Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hey, Tailgate beers here. Austin here. It's day three, Tailgating Tall Boys here in Bloomington, Illinois, and we're hanging out with our new friend, Logan Crosby. Logan, thanks for joining us.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: What's up? Thank y' all for having me.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: It's been a heck of a weekend here at Tailgate and Tall Boys. And you just got off stage.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: What was your experience like?
[00:00:41] Speaker B: It was great. It was great. It was. It wasn't too hot, which is nice, because I know it's the summer, but fans were great. Everybody was into it. Band loved it. It was great. Everything was good.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: So you kind of got a feeling. We talked off camera just for a few minutes, and you got to. Got a feeling of that Midwest vibe. Right. Everybody's having a good time. You mentioned at 345, you can see some people out there probably already had too good of a time.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Yeah. There was one gentleman that had his shirt off, and he was wearing neon green pants. And he wasn't.
I would say he wasn't walking in a straight line, but he wasn't walking generally. He was kind of crawling. And the one thing about the Midwest, I mean, you know, people in the south, we can drink, but Midwest folks know how to drink. I mean, y' all can drink beer like water. It's insane.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: You kind of grew up going that through that. It's like. Yeah, yeah, that's.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:26] Speaker C: And even here, the thing is, this is a marathon. So as we stare out over the campground, like, people are getting up, and they're probably starting to drink at 10:12.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:01:36] Speaker C: And so even by the time you go on, they could have been drinking for six hours.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Correct. Well, that gentleman was probably drinking for at least eight.
[00:01:42] Speaker C: He probably hasn't stopped from last night with Hardy.
[00:01:44] Speaker B: He was still drunk when he woke up this morning, which good for him.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: But his clothes were still wet from the rain last night.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: Get that man some knee pads. Oh, my God.
[00:01:51] Speaker C: And so last year, Today.
Today got canceled with Cody Johnson because of rain. And we got through last night. Hardy went on. It was amazing. But this is. You couldn't ask for better weather, considering a lot of people were upset and hurt when Cody Johnson got canceled. So, yeah, you got a beautiful day.
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Beautiful day. It was great. It's not too humid up here. There was a little bit of wind. It was great. It was all around 10 out of 10. Great time. The band, we. We had a great show. We had so much fun. It was good.
[00:02:17] Speaker C: So tell us about your scene in the. You know, your music scene of. Right. Now, you just said you're from Georgia, live in Nashville. How long have you lived in Nashville?
[00:02:26] Speaker B: I moved to Nashville in 2022, and then right after that, I'm. I've known Megan Moroney for a couple years, so I went on tour with her for a year and a half, toured with her. Cameron Marlowe, Alexandra K. Put out my first record last September. We're gonna do another record this year. I'm still an independent artist, so there's no label involved, which is awesome that we're able to, like, we've built some super cool. I mean, I feel like we can go a lot of places in the country and sell a decent amount of tickets. We did a run last week. Philly was sold out. New York City, sold out. So to do that as an independent artist is really cool. And we've just built something that I feel like is. Is cool. And there's a lot of independent artists out there right now, which. You can do it independent. Now, back in the day, you had to have a label, but now you can do it independent. And if there's any artists listening, I would urge you to do it independent as long as you can, just because payoff so great.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: And that's what I was going to ask, too. So if you can make it independent, you're obviously better off that way, and you just ride that train as long as you.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Possibly as long as you can, you know, keep a lot of your stuff, make a lot of those decisions. And not that a label is bad, because they're not and everybody wants a record deal, but, you know, you just kind of get to a point where it's like, no, we can go run this business ourselves. Let's go do it as long as we can and then get a good partner involved. Whenever you're ready and take off.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: Was. Was music always like the. The front runner? I'm gonna go do music when I. I get X age or I all.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: I mean, I'm from Georgia, so I. My grandma's made me sing in church. I didn't have much of a choice, so I think I know every hymn in the Baptist hymnal front to back.
