KANE BROWN: AMERICA'S HOTTEST COUNTRY STAR OPENS UP

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2:16Hello, everyone. My name is Jamie Lang, and this is Great Company.

2:25Howdy. Jemima said howdy because our guest today is a country and western singer. Is that why? Yeah. Are you excited? I'm beyond excited. Let me just describe what Jamie's wearing. Full double denim. He's got big, high cowboy boots with the little things on the back which clink clank and a cowboy hat. And he's got a scarf around his neck. And you're holding a pistol. I'm holding a pistol and a lasso. I don't know if you can see it. See? Make the noise of the lasso. A lasso? Oh, what's that? Oh, I think of a whip. Oh, that's a lawsuit. Very good. I'm going to let you into a little secret. I'm not wearing denim or those boots, but I am ready for this episode.

3:06Go on, describe. I'm actually just sitting naked. He's wearing normal clothes. He's wearing normal clothes. Head to the YouTube if you want to see. Yeah, and listen, a lot of people who are listening to this episode may not know who we are. My name is Jamie. I'm the host of the show, and you are... I'm Jemima, the producer. You are Jemima the producer of the show And to anyone who has listened to the podcast for a while Welcome back And to all you new listeners Hey, we're very excited to have you here Hey Hey, because today we have a very, very interesting person Mr. Kane Brown Tell me, Jamie Who is Kane Brown?

3:40Kane Brown is probably the biggest country and western singer in the world right now He's broken all the records If you are a country and western fan, you'll know exactly who he is But also country and western is an interesting niche where it's listened by millions and millions and millions of people, but also lots of people don't know lots of these singers. Kane is from America. He's over here. And he has a really interesting story. He grew up really, really hard times. He experienced lots of things from bullying to racism to beatings to lots of different things. He's had a tough life. And I would say that Kane leans more towards the darker side of things than the lighter side of things.

4:22And I think he'll probably admit that himself. And I wonder if we're going to get into that space. His music is incredible. He writes from the heart. So I'm really excited to have him on. I think he might also be someone who takes a while to open up as well. But that's your real good... It's the charm. That's the charm. It's the jam over here. So hopefully he gets to trust me and we... The jam. The jam. Jam pot. Hopefully he gets to trust me and hopefully we open up like a pot of jam. Got you. That metaphor took a while to get to. It did. Okay guys, listen We're very excited for this episode As always, if you haven't subscribed already Please do We release episodes every Wednesday We're on YouTube TikTok, Instagram At Great Company Podcast If you want to send us an email Greatcompany at jamperproductions.co.uk You can Everything is in the show description And let us know what you think of the show What guests we should have on next Are you ready for this?

5:11I am really ready Please welcome to the podcast On Great Company, Mr. Cain Brown Hey guys, I'm Cain Brown And I'm in Great Company and I am great company. I think.

5:27The reason why you and I relate a lot is I heard you like horror movies. Love them. Man, that is my jam. And I don't know what it's about horror movies. Well, I heard you love horror movies and I heard you're afraid of the dark. Yeah, both. That's why I love horror movies. You get creeped out. Especially my house. Like, before I came here, my kids just left and my wife And usually, I'm like, I love being alone. But there's something about walking in my house when nobody's there that it's just like, it's eerie. And I love it. I walk around and like turn lights off. Shut up. Look behind me. I swear.

6:05Look behind me. There's something about it. And then I'll be playing the game. Yeah. And I'm in a, you know, dark room. And I swear I see something all the time. So I'll be playing. I'm like, you got to look over real quick. It's the best. What? you're like why do we like freaking ourselves out why what is it about that is it because the reason why i like it for some reason is i love feeling emotion and that sounds that sounds strange right but i i really like i i when when a movie's sad i like it when it's sad i like feeling that emotion when something's funny i like and so when something's scary it it like feeds me yeah i'm kind of like that too which i'm an emotionless person normally really yeah like I can't really express my emotion.

6:49So there's something about like me going upstairs in the dark and just feeling like somebody's going to grab me. You know what I'm saying? I love it. Just take off real quick. I want to learn y 'all's language. Like I just found out what a bloke was a couple of days ago. And then what did you say? I wanted the loo. The loo? Is that the bathroom? Yeah, that's the bathroom. All right. Yeah. I want to learn that. Wait, what other words? Like, do you know what? I'll tell you this. I went to Australia. This is the funniest thing, and I hope y 'all don't get upset or offended. I went to Australia, and I was playing Xbox.

