Josh Mitcham – Ex-Jericho Woods Singer on Solo Barn Album
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There's a particular kind of honesty that comes when you stop asking permission. Josh Mitcham figured that out the hard way, and it's rewoven itself through everything he does now—from his music to his podcasts to the way he shows up for other artists just starting out. When a Kentucky musician tells you he's "fiercely independent and horny," with a grin that reaches through the podcast speakers, you know something's shifted in how he approaches his craft.
Mitcham spent years as the frontman of Jericho Woods, a band he formed in 2014 that built a genuine following across the Southeast. But when that chapter closed and the pandemic locked the world in place, he found himself in an unexpected position: completely free to figure out who he was as a solo artist, without the gravitational pull of a group dynamic or industry expectations. What emerged was his barn album, "Little Fires," a project that feels less like a calculated statement and more like a diary written in real time.
When I started playing music there were all these gatekeepers to how you could make contact with people, but with social media you can just say hey, I'm an independent artist, will you listen to this?
— Josh Mitcham
The story behind "Little Fires" is refreshingly unglamorous. Mitcham set up in his shop—the same studio space he runs out of in Webster, Kentucky—once summer ended and his other obligations loosened their grip. His kids were involved. There was no grand concept, no predetermined sonic direction. Just a man with some songs, streaming consciousness turned into arrangements, the kind of creative urgency that can only happen when you're not overthinking it. His wife was asking when he'd get around to the yard work. He was too busy making music. The title is part confession, part joke at his own expense: here's someone juggling multiple creative projects, always running toward the next thing, perpetually finding reasons to avoid the practical responsibilities waiting back at the house.
What's striking about Mitcham's approach isn't just the prolific output—though he's certainly that, dropping multiple tracks across each album rather than a token few—but the deliberate avoidance of easy categorisation. Here's a Kentucky artist in an era when Appalachian music is having a genuine cultural moment, when the weight of regional authenticity can feel like a commercial opportunity. Mitcham looked at that lane and politely declined. As he put it in the conversation, he lives a whole lot closer to John Mellencamp than to Lawrence County. It's a small statement that carries real weight. He's not leaning into the trend because it's trendy. He's chasing the actual music that moves him.
I'm in a neat place now where I can go out to my shop and just play around with songs—I'm a fiercely independent and honorary person.
— Josh Mitcham
That spirit of independence runs deeper than genre positioning. Mitcham hosts the Every Damn Friday podcast and the Ramble at the Randall, platforms he's built from the ground up to amplify other independent artists. When he reaches out to someone—whether it's a UK journalist or a fellow musician—he's doing it the old-fashioned way now, through direct messages and genuine connection. He remembers when there were gatekeepers, when you needed an email address and industry credentials just to be heard. Now he just sends a message, asks for a listen, invites people to play in his barn. Mostly, people say yes. Because there's something magnetic about someone operating entirely on his own terms.
The pandemic and its aftermath cleared space for Mitcham to become the artist he actually wanted to be. Not the version that fits into predetermined boxes. Not the safe commercial calculation. Just a Kentucky father and educator and artist who runs a state summer camp, hosts podcasts, builds things with his hands, and fills his nights in the shop because his brain needs the outlet. He's simultaneously the worst at avoiding his responsibilities and the most honest about why he can't stop making music.
If you've ever wondered what truly independent music looks like in 2024—not independent in the contractual sense, but in the philosophical one—Josh Mitcham's "Little Fires" is a living answer. The full conversation goes deeper into his journey from Jericho Woods to now, the specific choices that shaped his sound, and how he's building community with other artists operating outside the system. He's the kind of guest who makes you want to grab your own instrument and stop waiting for permission.
[Music] I knew that if I said it it was going to hurt I knew you cut me like a KN so I thought I could first but I didn't really mean it I didn't [Music] mean welcome back to the rugged Revival podcast uh this is episode free we're getting there already um and we've got the awesome Josh Mitchum with us today uh we've had a brilliant mix of guests so far we've had Jack Browning from the UK we've had Anna Scott last week um all the way from Nashville and now it's over to Kentucky uh we've had a mixture of young people uh and now we're willing out the old folk so I say willing out willing out the old I was waiting for you to say that you're probably the same age as me or or there or thereabout so I'm taking a piss at myself as well Josh here um so Josh is from Kentucky as I just said he's a musician artist host of the every damn Friday podcast and uh host of the ramble at the Randall and a family man if you've uh gone through your Instagram and your socials so it's brilliant you've got a real mixture there um we met through Instagram initially didn't we um I remember you sending me a copy of your new album or album at the time little fires and I had a good listen we got talking ever since you probably regret sending me now because cuz I've just been bugging bugging you ever since uh oh it it look it's one of those things where when I started playing music it was like there was all these Gatekeepers to like how you could make contact with people and you know you didn't have people's emails or any direct contact and with social media you know there's a there's a few [ __ ] out there who who won't reply to you but for the most part I've had a lot of luck over the years just saying hey I'm an independent artist or I have a podcast my name is Josh will you give this a listen or would you like to be on the podcast or would you like to come play in my barn and usually you but because you know everybody's so used to that you know direct messaging and all that that I get a lot of good response no and I I appreciate that and um I I make a conscious effort of listening to it you know as much as I can the stuff that people send over and um because you've made the effort to to contact me and you know I think it's absolutely worth for listen I love the album actually you know and I I give you a bit of feedback on it and uh you know I think it was awesome so I appreciate it so I'm I'm in that place in my life and in my career where uh summer was over and I had some songs and I HED up in the shop here um where I have my studio I had my kids involved and you know it was just it was a like a stream of Consciousness thing uh there was no real style or whatever I there it wasn't a concept record or anything it was just like I got some songs let's go out here and play around and U I'm in a neat place to where I can do that now not that I couldn't do that before but we can talk about the early years but but I'm I'm a fiercely independent and honory now so I love that mate I love that it's um yeah I mean we'll go into your music I mean it's it's been quite a a wide range of styles that you've been doing and every time you put out an album you know I was checking out on Spotify earlier you know it's not just one or two songs you put out quite quite a number of of tracks on each album and it's um it's a disease so I mean you know it so I I you mentioned earlier I do multiple things and cheers by the way uh M um it my Ed requires that I have multiple projects going all the time and it's the way it's always been and um so like I if I have like a big art project going on like once that's over I've got to get away from that and then I'll go and do you know work on some music stuff or my career um I work in education and you know summer time I'm actually run a summer camp I work for our State Department of Education and run a summer camp so once J June or July are over like I've got I need some therapy and and that's what that was I came out to the shop every night for a few hours and just you know I started out with some songs that I thought were going to be on there and you end up writing three or four five more and you cut the old ones and you know little fires was that it was it and and it's called little fires because I have so many things going on all the time that you know literally it's like my wife is like you're doing what you're working on another album don't you need to mow the yard and work on the barn and like well I need to get this out are you are you really trying to find excuses not to do the stuff that you need to do around the house yes I am the worst hope you out there it's um so something that you put out on one of your I think um your your Instagram stories made me laugh about uh this this skit with the doctor diagnosing somebody with uh being being artistic and uh it resonated with me quite well because I'm I'm just a bit like you not as talented as you mate but um so many projects that you just love to do we never monetize any of it we never um finish half of it um but it it keeps us busy and interested it look it it I and I don't know what the outcome will be and um but I just want to do as much stuff as I can while I'm alive and maybe at the end there's there's a big pile of something that they'll