0:04

It's February already, that's

0:06

deep winter in many parts of the country. A

0:08

season of steaming hot

0:11

bowls of soup, of tea

0:13

kettles, singing on the stove, a

0:16

season of thick books and thicker socks

0:19

of paper, snowflake making, puzzle

0:22

assembling on the dining table, of all

0:24

things warm and wonderful.

0:27

So it's no surprise that

0:29

for centuries it's also been

0:32

the season of love. And

0:35

the star of that love show is Valentine's

0:38

Day, appearing one day only February.

0:41

And what a show it is, with all the fanfare,

0:44

the biggest Broadway production. The

0:46

stage is set with flowers

0:48

and hearts and cards and chocolates.

0:52

Oh how I loved the Valentine's exchanges

0:55

during my school days. Okay,

0:58

I admit I thought it was all about me because

1:00

of my birthday, which is the next day,

1:02

and so I thought Valentine's was all about me.

1:06

While Valentine's Day is also often

1:08

associated with romantic dinners for

1:10

two and someone on bended

1:13

knee holding a sparkly diamond and

1:15

a big question mark floating over their head,

1:18

for me, for my family, it's been years

1:20

of heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.

1:24

I make red pancakes every

1:26

Valentine's Day for my kids. Heart

1:28

shaped sandwiches. I have a heart shaped

1:31

cookie cutter that I use on sandwiches

1:33

and I put them in brown paper bags decorated

1:35

with more hearts. And a family

1:37

dinner that often comes with mashed potatoes

1:40

dyed red, served under

1:42

paper streamers. I put

1:44

crape paper streamers over the dining table

1:47

with lots of hugs and giggles for my kids.

1:50

Romantic love is wonderful.

1:53

It is It's a cause for celebration,

1:55

but it is often fleeting, even

1:58

if you are in a long term, committed, loving

2:00

relationship. Those those

2:02

giddy butterflies they fly

2:05

away after the first few months, and then

2:07

you get down to the real hard work,

2:10

the truth of love. Today's

2:13

guest on love Someone seems

2:15

to have come around to the very same conclusion.

2:18

He's young, he's talented, he is

2:20

so so darn good looking,

2:23

and it is essence he's a family man,

2:25

and that is coming through loud and clear in

2:27

his music, which has both fans

2:30

and the music industry looking

2:32

up, lending in the air, and taking notice. This

2:35

hit maker is only one of four

2:37

artists in the modern era to have their

2:39

first seven singles go

2:42

number one on country air Check media

2:44

base. He is not seven

2:47

consecutive gold

2:49

and platinum certified number one hits,

2:51

including In Case You didn't Know, Mercy,

2:55

Sleep Without You, Like I

2:58

Loved You, Here to Night,

3:00

Catch, and my favorite so far, Lady.

3:03

He is racked up over six point two billion

3:06

global streams. Here with

3:08

Me today, celebrating Valentine's Day, celebrating

3:11

love, celebrating family is

3:13

the very talented, very handsome Brett

3:15

Young. We're gonna get caught up on everything

3:18

going on in his world, including his recent

3:20

album Weekends Look a Little Different

3:22

These Days. Right after I

3:25

share a little love with one of my podcast

3:27

sponsors. I

3:30

love Mercy Ship's spirit,

3:32

and I'm so happy to share all the good

3:35

they do in the world, providing

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free surgeries to suffering people

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who lack access to medical

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care. Today, I ask you to

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think about the last time you felt

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really good about doing

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something for another. Now

3:52

imagine feeling like that every

3:54

day you can. When

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you support the work of Mercy

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Ships, you're helping to

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transform people's lives.

4:04

Visit Mercy ships dot org to

4:07

learn the many ways you can be

4:09

a part of the great work that they're doing

4:11

Mercy Ships dot Org.

4:15

Brett Young, welcome to love someone

4:18

with the Lilah. I'm so glad you

4:20

decided to take a little time out of your schedule

4:22

to chat with us, because you're pretty busy.

4:25

It's my pleasure. No, I'm I'm not busy.

4:27

My kids are like already grown

4:29

and um, right, how

4:34

many of you gotten diapers right now? Both

4:37

of them have. My youngest

4:39

is six months today and then my

4:41

oldest is Presley is just

4:43

over two years. So I've got two little baby

4:45

girls barely under two years old,

4:48

and uh, and they're both in diverse but Presley

4:51

is potty training right now, which is um

4:54

exciting is the wrong word, but it does get a

4:56

little exciting. Sometimes it does get exciting,

4:59

and it'll be cheesier on Mama and

5:01

you once that happens, that's

5:04

right. But during the process

5:06

of it, it's it's it can be challenging

5:08

and exciting. So

5:11

uh, I sent your song lady

5:13

to my niece, not realizing she

5:15

was ahead of me, and I've already heard it a thousand

5:18

times because she has a four month old

5:20

baby girl with her husband Nick,

5:23

and they are like one of the cutest couples

5:25

in the whole wide world. And she's

5:28

a cry baby like me. And so I

5:30

said, when Nick comes home from work today,

5:32

when he comes to the door, I just want you to hand

5:35

Addie Dean to him. This is my dedication

5:38

to you guys. And then I said, but you've

5:40

got to text me before he gets home so

5:42

I can like know in my heart that this is happening.