7:23I was playing 2K, and I was playing with all these 17-year-olds. And they were like, bro, when you get on stage, you have to call everybody a c**t. So I did a festival with 24 ,000 people out there. You listened to 17-year-olds. And I said, what's up? dude they lost their mind they loved it my publicist was there she was like oh my god they lost their minds it's just different languages and you don't know it until you go so anybody that's going to australia make sure you do that they like that in scotland as well really yeah like if you come to the states and said that to somebody you're getting smacked

8:10i'm gonna pass some words at you do you know a chin wag a chin wag okay i'm gonna remember this one what is that it means a chat this is a chin wag chin wag okay having a little chin wag a chin wag all right and the last one is chuffed chuffed chuffed so i will leave this interview chuffed because it went so well happy yeah happy chuffed means happy yeah i gotta come up with another word so you should get on stage and say i'm chuffed to be here i'm gonna have a little little chin wag yeah that's it

8:44when I found out you were coming on I just became obsessed with you in like a non stalker way following you wherever you've been your success is just mind blowing do you ever sit back sometimes and just like realize what you've achieved and what you've done does it ever sink in um random times okay i gotta be out sitting out by like a fire pit in my backyard and just be by myself and i'll be like where am i but um other than that a lot of times i don't i don't uh take the time and really i'm always just focused on the next thing or trying to you know outdo myself um which i think is the key to success for anybody explain that because this is what i'm learning at the moment right i used to um i used to be so competitive with other people yeah you can't do that it's the worst yeah but how do you so give me your mindset on that uh so i played sports my whole career and i when i when i came into music and you know started doing the whole which everybody can break a record i just was talking about that yesterday you just you come up with something you can break a record right um so when i come in when i came into music It was all just, oh, Kane broke this record, Kane broke this record.

10:03And then other artists started coming in and then breaking those records that I already broke. So then I was like, well, I don't know what to do now. Do I compete with them? And at the end of the day, you can't compete like that. It's just not how it works. So then I was like, okay, screw it. All I got to do is outdo myself. And if I outdo myself, then that means I'm just going to keep growing. Because you're just doing better every day. That's just facts. So you never compare yourself to anyone now? Not now. And I'm in my own lane, which I will say. Well, in country music, everything's starting to blur.

10:34But that's also what's cool about country music is there's so many different sounds that, you know, there's somebody for everybody. So take me back to this idea of this emotion thing. So you said you don't really feel emotions that much? Yeah. It's mainly like, I mean, I feel emotion. I would say when it comes to the music world, like if I won an award or something like that, it's hard for me to like show my emotion. That make sense? Or if something's really sad and somebody would be like, oh, I did this today. I'm like, suck it up, you know, like just move on. You know, it's really sad at the end of the day.

11:14Like I wish I could feel emotion. like when my wife tries to be vulnerable with me sometimes like I just anybody really it's it's really hard what you don't feel it or you don't understand it I don't feel it I mean I used to feel it as a kid and that's when you said like when you watch sad movies yeah um like I'll sit there like you know normal guys they'll be like I'm not crying me I'm like I want you to see me crying because you you're never gonna see me cry so I just let the tears roll if it's a sad movie Wow Yeah Is that a protective mechanism do you think? Maybe I have no idea I wish I'd figure it out Because that's an interesting thing right Because emotion is like a Emotion is like You sort of feel emotion every single day So then to not kind of feel the emotion Feels like it must be a protective mechanism Well I mean the only emotion that I feel is And will show is mad which I don't want to be that guy but that's the only one that will ever come out Does it come out when you play Call of Duty?

12:20Not really because that's when you'll see me happy Only thing I say is because Ken, I've been going through your whole life and I've been looking at it and your childhood feels pretty tough Yeah, it was a tough childhood In lots of ways But I had fun because I played sports You know, I was out doing stuff and, you know, it was a good time. So explain. So where did you grow up? Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. And then I moved around a lot. Bouncing back cities, moving high schools. I went to six different elementary schools, two different middle schools. And I moved high school six times, but it was five different high schools.

13:01Wow. Yeah. That's hard as a kid because you never really settled in. Well, the good thing is I played sports. so I was you know like a captain or a co-captain of every team that I went to so I made friends quick and that was good for me to get my music started because when I was just posting covers on Facebook I had all these friends from these different schools I was like what the hell is Kane doing but um I got my likes up a little bit and uh yeah everybody knew what I was trying to do what kind of sport were you playing in uh football basketball baseball and I ran track Wow, so you were the total rounder Yeah You ever wanted to go pro or no?

13:41No, I wasn't good enough to go pro Now I wish I'd have played golf over anything So if you're traveling around a lot and you're playing sport Then how do you kind of keep friends? Because you must be They were just all athletes It was who was on my team Really? Yeah, I didn't Yeah, I mean, I wasn't really a talker I'm not really a talker now I mean, you're getting the most out of me right now. Am I? Yeah. The more I do this show, right, this show is like about connecting with like different people around the world. And I just find people so fascinating. And I think it's interesting how people want to connect or don't want to connect or open or not open.

14:26And the more I sort of speak to people, the more I realize that a lot of people are quite introverted and actually they don't really want to speak and want to share things. and this show I always try and sort of open that up with people why do you think that you are a kind of introverted person why do you think you are shy in that space oh I mean when it comes to talking and stuff I feel like I'm the most what's the other word out out out outspoken outgoing yeah extrovert when it comes to talking about stuff yeah um but when it comes to just having normal conversation like if i don't know you if i don't know like what you like or i think that is more of a me protecting myself because that's what i've done my whole life is just have to kind of watch out for people and watch out for who you are so i don't get in trouble um especially where i grew up and so that's why i kind of just don't talk do you trust people no i trust like a my small circle i mean i'll technically i'll trust anybody until you do me wrong really yeah but going like starting through my career that's nobody ever knows about like what the stuff at the beginning made me not trust like hardly anybody why tell me what happened well just shitty signs contracts stuff like that it's terrible really yeah it's crazy that with the music industry where um i find that like so many people get kind of screwed over at the beginning because they don't even know what they're signing.

