters off it's funny that i do feel that way about 50 you just nailed yeah i made a joke with somebody the other day i was like 47 the tractor beam is not quite far enough to grab you yeah but now 48 i'm like i feel it is pulling and i'm like well here we go i mean my dad every time we think about he something comes out about my birthday or age he's always like you are you are about to be 50 like this is and i'm always like i know this is i mean it's crazy and i think you know it's doubly crazy about it i wonder if you feel this way i know you're i know you're a good bit younger than me but um you know for what we do it feels especially weird because it's like you know music is like a young man's game young woman's game whatever it's like but do you feel like i feel like there's there's sort of an odd no man's land in between it's like are you in your 20s yeah that's right whatever that's right yeah then there's like this weird no man's land and then now as you get closer to 50 it's like oh well this that's like another group that for some reason feels a little more yeah oh they're still alive um oh they're doing music still that's so sweet um every tour people are like so this is the farewell tour is this it yeah yeah yeah this is man what a good run dave no no this is just another show well it's okay it's a good it was a good run yeah that's the spirit let's hope let's know um so yeah it was it's i do feel that and i think you know to your your point it it feels it's just weird it's it's i'm so thankful and i love that i'm still i'm still able to do it do what we do but um i definitely feel like we're entering a weird weird weird weird season to be what feels like an eternal you know like forever young job and you're like i'm not young so but you know um i'm whether people like it or not i'm still doing it and uh and that's on there and you've got some shows coming up i do yeah yep playing la in a couple weeks got a chasing mississippi 20th anniversary there's another one that uh that's another one that'll put some age on you is realizing that your second record was 20 years ago but that'll be fun full band here in nashville august 1st and for those who want i know everybody's like well tell us the dates in la so it's the 16th hotel cafe and then i'm playing kind of an outdoor fun event.

32:31Pasadena on the 18th. Yeah, 18th. So come July. Both of those fun. August 1st here in Nashville. Oh, and by then we will have announced Works is opening. Isn't that fun? Oh, nice. You were last year. It's so fun. Doing these shows with y 'all is so great. Yeah. But good. We did a... I haven't been gone this long in a really long time. I was gone for two and a half weeks the beginning of January. This was kind of our big

32:54Jon McLaughlin:barns travel but the summer we did not january well to some i'm thinking australian oh right yeah kind of summer because of the solar i'll i'll use american terms so i was june uh for those who aren't sort of keeping up with how we you and i used to talk about time um but yeah so we did young life trail west camp family camp which is so fun for a week got to play there which is great and then um then we met up with some friends and hung out in telluride that second week which is great and then you and i played heaven on earth festival shout out emily and the homies out there and i mean what a great yeah in yellowstone which was so much fun so so so much fun um and yeah and i stayed in these um i mean what do you call them tense glamping hard Quotes on that.

33:47Jon McLaughlin:Yeah. Clamping tents. Yeah. Where it was like, it got into the low 40s on night one. And you had these little like. I want to make sure people understand, you stayed with Amy in a tent. Yeah. Almost the whole night. Yeah. Once you were asleep, I kind of snuck out. I literally got so warm. Yeah. I was like, I slept so well. Yeah, I didn't have someone to snuggle up with because Annie couldn't go. But yeah, that was. Cold. So what's fun, if anybody knows the under canvas properties that's glamping, but when it's cold at night, it's just a tent. You have a stove in there that does help. But I just remember, because that night, it was probably high 40s by the time we all got back to our tents that night.

34:37And I had my north face up to my neck. And I remember walking in the tent and thinking, oh, there's no difference. no and so got the stove going and you know woke up at 2 a.m and had to re-get the stove going and then again at like 6 a.m yeah which was such a hysterical experience i got up at 4 a.m

34:58Jon McLaughlin:yeah and got the stove yeah i would love to see like video footage of all of us oh my gosh just like freezing trying to light the match oh my gosh it was getting it going yeah um but that was great And then, you know, we've been here. We've just been here kicking it, having a bunch of fun. It's kind of nice knocking out travel at the beginning of the summer because it kind of feels like now we're – I mean, I know you guys are about to head to Ireland. Ireland. But, yeah, so it's been great. It's been a good summer. It's, you know, I mean, dumbest understatement of all time. But, you know, as the kids grow up, each summer just takes on such a different hue, you know.

