00:00
In those early stages, we would, I would print out like these little cards, almost like business cards, and I just had my picture and on the back it would say, download a free song. If you follow me, here's the link basically. And I would like DM these links out to download a free song on Reverb Nation. Once you go to a label and you're on a major label and a label like Universal or Big Machine or Sony, is going to put out your first single on country radio. And that's the first thing you've ever done. It already.

00:27
kind of come is like a facade to people that really dig into it. Whereas if you've already really built grassroots with people and you have a network, social network and a foundation already, um, people believe it more.

00:46
You're listening to the Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. Hey man, if you've been checking my playlist, if you've been, if anyone that knows me, they know I'm a country music guy, so I'm gonna get as many country music stars as I can, and I got my favorite guy right now, Tyler Rich. What's up, brother? What's up?

01:16
Thanks for having me, man. Yeah, man. I was excited. I like, I was like, I'm gonna DM Tyler. I've been, I know you're busy. You're back on the road. We'll talk about that, but loving the newest hits, which we'll talk about. And I was like, damn, I'm gonna get this guy. I know you've got an interesting journey. Just super thrilled to have you on the show. Thanks, man. I'm excited. It's different than the normal type of podcasts I do. So I'm excited about this. Cool, man. Well, let's just start down the road.

01:44
We'll get into some of the latest hits and all that stuff that what's going on today. But I do want to just talk about, you know, your journey and your background and all the nitty gritty for kind of coming up and, you know, building a career in country music and everything behind that. So maybe let's just start down down that road. Yeah, man. So I born and raised a little town called Yuba City, California. A lot of people always like if California man, why do you like country music?

02:13
Usually people that say that have never been to actual California. They've only been to Disneyland or LA and whatnot. Where I grew up is one of the agriculture capitals of basically the entire West coast. And it's just, so I was raised around country music and farming and all that stuff. Just fell in love with the songwriting and country music when I was a kid. And pretty much, you know, anybody in my age range of 35. So we all had, you know, from like Brooks and Dungarth, Brooks, George Stray, Alan Jackson, all that kind of stuff to really suck us in. And then.

02:44
Being from California, I was also a massive fan of every other genre of music because I was surrounded by, grew up pretty close to the Bay Area, as soon as Bay Area hip hop to rock, you know, Metallica was from there, Deftones was from Sacramento, Pop Orocha was from Sacramento, all these places I grew up around. And so I had all these really cool influences growing up and dove into guitar and bands and all that stuff when I was in high school and then my early 20s and then all of a sudden, you know, guys like Keith Urban and...

03:13
Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, all that stuff. When I was departing from the band I was in and it was just gonna be me and my guitar and I was gonna be a singer songwriter, I was like, what do I really wanna do? And country was just that obvious, I wanna write songs about where I grew up, what I grew up around, who I grew up with and the ex-girlfriends I can't stand, and all these realistic stories of where I grew up and whatnot. Your favorite beer and yeah.

03:43
The long, the used to Mo. Exactly. You know, and country sets you up so nice for, um, to be as honest, painfully honest as you want to be, you know, and, and, uh, my uncle that taught me how to play when I was a little kid, it was, it was always country. You know, it was just him, myself, two guitars, him and a couple of friends, their guitars, we would just sit around for hours, uh, playing music. And so that's really when I fell in love with the song and country songwriting. And so, yeah, I just graduated after doing music. So I went back to school.

04:13
I got a degree in economics for some reason, crazy, off the wall. Perfect. Perfect match with country music. Yeah, I know exactly. I think, yeah, I think I needed something to get my mind off of this thing. I'd been chasing for so long and take a break. And, and so I went back and I finished. And then when I was done with that is when I moved down to LA from, I graduated from Sacramento state and then moved to LA to do this singer songwriter thing. And.

04:40
and the

05:09
this is right when Spotify wasn't even a thing yet. It was like, it was really guerrilla marketing still. I had to, which I know is pretty, what this podcast is really about is like the business out of, man, in those early stages, we would, I would print out like these little cards, almost like business cards, and I just had my picture and on the back it would say, download a free song. If you follow me, here's the link basically. And I would like DM these links out to download a free song on Reverb Nation.

05:39
and I would go to festivals and I would go to front of the lines of any shows I was playing and I would just hand out these cards, hand out these cards trying to spread my music and then it eventually got me to Nashville and then the rest kind of just happened from there. But that's the Nipsey version of how it kind of started and what got me from California to the East Coast. Interesting journey. I mean, it's like, I know every past, every, you know, it seems like hit artist or whatever, every journey is different.

