Barry (00:04)
Welcome back to The What Podcast. I'm Barry. That's Russ. Welcome back. How you feeling?

Russ (00:11)
Tired, but dried out after after that weekend at Shaky Knees. but feeling good. Feeling good.

Barry (00:18)
And recovered from the heat? Yeah. Unbelievable.

Russ (00:21)
Yes. Yeah.

unbelievably hot. and then of course Saturday with the the rain and the evacuation, which we'll get into. it was ended up being a great weekend, nonetheless.

Barry (00:36)
Yeah, so this is gonna be an interesting show. you and I s you called or we jumped on here Saturday morning while you were at your hotel. So we got a little bit of update Friday and then we talked Saturday and then later that day you got sent home. Everybody did. They the storm sent everybody home.

Russ (00:58)
Once again we had to do the walk of shame and and and walk home in the rain and yeah, so you'll hear in this segment where we're catching up, this was before I'd gone in Saturday, so didn't

Barry (01:09)
Right.

Russ (01:10)
know that was gonna happen.

Barry (01:11)
Right. And then S Sunday, I haven't spoken to you. We haven't really talked. How did how did Sunday go?

Russ (01:17)
Sunday was great. Sunday was honestly the best day. you know, line up

Barry (01:20)
Nice. Yeah, it was yeah, lineup wise it was yeah.

Russ (01:23)
wise, but also just, you know, for me it was the best day. Especially

Barry (01:27)
Yeah.

Russ (01:28)
after coming back after Sunday's after Saturday's rain out. I was curious how the grounds are gonna look. Is it gonna be muddy? Is it gonna be soggy? You know, I was kinda prepared for the worst and it was really not bad at all. the ground

Barry (01:40)
Yeah, I'm guessing the ground

could take some water.

Russ (01:43)
The ground could take some water 'cause we haven't had rain here in like a month. So, you know, that shower that came in Saturday, really didn't do much at all as far as turning the grounds into mud. So

Barry (01:53)
Yeah.

Russ (01:54)
it it was really good. They had they had laid down some mulch in some key areas. Other than that, it was it was game on. It was good to go.

Barry (02:02)
All right, so I'm gonna ask you, we're gonna get into the at Shaky Knees a little bit deeper, but also let people know we've got special guest on this week's episode, Scott Miller, one of the artists that's gonna be performing at Cave Fest October tenth and eleventh. We will be there and our buddy Jeff, over there at the caverns, hooked us up with Scott and it was great fun to hear him talk about his relationship with Todd and

And the caverns and how far back they go and so that's a lot of fun. I hope you guys will stick around for that. we will we picked a winner of our ticket giveaway for K Fest, but we will have that announcement

Russ (02:47)
We have

Barry (02:49)
next week, right? We're gonna keep it to ourselves

Russ (02:51)
Yep, we'll

Barry (02:52)
for now.

Russ (02:53)
we'll put it up on the screen, but yeah, th they'll get get going. That

Barry (02:57)
Okay.

Russ (02:58)
yeah, pretty exciting.

Barry (02:59)
All in all, Shaky Knees. This is what? You've done you told me last time, but you've gone a couple of these. You and I were there last year. you've been

Russ (03:09)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (03:10)
to several. So compare and contrast. How was this year's event? Obviously you got sent home, like you said, the walk of shame. That always kind of kind of i is a drag, but all in all, how was it?

Russ (03:24)
It was great. really well executed. that park is great. I'm I'm starting to like it more than Central Park where it was held before. just 'cause I'm getting really familiar with the layout. they do a good job of making sure everywhere you are there's bathrooms, there's a bar, there's food, services. They're all they're all right where you need And the stage layout is good. You know, it's mostly the two main stages are very A B.

So when this stage ends, right over here you get the next one kicking off. it worked out great. And there's two smaller stages up the hill. all in all it was really good. Sold out too. It was it was crowded. I mean not like overly crowded, not oversold, but just it was full.

Barry (04:09)
Yeah.

I love the it's always so funny to talk about the details, but I love the bathroom layout there between the two stages and the way they

Russ (04:18)
Yeah.

Barry (04:19)
flow people in and out of there and have sort of a the the literally the troughs for the guys

and then the the toilet the flushable toilets for girls. So i that little things like that, man, they make a difference.

Russ (04:34)
They do, and you know, yeah, it's when it's done really well, you don't really think about it, but you also don't, you know, you realize, well, you're not having to stand in line or or walk, you know, too far to go anywhere. So yeah.

Barry (04:43)
Right. Right. What was the highlights?

Russ (04:46)
Sunday, Gorillaz Close It Out. That was a really good set. L C D Sound System was right before them. Wu Tang Clan, Bone Thugs n Harmony, all really good. just lots of good shows Sunday.

Barry (05:02)
You got to hang out with Liesl?

Russ (05:04)
Got to hang out with Liesel. I never saw her at the show or at at a show. but we did do brunch Sunday morning. buddy of mine, John, he lives in Atlanta and he picked me up Sunday morning and we went to eat and got Liesl to tag along. So just a

Barry (05:22)
Nice.

Russ (05:23)
neat little brunch spot in midtown and yeah, then walked up and down the belt line a little bit just you know, because we had

Time to kill. But yeah, so she's never been to Atlanta. She got to experience a little bit of that. So it

Barry (05:35)
Nice.

Russ (05:35)
was fun.

Barry (05:37)
Talk about the literally the kit them kicking you out. because we know at at Bonnarooo on the farm we've had just shelter in place several times. We all get that

Russ (05:47)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (05:48)
text, and you know, depending on where you're camped, you and I last year got pushed out into a torrential downpour and got

soaked

Russ (05:59)
We did.