35:37Like what?

35:38Jon McLaughlin:What do you mean? well just you know it's it's managing kids in the summer as they get older is a very different thing than it was when five years ago yeah you know because it's like everybody's a lot more opinionated which is totally fine but it you know it just it's a little more and everybody's just physically bigger so it's not like let's throw them in the car and head on down to the park everybody's like i don't do that or they're like you know so anyway it's uh i mean our mornings oh yeah you guys aren't rocking until like 11 yeah i mean our girls especially luca she could sleep till i think amy woke her up at like noon yesterday i mean she would just keep sleeping she's in that what is she growing in there hey it's curly hair yeah i was gonna say it's gotta all be going to her hair yeah look at that beautiful hair of hers um so it's great it's very different it's a different thing yeah it feels it feels a little more like man management as opposed to camp counselor it's a little because you know like ben's now he's a manager for his football team at high school so like now he's going to practices and we got to get him down you know it's just then the other two are kind of whatever so but it's good um but i am sort of glad that we have the traveling done so it's just like yeah we can kind of get into a little bit of a groove but how much of your energy this summer yours and annie's goes toward managing how much fun activity and like, you know, how much you're spending on fun activities.

37:14Jon McLaughlin:I feel like that's where half our energy is going. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and Annie does a really good job of trying to find like deals. So she'll kind of do like a sweep early summer, late spring on like, okay, like Topgolf has this deal you can buy where you get like however many games for like 150 bucks or something. And you're like, okay. So, you know, she'll find a couple of those little things, but like, all right, we have two or three things that I bought. We can go use those. That's good. And then, yeah. And then all the, you know, you and I both have members with memberships at different pools in Nashville.

37:56So that's always good. But, um but yeah it's good i'm i'm i'm we're here and nobody can change that john nobody nobody i don't know how to transition out okay so for for a couple minutes here i thought we would talk about um so so we haven't talked about this before and i thought this would be a fun thing i have a few questions that i think we can peruse just kind of about the dynamic of as we're getting older and just like what work looks like as you get older for you and I, but maybe some dudes will relate to this too. But so I wanted to just ask some questions, just sort of this was something I was like, this would be fun to kind of talk about with you, is like what does working look like for me?

38:46You know, I was close to death here in my late 40s. But having done, and I think particular to you and I that we've done the same thing the whole time, you know. and so I wanted to start with this question if you asked 30 year old John slash Dave what success looked like what would he have said and how different is your answer now to that

39:12Jon McLaughlin:yeah 30 year old John did not have kids and so I think 30 year old John would have immediately thought of like what is the best tour that i could be on yeah it probably would have been like you know i don't know elton john reaches out and it's like hey can you open for my world tour or whatever i think it would have been touring related and it wouldn't have had any constraints on it it would have just been like yeah wide open i'm on a i'm on a bus with my band and we're we're going ripping and running yeah yeah um you know i um i remember this is funny i remember the day i turned 30 i was on tour with johnny lang we had just played the House of Blues in Dallas.

40:12And one of my favorite birthday memories, Shane and Shane, oddly enough, were playing a private birthday party in the next room. So I went down, saw them. I mean, they are two of my, I mean, I love them so much. They are just such hysterical, wonderful guys. So they were like, what are y 'all doing? We're playing the next room. I'm like, oh my gosh, what are you doing after the show? I was like, well, here's what's crazy. Tomorrow's my birthday. And they were like, well, then we're going to hang out. And so we all went up, you know, they have that cool room at the top of those, what are they called?