15:52Oh, yeah. And it's basically like you are finding a record label, finding an individual, finding someone, and they're saying, hey, I'm going to open this door for you, come on side, and I'm going to make all your dreams come true. Well, the worst thing is at the beginning, well, the worst thing is for internet stars, which for everybody that's getting started on social media right now and TikTok and stuff, that's how I got started. And you don't know how big you're going to be. So for me, I signed my deal with not a record label, just a guy. and the next day went viral what yeah the next day he thought it was fake and i was like bro i swear i was like i just went viral i was like and then started doing all these shows everything was selling out immediately and then after like my eighth show i was opening for florida georgia line and then i had my record deal but this guy was already tied in and he was getting 50 50 with me no ways man are you kidding me yeah so then i had to go back and talk to my label and do all this stuff and it's been with me for years who is this guy i'm not gonna say his name yeah we don't talk about it i should say his name i should blare it but i ain't going to i don't want him to get any popularity.

17:10What I love about your music, dude, is that you use your music to discuss difficult things. And I've got some lyrics here. You know, you wrote a song When You Forget, which is written about your grandpa's battle with Alzheimer's. Yeah, my great-granddad. And the lyrics are amazing. And then you write another one which is called Haunted which is about depression and the lyrics are waking up in cold sweats California king beds got the diamond ring set shoes that ain't released yet because I'm haunted by the voice in my head I'm haunted by the taste of that lead I wanted too many times to jump off the edge thinking I was better off dead those are pretty heavy lyrics right there bars though oh my goodness that dude that good no but yeah but that's that's easy writing but I don't want everybody like that stuff is the and that's the other thing that's hard about music like I could write stuff like that all day really yeah what do you mean what do you mean by that explain that to me like I don't get it I mean that's the headspace I live in so it's like that's but I try to write happy stuff for you know my fans that are that are happy yeah like why would I just write sad songs all day like that's not my fan base that's that's other people's fan bases i i didn't get started off that that's that's what's hard about music you gotta you know i mean my fans love that song but i'm also you know with other fans so i can't do that every every time yeah so for you it's much easier to write sad than it is to write happy yeah i mean that's technically how i got started used to love you sober and stuff like that but yeah yeah so talk to you about depression anxiety You felt that for a long time?

19:01Yeah, not really anxiety. My wife goes through anxiety, so I can't explain it. I get anxiety. Yeah, she'd be able to talk to you for days. Depression is just kind of feeling like you're alone. Like you're like a gum on the bottom of a shoe. Like, it's crap.

19:22I mean, yeah, I don't know. How do you get through it? uh well the good thing is it doesn't it's not every day you know what i mean it's like for me at least um just random times so my family helps me a lot if i'm feeling bad kate easily understands it now so i'll be like i need a minute and i'll go you know play a video game um used to try to smoke but i feel like that would make it even worse yeah because then your thoughts go everywhere and then you're like and then the paranoia kicks in Yeah, you're like, you know, I am a piece of shit, but now I'm really a piece of shit. So, yeah, I basically say my kids, like, you know, just playing with them.

20:03If I hear their laugh, it usually changes and then just takes my mind. But, yeah, video games and my kids. Did you ever go through that shame of feeling what you were feeling? No. That's amazing. I love that you didn't do that. You're just, you're so open with it, which is great. Yeah, I mean, it's at the end of the day, I'm competing with myself. I'm also battling with myself. I mean, once you realize that you have full control over your life, I mean, even down to your dreams, you just got to figure it out. I mean, it's about everything. And that's kind of why I feel like I don't feel emotions because, like, why would I cry?

20:38You know what I mean? It's like I'm battling with myself. Now, it does suck, like, if something happens to somebody else, but at the end of the day, you have control of that. or you have control of how you feel basically but do you sometimes i feel like your the brain can just take over and then you don't have control over it well you're controlling your brain but you're saying that you still feel sad but you can't control that sadness right that's that's what me battling myself i can't get mad at myself just because i mean i just got to learn to try to control it and that's what i'm battling with is i want to feel emotion so like a lot of times let's and that's just that's the hardest part about this is like it's hard for me to explain things like i can think it all the time and then in my head it makes sense i know exactly what it's like trying to explain the dream yes but i can't do it but that's just um i don't know uh like like okay um a lot of times i just want to be happy right but like it's hard for me just to be happy so i just sit there and i'll tell myself bro look at life look around you you're breathing like be happy bro be happy so i'll try to pick my energy up but then sometimes i feel like i'm faking it so then i'm like you're just a fraud and i start talking you know what i mean yeah i know yeah i know exactly what you mean yeah but uh i don't know i feel like just life is just controlled it's your life you can do it you can do what you want to do and i genuinely believe that when you say you can't fill in the emotion is it like a numbness is that what you feel kind of yeah there's like just no way of expressing like uh we have a person networks with us uh nikki boone yeah she's like a chihuahua bro like everything's just so exciting and happy and i'm like i wish i had that or uh my friend kenny he's just always super happy but that's why i surround myself with those people because like my emotion goes through them they get they do get me excited about things it's amazing because you because what's it's like a juxtaposition right in sort of a really um a really sort of sad way in a way is like you make so many people so happy in this world like you make millions and millions of people happy so you like you're telling me that right now i'm just like yeah oh man you've got to realize can you kidding me it's just i don't know it's just hard i guess it's just where i came from you know i just i almost kind of feel like it's fake it's so weird i um there's a there's a great analogy what someone told me once which is where um there was a guy working at like he was a he's a big banker, right?

