Logan Ryan

Full episode transcript, auto-generated from the audio and lightly formatted (verbatim, not edited).

Put one in wrong. No, he didn't. Is there an H in it? Hogan.

Logan with the Y. Hogan. Hogan. Ryan.

The Westgate jacket. He just works. Thank you guys. Uh we just we just run it.

So, um, yeah. So, last night was interesting. That was cool. Yeah.

You threw me under the bus. How? Everybody said I was the only one that was like, everybody said I was mean. I didn't think you were mean.

I thought you were nice. See, look at that. Actually, I thought at times you were meaner than me. Yeah, maybe that one chick.

There was one time you said, "Yeah, I don't like it." That's not my style. Yee-haw. You really don't have to hold that.

Do we start? Unless you want to hold it. Yeah, we already started. Oh [expletive] Yeah.

The being critical of music thing has never really made sense to me. Like why people get so uh It feels like every other art form people are hyperritical of it except for like music. It's like just because you made it doesn't mean it's good. Yeah.

I think people are critical. You said you think people are critical. Yeah. Yeah.

But they just don't say it to your face. Well, some people do. I mean, people they say it online for sure. Oh, yeah.

Cuz they're pansies. They just won't. But even being constructively like criticizing somebody, that's like the whole point. Especially like co-writing or something.

Like if my song doesn't rhyme, if something's not jing, don't you want the other person to be like, "Hey, hey, I don't like it." Yeah. Or at least like why? Like, hey, this doesn't even rhyme.

Like I would want that kind of information. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of critical, but I feel like that's the whole point. You have to like criticize it to even get to a point where it's any good.

Producer is for at some points. Yeah. Mhm. Like, "Hey, this sucks.

You need to change this chord." That's what mine does. Anyways, who is your producer? David Beck.

I don't think I know him. He's from uh San Marcus. Really? But he does a lot of people's records.

So, he did Carson's new record. Carson Jeffrey. He's doing Logan Max's new record. Did like all the drop time stuff.

Ah, he's cool. He's good though. Okay. Interesting.

Yeah. I think the song that like actually the song that like really got my attention with you was uh the Maggie Rogers cover. Yeah. I don't even know why I did that.

I think I just heard it a long time ago and I was like that would be cool to do. Yeah. And like double the uh A lot of people don't even know it's a cover. Yeah.

Well, those are the best kind because if you just go outside of the genre. I wonder if she's ever heard it. Yeah. Yeah, I'd be cur I mean, do you want me to actually answer that?

Sure. I mean, no. This little redneck kid, but like doubling the uh the little riff. It sounds like How bizarre to me.

How bizarre. How bizarre. DMC. Is it DMC?

Is that the one where it just goes How bizarre? Yeah. What? Yeah.

Have you heard it? Hey, will you grab my phone? Is it over there? I don't know.

I just know the how bizarre part, but I don't really remember how it actually sounds. It's pretty damn close. Really? Yeah.

I never noticed that. Probably get sued, huh? Yeah. Even sonically though, the way that a lot of your stuff sounds, that's like I really enjoy it.

Especially like Oh my gosh, it does. Huh? I didn't even know it till somebody pointed it out. Yeah, but that's not your fault.

Yeah, I guess the production Yeah. arrangement of it. Yeah. Definitely has that vibe.

That's very interesting. That's probably why I liked it. Look at that. See, you don't Yeah.

You don't you being original is just like being sneaky, I guess. Yeah. That's the idea of being fresh. I don't know.

I've always heard everybody like the Beatles and stuff talked or McCartney talked about that too is like just maybe I think it was McCartney like just knowing how to steal stuff. Yeah. You just got to learn how to like be a good thief. Bob Dylan is that who said it?

I don't know. He stole a wagon wheel, didn't he? Or did he or did he ride it? I thought he heard it from somebody and then he put it on a tape and then old crow medicine so heard it and made it into a song or well and I guess if you're like there's a difference in stealing something and sort of covering something especially if you're like paying somebody for it cuz like I don't think old crow medicine show they split the royalty or something with Bob Dylan stuff right?

Yeah. I don't know. Possibly. Possibly.

I mean, so I guess it's like technically like a cover. Not up to date on that. So, how do you decide about how your music sounds? It's very drum.

Like, you pull the drums back and the drums are like warm. They have a great tone. It makes sense though, like hearing the drop time stuff with your producer. Like, I've apparently really liked all of the stuff that he's done.

But what's the starting point like sonically for how you want things to sound? Usually uh I'll go in I'll get the melody with my guitar. Like I'll write all the riffs I want and uh then we'll be like okay that should be a fiddle. That should be a guitar but the riff would already be made before the song is made.

