Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart
Welcome to Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart—the podcast dedicated to empowering men to break through barriers and achieve their full potential.
Hosted by Lachlan Stuart, this show dives deep into the challenges men face, offering actionable insights, real-life stories, and expert advice. Whether you're focused on fitness, business, personal growth, or fatherhood, you'll find inspiration and tools here to help you rise above any challenge and become the man that can.
New episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Tune in, get inspired, and start living the life you’ve always wanted.
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Man That Can with Lachlan Stuart
Navigating Sobriety and Pursuing Dreams | Trey Lewis #599
How does a young man rise from the depths of addiction to triumph in the world of country music? Trey Lewis's story is one of resilience, raw talent, and unwavering support from those who believed in him. This episode takes you on an emotional journey from Trey's challenging childhood in Birmingham, Alabama, through the dark days of his addiction, to the inspiring moments of recovery and musical success that followed.
Listen as Trey opens up about the pivotal moments that shaped his life, including the heart-wrenching struggles with family dynamics, the life-altering events that forced him to confront his addiction, and the healing power of a 12-step recovery program. Trey's candid reflections on his turbulent past, his fight to rebuild broken relationships, and the unwavering support from his father provide an intimate look at the human spirit's capacity for transformation. Through stories of relapse and redemption, Trey shares the crucial role of community, faith, and accountability in overcoming personal demons.
Finally, celebrate with us as Trey recounts his rise to fame, from the viral sensation "Dick Down in Dallas" to signing with Sony Music. Discover the emotional highs of hearing his music performed by an idol and the significance of maintaining sobriety in his life. This episode encapsulates the essence of resilience, the power of staying true to oneself, and the incredible journey of a man who turned his struggles into songs that resonate with many.
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Do Something Today To Be Better For Tomorrow
I was listening to you on my run this morning.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I was like most legendary dude that just is so determined but also doesn't give a fuck about how you come up, like you just love. You're so authentic, yeah, that I'm looking for and I love that Like I listened to two parties of it and I was like this guy's legit Justin. I think Justin's been trying to get us to meet for a number of weeks, but we've always just crossed paths, so it's good to finally have you on here. Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2:I posted something on social media and I guess you responded to it. I was like, let's do a pod one day. Because, he told me he'd just done yours and I listened to it. I mean, I have a couple of friends that have podcasts here in town and I'm always down to sit down and do podcasts. I I mean I have a couple of friends that have podcasts here in town and I'm always like down to sit down and do podcasts.
Speaker 1:I love it, so I'm glad I'm here. Man, it's funny because it would have been about six weeks ago was the first time I ever heard of you. Not six weeks ago, six months ago.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:We were at an event like a whatever a dinner anyway, and one of your songs came on and these guys were like oh, this of your songs came on and these guys are like oh, this is, um, the guy who wrote dick down, and it wasn't dick down in dallas, there's a different song of yours and I was like I don't know any of them.
Speaker 1:And then like oh you gotta check this out and then. So that's when I first came across you and then I started seeing you on some of justin's stories and that's when, obviously, I gave you a follow and have listened to all your music and it's fucking awesome man appreciate that. I'm excited to obviously be able to pick your brain and you've lived. From what I've heard and what I've listened to, it's like you've lived many lives in one Ten different lives, yeah.
Speaker 1:And you're 36 years young dude, and you're just on this awesome adventure, but I guess the majority of our audience is Aussies Australians.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Mate, give us a bit of a rundown on who trey lewis is.
Speaker 2:Uh, I love that you say mate. I know that's like an everyday language thing but, me and my manager say that a lot oh, really each other yeah. So like when I texted you, I was like I was like sounds great, mate. Like you didn't. Were you like, was he? Were you like, is he being like?
Speaker 1:no, I just thought you were trying to speak my language. I just thought I don't even notice it. It's funny, though, there's one thing, that we say, that whenever I text people, that they think that they're in trouble yeah whenever I say someone says something, I go no worries. They're like what, is it a problem? I'm like yeah, it's not a problem. It's like no worries, no worries fine, it's cool dude.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, man, but I grew up up in Birmingham, alabama, which is about three hours from Nashville, so short drive if I ever want to go home. And I mean I guess we'll just tell the whole story, does that sound?
Speaker 1:good yeah, man, I'm kidding guys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I grew up there. As far back as I can remember, I had a stepdad and then I had a dad's house that I went to on the weekends. My parents divorced when I was like three years old, so I don't really remember that. All I remember is just having the dad at home with my mom that I called dad and then the dad that was actually my dad on the weekends. I had a great childhood. We weren't super rich, we weren't like super rich, but we weren't poor either. You know I got every. I got everything that I ever wanted and needed. You know, um, but when I was, uh, 12 years old, I was in middle school and my mom checked me and my sister out of school and uh, school and uh, sat us, bought us McDonald's, sat us down on the couch and said, hey, me and Seth, which was my stepdad at the time, aren't getting along and we're going to separate and we're moving out tomorrow. Movers are coming.
Speaker 2:That was, yeah, that was like the hardest thing up until that point in my life that I'd ever been through. I couldn't even wrap my head around it. We moved out. I'm talking like my stepdad and my dad were close. It was a great co-parenting, as they would say now situation. I played football growing up. My dad coached the defense and then my stepdad coached the offense and we won the Little League Championship in 1996. Like it was cool, man.
Speaker 2:But when we were moving out, I mean it just shook me to the core, I guess, as divorce does and we moved from like this really nice house in a really nice neighborhood. I went to the school called Vestavia I was from Vestavia Hills and uh, really, I mean the kids there are usually pretty well off. You know, there's like Mountain Brook, hoover, vestavia and Homewood those are like the towns that are like really nice. And uh, we moved from like this big five bedroom house, pool in the backyard, trampoline, you know all this stuff to moving into like a smaller house on the other side of town which I had I knew some people that lived over there, but I never lived there, you know and we move over there and I really don't have like a lot of friends in that neighborhood and I just kind of like, looking back on it now, I can see that's where like my isolation began. Like, looking back on it now, I can see that's where like my isolation began and then I eventually fell into drugs and alcohol.
Speaker 1:How old were you around this time?
Speaker 2:So I was 13, 12, 13 when I started going through all that and I feel like at age 12, 13, 14, it's like if you're a parent, you really just need to be whipping your kid's ass every day. You know what I mean. I don't know if that's the answer, but like taking the shit away from them. You know like I can't cuss on here, right, dude, go for it, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like you know, just like when you're that age, that's when you need that structure and support yeah, that structure and that support and I didn't really have that at that time in my life and I always struggled with school, growing up Like I don't know if I had a learning disability or I just didn't, probably some ADD in there. You know I was an Adderall riddling kid, yeah, and. But basically long story short man, I eventually started smoking cigarettes and skateboarding and doing all that and getting into trouble. I ended up running into my friend, my best friend from my old neighborhood, which is the title track of my record that I just put out Troublemaker. There's a line in there that says well, the song starts out.
Speaker 2:It says I used to hide in the weeds every time my best friend's mama would drive by to see that Frankie wasn't hanging out with the likes of me.
Speaker 2:So Frankie was, was my best friend and Frankie had left that first neighborhood that I lived in and I ran into him at the video store and he now just lived right up the street. So it was like I had that sense of feeling of like, wow, my best friend's here. You know, me and him used to get in all kinds of trouble. We, like smoke sticks, go down to the creek, like you know, just getting a lot of trouble together and then we just kind of continued from there on getting in more trouble together and and I have a sister that's two years older than me and at the time she was like drinking and smoking pot and stuff like that, and there were so many nights where I would wake up and I would um, the police would be at our house, you know, my sister and my mom would be in some kind of domestic violence of some sort, you know. And like I remember back then telling myself okay, well, I'm not drinking alcohol or I'm not smoking pot, because you know that's what destroys families?
