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Aug. 26, 2022 - Doug Collins Podcast
47:10
Songwriting, Stories of Home, and Falling in Love: The Soundtrack of our lives
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You want to listen to a podcast?
By who?
Georgia GOP Congressman Doug Collins.
How is it?
The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life.
I could not believe my ears.
This house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule.
It has been said today, where is bravery?
I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found.
It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority say, be damned with anything else.
We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do.
Why?
Because we won an election.
I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun.
Hey everybody, it's Doug Collins.
Welcome back to the Doug Collins Podcast.
This is a podcast I've been waiting for for a while.
And it is one that we're going to have a lot of fun with today.
It is just something that is real passionate to me.
Some guys that I have gotten to know over the years from working on music, working on things that touch your heart.
Rob Hatch, Lance Miller.
Are with me today.
We're all together.
This is going to be fun getting to know them, but also just talking about everything from families to songs to country music to just life in general and then getting into the real important stuff and that will be hunting later on here in the podcast.
But Rob Lance, welcome to the Doug Collins podcast.
How you doing, my friend?
Good morning, Doug.
Hey, everybody.
One of the things is that I like, when I first got involved with the whole songwriter issue and the whole music issue, and we went over that on the podcast some before...
What really did it for me, and I think from the first time I met, you know, you guys and others, was the stories that came from sort of real life.
It was just, you know, you have families, you grow, you know, and songwriting is such an interesting art.
Both of you come from different places.
You ended up in Nashville.
Why don't one of you start, the other one then pick up, and just sort of tell the folks how you got there.
You know, what really got you to, you know, into songwriting?
For me, I started coming down here.
I won't take you through the whole thing, but my dad's a singer too, so he pursued the music business in the 70s.
I was actually coming to Nashville as early as 1974. I know I look like I'm really young.
Wow, I didn't know they didn't make up on songwriting there.
But I got bit by the bug really early through my dad performing, and I kind of always, in the back of my mind, I was coming this way, even from a...
I don't even think I've ever told Rob this, but I knew as a 10- or 11-year-old kid, I can remember talking about I wasn't going to go to college, which I did go to college, but I was coming to Nashville.
So I was talking like that from a pretty young age, just seeing my dad on stage, and it was...
It was like watching a star up there to me.
I mean, he was dad through the week, but on the weekends, he was a weekend warrior.
When I saw him jump up on that stage, I knew that's what I wanted to do too, really young.
And then the songwriting thing, we'll go into that a little more later, which is good for people out there that want to be a songwriter.
Maybe it is something that you can actually learn the craft of songwriting.
I found that out because I came to town to be Garth Brooks and then Nashville didn't really want that out of me.
So I defaulted to kind of being a songwriter.
I kind of backed up into it.
We can talk about more as it goes on about some of those relationships that help.
But that's the short version of it, but we can elaborate on that as we go on.
But Rob can tell you a little bit about his journey.
There you go.
All right, Rob.
Welcome to this little town in North Florida called Cross City, Florida.
I'm a die-hard Gator.
I went to the University of Florida.
Go Gators.
Wait, wait, wait.
What was that?
Go dog food.
No, no, no, no.
Dog food.
Dog food.
Y'all going to be a handful again.
Going to be a handful.
I love it.
I love it.
I got a songwriting bug in college.
I wrote my first song there.
Led to writing others and playing in bands, and that led to Nashville.
Never was a plan to end up writing songs for a living, but that is how the...
The road wins.
That is real.
Alright, you both got into it.
And now Lance, you also have, you know, again, we talk about your, you know, among, you know, Rob and I, we're just, you know, from the side of life, you know, we're happy to be in behind the camera most of the time.
But, you know, you've been out there in front, Nashville Star TV show.
I mean...
I was.
I mean, looking at myself here this morning, I look like I have a face for radio.
Volleyball will be calling.
You better watch out.
But I was.
I was on Nashville Star, Miranda Lambert.
The fans of people out there listening might remember Miranda was on that show the first season and she got set third place, I think.
And then I was on the second season and got fourth place.
And it was a...
It's interesting you bring that up because my first publishing deal after singing demos which are demonstration recordings and I would sing for songwriters and that's how I got to know a lot of the songwriting community by singing demos and from that I got a deal at EMI Publishing and then that deal Ended after two or three years,
and I was kind of flopping around in Nashville again, trying to figure out what to do next, and then Nashville Star came down the pike, and I got on that show, and there's a long story to that, but the short version of it is everybody, most people that I met are still in my life now from that show in a very...
The Warren brothers were judges on that show that season.
