# Phil Vassar Opens Up on Heart, Music, and Resilience

An episode of [Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1751194045), 7 Oct 2025, 26 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/c41d385f-64b2-4514-9415-b4d50130ce01/fc46cc4b-abf7-44e1-a9e2-b4d5016ca39f/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=d1742151-672b-4e4d-997b-b4d50130ce0c

Country music star Phil Vassar shares his remarkable journey of survival and rebirth after experiencing a near-fatal heart attack that stopped his heart for nearly 30 minutes. We explore his profound two-year recovery process and how this life-altering experience transformed his approach to music, creativity, and the entertainment industry. • Phil had to relearn basic functions including walking and playing piano after his "sudden death" episode • Despite being physically fit with healthy eating habits, Phil's heart attack was attributed to genetic factors • The recovery process included months at Shepherd Center in Atlanta followed by continued rehabilitation at home • Phil now feels more calm, focused, and confident in his musical choices after facing mortality • The health crisis shifted Phil's perspective from pleasing industry gatekeepers to creating authentic music he loves • Phil's illustrious career includes writing hits for Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson and meeting legends like Elton John • Nashville's Music Row has changed dramatically with iconic studios being replaced by condominiums • Phil is building a recording studio in his barn to create music on his own terms • The conversation touches on memorable encounters with Glen Campbell, BJ Thomas, and performances at the White House • Phil expresses gratitude for his second chance at life and the opportunity to reflect on his 35+ year career I'm doing fewer shows this year - only about 30-40 - which has given me time to reflect on everything that's happened. I really believe everything happens for a reason, and I'm definitely thankful to be here See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:14] Speaker 1: My career in the entertainment industry has enabled me to
[0:17] Speaker 1: work with a diverse range of talent through my years
[0:21] Speaker 1: of experience i've recognized two essential aspects industry professionals whether
[0:26] Speaker 1: famous stars or behind the scenes staff have fascinating stories
[0:32] Speaker 1: to tell. Secondly, audiences are eager to listen to these stories,
[0:36] Speaker 1: which offer a glimpse into their lives and the evolution
[0:40] Speaker 1: of their life stories. This podcast aims to share these narratives,
[0:44] Speaker 1: providing information on how they evolve into their chosen career.
[0:48] Speaker 1: We will delve into their journey to stardom, discuss their
[0:51] Speaker 1: struggles and successes, and hear from people who helped them
[0:54] Speaker 1: achieve their goals. Get ready for intriguing behind-the-scenes stories and
[0:58] Speaker 1: insights into the fascinating world of entertainment. Hi, I'm Tony Mantour.
[1:05] Speaker 1: Welcome to Almost Live Nashville. Phil Vassar, the celebrated country
[1:09] Speaker 1: music singer, songwriter, and pianist, joins me today for a
[1:13] Speaker 1: heartfelt conversation. Known for his hits like Just Another Day
[1:17] Speaker 1: in Paradise and Carlene, as well as penning chart toppers
[1:21] Speaker 1: for artists like Tim McGraw, Phil's soulful melodies and relatable
[1:25] Speaker 1: storytelling have left a lasting mark on Nashville. We'll dive
[1:29] Speaker 1: into his remarkable journey, including two years of profound readjustment
[1:34] Speaker 1: following a near-fatal heart attack, exploring life, music, and stories
[1:40] Speaker 1: that will give a discussion I think you'll truly enjoy.
[1:43] Speaker 1: It's a conversation that I thoroughly enjoyed having, and it's
[1:48] Speaker 1: a pleasure to have him here. So before we dive
[1:50] Speaker 1: into our episode, we'll be right back with an uninterrupted
[1:55] Speaker 1: show right after a word from our sponsors. Thanks for
[1:59] Speaker 1: coming on.
[2:00] Speaker 2: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
[2:03] Speaker 1: Oh, it's my pleasure. So I understand that this year
[2:05] Speaker 1: is the 25th anniversary for one of your songs.
[2:09] Speaker 2: Yeah, it was the 25th anniversary of my first record.
[2:12] Speaker 2: I was having hits for years before that, so it's
[2:15] Speaker 2: kind of crazy, isn't it?
[2:17] Speaker 1: To coin a phrase, you go from singer-songwriter to actually singer-songwriter,
[2:22] Speaker 1: only this time on a label as an artist.
[2:25] Speaker 2: Yeah, right.
[2:26] Speaker 1: Before we dig too deep into your artistry as a singer-songwriter,
[2:31] Speaker 1: I understand you had a life-altering scare here a couple
[2:35] Speaker 1: of years ago.
[2:36] Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
[2:37] Speaker 1: I've heard because of what happened to you, you're a
[2:40] Speaker 1: huge advocate now for heart health. Can you expand on
[2:43] Speaker 1: a little bit of what you went through?
[2:45] Speaker 2: I had a, you know, I had a, what's it called,
[2:48] Speaker 2: sudden death, I think. That's what it was. My heart
[2:51] Speaker 2: just stopped beating, and so I didn't have a heartbeat for...