Speaker 2:you know like that's what happens or whatever. But uh, I remember one day we were at school, me and the guys were just talking crap to each other on the tennis courts and I was like I was like, well, man, let's like, you know, we're not gonna smoke pot, but like our parents drink, like we can drink, it'll be fun. And uh, we got to. We got this older kid to buy us two cases of beer and one's not enough straight to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got two cases of beer. I drank eight, my friend drank nine and this other kid drank like four and uh, I got sick. That night we like completely demolished this house and throw up like we threw up in between the couch couch cushions, like I broke the toilet, like it was bad, it was terrible. But, um, I ended up not knowing where I was and when I called I called my stepdad to come pick me up, which he wasn't my stepdad anymore. He was still in my life for a good bit. I couldn't tell him how to come get us, so I just walked in my underwear to the pizza hut and he came and picked me up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but the reason I tell that story is because that's the first time I ever drank alcohol and that was an important day in my life. Everything changed from that point on out. I feel like I walked around my whole life without an instruction manual on how to live life. Everybody else got one and know how to feel like they fit in. Got one and know how to. You know, feel like they fit in. You know like I feel like even in sports and school and stuff, like everybody knew, kind of knew what they were doing. I always kind of felt like the odd man out, and when I drank alcohol, all that changed. That was an important day in my life what do you feel the alcohol gave you?
Speaker 2:uh, I feel like it just filled that God-shaped hole in my gut and just my soul. I guess it made me feel alive and it made me feel like I could do anything. I remember once my parents found out my mom and all that stuff I was like, yeah, I'll never do it again. But I knew in the back of my mind that I was doing that shit every chance I could. That's kind of just how things progressed for me. You know, I said I wouldn't smoke pot. I ended up smoking pot.
Speaker 2:I was like, okay, well, you know, and as you get into that life, it's like, you know, there's always the next guy that's doing something a little more hardcore than you. I was like, all right, well, I won't do pills, eventually I do pills. Okay, well, now I'm in high school and now I met these guys and now I'm selling weed and selling pills and you know, I'll never do cocaine. I'm doing cocaine now I'm selling that, you know. And uh, make a long story short. That's how addiction was for me. It was like I tried alcohol and it was just like a ski jump. I just fell right off and into it and do you?
Speaker 1:feel it would have been different if you had the role model and support. I feel like it.
Speaker 2:I feel like it could have yeah you know, um, I just don't know. You know, like it's hard for me to say would I've, because I have a hard time placing blame on other people today, you know probably a good place to come from, though, yeah, yeah, for a long time, you know, like I would.
Speaker 2:I would, uh, blame. You know, anytime I could blame somebody else and it may not be a bad guy then that was always a good scenario for me, you know, in my drinking and using days. But I definitely could have used somebody on my tail about stuff, you know, and I just really didn't have that. So, um, but it all worked out. But yeah, um, but yeah, so, long story short, I, um, I'm doing all these things. I draw a line saying I go across it, draw a line saying cross it, you know, and I'm selling drugs and doing all these things. I'm hanging out with kids that are older than me, that have dropped out, and all that stuff. And in ninth grade I start getting in a lot of trouble like principal's office every day, and then they tell me that they're going to give me like permanent in-school suspension. So I was like, screw this.
Speaker 1:I talked to my mom.
Speaker 2:What is a permanent in-school? Well it's like alternative school.
Speaker 2:Oh, right, I was like Mom, you know me, I can't even sit still for five minutes. That's can't even sit still for five minutes. That's never gonna happen. So I I convinced my mom to let me drop out of high school and just do homeschool. And I did that for a year and basically my mom was a nurse and she worked for 12. So there was a lot of times where I would just be at home alone all day and I would just invite older friends over that were already out of school and we would just kind of party and do drugs or whatever, and I was going to homes, I was doing homeschool but I wouldn't really do anything and then eventually my mom was like all right, you got to go back to school, like this is it's not working out for us and I go back in 10th grade and I do except I do pretty decent I get uh like c's, which was good for me.
Speaker 2:I do enough to pass, I stay out of trouble enough, um, and I get to school enough. And then, uh, 10th grade, summer was just balls to the wall. I mean I was drinking, you know, doing a lot of hallucinogen stuff like that, and then 11th grade, I'm selling the drugs and doing all that. I have a drug deal gone bad in my house. One of my friends gets severely beat up like really bad and like by that.
Speaker 2:So you're like 15, 16 at this point yeah, you're hanging out with like 21 year olds, you know, just going crazy, fuck um. Yeah, we'll get sober here in a minute.
Speaker 2:We don't have to like no, we want to keep really yeah, because this is diving on it but um so uh, long story short, I get get my buddy gets beat up really bad in my house. The police get involved, the school finds out all that stuff. But by this time I've learned if anybody causes me any problems I can just quit and run away. So I drop out of high school. My parents move and they sell the house. They moved down to our lake place and by this time I'm just kind of ripping and running and doing all this stuff.
Speaker 2:Well, my dad was still a pretty good big part of my life but like he knew I wasn't living right and every now and then I'd go to lunch with him out to his office and when I'd leave he'd give me a little bit of money, you know whatever. One time I went to lunch with him and he went into the bank to do some work stuff and there was a check in the in the door and it was for 700. It was already made out, but it was a blank check. It had nobody's name on it, so I kept it. So basically, essentially, I stole money from my father how do you feel about that now?
Speaker 2:oh man, I feel great about it now, like I don't have any shame about it anymore. You know, I made things right with my dad, so like we can get into all that too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll go in there for sure, but I mean, you know, I'll just go ahead and tell that story. When I was seven years, sober, I gave my dad my coin and he told me you know, I told him how much I loved him and and you know, and, and how awesome it had been getting to know him and having the relationship that we had. Because I got so when I went to rehab and all that stuff, I didn't me and my dad weren't even that close, like we didn't barely even talked, because I'd stolen the money from him. After I stole the money from him, he sent me to military school. I got so I had the. He pressed charges on me when I stole the money from him. We'll just go there.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then I ended up during that time also catching a felony DUI charge at 17. And so now I'm facing time in jail.
Speaker 1:And you were going downhill, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's why I always say like when I started from, the day I drank was an important day, not only for myself with what was going on inside of me, but like it was just straight downhill as fast as I could go um a lot of my friends that I grew up with and ran around within an hour dead or in prison you know, that's kind of the route I was going, which is crazy uh yeah, so I started strong here like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, um, um, I'm facing this jail time. I've got, you know, felony theft charge, felonyi two different counties. I'm doing all this stuff and I get high, really high, one night on cocaine. I call my dad and I'm like Dad, I want to go to the military school, like I really want a second chance, you know. So I end up going to this military school in Port Gibson, mississippi. I end up leaving. Nobody will come get me, so I just start walking down the road, yeah, and I get drunk on a Greyhound bus on my way home. My mom picks me up and then I go home and I drink that whole weekend.