They told me in front of 800,000 people that watched that show that I sounded like Merle Haggard, but I looked like Chastity Bono.
And we were instant friends because they could tell I could take a joke.
I know everybody's like, well, I kind of see it out there.
Let me squeam this a little bit.
Oh, yeah, it is her!
Hey, look, hey, it's Jessie.
There she is.
You're just ahead of your time, brother.
Oh, ahead of my time, I think, yeah.
So, anyway, I met Tracy Gershon on that show.
She was a judge as well, and she went to Warner Brothers Records shortly after that show, and she told me, she said, when I get over there, you're going to be the first act I sign.
And she did.
And that led to a lot of good experiences.
You were talking about the touring.
I toured with Faith and Tim McGraw on the Soul to Soul Tour.
Got to be friends with him and still write for his publishing company today.
So I've really seen When I was probably doing things to get in my own way, there was certainly something...
I don't know how much...
I know God cares about me as a person.
I'm not sure how much He cares about my music career, but He's taken pretty good care of me, I would say.
Moved some good people into my life, this guy being one of them too.
I can see that.
Rob, let's switch to you for a second.
In looking at songwriting, because one of the ways, of course, we got to know each other It was really the inequity that was out there, and still to a bit is, and I'm glad to see that some of that has gotten settled, some of the royalty issues have gotten settled.
Most people didn't realize that most of the music you hear that they listen to, whatever platform they listen to it on, was written by someone else.
I always use the example of George Strait, 60 number ones, didn't write one of them.
Getting into songwriting, has shows like National Star, but more importantly, the other TV shows that sort of emphasize the Bluebird Cafe model, I guess, has that helped people begin to realize that it's folks writing songs?
And yes, there are some artists who write.
I'm not taking them out of the picture.
But most of the music is written by songwriters that are then performed, and you may not ever know.
In fact, listeners today are going to find out the songs that you've written, number ones that y'all have written, that they probably only associated with artists.
How do you deal with that a little bit?
Well, that's kind of what we came for.
My plan was to try to tell stories for these people who were going to go out and play 200 days a year and sing these songs for all their fans.
You know, that's kind of the nature of the beast.
That's what we came here to do.
So, I mean, you know, like Heaven Once Far Away, for example, that song, It was demoed by me and a couple of Georgia boys, Dallas Davidson, Brett Jones, and the song had sat around for seven years and nobody wanted any part of it, we didn't think.
And a guy named Jeremy Stover, who's producing Justin Moore, found it one night and gave me a call and said, hey man, has that song ever been out?
I'm like, no.
No, it is not.
It's ready for a test drive.
Please try it, please.
So they go in and cut it the next day and put the song out and everybody's like, oh, new song, killed it.
It's like, well, seven-year-old new song.
Yeah.
But the songs find their time, man.
They don't, they, you know, When they find the right artist and that artist has the right thing to say, that's what the magic and the stars line up.
Well, if heaven wasn't so far away, and listeners on the podcast now, take a little clip of this.
If heaven wasn't so far away, I'd pack up the kids and go for the day, introduce them to their grandpa, watch them I mean, you see the emotion in that song.
I mean, you see it coming out.
And to think that that just sort of sat around and people...
You know, it became a number one, but...
You know, for somebody who had to be looking through these demos, looking through these songs, and all of a sudden, wow, this is the right fit to the right person at the right time.
Sure.
Because we're just telling our story.
We're just...
How long had that song been around?
Eight years?
Seven years.
Seven years.
I mean, it's...
I blame Dallas.
Flint River, those guys are just talking about home.
The truck we're talking about is my grandfather's old truck still parked in the driveway outside.
You know, we were just telling our story, and thank goodness Justin heard it and made it his.
Now, that was your first number one, correct?
That was my first one, yes.
While we're on number ones, everybody goes to number ones.
Lance, your first number one.
It was drank to that all night.
Yeah, right?
Yeah, that's a good one.
Actually, the guys I wrote with did even more research than I did.
I wrote it with the Warren Brothers and then a buddy of mine, Derek George.
But I'll tell you, I mean, this is kind of a crazy story, but it's just the nature of the town.
I mean, I happened to be riding with the Warren Brothers that morning, obviously, and then they found out during our riding appointment, just right into it, that That they were having the next single on Keith Urban called A Little Bit of Everything, and they were super euphoric.
And then that song just kind of fell out.
I mean, you hear people say, oh, we wrote that in 30 minutes.
You're like, yeah, right, or whatever.
But I was actually a part of one that did that, and I'm not sure what I did.
I think I didn't make any mistakes typing it down.
And I pitched it to Jared.