[2:54] Speaker 2: for a long time, for 20, 30, 30 minutes or so,
[2:57] Speaker 2: first time, and then they got me going. And, you know,
[3:00] Speaker 2: I'm a healthy person. I worked out every day, and
[3:02] Speaker 2: I never ate fried food or anything like that. I mean,
[3:05] Speaker 2: I'm just telling you, it was just, you know, genetic
[3:08] Speaker 2: is what they said, you know, and so.
[3:10] Speaker 1: I heard that you said you died twice on the table.
[3:13] Speaker 1: So how are you feeling now?
[3:14] Speaker 2: I feel great now. I feel wonderful. Singing better and
[3:17] Speaker 2: all that stuff, I was really, really, I was struggling
[3:20] Speaker 2: just to live, you Yeah.
[3:22] Speaker 1: And I'm so glad that you're doing well now. Quick question, though.
[3:26] Speaker 1: You didn't have the heartbeat, and you said that you
[3:28] Speaker 1: had died twice. Did you have any out-of-body experience like
[3:33] Speaker 1: some have?
[3:34] Speaker 2: You know, I've been asked that a lot, and I
[3:35] Speaker 2: don't remember anything. So I have nothing. I didn't talk
[3:39] Speaker 2: to Jimi Hendrix or anybody, which would be cool. You know,
[3:43] Speaker 2: I just... Really, really struggling. You know, I was having
[3:48] Speaker 2: a hard time breathing, having a hard time, you know,
[3:50] Speaker 2: in general. I always had this puffer. I'm just like,
[3:53] Speaker 2: I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I was tired all
[3:55] Speaker 2: the time and struggling, you know. So it was just
[3:59] Speaker 2: so severe that it took me having a heart attack,
[4:02] Speaker 2: dying to really fix everything. You know, they cleaned up
[4:05] Speaker 2: everything and my doctor was great. I mean, I went
[4:08] Speaker 2: to Vanderbilt, of course. We're lucky to have great hospitals
[4:11] Speaker 2: in Nashville. We are.
[4:12] Speaker 1: We have great doctors, great hospitals. So we're very, very fortunate.
[4:17] Speaker 2: Oh, you're not kidding. So it was great. I mean,
[4:20] Speaker 2: it wasn't great for a while, but I was at
[4:22] Speaker 2: Shepherd Center for a while in Atlanta, five or so, five,
[4:26] Speaker 2: six months or whatever, and then came back home.
[4:28] Speaker 1: I heard after you got through all that, you had
[4:31] Speaker 1: to learn how to walk again, play piano again, and
[4:34] Speaker 1: get back into the regular things.
[4:36] Speaker 2: Well, it was just, I didn't do anything really. When
[4:40] Speaker 2: I came to, I was in a wheelchair. And they
[4:43] Speaker 2: were kind of explaining to me what happened. And I
[4:46] Speaker 2: was going, what? You know, what happened? I said, how
[4:49] Speaker 2: did I have a heart attack? I said, you know,
[4:51] Speaker 2: it worked out. And I did all this stuff. And
[4:53] Speaker 2: my doctor was like, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
[4:55] Speaker 2: bad genetics. And he said, you were in probably good
[4:58] Speaker 2: enough shape just to survive the onslaught. I don't know,
[5:02] Speaker 2: but I feel different now. I feel very calm. I
[5:06] Speaker 2: was very stressed. And I don't know if it was
[5:09] Speaker 2: just physical, I think, mostly.
[5:11] Speaker 1: Well, we are talking about the music business.
[5:14] Speaker 2: And there's that.
[5:15] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's for sure. So how did you handle it mentally?
[5:19] Speaker 1: I mean, you had to rebuild, you had to relearn things.
[5:24] Speaker 1: How did that whole process work and what kind of
[5:27] Speaker 1: a journey was it for you?
[5:28] Speaker 2: Yeah, it was, it was, it was interesting. And I
[5:31] Speaker 2: think I didn't really, I didn't try to, rush back
[5:34] Speaker 2: or anything you know I just I really missed playing
[5:38] Speaker 2: music you know I really did so I was kind
[5:40] Speaker 2: of excited just to the same year at the end
[5:42] Speaker 2: of the year I got to play some shows play
[5:44] Speaker 2: a few shows and just to be able to just
[5:46] Speaker 2: I don't know you just need that feeling that you
[5:49] Speaker 2: get when you play music and with your friends and
[5:51] Speaker 2: I feel great now I feel better and you know
[5:53] Speaker 2: every day I'm just kind of feeling better.
[5:56] Speaker 1: That's just so good to hear that you're doing that
[5:59] Speaker 1: well now After you got back to working, performing, how
[6:03] Speaker 1: did that change or did it change anything in the
[6:05] Speaker 1: way that you performed?
