Ep 15 Brian Rhea, Singer Songwriter, Coach

Episode 15: Testimony, Healing, and Hope with Brian Rhea

In Episode 15 of Shutter’s Full Podcast, hosts Alisa and Brittany sit down with singer-songwriter Brian Rhea for one of the most heartfelt conversations of the season. Brian opens up about his humble beginnings, the adversity he faced growing up, and the powerful women in his life whose strength, faith, and love helped guide him toward God and changed the course of his life.

Brian shares how those spiritual foundations led him into ministry both inside and outside the church, shaping the man, father, and artist he is today. Beyond music, he is also deeply invested in his community, coaching sports for his son, grandson, and other children, pouring encouragement into the next generation.

The episode also centers around Brian’s powerful hit song, “She’s Been Through the Fire,” a song that has deeply touched listeners and even helped save lives. Brian speaks about the healing power of music and how songwriting can reach people during their darkest moments.

He also gives listeners a glimpse into his upcoming album release and the stories influencing this next chapter of music. Filled with testimony, faith, and triumph over adversity, this episode is a reminder that God can use every hardship for something greater.

@BrianRheaCountry

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:10

I feel like I have to I'm gonna hit your back.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Make it good. If you're gonna do it, make it good. Make me proud.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Oh, I can. I can't. It's embarrassing. Hey y'all, welcome to Shutters Full Podcast, where we talk with creators, dreamers, and doers who are chasing purpose and building something meaningful.

SPEAKER_06 0:35

It's not about what you do, it's why you do it. And today we have our friend Brian Ray on the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

I'm just a man coming down.

SPEAKER_06 0:44

The local singer-songwriter, local to Fairview.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Yeah, yeah, right here in the great metropolis of Fairview. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, from where I'm from, yeah, it's a small town.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Yeah, it is. So for those who are just hearing about you and being introduced to you, how would you describe yourself?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Uh man, I hold on.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

There is a gnat around me.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Yeah, get the gnat. Get the net. Please keep that in. Do not edit it up.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

It's like right there.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

It's just like the devil. We're bringing a gnat in. I'm trying to talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Okay. Sorry. Introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

My name is Mike. Yeah, my name's it. Maybe all right. That's right. Um, my name's Brian, and I I don't know how to describe myself. I know what I love being.

SPEAKER_04 1:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

I love being a father. I love being a grandfather. I'm a pop pop to six and a dad to three. I love being married to my wife of 25 years. I love being um a coach. I coach baseball, football, basketball here in town.

SPEAKER_06 1:46

For grandkids.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

For grandkids, my son, and and other kids. I I I coach teams that none of my kids are on.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

So wow, I know that.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Yeah, so right now we're in baseball season right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

I coach my son, uh, U-12, and then I coach a U-14 baseball team because they didn't have a coach. This is gonna sound so self-aggrandizing, but it it wasn't this as spiritual as it was. But I felt bad for the kids because there was only one team and they didn't have a coach.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

And so the people that I knew are like, hey, these kids won't get to play baseball. You know, that kind of thing. And I thought, well, I guess I have to coach them then. So that's what we're doing this year. And I've got a I've got a c couple guys that are helping me coach the kids. But yeah, that's that's what I love to do. Yeah, and I do the music thing. I've been doing that for a long time, so which is a big deal. It's big sure. Yeah, a lot of people seem to like it, and I I love it still, and I'm three years away from 50 now, so I and I'm still able to do it at a at a level that's productive. And I mean, yeah, I can't complain. It's God's grace for sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Yeah, I love that. Yeah, we're gonna go ahead and dive deep a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

All right, all right.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Because on your intake form, yeah, you mentioned a moment um on a park bench when you were 17.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Oh gosh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

So can you tell us about that and that encounter with Jesus?

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Yeah, absolutely. I uh I was born a teenage mom. You know, she was young when she had me, and and then my father, who was, you know, he had struggles. Let's just say he struggled with with various uh vices. He was a young man too, didn't know anything about being a father. When I was two years old and my brother was six months old, he decided he didn't want to be a father and go pursue a life of uh of something else. And so he left our lives, left my mom uh with two young kids, and then she married my stepdad, who and they did their best to raise us, but I was just kind of like a a knucklehead. I don't know if I I don't know if we can use this word on this podcast or not, but there's a word where I'm from, it's called jit. I don't know if you ever heard what a jet is. It's like a little punk, a little okay, you know. My son was all pictures of me when I was 15, 16, 17 years old, you know, and I've got my pants halfway down my butt. I look like vanilla ice's, you know, uh third cousin, second removed, you know, with blonde hair. You know, I had when I had hair, you know, the frosted tips and all that, and earrings and you know that just you know, I was I was a kind of a confused kid at the time, you know, like a lot of teenage boys are, yeah, trying to find themselves and who they are and what they want in life. And they they said I had ADHD. I just I don't know much about that. You know, they put me on medication for a little while and never did anything positive. So my mom took me off of it. And you know, I was just uh unruly, man, fighting everybody all the time. And I was living with my grandparents at the time because I had, you know, I had exhausted my parents, I had exhausted my aunts and uncles, and you know, just just stupid, staying out of late, never not coming home, stealing stuff, you know, just knucklehead stuff, you know? Yeah, and uh I'll I'll never forget, you know, I was raised in church. I was you know, I always tell people I had a drug problem growing up. I was driving to church on Sunday morning, drug to church on Friday night. You know, have you ever heard of that drug for you? Drug church on Tuesday night prayer meeting, but that's Wednesday night Bible study, Thursday night women's prayer meeting, and then Friday night revival service. And I grew up Pentecostal, so you know it we were we were always at at church doing something.

SPEAKER_04 4:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

And you know, when I'm growing up as a kid, yeah, I did not like church. Yeah, I was corny, something my old people did, you know. But I got a little praying mammal who's barely five foot, and she's the but she's the biggest human being I've ever known. She's a giant to me. And she's her and you know, and my mom too, obviously. But my my grandmother specifically preached the gospel to me my whole life. I mean, from the time I was born till the time till now, she's still alive, still still preaching the gospel. Uh, but you know, she she preached that gospel and got that word and that seed of the word of the Lord in my heart all those years, even though it hadn't germinated yet, it was it was there.

SPEAKER_04 5:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

And so uh we were living in Pinellas Park, Florida, which is a little area near Clearwater, Florida, it's my hometown. And um, I got in a fight with my grandfather. I think I stole some marble lights from him or something like that. And I wouldn't even smile. I couldn't, I was never good at smoking. I you know, I shouldn't have I had all my friends and brothers and cousins, they could smoke anything, really. Every time I try to smoke, I would never inhale, you know. I was like Bill Clinton, you know, I never never inhaled. But I would sell them or some crap like that. I forget what I was doing.

SPEAKER_04 5:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

But uh my papa found out, like, confronted me, you know, and of course, you know, I got mad that I got caught. So we get in this huge fight, and I broke a couple lamps and stormed out of the house and ran around to the corner, this little park called Sparkle Lake. I went down and sat down at that bench and I was just mad at the world, you know, upset, frustrated. Now I can remember thinking, like, man, what do I do? The two people that loved me the most in the world, three people were my mom and my grandmother and my grandfather. And if I've exhausted their patience and their grace, I mean, what kind of future do I have?