And Jared always tells me, he said, you're the most self-deprecating song plugger I've ever ran into.
Because when I sent it to him, I said, hey, I'm not sure about this song.
The demo is great.
I think you'll like the demo, but I'm not sure or whatever.
And then he ended up loving it.
And made it a big hit.
It was a two-week number one.
And that's funny you bring that up because I didn't see that coming.
He didn't see his coming.
And that's the thing.
We both, I mean, I know I can speak for Rob on this because he's one of the best at it.
We both still enjoy the hustle of this town and we've been doing it 20 years thereof.
We still enjoy the hustle of it.
These songs don't just land on their heads.
We have to get out there and make the relationships just like any other job.
Having the relationship with artists through the years, Rob's got a lot of great relationships and I have some myself.
So we're the guys that get in rooms with scars that make us feel uncomfortable and inferior and try to write them a song.
I like it.
Well, let's right now, let's let folks take a listen and drink to that all night.
I can drink to that all night.
That's the stuff I like.
That's the kind of party makes you throw your hands up high.
About to tie one on.
Talking gone, gone, gone.
Turning all the wrongs into right.
I can drink to that all night.
All right, we're all revved up now.
We can continue rocking on this thing a little bit.
One of the things, though, that's interesting, you just made it, and again, I think Neiman probably undersold it, probably self-deprecating.
The two of you are, you know, in my eyes, y'all are the rock stars, and, you know, to write the stuff that you do.
But people, one of the things, how we got to know each other, and I want to get this in there because I want people to understand it, The way you're paid for the words that make the song are completely different many times than the way the artists who record the song and then go on tour are paid for it.
And that was one of the things how we got to know each other through, especially through digital streaming.
I mean, to think about it, and I think this will be inappropriate and tell me if I'm wrong, if your songs were back in the 70s and 80s, Comparatively with inflation and everything else, it'd be a massive amount more from what was done because of the way music was produced back then.
Now the streaming situation and everything else has gotten in there.
Talk to us about how that has changed over the last few years.
Whoever wants to.
Well, there used to be huge amounts of numbers of people that were consuming music on the radio and buying albums.
So you would purchase an album when I was a kid for $20 and then you would have those 10 or 12 songs.
Well, now for $20 you can own the music store.
So the nature of how the amount and the price of music and it being basically free is it changed the game of how people got paid.
So sure, back in the 90s, there was a lot more money rolling through the music business than there is now.
And it's in the transition of Changing over to a digital market and figuring out, you know, with people like you, thank goodness is, you know, out there that understands the situation and is trying to help and, you know, You know, it used to be.
And Rob and I both, you know, we kind of missed the wave a little bit in terms of we got to town a little bit later.
I got down here in 95 and he got down here maybe.
And I didn't get a deal about 98 or 99 or something like that.
And these boys, Jared and Rob, Dallas Davis and that whole group, Randy, Jamie, they all kind of got to town about three or four years after I did.
And the wave of mechanicals had long since gone out of record sales.
Folks out there don't know what a mechanical is, but it's the record sales.
Anybody that had a pulse that had a record deal was selling a million records in the early 90s.
And if you didn't sell a million, they let you go.
Nowadays, a billion record sales is almost unheard of.
We're not making any money off those mechanicals anymore.
It's leaned up a lot.
We drive through town.
It's a young man's game.
A lot of us old guys that are still hanging around, we've proved we're insane because we're still here.
It is a young man's game, but we still have a young man's hustle.
They're not getting rid of us that easy.
And I think that's true.
And to explain to the listener who's listening to the podcast, maybe you're watching this on Rumble or YouTube or going to the Doug Collins Podcast dot com, you can download it all there.
In fact, if you go to the Doug Collins Podcast dot com, I've got an email button there.
If you have any questions after you've listened to these two, send it to me.
I'll make sure they get it and we'll get you an answer to any questions that you might have.
out there.
The interesting part about that is, is there's this flip side that the, you know, the recording industry, the labels and everybody else, you know, there's been the upsurge in that side, but yet the very, it's almost like a, it's really interesting.
I wanna see if you, I've thought about this.
I wanna see if y'all agree.
It's almost like a farmer who has a full load of corn, but didn't plant any corn in the field as much The songwriting is the planting in the field.
The corn is going to the market.
And if you don't have people planting that corn, pretty soon that truck's going to be pretty dry.
And right now it's pretty good because there's still people turning out.
That's the concern that I had in the creative side when I really first got involved with it.
You started to see that the less and less songwriters who could stay active were actually affecting the talent who are performing.
It's really interesting you say that because you brought up George Strait and a lot of the community.