[6:07] Speaker 2: Well, I think, you know, on stage, I think I'm
[6:10] Speaker 2: pretty much the same. I don't do flips or backflips
[6:13] Speaker 2: off the piano or any of that anymore. But I mean,
[6:15] Speaker 2: I still run around and I think I was so,
[6:18] Speaker 2: so ganked up. I didn't know. I didn't. I was
[6:20] Speaker 2: kind of jumping around, jumping off pianos and doing flips.
[6:23] Speaker 2: And so it's maybe it's better now that I'm a
[6:25] Speaker 2: little bit calmer.
[6:27] Speaker 1: How's your emotions now? Because when you went through all that,
[6:32] Speaker 1: you almost lost everything. Now you've gained a new lease
[6:36] Speaker 1: on life, so to speak.
[6:38] Speaker 2: Yes.
[6:39] Speaker 1: Your attitude and the perspective and the perception of what
[6:42] Speaker 1: you thought must have changed some.
[6:44] Speaker 2: I think so. I mean, I do. I think, you know,
[6:47] Speaker 2: when you're When you're in the heat of the fight,
[6:50] Speaker 2: you know, I was writing every day, you know, back
[6:52] Speaker 2: in the 90s or whatever. I couldn't get anybody to
[6:56] Speaker 2: like what I did. I had to kind of take
[6:58] Speaker 2: control of what I was doing. I had to take
[6:59] Speaker 2: control of, I mean, I... opened my own club. I
[7:03] Speaker 2: opened a restaurant. I did that stuff. So I'd have
[7:05] Speaker 2: a place to play and I didn't have to deal
[7:07] Speaker 2: with sleazy club owners, you know? Yeah.
[7:10] Speaker 1: We've all dealt with those for sure.
[7:12] Speaker 2: You know, I learned a lot and I learned a
[7:14] Speaker 2: lot about my songs and my music. I mean, whenever
[7:17] Speaker 2: I would write a song, I'd play it that night,
[7:19] Speaker 2: you know, I'd say I got a new song, you know,
[7:21] Speaker 2: and test it out and you'd finish and they'd show
[7:23] Speaker 2: their approval, you know, They liked it a lot. I mean,
[7:26] Speaker 2: I would play my next 30 years or I'm All
[7:28] Speaker 2: Right or Bob. All these songs. And I liked them. But,
[7:31] Speaker 2: you know, of course, you know, the music. I learned
[7:33] Speaker 2: a lot about the music business, too. And during that phase,
[7:36] Speaker 2: I was just like, man, these guys are most of
[7:38] Speaker 2: them are just boneheads. They're not very smart. They don't
[7:41] Speaker 2: know a hit from a friggin, you know, hole in
[7:43] Speaker 2: the ground. They don't know. That was one thing I
[7:45] Speaker 2: just kind of said, look, if I like it and
[7:48] Speaker 2: if my fans like what I do. and they like
[7:50] Speaker 2: the song, then it's okay, you know? And if I
[7:53] Speaker 2: feel passionate about a song, it's probably pretty good. I
[7:56] Speaker 2: learned to not worry about what everybody else thought anymore.
[7:59] Speaker 2: It just made me, hit me confidence like I'd never
[8:02] Speaker 2: had before.
[8:02] Speaker 1: That's just so good. You know, that's a huge step
[8:06] Speaker 1: here in Nashville. Everybody's out to please someone. The label,
[8:10] Speaker 1: the A & R people, the managers, and everyone else.
[8:13] Speaker 1: And what it really comes down to, you just have
[8:16] Speaker 1: to please yourself.
[8:17] Speaker 2: Right.
[8:17] Speaker 1: When you hit that comfort level, all the noise goes
[8:21] Speaker 1: away and you can start really doing good work.
[8:24] Speaker 2: That's the truth. It really is the truth. And I
[8:27] Speaker 2: think that's a good way to put it because I think,
[8:29] Speaker 2: you know, you do, you have all these people in
[8:31] Speaker 2: your ear and they, I'm telling you, they think they know,
[8:34] Speaker 2: but they don't know. Nobody knows, you know, really. Yeah.
[8:38] Speaker 1: And they're always pushing for that next big hit because
[8:41] Speaker 1: without it, they don't make any money.
[8:44] Speaker 2: Right.
[8:45] Speaker 1: A lot of them could care less about you. Because
[8:47] Speaker 1: they do care if you live or die. But other
[8:49] Speaker 1: than that, they don't care because that's the only way
[8:51] Speaker 1: they make their money.
[8:53] Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of selfish people. I mean,
[8:56] Speaker 2: I know there's a bunch of great people in our business.
[8:58] Speaker 2: There really are. Oh, yeah.
[8:59] Speaker 1: I know a lot of good people here.
[9:01] Speaker 2: But I wouldn't say there's the majority.
[9:04] Speaker 1: I tell a lot of people that are not here
[9:07] Speaker 1: from Nashville, but some that are here in Nashville, there's
[9:09] Speaker 1: a reason why they call it the music business.
