# Healing Through Music: Scotty Hastings’ Inspiring Story of Transformation and Resilience After Trauma-Encore Episode

An episode of [Music Saved Me Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1703080557), 1 Apr 2026, 29 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/ee29bc0a-f712-47d6-a49c-b25700f0582e/43abe7b3-f122-4a5f-b414-b41b015a3ac2/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=dfceda02-3624-42c7-b522-b25700f0584c

What if the key to overcoming trauma lies in the power of a song? Join us on this heartfelt journey in the encore episode of the Music Saved Me Podcast, where host Lynn Hoffman sits down with the inspiring Scotty Hastings, a rising country star and brave army veteran. Scotty's story is one of resilience, transformation, and the healing power of music. After facing the unimaginable—being shot ten times in Afghanistan—he found himself in a battle far more daunting than any he faced on the battlefield: the struggle with PTSD. As the world grappled with the pandemic, Scotty Hastings turned to music, discovering that it was more than just a passion; it was a lifeline. In this episode, he shares how songwriting became a cathartic outlet, allowing him to confront his deepest fears and emotions. Through his music, Scotty Hastings not only found his own healing but also forged connections with fellow veterans and audiences alike, transforming his pain into a beacon of hope. Scotty emphasizes the importance of mental health awareness among veterans, advocating for an open dialogue about the struggles many face in silence. His journey illustrates the profound impact of emotional healing through music, showcasing how it can serve as a powerful form of therapy. As we delve into Scotty's experiences, listeners will gain insights into the music industry and the unique stories of musicians who have navigated similar challenge With every note and lyric, Scotty reminds us that music is not just a form of entertainment; it’s a bridge to understanding and connection. This episode of the Music Saved Me Podcast is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the healing power of music. Whether you’re an independent musician or someone seeking comfort in the melodies of life, Scotty’s story will resonate deeply. Join us for this emotional interview podcast that highlights the intersection of music and mental health. Discover how music can be a source of strength and inspiration, and learn about the incredible stories of musicians who have used their art to heal and uplift others. Tune in to the Music Saved Me Podcast and let the healing power of music transform your perspective! Support the show: https://musicsavedme.net/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Music Saved Me. Welcome to Music Saved Me, the podcast
[0:03] Speaker 1: where we dive deep into the transformative power of music
[0:07] Speaker 1: and the stories behind the artists who inspire us. And
[0:10] Speaker 1: if you're into stories of inspiration and resilience, which I
[0:13] Speaker 1: suspect you might be, please check out our sister podcast,
[0:16] Speaker 1: Comedy Saved Me, hosted by Yours Truly wherever you get
[0:20] Speaker 1: your podcasts. I'm your host, Lynn Hoffman, and today's episode
[0:24] Speaker 1: is a story of extraordinary resilience, courage, and the pursuit
[0:28] Speaker 1: of purpose. Joining us rising country star Scottie Hasting, an
[0:33] Speaker 1: Army veteran and singer songwriter who is a living testament
[0:37] Speaker 1: to the human spirit. Scotty's journey from active military service
[0:42] Speaker 1: on the battlefields of Afghanistan to surviving being shot ten times,
[0:47] Speaker 1: surviving and confronting PTSD is nothing short of remarkable, But
[0:53] Speaker 1: it's what happened after all of that that marks his
[0:55] Speaker 1: deepest transformation, picking up a guitar during the darkest days
[0:59] Speaker 1: of the pandemic to combat PTSD and discovering that music
[1:03] Speaker 1: wouldn't just be a lifeline, it would be a new
[1:06] Speaker 1: path forward. Since his first record deal in twenty three,
[1:09] Speaker 1: he shared the stage with country giants like Tanya Tucker,
[1:12] Speaker 1: Jelly roll In, Chris Jansen, and he's also become a
[1:15] Speaker 1: proud advocate for organizations like Creative Vets and Guitars for Vets,
[1:21] Speaker 1: and as a Purple Heart recipient himself. His music carries
[1:24] Speaker 1: the weight of his story in the hope of his
[1:26] Speaker 1: message that no matter how tough things get, there's always
[1:30] Speaker 1: a light on the other side. Today's conversation, Scotty opens
[1:33] Speaker 1: up about songwriting, how it became his saving grace, how
[1:36] Speaker 1: sharing his story helped his fellow veterans, and what it
[1:40] Speaker 1: feels like to connect with his audiences from stage to stage,
[1:44] Speaker 1: reminding us all that sometimes music truly does save us.
[1:48] Speaker 1: So wherever you're listening, settle in for an honest and
[1:51] Speaker 1: inspiring and unforgettable episode with Scotty hasting right here on
[1:56] Speaker 1: music Saved Me. Scotty, Welcome to the show. It is
[1:58] Speaker 1: so wonderful to have you here.
[2:00] Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I really appreciate your time.
[2:02] Speaker 1: Thanks for having me well, first and foremost, thank you
[2:05] Speaker 1: for your service and for joining us today and your
[2:08] Speaker 1: incredible journey. I have goosebumps just thinking about it, and
[2:13] Speaker 1: I know we didn't plan this and it's not like
[2:14] Speaker 1: this won't live on forever, but today just happens to
[2:17] Speaker 1: be the day I get to talk to you on
[2:19] Speaker 1: National Purple Heart Day.
[2:21] Speaker 3: Oh wow, did you even know that I even noticed that?
[2:25] Speaker 1: It's incredible. Well, I can't wait to talk to you
[2:27] Speaker 1: all about your incredible story, starting with how you survived
[2:31] Speaker 1: and how that survival shaped your music. But first we
[2:33] Speaker 1: got to take a quick break and have a word
[2:35] Speaker 1: from our wonderful sponsors who pay for all of this
[2:39] Speaker 1: to be able to happen. So we'll be right back
[2:40] Speaker 1: with Scotty Hasting, Music Saved Me. Welcome back to Music
[2:46] Speaker 1: Save Me, my guest, Scotty Hasting. All right, let's talk
[2:49] Speaker 1: about your journey from serving in the army to becoming
[2:54] Speaker 1: a musical artist, a country music artist. Can you describe
[2:57] Speaker 1: what role music played for you before four year time
[3:00] Speaker 1: in Afghanistan and then after?
