Jeremy Lister

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01:07Welcome to Nashville restaurant radio, a podcast for and about the people of the Nashville restaurant scene. Now here's your host, the CEO of New Light Hospitality Solutions, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City and welcome to Nashville restaurant radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host and happy Monday. This is the first episode in the month of August 2020. Looks like we made it out of July. Congratulations to everyone out there. I could not be more excited to have this guest on today. A good friend of mine, Jeremy Lister will be on the show. He is the co-owner of blister hot sauce and a recording artist for Big Yellow Dog Music. If you hang out all the way through to the end of this episode, we talk about our sobriety and it's a tough topic, tough time sorry for a lot of people and I want to talk about you know kind of some of the struggles that we're right in the middle of right now and there's a lot of people out there who are hurting. This is not easy for a lot of people. A lot of people it is but this is just my perspective and Jeremy's perspective that we kind of wanted to share and I wanted to share the story of why I felt the rainbow is so important to me and I also want to say I didn't say this in the interview that you know while we talk about sobriety and some of that that we're not drinking and how great it's been, I have zero nothing wrong with alcohol. You do what you want to do out there for me. My time with alcohol had to come to an end but this is by no way anything to do. If you can enjoy your alcohol and you're good with it, awesome. I think that's fantastic for

03:07you. We just wanted to share a little bit of our stories. This is at the end of the interview. I hope that you get something from it and it's a personal episode for me so I hope that you will listen today with an open heart. So I do want to say something real quick about Springer Mountain Farms chicken. We know they're the best chicken in the world but did you know that you can join the flock at their website springermountainfarms.com? You can go and put your email address in. They will send you emails weekly letting you know special recipes, farm news, podcast information, just cool information that will help you make better, more informed decisions about what you are eating. Also you can go there, you can click to find their product or you can look anywhere in the whole region and find out where you can find Springer Mountain Farms chicken. So you can find this episode today on our YouTube channel. I also like to make an announcement that we are on iHeartRadio so you can now find us on the iHeartRadio app. We are growing and I want to thank every one of you, my listeners, who are out there telling their friends this is the way that this thing is going to grow. We can keep telling each other about it and hopefully there's an episode that you love that you can tell somebody about but keep liking our stuff on social media. It means so much to me. Keep sharing stuff on social media. Get the word out. Let's keep spreading the word. So thank you very much to each and every one of you. Please go check out Trust20.co. They're a new sponsor and they are doing audits right now to make sure that you are doing everything you possibly can to prepare your guests and your staff for all of the new safety precautions we need to be doing in all facets. So check them out. Just Trust20.co and let them know that I told you about them here on

05:08Nash Restaurant Radio. So let's jump on into this interview. You've heard me talk long enough. Ladies and gentlemen, Jeremy Lister. All right. With much excitement, I'd like to welcome in Jeremy Lister, big yellow dog recording artist and co-owner of Blister Hot Sauce to Nash Restaurant Radio. How you doing, Jeremy? Man, I'm wonderful. Today has been a good and easy day for the most part. I'm doing really, really good. Thanks. How are you doing? Man, I'm doing really well. I am happy, healthy. I'm going to California tomorrow to visit my 90 year old grandparents, taking my kids and I'm pretty excited about that too. What part of California? We're going to Southern California. They're actually in Riverside. We're going to spend a day in Newport and Laguna and do the tide pools and the whole thing with the kids and stay away from people. But yeah, that's wonderful. I'm sure we could talk more about this later, but I'll be heading to California in November to get married. We're going to elope in Yellowstone. So I love that state.

06:19That's fantastic. Congratulations. Thank you. So I am so excited to have you on. I have known you since 2002, where I met you in Jackson, Mississippi. You were in a band called Geronimo Rex. Is this correct? And you also worked in a restaurant. So we have to tie in restaurants. This is Nashville Restaurant Radio. So I want to tie in the restaurant piece here. You worked at Char Restaurant and I was a manager at Amerigo. The original Char and the original Amerigo. Yes, the original Char and the original Amerigo. And I used to see you kind of, we had a circle of friends that were very similar, but you used to play all over town and then you played kind of solo acoustic at this little restaurant that was next to Char called Julep. And that's where I have my fondest memories of hearing you sing. Remember those times? I vaguely remember those times. I remember Julep. I remember partying with the crew after work. And I think I remember playing there a couple of times.

07:25I mean, I played so many spots and I played all the time. It was like, that was my favorite pastime. And that was what I was aspiring to do was to be a professional musician. So someone offered me a spot to showcase that I was taking the job. So it's been a long time. I mean, that was 18 years ago. Yeah, I can't believe I've been in Nashville for 17 years now. Yeah, I mean, it's been a long time. So back then, you just come out with an EP and I remember seeing you play and I was a big Jeff Buckley fan. Right? So I love Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, just kind of some of the people. I heard you singing. I was just like, oh my gosh, this guy has the most amazing voice. And you just hear somebody for the first time and you go, I'm going to see them headline at Bridgestone Arena. Like this is the most amazing voice. And I would love it if you brought your guitar. I would love. So back in the day, you had an EP called Shooting Star. And to give our listeners kind of a little heads up, you're gonna do a couple songs for us today. But I'd like to start off and kind of do one of your oldies but goodies, just to give people an idea of if they haven't heard you before, what you sound like.

08:46Well, thank you. Thank you. You mentioned Jeff Buckley. Did I ever tell you I saw his last show ever? Like before he died in Memphis? You I think you did tell me that but I had forgotten. Wow. Yeah, that's a whole other story. But it was one of like, maybe 20 people with this little dive bar and barristers. We would go see him play every Monday. And and saw his last show before he died. Oh, my gosh. Crazy. So I've not played this song in a long time. That's okay, because a lot of you will have never heard it. And I just kind of make up things if I mess up. Got it. Let me scoot this down here. See if we can hear both the guitar and the guitar. Yes, sir. You're good. I could tell you I wanted to only time can do the same.

10:07Only you crash off the waves into me and I'm trying to let it be because I'm tired of the rest, you know, and the best is going slowly. So open your eyes and stop with the cries because I'm going slowly. You'll be the one. You will be my shooting star. It's unintentional. You'll see the rest are sleeping, fiery-eyed lady. Under the covers of eternity, melodies fold like paper.

11:18Only you crash off the waves into me and I'm trying to let it be because I'm tired of the rest, you know, and the best is going nowhere. So open your eyes and stop with the cries because I'm going slowly. And you'll be the one. You will be you. Fire away. Submit. I am stricken. Sun-buried, so conscious, thinking you will be you. Because I'm tired of the rest, you know, and the best is going slowly. So open your eyes and stop with the cries because I'm going slowly.