I hear young artists talking about, man, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, they can They can pick great songs.
Of course, Kenny's a great writer, too.
But, you know, it's going to take...
I don't know.
It's going to take a miracle to turn some of these things around to make it...
These artists or some of the younger artists that say they want great songs are going to have to really put their money where their mouth is and go out and try to find those songs because they're out there, whether we wrote them or whoever wrote them.
There's back catalogs to all these publishing companies.
And, you know...
There's so many things that's changed the quality a little bit with TikTok and all that kind of stuff.
But radio still is king in our business for now in terms of that's the only time we're making any real dollars.
The rest of the time it's just sort of a living, which is fine.
But these artists really need to put their money where their mouth is and back up the songwriting community or you're right, that corn is going to dry up and there's not going to be anybody.
We ain't going to be able to afford to do it anymore.
I've always said that this was never, and y'all remember me saying this, it was never a songwriter-artist issue.
It was an ecosystem.
The artists had to understand that they wasn't losing anything by gaining something for y'all.
And I think that was...
And it's definitely not us against the artists.
No, not at all.
We're kind of a team.
It's the The digital platforms and how they pay out and the amounts that they pay out.
Absolutely.
No, quite the opposite.
We're on the same team as the artists.
I mean, I think most of the artists are aware of what's going on.
They're very sensitive to the songwriting community.
Personally, being an artist myself at one time, I don't like that we hear about...
The artist may be sharing in the master recording with the writers and all that.
I really hate to see that money have to come out of the artist.
I think it should come out of the label's hide, but that probably isn't going to happen.
No, you're kidding.
They put a tax on us, they're not going to take that tax back, right?
So it's the same thing.
Exactly.
Well, let's talk about a couple of songs.
And Lance, we'll start with you.
And there's one out a couple years ago.
You mentioned Tim McGraw being out on the road with Tim McGraw.
I want folks to listen to this.
It's called I Called Mama.
I stopped off at a Texaco, bought a Slim Jim and a Coke.
Parked out by the water just to watch that river flow.
Grabbed my guitar from the backseat, wrote a song just for me.
I sung it before the blue sky and a couple live old trees.
All right.
Talk to me about that one, Lance.
Well, I'll tell you, it's not a hysterically funny story, but it's kind of a, you know, just, it was scary and funny all at the same time.
But I was down at the island with the, don't hate me out there, but I was down at Tim McGraw's island with the Warren brothers down in the above.
That's not living, man.
They hate me.
Everybody hates me now.
But I... The last time we were down there, we got back from spearfishing and we're standing on the dock.
Everybody's walking up the hill, the Warren brothers and some other folks that were with us.
And McGraw, we're just standing there, just he and I, and he looks at me, he said, you need to ride a hit.
And I said, you know, I laughed nervously and I said, yeah, I know.
He said, no, I'm serious.
You really need to ride a hit.
So I, I went, I started writing with Marv Green and Jimmy Urie and Jimmy came in with this song, this idea of, uh, I called mama.
And, uh, We wrote the song, and Jimmy did a little work tape just into one of these phones here, just sang it into the phone.
I sent it to Tim, and he hit me right back and said, I want to hold this, which meant he wanted to record it.
About three or four months later, him and Faith were back down at the island, and they FaceTimed me, so I knew something was going on.
And they let me know that I was getting the single on that song and Scott Morchetta loved it and all that kind of stuff.
It came out on Mother's Day 2020 and went up the chart fairly quickly and I'm really thankful for it and it came at a great time for multiple reasons.
But yeah, it was a really good cut.
It kind of came and went.
I noticed I do that song out live.
A lot of people don't recognize it.
Maybe they want to see Tim do it more than me probably.
But anyway, it was a really nice song and I'm proud that I landed that one for Tim.
It's funny though, you know, go ahead.
Well, I was just going to say, a lot of times, you know, it's funny, he did love that song, and he was always going to record it, but he told me later that that really wasn't his pick for the single, but Scott Borchetta liked it.
So, again, there's so many, just like everything else, there's so many, just the fact that your song makes a record, and then that a committee of people get together and land on your song as the single is really...
I'm more amazed by now, I think, than I ever was, because I know that's how I've got to make my living now.
But it's amazing, really, that they go through 10 songs and land on that one that happens to be yours that time.
It's just really unbelievable.
Well, it is.
But it also hit...
And one of the reasons I picked that song is...
And we've talked about this before in songwriting, and just when we're probably together and all, is that the words in the lyrics are the things that actually touch your life.
We all remember a melody.
We remember the music.