Barry (06:00)
from head to toe.

What was it like this one? Is it the same or did they give you guys enough warning?

Russ (06:08)
There was enough warning. there was and same thing. It was at first it was just a delay. I believe Taking Back Sunday was playing and they got their their set cut a little bit short and they made the announcement weather's in the area, you know, shelter in place, take cover, which there really isn't. I mean, you know, we're in a park. yeah, I was sitting under a tree. Yeah.

Barry (06:29)
Right. That's why I'm asking. Yeah. Don't go under that tree.

Russ (06:36)
There's really nowhere to go that you're gonna

get out of the rain. so I just kinda sat there and and just got soaked. And then eventually they said, Okay, lightning is in the area. Everyone needs to evacuate. So they open up the floodgates literally and everybody just kinda pours out. but then, you know, you're just displaced. You're in the middle of downtown Atlanta.

Barry (06:58)
Yeah, what do you do? Seriously. I mean, everybody's now trying to get an Uber, right? Or,

Russ (07:01)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (07:02)
you know, whatever.

Russ (07:04)
Yeah, and you know, I I didn't want to really get in somebody's car soaking wet. I mean I was absolutely soaked. So didn't feel good about messing

Barry (07:14)
Yeah.

Russ (07:15)
up somebody's car. So like, yeah, what do you and plus everyone else is there trying to get Ubers too.

Barry (07:18)
Yeah, yeah.

Russ (07:20)
we walked to the train station and I got on Marta and rode that and then walked back to the hotel. And by that point

Barry (07:25)
Okay.

Russ (07:28)
the rain had passed, so, you know, it eventually did dry out.

Got back to the hotel and that's about the time they announced, okay, we're opening back up. we're only gonna have Twenty One Pilots play an hour, which is the closing act Saturday. So which really wasn't a band I was going there to see anyways, so I didn't I didn't go back in. but

Barry (07:52)
Yeah. I know

Russ (07:55)
but for those that, you know, w that were there to see Twenty One Pilots and there were a lot of people there. I mean, you know, I'm glad they were able to at least

Let them back in. I just feel bad for I mean, you know, some of these people they get there at like six in the morning and stand there waiting for the gates to open. And then when the gates open, they go straight to the pit so that they can just camp there all day for for, you know, twenty one pilots. So you know, lots of people did that and then everyone had to evacuate and then they open it right back up again. So

Barry (08:23)
Yeah. Yeah.

I remember when Brad and I, Brad Steiner, former co-host, co-founder of this show, were at Forecastle in Louisville and a huge storm came up for during the Sam Smith show and we had to leave, had to evacuate

Russ (08:40)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (08:41)
and called an Uber. I remember standing on a corner and the traffic jam was and our driver saw us and came around the corner and to me it

To this day it looks like a Disney cartoon. 'Cause it was like we made eye contact and he pulled out of that line and came around on like two wheels.

Russ (09:03)
yeah,

we yeah, we've talked about it. It did like the Roger Rabbit, the car. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Barry (09:06)
Exactly. That's what it that's the the image in my head is like, jump in. I'll never forget that. it's funny.

Russ (09:16)
And I feel bad too, Saturday, you know, several bands didn't get to play. That was supposed to be when Prodigy

Barry (09:21)
Yeah.

Russ (09:21)
was playing and pavement and Pierce the Veil. So you know, they all got cancelled unfortunately.

Barry (09:29)
Part of it, unfortunately. It seems

Russ (09:32)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (09:32)
seems to be. but I'm glad Sunday was good. Friday was good. like I said, you got to see Liesel and hang out and and do do the

Russ (09:44)
Got

Barry (09:45)
thing, so

Russ (09:45)
got to see quite a few people. I mean, Tara and Ky were there. ran into them.

Barry (09:51)
they were there last year. Yeah.

Russ (09:53)
Yeah, yeah. didn't know they were gonna be there. our buddy Kyle, E DM Kyle, you know, he lives in Atlanta. He was this was his first shaky knees. he'd never done it before, so got to meet up and hang out with him. Hmm, no, he wasn't there. Nope.

Barry (10:04)
See Mitchell, to get a popsicle? Do you see Mitchell? Not there

this year? Okay. All right.

Russ (10:11)
but yeah, so ran into lots of people. Saw saw Daniel, saw several of the Roo Bus crew. That was fun, so

Barry (10:22)
Nice.

Russ (10:23)
same kind of thing as Bonnaroo, you know, you it's almost like a homecoming.

Barry (10:28)
Hugging Howdy.

Russ (10:29)
Hug and Howdy, yeah.

Barry (10:30)
Gotta love it. All right, we're gonna take a quick break and then we come back, we're gonna talk to Russ on Saturday.

So there he is. That's our man.

Russ (10:46)
Hey.

Barry (10:47)
That's our man on the scene in Atlanta. How's it going?

Russ (10:51)
It's going great. got in last night or l yesterday afternoon and did day one of shaking these. It was great.

Barry (10:58)
So it's about eight thousand degrees.

Russ (11:02)
it's so hot. You know, for all these people that say, we gotta move Monaroo to September, it's so much cooler. No. No. I

Barry (11:09)
Good good point.

Russ (11:10)
I I it's just as hot if well, I don't know about hotter, but just as hot here in Atlanta as it was in June in Manchester.

Barry (11:19)
Yeah, I said that to our mailman the other day. I said I it feels hotter right now than it did a month ago. So I mean

Russ (11:26)
It really does.

