BOBBYCAST: Brett Young on Why He Quit Drinking + How Famous He Wants To Be + How He Met His Wife + How Depression from a Baseball Injury Led Him to Pursue Music + Why he Got Roasted singing The National Anthem + The Hardest Part of a New Album

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Bobby Bones Show Featuring Brett Young Release Date: June 17, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of The Bobby Bones Show, host Mike D delves deep into various aspects of Brett Young's life and career. From personal struggles and triumphs to professional insights, Brett offers an intimate portrayal of his journey as a country music artist.

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1. Quitting Drinking for Family and Health

Timestamp: [01:30]

Brett Young opens up about his decision to quit drinking, emphasizing the impact it had on his health and family life.

• Brett Young: "It wasn't good for me, and it made my wife nervous that I was getting older and still kind of getting after it. So it was an easy decision for family." ([01:30])

He discusses how the challenges of early mornings with children and the negative effects of alcohol on his well-being led him to make a significant lifestyle change.

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2. Touring Experiences: Hawaii and Australia

Timestamp: [05:00]

Brett shares his recent experiences touring in Hawaii and Australia, highlighting the unique challenges and rewards of performing internationally.

• Brett Young: "Australia was work and fun. First headlining tour over there and then to beat the jet lag, stopped in Hawaii and flew my family out to meet me in Hawaii for a week." ([05:07])

He recounts the enthusiasm of Australian fans and the logistical aspects of managing jet lag, revealing his strategic approach to maintaining energy levels during tours.

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3. Collegiate Baseball and the Path to Music

Timestamp: [28:05]

Brett reflects on his time playing baseball at Ole Miss and Fresno State, detailing how an injury pivoted his career towards music.

• Brett Young: "I suffered a nerve impingement in my left arm, which led to Tommy John surgery. This setback made me sink into a bit of depression, ultimately pushing me to focus on music." ([31:35])

He explains that leading worship in his Christian school ignited his passion for music, setting the foundation for his future career.

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4. Meeting His Wife and Overcoming a Long-Term Breakup

Timestamp: [12:00]

Brett narrates the story of how he met his wife, Taylor, through a series of Facebook interactions orchestrated by mutual friends.

• Brett Young: "We dated for almost six years, broke up for two, and then reconnected. We got married within a year and started our family shortly after." ([13:06])

He candidly discusses the challenges of maintaining a relationship amidst career demands and the eventual reconciliation that strengthened their bond.

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5. Songwriting: Personal Experiences and Collaboration

Timestamp: [16:14]

Brett delves into his songwriting process, highlighting how personal experiences and collaborative efforts shape his music.

• Brett Young: "Songs like 'You Ain't Here to Kiss Me' and 'Dear Me' are direct reflections of my personal journey through breakups and reunions with Taylor." ([16:44])

He emphasizes the balance between authenticity and relatability, ensuring his songs resonate with a broad audience while staying true to his experiences.

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6. Navigating Fame and Public Image

Timestamp: [48:44]

Brett discusses his complex relationship with fame, expressing a desire for a balanced level of recognition that doesn't intrude on his personal life.

• Brett Young: "I like being an artist and having a presence, but I prefer to fly under the radar for everyday activities. Fame isn't something I actively seek, but I recognize its benefits for supporting my family." ([49:42])

He reflects on the challenges of maintaining privacy and authenticity amidst growing popularity, advocating for a controlled approach to his public persona.

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7. New Album 2.0: Challenges and Evolution

Timestamp: [40:55]

Brett provides insights into his latest album, 2.0, discussing the creative process and the effort to evolve without losing his core identity.

• Brett Young: "The hardest part is changing enough to gain new fans without alienating the ones who have been with me from the beginning." ([40:55])

He collaborates with producers like Jimmy Robbins to experiment with new sounds, ensuring the album reflects both his growth and the contemporary shifts in country music.

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8. Experiences Singing the National Anthem

Timestamp: [54:35]

Brett recounts his experience performing the national anthem at the NHL All-Star Game, where he received mixed feedback.

• Brett Young: "My rendition was shorter than average, but the audience started singing before I could finish. It got a bit of backlash on social media." ([57:03])

Despite the criticism, he remains undeterred, continuing to sing at events like Dodger Stadium, finding personal fulfillment in these moments.

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9. Influences and Musical Inspirations

Timestamp: [72:55]

Brett shares his musical influences, ranging from Boyz II Men and Gavin DeGraw to Sam Cooke, highlighting the diverse inspirations that shape his sound.

• Brett Young: "Sam Cooke is my favorite voice of all time. He just sings without hesitation, and there's something special in that authenticity." ([73:56])

He emphasizes the importance of varied influences in his music, allowing him to blend different genres and styles seamlessly.

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10. Final Thoughts and Future Projects

Timestamp: [75:12]

As the conversation wraps up, Brett expresses his excitement and pride in his new album, 2.0, and reflects on the vulnerabilities of releasing new music.

• Brett Young: "This is the most meaningful record I've ever put out, touching on things from ten years ago to recent experiences. I'm proud of it and hopeful it resonates with the right ears." ([67:49])

He underscores the importance of staying true to his artistic vision while navigating the ever-changing landscape of the music industry.

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Conclusion

Brett Young's candid discussions on The Bobby Bones Show offer listeners a comprehensive look into his personal life, career challenges, and artistic evolution. From overcoming personal struggles to navigating the complexities of fame, Brett's journey is both inspiring and relatable, making this episode a must-listen for fans and aspiring artists alike.

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Notable Quotes:

• Quitting Drinking:
  Brett Young: "It wasn't good for me, and it made my wife nervous that I was getting older and still kind of getting after it. So it was an easy decision for family." ([01:30])

• Fame and Public Image:
  Brett Young: "I like being an artist and having a presence, but I prefer to fly under the radar for everyday activities." ([49:42])

• New Album 2.0:
  Brett Young: "The hardest part is changing enough to gain new fans without alienating the ones who have been with me from the beginning." ([40:55])

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This structured and detailed summary captures all key points, discussions, insights, and conclusions from the episode, providing a rich and engaging overview for those who haven't listened to the podcast.

Transcript

[Brett Young]

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[Mike D]

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[Brett Young]

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[Mike D]

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[Brett Young]

NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas Yamas evenings on NBC. Everybody knows it's poison, but you drink it because it's fun and you enjoy it or whatever, but started really digging into how bad it was for you. It just wasn't serving. It wasn't good for me and it, it made my wife nervous that I was getting older and still kind of getting after it. And it was an easy decision for family.

[Mike D]

Episode 519 with Brett Young. How many Brett Young songs can you sing, Mike? In case you didn't know, I got, in case you didn't know, Mercy. I don't know the rest of that. Mercy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He got a bunch of hits. He is also massive, you know, because he sings a lot of emotion filled ballads. I feel like he's too tall, too tall to sing. I do, yeah. I feel like once you hit like over six, four, you can't sing emotion filled songs anymore. That a rule. And he. I haven't seen Brett in a while. And so usually how this works is we do this show at my house, but it's not in my house. We have a building on the property. And Mike will go, okay, the artist is here. So we let them in the gate. They come through the gate, they park. At that point, I put my shoes on and I let everybody walk down because I don't like the awkward walk in while you're talking, and you have to sit down together. So as soon as they sit down, I've got it time to where I can just walk into the door and. And be like, what's up, everybody? So it also doesn't feel like I'm big leaking and making him wait for me. So I walk in, and again, I haven't seen Brett in a while. I thought he was standing on something. He was so big. Oh, dang. He's six' six. Yeah. Why are you standing on the chair, man? He's six' six. He's a monster. Brett Young got a bunch of hits. He's got a new record. It's called 2.0. And I haven't heard him speak. I've heard him but, like, say stuff like, have opinions. I was pretty happy with his podcast because he actually had opinions on stuff. I think he just felt like, hey, I'm a singer, not somebody who needs to get my opinions all the time. I thought he was great. Yeah, I did, too. He's browner than I am. You said that. I did not say that. His Back to the basics world tour. You can get [e-mail] I think the things I had wrong about him were, one, I didn't realize he only played one year at Ole Miss. It's an interesting story with a bit of perspective from him being older now as well. Yeah. And then he went back to, like, Fresno State or whatever to play baseball. The baseball stuff's always interesting to me. I didn't realize how tall he was. That's two. And what else did I not realize about him? Maybe the whole playing bars for a long time, but not here in Nashville. And of all places to move. It's to Arizona. Yeah, that's true. And also a story about him and his wife. Like, he'll get into that. I didn't really, again, because I haven't heard him, like, expand on stuff. I learned a lot about him. Anything from you? How much of a California guy he is. Like, he loves the ocean. Yeah. As you said, he's darker than you. Yeah. Yes. Brett Young, episode 519 again, give him a follow. Bret Young music. His album 2.0 it's brand new. They only did one song which was, in case you didn't know, and he has a different version of that with a different artist on the song. And again, Bret youngmusic.com for tickets to the tour. Here he is, Brett Young. Brad. Good to see you, buddy.

[Brett Young]

You too, man.

[Mike D]

I'm seeing you in Hawaii. You look really tan.

[Brett Young]

Hawaii and Australia right before this.

[Mike D]

Fun or work?

[Brett Young]

Both. Australia was work and fun. First headlining tour over there and then to beat the jet lag, stopped in Hawaii and flew my family out to meet me in Hawaii for a week.

[Mike D]

To beat the jet lag or to actually go to Hawaii? Yes, actually go to Hawaii.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. I mean we, we normally tour there and we actually had that placeholder to play some shows there on the way home and we've hit that market a lot.

[Mike D]

Hawaii?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, we play it every year and it's rare for Country X to go over there, let alone be. This would have been our fourth year in a row. And the promoter was kind of like, is it risky that we're doing this every year? And we thought not, but he felt kind of like it, so we gave him that and I brought my family.

[Mike D]

Oh, you didn't do a show at all? And why?

[Brett Young]

Nope, just play.

[Mike D]

What was Australia like for you? Have you been building a base over there?

[Brett Young]

You know what? It was our first headlining tour and we had only been once to play that CMC rocks like in. Back in 18 or 19. So we hadn't tested that market for me and it was insane. Like a really quick sellout and everything. Added a second date to Sydney that sold out to. It was fun because it's like a. It's kind of the. The UK crowd, the respectful listening, like music people crowd, but with a little bit of party to them because they're Aussie still, you know what I mean?

[Mike D]

Did you get a little bit of that feeling like you had when you first started in? Man, I sure hope we sell tickets.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, the same way we felt the first time we decided to go over to the UK without the festival backing it. But they're just hungry for. They don't get enough of it. So they're. They want it really bad and they're like. They're asking what the set list is in case there's a song they might not know they're going to go learn it. They're pretty into it.

