← The Bobby Bones Show
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- [00:00]
Bobby Bones
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.
- [00:06]
Luke Bryan
Most people would rather assemble a 300 piece cabinet than search for insurance. That's why the zebra searches for you.
- [00:12]
Bobby Bones
Comparing over 100 insurance companies to find savings no one else can compare.
- [00:16]
Luke Bryan
Today@the zebra.com. Ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing technical difficulties.
- [00:28]
Eric Church
This is the Bobbycast.
- [00:33]
Bobby Bones
Welcome back to the top 10 Bobby cast of 2025. This is part two. So we'll go five, four, three, two and one. Go back and hear the others if you missed them. We'll kick it off now. At number five, it's Keith Urban from episode 516. This is Keith. We were at his studio that he owns. It's a really cool recording studio. We talked about his origin story and going back and forth from Australia to Nashville early on. And I can tell you I've done it. That's a heck of a flight. That is so long. Here he is at number five, Keith Urban. When you're finally Keith Urban, what was the first piece of material or song that you put out that actually gains real traction. Or that sells tickets or got you on a tour? Right. Like you put something out that somebody noticed you enough that it changed your life. What song was that?
- [01:26]
Keith Urban
Well, I mean, technically, the first one was a song called It's a Love Thing, which was the first single off the solo album that I did that did okay. And then we put out a song called where the Blacktop Ends and that did better. Sorry youy're Everything. It was a ballad called you'd're Everything that did better. And then the third song was but for the Grace of God, which became my first number one song. So it was this very slow, incremental movement. I'm like, okay, we finally get traction. And then we did Blacktop after that. And then I got to make another record which became Golden Road. And first single off that was Somebody like youe.
- [02:07]
Bobby Bones
Was that song Transcendent and how it landed as opposed to your past stuff?
- [02:13]
Keith Urban
Yeah, because I'm a live guy. I play live. That's what I do. The early years in Nashville was so hard for me because there was no. I wasn't playing. I wasn't playing anywhere. I found out very quick that if you play down Lower Broadway, nobody wants to sign you because they go, well, you're just one of those. You're just a cover band. You're not an original artist, you know? So I'm like, ugh. So I can't even play anywhere. So after the first solo record, I got to put a band together and Tour and get back into my place where I feel so at home. And I think by the time we made Golden Road, I was feeling that sense of who I am musically. You know, it had. I like to say that record had more stubble than the first one. It was a bit looser and it was more raw and it was. I took more. I had more confidence in the studio of making the music that I wanted to make, not what was on the radio or anything like that. And it turned out to be the music that was the right music.
- [03:13]
Bobby Bones
Did you ever have concern of being pigeonholed as just the guitar guy?
- [03:18]
Keith Urban
No, I never had that because, I mean, I always see myself as a duet. I mean, my guitar and my singing, they go together. Same way with Glen Campbell or something like that. It's just. Or Vince Gill or anybody. For me, the two go together. But even more than those guys because they have these voices. And I think me and my guitar are one.
- [03:42]
Bobby Bones
I pay a lot of attention to your tone, not your voice tone, like your guitar tone. And even the slightest change changes the sound of a song. How much time do you spend focused on tone?
- [03:55]
Keith Urban
It depends, you know, sometimes it's. Every song's different. Every song's different. I'm only seeking inspiration. That's all. That's all I'm waiting for. I'm just waiting for a sound or a tone or something where I'm inspired to play something. And that could be through a cheap amp and you could have dialled it up immediately and you go, this sounds good. Let's go play a solo. And you go, good, that was great. Moving on. And then the next song you like, you spend a whole day noodling and doing this and whatever. So they're all different.
- [04:24]
Bobby Bones
What song that became a massive hit took the longest to actually have fully done.
- [04:31]
Keith Urban
Oh, gosh.
- [04:35]
Bobby Bones
Maybe. Maybe rewrites, maybe re recording.
- [04:38]
Keith Urban
Weirdly enough, making Memories of Us took a long time because I grew up with Don Williams Records and they were so simple. There was like nothing on them. They're so simple. And when we cut Making Memories, it had a Dawn vibe in its structure in the recording. And I wanted to get that minimalism. And we recorded it and it was sort of like this. And then we spent a long time stripping it down. Stripping it down, stripping it down. Recording, replaying the guitar, re singing it, re singing it, re singing it. Trying to make it more and more simple, less slick, you know, just more singer, songwriter.
- [05:14]
Bobby Bones
Is there a moment where you go, this is it? Or is there never a moment where you go, this is it.
- [05:19]
Keith Urban
Both. I mean, I've heard songs on the radio where I go, oh, I'm really happy with that. You know, I hear somebody like you now. I still am really happy with that. Days go by, things like that. And then I'll hear other things like, oh, I wish we had of. Wish we had of whatever. But more. More than anything, I'm happy with it. You just gotta get away from it for a while, have some perspective.
- [05:47]
Bobby Bones
You're still so creatively driven today, as, I guess, the first time I met you 10 years ago. Like, I still feel like you're creatively chasing whatever it is that inspires you. Do you still feel as creatively driven now as. As you did 10, 20 years ago?
- [06:02]
Keith Urban
Exactly the same as when I lived over there at Shoney's. I feel pretty much the same. I got a better group of people I can write with and work with, and I have more capacity and facility to create the things that I hear in my head, you know, from years of doing it. But the adrenaline rush and the excitement of writing and creating something like Straight Line, which is the single we have out now, when that comes in the studio, it's like. It's an amazing feeling.
- [06:34]
Bobby Bones
The opposite of the question asked a minute ago. What song fell out of you and was done the quickest? And you're like, wow, that's great. And it took almost no time.
- [06:42]
Keith Urban
Somebody like you was a bit like that because it was a great band. It's the very first song I'd done with Dan Huff. I think the bones of the song just happened to be really good. And we recorded it at the sound kitchen. Everybody on the floor. So Chris McHugh was here on drums. Jimmy Lislose is here on bass. Tom Bogovac's there on guitar, Tim Aker's there on keyboards. I'm in the booth over there with banjo and a vocal, and Dan Huff is sitting in the middle of the floor with an electric guitar. And Justin Ebanker's in there and he hits record and away we go. I've got a recording somewhere. I used to set up a video camera in the studio in the control booth and just capture a take, you know, And I have the recording of us. You hear the song start, you hear it finish, and you see Justin go, woo. Like this in front of the console. And it's the end of the. It's the take. It's just crazy.
- [07:39]
Bobby Bones
There are stories about ACDC and Angus, and he would play so hard for so long, he'd Sweat so much that he would lose five, seven pounds a night. Right. Because he would go like my version of that that I tell people is you watching you perform because you go so hard and you're so active on stage, singing, playing, running into the crowd. Is there a ramp up period for you getting in shape before you have to go on the road? Because these are very active shows.
- [08:05]
Keith Urban
Yeah, I just, I mean I think we're the same. We like being in decent shape anyway just to do the things we want to do, you know, move the way we want to move, do the things we want to do. And I live to play, I really do.
- [08:20]
Bobby Bones
Is that still your favourite part of all of it, live?
- [08:21]
Keith Urban
Yeah, yeah. But I mean I love being in the studio. That's why I bought this studio. I could spend months in here, never leave, you know, I don't have any other hobbies or interests. I love making music. It's pretty much I don't play any sport, not really. I love writing, recording, I love touring.
- [08:40]
Bobby Bones
So recently you did a project and you recorded and then you decided, ah, we're gonna start over after putting significant time in. Will you just kind of tell me that story?
- [08:50]
Keith Urban
It's never happened before. So. Really since the first record, the way I make em is quite not, it's not chaotic but it's very spontaneous. You know, the studio's booked, we get the players booked, got a song chosen to do I'll drive in that day and maybe as I'm driving in I'm like, I don't really feel this song. I have this other song that I'm sitting on or it's half written or something and I'll play it for Dan and I go, let's do this one. And he goes, forget that. So I've always made records that way so the spirit of it is always what I want to do. Do you know what I mean? So it's got that, it's now it's fun, I'm passionate about it, it's what I want to do. And I thought sometimes my records sort of go off in weird musical directions and maybe I need more discipline and make a focused record. So I, I went in with this idea that I was going to make a much more focused record, call it 615 and it'll be very focused and it'll be only this and only that and blah blah, blah blah blah, you know. And I ended up with this record that was pretty linear. It just sort of did this. It didn't have all the stuff, the spontaneity just didn't have the spontaneity and the spark and the spirit. So I scrapped it. And the first song we wrote was Straight Line, which bursts with all that rhythmic spirit and liberation. Because I just come out of this attempt that didn't work at all. And I'm like, that's to your point earlier about writing songs. You learn what you don't want to do. And I learned why. I don't make records that way. It's just much more fun for me to be spontaneous in that process.
- [10:33]
Bobby Bones
And we'll call it the linear part of this journey. Did you ever feel like, ah, this isn't feeling right? Or were you done with it? And you're like, man, this didn't capture really what I want to capture. When did that happen? Where you had to evaluate, hey, we may do this again.
- [10:46]
Keith Urban
When I was sequencing it. And I get it, you know, sequencing. What does it matter anymore who listens to albums top to bottom, you know? But sometimes sequencing, for me, is the way to decide what even makes it onto an album. The sequencing kind of tells me, well, you don't need that one. This one over here that I was leaving off would actually go good right there. So that one does make sense. So when I started sequencing these songs, that was when I realized, oh, there's a lot of very similar sounding songs here. You know, just, I was touring at the time, so I was sort of recording sporadically. I'd come off the road, we'd cut one song, we'd be like, ah, fantastic. Sounds great. You know, you go out and tour for a few weeks, come back, cut another song, that's great, blah, blah, without thinking. You put all these together, you're not gonna want it. That's what happened.
- [11:38]
Bobby Bones
When we look at the acms, you're one of the few to do it. The Triple Crown to hit 1, 2, 3. When you move here, the goal's probably just to eat and pay the bills.
- [11:49]
Keith Urban
Yeah.