But when I was in high school, I was in a bunch of bands, like church bands and garage bands. And when I went to college, I was like, hey, man, you know, I don't think I'm going to be able to do this professionally. Like I told y', all, Aldean is my second cousin, so, like, watching him reach, I mean, the pinnacle, you don't get bigger than Aldean was and still is. And it's like, well, you know, you can try, but you're not going to. That was my North Star. And I'm like, I'll just be a lawyer. And then I went to UGA and got a pre law degree and figured out I couldn't read well. And I said, well, that was like one of the top requirements for being a lawyer is read. And I was like, well, shit.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: So now what's plan B?
[00:04:38] Speaker B: After that I'm like, well, I guess I'm going to pick this guitar back up. And so I started playing bars and clubs, clubs and all kinds of stuff in and around Georgia. And it was, you know, it was great. And. And I was like, when I graduate, I'm gonna move and just see. And I graduated on a Friday and moved to Nashville on a Sunday. I was like, there's no other. I just have to do it. So I've been up there for a while.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: Surfside's got real vodka, real iced tea, and real lemonade.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: You know what's not real?
[00:05:02] Speaker A: That excuse you gave to skip the tailgate, grab a Surfside and redeem yourself, champ.
Now back to your regular programming.
So certainly, I'm sure the goal. So we just saw. Saw your second cousin Jason last week in Clinton, Iowa, Tailgate and tall boys. And. And the. The funnest thing for me as a fan, right, is. Is his whole set was, you know, 30 songs of number one hits.
[00:05:23] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, he just hit, what, 30 or 31?
[00:05:26] Speaker B: Yeah, he said 30 last week.
[00:05:27] Speaker C: Yeah, which is.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: It's ridiculous. I mean, you go through. Through, you know, a whole festival set and just playing number one hits. I mean, that, I'm sure, is the goal. Is that what you're. You're seeking towards?
[00:05:39] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, just. He gets up there and plays. That's. You know, we were talking one time and he was talking about the set and he's like, I don't know, we're trying to pick the set. And I was like, just throw. Just put all the songs up on a dartboard and throw that son of a picture.
Know them all.
[00:05:54] Speaker C: But.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Yeah, that's always the goal. But I think, you know, in that as you build that, I mean, he came out with Hicktown in 2005, and it's 20. 25, so 20 years, 30 number ones, which is crazy.
But we saw.
Who did we see last night? Big and Rich.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: And we watched them play at Rock the Country. They did an hour set. I mean, they've Got some hits, but I mean, they obviously have massive hit, but they put on a hell of a show for an hour.
And it's just showmanship. And that's why, you know, it's been important. When I moved to town, I made the decision that I was gonna go play lots of shows and we were gonna build something on the road. Cause you just learn how to be a good showman and a good entertainer and had to do that when I was playing Mexican restaurants in college too. But I think that's the thing, like, Jason's such an entertaining act to watch and there's so many guys and then there's guys out there that, you know, only have a couple hits, but they put on a hell of a show. So it's just, you know, we want to put on the best show that we can every single night we go on stage. No matter how many hits, you certainly.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: Can gain a lot of followers or, you know, social media world, but you can also gain a lot of fans that way too. I mean, we have, you know, openers out here that just put on a hell of a show and, you know, immediately you got people that will follow you, you know, anywhere. You know, you go, go from Iowa to Ohio to Indiana, you know, to Detroit or wherever here in the Midwest. And we know people that will follow, you know, these, these smaller bands all over the place. Yeah, and that's, that's, that's the beauty of it, right?
[00:07:17] Speaker B: Yeah, that was with social media. I mean, I've got, you know, a decent amount of followers and like TikTok and Instagram and, and I love those platforms because they're a great tool, especially now to like grow your music and so. But it's always just been important for us to go out, play the shows, build a hard ticket fan base. My tick tock is 95. Just me talking shit or saying something stupid. And that's what goes by. I saw on Facebook the other day in my hometown, some lady said that her, her kid had hands, foots and mouths. So the hand, foot and mouth. And so I made a TikTok about it. Of course, that son of a bitch has like a half a million views. I'm like, this is the one.
Listen to my music.