5:45

And so I called her after she texted me. I gave her

5:47

like five minutes and she was still a hot mess,

5:50

you know, just completely blubber

5:52

face that you're out there using

5:54

me to make people cry. I

5:56

am, I am, And

6:00

it was wonderful. It worked beautifully.

6:03

So so did you write Lady with

6:05

your first baby girl or number two? Yeah?

6:08

That was for my first one for Pressley. We

6:10

we were only I think five

6:12

months pregnant when I wrote that song. And

6:16

I think that the reason the song turned out the way it did

6:18

was because I didn't know what it was like

6:20

to be a parent yet. I was kind of only uh

6:23

anticipating and experiencing the things

6:26

that like scare you about that

6:29

chapter of your life when you know nothing about it yet.

6:31

And so the reason that song is

6:33

is so much more about my wife than it

6:35

is my daughter. It's kind of like a letter

6:38

to my daughter about her mom is

6:40

because the only thing I knew

6:43

about that process is

6:45

that I was fortunate to have my wife because

6:47

she was gonna have to do it all because I was not going

6:49

to be capable, and so, um yeah,

6:51

it was. It was. It was my my letter to

6:54

my first daughter, basically

6:56

saying, I'm probably gonna screw this

6:58

up, but don't worry because Mom will be there. And

7:00

have you have you, like made any major blunders

7:03

that mom had to correct? I

7:05

mean that would be a better question for

7:07

her. I don't think so if

7:09

I If I did, she fixed it when I wasn't

7:12

looking good answer.

7:15

I think the biggest thing for me is like identifying

7:19

roles um as parents,

7:21

and I think that you of

7:24

it is is both of your job, but then there

7:26

are there's this five percent where where

7:28

roles come in. At least that's how it's been in our

7:30

house. And um, your

7:33

your marriage is very different than the ones

7:35

I was in. I just got to tell you, if

7:37

you think it's shared very

7:40

different, I say that,

7:42

but I'm being like very gracious to myself because

7:44

then I get on a tour bus and leave for like every

7:46

weekend. So yeah, yeah, let's

7:48

be honest, it's more like five.

7:52

I mean, if you're gone on weekends, if you're touring

7:54

and you're on the tour and you

7:56

you've got rehearsals and

7:59

the baby still has to be nursed and changed.

8:02

Yeah, I guess that's what I'm

8:04

saying. I got really good at dishes and taking

8:06

out the trash. It's really like,

8:08

you know, very good at

8:10

the things that should have been good at anyway. So

8:13

there's that. But I'm not scared

8:15

of a diaper though, either. I'm gonna give

8:17

myself a little credit there. I know some dads that are

8:19

like, I'm not touching that. I mean, you

8:22

made it. If you made this child and they're

8:24

making this, you made this. Yeah you mad. Yeah,

8:27

it's your job too. Biggest

8:29

change in your heart since

8:32

since you said I do. I mean, your music

8:35

just like took a one eight you

8:37

just like you went all in

8:40

in the relationship and the you

8:42

know, if your life is truly reflected

8:44

in your music, you did that. You did a U turn

8:46

in the middle of the street, in the middle of the freeway. You did

8:48

a U turn. Yeah, I

8:50

mean I mean,

8:52

if you really track down

8:55

from album one to you know what, we're

8:57

finishing album three right now. Um,

9:00

even the breakup songs were about my

9:02

wife. We just we we had

9:04

a little bit of a time trying

9:07

to get to where we needed to be. We weren't always

9:09

on the same page, and so, um

9:11

it was always her for me. It was just that we weren't.

9:13

I was a little bit older and I was I wanted

9:15

to settle down before she did. And um,

9:18

that's why you got breakup songs about

9:20

my wife and then love songs about my wife

9:22

on the next record. Um. I

9:25

think the biggest change for me was no,

9:27

I don't care what anybody says. Nobody likes chasing.

9:30

Everybody always says I like to chase. They're lying.

9:32

That's a single person that's young, that's

9:34

really saying that I'm not ready to settle down yet.