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

So I was kind of contemplating those things in in the way a 17-year-old boy would, not the way an articulate 47-year-old man would now. But at the time, I'm like, oh my God, what am I gonna do? You know, I'm sitting there thinking that, and then I'll never forget my little mamma. She came around the corner and this little whole beat-up car she used to drive. We used to call them hoopties. Y'all remember what hoopties? Oh, yeah. I said the other day, my son, he's like, What's a hoopty? It's a busted up car.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

But she drove her little car around and she pulled up right there next to the bench, and she motioned for me to come to the car, and she she had been crying. And the last person I ever want to make cry is my little mamma. And she was sitting there, tears in her eyes, and I'll never forget it. This is exactly how it happened. And and I've I've shared the story on in ministry over the years, and it's still fresh in my my memory. I I came to the car, she calls everyone Darling, and she says, Uh, Darling, you know what you need to do. And she just said that. She didn't, you know, I was I was uh uh anticipating like a sermon or you know chastisement chastisement or you gotta do better, or you know, and and all that would have been justified, by the way. I mean, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 7:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

But she didn't do that, and she just said, You know what you need to do. And I at that moment, the first time in my life, I felt like I knew knew what I needed to do. And it was it was the only way I describe it was as if Jesus He became real. Like He He no longer became like a Sunday school lesson.

SPEAKER_04 7:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

He no longer became a little little song that we would sing, he no longer became something that or someone that my grandmother knew. He became s somebody that I met right there in that little bench there next in that car, should I should say in the car next to that bench, and he became so real, and it was there was no prayer. She didn't leave me in a prayer. No, we weren't at a church, at a revival service. It was just Jesus showed and it was like he was right there, and I knew. And it was at that moment I I believed in my heart and confessed with my mouth that Jesus was Lord and that God raised him from the dead. And the Bible says that when that happens, you will be saved. Yeah. And that is the moment. That was March 11th, 1996, two days after my 17th birthday.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Now I I was hesitant to share this part of this story. Early on, I used to share this part of the story and I would watch God use it. But I've noticed as time passes, well, I've noticed the audiences have grown different. I've been doing ministry preaching and singing and speaking since I was 17. And, you know, that's what, 30 years now? Almost 30 years?

SPEAKER_04 8:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

The demographic changes. And I remember in the beginning when I would tell this part of the story, it had a great impact. But not too long ago, I was able actually to meet one of my heroes in gospel music and ministry. And uh I was around, I was with some industry people, and I shared this story and they mocked it. I will never forget it as long as I know it was I don't even think they knew what they were doing.

SPEAKER_04 9:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

And I thought to myself, oh man, this was a and and I mean no offense by this, but I don't know if you've ever experienced this moment. It was a pearls before swine moment.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

I shared something too too valuable to people who didn't understand it. And the Bible says that they'll devalue it.

SPEAKER_04 9:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

I'm gonna I'm gonna take a risk on it. Yeah, and for the listeners, who knows, you know? Yeah because it's a part of the story, and I think for me, this part of the story emphasizes the providence of God on people's lives. Yeah, you know, especially for someone so small and insignificant as me. When I got saved, and my mom and dad were living in North Carolina at the time. My dad was my stepdad was a Marine, so they just moved back home back to Florida, and they came home, and this has been now two months since this had happened.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

I was talking to my mom and I was telling her about my experience, and she was really super happy about what had happened in my life and all that kind of stuff. And she asked me, you know, asked me details. I said, Yeah, it was over there at uh at Sparkle Lake. Now, I told you I was raised in church, right? So was my mama. My mom was raised in in you know United Pentecost. You don't go to movies, you know, you yeah, you know, and you definitely don't have sex before marriage. Yeah. That's that's a big no-no. Well, she had met my very handsome Hispanic musician daddy, and he uh, you know, wooed her and he took her to a park. And she had never been with a man before in her life. The park where I was at was the same park where she conceived me at before out of wedlock.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

And so when I got saved at that park and she told me that, she started to cry, and she says, You don't understand. That's the place where I thought I destroyed my life.

SPEAKER_04 10:35

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

And God brought you, you know, the last place you asked your parents was, hey, where was I conceived?

SPEAKER_06 10:39

I know, right? Not need to know information.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

But in this scenario, it was holy cow.

SPEAKER_06 10:45

It was symbolic.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Symbolic. The very place where God meant to, or that the enemy meant to destroy my mother, yeah, my grandmother, my life, my biological father's life, the very same spot where he meant to destroy it, he brought that back full circle and turned it around for his good. And from that moment, and again, this is not me, this is what the Lord did through my life. Right, thousands and thousands of people have come to know the Lord. Thousands of lives have been changed and touched from what he did with that little boy that wasn't supposed to be.

SPEAKER_06 11:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

So yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:15

Yeah. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Sorry, I was a little long-winded on that.

SPEAKER_06 11:18

No, but that's actually an incredible story. And I think a lot of people can relate to that moment of just you have no control over it, but the fact that you had that pivotal epiphany in that park.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:28

This is just incredible. Thank you for sharing that.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

Oh, yeah, yeah. That's that's God's providence.

SPEAKER_06 11:31

If it doesn't, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

I mean, obviously, if he can do it for me, if you just gotta just gotta have your eyes open.

SPEAKER_06 11:37

Yeah, you have to see it.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

You have to see it. And you have to you have to want to see it and ask God to allow you to see it oftentimes because he'll show you those moments where, like, oh man, you've been here the whole time.

SPEAKER_06 11:46

Exactly. Yeah. And to see the purpose. Oh my gosh, that's amazing. Um, so you mentioned being passed around from home to home when you were growing up. So, how did that shape the way you see people and relationships today?

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Uh, it helps me value them. Yeah. Because it is easy, especially today. It is easy to really put on the victim robe.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Super easy. And I I've been guilty of it. And I know it's really tempting and easy for people to say, well, I was wronged or I was this. And maybe that is true, but I'm not responsible for other people's actions. I'm responsible for for mine. And so what it did was regardless of how I felt, like I may have been treated or mistreated or eat or not. I look back on it now and think, I was the one that was a knucklehead. I was the one that caused a lot of these people, did everything they could to try to help me. You know, I ate their food, I slept in their beds. Everything was provided for me. I didn't provide anything for myself at that time in my life. So it helped me value them. Anyone who knows me knows if family is the most important thing to me.

SPEAKER_06 12:45

Yeah. And I know that. I see that all over your social media, and I think it's the cutest thing.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Yeah, if yeah, if you follow me on social media, look if you're looking for some next big great hit, you know, or if you're looking for something inspirational, maybe you find might find something inspirational, but the most thing you're gonna find is you're gonna you're gonna see pictures of my kids.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

You're gonna see pictures of my grandkids, you're gonna see pictures of my goofy behind out there playing ball with them and doing it. It's the most you're gonna see pictures of my mom, my grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins. Family is the most important thing to me.