23:07Making a lot of money. And he wasn't very happy. And he went to Thailand and, um, he got on a bus in Thailand and this stranger came on the bus and walked over to him and sat next to him. And they just started talking. And, uh, the guy said, what are you doing? He said, I'm a banker. And he says, Oh, you must earn a lot of money. And he said, yeah, he goes, Oh, you must be so happy earning a lot of money. He went, I'm not very happy. And he went, okay, when you're in a rocking chair sitting on your porch, are you going to look back at your life and be happy with what you achieved. And he went, I don't think I am.

23:38So the guy came back to the UK, quit his job straight away. He set up a coffee company called Change Please. And now he helps homeless people like get into life. It's amazing, right? And I swear to God with you, I think you're going to look back at your life when you're sitting on your porch and be like, I fucking killed it. I hope so. I think you will, man. Because you've made so many people around the world so happy. Your music is just like the greatest. And you sell these arenas and everything. That is such an amazing thing to do. And I think you will look back and be like, damn, it's sick.

24:07Yeah. And that's also another scary thing. I don't want to, I don't want to live this life because life's short, you know, so I don't want to live in this life like this and then have to look back and be like, damn, man, like my life was so fun. I want to go back to your childhood just really quickly because I'm fascinated by childhood and your childhood seems like pretty turmoil in lots of ways. I was listening to you on the Theo Vaughn podcast Dude by the way I love Theo I thought he was trying to set me up I told him that too He was like I thought you hated me I didn't know of him And then my team was like you're going to do an interview I love this guy I didn't know he was like He did comedy or anything So he just kept bringing up race So I was like bro And then country music especially at that time It was a sensitive subject really so i was like just trying to avoid it the whole time so yeah you killed it in that thing i thought you did it was great bro i was shut down i didn't think you were shut down now i told him we got to redo it because i love him he's so funny but um i thought you were great in it man i think that he he threw some questions and stuff like that but i thought it was really good i thought it was interesting but in it you basically talk about when you were a kid and it was pretty tough growing up and you you said that um you got uh your stepdad caught you smoking once and he made you eat a packet of cigarettes yeah explain this to me what happened uh it was my cousin i ended up we were smoking behind the trailer and then they caught us and then they just made us eat it but he always made he made me eat like bars of soap shaved my head and and and these are different stepdads by the way shaved my head and uh like put aftershave on it i remember just rubbing my head on the carpet like a dog's ass.

25:55You know how dogs... You put it on an itchy butt. Yeah, I was doing the same thing, but with my head. Do you find it easy to talk about it? Yeah. You do? Yeah, I mean, it made me who I am today. It made me stronger. Because one would, like, that's sort of abuse, right? That is total abuse. Yeah. Right, making you eat bars of soap and making you eat cigarettes. Yeah, but I mean, back then, well, the cigarette thing, yeah. But, I mean, there's so many people that have done the soap thing, like when you say a bad word, wash your mouth out. So everybody's done that. Where was your dad at this point?

26:28My dad's been in prison since 96. Really? Yeah. It's hard, I think, growing up, right, when maybe, because I think for young kids, right, dad is the role model. Yeah. That is the person who like shows you life, shows you how to shave, shows you how to talk about sex, girls, whatever it is, right? Yeah. And if you kind of miss that because your dad's incarcerated, that's probably quite a tough thing yeah i grew up quick i was in sixth grade basically when i say i grew up because i remember my mom um getting on to me and it's gonna sound so bad love you mom but i remember she tried to whip me with a belt and i remember i just i caught it i just took it out of her hand i said you're not whipping me and uh what you gotta think i've had all these guys beats shit out of me.

