Storme Warren

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01:10Welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. The tastiest hour of talk in Music City. Now here's your host, Brandon Styll. Hello Music City and welcome to Nashville Restaurant Radio. My name is Brandon Styll and I am your host. We are powered by Gordon Food Service. We will not be joined with our co-host Caroline today. I did this interview solo today as I went down to the 1230 Club to meet with Stormy Warren. Stormy Warren is the host of the Stormy Warren show. It is on the big 615 which is found at tunein.com or tune in app which is Garth Brooks's radio station online and he is the former host of the Stormy Warren show on the highway. The most listened to music morning show in the world. So it was really excited to get to talk to him. He is hosting a writers round every Wednesday at 3 o'clock at the 1230 Club and man that is a beautiful spot. One of my first times to go in there and man it was really just an amazing aesthetic. Food's there. Mike Downing the chef there it does an amazing job but the writers round was really really cool.

02:37This is not like a restaurant show. This episode is not going to be a we're talking about the restaurant. We do talk about the 1230 Club and I recommend that you go there. It's a really nice event spot downtown place to go eat dinner but this is kind of a I'm real curious about country music and I explain in the episode why I'm curious about country music not because we live in music city but there's a lot there's a lot of personal history there and I explained that to Stormy and how he is a part of that. So this was a really special episode for me to be able to do and I'm just excited to share it with you. So it's not a lot of restaurant stuff but this is a this sometimes when you get to a podcast opportunities happen that you really just want to jump on and sometimes I do that because come on this is really fun. This is just a great thing to be able to do. I want to tell you guys real quick the Fanis football show is a lot of fun. I'm in dead last I'm looking up because I'm watching the games right now and if you like the podcast great it's a really fun kind of one-off that Tony and I are doing and we have a lot of fun doing. If you didn't catch last week's episode Max Goldberg joins us on the show to kind of just chat about his team and talk some smack and he makes a bet with Tony so that was a lot of fun and that's what we got today. If you want me to talk about you right now in this opening thing tag us in your post if there's something cool you've got going on in your restaurant some kind of special new happy hour event anything that's going to benefit a charity like the Giving Kitchen. The Giving Kitchen is who we're doing the Fanis football league for. We're excited to partner with them and hopefully raise some money for them. They're an amazing organization doing amazing things for our industry and I couldn't be more excited to help support them. They're not a paid advertiser this is just a I'm on the the middle Tennessee the Nashville engagement council and I'm trying to help get the word out so if you're a restaurant manager out there and you have an employee or you're you need help if you've been injured you can't work and you don't know how you're going to make your rent go check out thegivingkitchen.org they are here to help you. So without further ado I don't have a lot more of announcements today

04:42let's jump in right now with Stormy Warren. Super excited today to welcome in an Ashford Restaurant radio Stormy Warren. Stormy you are now on the big 615 what is the name of your show in the morning is it the Stormy Warren show? It's the Stormy Warren show I'm not a complex guy I mean I could come up with something really clever but it's like if it's simple and people can remember it then that's usually the you know it's like we in the restaurant industry when people over complicate a name of a restaurant that makes it so what is that I mean think about the place where you are right now the 1230 club the most commonly asked question is what the heck does that mean you know it's 1230 somewhere right is that what it means well it's it was themed in Prohibition where it was a gathering of people really cool who still drank a lot and they gathered at 1230 at night so it's an after-hours speak-easy time to start the club. See the storytelling already begins you may know Stormy as he hosted the Stormy Warren show on the highway for 17 years 17 years yeah wow and now you are hosting a singer-songwriter event here at the 1230 club it is stories behind the songs it's an exit 209 podcast songwriter series how hypocritical am I it's called exit 209 the number one question I get what's that well which is well so I'm in Nashville and I know that exit 209 is Broadway yes very good then we are on Broadway right now I love your podcast by the way thanks the idea behind it just the what's your story behind and then making it in Nashville getting off exit 209 and I think it's brilliant was that your idea if the idea was a collaborative effort my wife came up with the name she goes I said I want something tied you know to Rhodes or whatever and just it what is it and she goes well what's the exit of Broadway and I said is that 208 207 if

06:43we looked it up it's 209 there it is exit 209 and every artist that comes to town no matter if they grew up here or they come from another city or state has made a very memorable exit on exit 209 where their dreams were either going to begin or they're going to get crushed or somewhere in the middle but it all began on exit 209 when I was a kid when I was 16 years old I used to get off on exit 209 and drive down Broadway and I would make a left on Second Avenue because that was the only thing that was there and we would cruise yeah and go circles you'd make a left on Union come back around and cruise Second Avenue my jeep you are but it sounds like we did the same thing 44 okay yeah that was a little older all right that's all right well I got to tell you a story the story of how I know you oh good it's like oh shit oh I love this stuff no this is a real story so I am a restaurateur and I lost my job in 2019 I was drinking too much and I lost my job haven't had a drink since then congratulations thank you I I'm not I'm not one of the people who can just have one yeah I understand one of those people well in that as I sit here with my glasses Chardonnay in front of you hey man I've cheers official cheers I got my my Pellegrino well good for you though life is about taking the reins of your own self at some point and so congrats on that it was a it's you know I had this I'm at part of one of my questions later to you is gonna be about tough life moments and I look back on that thing is the greatest thing that ever happened to me sure usually those are the best lessons yeah unfortunately you have to go through them but the result is always more beneficial than it is as long as you're willing to look at the silver lining hundred percent if you take that lesson and you learn from it and you can grow then it's a worthy mistake right that's where I was brilliant in the meantime so this is October of 2019 and I was waiting till kind of the new year kind of looking fielding job offers so I started driving uber and I was I would get up in the morning at four o'clock in the morning and I would drive uber because you would drive me to work I