[9:12] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[9:13] Speaker 1: You have to jump through all these hoops and books
[9:16] Speaker 1: and books of papers before you even can get on
[9:20] Speaker 1: the stage to do what you do.
[9:22] Speaker 2: Yeah, it really is. And something I learned was I just,
[9:26] Speaker 2: I do love my job. I love to play and
[9:29] Speaker 2: I love to write songs. I do. I like that.
[9:31] Speaker 2: And the business part, somebody telling me this or you
[9:34] Speaker 2: need to do this or do that. And especially some
[9:37] Speaker 2: of the stuff, because now it's about social media and
[9:40] Speaker 2: TikTok or this or that. I'm just going, It just
[9:43] Speaker 2: seems like it's a different time. I mean, I know
[9:46] Speaker 2: you have to adjust and grow. I mean, that's a
[9:48] Speaker 2: good thing to do, but I'm not going to get
[9:50] Speaker 2: out there and dress up like a frog or something
[9:53] Speaker 2: just to make somebody happy.
[9:57] Speaker 1: So it appears like you found yourself in a good
[10:02] Speaker 1: comfort zone and you found yourself more at ease.
[10:06] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[10:07] Speaker 1: By finding that, did you find yourself looking at everything
[10:11] Speaker 1: a little bit differently than you had before?
[10:13] Speaker 2: Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's funny, too, because, you know,
[10:17] Speaker 2: I've been on the road for so long, for decades,
[10:20] Speaker 2: right now, 25 years of my first record. You know,
[10:23] Speaker 2: I was having hits, number one songs that I wrote
[10:26] Speaker 2: 10 years before that. So, I mean, I do like
[10:28] Speaker 2: to pull out the songs I wrote. I did Right
[10:30] Speaker 2: on the Money that I wrote for Alan Jackson last night,
[10:32] Speaker 2: and they loved it. And the band was like, let's
[10:34] Speaker 2: do Right on the Money. You know, you just pull
[10:37] Speaker 2: out songs that, I don't know, I just loved it.
[10:39] Speaker 2: I always loved the song. But, of course, Alan and
[10:42] Speaker 2: I are different artists, and I'm the biggest Alan Jackson
[10:46] Speaker 2: fan that you can be. I love him. I think
[10:48] Speaker 2: he's just an amazing, you know, not just his voice,
[10:51] Speaker 2: but his songs have just always been. I was a
[10:53] Speaker 2: label mate with Alan, you know, at Arista for a
[10:56] Speaker 2: long time, decade. It was just awesome, you know. I
[10:59] Speaker 2: always listened to his records. I mean, there's some artists
[11:01] Speaker 2: you just go... but I was really I always really
[11:04] Speaker 2: looked forward to hearing what he's doing you know and
[11:07] Speaker 2: but I think the people that you really respect I
[11:09] Speaker 2: mean Billy Joel I still love Billy him and Elton
[11:12] Speaker 2: John are my.
[11:13] Speaker 1: Yeah they are both great I love them too.
[11:16] Speaker 2: Yeah you know I'm saying they were they're the guys
[11:18] Speaker 2: and and I just remember you meeting Elton John for
[11:21] Speaker 2: the first time and I mean he was just great
[11:23] Speaker 2: you know and This was before I had any cuts
[11:26] Speaker 2: or record deal, but I was playing in my bar
[11:29] Speaker 2: and I had such a following. And Nigel Olsen, of course,
[11:32] Speaker 2: came and played with me one night and sat in
[11:34] Speaker 2: with me several, several nights. And it was just, I'm like,
[11:38] Speaker 2: what in the world? But he was such a great guy.
[11:40] Speaker 2: But when Elton did his concert in Nashville for D. Murray,
[11:44] Speaker 2: when he passed away, he He did a thing at
[11:46] Speaker 2: the Opry House and Lisa Olsen, Nigel's wife, was a fan.
[11:51] Speaker 2: Come see me play and all that. And so you've
[11:53] Speaker 2: got to meet Elton. You've got to meet him. He'll
[11:56] Speaker 2: love it. So when I met him and went backstage
[11:58] Speaker 2: and hung out with him and it was amazing, you know.
[12:00] Speaker 2: It's just the moments you forget about, you go, did
[12:03] Speaker 2: that really happen? Right?
[12:05] Speaker 1: Yeah. That's the beauty of living in Nashville. Working, networking,
[12:10] Speaker 1: you just never know who's around the next corner.
[12:14] Speaker 2: Yeah. And there's so many in Nashville now because it's
[12:16] Speaker 2: become kind of this, you know, with everybody kind of
[12:18] Speaker 2: left LA really, you know, Steve Dorff, who I write
[12:21] Speaker 2: with is a dear friend and we've written a bunch.