27:17So when my mom, she's looking up to me, she tries to spank me. I'm like, no, you're not doing it. So I just took it out of her hand. I remember I had toast in the toaster. I'm in sixth grade, by the way. Took my toast out of the toaster. I didn't pack a bag. I just left and walked down the street. And I was gone for two days. I ended up staying at my friend Taylor's house. Went back home, apologized to my mom, and then never got in trouble since the rest of the time. But it wasn't because I took the belt out of her hand. It's just because we came to a realization that I know what I did wrong was wrong and I won't do it again you don't have to spank me you don't have to hit me wow so I just I never got in trouble my little brother was the troublemaker he did everything and I just so I'd watch him what he did I wouldn't do and then I basically became like the don't do this don't do this to him like wow that's insane because that that's such a pivotal moment right where you just suddenly grow up and you realize okay now I got to be an things around me and I understand what is right and wrong and we got to have that mutual thing I get it I've done wrong but we can have this conversation and be adults about it yeah that's a big moment yeah but that's also there's also a young age to kind of get that sort of realization that you know that you can be in control of your life how many stepdads did you have before that in your life technically everybody that was in my life was my stepdad because my dad has been in prison so uh i had a stepdad for you know every year since i was three not every year my mom's not a hoe um but uh so let's see there's one and two three four and uh two of them were good really yeah one's passed away now but four of them were good what do you mean by good didn't hurt me Kane, I'm sorry, man.

29:11Oh, that's not good. Yeah, but I don't know why. I'm like, it feels like you're... That's like a lot to handle as a kid. If you're being beat up by these men who are coming into your life. I remember my pop. Like, he made me... Like, I played baseball my whole life, so I had, like, all-stars and select games and stuff like that. And I remember we had the championship game, and he came and said I wasn't playing in it. and then I remember my pop showing up and was like uh which is my mom's dad he was like he's going to this damn game and when he showed up uh just seeing my granddad stand up stand up to him I was like hell yeah man and then we went and won the state championship but it was cool just seeing him stand up stand up for me wow was that the first time that someone stood up for you yeah Yeah.

30:04And my mom, I mean, my mom kind of like she would, but like at the end of the day, it's like, I think she just wanted to find love or something. I don't know.

30:20Hi, this is Knox from the podcast with Knox and Jamie. And maybe like us at the podcast, you also know people who have been smokers or vapors. And Zen is the one product it seems like everyone is talking about. Because there are many good reasons to make a change to Zen nicotine pouches. Reasons like Zen nicotine pouches are still America's number one choice for smoke-free, hands-free nicotine satisfaction. And you can choose between 10 varieties, each variety available in either 3 or 6 milligrams. Check out zen.com slash find to find Zen at a store near you. Warning, this product contains nicotine.

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32:00You've done all these records right and you've broken loads of things and you've just achieved so much but you also have your family Yeah You know you've got your wife and your kids Would you say that's your biggest success? Definitely and I would say the big success is because I never really had that family thing So I'm still learning as a dad. Like for me at first, you know, being a dad was just being there for my kids because I never had that. And now it's like, like Kate came in, she had a big family. She's got two brothers, her mom and dad. So they like had a normal Christmas and, you know, the full family.

32:35And I used to, you know, have Christmas. And then what I remember of Christmas, I would have Christmas and I'd go to my room and play with what I had in my room by myself. Right. Yeah. And she's like, let's have breakfast. and open the toys but it takes hours and then we you know just have a big christmas and that's the stuff that i'm like at the end of the day uh you know i'm happy for where did you guys meet uh we met in florida yeah i was supposed to originally she was an artist she's she was and is an artist um she was doing a solo thing i was supposed to be in her music video and that was a time that i was supposed to have my first show i was on her music video and then never met and then we ended up meeting a year later um and that's another good thing about the shitty deal that i signed with that dude because he introduced us so without me signing that shitty deal i would have never met my wife there you go so you always gotta look at the pot there you go man so uh yeah we ended up meeting at a florida show and then um she was driving home i messaged her and then she came to nashville and just never left was it love at first sight i thought i mean she was beautiful you know for me it takes it's it takes me time to let people in yeah but her she did message her friend and say that uh i'm marrying this guy no ways yeah the first time she flew in and we went to lunch and i thought she was beautiful and i thought she was a sweetheart but i thought it was it was like almost like it was like too good to be true and um but she had no idea who I was and I at first you don't know that like I just like kind of didn't know who you were viral yeah I mean she was an artist she was doing her own thing and then I wasn't like I was on the radio or had a record deal or anything like that um and she got drugged to my show she didn't want to come to my show the guy the guy that I signed with was like no you're you're coming to the show and so they literally drove six hours he just put her in the car and they drove six hours and came to see me because I was signed to him and um yeah turns out she's literally the sweetest human being on earth when I I'm gonna tell you a personal story about I don't know why I'm telling this but I'm going to when I when I first my wife and I like we were like really good friends and um like and I used to always like feel awkward around her for whatever reason I didn't know why but I just thought we were friends I thought she was the awkward one but obviously it was because I had these feelings.

35:01And then there was this one time we went on holiday and she walked out and she was wearing a bikini. And I was like, oh my God, she's hot. Like I hadn't seen it before. And then the first time we ever hooked up,

35:17it was like such an electric feeling that I said to her, did you feel that? Nice. No. Because it was like this, like i i never experienced anything like that i couldn't believe it was like this like worlds coming together she was like i don't feel that i was about to say what she was like no she's like no i don't feel that and then what does kid becoming a father give this thing because i'm in this process at the moment thinking about kids what does i'll do kids are the best really yeah were you scared to have them uh no because it was with her and you know we were married and I mean, it was just like it was supposed to happen.