[Mike D]

When you perform in a place like Australia, your body clock's got to be so different. Do you give yourself enough time when you get there to adjust. And I won't even say jet lag, but I have friends that are ball players and if they're east coast and they're playing west coast, like even that's a shift to their body and they're feeling it. Does that affect you when you perform?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, I finally, like, because of the amount of times we've done the ukf, I think I fine tuned it. There's no adjusting. You're not there long enough. So for me it's like sleep at night as much as you can, but definitely block out at least an hour mid afternoon to nap, otherwise you're going to crash on stage. So if I can like leave soundcheck and lay down for an hour, then I'm okay. And if I do it that way, I'm pretty much still on this schedule when I get home. Whereas if you fully adjust, I've gone to the UK for three weeks and adjusted and then come home, you have to do it all over again. So that afternoon nap, since my kids aren't there with me, it's pretty easy to just grab one real quick on the bus and then I'm fine.

[Mike D]

If America exploded and you had to move to one of these places and live in one of the places that you've toured out of the country, where would you go.

[Brett Young]

Man? I mean I could tell you like based on UK and EU trips, what it would be and I would have, I would have stood pretty firmly on it until this trip to Australia. We only got two days in Perth, so we only spent like two days in Western Australia. But Perth is like if you trapped Southern California in like the 70s or 80s.

[Mike D]

I've only been to Sydney and I have friends that are from and they say that Perth and that it's like a whole other part of like a whole different country.

[Brett Young]

It's nothing like Sydney. I mean I, and I, I had only been to Brisbane before this trip. I feel like every pocket in Australia is different, kind of like here in the States. But Perth was like, I mean, the last day we had lunch on like this little main drag with all the shops and all the restaurants and there was like a car show driving by and Everybody was in 75 degree weather, tank tops, eating lunch outside. And it just felt like I, you know, I grew up in Southern California, kind of felt like being transported back to my childhood. So I think that would, that would be making a run for it right now if I had to pick.

[Mike D]

Do you surf?

[Brett Young]

I did. I was really bad and so I.

[Mike D]

Stopped whenever you're doing Australia or Hawaii. These are water places. I'm not a beach guy. I grew up in Arkansas. No, beaches have no use for the beach. So not for me. You seem like a beach. You look like a beach guy. What do you do water wise? You just sit on the beach.

[Brett Young]

I mean, I'm in the ocean. I love to like, you know, salt, sand. Like the whole thing is my vibe. I love being at the beach. I hadn't like what my friends called an irrational fear of sharks. I still feel like it's pretty rational. They're out there. You hear about it all the time.

[Mike D]

Did somebody ever get bit when you were a kid?

[Brett Young]

No, no. See that's why they were like, they're not here. They're. They're in different beaches. I'm like, well, they're in this ocean, you know.

[Mike D]

Well, you're not wrong. They are in that ocean.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, I like, I don't want to be the one to prove you wrong. I'm just going to chill here. The girls in bikinis are on the beach anyways.

[Mike D]

You know, it convinced me to like the beach though. I don't know, like, what is there for me?

[Brett Young]

I, I mean, I don't, I don't know how to convince anybody. My reason is because, like, that's my childhood. Like I grew up that way. I don't know how to convince somebody that didn't. I don't know how to tell people that think that the shore at the lake is called the beach when it's definitely not the beach because I grew up at the real beach. Like, I don't know if you didn't grow up there. I don't know how to sell you on it if you're, if it's not your thing. I like being out in the sun. There is a too hot for me. There's a too cold for me. That's why Southern California was perfect. 75 in the sun. I like the way salt water feels on my skin when it dries. I think that's just because that was my childhood for me.

[Mike D]

Yeah. Not convinced he didn't do it.

[Brett Young]

There's lots of girls in bikinis and, and I'm married.

[Mike D]

I'm married now. That's over.

[Brett Young]

Same. That's why I didn't go there in the first place.

[Mike D]

Yeah, I'm here. How hard was it to move here because this is temperate. I don't like, I don't like weather.

[Brett Young]

The weather here sucks.

[Mike D]

Yeah. I don't like weather at all.

[Brett Young]

Well, that, there's your, that's how I can convince you. The beach where I grew up is 75 every day.

[Mike D]

So I would like the beach. If there wasn't a beach, you.

[Brett Young]

You just. That's how it is. That's how. Where I grew up, I was one mile inland from the beach.

[Mike D]

Yeah, it was.

[Brett Young]

It was 75 and perfect.

[Mike D]

I love going to California. Except for everything else. Meaning that I get car sick and.

[Brett Young]

You have to drive everywhere.

[Mike D]

If I live there 51 of the time, my taxes would be.

[Brett Young]

Can't do that.

[Mike D]

It's so crazy. It's just hard to get around. Yeah, but the temperature. Love it.

[Brett Young]

That. I mean, so there's that. I. Moving here was a big adjustment, but it was like a. It was short, though. Like, the first three months felt like, there's no way I can do this. Then all of a sudden, it just felt normal.

[Mike D]

Was it the 19 tornadoes in the first three months you were here?

[Brett Young]

No, because I've been here like what, 12 years now. I feel like tornadoes were kind of not a thing when I first got here. And now they feel like they're like 20x what they were when I moved here. I don't know what that is. And especially my wife's fear of them. Like, she's not wrong. That's like my thing with sharks. Like, there are tornadoes and they could kill you. But she feels like if there's a warning in like Kentucky that she needs to get in the bathtub right now.

[Mike D]

Like your shark. Irrational fear. She's not wrong.

[Brett Young]

She's not wrong.

[Mike D]

Yeah. Because they do just kind of pop up. I grew up in Arkansas. We had tornadoes everywhere.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

All the time. So to us, we're like, it probably going to hit us. We're good. Yeah. Unless there's one that's touched down within like a mile. Then we'll kind of lean toward the bathtub. We won't even get in yet. But she's from Oklahoma and that's. That's all they have was tornadoes.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. I feel that's. That's kind of how I am. She just. I think since we had babies, mama mode kicked in pretty hardcore. And so, like, if there's. If there's. Any chance it might get there, she's making up a bed in the downstairs closet with no windows. I mean, she's. She's on it.

[Mike D]

How did you guys meet?

[Brett Young]

I was old. Like, I was probably like OG sliding into dms. What.

[Mike D]

What platform?

[Brett Young]

Facebook. Yeah, I was. I moved to Arizona to write songs way before record deal or anything. I knew a Guy that had a publishing deal, and I knew a guy that was going to let me crash with him, and he said, la is not happening for you. Just come try it. And they. I think they had just started, like, just started geopopulating, like Facebook knew where you were, so it would recommend people in your area. And it knew that a girl that I knew from Orange county was going to asu, and so she popped up. And I hadn't seen her in my feed in like a year, but because it knew I was in Arizona, she popped up and her roommate was Taylor. And so I was like, I kind of dated that girl a little bit, and she kind of caught feelings and I ended it. So I can't tell her to hook me up with a roommate, but I can go around her and DM her roommate on Facebook.

[Mike D]

But then you got to wonder if the roommate's gonna go, hey, what do you think of this guy? Don't you know him? No.

[Brett Young]

I told Brett, I told Taylor the whole story. We both. We both knew we were doing an end around, so we. We avoided that completely. It still didn. We still had some. Some trouble with it down the line. Once we were like a couple, we had to, like. We had like some. Some awkward experiences. But it's all good now. But at first it was a thing.

[Mike D]

How long did you guys date before you got married?

[Brett Young]

We dated for almost six years. And then the first year that I lived here, we broke up. I wrote a bunch of songs about that.

[Mike D]

Did you move her here and then you guys broke up?

[Brett Young]

No, I moved here without her thinking that if I decided this was the right place for me, she would come after. And. And then long distance just wasn't working in different places in our lives. And it wasn't like there was no big thing. It just wasn't working, you know? So broke up for two years and dated other people. And you probably even dated. You probably even met a girl. I dated because I was in, like, an actual relationship.

[Mike D]

I dated you. I was like, I don't know. I can check. I had a pretty wild time.

[Brett Young]

I'm not that memorable.

[Mike D]

I had a couple years where it was pretty crazy for me.

[Brett Young]

But yeah, so we broke up for two years, and the first time we talked about in two years, I just said, well, obviously this is still something, but I'm not interested in dating again. We've done that before. So you want to move here and get married?

[Mike D]

No.

[Brett Young]

Family. Yeah, it was quick. I mean, she was. She was like kind of on the way out in a relationship. With somebody else. We, like, had to wait for her to end that relationship and then move here. And we were. I mean, we were married inside of a year and had a kid within a study inside a year after that and all that.

[Mike D]

That man. Rapido, right? Is that you say it, Mike. Rapido. Rapido. Rapido. I can't see what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Brett Young]

That was good.

[Mike D]

That's fast. However, the fact that you dated her for a long time and then it was just like, hey, to me, that feels like respect more than anything. Like, I respect you so much that I think we should get back together. And I'm not gonna dick around. Like, if we're gonna get back together, I really want to be serious.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. And to be fair, she was the one that wasn't ready the first time. So I was really saying, you're going to respect me and not make me wonder where it's going this time. I'm a little. I'm five years older than Taylor. At the time she was in college. I was, you know, 27. She was 22. Whatever. So that was me saying, like, we know it didn't work because of timing, not because this doesn't work. This works. So now we're older, and if we want to get back together, it's because we're doing the thing. And she agreed, and we were married.

[Mike D]

Quick, so she moved here. And I'm assuming she didn't get an apartment.

[Brett Young]

No, than you crammed into my tiny one bedroom in the gulch. And we ended up buying our first place while we were planning our wedding and didn't even live in it because then we moved into it and found out we were pregnant and that was too small to start a family, and so bought another place.

[Mike D]

So you bought a place and you couldn't even move into it?

[Brett Young]

We lived in it, but while we were renovating it, so we kind of lived in it. You know, it's what that's like. You, like, cram into the corner bedroom while you fix up the rest of the place. It was finished for the last two weeks that we owned it, so we didn't really live in it.

[Mike D]

Did you write any songs about that whole experience of the breakup, the long breakup, and then get back together?

[Brett Young]

Oh, yeah. You Ain't Here to Kiss Me is about the breakup for my first record, and then we re released it on the last record. That's literally. I visited her in California. We broke up, and I flew home early on New Year's Eve. That's about our breakup Dear Me is a song that I wrote. I think that was on the ticket to LA record. My second record. Dear Me is about kind of. If I could go back and tell my younger self, like, that breakup is fine. You're gonna be all right. You get the girl back. And that. I wrote that after we got back together. I've written a ton of breakup and get back together songs about Taylor.

[Mike D]

What about songs you wrote about people from that period where you weren't together? Are those kind of Persona non grata?

[Brett Young]

This is. I mean, this is terrible. But I haven't really thought about it since you asked the question. I didn't. I think I was always. It was always her. No, I'm. Seriously, though.