[00:07:56] Speaker C: And they do.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: But I don't know, it's just fun. I mean, I don't think there's any rules on social media nowadays. And that's just, it's just fun. We just have fun with it. You got to have fun. If you're not, then why are we doing this.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: And you just never know what it's going to be.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: Right.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: Just like you just said. I mean, we've been out here and. And we've interviewed some people in the campground, some degenerates as. As Razorati would call them. And. Oh, yeah, and it's hitting, you know, thousands of views where we spend a lot of time on editing and stuff like that for a podcast.
[00:08:22] Speaker C: And.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: And we get hundreds of.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Isn't that funny?
[00:08:25] Speaker A: It is crazy.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: All the stuff that you go spend a bunch of money.
[00:08:27] Speaker C: It's just one dumb thing.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Yeah. And then it's like, well, let me just say something. Oh, we're listening. I'm like, well, hey, can you listen whenever? I spent eight hours on this son of a bitch.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:35] Speaker C: And a podcast is a grind, too, because people aren't even as lucky as we are that we get to have. I mean, our first podcast was Lakeview that got released, and the second was Josh Ross. There's not a lot of guys that say, hey, we just sit in our garage and look, you grind for years of just sitting there talking, and we get the luxury of being able to interview, you know, people all the time that you never know. And then all of a sudden, one of them, though, just takes off. Yep. But it's a cool network of people, and Ray's Rowdy has been super influential to us.
[00:09:06] Speaker B: Yeah, those guys.
[00:09:08] Speaker C: We love having you. And I have a question of. So going back to. Not to stick on Jason Aldean, but we again, just saw him.
What do you think are his top three most underrated songs in your mind?
[00:09:19] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
All right. Hold on.
[00:09:22] Speaker C: That maybe you haven't even hit the. Haven't even hit a topic.
[00:09:25] Speaker B: The deep cuts.
I think this was a single way back in maybe 2009. This I gotta see. It's one of my favorites. See youe When I See youe is one of my favorites. And then a song that I wish he would have singled a couple years ago.
What's it called?
I think Morgan Wallen may have wrote it. It was off that Making Georgia Record. Hell, I don't know.
I don't know. It's whatever that one is. It's like been up and tear. Right. It's close to the sky. I felt like I could touch it. Been in the Gulf.
[00:09:59] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: Whatever that is. If you're listening to this Ghost.
[00:10:02] Speaker C: Yeah, we'll go find it after this.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: But those are my three. But, man, he's got so many.
[00:10:06] Speaker C: See, I. I wanted to hear. I love Asphalt Cowboy.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: Asphalt Cowboy on That first. That first record. What was that other one that I love?
There's a bunch on that first record. That's one of my favorite.
[00:10:17] Speaker C: And actually I think on that first one, Hick Town. Well, is it Hick Town is on that one, right?
[00:10:21] Speaker B: Yep. Hick Town.
[00:10:22] Speaker C: But then his other one that went big right after that was why?
[00:10:25] Speaker B: Why?
[00:10:26] Speaker C: And I remember that. Cuz I grew up big. Music video guy.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: So music videos and that.
[00:10:31] Speaker B: Music videos, yeah, the Hick Town. Quick story. The Hick Town music video. I remember we got it on like DVD and we used to pop it. I used to pop it in there and watch it all the time. And there was a part of that song where it's like, woman smoking palm malls, watching Laura Ingles, and everybody in the music video smoking cigarettes. And I remember going and finding a white Crayola crayon and acting like I was smoking a cigarette and my dad whooped my ass.
So what are you doing? I was like, I'm smoking a cigarette because Jason smoking a cigarette. No, come here. You know, beat my ass. But yeah, no, he's got some great. He's got some great hits. Great guy.
And it's been. It's been cool coming up, being able to just. People ask me, like, what's the biggest thing he's done, you know, for you in your career? It's just. He just answers the phone, you know, I'll call him about deals or about, hey, do you think I should do this? And he's always super attentive, and he's like, I would do that. He's like, ultimately it's your decision, but he always has great advice to give.
[00:11:27] Speaker C: So now doesn't he have. He has. What is it broken or what is his.
[00:11:31] Speaker B: He's got an imprint, Broken Boat, Night Train Records.
[00:11:35] Speaker C: Night Train Records.