Speaker 2:And there's a part in the literature of Alcoholics Anonymous and it talks about Bill Wilson, which he was one of the founders, and he talks about when he would drink, the fierce determination to win, would come back. And uh, that's what happened to me that weekend. I got drunk and I was like I know, if they just give me a second chance, I can go back and do it. So I end up calling the military school. I'm like please let me back in, just let me come get back and do it, because I still have all this court stuff lingering over my head. I go back to the military school. Um, one day they call me in the office and they said hey, your dad wants to talk to you on the phone. I answered the phone and he says, son, I went to the court today. I got in front of the judge and told him that you're trying to do right and turn your life around and, uh, they threw all your court stuff right out the window what did that?
Speaker 2:mean to you that was cool, but the next day I got kicked out of military school.
Speaker 1:Yeah, uh why do I just?
Speaker 2:wasn't. I just wasn't done yet, you know, and uh, and at the time I don't think that I could even um realize what I was doing to my family. You know what I mean? That's what alcohol and drugs did to me. It's like I put a steering column in my neck and drove me to do some of the things that I never thought I would do. So I get out of military school. My mom's like well, you ain't coming here, you know? My dad's like basically that's when me and my dad kind of quit talking. So my mom helps me get this apartment out in pell city, alabama, which is like we have a lake there and people, if you go to the lake, that's cool, but if you live in pell city, it's not really a cool place to live, you know. So I get this apartment, I get a job at hardy's Burgers, like Carl's Jr or whatever.
Speaker 1:I'm not familiar with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like Burger King or McDonald's and I'm walking to work every day. You know, I'm proving that I'm going to seriously get my life on track. And then my family buys me a car. I quit the job, I go back to selling drugs, doing what I was doing.
Speaker 1:What do you reckon it was? Every time you sort of got whether it was validation or your family acknowledged the work that you were doing you sort of just pull back um, I think it was just selfishness.
Speaker 2:I just wanted to do what I wanted to do and I just had that thing in me that all addicts do you know just to like feel something beyond what you're feeling right then in that moment and do it, no matter what.
Speaker 2:That was kind of my whole thought process, I guess at the time and I was young, you know, and at this time all my friends were graduating high school and going to college. Long story short, I get evicted from that apartment for, like, I'm just like blazing up blunts in there. You can smell it like when you get out of your car. So they're like, yeah, we ain't gonna have that out here in the country, you know. So they like they. Uh, they evict me and then, uh, then again, my mom helps me, again, she helps me get an apartment in tuscaloosa where all my friends are going to school. You know, my mom really loved me. She didn't know what the right thing was to do, you know.
Speaker 1:She just wanted to do it.
Speaker 2:She just wanted to see me be successful and she just thought if I could be down there with my friends then maybe I would go get a GED and like, want something better for my life. Well, I'd just go down there and I'm doing the same old, same old stuff. And, uh, uh, I have. I had one night where I got in a bad altercation with my brother. There was a gun involved and we both got. We got both got beat up real bad and it's like. It's like the farther I went into, my addiction, the denial and the lying to myself just kept getting worse. I was like, okay, well, I just since me and him got in that fight and, like you know, my head looks like a watermelon. That just means I don't need to mix xanax and alcohol again and I'm good not like hey man, wake the fuck up.
Speaker 2:You have a problem.
Speaker 1:You know it's like you know I was just living in that well, people like what was your mom saying to you at this point? Or did you have any people around you that were saying, wake the fuck up?
Speaker 2:Yeah, not really, man. I think a lot of it is that I've always I feel like I've always had a good heart and I've always meant well, but I didn't always do well, you know, and you know I'm the baby of the family, so it was you know, I don't know, I don't really know the answer to that kind of you know that stuff. But I know that I did have a good heart and that I meant well and that I was good to people.
Speaker 2:I just had a little bit of trouble growing up you know, and so that happens and, um, I end up getting arrested in tuscaloosa. I got felony possession charges and um felony dui and then also had a reckless driving. I was doing burnouts on uh university boulevard with two grams of cocaine and an ounce of weed in my car, which was stupid Looking back on it now. But I go to jail. And this time I'm really in jail. Like in my juvenile years I went to juvie for like a month. I forgot, I left that out earlier. But this time, like, I'm really in jail and I have one of those bonds where it's like all you have to do is get somebody to sign for you and then you can get out. You don't have to pay any money and I'd screwed everybody over and no one would call me Mom. I was like you're going to have to ride this one out.
Speaker 2:That was the first tough love situation that I'd ever been in and I'll never forget it. Man, when you're in jail, you get a phone call and it was my turn to use the phone and I remember walking over to the phone and there's like some tables and then there's the phones, and then the sales are like over here, you know, and I get to the second row of tables and I just have this feeling in the gut of my stomach just terrible bewilderment, frustration and despair. It's what the AA Big Book talks about. And there was nobody to call. I'd screwed everybody over that was closest to me, that loved me. I just wanted to call somebody to say you know, for someone to say to me hey, man, you're good, you're going to bounce back from this, like we love you, we got your back, like whatever. And there was just there was no one to call.
Speaker 2:So that was like my first moment of like okay, if I keep doing what I'm doing, I'm screwed. And I remember saying I'm done with this shit, I'm not doing it. I had some friends that finally came and bailed me out. There was a girl that I was like in love with at the time and, uh, she was one of the ones that came and got me. We weren't dating or anything, but I was like I remember looking at her with like tears in my eyes and being like I'm really done with this shit, like I'm not doing it anymore. I'm going to not smoke, weed and drink and do all this stuff. I'm going to get myself together. And I was 18 or 19 at the time, because that's like I feel like this is wild, that this all happened before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I that's like. I feel like wild. That's all happened before. Yeah, I feel like at the age 18 or 19 is when you're like you really start dreaming like what you want to do, who you want to be, where you want to go in life, like that kind of thing. So I think that some of that started happening for me, like in those moments of like either extreme drunkenness or like just sometimes sober thoughts or whatever. So I go back to their and everybody's drinking and partying. They called me Bird back in the day. They were like Bird's out of jail, let's throw a party whatever.
Speaker 1:And I didn't drink. The exact thing that you needed was a fucking pot.
Speaker 2:So I didn't drink, I didn't do any of that, and then everybody went to sleep and then I'm sitting there watching Locked that show. Uh, you know about people going to jail yeah and, uh, I'm thinking like that's where I'm going is jail, like, because I already like looked up, like what happens if you get discharged or whatever.
Speaker 2:It's like three years was like the minimum you know for that, and I was like that's what I'm doing, can I do this, you know, whatever? And then, as I'm like watching tv, in the ashtray I see a blunt roach and I was like I'm just gonna smoke that, nobody will know, I won't do it again after this. And then that started. That was an another trip, you know off the thing. And then by this time, like I, I had my apartment, tuscaloosa, but I didn't want to go back there because I'd been arrested. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Um, so I and then we eventually shut that place down, you know, moved all my stuff out and then I was just kind of sleeping on people's couches and when they would get tired of me I'd go sleep on somebody else's couch. My mom was a nurse, like I said earlier, I'd go sleep in her car during the day with. She'd leave me the key so I could turn on the air conditioner and, uh, so I was basically homeless, you know, just kind of doing that thing. And then, um, I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired. I called my mom one day and I said I'm willing to do whatever, I just need to go somewhere and get some help. I need to figure this out how to like not be so out of control.
Speaker 2:I didn't know what sober was, I didn't know what recovery was. I didn't know anything about you know the way I was about to live my life for the next 17 years, you know. But I just I didn't know anything about that. I just knew that I needed to go somewhere. Um, because I'd been to like asylums, you know like psych wards and and stuff like that, and I'd been to like asylums, you know like psych wards and stuff like that, and I'd been to juvie and jail and all that stuff. But I didn't know what being sober was, you know.