40:42The something room.

40:44Jon McLaughlin:Foundation. Foundation. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. And we went up and just had, it was such a fun night. It was just like the Johnny Lane guys were there, Shane and Shane. It was just, Annie was in town too. But I remember waking up the next morning in the hotel and literally like staring at the ceiling and just being like, gosh, I'm 30. Yeah. and so i don't you know to be really honest i don't know that i would have told you i think that's always been a little bit of a problem of mine is i can't really enunciate what my expectations are it's just kind of like is this what it should be i just remember for like i mean annie was still asleep and i was like is this it like what am i doing have i sort of hit the marks but i was like i don't even know what my marks are i just know it's kind of like here I am doing this thing so I think it would have been I think it would have been probably somewhat close to what I was already doing some sense of like well I'm playing great shows and you know I'm like doing music and you know making albums but I think there would have been some like yeah but it's just not it's not quite at the but then it'd be like what is that David I'm like I don't know but it's not that you know it's not doing the thing that I really want to be doing I would have wanted it to be bigger shows.

41:58Jon McLaughlin:Yeah, I guess so. Bigger tour. Some insatiable appetite of something I don't even know, which has been very true in my whole life, which is a huge digression. We won't go down. So what does that look like now then? Definitely now it is. I mean, the whole reason why we live down here is when Luca was born, i was like i can't tour anymore i'm done touring wow so i'll move to nashville and i'll write for other people yeah yeah yeah i'll write for other people because i just you know i mean it sounds cheesy to say but like you hold this little girl in your arms and i'm like I can't leave. Yeah, yeah, leave it.

42:44Yeah, yeah.

42:46Jon McLaughlin:So now I'm like, if I had like a red button and a blue button in front of me right now, and like a red button, if I hit the red button, then like my last album would just go nuts. Yeah. And I would get all these great offers and I can go tour the world. Yeah. But the blue button is like what you've experienced. where like Harry Styles heard your song acting and he's going to cover it and put it on an album and it'll be a single. I would press the blue button so fast. That's a great point. Yeah. Because now, you know, and the funny thing is that maybe someone would hear that and be like, oh, yeah, so you don't love touring or playing shows as much as you used to.

43:40Jon McLaughlin:I'm like, I love it more than I've ever loved it. Right, right. And, you know, you and I talk about this a lot. It's like, as I should be, and as you should be, and as anyone who's been doing anything for as long as we have should be, I think I'm better at it now than I was when I was 30. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. I just don't need, I don't feel the angst of like, get me up on that stage. I don't feel that at all. But when I'm up there, I love being there. Yeah. That's beautifully said. And sorry that took me so long, but that's how you can identify a ninja immediately. If you, okay. Yeah. All over text too.

44:27Yeah. That's crazy. You know, John, speaking of, I've always known you were a great musician. Oh, thanks man. Being a musician has nothing to do with running a smooth webpage and a successful business. I didn't claim that it did. How does your storefront look so great on johnmcl.com? Well, I mean, Dave, it's all me. Oh, wow.

44:44Jon McLaughlin:I thought of er-thing and had every good idea. Very good idea. Er-good idea. And there's no possible sound that could possibly play right now that would indicate anything otherwise. Go. You can't believe me, John. You got me. It's got to be Shopify. When you build your storefront, I bet so much of the setup was already there from day one. Okay. Listen, Shopify gives you templates and AI tools that help you get a professional-looking site up and running fast, even if you have zero coding experience. There's something about seeing your storefront actually live that makes it feel real. It's so real.

45:19Jon McLaughlin:And then when people start buying, Shopify checkout makes the whole process so smooth. Returning customers can check out with just a click, which is pretty amazing. Less friction for customers is always a good thing. And whenever you hit a question or a roadblock, Shopify has Sidekick, their built-in AI assistant. It's like having somebody there to help you troubleshoot and keep moving. Just like you've always been there for a time. Exactly. All you need is the idea. Shopify handles the rest. Start your free trial at Shopify.com slash Dadville. That's Shopify.com slash Dadville. Do it.