[12:24] Speaker 2: And a matter of fact, he got married in my
[12:26] Speaker 2: barn back here. You know, it's just so great. And
[12:28] Speaker 2: it's kind of funny because Steve Cropper, you know, been
[12:31] Speaker 2: a dear friend forever, but his daughter, she's getting married
[12:33] Speaker 2: in my barn too, coming up. So, I mean, it's
[12:35] Speaker 2: kind of funny that I built this barn for some reason.
[12:37] Speaker 2: It's my studio now, but I like to go back
[12:40] Speaker 2: there and just kind of, I've got a grand piano
[12:42] Speaker 2: up there and I just get, I go up there
[12:43] Speaker 2: and I just sit down and who knows what might happen,
[12:46] Speaker 2: you know?
[12:47] Speaker 1: That's the beauty of being able to find your comfort zone,
[12:51] Speaker 1: your comfort space, and have the ability to just sit
[12:54] Speaker 1: down and let things flow naturally with no pressure of
[12:58] Speaker 1: having to do it. Yeah.
[13:00] Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, you think, you think about like back
[13:03] Speaker 2: in the day when we all had publishing deals and
[13:06] Speaker 2: doing all this stuff. I mean, you know, it was
[13:07] Speaker 2: all about getting the next cut. I don't know. Everything
[13:10] Speaker 2: worked out. It's just like I still process it sometimes, like,
[13:14] Speaker 2: you know, you know what I'm saying?
[13:16] Speaker 1: Yeah, the music business has been very good to both
[13:20] Speaker 1: of us. I mean, I've had the same situations where
[13:23] Speaker 1: I've been in the same rooms with five-star generals and
[13:26] Speaker 1: so many different people, and they want to know what
[13:29] Speaker 1: I do when I want to know what they're doing. So, yeah,
[13:32] Speaker 1: it's just great.
[13:33] Speaker 2: It's so crazy, and it's wonderful. Yeah, it is. You know,
[13:36] Speaker 2: I mean, I've done so many things for the military
[13:38] Speaker 2: is very important to me. And I've got so many
[13:41] Speaker 2: dear friends. Of course, you know, I've gotten to meet
[13:43] Speaker 2: Clinton and I played the Bush White House some four times,
[13:46] Speaker 2: I think, you know, and for the Christmas. And it
[13:48] Speaker 2: was just amazing.
[13:49] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. Which Bush, father or the son?
[13:53] Speaker 2: I met Dad and, but for W, I played the
[13:57] Speaker 2: White House several times. I did several events for them.
[13:59] Speaker 2: And I got to meet Herman Walker, of course. He
[14:02] Speaker 2: was just great. I loved him. And, you know, I
[14:04] Speaker 2: always wanted to, I never met Reagan. I always wanted
[14:06] Speaker 2: to meet him, you know. But anyway, it was just
[14:08] Speaker 2: such a great, I got to meet Clinton at a
[14:10] Speaker 2: Humana event. He was speaking and I was playing. And anyway,
[14:13] Speaker 2: I thought he was going to play sax with me,
[14:15] Speaker 2: but at the last minute he didn't get it. He said,
[14:17] Speaker 2: I got to get out of here, but y'all have
[14:19] Speaker 2: a great, anyway, he was great.
[14:21] Speaker 1: That's the beauty of this business. You get to meet
[14:23] Speaker 1: people that want to meet you and you want to
[14:26] Speaker 1: meet them. It's just the beauty of this business.
[14:30] Speaker 2: It is great. It is. You know, I never take it.
[14:33] Speaker 2: I never take it for granted. That's for sure. I mean,
[14:35] Speaker 2: I'm looking at that Glenn Campbell book over there. I mean,
[14:37] Speaker 2: Glenn was one of my heroes growing up, listening to Galveston.
[14:40] Speaker 2: And I mean, all the he was just the best,
[14:43] Speaker 2: you know.
[14:44] Speaker 1: Oh, he was. And for those that don't know what
[14:46] Speaker 1: you're talking about, I have a book called Life with
[14:48] Speaker 1: My Father, Glenn Campbell. on my shelf behind me and
[14:52] Speaker 1: it was written by his daughter debbie who i produce.
[14:54] Speaker 2: I mean and how great i did meet her and
[14:57] Speaker 2: but i got to play golf with glenn and some
[14:59] Speaker 2: tournaments i mean we talked about it's just it was
[15:01] Speaker 2: the greatest i'm just sitting here going man i am
[15:04] Speaker 2: i think actually me and toby me and toby keith
[15:06] Speaker 2: and glenn campbell played golf it was really fun i
[15:08] Speaker 2: mean you know people we all come and go but
[15:10] Speaker 2: glenn campbell's man i listened to some of his records
[15:13] Speaker 2: i mean i don't know man maybe two or three
[15:15] Speaker 2: weeks ago i just kind of listened to some of
[15:17] Speaker 2: his greatest.
[15:17] Speaker 1: Hits You know, the beauty of this music is sometimes
[15:21] Speaker 1: just the simplicity of it is what makes it so great.