12:24You'll be the one. You will be my shooting star. Shooting star. Shooting star. Wow. Blast from the past. I'm literally watching to do that and I've got chills. I mean, I've probably heard that song a thousand times. I mean, you know, that was amazing. Thanks for doing that. Yeah, thanks for asking. What's that? How did you feel doing that song?

13:25It felt good. I think, you know, I missed a pre-chorus or two, but I made up some words there. But it felt good. Yeah. Fantastic. So who were your major influences? I know that's probably a standard question to ask musicians, but like, who were the people who you, who do you love? Who were your influences? I mean, I grew up with very, like, Southern Baptist roots in church all the time. Like, I learned to sing. My mom sang alto and she would sit next to me when we were singing the hymns and I was just like, you know, barely learning how to speak. And like, she was singing this part and I would just start trying to sing what she was singing. And so by the time I was actually like, trying out for children's choir and things like that, which wasn't really a try out, you just showed up, but they would ask you to sing and like to match notes and you would go, and I would, I would just sing a harmony and they were like, what are you doing? And I was like, I don't know. That's what my mom does.

14:26And so they're like, okay, you're in. And so music was, you know, just something that I was surrounded by. My mom's dad was in a famous Southern gospel group called the Blackwood Brothers. They actually started in Memphis. Elvis wanted to be in the Blackwood Brothers before he became Elvis. They were Elvis's, Elvis's mom's favorite, favorite group. So they were a really big, big deal back in the day in the Southern gospel heyday. He just passed away a couple of years ago and sang till the day he died. He sang like his, his, his last couple of days in the hospital. He was just singing. It was really, really sweet. So kind of, it was just in the blood. My dad's a great singer too. My brothers are remarkable singers and musicians. But growing up, you know, I think I was pretty conservative household and I wasn't allowed to listen to, listen to current secular music. So I was kind of sheltered from that. And my mom would let me listen to the golden oldies while I was doing like my math homework or something that I would always complain about.

15:30She's like, okay, if you come to your homework, I'll let you listen to, listen to the music from the 60s and 70s. And so I was probably doing, I don't know, math homework. And I heard Hey Jude came on the radio and I was just floored. I was like, who is this mom? Who is this? She's like, that's the Beatles, honey. And, and so I was like, I want everything, the Beatles. And so got a little older and then they got me the kind of the best of the Beatles. They had like the little blue and red CDs and that was off to the races. I was like, I'm just a Beatle nut. Like I learned everything about, I got documentaries and I was like, I love it. The songwriting was incredible. I loved the harmonies and everything about it. And so that's when I really started doing, I started writing music kind of later in high school because I was so inspired by their songwriting. And then around the same time, a friend of mine introduced me to Jeff Buckley. Jeff Buckley, he would, he brought the album Grace home. I think he was already in college.

16:30He was at Vanderbilt here in Nashville, but he came home to Mississippi for the holidays and he was like, you need to hear this guy Jeremy. And he played Grace from front to finish. And I was just same sort of thing that happened when I heard the Beatles was like this guy, this guy is Jeff Buckley. It says this guy's my Elvis referring to someone else, but I would say the same. Jeff Buckley was my Elvis. My Elvis. And so I just wore Grace out and another EP called Live at Sinead. And then, yeah, then I heard he was coming to Memphis to record a new album called My Sweetheart the Drunk. And we would, we would skip school. It was my senior year of high school, 97. We would skip school towards the end and drive, we would leave early from school and then drive up Monday nights to see him and then just drive back through the night and either miss Tuesday or just be late for that. But yeah, ended up seeing his last show. And then other influences were, I loved Stevie Wonder, like 70 Stevie Wonder. I got really into Talking Book and Intervisions and Songs on the Key of Life.

17:34And then the Radiohead thing came along. The first album I really heard of their full album was OK Computer and I just was floored and then backtracked and heard the bins and became a big fan of all the British Invasion and Travis and Coldplay and all those fun bands that came out. And yeah, currently, I mean, my influences are all over the map from hip hop to, I mean, kind of what I do for a living now is I write, or one thing I do now is I write just, I did like an 80s inspired rock and roll song and then I wrote like a 70s Motown song like all within one week and I change up what I do. I'm kind of the chameleon on staff there, which is a lot of fun. What's that like? I mean, so when you're writing songs, I want to get back to the, I have a couple follow up questions from that, but just what you're doing now, like just the writing of the songs, like you just, do you have writing partners?

18:36Do you have one person that you write with on a regular basis? How does that work being a songwriter? Do they tell you what kind of songs need to be written? Do you just get to be completely creative? How does that work? Yeah, a lot of times I can sort of just be totally creative. Where I'm at, it's just a, I could not be more thankful for the job I have because they really allow me to do what I think I do best. And that's, I told them kind of going into it that I love being a chameleon. I love doing something new every day, kind of starting every day from scratch. I'm like, okay, today I'm excited about this because if I did the same thing every day in that capacity, I would get burnt out really quickly. Because I had a publishing deal years ago and that definitely happened. So it's really freeing just to write a song without having to worry about it. Sometimes the song works out to go for my artistry or sometimes the song works out to go for another artist, which I've had a few cuts there. But a lot of what I'm doing is for film and television. So I'll write specifically, they call it music briefs. They'll give like the synopsis or the scene in a television show or promo for a TV show or a movie and sometimes ads for commercials.

19:43And then you kind of write songs based around that. So it's like just this quirky little homework assignment. And I don't know, there was a part of me at first that was like, that seems so soulless, but like, I love it so much. It's just so much fun. It's like getting a little homework assignment and then just kind of, I don't know, like placing my artist and ego aside and just like, I'm going to write specifically for this. And then when I really think about it, it's like, this is a cool job. Like, this is a really, really cool job. So you wrote, was it Modern Family and was it the Super Bowl? It was Grammys. It was a night there. I've been with Big Yellow Dog BYD for a year and a half. And first year I just really built up my catalog and then this year starting to get some sinks. But yeah, one of the first things I got was a promo, I think a six-week promo for Modern Family and the first commercial aired during the Grammys. It was really, really exciting to watch that. That is really cool.