You know like cigarettes and alcohol. I wrote that whole song around the riff. Oh, okay. The little guitar riff.

Yeah. But but even beyond that, like actually making the record, what's like what's some deciding factors on how you want stuff to sonically sound? Like the approach there? I want it to not sound like a rock song completely.

I want it to I've always been like a big Texas country fan, I guess. So, I want it to sound like Texas country. And I'll take references like I'll be like, you know, that old Randy Rogers record or I'll just be like, let's make it sound like that. Yeah.

How would you describe Texas country? Guess it's like a blend of rock and country. Is it like more folky? More country?

Rock? More rock? Like in what? In what way?

the electric guitar. Does it sometimes get too heavy though? Like where do you think it strays away from Texas country? Uh I guess Coitzel.

Okay. Read South Hall. That's getting more into the rock territory. Are you a big uh Roberson fan?

Yeah, that's one of my favorites. Really? What's your favorite Charlie song? Probably Sunset Boulevard.

Okay. It's a really good one. Yeah. Loveing County, too.

I love county. Did you ever get to play with him? I did not. I watched him at Greenh Hall and Flores.

Yeah. He's a cool cat, man. That was one of my heroes. I think I actually played his uh I opened for him his last gig.

Really? Mhm. That's awesome. Up just north of here.

I still never got to meet him, though. Really? Yeah. Was he drunk?

Uh, I don't think so. I know he drinks like a handful of whiskey before he got on stage. Yeah, I think that was probably part of the problem, but I think it went in cycles. Like I think he struggled with it and then kicked it and probably came back to it.

But I don't know at that one. It's actually fascinating how few people I've met that I've played with which I try to like even now like if guys open for me or something like sometime I try to make it a point to go introduce myself at least. For sure. Sure.

I do that too. Yeah. I always thought it was a little odd but also like everybody's got stuff going on. They got their life going on.

I don't feel like anybody owes me to come over and talk to me or hang out with me or something. Yeah, I understand it. Yeah, dude. We had a funny uh the first time I met you.

Oh, in uh Amarillo. Uhhuh. Yeah. Which shoot?

That have been what, five years ago? Six years ago. Yeah. Me and me and Mason Mark opened up for you.

Yeah. Yeah. That was fun. How do you remember that?

I don't know. You were drunk, right? I just remember [expletive] with you. You were messing with me?

Yeah. Oh, what did you do at the end of the night? I was just I don't know. I was pretty drunk.

I do remember that. Yeah, it was fun though. Did you say something? Did you say something weird?

Probably. I Well, I remember you commenting on my hat or something. Nice hat. But no, you Well, you said something about like I can't remember what it was, but uh and then my buddy who was like my TM was like the fiddle player.

Yeah. I remember you were just I didn't really think anything of it, but you were you were being kind of weird for sure. Was I? No.

Yeah. Like cuz you were just like And I didn't know your personality at that point either. Yeah. You know, so you were just kind of standing next to me and you just kind of like say something like but real quiet, you know, and I was like And then and then at one point uh I think I was like, "Are you gay?"

And you were like, you were like, "Yeah, that's what your tour manager was saying, right?" Yeah. Then I didn't meet you again for like years. Then the next time was it was in Wyoming, huh?

Where would that have been? At the No. Yeah, at the Tom Horn days. No, I didn't see you there.

I think you played there on your own, right? I played there. I played there two years. Yeah, but I don't think I ever played there with you.

Yeah. Really? Yeah. Uh, we opened up acoustic.

I think it was the second year. Oh. Huh. That's interesting.

And then we both shot a video with Jake. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Zilki. Zilki. The lost cowboy. The lost cowboy.

That's a That's a wild dude, man. That's cool. Cowboy on six or seven continents. you I the most fascinating thing about him is probably the thing that nobody would think is interesting, but I find it to be just incredibly fascinating.

He doesn't care about food. Like in the sense like how food tastes really. I don't even know that. Right.

I don't even really know what that means. How do you not care about the way your food tastes? Dude, we went to lunch after one day when he like shot a video with me and he was just like, I understand being like, I don't care where we go eat, but then I started asking him more questions and he was just like, yeah, I just don't care about food. Like, I only care about it just because I have to do it.

All right. Which I guess helps if you have to be in a bunch of different countries. I'm big on food. Like, I can't eat weird stuff and I like what I like.

He camps out in his van a lot. He what? He camps out in his van a lot, so imagine he just eats Vienna sausages or something. Yeah.

