Stagecoach Recap, Jason Aldean & Luke Bryan Stadium Show, and Russell Dickerson’s “Happen To Me” #1 Celebration

This week's episode on the Country Music Podcast recaps our FOMO from this past weekend as some epic events took place that we were not at. We did, however, live vicariously through social media to keep up with all the excitement. From Stagecoach highlights lighting up social feeds to the Jason Aldean / Luke Bryan co-headlining show at Sanford Stadium in Georgia, we were right there scrolling along with everyone else.

Julia also recaps her recent trip to Nashville to celebrate Russell Dickerson’s #1 hit, “Happen To Me.” It was a reminder of just how much goes on behind the scenes of a chart-topper. Seeing it up close, she got a firsthand look at the team effort, long hours, and nonstop work it takes to get a song to the top. Russell has a strong crew behind him and made a point to recognize their hard work during his speech at the celebration. It was genuine and heartfelt, making the moment even more special.

Got a topic or suggestion for us? We’d love to hear it! Email us anytime at cmr@countrymusicrocks.net.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Turn it up. You're listening to the Country Music Ricks podcast with Danny and Julia, your whole access pack to all your favorite artists, untold stories, and the real behind the scenes of country music.

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Well, we didn't plan this, but we're both rocking our Nashville year. I know, I love it. I love it. When I saw you come in, I was like, oh my gosh. I know. We didn't even plan it.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

No, we should have. And look it, we're better off like this. Good minds think alike.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

I know, right? I um speaking of Nashville, I just got back that from Nashville not too long ago. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Um how was the trip?

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Quick, but fun. Yes. Um, Russell celebrated his number one hit Happened to Me.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

And it was just kind of interesting. I just wanted to touch on this a little bit because I know you've you're involved in it on like on the radio side of things. Right. So, you know, you're part of helping these artists get to their number one. But it was so cool to see them celebrate it in the capacity of how they do it. Right. Of course, it's a party. You know, of course, you know, the high noons were there, and you know, it is and it is a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

But it was so interesting to see how many people, including radio, it takes to get that song there. It's a lot. It's a lot. People don't realize what goes on behind the song. And it's like I knew I knew it and I know it, but at the same time, to see it and seeing it all unfold and all the organizations that kind of got up and talked about it and talked to Russell and or about him, and you know, as he was sitting there and just kind of soaking it all up. It was really, it was so cool. Like so much goes into a song that I think we all kind of forget sometimes. Yeah. Um, and until you kind of see it like right up front, it is it's pretty surreal.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

It is, and it it's one of those moments that, like I said, people don't realize how much goes into it because there's management, yeah, there's teamwork, there's you know, let's say the label, there's yeah, and it's the label mates and how many people on the label are helping to push the number one song to get to that level.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

It's a lot, it is a lot, and I mean, just to be in the BMI building alone was pretty cool building. It was very cool building, and you and you just know like how many people have walked through those doors. Yeah, you know, the songs that are it's just it's it was cool. It was a great experience. I'm glad I didn't have fear of missing out on that one because it was just such a great moment. I'm so proud of Russell. I mean, he was just, you know, like I said, soaking up that moment for him. I mean, it was it was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

It is cool. How many people were there total, would you say?

SPEAKER_02 2:28

I would say at probably at least a hundred.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Um, and like I said, like, you know, all the publishing groups were there, you know, all the songwriters that are part of that song, everybody from the label. Um, I think one of his attorneys were there. Like every piece of the puzzle fits was there or at least mentioned, and there's so many pieces, right? Which is crazy because okay, so that song got to number one, but there's those people are involved in it, takes so much for every song.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Right.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

You don't and you we don't realize it. We're just you know, when we talked to Chase Matthews what a couple months ago, yeah, we heard the song right how the song is born.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

And now seeing it how it grew, and then it comes all the way to number one and how many people have touched their fingers on it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

It was a lot, it was a lot more than I realized.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Right. I it was it was interesting. Uh, it's been probably 12, maybe 15 years since I was at the BMI building. Is it been redecorated? Was there pictures on the walls and stuff? Paint a picture for me. Because I remember the time we went to Nashville for CRS and we got to go to the Sony building and Katie Chesney was there. Yes, that was very cool. Brad Paisley was there. We walked around and at different zones of the building, everybody had something cool.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Exactly. So I've never been to the BMI building. So this was the first for me all around. Right. Um, so it was just kind of, I don't know what it looked like before, but I mean it's just very big and vast. Like you walk in and it's just massive foyer. And and that's actually where they ended up having the celebration was right there. Oh, okay. Um and you know, they just kind of had it's just very, very professional looking. Like you're you look like you're walking into a building on Wall Street almost, you know? Yeah. Um, you know, security outside, and I don't know if that's all the time just because of I think it is. It might be just because you never know who's gonna be coming to the stores. Exactly. Exactly. Um, so yeah, like I said, I could think of like a Wall Street building you're walking into, and it's just very large. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Yeah. Uh the opening scene of like suits for me is very much like that, right? I'm expecting Harvey Specter to come walking through.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