Speaker 2:And so I go to this place called Bradford Health Services it's in Warrior, alabama and I get there, I check in, I go to sleep and this guy comes in, his name's Roy, and he wakes me up and I'm in the worst withdrawal I've ever been in my life, shaking, you know, sweating, just miserable, and I'm like, oh my god, I've actually checked into rehab, like I'm actually here, you know, and uh, I think it was like the second or third day I I was smoking cigs back back then and I went out to the detox porch and I was smoking cigs back then and I went out to the detox porch and I was smoking a cigarette and there's a song by Jake Owen it's called Starting With Me and I was like, man, if I can get sober, I'm going to buy a guitar and I'm going to teach myself how to play that song. You know, I always loved music growing up.
Speaker 1:Hold up. So you only started music at like 19, 20 or whatever. Yeah, I was 19.
Speaker 2:Yeah, music at like 19, 20 or whatever. Yeah, I was 19. Yeah, fuck, yeah. So I'm in rehab for two weeks and at this point like I like I'm sitting around all these older people that are like in rehab and like they're talking about some of the stuff they've done, I'm like, well, damn, I'm not that bad, you know. And the cool thing about like any any kind of therapy or rehab, the cool thing about rehab, that was my first introduction to any kind of therapy type of deal.
Speaker 2:We sit in this circle Counselor here, counselor here, chairs there and people go around and tell their stories. And this one guy starts telling his story and he's talking about his, his dad. He's talking about things he's done and I'm just like this guy's telling my story and I don't even know this motherfucker, you know. Next thing I know I'm like crying. You know I like snot and boogers flying out of my nose. I'm not like crying to like get my parents off my back or like it's no, there's no manipulative part of it at all. I'm like actually crying because I felt what he said. You know, like he doesn't have a relationship with his dad. Um, he's hurt everybody that's closest to him. He was a little bit. He was young, like me, you know, and all this stuff. And then that you know.
Speaker 2:After that we circled up to pray and when we got done praying like we, you know, they, they do the serenity prayer or whatever this guy came up to me and was like, why don't you say the prayer? I'm like, well, I don't know it. He's like, well, I'll teach it to you. Then I just started realizing that, wow, I'm not so different from these people after all. I started looking for the similarities and not the differences. These people, after all, started looking for the similarities and not the differences.
Speaker 2:And for the first time ever in my life, I went back to my room and I got down on my knees and I said I said, god, I don't know what this is or like whatever, but not that I wasn't like a non-believer or anything like that, like I grew up in the church and all that stuff, and like knew, I just didn't know that there was like a personal thing going on. You know, I didn't know that it was like something you could have, you know, I just thought it was something you did. And and I go down, I was like God, I don't know if you're real or like you're listening or whatever, but like I'm freaking out. I just gotten this letter from my mom that said you can't come home until your court day to your sentencing. Like you got to figure this out and I just went and I was just like man, I just got to figure something out. Like I don't know what to do.
Speaker 2:I got up off my knees and I opened my door. My counselor's like at my door. She's like hey, come in the office. You need to talk to this guy on the phone. I pick up the phone. He says hey, man, my name's robbie keble. I run any length resources and uh, and you're coming here and I'm picking you up.
Speaker 2:On the day you get out and I was like cool, and a friend of mine that I was out there running around with weeks before had went to that same halfway house. So I knew he was there, I knew he was doing good, he had like a year sober. So this guy, robbie, comes and picks me up at the halfway house and I'm still kind of on the fence a little bit about like what all this recovery talk is and and uh, I remember getting there and like plotting and scheming in my head. I was like, oh, cool, so at 30 days you get a pass, you get to leave, cool. I'm like I started calling up my old friends and like friends and, like man, I get a 30-day pass I'll come down tuscaloosa, we'll get blackout drunk.
Speaker 2:I'll come back, act like it never happened.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm an alcoholic and a drug addict I always will be, no matter what. And I was only dry at the time. I was off of it, but I wasn't convinced I wasn't doing anything else to protect my recovery. You know what I mean. And uh, 30 days was a long time to wait and live with that obsession. So I finally just got. You know, you're hearing all these things. Well, I was hearing all these things when I first got sober stick with the winners, go to meetings, read the big book, pray, meditate, help others. And I really wasn't doing any of that.
Speaker 2:And I remember walking into the guy that um the office, the guy that ran the halfway house. His name was steve again, and he's an older guy and he, he's just like doing his hands like this on the desk. And he goes look, man, here's the deal. You either gonna do the deal or you're gonna get the fuck out of here. And I was like, well, man, I think I want to do the deal, that's why I'm here in the office. And then he wrote down this number. He said, all right, we'll call this guy. This is your sponsor. You got to call him every day. I called this guy and I don't know him. He doesn't know me.
Speaker 2:But he starts coming over to the halfway house, we start meeting once a week. We start reading the big book about call economics together, we start going through the steps and, uh, before I know it, I'm on step nine and, you know, I call. I call up my dad. And one thing I will say about my dad man is like my dad wasn't ever like a super religious person, but once I got to the halfway house he picked me up every Sunday and we went to church together and like that showed me that showing up is the most important thing in life. You know, because he knew that I was dead ass serious about getting my life together. He loved me and that might not have been the most important thing to him, but he knew it was important to me, so he showed up, you know.
Speaker 2:And so, anyways, I'm on my night step. I go to my dad. I say, hey, man, I got a job at the smoothie plant or smoothie, tropical smoothie. I was making smoothies. My grandfather gave me a little truck. I was driving it around and I was just going to meetings and I was sponsoring other people, helping other people living at the halfway house. Just doing my thing, I got an iPod. Remember those things?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I moved on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had all my music on there and I was just. I was going to the gym, I was just living life man, just trying to figure it out and uh, I was in an. I was in a whole new world because I had done the work and the obsession to drink and to use alcohol and remove from my life. I was experiencing God like burning bushes, you know, like just like awesome. I'll never forget. I went to dinner with my family one night. I was sitting in a traffic light by myself afterwards and I just started crying and I couldn't stop. And it was because right there in that moment, I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be for the first time in my life, like I was doing what, what I was supposed to be doing on this planet. It was the coolest thing ever, I know it. Like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing on this planet. It was the coolest thing ever. I know it sounds simple, but it's pretty awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, it doesn't, because I feel like even for me, the questions I want to ask is like what do you feel were the main things that put you in that position? Because you know you found the job, but you had a job previously, you got given a car, you got given a car previously and it always let's say fuck it up, yeah, fuck it up, but you didn't this time. So what do you feel, from all the things that you'd been doing in that period were like, was there any ones that were the key part for you?
Speaker 2:yeah, man, I mean, I always credit, I always say this and I don't say this like I don't apologize for it or anything. Uh, people always ask me you know, how did you get sober and stay sober? And those 12-step fellowships saved my ass, like. Those steps are there and they're a clear-cut plan that works if you do it, you know, 100% thorough and honest. And at the time I did that as hard as I could and as good as I could.
Speaker 2:And since then, you know, I mean I've been back through and and you know, but continue, continue, continue to work on things and make myself better. But, um, that was the difference is that I connected with something bigger than myself. You know, um, as a group, you know, I had a group, a group of people that were all doing the same thing and trying to grow and do all that, but also had a connection with a power greater than myself, and that's that was the biggest change for me. And it's not like a hokey pokey, like I found jesus, you know, like you know, but, uh, you know, sorry that's my phone dropping on the floor, but it's like that was really it.
