Labor Day is coming up on September 1st, and we’re gearing up for the holiday weekend with a collection of all-star liners, along with work-and-career-inspired stories from Garth Brooks, Kix Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Tyler Farr, Miranda Lambert, Jake Owen, and Brad Paisley. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
Garth Brooks talks about walking away from his career — and coming back. (1:08)
“The hardest thing that I find to let go of was purpose. I knew what my job was, you know? My job was eatin’ Taco Bell at three in the morning and sleepin’ in late, gettin’ up and goin’, and starting songs but not finishing ’em because they’re gonna finish ’em for me. That was my job. Luckiest guy on the planet, easiest gig on the planet. When I got home, I’m starin’ at three children that I don’t know. Right? And I gotta tell you what happened to me in the last 14 years – greatest gift you could ever give somebody. I found my purpose. I found my purpose for the rest of my life. And now the luckiest guy on the planet has three, thank God, healthy baby girls that are off on their own, chasin’ their own dreams, and I’m gonna be the guy that gets to eat Taco Bell at three in the morning and get to go tour again. It’s fantastic. So again, I can’t thank God enough, I can’t think the people enough because I don’t think any of us in here realize a second half of a career is not granted, and I’m not sayin’ we’re gonna have one, but you have given me a shot to have one.”
Kix Brooks recalls a time when his father helped steer him in the right career direction. (1:28) (note content)
“A friend of mine owned a club that I played at a lot, and he was gonna sell it. So I had this great idea I was gonna borrow some money from my father, I was gonna buy this club, was gonna be the house band during the week, and then have other acts on the weekend and whatever, you know? And my dad and I were so close, we…I mean, we talked on the golf course, here, there, everywhere. But I actually remember makin’ a meeting with him and went down to his office and sat with him, and I had this plan and I laid it all out for him. And he sat there smokin’ a cigar and listenin’ to every word very intently, giving me full respect for my plan, you know, and I got done, and he’s just sittin’ there lookin’ at me. (laughs) I said, ‘Well, what do you think?’ He goes, ‘I think it’s a bad idea.’ And I said, ‘Well, why?’ He said, ‘Well, in the first place, you know, you’re tryin’ to be a big fish in a small pond.’ And he said, ‘That’s never a good idea.’ He said, ‘You know, you need to go to Nashville or somewhere where there’s great players, great musicians, great artists, if that’s what you want to do, and figure out how to be one of those guys. And the other thing is, you don’t know a damn thing about the bar business!’ (laughs) So that was just kind of the way he operated. And ’til the day he died, he was always a lot smarter than me, and it was always great to have him to be able call and get some good advice.”
Kix Brooks says that performing and giving fans an escape through the music is at the heart of why this is what he does. (:50)
“I love lookin’ out there and realizin’ that I’m takin’ people away from a hard week and somethin’ that’s really been worryin’ ‘em and some trouble at the job or whatever’s goin’ on in their lives, just to see their hearts lifted up and their eyes brighten up, and you realize that for a minute, the world goes away, and you get to share somethin’ that’s totally fantasy. You know, it’s just…this is all about, let’s just take ourselves out to a good time, and that’s…those are the moments on stage when, you know, it means somethin’ when you see a tear in somebody’s eye when you share an emotional moment, but man, those…for me, when you spend most of the night just lettin’ somebody let their cares and troubles go away, that’s why I do this.”
Kenny Chesney’s fans always inspire his best whenever he steps on stage. (:45)
“It’s unbelievable to see the passion that people have for havin’ a good time out there with us. It is unbeliev…I mean, I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen people bring boats and use ’em as coolers. I’ve seen so many crazy things that it just, I tell ya, for me to go out there and do that, it reminds me of why we’re there. It reminds me that, no matter what’s goin’ on in your life, these people got a lot goin’ on in their life, too. And for a couple hours later on that night, we get to have a shared moment — and we’re gonna make that shared moment the best we can make it. And that’s the kind of mind-frame that puts me in. It allows me to realize the job that I gotta do at twenty minutes after nine o’clock.”
Kenny Chesney talks about performing in different types of venues. (:48)
“It’s two different animals, playing a smaller venue and playing a football stadium. It took me awhile to mentally prepare myself to do my job in a football stadium. It took me awhile to mentally cover the room, if that’s what you want to call it (laughs), you know, because I was so used to playing…you know, when I first started, it was me and a guitar, a tip jar, and then I went on the road with Alabama, and then I went on the road with some of these acts, and all of a sudden, I was in an arena, and I had to get used to that. And then, all of a sudden, I was doin’ it myself, and then we went from the arenas into the amphitheatres into the stadiums, and it’s just…it’s just a different animal. But it’s something that, when it’s magic, it’s great. When you can make a football stadium feel like a club, there’s no better feeling than that.”
Tyler Farr’s dad has always been a hard workin’ man back in Tyler’s native Missouri. (:21)
“He’s owned a Mexican restaurant, a family-owned restaurant, for 20 years, that my grandma started years ago. He, you know, was a black angus farmer — cattle farmer — when I was younger, and ran that restaurant, so he’s always kind of been one of them guys that had his hands full.”