I know that would be cool. That would be very, very cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

He's like, come on into the office, guys. I'd be like, let's go.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

No, I I love those kind of parties, and you're right, I have been to multiple of those, and it's it's a blessing to get to see it because again, we work with the record labels, and that's just a portion of it. Right. Not to talk about the management teams, the production teams, the writers, and their lawyers and their teams. You start adding five, six, eight people to the situation, and it gets crazy, but it is nice to see when they do finally get that number one. And that's why it's such a big celebration in radio when you finally get that number one, because it's not just about the artist, it's about everybody that was involved.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

And a lot of work goes into it.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

And I'll use Triple Tigers as an example. I mean, there's five reps that work on that part, but then you have the president, the vice president, and then you have your region of uh label mates that are there as well. One's covering the east, one's covering the Midwest, and they're out pushing songs all day long. Hey, can we get you guys like to help us with a couple more spins?

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

That's just a small portion of it, not everything else behind it. So that was cool.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Did was there anybody there that you recognized? You're like, oh my gosh, they're in the crowd hanging out, celebrating Russell as well.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Um, of course, his wife was there. Sure. So you know, oh, she's such a sweetheart. Um, you know, there were some familiar faces. I don't know. I mean, probably not familiar enough that everybody would know. It was just more kind of like industries people.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

Right. But um, I know sometimes like the label, like their label mates will show up. Like sometimes Scotty might come walking in to celebrate.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

That you say that, but Scotty was having a party the next day with Pootie. Um he wasn't there yet. Which unfortunately, my flight was at the same time because when I talked to one of our uh label friends, she's like, Oh, you're coming to Scotty's party tomorrow. And I'm like, I actually have a flight. So I know I would have loved to. I was almost like, can I change my flight? Yeah. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Stay for an extra day to have some fun.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

You don't have to convince me to stay an extra day in Nashville.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

And I don't know, this is actually I have to dig into this because I don't, I think it's pretty cool for people to be able to go to the ASCAP and the BMI buildings to get a chance to see. Like, well, I remember when we won the CMA and the ACM trophy years ago. Excuse me. I'm just I didn't mean to do that, but it's our podcast. Um, but I remember when we won, like walking into those buildings was something very special. It is special. It's very cool. Yeah. Uh a couple years ago, we took some listeners to Nashville for the CMAs, and part of the deal was our good friends at UMG gave us a tour, and then we surprised our listeners with a concert uh with an artist in their room. And they did know that was happening. Yeah. And for everybody that wants to see behind the scenes, I think that's something that should be allowed and just be able to go see what it's like.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

You can get the the country music vibe and the feel when you go to the Johnny Cash Museum, sure, the country music hall of fame. Those are great. Those are always number ones. Get those done. You have to do those.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

But the secondaries were like, could we go tour BMI and learn a little bit more about it? That's what I'm gonna dig into because I think it'd be really fun.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Exactly. I think it would be really cool, even for myself, to be able to actually tour their building. Um, and I feel like if you're really like into music, you know, kind of like we are, obviously. And there's so many people that really love not just the music, but like everything behind it and the, you know, the who, the what's, the where's. I think it would be cool to have those opportunities to go see what is a record label office really like, you know, like I know there's some small ones, and then there are the ones like UMG and Sony, where their buildings and their offices are so cool.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Yeah, and they're multi-level. Yeah. So there's like one team that does all the, you know, the regional presidents, and they're all working with the team below to say, okay, here's your regions. Go talk to every radio station and get them on board for the new Luke Bryant or Keith Urban or Carrie Underwood, whatever it may be, right for that particular label, whoever they were. It is very fun to see behind the scenes. It is because it's like radio. When you first walk into a radio station or a TV station, you're kind of like, oh my gosh, it's not anything I thought it was gonna look like.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

It really isn't.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

It's mind-boggling.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

When I first walked into Fox 12 when I started working there years and years and years ago, I literally was like, This is it? It's not very big.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

Well, I think our minds, you know, they go to like you were mentioning suits, like it goes to a TV show or it goes to a movie. So you already have something built in your mind what you think it's gonna be like. And then you show up and it's like, what it's and it's usually on a smaller scale. And you're like, how do you all fit in that room?