[3:03] Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's funny. When I was I grew
[3:06] Speaker 3: up listening to music, I grew up singing it. But
[3:10] Speaker 3: music was never a thought as like a career or
[3:13] Speaker 3: something that I ever thought that I could do.
[3:14] Speaker 2: You know, music was just for me. It was just
[3:16] Speaker 2: a hobby.
[3:16] Speaker 3: I just I sang songs in the car or in
[3:19] Speaker 3: the shower. I'd never let anyone ever hear me sing.
[3:22] Speaker 3: It was just something for me. It was my happy place.
[3:25] Speaker 1: Did you did you know that you were a good
[3:27] Speaker 1: singer or was it just in the bathroom in the
[3:29] Speaker 1: shower like good acoustics.
[3:31] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean my mom told me I was good once,
[3:35] Speaker 3: but no, I mean I would sing like karaoke and
[3:37] Speaker 3: stuff like. As I got older, I started singing karaoke
[3:39] Speaker 3: because my dad was at karaoke DJ for a while.
[3:42] Speaker 3: And and yeah, I mean I was always told that
[3:45] Speaker 3: I was, you know, good, But you know, it's hard
[3:47] Speaker 3: to be like, oh, well thanks, you know, some drunk
[3:49] Speaker 3: guy at a bar I thought I was good at karaoke.
[3:51] Speaker 2: It hard to be like, yeah, I'm good, you know.
[3:53] Speaker 2: But but now it was for me.
[3:55] Speaker 3: It was just it was my happy place. Was what
[3:57] Speaker 3: I did for me? And and yeah, I never thought
[4:00] Speaker 3: in a million years i'd be doing what I'm doing now.
[4:03] Speaker 1: Wow, it's pretty incredible. And it's only been a few
[4:06] Speaker 1: short years. I know that you've spoken openly and in
[4:09] Speaker 1: vivid detail about surviving being shot, and not just shot,
[4:13] Speaker 1: but like ten times at point blank range. I mean,
[4:16] Speaker 1: you were looking into your shooter's eyes. And it will
[4:20] Speaker 1: also deal dealt a lot with PTSD which followed, and
[4:23] Speaker 1: I'm very familiar with that. My dad was in the
[4:26] Speaker 1: military as well, so he suffered greatly with that. How
[4:30] Speaker 1: did those experience shape your musical voice and basically your
[4:34] Speaker 1: purpose moving forward?
[4:36] Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think it shaped my musical voice
[4:38] Speaker 3: in the sense that it was therapy for me.
[4:40] Speaker 2: You know, I started all of this as just a
[4:43] Speaker 2: form of therapy.
[4:44] Speaker 3: Learned how to play the guitar, learned how to write music,
[4:47] Speaker 3: and the music that came out, it was just therapeutic.
[4:50] Speaker 3: It was what I needed before the cover flowed. And
[4:53] Speaker 3: it's amazing because I remember going to my first show
[4:56] Speaker 3: ever and I played the first song I've learned how
[4:59] Speaker 3: to play, which should have been Cowboy. And I was
[5:02] Speaker 3: at an open mic night and Cookeville, Tennessee, out in
[5:05] Speaker 3: the middle of nowhere at Red Salard Brewing Company, and
[5:08] Speaker 3: I was just like, you know, I'm just gonna go
[5:11] Speaker 3: up there and play and see what happens. And I
[5:13] Speaker 3: and I remember playing that song and I remember feeling
[5:16] Speaker 3: like this is what I need to do forever. It
[5:19] Speaker 3: was like in that moment, like the stage became my sanctuary,
[5:22] Speaker 3: and it was it was my place where I could
[5:24] Speaker 3: escape and live in a moment away from the PTSD,
[5:26] Speaker 3: the depression, of the anxiety, all of that stuff, and
[5:29] Speaker 3: it was and for me, that's all it was.
[5:32] Speaker 2: That's all. That's all I wanted music for was to
[5:34] Speaker 2: be therapy. That was it.
[5:36] Speaker 3: And and then I started writing songs for myself as therapy.
[5:41] Speaker 3: And then I started playing those songs out and I
[5:42] Speaker 3: started realizing that veterans were and other people who were
[5:45] Speaker 3: struggling were connecting with these songs. And I was like, well,
[5:48] Speaker 3: hold on, like I might be able to do some
[5:51] Speaker 3: good with this, Like let me hold on, so.
[5:54] Speaker 2: Like, let me let me do like I remember going.
[5:57] Speaker 3: I played for one of the first shows I ever
[5:59] Speaker 3: played for veteran nonprofit was for Creativets and it was
[6:03] Speaker 3: in Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona before the Super Bowl, when I
[6:07] Speaker 3: was opening for Dave Grohl, and there was like two
[6:10] Speaker 3: hundred veterans in this room and I was like, I
[6:13] Speaker 3: was so scared.
[6:14] Speaker 2: I was nervous.
[6:15] Speaker 3: I wasn't It was like the first time I'd ever
[6:17] Speaker 3: truly been by myself in a big show. And I
[6:21] Speaker 3: remember playing a song about my Survivor's guilt. It's called
[6:24] Speaker 3: how Do You Choose. It's a song about my best
[6:26] Speaker 3: friend being killed, and it's something I struggle with every
[6:29] Speaker 3: day still to this day. It's something I struggle with.
[6:31] Speaker 3: Survivor's guilt is there. It's always going to be there.