20:43So, okay, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Did you ever get to meet Jeff Buckley? Did, yeah, yeah. I guess the times we went and saw him, I wouldn't talk to him afterwards. I got his autograph at some point, which it was really funny. I mean, the place really was just a shit hole. Pardon me, but I don't know if I should be cursing on the screen. Okay, cool. Yeah, it was a hole in the wall called Barrister's. I think the first or second time I saw him, he bought wine for everyone. And we were all like high schoolers. We were like, yes, wine out of the distillery too. But then there were maybe 20 people in the audience there, but he just bought everyone. He had bought bottles of wine and poured wine for everyone and gave everyone red wine. We were all like, Jeff Buckley is the coolest guy in the world. And then, yeah, we would talk to him afterwards. He shot pool with my friend Doug, who introduced me to Jeff Buckley. And he was nice.

21:44He was a little bit, he was out there. I mean, being a kid, I don't know if he was on something or if that was just kind of the way he was, but he was definitely a little bit out there. But he kicked ass. Especially the first time we saw him, it was one of the most remarkable, amazing shows I've ever seen. It was just him and his Les Paul, and he just killed it. I mean, he sounded just like he sounded on the album and his voice was unreal. And he's just such a phenomenal guitar player too. But then the second time we saw him, there was some feedback and things and he got a little upset about it. And so he just turned his guitar up and you could barely hear him sing. And I think he was a little bit under the influence of something, possibly he could have just been in a weird headspace. I'm not sure. But he was brilliant. I'm so grateful that I had the chance to see him. So if you are not a Jeff Buckley fan or you don't know who he is and you're listening to this, what's your favorite song if somebody was to go look him up on iTunes? What is an absolute must listen to recommendation from you?

22:46We'll move on from Jeff Buckley. Man, like the nerd in me, the musical nerd, is probably something like, oh man, Lover You Should Have Come Over. There's just so many beautiful musical changes in that. And it's just like this, it's so dynamic and it's just sexy. And like, I don't know, it's one of my all time favorite songs, man. Just not so far. That's the one I would say, I would say Lover You Should Have Come Over. Everybody here wants you. He does, obviously, Hallelujah is a great one. Yeah. Okay, so let's get back here. You moved to Nashville in 2003. What was that like? You finally, you were thinking about moving to New York and you chose Nashville. I moved to Nashville coincidentally at the exact same time. We both worked at the Amerigo on West End. And what was it like moving to Nashville?

23:48Did all of your dreams immediately come true? What's it like as a musician, this much talent, moving to a city like Nashville in 2003? Things happened relatively fast. Some big things happened like within the first two months to set some other things up later down the line, I think. And like, I think you and Bill Latham, Bill was the old owner of Amerigo, him and Al, but you definitely, I think, you encouraged me to move here and the idea of moving to New York, I did not do country music and I was like, I'm a New York kind of guy. I was also, Jeff Loughley made his big thing there and I was going to move on to that scene. But the first plan was just to move to Nashville for like six months to a year and then move to New York or somewhere. But I was just going to kind of move to Nashville to get into the industry, sort of hopefully find a place to come back and tour like while I'm touring the country and I had all these big dreams and they did not turn out the way I pictured them, but they turned out in a pretty cool way otherwise because 17 years later, I'm still in Nashville.

24:56But it was, moved to town, started bartending. That song I played, Shooting Star, was the name of my very first solo EP. I was in a band in Jackson called Geronimo Rex. But I left and then we made the album, Shooting Star, with Nelson Hubbard, who also moved to Nashville from Mississippi around the same time. And as I was bartending in Amerigo, I would just take the CD, if I heard anyone talking about the music industry, like anyone, like whether it was an artist or a publisher, I was like, oh, here you go, I'm just going to give you my CD and I would use it as a coaster there on the bar. I don't know if you guys even knew that, but yeah, I would just, I was always like, hey, this is what I do. And then people listened actually, I know I was kind of shocked. I'm sure people, especially on Music Row, were just handed so much material, whether it be tape CDs, anything like that. But yeah, people listened and then some regulars came back and they're like, man, this is surprisingly good.

25:59We didn't know what to expect being that you're a bartender here, but we love this. And some people that came in and some of the staff at Amerigo introduced me to some people. I got introduced, I think, the first month I was in town to who would be my first agent at CAA and then got set up at ASCAP with my PRO and yeah. And even like three days in, I went to do this little writer's night at the old 12th and Porter and I met who would be my first band. So all these things started happening pretty quickly. I was like, man, Nashville's great. This is where I need to be. This is where I need to be. Yeah, I really was fortunate that a lot of things lined up in the right way. So I was saying, I don't know if you remember, but there's like trivia night sometime down the line and somebody says who was Jeremy Lister's first manager? When you lived in Mississippi, I was the manager and you said, hey, I need you to do me a favor. Will you call this record shop and tell them you're my manager because they haven't paid me yet.

27:03I have all these CDs that they've sold. They haven't paid me the money. I need them to pay me the money. I need you to call them and tell them you're my manager. And I said, sure. I called the record shop and said, manager, Brandon Styll. And we're wondering about the funds. And the guy was like, you tell Jeremy and I'm like, I don't know what to do here, Jeremy. And I remember moving to Nashville and I was like, I'll be your manager, man. It'd be awesome. And then I was like, I don't know anything about this business. That's amazing, man. I don't remember that. But that rings a bell actually when you said that because I think I was always doing something. And you're the perfect person for that too. You are a manager by nature. I said, I will take that crown as your first manager. I didn't say anything, but just kind of that. I'm sure you've done that since then. That is amazing. Well, I didn't, you know, I saw you, we kind of got busy and I'm in different restaurants and I met my wife and, you know, we travel the same circles.

28:08Next thing I know, I see you on a Nashville Convention Bureau video and you're singing like on a rooftop. And then I see you downtown at like Second Avenue. There's a whole like a speaker. They're playing music, but there's a picture of Jeremy Lister on the side of it. Yeah, I was like on the entrance of Bridgestone for like five years. Is that really weird to me? I didn't even know it was there. And I was, I think, hanging out down on Fourth and Broad late one night and then I stumbled out of a bar and looked up and I was like, that's me. This is like a 20 foot me right there at Bridgestone. And I started dying laughing and then I texted Butch who, you know, runs a lot of things here in Sound. Yeah. And I was like, is there a big picture of me on Bridgestone? He's like, oh yeah, no one told you about that. I was like, no. Honestly, this is so weird. But yeah, like things, I'm sorry. Do you like take a selfie with it? Is that, what do you do with that? I definitely took some pictures of it on my phone at some point. Yeah, that was, that was, it was just weird.