- [11:50]
Bobby Bones
But now that you look back and you have, you know, one of the few things that any country music artist has, the Triple Crown, like, can you look back at old Keith and be proud of him?
- [12:02]
Keith Urban
Yeah. Yeah. And especially the perseverance and tenacity to just keep going even when it seemed. I'm glad it didn't seem as weird and crazy to me as it did to everybody else. It seemed so crystal clear why I should be here. But I realized at the time people must have. And I know they were sort of going, what the hell is this boy doing here? This Is crazy. He's crazy. You know, I'm glad I didn't know that at the time because I felt really comfortable here and like I should be. It just took years and years and years of chipping away to finally figure out how to fit in and not lose myself. That was the balancing act that took the longest to figure out, to walk.
- [12:49]
Bobby Bones
Through all three pretty quickly. Like, best new artist. You're that guy. Does that change you? Does it change how people treat you in town after you get the trophy or the award?
- [13:01]
Keith Urban
A little. I mean, just more in awareness, that's all in potential. Like, low potential, you know, Male vocalist. Oh, man, that was a shock. That was a shock.
- [13:14]
Bobby Bones
I believe you when you said that. Like, why?
- [13:16]
Keith Urban
Why? Because I've never seen myself, I guess I'm so singer, guitar oriented that to think of my vocal as being an independent, singular thing I've never given. I just didn't. Didn't see myself in that.
- [13:34]
Bobby Bones
So when you're nominated, do you feel like you're just not going to win? Like, this is cool to be nominated?
- [13:38]
Keith Urban
Yeah.
- [13:38]
Bobby Bones
And then when they called your name, it was a genuine shock.
- [13:40]
Keith Urban
Yeah. And especially because you. Historically, you get nominated and then you get nominated the next year, and if you're lucky, the year after that, then eventually. Eventually they. They give it to you because you've been nominated so many times. So to get nominated and win, it is a big shock.
- [13:56]
Bobby Bones
The big one's Entertainer.
- [13:58]
Keith Urban
Yeah.
- [13:59]
Bobby Bones
I think if all the voters saw you perform every night, I don't know who else would have won in the last 20 years. Like, to watch it or I guess your shows are wild. I think I told you the first time I saw you do a real show, I was like, oh, I'm blown away because I'd heard you play and I've seen you play intimately and I've seen you play on my show. But to watch a full, like, arena performance, I was blown away, and I'm jaded.
- [14:23]
Keith Urban
Thank you.
- [14:23]
Bobby Bones
And I remember telling you that, like, I think this is a compliment, but you're awesome. I had no idea, like, how enthralled I would be. The people around me would be to watch you embrace the crowd, to get very personal, to get within the crowd, all the energy. So I feel like you'd be entertaining of the year every year if everybody had to go and watch you perform, but to finally be acknowledged for that, the big one. Tell me about that.
- [14:49]
Keith Urban
I mean, that's, you know, it's the top of the mountain in award recognition. Yeah. It's I mean, especially for me because I love to do it more than anything in the world. I love to play live and. And I love to play with an audience. I love to entertain. You know, I'm not a shoegazer. I love to entertain.
- [15:11]
Bobby Bones
I'm a shoegazer, though, but in a different way. I think we're both shoegazers, just in a different way than you mean that. Because you guys, I think maybe 1A, 1B becomes the shoes. I think you and I are kind of rocking the whole town. I don't ever see a not in great shoes.
- [15:22]
Keith Urban
Well, thank you.
- [15:23]
Bobby Bones
Yeah.
- [15:23]
Keith Urban
Thank you.
- [15:24]
Bobby Bones
Or a great car.
- [15:25]
Keith Urban
Likewise. Yeah, I remember once get your fancy kicks.
- [15:28]
Eric Church
Look.
- [15:29]
Bobby Bones
And we'll end on a very music based story. One of my favorite Keith Urban stories is there's this big truck behind me. Big, like right on my butt. And I'm like, I'm about to get beat up. Whoever this is. I'm about to get beat up. And it was you. And we were going to the Opry. It was during COVID Yeah. And you were in this big truck. I hadn't. I didn't know it was you. I didn't think you'd be in a truck. I thought you'd be in like a. I don't know, helicopter or something. You know, you're Keith Urban.
- [15:53]
Keith Urban
I think it was an F350.
- [15:54]
Bobby Bones
It was Matt. It was a monster. But I thought, I'm about to get beat up by whomever's behind me because we're going down that part of the operating that's like, no one else can drive.
- [16:00]
Luke Bryan
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [16:01]
Bobby Bones
And then.
- [16:01]
Ringo Starr
Yeah.
- [16:01]
Bobby Bones
And you're like, hey. I was like, oh, man. Thank God. But didn't. You're a car guy? I love cars.
- [16:09]
Keith Urban
My dad loved cars. So I grew up with my whole life we've had. We're the oddball couple. The oddball family in Australia that always had American cars. In this tiny little town we lived in in Australia, we had like Chevys and Pontiacs and Buicks.
- [16:23]
Bobby Bones
Can you fix a car? Like chink. Chink. Can you fix it?
- [16:27]
Keith Urban
No, I wish I could. It's just. It's the driving aspect. I mean, my passion next to music is driving. I drive all the time. And when I'm touring, I'll rent a car. If we're going to get from a hotel to the venue, I'd rather rent a car and drive it myself. I hate being driven.
- [16:46]
Bobby Bones
Final question. Because I know how much you value the people that come to your live shows. And you put so much work into the live shows. Talk to me about a set list and the art of your set list and how you put together a night.
- [17:00]
Keith Urban
I probably obsess over it way too much. A set list because it's an experience. I mean, it's not a group of songs. I'm shaping an experience that I want to create for those two hours for the audience. And I'm trying to guess will this have that effect? And if we go from here into here, will that do this? Will this be about the time that the audience would want that that should be right. And then we would be able to do this after that because that would make sense. And you trying to create. It's a playlist, you know, trying to create a great playlist for a two hour party.
- [17:36]
Bobby Bones
You were closing your eyes as you were even talking me through it. Is that an every night thing where you're changing it or changing it based on how you felt the night before.
- [17:45]
Keith Urban
I've learned that it's a delicate balance of don't take too much data from that night because that was that night in that venue, in that town. And if you go tinkering too much because of that feedback, this audience could be completely different. So just do it enough where at some point the set list becomes pretty solid for me. You know, I'm always going to make quarterback calls because I can't do the exact same thing night after night after night. I couldn't do it. Been like an episode of severance or something. I just. I can't do it.
- [18:19]
Luke Bryan
Hang tight.
- [18:20]
Eric Church
The Bobbycast will be right back.
- [18:25]
Bobby Bones
Carvana's so easy.
- [18:26]
Luke Bryan
Just a click and we've got ourselves a car. See so many cars.
- [18:31]
Keith Urban
That's a clicktastic inventory.
- [18:33]
Luke Bryan
And check out the financing options payments to fit our budget.
- [18:36]
Keith Urban
I mean, that's Clickonomics101.
- [18:38]
Luke Bryan
Delivery to our door. Just a hop, skip and a click away. And bought.
- [18:43]
Keith Urban
No better feeling than when Everything just clicked 6.
- [18:48]
Eric Church
Buy your car today on Carvana.
- [18:52]
Bobby Bones
Delivery fees may apply.
- [18:55]
John Fogerty
Hey, Sal.
- [18:56]
Ringo Starr
Hank.
- [18:57]
John Fogerty
What's going on?
- [18:58]
Luke Bryan
We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carvana.
- [19:01]
Keith Urban
And it was so easy.
- [19:02]
Eric Church
Too easy.
- [19:03]
Luke Bryan
Think something's up?
- [19:04]
Ringo Starr
You tell me.
- [19:05]
Bobby Bones
They got thousands of options, found a.
- [19:08]
Keith Urban
Great car at a great price, and.
- [19:10]
Bobby Bones
It got delivered the next day. It sounds like Carvana just makes it.
- [19:14]
Luke Bryan
Easy to buy your car.
- [19:15]
John Fogerty
Car, Hank.
- [19:16]
Keith Urban
Yeah, you're right.
- [19:17]
Bobby Bones
Case closed.
- [19:19]
Eric Church
Buy your car today on Carvana.
- [19:23]
Bobby Bones
Delivery fees may apply. And we're back on the Bobbycast at number four, it's Luke Bryan from episode 499. Luke does it all from being a dad, husband, massive performer, American Idol judge. He talks about how he balances that life. We also talked about his most impactful songs and the story of him getting the call to be on American Idol. Here's Luke Bryan at number four.
- [19:50]
Luke Bryan
What's been fun through the years is every night before a show, it's this. It's not the thing to do, but I will do a little two or three song acoustic set for like VIPs that, that have bought the tickets for this little VIP experience. And I know better than to do it. But every now and then I'll ask the crowd for any request. Well, they always request some random damn song from, you know, one of my first albums. And then we'll, we'll go down the wormhole, which is fun because it's, it's not me just doing my standard little couple songs. Get it? And so once I see the lyric and remember the melody, then, then it'll start, it'll start popping back. But like, like for instance, if I know that like we'll, I'll go two months without doing like a full band concert, like the Houston Rodeo's coming up and I'll go down there and I will go listen to the songs and. Because I've had, I've had some moments where I didn't prepare and I would blank on a few words here or there, but I'm pretty good about retaining, you know, chords and lyrics and stuff like that. But I would say, you know, you still need to be a little more prepared as I get, you know. But back when I was 35, you know, I was doing 200 something shows a year. I mean it was so there was never a break to get. Rusty, do you use a click? There is a click in my ear.
- [21:27]
Bobby Bones
You sing the click.
- [21:28]
Luke Bryan
I can really, I can sing to click.
- [21:30]
Bobby Bones
You do you need to sing to click?
- [21:32]
Luke Bryan
No, but what I can listen. I'll tell you what I'm good at and what I'm bad at. What I'm really good at is Pocket on the acoustic guitar. Like, like when we start drink a beer, I'm not on the click, but when my, when my drummer fires the click with me playing, my tempo is on the click.
