She's a big fan of the Predators. Taylor Swift
loves Predators. Five, four, three, two, one,
zero. Welcome to the show, people. Welcome to
the show. Eat my shorts. So here is to conversation.
Tranquility Base here. Vehicle has landed. Welcome
to Cash Exchange. Welcome. How's it going? Good.
Something happened the other day at work that
reminded me of an older episode that we did.
I went to greet a guest and I was like, you know,
like, how are you doing? Welcome to the restaurant
that I work at. And she actually answered me.
She was like, well, you know, I'm only here because
and then was talking about her issues with Facebook
Marketplace. She tried to buy a rug. And when
she went to go buy that rug, she found out that
that rug was not in a pet free home. I got I
got her full life story. It's the first time
that's ever happened to me. That's how she ended
up at your restaurant. Yeah, she was in the neighborhood
that I work in because she went to go pick up
a rug off a Facebook marketplace, but she forgot
to ask if it came from a pet -free home. It didn't.
She's allergic to cats. So she ended up at my
restaurant. That was how I greeted her. That's
how she greeted me. It reminded me of the pod.
And how'd that make you feel? To be burdened
by strangers' nonsense. I was a little thrown
at first, but... I mean, we discussed her future
decor plans for the new house that she has. Did
you tell her that you're a filthy cat person
and you couldn't serve her? You know, it didn't
come up. Wow. Wow. So you exposed this woman
to a potentially life -threatening allergy just
so you could make a quick buck? I mean, I was
on the other side of the bar, so I don't think
that that's how that works necessarily. I'm sorry.
I didn't know. Allergens don't travel. You should
probably tell that to my sinuses during pollen
season. Okay, well that's in the air. I'm not
actively sniffing a tree, but it still attacks
me. Sure. So, wow. I will bear that in mind.
You think you know somebody. All right, Chloe,
you ready to get into today's episode? Yeah,
what do you got? Okay. What do Taylor Swift,
Cody Jinks, and Slipknot have in common? It has
something to do with concerts. Because I know
that you've been to... The heiress tour, I believe
one of your first dates with your fiancé was
Slipknot? Pretty close, yeah. Yeah, she was not
a fan. And I remember hearing about you and your
oldest, I believe, going to Cody Jinks. We did.
We did. I will tell you that today's episode
has nothing to do with personal concert experience.
Okay. Are we just... Talking trash about Ticketmaster
because I have a lot to say on that matter. We
could, but we're going to have to save that for
another day. Lame. I got the inspiration for
this episode because I was just sent my 2025
replay from Apple Music. Okay. I don't know who
makes this playlist, who curates it, but they
have impeccable taste. Just banger after banger.
Like just nonstop hit, hit, hit, hit. Your Apple
replay contains Taylor Swift? Well, you see,
first off, I am a fan of Life of the Showgirl.
Okay. I'm a fan of like a third of the Tortured
Poets department. Okay. Everything previous to
that, eh. But my... iTunes account is connected
to our Alexa. Whenever I get requests in the
car, it's through my Apple Music. Our Apple TV
is connected to my Apple Music. So it's not completely
my fault, but if it does come on, I don't turn
it off. You do enjoy listening about teardrops
on your guitar? Do we not go that far back in
the catalog? No. At one point, whenever she was
actually country, before she slapped her fan
base around and was like, no, screw y 'all. I'm
going complete pop. She was cosplaying country.
She wasn't cosplaying country then. She's from
Pennsylvania. She was in the thick of it. Yeah,
but she lived in Tennessee. She wrote some of
her best songs at the Parthenon. That's in the
middle of Tennessee for some reason. She was
a big, she's a big fan of the Predators. Taylor
Swift loves Predators. I would like that to be
on record, and I would also like that to be the
cold open of this episode. The Nashville Predators.
Horrible team name, but sure. Honestly, when
you get these, when you get these playlists,
it is kind of eye -opening, I guess, and not
in a good way. Okay. I mean, my job, I do a lot
of driving and I can listen to music pretty much
all day. So it makes a little more sense to me.
If I was someone that had a job where I couldn't
just zone out for the entire day, this would
probably be problematic. But my number one is
Coe Wetzel at a whopping 429 minutes listened.
That's a lot of co. That doesn't feel crazy over
the span of a year. And then Luke Combs, Cody
Jinks, Eminem, Toby Keith, Chris Knight, Bowling
for Soup, Jarrett Reddick, You Made, number seven.
Has nothing to do with the fact that every time
I start my vehicle, it plays the first song in
my library and it just so happens to be one of
your songs. Has nothing to do with that. No,
a -hole. Ah. I really, I really don't listen
to this part, Jared, but I really need to take
that song off my playlist off out of my library
because it's so annoying. Every time I start
driving and it starts playing. Mine for the longest
time. whenever I saw an iPhone was Passengers
Let Her Go because it comes from an album called
All the Lights or something. And so now if I
hear the opening notes from that song, it makes
me immediately angry. Well, before then, before
A -Hole, it was Absolute Zero by Stone Sour,
whose frontman is also the frontman for Slipknot.
And that one goes a lot hard. So that's a punch
in the face. No. When it's 5 .30 in the morning
and you're just trying to get to work or school.
No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, that's a lot. So, A
-hole is a little better. But I still need to
change that up. And then number eight, Taylor
Swift. And at my number, which I was surprised
this was a lot lower than I thought it would
be. At my number 13th spot with 279 minutes.
I'll take a guess. I've talked about this musical
person, group, multiple times on this show. So
it's a band that you've talked about on this
and it's... Not bowling for soup. Is not bowling
for soup. Can I get another hint? A genre, perhaps?
It's country. Country. And also rock. I was going
to say Eli Young, but they wouldn't be considered
rock. And also apparently mild Satanism. That
would be the chicken -loving Zac Brown Band.