06:09
definitely a different path. It seems like every other one I've heard is like move to Nashville with the dream in mind or something like that but I know I know California pretty well and knowing how you know some of the rural country it's a huge state like you know and how massive how how popular and how it kind of did originate some of some major artists and things like that and country and things like that so not not that shocking but what do you think the the

06:38
challenge for you like, you know, through that journey. Is it just like, is it just, I don't know, you don't seem to lack confidence, but like it just seems like the journey for artists especially is like when you're trying to get that fan base and trying to kind of get the machine rolling or something. I mean talk about just some of that, some of those just challenges and you know things you've struggled with or you know that you feel like you've kind of pushed through on. Yeah, the biggest struggle always is

07:07
Well, what you said about confidence is important because that's the number one thing you have to get no matter what. Because if you don't believe in your brand or believe in yourself and what you're selling, because I mean, I'm an artist, I'm a musician, but I mean, it's business more than anything in the world, you know, and you have to believe in it and what you're selling. And it's so crazy important because when you're trying to tell somebody to listen to your music and they sense any sort of hesitation or like any sort of like they get like, I mean, somebody tells me, hey, man, will you check out my music? And I have like even a five percent inkling of like this.

07:36
weird vibe from this person, like, but want to. Yeah. Right. So that is super important, obviously, but as far as going back to that guerrilla marketing thing, man, it was so important in those early days of getting those, that core early on, because you want somebody, you want people that are passionate about your progress and your journey. You want people to be like, man, I was there. And I'll give you a perfect example of this. Like I was there.

08:03
when it started kind of thing, right? So you think seven years ago, eight years ago, I was at stage coach, which is a massive country festival, a hundred thousand people in Southern California. And I used to walk around with those little cards I was talking about and I would hand them out. I'd take like 3000 in the festival and I would walk around and I would just tell people like, hey, I'm playing next year. They're letting me promote ahead of time. Here's a free song. And it was a lie. I was never playing next year. But then you got 3000 people. Yeah. You got 3000 people now that are looking at this card game

08:33
Hey, I've never heard of this person. Next year, we could be the only one singing this guy's song. I said, let's check it out. There's a pride and an ownership that a fan can get from that. And then so now flashback forward, like five years later. So in 2019, we played Stagecoach finally. And we had, I think they said 12,000 people at our stage. We were closing the XM stage. And 12,000 something people.

09:01
Four o'clock in the afternoon, you know, midday slot, but we had a massive, massive following or a crowd. And I told that story on stage about walking around with those cards. And I said, were any of you out there? One of these years that you got one of these false advertising cards, right? Uh, and it wasn't false. Your year was off. And if you believe it, it was not, Hey, I tell people you say about things in marketing, as long as you believe it. And you're going to manifest that it wasn't false.

09:30
Yeah, and it never wasn't true that I wasn't playing next year. There never there wasn't even a lineup yet, you know, so in my mind I was I was gonna play exactly It's none of us knew yet, you know, and so how do you raise your hands? There's some people raise your hand They would not only did they raise their hand but so many people lifted that card up in the air. No shit So people had like saved them right and so like that's just like a little thing that just shows like how one little interaction goes such a far away and

09:58
Ultimately, like our biggest thing is making sure we grow in each city. You know, like, I don't really play certain markets as much as I play other ones. And we just played a show in Columbus, Ohio, headlining show two nights ago. And we were just looking at how many people were coming and the crowd was massive. And we're just super excited. And I looked at the guys backstage and I said, man, three years ago, we headlined in this city two blocks away and we sold 12 tickets.

10:27
You know, and then we were about to play the show and you walked out and we played 75 minutes and the whole crowd, massive crowd was singing like every word to every song. And it's crazy, cause you can play a show, you know, a week ago that might not been that good, but as long as where you have been before continues to grow and every time you put out a new song, more and more people are listening. As long as you can visibly see it, then you know you're in the right direction.

10:55
Well, Greenville, South Carolina needs needs some Tyler Rich, you know, surely. I agree. I agree. I know. So we'll start the fan club here specifically with this podcast. We got we've got a national audience pretty growing ourselves, but Greenville, South Carolina needs some power. It's we'll come back to that. Maybe we'll get you down here for some kind of benefit or something like that. We'll we'll figure that out. But so talk to me man. Tyler, talk to me about talking to Tyler Rich, country music artist, writer.