29:09But yeah, things started picking up too. Like I ended up working in Amerigo for, I don't know, two or three years. I don't know. I remember you meeting your wife there as well. I did. Yep, yep. And then, and I remember playing your wedding as well. You did. You did. You actually, you came, you sang a song, you were the performer during my wedding and thank you again for that. I will remember that the day I died. It was such a beautiful song. Wedding Day is the name of the song that you sang. Yeah. I wrote that, I believe, for you guys. Yeah. Sure. I think I did. Yeah. I, I'll have to dig through some notebooks and hopefully find that. But I'm pretty sure I wrote that for you guys. Yeah. I have pictures of you singing at the wedding. And in my wedding album, I have pictures of you singing at the wedding. Nice. Anything for my first manager. Yeah. So then I, we, you know, we're married and I'm living in this condo in Hillsborough Village and I hear that you're going to see a Facebook post because now we have Facebook, we had Facebook back then, but now we have Facebook and you're going to be on a show called The Sing Off and you've got a band called Street Corner Symphony and how did that come to play?

30:25Like what's the story behind that? Because that was like the most proudest I've ever been of one of my friends. See? It's a really fun story. To backtrack just a little bit more to, so I left Amerigo because I got a record deal. I was signed to Warner Brothers in Los Angeles and like it was just huge. I had a massive party with all my friends like I've made it, you know, I'm signed, you know, and that was an amazing experience but it was a very typical record deal in that era like where you get signed and then just slowly get dusted on the shelf but that was an incredible experience overall and as that fizzled out, I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do with my music career anymore. It was kind of, I was feeling pretty disheartened because, you know, I'd written like two to three hundred songs over that five-year period with them and I had a publishing deal with Warner Chapel and all the people that had signed me had gotten fired and so I was just kind of sitting there and unfortunately my second manager got me out of that record deal but I was just like, yep, I have no idea what I'm going to do now and a friend of mine from high school that I sing in a quartet with, he called and he said, hey, how about you and your older brother join me and my younger brother and we try out for this show called The Sing Off, have you heard about it?

32:00And I was like, nope, I've not heard of it. He's like, well, it's an acapella reality TV show on NBC like Nick Lachey is the host and Ben Folds and Sean Stockman and Nicole Schelschlinger are the judges and I was like, Ben Folds, he's cool. So I did some research and checked out the show I was like, this is kind of fun I play rock and roll and pop and acoustic and things like that I felt really strange about trying out one, just for a reality show but especially an acapella reality show but I was kind of in a bit of fuck it, let's do it I've been there I've done that with a record deal I don't know what I'm doing so let's just give it a go so we actually worked up Shooting Star the song I played as an acapella version and we did that and we had a I think we did God Only Knows by the Beach Boys for our audition and then we did Flow Rider Medley which was hilarious we started off like a barbershop Flow Rider and then we went into like the break it down you know it was really, really funny but we finished our audition and the casting judge or one of them her name is Michelle McNulty she she's like you guys sound fantastic I'm not going to lie to you like you're nailing it you blend two sets of brothers the blend is unbelievable we love it but you have zero energy like this is TV we are not we're not having you on the show like this you've got to whatever you've got to do to loosen up and to you know, to come back and put on a show you go do it we're going to give you one more shot at this but you go do whatever you have to do work it up come back and charm us and so in my head I was like let's get drunk so we left we hit the pub we all did some did some shots and then came back

34:00and I mean I was I was pretty tipsy I had a bottle of fireball in my back pocket and then I came walked up to the judges and I poured them all shots and then proceeded to audition again and then they were like you guys are crazy and we love it you're on the show and wow and so I thought even after that I was like for sure like we're just a joke they're going to have us on as like these drunk like southern guys that are going to get booted off the show but they it somehow worked and we sounded really really good and it was a lot of fun and then I mean almost won the show which was insane I think that we kept winning we were just like what is going on why did they like us so much you know I was I was absolutely biased watching the show but you know we watched it was Appointment Television for me and my wife Jen and we were we'd watch and I was like holy shit they are better than everybody else on this show and we were like there's no way in hell they don't win this thing and when you guys so they kept doing this thing and then you came out and you did creep and like everybody and all the other bands came out and did creep with you guys oh that was Fix You that happened so it was Fix You but like I still think about that and get chills like that was one of the most amazing performances and I'm going to see if I can't plug in right here a little clip of that show of you doing Fix You right now what's that a different version of me that was that was so much fun though so I'm going to put that in here right now and hopefully you can hear it if you're out there but that was just so I mean I don't know I was just one of the most amazing performances and I was like there's no way they don't win and when they announced the other team is winning were you almost like excited that you didn't

36:00win because like Idol and all these other shows like if you win you have to now go and be the Idol winner the second place person always ends up being the star at the time that was kind of the deal did you have any like feeling like that one thousand percent all of us we were sitting there it's hilarious all of us were like please God don't let us win please don't let us win please don't let us win I was doing it because I had just gotten out of a contract with a label that was very very sticky and tricky and the contracts for the these shows are horrible like I mean like you have several deals for the winner for the winner yeah yeah yeah so we were just I was like oh man if we win this is going to be the worst and we got second place and it was like yes this is exactly where we wanted to be you could probably see our faces like looking actually just so excited like when we were in second place but they also we became friends with everyone on the show and I know you were saying you thought we should have like committed so good like hands down like one of them and group for thought were like the best vocalist group like out there way better than us I still think that and so I think that one they were they deserved to win and then two we were just excited not to be stuck with a contract and it worked out really well for us like especially at the gate the first two or three years like we were we were doing touring like I had never had never seen before it was crazy so you immediately went out with Ben Folds 5 or just Ben Folds or just Ben Folds the yes just Ben Folds I think for that that tour and it was that was incredible we first year we did we went to Italy and did like a show for FedEx which they had us on a cruise ship and then like these big offers I'd never seen before and then when did Tony Romo's wedding for the Dallas Cowboys and like went out on tour with Ben Folds

38:00and did these black tie events and Vegas and like all these crazy things where it was like and like you know getting paid stupid amounts of money and we're like this is awesome and like we just I mean we were like the the this is hilarious to even say like the Motley Crue of Acapela we were just partying like crazy and people loved it for a while I think we definitely we may have burned a few bridges here and there but wild man we were it was all good fun we didn't do anything like well not terrible vandalism but we did some pretty crazy stuff but like we were just we were we were partying going for it so what was it like just getting to know like did when you're on tour with Ben Folds do you get to spend a lot of time with him does he mentor you at all or are you just in a point now in an Acapela group that you kind of put together on a whim and now that's the thing that you're quote unquote famous for what is that like does the whole world swirling what does that do to you inside well it taught me a lot one that I just have to be open to my life just taking a big directional change like I mean if you would have asked me if I would have been in an Acapela group a successful Acapela group or a reality show I'd be like no there's no way leading up to that but it did and it opened up a lot of interesting doors from that too so one I think it was the first time I was like you know what it's okay for things not to go my way sometimes because sometimes there's another thing that happens that may be a little better or that may lead to something else so kind of accepting that things