- [21:58]
Bobby Bones
Naturally you will just stay on it.
- [21:59]
Luke Bryan
And that band comes in.
- [22:01]
Bobby Bones
Yeah.
- [22:02]
Luke Bryan
Now we, you know, year after year we. I prefer the click. I've just. Now it's gotten to be a. I.
- [22:14]
Bobby Bones
Prefer it if you don't have it. Is it weird?
- [22:17]
Luke Bryan
No, I'm. I'm. Like I said my ability. Like this foot. If you see that foot doing that, if I'm on piano or guitar, I'm locked in. And I learned that by you. I didn't have that one. My first record deal, I didn't have that. I learned that by going on radio tours and playing. Playing 200 people College bars with just me and my guitar. And if you don't have that pocket dialed in, then. Then you need a band.
- [22:48]
Bobby Bones
Do you need microphones on stage to hear the crowd? Do you need crowd mics?
- [22:51]
Luke Bryan
I have crowd mics, but I do that for. I more or less do that to pick up the ambient room noise to make the mix in my ears feel not isolated. Like right now, you and I are isolated. I want to feel all of the sounds and I want to. I want it to feel vibrant and. And. And all that.
- [23:18]
Bobby Bones
What about. Because there's a bit of delay on those right when the crowd cheering into the mic, into the board, into your ears, even if it's split. Like when we would play click stuff briefly. When we did full band stuff at festivals, I would be like, God dang, this delay, they hate. Oh, there they are. There they are. But you're probably so used to that, right?
- [23:37]
Luke Bryan
You know? Yes. So all my stadiums, you know, you could never sound check a stadium properly.
- [23:46]
Bobby Bones
Because it's different with people.
- [23:47]
Luke Bryan
It doesn't work. And, you know, you could go set your levels, but the levels, throw them out the window. Well, well, so we sound check for stadiums. I never really geeked out on it because I knew everything would change. Well, then I would come up in the middle of the football field. Well, the only way I could get on time was to watch my drummers. I mean, I would watch my. I'd make a visual click. Oh, that's the only way.
- [24:19]
Bobby Bones
Wow.
- [24:19]
Luke Bryan
And we would start with like, I got that real good. And I'd have to watch. I'm 50 yards from him watching this.
- [24:31]
Bobby Bones
Is he being over.
- [24:32]
Luke Bryan
He's being overly. You can see his dramatic. And once. Once we got through most of, like, that's my kind of night. Then my. My ear mix guy, he had the clicks and all the. The snare hitting hard enough to override everything.
- [24:48]
Bobby Bones
I have, like, two other things I want to talk about. And we talked about before you came in. We talked about Idol and Idol starts.
- [24:55]
Luke Bryan
Isn't it funny how quick these go? How long have I been here?
- [24:59]
Bobby Bones
Yeah, about an hour.
- [25:00]
Luke Bryan
Yeah, I'm good on time now. We don't I, I mean, we're snowed in. You know, it's like, I never want.
- [25:05]
Bobby Bones
To, like, keep running you, but I do want to talk idle for a second.
- [25:09]
John Fogerty
Let's take a quick pause for a.
- [25:10]
Bobby Bones
Message from our sponsor. And we're back on the Bobbycast. Are you seven? Is this your seventh?
- [25:28]
Keith Urban
Eighth?
- [25:28]
Luke Bryan
We're in the eighth year.
- [25:29]
Keith Urban
Yeah.
- [25:30]
Bobby Bones
God dang.
- [25:31]
Luke Bryan
Yeah. That's crazy.
- [25:33]
Bobby Bones
Okay, I want this story about the first time it was even an option or a conversation that you might be on American Idol. Like, the first call you get, who is it? Like what? Like, I want to know about that.
- [25:46]
Luke Bryan
So I'm at my beach house and, well, my manager, Carrie, she calls me and says, we've been contacted about the reboot of American Idol. And I had already, we had already seen some headlines at Katy Perry. You know, they, they signed Katie and then they launched a big, you know, you knew the show was coming back. And so they reached out to my manager and I must say I was 70% against it to start because I really, I mean, at that moment I was at the height of stadiums and, and didn't want to get, didn't want to get. What's the word I'm looking for? Just, I didn't want to get my mental focus going down. Like life was so good just being.
- [26:56]
Bobby Bones
You don't lose your focus on what, what you were killing right then. Yeah.
- [26:59]
Luke Bryan
And. But I was at the beach house and this is the truth. And, and I was like, man, I cannot go to like LA or New York and I'm not gonna go up there and do this meeting that I don't want to do. Carrie calls me and she goes, hey, they want to come. They want to come to 30A and they want to, they'll fly to us.
- [27:30]
Bobby Bones
So they were gonna come pitch you basically right down in Florida.
- [27:35]
Luke Bryan
So I said, all right, well, I'm, you know, and back then, you know, anyway, Carrie goes, all right, they'll be here on Wednesday night. Just ride over to Alice Beach. And I drove over and, hell, Carrie rode a bicycle there. And we sat down and we meet with two of the, you know, two of the people, you know, an ABC person and a Fremantle person. I'll leave their names out, but they know I love them. And they, they started pitching it and I told them I'm really probably not interested. I'm really. And what's funny about those, the people that, like, they have no idea, Luke, Bryan, they don't know that I'm like doing sold out stadiums and double amphitheaters. And that I'm making enough money touring that I don't need. Like, at the time, like, if idle. I didn't need to give up money here to go spend more time doing this. I just needed to go throw shows up and go rocket. But. And maybe this is too much information, but either way, I went back and I. And I called. I started calling Blake and Keith Urban and I called Blake and we had a great talk.
- [29:00]
Eric Church
And.
- [29:00]
Luke Bryan
And Blake went through. He was like, Luke. He was like, TV opens up another domain and dynamic. And I called Keith Urban and Keith Urban said, man, he had loved it and. And after.
- [29:20]
Bobby Bones
I don't. When he did.
- [29:21]
Luke Bryan
When he did idol. And so once I got. I mean, those are two guys that I love and trust. And. And then I. Then I. Then I said, you know, I mean, we kind of threw them out a crazy number, and damn it, they paid it.
- [29:36]
Bobby Bones
Is it weird that people knew how much money you made for a contract? Because athletes, they have that. But in our world, nobody really weird.
- [29:43]
Luke Bryan
That that info gets leaked out. I don't understand why. I don't understand how that info leaks.
- [29:53]
Bobby Bones
Oh, I thought you said you don't know why people are. I'm like, I'm interested.
- [29:55]
Luke Bryan
But yeah, no, I get it.
- [29:57]
Bobby Bones
Like somebody, right? Somebody knows somebody.
- [29:58]
Luke Bryan
Somebody is leaking info because I know it ain't. I know it ain't anybody on our side, but. But somebody leaks it and I don't know. I mean, you know, I think here's the deal. I think the generation that we grew up in, our parents, like, nobody talked about their finances. And I think this day and age, everybody's. Especially in the public eye, you know, from athletes to entertainers. And I mean, when you Google Net worth and Forbes and what you know, I mean, I think. And now it's almost like a little bit of a braggadocious. I think you kind of need to. People need to know how. They need to know a little bit of how successful you are as a little bit of a. Like, this is how good his. You know, there's a. There's a little healthy dose of that, but I've never been a fan of it.
- [31:00]
Bobby Bones
I feel the need a bit. And I was again, I was with. Having the conversation yesterday that I was talking about with Tracy Lawrence. I feel the need now if. Because he was just asking me my story and we eventually took it on a microphone. I feel the need now to talk about my success so it doesn't feel like I'm pandering with all of my Upbringing, because I grew up very poor. Food stamp kid, trailer park.
- [31:24]
Luke Bryan
Right.
- [31:24]
Bobby Bones
You know, mom died, dad left, all of that. And by the end of it, I was like, I don't want to come off as disingenuous. I'm rich now.
- [31:32]
Luke Bryan
Right.
- [31:32]
Bobby Bones
And I used to feel like that would set people in a. Like a wrong. Like, not feel good. But I feel now it's the most honest thing I can do because I don't want people to think I'm being dishonest by not saying that or that. That I'm feeding them a lie.
- [31:47]
Keith Urban
That.
- [31:47]
Bobby Bones
That I'm just like, oh, it's tough. You know, I have the understanding of my whole life not being like, I'm as new money as it can possibly be.
- [31:56]
Luke Bryan
Me too. Yeah. And.
- [31:57]
Bobby Bones
But I think you're right. I think for me to be totally honest, I have to somewhat share that. That's my story. But if I'm being totally honest now, I've had success, and it's not like.
- [32:08]
Luke Bryan
That anymore, you know? And I think what's interesting, I don't think you want to get around a group of people that are not successful. If I'm talking about money, I want people to understand, like, if somebody's asking me money advice, like, they're like, I want them to be able to freely talk about money with me because they know there's no. That there's. They know there's no weird psychological stuff going on. It's like. Like, if I know a. Like, I mean, there's some people in my world that I can tell they're about to get successful.
- [32:42]
Ringo Starr
Yeah.
- [32:42]
Luke Bryan
And I'm like, hey, just so you know, don't. Don't do this until you run a few things by me. And. And I love the ability to do that. And I think. And then I love to get around people that are in the same income bracket, and we can talk the income bracket freely and we can laugh about the old days and how we didn't have these problems, and we can laugh about, you know, this and that. So I think there's a healthy dose of people I never will forget. Like, I never will forget. I was doing some. Some land clearing, and this old guy was on a big old excavator on my property. And I pulled up just to see what they were doing. And I get out and he shuts the machine off, and he just runs down and he's shakes my hand. He goes, man, I've never shaken a millionaire's hand. And I just. I was like, you don't have to think of me like that.
- [33:45]
Bobby Bones
Right, because you don't think of you like that.
- [33:47]
Luke Bryan
No, I said you just think of me. Good old boy, that I'm happy you're out. Here he goes, well, I just never shaken a millionaire's hand and I. And I knew I was working for you and I knew I wanted to shake. So stuff like that is really endearing and cool.