[Mike D]

I know. Yeah.

[Brett Young]

I think it was always her. Yeah. No, I'm being serious. I have never thought about it, but I think it went more topical than personal. For those two years, I dated a girl that, while we were broken up, that definitely wanted to take it to the next step. And I never, like, registered with me why I couldn't because on. On paper, I should have probably until I got back with Taylor and I was like, oh, just. She just wasn't her. So I think when I was writing songs, I would either write a breakup song about Taylor or. Or write to a topic instead of.

[Mike D]

Writing to a topic. Is interesting. I have a friend who has a massive song. It's pretty much his song that people know him for. He's got a few number ones, but that's like his song, but the song is not. He wrote it, but it's not about him, which is interesting because he'll tell the story of the song and go, hey, I'm gonna play this song for you. It's a big one. I was sitting. I was in a writing room and she had this idea, and it was about a guy. And it's always kind of weird to hear a song that someone wrote not about them, but then they sing it and you know them for it. So you've always felt it's about them.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

Do you have any of those?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, especially more lately. Up until marriage and kids, I tried to always write from, like, not just personal experience, but, like, current experiences. I feel like that's the best way to be authentic and connect with fans is like, this just happened last week. I'm just like, you. You're just like me. You're not alone in this type thing. But I realized pretty quickly, especially with kids, like, if you do that, you're writing a lullabies record. You can't Just do that. Right. And so I. I had to really fight to then let other writers in the room share their experience to write their song. But, like, you can still. Even though it's their story, you can take an experience that you've had that comes close to that and draw from that so that you can lend to the song and have it still, like, kind of have your writer's DNA on it a little bit, I think, which was a challenge I enjoyed. But it is still weird to then go, this is kind of my story, you know, like, this is my song, but it's not really my story.

[Mike D]

Because you wrote it.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

And he wrote it with her, and now he's like, you know, we wrote it had nothing to do with me, but his life has kind of turned into that song. So now I can go and who knew I was writing about what's happening now more than it was 10, 10 or so years ago? But I always feel like that's an interesting experience as a songwriter and an artist. When you're writing a song from a songwriter's perspective, that's not you. And then you're the front. You're the face of it as well.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. I think your first job is to be authentic, but your second job is to connect with everybody and everything that people are going through. So you can't. You can't really do both. You can't hold on to that authenticity, authenticity in the moment thing and give a little bit of everything to everyone all at the same time. So you do have to stretch it a little bit. I feel like.

[Mike D]

How tall are you?

[Brett Young]

Six. Six.

[Mike D]

God dang. You're that tall.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

And you're still wearing boots.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. Six, seven.

[Mike D]

Today there should be some sort of law.

[Brett Young]

I came into tennis shoes. You guys hated it.

[Mike D]

Well, I didn't. Apparently you could see up your shorts when you sat down. Before I walked in, I also had shorts on, so I changed. But we like to keep our camera angles very low so it goes right up the shorts.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. It was a Speedo, to be fair.

[Mike D]

That's true. But it was a very baggy Speedo.

[Brett Young]

It was weird.

[Mike D]

Yeah, it was.

[Brett Young]

I've lost weight.

[Mike D]

If you are six. Six. I do feel like boots are illegal.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. I mean, I'm not wearing, like, a cowboy boot that has, like, a heel on it.

[Mike D]

Are you kidding me?

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

Yeah, it's. It's a deceiving six.

[Brett Young]

Six. My favorite thing. Meet and greets. Every. Every show. I get this one. You don't look this tall on Instagram. I Don't know what that means. Does Instagram have like. It's like you're leaving a liquor store after you've robbed it and there's like a. A measuring tape on the wall. Like, what. What does Instagram really tell you?

[Mike D]

I think that means you don't put up enough pictures of you with normal sized people because then we would know. Because when I hadn't seen you in a while and walked in, I was like, God dang. Like, you're pretty buff too. You're hitting it pretty hard.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. In the last year and a half or so, been like, digging into health and wellness a little bit.

[Mike D]

What does that mean?

[Brett Young]

A lot of things. I quit drinking last year. I. I got really into like, longevity and things that kind of extend your lifespan. I just, everything's kind of geared towards being around for my family as long as I can.

[Mike D]

Do you do Brian Johnson stuff?

[Brett Young]

No, I think he takes it a little too far. He thinks he's looking better. I think he's looking.

[Mike D]

He's looking weirder.

[Brett Young]

He's kind of see through at this point.

[Mike D]

Yeah, he's like, he looks like, like a super villain a bit.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

And he's. He's like 44, but he could either look 70 or 31, depending on the day.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. And he spends so much time. I just joke with somebody about this the other day. He spends so much time on this thing that don't die has really become like, don't live. Because he's not living at all. He's doing nothing but not dying.

[Mike D]

Why'd you quit drinking?

[Brett Young]

It started with how hard mornings with children were. And then it just, I started like, kind of digging into. Everybody knows it's poison. Like, you know that it's poison, but you drink it because it's fun and you enjoy it or whatever, but started really digging into how bad it was for you. And then as I got older, like, hangovers got real and kids got up early and it just wasn't serving. It wasn't good for me. And it, it made my wife nervous that I was getting older and still kind of getting after it. And so it was an easy decision for family.

[Mike D]

The last few weeks, including today, before you came over, I've done acupuncture to sleep. I don't sleep well. So I've tried 13, 14 different things with some effort, with some investment of my time. Like, so not just, I'll try this for a day and see if it works. And so my wife's like, hey, you should really try acupuncture. I've tried it for injuries before, like sports injuries, and I really didn't feel like it helped that much in the injury front. I have a friend who's a professional tennis player and he lived by it and so I tried it. Didn't work there. But I've been doing acupuncture and I fall asleep within the first 45 seconds.

[Brett Young]

Is that right?

[Mike D]

It's crazy. And I don't know if I'm sleeping better at night yet. And my hours are weird, so my sleep schedule is always a battle. But I've done acupuncture now three weeks in a row, and as soon as she puts the freaking needle, I'm out. You ever done acupuncture at all?

[Brett Young]

I have, but not for sleep. I've done it for like nerve stuff.

[Mike D]

And that's why I did it before. And I. Well, nerve from injury. Was yours injury?

[Brett Young]

We don't. I still don't know. I had a shoulder thing that caused not pain, but caused like tremors and stuff. And it ended up being a nerve impingement. I don't know what it was from.

[Mike D]

What arm?

[Brett Young]

My left. My non dominant arm.

[Mike D]

So you didn't pitch with that arm? You didn't throw with that arm?

[Brett Young]

No, I. My guess, my best guess is that that was like radio tour era and I was walking through airports holding a guitar in that hand and it kind of like pulls your arm out of socket slightly. But you're doing it for hours and hours. And radio tours, like three radio stations a day, five days a week, for nine months if you're lucky, if your song's doing well. And that was the only thing I could think about was texting with my right hand and holding my guitar with my left hand all the time. Other than that, I don't really use my left arm.

[Mike D]

Heavy is that guitar.

[Brett Young]

They're heavy. Have you held like a. The actual like Gibson case with a Gibson in it?

[Mike D]

Yeah.

[Brett Young]

They're like steel.

[Mike D]

I don't know. You're a big dude.

[Brett Young]

If you got a better guess. I don't know.

[Mike D]

I saw on Tick Tock these coffee mugs away. 22 pounds. Have you seen those?

[Brett Young]

No. Why?

[Mike D]

Freaking hilarious.

[Brett Young]

What's the point of this month?

[Mike D]

To see if you can drink out of it without spilling it?

[Brett Young]

That's just. What are we doing?

[Mike D]

I know. I bought one yesterday.

[Brett Young]

That's what we're doing.

[Mike D]

Mike, have you seen that? Weren't they like 200? The one I bought was. It was like 89. It was still too much. It was still too much. I saw that one guy drink it like holding a baby, like no problem. That's the one? Yeah, yeah, that's the one. You haven't seen that one?

[Brett Young]

No.

[Mike D]

You must be on different algorithm than us. We're on the cool guy algorithm. You must be on some nerdy algorithm. Lets take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor. Thank you to the presenting sponsor of today's episode, American Express. I'm a big American Express guy. I travel for work a lot. I'm able to use this card in an amazing way for my business expenses. You know me, I'm on the road. I feel like sometimes too much. But all the points I get makes it so much better. With the Amex Business Platinum, you earn five times membership reward points on flights and prepaid hotels. Book through amextravel.com/ you can work while you're on the go with access to more than 1400 lounges globally through the American Express Global lounge collection, including the Centurion Lounge. That's powerful backing of American Express terms apply. Learn [e-mail] AmExBusiness hi Zoe Saldana. Welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us. Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in. You don't need a trade in. When you switch to T mobile will give you a new iPhone 16 Pro. Plus we'll help you pay off your old Phone up to 800 bucks and you still get to keep it.

[Brett Young]

There's always a trade in.

[Mike D]

Not right now. @ T Mobile. I feel like I have to give you something in return for karma. That's okay. I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender. I'm good.

[Brett Young]

Seriously.

[Mike D]

Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints. Really, I'm fine. Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car.

[Brett Young]

It's our best iPhone offer ever. Switch to T Mobile. Get a new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple intelligence on us, no trade in needed. We'll even pay off your Phone up to 800 bucks with 24 monthly bill credits.

[Mike D]

New line 100 plus a month on experience beyond finance agreement. $999.99 and qualifying forwarded for well qualified plus tax and 10 connection charge. Pay off via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days credits end in balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel see t mobile.com the best AI assistant isn't one that knows the whole world. It's one that knows your world. A custom assistant built on WatsonX with IBM's granite models can leverage your trusted data, be easily trained on your workflows, and integrate with your apps. It can be tuned to do just what you need because the more AI knows about your world, the more it can help you do. Learn [e-mail] productivity IBM let's create. And we're back on the Bobby cast. What what is your algorithm on? Tick tock.

[Brett Young]

Mostly sports. But it ch like it changes based on who's which. One of my friends is like gone on a kick and sent me too many things that day that it's. It got like way. It got political to the point that I was bugged by it and I had to refer. You know, you can go in and reset it. I had to go reset it because everything was Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. And whether good or bad, I'm like, I don't need everything to be political. Like I actually come here for music.

[Mike D]

That's how much whatever is. I had to get off Twitter. Yeah, it's too much.

[Brett Young]

So right now it's mostly baseball and it will be most baseball seasons be mostly baseball. I'm a big Dodgers fan. I think you know that.

[Mike D]

Yeah, but it's like you guys, this is the same question asked my friends at Ohio State. Fans like, how, how fun is it to root for a team that has all the money and doesn't give a crap and just spends more than everybody else?

[Brett Young]

Really fun. Super fun. Yeah, winning's awesome.