[6:34] Speaker 3: And I remember playing it and it was the first
[6:37] Speaker 3: time that I ever played a song and no one
[6:39] Speaker 3: clapped after and I was like, oh my god.
[6:41] Speaker 2: They hated it.
[6:41] Speaker 3: They hated it, like I just poured my heart, my
[6:43] Speaker 3: soul into this. They hated this song. And then I
[6:47] Speaker 3: looked around the room and I realized that everyone was
[6:49] Speaker 3: kind of consoling each other, and they were consoling each other.
[6:53] Speaker 3: And then after that, I started getting messages from all
[6:55] Speaker 3: these people, and then they came up to me and
[6:56] Speaker 3: they started talking to me and talking about how like
[6:59] Speaker 3: how I was giving them a voice when they didn't
[7:01] Speaker 3: know what to say, and all this sudden and I
[7:03] Speaker 3: was like like, like I like I could I could
[7:07] Speaker 3: help people with what I'm doing, Like I want to
[7:09] Speaker 3: do that, Like I want to help Like this is
[7:12] Speaker 3: like getting the messages that I get and all that stuff,
[7:14] Speaker 3: like that's what this is all about. I never came
[7:17] Speaker 3: into music, thinking, you know, this is going to be
[7:20] Speaker 3: a career for me, and I'm going to make a
[7:21] Speaker 3: buttload of money and I'm going to be super famous.
[7:23] Speaker 3: Like no, for me, it was it became a mission,
[7:27] Speaker 3: and it became a way for me to help people.
[7:29] Speaker 3: And that's in a way for me to help myself
[7:31] Speaker 3: honestly as well, and and that's all it will ever
[7:34] Speaker 3: be for me.
[7:36] Speaker 1: I find it hard to believe that you are scared
[7:38] Speaker 1: of anything after everything that you went through.
[7:41] Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's funny. It's funny.
[7:43] Speaker 3: I get a questions all the time about, man, are
[7:45] Speaker 3: you nervous about to go on stage? You're nervous, And
[7:47] Speaker 3: I'm like, well, no one's shooting at me today, you know,
[7:49] Speaker 3: so right, But.
[7:52] Speaker 2: But no, I mean I think a little bit of
[7:53] Speaker 2: nerves is good.
[7:54] Speaker 3: I think it means that it means something to you,
[7:56] Speaker 3: you know, I think that it's important.
[7:59] Speaker 2: But yeah, it was.
[8:01] Speaker 3: It was the first like big stage I've ever been
[8:03] Speaker 3: on and it was just me by myself with my guitar,
[8:06] Speaker 3: so it was it was definitely nerve wracking for sure.
[8:09] Speaker 1: I bet it was. You know, I want to I
[8:10] Speaker 1: want to start this next question off with one of
[8:13] Speaker 1: your quotes. You were quoted as saying, for me, the
[8:16] Speaker 1: demons of PTSD knock the loudest when it's quiet, and
[8:19] Speaker 1: when I have my guitar in my hands, I find peace.
[8:23] Speaker 1: At what point did you realize that music was more
[8:26] Speaker 1: than a hobby and therapy? And if you already said that,
[8:29] Speaker 1: forgive me for asking again. But can you also describe
[8:31] Speaker 1: that moment when you picked up the guitar during the
[8:34] Speaker 1: pandemic and how that changed your whole path of existence?
[8:37] Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent.
[8:38] Speaker 3: So before the pandemic, I was shooting archery with the
[8:41] Speaker 3: US Paralympic program. I traveled all over the country. I
[8:43] Speaker 3: represented the United States for me shooting archery. Seven seconds
[8:47] Speaker 3: before I released that era, nothing in the world matter
[8:49] Speaker 3: PTSD depression. It all disappeared for those seven seconds. And
[8:52] Speaker 3: I lived for those seven seconds. And then COVID happened
[8:56] Speaker 3: in the world shut down, and my escape in my
[8:59] Speaker 3: way to deal got taken away, and I was struggling.
[9:03] Speaker 3: I was struggling really bad. I started going into a
[9:06] Speaker 3: very dark place. And yeah, and you know, like I said,
[9:09] Speaker 3: the demon's not the loudest when it gets quiet, and
[9:11] Speaker 3: COVID was very quiet, and I needed something. I needed
[9:16] Speaker 3: something to focus on and needed something to get out
[9:18] Speaker 3: of my head.
[9:19] Speaker 2: And I had a guitar in.
[9:19] Speaker 3: A corner of my room and one day I was like,
[9:21] Speaker 3: I'm just gonna I'm going to learn how to do this,
[9:23] Speaker 3: Like I'm going to figure out how to play this thing.
[9:25] Speaker 3: Like I've you know, ever since Walter Reed, I've never
[9:29] Speaker 3: let anything stop me from doing something, a matter of
[9:32] Speaker 3: my injury or whatever, like I'm just going to try it.
[9:34] Speaker 2: Who knows.
[9:35] Speaker 3: And I jumped on YouTube and I started learning how
[9:38] Speaker 3: to play the guitar, and it was like that escape
[9:40] Speaker 3: was back again, you know. I was able to I
[9:43] Speaker 3: was able to just focus on one thing, and I
[9:46] Speaker 3: spent every day playing that and learning how.
[9:49] Speaker 2: To play the guitar.
[9:50] Speaker 3: And then I went from there to Okay, well, now
[9:53] Speaker 3: I have this escape and I have I have this
[9:54] Speaker 3: ability to get away from everything, but I still have
[9:57] Speaker 3: all these feelings and emotions that are bottled up, like
[10:00] Speaker 3: I need to find a way to get these output
[10:02] Speaker 3: them somewhere. I need to figure out a way to
[10:04] Speaker 3: do this. And so then I started learning how to
[10:06] Speaker 3: write songs. I jumped on YouTube and I started learning
[10:08] Speaker 3: how songs are structured. And I started learning how it
[10:10] Speaker 3: goes from a verse to a chorus to a bridge,
[10:13] Speaker 3: to how.