9:37

If you're ready to settle down, the chase is obnoxious

9:40

and so UM, I think the biggest thing

9:42

for me was just the security

9:44

that comes with you know, when we finally got

9:46

back together, Taylor and I just said, hey,

9:49

we're not interested in dating each other for a

9:52

third time around. If we're getting

9:54

back together this is it, we're getting married, we're

9:56

starting a family, like this is it. And the security

9:58

that came with that. Um, I

10:01

think, you know, brought a confidence

10:03

that I hadn't really had in my relationship. But I

10:05

think that carries over into your professional

10:07

life and your personal life with other relationships

10:09

with people too, and so, UM, I

10:12

just I just really appreciate the security

10:14

that came with knowing that we're doing

10:17

this, we're committed to this, and I don't have to wonder

10:19

about if this is the one or if this is gonna work

10:21

out anymore. Well, it sounds like you

10:23

always knew this was the one that

10:25

just took her a little wild cat. Yeah,

10:28

but she doesn't like when I say I told you so, so I try

10:30

to keep that out of them. Okay, got

10:32

it, You

10:34

are awesome. So are you're kind of glad

10:37

now you hurt your elbow all those years ago? Yeah?

10:40

I mean that's a bitter sweet conversation

10:43

because you know, I started playing baseball when

10:45

I was four, and that injury happened when I was twenty

10:47

two years old. And in California there's

10:49

no weather restrictions, so you play year round,

10:51

So you know, for eighteen years of my life

10:54

and the part of your life that is most formidable.

10:57

It's like it was. It was everything for me, So

11:00

I do miss it. Um

11:02

it wasn't fun. But

11:05

if I had a chance to go back and not get

11:07

injured and have baseball instead of music, I'd

11:09

pick music. So and I

11:11

would have never met my wife. Um, I moved.

11:14

I moved to Arizona for an opportunity to write

11:16

songs with a guy that had a publishing deal out there, and

11:18

that's where she was going to school. So my life wouldn't

11:20

be anything like it is right now, and so I wouldn't

11:22

trade it for the world. Um.

11:25

So short answer is absolutely,

11:27

I'm glad that the elbow injury happened. But there's a little

11:29

part of me that watches baseball all

11:33

season long, going, you know, critiquing

11:35

people and going, I could do it better.

11:38

You know, I still have that in me. So there's a part

11:40

of me that's a little bit nostalgic. But I wouldn't

11:42

trade it for the world. Um. Can I make

11:44

a suggestion, Yes, please.

11:47

I I think maybe the Lord's going to have

11:49

your coach and your your daughter's baseball

11:51

teams very open to that

11:54

one thing that I want for my girls

11:57

is that I don't want to decide for them

12:00

one way or the other. I don't want to discourage them from

12:02

something or push them into something. UM.

12:04

I want to kind of sit back and see what makes

12:06

them happy and then whatever that is, I don't care.

12:09

But I want to be a part of it. And so if my

12:11

you know, I play guitar, but if my daughter decides

12:14

that piano is her thing, I'm taking lessons with her,

12:16

you know, whatever it is. If

12:18

they're passionate, UM, that's the that's

12:20

the road I want to go down with them. And if it ends

12:22

up being a coach, awesome, I'm

12:25

in good for you, Good

12:27

for you. So when I started listening

12:29

to the words of Weekends,

12:33

Um, I was so I felt like I knew

12:35

you, like you were one of my kids, or

12:37

you were my little brother. You know, I felt like

12:40

I was on that journey with

12:42

you. You have a wonderful way

12:45

of bringing people into the story when

12:47

you sing. Do you know? Do you know that? Do you?

12:49

Are you aware of your gift of you

12:52

tell stories through your lyrics

12:55

and through your music. I appreciate that.

12:57

That's a that's um, that's a

13:00

very nice compliment that that is my goal

13:03

as a songwriter first and then also as a performer.

13:06

I've never been able to reconcile

13:08

with the fact that I might be asking

13:11

an audience to connect with me on

13:13

a song if I'm not visibly

13:17

emotionally connected to it. And so

13:20

it starts with the writing of the song. I mean, if it's not

13:22

if there's any part of it that's not honest and authentic

13:25

to me, it feels like a line and

13:27

you're not going to hear that song. So everything

13:29

that I put out is as

13:32

raw and vulnerable as I can make it, only

13:34

because it's the only way

13:36

that I can feel justified asking people to care

13:39

about my music, um, and come

13:41

out and spend their money in their time being at a

13:43

show or or sitting in their car and

13:45

listening to my record. So, um, that

13:47

is one of the best compliments you can give, because

13:49

that's my primary goal. Before

13:52

you know the song is even crafted

13:55

well, it certainly comes shining

13:57

through when I when I'm on the air at night. That's

14:00

that's my goal, is to invite people

14:02

into the relationship and into this story

14:05

that I weave together. Um, and

14:07

I love music. I love music.

