PROTECT SONGWRITING

“Riding bulls, that's one thing my uncle taught me when I was young. He he was really quick to be like, man, it doesn't matter how strong you are. It's not about it's all mental. It's all in your mind, and it's all, it's not I think I can. It's I know I can, and I will. And he goes, if you don't if you don't believe that every time you go put your rope on one of those on their backs, he's like, it ain't gonna happen. He says you you say you don't it's not being cocky. It's just being confident.”

“Alaska, those people were fucking cool. Like, there's there's something about living up there like where you could die going outside like a good six months out of the year. They work together. They're very friendly, but they're very rugged, but they're also, like they realize you need each other. If you if your fucking car breaks down the side of the road, you could die. Like, someone's not gonna let you die. They're gonna pull over. In California, they're like, someone will get them. They just keep driving.”

“My granddad was pretty tough old guy and is real a cowboys you'd ever wanna know or meet. I remember, him having a conversation with this guy, and he was, like, some like, a tech guy. He's been at all this website shit or whatever, and he was asking my granddad. He said, you know, what's the most, you know, important invention of your lifetime? And I think he was expecting my granddad to say, like, the computer or the Internet. And, my granddad said refrigeration was the most important invented.”

“It's the wolf thing is interesting because they they just brought him back to Aspen, and they did a really stupid thing. They they brought him into an area where it has a lot of livestock, and they brought him in from a place in Oregon where these wolves had all been captured because they were killing agriculture. So what did they do? They captured them, and they dropped them off in Colorado where they started killing cows. How how the fuck do you in good conscience take a wolf that's used to killing cows and put them around other people's cows?”

“There was one divorce I ever I got knocked all these teeth out, and I got jerked down one night in Weatherford and, took my lip off. And my teeth went through down here and have these are all fake up here, and then my lip is just hanging right through. My hand was still caught in the rope, and then he took off, run around, just dragged me around, and just stomped the crap out of me. I finally got loose, and, I remember running over to the fence. I just, you know, I kinda had my arms on the fence, and I could see all the blood just kinda pouring down all over me.”

“It became a tool that all of a sudden I had access to this thing that was helping me heal in a way, like I could get stuff off my chest, like the things that I was uncomfortable talking about in conversation with folks, like I could put them into a song and like sing them to the wall. And I was just like getting that stuff out, like there wasn't anybody in the room and I was just like, you know, but I was getting this stuff out of me, you know?”

“I remember going into it, you know, I didn't know what to expect really. I've done some camping and things like that and grew up ranching and all that. But this was a way different deal. And I remember I just had this like backpack full of gear, you know, and by the time I got out of there, like I just felt like all I needed was a pair of scissors and some way to start some fire, and that was about it.”

“He was getting hit up by all these different people that were trying to give him money to sign a contract. I go, hey, hey, hey. Don't sign nothing. I go, you don't need nobody. You don't need to be locked up in any contracts with nobody. He was like, they're all telling me I gotta strike while the iron's hot. I'm like, fuck them. I go, you got talent, dude. Talent is the number one thing. You already have that. That $7,000,000, they're giving you that because they're gonna make 14.”

“I remember one morning, I woke up, and it was in June, you know, but we're way back in there. And, I woke up and the snow was coming down. And I I just kinda raised my head up, and I was looking out at the horses, and the snow was just falling down on their backs. And there was that moment in me. I was like, I don't know if I'm ever going back. You know? I was like, this is right where this is where where I need to be.”

“I have a video of me shooting at an access deer at 80 yards, and it's, we have a slow mo of the arrow. So as the the arrow's coming, it's a perfect shot within 10 yards of him. He hears it and and he's gone. It's the craziest thing. This thing's going at least from the actual, like, leaving the bow, it's going 275 feet per second. And he get out of the 10 yards. Within 10 yards, he's hearing it coming, and he's like, see you.”

“It just becomes impossible for any solution. You know, it's like all the red tape and all the hoops and things and all the permits or whatever. Like you can't even, you know, the road's blocked. Okay, well before we could even get somebody out here with a tractor to move the rocks, you got to call 10 other people to get it approved and in the process and then it's not. And it's like, that's the part. I'm just like, man, I wish I could just call Frank down the street with bulldozer.”

“It was so much fun, man. I laugh, I always talk about it. I felt like I had one of the easiest jobs there, you know, it's because my character was kind of a smaller role. You know, most of the time I'd work like one or two days a week, and then the rest of the time I'd just be like fly fishing and get lost in the mountains and just disappear out there. Yeah, it was awesome.”

“Man, it doesn't matter how strong you are. It's not about, it's all mental, it's all in your mind. And it's all, it's not, I think I can, it's, I know I can and I will. And he goes, if you don't believe that, every time you go put your rope on one of those, on their backs, he's like, it ain't gonna happen. Yeah. He says, you see, you don't, it's not being cocky, it's just being confident and believing in yourself and having that power of mind over matter, you know?”

“You know what's really good for kindling? Fritos. We were in Alaska, and it was raining all the time. So we got some pieces of wood from, like, underneath the bottom of trees and shit and dead trees that were covered by other things were kinda sorta a little bit dry. And we used Fritos. And Fritos, when you light them, man, it's crazy how much oil is in those things. They just and they stay lit for a long time like a candle.”

“Songwriting was real therapeutic for me at the very beginning. I knew when I kind of wrote some of the first songs that I wrote, and I, like, got some of that stuff off my chest. Like, it changed me. It, like, it became a tool that all all of a sudden I had access to this thing that, like, was helping me heal in a way. Like, I could get stuff off my chest. Like, the things that, I was uncomfortable talking about in conversation with folks. Like, I could put them into a song and, like, sing them to the wall.”

“I think we're doing something with ourselves, to ourselves, with civilization that we can't really fully appreciate because we're wrapped in it. And it's not until you get to nature where all that weight just gets lifted off of you and you feel more normal. And you're like, oh, this is where people are supposed to be.”

“The people there are, they work together, they're very friendly, but they're very rugged, but they're also like, they realize you need each other. Like there's a sense of like community and coolness. Yeah, you need each other. If your fucking car breaks down the side of the road, you could die, like someone's not going to let you die. They're going to pull over. In California, they're like, someone will get them. They just keep driving.”