11:25
Superstar. I'm gonna give you all the accolades, brother. I like to praise up my my guests. But talk to me about like maybe the biggest difference like I think there's a perception with country music of Okay, the way careers are grown move to national you got to sign with a label You got to do it this way like, you know not everyone listening maybe knows the the business of country music, but maybe talk to me about like

11:49
the reality of it and maybe the perception of some of the business of growing and becoming a star artist. Yeah, it changes every year. The process, you nailed it when you said that. You said earlier also, so many people say, oh, I left and went to Nashville first and built it from there, whereas then I chose the route of building it from my home state first and then going to Nashville. But there is the conception that you

12:19
you need to move to Nashville where LA is the Nashville of the West Coast. You know what I mean? It's like, yeah, you moved LA. You think you can do anything entertainment related. And I realized pretty quick, I needed to actually look at Tennessee. It's like being in politics and refusing to move to DC, being an actor, not living in LA, you have to be in Nashville for country. And so I learned it pretty quick, but, you know, they say you moved Nashville, get a publishing deal, then get a record deal and then spend forever, figure out what's the perfect song to release first. Take that to radio.

12:46
And that has been the machine that works every single time, as long as you have the right song and you have the right team, et cetera. In this growing age of streaming services and constant just content at your fingertips, no matter what it is that you want immediately, that is changing. And there are a lot of artists I'm seeing that are absolutely just crushing independently because of stuff like Apple and Amazon Playlists and Spotify Playlists.

13:15
And there's just a discovery aspect that there never was before. And if you make it on hot country on Spotify and you are unsigned and you're getting, you know, a million streams a week or something like that from that, that is massive awareness on your product, right? Your song. And so it's, it's interesting to watch change now in my timeline, my situation, that was not even an option in my mind or even in reality, you know, like

13:46
I was very set on my, I need to get this record deal and then we're going to take it. So country radio is still the biggest radio format of any genre. Whereas in people that listen to other genres don't necessarily listen to the radio as much anymore as country consumers do. Country radio is everything to the country audience still. So in order to get on country radio, actual charting country radio stations, you have to have a record deal.

14:13
And so if you don't have a record deal, you don't have a promo team that's pushing your stuff to country radio. And so it's just become like other genres, man. You can do it without a label for a long time. Country I would still, my number one form of advice is go get yourself a record deal. But get the right one. Even if it's an independent one, even if it's small, you need a radio promo team because country radio is the spark to every career still current.

14:41
That was validated by one of the biggest self-made country artists that was on our show a few weeks ago, Coffee Anderson, who did Country Ever After, who's been 100% self-promoted, never labeled, but he even admitted, and he just signed, to get on Country Radio starting like next year, that that's the avenue. He's done really well, he's made good money, maybe not, I mean, millions and millions and millions, but a very comfortable, really nice lifestyle, through other channels, but even he said, and...

15:10
And it doesn't surprise me because that genre of country music, the people that, I don't know, down home, good country music people just still listen to the radio, still trust the radio, still love the radio, the DJs and everything else. That that's just the staying power. Hadn't it? They get off work. What do they do on their way? I've waited dinner or their way home. They just turn on country radio. They don't, they don't open their phone and figure out what they want to play on a playlist. They don't. And, you know, like, so that's here. A large chunk of your demographic. Um, and.

15:40
Yeah, with coffee and like so many other artists, especially either like Texas artists, I mean, people just crush, you know, and they can, there's people that aren't played on country radio that'll sell out massive auditoriums all across the country, and they don't need country radio to do it. But if you're wanting, so for instance, we'll be put on lists for opening slots for tours, you know, and like, hey, Tyler's available, this person's available, this person's available, and then you'll get, like I just went through this with our headlining tour that is on the West Coast.

16:10
It starts four weeks from tomorrow. And so when we're looking at openers, they send these press packages. And you look at their streams and you look at all this stuff. But when we get submitted to things, we just got submitted to a few for next year, there's a number one criteria that must be matched. And that is that you have a current song climbing on country radio. And if you don't, you're just not going to get big tours unless you're an anomaly. There's outliers to every situation. But if we're talking like

16:38
status quo like running the pill like what's gonna happen? Yep. You need a damn song country radio and you do that and you damn record deal And I love my label they crushed for me and we've definitely had our battles with country radio and our ebbs and flows and whatnot But we're just like everyone else. We're in the fight every week getting it done. What is I mean, I Know I'm not asking you to smack the hands that feeds you but I said you just made that point I am just curious like

17:07
A little bit of the, cause I get it that you have the record label, they're promoing you, they're pushing you, they have the relationships. I mean, business is still about relationships and it always will be. But is it just purely play my guy more, play my girl more, whatever, I'm saying guy universally, play my artist, artist, duo, group, whatever, more, more, it's just constantly trying to get more plays? Or is it more complicated than that?