[15:25] Speaker 1: I mean, go back to 1975 and Rhinestone Cowboy. I mean,
[15:30] Speaker 1: it was just super.
[15:33] Speaker 2: I love it. That was one of my one of
[15:36] Speaker 2: our dear friends. I lived with him. He was one
[15:38] Speaker 2: of my roommates when I first moved to Nashville, but
[15:40] Speaker 2: he's a cop, but he's a great, great guy. He
[15:42] Speaker 2: died of cancer, I don't know, maybe five or six
[15:44] Speaker 2: years ago. He had melanoma. But, man, he loved it,
[15:48] Speaker 2: and he always mispronounced everything, and he called it Rhyme
[15:50] Speaker 2: Stone Cowboy, and it was the greatest thing. I said, man,
[15:54] Speaker 2: but Glenn was such a pure singer and player. I mean,
[15:59] Speaker 2: what he did with the Beach Boys and everybody, I mean,
[16:02] Speaker 2: what a musical resume.
[16:04] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, he was great. I mean, he was
[16:07] Speaker 1: the one everyone looked at for a very long time.
[16:11] Speaker 2: Wow.
[16:12] Speaker 1: He was just so good.
[16:14] Speaker 2: No, he was... Of course, I always wanted to, but
[16:16] Speaker 2: I always ended up... I never could play guitar very well.
[16:18] Speaker 2: I guess I just never tried, but I just was
[16:22] Speaker 2: such a piano aficionado, you know? I just loved Billy
[16:26] Speaker 2: Joel and Elton John, and I loved Charlie Rich, how
[16:28] Speaker 2: he played, and I loved all those guys, and Ronnie
[16:31] Speaker 2: Millsap was such a sweetheart of a guy. He's the greatest.
[16:34] Speaker 1: Wow, Ronnie Millsap. I met him back when Tom Collins
[16:39] Speaker 1: was producing him. Really nice guy.
[16:42] Speaker 2: Like Tom. Is Tom still around?
[16:44] Speaker 1: I'm not sure where he is now. He's about in
[16:47] Speaker 1: his 80s, I think.
[16:48] Speaker 2: Yeah, because Tom, I mean, you know, music grows so
[16:51] Speaker 2: different now, of course. I mean, Bob Beckham, remember Bob?
[16:54] Speaker 2: Do you remember him at all?
[16:55] Speaker 1: Yeah, I sure do.
[16:57] Speaker 2: I mean, it was the greatest. I would just, and
[16:59] Speaker 2: he turned me on to like the Billy Swan records
[17:02] Speaker 2: and he played me, he played me all this stuff.
[17:04] Speaker 2: He said, you gotta, you gotta hear this. And he'd
[17:06] Speaker 2: take me back when, I mean, just, it was just
[17:08] Speaker 2: so great.
[17:09] Speaker 1: I mean. I think you've had a very similar experience
[17:12] Speaker 1: to like I have. You grew up with all these icons.
[17:15] Speaker 1: Then you have them reaching out to you, whether they're
[17:18] Speaker 1: calling you or their management's calling you, saying, you know what?
[17:22] Speaker 1: We have to do a project together sometime.
[17:24] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[17:25] Speaker 1: I mean, it really doesn't get much better than that.
[17:29] Speaker 2: Isn't that great? It is. I just think of like
[17:31] Speaker 2: my dad playing me B.J. Thomas, right? What a singer, right?
[17:34] Speaker 2: All the Burt Bacharach and Hal David stuff that he
[17:37] Speaker 2: sang on. I think about it years later and I'm
[17:40] Speaker 2: playing golf with B.J., you know, of course, you know,
[17:43] Speaker 2: hanging out in Nashville whenever he'd come, we'd play golf.
[17:45] Speaker 2: This is so great.
[17:46] Speaker 1: Yeah, one of my good friends was his band leader
[17:49] Speaker 1: right up until he passed a few years ago.
[17:52] Speaker 2: Oh, really? We'd play, me and him and the Cropper,
[17:55] Speaker 2: Steve Cropper and all this, we'd all play golf. We'd
[17:57] Speaker 2: play golf up at Nashville Village and still can't believe it,
[18:00] Speaker 2: you know, it was just, but on a human level,
[18:02] Speaker 2: they were so great, always so nice.
[18:04] Speaker 1: Yeah, they were great guys. And now, of course, have
[18:08] Speaker 1: you been down on Music Row lately and seen how
[18:11] Speaker 1: drastically that's changed?
[18:13] Speaker 2: It's so weird. I mean, it's really weird. I mean,
[18:16] Speaker 2: you know, and all the buildings are different.
[18:19] Speaker 1: Some of the more iconic studios have been torn down
[18:22] Speaker 1: just to build condos.
[18:24] Speaker 2: It's unbelievable. I mean, there really aren't anymore. You know,
[18:27] Speaker 2: now it's, you know, that's why I've been wanting to
[18:29] Speaker 2: kind of get mine back up and running. I built
[18:32] Speaker 2: this barn in the back of my property and I'm just,
[18:34] Speaker 2: I can't wait to get back in and start recording again,
[18:36] Speaker 2: you know.