[00:11:36] Speaker B: I think John Morgan was on that. And if you hadn't heard of John. John Morgan is great, man. But yeah, no, he's. He's been great. We go on vacation at least once a year together.
[00:11:45] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: Usually drink too much tequila, but it's fun. My head hurts for about two weeks after we get back home from wherever we went, but it's fun.
[00:11:53] Speaker C: So for you, being here at the festival, which again, we're happy to have you for the first time, what do you think is something. Where you're going, man, this is gonna. This is my goal for the year. What is the goal for you right now in 2025? Where is it? To play these festivals and be on the stage? Is it to write A certain amount of songs is it. What is your goal for 2025?
[00:12:16] Speaker B: We're. We're gonna do another record. I put out a record last September. We're gonna do another record in October of this year. So getting that thing out and then touring that as much as we can in 2026, I know that's looking forward to that. But we've done a bunch of shows this year. We were on tour with Alexandra K. We did.
[00:12:31] Speaker C: She's awesome.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Great. Used to be independent artist, just signed with actually Broken Bow, but she was independent for so long and built a really great fan base. But we did 32 shows in 40 days with her straight and then got off that. Started doing the Rock the Countries and then doing my headlining tour and then going out with Cole Swindell in September, October this year and then wrap up the year after that and then put out the record and start looking forward to next year. But I think this year just, you know, playing as many shows as we can and just getting the band where we were, you know, a year ago. Hell, even three months ago to now, it's just a totally different band. So continuing to grow that so we can go out every night, put on the best show. You know, I'm not real keen on the whole it's got to go viral overnight. There has to be overnight success. I mean, you look at all those guys. I mean, Jason moved to town in 96. He didn't have his first hit until 2005. Laney Wilson was in town for eight years. Hell, Cody Johnson, I mean, this playing tonight, I mean he put out how many records before anything, you know, really took off and was just working his ass off in. In Texas. And so it doesn't have to be anything that happens crazy overnight. So just continuing to build a great fan base. My fans are the best fans in the world. But just one by one, building fans, putting on great shows and you know, kicking ass every night and then just, you know, keep looking forward to the next. Oh yeah.
[00:13:48] Speaker C: So have you had a good. Have you had a chance. Have you had a chance to talk with Cody before? Have you ever met Cody?
[00:13:53] Speaker B: I've never met Cody. I listen to all of his songs. He's great. I think he's one of the best vocalists in town. No doubt about it. He's just super badass guy.
[00:14:01] Speaker C: So we talked about this on one of the last podcasts we did with even Fox and Feed was on here and some stuff like that. And you know what? We've been even been hearing from Several other people is too. Like, man, I know it gets hard, but even at Jason's level and Cody's level, just be so cool for them to be able to continue to reach out on a day like this. Can you imagine if all of a sudden your manager's like, hey, by the way, Cody just needs to see you for a couple minutes. Hey, great to have you here. Here's a little bit of advice. Like, it's so influential. So someday, you know, when you get massive and you have that compound and you're huge, like, don't forget.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: You don't forget that. You don't ever forget those either. Probably my. The one I remember the most is we opened for the Jonas Brothers in Canada last year.
[00:14:46] Speaker C: That's crazy.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Crazy. That's why 20,000 persons.
[00:14:50] Speaker C: How's that even come about?
[00:14:51] Speaker B: I was on the TV show I was on.
Kevin Jonas hosted it. So we went and opened the show, okay. For the Jonas Brothers in front of 20,000 people, which is more from this double what my hometown is. So I was like, well, this is what this shit looks like if you put my whole hometown in the room twice. And Kevin's like, I want to see you. So security guard came and got me. He's like, hey, man, great show. Keep doing the thing. If you, you know, here's my number. If you need something, call me. And you remember those things as an artist coming up. And like you said, I remember those talks with Megan on the bus when we were doing 500 cap rooms, and now she's in 15,000 person amphitheaters. And like, remember those things that she told me or Cameron Marlowe when I was on the road with him? And so you take that, you pass that on, you know, and when people open for you, which people are now, it's like, hey, man, if you ever have questions or you want to talk about something, call me. Let's talk about it.