I mean, I can I don't know. It was just really interesting. He's It was almost like he didn't have taste buds or something. It's possible.

That's the most fascinating thing to me about him. He's cowboy on every continent, but doesn't have taste buds. Yeah. Never even met somebody.

Maybe CO took it away or something. Oh, maybe lost it in Vietnam or something. I think I have CO now. Oh, we can't say that, huh?

Can't even joke about that now. I'm triple vax. Triple boosted. Quadruple quadruple quadruple boosted.

That's good. Good for you. Logan's my doctor. Yeah, dude.

Jake's a Jake's a wild dude. Are they still doing uh They're not doing the Tom Horn days thing anymore, are they? No. Uh that dude got in some trouble, I think.

Really? Yeah. What? I don't know if I could talk about it here.

Got in trouble? Oh, wait. I think I heard might have heard a story. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. That's not good, huh? Well, that sucks. It was a cool event.

Yeah, it was pretty wild. I saw a horse that dude, I saw the first four out of the shoot. That was when I was there with you. Really?

Yeah. Like the first three horses died. Uh, well, so it was the freaking pickup horse that just dropped dead. Heart attack.

Yeah. And that was a badass horse, too. I felt so bad for that guy. It just flopped over right there in the arena.

I'd never seen that before. Um Yeah. And then the first bucking horse out broke its leg. Broke it leg and died because it just held the night before.

The ground was all hard. Yep. Yeah. I was pretty sad.

And so I had I had some guys with me in my band like one guy specifically who like hadn't been around like rodeos or livestock at all or anything like that. And so I'd got him out. We were standing on the fence and I'm like, "Dude, this is badass. Just check this out."

You know, it's like the first like that one horse dropped dead. He went to the van, right? Yeah. I can't watch this anymore.

He's like, "Dude, I can't watch this. This is insane." Like I And I was like, "Dude, this is not a thing." Like, I've never seen this happen before.

Ever. This is not normal. I don't know, man. Yeah.

It was crazy. Yeah. That poor guy. That pickup horse was so sick, dude.

I think it was like a heart attack or something. Yeah, it was. Just flipped over. And then there was a uh Did you ever meet a kid named uh um Tyler out there?

He was a pickup guy. I'm not sure. But he slammed uh one of his he was picking up and it tripped and he like broke every bone in his face or something. Yeah.

I don't know if I met him. Yeah, I was out there for that one. That one was crazy, too. Yeah.

Wild. Wild. Cuz there's no fences, too, so that like everything just runs clear to the like for miles. Yeah, he's [expletive] away.

That's way more cowboy than anything I've ever gotten into for sure. Yeah, they're pretty hardcore up there. They do make them different. Yeah, just like a the winters up there.

That's got to be hard. How do you cowboy in that? Sit in your truck. Yeah, you don't.

I guess that'll be wild. I couldn't imagine. I can't stand the cold. Really?

Yeah. I hate the cold. Yeah. Well, you're Are you from South Where you from?

I'm from Leedsville, Texas. It's over by Gonzalez. Uh yeah. South Central, I guess.

Okay. Like your whole life? Yeah. Whole life.

I live in New Bron Falls now. Oh. When did you move over there? About 5 months ago.

How come? Oh, it's just a It's where all the musicians live, I guess. Oh, okay. Yeah.

Most your band over there. It's a good central spot. Yeah. My guitar player is over there.

Uh my drummer lives in Fall City. Then the bass players in Houston. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

So, what was your childhood like? What was the setup there? Uh as far back as when? I don't know.

Growing up like were you born down there? Yeah. Okay. Born and raised.

Born and raised. What did mom do? She just stay at home. My dad was a railroad.

Worked for the railroad. Who? What company? Union Pacific.

That's cool. What do you do? He was a foreman. Like a mechanic foreman.

So pretty handy, I guess. He's very handy. They still around? Uh my mom is.

My dad died from cancer. When? Uh, I was playing a Selena Trouidor Festival in October 2024. Oh, damn.

It was recent or relatively. Yeah. Damn. I'm sorry.

Thank you. Yeah, that sucks. He was pretty old. He was about 74.

Oh, okay. Yeah. But, uh, he was a chain smoker. He had lung cancer.

Oh, really? That's pretty gnarly that he made it to 74, though, huh? Yeah. He swore that they didn't do anything.

Cigarettes and then lung cancer got him. What did he did he stand by that his whole life or what? Yeah. Really?

Like they didn't do anything? Yeah. He's like, "Oh, that's all [expletive] The doctor say he would smoke like a the little mini cigars. He didn't inhale them and everything.