40:01aren't going to go as I expect them to go but then to answer your first question hanging out with Ben Foles was super cool like genuinely just a very very nice guy and like incredibly smart and and funny too I've got some stories that I will I will not share nothing about him but things I did that were faced to to handle that I'll tell you about those later but he was he was very very nice on the show when we were on tour he was he was he was very involved in his work so he was doing this whole project where he actually was recording all the audiences and like had like this massive choir on this this album or song he was making so after he was done he would just hop on the bus we would go party with his band on some of the nights which was a lot of fun but yeah he was a joker just shoot the bull just here and there and even when we got back to Nashville we went to Studio B when he owned it and hung out with him a few times there and he called me one night and was like I've got an idea I want you to do Harry Nilsson covers and we'll get the symphony the Nashville symphony to do it and I was like yes please this is the greatest idea ever and then that never happened but it was like one of those I'm sure he had a thousand brilliant ideas a day and he was just shooting them out there so when you play when you go on a tour like that with Ben Folds he's kind of a big deal and you're probably playing in front of crowds that are pretty big what's it what's it like I mean I've never in my life been a musician or been on stage when you walk out onto the stage and there's just thousands of people who now know who the symphony is and you go out there and they just scream what does that feel like what is the

42:01is there like just an endorphin rush that you can't explain yeah yeah it's it's one of those things that I realized you know that if I thought about it too much I would get crazy anxiety so like before I would go out on stage and still to this day sometimes depending on getting this place kind of sort of get into the right headspace before walking out there and then just soak it up but yeah back then it was I got used to it pretty quickly it was just kind of I would say muscle memory I don't know but it was every once in a while it would hit me and it's funny now I really try to practice being present in shows and I get to do that a little bit more because I am I think just more when I go out even if it's a small show or a bigger show you know I just I want to like sit there and be like wow I'm doing this right now this is amazing I'm getting to do this right now I think there have been times where I've taken that for granted you know I've just been hopping out there and not really appreciated exactly what I was getting to do so that's a crazy lifestyle I mean you you alluded to partying a lot you know like the motley crew of acapella bands which I like t-shirts made for that but just like you know you have been sober for five years now you just had your five year anniversary birthday not long ago yeah five years in April 26th yeah and you've been an inspiration to me just seeing you you've was there like a I want to talk about that I want to talk about before sober life I think we've have we led up to it now well yeah I'll yeah well

44:02things got quickly I've had some emotional and physical bottoms you know from all of the partying and alcohol and other things that I've abused but yeah I just got to a place where it was it was it was going to kill me I was actually on the sing-off tour and we were same thing we were playing for two three thousand people a night and I was having panic attacks if I didn't have a drink you know within an hour I would wake up in the middle of the night in a fetal position because I couldn't unlock my nerves so I would have to go yeah it got to that point and that's eventually what about hearing a doctor telling me that you know I've got a year to live if I keep doing what I was doing I was like alright it's time to make some changes and that's the short version and got home sobered up detoxed very scarily on my own never suggest doing that and watched the national parks on repeat and then hot sauce and ice cream making and now I'm hitting all the national parks I'm getting married and Yosemite I was engaged in the Grand Canyon last year and life's just I get I refer to it as my second life you know I had so many wonderful and fun times and great things but that ran its course and it led to a lot of suffering and a lot of hardships and then now I get this whole new world 4.0 where I get to go run ultra races and be in does a little bit more healthy things and to work with other people and do some things that also bring

46:02a lot of happiness and fulfillment in my life How is it done creatively for you have you noticed a difference in your music and just your your craft what you're doing have you noticed now you're being more present in the moment has it evolved oh yeah 100 percent I I wanted to quit music so when street corner happened I just sort of set aside songwriting and my artistry for a while I released an album that same year after the sing off but they really didn't do anything with it I take that back I went out for a short spell and Krauss had me go out and do some opening slides that first year which was also incredible but for the most part I quit writing songs I quit the creative side of things I would go out and make money with street corner and that was it and then and then then things got really really bad and depression and and just I was that was not well and and and a lot of other things but was like I kind of all the things I associated is with my addiction and drinking problems I just had to take them off the table for a while and because of that I've come back in a much healthier spot I took two or three years off pretty much doing music I would go out and make know people would hit me up and say can you haul away my trash from a party or come take away my old sofa and take it to the dump and that was my main source of income I loved it like I was so happy like there was just something about working with my hands and I think a lot of it too was just letting go of these

48:03ideas that I had of myself that I had to be this type of musician or this artist just to kind of come back to more of a it gave me a chance to look at myself and re-identify myself in some ways to where like oh I'm not I'm not that I'm not just that certainly now I'm I'm many things and it freed me up from like I mean because I knew since I was gonna be a kid that I I wanted to be a musician and a successful musician and now that all these things were starting to fade away and now I eventually let go of it I was like wait oh man I'd taken that off its pedestal just brought me so a lot of peace I was like okay there's there there's a lot more to Jeremy Lister than than than just being an artist and musician and that that's what opened the door for you know a hot sauce company or me running 50 miles back in April and like doing these ultra races and things that bring me a lot of joy and relationships I have with people it's just a beautiful experience but that also led to me now being in a place where I can I could sit here right now and pop out a song in an hour and feel great about it you know and it doesn't have to be the greatest song in the world or hell it may be a really good one but I don't feel that pressure that I've felt anymore because life and my happiness doesn't doesn't have to be all involved in my success in music I can do a number of other things and be perfectly happy you know it's interesting and I think that I'm gonna say this little piece and then we'll break and we'll do another song I find that people like you or myself who are creative people and I say creative more as a proactive thing like you have to create music nobody's I think it doesn't just happen like you it takes a there's a creative process involved and I you know if you're leading people or you're