35:57And then I did want a boy. I will say there's nothing. Like, what do you want? Do you want a boy or a girl? I would love one of each. Everybody wants one of each. Yeah, I want one of each. But if you had to say you're only going to have one kid in your life, what do you want? Oh, man. I think I would go for a girl. A girl? Yeah, because, okay, I don't know why. there's something about holding your little girl protection thing mad i i would yeah i would eat people's jugulars to like protect that little girl yeah so i had kingsley my oldest and when i had her it was a you know it was a different thing like i have videos of me and her just sitting in a room for hours together just chilling and um then i had my middle child which was cody and was also a girl I wanted the girl-boy scenario.

36:49But then I was done with two girls, and I was like, you know, this is awesome. But I just had my third. He's eight months old now, or about to be eight months old. And when I tell you, there's not a different, like, the feeling of having a boy. Really? It's just completely different. Because your girl, it's like, oh, I want to protect you, you know, fight for my life. With my boy, I'm like, damn, boy, your back's big as hell. I can't wait to get in the gym or you're the next football player or something like that. I'm excited with him. I want to be rough with him. But also, I want him to have the best life he can.

37:26I heard when you said you go out, because you have a ranch in Tennessee, is that right? No, no, no. Everybody thinks I'm on a ranch, but I'm on a mountain. I just have, yeah. Beautiful. Yeah, it's sick. The trees, the landscape, it's all terrain. It's just a lot different. and i say that you you have a pool there right as well yeah and you see your kids swimming in the pool and you're just like i never had that growing up yeah and to watch your kids doing that is like wild to you well i had a i had a plastic pool like a puddle but yeah just them swimming and all that i keep i have to tell i have to tell my kids all the time like man you are so damn blessed like uh my favorite story and it's kind of sad but they're it's the innocence man they don't they have no idea because me and kate have songs together so they see us on tv that she was singing we were trying to tell kingsley because for her birthday she's my oldest we were taking her to disney world we were like so you're not getting many presents this year she's still got a lot we're like you're not getting many presents this year this is your present not everybody gets to go to disney world and she's like why and we're like because baby not everybody you know can afford it they have to pay bills and you know yada yada yada i was like i grew up try to explain how i grew up and she hit us back with why don't they just sing and uh we we didn't have anything else we didn't know what to say because we didn't want to be like not ever you know it's not a thing but um yeah just innocence i have a creepy tattoo of peter pan on my arm because because i on it like growing up as a trap like the reason why peter pan is so great is because he wanted to stay young and innocent and he that's what he wanted to do And there's something so beautiful about not being learned about the world.

39:13Just staying young and having these dreams and these desires and these aspirations and your parents being these superheroes. It's just the best. Yeah. I didn't have any superheroes. You didn't have any? I had one. My Nana was a superhero to me in my eyes. I'd say my pop was definitely when I was a kid. And then once I grew up, I kind of, you know, stuff kind of changed. In what way? uh well i mean like everything changed for me like i used to go back for holidays and stuff like that and now it's just like i feel like it's just like a picture thing everybody's like let's take a picture yada yada yada i'm like i just want to chill i just want to come back and see my family but y 'all won't allow me to do that so that's annoying yeah you don't say anything to them you just say i just want to chill come on guys well no because it's it's just weird saying it but like my nana and uh and my aunt and you know a couple other people in my family they they come up but they also see it so they're like we don't blame you for not coming back so i'm like okay at least y 'all see that is that what happens when you get to the to the level that you're at which is superstardom does that what you sort of said it it changes the dynamics of family that must mean yeah people are always asking for things people always want favors they always want tickets whatever it is yeah i mean i'll tell you this i lived i'm kind of in that spot right Now I'm not going to name anybody.

40:36But so I didn't meet my my dad's in prison since 96. I didn't meet my brothers and sisters. I was 16. Wow. I met my brother Mikey when I was 24. And he's my he was my DJ on tour with us and stuff. And so just telling you that there's other people that I also met, of course, whenever I turned 16. and so I I'll just tell you this short I don't want to like I said I don't want to throw anybody under the bus but one of those people they did something for me so I got to go to school so I lived with them and got to go to school where I wanted to go at Red Bank for like six months and so then they got the audacity because they helped me that they need a car so I bought them a car and then another person was like I need help getting a house I've known you for maybe seven years so I helped them get a house and then somebody else needed rent paid so I helped them pay rent and then they needed rent paid so I helped them pay rent and then another person hit me up for rent so I paid them for rent and then they want to tell me I haven't done anything for them or I don't care for my family and stuff like that I'm like I've known you for this this amount of time yeah I you were still a stranger to me it's like I've known people that work for me longer that i've known you and you're telling me that you're more family than them and they can't hang out or like they get mad because they hang out all the time but i've known these people longer than i've known you and then they'll go to social media about it and then i'll start posting on social media about it that i don't like my family and you're not my family yeah yeah it's like i'm i want you to be my family i'm trying to learn but y 'all are making it where i don't want to know i wish i never met y 'all fuck man i'm so that sucks yeah i don't know because you're only you're trying to help and people are just it's it's the it's the dark side of fame yeah yeah so how do you counter that you just then have to push away turn i just well that's what sucks about it because then i look at them like they're just haters because then they they technically make themselves haters because they go to social media and start posting it and then i can't even text you i mean can't even text you because you're just going to post it on social media and make me look like the bad guy so then it just turns into there's this cute little block button that the social media and the iphone has created so you just hit that button and then yeah it's a good little button that right yeah love that button what is the most important thing you want to instill in your kids would you say um i want to be sweet i want them to care for other people yeah but and that's and that's also the dangerous thing too is i want them to you know watch out for snakes which is you know the hard fine line but at the end of the day if you let a snake bite you once it's okay as long as it's not a you know rattlesnake or something but um just don't let it happen twice it's hard right because when you've when you've experienced so much in your life which you have it's hard to it's hard to unlearn it yeah and it's hard to forget and actually see the good in people.