- [34:01]
Bobby Bones
I also think it's important though, with your story and mine to go. It's not like either one of us had an uncle that got us in or we don't come from money.
- [34:07]
Luke Bryan
And I had no ins.
- [34:09]
Bobby Bones
It's like if you or me can decide to do this, commit ourselves to it, take some risks, strategize, fail, fail, fail. Get back up if we can do it. The reason I like to share it. One, I think people just want authenticity more than they want to be 100% relatable. Because you're very relatable, but there's parts of you that aren't because of your success. But, but I think with me it's important to go, if I can do it, really anybody can do it. That it's not unattainable.
- [34:38]
Luke Bryan
Right. And I think us talking about it props up the American dream.
- [34:44]
John Fogerty
Fully agree.
- [34:45]
Luke Bryan
Even more fully agree. I think that. And I think the American dream is on 100 different levels, but even the hope of it is really, really special.
- [35:01]
Bobby Bones
I mean, Leesburg, Georgia, Mountain Pine, Arkansas, if you can come from there, you can come from literally anywhere.
- [35:07]
Luke Bryan
I think you can come from anywhere. And I think that, I tell you, I mean I went to school with, with kids. Listen, that even were hundred percent worse than me. And knowing that some of those boys that I grew up with went to become. Two of them are doctors. And that's just a one girl. One girl. She was our valedictorian and her mother drove. She drove a tractor for the dairy and she became valedictorian. And it was so and so those are, those were the success stories far beyond me out of my little group of Leesburg, Georgia.
- [35:56]
Bobby Bones
But I also think the American dream you brought up, I don't, I think it's not even about money. It's about fulfillment.
- [36:01]
Luke Bryan
Right.
- [36:02]
Bobby Bones
I think if you can do something and be fulfilled by it.
- [36:04]
Luke Bryan
Yeah. If you grow up in a trailer park and you become a pharmacist.
- [36:07]
Ringo Starr
Yes.
- [36:08]
Luke Bryan
That's the American dream and you're fulfilled by it.
- [36:10]
Bobby Bones
Like it's like.
- [36:11]
Luke Bryan
Or if you go, you get out and you go play college football, you blow your knee out, but then you go coach three state championships just because you got a D1 scholarship, because you.
- [36:23]
Bobby Bones
Love doing it and you're able to pay the bills. That's why we wanted to do that. We just wanted to pay the bills doing something we loved.
- [36:28]
Luke Bryan
Well, and listen, I joke. I had this conversation with a very famous athlete two days ago. There's only so much I can do as a country music singer. I did not go to Stanford and write a. An app that. That will ever make me worth $10 billion. Like, that wasn't my path. My. My job is to be as happy as I can be, having done as well as I can do as a country music singer. Now, the guy that wrote the app that sold it to Microsoft and got $10 billion. I hope his job is to have as much fun, and I hope the football coach is having the same amount of fun. So. So it's just funny how it's just about where you're at mentally through the whole process. And, man, I. You know, it's just been a damn blast for me.
- [37:24]
Bobby Bones
At number three is Eric Church from episode 510. Eric is a Legend. Doesn't do a lot of long form stuff, so we're super pumped that he came over to the house to do this. And we do talk about him getting a call from Michael Jordan. And we also talked about how a school shooting in Nashville impacted him as a person and a dad. Our number three is Eric Church. Do you have Carolina blue one on purpose underneath?
- [37:47]
Keith Urban
Yeah.
- [37:48]
Bobby Bones
Yeah. I mean, most every. Well, I don't. Oh, I do too, but not on purpose.
- [37:51]
Keith Urban
You do? Yeah.
- [37:51]
Ringo Starr
You do.
- [37:52]
Bobby Bones
This wasn't in your honor.
- [37:53]
Eric Church
Yeah, I appreciate that.
- [37:54]
Bobby Bones
That's funny because I was talking because most everything I have has a hog on it or a razorback on it.
- [37:58]
Eric Church
Yeah.
- [37:59]
Bobby Bones
Like red or phone or a lot of my clothes. Do you have North Carolina stuff everywhere and like your.
- [38:04]
Eric Church
And now. And now. Which is weirder. But we're involved with the Hornets, too. So I have purple and teal. So it's Carolina blue and purple and teal.
- [38:11]
Bobby Bones
What do you mean involved with the Hornets? Are you part of the ownership?
- [38:13]
Eric Church
Yeah.
- [38:15]
Ringo Starr
Dang.
- [38:15]
Bobby Bones
I bought a pickleball team. I don't have NBA team, though. Ball teams are cool too, but what's up with it? So what's Lamelo gonna do?
- [38:23]
Eric Church
We'll see, Bobby.
- [38:25]
Ringo Starr
We'll see.
- [38:25]
Bobby Bones
It's.
- [38:26]
Keith Urban
There's a.
- [38:26]
Eric Church
There's a. There's a really important draft coming.
- [38:28]
Ringo Starr
Okay.
- [38:29]
Eric Church
I got to be friends with MJ a few years back, and when he sold the team and it was one of the weirder calls you ever get in your life. But MJ goes, hey, I want you to be involved with the Hornets ownership group. I was like, what does that mean? He said, I want North Carolina presence. I want people that are local. The group that's buying, it's out of New York private equity. And he said, I want you to do it. He said, I'll help you if you need help. But he said, I want you to be involved so you don't say no to Michael Jordan. So I got involved.
- [39:00]
Bobby Bones
That's super cool in a couple of ways. One, because it is Michael Jordan, the greatest athlete or pop culture sports figure in our lifetime, I think.
- [39:11]
Luke Bryan
Right.
- [39:11]
Bobby Bones
It's like Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, 100%. Two, that Michael Jordan played for North Carolina.
- [39:16]
Eric Church
Right.
- [39:17]
Bobby Bones
And for you, that's such a personal thing.
- [39:19]
Eric Church
Right.
- [39:20]
Bobby Bones
And that now. Yeah. That you talk to him on the phone, I'd have been like putting on speakerphone, recording it. So what do you do as like, part owner?
- [39:31]
Eric Church
Well, the great thing about the Hornets is the majority owners. You have majority minority, but the majority guys are. You can different groups in the NBA, but sometimes you get a majority that, you know, owns 95% of the team and you're just involved. But our group's really good about keeping us involved and all the decisions we're making. So, you know, a lot of it revolves around draft picks. A lot of. We renovated the arena there in Charlotte. We did a big renovation, so you kind of have a three to five year plan, and Charlotte needs it because the Panthers aren't awesome and the city needs it. So we're on a three to five year plan, really, through draft picks. That's. That's the best way to build a team. And luckily or unluckily, the past couple years, we've got some good draft picks. So that's the game we play right now.
- [40:22]
Bobby Bones
Dan wasn't expecting that. That's awesome. I. I put a bunch of money into the Nashville baseball team. So if we get a baseball team.
- [40:28]
Eric Church
Here, Nashville be a great city for that.
- [40:30]
Bobby Bones
Yeah, let's go. Then. I. I'll call you up, be like, what's up? Owner. Owner.
- [40:33]
Eric Church
100%. Yeah, that's right.
- [40:34]
Bobby Bones
When did you get your first guitar?
- [40:36]
Eric Church
13.
- [40:37]
Bobby Bones
Why'd you get it?
- [40:39]
Eric Church
I was writing songs, poetry, kind of song things. And I was having to sing the melodies in my head and got it like a Christmas gift. And then it took me a little bit to learn to play it, but, you know, that was just an Avenue for me to get the songs out.
- [40:53]
Bobby Bones
Did you take to it immediately?
- [40:56]
Eric Church
Yeah.
- [40:56]
Bobby Bones
Were you good at it quickly?
- [40:58]
Eric Church
Yeah.
- [40:59]
Bobby Bones
Do you have a brain that allows you to not just write lyrics, but how do you compute music? Like, how were you able to do key? I mean, like, how did you learn music?
- [41:10]
Eric Church
That's a great question. I. I don't know. I. It was the fastest thing that I was able just to kind of get. And then you learn a lot of that, too, in, you know, earning your salt, where I got in a band pretty quick. I mean, I was in a band at maybe 17. I was. I was. I wasn't 18 years old, and I started just playing in bands and some shady places. And I did the chicken wire thing. I've been at that show. I've had a band member leave the stage during a song and go fight a guy in the parking lot and make it back before the end of the song. And that guy was my brother. So we've done that during. Now when you make it back for the end of the song, that's doing quick work. But it was a Skynyrd song, so it was a little long. But I've done all those. I've done all those things. And you learn a lot from those situations. I always talk about in the world we live in now, and you know this. In the world we live in, it's easier to get discovered and to earn a following, but it's harder to earn that as a musician where you can. I'll give you an example, and I won't name a name, but there was an act recently that I like a lot, and we were gonna. We're talking about our next tour, and it's a person who has a presence, social media, whatever. And I said, hey, you know, we'd love to have you. They don't have a band yet. They've not toured yet. That's all just on what they do on their channel. They've not played yet. And it's like, you know, you've not. You've not taken anything on the road.
- [42:50]
Keith Urban
You don't.
- [42:50]
Eric Church
Right. And that's a problem because you learn so much from being in those situations. And what I found in my career, you're going to get in big moments, and if you don't feel like you deserve the big moment, you might not meet the moment. And those early days allow you to know when you get to that moment, you've put in the work to earn that.
- [43:17]
Bobby Bones
When I talk about being an advocate, I think even in this record that there's songs where you're an advocate as well. And so I don't think it's. I think a big part of it is what you're doing for the communities and for people that maybe don't have a voice, but also for people that maybe need a voice. And, I mean, I could pull up a couple songs even like Johnny or Darkest Hour, like those feel like advocate type songs. Like you're speaking for somebody, for yourself, but also for others.