[10:13] Speaker 2: It all comes together and becomes one thing.
[10:15] Speaker 3: And then I started writing songs for myself, just so
[10:18] Speaker 3: I could get the things that I was dealing with
[10:20] Speaker 3: out of myself and put them somewhere else. And and then,
[10:24] Speaker 3: you know, that's what I did for the longest time
[10:27] Speaker 3: while COVID was happening, that that was my way of
[10:30] Speaker 3: dealing with the demons that I was dealing with. And then,
[10:35] Speaker 3: you know, slowly the world started opening up again.
[10:37] Speaker 2: And that's when I went.
[10:38] Speaker 3: Out to cook Wiltonnessee, the Red Salad Brewing Company, and
[10:42] Speaker 3: I the moment that I knew that I was that
[10:46] Speaker 3: I wanted to do this was forever. Was that day
[10:48] Speaker 3: I went and I put my name on a list,
[10:50] Speaker 3: and that opened my night, just said why not, it's funny.
[10:53] Speaker 2: I went out there, I.
[10:54] Speaker 3: Put money on the list, and I was like, man,
[10:56] Speaker 3: I don't know if I want to do this, Like
[10:57] Speaker 3: there's gonna be a lot of people there, whatever. And
[10:59] Speaker 3: I got up on stage and there were four people
[11:01] Speaker 3: up there. There were four people out.
[11:02] Speaker 2: This out in the in the audience. Yeah, I was like,
[11:05] Speaker 2: good for you.
[11:06] Speaker 3: It was during COVID, so like everyone was like six
[11:09] Speaker 3: and I was like, man, I've made a full out
[11:10] Speaker 3: of myself in front of way more than four people,
[11:12] Speaker 3: so like.
[11:14] Speaker 2: Why not, why not going for it?
[11:16] Speaker 4: Yeah?
[11:17] Speaker 2: So I went I played should Have Been a Cowboy?
[11:19] Speaker 2: And in that moment, it was like.
[11:21] Speaker 3: That escape, that that purpose, that that drive, it was there,
[11:26] Speaker 3: but it was magnified a hundred times, and I knew
[11:28] Speaker 3: that that's that, this is what I need to do forever.
[11:30] Speaker 3: In that moment, the stage truly became my sanctuary. And
[11:35] Speaker 3: and you know, for I went from seven seconds at
[11:38] Speaker 3: a time to be able to nothing else matter in
[11:41] Speaker 3: the world, to now three minutes at a time where
[11:43] Speaker 3: nothing else in the world mattered, to then you know,
[11:46] Speaker 3: slowly the world started opening up.
[11:47] Speaker 2: And I went down to Nashville and.
[11:49] Speaker 3: Broadway and learned that you can play three or four
[11:52] Speaker 3: hours at a time while you're down on Broadway. And
[11:54] Speaker 3: I was like, well, you're telling me three or four
[11:56] Speaker 3: hours a day, I can disappear from all of the
[11:58] Speaker 3: stuff that I deal with, Like I want to do that.
[12:01] Speaker 1: Hell, could you put a can you put an apartment
[12:03] Speaker 1: in the back of this place, because I'm going to live.
[12:05] Speaker 3: Here, there's anywhere I could stay, like on the roof
[12:08] Speaker 3: or something.
[12:10] Speaker 2: But yeah, so I went, you know, I went and played.
[12:12] Speaker 3: At one point in time, I was playing six nights
[12:13] Speaker 3: a week down on Broadway for three to four hours
[12:15] Speaker 3: a day, and and my vocal cords hated me. But
[12:19] Speaker 3: the therapy that I got from it was more than
[12:22] Speaker 3: anything I've ever experienced. And and you know, it has
[12:26] Speaker 3: since grown into so much more than I ever thought possible.
[12:29] Speaker 2: And now I have a platform where I can try.
[12:32] Speaker 3: To help people find something the way that I was
[12:34] Speaker 3: able to find music.
[12:35] Speaker 1: Wow, YouTube and focus. Yes, And I guess the only
[12:39] Speaker 1: thing you didn't look up was was how not to
[12:41] Speaker 1: fry your vocal cords.
[12:43] Speaker 2: No, no, I didn't. I just went for it.
[12:46] Speaker 1: But that's determination, and that has to come from somewhere
[12:50] Speaker 1: deep within, and especially when you're going down a dark path.
[12:54] Speaker 1: I mean, it's a slippery slope.
[12:56] Speaker 3: So yeah, you know, I've just I've lost a lot
[12:58] Speaker 3: of friends that have and I have kids, and I
[13:02] Speaker 3: didn't want to be I didn't want to be that.
[13:06] Speaker 2: I didn't want to just leave early.
[13:08] Speaker 3: I wanted to be able to experience my kids and
[13:10] Speaker 3: watch them grow up and.
[13:12] Speaker 2: Be there for them when they needed me. So I
[13:14] Speaker 2: needed to find something.
[13:16] Speaker 1: So you became a country superstar. It's just incredible to me.
[13:21] Speaker 2: I just started, I started singing songs started.
[13:24] Speaker 1: Yeah, but it all starts somewhere. You know, in this
[13:26] Speaker 1: songwriting process for you, can you share how writing a
[13:31] Speaker 1: song helps you process these difficult emotions?
[13:34] Speaker 2: Yeah? You know.
[13:35] Speaker 3: When I first started, it was just a way for
[13:37] Speaker 3: me to get emotions and feelings out and put them
[13:40] Speaker 3: somewhere else.
[13:41] Speaker 2: You know, it was it.
[13:42] Speaker 3: Wasn't you know a lot of those songs don't make
[13:44] Speaker 3: any sense, and they're not even really songs.