50:06you're creating systems and processes and management it's not like you can just clock in and clock out like it's always going and it's always on your mind and it's all kind of consuming and there's a side of that that like for me like driving uber you know was so nice because I can literally clock in I'm doing a job that I don't have to think I could just do it and I know I've done a good job at it and I can clock out and it's kind of like a reset button because you're like oh wow I don't have all the stress of having to other people's income or just the whole creating something for somebody else it's kind of a nice feeling kind of go hey I could just go take trash away and I know I'm doing the job well and I don't have this extra stress and you can it kind of gives you a moment to appreciate the kind of people that you are that you love to do stuff like that it's like hey I well I feel good knocking out this thing I kind of missed that other piece of it and it kind of helps rejuvenate you I feel like for me it does that yeah like the this year alone it's just so funny those things the roles you say oh I would never be that kind of person like I always assumed I would never enjoy gardening because of like the having to be tedious and patient with it I love gardening like this year I've gotten so into it I'm sure as a lot of other people have but it's the favorite it's my favorite part of the day more so than songwriting more so than almost anything it's just go out there and I'm working with my peppers or my my cucumbers or you know I've got a big garden back there now but um it's it's just it's so freeing because like it's it's kind of you don't say mindless but like you're not having to worry about you know thinking ahead or it's just I can just slow down and be right there in the moment with what I'm doing it's very very nice well I would love you to hear you do something that's like some of your something new something that you've got out there right now that people can go listen to on iTunes and and then one of the things you just released a cover

52:11of somewhere over the rainbow and I'm so glad you're on today because I want to talk a little bit about my experience over the past nine months and a little bit about why that song meant so much to me when I heard it last week a week for last so what are you gonna do for us here right now well this was the first single of my upcoming EP which I'm not sure when this will be released but um the EP comes out August 21st I believe and this was the first single this thing was already out it's called hold strong I am I wrote this right after the tornado hit in Nashville for those of you who aren't in Nashville listening to this back in March there was a massive tornado that just ripped apart the city and tore up residences and businesses and a lot of those were friends of mine that it affected and two of my very close friends Anupa and Jeff their house was leveled they really really were fortunate enough to they were in the house and survives the chimney actually if they were in the other room that would have crushed them but their house was totally totally leveled and they were getting married two weeks after that they had already scheduled you know a plan to get to get married so I wrote this song for them called hold strong and just sort of the idea of you know hold on to the things that are important when everything else falls apart and then as 2020 progressed the spring it's sort of just became more of an anthem for everyone because we're all going

54:11through a tough time but uh yeah this is a position this is hold strong tell me what would happen if the world flipped upside down but we'd still be laughing if the sky was on the ground walls will crash disappear pick up the pieces have no fear oh no it's hard to see the forest for the trees but if you stand with me storms will come then go by tears will drop and then hold strong in the golden light when all this pass is by we will be like the

56:57shining from the sky but right now i'm here with you and everything that we go through oh oh strong oh strong wow that was incredible and you wrote that for friends of yours who were getting married and like that just just and did you play that at their wedding did they get married they well right after the tornado everything started happening with quarantine so they just quickly went to North Carolina and had a very very intimate wedding with with some of their immediate family but no I sent that to them right after they were married I sent them the recording I'd made and now it ended up coming the first single for the EP Wow man that was that was beautiful I I still get chills every time you sing I just listen to you like oh god he's just so amazing thank you my friend I tell you I you know when I first heard you do there's somewhere over the rainbow and you've said you'll do you'll do that for me a little bit later you know I've been watching you running running running and you say you did a super what is it called a super ultra marathons it's

58:58anything longer than a marathon they they dub ultra marathons and you're doing those now I am yeah for my for my five-year anniversary I kind of created a race with several of my friends and called it the friendship run and because everyone was staying in their houses during the pandemic I routed out different friends houses and would just tell them to pop out and wave to me at different points and so I was kind of away it was right around it may have been the same day of the Nashville marathon and a few other friends ended up doing it with me and they kind of set their own route but I've been just kind of running longer and longer distances I've done a few marathons now so I did a 40 mile or last year and up in the hills east and then um and this year for my five-year sobriety anniversary I was like I'm gonna go for 50 and did 50 kind of all over the place through East Nashville and who knows what's up next maybe a hundred we'll see the 50 miles how long did it take you to do you stop I mean is that just straight running for 50 miles yeah pretty much a running like I left my porch over here I left I left all my fuel like my water and food and tons of like you know macro bar power bars and pickles and pickle juice for and lays potato chips and you name it I had it set it set out on the porch and my fiance would come out every once in a while and bring me something but I'll just really remember the house stop for a minute or two just to you know drink and get proper fueling and then take off again and but I did without stopping the clock it was uh it was just a few minutes shy of 10 hours so it was about 940 something I think and I'm 50 something I have to get back in luck yeah that's incredible just to accomplish that to be from a place where doctors telling you you're a year away from dying to running 50 miles at one time I you know I'm so glad you came on today because I've you know I just

01:01:02yesterday was my nine month anniversary for knocking and I'm you know I'm it's amazing the things the things that I've been discovering about myself but I want to talk about it today because I know there's a we're not at the end of this pandemic I have no idea where we are in this pandemic but I know that there's a lot of people out there there's a lot of funny memes and different things like can we all change the definition of alcoholic after this because we've all been going a little crazy you know and I was one of those people who considered myself to be a social drinker you know I didn't drink in the morning I didn't drink before work and I'm a reward drinker so if I worked a 13-hour day then I feel I really got to have a couple cocktails that was the thing I deserved and you know I didn't realize how much I was drinking you know I had no clue I kind of thought I had the back of my mind I thought hey you know maybe I shouldn't do I drink every night I don't know do I and it started creeping on mine that do I drink too much and I don't I didn't know until until I was sober I didn't realize that till like a few weeks into sobriety when I went oh my gosh there's a lot of times my brain thinks about going to get a drink it was incredible how often that happened but the song somewhere the rainbow in the rainbow to me I wanted to tell this story because it was pretty impactful for me it's where I found acceptance I think that's one of the hardest things for people who don't know whether or not they're an alcoholic or wonder or whatever it's finally that acceptance for me that sent me over the top and it was amazing I was with somebody who very very good friend of mine I was having a very tough conversation with them this person might actually be my guardian angel I don't know but I you never know

01:03:05some of these things but we're having a we're having a pretty big conversation and we had a pretty big realization during this conversation and at that exact moment that we kind of had that this big realization a gigantic rainbow appeared we're sitting outside at a coffee shop and is this amazing rainbow like I've never seen something so bright and so vivid and so clear and it like out of nowhere like it was kind of an overcast day but all of a sudden this just this huge like whoa do you see this rainbow right here this is incredible and it was that moment where I knew that my life had to change and I you know I'm not like a Bible thumping you you know God speaks to me and he told me to do this but there's never been a more moment of clarity that had in my life that God was speaking to me that this was it was like it was the most incredible crazy rainbow I've ever seen and I went you know what this is really God the conversation we were having was so powerful and it was that moment of everything's gonna be okay it was a really weird I felt this peace I felt like the storm was over and there was there was God telling me at that exact moment that I'm gonna be okay and I know what I have to do and I'm not alone it was so it was so crazy because like since that day I've just had this is that day that I went to my first meeting and I kind of identified and I kind of said okay I'm amongst friends here and I'm not alone there's a ton of people out there it's okay like I'm not there's nothing wrong with this admission and I was like for the first time in 25 years I honestly felt

