The Personal Pain of Country Music - HARDY (4K)

Work hard and be nice. Is that basically your career philosophy? >> Yeah. Have I said that exact exactly before? I feel like I have. I I feel like that's like the number one. Um, [snorts] you know, honestly, if I put them in order, it would be be be nice first and work hard uh second. not not not like you know um don't dismiss working hard but man being being a good hanger just being somebody that somebody wants in the room will take you so far I feel like and in any any sort of any job atmosphere at all >> why I I would have assumed especially in music if you're some virtuoso guitarist >> nobody likes an [ __ ] dude it doesn't matter how good you are or something I I just nobody wants that person in the room. I feel like and and uh I just how many times I I cannot tell you how many times I've done podcasts or we've gotten a VIP tour of something or we had a driver, you know, in LA or in New York and then we've been like, "You ever had anybody that was just terrible to work with?" And people just remember that, man. And it's a lot of times it's people that are like really famous and really successful and very talented and and there's just I know that people like drivers and you know people that give Disney World tours and stuff like that are not people that are going to you know help advance your career but but I think that transcends stuff like that and um just being nice to people and making making sure everybody is appreciated and feels comfortable around you and I just think it's important. There's a guy called Paul Graham who's an investor and writer from the UK or he lives in the UK now. He's got this great idea. Famous jerks are not role models. Some talented people are jerks. And this sometimes makes it seem to the inexperienced that being a jerk is part of being talented. It isn't. Being talented is merely how they get away with being a jerk. >> Wow, that's really good. >> I think it's true. >> Yeah, totally. 100%. >> The success is not because of them being an [ __ ] The fact that they are successful is how they get away with being an [ __ ] >> Yeah, >> 100%. Yeah, [laughter] it's a par. Would you call it a paradox? >> A little bit. Yeah. Well, it's certainly uh it's certainly surprising because it gives people this idea that oh, ego is where the success has been like uh cultivated from, right? >> As opposed to the fact that like the success gave them this buffer zone where people like I can't be too mean to Hardy because like you know like look at all the songs he does and stuff. He's a bit of a dick, you know, whatever. Um, so I mean it's kind of surprising because I think a lot of people in jobs they see it as being transactional. Um, that if you are good at X you will get Y. But there's the packaging that your talent comes in which is like well you a good hang. How are you on the bus? What's your morale like when you've done three shows in three days and everybody's tired? It's like are you the one that brings everybody up or are you the one that's like ah dude this is so tough. This is so hard. I'm missing the what? It's like everyone's doing that. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's very true, man. And it's just I've always just kind of thought that it's like it takes way more effort to be a, you know, like an [ __ ] than just to be nice. And there's I mean I've I've had my moments I mean for sure where I just am I'm exhausted or mentally drained or my meter is at all times zero. And and those are moments where I feel like I just get more quiet more than more than anything. But um man, it's just so much easier to be just nice to people and and just keep a smile on your face and keep it light and just do do what you got to do and even if it's something you don't want to do, you do it anyway and and and have fun with it. And I don't know, it just seems way less effort to do that. >> In your experience, is being a good guy uh a performance enhancer rather than trying to be ruthless and screwing people over? >> What do you mean by that? If you're a nice person, are they the ones that end up winning in the end? Because there is a a sense that ruthlessness and being cutthroat and, you know, sort of like going for it, aggressive, lean in. Oh, well, that's how you achieve success. >> I don't think I I don't think there's a real true answer to that because I think there's tons of people I think I would like to think that more nice people win certainly, but um I don't think it's true every time by any means. Well, I'm interested for you especially about the tension between being a songwriter and an artist, right? Because you've got you're part of the Nashville engine. I was talking to a friend yesterday who put you as like one of the best three songwriters in Nashville, which is probably about as competitive as it can be. >> That's very nice. >> Um, but you're behind the scenes. You were behind the scenes. Then you become in front of the scenes and now you've got to try and balance these two worlds. Uh what's the what's the tension like between being artist and also being u like contributor to other artists at the same time? >> I try not to think about it really. Um you know I mean I I'm very thankful to have started out as a songwriter because I feel like I can jump right in and never skip a beat. You know I can tour for six months or whatever and barely write a song and then just jump right in and write for somebody else and it's like not difficult at all. But um I've never really thought about the balance or like the pressure between the two at all. I mean to be completely candid, touring is a lot more lucrative than songwriting. So it a little bit of that takes the pressure off of like having to make a career out of songwriting, but I have I just want to to write hits for other people so bad that um I will just never not want to do that. It's why I moved to town. It's my first love. And I just love having great songs and like >> giving that song to somebody and hoping that it helps their career and uh and all that, but I've never really felt pressure. There's definitely been times where I have been like, "Okay, like I'll hit up my management or link my management and my pub publishing and be like, "Hey guys, we need to find a balance. Like I need to write more songs." Because it's just it's a tank that I have that if it's if it's empty, I you know, I feel a little bit less sense of purpose if I haven't been writing songs whether no matter what they may be. and and so um you know there's times where I become a little more aware that I need to I need to sort of re redistribute my my time but um I've I've never really felt the pressure to to do one more than the other or like you know one's one's falling behind I you know I try to keep them even or anything like that. It's it's just I I don't know. I I try to try to take the pressure off myself and and I think it makes for more creativity and better better creative moments and stuff when you don't feel pressure to write hits or like, you know, pressure to write so many songs or anything like that. >> What if you write what if you write a real slammer? There must be a sense in your mind where you go, what do I is this me? Do I just like keep this one in the in the hardy folder or is this >> Yeah, that happens a lot. That happens all the time. Um they uh it's funny I uh there's a lot of songs though that I just it's a slammer but it's just not for me and and and uh there's a lot of time a lot of writers that I have even friends of mine that I'm that are like you sure or like I can tell I'm like man this would be good for this would be great for you know Blake Shelton and and they're like oh yeah cool you know and yeah >> um >> but even that is very I usually know but but by the time we get like verse chorus if I'm gonna if I'm gonna cut the song or if I'm gonna, you know, give it to someone else or or hope hopefully give it to someone else. >> I was talking to uh John Bellian. He was on the show a couple of weeks ago and um obviously he took this big hiatus from being an artist to just do the songwriting thing and he said he knew when uh he was ready to get back to producing music because