Tyler Farr recalls getting his career start at Nashville’s fabled Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. (:34)
“I moved here, got a job workin’ the door at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, one of the most famous honky-tonks in Nashville. They gave me a chance to sing if someone didn’t show up, and it was all said and done, and I did a good job at it. I mean, I was like, ‘Man, I can do this,’ you know? At first, I would stand up there, you know, just kinda, you know, like George Strait, but you can’t do that, unless you’re George Strait. (laughs) So, I had to learn the art of entertaining, and after doin’ it and playin’ the honky-tonks from 10 to 2am every night — probably took about five years off of my life — but after doing that, it was…best thing for me. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Tyler Farr was surprised by some reactions to his smash, “Redneck Crazy,” but he says that when songs generate an emotional reaction, that’s really all part of the job of being a singer. (:22)
“Some people said they’ve cried, like it hits ’em right there, and I’ve not in a million years would I have ever thought a song called ‘Redneck Crazy’ would make you cry. But, however it affects somebody, that’s my job is to reach in and tug on the heartstrings of people or make ’em laugh or make ’em feel somethin’. If we’re makin’ ’em feel somethin’, we’re doin’ our job.”
Tyler Farr says that like any job, songwriting can be frustrating. (:19)
“Yeah, it can be frustrating at times, and it’s…that’s just part of songwriting. You just…you learn, and you’re never too old to learn, and I’m a new songwriter, a young…and I am, and I’m just excited to dig deeper into the craft of songwritin’ and see what we can come up with.”
Miranda Lambert sees her job as helping people forget their worries for a while. (:25)
“People don’t want to think about it. That’s what entertainment is for. You don’t go to a movie because you want to sit there through the whole thing and think about everything horrible in your life. You go so you can get your mind off of it. And I think people come to concerts because they want to cut loose for two hours of their life and drink a beer and listen to music and just be out of the problems, because they have to deal with that seven days a week. And my job is to try to make people have fun and not think about that stuff.”
Jake Owen talks about the business side of being a touring performer. (:56)
“It’s a business, and in order to have a successful business, it all starts from the top. Kenny Chesney, I mean, he is a musician, he’s an artist — he is also a great businessman. And in order to keep great employees, you have to know how to treat your employees, and Kenny doesn’t I don’t think makes anyone feel like his employees are employees. He makes ‘em feel like they’re friends, but yet he has a great way of being a boss, you know, and no one just gets up and goes to work to intentionally make their boss’s day worse. Everybody in my crew — and I know everywhere else out there on the road – people wake up every day with the same goal in mind: Let’s get out here, let’s do the job, let’s make the people happy, and go forth from there. So, a lot of people think that touring is just a backstage party they can’t wait to get passes to, but it’s a business, and in order to have a successful business, you have to be smart and diligent about the way you run that.”
Jake Owen talks about the work involved in performing in larger venues. (1:04)
“You know, I believe the difference between playin’ a stadium and a small theatre or a club is that you’re still playin’ the same songs, except you can reach out and you can touch the folks — you can see the guy in the back of the room. You know, I can sit there with a guitar, just me and a guitar, and play a song and everybody quiet down and listen and feel the power of that song, whereas when it’s just you and a single guitar on a stage in a stadium in the middle of the hot day, it’s hard to keep people’s attention, you know? And so that’s the challenge that goes along with playin’ a stadium, but other than that, I mean, a show’s a show. I still go out there, I give it my all — the band guys, we all work really hard to be entertaining, but the songs are the same. Our show and our show level and our enthusiasm’s the same, but it’s the challenge of — you know, people think like, whoa, when you get to a stadium and you’re playin’ stadiums, like, you just have it made. Well, it’s a hard job, it’s a hard, hard deal to not only to fill a stadium full of people, but once it’s filled with people, to entertain them. And that’s the challenge to it, so, we all like a good challenge.”
When his career was just getting started in Nashville, Brad Paisley says that time on the river was his go-to source of relaxation. (:52)
“When I wrote ‘River Bank,’ I had this idea because I can remember the first writing deal I had when I was livin’ in a little condo in Nashville. I didn’t have two dimes to scrape together, but I had a friend with a bass boat. It was about a 16-footer. It was enough for two guys to go out on the lake. And we would meet up every day that was nice and save up, buy any kind of tackle we could afford, and just head up to the…either the Cumberland River or Percy Priest, and…really, it was an interesting time in my life. I had these huge dreams. I really wanted to be a country music singer. But at the same time, it was a great lesson in making the most of…really, I had nothing; I had no family here, I had no girlfriend at the time, for sure, as much as I was trying. But it was the release for me. I would work all the time, write songs all the time, and then I’d go to the river.”
Labor Day Liners
Garth Brooks
“Hey, y’all, this is Garth Brooks, wishing you a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Kix Brooks
“Hey, I’m Kix Brooks, wishing you a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Cam
“Hi, this is Cam, wishing you a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Kenny Chesney
“Hey everybody, this is Kenny Chesney, wishing you a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Kelly Clarkson
“Hey, what’s up, y’all? This is Kelly Clarkson, wishing y’all a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Tyler Farr
“Hey, this is Tyler Farr, wishin’ you a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Logan Mize
“Hey, this is Logan Mize, wishing you a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Old Dominion
Matthew, Trevor, Brad, Whit, and Geoff: “Hi, this is Old Dominion…”
Matthew: “…wishing you a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Jake Owen
“Hey, y’all, this is Jake Owen, wishing you a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Brad Paisley
“Hi, this is Brad Paisley, wishing you a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Carrie Underwood
“Hi, this is Carrie Underwood, wishing you a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Trisha Yearwood
“Hi, this is Trisha Yearwood, wishing you a happy Labor Day weekend.”
Chris Young
“Hi, this is Chris Young, wishing you a happy Labor Day weekend.”