SPEAKER_01 9:01

I know it's like so weird. Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

But so much excitement and great things come out of those small little areas.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Uh it was interesting because you were there and I was following along and I was so excited for you. I'm like, oh, I should get into this, I should get to do that. Did you get to do anything else on a short? Because it was a fast trip. You were like in and out.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

It was in and out. Um, I spent time with my best friend um while I was there. I stayed with her, so I got to, you know, we did a lot of just shopping.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

A lot of shopping.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Yeah. Um we did a lot of shopping.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

A 12 South? Yes. We went to 12 South a couple times. Um yeah, so we just kind of hung out and did a lot of just quality time catching up. That's good. That's always fun too.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

When you could tie business and friendship together and have a exactly, yeah, and I hadn't seen her in a while.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

It was actually almost a year to the date almost that I had seen her. So it was pretty cool to be able to just have some downtime, had some great dinners.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Good, good, good.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Yeah, we're still manifesting the CMA music fest that we're trying to get to.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Because we don't want to have fear of missing out on that.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

No, because it's the worst. And I'm not gonna lie, I had serious FOMO this weekend.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Same. I did too. All weekend long, starting on Friday, I was like, man, why aren't we at Stagecoach? Or man, why aren't we in Georgia? Like, I know. Why aren't we somewhere? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

You know, let's start with Stagecoach.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Um, I have never been to Stagecoach. I have, again, on the radio side, our record reps, plenty of the West Coast reps that always end up going every year and they talk about it. And we see what it's like. My daughter Lexi went to Coachella a couple weeks ago. She was there the very first week, and she went specifically to see Justin Bieber.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

And she was like in hog heaven, you were not stopping this girl for anything. She was excited. It was really cool. Um, and the stage was completely different for Coachella as it was for Stagecoach. Um, but then this weekend with Stagecoach, and I was thinking I'm all my record reps. I'm like, what if we just jumped on a plane and went down for the night? But there were 75,000 people there this weekend. It was totally insane.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

It was. Um, and don't think I didn't think about that same thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

I know.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

I was almost gonna be like, all right, Danny, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

It's a two and a half hour flight. We could do this. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

Um I definitely thought about it. But yeah, there was yeah, I definitely had some uh FOMO on that because it was just it just seems everything just seems so electrifying when you know when you're watching the videos and you're seeing like Bailey's performance and you know him jumping out of the stage in the middle of you know, yeah, Indio, California in the middle of the desert, and there he is popping out and high energy, um, you know, Laney, of course, right, stellar performance.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

I did catch some of Ella's performance because it Ella it was it was on Sirius XM radio. Yes, they streamed so many.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

It was a lot, yeah, which is cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Amazon Prime showed a lot of it.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Um, and I was really focused on trying to watch Ella's performance because I have not seen Ella come to the West Coast.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Right, I know. She's due.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

She's really due. And I I feel like Stagecoach this year, everybody got a special gift that went because she was there.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

We've seen Lainey, we've seen Bailey, we've seen Cody. Cody's gonna be here in a couple weeks or a couple months in Tacoma. Yep. So it's one of those things like we get that opportunity. You don't get to see it there in the desert.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Right. And I feel like, not to interrupt you, but I feel like when you're at Stagecoach, they always bring out surprises. Like every almost every artist, or at least one of the main headliners, all they they brought out surprises.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Well, and that was Ella.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

My gosh, her surprise.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Okay, so is maybe it was just me. Like, I don't know much about Theo Vaughn.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

I know he's a podcaster, and I know he's a comedian.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Well, and so I had to actually look him up because I'm like, who is this guy? Right. Because I have been seeing him kind of like interviewing a lot with like artists and stuff like that, and there's been a ton going on with Ella. Okay. Like his podcast interview with her has just been it's viral.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Um, they keep playing all different clips from it. And I'm like, who is he? And I guess he was part of Road Rules or Real World. He was part of the MTV.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Oh, Real World. Maybe that's what it was. He was part of one of those. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

I guess that's where he got his start. Okay, yeah. And then from there kind of evolved. And I don't know what to think of him.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

I I don't either, but at one moment, like I saw a video I was watching, and I was I was watching Prime, and then I was watching, you know, the socials, Instagrams, and lives and everything else. I was trying to keep up with everything to see what was going on. And then at one moment, like somebody was like, Oh my god, they're gonna kiss. They're gonna kiss. And I was like, wait a minute, are they dating? Are they what's happening?