either burn or or will you know somebody maybe somebody maybe my grandkids will think it's neat and you know I don't know it's kind of frenetic and and sometimes I feel like a psychopath but it's just like I don't know it it you're only going to do this this once and and you have all these opportunities and I really try hard not to say no to things I mean no is powerful and and I have learned when to say no my wife has helped me with when to say no but you know you just never know what what is the thing that's going to open a door or get a foot in a door U you know it's like the music has parlayed into art for me the same as art has parlayed into music or my career and the associations there have parlayed into some other um you know projects for me it all kind of it sometimes it's symbiotic and and it all kind of feeds the other thing but um I don't know like I said I think I'm a psychopath no how uh your family quite supportive your wife quite supportive of all the uh projects you got going on them yeah so so a little bit of History so I was a high school teacher for 15 years and I taught agriculture I didn't teach music or art uh I live on a farm now I grew up on a farm uh and that was something I was passionate about and but I was playing music you know I started playing music in college with a group and we played through like the first 10 years of my teaching career and I was doing both so she was used to me doing all sorts of stuff all the time uh we started having kids um but after my second child no after my third child after Jonah was Bor born um I quit teaching and toured full-time with band called Jericho woods and um it was that was one of those things like it took me a year to convince everybody it was a good idea and my dad was like you know you got retirement like you got insurance you got all these things you know why would you give up that security to go do this stuff I'm like I I don't I know you don't understand but it's like I I got to do this thing mad and because I did that I owe I owe my wife you know you know she gets whatever she wants because she she gave me that opportunity to do that she wasn't always happy about it and it and she wasn't always like hope you having a great time out there while home with kids you know but she let me do it and I paid the bills and now that I'm back to work uh in a and I'm in a capacity now where I have a lot of free time but it um you know I I I'm so that you know she lets me scratch the itch yeah well she doesn't let me do anything but but she she do she don't want me to be gone all the time she's really excited about going to Florida next spring but and you would know recently wer you so um and it was that for your anniversary so congratulations for that too 20 years I can't believe I've done anything for 20 [Laughter] years awesome man but um so I I I think it's a good sway actually to talk to us about Kentucky and your kind of life growing up there because it sounds super interesting and something that's very different preps to what we used to in the UK yeah so I um I grew up about a mile from where I am now I I'm current you find me in my grandfather's old shop that I've converted into my studio um I I bought their house after they passed away so I'm living on the Family Farm now we were able to buy it a couple years ago uh but yeah I mean music-wise I always kind of did it like I remember having like a CIO keyboard and like a in a cassette like boom box that I would you know record little stupid songs on about baseball players or whatever and U and then through high school was involved in choir and chorus and you know and it was a cool thing to do at my school like you know you could play sports and it and be in the in the you know the choir shows and the plays and all that it was it was a very you know good place uh you know very supportive Community real small town small school and everybody did everything so so that was great uh I went to a school called Western Kentucky University and uh met some guys in the lobby of the dorm they were playing and this sounds like a cliche but they were playing Sweet Home Sweet Home Alabama by lunard skinnard and I was like can I go get my guitar and come jam with y'all and they were like yeah and we ended up playing played together for like 12 years uh it was a band called Floyd and we did the whole that was the first time I did the whole Nashville thing we uh I had a great manager uh we were we had the same manager as little big town and a guy named darl wordley uh who were both on the radio at the time we were playing all over the place but I didn't I didn't know what I had like I kept waiting for somebody to hand me a record contract I was waiting for my managers to do all the work and and uh and I and we were idiots like I would have been divorced and and had a like a a drug problem if I'd stayed with those guy even though they're like my best friends in the world we were we would have not have been good for each other on the road uh 250 days but so that kind of got out of it for a little while and Jericho Woods I guess was maybe my midlife crisis where I felt like I had left something on the table you know let I left a I didn't quite get um satisfied from the first round of the Nashville deal so uh Jericho Woods we were together for about 8 years um did the whole thing had videos on CMT recorded records with great people and toured all over and played with all sorts of people it it was wonderful it was the experience that I wanted um but at the end of the day um I don't like being gone all the time and I found that I drove home a lot faster than I drove away and my kids were getting bigger and in 2019 we'd had our best year we played all the big festivals that we wanted to play and uh we had a new record and and um but we were getting tired and we decided hey we're going to take the winter off we're going to take the the winter of this was November of 2019 so let's take six months off in the spring of 2020 we'll pick it back up and of course you know Co hit and you know that all kind of got shot to hell so needless to say that was a hiccup for me just like it was everybody else but that's when I worked on the barn so um I started working on the Rand Barn um and to steal uh a kind of a quote from one of my friends uh Jen tacket I spent most of my life trying to sit at other people's t you know like trying to get my you know ride somebody's coils or try to slide in because I knew somebody or get on this show because you youd play with this person and she was like just build your own table and and let let and invite the people that you want to be associated with so the barn kind of gave me that Avenue to say I'm going to invite people to come play here I'm going to expose them to my friends and family and community um treat them right pay them feed them give them some good Kentucky bourbon and some cold diet Millers and uh that's turned out we're doing our six show that's turned out to be a blessing which led to the podcast and but I've been doing solo music I guess since 2020 and and that's kind of where I find myself now you know it was tough going from you know 20,000 followers on Facebook to zero you know St sing again yeah but at the same time then it's like you do whatever you want and and I and you talk about how old I was so I guess I've been playing music for 25 years so I'll be 40 or a little bit longer than that I'll be 45 in November and I don't know like it just doesn't bother me anymore like I there was a period of time where people were like you're probably too old to do this or that or whatever and now I just don't give a [ __ ] like you know it's like what do you I can I can put a record out every week on Spotify if I wanted to you know I can I can handle all my own social media I make my own merch you know I you know I book my own shows I've got great musicians that are willing to play with me when I need a full band you know it's like I can do this I can run I can run my own website it's like I learned a whole lot from the whole thing to know that I can do this by myself and and it doesn't have to be huge and I don't have to be selling out stadiums if I can just get 200 people come to Barn it makes me happy so no that that seems like a real comfortable place to be and you know that's got to be quite impactful on your creative freedom as well being able to do exactly what you want to do when you want to do and like you say invite the people that you think matters and into your space yeah I'm fans of these people Nick Jamerson and Jonathan and his wife you know I'm fans of their music it it's as much for me to have a I'm being selfish I get to have these great people come and and sing at at my house on my farm and uh I don't care if anybody else shows up you know U but it but I it does give me a ton of freedom and I'm sorry I just I talked for like 10 minutes straight just to I realiz that well I told you at the beginning my my voice might not hold out after my man flu for the uh past week so I was hoping you would uh yeah take over a little bit more but tell me to shut up at any point where you're like I'm not ready to talk about that absolutely not mate no we we'll we'll go around whatever circles we want you know I'm I'm doing the same thing well not to the same levels as you joshh but um you know I'm I'm doing the podcast for the reason that I want to talk to the people I want to talk to that I'm fans of I'm fans of your music fans of Nick Jameson and everyone else that you're you're pulling up at at ramble at the Randall and it's it's amazing probably have the same amount of viewers at this point but but somebody told me too they were like you have to do the first one before you can do the 100th episode you know oh absolutely yeah so you've gota you've gota you can't skip to that part uh now people are skipping to stardom uh because of social media