Speaker 2:I mean, that was just that was the deal, man. And uh, I was nine months. I went to my father and I said look man, you know, I stole this money. I did this. I listed laundry list of things and I learned in the amends process that it wasn't about saying you were, you were sorry, because I mean, how many times did I say I'm sorry for doing this, I'm sorry for doing that, and then turn around and do it again? It was about making the things right. I said look man, this is what I did. There's probably other things that I did that I don't even know I did, but this is what I did and and I want to know what I can do to make it right between the two of us, you know, and a lot of those amends that I went and made to people went really well.
Speaker 2:They were like you know just keep doing what you're doing, and that's what my dad told me. Was it hard for you to do that? Yeah, yeah, it was hard. But like the thing is is like it's never easy to say you know you're married. It's never easy to say you're wrong.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's never easy, no matter what you do, it's never easy to say you're wrong, but I'm a lot, I, but I'm a lot, um, I'm a, I feel like I'm a lot. It's a lot easier, it gets easier for me to say I'm wrong a lot, because most of the time I am wrong, you know, um, but uh, yeah, I mean it was hard, but I feel like with the 12 steps and there's a little promise that comes from each step along the way and it all, everything builds on the next, just like life. And it took a lot of courage to go and do that, but I knew that it was necessary for me to go do that in order to stay sober and keep what I have. And so I make the amends. He says keep doing what you're doing. And back then I was like hell, yeah, I can do this for the rest of my life. But, man, when I was seven years, sober, like I said earlier, I gave my dad my seven-year medallion. I was playing music at the time at a Mexican restaurant.
Speaker 2:It was after a show Go ahead.
Speaker 1:I was going to say, yeah, you picked up the guitar Like you made that commitment when you're in the big. Uh, no, was it when you're in prison you made that decision. If I get out or when I get out, I'm gonna start yeah, yeah, yeah, I was just gonna move on to playing shows as well yeah, yeah, so, uh.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I just want to tell this quick amend story, real quick, so like when I'm uh made that amends to my father. Um, I was playing one night and after the he walked me out to my car and I gave him my seven-year coin. I had just picked it up. You know, in AA they give us these little coins. I gave it to him and I said man, I love you.
Speaker 2:I was going to the beach the next day with my wife at the time, which we'll get into that. I gave him the chip and just I love you and and our relationship has been awesome. I gave him a hug and then I left and I went to the beach and little did I know that would be the last time I ever talked to my dad or saw my dad. He passed away four days later of a massive heart attack and it ripped me apart, dude, dude. But all that to say this. When my dad said keep doing what you're doing, that's how you can repay me. That means a fuckload more to me now than it did 10 years ago.
Speaker 1:Why does it mean more now?
Speaker 2:It just means more because it's like he's not here anymore, you know, and it was hard to uh say goodbye to him. That was probably one of the toughest things I've ever been through in my sobriety. So hard man, just like you never think you're just gonna wake up someday and somebody you love's gonna be gone. I mean, I know now that death is a part of life, but I had never lost anybody up until that point in my life, so it was just really tough for me and it just means so much more to me because, like he's not here anymore but I'm still doing it, you know, and you know I've almost been sober almost two decades. I've just celebrated 17 years.
Speaker 1:I'm working on my second decade you know, but yeah, man.
Speaker 2:So I got out of rehab, went to the halfway house I was living with my dad working at the smoothie shop. One day I was on lunch break. I called my grandfather. I said, papi, I'm going to go buy a guitar at Guitar Center. I really want to learn how to play.
Speaker 2:My family was kind of musical. My grandfather played the harp, my uncles played guitar at the beach and stuff. They would get together and have little shindigs and whatnot. I was like I'm going to go buy a guitar. He's like, all right, well, I'll pay for half. How much is it?
Speaker 2:I went up to Guitar Center and I bought a Humminbird. I came home with it. I remember when I came home with it. I remember when I came home with I was living with my dad because after I made amends to my dad, he asked me to come live with him and that was the first time I've ever lived with my dad since I was three years old and I remember just being like, uh, dad, I bought this guitar at school. He's like, oh well, you better learn how to play it, because everything else you brought home and every bright idea you've had has gone south. So I'd like to see you play it.
Speaker 2:And then next thing, I know I'm like playing wonderwall and like sweet home alabama, every rose has its thorn. It's like from the first time I strummed that first g chord, like I just like man, this is feels better than drugs did, or felt better than alcohol, did you know? And that was like I didn't know that that was going to be what I was doing, um, for forever. So how I got into music, like, actually like doing it as a career? Um, big part of 12 steps is giving back, helping other people. So I went back to that same guy, steve, that ran the halfway house and I said, all right, steve, well, I've worked all 12 steps. So if you got any guys here that are kind of like me and you think I could sponsor you know, just let me know. I just want to stop by and tell you that. And, uh, he's like there's this guy up in uh uh room, whatever. Uh, go up there and and tell him I I said you're his sponsor.
Speaker 2:Just like that, yeah, and I go up and it's a kid, he's like 18. He's at the halfway house and he's out there playing guitar. I'm like, oh man, you play guitar. I just bought a guitar. Let me show you what I know. And I only knew like a couple of things. But he ended up working the steps and staying sober and he was in a rock band up here in nashville and he called me one day. He said hey man, will you, you want to go with me to nashville? It'd be cool to you know, like have somebody sober, go with me, whatever. And you're my sponsor and you know, some of the other guys and all the other guys in the band were sober too. But so I go up there and I'd written like a couple of songs, but they had like no structure. I was just singing my little heart out you know, and we're in the studio.
Speaker 2:We're on 16th Edge, the studio's not there anymore and we're sitting there and the producer guy that owned the studio he was like man, play me something.
Speaker 2:And I just played him the song that I wrote and he's like man, you got a killer voice, long story short, that blossoms into a friendship and he's like yeah, man, if you'll like, come up here and quit your job and I'll do a whole record with you. Like I believe in you and at the time, like I'd gone back, I got my GED and I started going to some college courses and I was working at the treatment center. I used to be a patient at Bradfordford and warrior alabama, so I was like here I am, I put I've, I've. You know, I was like three years sober or something like that. At this point, two and a half, I have some stability in my life. I'm kind of doing what all my friends are doing, you know, like as far as going to college and like getting tough at college because the college life is pretty party focused, right I was at like a community college.
Speaker 2:You know like I was taking like the most basic classes you could take, um, but I I know that that wasn't like what god wanted me to do now, like looking back it, because I would have just struggled so hard with that, and so I'll go and talk to my family. I'm like, hey, I met this guy, his name's Wes and blah, blah, blah, blah. Like he wants me to come to Nashville and do a record. Well, at the time I'd like also met this girl and we just went on our first date. So come up to Nashville and end up living up here for like six months, cut a record.
Speaker 2:I started dating that girl at the same time. We move in together. She lives with me, but I'm like back and forth doing this Nashville thing and one of my songwriting friends that I met up here, I cut some of his songs on my record. We ended up doing a whole record. I was like man, I think I'm gonna move up to nashville, like I'm gonna break up with this girl like whatever, just come up here and do it and he's like. He's like man, you're young, just go back to your hometown, build up a fan base, get your chops up. You haven't even played a gig yet, like just come to the big fish in the small pond, type thing, and I was like you know what, you're right. So I moved back to birmingham after I do the record or whatever, and um, I end up getting married to this girl and she's also.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he didn't break up no, he didn't break up.