I mean, music's great because we just build a really cool community that we all, we all know what each other's going through. Because no matter what, it's like, you know, I remember the days where I was playing Mexican restaurants and eight people were showing up. Seven were my family, one was the bartender. And it's just like, you know, to be able to give advice to people that are coming up, it's. It's an awesome thing to do.
[00:15:57] Speaker A: So from a fan perspective, which I try to bring as much as I can anyway, you guys on a, On a bus?
[00:16:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:16:03] Speaker A: So, like, what's, what's the Bus? Like, with.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: With your crew? Well, it's a 2003 Indiana state prison bus that my guitar player bought off of Facebook Marketplace. And we put some money into it and got it renovated, and it's great. Great, man. We call it the Snow Ghost. That son of a. Will go anywhere. It's insane, but so funny. We were playing CCMF last year, Carolina Country Music Festival. I woke up and I was sick as hell. So I went to the, you know, tent, got a shot in my ass, came back. All these folks from all kinds of camps were on the bus, and they're like, man, this is the coolest bus we've ever seen. I'm like, hey, man, you're in a $1.4 million pre boat. Your bus is great. I know. The prison bus is the coolest thing we've ever seen. I'm like, the prison bus? But, yes, it's just an old Indiana state prison bus. It's the coolest thing ever. And we pull up in it. We had a van that we were in last year, and that son of a bitch burnt down on the side of the road in Mobile, Alabama. And so we had to, you know, we're like, called the insurance company. Like, hey, we gotta have something else.
[00:17:03] Speaker C: So those stories are amazing because Lakeview, who I'm really close with, they had this van, and what's nuts is they played the same day as Nickelback here a couple years ago, and Nickelback had that old school retro van and some artwork, and they had a van that looked just like that. It broke down in Arizona on the side of the road. And I told them, I'm like, I want to buy that van off of you. Yeah, I think it's awesome. Well, it broke down. They left it. Got a rental car. They're in the back of a U Haul. Like, videos of them in a trailer, just videotaping them driving away from the van, left it there. And kind of those memories you get.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: From doing it, like, coming up that way is so cool, you know, because you just have. So I'm telling people all the time. I said, I may not have the hits yet. But I was like, I'm definitely a great podcast guest. I was like, because I have story. We have so many stories of just that's happened on the road. But, yeah, when the van burnt down, we were like, all right, well, I didn't know Rock Bottom had a basement. And we found that some of it's 45 miles outside of Mobile, Alabama. But yeah, so now we're on the prison Bus. And I'm like, you know, I told my. My guitar player, like, don't sell that son of a. I was like, cuz I may want it one day and just turn it into like a star coach. And it fits. It fits the.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Fits the brand museum item.
[00:18:15] Speaker C: If I was you, I would save it someday because, you know, someday you're gonna be huge. You're gonna be massive, and it'll be cool. Like, yeah, I still have the prison bus. We bust it out from time to time.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: Still have it. My favorite thing I've probably seen, like in the celebrity bars they have in Nashville is Old Dominion. Just opened theirs and in their bar they have a pontoon.
Pontoon boat just like shoved up on the wall. And like, they turned it into a little bar. And I'm like, huh? We can take that prison bus and put that son of a in a bar one day, or we can lease it out to, you know, state of Tennessee if this ever goes south for me. And just like, all right, man, you need this bus, you call me, I'll give you a lease on it someday.
[00:18:50] Speaker C: In a trailer park somewhere, there's a guy, it's like, hey, I wonder what, Wonder who use this. Use this bus. And it's like, well, I still live in it. It's where my career is gone.
[00:18:58] Speaker B: I would live in it. It'd be cheaper than rent in Nashville, I'll tell you that. But the bus is great. Bus is great.
[00:19:04] Speaker C: Lou, we appreciate you. You coming on. This was last minute hell. I didn't have anybody's contact. And raise Rowdy made this happen and we're so glad to have you and.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: I hope to see you raise Rowdy. Love you all, guys.
[00:19:15] Speaker C: Yeah, dude. Cheers, man.
[00:19:16] Speaker A: I appreciate.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you all.