43:50You almost see the bad because you've been bitten so many times. Yeah. But when you do find the good, I feel like it outweighs the bad.

44:03If someone's listening now, you have a huge fan base, right? And also with this show, there's a lot of young listeners who are listening who probably want to follow in your footsteps. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't follow right behind me. You wouldn't? Well, technically, I already broke down the walls. So come on. I love that. But what advice would you give to that person who's listening now i'd say stay stay true to you um i used to kind of try and be what i felt like fans wanted me to be uh and yeah i just say stay true to you and just just grind i remember the big my favorite part of my career was at the beginning you know i was so hungry and so like just wanted to be the biggest thing ever and uh you know i'd wake up and just do nine videos just make sure i had a video every day and then i just really learned facebook i wish i could learn tiktok like i know facebook but just really knew the algorithm and knew what to do knew when to post and it's really just all about learning so you got to study you're playing lots of sports right you're moving schools you're a young kid to start posting on facebook which you did especially singing and performing yeah that's like a nerve-wracking thing to do that is putting yourself out there for like criticism and i didn't think of any i didn't think you didn't even care about any of that no wow that is headstrong yeah i mean i just did it and it's my facebook i mean you gotta if you don't like it just don't follow me but honestly if you if you at the end of the day and i know it's hard to look at you want people to post i don't care if they talk crap on you if they're commenting on it it's gonna go farther you know i'm saying yeah even if it's bad like you're still gonna get noticed the more people that comment or like on your things so what was the first um song that you posted what was it because you you were doing covers weren't you yeah i mean i couldn't tell you the first song i posted i can tell you the first song that made me go viral um was uh i don't dance by lee bryce and i remember going to sleep and i had my phone on my charger and i woke up and my phone was dead and i put it on the charger and it came on and then the whole i mean i could scroll for days what but that's when that's when i thought i went viral but i got i ended up getting 60 000 viewers on the video or 60 000 followers and then um like a couple weeks passed when was it because i put a i put an ep out yeah and it went like number five on itunes and um i was like this is so sick and it was like i think it was like a month to two months later i put a song out called uh or from george straight uh check yes or no then that's when i actually went viral and it was in the millions and then my ep that i put out months ago shot to number one on itunes and then i went to nashville wrote my first song uh we put it out i had a dream that it was number one and um die happy man by thomas redd was out and it was like the biggest song of the year and it was battling with that song um when i woke up and then i caught a call from a record company that morning it was it was wild are you kidding me it was crazy that is crazy yeah but i mean it didn't it didn't happen that quick like i mean i put up like you know 60 70 videos um but then it was it was also just the way i was promoting them like i was promoting them how how tiktok's i was i was six years in advance really i got everybody's doing on tiktok right now it's their songs you just keep hearing the same song over and over i was doing that on facebook can i pull up my facebook yeah i would love that man are you kidding me all right i want to i want you to tell me like i want to feel and hear and get everything there's one video that i'm going to try and find it wasn't about likes or anything like that it was all about shares so i would get on my facebook and i would say go share my video if you liked it so then i would be on all these other people's facebook's and then all these other people's facebook's would have 500 to you know max is 5 000 friends that you can have on facebook i don't know if they upped that or not but so then all those 5 000 people of your friends would be also seeing the video so did you share it like that the whole way across this is Facebook okay okay how many views does that say 42.2 million 3.2 million 42.2 million yeah and then the shares what are the shares on that 688 ,000 what is the song called found you but okay and this is a perfect example as well the song I never did anything with it I mean I released it and it was um you know we performed it at shows and everything but it never went to radio or any anything like that and it's probably platinum now but it was gold at the time and i have a plaque for it and i'm like i didn't you know it never went to radio or anything so facebook basically made that song gold so for anyone who doesn't understand what is if it goes platinum and gold what does that mean so a gold record is 500 000 units sold and a platinum record is a million but it varies for different countries we just got our diamond record uh second diamond record for the first time how much is diamond 10 million so in country music there's 12 and we have two of them so that's sick let's go man yeah i just got so and then so over here so i got my first diamond last time i was here which was heaven yeah and then so now i got a little we got two last night so i put a little are you kidding asterisk but that's the only thing i get excited about how many records do you think you've sold in total i have no idea if you have With those two songs, it's 20 million.