But he'd smoke them all day. All day. Dust Till Dawn. Were they into music?

My dad was uh he played guitar in his younger days, wrote songs. U But his first wife like pond his guitar, I guess, cuz she was jealous or something. That's That was his story. He would get all the girls and she was jealous.

So she pawned his guitar, his Strat, his Fender Deluxe for like 25 bucks at the pawn shop and then he stopped playing guitar. But then uh during my life he was like a karaoke DJ. He would do that on the side. So I kind of grew up in the honky tonks with him.

So he just did that for fun. Yeah. He loved it. Mom was into music or not really?

Not really, but she's always been very supportive. Still to this day, she helps me out with managing everything. Oh, really? Yeah.

That's cool. Yeah. I've always had a supportive family. Like even my aunts and uncles and cousins, they've always been in my corner.

So, that's pretty cool. Was anybody critical ever? Like not even just like in a like a negative way, but just like not really. Everybody's just been like super supportive.

Yeah, that's just I've been lucky in that sense. Huh? Yeah, somebody keeps calling me. Who is it?

I don't know. I'll talk to him. You want to see? We just roll the dice.

I hope this is somebody really good. It's my mom. Oh, that wouldn't be terrible. Well, then who?

So, like, are you hard on yourself then? Like, are you critical of yourself? Uh, yeah, I guess so. I didn't know I was going to do music full-time since until like Parker Mcome shouted me out.

I was like, "Okay, I might have a chance at this thing." No kidding. Yeah. But I was on a I was welding on a roof in South Texas and I saw that and I was like, "Oh shit."

Cuz I was thinking about giving up on music at that point. Then I saw that I was like, "Oh [expletive] somebody likes it." We were still pretty small then. I think we were like 5,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

But yeah, that was cool. So then you just leaned into that? Yeah. like I knew that was a good record.

That was when we did the EP, the cigarettes and alcohol EP and I was it wasn't really doing anything. It's been out there for like a year before he saw it. But and then I was like, "Okay." And then I got back in the studio made all those new songs to coas and all that.

And now I got a even newer record coming out. Yeah. Well, that's coming out super soon, isn't it? Yeah.

This month? January 23rd. Yeah. I kind of rushed it to get it out there after we finished it cuz I told everybody it's coming in January.

So Oh, so like it literally got done like two weeks ago. Got all the masters back. Well, what do you mean rushed it? Just like, you know, in a sense everybody wants to market it.

They want to they want to have like two months to market it and stuff like that. Yeah. You just said to hell with it. Yeah.

I just put it uploaded it. We got our masters back like January 5th. Yeah. Then I uploaded it to Dro Kid two weeks in advance.

Plus like marketing it. Like what the hell does that even mean anymore? Yeah. You just got to make videos.

Yeah. the industry loves to like act like there's some like huge grand formula for this thing and it's like even the idea of like releasing on Fridays. Yeah, I still do that. I don't know why some people do it.

It's the way it's always been I guess. Yeah, but like I can understand the case for not doing it. It's like if everybody else is releasing it on that day, do it a different day. Yeah.

Less competition. Do you do you release on different days? I've done both ways. I've done.

I guess it'll make a difference. It doesn't seem to have made any of any difference. Yeah. You know, it's like either people like it and either I don't know.

We are at a point right now that if you're not unless you just get lucky on like the Spotify algorithm or something. Um unless you are connecting your songs like through video with people. Mhm. Like good luck getting it out there.

Yeah. which kind of feels like the '9s, honestly. Like MTV music videos. People got to know it exists.

So, well, yeah, you got to market it some way. Yeah, definitely. And if anything, I'm glad that there's less middlemen. Like, it's just me putting up my phone or making a video or something.

Yeah, I think that's cool. It's kind of makes record labels obsolete in a way. I think so. But it's dude, wild how many people are signing record deals, though.

Yeah. It's like And that's still what everybody wants. I don't know why. What do you think it is that is so enticing about it?

I guess it just sounds cool, maybe. Oh, I would agree with that. They probably give you a bunch of money up front, though. But they end up taking it all in the long run.

Yeah. And it's not even like always about the money for me. Like I do ultimately just want to play my music for the most people that I can like and connect with the most people. Yeah.

So, if they could help me do that, like I'm actually willing to make less money at the same time. Well, they could help do that for sure. I imagine sort of, but they would pump a bunch of money into marketing. And I know, but at the end of the day, it's like then you just have some 22-year-old that just graduated from Belmont that's never been in the music industry that's like, "You need to make more TikTok videos."