[13:46] Speaker 2: It was just like word vomit that I needed to
[13:48] Speaker 2: get out.
[13:49] Speaker 3: And and now they live in this notebook and that
[13:53] Speaker 3: that's where they stay. They live here like that's that's
[13:55] Speaker 3: this is where it belongs now. And you know that
[13:58] Speaker 3: for me, that was that was huge. You know, I
[14:01] Speaker 3: was able to take to take all the things that
[14:03] Speaker 3: were eat me alive and put them somewhere else.
[14:06] Speaker 2: And and you know.
[14:07] Speaker 3: Now that I've gotten a little bit better songwriting, I
[14:11] Speaker 3: you know, now I can kind of.
[14:12] Speaker 2: Make sense more of the emotions and.
[14:15] Speaker 3: And honestly, like songwriting has given me the opportunity to
[14:18] Speaker 3: really to really focus on the emotions that I'm feeling
[14:22] Speaker 3: and to really think about them and talk about them.
[14:25] Speaker 3: And you know, before I just put them in a
[14:27] Speaker 3: box and just hope that that box doesn't ever bust open.
[14:30] Speaker 2: And now I'm able.
[14:31] Speaker 3: To talk about them and think about them and put
[14:35] Speaker 3: them somewhere and find a way to make it connect
[14:38] Speaker 3: with people. And and it's it's it's truly taking you know,
[14:43] Speaker 3: the trauma and the things that I deal with and
[14:46] Speaker 3: flipping it and trying to make it something that means something.
[14:51] Speaker 4: We'll be right back with more of the Music Save
[14:53] Speaker 4: Me Podcast. Welcome back to the Music Saved Me Podcast.
[15:03] Speaker 1: I don't know how deeply you are able to speak
[15:08] Speaker 1: of the situation you came out of. I have seen
[15:12] Speaker 1: you speak of it, but I just I can't stress
[15:15] Speaker 1: enough to our listeners what a turnaround your life is,
[15:20] Speaker 1: because literally you were pretty much gone, and I was
[15:25] Speaker 1: wondering if you could, in a short amount of time
[15:28] Speaker 1: kind of give an example of where you can. And
[15:31] Speaker 1: then also, can you just tell me did you ever
[15:33] Speaker 1: find out who that woman was that whispered to you?
[15:35] Speaker 2: And I have no idea.
[15:36] Speaker 1: Okay, well, no one knows what I'm talking about but
[15:39] Speaker 1: I figured i'd leave you in wild.
[15:41] Speaker 2: But yeah, I'll talk a little bit for sure. I
[15:43] Speaker 2: have no problem talking about it.
[15:44] Speaker 3: I think it's important for people to hear it because
[15:45] Speaker 3: maybe it can help somebody. Twenty first, twenty eleven, I
[15:49] Speaker 3: was shot ten times in Afghanistan. Everyone always asked, so
[15:53] Speaker 3: I got to say it five times I'm short or
[15:55] Speaker 3: four times and hit once in a.
[15:56] Speaker 2: Thigh and.
[15:58] Speaker 3: I had lost so much blood at one point in
[16:00] Speaker 3: time that my eyesight shut down.
[16:02] Speaker 2: You know. For me, I think that that's you know,
[16:05] Speaker 2: it was kind of like a white film.
[16:06] Speaker 3: And for me, the way that I think about it
[16:09] Speaker 3: now is like when people say, man.
[16:11] Speaker 2: I see the light, Like that's what I associate with that.
[16:15] Speaker 3: But somehow I pushed and I pushed and I didn't
[16:19] Speaker 3: give up it. I remember feeling how easy it would
[16:22] Speaker 3: have been to just kind of slip off and just
[16:25] Speaker 3: let go, but I was not going to do that.
[16:27] Speaker 3: I pushed and pushed and fought until I got the
[16:30] Speaker 3: Candahart Airfield. When we got into the can Hear airfield,
[16:33] Speaker 3: that's when they started. They hooked me up to blood
[16:36] Speaker 3: immediately and started pumping blood into my system while they're
[16:39] Speaker 3: trying to patch up holes and stuff like that, and I, yeah,
[16:43] Speaker 3: like you said, my eyes I started coming back and
[16:45] Speaker 3: I heard a lady bend down and say, hey, it's
[16:47] Speaker 3: okay for you to let go, it's okay for you
[16:49] Speaker 3: to go to sleep. It's okay, it will be fine.
[16:51] Speaker 3: We have you, and I passed out. I woke up
[16:56] Speaker 3: a couple of days later, and yeah, you know it,
[17:00] Speaker 3: it's crazy because, like like you said, I mean I
[17:03] Speaker 3: found out a couple of years later that there wasn't
[17:05] Speaker 3: a woman in that room when they were initially doing
[17:07] Speaker 3: the trauma like that, when they were initially doing the
[17:11] Speaker 3: emergency trauma procedures on me, there was not a woman
[17:13] Speaker 3: in that room.
[17:14] Speaker 2: So whoever that was, I.
[17:16] Speaker 3: Have no idea, but it's crazy and it still gives
[17:19] Speaker 3: me goosebumps to think about you.
[17:22] Speaker 1: When I heard about it the first time, I was like,
[17:25] Speaker 1: I have to share this because I mean it truly,
[17:28] Speaker 1: it's you know, to go from that to battle, just
[17:33] Speaker 1: to get your life normal again, just to walk, And
[17:36] Speaker 1: I mean, I don't even know how you hold a
[17:37] Speaker 1: guitar being shot that many times in your own.
[17:41] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you know, thank God for guitar straps because
[17:44] Speaker 3: like that. But you know, it was, Yeah, it was hard.
[17:48] Speaker 3: It was a crazy hard ride, and honestly it's still
[17:51] Speaker 3: kind of is.