Zac Brown Band. Made it number 13. And he, his
group, have been in the news recently because
they just started a, is it a tour? Is it a residency?
I have no idea. A string of shows. First in Vegas.
At the Sphere. Do you have any interest in going
to the Sphere? I would love to go to the Sphere.
I think that it would be cool to see once, but
I don't think that. A, I would want to pay as
much as they would probably ask for a ticket
at the Sphere. I also think that I would, on
a good day, get vertigo from it because of all
of the things I've seen of the Sphere. I think
it is meant to kind of break your brain. Music
or movie? I think music would be cool, but it
would depend a lot on the act. I did send you
a video of Zac Brown playing at the Sphere, and
it is... Unbelievably silly. Unbelievably silly.
I don't want to see you two, so wouldn't go to
that. No, thank you. Wizard of Oz looked really
cool. It did, and then you get to keep an apple.
Oh, did not. If you were lucky enough to get
pegged with one. What? They threw apples? They
dropped apples from, they were foam apples from
the ceiling. Huh, didn't know that. They're red,
like, just red foam balls with the... the logo
on it. If it is a sphere, is there a ceiling?
Is there a ceiling or is there no ceiling? Like,
is it all ceiling or is it no ceiling? It's all
wall. You're surrounded by wall. Yes. Huh. You
know, I didn't see nearly enough Drake and Josh
memes whenever this fear first came to be. In
retrospect, I'm disappointed. Oh, yeah. But anyone
listening to this show, anyone that has a passing
knowledge of me, knows that I am a Zac Brown
defender. I will stick by them. They've made
some silly choices. The whole thing about when
he... divorced his second wife after, like, not
even a year, and then ended up suing her for
breach of contract. Yeah. Or breaking an NDA,
something like that. That was a little silly.
The Kendra Scott stuff kind of came out of nowhere.
A lot of people are blaming his turn. To the
dark side on Kendra Scott. I don't know why.
I don't know much about Kendra Scott. I think
it's a little strange. I get it. But I do think
it's a little strange that her brand was built
off her ex -husband's name and she still goes
by that ex -husband's name to protect the brand.
Would you do that? Interesting. I don't know
that I would want to change my name in general.
No? Huh. I don't know. Okay. I think if you start
a, if you have a compelling reason to keep your
partner's name after you split up, then that's
valid. Like our mom kept her married last name
because she has two kids with that last name.
I think that's valid. Maybe not if you were to
get like remarried, but. If I'm not mistaken,
I'm pretty sure Kendra is. Like, based out of
your neck of the woods. She is indeed. I worked
at that company when I was doing sales. The Kendra
Scott headquarters is not too far from me. Oh.
Okay. So I said I'm a Zac Brown defender. I realize
he has some faults. That's fine. Sure. I understand
the criticism from people. About his current
path, I think it's blown way out of proportion.
I think that he was trying to convey a message
and maybe was a little too heavy handed with
it. And now people just people love to attack
something. Sure. And then even if people don't
love to attack something, they love to get the
brownie points from attacking that thing. Yeah.
So even if it's like, well, I don't agree, but
if it had been me, there's no way I would have
done that. You still get your brownie points
even though you're not directly attacking anyone.
Yeah. I'm not a defender in most of these situations
because I think there's a lot more nuance to
a lot of it than obviously we're told. But I
also don't care enough to put my two cents in
in most of these situations. Yeah. I think it's
interesting when your fan base is particularly,
the majority is conservative. The majority is
Christian country music loving people. All of
the love thy neighbor goes out the window when
this kind of stuff pops out. Whenever people
decide that they want to experiment with, Maybe
something new. Maybe getting some feelings out.
They don't have any other avenue to explore.
And this isn't even the first time. Maybe it's
the first time that he's directly used, like,
hell imagery in his stuff. But it's not the first
time that he's stepped out. And lucky for you,
I can go through his entire discography for you.
Okay. So, Zach Brownband. They're less of a band.
They're more of an ensemble. Do you know how
many members are in Zach Brown Band? Considering
the fact that it's called Zach Brown Band and
the frontman is Zach Brown, quite honestly, I
only consider it to be the one guy. Wow. I know
that's wrong. Wow. So you're just going to negate.
But it's also a band named after the one guy.
You're going to negate all the other eight members
of the Zach Brown Band? Good Lord. There's also,
I mean, he could have at least gone the Eli Young
route and gone with two people out of the band.
But no, just Zac Brown and co. Well, he started
it. Not even Mumford and Sons. He started it.
He can do what he wants. He can. When it started
out, it was him and one bass player, one drum
player. There are eight members of the Zac Brown
band. That's excessive. There's nine. There's
eight. Including Zach. No, there's Zach Brown
on lead vocals and guitar. There's Jimmy DeMartini
on fiddle and vocals. There is John Driscoll
Hopkins, which I feel like he put the Driscoll
in so he wouldn't be confused with the hospital.
Fair. John Hopkins. Isn't it John's Hopkins?
It is Johns Hopkins. It's probably two people's
last names. Yeah. But still putting the Driscoll
in makes it a little... Do you think he opted
for Driscoll or was that an actual part of his
name that he just... Oh, you think he just picked
up Driscoll? You could. It's a stage name. You
could. That is correct. He replaced the original
bassist, Jacob Lawson. He plays bass, banjo,
and ukulele. Oh, okay. So next time you're practicing,
think of John Driscoll Hopkins. I don't know
why I had a stroke over that. All right, you
got Coy Bowles, who plays slide guitar, dobro,
piano, and organ. He plays dobro? Dobro, yeah.