14:09

My father was a musician. He played the guitar

14:12

and he had a little country western band and

14:14

we were raised on music. My mom had

14:16

a record player. We had a record player in our

14:18

living room. I think that they got up from Costco

14:21

and it, you know, forty fives

14:23

and albums, and all

14:26

of my siblings got the gift of music

14:29

except for me, and I have

14:31

a three note range and

14:33

they're not even very good notes. But

14:38

I love music. And the thing that

14:40

I love most about country music is

14:42

in country music you can

14:45

turn a phrase and you can you

14:47

can use an expression or a

14:49

hook that you just get

14:52

you know what I mean, you just get it. And

14:55

all of your songs that I have

14:57

ever listened to, I felt

15:00

I was on that journey with you, like I

15:02

knew you, like we were friends, even

15:04

though I had never met you before today. I

15:06

love that. I love that. I agree.

15:09

I think, um, you know, growing

15:11

up in southern California, especially at

15:13

the time, you know, when I found I found

15:15

country music in a

15:18

song called Don't Take the Girl Tim McGraw

15:21

and and uh at

15:23

the time, I mean in southern California, we were all surfing

15:25

and listening to Blink One, you know, like it

15:28

was all punk rock and and

15:30

you know, beach days and the whole thing.

15:33

And I found country and nobody

15:36

not only did nobody else listen to country,

15:38

they all thought I was crazy for listening to the country music

15:40

in southern California in the early nineties. And

15:42

um, the thing that made me fall in love

15:44

was the storytelling. I think

15:47

you have an opportunity to bring people in to

15:49

make them feel like, you know, not

15:52

just that they were there and experienced

15:54

that story with you, but like you said, like they know you.

15:57

You almost feel like you always

15:59

say that part of our job is to pull the curtain

16:01

back a little bit more every time we put something out.

16:04

You know, there's there's this there's this professional

16:07

side of us, which is our music and our songwriting.

16:09

But I think that with every new project, you gotta

16:11

pull the curtain back a little bit more, even

16:13

with social media. That's part of what I try to do

16:16

is, um, I don't want to exploit

16:18

my children or my family. But at the same time,

16:20

that's you're hearing

16:23

a record called Weekends look a little different these days

16:25

about my family, But then I'm going to hide

16:27

them from you. That doesn't make sense

16:29

to me, and so I feel like my responsibility

16:32

to people that are going to invest themselves in me and my career

16:34

is to give them a little bit more than just the

16:36

song. You need to understand why

16:38

this song exists so that you could feel like we have

16:41

something in common. And so I love that that comes

16:43

across for you. Oh boy, does it come

16:45

across loud and clear. You are very

16:47

talented, very talented at

16:50

being who you are, because

16:52

I think you know, I've been

16:54

in this business for a long

16:56

time. I've been on the air since

16:59

I was a teenager, and I

17:01

think a lot of artists get really jaded

17:05

or really um caught

17:08

up in the business of it and the hype,

17:10

and they forget that they put their pants on one leg

17:13

at a time, and that if you have a baby,

17:15

if the baby makes a dirty diaper, it's

17:17

your dirty diaper, you know. And they they're

17:20

all about image and posing on

17:22

a red carpet and and wearing

17:25

expensive clothes and sticking

17:28

out their lips or their jawline or

17:30

their hips or whatever it is. I

17:32

don't, I don't. I don't know that this is the case, but I

17:34

wonder sometimes how many people

17:36

are kind of hiding behind their

17:39

celebrity or their position rather

17:42

than being rather than allowing themselves

17:44

to be who they are. And I hope

17:46

that's not the case for for too many, but I think

17:49

I think you're seeing a lot of it right

17:51

now. And and I just I couldn't

17:53

do this if that was if I needed to be that way.

17:56

Oh I'm glad you don't need to be that way. And I'm

17:58

glad you're doing this because your music blesses

18:00

a lot of people. And so,

18:03

so you were you were in California, you

18:05

were riding the waves, you were a beach bomb, planned

18:07

baseball, and you heard, uh

18:10

country music. Were your folks

18:12

like, did they like country music? Or was this

18:15

all you? I feel

18:17

like the way you're setting up this question that you might have

18:19

already heard the story, but if you have not,

18:22

Um, I have a

18:25

sister that's eight years older than me, and

18:27

uh, rather than let us fight

18:30

over who got shotgun, front

18:32

seat just rotated every other time. So,

18:35

UM, it doesn't work in my family. You

18:37

know how many kids are my

18:39

I'm almost pretty good at kind

18:41

of the soft parenting distraction

18:43

game. Um. And so we didn't

18:45

really question that, but my sister didn't

18:48

like it. She just didn't say no, So

18:51

what she would do is every time I got the

18:53

front seat, she would just kick the back of my seat

18:55

for the entire ride to ruin my experience

18:57

getting the front seats. And

19:00

so your sister extremely successful

19:02

too, because I think that personality,

19:05

nothing's going to stop her from getting what she wants.

19:08

My sister is one of my favorite people in the whole

19:10

world. She didn't go into into the music business.