[17:52] Speaker 2: You know. I mean, it never, you know, it never.
[17:56] Speaker 2: You never stopped trying to heal, you know, And I
[17:59] Speaker 2: think that that's that's the most important part out of
[18:01] Speaker 2: all of it, is that you never stopped trying to heal.
[18:04] Speaker 2: You know.
[18:04] Speaker 3: I feel like when you stop trying, that's when when
[18:08] Speaker 3: the bad things, when that wins. And you know, it was,
[18:12] Speaker 3: you know, learning how to walk again, learning how to
[18:14] Speaker 3: write and do everything left handed because I was originally
[18:16] Speaker 3: right handed.
[18:17] Speaker 2: Like, oh wow, that was that was that was rough.
[18:23] Speaker 1: You're incredible, Scottie.
[18:24] Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Yeah, it was.
[18:26] Speaker 3: It was so I felt it was crazy in the
[18:29] Speaker 3: moment because I remember my my son at the time
[18:33] Speaker 3: had a children's book where he was learning how to write,
[18:37] Speaker 3: like he had to like outline like letters and stuff,
[18:40] Speaker 3: and I had to do that with my left hand.
[18:41] Speaker 3: So we were both working on the same children's book
[18:44] Speaker 3: trying to learn how to write.
[18:45] Speaker 2: It was crazy.
[18:46] Speaker 1: That's a great bonding moment though, for sure.
[18:49] Speaker 3: But it was, you know, it was, it was rough,
[18:51] Speaker 3: It was hard, and it still is I mean, I
[18:53] Speaker 3: still have days where, you know, that are so much
[18:56] Speaker 3: harder than others, and and a lot of times that's
[18:59] Speaker 3: where I'm able to just grab a guitar and kind
[19:01] Speaker 3: of escape for a second. And you know, and I'm
[19:04] Speaker 3: blessed that I have that outlet. You know, I've been
[19:08] Speaker 3: lucky enough and blessed enough my whole time, ever since
[19:10] Speaker 3: getting injured, that I've had some type of outlet. There's
[19:13] Speaker 3: a lot of people who don't, and and and that's
[19:16] Speaker 3: that's terrifying.
[19:18] Speaker 1: Well, and that's where music comes in, which is why
[19:20] Speaker 1: we're even talking about this right now, because it is
[19:22] Speaker 1: so powerful. It allows you to focus, and there's so
[19:25] Speaker 1: many aspects of why it can be helpful to pull
[19:29] Speaker 1: us out of those moments where we could just you know,
[19:31] Speaker 1: hit the check out and say goodbye. And it's you've
[19:36] Speaker 1: become really active al so in supporting fellow veterans dealing
[19:39] Speaker 1: with mental health struggles, I understand, and I want to
[19:43] Speaker 1: know why this mission for you is so important and
[19:45] Speaker 1: so personal.
[19:46] Speaker 3: Obviously, like I said, I've lost too many friends. I've
[19:50] Speaker 3: lost too many of the greatest people I've ever known,
[19:53] Speaker 3: and just with something that you know, with the struggles
[19:57] Speaker 3: that we do with here. I've lost more people here
[19:59] Speaker 3: than and I ever did in Afghanistan. And that's that's awful,
[20:04] Speaker 3: Like that is, that's that shouldn't it shouldn't.
[20:06] Speaker 2: Be that way.
[20:07] Speaker 3: And honestly, my mission of my purpose is to try
[20:10] Speaker 3: to get rid of that number as much as possible.
[20:13] Speaker 3: I mean, if I can, if I can help one
[20:15] Speaker 3: person decide to try tomorrow, then I've done more in.
[20:19] Speaker 2: This industry than I could have ever imagined. Like that's
[20:21] Speaker 2: that's all I care about.
[20:23] Speaker 1: What message do you hope other veterans and listeners who
[20:26] Speaker 1: are struggling, who aren't veterans, just with with mental health.
[20:30] Speaker 1: What do you hope that they take away from your
[20:31] Speaker 1: story and your journey?
[20:33] Speaker 3: You know, I hope that they see that there's hope
[20:35] Speaker 3: that that you don't have to be defined by what happened,
[20:38] Speaker 3: but you don't have to be defined by the bad,
[20:40] Speaker 3: but rather be defined by what you do with it.
[20:43] Speaker 3: You know, I never you know, there's there were so
[20:45] Speaker 3: many times when I could have just given up, and
[20:47] Speaker 3: I could have just said I don't I don't want
[20:48] Speaker 3: to do this.
[20:49] Speaker 2: I could I could be sitting on my cap right
[20:50] Speaker 2: now feeling sorry.
[20:51] Speaker 3: For myself and and just in a really bad place.
[20:55] Speaker 3: But you know, I think it's in it's important to
[20:58] Speaker 3: push forward and keep going. You know, there's there's so
[21:01] Speaker 3: much to live for, and there's so many incredible things
[21:03] Speaker 3: out here and and yeah, man, and the world is
[21:08] Speaker 3: better with them in it, with you in it. And
[21:11] Speaker 3: and I think that that's hopefully that that's what people
[21:14] Speaker 3: take from me and from my story, is that, you know,
[21:18] Speaker 3: some type of hope, you know. I mean, I never
[21:20] Speaker 3: in a million years thought that I would be where
[21:22] Speaker 3: I am, And I hope that that.
[21:25] Speaker 2: Shows other people that they can literally do anything.
[21:28] Speaker 3: If I can be up there playing guitar and singing
[21:31] Speaker 3: songs and on some of these stages that I'm on,
[21:33] Speaker 3: literally anyone can do anything. There's always you can find
[21:38] Speaker 3: it on YouTube. You can figure it out right. Yeah,
[21:41] Speaker 3: there's you know, dream to come true every day, and
[21:43] Speaker 3: there's and if you if you work hard enough and
[21:46] Speaker 3: you push hard enough, you can make anything happen.