SPEAKER_06 13:11

But isn't it amazing that you wouldn't have had that perspective today if you hadn't had those experiences back then?

SPEAKER_00 13:17

100%. Yeah. Yeah. It makes me think of the scripture. It says all things work together.

SPEAKER_06 13:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Which includes bad things.

SPEAKER_06 13:22

Yep, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Uh tough things, hard things. Work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to his purpose. Not to add anything to that scripture, but that stuff was working for my good when I didn't love him. When I didn't even know him.

SPEAKER_06 13:34

Yeah, when you didn't see it.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

That's beautiful to me.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Yeah, it's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_06 13:38

So your grandmother played a pivotal role in your story.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Huge Yeah. She's she's I'm outside of Jesus and my mom, she's the hero, you know.

SPEAKER_06 13:47

So, what impact did she have on your faith and the man you are today?

SPEAKER_00 13:50

I mean, I will say, you know, this is not to detract from my mother. I always because I I do talk a lot about my grandmother, but my mother, it's my mother. And I, you know, I had as someone, a little kid, one of the kids I coached today, was getting smart with her mom, and I said, Hey, listen, you can't do that. You get one mama.

SPEAKER_04 14:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

One mama. And I said, Listen, maybe our mamas aren't always perfect. I said, but you get one mama, and she deserves your honor and your respect. Right. And so my mom, as much as I love my grandfather, grandmother, and I'm gonna talk about her, but I want to make sure I shout out my mama so because she's watching this, because she was she was the one that bore me for nine months. Nobody knew she was pregnant with me until she gave birth to me. She hit, she wore big clothes, she had five opportunities to abort the pregnancy.

SPEAKER_06 14:27

How old was she?

SPEAKER_00 14:27

She was 17 at the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 14:29

She's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

And yeah, amazing. And so you talk about strength and courage. My mom. Yeah. She's the one that raised me. And she, I mean, she was young and going through her own issues and still, you know, being able to raise me and not kill me. And because the kind of a kid I was, but moms who, especially when you have your kids young, they're trying to figure it out too.

SPEAKER_06 14:48

They're still growing up. Growing up.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

They're trying to work through their own issues and stuff. And, you know, no mom is perfect, but any human being who carries you in their belly for nine months and feeds you with their own body and births you and gives you an opportunity at life, they deserve honor. So I just want to shout my mom out real quick. But my my little mamma, my little mamma, and her my mom's name is Teresa. Yeah. My little mamma, her name's Martha Lafern Ray. Oh, that's so cute. She's from right outside of Jackson, Tennessee originally, but she is she's the most, as far as my faith is concerned. One of the big roles that she played in my life was she would teach me the Bible. Now, this is a woman with like think sixth grade education, something like that. You know, she had to go to work to help support her family early because they were poor. Um, but she would teach me the Bible and she would just crack open the Bible and do her best to share the word. And the Holy Spirit used her in such pivotal ways. Before I knew the Lord, she exemplified Christ. She exuded what you would think what Jesus how Jesus would act and behave, Christ-like behaviors. The kindest person I've ever met, at least to me, and I'm her grandbaby, and I'm I'm her pride and joy. I mean I'm her favorite. I I mean sorry to all the other 15 other grandkids, I'm the oldest. She uh we her and I have a special connection because I was brand new. She was young when I came along, you know, 39 years old when she became a grandmother, you know.

SPEAKER_04 16:00

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah, I was 37 when I became a grandpa, but well, that's another story. Yeah. But after I got saved and started walking with the Lord, she would open the Bible up and she would teach me the Bible. And she in those early years specifically discipled me. She not just didn't just leave me to the Lord, she took time to walk with me, to teach me, to um encourage me. That was the pivotal role. And then, you know, later on in life, she just, you know, I talk to her almost every other day and she prays and encourages and yeah. So she's just amazing.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

That's amazing. How old is she now?

SPEAKER_00 16:28

85. Uh-oh. 85, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Does she live around here?

SPEAKER_00 16:31

No, she lives in Florida. She lives in Florida. But she uh she gets up here every now and again, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

You've said that fatherhood is your primary calling. How does that influence the way you live and create daily?

SPEAKER_00 16:44

My pastor said this to me, gosh, 15 years ago. You know, I was still chasing fame and fortune and you know, and worried about image and vanity and all those type of things and focused on that. And in doing that, I had to tour back then a lot and chase the carrot, like a lot of folks do, you know. I missed a lot of significant moments in my daughters, my older daughters' lives. So I have two older children, 26 and 23, my daughters, and then I have a 12-year-old son. Well, he'll be 12 in a couple months. So I I I I missed a lot of what they did by chasing that neon rainbow. And as strange as it sounds, it's like God allowed me to do it. I I had to go through that. I had I had to. And because it gave me perspective. But you know, now being a father to me uh is the most important thing. My pastor said to me years ago when I was going through all that, he said, because I I would begrudge the fact that, you know, uh my my biological father left. Don't get me wrong, I was not left fatherless. I had a great my stepdad who I call dad is was a great father to me, still is a great father to me. My papa, my mama's husband, is the greatest man I've ever known. So it wasn't like I was without father figures. I there was just this thing about my real my biological father that bothered me. Rejection.

SPEAKER_03 17:53

Yeah, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

And I was bemoaning to my pastor about man, this sucks, you know, blah, blah, blah, you know, and just all these things about, you know, rejection, whatever. And then you know, he simply said something. And I was talking about making it big and all the stuff, and I had a lot of opportunities coming my way. My pastor asked me this, and it really, really made me mad because it's not what I wanted to hear at the moment. He said, What if, what if God is calling you, God is giving you all the music stuff and all the all the talents that you have, all this. What is he's just giving, he's giving you all of that to raise other people up to be good? And I thought, no, sir. I uh uh I can do all of this better than anybody, you know, the whole thing, I can do that, I can sing better than them, I can play better than them, I can write better than them. And there's no way I I I have all why would God give me all of these talents to not be in the game?

SPEAKER_04 18:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

And it wasn't until later that I realized that for me, coaching and fatherhood kind of go hand in hand. Yeah, yeah. It was later on that, oh wow, maybe that is what God is calling me to do. And now I see I'm seeing it unfold in my life. God has blessed my music, He's allowed me to continue to do it. I just had the that song, She's Been Through the Fire, just went viral last year.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

My favorite.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

It's got over seven million streams, it's been playing on you know select radio stations across the nation. I've got thousands and thousands of testimonies from women that that song has touched their life. So this is it's important. Yeah. Music's still important to me. I still travel and play, and I play downtown occasionally here and there. I play here at the gas balls.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

But the biggest love that I get now is being able to take the experience and the wisdom that I have, along with the talents that I have, and giving it to other people, sharing it with other people. I just worked with a couple worship leaders that recently that are new at it. I went to their church and I led worship and they were interested to, man, you know, would you be willing to sit and talk with me? Absolutely. And share my experience. Yeah. You know, 30 years of doing this, you know. But being able to give back to other people. See, that's what fatherhood is to me. It's it's it's serving. Yeah. You know, I'm not just leading my son or my grandsons or my granddaughters or my daughters, um, giving them something. I'm imparting something to them, I'm serving them.