19:12

But but yes, she's incredible.

19:15

And also, um, we clearly

19:17

share genetics because that's probably

19:20

if the roles were reversed and I was the older sibling, is

19:22

probably what I would do. In fact, I think

19:24

I do it to my two year old now sometimes

19:26

I'm telling you, um,

19:29

but but the only thing I knew, And

19:31

this is the funny. This is the funny thing about the story. My

19:33

sister loves country music now, but

19:36

at the time she despised country music

19:38

because she was young and it wasn't

19:40

cool yet. Um, she had like life

19:42

size posters of L L Cool J and Boys two

19:44

Men on the wall, so country

19:47

wasn't her thing. So she's kicking my seat,

19:49

trying to ruin my front seat experience.

19:52

So I'm cranking the local. We had

19:54

one local country music station. At

19:56

the time, I'm cranking it just to ruin

19:59

her back seat experience, you know. And

20:01

uh and one day, Johnny's

20:05

daddy was taking him fishing,

20:07

and I was like, sounds interesting.

20:10

And by the end of it, I'm like an eight year old crying,

20:12

you know, old whatever

20:14

I was at the time. And uh, I just

20:17

I went from from loving

20:19

that song to realizing why I loved that song,

20:21

which was the storytelling and country music and

20:23

was done for me at that point. Well,

20:26

I I came from a long line of country

20:28

music lovers, both

20:30

sides of my family, both my parents families

20:33

loved country music. And I

20:36

used to go stay with my Grandma Mac my mom Spokes.

20:39

I'd spend every minute I could at

20:41

their farm because I loved the farm and I

20:43

loved animals and horses

20:45

and cows and chickens. And they

20:48

had eight track tapes, you

20:51

know, the old eight track tape player in

20:53

the living room, and they had Anne

20:55

Murray and Charlie

20:57

Pride and they

21:00

the whole stack, and I would play, you know,

21:02

play them over and over and over

21:04

and over and over. For the same reason

21:07

I love the stories I love I

21:10

love the way that country music

21:12

unlike any other genre pulls

21:14

you. It's a movie, It's an entire movie

21:17

in like three and a half four minutes, if

21:20

you just took a country. In fact, I think Dolly

21:22

did this with her songs. Took the songs

21:24

and made movies out of, you

21:26

know, the lyrics of the songs. And

21:29

I loved the movie and the pictures

21:31

and the stories that you're sharing with us and bringing

21:33

everybody into with you. Thank

21:36

you. So I always say, like if

21:39

the athlete and me still gets to go to work, it's

21:41

the part where I enjoy the challenge

21:43

of fitting, like you said,

21:45

a movie or or or an entire

21:48

story inside of three or three and a half minutes.

21:50

I love that challenge. That's that the athlete

21:52

of me comes out. When I realized I

21:54

have a song on my second record called Ticket to l

21:56

A, which you know, it wasn't a radio

21:59

single, but I knew when

22:01

we came up with the idea for the song that it

22:03

was impossible to fit in three and a half

22:05

minutes. That's what made me want to write it, and

22:07

we did it. I love that challenge

22:10

because I think, you know,

22:12

there's a there's a skill set that sets you apart

22:15

in that if you can take what

22:18

would have been, you know, a two week

22:20

read if it was a book, or a two hour watch

22:22

if it was a movie, and put it all

22:24

in three minutes, that's that

22:26

That gets my that gets my juices flowing.

22:29

So is there anything you want your listeners

22:32

my listeners are listeners to know about

22:35

this album more anya of the singles, like,

22:37

is there anything that stands out to you that you want

22:39

to share? You know?

22:41

I think that the where I'm at right

22:43

now, the the interesting

22:46

thing for me is that I'm having to

22:48

teach myself to write about

22:51

more than just what I'm experiencing in my current

22:53

life. Up until this point, up

22:55

until this record, I've just written

22:58

what I was going through because that's the easiest

23:00

way to be authentic. You know, you're

23:03

feeling it right now, it bleeds onto the page.

23:06

UM. And No, I don't think

23:08

any human emotion is unique.

23:11

We all have our different versions of them, but that everybody

23:13

can relate if you're just being honest,

23:15

you know. I try to write songs where people

23:17

go like, yeah, I've been there, I feel that I know

23:19

that. Um. And this time

23:23

I'm married with two beautiful babies, and you

23:26

know, the breakup song is not

23:29

I can. I can draw from past experience,

23:31

but that that wouldn't You'd have basically

23:34

a lullabys record or a

23:36

love song record if I just wrote what I'm

23:38

feeling right now. And so the fun

23:40

challenge was to I like

23:42

that idea, a lullabys record

23:45

like that Brett young sings

23:48

your children to sleep. It sounds creepy when

23:50

you say it, like, no, no, no, it doesn't. I have

23:53

my oldest is older than you, um,

23:55

not a biological child and adopted child.