08:45would be one of the people that would so funny so I'm a service guy so I used to make coffee you in the morning and I asked you specifically for coffee well we get in the car I go would you like some coffee you excuse me I know and I didn't know who you were I didn't do it and I and I should be up more than once and you started really bringing the coffee in and I'm like this is the greatest uber driver ever so I took that moniker as your favorite uber driver 1 billion percent that's me yes well let me shake your hand I was burying the lead a little bit I've wanted to talk to you for a long time because in the car ride that day I told you I said I think a first thing I said are you stormy warn and you're like I am and I said oh you host that music row happy hour thing and you're like no that's the other guy that's a different guy that's my buddy buzz and he does if we see the reason a lot of people get that confused is back in my highway days I was in the afternoons and buzz was in the mornings and we flip-flopped so people could associate the music row happy hour with me still because it began with me okay in the studio welcoming guests in and then when buzz flipped he turned it into a much bigger come on down kind of a atmosphere and that's why they're down at the Margaritaville now well I didn't know anything about it really because I didn't listen to country music I told you in the car that day I said country music to me is like oysters right I said I've tried them a thousand times and I just don't like it and you said listen for ten days straight and I did because the next time you pick me up you said you know what I did and you found stuff you liked I still to this day you know what the craziest thing happened to me because I started listening to country music and I know it from nothing I don't know anything about it but also I realized that I have zero memories around country music I didn't go to a bunch of shows and I was a kid there's and as a newly sober guy it was a god

10:47you didn't have a lot of memories anyway well you know I was able to listen to country music and it was all new to me yeah I didn't have any of these there was no triggers you had a blank canvas and so it was just this whole new life new light in this music and I've fallen so much in love with so much of the music welcome to the family it is there's some really great some stuff I don't like still yeah but you know what I love because I wasn't listening to before books podcasts but really I listen to like here in Nashville listen like lightning 100 that's what I was listening to alt nation on XM was probably my favorite station radio lightning is the best independent rock station in the country they're amazing yes amazing stuff lightning 100 and then lithium on I listen XM is my my thing so but now I've been listening to the big six one five and I'm on tune in by the tune in tune in radio app which is which is fantastic because I love the format that is not just today's country not mainstream see the highway more the highways model and serious XM is brilliant because they have so many facets to their country programming that each one has a specific focus and the focus of the highway is what's happening tomorrow and at the very oldest today and they try to keep it that way and so it's a very narrow playlist of relatively and almost really new artists and things and they do that brilliantly if you want something older you go to the prime country or you go to their other country and that's always worked for them and it's a it's a great model I like one-stop shopping personally and especially as a country fan I'm such a fan of multiple decades of country music that to have a place where they're all celebrated we're still celebrating the artists of tomorrow we're still celebrating the superstars of today but we also don't want to forget the artists that made us country fans in the first place well I'm learning so much because I don't have that history sounds like I

12:48didn't you probably never heard of a Susie Boggess or a Mary Chapin carpenter I've heard of them and I've heard some of those songs because I live in Nashville and have lived here for 35 years but I have never I don't have experience listening to them I've never driven down a country road with the top off my car listening to that music and I do now next homework assignment mark chestnuts greatest hits mark chestnuts greatest hits you got to write that down I'm writing it yeah just a man I heard all my old flames have new names just the other day and I lit up I was just like I have not heard this song in forever and I went man I love mark chestnut I love his voice and I think I told you about an album when we met in the uber called the pilgrim by Marty Stewart that's what I always tell I've listened to that in Colorado like two months ago with my brother driving up to Pike Speaks I did you listen to this album and it was amazing really interesting it's the 45 minute history lesson all music lovers need to learn from and it's Marty Stewart telling a true lifestyle tale it's a it's a concept album of a love triangle and it's a murderer it's got all kind it's got everything in there and it's musically it is a history lesson too because he uses instruments all the way going dating all the way back to Jimmy Rogers and all the way up to the the finest loudest electric guitars of today and very interesting yeah it's it's it's I call it the business card that I hand people who were like in your shoes going I don't know much about country here start here and if you like something on this album you're gonna want to learn more I'm going to definitely check those out yeah I love those recommendations and I you know from somebody who knows they'll give it a shot man good I'm in let's talk about what you're doing here yeah at the 1230 Club with this exit 209 podcast and the singer-songwriter series it feels to me and I want to name this area here today I'm hoping this sticks and I can coin this as my phrase this feels like Bluebird Cafe meets the

14:50music row happy hour with wine like an elevated class a classier version well this place let's let's go ahead and plug the 1230 Club because this is the classiest honky-tonk in all of Nashville and it's more than a honky-tonk it's the best rooftop bar it's the best supper club and best food and downstairs is the most upper-class honky-tonk you'll ever be it's I say it's the honky-tonk you go to where you don't want your feet to stick to the floor and that's a good description it's gorgeous and Jimmy John's Justin Timberlake and the consortium of investors in this place did it right they did not cut a corner it's gorgeous as you can see we're sitting in this private dining room that just the decor the vibe the staff it's and it's it like a Vegas showroom up here on the supper club and they came to me and they said Stormy we want to do something with you in the supper club we don't think we're utilizing it away for Nashville we're utilizing it to entertain our dinner guests but we're not doing something that we feel is unique and in cohesion with what Nashville is all about and so we thought about it and I said why don't we just start with low-hanging fruit I mean songwriter rounds are everywhere but nowhere are we really getting the stories we're getting stories of specific songs but we're not learning about the songwriters journey to how they got to exit 209 and and how the inspiration started where where does someone start to become a songwriter why and what help did they get along the way or did they get any what dreams were crushed what dreams came true and that to me is the best part so it's a combination of the songs and the stories from writers you don't have to know who they are but you know their music yeah and that's the coolest thing and we've had 36 writers come through here so far and they're all the biggest names who've written the biggest hits you've ever heard wow yeah I was I was looking in we've got Brett James Wendell Mobley Lee Thomas Miller yeah Lee Tomar like cannon I mean we have the list of artists