[Mike D]

I guess I'm a bit jealous because yeah, winning's awesome, but I don't. I had struggle. So last basketball season I'm a massive Arkansas fan. We have John Calipari. So we spent a bunch of money on our basketball team, but we knew that wasn't going to be our year. But John Tyson, Tyson Chicken, spent millions of dollars. Bunch of nil money. Like, we're going to be really good this year. In the years to come. It just felt weird because I'm not used to being a favorite or having money in anything at all. I'm a Cubs fan. We always suck. Except 2016 and I'm an Arkansas fan and we just generally aren't good.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, you're not wrong. Like it feels better if your team isn't expected to win and then they win. When Ole Miss had that, you know, I played baseball at Ole Miss when they won that college World Series that they weren't expected to even go to. That felt better than. Than the Dodgers winning the World Series. But being a fan of a team that wins more often is still better than being a fan of a team that loses more often.

[Mike D]

Have you met Clayton Kershaw?

[Brett Young]

Not Clayton. Most of the Dodgers. Not Clayton.

[Mike D]

Have you met Otani?

[Brett Young]

No, not yet. He's new to the team.

[Mike D]

I was surprised how big of a dude he was.

[Brett Young]

He's really big.

[Mike D]

We were looking him up today. He's not Brett Young big, but he's 6, 3, 2, 40.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, he's like, he's proportioned the same as me, just a little shorter. He's a big guy.

[Mike D]

Unicorn.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. And he does it all.

[Mike D]

You played baseball at Ole Miss. What was that story? How'd you end up there?

[Brett Young]

SEC had the best conference in college baseball at the time. It does pretty often, but at the time it was like hands down the best. And I was, I had turned down the draft out of high school because they weren't offering enough money and I was going to get a full ride. It just felt like the right decision. And I saw four California schools. You're allowed to go on five official visits. I saw four California schools and then I went to Ole Miss because my high school shortstop had a visit there.

[Mike D]

What were the four California schools?

[Brett Young]

I always forget all of them but. Sc, University of San Diego. The, the private school.

[Mike D]

Like not the Aztec.

[Brett Young]

USD. No, not, not San Diego State.

[Mike D]

Got it.

[Brett Young]

And then so I did sc, ucla, USD. And I always forget the fourth one, but it was in Northern California. It might have been like, it might have been a smaller one like, like Chico or something like that. And it was just because it was a party school and I was interested in maybe having some fun in college.

[Mike D]

Oxford, Mississippi.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. My shortstop got a, got an offer while we were there and it sounded nice to go somewhere with somebody I've been playing with for six years. And our center fielder went on the trip with us, wasn't getting an offer and they gave him what's called a preferred walk on position where he's gonna have to pay for school, but he's going to make the team. And so I just went and they offered me. I think to this date I still might have the biggest scholarship they've ever given a freshman. So it wasn't going to cost my parents anything at the time. They had to split nine scholarships over the whole 30 man roster. And I think I got a full ride. Everything but like books or something like that. So. Best conference in baseball. I got two of my buddies going with me. The girls are beautiful in Oxford. I had a great recruiting visit and then I hated it and left after one year.

[Mike D]

Hey, you saw now that baseball gets full scholarships all the way around, right? Because the new legislation they just passed.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. They've been working on that for a.

[Mike D]

Long time and it's weird that they. They still didn't.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

But now they had to trim the roster back a little bit. But it doesn't matter. I think if, you know, 32 full scholarships or whatever. Hey, victory for baseball.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. Title 9 made everything really hard for a really long time. And football was getting 80 full rides and baseball was trying to split nine between 30 people for the four years I was in school anyway. So that's a good a. That's a good move for baseball.

[Mike D]

No oceans in Oxford.

[Brett Young]

No. Everybody would say, you can go to Biloxi. And that was funny to me. That's like people saying that lakes have beaches. To me, I'm like, no, that's not the same.

[Mike D]

I'm not that person. I didn't say that. I think you're. You pointed at me when you said that. So you assigned that to me.

[Brett Young]

Well, Arkansas, you know.

[Mike D]

Yeah, but, you know, we, you know, we didn't. Beaches, but they're short. I mean, we had docks.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, yeah. You have. Where. You have places where water meets. I worked.

[Mike D]

I worked on marinas. Marinas. That's true. One year at Oxford. Why? What happened?

[Brett Young]

I think mostly I always say homesick, but I think that's a cop out. I think mostly I wasn't happy with the way baseball is going. The coaching staff, while I love them as people, I don't think that it was a right fit for me. I went from, like, earning the number two starting spot as a freshman, pitching on Saturdays, to having one bad game and getting shoved into the bullpen for the rest of the year and kind of forgotten. And had I known that they were going to replace that coaching staff over that summer, they went to Bianco that summer. Had I known they were doing that, I would have stayed, but I was just nervous that I wasn't going to see the field again, which wouldn't have been fair. I was, I was. I won my first two starts and then had one bad outing. So I was like, I was just an 18 year old making a rash decision. I think I should have stayed.

[Mike D]

Did you keep playing ball after that?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, I went to Fresno State and opening that my junior year. I blew up my arm in the bullpen before the game, had Tommy John surgery and.

[Mike D]

So when did the music thing start?

[Brett Young]

Unofficially, and officially, unofficially, I went to a Christian school and everybody led worship. And I got shoved into the position of leading worship every Friday in front of, you know, 700 people or whatever. Always just thinking, that's all it was. I didn't think there was any future in that. That was a hobby and a kid that a thing that kids did to get girls at Christian schools. You know, it was athletes or guys that led worship. And I was like, well, I'll just do both, you know what I mean? And when I hurt my arm, I sank into like a little bit of a depression. I didn't know what I was going to do next. And it was like I was in a big Dave Matthews Band phase. And so it was like drinking beer at the lake and learning how to play Dave Matthews Band songs. And then I moved back from Fresno to Southern California and a few of my friends had gotten jobs in the entertainment industry. And one of them was doing makeup for the Pussycat Dolls. And it was right when they took off, they had don't you at radio at the time. And she introduced me to some industry people. And so we'd end up at these events that would then move to an after party at somebody's house in the Hollywood Hills. And I had to have inevitably get past a guitar until a couple months into that. People were like, you know, you're, you should probably actually pursue this. Like this shouldn't be something that's done at 3am when nobody's really listening. Like you should pursue it. And I took a shot and went and started playing bars and restaurants in Orange county and then moved to LA and started doing it in LA. And I did 10 years of residencies at, sometimes I had five nights a week where I was making a better living than my friends that had jobs.

[Mike D]

And from there you moved to Arizona?

[Brett Young]

Arizona was kind of in the middle of that because the, the COVID gig, you know, in Orange county, it wasn't like Jimmy Iovine was going to walk in to a steakhouse in Corona del Mar. That wasn't going to happen. So since I realized there was no future in that, I went to Arizona to try to write songs. When I came back, I decided I needed to go to la. And so I went and did the same thing after Arizona and LA for a couple years.

[Mike D]

What was it specifically that made you move here to Nashville?

[Brett Young]

All of my friends that were getting record deals were like 19 year old kids sleeping on couches, getting like boy band deals, you know. And I'm now coming into my 30s going, okay, I've been doing this for 10 years. I'm the only one of my friends that I know that's making a living singing, but I'm seeing other people's songs for people eating dinner that don't care. And I, and I thought, you know, I like writing songs. Maybe I go right for. I'm too old to get a record deal is what I thought. I'll go write songs for people that have record deals in Nashville. And it was like less than a year of me pitching songs, and people, instead of putting the song on an artist, they want to know who the demo singer was. And so it happened. Like, I think it took 10 months.

[Mike D]

Were you living out here or were you coming out here and just staying?

[Brett Young]

At first I tried that. So I had a, an investor that I was working with who had connections here, and we came and we made a record here. And after we made that record, I fell in love with the town. I tried to come every once in a while, but it felt like I had to start over in terms of my social network every time I came back. So I moved here thinking, like, if I'm going to be here, I have to actually be here. And so I came here alone. That's, that's, that's why Taylor didn't come at first. It was a kind of a leap of faith to come out here with. I didn't have any connections. I had nobody. I had to come try to make those myself. And, yeah, I just started. I mean, the first 100 songs I wrote here were with. Also with people who had nothing going on. We were just, we were just nobodies together trying to, trying to get somebody to listen. And then I got lucky enough to, to have Laurel Kittleson at Big Machine go. I missed out on Sam Hunt. And I see something here. I'm not gonna miss out on this one. And she brought me to Jimmy Harnon.

[Mike D]

What was the song she heard? Or was it she? Songs kept trickling into her and she was intrigued.

[Brett Young]

I, I've never asked her what song it was. I kind of bullied my way into a writer's round at the Listening Room when it was still downtown before they moved it and she was there.

[Mike D]

Did you know she was going to be there? Did you know people were going to be there?

[Brett Young]

We had. I, I, she. I don't think she, I don't remember who it was that was on the round with me that she was there to see, but she wasn't there to see me.

[Mike D]

Do you know who was on the round.

[Brett Young]

Gosh, I'm trying. It might have been one that I did with Carly Pierce. I used to be on stuff with Carly all the time. And I know that Carly had some interest from a gentleman here that worked with Disney at the time and Big.

[Mike D]

Machine in the end.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, I know. We both ended up in the same place at the end of all that. I don't remember if it was a Carly night or not. There were. There was a group of girls. Do you remember a girl group called Sister C?

[Mike D]

I don't. Do you, Brandon?

[Brett Young]

They had. They ended up having a couple songs and then kind of fizzled out. But before they even had their deal, I was doing writers rounds with them, too. So I was. People had stuff going on on the nights that I would bully my way onto the stage, but Laurel wasn't there to hear me, so she had to use either social media or a friend of a friend to get in touch with me once she had taken me to her. To her label.

[Mike D]

Do you remember Vitamin C as we go on the graduation? Oh, yes, we remember.

[Brett Young]

Is that their only song?

[Mike D]

It's her. It's one girl, one woman and vitamin C. And she had the graduation song. And then they did the smart thing where they put, like, people talking in the middle of it. Kind of like Bruce Springsteen did for the Jerry Maguire song. It'd be like, jerry, I love you girls. But they did have a graduation that was like. That was like the jam. Vitamin C. Different than Sister C, though.

[Brett Young]

You have to. You have to do it right if you're going to talk in a song.

[Mike D]

Yeah, it's hard. Enrique Iglesia's 911 version A plus.

[Brett Young]

You love it.

[Mike D]

Well, I don't love 911. For the record. For the. I just want to state that for the record. Didn't love 9 11. Actually hated 9 11, which would never happen. But awesome version of it. Like, he's like, you can be my. I can be your hero, baby. And it's like the towers have been hitting you. Like, dang.

[Brett Young]

I felt that.