Barry (11:28)
I mean that's you know, that's not normal. So but whatever.

Russ (11:31)
It's not normal

and you know, we've also had Septembers where there's a monsoon. So, you know W I think Ryan French said, What is a predictable weather pattern anymore? You don't know. Yeah.

Barry (11:41)
Yeah, there you go.

So all right, that aside, how's

Russ (11:46)
Yeah.

Barry (11:47)
it been?

Russ (11:47)
it's been great. Shaky Knees. Day one was awesome. got to hear a little bit of our our band Geese. they sounded great. Didn't get very close. I was still checking in, had to pick up my wristband. Turns out they moved it from where it was last time, so the gate that I got dropped off at today or yesterday, I had to walk to the other gate 'cause that's where media was, but

so

Got a little behind but got in, heard some of geese and then then got to say to to see the whole turnstyle show. It was great. man.

Barry (12:25)
Nice. Nice. And

Russ (12:27)
And then

Barry (12:27)
the park obviously is great.

Russ (12:30)
It is. Yeah, the park is great. you know, you you saw it last year. It looks just as good this year. Same layout, same everything. It's definitely more packed. There was more people there on Friday than I expected. I mean, you know, for Friday. and today is probably I guess the big day, Saturday. I think twenty one pilots is probably the the big draw tonight.

Barry (12:53)
How was getting How

was getting in? And God I sound like such an old man. And whatever, I'm gonna be the old man. How was getting in? 'Cause you you you're in Chattanooga, which is an hour and a half, two hours, so

Russ (13:06)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Barry (13:08)
you had to drive down, you had to get a hotel, and

Russ (13:10)
Yes.

Barry (13:11)
you had how? How did you get in?

Russ (13:13)
It was well it was c yeah, that was kind of you know, the slog, I guess, is yes, leaving Chattanooga, driving a couple hours, sitting in Atlanta traffic. There was I don't know why, there were so many wrecks, there were so many construction lanes closed, it was like slow, slow, slow. So just getting there into Atlanta was was tough. got parked, got to the hotel, got checked in. Great. Okay, now let's get an Uber and let's go over to the venue and you know, I

If I had read my email closer I would have known that they had changed the gate to go to, but whatever. So but actually once

Barry (13:50)
What time?

Russ (13:52)
got in about five here. So, you know,

Barry (13:57)
All right. it's not bad.

Russ (13:58)
not too bad. So about six or so, is when I actually got into the venue. And once I once once we walked to the other side and got checked in, the gate there was there was no weight. no weight at

We just walked on through, walked through security, easy as could be. So

Barry (14:16)
All right. Who else did you say you s you saw geese?

Russ (14:20)
So Little Geese, and then Turnstyle, which was I thought was really great, and then Fontaine's DC. And that was probably my favorite of the day.

Barry (14:32)
Why?

Russ (14:34)
they're, you know, they're not as hardcore and thrashy as turnstyle. So to go from that to kind of they're just more kind of like indie rock, just kind of slower.

Barry (14:47)
And was it the A B?

Russ (14:49)
Yes, the the the peach tree and the Piedmont stages, just like last time are A B. So turnstile quit on this stage and then Fontaine started up on the other stage. So it was a very easy shift to get over there.

Barry (15:04)
All right, so you and I are talking at eleven thirty in the morning on Saturday, which means you did not get up at seven. So I'm assuming you went out after? Where'd you go?

Russ (15:15)
Yes.

went to a little bar called Dad's.

Barry (15:18)
Ha ha ha.

Were there a

lot of purple haired moms?

Russ (15:23)
Didn't see so many purple haired moms. There was a lot of young college kids. It really wasn't the vibe I was expecting. and it was packed, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So So

Barry (15:30)
Yeah, that's not your that's not your yeah, you like the purple haired moms. How long

were you there? About five minutes? Did you do the yep, yep?

Russ (15:41)
Well,

actually we probably sat in line waiting to get in longer than actually stayed there 'cause they were, you know, gating it off because I guess, you know, it can only allow so many people in at one time, so

Barry (15:52)
They didn't know they didn't know you were in line. They would've kicked you out right away. This this is not the droids. This is

Russ (15:54)
No, I didn't yeah, I didn't pull a Brad Steiner. Yeah. So

But you know, got in, got to the bar, had had a couple beers and then and then Ubered back to the hotel. So it was a

Barry (16:11)
Nice.

Russ (16:11)
late night, but it was a lot of fun.

Barry (16:14)
All right, so today, what's today look like? We're

Russ (16:16)
Today, let's look.

Barry (16:18)
again we're eleven thirty, just hit eleven thirty on Saturday. What's your day looking like?

Russ (16:26)
Well first, I mean, I'm not trying to get there super early because there's not a whole lot today for me, but you know, I do want to get out and maybe find something to eat. I already talked to my friend John. We're gonna do brunch tomorrow morning. so, you know, today is probably just a chill, relaxed day until we go into the festival. Really the only thing on here that I'm ready to see is well, psychedelic porn crumpets. they're at four thirty.

Peach Pit at five thirty. Pavement tonight. Pavement and the Prodigy are are conflicting and I I kinda wanna see both. I'm not sure I'm gonna do that. And then

Barry (17:07)
Yeah.

Russ (17:09)
I don't know if you saw this, Jimmy Eat World was on the schedule. They were supposed to play today.

Barry (17:13)
Yeah.

Russ (17:15)
he had a issue with a detached retina or something, had to have emergency

Barry (17:19)
Yeah.