16:53Bridget Tatum has been here we've had Bob Tomlinson Bob DiPiro it just we just had last week we've our last few weeks Aaron Barker he's in the Hall of Fame for songwriting and he wrote so many hits for George Strait like what is it baby blue for George Strait and love without end amen for George Strait and the hit after hit after hit and I sit there as a fan watching these rounds I've got a microphone and I can chime in and ask questions but they're all based on what's happening now there's a little bit of structure to the show but not much and so each show is different as much as it's the same it's different because of the artists because of the stories because of the audience which continues to grow to this day I mean we started we probably had 12 people in this room for the first round and we're like okay well we'll see what happens and it's it's catching on and people are starting to spread the word and we're over a hundred people plus and really can hold about only hold about 150 and once we get to there we're gonna have to start charging we're gonna have to start ticketing it and that's a good problem to have it's a great problem yeah but the meantime so if you want to tap into this thing now now's the good time because you could just walk through the door Wednesdays at three o'clock three to five central time Wednesdays from three to five it's like a pretty happy hour yeah hundred percent and if you work in the music industry or you want to pretend you work in the music industry you just tell your bosses I got this is a thing it's an industry event I got to go down and then you just clock out early and come on down to the 1230 club it's a heck of an idea right there it's not bad you're creating the the doctor's note for that right now this is part of your gig is to celebrate the songwriter BMI the music licensing company was kind enough to honor me with the inaugural ambassador award and that meant the world to me because it meant that they knew that I was there for the songwriter and with that came a lot of trust and responsibility so this is my way of giving back this is my way of celebrating the songwriters I think you answered my question but I was gonna say the question that pro it preemptively was how important is it to share the stories of the songwriters I mean we

18:57hear the artists on the radio all the time singing these songs and I think that in my brain I want to imagine that these are the artists that went through all of the heartache and the hurt and all of the things but the people you're speaking with are the ones who really went through really went through it and wrote these songs and tell me a little bit about that process that you've learned from these people I'm fascinated with it I'm addicted to the songwriter process because it's something I can't do I've written maybe four songs in my entire life with some pretty big songwriters Vicki McGee he and David Fanning and Jeffrey Steele and and I've had a blast doing that but it scares the crap out of me I mean that man I mean I know nothing about music I can't read music I don't know anything about rhythm I don't know a chord on a guitar I'm a word guy so that's what I could contribute but I'm still the it's foreign language watching songwriters do their job I mean it's a complete you know there's the the number system for studio musicians here in Nashville which is unique to any studio in the world studios in the world and that's I couldn't even explain it to you I'm like can you explain that to me because I don't even know instead of music notes it's numbers and diamonds and it's I don't understand it wow I mean I see a piece of paper and in five seconds a studio musician can chart out a song just by listening to the demo of the thing and they're just writing one four three diamond star question mark I don't know it is and I'm just like how do you do what are you reading I don't know and the same thing with songwriters I sit down now I'm thinking very rudimentary and simplistic rhyming and oh wouldn't this word be great and they're like hmm yeah Q Q why don't you just sit there stormy that's why don't you just sit over there well this is one of the things I do when I listen to me cuz country music for whatever it is the storytelling in the songwriting is so good and I hear people singing songs and I kind of understand who writes their own stuff and who doesn't but I'm like the behind the music guy where I start listening I'm like I wonder who wrote that song I want to know what you're on

20:59your way this you're on your way that's what you're doing here and that's and it's I'm warning you it's addictive and it's a as a sober person that you've just traded addictions yeah who likes addictions yeah so you've just traded yours for music which I have both and so yeah me we all have a day we love too much it but the words are my are my thing and when I hear something said a different way or word used a phrase twisted a perspective that I've never seen before in a song like who is it Darius Rucker just released a song it's coming out this week and it's called Sarah and he wrote it with Ed Sheeran and the song is about I've never heard it except from England Dan and John Ford Coley I'd really love to see you tonight that's the only other time I've heard this story in a song and it's called Sarah and it's coming out on his new album called Carolyn's Boy and it's a story of a 13 year old kid falling in love and that kid was Darius Rucker and he fell in love with a girl named Sarah and Ed Sheeran goes well tell me about her and so this whole song is him just thinking and then thinking to himself as a much older man 40 years later going I wonder what she's up to I want to meet her I don't want to marry her I don't want to hook up with her I don't want to try to start a relationship with her I just want to say hi and just see you know is that spark still there is that is that feeling still there is it and even if there wasn't a feeling just in the memory the nostalgia of seeing your first love and I thought this is brilliant I was listening in the shower this morning to Morgan Wallen now I was listening to the as of one thing at a time the devil don't know oh my god with the song right this I'm gonna read the first his lyrics the songs of listeners and this is one of those moments I was like god that's amazing it says there's a bottle on a King James coaster Miller Lite full of cigarettes too drunk to be hungover last night still on my breath there ain't no starting over and this

23:02one never ends I've been trying to drown these demons but damn if they don't swim and I'm just going holy shit like who wrote like that is really yet that sounds like a hearty song to me but well I just just those words there's a bottle on a King James coaster me and everybody with the Bible on the side of the bed with a Miller Lite with the cigarette butts and you just you can just my Bible my Bible has rings yeah you know from the bottom of the wine glass you know it's it's it's so true and that's what Nashville is built on they always say it's a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning and that's what this town is there's more churches in this town than there are bars and yet till still today probably not that may have changed while you're talking about Morgan Wallen one of my favorite lines of all time we could go down this rabbit hole for a very long time I don't know if you have a short time for me but a long time for you but the song that Eric Church wrote by himself and gave to Morgan Wallen and it's on the double album and it's called quit in time yeah and it's one of my favorite lines I've ever heard he goes I can tell by the tears not in your eyes it's quit time see I get emotional because that song to me oh it's so hot like there's so many things about Morgan Wallen to me like in his he's he's such an absolute star I mean he's he's there but like he knows songs good man and it quit in time is just really one of the greatest songs I've ever heard and Eric out of the kindness of his soul was beautiful enough to go oh yeah you want to hear the demo and he sent me the demo of quit in time and it Eric's version if you like Morgan's version and nothing against Morgan his version is great Eric is so raw and real and you just hear the feeling of where that song truly came from you could tell it was like if it wasn't about his wife during a real bad period in their marriage it's as close as you could get to being that I don't know it's but it's that power and I can tell by the tears not in your eyes it's quit in time 100% man I there's a little