17:36
Pretty much man. It's a like so your radio your record level your state your promo team I have seven I believe or so people on my promo team specifically that work my songs country radio And their job weekly is yet connect keep the connections go and talk about Getting it added and then talk about getting a foot more It's such a process where they have to work together with other stations to to make sure that Some that like, you know, if my song is crushing and spoke and right now on the radio

18:06
they're going to start lifting it more because that means it's doing good for their listeners or listeners want to hear that song more. But if they go too fast and then someone in Greenville is going too slow, then when it really comes down to the end and they're fighting to chase that number one song, it's already burnt out in this market over here. They'll come off the song because it's already hit the top of their countdown. So they have to at the same time time it so that all that, so everybody's working together at the same time.

18:32
And you know, business relationships are the number one. So you got to think after a year. So my second single, once it got pulled from country radio, it did what it was going to do. Then we're figuring out, okay, cool, what's next? About six months went by, we're getting ready to send the, ship the next song is what we call it. And then quarantine hit and it's now a year and a half. And then now we just ship better than we're used to. My current single, a couple months ago, but radio moves around so much.

19:01
So it's like, we could do Zoom hangs, we could do all that stuff as much to meet new people that run these radio stations, but it's just not nearly the same. So now what we're doing is I'm actually flying out, meeting these radio programmers and DJs again, and getting to know, because there's nothing bigger than the human connection in person. We all got so used to being able to do this and the luxury of being able to do this, which is incredible, but it's just, there's nothing that compares to that human connection of.

19:31
Um, it's hard when you have, cause even when you get a record deal, man, there's how many slots on a charting station of 60 songs on a billboard or media based chart basically. So yeah, about any 60, 500 or signs and major labels probably. Yeah. How many songs? Yeah. So how do you get your song to be in that 60? And it doesn't just, it's not just about having a good song. Yeah. There's like 17 layers of it. And, uh,

20:00
What about the whole like now full album like versus singles? Like it seems like it's, there's never been a time more where there's more EPs and more, you know, like I've seen some of these guys that I like and it's like, they have like seven singles last three years and not a single album, you know, like, I don't know. What's that? What's that all about? Man, myself, I'm 35. So for me, me as a music fan, I want to buy an album.

20:29
streaming album, whatever, from front to back, I truly believe in the art of, you know how long it took me to decide the order of my album? It was a long process and it had to do with the keys of the song, it had to do with the energy of each track, it had to do with the story it told from beginning to end. But unfortunately fans just don't listen to music that way anymore. Super fans will, I mean like the real diehards always will. So that is why I believe the album obviously will never die because

20:58
Super fans like the filler songs. They like the deep cuts too. Like the sad, bastard ones in the middle, you know, like all that, they love all that stuff. But it's a singles chasing game because at the same time, you've got other fans, everybody just, content is so readily available. And if some artists are putting out a new song every month, and then I'm only putting a new song every four months.

21:27
fans are listening to the other artists and they're forgetting about me. And so they want music as fast as they want Instagram posts. And it's just this weird world we live in now that we're all getting used to. I personally would love to, you know, we just, like in a week, it'll be a year since my first album came out, which sounds crazy to me because it feels like yesterday. Yeah. And I would love to just track a new album and put it out, but, you know, realistically, like,

21:57
probably gonna do an EP and then maybe another EP and then those EPs together will be called album two. I wish we all didn't even do the answer as to where it's heading and what it is. We literally have meetings and talks like every month or so about what the plan is and that changes every month because we're like, well, maybe instead of releasing one song, we'll release three, but then if we're gonna do that, we might as well release an EP. But then you worry about burning songs is what we call it. So if I think I've got

22:27
Two no brainer hit songs. Do we record them right now and put them out? Or do we wait a year to put the other one out because it takes a song a year to go number one on country radio. So do you release one hit a year and then 11, you know, or nine deep cuts just so that that one song, what do you do? Right? Yep. Fascinating. I love it. This is the scene stuff for the music industry. People don't completely realize that go into it and the complexity, you know, what?

22:56
In our industry, we've contributed to your complexity, which is all these channels. Spotify, of course, the music playing distribution channels, but then social media. You got a million platforms. Let's talk a little bit about that. How has social played for you, be it TikTok or Instagram? I know you're big there. That's where we met. But talk about the impact of social on your trajectory. Yeah.

23:25
It all started with socials for me. I mean, if you take it back to the those little cards and Gorilla Street marketing of like, follow me on this site and I'll DM you a link to a free download and all that stuff and really, really blew up my Instagram to start this whole thing for me. I used to sit on like the stairs at the gym. I wouldn't sit on the stairs. I mean, I would like sit on the stair machine and like walk for 45 minutes after workout, just liking pictures.