he would have, you know, this list of demos or whatever. He'd have 15 demos and he'd be showing it to uh whoever was in the studio with him and there would always be one or two tracks that he would just like he'd skip over the top of. He'd leave that one to one side. He never showed that. And I thought that was so cute cuz he was like, "Oh, I really really like that." >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. For me, the LA approach is very different, I think. And but I will say like I don't ever play anybody my best stuff like ever until it's until it's out. I just like the big reveal and uh you know the the keeping it a secret. I just feel like it's more of like an explosion when it comes out even with your friends and stuff. You know, it's to get Nashville talking about a song is very is just as important as like the public hearing about it. I think um >> I just think that people buzz about a song and and um I don't know what it is, but there's just something about Nashville buzzing about a song that that just helps it always. >> What do people not understand about how the Nashville scene works? >> In what way? generally. I mean, it is a it's a [ __ ] engine for music. It's a factory for music. >> Uh, but at least from from my perspective, the fact that you have uh a room where anybody who typically you've got like the the writer credit of, dude, you're over the far side chewing on a toothpick or whatever. Like, thank you for being in the room. You contributed to this. The fact that you will have multiple different rooms going at one time and artists will bounce between those if they're really really trying to crank it. Um, it seems to me like there aren't many scenes like Nashville when it comes to to writing music maybe anywhere on the planet. >> It's very different. I mean, I think Nashville's work ethic is better than other cities I've I've written in. Um, I think that topliners like lyric and melody or at least lyric writers, storytellers. Um, I think it it's the best in the world. Um, I think that Nashville has the greatest storytellers in the world. Uh, and it is it's it's a machine and it all starts with the song, which I think is really cool, man. And like right now today, what time is it right now? It's it's 10:11 right now. There are more there's probably [snorts] 300 rooms of people writing songs right now in Nashville trying to get the next hit. Excuse me. And there's a lot of those songs that are going to be have potential to be the next, you know, in within the next year a big old hit. And it's it's it's kind of off to the races from there, you know, and it's I think it's the coolest thing ever. >> Is there something about country as a musical style which affords storytelling uh more room than other genres do? >> Yeah, sure. I think that can go back to a long time ago. I you know like and well it's much of country music's biggest songs have been stories and so I just think it's a pattern if that's kind of what you're getting at. Um [sighs and gasps] are you I mean basically are you just saying like why why is why why is it easier or more common to write stories in country than any other any other thing >> to a degree? Yeah. And then is there something to do with the structure of country as a a a genre which affords more more room for story time like a rock, right? Or like just very unique ways to piece a story together and then keep on looping things back. Um I don't know. That's a really good question. >> I if I was to like put my total amateur uh theory forward, uh it's so lyric driven. It's so vocals heavy. Yeah. Like are there many country songs where people go, "Dude, I just love the riff." Right. Well, no. But with something like um Caramel by Sleep Token, that pluckucky little intro thing that it has >> is as Yeah, exactly. Like it almost the first time I ever heard it, I thought, is this like some like regaton Jamaican inspired because it almost does have that sound like >> Yeah. So I'm like, all right, well that is as much a part and if you move into metal or more hard stuff. Well, the riff actually can be the lead. That's what people love. But with country, very rarely is it going to be that. It's much more about it's driven by >> it's way less about the music for sure, like their arrangement. Um, I think that producers would argue, you know, like you there, my producer Joey is like you got to fill the space and and uh, you know, takes a lot of time to in the studio to make sure like the parts are right and that everything is catchy and there's just a bunch of that all the spaces are filled. But, uh, no, it is very much it's it's it's it's all about the um the lyrics. You're right. And very I mean, the vocal is out front and that's everything at least right now. People can argue that like that that subgenre of country that's like Whiskey Meyers and and a lot of the sync country is like which is like S YNC like you know a lot of the stuff that you hear on the TV shows and stuff is more about music and and less about lyric but um I don't know I can't really speak to that but um no you're you're totally right. I it's it's just the way it's always been and and the country country has never really been about anything other than the lyrics and the vocal, you know, or both at the same time. M talk to me about where inspiration and creativity comes from for you or what sort of your creative process looks like because you've got a bunch of stuff going on. Um high volume uh writing for other people. I've heard you say it's between sort of two and three days a week >> that you're cranking that out. >> Yeah. On a good like when in a good Yeah. >> when you're not on tour and you got a little bit of time maybe not on your dad. >> Um >> but then you've also got your own stuff. You've got your own obligations, but then you've also got this balance between volume of output and quality of output. You can't be doing five songs a day, three days a week and maximizing in the same way that you would if it was spending a little bit more time. So, I'm interested in this balance. Yeah. Inspiration and creativity with uh output. I mean, you know, the one cool thing about Nashville before I even get into this is we all stand the songwriters all stand on each other's shoulders and [sighs and gasps] you know, thankfully there's so much like collaboration and and um um camaraderie within that, you know, in Nashville that like, you know, you go into a room with some people and and um like I might be exhausted. I might have not been in a good like idea headsp space and uh you go in and like your buddy or whoever you're writing with has the idea and it's just like oh thank god you know what I mean [laughter] like that pressure is off and now I can just latch on to this idea and help write this in the room but you know um so that you know so your collaborators always make it a lot easier on you. It's like if you and I or it's like if you ask me to move this table across the room or we got six people to do it and the the weight is a lot lighter and that's what it's always felt like for me. So, um first and foremost, if you don't have an idea, don't don't let your panic or your um your inhibition put that, you know, the cloud over your creative bubble. Um because you just have to always trust that somebody's going to have something if you don't, you know, and that that helps with the creative process. But uh man, for me, I just I I have a running list of uh I'll scroll fast so nobody steals my [ __ ] >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We can we can we can blur it. I'll I'll see. So I can >> Yeah. Yeah. We'll see cuz I'm writing after this today, too. >> Amazing. >> Um but these are just all song either lines or notes or whatever. And it it dates back to like probably 10 years ago. It's just a running list of notes. Mine mine is short. I I see people scroll through theirs and they're super long and I'm like, damn, bro. Well, you keep on turning them into songs, which is >> Well, that's true. That's true. And then you then [laughter] you have to delete it. Sometimes it's like sad. You're like, "Damn, I've been looking at that idea for, you know, two or three years, and you delete