25:05gosh I could go into Morgan Wallen for a while just mean there's so many I'm so glad back and forth I know you guys are friends right yeah I absolutely we've been friends friends day one I haven't I just the hearty that I hear on the highway or I mean I really not your jam have it well no no it's not not my jam I just I'm really into Old Dominion and I will tell you good choice the old some horses holy cow well for me being somebody who made massive mistakes we all have and have had to say you're sorry and hope that some people do accept that apology that song the first time I heard some people do I had to pull the car over and I just literally just sat there and I cried it was like I've never had like a song just pierced through my heart sometime during this podcast I'm gonna burst out in tears I'm right there I don't know what emotional level I'm on right now but I'm right there I'm teetering it but that's what this music does yeah that's what that songwriting does it's it's powerful hits you like that that is like the it's like the most addictive drug you you can't mainline that feeling no of when you hear a line for the first time or a song that changes your soul and you just go oh my god Lee Bryce boy oh I have two boys that are eight and ten and so the first time I played that for my dad one day we went to here it comes we went to dinner and I played it for my dad in the car and I was fighting it hard and I look over at him and he's got tears on his face and I go this is this is some of the music I'm into my dad's a music guy he's been the industry for his whole life he was a publisher in the Christian music business and it was just it was a powerful to share that with my dad because he never listened to country he was a you know classic rock guy and it just I've turned on other people now yeah some of these specific songs have you heard Panama City yet by Lee Bryce no write that one down you talk about

27:05nostalgia with young love reflecting back on a trip to Panama City with one of his teenage girlfriends Club La Vila oh my god yeah exactly and it just is absolutely just a treasure this song is so good I like Lee Bryce is great I love gosh I love so many of the artists that are out there right now just the female side Ingrid Andress is brilliant she is she is absolutely Ashley cook brilliant I'm really interested right now in Megan Maroney because she is a she has a voice and a way of writing words and really pulling on the emotions that I haven't heard in a while she's really good she is she's the Tennessee Orange song yeah does the song I really know I haven't dealt with her catalog and I'm gonna just spill the beans here cuz she is it is it a Morgan Walton thing yes but she doesn't like the song and not because it's a Morgan Walton thing she thought it was a stupid song and she was mad at his co-writer David Fanning who produces Parmalian as a songwriter really he's had the string of number one hits for so many artists and he's like Megan this is a number one song she goes doesn't mean I like it and he's like just trust me on this please it's gonna be and sure enough it goes number one and she's like all right I guess I like it I guess I'll sing it a whole bunch of times for the rest of my life absolutely gonna be what I'm known for right now these stories that you'll hear at the 1230 Club at exit 209 but it's also the stories that I'm addicted to the most just tell me how this song was written tell me where it came from like and how a song can twist meanings right before your very eyes like Jeffrey Steele wrote what hurts the most for rascal flats well it's the most and he wrote it about his dad not being able to say the things he always wanted to say and then he lost his son at 13 in an ATV accident so now it's no longer about his dad but it's about his son Alex and you get me to cry I can't even fathom no and we went through it the very first time he performed that song after his son passed away he had a bottle of Jack Daniels on a piano at 3rd and Linsley shit-faced I

29:09mean could barely see straight bloodshot eyes tears constantly just flowing sweat coming off his hair and he gets through that song and it's done it'll kill you kill you and he's my favorite songwriter period he wrote my all-time favorite song trying to find it when people say what is your favorite song of all time trying to find it one artist had the balls enough to try to record it and it was Pat Green and he'd even say that he didn't do it justice only Jeffrey Steele can do this song I think Lee Bryce might be able to pull it off but Jeffrey Steele is really the only person to pull it off and you're about the year we're in the same age range it's our theme song for dudes our age it is one it's what you went through in 2020 2019 it's what we go through in relationships it's would go through mistakes and you're trying to find the answer oh come on and that's that's that's that's what I think we're all I think is mature search that's what we're trying to do we're trying to get better every day which is why some perfect people this is why you love some people do now you've got to listen to some horses and then here's your homework assignment which came first some people do or some horses in the timeline of the story which came first some people do or some horses well see I find that way with Morgan Wallen yeah the the what came first chasing you or more than my hometown so it sounds like more than my hometown it would he's like look my hometown is more important and she's gonna go off to the big city lights and then also and now he's chasing him back to the big I don't know where that I was like which one is written before which Brad Tersey with Old Dominion I pose that question to him and he goes oh my god I never thought about that and he goes well it would have to be some people but no it could go both ways some horses do some horses do that's the way it works it will put that out there to your listeners what is which comes first some people do or some horses from Old Dominion we're

31:10gonna take our first break to hear a word from our sponsors hey guys we are supported by Sharpier's Bakery and we've been supported by Sharpier's Bakery for the last year and I tell you I couldn't be more proud of this partnership guys they're a locally owned and operated bakery right here in Nashville for the last 36 years yes they deliver fresh baked bread daily to your restaurant's back door and man is it good you want to know what kind of bread they make go check them out at Sharpier's Bakery.com that's C-H-A-R-P-I-E-R-S Bakery.com so they have over 200 types of bread and if you're wondering well hey look it's a special recipe that I like to use that you know we bake it in our house and it's just it's a kind of a pain but we like to do it they can take your recipe and make that bread for you without any of the hassle the mess the labor they'll just deliver right to your door every single day it is freshly baked they love to give you a tour of their facility give Erin Mosso a call her number is 615 319-6453 you should do it now we are supported by Robbins Insurance a local insurance agency providing customized insurance policies sound guidance and attentive service Robbins Insurance is the go-to agency for hospitality professionals in Nashville listen Robbins knows how hard industry professionals work every single day they also know how devastating accidents can be be it a grease fire that damages the kitchen a severe storm that cuts off power or a customer slip-and-fall incident both the extensive experience and the savvy to create a policy that protects your business from accidents like those you can rest easy knowing that your work you've put in will not be for nothing visit Robbins website at Robbins ins.com to request a consultation or call Matthew Clements directly his number is 8 6 3 4 0 9 93 72 protection