now and that's that's been kind of a frustrating thing as an as an old guy who you know I came from the from the old school where okay you wna you want a book an agent well go play a thousand shows first and then we might sign you to you know you know to our agency or you go sell 10,000 records then we might give you a record deal and now you know there's and I'm I'm happy for them I really am I'm tickled that kids are able to just post something on tick talk and get this instant stardom I hope they can handle it you know I know white LZ um you know he dealt with a lot of mental health issues this past year just because it came so quick I mean I watched the the the Zack Bryan uh Bruce Springsteen interview the other night and and just like Bruce Springsteen couldn't believe that uh you know the first time he played a live show was in front of like 5,000 people you know because it had all happened so fast for him but for me it's been you know it's still kind of the the slow build like one fan at a time one little show at a time one album at a time and I'm gonna I'm not going to stop doing this until I'm dirt so so maybe by the time I'm I'm ready to hang it up when I'm 85 um maybe I can sell 10 or 12 records by then well you know I think we we're cut from the same mold mate you know I I I prefer that old school method and I think it's more meaningful personally you know you're building up a a fan base that is there for for you and and you know likes to think it's not the case of going viral it's a case of you know doing meaningful work and I think that's part of the kind of Revival aspect of what we do is bringing back you know the good old times um and and that kind of hard work that is involved in it and not overnight stardom um well and that's been the great thing about all the Kentucky music that's come out there has it was it is a real Community it's like you know U I've played on on bills with Tyler chers multiple times and and uh um you know a lot of these artists that are having a lot of success and you know we all played the same bars and he played you know the same you know we all played Red Barn you know we all you know we all played uh the same festivals around uh the Tri State and and and supported each other and was happy when when they did well so my experience here you know it's been you know the the festival that I just got on next spring where I'm playing with on the same day as Tyler I read some of the comments on there and it was interesting it's very much a a modern country Festival you know it's it has a lot of pop country and you could tell by the other nights like Lenny Wilson and Blake Shelton and you know Sam Hunt and that kind of stuff and then on that Saturday it's Tyler and red clay trays and uh some and you and I'm I'll be playing for the lunch crowd but um but it there's a lot of people there like who the hell like what who are these people because they're not on the radio and it and to me it's like how do you not know who these people are like because they're you know Tyler is Grassroots like it's you know even Zack Bry is a Grassroots thing because it did it wasn't developed in the normal Nashville machine you know where we spent a million dollars with uh radio promotion and that's how you get a number one you know I'm I'm really interested in like the different aspects of uh the country scene and I I think you know Texas has got this thing going on Kentucky certainly I feel at home personally with the Kentucky scene with the music I listen to with Tyler um that that really got me kind of intrigued in that sort of things I think uh is it Chris stapleton's from Kentucky as well Le um you know you've got a really good crowd there so how how did does the kind of scene differ because I know Nashville is very very different isn't it so you have to be careful and and and we kind of fell victim to that so Nashville is like La it it and it's actually a lot of those people from LA from The Rock and pop scene have relocated Nashville uh so you have that sensibility that it's a big business it's a corporate type thing there are hierarchies and Gatekeepers um you know there's only four or five big labels in town and you really the songwriters are real important there which which I appreciate I think those guys they work really hard um but it is it's it's a machine they call it a tenure town because you you have to like start you have to play all the open mics and then you maybe you get a publishing deal and then maybe uh you know you you get picked up by label but they're only going to let do a couple sides or a couple cuts and um and it's all right there like it all happens in that place uh we went there a lot and what I what ended up happening with Jericho Woods not that I wasn't happy and proud of all the music we did but from the beginning to the end you know you kind of start chasing some stuff and we kind of got away because we we were a little bit I don't know a little bit more rock than like Tyler and some of that was and so in order to try to fit in somewhere we started kind of like okay well with this like you'd write a song and go what can I do to this to make it fit the Nashville model and you really started kind of I felt like we started pandering a little bit I'm not ashamed of it but we were just trying to make it work and at the end I'm like this doesn't sound like what I was doing you know five years ago so the machine kind of sucks you in and and it and it's it's not artist B you know it's the the people in in control are the ones pulling all the strings it's not you're not being wowed by somebody's talent and and everybody trying to lift that thing up it's like no this person is gonna have a number one song next you know and then this person's going to have and that that kind of stuff happens too now I've made lots of friends who work in in Nashville and who work for labels who work for PR companies and all that uh it's just not a it just wasn't fun for me towards the end and I'd just rather flounder out here in The Ether you know when it starts to become like a job isn't it it just takes the kind of fun out of it and again it's like it's okay when it when you're the only one doing it like when you're the one sending the emails and you're the one but I was relying on lots of people and I'm not sure that anybody works as hard for you as you will and I'm and I was talking to Sunny Sweeney yesterday she's a Texas girl and U she's like you know it's hard to find somebody who believes in your dream like you believe in your dream you know even musicians in your band so it you know they're everybody else is just trying to get paid and 20% here and 10% here and 15% here you know it Nick and I had a long conversation about that because Nick should be bigger than he is absolutely yeah and Nick could be and I make the argument and I did in the podcast that there's no Tyler without Nick Nick was enough enough years ahead of Tyler that I know he looked up to him and he was an idol you know U but Nick kind of likes being in that place where you know you know you're not paying you know a lot for production you're not paying a lot you don't have a lot of people on staff um I think I think the and then there's two different types of people there are entertainers and then there are artists and you're talking about the two different styles the Nashville sound versus maybe some of the other Regional sounds you know Luke bran is is an Entertainer yeah right he's he's just trying to make people happy he's trying to fill up stadiums he's trying to have a good time I have no problem with that and I like some of his music uh I feel the same way about Morgan Wallen or you know any of those people it may not be the music I listen to all the time but I'm not going to [ __ ] all over it right I tend to gravitate more towards artists yes people and people who are who pick a a path you know it's like I got to meet John pryan a couple years ago before he passed away and you talk about somebody whose career kind of did the whole it was up and down and probably broke and never never was a multi-millionaire right but at the end of his life he had his body of work spoke for itself and he had he had young fans like the a new gen people's grand kids were discovering him and being like I really like this and it's like I think that's the you know that's the North Star you know that's what you're trying to do you trying to be sincere trying to be honest trying to be fun and creative and clever and all those things uh without really kind of saying what would sound good on the like how can I make this good for the radio yeah yeah no it's really interesting I mean like you say I'm I'm in total agreement I'm drawn towards artist and that's who I speak to online and people that I'm interested in speaking to and Nick Jameson I I listened to your podcast recently with him and he's such an interesting character because he seems so laidback and unlike anyone else um that I've heard who's who's had such great records out and he seems really comfortable though in that kind of space place that he's built you know I think it has a lot to do with the fact that that Kentucky is a place and and I think across the state it's a large state but like every I knew all sorts of people who played music you and played instruments and and sang and so it wasn't this like people would recognize that you were good maybe but they weren't like like it wasn't an uncommon thing for for somebody to be able to play guitar and sing right and I think you grow up around that and you realize that uh that there probably are people that are better than you and you kind of owe it to them to work really hard and and and not just put out you know a fluff and you know and I think he he comes from that same you know I don't live in Appalachia I live a little bit further west in Kentucky I'm I'm closer to where