23:57

But my youngest is fibe. So I'm

24:00

still trying to come up with the lullabies

24:02

every night. Um, I just ordered

24:04

Wow Christian praise songs,

24:07

you know the Wow albums that came out. I

24:09

just ordered a bunch of those CDs to

24:11

put in the bows to put next to his bed

24:13

at night, because I'm running

24:15

out of lullabies here, I I. It

24:18

does, It actually does, except

24:21

sometimes he gets a little carried away with some of

24:23

the more tempo you know, when he's bouncing

24:25

on his bed, but you're dancing

24:28

on the bed. You're dancing on the bed. Yeah yeah,

24:30

yeah, But I'm thinking

24:32

lullabies might not be a bad idea. Just

24:35

just hold on to that thought. Okay, yeah,

24:37

I won't. I won't completely abandon it quite yet.

24:40

And here's here's something I wanted to say, going

24:43

back to an earlier comment, Um,

24:46

none of your stories are my

24:48

stories. When I listened

24:50

to your songs, they're not my story.

24:52

I got married the first time when I

24:55

was young. I knew I wanted kids

24:57

from the time I was like, from the time

24:59

my sister was born, I knew I wanted

25:01

kids. I wanted her to be my kid.

25:03

I wanted to parent her. I wanted to parent my little

25:05

brother. It's all I ever really wanted to do.

25:08

And so listening to your

25:10

songs, they're not my story at

25:12

all, and yet you bring me

25:15

into it and I'm walking the path

25:17

with you. I think that that's

25:20

the goal. Is like

25:23

I said before, I can't be an authentic so I

25:25

can't dumbed

25:27

down the story. So it's everybody's story.

25:30

I have to tell it the way it was for me, but

25:32

also in a way that you feel like you were there

25:34

with me, if that makes sense, And

25:37

that's how it becomes your story and not just

25:39

my story. And we don't always

25:41

nail it, you know, Like, um,

25:43

I have a song on my first record called you Went Here

25:45

to Kiss Me, And I mean

25:47

there are other people that are broken up on New Year's Eve,

25:50

but other than that, I mean it was

25:52

specific. All the way down to Southwest

25:54

was charging five dollars for cocktails on that flight.

25:56

I mean, it's in the song. It was like so

25:58

specific. I had to tell it exact actually the way it

26:00

was because I just and that was about my

26:02

wife. I mean, we broke up on New Year's Eve, were

26:04

now married with two children. It was I

26:07

felt it so hard I had to tell it the way that

26:09

it was. So sometimes you can't

26:11

do that, but I think the job really

26:14

is to be authentically

26:17

you, as honest as possible, but still

26:19

make people feel like they saw it with you.

26:21

You know, when you hear a story and you close your eyes, you

26:23

can see it happen. That's what a song should do. You

26:26

see the music video by listening to the song.

26:28

That's how I feel. Years do that when I

26:31

when I listened to Weekends, I see

26:33

the clothes on the floor, I see the

26:36

you know, the baby in the crib.

26:38

I'm there with you. You're painting the picture

26:41

beautifully in yourself. I'm so glad you

26:44

you are very very talented young

26:46

man. Thank you so much. It's it's

26:49

it's such a blessing to get to

26:51

call this a career. I feel lucky

26:53

every single day. I played an event

26:55

last night, charity event at the Bluebird Cafe,

26:58

and uh, every time I

27:00

walk in there, I can't believe I get to sing there,

27:03

let alone, you know, make a career out

27:05

of something that brings me back to that room on a regular

27:07

basis. And so um, it's it's a blessing.

27:09

And uh, you know, I kicked

27:12

myself every once in a while when I forget,

27:14

you know, anything in life ends up feeling like a job

27:17

every once in a while. And that's okay,

27:19

but you gotta snap yourself back into reality

27:21

and remember how lucky you already get to do something

27:23

like this for a career. And so I'm

27:25

very lucky. The ancillary stuff

27:28

with my job can get to me, you

27:30

know, the the stuff that you have to

27:32

do, the business stuff. But thank god I have people

27:34

like Dianna who's the podcast producer

27:37

and the social media director and you

27:39

know, answers my listener letters sometimes

27:41

and Craig who's my business partner and a team

27:43

of producers, including my daughter Lenka,

27:45

who are fabulously talented,

27:48

incredibly wonderful people. Ryan my

27:50

engineer, who make sure everything is

27:52

running and working. So I don't

27:55

he dumbs it down for me because I am so

27:57

bad with technology, Like I

28:00

can't even wear a watch. I'm

28:02

so bad with technology. Um,

28:05

but the actual thing that

28:07

I do on the air or talking to you

28:09

or you know, doing the podcast, doing

28:12

my show, I

28:14

am so incredibly blessed

28:17

that I get to do this and

28:19

that God has provided this did

28:23

every day, every stinking day, I'm more

28:25

in love with my life than I was the day

28:27

before. And I feel that from

28:30

your music when I listen to it that you

28:32

are in love with the life that God has

28:34

given you every single

28:36

day and on day on day. Is when I'm

28:39

not feeling it. Like I said, I

28:41

put myself in check and remind myself of all

28:43

the blessings. I look at my girls,

28:45

I look at my wife, look at my life,

28:48

and I've seen pictures of your wife. By the way,

28:50

Yeah, I'll kick my coverage a little bit there, huh.