01:05:08accepted for just being me for all the flaws everything that was me I felt it accepted and I like all the stress of that been feeling over the past multiple years it was like it melted away and it was the most amazing feeling that I've ever felt and it was almost like you said I was reborn like that day I got to go okay I get to live my life now going forward with the new level of clarity and it's been the most amazing nine months of my life and it's been amazing it just really has I know you you can probably attest to that how your life has been right oh man I mean it again it gives me primer grain here and here and you share about that because I get to relive going through the same thing and it wasn't it wasn't always easy there have been I know a lot of hardships you know that have come and sobriety and and challenges I guess as well but um but it is just so much better like on so many ways because when I finally accepted okay well I'm I'm not going to make it if I don't do this and and also just really accepting okay I've got a problem I mean I definitely got into a pretty pretty bad place it was it was glaringly obvious to me but I still didn't want to quit drinking because the other side seemed scarier because I get I felt like I couldn't be a musician I couldn't be a friend I couldn't be a partner I couldn't be these things without it because I felt like I don't know there was there was all there all these associations that had to it like the fear of yeah yeah I felt like I'm in this business and how am I going to go to wine tastings now gonna be able to talk to people about alcohol I mean

01:07:10this is it's the social thing and I was going into the holiday season and yeah how am I gonna how am I gonna go to birthday parties how am I gonna do like all these and like which is hilarious because once you get there's just a little bit of time and you're like oh this is just easy you know just don't about I mean it's at the same time it's tricky and it was very very tough tough coming to terms with that and I love I love that story too about about the rainbow and you know that's that's something that's I don't necessarily people will call it the universe God higher power yeah I'm comfortable saying God but this it's there there's there's something there's some of those things that happen sometimes very obvious and pointed like a doctor saying you're gonna die that'll help you make some changes and then sometimes these these things once we clear up our head a little bit and we're in a good place we get these moments and whether it's just very personal to us or anything I've experienced I mean hundreds of moments like where I'm just like was that a coincidence or is that just crazy and like and it's it's a really it's a beautiful feeling there's a sense of of hope and peace I get you know when I experience those things it's a very personal thing too I love it it is I am you know I found meditation as something just like clearing your head and the anxieties I was very anxious after I started I didn't I didn't realize how much drinking was my answer to so many questions what I do about this it's and every time I hear somebody go up that's gonna drive me to drink or I need a drink after that or that kind of thing like it's a it's a real it's a real thing like drinking is the answer for a lot of people to a lot of different questions and I'll never forget I was walking with my sister at the Percy Warner Park you run I hike it's my thing I go I do I go to Percy Warner Park I love it

01:09:12yeah I'm not a runner I got I'm a giant and I have bad knees but I she asked me she said what's the biggest thing that that you've learned it was like we're like eight eight months she was like what's the biggest thing that have you lost like 20 pounds or have you are you rich now like what are what are the things that you've noticed you like all this time on your hands and I said you know the thing to me the most amazing thing so far about not drinking is feeling is feeling everything because I the answer to the question isn't I need a drink the answer to the question now is I have to actually feel this thing and I have to deal with it and I have to process it and I may have to say I'm sorry I may have to like I have to figure out emotions that I numbed for a long time it's been the most amazing journey through empathy and love and pain and just hope and sadness and just all these things that I just I drank myself through and I never felt and now I'm just like I feel like I want to hug so many people that I can't hug now you know have you heard the great one of the greatest things about getting sober is you get your feelings back one of the worst things about getting sober is you get your feelings back it's a I I've heard that from myself I hadn't heard that but it's it's true it's a totally a true story what about for you Westman is there something for you that like over sobriety you've noticed is like the the big thing for you are you rich now are you I'm very the gratitude is like a foundation for everything like outlook and like emotional sobriety is kind of what I aim for rarely do I consider drinking an option every once in a while it'll pop in my head but I I want to be

01:11:18well and in my brain and in my body and that's challenging and this this year in particular it's been it's been very challenging I found year two to be very difficult for a lot of the same reasons you were talking about was accepting feelings realizing how predisposed I am to anxiety and then accepting myself as that because I would kind of force myself into situations maybe a little bit prematurely and I just was not well and then I got really depressed during the which was quite the opposite because the first year was very like I said before it had challenges but it was very exciting physically I was changing I was finding these things I was you know feeling so much better not drifting home over every day but at year two was a lot of acceptance and and it was tough and then realizing that you know I've got to work at certain things that will be a continual thing and that's a number of things I do whether it's exercise or recovery work or therapy or you know just different things I do that keep me challenged and learning and growing constantly so I don't kind of get stale with everything and that's that's that's tricky but a big part of that is also meditation I mean you mentioned that before that has been just a huge part of my life especially when I'm consistently getting up in the morning and doing it you know 10 20 minutes sit and and then running you know that's that's actually one of the reasons I like it so much is the chance for me to kind of go out and and let some thoughts spin around and I can work through things as well as like prime the the emotions and the things I've primed the chemicals in my body that that that bring about happier emotions but uh man gratitude like a getting back around to that it's it's tough to find it sometimes when circumstantially things are changing the world is changing you get wrapped in fear I heard someone say recently we just have we really are looking in two

01:13:21ways we're looking and and fear or self or we're looking out in gratitude and abundance and and when I can catch myself when I'm able to practice looking out with gratitude my life's different I just have a different experience even no matter if circumstantially things are happening in a negative way around me I can feel feel grateful for all that all that I have right now and that's also practice out there's a few friends that I am I nightly I'm on a gratitude list and so I'll I will write down five things that have happened during the day that I'm grateful for and usually when I get up in the morning I'll try to focus or meditate on that as well too and that's that's been a huge one for me and I wouldn't have had that I just I just wasn't capable of thinking that way when I was you know drinking or using all the time I was just I was all about I wasn't like I was even trying but I was very self-absorbed it was just all about I don't want to feel or I do want to feel this way and trying to control that experience through chemicals all the time and now sitting back and accepting and be like okay I can either see things as negative or I can see things as positive and how am I gonna look at it and that's so powerful what you just said I mean just being able to do that especially in a time like right now probably is just an amazing it probably helps you get through every single day I mean there's so much uncertainty in the world and you can look at things in two different ways right now I mean there's a reality of what's happening that you have to deal with but then but identifying things you are grateful for in finding that gratitude has just been it's it's amazing it's amazing what it will do for you what do you do when you meditate because I think a lot of people out there hear the term meditation and I was scared because I didn't know what that meant you know I listened Howard Stern I heard him talk about transcendental meditation I'm like I don't know I don't want to have to get a