[18:37] Speaker 1: It's always great to be in the studio. So what's
[18:40] Speaker 1: coming up? What's on your agenda right now?
[18:44] Speaker 2: Well, I'm doing a few more shows this year. I've got,
[18:48] Speaker 2: you know, I'm out touring again, which I love. I mean,
[18:51] Speaker 2: I'm not touring as much as I want to, but
[18:53] Speaker 2: I guess next year, next couple of years, I'll get
[18:55] Speaker 2: back into it. But, you know, I mean, for me now,
[18:58] Speaker 2: I just want to write and record, you know, I
[19:01] Speaker 2: think it's kind of fun to, you know, you don't
[19:04] Speaker 2: have to wait for approval from anyone, you know, well,
[19:09] Speaker 2: that's a good song or this isn't, yeah, well, this,
[19:12] Speaker 2: You don't, it's just all these guys that, you know, whatever.
[19:16] Speaker 2: They have opinions.
[19:17] Speaker 1: You know, you've been here long enough. You've done so
[19:19] Speaker 1: many great things. I think you're in a place now
[19:23] Speaker 1: where you can actually do the things that you want
[19:26] Speaker 1: to do, not the things that they say that you
[19:29] Speaker 1: have to do. So that way you can sit back
[19:31] Speaker 1: and enjoy what you're doing. Yeah.
[19:33] Speaker 2: You know, that is a good point. You know, I think,
[19:35] Speaker 2: and I've gotten to travel all over the world with
[19:38] Speaker 2: my job, right? You know, you're playing basketball. Europe and
[19:41] Speaker 2: Australia and where, you know, England, Ireland, Scotland, you know,
[19:45] Speaker 2: I've been to, I've been to Abbey road, right. I've
[19:48] Speaker 2: gotten to sit there and meet Ringo and Paul. I mean,
[19:53] Speaker 2: all these guys, it's just, you think about the stuff
[19:58] Speaker 2: we talked about when we were kids, right? But now
[20:02] Speaker 2: it's just, I want to get better at golf again.
[20:04] Speaker 2: I want to start playing golf again.
[20:06] Speaker 1: I was never any good at it.
[20:09] Speaker 2: Do you play at all?
[20:10] Speaker 1: No, I've hit a few golf balls. And then I
[20:13] Speaker 1: went to a driving range. I sliced most all of
[20:16] Speaker 1: them into the trees. So I'm really not all that good.
[20:20] Speaker 2: That's what we all do. I don't care who you are.
[20:22] Speaker 2: You're going to remember my club for years. I haven't
[20:24] Speaker 2: played it, but now it's been three years. And we're
[20:26] Speaker 2: going to go tonight and actually hit some balls, play
[20:29] Speaker 2: nine holes. So I'm excited about that.
[20:31] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome.
[20:33] Speaker 2: Wow.
[20:33] Speaker 1: This has really been good. Great conversation, great topics. I mean,
[20:38] Speaker 1: we've covered so many different things. Anything that you want
[20:41] Speaker 1: to let people know that you think is important that
[20:44] Speaker 1: they hear? Anything that you've got coming up or just whatever?
[20:48] Speaker 2: Well, heck, I don't know. I mean, I can't think
[20:50] Speaker 2: of anything. I'm just coming back from a couple of
[20:54] Speaker 2: years of hell. I do feel great. I feel great now.
[20:58] Speaker 2: I feel better. And once I get myself back in
[21:01] Speaker 2: shape and I get my drive down, I have.
[21:04] Speaker 1: To say you sound really good, so relaxed and so comfortable.
[21:10] Speaker 1: And that's a really good thing considering everything you've been
[21:13] Speaker 1: through in the last two years.
[21:14] Speaker 2: Yes, I know, man. Because I didn't realize that. My
[21:19] Speaker 2: arteries were so clogged genetically, right? That's something you don't
[21:23] Speaker 2: think about. But I didn't feel well. But I do
[21:26] Speaker 2: feel so much better and relaxed. And I've got time
[21:29] Speaker 2: now to think about all the things that have happened
[21:32] Speaker 2: that have transpired over the last 40 years or 35.
[21:35] Speaker 2: And it's pretty, it's pretty incredible, you know, to get to,
[21:39] Speaker 2: to get to, I mean, I'm just blessed. I didn't
[21:42] Speaker 2: die when I died, you know?
[21:44] Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we get to a point in
[21:47] Speaker 1: our lives where we have friends that have been with
[21:50] Speaker 1: us for so long and we just take it for
[21:52] Speaker 1: granted that they'll always be there. And then one day
[21:56] Speaker 1: they're gone. Yeah. Over the years, our lives just changed
[22:00] Speaker 1: so much. I mean, my mother just lived to four
[22:04] Speaker 1: months short of 100. I remember one day she was saying,
[22:08] Speaker 1: I don't have any friends. And I was like, oh, yeah,
[22:10] Speaker 1: you've got all kinds of friends. Her response, well, you
[22:14] Speaker 1: may think so, but they were all gone.