it." But, um, man, yeah. And, you know, I I know this not exactly what you were getting at, but I love talking about this because it's so like any other office or whatever it may be. It's like you walk you you everybody has their ideas and then you walk into a publishing house or somebody usually a lot of times these days it's either somebody's studio or their home studio but like you just walk in and you know everybody now so it's just like it's there's it's not it's not this like light a candle kumbaya you know like somebody's like man I just went through this horrible heartbreak let's blah blah blah you know it's just it's not like that and but I love that it's >> that we can like take a moment where we're we're walking in and we're like what up you know and and you And you know, I'm big deer hunter and most a lot of Nashville riders are big deer hunters. So, right now we're just talking about deer hunting. And then everybody goes, >> "Oh, well, let's see here." And then somebody's like heart, you know, hearts on fire and you just start throwing out random ideas and uh and it's just one of them sticks and then you write it because everybody in the room is a professional songwriter and then a year later it's like a sevenwe number one. Dude, it's like it's just crazy to me. But it's it's but what I'm getting at is how not um it's not like it's not as you would never think that it's like not a creative, you know, from the heart kind of thing because it's country music and like these the stories are so good and they make people cry and but but these songwriters like myself and other people, it's like we're not crying in the room, but when we write a line, we're like this is going to this is going to hammer somebody. It's going to make like you know, but and we mean that not in a funny way, but like in a very like >> you know, like this is going to help a lot. Like when I we when we wrote Wait in the Truck, >> when we like finished that song and Jordan Schmidt and his home studio like played that song top down, we all looked at each other and we were like, "Dude, this is going to destroy some people." And that's like we did our job that day, you know? And um but anyway, it's just I love the creative process. I probably went way off on a tangent, but I just I love talking about how not creative the creative process looks, you know, and and we're not sitting in a vibe room and and I some some places are like that and that's totally fine. Like I know LA it's a lot about more about like getting in the mood and >> waving sage, burning some sage, waving that around. >> Yeah. you know, and certain candles that smell a certain way and all that, but man, in Nashville, it's truly just a bunch of normal guys and girls, normal looking people that are just their brains are just wired different and they're incredibly good at what they do, >> but they, you know, and it just you just would never know it. And I I just think that's the coolest thing ever. some of the most creative people in the world. Some people in the world, some people in this town have the ability to make people like ball their eyes out that live anywhere that anywhere that can speak English, you know, and they just are like a, you know, a chubby dude that just goes to the grocery store every other day and and lets his dogs out every night and, you know, in the afternoon. Like, it's just it's cool to me. It's like the coolest thing ever. >> That's sick, man. >> If you struggle to stay asleep because your body gets too hot or too cold, this is going to help. Eightle just released their brand new Pod 5 Ultra, which includes the world's first temperature regulating duvete. You can pair it with their smart mattress cover that cools or warms each side of your bed by up to 20° and you've got a climate controlled cocoon built for deep, uninterrupted rest. The new base even comes with a built-in speaker so you can fall asleep to white noise or stay awake listening to me. And it's got upgraded biometric sensors that run health checks every night. It spots abnormal heartbeats and breathing changes and sudden swaps in your HRV. even starts warming or cooling your bed an hour before you get into it, which is why eight has been clinically proven to increase total sleep by up to 1 hour every night. Best of all, they've got a 30-day sleep trial, so you can buy it and sleep on it for 29 nights. If you don't like it, they will give you your money back. Plus, they ship internationally. Right now, you can get up to $350 off the Pod 5 Ultra by going to the link in the description below or heading to eight.com/modernwisdom using the code modernwisdom at checkout. That's eigtsleep.com/modernwisdom and modernwisdom at checkout. The only equivalent that I can uh get from my world writing and and podcasting is sometimes I'll come across something that I've never heard of before. There was this uh love letter that Richard Fineman wrote um to his wife. I stumbled upon it and was thinking about it for ages before I actually talked about it cuz I didn't know if I could say it without crying. And it's basically this love letter to his wife Darene that he hasn't written for quite a long time. And then about twothirds of the way through the love letter, you find out that she's dead and he's writing this to his wife that's passed away. >> Oh my god, dude. >> So I like ah >> bro, it's Do you want me to read it to you? Let me read it to you. >> God, I I don't know. I don't think I've ever cried on camera before, but sure. >> Let's see if we can do it. >> Jesus Christ. Well, I've already uh >> tear up literally just like saying it, but you've already at least you've given it away, so it takes the shock away. I warn you a little bit. >> October 17th, 1946 to Arlene. I adore you, sweetheart. I know how much you like to hear that, but I don't only write it because you like it. I write it because it makes me warm all over inside to write it to you. It is such a terribly long time since I last wrote to you, almost 2 years. But I know you'll excuse me because you understand how I am stubborn and realistic and I thought there was no sense to writing. But now I know, my darling wife, that it is right to do what I have delayed in doing, and I have done so much in the past. I want to tell you I love you. I want to love you. I will always love you. I find it hard to understand in my mind what it means to love you after you are dead. >> But I still want to comfort and take care of you. And I want you to love me and care for me. I want to have problems to discuss with you. I want little projects with you. I never thought until just now that we can do that. What should we do? We started to learn to make clothes together or learn Chinese or get a movie projector. Can't I do something now? No, I'm alone without you. And you were the idea woman and general instigator of all our wild adventures. When you were sick, you worried that you could not give me something that you wanted to and thought I needed. You needn't have worried. Just as I told you then, there was no real need because I loved you in so many ways, so much. And now it is clearly even more true. You can give me nothing now. Yet, I love you so that you stand in my way of loving anyone else. But I want you to stand there. You dead are so much better than anyone else alive. >> My god. >> I know you will assure me that I am foolish and that you want me to have full happiness and don't want to be in my way. I bet you are surprised that I don't even have a girlfriend except you, sweetheart, after 2 years. But you can't help it, darling. Nor can I. I don't understand it, for I have met many girls and very nice ones. And I don't want to remain alone. But in two or three meetings, they all seem ashes. You only are left to me. You are real. My darling wife, I do adore you. I love my wife. My wife is dead. P.S. Please excuse my not mailing this, but I don't know your new address. >> Oh my god. Jesus, man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm That's That's insane. It's It's It's like Is that real? that's a real thing he did for his real wife. So like there's still there's so much poetry in in that. I mean I there's so much to me part of the the gag or the like the the trick is is not revealing the thing until it's like the perfect time. Right. So like that's the thing you know >> I don't understand. I struggle to know what it means to love you after you are dead. >> Yeah. and and and a songwriting from a songwriting you would probably wait till the very end you know to do that. >> Mhm. >> But even still like it's to waiting on that is such a poetic it's such a I mean it it's it's a simple you know we call it a trick but >> but uh yeah that's that's beautiful. I mean it's I'm trying to think of a song that I have or that I know of that has like a twist at the very end of a song. Um, [sighs] [gasps] but you kind of have to like, oh [ __ ] I got to listen to that again. You know, like I missed I missed it. It's like an Might Shyamalan movie and you missed >> Yeah. Like Christopher Nolan or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you're like, wait, he was dead the whole time, but he was talking to that person. [laughter] Wait, he wasn't talking to us. Nobody. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> That's that's those are those are the best, man. >> So, for me, finding something like that uh is the kind of equivalent of going into the room and being like, [ __ ] like, is this right? Is this? And then you finally find something and you go this deserves to get out there like this is how can I craft this in a way there's other little bits and p most of the time it's not a big chunk right it's you tell a story and then you repurpose it you rework it around uh I've heard you say dark songs tell the truth in a way happy songs can't. Yeah, it's weird. >> How so? >> I don't know because people maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just like just dark darker than maybe I even think I am. But like I have just like songs about dark things. Even if there's a hopeful like a weight in the truck, you know, that's like a very it's like a hero story, but [sighs] people just gravitate towards that more. I've always found I I don't know why, but like I'm trying to think of another a good example, but um I don't know. I I mean, again, maybe I haven't done a study. I haven't done, you know, I haven't surveyed a thousand people, but it just seems that like sad songs or like really really good heartbreak songs or death, you know, people dying songs >> um even if they are they have a happy uh lesson in them like a live like you were dying kind of thing. There's just people people attach themselves to that stuff more. Um, I do think that there's a lot of like a lot of dark moments in people's lives. And I think that, you know, if you if you can find a way to relate to that and that be a song, then you're going to probably attach to that, you know, pretty >> pretty hard. But, um, I Yeah, I don't know why, but I just I feel like And it's so weird. Dark songs are so much easier to write, >> you think? >> Yeah. For me, I mean, for me personally, and it's like if you have a, you know, if somebody threw out a a song called the best day ever or whatever, you know, I'd be like, I don't know, man. >> The worst day ever. >> Yeah. I'd be like, how would you do that? How would you spend, would you spin that a certain way or like, you know? Yeah, exactly. >> It's weird. Maybe that's just me. My wife kind of she kind of gives me hell a lot. And uh or let's just say gives me encouragement cuz uh I'll, you know, this last record I had spoke a lot about mortality, like a lot. And uh a lot of it was in a very positive way of like appreciate your life now cuz you know one day you won't be here. >> But um she was like you need to write happier songs. >> Stop [ __ ] whining. >> Yeah. Yeah. Dude, you're so emo like >> Yeah. Like write some happier stuff. So maybe I should. But it's just it's it's not as easy. It's >> Well, I guess uh Luke Com's album maybe the one before last. um that was everything's great and life's going well and you know dad's getting a bit older but my son's growing up and he misses we when I'm away but my wife's good and you're like okay well that's that's a pivot right from like this is broken and that's not so great >> yeah true yeah he kind of had the emo in his in his own way number away and >> cut the fringe off then >> um >> yeah it is a it is a a really interesting blend to think about why people resonate here's one thing I I I think people feel alone in their sadness in a way that causes them to try and seek uh companionship or comfort. So like [ __ ] like somebody else feels that. >> Yeah. >> As opposed to if everything's going great and if you're happy like yeah sure it's nice that someone else is also happy along with you. >> It's hard to like relate to somebody that's it's so weird. I don't know why that is a thing but you're totally right. You're like, "You're having a great I'm having a great day." You know, like nobody ever says that. But if somebody's having a bad day, you're like, "Oh my god, >> come here. Let me Yeah, exactly. Um Yeah. Every man knows God when he's at his lowest, >> right? You reflect so much more." Uh there was this cool story from a coach of mine, Joe. He talks about his daughter. She was like nine at the time. And um she was crying in the bathroom. Um, and the way that she was crying, he said, "You you don't sound that sad to me. You sound pissed off." >> And she's like, "I am." He said, "Well, you know, when you're when you're crying in the bathroom, how often are you pissed off and how often are you sad?" He says, "About half the time." I said, "Well, how come you cry? Like, why why are you crying if you're angry?" Half the time. If you're pissed off, how come you're crying? He says, "Well, when I'm angry, everybody runs away. But when I cry, my sister comes and looks after me. >> I thought it was such a brilliant insight into this sort of the pro-social, not seductive, but uh like attractive gravitational force of sadness. >> And I think a lot of the time, even when people are mad, they sometimes turn it into being sad because when people are mad, others run away, but when they're sad, people come and help them. Wonder if that's maybe a little bit >> I don't know. That's a weird >> that a strange dynamic >> the grooves of your brain like because nobody nobody is outwardly thinking like maybe if I just act like I'm sad. That's like some caveman brain thing that's >> been around a long time but people do it for some reason. That's crazy. >> Mhm. Yeah, I think so. In other news, you've probably heard me talk about element before and that is because I'm frankly dependent on it. For the last forever in my life, I've started every single day the same way, which is with this in a cold glass of water. 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Right now, you can get a free sample pack of Element's most popular flavors with your first purchase and that money back guarantee by going to the link in the description below or heading to drinklnt.com/modern wisdom. That's drinklnt.com/modern wisdom. You said new album, Lot of Mortality. >> What inspired that? >> I don't know. Just maybe a headsp space I've been in of uh appreciating life a little bit more. Um, you know, we we I was in a pretty bad bus accident a couple years ago and it kind of opened my eyes to a lot of uh just how how it can kind of go like that. And uh it's a miracle that any of us survive. We all survive. It's a miracle that any of us did. And and uh I don't know. I feel like since then just my mortality or the fragility of my mortality or my life, whatever that however that's supposed to be worded. Um >> it is it just has been a little a more apparent thing uh for me recently and and so I think that's why I don't really know but and I've already like the songs I've written since that record like nothing nobody's died I haven't died I'm not gonna die you know but it just I had to get it out. I don't know what it was, but there's, you know, there's songs about like there's so there's songs about appreciating it, and there's songs about like um I mean, I don't know. I have to kind of go back and read the the track list now, but [gasps] there's it kind of touches just on different different ways to approach your uh your mortality. Um and uh yeah, I just think it probably has to do a lot with the headsp space that I've been in post bus. It's been 3 years, but but I've kind of been writing this record for ye a year and a half or two years, so it was still pretty fresh at the time. >> Would you mind telling the story about the bus? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um we were we played a show in Bristol. It was a sat Saturday night in Bristol. Um I was opening for Morgan and then we decided to leave early so we could get to back to town because Bristol, Tennessee is only like 4 hours away. Um and you gain an hour. So it doesn't feel like you get in quite as late, you know. Um, so we were 20 miles from town, maybe less. We were like 15 miles back from town and my tour manager at the time was already sleeping in his bunk. [gasps] And um my photographer and I were awake in the front lounge listening to something, listening to music. And uh my bus driver pulled over on the side of the road and got he came and went to the bathroom. He stayed in there like 5 minutes, which was really weird, especially being this close to town. But we didn't, you know, we were drinking. We we didn't really think anything about it. We were just like it's kind of weird. And um came out of the bathroom and I was like, "Ricky, are you good?" And he ignored me, which we were like, "What is he?" but he had his Bluetooth thing in. So, we always wonder if he was on the phone. So, I I stepped up and I was like, "Ricky, you good?" And he was like, "Yep, all good." I was like, "All right, man. You know, we'll be there in a minute or whatever, I guess." And anyway, we started going back down the road and then we just just the bus just went off in this like bottom. We we flipped like three times over. >> And you're still in the front lounge. >> Mhm. >> So, you're not strapped in at all. You're >> Somebody said like shoes in a in a washing machine or shoes in a dryer. Uh and uh >> so what just you because you must be sat and then feel the bus. >> We got well we felt the rumble strips and then we felt us like going off the road like you know every now and then your driver will hit like rumble strips and you're everybody's like oh but we felt the left side hit the rumble strips and we knew we were going off the road and um it just I don't know what it was but when it flipped it got airborne for a second. I I could just there was a moment of like silence before the thing and me and Tanner looked at each other and then just we both just like boom. It was like the hardest force I've ever felt in my life just got thrown to the other side and then we both were like instantly knocked out. So I don't remember anything else but the way the bus was laying it's like if it's driving down the road like this, right? It flipped here and then it flipped here and then it flipped here and that's where we like ended or whatever. But I woke up. I was the first one to wake up, which sucked. Uh, and I my head was like wedged under this the window which had busted out. And um and I it there was like glass everywhere and there was a piece of glass from the window like stuck in my head and I just had to like pull my head out in front of this thing and uh I walked up. It was just we went down a really steep hill so I had to walk up. It wasn't like steep like that ceiling by any means but it was probably a 15t, you know, like hill or whatever. And um it was cold. It was like 35° [snorts] and uh I was trying I could not flag down a car. It was like 4:00 in the 3:00 or 4 in the morning and so I could not get a car. I didn't have my phone. I'm blind without my glasses so I couldn't see. I thought everybody in the bus was dead because no everybody was nobody was conscious. Um so I was just helpless. Like I didn't know what to do. And so I went back to the bus to try to find my phone but I couldn't [ __ ] see. So like and I didn't have and I was wearing all black so I couldn't find anything. I mean, the bus looked like it looked like a bomb went off in there. It was just it was just you can't even describe it. You have to Google it. But um but yeah, uh went back up to the highway. I'm I'm in the road. I had a white circle on my hoodie and I'm in the road like shaking it and then running to the side. Nobody would stop. Um and then I heard my photographer uh wake up and he was screaming bloody murder, all this thing. And and um and then my tour manager somehow he was blocked in the back. that the door was shut to the you know how have you been on a tour bus like yeah the the doors you know and all that. So that door was shut. Somehow he got it open and uh I mean he's all banged up and he's like looking at me like you're looking at me right now. And I was like I know. And I was like we have to have a phone now. And it was a miracle. His phone somehow and all of that craziness had gotten from his bunk to the front lounge like slid somewhere and and it was at the bottom of a pile of like rubble in inside the bus. And what that the second I said we have to get a phone right now. um his alarm to wake up because we would have gotten back to town went off. And so I literally reached down into moved all the the whatever the hell what it was. Got his phone, called 911. We were thankfully one exit away from uh like a hospital exit. It was like a exit built for like a big hospital complex. Ambulance was there in like 5 minutes. And uh yeah, so all that being said, uh rest in peace Ricky. Ricky, we we wrecked because he had a brain tumor he didn't know about. And so he had either an aneurysm or a a stroke or a seizure. It was probably a seizure because he he they sent him to Vanderbilt because they were asking him questions and he didn't know what day it was or where he was and they were like, "Okay, he's head trauma. We need to get him somewhere." And they didn't find it for like a week, but come to find out he had a brain tumor, ended up killing him about a year later. Um Tanner uh broke like every my photographer broke like every bone in his body. And I just laugh and we can laugh about it now because it was just crazy. But I remembered seeing his uh his bone. He had a compound fracture that broke the skin. So he had a bone sticking out of the top of his foot and he kept telling the uh we're late. We're now we're in the bus and come we're helping. I'm just you know the ambulance is there and he kept pulling on his bone and he was like there's a stick in my foot [laughter] and they're like stop pulling on it. It's a bone. But um yeah, Tanner broke his neck, his ribs, his back, his foot. He was I mean, he was so mangled. He's a smaller guy. And um I uh Noah, the guy in the bunk, he actually turned out the best cuz he he didn't he was just Yeah, exactly. He was pretty banged up, but no serious injuries. And um I just had a concussion and like a few staples in my head and I fractured my back, but it wasn't even like not very serious. You know what I I like I hurt for a couple months. It's a compression fracture. So, I guess when we hit I think my spine just did like an accordion. Do you feel a little bit shorter than you did before the >> Oh, I I physically was like a half an inch shorter, but [laughter] I but they missed it in the hospital and I like a week later C my wife and I are on a walk and um I was like, man, I feel this like jolt of just like pain that goes through my body >> and I got went and got an X-ray and it was like a bunch of square vertebraes and then one just looked like that right in the middle and they call that a compression fat fracture and they said it, you know, I haven't gotten it looked at again but said it takes six eight months to there's nothing you can do. you just it kind of gets back to normal and >> goes steady. >> But all that being said, um yeah, it was a very very uh just unpredictable, you know, when you think about it, like we weren't we didn't deal with a drunk driver. We didn't hit a deer or just, you know what I mean? We didn't wasn't icy. There was no snow, no bad weather. >> It wasn't our driver negligence. No, he just he had a brain episode and and it just happened to be then, you know? I mean, it such a freak thing. >> Do you think that his trips to the bathroom uh before were early? Oh, there's something going on. I don't feel too >> sorry, I forgot I spoke to that. That's exactly what was happening. So, he was entering into I think it was an aneurysm. Um but he had whatever had happened had happened and it was slowly getting worse and worse or whatever. >> Um and it's so funny. I've heard my dad had a good friend uh that he used to work uh my dad was a high school referee football referee and and uh his one of his best friends had an aneurysm as a referee on the field and it was just very similar cuz he said his name was Lewis and he said Lewis they looked over and he was laid out and they just thought he got knocked over by a player and he got up and he was like no I'm fine but every like minute that went by he was acting crazier and weirder and and then sure enough he you know he almost died but it was a miracle man. You should Google. If you Google just like my name in the in the bus accident, the pictures will come up. There's one of the inside of the bus. Look it up. That's pretty pretty gnarly. [ __ ] Before we continue, I've been drinking AG1 every morning for years now because it is the simplest way that I found to cover my bases and not overthink nutrition. 