33:12you can trust that's Robbins when you hear that sound it's probably too late you need a guy I want to be your guy I'm Kevin with course and fire and security and I'm a restaurant territory account manager you know who's doing your inspections at your restaurant please reach out to me at 6 1 5 9 7 4 2 9 3 2 I don't be glad to come out and take a quick look and look at all your fire safety inspection needs if you're building a restaurant we can help with that too as far as kitchen suppression fire extinguishers emergency lights we do it all one stop one shop call Kevin at 6 1 5 9 7 4 2 9 3 2 let me be your guy Nashville you know I I'm gonna pivot a little bit I love to kind of listen to country music because I've lived in Nashville for 35 years and I mean total Nashville guy like I guess grew up 30 years ago driving Second Avenue that's the Nashville sure when I was a kid that I kind of remember you had to drive fast through lower Broadway because it was downright dangerous it was it was not what it is today but I I love hearing little tidbits about Nashville that I know in songwriting and I love listening to the exit 209 podcast because a couple nights ago you could hear on tunein.com yes very nice and on the job in it so I was listening to your interview with well now I'm drawing a blank on her no no no she's the Carly Pierce Lainey Wilson Lainey Wilson so last the other night my washing machine broke in my house I hate that I get an error code f2 moment of silence yeah guys he won't be able to make it till Monday to fix it but it was a drain pump wasn't it it was the it was the drain pump I promise you it was something so I bought the thing 13 months ago and the warranty went out 12 I make it's the dream like this is a Maytag it's 13 come

35:14and own this thing can fix it so I had to go to the laundromat my wife had a full load of all of our towels in the house were in the thing wet when it broke so I had to go to the laundromat in Bellevue which is right across from the McKays in Bellevue I'm listening to the Lainey Wilson interview at the laundromat is it weird to you to know that people listen to you talk while they're at the laundromat it's weird I try not to think about it a lot because I just want to have conversations that I would want to listen to and if I'm doing that that's a that's as far as I want to think into it now if I'm making if I'm doing that that I'm hoping I'm making a connection yeah like with you and if if not I'll know it in the conversation I'm like nope nope well I'm listening to this interview and she says well I've been here 12 years I'm gonna do your accent yeah and she has a really good other accent yeah but she said she was living in a van like a motorhome kind of a thing on her producers front lawn which was right behind the McKays in Bellevue right there and I'm sitting in this this laundromat and I'm looking at McKays and look at Maloy David Maloy is that the one I think so I don't know who maybe it was but I'm just thinking like this the stuff we're talking about is very if you if you're not living in Nashville and you're like is that really like a yes Bellevue I'm at the laundromat across the street from McKays I'm listening to the show she used to live right there in that part like right there like and you're just it's that close to home these stories it's not some far-fetched these people are coming from Chris Christopherson literally and really stole an Air National Guard helicopter and delivered a demo tape to Johnny Cash's front yard via helicopter I did not know that that is true and it was I think it was Sunday Sunday morning coming down was the song Wow yeah so I mean these stories are real you can't make now some probably are a little more embellished over the years I mean maybe

37:17he drove up in a Jeep I don't know but I like the helicopter story I'm like I don't know does he know how to fly a helicopter that seems like that would be the Air National Guard so he did know how to do it he just didn't have permission to borrow it worked out well for him I guess it did Mike it was that podcast she said that she was um she was a Hannah Montana impersonator yeah earlier on her career and she would play for eight-year-olds and then she would play in a nursing home and I remember I was writing this down because she said and that really you said but that helped you for your audiences learning how to play for your audiences anything in your past in your childhood anything that you did that prepared you that you didn't realize that prepared you to do what you do today I mean I am one of those people I don't know why I don't know how but I knew what I was gonna do from as old as I could walk or talk or whatever I was obsessed with the voices on the radio so I practiced it in single digits of age I was practicing recording doing interviews and doing radio shows I had my dad was a lawyer and so he had a dictation machine on reel-to-reel tape with a little cheesy microphone and I would sit there and do my own radio shows at less than nine ten years old and I still have some of those tapes but I would just practice it listen to the radio try to duplicate it and then I got my first job in radio at 13 in Tulsa Oklahoma for 14k at 13 at 92 K yeah Mel Myers took me in as a program I thought he was like 80 years old at the time it turns out he's only ten years older than I am but he to me seemed like such a guru okay and he saw a lot of himself in me and he goes come on in I got you and gave me a shot and one of the albums he gave me because he I was too young to be paid so he paid me in concert tickets and promo albums and I thought which is the best currency when you're that age best currency I wouldn't I wouldn't want money who cares about money I'm gonna buy concert tickets we just skipped the middleman yeah and one of them was a interview media kit on vinyl for Phil

39:18Collins and it was called Collins on Collins and on one side there was an interviewer and Phil Collins and it's the whole complete interview you flip it over it's just Phil Collins answers so that radio stations could make their own personal interviews with their own talent and it sounds like they got time with Phil Collins I mastered that album I must have done that interview 2700 times and that's where I learned how to interview that's how I learned the flow of an interview that's how I learned reaction to questions and the right ones to ask so the right ones to an illicit response and I studied that thing time and time again I still have the vinyl I still have a picture of it on my phone you're talking about those reminder things this that album cover will always remind me where the love started from that's amazing I still have never met Phil Collins but I feel like I have I think yeah one day you will I think that you've got to put that on your interview Phil Collins for real do this I mean it's it's it's destiny let's put that energy out into the world right now destiny Phil Collins you're listening I know you're listening right it wasn't just any artist not only that I was absolutely obsessed with Phil Collins and I still am I think he's a musical genius and songwriter and guy Genesis although I saw those concerts more than I've seen any other artist really Genesis and Phil Collins solo and I got to the point where I got bored asking the right question so I started to trip up Phil Collins on his recorded answers by asking answers you're asking questions that would sound ridiculous with the answers that you could give so you've interviewed people your entire life you were on great American country you had a show I'm gonna tell you the name of the show it is called headline country headline country that's what it was called and you did that from 2003 to 2014 yeah been interviewing people your