- [43:45]
Eric Church
Well, I think a lot of that also comes a little bit with our. We're a little bit of an anomaly that we. We got here completely on the backs of our fans early on because we didn't have a ton of industry success. We were a little bit pushed to the. To the fringes. And, you know, I remember one year I played Grand Rapids, Michigan, like nine times because I could get a thousand tickets in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We just kept rolling back. How many times can we go to the well because we had to have gas money to be able to move that bus around. Right. So a lot of that is the people that you end up seeing every night and then something happens or you think about their lot in life. Yeah, I think that comes out a little bit now when I think about that, because I wouldn't be in the situation that I'm in if it weren't for them.
- [44:35]
Bobby Bones
Revisionist history as Eric Church moved to town, wrote a bunch of songs, was a successful songwriter, but didn't hit and then he was a massive star. That's revisionist history.
- [44:47]
Eric Church
Yeah, that's false.
- [44:48]
Bobby Bones
What's the truth?
- [44:51]
Eric Church
I came to town. I was different with what music I was writing, and early on, it wasn't great. You know, you come to town and you learn what real now, I mean, I say this to all young artists is you can't imagine. And a lot of people, dog. Now a lot of the songwriting thing and say, oh, it's Nashville songwriters, national songwriters are the best in the world. I mean, they are the greatest craftsmen in the world. And it took me a minute to come to town, and I was fortunate. I came at a time when we still sat across from each other and did that, you know, where now there's a lot of stuff that technology's involved and that's fine, but I got to learn from a lot of those guys. So I came here and my perspective when I came, it's gonna be hard to believe, but there was a kind of a soccer mom type format. There were a lot of females. It was very driven that way. And I Had a more masculine approach and it was not liked by most everybody. And I just had a different lane, but eventually got a record deal and got in that lane. But then that was a hard lane because we were just. We were a little different on the radio and we had a hard time getting songs played because it didn't fit the formula at the time. And touring was interesting. So it was just a long. The first couple albums were a really. A really challenging time. Everybody comes to town and a lot of these young artists and they get a record deal and they think, I made it, I've done it. But that is just the beginning of the hardest part. And for us, it was in that first two album period before Chief that we were grinding on the road. There was one year we did over 200 actual shows in a year. And a lot of that was just to keep the money moving in at any level, to keep moving forward, you know, to keep gaining ground. And at the time, a lot of people in the industry would have said, this doesn't really fit what we do, you know, and it's just a. It's a grind. It was a grind for us.
- [47:05]
Bobby Bones
Why did you move to Nashville? Was it to write songs, or was it to be an artist? And writing songs was going to get you to that place to be an artist, write songs? It was. You're a writer?
- [47:16]
Eric Church
Yeah.
- [47:16]
Bobby Bones
How did you know that was a job?
- [47:18]
Eric Church
I found that out. I was in college and had a band and I started, you know, just playing some of my original songs in our cover set. And, you know, people, the next time I would go back and play there, they would request those songs. And that just kind of where I started thinking, okay, you know, songwriting. I just never thought it was viable for me to be able to go and get a record deal and do that. It never crossed my mind. It just wasn't something I thought I could do. So I really wanted to come here and write songs. And, you know, I met a couple songwriters when I moved here and kind of saw what they did and how they did it. And you go get a. You know, you take a draw and you go write for a big publishing house and try to get songs cut.
- [48:04]
Bobby Bones
So what'd you pack up and what'd you. What'd you move into when you got here?
- [48:09]
Eric Church
I was in a. I came to town in a two tone 1986 Chevy Blazer, blue and gray. That's the color back then, man. And I had a guitar, had a duffel bag, and I found an apartment, but I didn't know where to be. You know, when you moved to Nashville, it's like I didn't know what was what.
- [48:29]
Bobby Bones
Did you have anybody here that you could ask those questions to?
- [48:31]
Eric Church
No.
- [48:32]
Bobby Bones
So you blindly moved to town?
- [48:33]
Eric Church
Yeah, I came. I went to Broadway first. I tell this story at my chief's residency as I came to Broadway because that's where the Ramen was. That's where, you know, Tootsies is. That's where, you know, all these iconic things. And I tried to get gigs there and I couldn't get a gig there because I came with a, you know, a sack of songs and my guitar and they wanted cover songs and so I couldn't. I couldn't make it on Broadway. So I ended up over at Printer's Alley back in the day, which is. There's a place called the Fiddle and Steel Guitar Bar. And what I found there were all the people that got kicked off Broadway. That's where they congregated. And I kind of found my tribe. And there were a lot of hit songwriters in that group. There were a lot of musicians in that group and just kind of found my people and started figuring it out. I took a job. I had a job at the Shop at Home network. I sold knives. That was my job. Thanks for calling. Shopping on. My name is Eric. How may I help you?
- [49:34]
Bobby Bones
Oh, you answer the phones?
- [49:35]
Eric Church
Oh, yeah, I was a. I was the phone guy. Had the little headset. Good stuff.
- [49:40]
Bobby Bones
What kind of knives? Like, what was your. What was your. What was your rap?
- [49:44]
Eric Church
My rap at that time, I actually got fired because of my lack of rap. But I would answer the phone. I had the. I had the shift that was. I think my shift was 11pm to like 7am I was the overnight shift. So that's the shift where the guy comes in, he's been at a bar, and he turns on Shop at Home. And there's the guy. We were looking at the studio. So where the phone bank was was like an amphitheater type seating. And we all have our little chairs and our headsets on. And we're looking at them selling the knives out there, television studio in front of us. And this guy, you know, would call in and. And go three o' clock in the morning, slurring, going, man, I gotta. I gotta have some of these knives. It's like 300 knives for 59.99. Right? And I actually. One night there was a guy that called in and he. I could tell he had had a long night. And I had a few of those too. And he was like, man, I just got some of these knives. You know, he's slurring. I was like, yeah, yeah, you know. He said, you know, I said, hey, you know what? I'm gonna do you a favor. I said, why don't you. You go to bed? And first of all, when somebody calls and says, I need a knife at that time of night, you think there's already a problem, right?
- [50:53]
Bobby Bones
They don't need a knife.
- [50:54]
Eric Church
Not right now. You don't need a knife right now. You need to go to bed. So I said, why don't you go to bed and why don't you call me in the morning? I'll still be here. He said, well, it says there's three left. I said, brother, trust me, there's more than three left.
- [51:07]
Keith Urban
Okay.
- [51:07]
Eric Church
You're going to be okay. And there's that thing where when you call into something like that and they'll say, for whatever purposes this call may be recorded. They do that, and they happen to record this call.
- [51:20]
Bobby Bones
That's how you got got.
- [51:21]
Eric Church
So I got cut.
- [51:23]
Ringo Starr
That was it.
- [51:25]
Bobby Bones
You're advocating for that, dude?
- [51:26]
Eric Church
I was advocating for that, dude. They didn't like that shopping home, though, so they fired me.
- [51:31]
Bobby Bones
What's up with the name of the record, Evangeline versus the Machine?
- [51:36]
Eric Church
Well, so I think a lot of. Some of this. Some of this somewhat started. There's a. There's a line in Johnny that's a very important song in this album because of the Covenant shooting here in Nashville. But it. There's a line in there says machines control the people, and the people shoot. Shoot at kids. And what I found having younger kids is there's so much of our life nowadays is just so fast and disposable with how we consume anything. And what I've seen is it really rounds the edges off anything we try to do different or creative. That's just not what the world is set up for today. It's not set up for the patient part of that. And so I think that that line is when that title started. But the crux of this is Evangeline, on the album plays almost a creative museum, that song. So it's that creative muse and following that versus the machine that makes it very hard to execute that. And that's. That's the. That's the juxtaposition of what this is.
- [52:43]
Bobby Bones
When you mentioned Johnny and the shooting, and that was very personal to all of us here because it was so close to us, and it's probably close to a lot of people in a Lot of places because it's so close to a lot of people. It's happening everywhere all the time. The Johnny, Johnny versus the Devil. Devil Went down to Georgia that the song was playing. Like, is that. Is that part of the. Like you were thinking about when you wrote the song? Yeah, I was hear the song Devil.
- [53:06]
Eric Church
Went down to Georgia as I was. My kids go nearby here, and I was. Which is a couple miles from Covenant, whatever. And the hardest thing I've ever done in my life is drop my kids off the day after the shooting because they had decided that kids needed to feel some normalcy and go back to school. And I remember I've never done anything harder than that. When I watched them walk in that school and both boys go in together. There's a bunch of people out front, teachers are crying and everything. So everybody goes inside. And I didn't know what to do. I felt helpless, scared, all those things. So I just parked in the parking lot there and I sat there. I don't know how long I was going to sit there. I just felt like I needed to be there. And as a. At some point in time, during probably an hour, at some point in time, I looked to my right and I looked to my left, and there were parents that had done the same thing all the way down the line, moms and dads. And they were just sitting there. And I had the radio on and it was down low. I wasn't paying attention to it, but dead one down, Georgia was on. And there was a piece of that in that moment as I'm looking to my left and looking to my right and thinking about my kids that, you know, Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard Hell's broke loose in Georgia and the devil deals cards and if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold and if you lose, the devil gets your soul. And I remember thinking, if only Johnny was confined, or only if the devil was confined to Georgia. He's out of Georgia, he's everywhere. And we need Johnny to come back and help. And that was it. And I pulled out of the parking lot finally, and I went home and I did like. And some of this may have went to the Evangeline versus the Machine, because there is that Johnny versus the Devil, you know, that started that thing. Good evil kind of thing. And I went home and I said it would be interesting if a song was written from that perspective where you bring back a character from a song we all know from 30, 40 years ago, and he gets to play a Different role. And so I wrote Johnny. The Bobby cast.
- [55:22]
Bobby Bones
We'll be right back. Welcome back to the Bobby Cast. At number two is John Fogarty, the lead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival. He is in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. He is a legend. I was very excited about this because I'm a massive fan of ccr and we talk about the origin story of the band, how the name came about, songs that he wrote, like Proud Mary, like Fortunate Son. This episode for me, one of the real highlights, obviously from episode 538. Here's John Fogarty at number two. How did you get discovered? How did a band get discovered back then when there wasn't social media, you know, you couldn't just text your buddy and be like, hey, come check this person out. Like, what. What was the process like?