John Cougar melon Camp grew up in Indiana actually uh Bill Monroe his birthplace is about uh 40 minutes from here so I'm closer more to like Bluegrass than Mountain Music yeah but yeah like so I I think that's part of it there's a tradition and you kind of you don't want your grandparents or your uncles to be like what the hell are you playing like what is that junk you know like you they you kind of owe it to to the to the Heritage to try to do a good job and honor it yeah I mean it's interesting because you know when I listen to Tyler I I don't feel that he's making music for like the Nashville sound or or that type of thing so what' you think he kind of broke the mold um I he he did it right first of all um he he went out as a solo artist and you he toured by himself for a while and um and and there's pictures of him playing in diners where nobody's listening right like eight years ago um but he he was real um you know I felt victim to all right we're getting paid for this let's play some covers let's keep people moving like let's I gotta pay everybody in the band so let's we'll do the song and dance we're going to play some of our Originals too but we'll play we'll do the the 6040 split or whatever right uh but I think he was really Earnest about no I'm going to play my songs uh and and I'm GNA wear you down I'm gonna make you listen to them and then he went out with a bluegrass group called The wooks and um and they kind of play together and then again like this community kind of rallied around him we we had a festival that only lasted for a few years it was called Kicking It On The Creek and it was deep in EST County where his wife was from and the people who put that on the first year they did it it was just to pay for Purgatory like they were raising money to help Finance to help pay Sturgill to produce this record and get studio time right so it was really like a community effort so you had all these people everybody that played those festivals were like rooting for it because he was kind of like our quarterback right and uh I don't know and I think and I think the fact that he grew up in the mountains and and they're not going to let you get too slick and fancy again you can't go back home and like even Chris you know I I don't think he's a country singer I think he's the best R&B singer in Nashville but uh but he's very very like humble and and knows knows what he came from and how lucky he is and I I think that's part of it too I don't think they were chasing money or fame right absolutely you tell me so I interviewed Jack too and it seems like like what is the country uh seen in England like or in the UK like what is the like like how does that translate there you know because like Bluegrass is huge in Japan right yeah and you'll see these Japanese people singing These like old time Mountain songs and uh so it's it's interesting to me he was like there would be like country nights where they bring in the the the mechanical bulls and like kind of like a I don't know like uh not like playing dress up you know what I'm saying but it's like U trying to make it as authentic as you can yeah no that's a really good question mate um if I'm being completely honest this is just my opinion is cheese you know it's uh pop country kind of rules the airwaves U we don't have many country stations uh in England uh on the mainstream dab radios so you're listening to you know the likes of Morgan and Megan [ __ ] lately and Megan [ __ ] oh I think all girls do um but like you m you know like I said I think everyone has um you know their own opinion and um yeah I think I think there's a place for those artists um but for me it's way too pop and I I don't get drawn to that I find I found it really frustrating in fact um that you know I'm not listening to the likes of flatland Calvary I'm not listening to Tyler I'm not listening to uh St stur Simpson any of these artists that I love um on any mainstream radio um you know I'm having to dig through Spotify and just randomly come across them sometimes and like you say but that's the same thing here like oh really like we have tons of country radio stations but it is very much programmed to your mainstream the same stuff you know the same 10 songs play every hour um and we have to go we have to find the music almost the same way you know it's um you know your algorithm on Spotify you know suggesting songs to you you know I'm I'm discovering people all the time that live three hours from me you know it's like um but it it it's interesting to me because my experience I've never played in Europe but it seems like the Europe audience doesn't have the same um bias biases towards music that Americans do like we like country music is very divisive here where it's like you like pop country well you're an idiot and I hate you or uh or I love Morgan Wallen and Tyler chers is a hillbilly you know it's like um but it's but my experience with my friends over there has been very much that U it's people like good music and they don't really care what the style is or the genre and are very maybe they just like that it's American but at the same time I feel like all my friends have had really good experiences you know playing in to European audiences yeah definitely and um well for me it's it's um like I say it's a lot of pop country um I found some good success listening to and it's a bit of a shout out for is it 97.9 The Range um and you know I've discovered some awesome artists like Adam hood and um 49 Winchester we actually quite big here now um and those bands and it's so refreshing to listen to that kind of music on the radio well internet radio then you know darling in UK stuff and it it's the same old stuff and you can't get away from it so it's interesting to hear that it's very similar out there I didn't think it would be the case no it's I mean um and even still like pop radio is still like you know the king you know on all the big stations uh but yeah all the country St are still very now I will say once you get west of the Mississippi River into Oklahoma and Texas like you said they're very much their radio is different so like it is it has a lot more uh variety you would really like uh all the K stations that are on uh out west uh you know in Texas it's like of course they think they're a sovereign country anyway but but they uh I mean Texas artists can tour Texas exclusively their whole career and never leave and make a look it's so big um and there's so many places to play uh I only got to play in Texas a few times with Jericho woods and I loved every minute of it um but yeah did look look for the Texas radio stuff um I think you'll you'll dig that but yeah I mean I'm I'm finding the same challenges you know and and I never had any luck getting on now every little town has an independent radio station right like a locally owned or whatever who generally can program whatever they want so if you want to kind of get in uh like for us like we would ship you know files to those stations yes like Hey we're playing your town today could you put this on and you know you're not going to get a ton of AirPlay like that but every little radio station that adds you you know is a is a help absolutely it's still weird hearing your song in the radio too I but it's really cool but um I mean I've got to the point where I was like do I set up my own radio station I'm so annoyed with the fact that I've got to kind of dig deep to find decent radio or or you know like well XM do y'all have XM radio over there uh I'm not sure I'll be honest I'm not sure so so um XM Radio is satellite radio um and they have like Outlaw The Outlaw country station and they have like Willy Road house and they've got all these things where um like a lot of them are curated by artists well just like you know there's Tom Petty radio and there's Grateful Dead radio you know there's some that are dedicated to to this you know if you like Outlaw country or you like red dirt or you like you know there's there's they're out there it's just like you said it's not mainstream no and that's why I I kind of put together the playlist on Spotify um just to I'm digging out and speaking to most of the uh artists so I'm funing on Instagram and there's so many awesome kind of tracks that I'm just building into this this random playlist that I'm putting out there um whether anyone actually listens to part for me you know whatever but otherwise you know it'll be rugged Revival Radio perhaps in the new year and uh we'll go from there but um then a music festival and then oh M I'm GNA get into your Realms where I'm just going to have all these projects and my wife's going to get so pissed off with me honestly hey you're not pissing anybody off you're not doing anything exactly yeah exactly that that that was something actually me and ruged uh rugged Ronnie my my co-host um was discussing for next year whether we put some uh local local bands together and set up a venue and and go from there it'll probably never happen but um we'll see why not I mean look so we'll talk about my Rambles for a second so I I started out by going to u a local business and I said hey look I want to do something special we're about an hour from Louisville Kentucky like where the Kentucky Derby is and it has a lot of culture there but we don't have anything here and nobody around here is going to drive to Louisville uh to go to the Palace Theater and watch a show so um I was like I'm trying to do this cool thing I need like 2,000 bucks I'll give you some free seats I'll give you a lots of advertising uh you know you can give stuff away it it you know Swag or whatever but uh I need that to get the right kind of people here so so we did that I did a ticketed you know show on event brigh um and U I had I had Tony log here the first time I had uh Cole Cheney uh you know he just came and played solo uh I had a a band called wolf