28:53

Yeah, dude,

28:57

Now you understand why I was willing to go through

28:59

three breakups and keep fighting figures

29:03

she is. She is better than me in every

29:05

single way, and I'm

29:07

I'm I'm so fortunate, all of it, the whole

29:10

life. It's but but you're right

29:12

at the end of the day, when I walk on stage,

29:14

or when you you know, start an interview

29:17

or whatever it is that you love the most. For

29:19

me, it's really songwriting, to be honest. Getting

29:22

into a room to songwrite. All the rest

29:24

of the stuff around it is just noise. But you have to do

29:26

it, and that stuff feels like work. But when

29:28

I walk on stage, the adrenaline I get

29:30

back from the people in the audience, I feel

29:32

like a superhero. I can't believe that I'm

29:34

that's work. It's incredible. So

29:37

um And then I go home to my beautiful wife

29:39

and my beautiful girls, and I'm just I

29:42

know that I'm that I'm lucky, and I'm blessed

29:44

and I'm fortunate, and uh, every

29:46

like you said, every day is better than the last one I've

29:49

been to. I don't know how many Elton John concerts,

29:52

and I go because I love

29:54

seeing him on stage. It's like

29:57

every ounce of energy that his audience

29:59

is putting out he is consuming,

30:02

like he's it's

30:04

feeding him. And

30:07

and the guy plays forever. You

30:09

know, at two hour concert has turned into a four

30:11

hour show, and you can tell

30:13

he doesn't want to finish, he doesn't

30:15

want to go off the stage. Um

30:18

Billy Joel was the same way every time I

30:20

would see him in concert. And

30:22

Andy they say the same thing, that they are

30:24

so fortunate that that's

30:27

that's their work. Yeah,

30:29

I mean I feel the same way. Brett

30:32

Young is one of country music's rising

30:34

stars. Well I don't know how much further

30:36

he could rise, since you know all those

30:39

number one hits. His music is

30:41

deeply influenced by the love of

30:43

his family, his friends, and infused

30:45

with emotions and kindness.

30:48

I'm grateful to him for spending time with

30:51

us today, and to my podcast

30:53

sponsors who make these heart to heart

30:55

conversations possible. Hi,

30:58

it's Delilah. If you have been listening

31:00

to my voice on the radio

31:02

four years, then you know that I have

31:05

been around on the radio four

31:07

years. Off the radio,

31:09

I'm taking care of my kids, taking care

31:11

of my dogs, riding my horses,

31:14

growing plants in my gardens. And

31:16

you know what it hurts.

31:19

It does my hands hurt,

31:21

my back hurts, my knees, hurt.

31:24

But when I started taking Omega

31:27

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31:32

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31:36

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31:57

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32:00

and the way my hair grows. I

32:02

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32:05

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32:07

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32:21

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goodness of Omega XL.

32:28

Okay. Favorite venue Do you have a favorite venue

32:31

you played? Um

32:34

like large market venue? Um

32:37

any ven you large, small, doesn't matter.

32:39

Just favorite venue. Do you have a favorite place that

32:41

you love? You just love going there and playing

32:43

the acoustics or the energy or the people

32:45

or whatever. Uh it might

32:48

surprise you, and you may have not heard of it, but

32:50

I would still any day of the week,

32:52

I would go back, just me and my guitar to the Hotel

32:55

Cafe in Los Angeles

32:57

and play for ninety people sitting down,

32:59

have dinner that came there not

33:01

knowing who was even coming, because they knew they were going to

33:04

enjoy it. Um have dinner,

33:06

listened to six artists they've never heard of, and

33:09

be Pin Drop Silent. It's the closest thing

33:11

to the environment at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville

33:14

that I've ever seen, and it's where I first started

33:16

cutting my teeth trying out my songs

33:19

in front of people. So I love playing

33:21

arenas, I love playing amphitheaters. I love my

33:23

band because I love that I finally get

33:25

to make the live shows sound like the record.

33:28

But any day of the week, if

33:30

I could go and play for a hundred Pin

33:32

Drop Silent fans at the Hotel Cafe, that's

33:34

where I'd be awesome. Okay,

33:37

favorite song that

33:39

you haven't written or recorded.