- [56:09]
John Fogerty
Well, it depends on what you mean. Discovered to get a record deal, even. Okay, well, around the age of 14, when the little Blue Velvets were. Were playing around, we. We ended up representing the El Cerrito. It's my town. El Cerrito Boys Club. And so we played various different venues, including boys clubs from other towns around the Bay Area. And at one of those things, there was this singer named James Powell about. He's about 24, 25 years old. And he tapped me on his shoulder after we'd played, said, would you guys be interested in making a record? I'll try and cut that at Chase. I said, sure. We ended up learning the songs with James. He had, you know, kind of a pocket full of songs and they were all girls names, but his style was pretty much doo wop. And we ended up learning or recording a song called Beverly angel. And the other side was called Lydia, which was sort of a calypso thing. But Beverly angel was a doo wop classic. I mean, it was, you know, one of those things. And we went over to Coast Recorders in San Francisco. I think it was called something else then, anyway, the trio, piano, drums and guitar. And then James sang his part and harmonized with himself. And I overdubbed. It's a whole nother story I won't get into. But from one of the guys on my paper route who was a bass player in a country western band. He was a dad. He could have been my dad. He was that age. He loaned me his stand up doghouse bass to play on this record. And so I played that on the record. And it. It's actually pretty cool. Even now. That didn't get discovered, but it did get played on the R and B Station. And Stu Cook tells me that in electronics, I guess it was that the. You know, I wasn't going to Elite Ohio at that point. But anyway, he was in electronics, that the project was to make a radio, and he's got the thing working, tuned it in and out popped Beverly Angel. It's a great story. I hope it's true, you know. So they. They probably played that song, that record, for about a week. And then a little later, my brother Tom got us on a label called Orchestra Records. The fella had his, you know, own label. We made, I don't know, four, five records there. One of them, a song I wrote called have you ever been lonely? It was a new song, not the old country standard, and that got picked by one of the DJs as a pick of the week and was played all week. So. And again we got played, but didn't go much further after that. It finally took me knocking on the door at Fantasy to, which was a little bit bigger label, not much.
- [59:30]
Bobby Bones
And did they want to hear a body of work? Are they, like, playing your songs? Like, how do you go to a bigger label and go, hey, we have this thing going. We want you to invest in us?
- [59:40]
John Fogerty
I wish it was. I wish it was that together. And maybe it's more so nowadays. I don't know. There. There had been this special on TV called Anatomy of A hit. It was. A local jazz writer in the paper had kind of narrated and produced it. It was about Vince Giraldi's song instrumental called Cast your fate to the Wind, a jazz record that became a top 40 hit. That was Fantasy. It was basically their first hit record in 40 years of something, of being a record label. And so I watched that. My brother Tom watched that. So I decided to go over and just knock on their door and went in. You know, I. I think I had phoned ahead, but anyway, they were expecting me. And I met this fella. That was the guy, the same one we saw on tv. I had a kind of a box full of tapes of instrumentals, and he's, you know, listened to my spiel and all that. And he said, well, do you have any songs with words? Okay, that's kind of normally what Tom and I did together. So I said, well, sure. He said, well, come back and play us. Oh, at first what he did was he walked us over, walked me over to the desk there and opened a Billboard magazine. He said, well, songs with words do a lot better than instrumentals. And then he happened. It happened to be that week he opens Billboard. And there's the top ten. And the first six are Beatles songs. And of course, I knew about that, but he was trying to say that, you see, songs with words will turn you into the Beatles or something like that. Okay, sir. We then made a whole bunch of recordings for that label, kind of in this shed they had at the back of their warehouse kind of a makeshift recording studio. And the. The. God, they renamed us the Gollywogs. Of course, we hated that.
- [61:44]
Bobby Bones
Without your consent.
- [61:45]
John Fogerty
Yeah. The first recording we had made came back. You know, they phoned us, the records are in. Come over. And, you know, we opened the box and it says Gollywogs. I just figured it was a typo. There's something wrong here. Max, look at this. It says Gollywogs. And then he let us know the. The evil plot that was afoot here.
- [62:08]
Bobby Bones
So they changed your name without telling you. That's wild.
- [62:12]
John Fogerty
Yeah, it's obscene. I don't. I don't know why I didn't just walk out the door, but that's how desperate things are. Of course. You. Okay, sir, Whatever you want. You're just desperate to try and make a record that might get on the radio.
- [62:28]
Bobby Bones
How long were you the gollywogs?
- [62:31]
John Fogerty
Until 1967. That was 64. When, of course, because of the beetle week, 1967. The guy who had been formerly the sales rep for Fantasy, the jazz label, his name was Saul Zantz. He summoned us to his house and told us that he had purchased Fantasy Records. I didn't know then that he had other investors, too, but I just thought he bought the label. And he said, and we'd like to sign the band. Meaning we. Meaning he'd like to sign the.
- [63:09]
Keith Urban
The.
- [63:09]
John Fogerty
The band. And the first thing out of our mouths with Saul, we got to change our name. We hate being Gollywogs. And he said, sure, okay.
- [63:18]
Bobby Bones
And did he say, what do you want it to be?
- [63:21]
John Fogerty
No, no. But years later, this is the. You know how victory has a thousand fathers. What really happened was, within the band, we said, okay, we gotta come up with a new name. You know, we're scrapping everything, and we're going to come up with a good new name. Years later, I read some quote from Saul saying. And then I told those boys, gollywog stinks. You have to go out and get something more earthy. In other words, taking ownership of the hope. And it's like, and when you're young and dumb, that's kind of what happens to you. But clearly, we went off because we'd been. What's the word? Just chafing under that yoke of a name. And it took a couple of months. Basically. I. I was growing up pretty fast. I was evolving is the word I use in a lot of different ways. Because after that experience and having freshly just gotten off active duty with the army, it was. And I was 22 years old, I was starting to feel like, man, it's make or break time. My dream might go away if I don't really manifest something. And so we came up with different names, meaning the guys would call me, and there'd be one kind of wacky or lame thing. Finally, on. On Christmas Eve of 1967, I came up with Creedence Clearwater Revival. And I knew it was it. I mean, I knew in my heart that, wow, this. This is better than us. Actually. This name is up here in the cloud somewhere. We got to get up there.
- [65:10]
Bobby Bones
So what about those words and those three terms together made you go, this is it? Like, what drew you to Credence Clearwater Revival?
- [65:17]
John Fogerty
Okay, well, I was watching television. It's Christmas Eve, so you're sort of in that, you know, mood. It's a wonderful time of year and of your life. And on comes this beer commercial for Olympia Beer. And their slogan is, it's the water. So they're showing this really lush, magical forest with the green trees, and it might have been a little deer. You know, Bambi comes over and nudges against a little bush or something. And then there's this little babbling brook. You know, water is just coming, and it's just enchanted looking. And their slogan, it's the water. And immediate, you know, which I liked is, oh, and I think the Beach Boys literally are in the background singing with their beautiful harmonies and all that. It's just a pretty serene place to be. Immediately after that commercial, boom. Next thing, it's black and white, and it's a anti pollution commercial. And it shows Styrofoam cups and cigarette butts in a crick that's all polluted. And at the end of the little commercial, black and white, very shocking looking. It says, if you want to change this right to Clean Water Washington, that's all you gotta, you know, it'll get there. And I. The juxtaposition of those two waters, you know, it really stuck. It just shocked me. And I looked at that. I said, clean water. Yeah, I like that. It touched my soul. And in an instant, I realized I was actually, what do you call it? Internalizing. I was making it part of me because I had an urgent need. And I like clean water, but not clean. Clear water.
- [67:04]
Luke Bryan
Wow.
- [67:05]
John Fogerty
Clear.
- [67:05]
Keith Urban
What?
- [67:05]
John Fogerty
That's it. I mean, that seemed to be the soul of the idea here, and I quickly started thinking of what to go with it. A few months before, actually, we had had the name Credence spin around in our little orbit because this. We knew a fella named Credence New Ball. Such an unusual name. And so, you know, in all the different, you know, Clear Water Fruit Jar, Clear Water Cloud, Clear Water Warehouse. What are you. You know, you're just associating and suddenly. Clear Water Credence.
- [67:45]
Bobby Bones
Oh.
- [67:48]
John Fogerty
No. Credence. Clear Water. Okay. I mean, your brain just does this. That was killer. That was a winner to me. And it just felt not quite complete. And so then to the kind of mood I was in was that our band was having a resurgence or a renewal, and I was trying to state that it was in my head. And finally when it came across my mental windshield, It's Cretan's Clearwater Revival.
- [68:20]
Luke Bryan
Wow.
- [68:21]
John Fogerty
I mean, remember, this is in the Bay Area, right during the time of Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead and all that sort of thing. Creedence Clearwater Revival seemed to be. It was so perfect and so above our station at the moment. I really loved it.
- [68:41]
Bobby Bones
What was the first song you wrote as Creedence Clearwater Revival that actually had some traction and not the first song that came out. Because a lot of times you write a song that comes out, you know, it may take a bit. You may. You have it. You've written it. What's the first song you write as this new entity of Credence Clearwater Revival that had traction?
- [68:57]
John Fogerty
Yeah, because there were. The first Credence album had Susie Q and I Put a Spell on you, which I didn't write. Both of those. I didn't write. There were some other songs I did write, but they're sort of, you know, they're work in progress. They're. They're on their way.
- [69:16]
Bobby Bones
Can you hear that in your writing? You can tell when you're getting better by listening to your songs through the years.
- [69:21]
John Fogerty
Oh, sure.
- [69:22]
Ringo Starr
Yeah.
- [69:22]
John Fogerty
Oh, sure. That's. Oh, sure. I'll come back to that if you let me in a minute. But anyway. But right as the first album's coming out, which we had. We had kind of earned the right to do that because Susie Q was already being played on the local underground stations. It was getting some traction. And right in that time, I was already trying to prepare for a next Album. I mean I would. I had my hand on the tiller and I wasn't going to let go. I got my honorable discharge from the army and it's sitting on the steps to my little apartment and I picked that up, you know, I didn't realize it was for me for a couple of days. And finally. Oh, it's my discharge.