It's like a... It's like, you know what a steel
guitar is? Yeah. You play it over your lap. Well,
it's like that. But it's its own thing. And it
has like a slide for your finger. And it's got
knee pedals and foot pedals. That's a Dobro.
So it's like a fancier steel guitar. Interesting.
A lot more adjustments you can make. Clay Cook
is guitar, keys, vocals, mandolin, and steel.
Okay. Daniel De Los Reyes is drums. He is the
oldest member at 64. Nice. Matt Mangano is bass.
Chris Fryer, who I am obligated to shout out,
is a University of North Texas alum, replaced
the original drummer, Marcus Petruska. And then
Caroline Jones is on vocals. And when Zach started
out with Jacob Lawson and Marcus Petrusca, he
was playing in a restaurant that he and his dad
owned called Zach's Place in Georgia. He would
also do like 200 shows a year other places. So
they did that for a little bit. And then once
developers came in, they bought the restaurant
out. And Zach went and bought a Ford Econoline
450 bus. It's a tour bus. If you've been to somewhere
where they shuttle old people, like from retirement
homes to like casinos and stuff, that's the kind
of bus they're rocking. That was our first tour
bus. In 2004, Jimmy joined with Fiddle. 2005,
Hopkins and Bowles. 2008, Fryer. 2009, Cook.
Reyes in 2012, Mangano in 2014, and Caroline
Jones in 2022. Only reason I'm telling you this
is because throughout this span of 20 years,
a lot of different... People have joined the
Zac Brown band, which means there's a lot of
different tastes. There's a lot of different
opinions. There's a lot of different musical
proclivities come up. Sure. And so your sound
is going to change throughout that time. Of course.
Which one of them introduced Satan? Well, I mean,
Caroline Jones was the most recent one. And their
most recent album. Did you know they had a recent
album that came out this year that they're promoting
at the Sphere? I haven't listened to Zac Brown
since the Jekyll and Hyde album came out. It
has been quite some time. I'm sure I've listened
to like something that they've put out in that
time between. But like the last album I could
tell you about was the one with Homegrown on
it. It's interesting that you mentioned Jekyll
and Hyde because that was their first foray into
like actual rock songs. The biggest single off
that album was Heavy is the Head with Chris Cornell.
So they started making the turn a lot earlier
than most people think. But in 2004, they released
their first album, Homegrown, independently on
Zach's own label, also called Homegrown, but
then later changed to Southern Ground. And if
you're in the Zach Brown camp, During the research,
I went on their website. I was just trying to
get what information I could and found out that
their fan club is called the Zamily. Ew. Z -A
-M -I -L -Y. I hate that. I hate that a lot.
So needless to say, I didn't sign up to be a
member of the Zamily. Every... New thing that
I'm learning about the Zac Brown Band, in addition
to everything I currently know about the Zac
Brown Band, gives the strongest divorced dad
vibe I have ever encountered. Well, that's fair.
Because he is, in fact, a divorced dad. Twice
over. I don't really think the second one counts
all that much. But technically, he's on his way
to his third marriage. But homegrown and southern
ground. If you are a fan, as I am, you would
know that Homegrown was the title of its own
song. And Southern Ground is a term that he uses
in, I think, at least two songs. And Chicken
Fried. And Chicken Fried, yep. What other songs
does he use it on? I think it was one on his
second album. I might be crazy. It might just
be Chicken Fried. You give what you get. Yeah.
You get what you give, yeah. But, yeah, I don't
know 100%. I do know that it's in Chicken Fried,
though. But what do you remember the first big
Zac Brown band song being? Chicken Fried. Toes.
Chicken Fried. Did you know that the first version
of Chicken Fried that was on the radio was not
Zac Brown band? I did not. Who was it? You know
who the Lost Trailers are? No. I don't blame
you. They had one song that did anything. It
was called Holler Back. Not Holler Back, girl.
Holler Back. That sounds familiar. I feel like
I know that song. Yeah, I'm sure you do. If you
heard it, you'd recognize it. It was a flash
in the pan. Nothing. They did a remix re -recording
where It was for the NFL, the upcoming NFL season.
It was called the football mix. It was the same
song, but just had football terminology in it.
So that's, that's the level that obviously it's,
it's nowhere near on par with what Zach Brown
band would become. But at the time they were
signed, Zach Brown wasn't. And. Chicken Fried
was a song that was on the Homegrown Independent
album. Lost Trailers approached Zac Brown and
said, hey, we want this song on our album. Can
we have it? They were still coming up. They hadn't
made their big break yet. And so Zac Brown said,
you can have it, but it has to stay an album
song and you can't. Turn it into a single because
he's still holding out hope for his big break.
And then chicken fried would be his first single.
Well, the head of Sony Nashville heard the lost
trailer song or album and decided that their
strongest option for a single would be chicken
fried. Zach was just. driving down the road one
day listening to country radio, and here's Chicken
Fried playing, and it was not him singing. And
he got pissed. Reasonably. He reached out to
his attorney. His attorney tried to talk him
down, said, Hey, man, you're dealing with the
head of Sony Nashville. Like, you're going to
get blackballed. They're going to torch you,
and you're not going to have a career. So maybe
you should just let this one go. Zach said, Nuh
-uh. And so convinced his attorney to send a
cease and desist and it was taken off the radio.
That whole incident led him to getting enough
press to where he started meeting some people
that ended up getting him signed to Live Nation
Artist Records, which almost immediately closed
and then was bought out by Atlantic Records.
And so he got signed. Their debut single, Chicken
Fried, was released in 2008 and it debuted at
number one. It was the lead single off their
foundational album, The Foundation, which is
the album that we at Cash Exchange, mainly me,
tout as very instrumental in our growing up.
Beginning our love with the exact ground band.
Yeah. It was their first major label release.
It peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200
and number two on the Billboard Top Country album.