[Mike D]

Yeah. So to talk in a song, it's got to be, like, super special. But, yeah, I put my power rankings of talking in songs. Not hero. 911 version at number one. The Jerry Maguire, Bruce Springsteen. What was. What was that song, though, Mike? Because I'll know it when you tell me. Because it's like the human brain weighs three hands with three pounds. You know, the Jonathan Nikki guy. That was a plus. We used to play that. The Secret Garden. Yes, Secret Garden. Jerry. I love You. That was a good one too. That was good. And then I'll put Graduation song at number three. That was. Those are three great talking songs.

[Brett Young]

I'm surprised Sam Hunt doesn't get in there anywhere.

[Mike D]

No, no, no. I think you're missing this because.

[Brett Young]

No, I'm not missing.

[Mike D]

No, no. This is very elevated. Brett, you wouldn't understand a good talking song.

[Brett Young]

You're doing clips. Yeah, that's the artist talking. I know what you're doing, but I get.

[Mike D]

Wait, how does Sam do. Sam talks into talking.

[Brett Young]

Sam literally talks whole choruses.

[Mike D]

Yeah, but. But that would be weird. Like, Sam's like. Yeah. So here we are. It's the party, and then what, are you gonna put a clip in that?

[Brett Young]

No, but he does it instead of the clip.

[Mike D]

I know he is the clip, but that doesn't count if you're talking.

[Brett Young]

All right.

[Mike D]

Because then I'd put some.

[Brett Young]

I didn't know you had parameters on this.

[Mike D]

Yeah, I just made it all up right. Right now. So they're the only rules.

[Brett Young]

I was sitting here thinking it was actually impressive that you were gonna do a top three off the top of your head right there.

[Mike D]

Yeah, yeah. And it's also risky to go. My Favorite is a 911 song. For the record, I'm really take. I took a chance there.

[Brett Young]

It felt like you're not place of love.

[Mike D]

You're not great unless you take a chance.

[Brett Young]

That's true.

[Mike D]

The Bobbycast.

[Brett Young]

We'll be right back.

[Mike D]

Thank you to the presenting sponsor of today's episode, American Express. I'm a big American Express guy. I travel for work a lot. I'm able to use this card in an amazing way for my business expenses. You know me, I'm on the road. I feel like sometimes too much, but all the points I get makes it so much better. With the Amex business platinum, you earn five times membership reward points on flights and prepaid hotels. Book through amextravel.com/ you can work while you're on the go with access to more than 1400 lounges globally through the American Express global lounge collection, including the Centurion Lounge. That's powerful backing of American Express terms apply. Learn [e-mail] AmExBusiness hi, Zoe Saldana. Welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us. Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in. You don't need a trade in. When you switch to T Mobile will give you a new iPhone 16 Pro. Plus we'll help you pay off your old phone. Up to 800 bucks and you still get to keep it.

[Brett Young]

There's always a trade in.

[Mike D]

Not right now. @ T Mobile. I feel like I have to give you something in return for karma. That's okay. I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender. I'm good.

[Brett Young]

Seriously.

[Mike D]

Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints. Really, I'm fine. Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car.

[Brett Young]

It's our best iPhone offer ever. Switch to T Mobile, get a new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple Intelligence on us. No trade in needed. We'll even pay off your phone.

[Mike D]

Up to 800 bucks with 24 monthly bill credits. New line, 100 plus a month on experience beyond finance agreement. $999.99 and qualifying. Ported for well qualified plus tax and $10 connection charge. Payout via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days credits end and balance due if you pay off early or cancel CT mobile.com the best AI assistant isn't one that knows the whole world. It's one that knows your world. A custom assistant built on WatsonX with IBM's granite models can leverage your trusted data, be easily trained on your workflows, and integrate with your apps. It can be tuned to do just what you need. Because the more AI knows about your world, the more it can help you do. Learn [e-mail] productivity IBM let's create. This is the Bobbycast. When you do a new record, how do you not repeat yourself if yourself has been successful in the past?

[Brett Young]

That's the hardest. That's like the hardest part is to change enough to hopefully, hopefully gain like a. Like a new fan base, but not alienate the ones that have been there from the beginning, I think. But that's always the goal, right? I always say, like, you're. You're continually, continuously pulling back the same curtain a little bit more with your fan base, but you want to leave, like the front of it open. And that's weird for me to say it that way because, like, I can't go back and write Mercy again. Like, that's, that's on can. Like, unless we do what we were talking about earlier and I write Mercy somebody else's story, you know? So I don't know. I don't want to. I don't want to become something that I'm not. But I also don't want to bore people. And I haven't figured out the Answer to that yet. Hopefully we're still doing it, but it's. I think that the. The format. Country music at radio changes often enough. I mean, I've been here 12 years, and we went from what we were calling bro country to what I feel like is full blown traditional country right now for the most part. It changes often enough that if you kind of follow what's working, you might stay fresh and different enough. But. But I don't know the answer. I think it's more important to be authentic than it is to worry about boring people.

[Mike D]

I think, sonically, same question, right? Even if the songs aren't the same, if you're same producer. Different producer on this new record.

[Brett Young]

Dan was on a lot of this record again, but I did use Jimmy Robbins a little bit on this record.

[Mike D]

Dan's also good at, I won't say changing, but modifying per the artist. Like Dan's special and. And just. Yeah. So if you're using different producer a little bit, you also sonically don't want it to sound very similar where someone. Where you've been gone for a while now. Let's. Let's hear Brett's new music. And it's like. Well, sounds very much the same. Like it's a fear, right?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, well, I think it's. I think everybody. You can look at the biggest artists in our format right now, and they're. They're getting accused of that by some people. Yeah. I mean, it was fun working with Jimmy because we did do a few things with. Dan loves to take just a guitar and a vocal and start from scratch. That's his favorite way to create. He wants. He wants to start from the ground up. I would imagine most producers do, rather than having to kind of use what something that's already been created and work around that. With Jimmy. There were a couple songs. My current single I wrote 10 years ago. The production on that was. It was in the middle of bro country. The production on that sounds full pop across the board. That's not what's working right now. So with Jimmy, we got to go in and go, let's deconstruct this all the way down to the vocal and melody and start over with what's working and put this kind of Americana thing on it. And so stuff like that was actually really fun. And I think when you do stuff like that, when you're pushing towards a sound that you haven't done before, you do give yourself the opportunity to be a little bit different than you've been in the past. And I think we did that a few times on this record. But again, I never want. I never want to be like, the guy that's, like, Moves to Town and FGL is killing it. So I put Try to sound like FGO on 12 songs either. You know, I still want. I still want it to sound like me.

[Mike D]

You ever do anything that's really weird and you're like, ah, we probably shouldn't go this. This hard. Do this different of a song so often. I think that's good. I think you should do that.

[Brett Young]

We sometimes will write that song thinking there's no way anybody will ever hear this, but we need to. That we need this exercise in songwriting to not get stagnant. Or we were. Me and Jimmy had a guy named Tim Myers, who was originally in One Republic, who left the band but is still a big songwriter, come into town, and I had this ridiculous idea that I was half kidding when I threw it out. And we wrote it, and it's a song called Conway to Kanye. And it's basically. It's like. Basically saying, like, if I'm gonna go out tonight, I want the DJ to play everything from Conway Twitty to Kanye West.

[Mike D]

I mean, that's the electric cowboy. Where I grew up, they played everything from Conway Twitty to Nelly. It was a little before Kanye, but. Yeah, I. Wait, did you cut that?

[Brett Young]

I have a demo of it.

[Mike D]

That's awesome. That's not even.

[Brett Young]

I rap in the. In the bridge.

[Mike D]

Okay, don't do that. But that. That feel. That feels weird to say, but once. It makes plenty of sense, because I think everybody lives that Conway. Well, I wouldn't say Kanye anymore either, because the Hitler stuff, but still like that.

[Brett Young]

He. He. He took that back again, though.

[Mike D]

Yeah, but you're.

[Brett Young]

For like, a week, probably.

[Mike D]

It's kind of like when. When Elon Musk was like, trump, you're on the Epstein files. You can delete the tweet, but you really can't delete it. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Kanye can't really take it.

[Brett Young]

I was just kidding. I agree with you.

[Mike D]

Yeah. Okay. I just made. I'm just saying.

[Brett Young]

I'm pretty sure I couldn't even if we loved the song, put that song out.

[Mike D]

But this is what sucks, too. Kanye has freaking bangers.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

Like college Dropouts. Like, one of the greatest albums of our lifetime. Can you separate art from artist?

[Brett Young]

I wish I could.

[Mike D]

I feel like I can if I like the song enough. I'll be honest. I believe I can fly. R. Kelly, still the jam. I Hate the dude, by the way. Hate the dude. Hate 911 for the record. Hate R. Kelly and hate 9 11. I believe I can fly. Space Jam. Tell me if that comes on and you're not like arms out like.

[Brett Young]

It can catch my subconscious but if I start thinking about it I gotta turn.

[Mike D]

It off About Michael Jackson because he really didn't get convicted of anything. He just settled.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

I'm giving him all these really?

[Brett Young]

No, no no no no no no no no. That's gray area. That's gray area.

[Mike D]

I'll listen to Michael Jackson.

[Brett Young]

Me too.

[Mike D]

Especially after watching the documentaries about. I felt like he was set up and made.

[Brett Young]

Are you as Diddy next?

[Mike D]

Where are we going with this bad dude?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, can't list, can't listen to no.

[Mike D]

Cuz I saw Diddy beat the crap out of Cassie and I don't care what freak offs he did. Like find me a dude that hits woman like that. I'll find you somebody I wish never existed. So but like I need a girl part two kind of a jam. But I'm. I'm diddy free right now. I'm like at the airport when you don't want to pay taxes going to a foreign country Diddy free.

[Brett Young]

Proud of you.

[Mike D]

That's duty free. But you got it, right?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, no, I got it.

[Mike D]

Yeah. It's a weird like I didn't stop listen like I didn't stop listening to Ryan Adams. Cuz I like Ryan Adams.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. He went through a thing he did.

[Mike D]

And I didn't like it and I don't like that. And maybe I don't think I'd be friends with him but his music's good.

[Brett Young]

It's really hard for me to separate to the point where if I really get into somebody or their art, I do the whole like don't meet your heroes thing. I'll avoid them on purpose because I don't want to let them ruin it for me.

[Mike D]

The hard thing about artists is artists are artists because they're. We'll just use the universal term weird. I think there's an insecurity in anybody who creates because we're trying to find love in a way. Right. It doesn't matter what it is if I'm doing comedy or you're like they're. You have to have a screw loose to do this, whatever this is and hopefully it's the right screw. But many times a person that is doing an art also has an art brain and an art brain can be very dangerous because you're going to do weird Things in one area, and you just hope they're the legal areas. The hardest thing for me is there are people in this town that I just don't like as people, and they make really good music, and so I'm not allowed to like their music because I don't like them.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

Like, that's a hard part for me.