33:42

You can't say please don't take the girl. We already talked about

33:44

it. We already cried through that one. You

33:46

know what, there's actually there's actually a song that just

33:49

came out at country radio and I heard a

33:51

cool story about it. Cody Johnson just recorded

33:53

it and put it out, but I heard that it's

33:55

eight years old and uh, publisher

33:58

over at Big Machine where I I've found it again

34:01

eight years later, and I love the message.

34:03

It's called until you Can't, and it's

34:05

basically about you

34:08

know that time runs out on all your opportunities

34:10

in life. You can always hug the people that you that you love

34:12

until you can't. UM, And it's it's

34:15

so well written, and it's such a powerful message,

34:17

and it's brand new. It's it's gonna

34:19

be a really big song if it's not already. I mean

34:22

it's it's climbing the charts pretty quick. But I

34:24

love the message and I love the way it's

34:26

written and told. Okay, favorite

34:28

old, old old song like going back

34:31

Back My parents

34:33

are their song since

34:35

they got back together. My parents have a really cool

34:37

story. They dated in high school, uh,

34:40

and then ten years later

34:42

reconnected and UM. Their song

34:44

has always been a b J. Thomas hooked

34:46

on a feeling. How sweet

34:48

is that? I love that song so good.

34:51

I used to play that on the air all the time.

34:54

All the time. So, uh, anything

34:56

else you want to tell our listeners

34:59

about your tour or how to find you?

35:02

Yeah, everything from the socials to the website

35:04

is just Brett Young music, all one word. And

35:07

uh, we have a single out right now that

35:09

if you do enjoy a good cry sitting

35:11

in your driveway after a long day at work, this

35:13

is the right song for you. But

35:16

but nonetheless, there's plenty of love songs and a

35:18

little bit for everybody. Okay, which one? Which

35:20

one are we going to cry over? Uh? It's

35:22

called You Didn't. It's a breakup

35:25

song. It's

35:27

from the male perspective, basically

35:31

not wanting her to feel bad about leaving.

35:34

And I think everybody can relate to at

35:37

least wishing they could be understanding when

35:39

their hearts being broken. And that's what this is about.

35:42

Yeah, I never I never had that experience.

35:45

I didn't either. I didn't either, I said wishing,

35:48

Yeah, no, and and and why

35:50

not? I always say I never

35:52

let go of anything that didn't have claw marks

35:55

all over it. No, no,

35:57

no, no, no, you can

36:02

can. I can relate to that very much. Well,

36:05

thank you Brett Young for spending time

36:07

with us today and for being a

36:12

pure Brett Young. We will be

36:14

listening for you, we will be checking

36:16

out your tour schedule and just wishing

36:18

you the best. Thank you so much.

36:21

It was a pleasure. I can't think

36:23

of a better soundtrack to your Valentine's

36:26

Day celebration than Brett Young's

36:28

latest eight song collection, Weekends

36:31

Look a Little Different These Days. It

36:33

earned instant praise upon release, with

36:35

tracks that speak to so many different stages

36:37

of life and relationships.

36:40

A stripped down version called Weekends

36:42

Look a Little Acoustic These Days is

36:44

also out now. The sweet

36:46

lyrics of his hit song Lady, which had

36:48

me sobbing the first time I listened to it, inspired

36:51

a children's book called Love

36:53

You Little Lady that would

36:55

make a darling gift for parents

36:57

of any little girl. And Brett

37:00

even had a successful lifestyle

37:02

brand, Is There Anything This Man Can't

37:04

Do called Callieville, sold

37:06

exclusively at Cole's this Valentine's

37:09

Day. If you have a romantic someone

37:11

to celebrate with, fantastic good for you.

37:13

If you don't, don't despair, Do not

37:15

get sad. If you're not coupled in a relationship,

37:19

Love is everywhere and can

37:21

be celebrated in a myriad of ways

37:24

celebrate it with your family, your community,

37:26

or you do something

37:28

for someone else and then wrap up

37:30

the day doing something kind

37:32

for yourself because you are deserving

37:34

of love. You are

37:37

loved, don't forget that. And

37:40

Oh exciting news, I'm launching

37:42

a new daily podcast

37:45

on Monday, February four,

37:47

Valentine's Day. It's called

37:50

Hey It's Delilah. It's a ten of

37:52

fifteen minute podcast that will drop Monday

37:54

through Friday and contain some of my favorite

37:57

radio moments I think are worth bringing

37:59

more attention to listener

38:01

calls, Delilah, dilemma's thoughts

38:04

that I want to share with you. So look for

38:06

Hey It's Delilah on your podcast

38:09

platform and subscribe. You

38:11

can listen in on your way to work, on your

38:13

way home, or midday, whenever you

38:15

feel like you need a little emotional hug.

38:18

Hey It's Delilah will be there for

38:20

you. Thank you for joining me

38:22

on Love Someone