Certified five times platinum. Wild. Biggest
singles are Chicken Fried, Whatever It Is, Toes,
Highway 20 Ride, and Free. It was a really good
album. And it still is. I forgot about a bunch
of those. You know, Emily, she claims that she's
never heard the song Highway 20 Ride. You haven't
played it for her at any point? I don't know.
I don't know. It's funny because whenever I find
a really sad song, I play it for her just to
get her reaction. There is a song by Luke Bryan
about a kid who goes to a toy store. And apparently
it's a toy store where they make toys. He goes
to a factory? I don't know. It's country, so
it's a small town. He's got a room in the back
where he makes all the toys. Maybe it's Longlegs
for all we know. I don't know. Sure. And he sees
a toy soldier in the window. And he goes in and
asks the... guy behind the counter if he can
make him a daddy because his dad was a soldier
who died at war huh and so since that incident
I have not been allowed to play my sad songs
for Emily and so maybe this is one that that
took the heat because of that Luke Bryan song
that is such a um a broad range of country music
like there are So many songs you could point
to where it's literally just grieving over a
soldier, but it's infused with every bit of the
all of the hallmarks of a country song. You have
Luke Bryan's Drink a Beer. You have Lee Bryce's
I Drive Your Truck. You have Build Me a Daddy
for some reason. Haven't heard the song. Not
going to point to anything specifically, but
come on. You definitely need to check it out.
cannot stand luke bryan okay okay his first couple
albums before he started before he started releasing
the spring break albums which don't get me wrong
spring break albums they're catchy i like them
okay i don't like his i don't like his stuff
pretty much after that but there's another song
that i discovered from limewire It was one of
the few songs that didn't give our family computer
a virus. As far as you know. You can find it
on YouTube, but there's no actual copy of this
song that you can download and just play on demand.
It's called Small Town Favorite. Okay. That's
another one. And it's got all the hallmarks.
It talks about John Deere. It talks about being
the star football player in a small town. and
getting his girlfriend knocked up and throwing
all of his dreams away. Oh, I know what you're
talking about. I've heard that song before. Yeah.
I think we've probably talked about it before.
Probably. But, yeah, I mean, that era of Luke
Bryan is peak. It's whenever he started leaning
into the bro country moniker is when it all went
to hell in a handbasket. That is why I don't
like Luke Bryan, is because so much of his music
for the longest time was just the exact same
copy -paste. You know the Bo Burnham country
song from Make Happy? So much of Luke Bryan's
music is just that. Yeah. I was trying to remember
the lyrics of it. It's a very good song. If you
haven't heard it, listen to Bo Burnham's country
song. Only if you don't like country music. I'm
not trying to stir the pot. Yeah, he talks about
drinking a beer with the label out, feeling up
on a woman and realizing she's a scarecrow in
a cornfield. But no, I think, I mean, whenever
the foundation came out, I was a sophomore in
high school. And so I really didn't have any
point of reference for songs like Highway 20
Ride. But boy, I didn't know what my future had
in store for me. Because I have had to drive
on Highway 20 to receive my children. That is
very specifically accurate. It is. And maybe
that's what solidified Zac Brown in my heart,
was just this one song. That's fair. I think
that's valid if you have that one connection
that just puts you in deep with the artist. majority
of country listeners but for anyone that knows
anything if you've heard the non -radio version
of toes it's i got my toes in the water ass in
the sand and for that line the entire album is
rated explicit huh i didn't know that album was
considered explicit the only song that has any
semblance of a curse word And that curse word
is ass is listed as explicit on Apple Music.
And this is what's wrong with our country. This
is what's wrong with the world. Yeah, that's
the problem is that ass is enough to qualify
something as explicit. How many children are
going to miss out on the greatness of the foundation
all because... The nanny state is over here saying
that ass is too bad of a word for children to
be able to hear. Genuine question. How many people
do you think listen to Zac Brown and are using
the parental guidelines for what their kids listen
to? If you listen to that music, you know that
it's not explicit. You're going to play it for
them. And if you don't listen to that music,
you're not going to listen to Zac Brown. Like,
you're not going to show your kid Zac Brown if
that's not your vibe. It's good music, but it
is also just cookie -cutter country in a lot
of ways. And now that I think about it, Sycamore
Chicken, all -time favorite, one of them, also
has the phrase, some bitch. That's not rated
explicit on here. The only song that has an explicit
rating on here is Toes. I was going to say, I
don't think they've ever played Sycamore Chicken
on the radio. At least I've never heard it, so
it must be a playability. The fact that it's
toes, it couldn't be free or different kind of
fine. It has to be toes that they say is explicit.
That implies there's some kinky thing going on
with toes in this song and children shouldn't
listen to it. I don't think it does. I don't
think it implies any kind of... Of kink. Some
fetish nonsense. I will never listen to Zac Brown
again. Because the song about toes is explicit?
Because it's kink based. If that is the case,
I'm good. Anyways, enough harping on about one
of the greatest country albums of all time. 2010,
You Get What You Give. My second personal favorite.
Peaked at numero uno on Billboard 200 out of
all genres. And also peaked at number one, obviously,
on the Billboard Country. This one has only certified
platinum three times, though. I think that is
due to the fact that this is when we were starting
to make the switch into everything getting all
muddied up with digital music and all that. People
weren't actually going out and buying the physical
albums. Okay, that's fair. But this one has the
singles As She's Walking Away, featuring Alan
Jackson, Colder Weather, Knee Deep. I can play
that song. Colder Weather. Nice. It's one of
my favorite of theirs. It's so just foreshadowing
for later in the episode. There's a rash of comments
online. on videos of Zac Brown at the Sphere
saying that ain't one song Zac Brown has that
needs these kind of visuals. I absolutely agree.