pin Branch uh which was a awesome bluegrass band and it just kind of started the whole thing off we sold it out everybody loved it we had food trucks and all that and then from there it was like okay it's got to get better and better and better and and and it is it's like people started to trust me because they they hadn't heard of these people and uh and I was like believe me I promise you because the first time they're like these guys are good but I don't know the words of these songs I'm like but are they good and like yeah they're great I'm like just sit and listen you know like like make go buy their CD buy a t-shirt I help these guys out get them to the next show and it had is evolved into uh everybody's excited uh because they know that it's going to be quality and they know it's not you know you can go to the local bar and see a journey cover band we can do that every weekend but this is always going to be you know something that is curated and I curate the artwork you know I try to get you know artists that are out there doing uh posters for concerts to be the people doing that uh it's you know it's a whole thing I'm trying to I'm trying to like give as much love to as many different people as I can and uh and I think and and I think it all that's been the the key to the success the artists feel value valued the the people who are coming to watch the shows feel like that uh they're getting something for their money and then it it's it my heart swells because it's a it it just gives me a great feeling I feel like everybody's getting a benefit from it now sometimes I lose money and sometimes I don't make money that's okay that's not why I'm doing it no I mean it's a good sway in fact in terms of your artwork and um it'd be good to talk about is it big head Studios that you you still own what what goes on that so uh about I guess about 15 years ago I had a friend and I always had always did artwork and I would paint and Dabble and I had a friend that said you know what people will pay for this stuff and I'm like I don't know he said I tell you what I'm going to commission a big portrait and and you charge me whatever you're going to charge me but I'm going to turn down and sell it for like $700 I'm like whatever so I did like a Jimmy Buffett I charged him 125 bucks cuz that's how much it cost me to do it and U he sold it for like $600 and then we did another one and he sold it for like $750 and he said you you need to take this serious curious like there's a market for this so we did an art show and I told myself I'm not if we're going to do a show I want to have lots of work so I did a painting 30 days in a row every for 30 days I did a painting every day and some of them I didn't use but for the most part like this built up this first show I sold a lot of pieces and I was like okay this is kind of cool and then I kind of got into the bourbon World um I've got a piece uh in an installation at Makers Mark distillery so like when you go do the tour there's a Tasting Room there there you go yeah Shameless plug um I would um it then they would ask me to do some other things and then uh it led to this U relationship with beam Sor because Jim Sor owns Jim Bean they own Basil Hayden they own KN Creek they Park and so anytime they had these big they're trying to do these big installations a lot of times I'll get a call and I've bitten off more than I can chew a bunch because they always yeah we we were talking recently because you went to Bourbon and Beyond and I said oh are you been performing there and you said no it was the the art installations that you were you were putting up so what what kind of things did uh you get involved in so they had these huge like 8 foot wide by 16 foot towers that have four sides on them and they put a lot of print artwork on there and Jim Beam buys a couple of these and then I I usually build something here at home uh kind of offsite and then install it so you so I did four 16 foot you know pieces that went on this big pillar that was in the middle of this festival with 150,000 people well they paid me really well and I got passes weekend you got to see which artist and so I remember Tyler was headlining was he and he was last night um it was uh my daughter took all my passes for Zack BR so I didn't get see but I'm old and I went and watch Dave Matthews Bann on Friday that was fun awesome but U but no it was a um T and Tyler was a real kind of like not that Tyler and are friends but a couple of guys in his band are friends and the people I've known for a long time and I messaged CJ who plays acoustic guitar for him and I was like man like like it was so great to see you all in front of 100,000 people like it was it you know it gives me goosebumps now because I remember the little [ __ ] hole places that they were playing before you know and and we were playing together and and there's no uh there's no jealousy like it's just like it's like seeing your son you know score you a touchdown like it was it it was just great and uh to see U and and and again I like the the festival that I'm on with him U part of the reason why I got on that Festival was because I was complimenting the um the producers of that Festival basically saying kudos to you for having Tyler on this Festival uh because I knew it they were going to catch some heat from from pop country people for ADD this hill belly to their roster no is it that bad I mean there there's read the comments like there's people like who is this guy like why don't like why don't I'm serious you know you're talking about millions and millions of people there's a very small percentage of people that are listening to Americana music you know and and Country and this style of country music in particular it's a it's a very Niche thing like I I feel like it's a pretty small community of people too and U it seems like all of these people have run into each other along the way somehow um see I think I'm out of touch because you know me and uh my my co-host went to see tler chers in London list year probably February time and I was so surprised because I thought that's was going to cost me a fortune as like seeing Chris Stapleton really reasonable prices um small not not a small value it was theond H or something it was the Hammer Smith so it was quite quite a big venue still and it was sold out you know and everyone had such an amazing time so I was like you know I I'm I'm so glad someone like that that I love is coming over to the UK because we don't get an awful lot I think we've had 49 Winchester not too long ago but it's kind of you know rare that we do get the kind of stuff that I'm into um over here how far are you from London um I'm in the Midlands so I'm probably on a train about an hour and a half so not too England's a small place man so you know we can get to you know when we talk about we moan about you know a journey let an hour and a half whereas you know there's probably nothing to you guys um well we we uh where I live it's an hour to everywhere you know yeah so I know what you mean I was checking out where you live because I thought I'm really intrigued where the Randall bar is and is it Webster Kentucky that that you are and you what two and a half um I was from Nashville y yeah it actually kind of works out nice so I can if I can be creative sometimes like if I don't have somebody that I just absolutely want I can kind of look at tour like itineraries for people and go who's who's playing in Nashville and then coming to Louisville or going to Indianapolis or and you can kind of be like this person's going to be close what like we had the Wilder blue here um coule years I like that and they uh they were in this area you know during that time of year and and you know you saw them a little bit of money and they're like yeah we we'll fit that into our schedule and it so yeah we're kind of in a good place but um I do I do hit some radius clause issues every now and then where I'm too close to Louisville or too close to Nashville for a certain amount of days yeah yeah no it's interesting I mean I I came across the Wilder blue because I think they cover the Eagles um uhhuh TR and they and they kind of put me on some they're they were they're fantastic like they're kind of like a Texas super group and um Luke Holmes liked him and so he took them out this summer on his on like 13 of his stadium shows and U and like I think they have the same manager as him now and like I really feel like next year is going to be a big year for them but they are very much like not not what's on the radio so I'm interested to see what happens you know and he was on your podcast recently wasn't he yes yeah he's he's such a cool dude like he's like a I don't know he's like a sage he's a you know I feel like he's probably got some Native American in him because it's he's kind of like I don't know he he gives me that Vibe which which I love like that chilled out kind of vibe oh yeah like there's probably some po peyote involved he probably likes going out into the desert awesome man I feel like we've talked a lot about every artist going except for your stuff and I every time I I have somebody on the podcast I make a conscious effort of sitting in my man cave for an hour or two just going through your back catalog and I want to know more about you know you talked about Jericho Woods you know and and moving forward so you know um you you put out a lot of music over the last few years if you go on your Spotify the albums you put out over the last well since 2022 I would say yeah I guess I put three or four out um I did do a rock record just just because that rock because yeah why the hell not I love I grew up in the 90s uh you know Nirvana food Fighters Pearl Jam all that it's music that I loved but every time I open my mouth it always sounds like country you know so U but I was like no you know what got some songs