[21:49] Speaker 1: You know, considering your journey and your recovery and battling
[21:53] Speaker 1: back all of the issues mentally that come along with it,
[21:57] Speaker 1: can you describe what it feels like to you when
[21:59] Speaker 1: you hit the stage performing a sanctuary. What's the like
[22:04] Speaker 1: a piece or this.
[22:06] Speaker 3: It's just yeah, it's it's a it's a piece like
[22:09] Speaker 3: it's it's it's insane. So there's only you know, for
[22:13] Speaker 3: someone who suffers from PTSD depression anxiety like it's it's
[22:16] Speaker 3: really hard to live in a moment and not be
[22:19] Speaker 3: over there and not think about my friends that are
[22:21] Speaker 3: that got killed and not think about you know, all
[22:23] Speaker 3: the bad it's it's it's very hard to find a
[22:26] Speaker 3: place where you can just be there. For me, there's
[22:32] Speaker 3: only two places that I can find that when I'm
[22:34] Speaker 3: on my motorcycle and as soon as I step on stage.
[22:37] Speaker 3: The stage has become a sanctuary for me. It is
[22:39] Speaker 3: the place where I can truly live in a moment
[22:42] Speaker 3: and enjoy that moment and just be there with whoever
[22:46] Speaker 3: else is there.
[22:48] Speaker 2: It is. It is truly one of the most magical.
[22:51] Speaker 3: Most incredible places that I can be, and I live
[22:54] Speaker 3: to for every moment that I get to be on
[22:56] Speaker 3: a stage.
[22:57] Speaker 1: More grateful that you are. I'm curious, can you share
[23:00] Speaker 1: a moment that maybe stands out in your mind when
[23:03] Speaker 1: you've maybe had a conversation with a fellow veteran who's
[23:05] Speaker 1: told you that your music has helped them.
[23:07] Speaker 3: Oh man, there's been so many, but the one that
[23:11] Speaker 3: really sticks with me is the one that made me
[23:13] Speaker 3: realize that I needed to keep doing what I was doing.
[23:17] Speaker 3: So it was when I opened for Dave Girl in Phoenix, Arizona.
[23:21] Speaker 3: There was a guy who came to the show who
[23:24] Speaker 3: reached out to one of my buddies.
[23:25] Speaker 2: We didn't realize, we didn't know that we knew each other.
[23:28] Speaker 3: But I played how do You Choose, the song about
[23:31] Speaker 3: my survivor's guilt and everything that I'm dealing with, and
[23:35] Speaker 3: he texted one of my buddies and news like He's like, dude, Like,
[23:39] Speaker 3: there's this guy that was in Phoenix. I played and
[23:42] Speaker 3: he played a song called how do You Choose? And
[23:44] Speaker 3: he said, I'm gonna be one hundred percent honest with
[23:46] Speaker 3: you man, Like I was going to this show because
[23:48] Speaker 3: I wanted to see Dave Gold go before I killed myself.
[23:52] Speaker 3: And he's like, but listening to Scottie like I, he
[23:56] Speaker 3: showed me that there's so much more And that song
[23:59] Speaker 3: made me underst that that I'm not.
[24:02] Speaker 2: The only one who suffers from this, but I'm not
[24:04] Speaker 2: the only one who's dealing with this and that that.
[24:08] Speaker 3: Moment will forever, forever live in my heart and in
[24:11] Speaker 3: my soul, and that is That's the one thing that
[24:14] Speaker 3: as soon as I saw that, as soon as I
[24:16] Speaker 3: heard that, I was like, I have to open my
[24:19] Speaker 3: chest and let people see who I am, and I
[24:21] Speaker 3: have to show them that I struggle and that I
[24:24] Speaker 3: am still successful and that I have been through the
[24:27] Speaker 3: worst of the worst and I'm still here and I
[24:31] Speaker 3: have to write music and I have to perform music
[24:33] Speaker 3: that means something to not only myself but other people.
[24:37] Speaker 1: Well, that that was meant to be. I mean, you
[24:38] Speaker 1: were supposed to be there that day with Dave Growl,
[24:41] Speaker 1: which after you have that conversation, man.
[24:44] Speaker 3: It was it was insane. That moment will truly live
[24:46] Speaker 3: with me forever.
[24:49] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[24:49] Speaker 1: Wow. Well, you know something that really tickled me was
[24:54] Speaker 1: that you got to recently work with I mean, this
[24:56] Speaker 1: is incredible to me, your rise, but not incredible because
[24:59] Speaker 1: if your incredible skill and talent. Sorry I keep using
[25:02] Speaker 1: the word incredible all the time. But it got to
[25:05] Speaker 1: work with one of my favorite people on the planet,
[25:07] Speaker 1: Dolly Parton and Lee Brice for your rendition of that
[25:10] Speaker 1: song till the last shots fired. I'm curious, what was
[25:14] Speaker 1: it like working with them, and are there any new
[25:16] Speaker 1: projects or songs or collaborations like that in the horizon
[25:19] Speaker 1: that you're excited about.
[25:21] Speaker 2: That song changed my life. That song. The first time
[25:24] Speaker 2: I ever heard that song, I was at Walter.
[25:27] Speaker 3: Reed and we were at an event and the original version,
[25:30] Speaker 3: tray Akins version came on. It was the first time
[25:31] Speaker 3: I'd ever heard that song, and it touched a part
[25:34] Speaker 3: of my soul and it grabbed me and I cried
[25:37] Speaker 3: like a baby for two hours and I couldn't stop.
[25:40] Speaker 3: And in those two hours, I made the decision I
[25:42] Speaker 3: was going to live my life to the fullest, that
[25:43] Speaker 3: I wasn't going to let my injury.
[25:45] Speaker 2: Dictate my life.