[Brett Young]

Especially with what you do.

[Mike D]

Yeah. Yeah. I just. I don't ever talk bad about them. I just. They just don't exist to me. Yeah, it's. You ever see that Black Mirror episode where they block? Watch Black Mirror. Oh, it's the greatest show ever. Yeah.

[Brett Young]

Is that. Wait, hold on. Do I need to. We need a show right now. Is that our next show? No, it's not.

[Mike D]

No.

[Brett Young]

Okay. Is it my next show?

[Mike D]

You'd be a worse person if you.

[Brett Young]

Okay, so don't. I don't.

[Mike D]

The Office at 1 power ranking. My favorite TV shows ever. Thank you for asking. The Office at 1 still, I think it's Black Mirror, too.

[Brett Young]

Wow.

[Mike D]

All time. And the episodes have nothing to do with each other. They're all separate. And it's basically where technology, like, all the dark places technology is taking us. Mike, where does that fall on your list? I mean, yeah, some of that stuff has actually come true because it started back in, like, early 2010s. Some of that stuff. It's reality now. Watch. I don't. I don't do homework with you because you'll beat me up. You're a lot bigger than I am. But White Bear, if you go to Black Man, I believe it's season two. Season two, yeah. Episode. There's an episode called White Bear. Watch that. And if you're like, I think this show's for me, then you continue. I'll answer back, dude, that's my favorite show. But I'm dark.

[Brett Young]

It's funny because, like, office into that. One of these things is not like the other. And that's one, two for you.

[Mike D]

Yeah.

[Brett Young]

You feel like if you watch enough Black Mirror, then you got to, like, I did. Settle down with a little office palate cleanser. For sure.

[Mike D]

Because you start to hate. It's like we're talking about social media, and you just get all the. Whatever it is, and you just felt, like, feel worse about yourself.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

How famous do you want to be? I've been talking about this in therapy. How famous do you want?

[Brett Young]

I don't like it. It's. It's. It's. I'm lucky that I fly under the radar for the most part. And it's still too much for me. Like if, if I'm, if I'm there to be the artist, then I'm good with all of it. But if I'm doing everyday stuff, I don't like that it creeps in.

[Mike D]

So there's a level of fame that you cannot get to then if that's where you're most comfortable. Because you can't be ubiquitous. You can't be ubiquitous in culture and be able to float through without people knowing who you are.

[Brett Young]

It depends on what your question actually is. Do I like it or am I willing to put up with it?

[Mike D]

Okay, both. Do you like it?

[Brett Young]

I don't. I only like it to a point and I only like it in its place. But I realize it doesn't work that way. I would like, I would like to be. What was the question? Famous enough to not worry about my family being provided for. That's the answer you're looking for.

[Mike D]

But no, no, I'm not looking for an answer. Your fame is associated with financial success, stability, being able to provide.

[Brett Young]

I never ever cared about people knowing who I was or being famous. Going into this, I wanted to make music for a living because I didn't want to do something I hated to make money.

[Mike D]

You're kind of hard to, to even if you weren't an artist. Like, you just walk through. You have a pretty dominating presence. It's the whole six five in boots thing. Are you six, six in boots?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, close enough.

[Mike D]

I don't mean to insult you there, smally.

[Brett Young]

No, yeah, little guy. I, I, strangely, as big as I am, I don't get like picked out of crowds. I don't like walk through the airport and get attention.

[Mike D]

I think you're just missing it then because you're also a good looking guy. And I think you're out of your mind if you don't think that or you're playing humbly where. I believe you feel that way because sometimes people will say that crap and I'm like, I know you're lying.

[Brett Young]

I.

[Mike D]

Because there's a microphone in front of you. I believe you feel that way.

[Brett Young]

No, I genuinely do.

[Mike D]

No, I, I do believe you feel that way, but there's no way that's true.

[Brett Young]

I, you're, there's a. You have to be right a little bit. Because my wife will, will walk through an airport and then she'll be like, she'll start talking about something like she thought I saw it too, and I didn't. And so maybe I'm just oblivious, but she'll Be like. She'll be like, I can't believe they didn't come ask for a picture. And I'll be like, who they? She's like, well, way back there by the. The bar that we walked by, there were these three girls, and I'm like, I. I don't know.

[Mike D]

Working theory. You're too tall. You can't even see.

[Brett Young]

I look right over them. Right over the top. Yes, there it is. I'm gonna go with that.

[Mike D]

That's the theory I told my therapist fame is. And I don't even know what fame is anymore, because everybody can be famous for something. Because there are no real gatekeepers. At least there aren't near as many as there used to be. You can be the world's greatest cauliflower expert and have a little bit of fame in a pocket of the world where people know you as being a cauliflower influencer. Like, it doesn't matter. You can be famous to somebody doing almost anything if you're an expert and you're good at it. And my therapist is like, what's. You know, what do you want? How famous? I only want to be famous enough that I can play celebrity golf tournaments, and if I want to go and throw out the first pitch at a Cubs game, they'll be like, yeah, of course. That's. That's it. Because I had a brief minute where I got really close to it. I was on Idol, and I won Dancing with the Stars, and I wasn't famous, but I was like, fame adjacent. It was when I was. It was the most. It was the height, and it got. It got really weird with, like.

[Brett Young]

You didn't like it.

[Mike D]

It was. I like some of it because the money was awesome.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. And getting to do cool things like throw out first pitches. That's great.

[Mike D]

That's the best. It was the most fun. But it just got weird sometimes, like, people, like, coming to the house, like, driving by the house. We moved because there's a side road near our last town. Like, there was a lot of that. And now that I'm married, my wife does not like it at all. Like, she's anti. She doesn't like being in the public at all.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

So I think that's my. That's my level. I want to get to. I want to just. Like, the Savannah Bananas are in town. They'd like for you to come out and play. I. I don't need to be any more than that, because I like what I do. That's the level. That's where I want to peak right there.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. I like how you did it. Your answer is like, in terms of what it gives you access to. I like it for that reason. I like all of it for that reason. I got to do. I got to pitch an inning for the Bananas last year. Come on. I'm 44. Baseball was supposed to be my thing my whole life. I bullied my way into it. They wanted me to come sing. I said, I'll sing if I can pitch, you know? But still, like, so I enjoy those sides of it. So I shouldn't. I shouldn't be so anti. I'm not totally anti.

[Mike D]

I didn't. I didn't take it as anti, by the way. I don't. You may have felt that tone, but that tone did not come out that way.

[Brett Young]

Okay.

[Mike D]

Yeah.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. I like. I like. I like the cool things I get to do as a result, for sure.

[Mike D]

What's the coolest thing you get to do because of your success?

[Brett Young]

The coolest thing for me is probably not the coolest thing to everybody, but for me, because it's sentimental. My. I'm a Dodgers fan because of my dad. My dad's been a Dodgers fan since he was nine years old. When my second. I think it was my second record came out. One of the pieces that we did, we did in la, and we actually got to use the field at Dodger Stadium. Corey Seeger and I did this. Like, we played catch and interviewed together and stuff. But at the end of it, they let me stand on the mound and my dad stand behind home plate, and they let me play catch with my dad at Dodger Stadium. I couldn't give him anything cooler in his whole life than that. And I got to do it because I sing country music. Pretty cool.

[Mike D]

That's a great story.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

I got the first pitch out at Wrigley. My stepdad was a massive Cubs fan who made me a massive Cubs fan. And to be able to take him on the field, like it's top three moment.

[Brett Young]

How was your pitch?

[Mike D]

It's awesome because I'm not stupid. I didn't. I didn't try to throw it hard.

[Brett Young]

Lofted it right in there.

[Mike D]

I also know aim high because you'll. You'll bounce it in. If you get up on the mountain, you try to throw it hard, you're gonna try to throw it to the mitt, and you're not going to realize that 60ft, 6 inches is further than you were. It's a little further, yeah. And so I got up two thirds on the mound and Throw high. And so it just.

[Brett Young]

Boop.

[Mike D]

Dropped right in there.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

And walked off. I've gotten pretty good at the first pitch thing because I know my limitations, and I'm not trying. What am I going to do? Henry Rowan Gardner.

[Brett Young]

It's. Nobody's going to be impressed. Even if you stand on the mound and throw. What. I mean, what are we going to do within a 70mph strike?

[Mike D]

59.

[Brett Young]

Are people.

[Mike D]

Are people going to applaud me for throwing a 59 mph strike?

[Brett Young]

It's kind of like the anthem.

[Mike D]

It's.

[Brett Young]

If you do good, they look away. If you do bad, they make fun of you.

[Mike D]

Yeah. You can crush the. And. And I'm glad you said that. I have some. Well, not mentioned them by name. Very prominent music industry friends who are like, I will not sing the national anthem. And it's not because they don't love the country. They also hate 9 11.

[Brett Young]

For the record, they hate that, too.

[Mike D]

Yes. But they are like, if I get up and absolutely murder in the best way, people are like, all right, let's play the game. But if I do anything wrong, somebody's recorded with their phone and it is going viral. So, yeah, we should, like, remove that. I practice the national anthem of the shower sometimes singing it. I've never sang it before because I can't really sing.

[Brett Young]

How do you enjoy it when you sing it?

[Mike D]

I have to start really low.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, me too.

[Mike D]

Yeah, but you. But you can sing. Oh, I start in the key of baritone.

[Brett Young]

I love that key.

[Mike D]

Is that. It's okay.

[Brett Young]

It's a great key. I really.

[Mike D]

My wife's always. I did this prank on my wife once where I. I hit record on my phone. I just laid my phone down, and I was like, hey, the. The. The Rays. She's sports fan enough. I was like, the Rays have asked me to come sing the national anthem. I've never seen. I will never. I'm not a singer. I can only sing comedy songs, and I can only sing good enough that my badness doesn't take away from the comedy.

[Brett Young]

You do a good job.

[Mike D]

I do a good job at making you not go, oh, he sucks. But nobody ever goes, oh, he's good. I just want you to get the jokes. And it's through music. It's not distractingly enough bad. So I can. Sure. Perfect. I just. I just sing in G the whole time. Right. Pretty easy key to singing. But I told my wife, I'm like, hey, they've asked me to sing the national anthem at the Rays game. And I'm recording the whole thing. And she's like, they did it was met instantly like that. And I was like, why do you say it like that? She goes, oh, I. What are you going to do? And you hear then start to be.

[Brett Young]

Super really hoping you're not going to do it. Say all the right things.

[Mike D]

Yes. And I'm like, I think I'm going to do it. Like, I've never actually sang serious. I've never seen the national anthem, but I think she's like, do you think, you know, maybe you should try it somewhere smaller a couple times? And I have like this four minute conversation of her being the most supportive yet. Hey, don't do that, buddy.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, that.