I'm in that camp. There's something about Colder
Weather. It's like this is the same band that
did Colder Weather, but there was like multiple,
like 10, 20, 30 comments about, oh, well, this
is the band that did Colder Weather and they
need a devil skeleton on the Sphere. And why
is that the song that everyone's latching on
to? Maybe the truck stop just outside of Lincoln
was the crossroads. I mean, like the actual music
changed that like that's a song about sadness.
So, I mean, it would lean more into the darker
motifs than something like, I don't know, chicken
fried or or knee deep. You can. very easily convince
I think the general public that that sphere show
was Tenacious D and not Zac Brown. The visuals
are just bizarre and not specifically in a they
also made colder weather kind of way because
a lot of country or a lot of artists have made
like super big scary rock stuff and then also
like softer ballads. But like it doesn't feel
like it fits them. Do you think people had the
same problem when Charlie Daniels came out with
The Devil Went Down to Georgia? Do you think
people felt the same way when Johnny Cash had
the Ring of Fire? No, because their entire vibe
was more of that that kind of aesthetic, that
kind of that kind of music. They were already
doing things that were in line with that. And
so if they had done Johnny Cash doing that kind
of like devil show at the Sphere would have also
been out of place. I think Charlie Daniels could
have made it work. But the like they built their
name. They built their discography off of things
that would have lined, I personally feel, a lot
more with the, again, pick of destiny things
that were in those visuals rather than Zac Brown.
And that is also to say I haven't heard newer
Zac Brown. So I could be totally off base and
they actually successfully switched to Devil
Went Down to Georgia Country. I listened to the
newest album. And I will reserve my comments
until we get to that portion of the episode.
Okay. I have some things to say and it's going
to hurt to say it, but that's got to be done.
All right. She's walking away. Colder weather.
Knee deep. Keep me in mind. No hurry. 2012 was
when we start to get a change. This is where
we start to. Oh, yeah. This is where we start
to get a little more experimental. You got your
first two albums, which are pretty much the same
thing. Same. Greatness, just peak. You get a
little antsy. You don't want to be typecast.
This is the first instance where we get artwork
that is a little pearl clutchy, a little bit.
It is based off of... Day of the Dead, right?
Yeah, it's a Dio de los Muertos motif. It is...
I want to get the guy's name right because it's
an actual artist that designed it. It's from
Brandon Maldonado's 2009 Our Lady of Merciful
Fate. Okay. And it's like a sugar skull, none,
with a big old branched crown holding a branch,
holding a twig, like a branch of a tree with
a vulture on it. So people might have been up
in arms. Internet wasn't as prevalent then. in
2012 so i don't know maybe maybe there was a
hubbub about it and people just didn't have enough
reach to let their asinine opinions reach every
corner of the internet uh but this one was definitely
more somber more sad yeah it was less guaranteed
radio darlings uh and their charting showed that
people weren't feeling it as much. Peaked at
35 on the Billboard 200 and number 10 on the
Billboard country album chart. It certified platinum
once. Its singles are The Wind, Goodbye in Her
Eyes, Jump Right In, and Sweet Annie. I liked
this album. I did too. I have a soft spot for
albums that are more of the softer, sadder things.
If you look at my Spotify raps, a couple of the
artists that have ended up on it. that did their
thanks for listening this year things were like,
hey, I hope whatever's going on with you is better.
I can't tell you how many years in a row I've
gotten those like, hey, bud, I hope things are
good with you. Thanks for listening to my album.
Yeah, like when it gives you a breakdown of the
song that you listen to the most for whatever
month and you're like, what was I going through
in May? I stopped asking those questions a long
time ago. I really like that side of music where
bands that have more of that more upbeat, poppier
country or whatever songs have a little bit more
levity behind them. In the same way that Panic!
at the Disco's Pretty Odd album was a real departure
from A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. Yeah, because
I mean, it feels more intentional. It feels like
they purposefully made this change because they
had something to say about it versus, okay, well,
this sad album follows the previous sad album.
So maybe these people just get off on doing sad
albums. Yeah. 2015, Jekyll and Hyde. This is
probably one of my least favorite Zac Brown band
albums. It's really disjointed. They're trying
to play both sides of the fence. And I get it,
the whole Jekyll and Hyde. But it just doesn't
work for me. I only recognize two songs. That
has Homegrown and Heavy as the Head. I recognize
Homegrown and Castaway. You don't know Beautiful
Drug? That's a good song. Oh, and Loving You
Easy. I guess I know three. I don't think I know
Beautiful Drug. Happy as the Head? You don't
know that one? I don't think so. Black doll drinks
from the water trying to cool his tongue. With
Chris Cornell? That was a huge single. I don't
know. Oh. I mean, I might also know that one
if I played it, but as it stands, no clue. Well,
this is definitely the biggest departure from
their chicken fried days. It peaked at 24 on
the Billboard 200 and number three on the Billboard
Country and it was certified platinum one time.
You want to know a fun, not so fun fact I have
about Chris Cornell? What do you got? So, there
was a movie called 127 Hours, The Secret Soldiers
of Benghazi, all about how Nope. What? 127 Hours
and The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi are two different
things. 96 Hours? What was it called? 13. What
was it called? 13 Hours? 127 Hours is James Franco
getting stuck in rocks. Damn it. Okay. Let's
try again. Thank God I added the subtitle or
else everyone would be completely lost. This
would be a vastly different story. 13 Hours?
That's what it's called? 13 Hours is the Benghazi
movie. It is one of Nate's favorites. I am absolutely
right on this one. Okay. That's the one with
Jim Halpern. Let's rewind. All right. 13 Hours
of Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. Uh -huh. Which
is a great movie, and I will watch it pretty
much any time I pass by it. I will seek it out
if I have nothing else to watch. It's a great
movie. Stars John Krasinski. It's got Roy. I'm
Blank David. David something from the office.