41:23whole life and now you have a podcast now you have the big 615 on tune in radio podcast tunein.com or the tune in app tunein.com or the tune in app there we go got that for you do you still get amped I mean is it what how do you prepare do you do you still because this to me feels like therapy sometimes this is my therapy this is so fun for me this is this what we're doing right now is therapy and I usually don't like sitting on this side of the mic I'm having a blast today so thank you you're doing a great job well thank you and you are you're touching on all kinds of fun stuff that I'm like yeah yeah yeah and it and that's the buzz you look for and that's a buzz I look for in an interview when I'm on your side and it's it's like fishing and you sit there and cast a line and you cast a line and when you finally catch the Lunker you just don't reel it in fast and you just show in that zone and you just figure out where that fish is gonna take you because it'll take you in places you've never If you're smart enough not saying I'm smart but if you're wise enough to follow the natural progression of the conversation and not force a left turn yes too early or too late and to me it's the dance of it you hear musicians always say they're in the pocket meaning they're all working together and they it's just this hum of perfection when they're all playing the same notes at the same time and an interview is that kind of a dance and I feel it when like I did one the other day with Luke Grimes he plays Casey Dutton Yellowstone and he did fantastic but I thought I was just off and I was just like and I'm really critical of myself and I was like and I had people coming to me that was one of the most amazing interviews ever and I'm like mmm just a hair just a hair and not quite there even though the content was I haven't listened back to it but they said it was great and yet I did one with Darius Rucker this morning and I jumped out of my chair after it was over going that's it that's the one that's the moment that is like that was top to bottom the coolest conversation

43:27you could have and that is the buzz I get that's that's why I keep doing this this if I didn't start exit 209 I don't know where I'd be passion wise after so many years and what I was asking you yeah after so many years of doing this of announcing songs short sound bites with artists hosting events which is hosting events is my other buzz by the way but there was something missing and it was the long-form conversation and to go backwards where you're talking about where does this come from in college I worked for CNN in Los Angeles cameraman a cameraman very good you did your research cameraman a studio you know assistant studio director I did audio I did do everybody in the small LA office of CNN did everything yeah so if somebody was a man down you did that job and it was the best learning experience of my life especially when Larry King came to town the late guru of interviewing yeah and he I just learned by osmosis being his stage manager I'd run his little earpiece up the back of his shirt and he he had his the neck on that shirt was so tight that I would have to run it up his wrinkly back and then I'd have to get it underneath the neck collar and it would never fit and he would sit there hunched over going the visual it's just it I'm just like oh god and then he'd ask a question of he goes why do you wonder whatever we doing he's really nice but grumpy guy and I learned watching him do interviews and I said you never really have notes he goes why would I have notes why would I know more about the person I'm interviewing than my audience it the best way I can do my job is off I'm curious if you already know all the answers why are you doing the interview that was my biggest mistake when I started we all did it I made the mistake with Garth Brooks with Charlie Daniels Charlie Daniels by my idol my hero the reason I'm in Nashville my very first interview at CNN and I had a whole

45:27legal pad full of notes and basically every question completely written out and I held it in front of my face during the interview and I'm like so Charlie you play a pretty good fiddle right and but he would answer the questions knowing that I was young and stupid like Walter Cronkite or Dan Rather was doing the interview and it allowed me to continue and very kind of gift I go back and listen to my early shows I have such an agenda to start tell me about the time that you opened this restaurant and what did you do and then they would answer and I would be so concerned with and asking my next question that you'd never even listen to the answer I go back I'm like bones bones that are left for you to pick up and you've never picked up that is tonight it's that's so bad tonight of people for people who do what we do and Garth Brooks was the king of playing with me he knew I was chasing the bones so you purposely leave them disguised and so I had to find the bones in the middle of the moment to be able to pick up and I got me an example oh yeah I said so you got some new music coming out and he goes yeah man it's got it you know new is an interesting word new interesting word it's new but it's familiar and he goes yeah and it's got a few friends it's got a few friends he rerecorded Friends in Low Places with George Strait and a bunch of other artists in low places right so it's like yeah it's new yet familiar and then I gathered a bunch of my friends and how did I not go oh my god you rerecorded Friends in Low Places instead he came up to be the next episode because you totally missed that I throw things you know and I miss a Garth Brooks bone and it's and we spar in an interview I mean sometimes he loves being interviewed by me and sometimes he's like oh god this is this is gonna be a pain in the ass he's gonna try to get me somewhere he's gonna try to in really his job is just to get his message

47:30across and I'll throw something in his face and he'll just go and it'll trip up a little bit and if I could do that I've done my job I'm glad you brought up Garth Brooks because my boss you were the king of the the highway was with such a big I mean your Stormy Warren show it's the largest morning show in the most listen world most listen to music morning show in the world and I mean that's congratulations thanks that's amazing it was a team effort I mean I just happened to be at the right place at the right time but we did have a great following MC was great yeah and the new girl which was just may see banks he has Macy Macy she just had a baby just had a baby she's great congratulations there was a transition there I saw on social media I follow you on social media that something was happening and then it was Stormy's leaving and then a couple days later you're going to the big 615 on tunein.com the tune-in app and how did that how did that happen I mean you say when Garth Brooks called but like yeah just inside baseball after 17 years I was at the end of a three-year contract and we were in negotiations and I won't go to full details of those sure we were in negotiations to renew the contract and we're like okay and you know things were going fine fine fine I mean it's no nothing wrong just fine yeah and you know all prepared to you know either reluctantly or willingly continue on and my contract had actually expired so I was on a month-to-month you know contract with sure with the station and during that time that window a free agency I got a phone call from or text from Garth and he said hey ma'am would you wake up give me a call I said I'm doing a morning show he's like oh yeah I forgot he didn't forget and then that's a four o'clock call if you want when I wake up exactly and so I called him back after the show and I said hey because hey pal so I'm starting this radio