And I'm like, "Why? I didn't need to pay you to for me to know that." Yeah, it's like the power like all the work still just kind of lies on you almost gets tiring sometimes trying to keep up making content. Yeah, you like find some sort of joy in it.

Yeah, not really. Huh? Not really. I try to I try to have some more fun with it.

You've had some pretty funny videos though. I've seen them. They're something. Yeah, they are something.

It's just got to be fun to a certain degree. Yeah. Holding booger in them. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Wearing my freaking cut off denim. Yeah.

I don't know, dude. It's like some stuff just gets so serious that it's like there's a time to be serious, but not every song has to like split the universe. Yeah. Unless you're Logan Ryan.

That's how we were judging it yesterday, huh? That's how you were judging it. Yeah, it was. Like, it's not that deep, dude.

It's like I don't I thought it was like a songwriter competition. Me, too. Yeah. And they told us that we were supposed to like, you know, it would have helped.

Constructive criticism if we could hear though. That would have helped a ton. That would have helped a ton. Yeah.

So, I just tried to listen to like, "What are you playing? Is what you're playing interesting? Is the melody interesting?" That's why I got a couple of them to like tell me the words, too.

Like, what did you actually say? Cuz I couldn't really hear it. And it's like, "Oh, that's what I thought you said." But when you got a bunch of everybody's grandmas and aunts and uncles out there, they don't want to see some Joe Schmo up there.

Who the hell is this guy? Yeah. Like criticizing their sweet little angel cupcake baby. Pride and joy.

Yeah. Yeah. So, I don't know. But that's also not that wasn't really my experience with learning how to play music was just everybody around you just going, "Oh my gosh, you're amazing."

Mhm. There was some of that and there was enough of it, but like I had a lot of friends that were like, "Ah, that sucks. That's not good." Yeah, I did too.

I had family members that did it. They're my friends to this day. They're like, "Man, you suck." I think it's a little weirder to have You need some encouragement.

Like, for sure. Yeah. But the second that they told you like, "Hey, I really like that." It meant more because, you know, they're not just they're serious.

Yeah. Yeah. They mean it. Yeah.

It's not everything you do they think is great. That's not possible. I think you need people like that around you. Yeah.

It'll help you be true to yourself and write better. I think so. I don't. But I'm always I'm always curious about what that even really means.

Being true to yourself. Like I don't know. Just doing stuff you want to do. What if like what if what if uh I've noticed like some artists might get so attached to what they think people want from them that they almost like kind of believe that actually is who they are.

They almost like lose touch with who they authentically are, but they're like so convinced by it, they actually believe that they are being authentic. Yeah. That's like probably my greatest fear, you know? Or like thinking that you're just being so unique and it's like just being unique and different for the sake of being different isn't really it's kind of lame, right?

Yeah, I guess so. You got anybody in mind when you say that? Not really. Not like actually genuinely like not specifically.

Yeah. I guess if I think about it, yeah, there's a couple people for sure. Name them. Charlie Crockett.

Yeah, I can see that. Yeah. Yeah. And I like his music.

And I saw And I saw him uh cowboy. I saw him uh live at Dan Silverleaf in Denton and dude his band and the drummer like musically like everything is like so good. There's a part of it that I'm like are it almost is like a little bit of a scene of a movie and it's like is that him? But then it's like if somebody believes it so much about themselves, I mean, I guess I guess it might be.

You know what I mean? But there's something about it that I'm like, "Huh?" Is that his real name? Charlie Crockett?

I don't think so. Stage name. Right. That's where stuff starts to get a little dicey for me.

But then at the same time, I mean, it's like it's entertainment. Actors get to be Yeah. somebody different. I like all his music.

Most of it. I liked his older stuff. Silver Dagger and stuff like that. Okay.

But that was when he was still doing like some jazz type stuff, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah.

Yeah. I Yeah. I don't He's just kind of like a Rubik's cube to me. I can't quite put my finger on it, you know, which whatever.

I mean, it's art. It works, I guess. I just have a hard time. I think I just like have such a deep I got called out so much by people close to me.

I just I couldn't fool anybody around me. So, it's like I guess it's hard for me to connect with somebody. Like what is a family reunion like if you show up and you're like if your stage persona is different than who you are, what is that like when you talk to your sister at the family? You know what I mean?

Like I guess that just I just can't connect with it. Yeah. It's gonna be weird. Matthew Charles.

Matthew Charles Crockett. I'll use my middle name. Logan Ryan Schllo. Sclosses.

That'll be too hard to remember or pronounce. You think so? It's easier to remember than Ryan. Not really.

But then if you just heard it, then you try to like spell it. A lot of people couldn't type it or say it. They say sclose. Squash.