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And right now, when you first subscribe, you can get a free bottle of D3 K2, an AG1 welcome kit, a few bonus AG1 travel packs, and that 90-day money back guarantee if you're in the US by going to the link in the description below by heading to drinkag.com/moddermwisdom. That's drinkagg.com/ What a wisdom. >> I'm interested. First off, I'm really really glad that you guys are all still here and it feels >> Thank you, man. >> a lot like a miracle. Secondly, I've been on a good few tour buses. Uh single deck is to double deckers especially around Europe. >> That's scary, dude. >> That would have been different. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but every single time, especially on a double decker when you're at the front lounge on the top, >> it's you and a piece of glass and then just the road in front of you. >> Yeah. >> Every single time that I've been on a bus like that that's been moving, there is a bit of me that goes >> like in cars, you're supposed to have your seatelt on at all times. >> Yeah. >> You need to spend a lot of time touring, which means you're going to have to be back in a bus a good bit. And you would have had to have got back on a bus. >> Yeah. What was the first time that you got back on a tour bus for a long night journey like after that experience and and sort of how are you now with that? >> Um, this is a this was a this was a journey. This was like a very long So I forgot to mention, but this was 3 weeks before my wedding. My wife was on her bachelorette party the last night. They had again it was 3:00 in the morning. She there in New Orleans. They're all hammered having a great time. I FaceTime her and I'm just like bleeding just bleeding out of my nose and my head and I just look like, you know, I look like I've been in a car accident and I'm freaking out because I' I've hit my head really hard and I'm actually pretty with it, but I just I like a brain injury has always freaked me out and I know how that works is sometimes you can hit your head and then you don't know it till like hours later if you don't go get it checked out and d and uh anyway so I was like, "Hey, I like I we've been in a bus wreck like I love you. I don't know what's going to happen. We're going to the hospital right now." And so she's freaking out. So all that because and that's my my number one thought was like I have to get married. Like I literally I have my wedding like do not [ __ ] you know like you're going to be fine. >> Don't die before the wedding. Don't die. >> Don't die before the wedding. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So all that being said, we got married. We went to uh we the week like a week or two after that was CMA week which was very busy and it was a time where which is this this week is also CMA week. Uh, I was I think I'm pretty sure I was like nominated for a lot. It was a very busy like a good like successful week, but I was like a lot going on that week >> with a >> um >> bandage wrapped around your head. >> Yeah, I I had won I won BMI songwriter of the year that year. Um just a lot of and then immediately after the like the night of the CAMs, Cali and I, my wife and I flew to LA to go to Thailand for our honeymoon. So after the wreck, I never had like a t time to like process it. It was just like I got better and when I could kind of walk and you know had my head was kind of in good shape like it was like getting ready for the wedding. It was like immediately. So um that December I played a few shows that were not very long runs and we took the bus but I wouldn't go overnight. I would do it um in the morning like we would leave early in the morning and make like that six or seven hour trip cuz it's daylight. You can you know you're talking to the bus driver >> and that was to make you feel more comfortable to avoid the travel anxiety. >> Right. And it was a different obviously a different driver the one he's the guy I still have now and he's great but there's just something about you know having the door open to the front and seeing him in there and just knowing we're in good hands and all that and he's driving like 40 miles an hour on the interstate to make sure we're comfortable. But um it it was really bad. Uh I I still just had any sort of bumps or anything. It was it was really tough. But a year later uh to the day uh of the bus accident, out of nowhere, I had a full-blown panic attack on on the golf course, thinking I was having a heart attack. And I've never had one before. I've had very mild anxiety, mostly hangover induced, you know what I mean? Like just some was somewhere I didn't want to be, blah blah blah blah blah. But I've never really had like true crippling anxiety that like is real anxiety. And um and then the next night I had I had like two back to back and I was like I don't know what is going on. And um went to went to this intensive therapy thing and we kind of dug up the bus and I did a lot of what they call EMDR therapy. Yep. And um man, it since then I did that and this other thing at a different facility where they they like run these like electrical like things through your brain and sort of help sort of center back your thought process or whatever. And between those two things, I haven't even thought about I think about it, but it's such a distant not scary memory now. Um I really truly have rewired that logically processed how random and crazy and improbable the uh you know it is to happen again and all that. So, long story, but that's that's that's it took a year. Uh, and and then kind of my brain it sort of, you know, it all kind of came back cuz I never really processed it >> and but when the weather got cold and the leaves kind of started changing and you know what I mean, I kind of started associating with with that time of year again, it just it came out of me. It was crazy. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> We're here, man. >> My god. >> And I got still got a staple that my head swallowed somewhere that but the doctor the doctor was like, "It's in there, but you'll be all right. It'll be fine. >> You're setting off the metal detectors every time you fly. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Every time I get a MRI, I'm like, I'm going to just leave that. Maybe it'll fl out. Yeah. >> Yeah. Uh, holy [ __ ] man. I mean, I was in the only equivalent I have a when I was 20, I got hit head on by a snow plow at 60 mph >> on in a car. >> Yeah, I was driving. So, the snow plow sort of uh listed across into our lane and just clipped us like that far into the car. But when it's a snow plow, all [ __ ] both airbags deployed, windscreen shattered. It like came down my side, so the door was up against the sort of side of my shoulder, but the car stayed on the road. So, we just pulled over. But that moment where you said I looked at my other uh buddy while it was like during it happening, uh was exactly the same thing. I looked at my business partner for like a split second, which I can still see like what that looks like and feels like now. Um but the travel anxiety thing um in a much much much less bad crash than yours with you know I walked away from it um for 3 4 months afterward if I was ever in a >> contraflow without a central reservation cuz the side that you drive on >> Oh and you're on the left side >> correct? >> Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. Okay. I was trying to figure out how I was like >> Yeah. Sorry about that. Uh it is the right side of the road though. um the you're you are next to cars coming toward you and that's how that's the reason that you drive on that side so that you know how far you are from other cars so that it's not on the off side so that you don't accidentally clip someone. >> That makes sense. >> But and it's the same here, right? Just other side of the road. You're still on the inside network against the traffic that's coming that way. But what that [snorts] means is you've got, you know, vehicles that are sometimes only >> four feet away from you that are going in and that's just how people drive. That's how the the roads work. Mhm. >> But that made me feel uh that made me feel very very anxious and given the fact that that was me from an incident way less. >> Yeah, it it must be the fact that you've done the EMDR and whatever that um like I know exactly what you're talking about. They do it at ways to well in Austin. Um, that's a real credit to the effectiveness of those sorts of treatments. Totally. For overcoming that because that's now liberated you to be able to go back and do your thing. >> Yes. Totally. >> How much worse would your quality of life be if you hadn't gone through? You'd still be random panic attacks. [ __ ] Oh, here comes October, November again, like ready for the golf course panic attack to happen. >> Yeah, dude. And and the thing is is like it I there were so many thoughts cuz like that happened and then that panic kind of for some reason had it was like it all just sort of came back and I was like I'm not going to be able to tour anymore. Like what am I going to do? My I don't even know who I am as a like my brain is in a completely horrible place and like tour I rely on touring and like you know like I mean it was just it was a mess for a second but I got it fixed really quick. So, [snorts] >> do you think vulnerability and talking about emotions is becoming more acceptable in Yes. >> male artists now? >> I think so. And I hope that it gets better. Um, you know, I I I don't think that anybody that that talks about that uh is considered soft by any means. And uh I know a lot of I've talked to a lot of artists, very successful artists that deal with their they're just like, "Man, my anxiety has been so bad recently." And I just I wish the more public you can make it and the more like people that can openly share that they deal with stuff, >> then like the next time you're going through something, >> you know, if you're in an award show or something, you can just go find your buddy and be like, "Hey, I'm freaking out." You know what I mean? Like that just the more acceptable it is. I feel like a lot of a a big part of depression and anxiety um that makes it worse or or um yeah that makes it worse is the shame that comes with it because it's you're not it's not supposed to be okay or or you're considered weak or whatever or an inconvenience or whatever that may be. And I just think the more open uh especially men uh are about their mental health uh the less the more uh that the shame and the guilt and the the burden and all that will just sort of go away. Especially with artists. I mean we're not we're not human beings were not designed to be famous. uh we weren't designed to uh just to travel and to especially artists, we weren't designed to like experience insane levels of serotonin and adrenaline three nights in a row, four or five nights in a row sometimes. Uh there's there's a lot that that's that, you know, people are going to roll their eyes, I know, and just be like, "Well, grasses must be nice, blah, blah, blah." But man, it's just it's a mental thing that you go through that like, you know, it's just it's different. It's just I don't think that our brains are wired to experience some of the stuff that that that singers or anybody anybody that's a public figure experiences and and uh it can take a toll on you. Man, me male, female, whatever age, whatever. >> This episode is brought to you by >> Momentus. If your sleep's been off, taking ages to fall asleep, waking up at random times, feeling groggy in the morning, Momentus' sleep hacks are here to help. They are not your typical knock you out supplement overloaded with melatonin. Just the most evidence-based ingredients at perfect doses to help you fall asleep more quickly, stay asleep throughout the night and wake up feeling more rested and revitalized in the morning. 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My grandfather used to say, uh, talking about my grandmother, you know, she'd have a bad day and he would just say, "Oh, she's got that damn depression again, [laughter] like it was a like it was a flare up, you know, like it was a rash or something." >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The pollen count is high today. The depression count is high. >> Got that damn depression again. >> [ __ ] >> Well, yeah. I think so. I think especially in the country, people just didn't have time. They didn't have the uh I [clears throat] don't know. It was like it was like you just you Yeah. kind of like there's no time to worry about that. We've got to we've got to figure out how to make a living and whatever whatever that may be. I think >> that's an interesting point. Um, and I guess ties into what you said about the bus story that if you're super busy, if you've got lots to do, if there's uh uh tasks to be completed, can pretty easily sort of suppress and hide away little whispers. >> Yeah. Distraction, >> fleeting thoughts. Well, I mean, yeah, sure, maybe I get a little anxious on the bus, but I've got the show to play tonight. And it sort of the uh underlying emotion is swept away by a much bigger emotion. sure, >> which is the dopamine, the serotonin, the adrenaline, all that stuff. Um, but I do think certainly in the music industry on that ascendancy thing, people can hide the emotions that they should be paying a lot of attention to with the energy and the adorate. I mean, I'm on tour at the moment. I played the Canary in Nashville this week and I was I was in I did >> Boston, Chicago, Nashville back to back to back. So, three shows, three states, three days this week. and um some something that happens at the first show. By the third show, you can't even remember that it's happened. Yeah. You're like, where the I I accidentally called >> Oh, no. >> I accidentally called uh Nashville. Sorry. I called Chicago LA way deep into the show and said it was a Monday and then said it was a Saturday and it wasn't. It was a Friday. And I'm [laughter] like, dude, it happens, man. It kills your memory. and and it it one thing I don't like uh that I I wish I was better at, but also it just it's so hard is uh you can have a cool moment or experience or cool conversation with a fan, you know, at a place and then the next time you see them it's they're devastated that you don't remember. >> You know what? >> And it's like, I'm so sorry. And they're like, "No, we talked about like my dead mom or so." You know what I mean? Something really sad >> and like you don't remember. And it's just it's it's hard to remember when you're just gone. And I have a friend I have a friend whose hack for that is whenever he meets anybody, this is a bit of a cheap trick, but whenever he meets anybody, he says, "Have we met before?" And if you haven't, they go, "No, but" and he's like, "I swear I must have got you mixed up." But for him to do it the other way cuz for as I guess if you're deeper into your touring career and you're like, you know, maybe 50% or 25% of the people you have met, they're like, >> "Yeah." Yeah. And they go back home, they're like, "Oh yeah, I totally remember this." >> Yeah, I know. It is a cheap drink. But