23:53
from hashtags that were similar to me. Hashtag Sam Hunt, hashtag Keith Urban, hashtag whatever. Or if I knew I was going to a city and I saw that like that venue that night before was a country show, I would go and like the pictures that people posted from that show to really start to blow up Instagram. When I did get my initial meetings with Scott Borchetta with Big Machine, the reason I got my meetings so fast is because I already had over 100,000 followers on Instagram, but I didn't have a record deal.

24:22
And people always say, I mean, how really important is that? And it's like really important, not only because you've already created your own network, but like I said earlier, also, once you go to a label and you're on a major label and a label like Universal or Big Machine or Sony, you're going to put out your first single on country radio. And that's the first thing you've ever done. It already kind of is like a facade to people that really dig into it. Whereas if you've already really built grassroots with people and you have a

24:52
a network, social network and a foundation already, people believe it more. You know what I mean? They believe you got your record deal for a reason and that there was already a demand. And so... Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. I've got to stop you right there, Tyler, because that is universal. I had this conversation, we work with personal brands and we work with some celebrities, do everything like that. And that right there is universal, tremendous, like

25:20
like recommendation, whatever, asterisk that, that's gonna be a highlight clip from this episode because people don't realize building your audience now for your personal brand or your artist, whatever your business is, gives you leverage and it gives you attention, you have built in. Brilliant for you recognizing it, but everyone listening, circle that one. Circle it, circle it. Yeah, man, it's so true, man. And so then, just building it from there from all these years of just...

25:49
Like everything, social media changes every day. What's cool on social media changes every day. So I finally caved in, got a TikTok over quarantine because I was bored and scared, right? I was like, man, we can't play in front of crowds anymore. We can't test new music in front of crowds anymore. This TikTok thing's blowing up. I'm not gonna dance on it, but I'll try other things. And so what I took into my...

26:18
my court for TikTok was like, all right, there's people that are on Instagram and TikTok, but there's people that are only on TikTok and don't even use Instagram anymore. And that is an entire market I'm missing. And so I was like, if I can't test out these new songs I'm writing, I wrote so many songs. And if I can't test these songs out in front of a crowd to see if it gets a reaction, you can't play shows. What if I just do like little teasers? People love my wife, they love my dog. You know, and so I was like,

26:46
me just showing the family new songs and not even me playing it, man, just like turning up our stereo and being like, hey, here's a new demo. And a few songs really caught fire that way, including my new single, Better Than You Used To. And so that thing had a few million hits. It was at the end of January. And so we didn't have any plans what our next song was gonna be. We didn't really know what was going on. And then the label was just like, oh my God, we gotta release this thing right away. Let's do it. And so we dropped it on Valentine's Day

27:17
and

27:47
past like 32 million streams that song now. And it's number six on the top 30 countdown on XM and it's climbing on regular radio and it's all from a TikTok post. And it's just, yeah, so I still hate TikTok, but I hate the pressures of TikTok, but I can't deny like just the invaluable tool that it is.

28:13
Yes, I have a love hate relationship. I'm in the business and I have a love hate relationship with it, but it is very powerful and you know, hell, uh, uh, uh, I'm blanking on his name, but I fancy like I've a Walker Hayes. I'm like, Oh God, I hear it every other time I've turned tick tock on now, or definitely last month. Uh, and now he's Applebee's has got the commercial. So I'm sure he's bankers getting something for that. I'm happy for him. I hear he's a good guy. Um, and uh,

28:42
I'm sure you know all these cats. But talk about some of your influences. I mean, I wanna come back to some of the business stuff because it's really fascinating. You've been as enlightening as anyone we've had on the business. I really appreciate that. But let's talk, what are, I mean, who are some of your influences in country music, either in the past, growing up, and even now today? Yeah, my biggest one, which is a lot of people, so it's not unique, but Garth Brooks. I mean, it was, nothing compares.

29:12
You know, it's like, obviously George Strait is the king of country. And I love George and he really got me into it when I was eight, because I loved the movie Pure Country that he was in. I just, that's how I found out who he was when I was like in first grade. But Garth Brooks from just the singability, the songwriting, the stories he tells to his, as a performer. I mean, he's, you know, one of the most famous musicians in the world and he still goes out and does dive bar tours and his stadium tours.

29:40
He's dripping in sweat when he walks off stage. And he's just my biggest influence as a whole all around. Also as a kid, man, I loved Michael Jackson. And I used to watch his music videos, like they were movies, thrillers, one of the reasons why I loved horror movies as a kid and still do to this day. Him as a performer, his just attention to detail from everything from just every single drum hit to every light that shines on stage was all on his like crazy genius.