Yeah. What is that like? It's Polish. No [expletive] You're Polish?

Yeah. How Polish? I don't know. On a scale of 1 to 10, how Polish are you?

Eight. Let's do math. We'll find out real quick. Dude, 23 and me.

The only I'm Polish. That's why I'm or I'm like what would I eth I'm at eighth pole. I think a quarter pole. Quarter pole.

But it was like big in my family. Yeah. My dad's like uh my dad's like full Polish then. Oh, dang.

Yeah. You're like pretty You're like real bad at math. My mom has like German. Ironically, you're like super smart.

Yeah. So smart. Yeah. He says Yeah.

So smart. Yeah, that would be the interesting um thing about you cuz I heard that you trade options and stuff. Yeah. Which is like super difficult to wrap my head around.

Trading options, dude. That's like super sophisticated stuff. Not really. Stop.

I took a class for it and like after COVID hit, I got laid off from my welding job and I was like, man, I want to do something. And then I saw all those videos of those people like, oh, you can just trade the stock market. And then I took like an online course for it. Who was the course through?

It was just some random guy on Instagram. Oh, okay. But it was like it was like they had Zoom meetings. There's a bunch of other people in it and stuff and they have like a powerpoints and yeah, it was like a whole eightweek thing.

It taught me a lot. I genuinely can't I have a hard time understanding like both sides of the trade of an option. So, it's like if I sell a call Well, I don't ever sell them. Okay.

cuz that's when you get like you have to own like at least 100 shares or something like that. Yeah. And then you can you can really get in a hole like if uh it goes against you, right? And you end up owing somebody a lot of money selling them.

Yeah. Selling them. But you can just trade the options like just trade them without ever buying the calls or buying the 100 shares. Okay.

See, like I just still can't even really How do you What's the difference in trading them and buying them or uh trading them is just like so say like a Tesla's at $100 and you can buy a call for like a hundred bucks and then if Tesla goes up then you sell that call to somebody and and then you make the spread between where you bought it at and then as long as it's going in your favor you know you can sell it for more. So then is a put the other direction. Yeah. Put betting on it to go down and you can make money that way too.

And then it's leverage. So you make like it's not like one for one. No, it's just uh it depends a lot on the Greeks, I guess. Yeah.

always liked it because it could you could make so much more money rather than just like Tesla goes up a dollar and you have a share of Tesla you made a dollar but like if you have a option Tesla goes up a dollar you make like $100. Ah right. Okay. You can just make more money but you can lose more money.

You can lose a lot. So I mean how are we doing? Bad. I haven't I haven't traded in a bit.

Well, I always I always do real good. Like I could turn a,000 bucks into 10,000 bucks and then I can lose it. Lose it all. Sounds a lot like gambling.

Kind of is the way I do it. So, you never actually made any money at it? Just in spurts? Just in spurts?

Yeah. Just not consistent enough. Overall, I'm probably down pretty bad. Yeah.

But even getting in there and freaking mucking it up like you got to be pretty sharp just even like the mechanics of even executing the trades and stuff like is not for the faint of heart. Yeah, you got to be pretty sharp. It's scary. I was trying to do it when I was working a lot too.

Like I'd just do it on my phone and I'll do it at work and then I'd go into like a machine room and I'll lose service. That is terrible. I go back outside. I'm like, "Oh [expletive] Oh no.

Yeah, pretty bad. I'll get mad. I'll want to throw my phone. Oh gosh, that's probably awful.

Yeah, I was like, if I didn't work, I could be so rich. So, were you like always pretty mathematically minded? Were you good with numbers? No, really.

Like in school, I hated math, but when I got into welding, I had to kind of learn it. Oh, right. For the pipe fitting side. And so you had to learn a bunch of math for that.

And I kind of got into it. I never really looked at options as a numbers game though, which is probably why I'm losing. Might be. Might be.

Well, so that's interesting. Couple Pol. My middle name's Kojitski. Is it?

Yeah. Super Polish. That is super Polish. Hey, you know what's crazy, too?

So my dad's uh this just shows you like the pocks were not known to be super intelligent. So I think we had to learn to like work with our hands. Mhm. Uh but my dad So my dad's mom was Polish.

So both of her parents were Polish and they were immigrants like during World War I or something like that. But we have like a code of arms for that Kojitsky family. And like in the code and it goes back centuries. And in the code of arms there's a freaking um horseshoe which meant that somebody was like a blacksmith barrier which I thought was pretty dope.

Yeah. Like nobody in on that. Did you know that when you became a fair? No, I had no idea.