SPEAKER_04 19:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

I see that's how I that's how the Bible speaks of leadership. Leadership is not uh getting your feet washed, it's washing the feet. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:01

I mean that I like personally appreciate that so much, especially you as a coach, because I'm a single mom with two little kids at home, and like my coaches are very important. Like any father figure that comes into their life is very important. So I really appreciate your efforts on that.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Yes, ma'am. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 20:17

Yeah. This episode is brought to you by Gas Boss, our favorite small town gas station with the biggest heart. Gas Boss is the kind of stop that instantly makes you feel welcome.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

They've got hot, delicious food and hand-scooped ice cream. And in the warmer months, the kind of outdoor life music that brings the whole community together under the stars.

SPEAKER_06 20:36

You gotta check out their curated backcountry shops full of merch, vape, ammo, camo, and all those treasures you didn't even know you needed. And one of my favorite things, their prayer shop. Open to anyone who wants a quiet moment. Gaspots is rooted in Christian values and real community spirit. You can feel it the second you walk in. So make the trip out to Font Aqua, fuel up, and experience gas boss for yourself. Shout out to Michael Shepard of Your Vibes Entertainment in Dixon, Tennessee for supplying our sound equipment. Contact him for all your entertainment and sound needs. He's ready to party.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

I want to talk about your songwriting and how you got started with that and when it first became an outlet for you.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Man, it was uh right when I got saved. Well, when I was 13, I had a friend of mine let me know that I could sing. I didn't know I could sing. No one ever told me I could sing.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

And I just I just like to sing.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

And I'll never forget I was uh, this is back in the 90s. Uh and there was a there was an artist named Stevie B. Do y'all remember Stevie B?

SPEAKER_06 21:33

No, but that's an awesome name.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

And yeah, he had this song that was in like 90 91, 92, and he was got you a letter from the postman just the other day. And I would just sing that little lyric, all you know, trying to be Stevie B. And I'll never forget one of my dear friends. He he passed away. Uh he was an army veteran, he passed away from uh COVID. Uh we grew up together, dear friend of mine, Adalaberto de Rivas. He was from he was from Bayamon, Puerto Rico. We grew up together, but one day we were at the bus stop and I

SPEAKER_04 22:00

Doing that, he goes, Hold up now. Hold up now. You've been keeping this one.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

I'm a big, I'm this big tall, you know, skinny, big-eared, uh, you know, white kid. You know, that you did not expect that to come out of my my body. Yeah, and I didn't know that it sounded good, I just did it. Yeah, yeah. And he said, Brother, do that again. So I was I I did it again. So I was his tool for girls. Like this party trick. Yeah, yeah. Hey, come here, watch my and he was like my manager, you know.

SPEAKER_06 22:27

Or you're a good week man.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Yeah, yeah, for sure. But anyway, so I said to say that because I and I didn't know I could sing. And then when I found out I could sing, I started singing little groups at school and and stuff like that. And I never sang in church, even though I grew up in church. Oh, and it wasn't until I got saved, I was 17, is when I started singing in church.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Yeah. I mean, I sang in like little kids' choirs and stuff like that, but you know, I didn't get up and you know solo. I didn't solo. I didn't I didn't do my special. Yes, you know, sing my special. And uh I got up one Sunday and and started singing, and man, the the Holy Spirit was gracious enough to anoint the moment, and God, I'll never forget it. We had a great move of the Spirit that day, and a lot of people were ministered touched. Several people got saved, and I thought, what in the world? I remember being up there thinking, like, and when you watch the video, I'm like this, oh petrified child. I was petrified, but it just goes to show you that you know, as long as the spirit of the Lord is on it, it doesn't matter. Yeah, but it was at that moment I thought, oh, maybe I maybe this is something near my future. Yeah. Then I started writing and I picked up a guitar and played very poorly, and still don't play much better than that. I just got really good at the stuff I'm bad at. And then I can fake you out. But I I started writing then. And I had a dear friend named uh Josh Helms. He was actually a country artist up here for a while and was signed with a couple labels, but we grew up together, and he was a big inspiration in me. He was like, Brian, just start writing your stuff. I said, Everything I write sounds stupid. He goes, It's all gonna sound stupid.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Yeah, yeah, it's stupid.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Matter of fact, most of it's gonna sound stupid. Yes, and you know, here I am with uh several hundred songs later, and you know, 30 years later, and 60 songs published and five albums later, you know. I I just I just write, I got to the place where I was writing in Nashville, I was writing for a publishing company, and when it became a job, that's when I started to hate it.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Yes, we just talked about that with Brooks.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's when I started to hate it. I was writing for other artists and stuff like that. I thought this might be for some people, but man, you know, and there have been artists that have cut my music, and you know, I've several cuts, and people have loved my music, and and I I like it when an artist can resonate with my song. Yeah, but I can assure you, I have never written for anybody else anything of value. Everything I've written that somebody else may have taken was was for me.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

Yeah, good, yeah. As it should be.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Yeah, 100%. And uh, I I don't even like the idea of cuts anymore. I know a lot of folks, uh I was telling this to some young writers, you know, want hungry for cuts and all that stuff. I said, listen, man, that is uh leave that option open. Yeah, you know, but uh man, just write write for you, yeah. And and keep your audience in mind too. Like who is your audience? Write for them as well, but I'd say more so write for you because that's gonna translate more, right? Yeah, especially if you're an artist. Yeah, I'm a singer songwriter. That means I write the songs and sing them. Yeah, yeah. I never really got a whole lot of uh fulfillment out of writing for other people.

SPEAKER_06 25:07

So, how would you describe your artistry and your sound to someone who's never heard your music before?

SPEAKER_00 25:12

You know, at this point, I'm not sure. Um, you know, it's like uh you know you like cooking with a crock pot.

SPEAKER_06 25:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

You know how it smells different when you put from the first time you put it in, uh-huh. And even tastes different than six hours later when it's cooked, right?

SPEAKER_06 25:25

Well, especially when you put coke in it and you're like, it's not gonna taste like coke though.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

That's right, that's right. Put a little nutmeg or a little whatever it is you're gonna put in it, you know, you might taste it. The taste is gonna change, you know, the longer it it simmers. And that's kind of like with me. I feel like as a singer, too, you know, I'm I used to be able to hit you know the top notes and sing real good. And you know, I was always a guest soloist and various things, and always prided myself on being uh have a having a great range. I've traded that as I got older, you know, my range is nowhere near like it used to, but I've got so much more tone. Oh, yeah, and smoke, you know, and stuff. And so I mean, RB and gospel are a huge influence.

SPEAKER_06 26:03

See, that's what I hear from you. I hear RB gospel and some soul. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

I mean, I grew up on it was gospel music, country gospel music. Yeah. But 90s RB was, you know, I was a kid at that time growing up. So with the Brian McKnights, the Wanya Morris's the you know, the Tevin Campbell's, the boys to men's, the Jodice's, the, you know, all that stuff was me. Because I thought, oh, this is how you get girls. It's true. Oh, okay. You don't you ain't gotta be good looking. You can just sing like sing.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

That's sing or dance.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Yeah, but not dance.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

You can sing or dance, dentists.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

That's funny, but yeah. So the label that I'm with now, they call me Blue Eyed Soul, Country Soul. Okay. I mean, there's a lot, there's a lot of pop sound in what I do too. If you listen to some of the stuff that I do, there's pop in there, you know, as well. I'm no Jay Edwards.