30:10
that musically nowadays, Keith Urban is my number one from current country. I love Old Dominion, their songwriting, their quirkiness. Everything about Old Dominion is a bumper sticker or a shirt that a dad wears at Daytona Beach on vacation. They take just everyday common phrases and turn them into the catchiest, just brilliant hooks. I love how they're

30:39
John Mayer, love, love John Mayer, Jason Mraz. You can hear a lot of like that Jason Mraz-esque production in my music. My stuff is country songwriting, but production wise is very, can be like Beach, Feel Good California, you know, in the rhythm sections and whatnot. Totally. I grew up listening. I grew up listening to metal, hardcore, punk rock. I was in bands that had, you know, distortion so loud you couldn't hear the vocals, you know, for half our shows.

31:08
Food Fighters were my favorite rock and roll bands of all time. So slipknot. I mean, I listened to it all. I love it all. And I think, you know, because my mom and my uncle, I grew up listening to country because of my dad, I grew up listening to rock and roll. CCR is probably my top five favorite band of all time. Because of my other uncles, I listened to punk rock and metal. I just had the coolest influences growing up that introduced me to so much.

31:37
at such an early age to keep what could easily become a narrow mind wide open. And it's a, and I'm thankful for it, especially like we get to play music festivals sometimes or I go to music festivals that are all genre and people will be like, all right, cool. So we're only going to watch EDM at this festival. And I'm like, oh, cool. But you know, what about like this hip hop artist and this R&B singer? What about this soul singer? You know, what about Alabama Shakes, man? Brittany and Howard's like one of the best of all time.

32:03
And so, yeah, I'm super thankful for not only my musical influences, but my family influences that got me there. I hear that Jason Mraz now that you said that I totally, you said that. And I was nodding my head thinking about kind of the melody is some of the tunes. I don't know what it is. I don't know if that California vibe. I don't know what it is, but that totally rang true. And yeah, beat it was my first cassette tape single, Michael Jackson. Oh yes. I was nodding my head and.

32:31
I was a Papa Roach guy too, like all that stuff. Like I've been through all those things. We're close to the same age. I'm a little older than you, but similar influences. But love. Papa Roach, Papa Roach was really cool for us cause they grew up like 40 minutes from where I grew up. Oh wow. And so when we were in high school, they would play like in grocery lot, grocery store parking lots in our hometown. But the bass player played the trombone and they were just a high school band.

33:00
to then all of a sudden, you know, like, then they get a record deal and last resort comes out. And, you know, and it was just the coolest thing being local and watching it happen from the ground up. What's, how long have you been married? You're not, you've not been married that long, have you? Two years, the end of September. Is it September yet? Yeah, almost like Tuesday, right? Wednesday? Yeah, two years, September 20th. Great. I mean, how's that, how's that been? It seems like you'll have a great relationship and it seems like- It's been amazing.

33:29
Yeah, yeah, she especially with her being an actor and our schedules being chaotic crazy. We've since we've met we've always been long distance. So whether I'm in LA with her, she's in Nashville with me or we're just on tour on the weekends. We've always made it work. We see we see ourselves more than each other more than we don't. But all of a sudden, you know, we got married at the end of 19. And then we've been together for four or three or four years at that point. But then married at the end 19.

33:58
Then immediately it was the holidays, then we went on our honeymoon in January, came back and then the world ended out of nowhere. And then so we all of a sudden went from like super honeymoon days for six months to then living together every minute of every day like a regular married couple. I can make a break here brother. Everybody I talked to is like, cool, so now that you put the marriage to the actual test like regular people, how's it going? And it actually made it sweeter. You know, we got to know each other like in a whole different way.

34:28
Um, quarantine sucked for a million reasons, but it was, it was really awesome at the same time because of that. We binge watched Netflix shows together for the first time ever. You know, we, uh, cooked dinners together and learned homemade meals and like all that kind of stuff and very domestic for us, you know, and now we're back to Taco Bell and, uh, road catering. Yeah. Also not so bad. That's cool. I'm assuming better than you're used to is, is, uh, it's gotta be something with your wife, right? And.