[Mike D]

That conversation.

[Brett Young]

I know that conversation.

[Mike D]

Yeah. Yeah. But I didn't. I never did it. I was never gonna do it. I can't do it. But the anthem, that's a tough one because that key change will get you even in the shower.

[Brett Young]

I will give you advice and tell you a funny story.

[Mike D]

I don't want advice because I'm not gonna do it. You giving me advice makes me think I'm gonna do it. So remove the advice. Just give me the story. Give advice to somebody listening that's thinking.

[Brett Young]

About doing it to somebody that's listening. Let the organ player play it in the key that you want to play it in so you don't lose the key of the song.

[Mike D]

Got it.

[Brett Young]

Dodgers did that for me. Save me. The best national anthem I've ever sang was the only one I've gotten roasted for.

[Mike D]

Why?

[Brett Young]

NHL All Star Game. It's online. You can go look it up. It's the best I've ever sang it. I got roasted for, quote unquote, the longest national anthem of all time. I think that the average is like 2 minutes and 10 seconds. And mine was just under 2 minutes. Mine was short, but I know exactly when it happened because I heard it while I was out there. I was out in the middle of the ice, and that little pause at the end, and the home of the brave. There's a pause there, right? That pause was just long enough that the audience started singing before I did. And it made people feel dumb that they were singing before the song, before they were supposed to. I know that's what it was because they ripped on how long this version.

[Mike D]

Was, and it was.

[Brett Young]

It was shorter than the average. But I got. And it got. Twitter took a hold of it and it became a thing.

[Mike D]

Did that ruin your relationship with singing it publicly?

[Brett Young]

No, I went right back to the Dodgers and said it again. Yeah, it just. Just. It just. I hope nobody hates me for this, but it just solidified my dislike for hockey.

[Mike D]

I don't get hockey. I grew up in Arkansas. Yeah, but you grew up in California. At least you had, like, the Kings, the Ducks. Nothing.

[Brett Young]

My neighbors did. I had baseball, basketball, and football.

[Mike D]

Yeah. What about soccer? I didn't get me either.

[Brett Young]

Hockey is soccer on ice.

[Mike D]

Interesting.

[Brett Young]

Except they allow fighting because they know people don't like it, and if they take out fighting, people will really not go. Sorry, I'm. I'm.

[Mike D]

No, I'm grandstanding right now. No, I. Soccer seems to be a little more running than skating. Yeah. Yeah. You watch Stanley cup at all?

[Brett Young]

No.

[Mike D]

Yeah. A lot of my podcasts will talk about it, so, like, I know who's in it. I know it's Edmonton and Florida.

[Brett Young]

I'll be watching reruns of the Office. You'll be proud of me for it.

[Mike D]

You have 11 songs on this record. This is an era where people are putting a lot, a lot, a lot of songs. I'm sure you recorded or at least wrote a lot more songs. Why 11? Why only 11? Why as many as 11?

[Brett Young]

I mean, 11 wasn't the sought after number. I. I probably have 350 unreleased songs, like, from writers rooms that are, like, produced out as demos.

[Mike D]

How many?

[Brett Young]

Probably like three.

[Mike D]

Really?

[Brett Young]

Somewhere between 300 and 400. Yeah. Every time I make a record, I. It's like I said earlier, I want there to be at least something for everybody, at least one thing for everybody. I want there to be a heartbreak song. I want there to be a love song now. I want there to be something family oriented. There's a couple of those on this record. And then, sonically, I kind of want to have a little bit of everything. And I feel like in this climate, if you're Morgan Wallen or somebody like that, where every song you put out is getting treated like a single, then, sure, I'll put 37 songs on a record. But the reality for me and the way that my songs are consumed, the singles get the attention, and I get somewhere between two and four singles off a record. And so I don't want to burn too many songs on a record knowing that Drink with you that I wrote 10 years ago had single potential. I held it till a record. I knew it would be singled on. And I do that with. I do that with all. I call them my babies. I do it with all my babies. I want them to get a chance to. To have their day.

[Mike D]

Let's Take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor. Thank you to the presenting sponsor of today's episode, American Express. I'm a big American Express guy. I travel for work a lot. I'm able to use this card in an amazing way for my business expenses. You know me, I'm on the road. I feel like sometimes too much, but all the points I get makes it so much better. With the Amex Business Platinum, you earn five times membership reward points on flights and prepaid hotels. Book through amextravel.com/ you can work while you're on the go with access to more than 1400 lounges globally through the American Express Global Lounge Collection, including the Centurion Lounge. That's powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn [e-mail] AmExBusiness hi Zoe Saldana welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us. Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in. You don't need to trade in. When you switch to T Mobile, we'll get give you a new iPhone 16 Pro plus we'll help you pay off your old Phone up to 800 bucks and you still get to keep it.

[Brett Young]

There's always a trade in.

[Mike D]

Not right now. @ T Mobile. I feel like I have to give you something in return for karma. That's okay. I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender. I'm good. Seriously, Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints. Really, I'm fine. Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car.

[Brett Young]

It's our best iPhone offer ever. Switch to T Mobile. Get a new iPhone 16 Pro with Apple Intelligence on us. No trade in needed. We'll even pay off your phone up to 800 bucks with 24 monthly bill credits.

[Mike D]

New line 100 plus a month on experience beyond Finance Agreement 999.99 and qualifying boarded for well qualified plus tax and 10 connection charge payout via virtual prepaid card allow 15 days credits and balance due if you pay off early or cancel CT mobile.com your business deploys AI pilots everywhere. But are they going anywhere or are they stuck in silos, exhausting resources, unable to scale? Maybe you don't need hundreds of AI pilots. You need a holistic strategy. IBM has 65,000 consultants with Genai expertise who can help you design, integrate and optimize AI solutions. So you're not just deploying AI you're scaling it across your business. Learn more@ IBM.com consulting. IBM, let's create. And we're back on the Bobby cast. You have lady A on one of the tracks. You guys are pretty tight, huh?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, I love those guys.

[Mike D]

Who do you ask of the group or do you ask the manager? Because since I know all three of them. All three of them I know very differently because they're all very different people.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, for sure. This was Charles. This was Charles. I. I wrote this song knowing that I wanted another artist parent to feature on it. And it just happened to be that. The same day that I got the demo back of the song, I was flying back from Augusta with Charles from his charity event. And so like light bulb went off. I was like, I don't get just one artist parent here. I would get three. Let me play this for Charles real quick. And he immediately said, let me call the guys and see what they think.

[Mike D]

You tour to them, huh?

[Brett Young]

My first tour, 53.

[Mike D]

53 dates, they said 1953.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

I've been in this town a long time. 53 dates with them.

[Brett Young]

They kept extending. We ended up doing Europe with him too. That was the one that Kelsey was on.

[Mike D]

That is a long batch of shows. That's pretty cool.

[Brett Young]

It was. It was a blast. I think we booked that and then I shouldn't say my first tour because after we booked that, Luke took me out for three weekends. Luke Ryan, that was me, him and Brett Eldridge, and then even Lee Bryce and Justin Moore had that co headlining tour. So we filled the, like, couple months leading up to the lady A. But my first, like full tour was.

[Mike D]

Lady A. I have a couple questions about this because as we're recording this, I don't have the. The record. So I sometimes I like not having the record because I can ask dumber questions and have an excuse. But when I see taste like you. That's funny.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. They didn't let me put that out on the first couple records because they thought the title would be too risque.

[Mike D]

That's funny. That's why. Yeah. So is it. What? I don't know. What's that song about?

[Brett Young]

So that I like that. He's just like, I haven't. I haven't heard this. Tell me about it.

[Mike D]

That's what I know what it's about.

[Brett Young]

It's about a breakup ruining like some of your favorite things because you enjoyed them with that person. So, like, whiskey tastes like you. Like, I can't drink whiskey anymore, even though it's my favorite thing. Because it reminds me of drinking whiskey with you or kissing you after you had a drink of whiskey or so on and so forth.

[Mike D]

It's a lot less pervy than where my mind goes, all right, Full House. How rude. That's what I think of.

[Brett Young]

That's my. It's not the show. I could have called it Fuller House too, right? It's about my daughter. It's weird. Wanted four kids, and after we brought our second daughter home, I had this, like, really overwhelming feeling that that completed our family, and my wife agreed, and so Full House just meant that she completed our family.

[Mike D]

In case you didn't know, 2.0 finally.

[Brett Young]

Gave men being bad at expressing their feelings the female perspective. I, I, I just was think I. For the longest time. It's in weddings and stuff. And I was like, well, this is really a song about men not expressing their feelings, but then it's used in weddings. So women marry us and stay with us even though we can't express our feelings. Like, what's, what's the deal there? And so I, I really liked Hannah McFarland's voice, and I thought, let's not get the same four knuckleheads in the room to try to fake like, we know the woman's perspective. Let's let Hannah write it with us. So we brought her in, and she crushed it.

[Mike D]

You know what's interesting about you? I. I think, like, I like hearing you say stuff. I don't feel like you say that much stuff.

[Brett Young]

What do you mean?

[Mike D]

Like, you have opinions and, like, you're not afraid to talk about stuff. I just don't know you was talking about, like, I know you, and if I saw you at a restaurant, I would stop and be like, hey, dude, what's up? Good to see you. So I know you well enough to do that, but, like, I don't see you saying stuff. You should say more stuff.

[Brett Young]

I. If you're getting at what I think you are.

[Mike D]

I'm not getting at anything. I'm just saying I don't know you to say much stuff, and you say a lot of stuff, and I've enjoyed hearing you say stuff. So, like, say, I don't know.

[Brett Young]

I, I have, like, a pretty probably unrealistic fear of misuse of platform because when other people do it, it grosses me out. I think if you're famous for being a music musician, then talk about music. Don't use your socials to tell people how to vote.

[Mike D]

I'm not saying tell people.

[Brett Young]

I know, I know. But when I'm A very opinionated person. Like, overly opinionated. And I try to keep that out of the world where fans are consuming the things that I say and do.

[Mike D]

You have to be polarizing.

[Brett Young]

I know, but I'm worried that I will anyways.

[Mike D]

Oh, you. I think if we hung out enough, we'd want to punch each other in the face. But I think that's good thing. Like my best friends I want to punch in the face.

[Brett Young]

I agree. Those are the best friendships.

[Mike D]

Yes. I just think you should say a little more.

[Brett Young]

I'll say anything you want.

[Mike D]

No, no, I'm not asking you to. No, I'm not asking you to say anything specific. It just. You're an interesting guy. You're compelling when you talk, even when you have opinions. I don't agree with. Like, I don't think hockey is soccer. I think they're too. Even though I don't get either one of them. And I'd push back normally if I cared. I don't care. I don't like either one of the sports. But I think you have a lot to say. I think it's interesting. I think you should say more. That's my only piece.