But it's those words, especially in many of these songs, especially Country and others, that I mean, you relate to.
I mean, most people can relate to, hey, something's going on, I call mom.
And for those of us in life whose mom have now passed, it's a reminder of those times when you could pick up the phone and call mom.
That's absolutely right.
That's right.
You gave me chills saying that.
I'll put you as a writer on it.
That gave me chills you saying that, but that's absolutely right.
It is.
We all relate to it.
I mean, it is.
In fact, I'll leave one last thought on that.
My mom has been gone now about four years, and I remember in the end, she had a little bit of, she was starting to get where she couldn't remember stuff, and I remember calling her from Washington.
I'd be in D.C., and I'd call her on the day to get home, and I can still remember her saying, you know, baby, I love you.
And the way she would just say it, I still hear it, my boy, you know, I still hear it, and that's, for me, it's just...
Yes, there was a line in that song that said, I could always hear her smile when I called, you know, and that, yeah.
I tell you, man, it's an amazing thing.
You know, I can't add anything to that, but I'm glad that hit you that way.
Yeah, it was great.
Switching gears a little bit, Rob, we're gonna switch to you.
And now I want people to hear a song that really has hit a lot of different areas, but it's I Don't Dance.
So everybody take a listen.
No, I don't dance.
But here I am.
Spinning you round and round in circles.
It ain't my style.
But I don't care.
I do.
For all of those, especially myself who doesn't dance, Rob, talk to us about this one with Lee Bryce.
Well, I've written a lot of songs since I've been in Nashville.
Most of them are, you know, Not good.
We're telling you about the best five days we've had out of a thousand solid times.
This is your resume, guys.
We're not as perfect as what's on the paper, okay?
This is the only one I can remember that Lee called it halfway through the song.
Myself and Lee Bryce and Dallas Davidson were writing the song, and we wrote the first verse in the chorus, and Lee said, that's the one, boys.
That's the title track.
That's the first song.
That's what I'm going to dance to my wife to at our wedding.
That's the song.
Which was, we could still train wreck the second verse.
Luckily we didn't.
And Lee put that song out for us.
It won all kinds of awards.
ACM song of the year, CMA song of the year, and one single of the year.
I actually bought a lot of diapers at my house.
Anything at work.
But that also song has taken on a life of its own because it's not just a radio song.
That's become a wedding song.
That's become the anniversary song.
They turn into their own thing.
For both of you, here's a question.
And again, because I had the privilege of watching him sing that when I came to...
It was a privilege to get an award, but he sang that at the Opry.
I'm backstage at the Opry listening to him sing that song.
Pretty amazing.
But for both of you, what's it like...
And we've talked about three or four of your songs already.
What's it like when you're riding down the road?
Or is it still the thrill when you hear it, whether you're listening to...
Satellite radio or just terrestrial radio, where it still gets you when you hear one of your songs?
Every single time.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
It is one of the best parts, really.
Absolutely.
Yeah, it really does.
And I mean, you know, as time goes on here in Nashville, they're kind of playing the top 20 all the time.
But when you go out of town, you start hearing your songs that were out a few years ago.
Absolutely.
It's great.
Nothing like it.
And even a new song.
If something new came out, you're just as excited as you were when the first one came out.
So that part never gets old.
That's true.
There's one, there was a song that came out, and this one, and I think, Lance, you and Rob, and we were all at, this was when we were at Lee's house, I think, when we got up one time and we talked, and it hadn't come out yet, but it was Boy.
And that one was an interesting song.
Have you ever had a song like Boy or Others, and it's a question for both of you, a song that you've got right now that either was recorded or hadn't been recorded yet, that was one of those that you say, this is it.
This is a song right here.
If when somebody records it, it's going to number one, or if they would just record this song, it would go to number one.
Do you have one of those in the quiver?
We always feel that way, dude.
We always feel that way.
We always feel like if the right artist had this song, then yes, it would hit it out of the park.
But you just don't know.
You just don't know until it gets out there.
The public's going to decide what they like and don't like.
So there's no way to tell.
You can say, man, this feels right.
This song matches this artist.
They kill it.
The energy's right.
They sell it right.
The label's behind them.
The management's behind them.
They got a good plan.
Timing's right.
Stars are lining up.
You go, okay, I have a lot of faith in that scenario.
But it's got to have a lot of pieces go right.
And a solid nine.
There we go.
Okay, you just mentioned something, and Lance, you sort of chimed in on it, but do you write for artists?
Yes.
Yeah, we do.
We do.
We certainly do.
I mean, I'm published by McGraw, so I'm publishing Split with him and BMG. So, I mean, every day I sit down, I'm thinking of Tim McGraw.