01:15:25and I don't know how to do it like it's pretty easy there's a lot of apps out there that will help guide you though teach you how to meditate do you use one of those I have yeah fortunately right just a couple months after I sobered up I found in the fine print of my health care server I didn't have health insurance for most of my adult life previous to this but um I got health insurance also because I was concerned about possibilities for you know some some physical things that had happened from substance abuse but I got health insurance and in the fine print there was a company called Mission Point Health Services they were based over kind of close to the Titans practice field and I found a gentleman there who was a meditation teacher that I got through health insurance and it was incredible so I was like I went to this guy and and he just taught me everything the different types of meditation and we mostly practiced something called Vipassana and then and then see like you could the different ways you can sit or kneel and then just more or less the simplicity of it like the same thing I'm ADD and I'm also very hyperactive and like my thoughts are everywhere so I was like I can't I can't meditate and I that everyone can meditate and even even if I'm meditating every day I'm in a good practice I'm gonna be often thought for 80% of the time I met it but I could think meditation is just going back to the breath it's not it's not trying to stop yourself from following the rabbit hole and then just get back to the simplicity of just breathing being in the moment but yeah and when that started off like I mean I would I would sit for five or ten minutes and maybe one percent of the time you know I was actually kind of focused on my breath but uh that's okay that's still meditation in some ways that's like even

01:17:26more of like a I've heard some people refer to it is like every time you get lost in thought and come back to it it's like you know doing a curl or flexing your your biceps you know you're getting the more more you do it that's awesome man well we've been talking for like an hour and a half if not longer there's so much more to talk about to you I know there is what do you what do you you steer the steer the conversation here what do you want to go towards oh tell tell Jennifer I said hello let's go for a hike yes if you like hot sauce we didn't get a chance to talk about this because this is a food show after all my brother and I have a company called blister hot sauce it is the best damn hot sauce in the world check us out let's talk about your hot sauce this episode brought to you by blister hot sauce that's what I mean it's it's it's fantastic my brother Richie my older brother who's in Street Corner Symphony with you yeah it's an yes yes he came upon this recipe and we've always been big foodies and he I went over his house a couple years ago and he had these two hot sauces green and red and he bought a smoker so he'd smoked peppers and garlic and onions and I was like Richie you know I'm a hot sauce guy and like this is the best hot sauce I've ever had so started selling it and we we started the business last year and then slowly we've been getting into lots of different restaurants around town Fenwick's Mitchell deli butchertown be I just bunch of restaurants around town and then and COVID hit everything sort of stopped for a bit but fortunately now business is really starting to pick back up a lot of its online sales and and local stuff we do

01:19:27free delivery for local for local purchases do you distribute yourself we do at the moment yes so if you're a restaurant out there and you would like to carry blister hot sauce how would they buy it you can just email us blister hot sauce at gmail.com or find us on social media send us a message there blister hot sauce easy easy to find us and we'll help you up we'll give you if you're a restaurant we've got great wholesale prices for you so if you're not a restaurant they'll give you retail prices yeah you know we're always around yeah I have not had it so when we go hiking I will buy a bottle of each because my wife goes through she has two eggs every single morning for breakfast and she puts the green Tabasco sauce if she likes that she's gonna flip out when she tries our green it's yeah you will see my friend it's yeah I don't know what he did when he came with the recipe but he may have sold his soul somewhere on the line but it's so good all right well I am in that sounds awesome we'll definitely do it what else you got I mean I've got so many fun stories I remember being you of that we'll save that for another time well so I always I always have so we'll finish this song and we'll just we'll just cut out but I always let every guest finish the show and I give them the floor and they say hey if you were to speak to Nashville what are your kind of your final monologue what would you like to say to the people of Nashville right now listening to this you got as much time as you want say whatever you want it could be two seconds give me 20 minutes floor is yours and then we'll take out

01:21:28with the song repeating once more if you're having a tough time emotionally you're dealing with addiction or substance abuse reach out hit me hit anyone there's help that change your life it is possible I did not think that was true but it is and everyone else you know that's just dealing with the heaviness of what this year has been a great political divide a you know I'm being stuck in your house and not being able to have physical interaction with people that's that's very heavy know that we as individuals are not all one thing it's so easy for me especially on social media or something like that just to like see someone post something and say that is a bad person because I disagree with them and that is not true and like for me to this is also a practice of my meditation and just mindfulness too is just to be a be a tried to be a person to where I can have a conversation with anyone even if I disagree with a lot of what they believe in we're humans and and most of us have good intentions and I've got to remember that so be kind I know it's a stand up for the things you want to stand up for but don't let that make you totally demonize people simply for one thing so yeah practice practice love and kindness as much as you can and if you do that you will be much happier for it love it yes that's okay yeah buddy let me tune up so this was fun this is a single that just came out I've always loved this song and I was out on tour with another sing-off alumni mr. Avi Kaplan he was in the group Pentatonix I went out with him

01:23:30last year to play guitar and bass in his solo project and he had got a Tyler Ramsey open up several of the shows on the tour and I was just floored Tyler was the guitar player for the group band of horses which great great band but his solo stuff just blew me away one he's he's like one of the more unique guitarist that I've ever heard he's got like this mesmerizing hypnotic sort of style of Appalachian finger-picking Tyler Ramsey check him out but so when I got back home and we kept in touch and then when sort of lockdown happened I started doing all my recording from my house and so he lives outside of Asheville and he you recorded his his guitar part and his guitar arrangement of this song some over the rainbow and then I recorded it upstairs so I will not be able to do any justice to the way he played guitar but I will I will hack through this I'm sure but um yeah this is over the rainbow if you check it out just search for me or Tyler Ramsey There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow

01:25:35The skies are blue And the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true Someday I'll wish upon a star And wake up where the clouds are far behind me Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly Birds fly over the rainbow Why, oh then why can't I If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow Why, oh why Can't I Wow man I'm like trying to I wish I could do that

01:27:39You do my friend, in other ways Wow dude That's so good Thanks for doing this man Buddy, happy to be here Love you, so glad you're taking care of yourself And yeah, thanks for having me on