that will work for this I'm going to do a rock record very different albums I've noticed you know I was looking at the very first one and I I wrote down some notes and I thought it's very kind of upbeat good vibe polished sound and then you go into a lot of folk and then some straight up Rock and um and then straight up country so it's like a real mixture and particularly the last one the one that you sent me over Instagram little fires and I thought it's very R&B that one yeah and I and I don't know where the hell that came from me I don't know I it so so so I would call myself a songwriter and so you sometimes you just like and like I said like one of the things that I had a problem with Nashville was I don't want to write the same song every time and they really like formulas and they like like well this is what you sound like this is what you do and I'm so but you write a song and the way it sounds in your head you know sometimes it's something that you don't it's not in your wheelhouse but it's like hey what the hell we'll give it a shot U and you know and I I like R&B too so you know it's like I don't have a boss when it comes to music like I can who's your R&B inspiration Josh uh I I love Al Green I love Marvin Gay I love um uh in high school and in middle school I love Boys to Men and like JY you know so it's like I was getting the Motown Philly Vibes off some of your there you go yeah but that's that's also the thing like so Sturgill is a huge influence right and what has Sturgill done he said I'm GNA do five records and every one of them's going to be different and that's a and that's real freeing to me to go you know what I can have I don't have to be a thing now at the end of the day I still really like country um that kind of has like a southern rock folky Edge to it like that's that's I'm I'm more of like a John Millan Camp probably than I am a child of children but um you I love Almond Brothers love all that kind of stuff but so what what kind of stuff did you grow up I mean I I in the last say 20 years Allen Brothers have been one of my best bands um I I I I remember watching a doc mentioned me about Woodstock you know quite some time back and that really put me back into it with you know cand heat um oh yeah so my dad was a big 70s rock guy so he loved Chicago and he loved the Doobie Brothers and he loved the Eagles and I always love the Eagles too uh for me probably my number one band through the 2000s was The Black Crows um you know I I loved I loved them so much um but I love John Mayor like I love I've got something to reveal to you I'm a hug joh mayor fan and this is really sad I've got a John Mayor tattoo I've never I've never revealed that to anyone on the podcast before do you want to see it this is you is it this is so S I don't think you can actually see it properly from from oh but it's but it's from the uh which album was that that was um it wasn't born and raised it was uh that was him on stage that was quite early not not early on i i i his early stuff funny enough I wasn't a fan I I um had a girlfriend from Florida um when I was 18 so early 2000s and she put me on to John Mayor and I listened to it and I thought I don't like this then I picked it up a few years later when he did the pretty fluffy yeah ear on I remember seeing him at a small club and uh I took my friend Kyle Daniel who's now an artist also he was a student well at the place where I was student teaching at the time in college so I snuck him into this bar we watched John Mayer and oddly enough Jim James from My Morning Jacket opened Acoustic solo um but this was like 2002 and um but yeah the early stuff I I just thought he was really technical technically good and all that but we're about the same age so like a lot of the records that when the content was like really like I was like yeah I'm I feel like that too you know so so for me A lot of times that's the thing but uh it's not it's not really cool to be a fan of John Mayer in I know and certainly not to have a a tattoo of John Mayor that's got this tattoo which is similar to the one he has uh mine is my kids burstone colors awesome but so I can see it while I'm playing guitar um but U I don't know I think we i' had a lot of commonalities with him and I and I think he's a chameleon too that's why if you want if you want me to do something different tell me you like what I did last time and you know I'll probably be like no that's not what I do and I and I kind of have that I'm I kind of have um you know when people be like well you're a painter I'm like no actually I'm not a painter I'm a musician and then when somebody says well I know you from your music I'm like well did you know that that I also like to I'm a carpenter you know so so like I I don't like to be pigeon hold either um I will say that I have a u I've got another record like ready to go um we're not ready to go i' got to make some tweaks but do you do I was interested you know because you've got such an awesome setup at the barn is is are the recordings done at the barn or do you on that record nobody asked for this I recorded in the barn uh it's just easier to do it in my shop so I here in the studio I've got lot temperature controlled I've got plenty of power and I've got my racks and all the equipment and everything I need um so the last couple I've just done here but it's a but this on this record I very much just want to the way I did it was I set up two stereo mics and if I couldn't play it and sing it in one take I I didn't keep it so I didn't want to do a bunch of overdubs I didn't want to um you know obviously I did like some Harmony my friend Anna Blandon who toured with cter wall and for a long time and plays with a ton of other great groups U she came and played some fiddle on it Nick is working on doing a verse on one of the songs uh so we'll kind of have he'll have a cameo in one and then a guy named Jake Gro who's currently playing harmonica for cter wall U is he's from Louisville so he's going to to do uh some harmonica work on it but really raw and stri down and just very song very song based so what did you record the the upper albums if wasn't that the BM uh in here um but then I I'll say this too Co really taught it it made us all put a lot more things in our tool belt um I've had um like I've got friends that are drummers or uh Ramy jaffy from the wall flowers and the Foo Fighters played on my rock record uh and all I do is send him the tracks and he sent me the waves back to me from California and you know so like everybody has a setup now if they're any good so uh so I can Farm my drums out to Nashville where I can and I love being in a studio with people and I've done that but is is this a new project I'm I'm trying to annoy your wife now so could you have a a studio set up at the barn that other musicians come and that's the place to be to record their albums so we are this Saturday so Elie Shane played here in the spring and we recorded we did a board and room recording of that show I don't know what he's gonna do with it uh Nick is recording this show and he has rumored that I've heard from the guy who's recording it that he may be releasing it for um for like flood relief because we've had the Hurricanes Here Local yes but I have had a couple people reach out to me I don't have I don't have the right kind of equipment I don't have enough equipment I don't think I could do it like if they wanted to do it on a budget like we could 100% record in the barn and I I think I will eventually um I just want to fill your head with more ideas just to uh give you more projects because I I would love I mean because you know obviously it's a bit of a flight uh trick for me to pop over tomorrow I I would love to see Nick Jameson and and Jonathan and Abigail painton that would be a dream for me and perhaps even just see a recording of it would be awesome so this is what you this this is what you need to do so I already have it actually the contract is pulled up on my computer right now um have you heard of John R Miller yes he he actually supported tet shielders when he went to the show in London so he's the head ler for my next ramble nobody nobody knows that yet it's Friday May the 2nd okay um that's also Derby week so you could you could go to the the Kentucky Derby on Saturday watch a show here that Friday uh spend the week uh going around Kentucky checking things out like it's a beautiful time of year your wife would love to see the horse races like it it's you could stay with me like we can make this happen there you go that's a promise mate you can't go back on that now my wife was she's like what cuz my I'm 40 in in January I'm an old old person like you mate so I take the mick but um you know I'm pretty old myself and she was U saying what do you want to do and I was like well I would love to go out to Kentucky that's always been my dream because I love bourbon you know hence the you know the drinking and I can I can and I've Got Friends that distilleries and we could like I can line you up some maybe some exclusive stuff and we could do the Bourbon Trail and you're my new best friend Josh we can make it fun I'm tell you then you could do then you could probably do a live podcast with with John R while he's here and and uh listen you're coming to Kentucky like I'm coming I'm coming man I'm going to play at this and uh she'd be so yeah put in a position that she's she can't say no yep she'll have listen if she does for your 40th birthday like come on she can't ruin my 40th and plus I'm I'm marrying her in uh May next year so you know so this would be prew wedding exactly yeah so I think that's pretty reasonable like your bachelor party stag do we call it overy yeah exactly I think that would be the perfect stag do at Josh's B do you want to get married uh like in the cuz we do that too I'll see if I can get that passer I've spent enough