Romeo Vaughn (2:34)

Yes, I would go take a walk with my grandfather who I don't remember but his name is. He was Grandpa Lupe. I would love because I never had a grandfather growing up because my mom's dad passed away when she was five and my grandfather died when I was a baby. So I never. I don't remember him, but I would love to meet, like, walk with him.

Buzz Knight (3:08)

And I know you're a fan of places to walk and to reflect and to think about things. Um, we're going to talk about your. Your new single, Big Dreams from a Small Town, and the creative process behind it. But when you're out and you're walking, what does that take you towards creatively as a person and an artist?

Romeo Vaughn (3:36)

It brings me. It makes me real creative. It takes me closer to God and seeing all of his creativeness and his majestic ways of the trees and the hills and the levees and just everything that he created that I believe that he created. And so I look at his craftsmanship, and he makes music with the trees and the water and the sounds. And so it just is craft and music with the birds chirping and the water going, and. And that brings me closer to my craftsmanship. And I can get home and write a song and. Or I can get home and come up with the melody from the melodies that I hear when I go to Two Rivers Parkway. That's where I go.

Buzz Knight (4:34)

That's so beautiful. The way you described it, as you were describing that feeling, it actually. It took me back to the first episode of Taking a Walk that I did at one of my. My favorite places in the world. It's right near me. I live outside of Boston. Actually. The place I'm speaking of is Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, where Henry David Thoreau found the movement of mindfulness and meditation and taking in the universe and realizing it's a special place. So thank you for the way you shared that. You took me back to a pleasant place and a memory of somewhere that, in fact, I would say, Romeo, if you could ever walk there, go to. Go to Walden Pond. You'll feel that energy, you know, it's amazing.

Romeo Vaughn (5:31)

Yeah, I would love to go to Walden Pond.

Buzz Knight (5:34)

What about the energy of Nashville? If. If I step back as someone who doesn't live there and who visits Nashville, it really does epitomize, in its own way, your single big dreams from a small town, when you think about it. But tell me about the energy creatively and spiritually that you feel from the Nashville community.

Romeo Vaughn (6:01)

Nashville is amazing. Now, there's more to Nashville than the Broadway lights. And when you go to places like the Local in Westin, when you go to places like Losers in Midtown, and you go to places like Scoreboard in Music Valley or Music. When you go to Music City Bar. Music City Bar is my favorite, you know, to go. When you go to Live Oak, when you go to these places that There's. There's these riders and these writers rounds that are happening, and the community just embraces you. Because the thing about Nashville is I know my truth. I know what I am and who I am, and I know that I am a Mexican American country artist. But when you go to these places, like the local, like, Music City Bar, like Scoreboard, like Live Oak and the Nashville palace, when you go to these places and there's other artists there and other songwriters there, they're not. It's not, hey, this is the white singer songwriter. This is the Mexican country artist. This is the black country artist. We're just all artists, and we're all songwriters. And that vibe, that family, you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us type of deal that we have here, that little big town vibe and the family and, you know, we care for one another. Now, is it all rainbows and butterflies? No, this is the music business. Cutthroat. Right. But at the end of the day, when. When you go to those places and like, the local. I love that place because that's where the songwriters and the artists and they come, and they can be unapologetically themselves and talk about, you know, oh, man, I have this idea. And so we have this term here, it's called demo jail. So I don't know if you know what that is, but. So demo jail is where, like, you cut a demo and then you, like, making all your friends hear it, like, what you did. So, like, you know, you're just kind of, like, there.

Buzz Knight (8:24)

You can't.

Romeo Vaughn (8:24)

Like, you know, so we try not to put our friends in demo jail, but sometimes. But even if they don't want to. Even if they don't want to be in demo jail, they're not going to cut you off. They're going to hear the song. And I. And. And that community of just, you know, we're all. We all have big dreams from a small town because none of us are from Nashville. Some of us are from Oklahoma. Some of us are from Long Island, New York, you know, like, you know, and some of us are from California, so. But we all have big dreams from this, from our small town, and we come to Nashville to chase it, you know, but some catch it and some don't. But at the end of the day, nobody can ever take away from us that we gave it our best shot.

Buzz Knight (9:17)

Oh, that's wonderful. I want to thank you for your service to our. To our country.

Romeo Vaughn (9:23)

Thank you.

Buzz Knight (9:24)

And I want you to talk to those out there listening who maybe have been in your position, serving our country and have been dealt with, you know, trauma and difficulties in their life. Some of those same themes that you talked so brilliantly on our Music Saved Me podcast with Lynn Hoffman. Talk directly, if you can, to someone who maybe was in your position, who's, who's listening, on how they maybe want to approach challenges that they're facing and get help for their situation.

Romeo Vaughn (10:05)

I would say that you're not alone. There's no shame and guilt. You got to call somebody. I read the Bible and I call, I talk to God. But if that's not your faith, it's okay. Call somebody. Call, call your brother, call your sister. And if you don't have that, call somebody. Go somewhere because the world loves you. We love you. It's not your fault. You were doing what the 1% of Americans do and that's fighting for freedom. You're not alone and people love you and you're not a monster. People love you and you're, you're a hero. Call somebody. And whatever you do, whatever you're thinking, don't do it because we love you.

Buzz Knight (11:05)

Romeo, you are an amazing inspiration and you are so giving. You are so transparent and you are so loving yourself. And I can't thank you enough for the great work you're doing. Congratulations on the new work, Big dreams from a small town and everything else that you're creating.

Romeo Vaughn (11:26)

Thank you.

Buzz Knight (11:27)

And we know we're going to continue to see big things from you. Extremely grateful for you taking the time on Taking a walk.

Romeo Vaughn (11:35)

Thank you so much for having me and yeah, well, we pray and we pray that this gets going and, and we got some cool stuff up our sleeve and working with a really cool team and got some really cool people out of Scottsdale, Arizona that take a chance on this old boy. So we're excited to see what we got going.

Buzz Knight (12:01)

Thank you, Romeo.

Podcast Host/Outro Announcer (12:03)

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Romeo Vaughn (14:16)

This is an I Heart podcast.