if you know like if I did that and then somebody was like, "Yeah, we talked about so and so." Then I would remember. Yes. But it's just that like the face and the Yeah. >> I had a So James, my business partner in Newton, this this thing. Uh we both played the Apollo in London, three and a half thousand people. We both sold it out separately. Get that in you traffic. That'll fuel the rest of the day. Um >> sweet. uh he uh he played the same show as me separate a couple of years before and we were messaging about it the other day and we were talking about this like what's happening on tour and he was like dude I played the biggest show of my life sold out three and a half thousand people in my home country he's like I couldn't tell you anything about what happened that I can't tell you anything I can kind of remember walking out and I've got all the photos but I remember my show through the lens of the photographer and the videographer now >> it's like I don't remember it from my own eyes and it's this this really interesting paradox that I've never thought about before until starting to do this. When you're in a flow state, which is what everybody's supposed to want to get into, you're really unconscious, right? Like stuff's just happening. You know, you're set, you've dialed it in, you're halfway through the tour, like everything's locked. You you >> and you forget what you're doing and it's really enjoyable, but in this weird way, you're not you're not weren't there. >> Yeah. >> You weren't there for it. >> Yeah. >> Like it just happened. >> Have you seen that movie Soul? No chance. >> Is that That's the Disney one. >> Yeah. And he's a piano player and he dies and he goes to like this purgatory thing. >> Bits of it. Yeah. >> There's one there's a there's one little section of this like in between heaven kind of thing that they go to and it's all these people doing like weird tasks and he's like what is that? And he they're all like they're in the zone. So it's like their, you know, that's it's like their soul is like and the place is called the zone and it's like a one guy's just a sign spinner on the street, you know, but one guy could be a guitar player or whatever it is, but it's it's the flow state. It's like their body is on earth, but like their soul, you know, they're they're in that different different world, like a different place. >> Isn't that strange though that the thing that you want to do most and the place that you want to get to as a performer >> is the point where you make the fewest memories. like you're not there for it. Yeah. It's just as well. >> It's a complete paradox, dude. >> It's just as well that we've >> The moments you want to remember the most are the are like are those, but it's the but the the mindset you want to be in is the same as as that. That's insane. >> Yeah. Yeah. The best moments of your career are the ones that you remember the least. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Isn't that wild? >> It sucks, dude. That's crazy. >> Well, I mean, fortunately, you I was going to say you live with like a million cameras around you, which uh which helps, but yeah, there's a bit of a There's a bit of a uh melancholy. I even I've had that, right? Uh looking back and I go, "Was I there?" And then there's a bit of guilt. I'm like, "Should I I should have been more present. >> Maybe I should have been more present." You go, "Well, what's your job? Is your job to be there and to be present? Or is your job to put on a good show for the [ __ ] three and a half thousand people that have paid to come and see you, >> right? >> Um Yeah. And do your job, be a professional?" >> Yep. [gasps] >> It's a strange one, dude. >> It's a battle. It's a battle, man. I just Yeah. I feel like the I don't know I [clears throat] approach a lot of especially my singing career because of how it came together like very randomly that I just I don't put enough a lot of pressure on myself um to uh I don't know I just approach it very lightly and I'm just like dude I'm so lucky to be here that just I don't know I just approach everything that comes with that just lightly and everything is I used to be very proud and all that but I just trying to think, you know, this is none of this is a big deal. And but not and I just mean like um you know, I don't know. I I've always just thought like, man, these people you're playing for are just people and >> you were just a dude and you still are, but like you got lucky with your your record deal and your artist career and never really planned on doing that, so why not just enjoy it and >> and try not to beat yourself up. But there's definitely times where I, you know, like I'll do something and then be like, did I soak in enough of that? Like there's a it's funny. There's a festival in Michigan. Um Brian O'Connell I hope you watch this because you're you need to hear this. It was called Faster Horses, a Live Nation festival. And it was by far I've played it twice and it was the greatest crowd I've ever played for. And they canled it. And the last time I played it, I remembered it and it was great. But I just always assumed that we would be back. And it was like I'm I'm talking like nothing will ever ever ever ever ever ever ever beat it unless we went back there. Like it just will not happen. And then they canled it probably forever. And it just like that sucks. And it's like that's a moment where I beat myself up cuz I was like man we just got off stage and just had a few beers and went to bed. Like >> you know like we should have celebrated that more or enjoyed that moment a lot more done something because had had we known it was going to be cancelled you know we would have really soaked that moment in. >> Dude that's life. Yeah, >> that's life. >> Yeah, right. >> Yep. >> Uh, you don't know the last time that you're going to bounce your daughter on your knee. >> Oh, don't you can't Yeah, dude. I can't even think about it. >> You don't know the last time that you're going to hug your grandmother. You don't know the [clears throat] last time that you're going to get to play a live show. You don't know the last time that you're going to get to be with that bus driver. And, uh, the assumption that we always have more is why we don't realize that stuff is slipping away from us during the time. Um, but on the flip side, I think being gentle with yourself of >> you don't know what the future holds. Y >> you don't know what's going to happen next. >> Everybody experiences that the exact same, I think, too, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. I should have been more present. I should have remembered it more. I should have treated it with more >> divinity or sacredness or care and attention. >> And uh >> it's only in retrospect that I should have. As soon as you say I should, it's like yeah, but you didn't and you didn't know >> and there's nothing you can do about it. >> And if you could have done, you'd have gone and said to the bus driver, let's just put whatever. Like the I should I should I should. >> Yeah. >> Ladies and gentlemen, Hardy, I appreciate the [ __ ] out. >> Thank you so much, man. It was a great great conversation, dude. >> This is ruled. Uh what's next? Where are you on tour? What's coming up? >> Yeah, country uh country country tour starts in Canada in February. [laughter] Apparently that's the time to go because they're bored to death if they country country tour Canada in February. Um I've got the Hardy Fund. Uh best way to do it is just Google the Hardy Fund. Um and uh you can donate to that. It's my my wife and I's charity that we're really excited about. Just um yeah, country country and country country the album and the deluxe album. And uh that's it. >> [ __ ] yeah. >> Yeah. Got some other stuff that I can't talk about yet, but excited. Super excited about, but uh yeah, I'm excited. >> Appreciate you, man. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much for tuning in and congratulations for not being so Tik Tok brain that [music] you actually made it to the end of an episode. If you enjoyed that chat with Hardy, uh John Bellian, one of the biggest producers in the world, waiting for you just here. Go on, press it.