Russ (17:20)
surgery, so they canceled a handful of tour dates.

including their shaken ees. So they dropped out and psychedelic porn trumpets is gonna do a second set in in place of that, so

Barry (17:36)
Are you going to see Mitchell and or are you going to see Liesel and when? Have you set that up?

Russ (17:42)
Need to set that up. I texted Lisa yesterday. She got in Thursday. Her and and Jay, the Bonnaroo Rooster. you know, texted her when we got in and it was hard getting texts out. she butt dialed me once or twice. So we never got planned a meetup. So I'm gonna try to do that today early while w while I still have signal to actually plan something. So

Barry (18:04)
Sure. I know tomorrow's your big day, right?

Russ (18:07)
Yeah, tomorrow's the big day.

Barry (18:09)
What's what's going on tomorrow?

Russ (18:12)
tomorrow let's see Bone Thugs and Thar Bone Thugs and Harmony. That's one I wanna see. Wu Tang Clan, L C D Sound System and Gorillas.

Barry (18:21)
Yeah, L C D was one of my favorite Bonnarooo shows.

Russ (18:24)
Yeah.

Barry (18:25)
One of my favorite. I got to shoot that in the photo pit. but that was such a great show. That was

Russ (18:30)
Nice.

Barry (18:31)
that was one of those only at Bonnarooo moments,

Russ (18:35)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (18:35)
you know, where you're standing there, you think, only at Bonnarooo do I get to have this moment?

Russ (18:40)
Right, yeah.

Barry (18:41)
Yeah, so I'm excited for you. So today's kind of relaxed. if it doesn't happen, are you going? I mean, it's so hot.

Talk about the heat.

Russ (18:53)
I'm still going. I mean, yeah. The heat doesn't it's not bothering me too much. it's not a not a factor. I know.

Barry (18:57)
All right. That's just me, old man. That's just old man me. Never mind. Move on.

Russ (19:03)
You know, well, the nice thing about it being in the park is there's a lot of trees. There's a lot of shade. more so than just an empty field in Bonnarooo. So, you know, I'm not saying it it it makes up for it, but it is a little better.

Barry (19:18)
Did you do

anything different this year based on the last couple of years? Experience wise? I guess I'm trying to think of yeah, okay. All right.

Russ (19:26)
No, not really. Yeah.

Barry (19:29)
All right. I'm trying to think of any other sort of, you know, if somebody's

Russ (19:35)
Stop

Yeah, stopped in the media tent once, just looked around, didn't didn't see anybody we knew, so no, it's not. No. It's kinda dead.

Barry (19:41)
Yeah, it's not like Bonnarooer. Th there's not many people in there are there.

It's a little but at least they have it, and I appreciate very much that they have it.

Russ (19:52)
I

do appreciate it. And I slipped in there and, you know, used the restroom, sat down a minute, so it was nice nice that it's there. That that actually may be my if things get too hot, you know, I can I have

Barry (20:03)
Yeah.

Russ (20:04)
a place I can sneak off to and just chill and get some shade and and a seat. So

Barry (20:10)
All right. what else do we need to know?

Russ (20:14)
and the strokes.

The strokes. They played last night. Didn't stick around for all that, but sounded like he mostly stuck to music. Didn't didn't have any random outbursts, didn't didn't go on talking too long too much. So I it sounded like a great show. I mean it sounded perfect. Sounded just like they do really at Bonnaroo.

Barry (20:35)
Talk about the sold

out, the fact that it's sold out. What does that feel like?

Russ (20:38)
Yeah, I was gonna mention that.

It it you feel it. yesterday was more packed than I expected. just people everywhere. And today I'm sure is gonna be worse. And maybe Sunday. So yeah, it is quite a bit more people, quite a bit more crowds, lines trying to get through everything, just more.

Barry (20:59)
Are you Ubering? you getting there?

Russ (21:01)
Uberin, yeah.

Uberin, yeah. Uber from the hotel. no, no issues. No issues finding one.

Barry (21:05)
No issues. All right, there you go.

Russ (21:10)
like I said, we're gonna meet up. John said he'll pick us up at the hotel tomorrow and we'll do brunch and then he'll probably just drop us off there, so that'll save me an Uber. Kinda like your buddy that lives close by.

Barry (21:22)
Yeah, that was awesome. I in fact I texted texted him yesterday and I was like, this heat and he was like, F no. You don't you don't wanna be down here. I'm

Russ (21:30)
Ha ha ha.

Barry (21:33)
I'm cleaning it cleaning it up. But he was like, No, you don't wanna be down here. Yeah.

Russ (21:35)
There you go, yeah. It is it is hot. It's really hot. They've

Shaky Knees has put out several heat advisory, you know, notices reminding people stay hydrated, take breaks, wear sunscreen, all of the above. So and they've got lots of hydration stations here. So you know, we're doing the best we can.

Barry (21:58)
All right. So you and I are kind of making up this weekend. We'll see where it goes. thank you for checking in. our our man on the scene, as we say. Our man on the scene in Atlanta at Shaky Knees.

Russ (22:12)
Surviving the heat.

Barry (22:13)
surviving the heat. we'll get a full report later, probably next week. Obviously, we have some other Yeah,

Russ (22:19)
Yeah. Yeah, 'cause there's two more days here, yeah.

Barry (22:23)
yeah, yeah. Yeah, it just started. So

Russ (22:25)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (22:26)
all right.

So we'll figure out the rest of it, later. But thanks, Russ. Good luck, man. No kidding.

Russ (22:33)
Thanks.

Barry (22:34)
Take care of yourself.

Russ (22:36)
I will. I'll put on sunscreen and drink lots of water here.