[25:46] Speaker 3: And fast forward ten years and I'm sitting in the
[25:48] Speaker 3: office of one of the guys who wrote the song
[25:50] Speaker 3: talking about signing a record deal, and.
[25:52] Speaker 2: He's like, hey, like, I put out this song with
[25:54] Speaker 2: Trayce Akins.
[25:54] Speaker 3: I don't know if you've ever heard it, like it's
[25:56] Speaker 3: you know, it's a song called Till Last Shots Fired
[25:59] Speaker 3: like and I was like, yeah, I've heard it, Like
[26:01] Speaker 3: I love that song, Like that song changed my life.
[26:03] Speaker 2: And he was like, he said, well, would you want
[26:05] Speaker 2: to do a version of it?
[26:06] Speaker 3: And I was like, yeah, man, absolutely, I want to
[26:08] Speaker 3: do a version of it. So we went into the
[26:11] Speaker 3: studio and we had and I did a version of it.
[26:13] Speaker 3: It was just me on it, and I put every
[26:16] Speaker 3: emotion in every feeling that I originally felt when I
[26:19] Speaker 3: heard the song into that song and I thought it
[26:22] Speaker 3: was perfect.
[26:22] Speaker 2: I thought it was it was exactly what I needed
[26:25] Speaker 2: when I needed it.
[26:26] Speaker 3: And then Doug Johnson, who was one of the writers
[26:29] Speaker 3: who was also my producer, is friends with Lee Brice,
[26:32] Speaker 3: and he's like, Hey, we're going to reach out to
[26:33] Speaker 3: some other artists and see if they want to be
[26:35] Speaker 3: a part of this, Like what do you think? And
[26:36] Speaker 3: I said, man, send it to everybody, like let's see
[26:38] Speaker 3: what happened. Yeah, And Lee Brice was the first one
[26:40] Speaker 3: to jump on it. He's a testament to who Lee
[26:44] Speaker 3: Brice is the person. He's an incredible person. He's become
[26:46] Speaker 3: a very dear friend of mine now, which is crazy
[26:49] Speaker 3: to say, but he was like, man, I don't care
[26:52] Speaker 3: what part I play in the song. I just want
[26:54] Speaker 3: to be a part of what you're doing with this,
[26:55] Speaker 3: Like this is incredible.
[26:56] Speaker 2: I want to be a part of this.
[26:58] Speaker 3: And so we then we had me and Lee's version,
[27:01] Speaker 3: and I thought it was perfect. I was like, dude,
[27:03] Speaker 3: this is all I like, this is more than I
[27:04] Speaker 3: could have ever imagined. And then, you know, three weeks later,
[27:07] Speaker 3: I get a call from dougging in with the producer
[27:09] Speaker 3: and he said, Hey, Dolly Parton wants to be on
[27:11] Speaker 3: this song.
[27:12] Speaker 2: What do you think?
[27:13] Speaker 3: And I was like, Dolly, do whatever she wants, Like
[27:16] Speaker 3: what are you talking about?
[27:17] Speaker 2: What do I think? Why are you calling me? Oh?
[27:21] Speaker 3: But yeah, And you know that that song, that song
[27:24] Speaker 3: changed my life. When I was at well to read it.
[27:26] Speaker 3: It made me decide that I wanted to live my
[27:28] Speaker 3: life to the fullest. It's the reason why I'm doing
[27:30] Speaker 3: music now. And and you know, a song that changed
[27:33] Speaker 3: my life that I thought was perfect truly became perfect
[27:35] Speaker 3: when I heard Dolly's voice on it. It was It's so
[27:38] Speaker 3: angelic and it's absolutely beautiful. And still I probably listened
[27:42] Speaker 3: to that song thousands of times at this point, and I.
[27:44] Speaker 2: Still get chills every time she comes on.
[27:46] Speaker 3: It's it is unbelievable and it's more than I could
[27:49] Speaker 3: have ever imagined. And as far as stuff in the works,
[27:53] Speaker 3: we have some stuff in the works. I can't really
[27:55] Speaker 3: say too much, but we asked some stuff in the
[27:56] Speaker 3: works with some other artists and stuff.
[27:58] Speaker 1: So okay, well, I mean, gosh, I have so many
[28:01] Speaker 1: more questions for you. But I've you know, sitting here
[28:04] Speaker 1: with you thinking that I introduced you as a rising
[28:06] Speaker 1: country star. I mean, when you're on a song with
[28:09] Speaker 1: Dolly Parton, you've achieved, you know, success in music.
[28:13] Speaker 2: I still don't know how that happened.
[28:16] Speaker 1: What does success look like to you personally? And beyond?
[28:22] Speaker 2: Success to me is it's not wealth, it's not fame.
[28:27] Speaker 2: Success to me.
[28:28] Speaker 3: Is is making one person decide that they want to
[28:33] Speaker 3: continue tomorrow.
[28:34] Speaker 2: Success to me is being able to make.
[28:39] Speaker 3: Some headway in the twenty two a day for our veterans,
[28:43] Speaker 3: and success to me is being able to help somebody, anybody,
[28:47] Speaker 3: as much as possible.
[28:48] Speaker 2: That is success.
[28:50] Speaker 1: Well, that's the whole reason why we do this podcast.
[28:53] Speaker 1: So it makes total sense that we would have you
[28:55] Speaker 1: on today, and I'm so grateful. I want to let
[29:00] Speaker 1: you go, but Scottie Hasting, thank you so much for
[29:02] Speaker 1: your service again to this country, for all of these
[29:06] Speaker 1: people that you're helping every day with your music, your
[29:08] Speaker 1: story and your passion to help and inspire others. We're
[29:12] Speaker 1: so grateful to have the opportunity to have you on today.
[29:15] Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thank you
[29:16] Speaker 2: so much for having me

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