- [70:13]
Ringo Starr
Wow.
- [70:13]
John Fogerty
Well, anyhow, I ran in the house and the I'm out. I mean I was, I was clear. I was free is the word to a 22 year old. I ran in the house, picked up my guitar and started strumming. And what came out of me was left a good job in the city, working for the man every night and day. And that's exactly what that refers to. Wow. I stayed on that thought. I. Strumming the guitar. I mean these things are just. I. I can't even say I created them. It really felt more like if I clear my mind, it'll come through, you know, like a radio station. And it did. I got to where I was singing Rolling, Rolling, Rolling on the river and I was pretty excited. This is starting to seem pretty cool. What is this thing all about? Well, I had started to keep a song book. If you want me to go back and tell that story, I will, but.
- [71:12]
Bobby Bones
I would love to hear it when we go back. I'm gonna put a pin in it. We'll go back to it.
- [71:16]
John Fogerty
All right. Anyhow, I. I opened that book that had been sitting there for a few months now and I've been putting things into it and I opened the book and the first entry in the book, it's a little vinyl binder, that's all it is. And the first entry is Proud Mary. And I looked at that and went, oh, this song's about a boat. It's about a boat. And the name of the boat is the Proud Mary. Oh my goodness, that's it. I'm rolling on the river with Proud Mary. I finished the song so you.
- [71:53]
Keith Urban
Right.
- [71:53]
John Fogerty
Within about an hour I had, it was done. And you asked me about the first song I wrote as credence that had traction. It was actually more than that. I'm holding the piece of paper in my hands and I'm looking at it and I had self awareness. This had never happened to me. I'd written dozens of songs in my life, starting when I was 8 years old. But I'm sitting here with this piece of paper and Proud Mary and John, you've written a classic. This is a classic. It's what every songwriter is dreaming About I. You know, my mom had told me about Stephen Foster, Irving Berlin, Hoagie Carmichael. And I had discovered my own people I loved, like Libra and Stoller, you know, the Coasters, Certainly Lennon and McCartney, people like that, Carol King, you know, people that were real songwriters. And you. You just know that they're up there in the clouds somewhere. And you. You're doing your little ditties every once in a while. You're writing your little songs and hoping some. Somehow you're fantasizing about being up there with those people. I'm holding that piece of paper. You've written a classic, John.
- [73:07]
Keith Urban
Wow.
- [73:08]
John Fogerty
And I realized at the time that it. It was that good. And then the next thing I realized, I'm sitting there looking at it. I'm the only person in the whole world that knows this. I mean, it was a bizarre thought that came to my mind of understanding, I guess in some primitive way, it's going to go everywhere, but you're the only one that knows it right now. It was just a weird, personal thought.
- [73:37]
Bobby Bones
And you had that feeling. I guess my question is, did you ever have that feeling before, or was this the lightning bolt?
- [73:43]
John Fogerty
This was the lightning bolt. Never had that feeling before. I mean, if you'd walked up to me and I'm, you know, working on one of the recordings we had done, you know. Yeah, that's good. You know, that's kind of the way we are. Or it could happen, you know. Let me play you three other songs that are worse than this, you know, from the radio. I mean, everyone does that. It's a foolish sort of following yourself to the bottom, you know, the. The other way is the way it should happen. You should create something that's so great that you're grinning, you're smiling, it's so good. And everyone around you that hears it knows it, too. I mean, that's. That's the way to know that you're on your way. Let's take a quick pause for a.
- [74:28]
Bobby Bones
Message from our sponsor.
- [74:33]
Eric Church
This is the Bobby cast.
- [74:36]
Bobby Bones
And now here we are, the number one Bobby cast of 2025. They were all great. It's hard to classify them, but I think when Ringo Starr from the Beatles came over to my house, man, that's got to be number one. It was episode 495. Why? Well, because it's Ringo Starr from the Beatles. We talked about his new country album and his name, because it's not his real name. And he shared stories from way back in the day. Loved it. Surreal. A plus conversation and interview. Our number one is Ringo Starr from the Beatles. Did you guys ever open for anyone early on?
- [75:11]
Ringo Starr
Oh, yeah. We opened for Roy Orbison. We opened for a lot of people. And in fact, the first tour we did with. I can't even think of a name now because you've asked me about it. She was like a big hit. She was like 14, 15 in. In England. This is all in England. And we had three numbers at the beginning. The curtains opened. We did three numbers. And that's how we. To us was a step up from clubs to theaters. And then we kept doing that and we'd have Trini Lo pairs. And Roy was great. Roy was the hardest actor we ever had to follow.
- [75:51]
Bobby Bones
Why is that?
- [75:51]
Ringo Starr
Because he's great. He would just stand there with those shades on and not a lot of movement, but all coming out. And so we would be behind the curtain. We're next on. We'd be playing on the guitars, little hints of our songs while he was on. But then we. We closed the first half. We'd moved up and then we closed the show. And we had a few problems with some American acts who came over. And we know we were just rising in England really fast. And, you know, they'd come in expecting to be top of the bill. And Tommy Rowe was great because he realized right away. But we had another act that came on who I. I'm American. I'm. I'm top of the bill. And we said, okay. So we played to the. Halfway through, we played the break and. And it. We left and everybody else left.
- [76:53]
Bobby Bones
They left with him.
- [76:54]
Ringo Starr
He was on his own.
- [76:57]
Bobby Bones
When was music introduced to you as a kid, as far as the big.
- [77:00]
Ringo Starr
News, My stepdad, yeah, loved. He had his little room with a little record player, but he was big band and, you know, Billy Daniels and a lot of old people and he would play that. I think because of that, this influence of him playing all this music, the big bands, even if it's straight rock, I sort of shuffle it. I swing it a bit. And I think that all came because, you know, even when Little Richard came out and rock and roll days, everything was swing, like big band. And so I, you know, I've always loved him for. I loved him anyway. But the music was great. And the last thing he said, I'd be playing my stuff. And, well, have you heard this? And it was like. It's like one of my biggest memory. And he says, well, have you heard this? And it was Sarah Bourne. You know, that's pretty far out because you. My dad, stepdad to play and give you a hint about people out there. But the other good side of the story, my son Zach was like 8 and he came running down from school and he's got a record under his arm and he said, oh, dad, we got to play this. I got to play this to you. I'm saying, well, who is it, son? He said, ray Charles. So I caught. Followed my stepdad's attitude with my own kids. Oh, well, let's play it and see what it's like. You know, my.
- [78:36]
Bobby Bones
My grandma, it was a lot of Johnny Cash. It was a lot of modern sounds of country music from Ray Charles. And that was what I was kind of introduced to as music. And then I kind of found my own music.
- [78:45]
Keith Urban
Right.
- [78:46]
Bobby Bones
And so that was my like your stepdad and that music, like that's what I remember first. But then when I found my own music, it was a bit different. Different. What was your own music first?
- [78:55]
Ringo Starr
Well, you know, I like the blues. I love country. And they were the first two and then pop records of the time. And the Lightning Hopkins, the blues player out of all of the blues players. I just loved him. I loved it because he didn't really finish the lines of it. I'm going down to. He didn't bother singing, but he just got to me. He was like. So, you know, it's a well known story now, but my friend, one of my friends in Liverpool and I decided we wanted to go to Houston, Texas to be where Lightning lived. And we went down to the embassy and we asked for the American embassy in Liverpool and we asked for the papers that we could fill in to emigrate to Houston, Texas. And they gave us these papers. We both worked in a factory and they gave us a list of factories we could apply to to get a job. And so we filled those forms in and then we took them back like we're ready. And they gave us a lot more forms and we're teenagers. We ripped the boogers up.
- [80:13]
Bobby Bones
Did you ever go?
- [80:14]
Ringo Starr
No.
- [80:15]
Bobby Bones
Ever? Even later?
- [80:16]
Ringo Starr
No, no, I played there.
- [80:17]
Bobby Bones
Yeah. But you never went to the house like.
- [80:19]
Ringo Starr
No, no, I never did any of that. Yeah, yeah. You know, things have changed.
- [80:23]
Bobby Bones
I feel like when this record, I feel like it's so naturally you. And I think that speaks to both.
- [80:31]
Ringo Starr
T Bone and no, it's absolutely speaks to T Bone.
- [80:35]
Bobby Bones
But also it is.
- [80:36]
Ringo Starr
No, but I am you.
- [80:37]
Luke Bryan
Right.
- [80:38]
Ringo Starr
But he put me together in a great space, so.
- [80:41]
Bobby Bones
And I think my point is it didn't feel like you were doing anything unnatural at all.
- [80:47]
Ringo Starr
Well, that's what he figured out. He. He pointed that out to me and I loved. They say, well, you know, what about the song? You said every song was in my key. You know, sometimes people send you songs in the key of F demented and they say, why they never heard me. But he. And since we got to know each other a bit better, we actually spoke to each other. He always felt. He thought about me many times, but he felt. And when I listened back to like on the Beatle tracks, I did the Carl Perkins record from there it started. Mine always had sort of a countryish feel. And then the ones I wrote it. The first songs I wrote were sort of country songs. And so he put all that together and then he put the tracks together. He wrote the songs. As I said, he had nine and put everybody on them. And I did the drums in LA in my little studio because the sound is so great there. Out of the blue. We didn't do anything to it. It just was a bedroom. But now we just put the drums in and for some reason the drums sound great there and the vocals. And I'd send them back to him or then he'd come into la and that's how we did it. And yeah, I love to listen to it. You know, I'm really, you know, thankful to T Bone for what he did. I love.
- [82:29]
Bobby Bones
As far as the sounds of the record. I love the keys.
- [82:34]
Ringo Starr
Get the keys in my key.
- [82:36]
Bobby Bones
I love the. The whistle.
- [82:40]
Ringo Starr
Oh, yeah.
- [82:40]
Bobby Bones
There's just the sound of the record sounds so organically you. While still sounding like a country record, but not like you're trying to do a country record. It is. It's the perfect balance.