45:57Oh, man. Dave. Yeah. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey, just real quick. Okay. I'm not mad that when I wake up in my bedroom you're here, but at some point, do you see an end to it?

46:10Jon McLaughlin:Can I not be excited about our friendship? Okay. No, that's fine. Jeez. When you say it that way, I feel like. I've been waiting for two hours to ask you this. You know that feeling when you wake up at like 3 a.m. and your sheets are like a wetsuit? What? Look, I'm going to be honest with you, and she's not going to like this, but I've always blamed Danny. I've blamed my mattress. I've blamed global warming, John. All valid suspects. But you know what's funny? What? Turns out it was my bedding the whole time. It is funny. Enter Bowling Branch. I knew it. God, we're such best friends. You know, their summer sheets are 100 % organic.

46:46Jon McLaughlin:100, John? Yeah, 100. Wow. Woven specifically for airflow, Dave. Okay, tell me more. Not that fake cooling technology that's just a marketing word on a polyester bag. Right. Bunch of liars. The cooling is structural, John. Structural. I don't even know if you know this. It's literally how the cotton is woven, which sounds like something a sleep scientist would say. And I'm not one. Right. But I respect that. I respect that. Yeah. You know, 94 % of customers say that the sheets actually get softer with every wash. Oh, it's even possible, yeah. Mine get crunchier, actually. Oh, okay. So this was a needed upgrade.

47:21Jon McLaughlin:Yeah, agreed. Crunchy sheets are not the best, John. Not the best. I'm not the smartest guy. No. You don't want them. So listen, sleep cooler this summer with Bowlin Branch during their annual summer event for a limited time. That means the time is limited. Yes. Get 20 % off site-wide at bowlinbranch.com slash dadville with the code dadville. Hurry up, guys. That's Bowlin Branch, B-O-L-L-A-N-D-B-R-A-N-C-H.com slash dadville. Code dadville to take 20 % off. I'm going to say it again. Say it again. Bowlinbranch.com slash dadville. Code dadville. Exclusions do apply. No more wetsuit sheets. Never again.

48:25anyone's career. Uh, and then from there it can stay there. It can, it can like hang there, but you know, your, your initial splashes of like popping off huge record that's selling off that, you know, that, that stuff tends to happen pretty early or you just don't make it, you know what I mean? Or you can't do it. And so I think what's weird about what we do is you tend to, so, so the reason you can say those things is because you've actually done something, but it was early on. So you have this wisdom now to go, Oh, I kind of know what that's like, where I think a lot of other occupations you're building years and years of building to the thing you haven't experienced you want to experience where I think with music it's almost flipped upside down it's like you actually do that stuff pretty early and then in your 30s 40s 50s you go no I kind of know what that's like and it would be great like some part of that would be amazing but I kind of know I sort of did that and I know kind of now if I overlay that with my life what that would be like and that'd be a little trickier than I probably want to maneuver

49:25Jon McLaughlin:you know um well i think to me it's it's a hundred percent just around the logistics of how much yeah yeah yeah that's right how much do i have to be gone well but don't you think at some point too it's like you know um you know enough about fame to go yeah yeah and i'm not that's not anything i'm really interested anymore well i mean at one point you and i both would have been like that that would be amazing. Yeah. You know, and we both have, have had enough of that to know what our version of it feels like. And it's not as interesting anymore, you know, and to your point, it actually is, I would argue it's as detrimental as it is helpful.