49:31network on tune in do you know what tune-in is I said oh yeah that's on my phone I listen to a lot of sports on it and I'm a big fan he goes oh good good good so I don't have to explain that I said no I'm starting a series of channels and the first one is going to be called the big 615 and I'm just I know you're you're locked in over there at Sirius XM but do you have any names you would steer my direction of who could help with that and jokingly I kind of went well I am at the end of a contract he goes oh you are I said yeah and he goes well that cuts about 30 minutes off this conversation why don't you just come on over and I went okay and it was that quick of a decision I mean people go people are looking for some dirt and some nastiness in this and I love my friends at the highway they took care of me for 17 years and I think I did a good job taking care of them and it was a very symbiotic relationship which I enjoyed immensely but it was not only was it just a contract you know that we were trying to work out but it was also my soul I was trying to work out I mean it was time for just a shift and and I remember saying those words to the higher-ups there I said sometimes it's just time and I didn't announce to them where I was going I didn't actually know for sure if I was going there pretty sure but nothing was signed and no nothing in concrete and they said can you wait 30 days I said I don't know if we can and but it ended up we waited 30 days honored their request and we went off and off and running with the big 615 and I think it is one of the greatest moves I've ever made because we're a global station we were North America at Sirius XM and we really created a family of country music fans you'll hear weather from Taipei I'm doing all kinds of wild stuff and we're hearing I mean we opened up an email hey stormy attune in calm by the way and we're hearing from every country every city you could think of that people are listening around the globe and they're like thank you for bringing American country music to us in Taipei or Guam or South Africa or Australia or Finland or if on a fishing boat the time bandit

51:36from Dane Deadly's catch the boat the dead the time we got an email from the the captain of the time bandit just saying man thank you so much for the for the big 615 and it really puts it into perspective that we are talking to people that we are connecting with people and it makes the world a much smaller place Garth and I sat down it goes what's your goal I said to make the world a smaller place and he goes amen because it's the only thing we're supposed to do we're supposed to take care of each other and make the world a smaller place and this station allows that to happen through country music man I love that that's just congratulations thank you it's so much fun for you I mean selfishly we're toddlers I mean we are literally just learning how to walk right now and so the future is just and when you have a guy like Garth Brooks with his heart his passion his wisdom his knowledge and his experience he knows how to make things successful I mean you can't track records pretty good and so I mean I don't know if I would have made this decision this early or that quickly if it wasn't Garth if we have a 30-year relationship and I trust him implicitly and I think he has the trust in me so it made it in much easier decision and I know he's not gonna let this do anything but succeed and it's gonna be a fun ride to watch I think with you at the helm I don't know how it can not succeed oh you watch I can scuttle a ship at a heartbeat we are gonna finish this episode right after these words from our sponsors before we get out of here guys want to tell you about Cytex if you offer Lenin's if you have bar towels first-aid kits tablecloths uniforms they really do everything and guys if you right now are working with a linen company that isn't Cytex let me tell you you need to take a look at Cytex their quality is second to none their service is second to none my favorite thing about Cytex is that if

53:38they say they're gonna do it they do it and they actually care about my customers as much as I care about my customers it's not all about their pars and what they can do they genuinely care and I love that if your linen company if you don't feel that way about your linen company you need to give Ross Chandler a call his number is 270-823-2468 that is Cytex so excited today to tell you all about Jason Ellis and Super Source if you are somebody out there who has a dish machine you need chemicals Jason is your guy does he make you sign a seven-year contract no do you have to sign a one-year contract no no contracts whatsoever he's gonna come in and earn your business every single week I always say when I have guests here in the studio the first thing they say is oh you work with Super Source I love those guys they're the best Jason Ellis is the man and you too could work with an amazing guy like Jason Ellis you gotta call him his number is 770-337-1143 I'm also gonna include all of the numbers and contact information for every single person that is an advertiser in the show notes we would love for you to contact them and tell them Nashville restaurant radio sent ya well I will I know you got to start this show in like 10 minutes so some of the writers walk in this is gonna be cool we got Lauren Watkins we got John Prine Lauren Watkins yes she kind of sounds like is she she brand new and she has a song that's like yes she kind of sounds like what's the woman these intensity orange Oh Megan Maroney she kind of has a very much of Megan Maroney sound that's funny my son said the same thing he's in the business now and he said did I think it's kind of a Megan thing I said yeah it's very close I was listening to that I thought it was Megan Maroney she's like 23 years old she's really good yeah Tommy really good

55:40Tommy Brian John Prine sons 27 and then we have Charlie Worsham who is maybe the best musician in this town really and songwriter and artist and friend of artists he's in Dirk Spentley's band he's been a journeyman when it comes to a studio musician a songwriter and an artist for 20 years and he's got a brand new album coming out of duets of just collaborations with artists and he's gonna be here today too so it's it's a bit of it's Americana week it's you know whatever it is it's pilgrimage fest and all this so it's a great chance for us to stray away from our normal pattern of just songwriters who have written songs for other people and focus on really cool artists in their own right and so that's what we're doing today in the 1230 we have two that one thing I'm gonna have a final kind of a quick statement and then the end of my show every time we do the Gordon food service final thought I love that you get to say whatever you want to say I don't whatever whatever it is you want to say you get to take us out some eyes whatever you want just whatever you want to say okay but I want to say you inspired me earlier on in the pandemic I was listening and I think there was a one segment in between where you said this is kind of a crazy moment because you can it's almost like you're a caterpillar going into a chrysalis yep which is this lockdown you're going in and when you come out you can either be a monarch butterfly or you can be a moth yeah right and I thought that was so brilliant and the day the pandemic started was my episode one I've done three hundred fifty episodes and I feel like I took I listened to that and I go what an amazing opportunity we all have to reset and take to the next we all make choices and it inspired me and I want to say thank you for those little moment man and now you get to do the Gordon foods of his final thought that moment inspired me as well so I mean I think we all if we chose to we chose to use it as fuel and not something to weigh us down unfortunately a lot of people are suffering through some real serious mental health issues right now from that I don't want to leave them out of the