- [82:52]
Ringo Starr
Yeah, you know, I'm the whistler.
- [82:55]
Bobby Bones
No, I didn't know that. Are you a good whistler?
- [82:57]
Ringo Starr
I. Well, I'm on the record.
- [82:58]
Bobby Bones
Well, but you got to put yourself on the record, though. I mean, it sounds great, but can you. Are you a good whistler in general?
- [83:03]
Ringo Starr
I was and then I had some dental work and the mouth is Moose. I've got to train myself.
- [83:13]
Bobby Bones
That's pretty good, though. That's still good.
- [83:14]
Ringo Starr
No, but. No, that's not.
- [83:15]
Bobby Bones
No, that's me.
- [83:17]
Ringo Starr
The record. Oh, no, I can. Happy radio.
- [83:26]
Bobby Bones
See, that's still A plus.
- [83:27]
Ringo Starr
That's an A plus.
- [83:28]
Bobby Bones
That's an A plus.
- [83:29]
Ringo Starr
Well, yeah, but for me it was a. It was a. Just A. Bigger than an A. My whistling. That's on the record because I could get a little deeper. But as I said, I had dental work done and I'm the The sort of the flow is changed. It's mad, but that's how it is.
- [83:52]
Bobby Bones
I want to ask you one more question about your grandparents, because that resonates with me so much. Did they get to see your success?
- [83:58]
Ringo Starr
No. I was in the band then and sort of was in. And we were playing in Germany. I was with Rory by then. Rory stormed the Hurricanes and I was there when my granddad went. And I was doing the gig in Germany when my grandma went. So I couldn't come home because everyone would have to play. But no, they didn't see it like unfolding. I mean, they knew I played, but they never came to a gig. And we went big time. We were local bands.
- [84:38]
Keith Urban
Yeah.
- [84:39]
Bobby Bones
What was your. In your mind, your ceiling, when you were starting out and you're playing clubs, you're traveling around, like, how big did you think? How far did you think you could go in music?
- [84:52]
Ringo Starr
I didn't. I don't remember, like, thinking. One of my mom's best friends, Annie McGuire, she would say, you know, I'd be hitting them in the house. She said, I can see you on the London Palladium one day, son. And she gave spirit. So a lot of people in Liverpool gave you spirit. Anyway, I played. I only could take the snare because we were a skiffle group. And Eddie Clayton, the guy next door, and he was in the factory. I was in the factory. And Roy the, you know, it was just a wooden box with a pole and that was the base and I had a snare drum. And that's how we started. And we had no sense of timing. I remember that once we played some sort of dance and oh, Maggie, Maggie May they're taking it away. And you'd speed each other up and they're dancing, they're dancing. Could you slow it down? So I'm amazed because I have really great time, you know, time. And I'm good at that. I mean, just a God given gift that I can keep time.
- [86:00]
Bobby Bones
What was your job in the factory?
- [86:02]
Ringo Starr
My job was to be an apprentice engineer. I first I worked on the railways as a delivery kid boy. I was 16. And then I was on the coastal boats, like party boats with like four or five hundred people would go from Liverpool to Wales. And all they did was drink all the way and drink all the way back and. And I lasted five weeks on the railway, five weeks on the boats. And then my mom, I, you know, oh, I've been fired. And by Monday she'd have me in a new job and she got me this job in the Factory. But while in the Factory, that's when it came. I want to play. I want to. To play. And. And then I joined this other group, Rory Storm, the Hurricanes. And we got this three month gig in a holiday camp in England. So I decided I'm leaving the Factory. I was just 20ish and all of my family came to our house to tell me it's all right as a hobby, son. But they wanted me to keep that job, you know, and I said no, no, I'm going. And you know, that's why I changed my name also. We went to this gig three months, we were going to be there in the Rock and Calypso Ballroom. And I changed my name fully to Ringo then. Because in Liverpool if you do something, you know, if you're limping, that you probably be called Limpy. But I. I started wearing rings. Sort of a take on my mom. She loved flashy stuff. And so some people were starting to say, hey Rings, what's going on? You know, like gang members, we'd be, hey Rings. And. And we got to Butlins Holiday Camp and we all chanted, change our name. The guitarist called himself Ty o' Brien and Johnny Guitar was great and the.
- [88:12]
Bobby Bones
Name was Johnny Guitar. His name, I assume he played guitar.
- [88:15]
Ringo Starr
We only called him Johnny Guitar.
- [88:17]
Bobby Bones
Really?
- [88:17]
Ringo Starr
Yeah, because he changed his name to that. Really his name was Johnny, but it's, you know, was another name, family name. And I put like Ringo Starkey. I thought that St. He doesn't look, you know, didn't look right. So I put Ringo Star.
- [88:36]
Bobby Bones
Did you do two Rs the first time?
- [88:38]
Ringo Starr
I. Yeah, two hours to make it star and. And it's been that ever since. Bar for the family who called me.
- [88:46]
Bobby Bones
Dad or Granddad, I've got two final questions for you. Yeah, when you made the record and it was complete and you're able to hear it all back, did you like. And do you like to listen to your own projects? And what did you think about this one when it was all the way done? Your own thoughts of your own project.
- [89:03]
Ringo Starr
When it was finished? Yeah, I thought it was great. No, I really loved it myself and it was very. The me I like to be. The vocal was great, as I said it was. They were all in my key. And it's like in. In a way though, you know, we didn't never live together. It was put together by a man who knew me and I'm tired of thanking T Bones.
- [89:34]
Bobby Bones
My final question, something again we alluded to earlier, was playing in the clubs and A lot of artists miss out on that now. And they kind of get famous before they're ready.
- [89:43]
Ringo Starr
Oh, yeah. I think they have a hit in January, like those TV shows for the singer. And the singer who wins has a number one in January. And you don't hear from him after May, it's all over.
- [89:56]
Bobby Bones
And they're not really able.
- [89:58]
Ringo Starr
Because they don't know how to deal.
- [89:59]
Bobby Bones
Yeah. And they're not able to develop even as a performer. Right. Because they don't do the clubs, their own clubs. They got so famous so fast. You know, the kind of the legendary story about you guys is you'd be in a club in Germany and play for like six hours a night. Is that accurate?
- [90:10]
Ringo Starr
Two. Two bands.
- [90:12]
Bobby Bones
Okay.
- [90:12]
Ringo Starr
When I was there with Rory and the Beatles were there when we were the two bands. We're on separate clubs at the beginning. Then Kashmir, the guy who owned the clubs put us both on one club and we would battle each other for the audience, you know what I mean? Would stomp in and stuff and. But at weekends we did 12 hours between us. Yeah. And you know, I love it because we're in that book, 10,000 hours.
- [90:40]
Bobby Bones
Yeah.
- [90:41]
Ringo Starr
And they actually mentioned we actually put in our 10,000 hours.
- [90:44]
Bobby Bones
I think that's where I first knew of the story, reading that book.
- [90:46]
Ringo Starr
Yeah.
- [90:46]
Bobby Bones
That you had put in that time.
- [90:49]
Ringo Starr
We'd play anywhere and Saturday night in Liverpool, whatever the gig was, one of the clubs would have an all nighter. And they were so cheap, they'd only ever hire a trio. It cost them less. And all. All of us would go to these clubs and just play all night. Any chance we had to play, we would play.
- [91:12]
Bobby Bones
Well, now you can put your iPhone on a little stand and read the lyrics. You didn't have iPhones back then. You had to remember or guess.
- [91:18]
Ringo Starr
Well, yeah. Now I can't work without my little lyric sheets. It's like how it is.
- [91:26]
Bobby Bones
Well, I love the album.
- [91:28]
Ringo Starr
Oh, great. Well, it's great being good talking to you.
- [91:30]
Bobby Bones
Yeah, you too.
- [91:31]
Ringo Starr
Easy.
- [91:32]
Bobby Bones
Yeah, real easy.
- [91:33]
Ringo Starr
Thanks.
- [91:33]
Bobby Bones
Really. To talk to you too.
- [91:34]
Ringo Starr
Yeah.
- [91:35]
Bobby Bones
You never know whenever Ringo star is coming over.
- [91:39]
Ringo Starr
Yeah.
- [91:39]
Bobby Bones
You know, and then sit on that star. Now I know. Say r. More.
- [91:43]
Ringo Starr
Yeah. Well, maybe because I've told these same stories since I've been here 19 times.
- [91:49]
Bobby Bones
What story did you. What story? What story did you tell here that.
- [91:54]
Ringo Starr
I'm sorry, I told that story.
- [91:56]
Bobby Bones
Well, no, it's a good one.
- [91:57]
Ringo Starr
Yeah.
- [91:57]
Bobby Bones
Anybody ask you about your grandparents the whole time?
- [91:59]
Ringo Starr
No, only you.
- [92:00]
Bobby Bones
That's all I want.
- [92:01]
Ringo Starr
This has been the best.
- [92:03]
Bobby Bones
You're saying that ever? No, no.
- [92:05]
Ringo Starr
Look me in the eye. Look me best ever.
- [92:08]
Bobby Bones
Don't say ever because then I know you're lying. But if you were to say and nearly the best. Okay, I'll take it. Ringo, it's been a pleasure. Thank you very much.
- [92:16]
Luke Bryan
Thank you.
- [92:16]
Bobby Bones
The record's awesome. There you have it. Top 10 Bobby cast of 2025. If there's anyone you'd like us to have on an upcoming episode of the Bobby Cast, send us a DM on Instagram @ the Bobbycast and you can follow us on Tik Tok at the Bobbycast. And you know we're all up. We hope you guys enjoyed this. We have some really great ones coming up. And have a happy new.
- [92:40]
Luke Bryan
Year. There you.
- [92:40]
Bobby Bones
Go. Thank you. See you guys in.
- [92:42]
Eric Church
2026. Thanks for listening to a Bobbycast.
- [92:51]
Bobby Bones
Production. This is an Iheart.
- [92:59]
Luke Bryan
Podcast. Guaranteed.