It's got porn stash from Orange is the New Black.
And I think that's a completely outdated reference
now. That's got a lot of people. And it's all
about how a certain secretary of state, we don't
know, maybe got all these guys killed because
of this and that, you know. Anyways, so movie
was coming out and they were going to have a
movie premiere. Do you know where they were going
to have the movie premiere? No. Jerry World,
AT &T Stadium, Arlington, Texas, United States,
North America, Planet Earth, and the Milky Way.
In case you got Arlington, Texas confused with
somewhere else. Anyways. And so at this premiere,
I saw Krasinski, Roy. I'm sorry, David. I forgot
your last name. All the other main characters
of the movie. Michael Bay. Was there because
he directed it. And the song that goes over the
end credits to the movie is a song by Chris Cornell.
And Chris Cornell performed that song before
they played the movie on the giant jumbotron.
And then a few years later, I heard the news
that Chris Cornell had hung himself in his Detroit
hotel room. And I cried. And I don't know why.
Big fan of Soundgarden. Big fan of Audioslave.
I just had this one moment where I saw him perform
live and not really, like, didn't go any deeper
than that. But he is the only celebrity that
that has happened to that I felt that way towards.
Interesting. And still have no inclination as
to why. Chris, you put out some good music. And
you did a great song with Saffron. Yeah. 2017,
Welcome Home. Bring it back around. I think Welcome
Home was a little market -y. I think that they
were like, hey, yeah, okay. So you didn't like
us experimenting that much. So let's bring it
back. Let's reel it in a little bit. And please
like this one. I don't know much about this album.
It's... I don't know. It just didn't come up
on my radar. It features a song with Kacey Musgraves
and a song with Pharrell Williams. Pharrell Williams?
Pharrell Williams. It's definitely reactionary
for how the previous album was received. It does
have one of my top five Zac Brown Band songs
on it, though. Which is? I will go a little easier
on it. Mild Man. I don't think I know anything
from this album. and Roots. I don't know much
about Roots. I couldn't tell you how it goes.
But check out My Old Man when you get a chance.
This one peaked at number two on the Billboard
200 and number one on the Billboard country charts.
2019, The Owl. This one is important because
it was written during the period of time in which
Zac Brown was getting a divorce from his first
wife. He had been married from 2006, Divorce
2018. This album came out in 2019. This is probably
their most emotional album yet. It peaked at
number two on the Billboard 200 and number one
on the Billboard Country Albums. I think all
you need to know is the fact that the two singles
on this album are Someone I Used to Know and
Leaving Love Behind. Yeah, that feels fitting
for the Divorce album. Leaving Love Behind is
a great, it is a great breakup song. It's optimistic.
It's recognizing that this thing is over, that
there have been good times, there are bad times,
but that you just got to leave it and start your
life anew. 2021, The Comeback. I don't know much
about this one either. I probably listened to
it through maybe two times and could not tell
you a single thing that I liked. Couldn't tell
you a single thing I disliked. It just was a
non -starter for me. Just a nothing burger. According
to the stats, everyone else felt the same. It
was number 27, where it peaked on the Billboard
200, number three on the Billboard Country album
charts. Singles are Same Boat and Out in the
Middle. Yeah, definitely don't know. Apparently,
I stopped listening to any new Zac Brown in 2015.
And that brings us to the 2025 release, Love
and Fear. Is the whole album out or is it just
the singles right now? Whole album. It is the
most controversial one, obviously, mostly because
of this fear. I think if it weren't for this
fear, it would just have fizzled away. I felt
like what they were going for was like a angel
on one shoulder, devil on the other. And so like
the songs would just like bounce between butts.
Some more, more Jacqueline Hyde. Yeah. But it,
it didn't really land. It was, it was very disjointed
and just all over the place. Oh boy. This song,
this album. It's in the first. 24 seconds drops
its first F -bomb. Oh, okay. So you know it's
serious. So you know without a doubt that we're
not here to mess around. Snoop Dogg is on this
album? Oh, just wait. Just wait. What? I have
things to say. So I Ain't Worried About It, which
was the first single from this album, people
keep trying to tell me how to live, and I'm just...
over here running out of Fs to give. Which, okay.
Okay. Okay. Again, 24 seconds into the song.
I ain't worried about it. I ain't worried about
it. Your TV's lying because the world ain't on
fire and the only thing burning gets me higher,
higher, higher. Now, what could he be referencing
there? Sage. He's cleansing his space. Well,
the fact that you just dropped the bomb that
Snoop Dogg is on this album. Weed has a very
heavy presence in this album. And it's not like
in the cool, like, yeah, you know, sometimes
I just need to relax. And so, you know, I just,
yeah, I smoke sometimes. It's, hey, guys, I do
weeds. Hello, kids. Weeds and me are best buds.
We love the weeds. Big narc energy. Yes. And
just, holy moly. All right, so Let It Run, which
is the second. Single from his album. Oh, boy.
Everyone was getting high, passing flowers around
the fire. No one even gave a damn till it landed
in your hand. Now you're overly concerned with
the way that cherry burns and you're thinking
you're about to spit on that joint I'm about
to hit. Just let it run. Let it run. If it's
burning kind of funny, we can roll another one.
It ain't like we're down to crumbs. We got more
where that came from. Don't be spitting on my
blunt. Just let that mother effer run. As we
previously mentioned, this is a song with Snoop
Dogg. I ain't trying to police the way y 'all
smoke your weed. Didn't mean to haunt your buzz.
I just said something because we got cars that
drive themselves. We put people into space and
pop stars, but we can please. Don't you disrespect
astronaut Katy Perry like that. Like it's 1998.