If you're enjoying the show, take a moment and subscribe to our YouTube channel and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Barry (22:51)
All right, so we're back. Like I said, that was Saturday morning from your hotel. Little did you know what the day was going to to bring.

Russ (23:01)
I know.

I almost almost wa painful to watch just because I was, you know, so excited, you know, looking forward to that day. Little did we know. But it

Barry (23:11)
Yeah.

Russ (23:11)
all worked out.

Barry (23:12)
What time did they kick everybody out?

Russ (23:17)
it's about seven.

Barry (23:19)
Okay. So you had good part of the day.

Russ (23:24)
Yeah. you know, Saturday, well, I guess I can just go through everything we saw. Geese Geese was playing when we walked in. had a little trouble with my wristband, like I mentioned, figuring out where to go to pick it up. but turnstyle and then Fontaine's D C were the two highlights for me Friday. Although Turnstyle well turnstile was great and then Fontaine's D C I really did wanna see. And shout out to Geraldine for for hyping them up 'cause

'Cause you know, she's she's from Ireland as well. but Danny Elfman played at that same time slot. And some of the clips and some of the reactions I've seen from people that saw Danny Elfman, I really wish I'd gone to that Danny Elfman show. It looked really good.

Barry (24:10)
yeah,

that'd been tough. That's a tough conflict right there.

Russ (24:14)
Yeah, not that I regret seeing Fontaines DC, 'cause I think they were a highlight for me. Saturday minus the bear, they were great. They played kind of early afternoon ish, you know. And then yeah, a little bit of taken back Sunday, and that's when the rain started, and that's when they kicked us all out. So and then Sunday started with Koheed and Cambria, who was awesome, really good. And then

Bone Thugs and Harmony into Wu Tang Clan, into L C D sound system, into Gorillas is is how how it closed out. So really, really solid day. Yeah.

Barry (24:50)
It's not a bad day. Yeah.

Not a bad day at all. Cool. All right. Well glad it worked out. thanks for the folks at for getting it in there. Glad you got to go. glad it all worked out. Sound like a good weekend.

Russ (25:10)
Pretty good. Yeah, enjoyed it. And

Barry (25:12)
All right.

Russ (25:13)
looking forward to Cave Fest, which speaking of, we've got Scott Miller coming on here, right?

Barry (25:19)
Yeah. All right. Well, here's our interview with Scott and we will see him October eleventh is when he's performing, but it sounds like he might

Russ (25:29)
That's right.

Barry (25:30)
be there on Saturday as well. And if he is, we've invited him to the bus and like I like I do, I will probably give away some of your product.

Russ (25:42)
Yeah, well that's what you're good at. That's I've learned to just bring extra. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Barry (25:44)
That's what I'm good at. Yeah. What can Russ do for you? That's my favorite thing. How can Russ

help you? All right.

Russ (25:53)
yeah,

well hopefully he'll come and hang out with us Saturday at the bus, just like anyone else who comes to this event.

Barry (25:59)
Absolutely.

Russ (26:00)
we look forward to seeing a lot of people that we know and a lot of people that maybe listen to the show. it's a good opportunity to hug and howdy, like you like to say.

Barry (26:09)
Yep. Absolutely. All right. And next week we will announce our winner of the two tickets. So looking forward to seeing everybody, looking forward to getting there. I'm starting to think about what to pack. And I'm confused because it's only eight thousand degrees outside. So I don't

Russ (26:30)
I know it's it's kinda weird thinking about like, well, let's see, we need a fire pit and you know, all these warm clothes. Yeah. And it's

Barry (26:36)
Yeah, why would I bring firewood? Maybe I won't.

Russ (26:40)
yeah, and it's ninety. Which

Barry (26:42)
Yeah.

Russ (26:43)
it should hopefully start cooling off here pretty soon. I think it's finally starting to get a little cooler, but we'll see.

Barry (26:55)
There he is. There Scott, how are you, man?

Scott Miller (26:58)
Hey. Hey everybody.

Russ (26:59)
Hey.

Scott Miller (26:59)
Doing good.

Barry (27:00)
Thanks for taking some time away from the cows.

Scott Miller (27:03)
Yeah, you know they're okay for a little bit.

Barry (27:05)
They w they won't miss you.

obviously we're doing this because I think we have a mutual love for Todd and and Jeff and the cavern. So tell us why what's your history with the with this event and with Todd?

Scott Miller (27:26)
I started playing it when he still had it at Cumberland Caverns. I remember he's

Russ (27:32)
okay. Yeah.

Scott Miller (27:33)
he was there for a while, and then I think, you know, they saw how successful it was and s tried to sort of jack his rates and he was like, Screw you, I'll just go get my own cave.

Russ (27:45)
Yeah. Yeah.

Barry (27:45)
As one does.

Scott Miller (27:47)
Yeah, that's that's

that's that's that's the can do spirit of Todd Mayho. So Yeah.

Russ (27:51)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (27:52)
Exactly. That's what we love about it. It's like,

yeah, I can dig whatever it was, eight feet worth of dirt out of this thing and turn it into a music venue. By God, I'll show you.

Scott Miller (28:00)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, no problem. I'll just go get my own cave. So Yeah.

Russ (28:01)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Scott Miller (28:08)
So yeah, I've I've so the the new cave, you know, I've played that I guess three times maybe. and this year'll be different, I'll be bringing the band. So

Barry (28:19)
I'm kind of thinking about that this morning, d how important are those kinds of relationships?

Scott Miller (28:28)
with a promoter that actually, you know, does what they say they're gonna do, they're

Barry (28:32)
Ha ha ha.