57:40equation because not everybody could make that shift and if you were able to good on you and if not it's not too late I want to tell them even though the pandemic is basically wrapped up and gone sort of whatever it is back yeah who knows it's not too late it's not too late to grab the reins and get the help you need or if you need it or if you just need to look in the mirror and kick your own ass and and and find a new direction it's not too late so I will leave you with this thought this is a perfect segue after route 91 the shooting in Vegas which I was standing on the stage and is obviously the most horrific moment of my life and there's nothing like it and how do you get through that how do you recover from that mentally and a lot of people are still struggling and I'm still struggling I do a lot of therapy I mean that's why the emotions are always right at the surface for me now because I allow them to be you were on the stage when that happened the shooting the bullets going through the stage and hitting the people that yeah it was horrific I mean it's absolute there's a documentary called 11 minutes yeah I need to watch that it's unfortunately you probably can only watch it once it's that powerful but it's worth it if you if you wanted to know what that was really like that's heavy but it's it's really good but during my therapy I was venting about just things tugging at my energy you know when I didn't have any I was barely able to get out of bed let alone come down to the Bridgestone Arena and put on a live morning show and like nothing had ever happened so I had to go hey welcome to the show whoa meanwhile I'm just like I can't even think straight you know I was just numb and she goes all right you need to shed what is sucking your energy and I said okay how do I do that she goes it's people I said what do you mean because there are people that you don't even know are stealing your joy and your energy so what you have to do is close your eyes here you go go ahead exercise close your eyes got it you were in a boardroom in a tall high-rise in New York and you were the CEO of your company not a company company CEO of your life you are the the president and CEO of

59:47your life look who you have given power to at that boardroom table in your life it could be a boss it could be a best friend it could be an ex-girlfriend it could be your brother it could be your sister it could be your aunt cousin it could be just an old friend that just sucks the joy out of your life but they're still in your life that you because you gave them power it doesn't mean you have to get rid of them in your life you just have to take the power away from them and keep retain that power for yourself because if you don't that drain is just gonna continue and you're gonna allow that joy to leave you and you think you're doing a good thing by keeping that relationship the way it is but no you're not helping anybody including that person and I've done it with some people really close to me and it was hard but it turned out to be the biggest release and the most cathartic thing I've ever did and now I noticed the energies back so be your own CEO and kick the people off the board that don't belong and who takes their place if anyone who have you not given the right power to so that is the beauty I wish I could steal that as my own but that is from Sharon my therapist God love you you got me through this thing Stormy Warren thank you so much for everything that you do and for taking the time today to talk to me this is fantastic one last question one last question what's up what's your favorite restaurant in Nashville besides my own what is yours now I have three mayor bowl oh that's right Green Hills Grill we just opened Chagos Cantina on Belmont Boulevard reopen Chagos I love Chagos it's Sunday we just opened it we're day three this is this will come out next Monday but so Green Hills Grill across the street right Green Hills yeah right Green Hills yeah but it used to be on the other side it's the new one I went there yeah I didn't know that was yours that's what's I'm the director of operations for all those locations and then we have Maribou and Brentwood and then Chagos is brand I'm heading there after this and you still got the chicken tortilla soup so that's oh yeah every day chicken tortilla soup and we do the Maribou she crab bisque there on Friday that's so do you remember Club Maribou

01:01:52oh when I was on second stairs yeah like the Jack Legs speakeasy after Club Maribou they had the great R&B jazz bands down there that were just oh man now that was an era way before my time I love if I fast my favorite restaurant in town there's so many amazing restaurants in the city for a sandwich in town if you're just eastside bond me I've never been there is hands down the side is a foreign country to me eastside the wash it in their East Nashville with I've been there eastside pho and there's Sweezy and there's there's so many amazing places a foreign language now over here in the Joseph Hotel there's Yolan you've been to y'all I've not been to y'all got I'm feeling the best restaurant in the city anything Sean Brock does is always amazing best hamburger in the city is probably the redheaded stranger makes a green chili cheeseburger that is the best hamburger bad luck Burger Club if you can find out wherever they are they do amazing things Cletus on all hit on Elmhill Pike doesn't make there's so many amazing restaurants in Nashville and there's and there these are all locally owned and operated these are not chains by the way the 1230 Club really good and the 1230 Club I mean the Supper Club is pretty spectacular I gotta give a little plug out there yeah and chef Mike Downing over here does a great he's great and they love they love what they do here and that's great and they are the only thing I'm gonna leave you with it's my favorite read my wife and I we go totally old-school the poem well the poem where it was in the past it was it just unfortunately they changed ownership and oh and it was a little bit of transition and do you have a picture on the wall I do okay I still love it I still go there the nostalgia sure me because it was my watering hole that was my office and it still is to this day so we're dating again what's the new spot I broke up with the poem and now we're dating again okay so it's not a new spot it's actually a very old spot but I still think it's the the most underrated restaurant in Nashville to this day Sperry's Sperry's is an absolute classic it's a treasure Al

01:03:53Thomas Sam Sanchez Bob Tappen some amazing guys over there and now they got the win in Cool Springs I'm so happy right by your house I know I drove by your house last night my kids play soccer right over there on the fields on the on the soccer the other day but I am yes Sperry's the salad bar the whole thing great great restaurants you're coming if you're here Sperry's and they're bananas foster made at your table and it's like a casino in there there's no windows there's no clock they're both they're both modeled almost identical so if you walk in Cool Springs it feels like you're in Bellmead yeah what time is it do I have to do a show yeah you gotta do a show in like five minutes holy stormy thank you for being here man we'll talk to you soon thank you again to stormy Warren for joining us here on Nashville restaurant radio I am always like scared when that question is asked what's your favorite restaurant because there are so many amazing local restaurants here in Nashville the one thing if you're first-time listener and you you're learning about Nashville music and Nashville restaurants find a local restaurant when you come to Nashville find somebody that's locally owned and operated if you see a chain don't go there go somewhere that is unique to what we do that is where you're going to find the best experience in Nashville all the restaurants I mentioned previously in this episode are all locally owned and operated restaurants but there are so many more go back and look over our catalog of our episodes that we have and you will see so many amazing amazing restaurant owners and you can hear their stories we would love if you're coming to Nashville that you support those people that is what makes Nashville Nashville and makes us special so thank you for listening and we will talk to you soon hope you guys are being safe out there love you guys bye