[22:16] Speaker 2: Right.
[22:17] Speaker 1: Now I'm looking around. I'm understanding everything she said because
[22:21] Speaker 1: a lot of my friends are gone now as well.
[22:24] Speaker 1: All we can do is hope we get up every morning,
[22:27] Speaker 1: take our lives day by day.
[22:32] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the truth. And I think it's, you know,
[22:34] Speaker 2: and I think everything happens for a reason. I really
[22:37] Speaker 2: believe that. And it has slowed me down, you know,
[22:40] Speaker 2: this year to where I'm only doing 30, 40 shows,
[22:43] Speaker 2: you know. And it's given me time to reflect on
[22:46] Speaker 2: a lot of things, you know, that have happened and
[22:48] Speaker 2: even remember them. You know, it's like, you know, you
[22:51] Speaker 2: can be thankful. I can definitely be thankful for that.
[22:53] Speaker 1: Absolutely. We all have something to be thankful for. And,
[22:57] Speaker 1: you know, we all think we're invincible until we're not.
[23:01] Speaker 2: I know.
[23:03] Speaker 1: Then when we find that we're not invincible, it brings
[23:07] Speaker 1: reality into our lives. Then when we start thinking about
[23:11] Speaker 1: that reality, hopefully we can learn and evolve from that
[23:15] Speaker 1: so that we can just keep moving every single day.
[23:18] Speaker 2: Yeah, it is pretty crazy. Are you from Pennsylvania?
[23:24] Speaker 1: No, I'm originally from Maine.
[23:26] Speaker 2: Oh, Maine. Okay. I heard a couple of things you said.
[23:29] Speaker 2: You said it was like around Pittsburgh. I knew it
[23:32] Speaker 2: was up there somewhere. I love Maine. Yeah.
[23:34] Speaker 1: I was born and raised in Maine. I traveled back
[23:37] Speaker 1: and forth recording here in Nashville during the time I
[23:41] Speaker 1: was working with Ronnie and then ultimately before I moved here.
[23:45] Speaker 2: I don't know.
[23:46] Speaker 1: Do you remember Bob Millsap and Gary Paxton?
[23:48] Speaker 2: Of course. Yeah.
[23:50] Speaker 1: I was working with them. They were producing me and
[23:53] Speaker 1: Bob became my mentor and And because of them, that's
[23:56] Speaker 1: when we had a conversation and they talked me into,
[23:59] Speaker 1: and it was a good move, of moving to Nashville.
[24:02] Speaker 1: That's when I got into production, development, and management, and
[24:05] Speaker 1: ultimately my record label. Right. Bob was a huge help.
[24:09] Speaker 1: He got sick and moved away, and he told me,
[24:12] Speaker 1: just remember one thing. You can use my name to
[24:14] Speaker 1: get through any door, but when you close it, you're
[24:17] Speaker 1: on your own.
[24:17] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[24:18] Speaker 1: Nashville has been very good to me. I cannot complain
[24:22] Speaker 1: one bit.
[24:23] Speaker 2: Cool, man. I mean, Nashville is a fun town. I mean,
[24:26] Speaker 2: of course, it's grown so much. It's entirely recognizable, but.
[24:29] Speaker 1: It's the mini LA.
[24:30] Speaker 2: Yeah, good grief. I was hoping it'd never be that,
[24:34] Speaker 2: but I mean, it's... Like I said, of course, a
[24:36] Speaker 2: lot of my buddies are from LA and moved to Nashville,
[24:38] Speaker 2: so it's good.
[24:39] Speaker 1: I mean, at least I don't have to go there. Yeah,
[24:41] Speaker 1: that's for sure. I always hate it when I go
[24:43] Speaker 1: to LA. Well, this has been great. Great conversation. just
[24:48] Speaker 1: laid back, and I've really enjoyed this.
[24:52] Speaker 2: I know, man. I love it. I tell you, it's just,
[24:54] Speaker 2: but anyway, let's do it. Let's stay in touch, and
[24:56] Speaker 2: I think I'm going out this week. I don't have
[24:58] Speaker 2: many shows right now, so I'm just, I'm around.
[25:01] Speaker 1: Yeah, that sounds great. When you get back, let's touch base.
[25:05] Speaker 2: That sounds wonderful. I love it, buddy.
[25:07] Speaker 1: Well, it's been great. I really appreciate you coming on.
[25:10] Speaker 2: Well, thanks, brother, and we'll talk soon.
[25:13] Speaker 1: Absolutely. Thanks again. Thanks for joining us today. We hope
[25:27] Speaker 1: you enjoyed the show. This has been a Tony Mantor production.
[25:32] Speaker 1: For more information, contact media at plateau music dot com.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.