Scott Miller (28:33)
they're rare.

Russ (28:33)
There go. Yeah.

Scott Miller (28:36)
Very, very, very rare. So when you find somebody like that,

Barry (28:42)
Yeah.

Yeah. But not just that. I mean, I'm like the this event. I mean, you could you could play or not play at a lot of different places, right? I mean any artist pretty much I I assume can. So I mean, when it comes down to it, how d how does that play into, yeah, I wanna you know, I wanna do this. I wanna support this guy. I w I respect what he's doing, I respect what they're doing, I have a good time when I go.

Like you said, when they promise something, it's there.

Scott Miller (29:15)
Well, I think there you know, I was based in Knoxville for a while. I was in the band The V Roys. We were out of Knoxville and there were a number of bands out of Knoxville that time that were signed, one of them being Super Drag. I believe to Arista. Maybe Atlantic, one of those eight anyway. they have a great drummer,

Russ (29:37)
Yeah, that's a Knoxville band, yeah.

Scott Miller (29:38)
a guy named Don Coffey. We called him Donnie Hot. And Donnie

said to me one time, he goes, you know, there's really only two kinds of music, pro and am. And

Barry (29:49)
Right.

Scott Miller (29:50)
try to be pro. And which means, you know, show up on time, do what you say you're gonna do. just that. And that's what those guys are. And

and you

Barry (30:00)
Yeah. We

Scott Miller (30:02)
look for that. I look for that more than anything.

Barry (30:05)
We've talked on here, there's Dave Holschler, is the general manager of the Tivoli in the auditorium here. And he he's said to me many, many times, if the bus shows up in the morning at eight and you're there and the coffee's hot and the donuts are fresh, it's a start to a good day. If you're

Scott Miller (30:24)
Right.

Barry (30:25)
not there and you're late

Russ (30:25)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (30:26)
and the donuts are stale and the coffee's cold, there's a good chance the show that night's maybe not gonna be as good as it could be.

Scott Miller (30:35)
Right. Well

Barry (30:36)
Sounds so simple, right?

Scott Miller (30:38)
Yeah.

Russ (30:38)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Miller (30:38)
Well I I remember with the V Roys I used to try to get us there on time. you know, I'd always lie about what time it was supposed to be, like fifteen minutes earlier. They caught on to me eventually.

Russ (30:50)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (30:50)
But we try to show up on time, you know, unless there's traffic or anything. I you know, I was raised to be on time. That's part of being pro.

Barry (30:57)
Rock

Russ (30:57)
It is.

Barry (30:58)
there's rock and roll time and then there's

Scott Miller (30:59)
Yeah, well.

Russ (31:00)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (31:02)
That's that's after the show.

Barry (31:03)
Yeah.

Russ (31:04)
Yeah.

Barry (31:05)
You I I mentioned the cows in the farm. That's that's your I don't know, which is your day job and which is your your a secondary job, I I mean

Scott Miller (31:14)
Mm. Yeah,

they're both my main jobs. You know, I get asked all the time, How do you balance, you know, being on the road and and and farming? And it's like, you don't it's impossible. So

Russ (31:29)
Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Miller (31:31)
I used to think I had a good can answer for it, but no, you don't. I mean, I raise what are called feeder calves, beef cows. calves are born in s March and in right now.

September. I raise those calves till they're about five hundred pounds. they are with their mamas and they graze on pasture and play volleyball and get to watch whatever TV they want. They're very happy and then

Russ (31:57)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Miller (31:58)
I wean about five hundred pounds and I take in. Somebody else buys in a in a market, takes them, they go various places to get finished off, you know.

Russ (32:08)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Miller (32:09)
a steer is not slaughtered till it's probably sixteen hundred, maybe eight

pounds. So I'm just providing the the cow. So anyway, it's not as labor. I'm not there are certain times of year I gotta be here. For instance, middle of May to middle of June, that's I make my own hay. So I need a month to do that. January, February, March, they gotta be fed every day. And then in March you're starting to calve again. So I gotta be there. So certain times of year I can't tour, certain times a year I can for the last.

number of years I've had g you had you know, good agents and good managers. We all sort of knew the pattern and I could go hit the road in those open times. So it's been working. And cattle prices are good, which I'm sure are not good for you all because

Barry (33:00)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (33:00)
if you tried to buy any

Russ (33:00)
Yeah, right.

Scott Miller (33:02)
meat lately. Yeah. Sorry about that. Yeah. There you go. There you go.

Barry (33:04)
I'll I'll I'll think about that next time I'm eating a steak. I think Scott's I'm helping Scott. This bites

Russ (33:08)
Yeah. Yeah. There you

Barry (33:13)
for you. It does I know, I like it.

Russ (33:18)
there you go. This bites for you.

Scott Miller (33:14)
That'd be a good t shirt.

Barry (33:20)
Does does farming get into your music at all? Are you are you writing in your head when you're out dealing

Scott Miller (33:31)
No, you're trying not to hit rocks and get kicked and stuff. I mean, I'm sure there's imagery there that I use. writing's a sort of a whole different ballgame for me. And that's my main thing. You I'm not I'm not a musician. so you know, writing's usually done in the morning before the stress of the day gets on you, or you know, every once in a while you'll get inspired and scribble something down. But it's a it's a labor intensive process. It's

You know, I'm not gonna whine and say it's hard, but it's just you know, I enjoy it. But it's something

Barry (34:05)
But

Scott Miller (34:05)
you gotta do.