money already seriously oh it's crazy so are you all set for the weekend then because I know you put out the tickets and brought is it a sold out event are you still sold out I'll still I still have tickets available uh it'll be uh um it'll it'll probably end up selling out before it's over with a lot of people local folks will decide they want to come the day of um the one in the one around Derby always sells out the October one U usually a little bit less it's harder to sell out just because there's so much going on but it's like this is my favorite time of year like it's beautiful like we just harvested all the crops uh the deer are coming out as the sunsets every night uh you know it's we we got a pretty nice spot it's a we've had Aurora Borealis and super moons and comets and everything else so we don't have any light pollution here so you can see everything at night get out to the Rand at the ramble yeah exactly that's um that's amazing so what people Park up at your your barn then so you know you got people coming over it's it's kind a strange venue not your usual place that people would go to is it yeah I mean it's it's very much it's a it's a barn so when I grew up we put Square bells of hay up in the Loft we had cattle and like we'd feed out the sides of the barn uh but uh but we started leasing our farm out to a local farmer who raised the crops before my grandfather passed away so it uh so we we didn't have cattle uh we were getting ready we were in the process of trying to buy the farm you know right before covid and I'm like what are we gon to do with this thing like it's going to fall down like it's too beautiful to not do something with and my wife is like absolutely not you're not doing a venue I'm like but if I don't do it like like so she said don't start and I went ahead and started anyway I need your powers of persuasion mate honestly I just my dad used to always say uh it's a lot easier to get forgiveness than permission but we uh um but yeah just you know got to work on it and and U it my grandfather would say it's not very good for cattle or hay anymore but but there's so many local people who grew up and had helped my grandfather work you know they'll tell me all the time when they're at a show they're like you know I used to put hay up in this barn with your granddad or I worked cattle with him one time and and you know obviously I spend a lot of time up you know in the barn too and you know it's a I don't know it's a it's as much of a like a heart project for me to just kind of keep it going um I don't know Farms farms in Family Farms in particular are few and far between now um you know more and more are selling out to corporate um interest or to development or like right now there's a lot of solar uh Farms that are moving in like yeah Venture catalist are are leasing farms and covering them with solar panels and you know so it's kind of changing the countryside and for us it's like how do we how can we figure out a way to just keep it the way it is and and you know using the barn for that is a is a revenue source that allows us to say you know what we can we can make the farm payment and not have to run 50 cattle and uh or have pigs or debaca or any of that kind of stuff so and it's a beautiful bone isn't it you know and you find your yourself a little niche there it listen like I I haven't advertised you know like aside from the concerts like we have four or five weddings in there a year like I've never like put you know advertisements in the paper online or anything it's just Word of Mouth um we it I feel like we're providing a service so that's kind of the way I look at it but yeah I wish I knew about this before end because my wife has uh cost me a lot of money to get married in a sort of barn sltp next year and uh we could have gone to Kentucky and uh done all this so instead it will be the Stag do and uh we'll be over at Josh's barn and doing all the fun stuff man listen I can call somebody in and uh and we can just make it happen like we get somebody officiated I'll Stand I'll be a witness or whatever like you say is e easier to ask for forgiveness I'm going to take the words of your grandad so uh you know let's talk about your podcast mace you know um I love your podcast and I I messaged you the other day cuz I'm a a huge fan of Nick Jameson and it was so interesting talking about him and you know and he's such a chilled out kind of down to earth dude and but you've also had the likes of Hannah Dasher the complete opposite end of the spectrum and she the hot mess well so so for me it was I a friend and I had done a had tried to do a podcast a couple years ago and it just never really got traction and it was hard to coordinate you know our our schedules and stuff and but it's one of those things where really what I crave and maybe it's it maybe more than the than the doing the art and Performing for people is the like human connection right and and like I love biographies and I love watching documentaries on you know in when I quit work to play music full-time like I read and like like I immersed myself in how did these other people do what they did and you know trying to learn from it and and just I'm a I'm a real big fan of people in general so the podcast is just a neat way um you know I kind of started with people who are playing here um and and then it kind of like okay other people I have relationships with to kind of get it off the ground and then like once you've done a few you can say hey I got I've got some stuff you can look at this is what I do I'm interested in what you're doing I'd like to have you on um it kind of focusing on on Kentucky people but but not necessarily um but music uh you know the Arts U you know I just had one on today a guy who's a who's a fantastic visual artist named Wy CLE and like he did a lot of stuff for the Kentucky Derby and he does murals and you know everybody's story is interesting to me and U so I'm like you like these are people that I I'm a fan of and and I get to build a relationship with them and hopefully I'm helping them um you know I'm not getting millions of views right but if if nothing else they know they've got a fan and uh and that I'm you know there's one guy who thinks that they're interesting enough to have a conversation with hopefully it inspires them and and they and they continue doing what they're doing you know I just man it I I I told you that you know I want my table to be bigger and bigger and and I if there's somebody out there that I've come in contact with that I could help I'd love to help them it's also nice to be able to call people and and sometimes they can do a favor for you um you can't have enough friends and you can't have enough contacts especially in the Arts and and so many times it's like hey I'm coming to your town do you you want to grab a drink or yeah or I have this opportunity for you would you be interested in it so um you know that's uh that's that's why I'm doing it I just I just like people no I I love that mate you know I'm like you you know nothing better than sitting down with perhaps a beer a whiskey watching a biography or documentary maybe it's shown my age M but um you know it's uh it's so interesting and like I said that's how I kind of got into back into the music world was with the wood stop documentary and it was just like you know it's so amazing it doesn't seem like that type of thing happens anymore it but but it but it is like we're talking about people from two hours away from me that have some way somehow found their way you know into your living room and into your you know onto your phone and um I don't know it's just it's just a different animal and um and we receive and exchange information so much differently than we did then yes yeah it you don't have to tour now if you don't want to uh you can live you can you know do Tik Tok lives you know three times a week and people will send you money and like I I mean I don't do that but you could and um but but I do think it's kind of it's the wild west and that anything goes and you don't have to have permission anymore now there's a lot more noise and it's harder to cut through and you know I don't you got to have some breaks and and or you have to be um you I I do think I do think the amount of artists that are out there the people who are cutting through are just spectacular like there's something about them you know so it really does kind of force you to be really really good at what you do if you really want to kind of break through because there's a lot of people 10 there's a million people who sing as good as I do uh who write you know their own songs who you know whatever it you know but you never know when uh you know which song is going to be the one that that really resonates and that breaks it's so difficult I mean social media is such a weird animal and you know we we've you know our age we kind of grown up from I don't understand it I don't understand it the algorithm to be honest I don't I don't care I don't care I just want to talk to the people that I like the artists that I like and I find the artists I like they don't have a don't care I want to say I don't care but I 100% do care yeah I'm ly I don't know I get the I still get the endorphin rush you know and I still um but but I'll post something I think is great and it'll get 400 views on Tik Tok and then just something random I put the right hashtag on it and it'll get a thousand views ores piss you off you know what pissed me off recently was like you know I'm posting all these things my you know our main aim for the rugged Revival is to platform unsigned artists and you know I'm trying my very best to to kind of say you know these guys are awesome I listen to them let's kind of put them out there and then my 10-year-old with his stupid little Tik Tok put something like an aerosol can in his football boot