I didn't discover it till uh I think it was when my maybe my grandma died. Somebody was like going through their house and they found this like placard with the code of arms and everything. That's cool. And that was on there.

I was like no kidding. cuz on that side of the family like nobody was even into horses or nothing like that. So it was meant to be. I think the Scloss there was a book in St.

Augustine with had everybody's last names and you could learn about your family history and I think the Sclosses were glass blowers or something. That's cool. I guess glass. Glass.

Don't you have to blow glass? Is that like Yeah, I think I've never done it. It feels like we're in shades. It feels like everything we say to each other is like we're trying to trick each other.

Shows you how important eye contact is. Yeah, I think I mean I'm not even looking at you. That's how I prefer it. Yeah.

You know, don't make eye contact with me. I told somebody uh I played that show with Parker recently at New Year's. Oh, how was that? And we were in the Oh, it was great, dude.

It was super dope. But we were like in the green room before and there was this lady that was like, she was like, "Man, so what's that what's that like being able to go out there and play with him, you know?" And I go, "Well, you know, I mean, he's cool and stuff, but like his people told me he doesn't allow like I was told like don't make eye contact with him." Like especially on stage, you're not allowed to make eye contact with him.

And then on stage, you can't go uh towards the crowd. Like you can't go past his shoulder line. And you always have to be behind him and don't make eye contact with him. And she was like, she was like, "Oh my gosh, are you serious?"

Like, "No. Not at all." You weren't serious. Oh, I didn't tell her I wasn't serious.

I was She's over there thinking Parker did. That's hilarious. That's so funny. Oh, you probably told her, "Hey, I probably walked away or something and just forgot to tell her I was kidding."

Oh, yeah. I definitely didn't tell her because I kept I kept saying stuff to real. That's so funny. Yeah, it's a weird deal, dude.

I heard that uh Jerry Jeff Walker used to make his band uh they did have to always be like kind of behind him, which makes sense, but they had to quarter towards him. Like they all had to be facing towards him. Why? I don't know.

So you can see what they're playing or something. It's just what I heard. I don't know. Like they have to be facing the star, I guess, if you will.

So, they all had to like quarter. I don't know if this is true. I just heard it. But they have to quarter towards him and then like the lights weren't allowed to be on the band.

They had to be on him. That's funny. That's what I heard. I don't start doing that.

I know. I already heard that about you. Yeah, that's what I do. You always have.

Yeah. Even in Amarillo. Yeah. You song swapped at that deal.

Who was the guy you song swapped with? Mason Mark. You still talk to him? Oh, Merrick.

Yeah. Is it? Or do you say it like Mark? Yeah.

He's doing good, isn't he? Yeah, he's good. I thought he like Yeah, he's cool. I hang out with him all the time.

Yeah. I don't I don't really saw him. He was up in Steamboat with us. Oh, okay.

And he tour manages a lot for us. Oh, really? All right. Hell yeah.

Well, so what's the plan now? You like you have a good booking agent. You guys are freaking crushing it right now. You just sold out Green Hall.

Hell yeah. It's our first headline there. That's where watched all my heroes grow up. So it's pretty cool.

It's so cool. And it sold out pretty quick, didn't it? About a week before. Yeah.

Oh, so that's next week. Oh, no. It's this Friday, but I think it sold out Monday or Sunday. No, wait.

Tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow. Oh, it's tomorrow. Yeah.

Oh, why? I play rhinestone tonight. Oh, today's What's today? Thursday.

Thursday. Oh, that's right. You played Rhin today. Yeah.

I think I'm going to wander down there for that. Come on. I'll put you on the list. Thanks, dog.

You don't have to put me on the list. I buy tickets, dude. That's my thing. I always buy tickets.

Is it sold out? All right. Well, if it's sold out. I'm serious, dude.

That's the way I do it. I always buy tickets. Hell yeah. We grind enough at this.

Yeah. I'm like, I don't need to freaking Yeah, I'll come hang out with you, but I'm going to buy tickets. I'll make you play a song. Don't do that.

I can't do that. Do you hate that, dude? I do. I don't like it.

Unless it's like a super I mean, if it's a song that you guys like do together. I don't know. It's just the setting or something. I don't I don't like uh it just like getting blindsided with it.

Yeah, me neither. Okay. I wouldn't do that to you. And I don't And I wonder some people really like that.

And yeah, it's not I appreciate somebody doing it, so I don't want to be rude, but it's I don't know. I just get like No, man. Came here to chill. Yeah.

Well, yeah. I don't know what it is. I guess I just like to be prepared probably. Yeah.