Barry (34:06)
y you're intentional about it. You set you set aside I'm riding from this time to this time or

Scott Miller (34:12)
Well

yeah, I mean I try to in the mornings, like I say, before the phone rings or before something gets on you and you start worrying about other stuff, 'cause you really need your mind clear, focused. And you can only do that for so long. You know.

Barry (34:28)
Yeah.

Russ (34:29)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Miller (34:30)
Either either your brain says no more or, you know, I gotta go deal with something on the farm. So

Barry (34:36)
And I probably should have asked, How big a farm and how many had

Scott Miller (34:40)
about two hundred acres and I run about right now around sixty-five mama cows, three very tired bulls. and I got room for some more cows. There's yeah.

Russ (34:52)
It's quite a ratio.

Scott Miller (34:56)
It's target rich environment for them. well, I raise

Russ (34:59)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (35:02)
Angus, but not purebred Angus. I I I'm my cows are sort of like my

guitars, you know, I I'm not a guitar snob. As long as you stay in tune

Russ (35:12)
Mm.

Scott Miller (35:12)
and and work every night, as long as you, you know, don't try to kill me and and milk a good calf and you're good you're fine with me.

Barry (35:20)
Yeah. That and y and Virginia is where you are now, right? Yeah. Beautiful.

Scott Miller (35:23)
Yeah. Sando Valley, Gust County. Yeah.

Barry (35:26)
Nice. one of the things that I'm excited about in addition to seeing you in a couple of weeks is this John Prime thing. the the celebration of John Prime.

I'm really excited about it and I and I I think you are too and I'm so glad they're doing it. I'm thinking about the songwriting. he he I loved how simple he could just turn a phrase and hit you right in the heart, right in the head or between

Scott Miller (35:57)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (36:00)
the eyes or whatever.

Scott Miller (36:04)
Read your mail.

Barry (36:05)
R exactly.

Russ (36:06)
Yeah.

Barry (36:08)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (36:07)
You know? Yeah, that's

his that's his thing. And he it ma he makes it look simple and everybody's like, yeah. but none of us can be John Prime.

Barry (36:18)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (36:19)
There's only one of those glorious sons of bitches.

Barry (36:22)
When are you staying the whole weekend? When you do this event, are you doing both do you stay both days or?

Scott Miller (36:28)
October

yeah, maybe. I hadn't even really you know what, I haven't looked that far ahead. It's October tent I played the Sunday, so I'll probably be down, yeah, on the Saturday at least. Yep.

Russ (36:41)
October tenth and eleventh, yeah.

Scott Miller (36:43)
Yep.

Barry (36:43)
ten

and eleven. What do you hang out with the the other artists? Or you kind of do you come and do your thing?

Scott Miller (36:49)
like Randy Newman

says, I want the respect of my peers if I had any.

Barry (36:53)
Ha ha.

Scott Miller (36:55)
yeah, I hang out. there's always, you know,

Russ (36:54)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (36:58)
Todd always has great great acts and I have been doing this for what, thirty s plus years, so I always it's good to see a lot of folks that you don't g normally get to see. It's one good thing about a festival, you know.

Barry (37:12)
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. That's why I

Russ (37:13)
yeah. Mm-hmm.

Barry (37:13)
ask. That's it, especially

Scott Miller (37:14)
Yeah. yeah.

Barry (37:15)
this one. It seems like we've kind of heard, you know, from doing talking with artists at Bonnarooo in particular, they love being able to see artists that, you know, that they've heard about and want to see and become friends with

Scott Miller (37:28)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (37:28)
and then hang out. that's a neat thing ab like you said about a festival.

Scott Miller (37:32)
Yeah.

There's a there's songwriting festival in Florida in January I do. I think it's called what is it called? Whatever it's called. A thirty A Fe thirty A songwriting festival, something

Barry (37:46)
yeah, yeah.

Scott Miller (37:46)
like that.

Russ (37:46)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Miller (37:47)
That's always you know, I always enjoyed those three or four days with my people's.

Barry (37:53)
How many dates are you doing? I mean, you go going back to the s the cycle of the farm, how many dates do you typically get out?

Scott Miller (38:00)
On

around well, this year is very light, but on average seventy five, eighty. Yeah.

Barry (38:09)
that's a bunch.

Scott Miller (38:11)
Yeah.

Russ (38:10)
That's good. That's it out.

Scott Miller (38:12)
Well, like I say, when when I can go, I can go.

Russ (38:15)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Miller (38:17)
so certain times of year that I can take off and all anybody's gonna do is ch check and make sure these ding dongs got water and salt.

Barry (38:24)
And you

you've got new coming out, right?

Scott Miller (38:29)
Yeah, yeah. I recorded it. it's gonna start growing mushrooms on it. I gotta get a manufacture, but it's done, wrapped up. I'm pretty excited about it. I've I've my working tit I've gone through so many titles, I hate to tell you what I'm gonna call it now, but I think I'm gonna call it fighting happy. And hopefully get it out by Christmas.

Barry (38:53)
Nice.

Scott Miller (38:54)
Yeah.

Barry (38:55)
What what const what triggers? What gets you in the studio recording versus n lawyers?

Scott Miller (39:03)
necessity. We're like they're like, we'd love to we'd

Russ (39:05)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (39:07)
love to have Scott at K Fest, but he needs a new record out, you know.

Russ (39:08)
Contracts.

Scott Miller (39:13)
so I have been sorta pushing it for it. But you know, the last few years I had my parents, my mom passed away in June and my dad passed away two years ago in April. So I was taking care of them one here at the farm.

in the house for a while and then the last couple years, actually right before COVID, they moved to a facility. 'cause we just couldn't take care of them.