and he got 7.2 million views and I'm like are you bloody serious man so 12y old for his 12 his his birthday we let him have a YouTube page and he's he likes to animate and and and draw and he does little shorts on YouTube and he's got more subscribers than I do but I can't say that mine is better than his because his is good but you know yeah I don't I don't get it I think it's a necessary evil you have to do it um you've got to participate in that um yeah I don't know I mean it that is the one thing that if I could farm that out I would 100% be like hey make these schedule these posts for me I don't have the time to to kind of figure out the algorithm or the care but um yeah one day we might crack it Josh um who's your favorite guest on the on the podcast anyway so far I know he's putting you on the spot but who's been fascinating for you I really I I really like talking to Nick um I've got I've got one I've got a good friend in a in a bluegrass band called the Po ramama Boys uh but he just but he quit the band before I could release the podcast he's like we're going have to do another one so that one was a great podcast but I'm have to we're gonna have to do it again um uh I've still got some people on the hook that I haven't released yet I did one with Sunny Sweeney yesterday that'll come out in a few months Sunny's been touring UK recently I saw she's going to be over there starting November 5th I think for a couple weeks yeah I might try and get tickets because I think she's not playing too far from me so that that's interest I was surprised because I thought that that's someone that I like and I think I posted not too long ago so brilliant yeah she's she's one of them that's been through the she did she was on the same label as Taylor Swift at a time when Taylor was still in country music exclusively and and kind of got chewed up by that whole thing and uh and now is she has made a career just by being her own person and handl doing everything on her own and she she hosts radio show on XM radio now and just yeah she's cool you should definitely go check her out I'm gonna try and message her whatever she'll reply we'll see but she will I mean that I um I mean I Instagram messaged her and she said uh I'm super busy but email my my tour manager and she'll line it up and and here we are so awesome if she's over it it'll be a great conversation I think because I love her work and like you say it's just someone I'm interested and selfishly someone I like on the podcast so there you go I think'll do it can't can't beat it man but um I mean one of the big things that we do like I said we which one Spotlight artist that we unsigned or ler known artist that wantes to watch for you Josh mate who would you kind of put on a pedestal for this particular podcast um so I'm a I'm a big fan obviously of Nick and I don't think he could uh there he deserves a ton of uh support there is a band that I've had here at the barn called Wayne Graham they're more like wico like so they're very much country guys but they they're they're super they play super smart like music and uh but they're actually going to be playing over there at um I don't know what the name of the festival is it's the one Jack just posted that he's playing also but way Graham is great uh we got see Holland's concert that he's playing I'm not sure what it is um but I know that I know they posted they were on it uh one of my my brothers from another mother his name is Kyle Daniel he just played uh he was just over uh he's played country to Country before and he's um he did did uh a couple he was over there playing with Southall uh I guess in August so so he's been over to the UK and um and just a actually I'm featuring a song that we co-wrote on my upcoming acoustic record so um I don't know it there's so many man I I've uh Cole Cheney uh he's kind of on the rise he's taking his time which I think is neat like he hadn't released a new record yet and I know that he's got one I know he's been writing songs um but he's kind of taken the sturg model I'm G to tour for a year I'm gonna I'm GNA build the brand um so yeah and of course Tyler and there's been so many that have just taken off uh recently I think um $10 Cowboy is uh particularly in the UK has taken off Charlie Crockett yeah you know I've seen that kind of meteoric rise over the last 12 months it's been incredible and he's a and he's a so authentic you know like he sounds like he sounded on the on the sidewalks of New Orleans you know he's so unique yeah absolutely and and we love him but um is there anything else that you want to kind of shout out Josh you know we we've gone through loads of stuff and I'm conscious of taking up your time man I've got a lot I've got a lot stuff going on um that's I need to cut back on the amount of beer I drink U no you don't the doctor told me the other day I gained like 10 pounds since last year so um I'm trying to avoid a out growing all my blue jeans but U but no I just I'm I'm thrilled that that um to to connect with people you know especially from other countries I mean that's I mean I a dream for me would be to to come over and play for you guys over in the UK and maybe someday we can make that happen this is where I want the the grand old not the grand old opery but the grand old Revival I would love to see Josh mitchan friends over here we we've talked about how we could there's a there's enough of us who could probably like we could have like kind of like one band it but kind of root revolve like like with Nick bring Nick over please yeah we could we could 100% like try to make uh all come over together and try to split the cost and do the thing it it would take some it would take some planet and maybe a sponsor and and some good luck but talk to me mate honestly we'll make that happen I would love that and uh well I would love it too where can we find you mate um I do have uh Josh mitch. comom um on Facebook it's Josh Mitchum uh music and art I'm on the Instagram every damn Friday has an Instagram um I have a big head Studios page on Facebook too for the artwork um I'm getting into that time of the year where I'm doing a lot of commissions for gifts and Christmas presents and things like that so um did you do some uh swaps with uh um Jack Browning as well we haven't we haven't done one yet so we've gota I've got to get back and tou be like Hey listen I know you're know you're big stuff right now you should paint each other like nude yeah that'd be weird he might I only need a little fig Lea I don't want to know that mate so you know normally this is where we plugg the r rugged revive and I'm so bad at doing it but um you know the usual stuff follow like share and and we're blue sick wankers now mate honestly we um we pay Mark Zuckerberg to feel important so we did that recently so I do the same thing and but I do think in what we're doing it gives you a little bit of credibility that you're not a bot that you're not just you know so that when you do reach out to people you know the blue check means something I did think that because I'm starting to reach out to a lot of people now and they're like who the hell are the rugged Revival and why should we B them and let's see if the blue sck makes any difference I don't know I'm G to you know let's message Sunny Sweeney later and see if she replies you go say justos told me to come over this way um if you don't do it if you don't do it you're you're a wuss you're a coward you dared me now M so um well this is where we sign off to say you know a toast to the grit the grind and the Revival and Josh is going to kindly play for us a couple of tracks man AR you so I'm going to end my waffling now and hand over to Josh all right guys um so here is U here's a song that that's the title track on the album that I released um back in August uh it's called little fires I've been starting little Fighters I've been watching in each one bird they're slowely growing higher don't think I'll ever learn like love lost in the flame the smoke can make you cry [Music] I've been starting little fires hopes like Embers in the [Music] sky I've been starting little fire start a new one every day burning with desire so hot the rain can wash [Music] away I keep soaking up the Flames trading gasoline for my [Music] down but I keep starting little [Music] fires till I'm all burned down [Music] [Music] keep starting little fires I keep starting little fire I keep sharting [Music] little keep starting little [Music] all right so uh this is actually like a like a 20 year old song but I but I don't think I've put it out ever I'm not sure I like to go back and look at the discography but it's called it's a song called drive it like you stole it so [Music] we were playing down in Memphis for some boys rather hit the je box play yeah said we want toar some Skinner so they crank down give me three steps right away well they must and I don't like started breaking bottles on the floor well now being a simple man I grab my [ __ ] for the door yeah well they Chas Us in the alley was 26 five we didn't think we may get out of Al I said get those TI burning to that road just can't hold it it down give her H drive like so L yeah like he so L well we had a show on Friday and and my woman Ain been getting I came home from a long day work she my gu we both gone yeah yeah she taking away only I love her I up my buddy slad door at the well I jumped out of a window when my guar my hand come on boys get there as fast I said you can I said get those tis burning to that road and just can't hold itow down give her H [Music] drive like [Music] yeah well sometimes gets me in Hur but it's long as you drive fast you won't wor get bur to that road just can't hold it it down give her H and drive like St yeah like St yeah drive it like stolen dve it like stol drive it like stol like
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