50:03Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's, it's helpful to your career, but it's, it can be pretty detrimental to your life, you know? And so,

50:10Jon McLaughlin:so I think it feels like it's not like I don't want success. Oh yeah. Absolutely. I want to be clear. Like I, that's right. I mean, two things. One, I agree with what you're saying. In the artist world, it tends to be, whatever success you have, tends to be pretty front-loaded. Yeah. I agree. It's not like, I think that has been the case with me, but it's not like I haven't had my share of disappointments. Oh, gosh, yeah. things that you know failures and like unmet expectations and yeah etc etc i've had tons of that and yeah and have had to just accept that yeah and have you know um i'm not you know i'm not gonna play the amphitheater that was down the road from my house growing up like yeah that's just not you know you you have to accept that like okay so that's not gonna happen but i do want and the other thing is i i do want success i want music i want something that i've created to go out into the world and mean something to people and i think you know the the blue button hypothetical where harry styles covers one of my songs is like that's the purest way to experience the pure version of success without the tricky fame parts that I don't really want.

51:42Jon McLaughlin:Yeah. Yeah. How do you feel about the idea of contentment and ambition coexisting? I think especially as we get older, what does that look like to you? Because I think that's kind of what we're also talking about. Yeah, it feels like it's kind of like the ambition and all that has been put through the fire and it's been purified. Wow, that's a great one. And on the other side of it, it's just been distilled down to what really matters. Yeah. What do I really, and again, I want to be clear, I'm not saying I am completely void of like ego or like insecurities and stuff like that. But I think that those things are as much in check as, they're way more in check than they were when I was in my 20s for sure.

52:43Jon McLaughlin:So now it's more, it feels like it's just more pure. It's like, I love making music. I love, you know, creating music, but I don't feel like once I do, it's like, okay, now we've got that, but it's, but we're trying to get to this mountaintop of fame or something like that. Or I have to do it to prove something else to solve some of the problem. I always laugh to myself, and I know you and I have laughed about this too, but I always think it'd be like if you if you were like all right for this next record i'm gonna post a hundred times you know and maybe this is a lie that i tell myself but i i always think about that if it was me that about the 20th post somebody's gonna text me and be like hey man you okay like is everything okay at home like you know because i think there's also something to being our age and having done as long as we have like you know we're like grown men with families you know and like yeah so i think at some point there's also a piece that it's like i'm not it's not this i'm losing my edge or my fervor it's like man what does it look like to be the age i am uh doing what i'm doing in an appropriate way you know i mean so it doesn't it sort of doesn't come off as as you're learning the choreography for the tiktok dance you're like is this and look nothing against people that are doing that because some people are having right i just think for me in my brand and who i am that would be that would be an interesting it'd be a tricky thing do you do you feel like as you're getting older like how much do you feel the struggle of identity with with with now where you are with your work you know like how much you identify with your work compared to how what that looked like in your 20s it feels completely different yeah i and to me i think it is that's that is one of the like silver bullets that having kids yeah has done to me is all that's gone you know like the identity is no longer i'm john the musician and there may be some circles that i would be in some dinner party where i'm starting to feel that old thing again like you know like where am i on the totem pole slightly but i i mean my girls amy and our girls have have just they just take all that away yeah you know and i feel like we're the rub of contentment and ambition on a daily basis but up against each other for me is like okay do i do i come back here and sit at this piano for the next four hours because Amy and the girls are going to Topgolf.

55:48Jon McLaughlin:That's where the daily rub is for me. Yeah, I feel that. Because I'm like, well, how many more times are we going to? I'm never going to regret going to Topgolf. But if you go to Topgolf every time, eventually we can't go to Topgolf because we don't have a car because it got repossessed and this is no longer our house. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I agree with that. I feel two warring things in my sort of soul as I get older. One is the wonderful piece of feeling so thankful for what I've been able to achieve with God's help in my career. Whatever that means, right? The highs and lows and all that.