Speaker 2:I tried to, but it didn't work out. Uh. But uh, she, um, she was sober in the program and we got married. We were married for seven years and she relapsed and by this time, man, I was playing gigs, I was in a wedding band, basically I was doing weddings, frat parties. I was playing four nights a week. I was playing three to four nights a week and working four days a week. Working three days a week, um, I'd work a 16 hour shift on sundays and then I worked two eight, two eight hour shifts and then I would play thursday, friday, saturday, back to work sunday no days off at that point, living the dream, though the fact, that fact that you had the dream, oh man, yeah, I was happy.
Speaker 2:I was getting it. I mean sometimes, even now, like where I'm at in my career. I look back on those days and those are the days and that's what's so important to me. It's like no matter where I'm at, if I'm unhappy with my career, this or that. It's so important to enjoy the journey right where you're at yeah, you know it's like we were talking about before. You know, you just have to enjoy it like one day. One day, me and you will look back on this moment, be like man.
Speaker 2:Those were the days yeah you know, and that's why it's um just so important to enjoy the journey. But, um, my wife at the time ended up relapsing and I was like, okay, um, I tried to stay. I mean, I went to Al-Anon, I did everything I could you know before. I was just like, okay, I'm either gonna stay here and I'm gonna get drunk again, I'm gonna go insane, or I gotta do what's best for me and my sobriety and my saneness. So, so I got divorced.
Speaker 1:Was it hard to put yourself first in that?
Speaker 2:situation. It was very hard because it wasn't hard this sounds terrible. It wasn't hard divorcing her, but she had a son and I knew that once that ended, I wouldn't be a part of his life anymore, and that's the only part about it that still hurts with me, you know anymore, and that's the only part about it that still hurts with me. You know, yeah, I think that that's something that, um, I still, I don't struggle with it anymore, but it's still something I think about. You know, I would say that, um, but, uh, I don't know, man, I think, um, my sobriety always comes first, no matter what. You know, if somebody told me tomorrow I could have 15 number ones and all the money in the world but they were like you got to get drunk to have it I wouldn't do it, you know. That's just like. My sobriety is who I am. It's my identity, you know. I know without it I'm nothing. So there's not anything that I can put in front of that.
Speaker 1:It's good to see that you can shift or develop a belief so strong that it comes before anything else, Because so often when people hit rock bottom or their life's fallen apart, the identity of that there, whatever the belief is. For me it was like I was a crumb back in the day. And then, when that shifted to the beliefs that I have about myself now, it's completely transformed my life. So the fact that you've now like that is your identity is powerful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. I mean, yeah, well, thanks. I mean I just know that like there's no, there's like I do all these things now, you know there's like I'm going to the gym now. I've been doing that for a hot minute, you know, like You've killed it lately. Yeah, I mean I'm only like five months in, but, like you know, I just benched 135 for the first time ever in my life, you know that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:They're the wins you want, right Like that's epic.
Speaker 2:But like I work out, I go to therapy, I write songs that I want to write. I write the kind of songs that I want to hear. I write the kind of songs that I want to hear. And to do those things, I have to continue to look at myself and recreate myself and who I am, and continue to dig deeper into whether it's childhood trauma or something I created along the way. I have to do that, but I can't look at any of that shit if I'm fucked up. So it's like I can't look at any of that shit if I'm fucked up, you know. So it's like I can't be who I am without being sober. So it is who I am, If that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Definitely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so um where were we at? On my story, let's see. You just got the divorce or you just, I just divorced. Um um. I lived with my mom for a little while. I was like I can't do this, I gotta get out of here. I lived with my brother for three months. I was like, can't do this, I gotta get out of here. Uh, I live with my best friend, frankie, the kid from when I was younger and, uh, we're still best friends today. It's pretty crazy that is awesome.
Speaker 1:So what are you like? Three years older than him? Four years older?
Speaker 2:uh, me and frankie are. Uh, he's, I'm one year older than him.
Speaker 2:That's so cool so I live with him. And then I have another friend that I lived with for three years. When I first got sober I had my first apartment. His name's Chris and he's been on my podcast and I love just having like my normal friends and stuff on my podcast that like just talk about life. You know what I mean. It's pretty cool, like like Tio does, like he'll do like a trash man, like he did one recently with like a uh uh, lunch lunch, uh lunch room lady or something.
Speaker 1:It was hilarious. His pod is 10 out of 10. Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 2:Even just the reals, where sometimes you're just like I can't believe he said that. But that's the best. Yeah, he's great. But anyways, Chris lived with me for a little while and I always value his opinion. He's sober and he's like me. He's a father now and I've watched his life change.
Speaker 2:He's got 12 years or something like that now and, uh, I remember just going over his house and sitting on the couch and I was like, hey, man, like I'm thinking about I'm 29, I'm thinking about just like moving to nashville. I just got to know that like I gave it everything I had for this music thing, because by now I'm like I'm making a living playing music but I'm writing six songs every year. I always wanted to write a song every day. I always wanted to have a publishing deal and all the things. I always just wanted to give Nashville a shot. He was like man, I think that's a great idea. If you go up there and you fall on your ass, you can always come back to Birmingham and say I remember that time I lived in nashville and yeah gave this thing a shot, so I moved here in 2019.
Speaker 2:My stepmom, which is my dad's wife, um, pays for. She gives me two months worth of rent and bought me like a bed because at this point I'd just gone through my divorce. I have nothing dude. Like I gave everything to my ex, like everything I owned fit in my toyota sequoia when I drove up here to nashville. And I get a one, I get a. I get a rent a room from a guy 500 bucks a month. I live there. I have a mattress on the floor, a tv dinner tray, an xbox and a tv that I bought off a craigslist you know, or something like that, and um, and I have a rubber made underwear drawer that also serves as like a nightstand you
Speaker 2:know, and my mom bought me a brand new bedspread and sheets and I put it on there. But I mean, it's on the floor and I move up here and I just start going out to the bars and meeting people, shaking hands, doing all that stuff, and it was. It was tough at first, but I truly believe that my sobriety prepared me for everything. When I first started going to meetings early on, I'd sit in the back, you know, I'd stand outside and if I saw anybody coming my way, like they're about to talk to me, I pull out my phone and pretend like I was on my phone.
Speaker 2:But the longer I stayed there, the longer I kept doing the work, kept doing the thing, stayed committed to the process, the more I felt like, hey, I belong here, I've done the work, I'm here, you know, and I started making friends, you know, and that's same thing. When I came to nashville, I'd walk into the bars, I'd go talk to somebody, probably be time of introducing myself to them. That's what happens here, you know. I'd say something to them and then it'd be like past midnight and they'd be like you know they were like they're drunk, I'd be like okay, well, cool, tonight's not my night, I'll leave.
Speaker 2:And I remember getting in my car and just like feeling empty and like what the hell am I doing here? And then just being reminded like, hey, it okay, you don't have to figure this out right now. Like you're here for life, baby. You know you just got to get up and try again a different day. You know I remember telling myself that and uh, anyways, I ended up meeting some people. I'll start writing songs. Uh, I've got.
Speaker 2:2020 is coming up. It's going to be the best year as far as, like frat gigs and stuff. I'm gonna get in the studio record some songs. Like I'm I'm starting to like make a. You know I've I got this beach gig down at the beach, where we go down there for like two weeks. They put us up and they give us two hotel rooms and, like you know, we're we're doing like this residency. We're making like 800 bucks a day as a band. Like we're going to.