34:58
Yeah She's the ultimate muse man for everything always the original idea from that song is My little sister is just such a hard ass and she is stubborn. She's the youngest. She's stubborn. She's extremely intelligent She's a lawyer She's always got the poker face on and then over Christmas last year, I guess whatever some point last year I was having a conversation with her about her boyfriend. That was just

35:28
putting her through it and she was crying and she was like, I'm just putting so much in and he's not giving me anything back and in a normal conversation, I was like, you need to find somebody that's better than you're used to. She goes, I know, I know, I know. And always in conversations, I've probably said three things since we've been talking and I'm like, oh cool, I'll remember to write that down because that's a cool song title. Yeah, it is. So I wrote it down and the idea and then a few months later, I brought it up in a room and usually how it works is

35:56
There's anywhere from like two to four of us just hanging out, chatting about different ideas. And I brought it up. And once we started writing the actual song, I can't write a whole song about my sister like that. There's not enough, it's too surface level. So when I met my wife, she was getting out of a relationship where she was extremely unhappy and et cetera, et cetera. And so when I met her, she was super jaded on love and didn't believe in it and didn't wanna give it a chance. And I had to be that person to tell her that I can be better than you're used to. I can be that thing. And

36:26
So that was what sparked all the actual lyrical content, but it's kind of cool. You know, my little sister, you know, that we got that out of that conversation of me trying to be the older brother, um, when she's never really let me be. Cause she's always so self-sufficient. And, uh, but yeah, that's cool. That is that I would probably always, it will all, not only has it turned into a massive hit, but it's, uh, you know, has that dual meaning. It'll be special for you guys forever, especially to her. So that's awesome. Yeah, exactly.

36:54
How's, can you share, I mean, touring, like anything that's like big coming down, I'm sure we aren't gonna be able to like make releases before your promo day or anything, but like, is there anything that might be out there that people don't know or like anything coming up like next year or, you know, anybody huge, maybe you're opening for, that's open for you or anything, any of those details? So next year is pretty much still all completely coming together. Okay. But we are, by headline and tour,

37:23
is September 28th till October 18th. It's 18 shows over 21 days. All across California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Utah, Idaho. Boo, West Coast tour. I know, but that is, we're doing that. Buddy Shy Carter is opening that show. Wow. Then we have a week off, and then we go out with

37:53
Chris Lane. So we are direct support for Chris Lane from end of October, pretty much until middle of December. Then it's Christmas and then we are, and that will tour is for us through the South. We're not coming to Greenville. Unfortunately. He might be, he's a Charlotte, Charlotte guys. So he will probably be hitting one of the Carolinas I'm assuming. We're doing Midwest and the South on that tour, doing some Florida stuff, doing like Tortuga Fest.

38:23
Florida. Lots of really cool stuff. The rest of the year is extremely exciting. This is actually these next two weeks right here are going to be pretty, I'm going to try to drop some beer weight, get show ready again so I can gain an old back, come headlight and tour. It'll be great. I love that. Is it still, I mean, on tour, like, as we kind of conclude here, Tyler, is that as, I don't want to say rock style, rock.

38:51
rock star lifestyle, but like, is it just kind of, I mean, 18, 18 and 21 is insanity. I, you know, but like, is it just nuts? Well, what's funny about that is that, so usually on country, they call it country artists, uh, weekend warriors, because we usually go out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, come back on Sunday, leave on Wednesday, play Thursday, Friday, Saturday, come back on Sunday, um, whereas in rock bands and hip hop, everybody else usually go on.

39:21
one tour that's like three months long, and then they're off. One tour is like three months long. And so my agent hit me up when we were, because this headline tour is, it's the fourth time rebooking it. I wanted to call it fourth time's a charm, but we wanted to stay away from COVID puns. And so he calls me and he's like, hey man, instead of like a five week tour, how do you feel about three weeks? I was like, oh shit, so we're losing like half the tour? He goes, nah. So.

39:50
Remember when you used to be in a rock band 15 years ago, whatever, and used to tour nonstop? How do you feel about 18 shows in 21 days? So we are straight up, it's gonna be tiring, exhausting, rewarding, and freaking awesome. I wouldn't, you know. You need to die, I'm sure you have a content team, you gotta document that shit. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You need 18 and 21, that's, there's your big bold like.

40:17
Yeah, there's more creativity around it, but like that would be cool. Well conveniently so the tour is called 2000 miles which is the title of my album and so That is 2000 miles is basically almost the exact distance between Nashville and LA and from our two front doors And so the entire time I was writing that first album Sabina and my wife and I were going back and forth trying to see each other between 2000 miles And so that was like the no-brainer title for that album this entire tour of 18 shows

40:46
is almost exactly 2000 miles and routing also. And so it kind of- I love it when marketing and reality come together. It just comes together perfect. Yeah, so my media guy Rick on tour that just documents our stuff nightly, he's gonna do like a whole like actual thing that we can release. It's like a documentary style of the whole tour. Taking my husky out there, I've had the same dog for 15 and a half years. She just turned 16 and so.