So this wasn't my sin of choice growing up. I'm
not implying that it's yours, but you do have
heathen friends. Sure, yeah. Is spitting on the
blunt a thing people worry about? Yes. On the
flame part? On the part that's smoldering? Or
on the mouth part? Consider on the mouth part,
yes. If you put your whole mouth around a cigarette,
you would not pass that cigarette to another
person. It's wet. But, like, you're going to
get other people spit if you're passing it around
either way. But you at least, it's a considerate
thing. Is this why you get cotton mouth? For
community purposes? Yes. So you're less likely
to pass along things? It is actually for the
greater good. So you can't be slobbering all
over it before you pass it on? Yes. That is,
it is a big faux pas. Well, this is part of your
homework. This is part of everyone's homework.
Give this album a listen and let me know what
you think. There's another one called Animal.
And you know Three Days Grace, correct? Mm -hmm.
I don't know how much play it had for you, but
for me in middle school, Animal I Have Become
was like a, it was a big song. It was a real
pump -you -up song. Somebody save me from this
animal I have become. Mm -hmm. Zach takes a whack
at that on this album, a song called Animal,
and it just, It screams like a, like a look how
tough I am. How can you control me when I can't
control myself? Flesh and blood and bone and
rage will tear till nothing's left. It sounds
like he's singing this whole song wearing a fedora.
Yeah, no, this is straight out of a Reddit thread.
But then there's a line where he says, come for
my guns and you'll see I'm no man at all. Which,
OK, so you're trying to get back your conservative
audience by saying, hey, hey, come and take it.
But you can't. You know why? Because and you
got to you got to. I cannot do it justice. But
after he talks about try to take my guns, you'll
see he says animal three times. But the first
time he hits it, the first time he hits it, it's
like animal. I would just like to point out there
is a line that says filling up their coffers
while the poor man bleeds, the poor man bleeds.
I googled it. This man is worth between 50 and
60 million dollars. Does he think he's one of
the poors? He's poor compared to Bezos, compared
to Musk. Is that our bar? That's his bar. Everything
is subjective. I'm wealthy in the eyes of Rhonda
on the street corner. I'm poor in the eyes of...
Zach Brown, who is poor in the eyes of Jeff Bezos.
OK, well, if this album is made for Jeff Bezos,
then I have follow up questions. Starting with
why? Real man of the people, Zach Brown over
here. The madness of this effing place, the shallow
lives we lead. He's really saying something here.
I think I wrote this as a poem as an emo teenager.
And the third. Third single, Butterfly. Is it
about a tramp stamp? No. No. I think it had the
opportunity to be a great song. But, and you
can come at me if you want, Dolly Parton had
no right to be in this song. No right to be in
this song? She has a right to do whatever she
wants. She's Dolly Parton. I think that one of
the... All -time signs of being the greatest
is knowing when to hang it up. Dolly, in my opinion,
should have hung it up before this. She should
have hung it up before she did the Thanksgiving
halftime show last year for the Cowboys. She
should have hung it up probably about a decade
ago. She did Please, Please, Please with Sabrina
Carpenter, and it is not what I thought it would
be. Uh -huh. Bit of a bummer. So maybe. Just
consider it, Dolly. Live your life in retirement.
Going out on top. Well, going out in the middle.
We just don't want to see you up on stage like
Richie Valens. Is that who I'm thinking of? What?
Who looks like a... Let me make sure I'm talking
about the right guy. I don't think you are because
Richie Valens died in a plane crash. Yeah, you're
right. That is correct. He was the day the music
died guy. Who am I thinking of? Who's the guy
that sings Sherry? That's... The Four Seasons?
Who's the lead singer of The Four Seasons? Frankie
Valli. Yes, Frankie Valli. Up there looking like
an animatronic in need of an update. Just up
there with a microphone to his mouth, just opening
and closing his mouth like a guppy fish. Don't
end up like that, Dolly. I mean, if you still
are able to do the thing that you're passionate
about at that age, do it. I think you care decidedly
less at that point what people think of you.
Do we have the right to criticize that? Sure.
And they have a right to to not care what we
have to say. Do you think Frankie Valens knows
what or Frankie Valley knows what a. Gotcha.
Do you think that Frankie Valley knows what a
podcast is? Hmm. I can just about bet that he
doesn't know what this podcast is. We don't know
that. We don't know that. We don't. You are correct.
That is an educated guess. So, love and fear.
Check it out. Let me know what you think. Not
for me. Might be for somebody. Just seemed like
he got a lot of hate from all the stuff that
happened with whatever her face was. Second wife.
And so he's like, oh, but look at me. Look at
me. So, I don't know. Just let me know what you
think. Now. There are songs on here like Animal,
even though it's a song that is not to my liking.
The visuals do go along with the song. The skeleton
with the crown that swallows the crowd and they
end up in a... I didn't notice this until today
when I was going back watching videos. The cage
that you go into after you're swallowed by the...
The demon skeleton is a cage made of human people
riding around. Did you catch that? Quite honestly,
I saw that it looked like every Harley writer's
general motif. I sent it your way and didn't
give it a second thought. And did you? I mean,
so there's a whole show. This portion is maybe
20 minutes of it. I think the crown. The crown
that he wears while he's performing the song
is a little much. Like maybe just let the visuals
speak for themselves. You can have black clothes
on. Sure. But the crown just makes you kind of
look dorky. Sure. I have seen snippets from before
this portion of the show and after this portion
of the show. They're completely normal. Zach
Brown stuff. At one point, you're going over
landscapes of Georgia. You're on a football field.
You go through goalposts and then you're in.