Speaker 2:You know I'll be able to pay my bills at least for two months off of that. You know, gig and and uh, everything's lining up and then we do our first two weeks and then we come back home and it's COVID and everything shut down. We're not doing anything. But man, I'll tell you what. So I'm up here in nashville, I'm meeting people, I'm writing, I'm doing all the things, but I'm not hanging out with anybody. You know what I mean. Like I don't have any like real connection other than the four hours we spend together while we're writing the song yeah um, I gotta go back a little while.
Speaker 2:So I used to play in this bar called sky bar. It's in auburn, alabama, and I used to play down there once a month. It's the biggest bar on the college campus down there and one night I was in there. I was singing Big Green Tractor and I was changing the words take you for a ride. I'm a big tally whacker and it was hilarious. Sometimes I would do that just to see if people were paying attention. And this guy came up to me that night and was like man. That was hilarious. My name's Matt, gave me a fist bump and then walked away. I never thought anything about it again. I was at Revival, which was around here in town, when I first moved here. And this big, tall guy comes walking up to me, taller than me, and he goes hey, man, I'm Matt. I met you at Sky Bar and you were changing the words to whatever. Whatever. He was like like man, I just moved here in october. I was like man, I just moved here in january. Like he was like well, I live out here in hermitage.
Speaker 1:I was like dude. I live in hermitage and I was just following. I was like dude.
Speaker 2:I guess we're hanging out, you know, and become best friends so, yeah, exactly so me and him start hanging out and playing madden together, and matt mckinney's like one of those guys that he's a songwriter here in town, but he's one of those guys that can. He's like you may have had a friend like this that just like connects different groups of people that wouldn't normally mix you know, I guess kind of like Jay Todd you know, and uh, so we kind of like, formed this like friend group Some of these people were already friends, but we all start, during COVID, start hanging out.
Speaker 2:You know, know, the first month nobody went anywhere, did anything, you know, for covid, because we thought we were all gonna die, you know. And then we were just like screw it, let's all hang out, let's build the nashville immunity. You know, we're like hanging out in each other, we're hanging out each other's houses in the backyards and all this stuff. And mckinney shows me this song one day that he wrote called dick down in dallas, I was like it was just a work tape. It was funny. They started opening up restaurants again.
Speaker 2:We went to chili's me, him and my roommate at the time, mitch and uh, we're listening to the work tape and we're just like I'm not thinking anything of it. And uh, my roommate mitch goes man, if this was a song right now, I would buy it. You should cut this tray. And I was a song right now you should cut this Trey. And I was like and you should put it on TikTok.
Speaker 2:I didn't even know what TikTok was and I went home and I went in my room for a minute and then I told McKinney to send me the lyrics and the work tape and I learned the song and I walked in the room and I go. You know what? Fuck it man, let's do it. I've been putting out music since 2013 like this would just be like a funny Nashville song. Let's do it. And I start playing the song at all these bonfires and the whole friend group singing it and then I play around over here at Live Oak and I play the song and everybody in the bar knows it because it's all our friends. Somebody takes a video.
Speaker 2:It ends up on facebook, ends up on caller daddy's facebook group and then, yeah, on their like they have like a face fan, fan, facebook group ended up on there and then from there, mckinney got it put on old row and that was like the first viral. I'm talking like maybe 40 000 views. But to us back then that was like holy, holy shit, you know. So by then we're like we're definitely going to record this song. I'm like going back and forth, like how am I going to do this? Am I going to do more like a Corey Smith vibe, like just like acoustic? You know, like sound like that rehab song. You know, sitting at a bar on the inside, but Maxwell, the guy that was producing my music, alex maxwell he was like no dude, we're. We're gonna like full-on do this and I'm laying in bed and, uh, grady saxman he's a drummer here in town and he has saxman studios. A lot of people have recorded out there and he's played on everything I've done since 2013 really yeah, he's like a good friend.
Speaker 2:He just sends me a text and all the text says is duke down in dallas, and I called maxwell. I was like a good friend. He just sends me a text and all the text says is Duke down in Dallas and I called Maxwell. I was like Alex, dude, we're going to Grady's to record this. Because he just texted me and like I show up over there. I think I paid $1,200 for the recording.
Speaker 2:Saul Littlefield played bass, acoustics and electric and Grady played drums and then Alex Maxwell did all the extra piano, the ooh-oohs and all the backgrounds. We did that the next day. Song was done in three days. We had it mixed and mastered and then we put it up on the internet for online distribution and we decided that we're going to put it out december 1st, because there's like no nut november december 1st, dig down dallas, funny, um. And then we get a call from the distributor and they're like yeah, man, if you put the song out today, it's going to be number one. You know like I was like what and uh, we have a little get-together at the house. The song comes out and it's number one on iTunes charts, all genre and in country we end up beating out BTS the pop group, the Korean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the K-pop group. We beat them out in sales for that week, so it was a billboard number one. I have them coming after me on Twitter. I've got like two twitter followers at the time, you know, um yeah who the fuck's trey lewis, all this stuff, um and uh, yeah, it's just crazy, man and uh, from there on, we're like touring. We did 141 shows that year as a band. Yeah, it was crazy. Uh, I'm taking meetings with every record label in town, new York, la, all that stuff.
Speaker 1:How did this feel for you? You literally just get thrown into being the man, the man of the moment, where everyone's wanting you. This has been the dream it was crazy man.
Speaker 2:I mean, I feel like I was ready for the moment. You know, I really felt like I earned the time to be there. You know, had I been 20 years old and two years sober, I probably wouldn't have been able to, you know, deal with that. I probably would have just blown through all the money that I made. I ended up staying independent and not signing a record deal with that song. So, I still own it yeah.
Speaker 1:That's done.
Speaker 2:hundreds of millions of streams, yeah yeah, it's certified platinum, but we are turning in the report to have it certified double platinum. Congrats. Yeah, man, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Man, it's pretty cool, it's pretty cool um and to be able to keep that independent is awesome because normally the labels want more what you got. Yeah um.
Speaker 2:So now I'm with river house, uh, artist and, and I'm on a record deal there, um, but I still own a lot of my old stuff, so I still have the income from that, which I'm extremely grateful for that. They believed in me enough to uh do a go-forward deal. We just put out a record in february. It's called troublemaker. Uh, it's probably probably one of my most favorite collection of songs that I've ever put out, um, you know.
Speaker 2:But I will say this uh, sometimes it is hard being the dick down in dallas guy. I won't lie. I mean, that's that's kind of like the elephant in the room, like that's what I'm most known for, and I will never be the guy that's gonna be like oh no, I'm not doing that song, I'm tired of doing that song. That's the song that made me who I am. That's the song that's continued for me to like paid for me to have a dream, to continue to put music out, hoping something else. Will you know, I'd rather be in the position I'm in now, because I can go tour anywhere and people show up to hear that song and it's my job, when they leave, to make them a trey lewis fan. You know, if they come and dick down Dallas fan, leave a Trey Lewis fan. That's my motto. But the thing is, I am the dick down Dallas guy. I accept that responsibility. That's fine, but I'm not what you would think I am.
Speaker 1:You know what I?
Speaker 2:mean, I have a lot more in the tank than that. I have a lot bigger story than just that one song, you know. And that's the part that can be frustrating at times. But, man, I trust God's plan. I feel like that song is in my life for a reason, because I can handle it, and I feel like there's more story to tell and it only makes sense to me that the rest of that story gets told.