[Brett Young]

I just want you to one time tell that to my wife.

[Mike D]

I probably don't need to do that. Dude. Congrats. Congrats on the new record.

[Brett Young]

Thank you.

[Mike D]

It's always a big deal because it's a lot of time and energy and work, and then you put it out, and then you have to wait and see how people feel about it. That's always a very vulnerable feeling.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, it is. And it's also nowadays, just the way the. The climate and the way people consume music, there's an upside to it, which is you. You put it out with a single, and then before you pick your next single, you get to see how people feel about the rest of the record. And so there. There are some perks that come with it, but also, it's just. It. It's a weird time. So it's. It's. It's nice to have a new project and be proud of it, but you kind of got to just go into it kind of hopeful with. With, you know, no expectations. I'm. I can know that I'm proud of everything that I put on this record. This is actually the most meaningful record I've ever put out for me because it touches on things I was going through 10 years ago, and it touches on things that I went through last week. So I'm really proud of it and excited to put it out hopefully it. Hopefully it grabs the right ears.

[Mike D]

Did you write today?

[Brett Young]

I did. I came straight from a ride actually.

[Mike D]

Was a good one.

[Brett Young]

It was a good one. Yeah. I like to. One thing that I like to do. I'll let you know what the song was today. I like to. There's a song on that record called say Less. I like to grab things that quote unquote, the kids are saying these days. Maybe it makes me feel younger or relevant or whatever and turn it into a song. And we, we did one of those today.

[Mike D]

You didn't do Kanye to Conway.

[Brett Young]

No, but I will send. When we get, when we get done here. I'll say.

[Mike D]

I think that's a brilliant concept though. It just can't be used right now. But it's like you were pushing yourself to write something ridiculous that ended up being really, really like. That's so relatable because I think that's everybody our age that went out.

[Brett Young]

Yeah.

[Mike D]

Especially if you grew up where country music was. It rarely was just all two stepping music. It was Nelly, it was freaking Baja Men. And then it was like three country songs in a row.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. My childhood was Blink 182 and offspring. And yeah, it's. You want. And you do want to. I think if you're, if you're a girl, you're more likely to want hip hop the whole time because you want to dance to everything. But if you're a dude and you're stuck in that same bar, you're like, can we have some variety? Can we not listen to this beat all night?

[Mike D]

Well, can we slow dance? Because most guys don't want to dance because they either are embarrassed to or they can't.

[Brett Young]

And it's. And if we. We're not that good at breaking the ice. So it's can I buy you a drink? Or it's like would you dance with me? And we're not going to do that to some hip hop.

[Mike D]

It's hard to hear that from you. I just don't believe you had problems breaking ice. You're friggin six six and good looking. Yeah, you want to see somebody breaking eyes? Look, watch me walk up with a pocket protector. Mind me my dance.

[Brett Young]

What makes you think I don't wear pocket protectors?

[Mike D]

Yeah. Last thing I want to say. You know what I didn't like?

[Brett Young]

What?

[Mike D]

5 Tour 321. Do you know how hard it was to say? I don't even know what I was saying half the time. It made sense once I figured it.

[Brett Young]

Out, but I'm so Happy you survived it, though.

[Mike D]

Barely. I've been holding on to that one.

[Brett Young]

It's not like you had to talk about my tour a hundred times.

[Mike D]

No, I know. I know. I just remember being irritated.

[Brett Young]

You were irritated one time, and it stuck with you.

[Mike D]

How do. How I'm supposed to say this? Five to.

[Brett Young]

We even made the. The T look like a four.

[Mike D]

It was genius. But I would see it, like, put on paper for me. I would never get the actual logo.

[Brett Young]

I'm so sorry to bum you out. What would you. You want to name my next tour? I'll let you.

[Mike D]

Nah. Yeah, Yeah, I do. I'll let you name it Conway to Kanye.

[Brett Young]

You don't want to have anything to do with my current record. Oh, geez. All right.

[Mike D]

Do you know Conway? Twitter? That wasn't his real name.

[Brett Young]

What was his real name?

[Mike D]

His name was, like, I don't know, Richard or something. But Mikey may look up his real name, but he went on a map, and he found Conway, Arkansas. But he grew up in Arkansas.

[Brett Young]

I did hear this story.

[Mike D]

Near Helena and Twitty, Texas.

[Brett Young]

I did hear this story.

[Mike D]

Mike, what is it? Harold Lloyd. Harold. There we go.

[Brett Young]

Harry.

[Mike D]

Yeah. Dude. That dude was a pimp.

[Brett Young]

He was a pimp. See, he didn't need icebreakers.

[Mike D]

No, he had sideburns. Yeah, like, big ones.

[Brett Young]

Do we need to grow sideburns?

[Mike D]

I did for a while. Didn't work. I haven't grew them where they, like, ate my face to the front. Oh, yeah. I was trying anything for attention. Wow.

[Brett Young]

Did you ride, like, a. Did you ride, like, a Yamaha bike, too?

[Mike D]

Remove Honda. Remove Yamaha or Honda.

[Brett Young]

But you did have a motorcycle?

[Mike D]

No, just a bike. Oh, there's a bicycle. Yeah.

[Brett Young]

Road for Uber eats.

[Mike D]

Yeah, it wasn't very cool. All right. New album, 2.0. It's just 2.0.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. Yeah. It was originally because of the. The version of in case you didn't know, but we started thinking about, like, new. New chapter in my life. Taking care of myself.

[Mike D]

I like it. You know, I would tell you if I didn't, because I'd be, like, five toward three, two, one.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, I know you didn't like that one.

[Mike D]

Yeah, not really, but 2.0. Like, I like it.

[Brett Young]

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[Mike D]

It's pretty good. Hey, what's up? The. The artist that sings on the 2.0 of in case you didn't know, Hannah McFarland. Why'd you choose her?

[Brett Young]

You know what? She didn't even have anything going on at the time. I heard her. She would post A bunch of her, like, playing and singing covers, and I just loved her. There's a little bit of that Leanne Womack thing going on in her voice, and I've got such a deep voice that, like, I just always thought I wanted to sing on a song with her. And she didn't have offers or anything when we brought her in to write the song. And in between writing it and getting ready to make the record, she got a little traction, and it was like, she's already on the demo. I need to have her on the record. She crushed it. I think she's a star.

[Mike D]

That's awesome.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, it was cool.

[Mike D]

Final two questions. Do you play anything now, like, sports?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, I'm kind of obsessed with golf.

[Mike D]

You are playing a lot of golf?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, I'm suck at it. But, like, it's the only sport I've been bad at and still enjoyed.

[Mike D]

You have a handicap?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, I'm a 14.

[Mike D]

You know who I play a lot of pickleball with is Ross Copperman.

[Brett Young]

Who does he pickle?

[Mike D]

Oh, dude, he's really good.

[Brett Young]

I didn't know he ever got away from his athletic greens. I just always see him with a.

[Mike D]

Well, you talk about somebody loves Brian Johnson.

[Brett Young]

Yeah, well, that dude loves him just being full Brian Johnson podcast and the whole thing.

[Mike D]

He, like, posts pictures of his meals and he's like, this is the Brian Johnson meal. It's like all broccoli. But Russ, he was a big tennis player. He was.

[Brett Young]

I didn't know that.

[Mike D]

So he's good at playing pickleball.

[Brett Young]

I bet he is.

[Mike D]

But like, creatives like yourself, sometimes we have days open where all my work friends have like to. They have to work.

[Brett Young]

I'll come. I'll come into town.

[Mike D]

You live too far.

[Brett Young]

You look to her. It's 25 minutes left to work.

[Mike D]

Okay, that's. That's one question. The other question is, give me your Mount Rushmore. Four favorite artists of all time.

[Brett Young]

That's really hard.

[Mike D]

I know. And no, no cheating. No, no. Number five.

[Brett Young]

No, no, no.

[Mike D]

Need four straight.

[Brett Young]

There's three that are easy for me because of their influences they had on me. First concert I ever went to was Boys to Men. I know. They're not all four. They're just one.

[Mike D]

That counts as one. Have you ever met him?

[Brett Young]

Yeah, I've got. I got to do two different crossroads with them.

[Mike D]

That's awesome. What a dumb question by me. And no research, but they were all, they're awesome, aren't they?

[Brett Young]

So they're the nicest people and they're They're. I have actually the demo of my song, you didn't that I put out by myself. Wanye sings on the second verse on the demo. He's on it. I have that demo. I want to release it someday. But Boys to Men, first concert I ever went to was Boys to Men in Montel Jordan. So boys, to mention the song that got me into country music in Southern California when there was no country music was 1993, don't take the girl, Tim McGraw. So he's there. He's the reason I found country. The record that made me want to write my own songs was Gavin degras first record, Chariot. And then I think my favorite voice of all time, my parents, they don't know how good their taste in music was. It was accidental that they fell on soul and R B. But Sam Cooke is my favorite voice of all time.

[Mike D]

Yeah, Sam Cook's pretty legit.

[Brett Young]

Yeah. He just sings. He doesn't. He. He like Mrs. Because he's going for it, and it sounds better because he did. And I think there's something special in that.

[Mike D]

Yeah. Favorite Sam Cooke song.

[Brett Young]

That's a good one. I think that's a good one. I think I was born by the.

[Mike D]

River oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah In.

[Brett Young]

A little town he's so good.

[Mike D]

Yeah, those live records, too. Like, I've got a couple Sam Cooke live vinyls. Because you can't really do much as far as Fix that in post. No, like, it is what it is.

[Brett Young]

That's.

[Mike D]

They're freaking awesome.

[Brett Young]

They're so good. They're so. You know what? Actually, fun fact, Gavin DeGraw does one of my favorite covers of Change Gonna Come. Sam Cooke.

[Mike D]

Fun fact, Montel Jordan, 6, 8.

[Brett Young]

This is true. This is. This is how we do it.

[Mike D]

Yeah.

[Brett Young]

See what I did there?

[Mike D]

And that's what we did. Okay, look, everybody records out 2.0 at Brett Young Music. Follow him. Say more, don't say less. Say more.

[Brett Young]

I see what you gave me.

[Mike D]

Advice I give you. Say more. All right. You have a lot to say.

[Brett Young]

All right. Tick tock. It's all coming at you.

[Mike D]

I don't even care. I don't care. What? It's just you guys. The record's out. Check it out. And that's it. Good to see you, Brett.

[Brett Young]

Good to see you too, buddy. Thanks.

[Mike D]

That was fun. Good job. Thanks for listening To a Bobby Cast production.

[Brett Young]

Foreign.

[Mike D]

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[Brett Young]

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[Mike D]

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[Brett Young]

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[Mike D]

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[Brett Young]

Oh, that's me.

[Mike D]

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[Brett Young]

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[Mike D]

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[Brett Young]

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[Mike D]

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