SPEAKER_06 26:55

We love Jay Edwards, and I love it when y'all play together. He's one of my best friends.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

Speaking of riding, we've written, gosh, probably 25 songs together over the years. Yeah. Played dozens and dozens of shows together. And you artistically, you would think we don't match, but we actually go well together.

SPEAKER_06 27:08

You really do, though. And he cut Cold Shoulder.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

Yeah, so that's actually his song. I cut it.

SPEAKER_06 27:13

Oh, you cut that song. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

The only cover I've ever done that wasn't my song.

SPEAKER_06 27:17

I knew it was one way or the other. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

It's just uh number one, Jay's one of my best friends in all the world, and uh he's family to me. And I just hate that that song isn't universal. It's one of the greatest songs I've ever heard. And you know, you've got to be ball you've got to have uh gumption.

SPEAKER_04 27:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

You've got to have gumption to uh edit that out. Uh you've got to have gumption to uh to record a Jay Edwards song that he does.

SPEAKER_06 27:42

Oh my gosh. I mean and I know he hates this, but I tell people he sounds like Chris Stapleton.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Yeah, like he is soul, yeah. He definitely has that. Now, Jay says that he's since he's older than Chris Stapleton, Chris Stapleton sounds like Jay Edwards.

SPEAKER_06 27:55

Well, I'll accept that. I'll tell people that. What does your songwriting process look like?

SPEAKER_00 28:01

Oh my goodness. Uh for those who are watching who think that you're gonna get something super inspirational and deep. Honestly, it's like talking, like we're talking right now. Yeah. One of y'all will say something. Obviously, this song's been written, but it's corny, but like you may say something like, Man, that's beer pressure. Yeah. I'll and I'll say, um when I get home. I may tell you, I may not, you know. Usually that's how it goes for me as a writer. I'll just get inspiration off of random things somebody says or does. Or like the other day, I was um talking to uh a random guy at the baseball field. And uh, I don't even know if I know his name, if he's watching it. Thanks for the inspiration. My son thinks I'm famous. I said, only in my head. Because a lot of people know me and we'll see we'll see me out. And oftentimes I may not know who they are, you know, because uh maybe they saw me at a show or whatever. And you know, I stay pretty uh out front on social media and in the community. So you know, people come to me and talk to me, but and he was a guy that I just couldn't remember his name. But anyway, he said uh he knew my story about coming off the road and coaching my kids and focusing more on that. My son, he threw, I mean, just pitched an amazing game, won the game, like eight strikeouts. Wow, though a two-hitter, you know. I'm like, let's go, you know.

SPEAKER_04 29:10

Yeah, that's my boy.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

That's my boy, baby. And uh, so proud of him. And you know, the guy I walked by him, he goes, Man, I'll tell you what, he goes, Didn't you glad you came off the road? I said, Absolutely. He goes, Man, that's a memory music couldn't make. I said, Yeah. What did you just say to me? Yes, a memory music couldn't make. I said, So I started writing that up. But you see, I don't know if you guys are writers or not, but did you see that? Yeah, yeah, bam, right there. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Well, my brother's a songwriter, and he says that being a songwriter has made him a very good listener. So he says, I'm just listening for songs selfishly, but that's actually a song.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

I'm just listening for a song, yeah. And then what I'll do is I'll go home. I I'm a hook writer, I usually write the chorus first.

SPEAKER_03 29:53

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

I always write the chorus first. Well, most of the time I write the chorus first, and then what happens usually is I can write the verses, but I wouldn't call it my strength. I'm a chorus and a bridge writer, and I'm a melody guy. And so what happens is a lot of times I take it to um like I write a lot of songs with my brother John.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Oh, I think.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Yeah, hundreds of songs are written with him. She's been through the fire was written with my with my brother John and a good friend of ours named Kimball Davis. The uh the single that I just sent you that just came out on the 18th, that was written with the biggest. Which is amazing. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. The one coming out was written, and I it was my brother's idea. Okay. Yeah, so I write a lot with my brother, and I have a small crew now. When I first got to town, you see this with a lot of writers too, they'll come in town that write with anybody and everybody. And I did that for a long time, you know, 20 years ago. I was writing with him, and I got to write with some hit writers and got I got to do the experience, and I tell the kids when they come here too. I said, Listen, do that in the beginning. I said, But eventually you're gonna find your little circle, you're gonna find those few people that you really have chemistry with, and those are the people you're gonna write with. So I write with John, I write with Kimball Davis, wrote for years with a guy named Branson Ireland who doesn't really do it anymore, but one of my dear friends, and and Jay Edwards.

SPEAKER_06 30:59

Okay. Yeah, that's a good group.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Oh, yeah. Uh, you guys, I think, had Barrett Baby on here.

SPEAKER_06 31:04

Yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Yeah, one of my favorite songs we've ever wrote that I put out actually is on this album. It we wrote, Jay and Barrett and I wrote. So no way.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Yeah, so that's gonna be that'll be a fun song to put out. Oh my gosh, I can't wait. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

I can see how you buy you and Barrett vibe in very similar styles. Yeah, I can see that.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Uh yeah, but I'm not I'm not worthy to even carry his guitar case.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

I'm sure I'm sure I'll let you. I'm sure he would. I'm sure he would. Okay, after walking out your faith for 30 years, how has your relationship with God kind of evolved and grown? And how does that influence your music?

SPEAKER_00 31:38

Uh it's more personal. It's just more personal. I I understand God as father, um, not just some distant deity off in space that's you know occasionally available for some appointments, you know?

SPEAKER_03 31:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

I see him as a father, which is what Jesus told us to see him as. Yeah. In Luke 11, whatever it is, where they asked him to teach us to pray. They asked him that question because they saw something. They never asked the Pharisees to teach him to pray because their prayer seemed that cold.

SPEAKER_04 32:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

But when they saw Jesus pray, they said, Oh, there's something different there.

SPEAKER_04 32:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

And so they said, Teach us to pray. Teach us to pray, you know, like uh like uh John's disciples taught him to pray, you know, because John taught the same thing. Jesus first thing then says, Okay, well here's the first thing you need to know about prayer is you've got to change your perspective of God. And the first thing you need to know understand is he's not just God, he's father. And that revolutionized the way I approach life, the way I approach songwriting, the way I approached relationships, you know, uh, is that I know that I'm loved. The thing I this I say this to my kids and my grandkids every morning. I say it to the kids I coach every game. I say, repeat after me. All right, I'm gonna do it with y'all.

SPEAKER_06 32:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

All right. If God be for me, God before me.

SPEAKER_06 32:47

God before me.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Who can be against me?

SPEAKER_06 32:48

Who can be against me?

SPEAKER_00 32:50

No weapon formed against me will prosper.