I mean, when I write a song, I'm trying to think of something that hits him, and I try to get...
I know him so well, and I kind of...
We're probably cut out of the same cloth in a lot of ways in terms of how we grew up, so I know what hits him.
Emotionally sometimes.
So I'm always targeting him a little bit.
But when you're targeting Tim McGraw, it's like targeting George Strait or Lee Bryce or whoever.
You're trying to write the best song and you're going to hit a lot of artists that way.
But I'm always personally, since I write for him and he's the only artist that will actually call me back, I kind of think of Tim a lot.
So we do write for artists.
And a lot of times, too, we're writing with the artists, so obviously you're writing for the artists that day, but there are certain appointments that are set up.
I had an appointment the other day set up with Mark Butler and Brent Warren, where it even said on my calendar, we're writing for Cody Johnson that day.
So we had Cody Johnson in our mind that day when we went to write.
We wrote a cowboy song.
And he passed on it, and I think McGraw's going to cut it.
So to my point, you know, we were writing for Cody Johnson that day, but I think McGraw likes this song better than Cody did.
So you just never know.
But you do have people in mind a lot of times.
And if the artist is in the room, you're basically doing like a custom-fit suit.
You're going this, your voice, what you need to say, your background, your story, your family, where you're from.
You know, most artists can't say the same things.
They have to be custom-designed to fit...
What they do.
Well, speaking of that, I mean, you talk about Tim, but Faith, again, artist and superstar in her own life.
Is it different?
Okay.
And this may sound, I don't know how to put it.
Is it different writing for different artists?
So like Tim and Faith, would it be different writing for Faith as opposed to Tim?
Or does Faith say, I don't, I don't, you know, she has her own writing team.
Yeah, I mean, you know, Faith hadn't made a record in a while, but she certainly had a group of writers that she would go to.
I think, and I mean, it's not a criticism, but I think Faith probably, McGraw doesn't really care who wrote the song.
In other words, if a great song comes in, if you wrote it or I wrote it or Tom Shapiro or Ashley Gorley or Dallas Davis, whoever, he just does not care who wrote the song.
A lot of times he will call me and say, hey, did you write this song?
Because I thought you were on it or whatever, and I'm not on the song or whatever, so he seldom knows.
I think a lot of artists have a camp of writers they go to.
I know Faith was such a big artist in the 90s with this kiss and all that, and she had so many, you know, the Diane Warrens and the pop world started seeking her out, so she had a It's been a while since she's made a record.
I wish she'd make another one.
I'm not sure what kind of record she'd make now.
Tim always says she's the best singer in the house.
She's going to make a record.
We'll stop doing everything else right now.
For those listening to the podcast, Faith, if you're listening, you may be.
Hey, I got two right here ready to write.
They're ready to go.
It's interesting, me saying that we're not a part of that camp.
Actually, Rob and I, me and Lee Bryce, the boy that you're referencing, that we wrote, Faith ended up recording that on her very last Warner Brothers record.
So we ended up with a Faith Hill recording.
There you go.
Yeah.
It works it out.
And I think this is the interesting part of getting into how you write songs and what they mean and just the whole breadth of that.
Before we switch gears and get into, you know, well, for Rob, we won't discuss football, but, you know, okay.
You know, get into the real life, you know, hunting.
If someone's out there listening to this podcast, because one of the things I've always talked about this, you've heard me say it before.
I mean, we've got to live in a world in which you have the expressions and songwriting and what you guys do and why it's so important.
As I've said many, many times before, it's in your mind, in your heart that comes out of your hands that touches the world.
And when that happens, it's very special.
It's something that I believe God's given in a talent because I don't wake up in the morning.
When I think of things that trigger emotions, it typically revolves around music.
And I think most people, it will have that effect, whether it's written word or whether it's the music.
And that's what makes what you do so special.
But right now, there are young people.
In fact, in what I do now, I sort of now got an ear for guys who write songs and stuff.
And so I've sent a lot of them to Bart, and I've sent a lot of them to that way.
And I've got one I've got to send as well.
You can sense it.
It's just that...
If somebody would just listen to me kind of thing.
And it's not that they're going to be famous.
It's just that it comes out of their heart.
You can see it.
You can express it.
And when somebody has that kind of mentality, songwriting becomes, to me, ethereal.
It just becomes in that space.
It's encompassing.
And what you do, the two of you do, make that so special.
For those people out there, and there may be a 25-year-old.
There may be a 40-year-old.
There may be a 15-year-old who is...
Who has that feeling.
They express themselves with words on paper.