41:13
We're taking her out to California to start the tour and she's going to be out on the bus with us for the three weeks and bring her back to here. And then a week off before Chris Lane starts that that one's called the Phil then boots tour. We'll be dead by then but happy about it. Yeah, exactly. Hey, good problems to have the what's the future. I mean, I know you're you're living it out. You got the hits coming. You're writing. You're you're living the dream. You're growing. I mean, you know, but is there.

41:42
Are you one of those that's like, I got this, I'm gonna have this done, that done, or are you just riding the wave? Man, I'm just riding the wave. It's hard to plan for anything in this lifestyle. We wanted to buy a house, we just bought our first house in Nashville, so we're excited about that. We're still moving into this, this is my studio, and so we're in the process of making this thing home right now. Kids are on the mind, so that'll be like the next thing.

42:10
But as far as music goes, man, we just ride the wave. Rearwise, we just ride the wave. Next week, the 7th, I'm going in to track a few new songs to be what's going to follow up better than you're used to. And we're starting album cycle number two. And so tracking with Jaron Johnston, who is a singer of Cadillac 3. So it's going to be, he's producing the next batch of stuff. So it's going to be probably a little more rock and a little more in your face. And so.

42:39
I'm excited about it. All my stuff has always been such, so it's like easy going country, love songs and feel good stuff that we're going to add a little grit to the party. And it's going to be cool. I love it, brother. You got time for a real quick rad or fad. We give you a one word. You tell us rad or fad. Like as in it's, it's, it's good to stay or it's just here for now. Yeah. Or some people interpret it as a truly what they say. Rad, awesome fad.

43:09
Yeah, not so great or however you want to interpret, but yeah. Cool. All right. First Instagram reels, Rad or fad. Oh, I'm a rat. Yeah. All right. Kanye, Kanye, who's now yay again. I'm going Kanye, Rad. I think he's one of the greatest marketing influence, but like his brain is crazy. Ding, ding, ding. My friend, Dolly Parton. Oh.

43:36
Come on, Brad, of course. I'm asking every country music, like, if someone dares says fad, I don't know what's gonna happen, but I'm gonna like, you know, give the flush the toilet sound or something. I don't know what, but. That's a trick question. No. Country hip hop, rad or fad? I'm gonna say, I'm gonna say fad. Yeah, I'm kinda on the fifth. I enjoy it, you know, but like,

44:06
for everything and you know, I'm going to say fads strictly because, and I do enjoy it as well. I'd like I've told you, I love all genres of music. I just, I love artists or I don't, it's never the genre thing. I just say fad just because I don't think it's ever going to go bigger than it already is. I think it just kind of lives where it's at. Yeah. It's kind of, I think we're seeing it's heyday or it's moment right now. Um, and lastly, Jake Paul, rather bad.

44:35
Yeah. Yeah. I give him credit for all the attention he's garnered. He seems to be able to be a pretty damn good boxer. All things considered, but, uh, yeah, I mean, in the sense of this, of this podcast, I would, I would almost give them all rads because their marketing genius has got them to where they're at right now, all of them. And it's gotten them up to a point that, but will it, will it be lasting? Yeah. We'll see. Hey,

45:03
Tyler Rich, brother, I can't thank you more. It's been fascinating kind of hearing your story, your journey, kind of hearing it firsthand. We really appreciate your transparency and your honesty it comes through in your music. And if you're out there listening better than you're used to go download it, Spotify, Apple Music, anywhere, everywhere. I know it's out there. Where else can everybody keep up with all things Tyler Rich? It's just as easy as that. Anywhere you type my name, if it doesn't show up then I'm doing something wrong. Name is spelled very simple, T-Y-L-E-R.

45:32
R-I-C-H. Yeah, cool man. And if you're on the West Coast, you know where to go find them. I might have to get out there. I'm gonna be in LA next month. So maybe something will align somewhere where I'm on the coast. I'm gonna come hear you, brother. Yeah, man. I mean, if you're in there next month, we're all over. So, yes sir. Let's stay in touch, man. I wanna follow your journey and really appreciate you coming on. Yeah, I appreciate your time. Thanks everybody. We'll see you soon. Hey guys, we really appreciate Tyler Rich.

46:00
You know where to find him. He just told you. Better than you used to. It's awesome. Go listen to it. Country radio, play it more. And you know where to find us? Theradcast.com. Search for all the highlight clips. Search for Tyler Rich. You'll find all the episode information from today. And you know where to find me, at Ryan Alford on all the platforms. We'll see you next time on The Radcast.