Speaker 2:And I feel like there's a part of me that feels like if I don't do my best to bring my shovel to that mountain that he's got to move you know what I mean. I can bring my shovel, but if I don't do that, then I'm not living in his will and I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. And I can't my shovel. But if I don't do that, then I'm not living in his will and I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I can't not do that. You know what I mean. But yeah, sometimes it's tough. Some days you're just like damn, is this all I'm ever going to be?
Speaker 2:But, at the same time, I'm grateful for it and just keep going.
Speaker 1:I love your approach to it, where it's like they come in as trying to find the dick dallas and experience that, but then they go away as a trey lewis fan.
Speaker 2:Yeah so it's. It's been really cool, man. So I also signed a publishing deal sony music publishing and I've been writing songs over there for three years now, and last summer a week ago to this week I went on a writer's retreat and to write some songs for my next project, and I wrote a song called three feet tall, and, uh, cole swindell ended up cutting it and putting it out and um, I love when I meet people that don't know that.
Speaker 2:You know, a lot of people don't know me. They know dick down in dallas, but they don't know me. So, whether it's uber driver or a lady cutting my hair or something you know, like you can judge people until like would they probably be offended by dick down in dallas? Or like so catchy, or like would they like be more of like a three feet tall kind of person, you know, and it's like it's cool to be like oh yeah, I'm in music and they're like, well, have you done anything we've heard of? I was like, and if they're like a three feet tall looking kind of person, I'll be like yeah, you ever heard that song three feet tall by cole swindell?
Speaker 2:I'll be like oh yeah, man, I love that song. But yeah, I wrote that, but I also, and then, and then, and then hitting them with the oh yeah, but I also sing that song dick down in dallas.
Speaker 2:They're like it's two different, complete contrasts you know what I mean like I feel like three feet tall, is probably one of the best songs I've ever written, you know. And dick down in dallas is one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of. But two completely different ends of the spectrum and I love being able to hit people with both and then like, if it's like a dick down dallas kind of guy, I'll be like, yeah, man, I sang that song, but I also wrote this song and they're like no way, you know, um, but man, it's been cool. So after that happened, the cole swindell thing happened. Um, I ran into I met tracy lawrence. Um, uh, you know he, he sings Paint Me a Birmingham Time Marches On.
Speaker 2:I met him a while back. Me, him and Laney Wilson played a show together and I was in my bus and his tour manager came over and was like hey, man, tracy Lawrence wants to meet you. I was like shit, he wants to meet me. Fuck, I want to meet him, you know. But like I don't ever like bother people when I'm on the road because sometimes they don't want to be bothered. But I thought it was cool that he wanted to meet me. So I went over to his bus, me and him just kind of formed an organic relationship. I did his podcast, he came on my podcast and we've always just texted back and forth, stayed in touch and it's weird because his manager went to college with my manager.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Generational connection. Yeah, it's weird. So my roommate at the time was Ella Langley. She's been my roommate for the past five years up until about a week ago and she went on tour with Riley and Tracy and they did like this opening show here in Nashville and I ran into Tracy's manager.
Speaker 2:He was like she was like yeah, he's cutting songs. I think he's only cutting like five songs, but if you have anything, send it to him. So like I'm thinking man, I just got this colt swindell thing like what, what in my catalog could I send to him? And I wrote this song called out here in it and I was like screw it, I'll just send it to him. I was like, hey, man, trey here, like here's a song I heard you were cutting your.
Speaker 2:Your manager told me you were cutting. Then like, uh, you know, it doesn't have to make things weird in between us if you don't like it, just you know, just let me know. Either way, it's cool. And uh, he asked me for a lyric sheet and I was like I sent it to him, whatever. I didn't hear anything. And then he does a turkey fry every year here for thanksgiving and he's like come to the turkey frost. I came to turkey, frost shook his hand, took some pictures, you know, kiss the babies, whatever. And uh, he's like yeah, man, I cut your song, by the way, I'll send it to you tonight so you can listen to it.
Speaker 2:And I'm like I'm like what and um. So the whole way home on thanksgiving I'm driving back to alabama to go with my family and I just listen to it on repeat and cry, because I mean, I grew up listening to his music. What would 19-year-old, 20-year-old me think of the man I am right now? This is pretty awesome. Anyways, long story short, he put the song out. He was only cutting five things, so I went from having no cuts on the tracy lawrence record to be in the title track of the record of the five songs that came out. And then, uh, he ended up calling me a few weeks ago, asked me to come sing on a version of it. I don't know if I'm supposed to say that on here, but I, I got in the studio with him.
Speaker 2:I sang on it and I don't know if it's ever going to come out, but I did it, uh. But he asked me to come to the rhyming and, uh, sing with him and I got to go to the rhyming and, uh, it was pretty funny because, like his band, is that all of us like?
Speaker 2:yeah, well, I'd already played the rhyme and I went on tour with Kid Rock in 2021, and he does a comedy show up there and he asked me to start off the comedy show. But Theo was there, shane Gillis was there. It was awesome, but it felt good to play the Ryman for an actual music event, I guess. But when I walked on the stage, his band started off. That's how they introed me to the show. They're like, yeah, we're not doing that song tonight, but trey lewis wrote this song with me and, uh, we sang it together. Man, it was like the coolest thing ever. Like can't dream that shit up. Yeah, you know, it's crazy what's?
Speaker 1:what do you have left? I know you've said throughout, throughout this that it's important to be present and love them where you're at, but what's on the bucket list that you want to?
Speaker 2:tick off the Opry, man, I feel like it's a long shot for me. Why? I think because I am the Dick Down in Dallas guy. It's like the megachurch of country music. I think.
Speaker 2:If Jelly roll can do it, if, uh, if there's a lot of people that have played on there that you know, if they can do it, I can do it. And you know, I think that the biggest thing for me to continue to do is continue to be consistent, you know, and that's the thing. It's like man, like goals and all that stuff are awesome and wanting to achieve the thing, but like man, I'm just, I'm in love with the journey, you know, and I'm addicted to the grind, you know. So I don't think there's any certain level of success that I can hit that I can be like okay, well, I'm good now. You know, I feel like I'm always gonna want to dig and become a better person mentally, spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, you know, and that's just kind of where I'm at.
Speaker 2:But there's a lot of things I want to do, man. I want to play the Opry, I want to have a number one song on country radio, mostly because people think I can't do it, you know, and I just want to prove to whoever the guy is, I mean, hell, he might be in jail, he might be gone through similar things that I have and didn't have a normal path to finding out who he was as a person and proving to people. You can do anything to put your mind to, and I know there's people out there doing it, but I feel like my story is pretty powerful man and and I don't mean that egotistically I just feel like we're all put here for a reason, so we might as well make the most of it, and I feel like that that's the best. The best thing that I have to offer this world is to continue to live and not give up dude.
Speaker 1:It's a powerful story. It's one of the first podcasts in a long while where I've just been listening. Like just fully glued to hear what happens next, and I've also listened to a couple of podcasts of yours and know some of the stuff. But, mate, it's been awesome to spend some time together and get to hear more about your story, Dude.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it. It's been awesome, man. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1:I hope it's been good and for all the people who are listening, you go check out Tray on Spotify and podcasts and all that sort of stuff. I'll have all of me on social media.
Speaker 2:Send me a um. You can send me a DM. Let me know you heard the podcast. I'll respond to it. Got any questions for me?
Speaker 1:No dick down, anything picks yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no dick picks. Thanks for coming on.