56:33and another piece that like if i'm not careful is like insatiable on trying to justify who i am to the world you know and like remind them or like you know um and so i feel those things war in me where i'm like some days i'm like i'm just so thankful and it's so we were out the other night and our friends laughed at me because we had two different people stop and say oh my gosh can we get pictures and it was so fun and they were laughing so hard because it was like what are the chances in a five minute span you know walking um through this juvenile thing we're looking for the kids at juvie but um but that they knew no but like we were walking down in nashville and and you know so part of me is like gosh that's so like that's what an encouraging thing that people would want to say hey and they they know when you can listen and then like you know there's other days where it's like that's not happening and i'm like oh gosh oh gosh you And I really want to over-relate to what I do to give me some sense of significance.

57:35To feel like, no, it's not. I'm just as good as I ever was. And this is just whatever. So I can feel that rub probably more intensely than ever. But I do think there's, like you said, there's also a very healthy part of me that's there now that wasn't before. Which is so grateful and so thankful. And grateful I can still be doing what I'm still doing. So a couple more questions. What is the struggle? I think about this a lot. What is the struggle? How do you walk through the struggle of the difference between ambition and restlessness? Do you ever think about that?

58:15Jon McLaughlin:Hmm. Yeah. I mean, I think you can feel in your gut, don't you think? When it feels like it. I think maybe it's the same. it looks like the same behavior but it's it's coming from different places yeah that you know what i mean yeah it's different motivations yeah and it can just kind of you can feel am i doing this because i'm i'm feeling excited about this new idea that i have or whatever you know it's like is this pure or is this coming from some am i just wanting to get a win here so that yeah so-and-so can see that or whatever yeah um yeah i don't know that's an interesting question what what are your thoughts about you i think i can tell um yeah yeah you can hear it in the music and i can feel yeah your judgment no i i think it's what you that's really articulate i think they can actually sort of put out the same product which is weird because you can kind of go like oh it still sort of gets me this thing or it gets this song but i think the the i feel exactly like you do i think it's just managing ambition you know i asked our dear friend chad carger at porter's call this i was like how do you manage contentment in this age which i'm really trying to to have more of we talked about this with tyler state and like just kind of like what does it look like to have contentment and not constantly strive but also like have things i still want to achieve and you know Chad was just saying it's really more of a conversation around stewardship you know like what does stewardship look like and that really helped me kind of reframe you know the gifts we've been given with the time we've been given connections and all those things like how do you steward that well and it's less about like trying to justify things to myself or everything's slow I need to do something to feel better you know or I should be busy when like you said so well there's like numerous days where I could pop out and go to Topgolf but I'm like no oh, I got to stay back here.

1:00:22You're just trying to make yourself feel better, and that's such a waste of energy when you could be doing something that actually has some significance.

1:00:31Jon McLaughlin:Yeah, and it makes me think of those two verses in Proverbs that say completely opposite things and they're right next to each other. Yes, yes, yes. I think this is one of those things where it's like, Yeah. There is no, there is no clean cut answer and you're just going to have to navigate your way through it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. So let me, let's, let's land this plane with this question. What, like when you think about the season of life and occupation that you and I are, um, are in, um, what do you hope people say about the season of your kind of like career, your artistry who you are you know i mean man i don't know i mean i think you know it depends on what people were talking about is it is it amy is it my friends is it just you know the random fan in seattle or something like that i mean as far as uh the fans go the first thing that came to my mind is is of course like someone saying like man he is he's still putting out great music yeah i mean that would be because that's what you would hope i mean obviously like i i have put out a lot of music i'm like i don't know if i do i need to put out more music i mean this last album took me it's so long to do because i scrapped the whole thing halfway through because I'm like, if it's not good, I don't need more content.

1:02:07Jon McLaughlin:Lord knows the world does not need more content. So the highest praise, I guess, would be he's still putting out really good stuff. Yeah, compelling music, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think, sidebar, I don't know if we talked about this. I had this analogy in my head, and it made me laugh so hard. And this may be too much like how the sausage is made for anybody listening. So forgive me if this is a little too on the nose, but I laughed thinking about this. Sometimes I feel like being a 48-year-old artist is, so the analogy would be that you and I, like I own a restaurant that's like Dave Barnes Food or whatever.