49:44Okay. Matt, that is so many people listening and loving your music, all because you had this amazing talent and you decided to start posting on Facebook and you wanted to get there. When did you realize that singing was what you wanted to do? What age were you? 19. You were 19 years old? Yeah. But you must have known you could sing before that. I was that kid on. So I had a real high voice. I used to be able to scream and like hurt your ears. And then randomly this happened and it went low. But I used to be the guy on MySpace, you know, dancing in the mirror to Soulja Boy and all that stuff. And I've always kind of just been like that guy.

50:26And it's kind of funny that that's how I went viral, was doing the same thing. When you were putting your videos up, did you dream, did you know this was going to happen? No. No, but I felt like if I kept doing it, that you can't fail until you stop. Well explain that to someone who's listening now What do you mean by that? You just can't fail until you quit About anything I kind of know what you mean I always think that the people who It's the people who fail in life Are the ones who stop too early They go, ah this is too hard I can't do this anymore Exactly But yours came a little bit quicker than most Right?

51:01Yeah But still I mean it was me waking up every day And doing it And I was working three jobs at the time Were you? Yeah Dude, before we get into our last eight questions, which is a quick fire. Who is someone that you haven't collaborated with that you would love to collaborate with? And you can pick Dead Alive, actually. Yeah. Okay, there's a branch. There's a genre I haven't broken into, which is Screamo, which I can't really scream or, you know, do any of that. I don't know. There's what a Screamo. You know what Screamo is, where it's just like... Oh, okay, yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd love to do something like that.

51:35And then, honestly, I just feel like it would have to make sense. but screamo would make no sense for me but but you like the idea of that challenge it'd just be cool yeah i listen to it while i work out so even if i didn't release it just for me it is to have it just yeah and it's almost like a rage you just get to you know relieve some rage yeah which is good right yeah okay i want to say before we go in this i've loved every second this man no i do i really appreciate it and look i know that you you know you like podcasts maybe you don't but But for me, this has just been amazing. I'm chuffed that we've done this, man.

52:07Yeah, I'm very chuffed. Okay, good. I've got eight questions for you. It's quick fire. You can answer them as honestly, as quickly as you want. You ready for this? Yeah. What's a saying or phrase that makes you smile or cheers you up? Yeah, I'll say my kid's laughing. Best compliment anyone's ever given you? Randomly, when my wife says I look good. That's the best. Tell her she looks great all the time. She randomly gives it back. That's when my wife says, I like what you're wearing today. I'm like I've killed it I've killed it What scares you most about yourself? Probably the The down times Like the depression Big one for you When was the last time you cried?

52:46Weirdly When I watched the movie Whale Which was like almost a year ago now Wait which The Whale? Yeah Oh man Dude That ending Yes It's when he cries Yeah Dude it's crazy Yeah I broke down My wife's like, why are you crying? I said, I don't know. I think it's a dad thing. What's something you can't let go of? I would say gaming. Yeah. As weird as it is. This is a tricky one. What's your guilty pleasure? What do you like that people sometimes don't like, but you like your guilty pleasure? I'll go back to Screamo. Yeah. Not a lot of people love it. And you feel weird listening to it with people that don't like it.

53:29What turns you off? I'd say bad drivers. Okay, here's another one. What turns you on? My wife. There we go, baby. What do you like most about yourself? What I like most about myself is I feel like I am just straightforward. I am who I am. Yeah, I'll tell you how it is. I'll tell you, like, if I don't want to have a conversation, like, you're going to know that I don't want to have a conversation. I'm not going to fake anything. I love that. last one bonus your favourite swear word favourite swear word is probably fuck Kane I appreciate it man this has been brilliant thank you for having a great company thanks for having me

54:15well done that was great hey do you enjoy it? yeah and he really opened up he did that's what your well done was for I think with Kane he's one of these people he has to trust you and then once he trusts you he opens up and it becomes sort of this magical world of his life yeah and also for the listener I think in those types of instances you often need quite a lot of it takes quite a time to open someone up but we only usually have about 90 minutes with someone so that's like it's actually what Jamie's doing to open someone up is actually like really impressive to get someone to open up that quickly well thank you very much PJ I appreciate that you are welcome PJ I hope you enjoyed that and to Kane thank you so much for coming on and guys also remember if you haven't subscribed already please do to the show It Does Us Wonders and also let us know in the comments which guests we should have next who you'd like to see we check them all you can slide into our DMs at Great Company Podcast or on YouTube and you can send us an email greatcompany at jampopproductions.co.uk everything is in the show description and of course we'll see you next Wednesday for another episode of Great Company

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56:49Only at McDonald's for a limited time. Prices and participation may vary. Hello everyone, we're Jamie and Sophie. You may remember us from Nearlyweds and then Newlyweds. But now guys, things are about to get even wilder as we take on our biggest adventure yet, becoming parents. Yeah, that's right. Newlyweds is now Nearly Parents and we're bringing you the same honest, heartwarming takes on our journey to parenthood, I guess. Join us as we find out what it really means to become a family while trying not to kill each other. Get ready for Nearly Parents, your favourite new podcast. you