And Rob, I love how you talked about that.
It was just, you know, it come out of you and that's where it came.
What would you say, you know, what's the best advice that both of you would have for somebody listening maybe to this podcast and saying, you know, hey, I've got something inside of me.
Keep writing.
Just keep writing.
I mean, nobody's song or speech or story is going to be amazing when you first do it.
So you try again and you try again and you study and you learn and you try to figure out How to express the feelings that you see and how to explain the pictures in your head.
And nobody gets worse at it.
Everybody gets better.
So just keep writing and don't stop because if you have something to say, the world may need to hear it.
Everybody's got a, you know, I wouldn't discourage anybody's dreams out there because I wouldn't want anybody to step on mine at the time, but the reality of it is, you know, Brett Warren was talking to a guy that recently got out of the military, and he was talking about being a songwriter, and he said, well, what's your plan?
Are you going to try to move to Nashville or whatever?
And he said, well, I don't know.
What's that look like?
And Brett said, well...
You've got to be willing to move here, write 150 songs a year for 10 years, and then there's still no guarantees.
So if you can live with that formula, I say bring it on, but if you have any hesitancy at all, I moved down here.
We'll get into family stuff later, but when I moved here, I didn't have children.
We didn't have children for the first nine or ten years in our marriage.
Of course, God could have put one in our lives sooner, I guess, but it was intentional because on my end, on the earthly part, because I didn't want to bring a kid into this world and suffer through the same thing I was suffering through at that time, trying to pursue music.
Got the door kicked open a little bit before I started bringing kids into the world.
It's different for everybody.
It would be very fearful for me to tell a 40-50 year old guy to come on down and start writing songs.
I don't know if that's reality or not.
It's a young man's game.
I think you need to get down here pretty young.
I got here at 24 and thought I was old then.
You know, it's not to say that you can't do it, but it's going to be, it's going to take some, it's going to take some time.
Yeah.
And also, you know, ride where you're at.
I mean, if you don't have to come to Nashville, I mean, you may have to go, you don't have to move.
I mean, as you come into that.
Well, and look at both of you, I mean, both of you families are growing.
I mean, and I think that you get a lot of inspiration.
I mean, believe me, my youngest is 23. My oldest is 30. That is an inspiration every day of, you know, thank God we made it in another day.
You know, that was a, I think there's a song in there somewhere that when you're...
Waiting for 21. It's every parent who sends kids to college, I'm waiting for 21. Yeah, right.
My seven and nine year old seems a long way off, brother.
Yeah, Lisa and I one time, it's sort of funny, we were talking about that, you know, that you go to, you train them your best, you do it, you know they're going to get into stuff when they go to college, it's just, you know, and it was just like, Lisa said one time, she said, I'm just waiting on 21. Yeah.
Yeah, I tell you, Rob took his kids to school this morning, and I have a 16-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son, and they go to the same school, so she drives them to school.
So as they get older, your life gets a little easier when they start driving a little bit.
You worry about them, but you're kind of glad they're out driving at the same time.
It's that different worry factor.
You know, the, okay, well, they got a dirty, you know, they got to clean them up, had a dirty diaper, and then you get to, oh my God, you know, what are we doing now?
The dollar figures get a lot bigger on that end.
They sure do.
Y'all got to be scared, nervous.
I don't even look at that.
I let my wife take care of the checkbook.
I'd be scared.
I wouldn't even be able to get through this interview.
I'd be scared.
Thank God we all married well above our level.
All right.
This is fall.
I mean, we've talked music.
We've talked about life.
But one of the things that I always emphasize here on the podcast is life is about multiple things.
We all...
If we're just single-minded, I mean, you have to be in your careers.
You're songwriters, you do that.
But there's life.
There's family.
There's ballgames.
There's, you know, again, a good friend of all of ours, Ben Hayslip.
I mean, that man writes songs on a baseball field all the time.
I don't think he's ever with his kids growing up who have done very well.
So we all have that.
But one of the things that I didn't know when we first got to knowing each other was a shared interest in hunting.
And hunting season is not far around.
Bow season down here in Georgia is two weeks away.
And just as a hint for some on the podcast, Mike Waddell, the bone collector, will be on the podcast very soon.
We're looking forward to that.
Tell us about your hunting experiences and what you're getting ready for this fall.
Well, this is when I get really fired up.
I can smell the cold weather coming, and I get excited.
I don't know that it'll be cold down in Georgia in two weeks yet, but Lance happens to be from a place called Fairfield, Illinois, and we started a hunting club up there called Southern Illinois Whitetail Connection about six years ago.
See it there on the hat.
There we go.