Russ (39:40)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Miller (39:41)
so I wasn't really doing a lot, putting a lot of effort in there. And then back to our friend Todd Mayo, twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four, yeah, last year. No, this is twenty six. Anyway,

He was like, When are you gonna write something new? When you go put something new? I was like, I don't know, man. I you know, I don't know, I don't have anything to write about. And he's like, After the year you just had, because you know, my father

Barry (40:09)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (40:10)
died, my wife left, my barn burnt down, I had a heifer break my leg. All in the same year. my managers died,

Russ (40:18)
my goodness.

Scott Miller (40:20)
both of So I'm sort of s I know it, man.

Russ (40:22)
If that's not a country song I don't know what is. Yeah.

Barry (40:23)
I was just getting ready to say, man,

that's a title right there, a heifer broke my leg.

Russ (40:26)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (40:27)
I like to play

it backwards. Yeah. Well, it became a song. Say I always

Russ (40:28)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (40:31)
always go, well, it's my friend Todd Mayo was like, If you after the year you had, you can't give me one song. So I put everything in this one song. It's called Twenty

Russ (40:36)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (40:39)
Twenty Three. And yeah. So that's what started. And once I wrote that, then the rest of just sort of came.

Barry (40:47)
Well that was my next question. I I I always love talking songwriting with songwriters 'cause I know absolutely nothing about it. And so it always fascinates me. Well, I know what I like, right.

Scott Miller (40:55)
No what you like.

Barry (40:58)
I I

Russ (40:58)
Mm-hmm.

Barry (40:58)
it always fascinates me did you go into the studio with the songs written or do you go into the studio and like, let's see what happens?

Scott Miller (41:09)
no, no, no. I go I sit on In fact, these I actually went out and worked did just toured in the spring of twenty twenty four, I guess, with them and then went into the studio and just put down. Sort of beat up a little bit and polished up the edges and

Barry (41:35)
And did you

Scott Miller (41:36)
I like to go over you know, edit, edit, edit. Any s

Barry (41:38)
Yeah.

Scott Miller (41:39)
any songwriting is is ed editing and and wee z we

Barry (41:42)
Eliminate, yeah.

Scott Miller (41:43)
get and getting rid of all those words you don't need and getting your point quicker quicker.

Barry (41:47)
That's yeah, that's what I've

Russ (41:48)
There it is.

Barry (41:49)
always heard from the from the really good ones. It's like, do I really need that word? Take it out. If it's that

Russ (41:54)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Miller (41:54)
Yeah.

Barry (41:55)
it's not relevant. And did you do you go in and have like a a theme? I mean, is it a f is it the you know, these are the ten songs and they're related, or however many songs or they're not, and do you look back and say, these ten these these are related?

Scott Miller (42:10)
I think that's that's like

a do that's like a a dog or something you get, man. You if you just quiet, they'll name themselves. You know?

Russ (42:18)
There you go.

Scott Miller (42:18)
Like we always have rescue dogs and you know, they come with names, but like, nah, this dog's gonna tell me who it is eventually. And an album do that too. You just gotta be quiet.

Barry (42:27)
Yeah. Yeah, that's

that's always been fun for me to hear people say, I didn't know what I was writing about, but then all of a sudden when I'm, you know, listening to them in the car or whatever, it's like, Okay, I get it now. I this is

Scott Miller (42:39)
Yeah. Yeah. Well

Barry (42:42)
whatever the the the theme, if that's the right word is

Scott Miller (42:46)
Yeah. It's

an afterthought.

Russ (42:49)
We said that you're gonna be playing with a a group this time and not just you. Is that is that the Commonwealth? Okay.

Scott Miller (42:54)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I still pull them out a few times a year. I do like a three night stand in Johnson City every year, use the band.

Russ (43:03)
Mm-hmm.

Scott Miller (43:03)
there's Big Theater in Knoxville, Bijou that we play. I play with the band

Russ (43:08)
yeah.

Scott Miller (43:08)
every year. Various places I take We're not gonna afford you know, it's a lot cheaper out there by yourself. But yeah, I'll have some sort of I'm still trying to get a drummer for this one.

Back when I very first started after the V Roys, I remember I was making that first record for Sugar Hill and R S Field produced it. Familiar with his work. He's great producer, great songwriter. Anyway, he you know, he he helped create the whole Web Wilder thing. And Webb was like, You need to be three deep in every position. And he was right. So, you know, to keep a band and to keep a band consistent and stuff, you gotta have backups.

So I'll find some more.

Barry (43:59)
Yeah, that's an interesting full show. I'm glad you're back. Glad you had a good time in Atlanta, shaky knees. awesome interview with Scott, so much fun, lots of laughs.

Russ (44:12)
I think we nailed it again this week. Another great episode, huh? It's a little all over the place, yeah.

Barry (44:15)
Yeah. I know, right? For a show with

for a show with you know, theoretically, actually like I think we said last week, I think we've been busier in the last four or five weeks than we were prior.

Russ (44:31)
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, right.

And this is just what you get on the What Now podcast.

Barry (44:37)
The w that's right. I'm glad you remembered. That was perfect. That's

Russ (44:42)
Yeah.

Barry (44:43)
yeah, that's what we need to start calling it. The What Now Pro podcast. It's good

Russ (44:47)
Yeah.

Barry (44:49)
stuff. All right, man. Well, we will be back next week with an

Russ (44:54)
We'll be back with

our winner. We'll be back with more Cave Fest interviews, discussions and yeah, looking forward to it.

Barry (45:02)
Absolutely. All right. Thanks guys.