SPEAKER_06 32:53

Will prosper. I can do all things through Christ.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Who strengthens me? Who strengthens me? I'm safe, I'm safe, I'm secure, I'm secure, and I'm loved. And I'm loved because God is with me.

SPEAKER_06 33:03

Because God is with me.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

That sums up a lot of my of my of my concept of God because I'm safe, I'm secure, I'm loved. He's my father, he's never going to let me down. He has shown me time and time again his providence over my life, and he will not fail me. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 33:19

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

Even when I fail and screw up, which is often. Often. You know, I there are gifts and talents on my life that sometimes I think make people think that I'm a better person than I am. But I'm a I'm a regular person. I honestly often feel, and I don't mean this in a demeaning way, because I know I'm loved, I feel insignificant sometimes because I know me. You know, you guys know me and maybe on a superficial level, right? I know me. Yeah. And I know the things that I think or the things that I say or the thing or the or the missteps that I have. But I'm grateful that I'm every time I I go through that, I reminded that I'm safe, I'm secure, and I'm loved because God is with me and He's my father. Having that as the anchor of my faith is everything. So if you can't see him as father, you have the other things that are out there: dead, dying, evil, ugly things. When you have God as Father and a good father, and a gracious father, and a kind father who doesn't harm you.

SPEAKER_06 34:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:15

And that's the thing. I think it's changed the way I parent is knowing how he parents. Yes. And you want to emulate that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Change my feet sitting here. Yeah, change your feet.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

That got me tearing hard.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

So I'm spider monkey.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

And I'm just hot. It is hot.

SPEAKER_00 34:31

Yeah. Yeah. I'm menopausing or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_06 34:35

You're hot flashing, baby.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

You okay?

SPEAKER_06 34:38

I'm pre-menopause.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

And I do have a long soup short one, but it's okay. Okay, you have new music releasing this year. Okay. Can you talk about your upcoming projects?

SPEAKER_00 34:54

Yes, I guess I can. Um, well, let's see. So this this project is kind of a weird one because I actually recorded this project in 2019.

SPEAKER_06 35:03

Oh wow. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

I have, and I've put out a bunch of music since then. Yeah. Uh, long story short, there were some issues with uh publishing and and things of that nature. Right. We put it out for gosh, was it like four months? Then because of those uh issues and whatnot, we took it down. And when looking back on it, it was a godsend. I was frustrated because that album a lot of time, effort, money, you know, significance uh went into that record. I was at the time I was turning 40. I'm 47 now.

SPEAKER_03 35:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

At the time I was turning 40, and I had written those songs out of those that season of my life, making that transition and all the things that I was going on at that time in my life. And that title of the album is 39.

unknown 35:43

Oh.

SPEAKER_06 35:45

We're gonna have to change that.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

So we have to change we had to change the title of the album, yes, for sure. But that song's still going on there because it is just such a significant song for me at that moment. So took it down, but it was just Grady Saxman, who's produced you know, Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Laney Wilson. Yeah, he produced this whole record.

SPEAKER_06 36:01

Amazing.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

Uh a lot of great writers are on this project. Barrett Baber's on this project with me, Jay Edwards is on this project with me. Oh gosh, my brother's on this project. One of my label heads, Mike, Mike Sprinkle, he's on this project, Benny James, um, just a bunch of people that wrote these songs with me. They're on there singing and whatnot and writing. Anyway, super excited about it because now was just the right time because I was able to uh have that success with She's Been Through the Fire. That was with Sony. They picked up the distribution for the whole record for this record. So I was like, you know, we got it. Why don't we just put it out? Do it. And I'll be honest with you, I haven't had time to get in the studio this year.

SPEAKER_04 36:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Between coaching and doing music, you know, and uh all the things that I've got going on in my life, I have not had time to get into the studio, and it just worked out perfectly. We have a whole ready album ready to go, uh, top tier. Uh it was ahead of its time, which was really cool because at the time, you'll see we talked about that 90s RB. There's a there's a lot of that in there.

SPEAKER_04 36:56

Oh, okay. Wait.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

There's you'll hear it. You know, it's just like, you know, it's dashes here, dashes there. Yeah. There's actually one song that it is 90s RB. It's just with a steel guitar. There's just there's one little steel guitar, but it's a 90s RB song.

SPEAKER_06 37:08

Well, it needs to come back, so I'm glad you're bringing it up. Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

Yeah, I'm stuck I'm stuck in the 90s anyway. So, you know, it's the greatest, greatest error, in my opinion. Um, yeah, we've got that coming out, the record it's coming out at the end of the year, so we're waterfalling releasing singles. So the one we just put out uh on the 18th, which is my oldest daughter's birthday. It's called Then There's a Girl. It's a great song we wrote about how a girl comes into someone's life and you know a guy's life, and they think they've got it all figured out, and then boom, she just turns it upside down in a good way. Yeah. Changes this whole situation, whether it's a wife, a girlfriend, a daughter, whatever. And then the oh man, the one we got coming out, as far as songs I've recorded, it's probably either the best, my favorite, or top two, top three. It's called Lot More River. And my brother came up with this idea because it was something that I think my grandfather said to him when he was younger. We grew up fishing. I think it was my brother who's like said something along the lines. And John, if you're watching this, if I told the story wrong, let's just go with this. I I um this is a new story. I forget. He always has me tell stories about our songs, and we'll go, boy, that's evolved.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Well, it's getting better. Him come on the podcast. He can tell his side of the story.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

He'd be an interesting dude for sure.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

Uh something my grandfather said to him when we were younger. Yeah, he would catch these little fish and he'd want to put them in the cooler. And my papa said something to the effect of, buddy, save room in your cooler. There's a whole lot more fish out there.

SPEAKER_03 38:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:26

I know these waters. Yeah. They get much bigger. Yeah. And it just gets me goosebumps every time I think of that. And uh, can I quote lyrics so you guys okay? Yes, please. You can tell I'm super excited about the song.

SPEAKER_06 38:36

Why don't you just sing it for us? Sing it. You have a microphone.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

That's at a range where I gotta warm up. Uh but it says, uh uh floating down the river, just daddy and me, switching from crickets to lures, trying to catch one we could keep. When I finally hooked one and I reeled it to the boat, and after all that work I put in, my daddy let it go. He said, Bud, I know you want to bring it home, but you've got it. Of course, it says, Save room in your cooler, son, because there's a whole lot more fish. You never know what's waiting on you, just around the bin. And I know these waters, they get much bigger. Your young guys ain't seen nothing yet. There's a whole lot more river. I cannot wait to put that on the city.