So, I don't know. But yeah, if you shouted me out, I would uh I would have to, you know, Yeah. So, what's the plan? You're just going to play shows and put out music and see where this thing goes or Yeah, as far as I could tell, we don't really plan on signing with anybody.

I kind of like where it is now. Oh, just a booking agent. I would have to think people have already reached out, right? Yeah.

Kind of annoying. Reach out all the time. I gave them my numbers and they always like try to set up a Zoom call or something and just talk about nothing. Kind of like we're doing.

Kind of like a podcast. Yeah. Yeah. Which is stupid.

Stupid. Get me started. Yeah. Yeah.

Trust me, I didn't want to do this either. Yeah, but they always like a they'll just promise you nothing, you know, just like Yeah, man. I don't know why. I guess they're just putting their foot in the door or something, but Huh.

It never goes anywhere. Like they don't actually offer anything. Yeah. They just BS.

Yeah, it's just BS. Huh. No followup. I mean, they do follow up, but I never hit him back.

It feels a lot like dating, I guess. Like rather than like a professional relationship trying to pick someone you like or no, I mean, their approach feels like what are we doing? Like, are you like they kind of do like a I like you. I like you.

Let's talk. And so, it's like you just kind of talk, but yeah, you don't really talk about anything. and they're like, "Huh? What if we talk next week?"

And you're just like, "I what is this?" Yeah. What is this? What are we doing?

At least that's been my experience. Yeah. It's all just like kind of cryptic and like Yeah. almost like you're uh Yeah.

In a way like trying out through conversation where it's like I can just show you the stuff I'm doing. I thought that's what matters. And I'm not great at like I don't know telling people what they want to hear. Yeah.

Me neither. I like that about you. It's refreshing. Yes, it is.

You are a character. There is no doubt about it. This is the first podcast where I wore uh sunglasses the whole time. Is it?

It is. Hell yeah. Special episode for me. You know, you're really breaking me out of my comfort zone.

Yeah. 100th edition. 100th edition. That's actually crazy.

I don't even know how many episodes we've done. 30. 40. Like 51.

Dang. It's really not that many. Yeah, there's people with like thousands, huh? Yeah.

That's crazy. Well, cool, dude. Well, thank you for doing this. No problem.

Thanks for chitchatting. We're gonna have to play some shows at some point. I still want to write, for sure. Wish you got to find time to do it.

You going to be up in uh Wyoming this year? In where? Wyoming. Well, not for uh Well, yeah, this year I will be, but I didn't get on that.

Um whatever. I appreciate you calling old homeboy. That was pretty funny. Drink.

Yeah. Yeah. But that the booking agent guy reached out to me, but it just wasn't going to work. Yeah.

Yeah. But maybe next year or something. We'll do some routing shows, so maybe if you're up there. Yeah, I will be.

We play up there in like April and March and stuff. Hell yeah. We should go hit uh like over in Nebraska. Nebraska, Kansas.

Yeah, there's a good spot uh in Hayes, Kansas. Oh, the hat. It's in Manhattan. Manhattan.

Manhattan. Yeah, the place's pretty big, isn't it? Yeah, it's a college town. Have you played there yet?

Yeah, we played The Hat last year. How'd that go? It was really cool. We sold like 600 tickets.

Oh, good grief, dude. Yeah, it was a good weekend, too. Like they had a game there. Yeah, that's freaking killer.

Homecoming. How many people does that place hold? Do you know? Thousand.

Uh I think 800. Yeah, dude. So, it was freaking packed. Yeah, it was.

Hell yeah. Oh, well, I'm in. Got an offer there again. Come on.

When is it? February. February. What?

You know, 21st, I think. We haven't accepted it yet, but I think we might push it till later. Yeah. Okay.

I feel like we just played there. Well, shoot, dude. I'll hit a run with you. Hell yeah.

Going up through there. I'm totally down for that. People are good there, too. It's good.

Good energy. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I don't think they get a ton of music.

Yeah. So, they're excited. Yeah. Same way with the Dakotas.

I've had a good time in the Dakotas. I've never played up there yet. Yeah. Like even North Dakota and stuff.

They're just like so happy that somebody's there. Yeah. Yeah. It's freaking so dope.

It's like I love Texas and I love being around here because music is like such a cultural thing. At the same time, it's like people just get there's so much. Yeah. And there's so much to do.

you know, every block. So, all right, dude. Well, good luck with everything. Thank you, man.

You're the man. I'm a fan. Thank you, brother. Keep doing your thing.

I'll try. Hell yeah. See y'all. Sing the sweet melody.

I