We probably, we have, you know, 30 members probably, and monster deer, 10,000 acres, and lots of stands.
So, we've got cameras going everywhere right now.
My phone...
How are the cameras looking?
Amazing.
We've got some big ones.
We probably have, I don't know, 15 shooters that were over 150 inches that we're excited about.
A few real big ones.
Now Lance, this is actually where you come from, right?
It's where I grew up.
I was coming home one evening and my buddy Steve Sork and Jeff Blackford, two old high school buddies of mine, and they were riding around drinking beer out there looking at the crops one day and they called me and said, hey, we're thinking we probably should have done this years ago while you use a big star on Nashville Star, but we ought to start a hunting camp.
And I thought about it and I said, well, let me think on it.
And I went home and talked to my wife and she said, well, obviously if Rob Hatches wants to be involved in it, we want to do it.
But if Rob don't want to be a part of it, let's pass.
And so I called Rob and He'd been kind of mad at me for the last decade anyway that I hadn't got him on any deer up there.
And so it worked out.
Now we're partners in this little business.
We're having a good time with it.
It's such a great, as you know, the deer camp is a lot about great relationships.
And it does remind me that I need my head jerked out every now and then to realize there is more than music and people are doing a lot of other things out there.
So it's great that the clients we have and the people we have to come up there just They're second to none.
Rob's handpicked most of them, so they're all good guys and just a great environment.
You going to get to come up this year and hunt with us?
Well, I want to.
Yeah, we're going to have to talk about that.
We get offline, we're definitely going to talk about it.
Let me ask you a question.
Now, for both of you and just for the listeners, bow hunters or a rifle?
Bow hunters.
Yeah, when I used to go more with Rob, it was Bo.
And Rob's a fantastic hunter.
He could be a guide.
He's the man.
I love the sling, stick, and string.
We had to Colorado next week elk hunting.
Are you kidding me?
Wait, Lance, did you get invited on this?
No, I don't go on that.
I don't go on that.
When do you go on that?
September 1st, opening day.
Elk hunting?
Oh, yeah.
Here in Tennessee?
No, in Colorado.
Okay, because they do have an elk hunting.
It's harder hunting, though.
You'd have to find both of them.
Now, is this the fifth year to leave?
Yeah, we are here to go this year, but I'm taking the wife this year.
Oh, that's amazing.
Oh, yeah.
Okay, Lance, we see where we're right on this.
You know, we understand here.
Well, I'll tell you.
Okay, but when you get into hunting, you know, especially when you get in...
What bow do you use?
Oh, I'm a Matthews guy.
I use the Halo and the Z7 Extreme, so I got the bow of them.
I do the benefit of a very...
I just got, in a long story, but just got the V3X. Oh, you got the new one.
Oh, yeah, and believe me, it was a very nice gift, let's put it that way.
But you'll love this, and Lance said, Rob, Matt McPherson, and for those who are listening on the podcast, Matt McPherson started Matthews, and he also does McPherson guitars.
Sneak preview, he doesn't do a lot of media.
He will be on the podcast here shortly.
In the next couple weeks, Matt McPherson is going to...
And we're going to talk about faith and business and stuff.
I'm looking forward to it, Matt.
It's going to be a great interview, but I love that as we go forward.
Those are great guitars.
Two of my favorite things.
Guitars, Bose, and Faith.
Wait, hang on.
Faith, Guitars, and Bose.
I'm hearing something come along here.
Start scrapping.
Hang on.
I love it.
You can see why these two are very special to me.
They are special to a lot of people because they have allowed their lives to be used in such a way that they bring what's in their heart, their minds, they bring it through their hands.
It flows out of them and you see it in the music.
The songs that we've talked about this morning, the songs that we have that they see, you see passion for their family and their life.
They are You know, what I love having on this podcast.
They're the best of the best, and they're just great folks.
They represent a culture and a community of songwriters that have written literally the soundtrack to your life, my life, and everywhere in between.
If it wasn't for folks like this, you know, life would be a lot less joyful, and I'm thankful for them.
Won't be the last time we see them around here on the podcast.
They're great, folks.
And if we get a...
I tell you what we may end up doing.
If I ever get up to...
If I can get up to the deer camp, we'll do a podcast at the deer camp.
Now, that would be one that would go...
You should come up for the concert when we do a big charity concert.
Lee Bryce and Tyler Farr and a bunch of us.
Oh, that'd be great.
We'll have to come on in.
Folks, this is Doug Collins' podcast.
Rob Hatch, Lance Miller.
Thank y'all for being a part today.
Love you, buddy.
Thank you so much for having me.
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