SPEAKER_06 39:15

Oh my gosh. Good. I want to play that for my boys. Yeah, please do. It's so good. Please do.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

I remember recording it because my my pawpaw just passed away a couple years earlier. And I was in the studio, and Grady Saxman has a is a great producer, has a great way of getting the emotion out of an artist in the booth. And he was kind of coaching me in there, you know, because I was singing it, but I wasn't kind of delivering it the way it the song deserved. He goes, man, what'd you write this song about? And I said, My pawpaw. He goes, Well then think about pawpaw. And so I started thinking about just thinking about now, it's gonna cry. Thinking about pawpaw, and I I got into that headspace and I just sang my tail off on that song. If you hear the recording, you can hear the emotion in my voice. And that was such a cool moment for me because I want that to translate as a recording. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I'm a singer and songwriter, I'm also a recording artist. And as a recording artist, you want to make sure that that the realness of that translates through the recording. And I was just so proud of that. So anyway, that's awesome. Yeah, thank you for letting me talk about my music. I got excited.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

Absolutely. Well, let's talk a little bit about She's Been Through the Fire. Oh, yeah, yeah. Because that went viral. You and you've told that story the first time I met you, and I just think it's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

So, yeah, she's been through the fire. She that song was a blessing in disguise by accident. So the the story of this of that song is I was writing for a publishing company that I'm actually still with. When I was trying to write for artists at the time, they had sent us something called a pitch sheet. Yeah. And in that pitch sheet, it gives us the different artists and AR teams that are looking for songs. And in the notes, it'll tell you what type of song they're looking for. And they were looking for a woman's empowerment song. And I thought, I don't know how to write a woman's. Oh, I am a woman, you hear me roar. It's a good start. Yeah, I don't know. You know, if you hear me tell the story live, you you'll know this part. I do know that all the women in my life have all the power.

SPEAKER_06 41:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:03

I do know that.

SPEAKER_06 41:05

Powerful women in your life to draw off.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

Oh my gosh, you're kidding me. Yeah, the the most powerful. Yes. Um, for sure. Yeah. I always tell them use your powers for good.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

Yeah.

unknown 41:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 41:15

I thought, well, guys, if we're gonna, it was me, John, and Kimball. I said, we're gonna write this song. Let's not write a love song. I said, we write about women's bodies and all that stuff. There's enough of that.

SPEAKER_04 41:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

I said, if we're gonna write about a woman, I said, let's try to write something unique that nobody really has written about, and which is a hard task, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 41:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:32

I said, if we're gonna write about them, let's write about their soul. I said, I can I can't think of a song that really talks about a woman's soul or spirit, you know? Yeah. So we started talking about the women in our life, start talking about my little mamma, who's, you know, is a walking light bulb, you know, a light a walking lighthouse. And I started talking about my little mama and the strength that she's had. And I was thinking about my wife. We were young when uh when our kids came along and the strength that she had to go through and have our kids, and uh start, you know, my little mamma who was, like I said, she'd suffered abuse at the hands of a lot of bad people. My little mama going through what she went through, and um my daughter who got pregnant in her senior year of high school and had twins, and watched her go through and and now she's an amazing mother now and of six.

SPEAKER_06 42:14

Oh, bless her.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Yeah, she's an amazing mom of six. So you started thinking about women like that. And my buddy Kimball started uh mentioned a lady that she used to book for me years when I used to play downtown at the stage, had a little residency down there, and she booked me. Yeah, her name's Amber. And that woman had been through so much stuff, man. Her husband put her in a coma. She survived that, she survived brain cancer, uh, tumors, car accidents, right? Still going, abuse, you name it. And you know, she's not much older than me. She's maybe 50, I think. Yeah, yeah. And if she were to walk in the room, you'd never know she'd been to hell in back. She just carries herself so well. My mother-in-law's like that too. My mother-in-law's been through hell and back, and she just carries herself like a boss, you know. Yeah, you know. And so we start talking about her, and I'm and I'll never forget it was we fight over who said it. So on the for the podcast, it was you. No, I'm gonna it's Kim, it's Kimball's turn. So Kimball, it was Kimball. It's Kimball. Uh we try to give each other turns when we say it was Kimball who said, Man, she don't look like what she's been through.

SPEAKER_03 43:11

And I said, Oh that's the song.

SPEAKER_00 43:14

That's it right there. And so we wrote the song in 45 minutes. Wow. I did a quick little demo on my keyboard and my iPad, right? And we submitted it, and it was supposed to go to a blonde-haired Australian country singer. They decided not to do it. But the demo that I did, it was just so good. Yeah, it just was magic. Yeah, you know, and it was on a $30 keyboard and a $20 microphone. My aunt bought me off of Amazon Deals or something like that. And they passed on it, but my label was like, man, that's a great song. So partnered with a dear friend of mine who mixes almost all of my stuff. His name is Lucas Ginao. He's out of Philadelphia, great writer, too. He got on that thing, mixed it, and produced the rest of it. And Sony picked that up, right. On music, picked that up, and they put it out. And we put it out in 22, and it just sat there until last year. And out of nowhere, someone got a hold of it on TikTok and it just exploded. It's been, you know, viewed and streamed millions and millions of times, viewed millions of times, shared millions of times. It it took on a whole new life. Yeah. Which was crazy because like I've spent a lot of money on projects. Investors who have believed in spent thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars on projects, and I cut a little demo in my basement.

SPEAKER_03 44:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:31

And that song has had more impact on other people than any other song I've written. It's made me more money than any song I've ever written. So yeah, it's it's just it's an amazing song. That can I say one more thing about that? Yeah. The the thing that I love about that is the testimonies that I get from women who tell me that this song has impacted their life, and it just blows my mind.

SPEAKER_02 44:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

One in particular is a lady, uh, her name is Amanda, she's out of Texas. She'd contacted me and told me her story. She was a paramedic who was in an ambulance and it was hit by a um semi-truck and she broke every bone in her body.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

And she was on her deathbed and she was just in so much pain. Well, I'm playing one night at a hotel undigo, I think it was, downtown. And her sister happened to be there and recorded me singing she's been through the fire. Well, unbeknownst to her, her sister records that she gets a call from Amanda saying that she was going to end, you know, delete herself. Her sister said, I need to send you something. So she sends her this video of me singing. This I had no idea. I'm just up there yakking, you know, playing my song, telling my stories.

SPEAKER_03 45:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:34

And anyway, she sends this song and she credits that song for saving her life.

SPEAKER_03 45:38

Oh, I bet.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

And it was so powerful. Maybe it's been about a year, year and a half. She came out to Nashville to surprise me. Because I had been in correspondence with her because I was just her story was so amazing.

SPEAKER_02 45:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:48

She came out and surprised me. I was playing at the very same bar that her sister sent her that video from, and she came and I got her up on that stage. You know, and this is you know, this is not a church.

SPEAKER_03 45:57

No.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

But I got it, and I am unashamed about my faith.

SPEAKER_03 46:00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Kick me out, fire me, whatever you want to do. I don't care.

SPEAKER_03 46:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

But Jesus is going to be glorified, right? Yeah. And I got her up on that stage and I got her to give that testimony and glorify God in that moment. And so I have thousands of them. They're just amazing stories, and it's so humbling to know that some cornball, you know, was able to somehow capture something that was meaningful to somebody else.

SPEAKER_01 46:21

Yeah, but how cool that that was another full circle moment.

SPEAKER_00 46:25

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 46:25

You know, that song you were on that stage, and then you brought her back on the stage, just like going back to the park. Like it's just so cool when you think about things that way.

SPEAKER_00 46:33

Talk about songwriting. That's God is a songwriter. Yeah. God is a writer.