1:02:52And you're John McLaughlin. Great name. Thank you. Dave Barnes Food. It's so busy. It's so busy. um but you know it's like someone has come in and they sat at a table and they're eating and they're so happy but it's like being 48 i feel like it's like i'm on my they've had their first meal and i and i have brought them at this point being 48 in this i have brought them 15 sides and about every you know i don't know what time looks like in the restaurant but let's say 20 minutes i'm bringing him another side and i'm like guys this is this coleslaw is slightly different oh my god okay and then like they're like and so i sort of feel like with with people that listen to my music they would have every right to be like hey let me let me tell you a couple things day before you put the the like the french fries with feta and cumin down which sounds great and i'm so glad you're excited we are we came in here on purpose we love Dave Barnes food we're here we're here that said we are really full and we were full by the third side but we ate up to the fifth side yeah I was just laughing at something like that is what I feel like is I feel like I'm like oh I know guys I know I know I know you've got nine records but this one is just can I just add this to the I'm gonna put this on the table and you get to it and I just feel like everybody has the right to look at me and go like hey man again I want to reiterate we chose to come in here we love this yeah we are stuffed like we have also we've walked out to our car you don't need to follow us out here we're we would have driven away but you're standing in front of our car with more coleslaw oh there's like six to go boxes yeah um so you know i think that's that's just a small aside but that is how i feel and i think to the point when I think about, you know, what, you know, this season of my career, I think like you, more than anything, I just want people to think that whatever music is out is inspired and meant something to me initially.

1:04:57Yeah, yeah, yeah. That even if they don't like it, they go, man, I can tell Dave really believed in this. And he was doing the best he could, as inspired as he could be.

1:05:07Jon McLaughlin:I think that's a great way to put it. Like, inspired. that that is that's it for sure i agree because because it's like you know listen there are artists that i love who put out records that aren't my favorite but i no doubt know it matters to them and that's all that i care i'd read i would rather you put out a record that matters to you and i don't quite get it than to put out something like meh and it's great but i'm like i can tell this you just phoned it in but the songs are super hooky or whatever or it felt like oh this was a huge album for noah khan and now you're doing you're kind of doing that thing and you look up the liner notes and you're like oh yeah it was that same writer was yeah yeah you just wanted to feel inspired yeah and and i would say globally though it's just to you know i think to do what is appropriate to being a 48 year old version of me you know and and i think and that sounds like a weird thing to say potentially but what i think that means is also not doing what's inappropriate to it you know not not like you said chasing all the silly things or trying to rebrand in some way that's not authentic or you know just doing the things that people would look at and be like like what are you doing man that's not right you are and you know and so i think because what i think that infers is a real trust in god is just going like hey this is where i am in such beautiful ways, I really want to honor that the best I can because there's wisdom that we have, there's experience we have, we've won, we've lost.

1:06:44And I think to not live appropriate to those things is a real waste, honestly, for what we can give to people, either in friendships, in our vocation, in shows, in music we put out. To not see the value in those things. Yes, that's exactly right. But to live into knowing like, hey, we're kind of becoming elder statesmen in a career that skews really young and we're still able to do it. And that's a huge gift. And as opposed to that constant siren song I hear of like, man, just like what are the trends? Do the trends. Chase the thing. You can make it. Young it up. Make it young. Make it fun. Who are the?

1:07:21And going, man, that's just I don't think that's the point of this, you know. So I think that's what I would hope, is there was some sense of living into the truth of the season I'm in, the best I can, inspired as I can be. And I'm like, that feels pretty good.

1:07:35Jon McLaughlin:Yeah, yeah. The only thing you're chasing these days is Mississippi. That's August 1st. That's, again, we want to say August 1st. Get your tickets at DaveBarnesTournments.com.

1:07:50Until next time, everybody. Stay frosty. effects.

1:07:54Jon McLaughlin:Helights out.

1:07:58Jon McLaughlin:Deadville. Yeah.