You're at a lake and you're just living your
best country fried life. I don't know if that
makes it doesn't make it worse, but I definitely
don't think it makes it better that that's only
20 minutes of the set. Because what does the
transition look like? Are you just like knee
deep in the water somewhere and all of a sudden
you're in hell? OK, so Zach Brown has been asked
about this. This show is a representation. Of
his life. Sure. It starts out cheery and optimistic
and hopeful and slowly starts transitioning into
a hellscape. But then he emerges from the hellscape.
As a beautiful butterfly. And into his best life
now with his fiance and his tons of songs about
weed and just. Taking the best of life and making
that what he's about. There's already a Kid Rock.
I don't think we need a second one. I don't understand
what this is. I can't imagine how difficult it
is to create a stage show around this fear. Because
if you've seen videos from people like up in
the balcony, it's all screen. And then there's
just teeny tiny little stage in the middle where
the band's actually performing. But apparently,
you want to be on the balcony because then you
can get the full view of everything. And down
on the stage is really inconsequential. Yeah.
And I've seen clips from you two. I've seen clips
from Paul McCartney, the Eagles. Jonas Brothers
are going to be there. Weren't the Backstreet
Boys there? Backstreet Boys. Backstreet Boys
had a really cool one. Like, I'm sure it's super
difficult to find something that's encompassing
enough to use that whole space and also have
something to do with the music. So I would imagine
that a lot of it is just like background stuff
or filler or just I don't know. I mean, maybe.
Oh, well, this song. I mean, it's I was in a
hellish part of my life. And then you just build
from there. And then all of a sudden you have
you have. Demon skeletons swallowing your entire
audience and putting them in a cage of humans
writhing around. I don't know. I don't know.
I will have to revisit that video. Also rethink
whether or not I want to go to the sphere. I
personally think that I would want to throw up
the entire time. I went to watch Five Nights
at Freddy's 2 last night. And let me tell you,
do not recommend. Just hot garbage. But I saw
it in a Dolby theater. So screen's huge. The
only place I could sit center was three rows
back from the screen. And I was super nauseous
the entire time. It kind of leveled off like
30 minutes in, but there was always the hint
of it in the back throughout the entire movie.
So I can't imagine what that would be like if
I was completely surrounded by it and it was
just in my face the entire time. Yeah. So I don't
know. I think. I think if the purpose is the
visuals, then I'm not paying as much money as
it would cost me to get a ticket at the Sphere
just to watch a big movie. Yes. Because the point
is not to see the artists themselves. So what
is the point of going? That's fair. That's fair.
I would love to have the opportunity for someone
to grant me the ability to see this show. If
someone in their infinite generosity. could make
that happen. And I could come back with a full
detail on what I experienced, how I took it,
and whether all the hype was worth it or not.
And whether all the controversy was worth it.
I'm leaning towards no right now. Probably not.
I don't think there's a lot of juice that's worth
the squeeze these days. That's fair. In events
and whatnot. So, your homework. Listen to love
and fear. Listen to heavy as the head. Okay.
And my old man. I think that's all we got. Oh,
and build me a daddy. I don't want to. Put a
stopwatch. Turn a stopwatch on. And then when
the first tear falls, you stop. Press stop and
you let me know. Let me make sure that's what
it's called. Well, it is called build me a daddy.
Yeah. Oh, man. But sometimes you just have to
you just got to let it out. And there are times
where I seek out like super, super sad Christmas
or not Christmas songs, country song. Sorry,
I got Christmas shoes stuck in my head. That's
a tough one. Did you know there's a movie based
on Christmas shoes? I did. Yeah. With Kimberly
Williams Paisley. Yeah. Hmm. I'm not a big sad
Christmas movie person. I'm not a big sad movie
person. I just saw Jack Frost pop up. The Michael
Geek one. Yeah. Not the evil Jack Frost. I don't
think I'd want to rewatch that one. All right.
It was a good movie, but it creeps me out. What
is your verdict on the sphere controversy? I
don't think that I'm ever going to have a well
-rounded opinion of the sphere because I don't
think I'll ever be willing to pay the amount
of money that it would require to go to the sphere.
And also, not a big fan of Vegas. For the people
who have the means and opportunity to do it,
cool. As far as the Zac Brown stuff goes, I still
think those visuals are incredibly silly. I can
understand where they're coming from because
this album, I also think, is incredibly silly.
If it is the progression of his life, cool. Do
you? I am not one to yuck people's yums. It's
just not my bag. I don't want to hear him singing
about spitting on a blunt with Snoop because
that is not a thing that could ever connect in
my head. Those dots are very separate points.
But do you, man? Hmm. We're a long way from just
Zach chilling at a lake with his toes in the
water, ass in the sand. Wow. Inappropes. That
was actually his villain origin story. He was
like, if you're going to call this album explicit
because I said the word ass, hold my joint. Isn't
it a little sexist that ass is considered explicit,
but bitch isn't? Technically, it's some bitch,
so I think it gets... cleared in the way that
like if you say god damn on tv you censor god
but you don't censor damn isn't that the way
of the world just trying to remove god from everything
sick of it sick of this if this new album has
taught you anything we are already in hell uh
but we have redemption on the other side according
to zach i haven't seen that part of the show
so apparently i there's And there is, towards
the end of this album, there is a song about
him trying to be more Christ -like. So, again,
I don't know. I don't know. I get what they were
going for. I just think it was a swing and a
big ol' whiff. Yeah, well. I think it's been
several albums of swings and big ol' whiffs.
All right. If we have any... Gracious benefactors
that just happen to have two sphere tickets.
So we can make a more educated opinion on things
such as these. We would gladly take those off
your hands. Is that your takeaway? That is my
takeaway. And Zach, still love you. Still love
you, man. Not much that could undo my love for
Highway 20 Ride or Sikkim on a Chicken. Fair
enough. And with that, we'll see you. Peace out,
Girl Scouts.