SPEAKER_05 46:37

He is a writer. The best writer.

SPEAKER_00 46:38

He is the best man. He is the best writer.

SPEAKER_05 46:40

And honestly, every time I hear that song, I want to make the music video. So if you want to make a music video, I do. I want to be in the music video.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

You need to be in the music video. You need to be in the music video, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 46:52

It's such a great song.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

You've got an actress look, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:55

Go listen to it. It's so good. Thank you. So good. It's amazing. Lisa sent it to me so that.

SPEAKER_05 47:00

I know. I'm like, I think I shared my testimony with you when I heard that song at the writer's round. I was just like, oh my gosh, that song.

SPEAKER_01 47:07

Yeah. Thank you for writing something about women. Yeah. About our souls and our spirit.

SPEAKER_00 47:14

Yeah, I mean, something that I know probably a little bit about, but it was, I think, I think God knows. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. He just I think at the end of the day, it's there's a scripture that says, I'll show I'll have mercy on whom who have a I'll have mercy, you know. And I just think about moments like that where something so impactful comes through somebody so or something so insignificant, you know. I don't have a PhD in women's studies. I don't know any really anything about women's biology. I don't know. Let alone to to say, you know, yeah, I know anything about a woman's spirit or soul. I mean nothing. I just know what I observe. Yeah. And as a songwriter, that's my job is to take what I observe and artistically communicate it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 47:49

You did it.

SPEAKER_00 47:50

Oh, you got listen to it. John Ann Campbell did it too. They wrote.

SPEAKER_06 47:53

Yeah, yeah, they all did. I mean, thank you for that song.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

Yeah. God be the glory.

SPEAKER_06 47:57

We would like you to drop your handles so that everybody can find you, find your music. Where are you on socials?

SPEAKER_00 48:03

Yeah, so it I think all my socials at this point are at Brian Ray Country. So it's B-R-I-A-N-R-H-E-A country.

SPEAKER_06 48:12

Yeah, Ray is different.

SPEAKER_00 48:14

Yeah, my ancestors just couldn't make it simple and just put R-A-Y.

SPEAKER_06 48:18

I'd say Raya, because I'm like R-H E A is Right.

SPEAKER_00 48:21

Brian Raya. It sounds like a condition, a medical condition.

SPEAKER_06 48:24

But it's Ray.

SPEAKER_00 48:25

It's Ray, just a simple Ray. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's my so it's my mother's, uh, it's my my papa's name. I I adopted his name.

SPEAKER_06 48:31

So very cool. Um, we're gonna do some rapid fire questions. All right.

SPEAKER_00 48:34

See.

SPEAKER_06 48:35

Okay. Your favorite movie quote.

SPEAKER_00 48:37

Man, that's a hard one. Gosh. Like uh It's in the bone. It's in the bone. What is that from? Ace Matura 2, pet detective. That's probably the only one that came to my mind that I could quote. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 48:52

That's such a good movie. I love that you went for Ace Metro 2.

SPEAKER_00 48:55

I quote a lot of Spongebob too, so I had them running into my head.

SPEAKER_06 48:57

Oh, that's funny. Okay, song you wish you had written.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

Oh gosh, Cold Shoulder.

SPEAKER_06 49:02

Yeah. It's so good. It really is.

SPEAKER_00 49:05

Or there's a song. My probably my favorite song of all time is called El Cerrito Place. It's written by a guy named Keith Gaddis. Uh it's about El Cerrito Place in California, somewhere in California. Uh it was written by a guy named Charlie Robinson, made it popular out of Texas, and then Kenny Chesney did it in 2012.

SPEAKER_06 49:20

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

One of my favorite songs of all time. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 49:23

Dream duet partner, dead or alive.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

Oh gosh. Dream duet partner. I I would say Whitney Houston, but I how am I going to sing her?

SPEAKER_06 49:30

You could sing with her.

SPEAKER_00 49:32

Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. Gosh, I don't know. Because it can be a guy or a girl.

SPEAKER_03 49:37

A guy or a girl. Dead or alive. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:40

Brian McKnight.

SPEAKER_03 49:41

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_00 49:43

I know he gets a lot of flack on social media today, and he's got some personal whatever, but he's one of my favorite. And and one of the greatest compliments people tell me is, oh, you kind of sound like Brian McKnight. I'm like, thank you. Because even though I don't maybe I don't, but for some reason people think I have a similar tone to him. But my daughters know when they want something from me, they call me the white Brian McKnight or Brian or Brian McWhite.

SPEAKER_06 50:04

Brian McGnight. Oh my gosh. That is perfect.

SPEAKER_00 50:08

Probably Brian McKnight, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 50:09

I would see that. I want to see that in the future. Um okay, favorite guilty pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 50:13

Oh gosh. Uh I am a cartoon guy. Oh, okay. I watch cartoons incessantly. Which ones? I mean various ones. I watch uh I love Gumball, I love SpongeBob. Um, you know, I guess it's you know, from the dad in me, you know, being just getting what um there's a there's a one of my favorite cartoons of all time is called The Regular Show. It was a Cartoon Network show. Okay, I think I remember that. It's got yeah, it's where it's got the Blue Jay and the Raccoon, their best friends.

SPEAKER_01 50:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 50:38

I watch it, I've watched it a thousand times. You know, it's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 50:41

I would have never guessed that.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

That and I'm a and I'm a huge I don't know if you remember the show Supernatural.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:47

Uh I'm a you know uh super heterosexual guy, but I'm I'm team I'm team Dean.

SPEAKER_06 50:53

Okay, have you watched Phineas and Ferb? Oh, for sure. Oh my gosh, I think that's for adults. I honestly get on. I don't think my kids get on YouTube. Yeah, that one's my favorite.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

I love it. Uh cartoons.

SPEAKER_06 51:05

Cartoons. I love it. Well, thank you so much for being in here with us. Yeah, thank you. I'm glad we made this work.

SPEAKER_00 51:10

Hope it's worth your time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 51:11

Well, and I can't wait for this album to come out. Do you have a release date?

SPEAKER_00 51:15

So, not on the album yet. Right now, it's tentatively like September or October. Okay. I do have a release date on Lot More River, which is uh April 29th of this month.

SPEAKER_03 51:23

Very cool. Okay, cool. Perfect.

SPEAKER_00 51:24

And she's been through the fire, is out right now.

SPEAKER_03 51:26

Go listen.

SPEAKER_00 51:27

Yeah, look me up on Spotify, Apple Music. If you look up Brian Ray, B-R-I-A-N-R-H-E-A, I'm all over that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 51:33

So very cool. We're gonna have you close us out. So you're gonna look into that camera and just say, My shutter's full.

SPEAKER_00 51:39

Guess what, guys? My shutter's full.

SPEAKER_01 51:42

Thank you so much. It's been an honor to have you.

SPEAKER_00 51:44

It's my pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

It's so much fun.

SPEAKER_06 51:46

Y'all go hit all our buttons, like, subscribe, follow us, do all the things because we want we want you to hear more. All these great God stories. So thank you for being here. Thanks, friends.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

You're welcome. See y'all.

SPEAKER_06 51:57

Thank you. Bye.