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Danny with a T again. It was I know.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

I was more I was more like, what is happening right now? And it was one of those moments, like I was really excited for her performance, but when everybody went crazy for this.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Yeah, it was it was it's interesting. Like I again, I don't know, yeah, I don't know. But I did see a couple videos backstage where he really wanted to get it right, like exactly where he where he's supposed to walk out, exactly like when he's supposed to start. Because I mean it's not like he's a performer, sure. You know, and he's singing a song that, yeah, he may have heard it a million times, but when you're singing it to, you know, 70,000 people, it's a lot different.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Well, yeah, you know, and it's already nerve-wracking to stand on a stage with that movie.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

It was kind of cool to see that he wasn't taking it as a joke. You he wasn't taking it lightly. He was like, he actually wanted to get it right from the moment, like, okay, when do I take my first step out? Right. So I thought that was kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Yeah, that was fun. I did love the performance from Cody Johnson. I did see some of that boys to men here.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

He had boys to men, which I thought like I would never have expected that.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

No.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

So I that's what I think is so cool with Stagecoach because people just pop up out of nowhere, and it's always something that you wouldn't expect.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Right. Yeah, well, I mean, if you think back a couple weeks before that, Coachella, there was some surprises. Justin B. The first week, not so much. Teddy Swims actually had surprises. He brought out David Lee Roth from Van Halen, he brought out a couple of other artists, and then the second weekend, Sabrina Carpenter brought out Madonna.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Yeah, which is huge.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Another thing everybody was like shocked. Right. Because it was one of those really cool moments. I was like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

It could be a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

It could be. And if you've never seen that artist, then you're like, oh man, I just saw her, even though it's a limited performance.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

It's still that's almost kind of cooler because you know that's probably never gonna happen again.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Yeah. Uh, and then of course, Riley Green, I feel really bad for him.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

I know, but Laney, such a class act, bringing.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

So uh, if you hadn't heard what had happened is on Saturday afternoon, they had dangerously high, high winds and they had to emergency evacuate all 75,000 people.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

I can't even imagine how that I'm glad I missed out on because that's insane. Right. Well, and it was like And then it's like, do you leave? You know, because a lot of people I know, but I mean, do you do you leave and just go back to your Airbnb or hotel? Or because I think that's where a lot of people were confused. Like, okay, so now I'm getting an Uber to leave, which were crazy expensive.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Um, and then, you know, an hour later, yeah, oh hey, just kidding. Now we're having the show again. So I know that I've heard and kind of read a lot of like you should have either just canceled or told everybody shelter and place something. Right. I don't know. Yeah. I'm sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Anyways, I have seen navigate. Uh so if if you didn't see some of the videos, it's pretty incredible.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

It was gnarly. The sand, I mean, the sand kicking up is that's the worst.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

Because what happens is at Coachella, when they get there, it's all grass, it's a it's a polo ground, it's beautiful. Yeah, but when stagecoach happens, all the grass dies and it's all just sand. So then it becomes like just dirt in your face. Everyone is always wearing their bandanas and everything else. But I had literally seen like tents that people had put up in the parking lot that they were like partying, tailgating before they went in. Yeah, I saw like three or four tents go flying, so who knows where those went or if they hit anybody.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Um, our radio friends all had backstage radio rooms like trailers, right? And they were all told to emergency evacuate to get into them. In fact, one of them, one of my friends, uh um Corey Kent actually came flying into their room because it was so bad. And he just hung out with them. They had cocktails and you know, some food in there for him, thank goodness. Yeah. But it was one of those moments like, oh my gosh, it was crazy to see what happens. And I was glad that nobody really, really got hurt. So I don't know if they did they cancel the rest of the show that because Riley before they canceled his set. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

And I believe in Little Big Town's set. I think Little Big Town was first and then Riley. So they had I think they canceled a block of sets in order to, you know, because they couldn't put them on and then Riley and then Laney. They'd be, you know, three o'clock in the morning. Right. So I think just to make up some time, they just went straight to the headliner as soon as they got the go-ahead. Okay, we can which was back to Laney.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Right. So I was curious because I saw a video from a friend. Uh, they basically were like at an Airbnb, and somebody had privately had Riley Green come play at this pool.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Oh, well, I know that's the place to be.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

No kidding, right? They're like, he's walking, shaking hands with everybody, and then he starts singing around the pool, and then he was like, All right, gotta go. And then they left, and the next thing I know, I see other videos, and they're going on stage for Diplo, which was much later.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

And then I realized, oh, that's probably what happened. The storm came through, moved its way in the area. Right. Everyone left. But if you were gone, like you said, then you left. You didn't get to see that, and Lane came back. I don't even know what time she came on.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

I guess she came on around 10:30, I guess, is which is probably not too far off of what she was supposed to do. I think her original set was 9 30. So she went on an hour later. Um, but they were able to squeeze her in. So that was good.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

I was out on Saturday night. We had gone and done something with the family up north, so I didn't get a chance to watch it. I was trying to watch on my phone, but I had no signal, so I was like, I can't do what we were at the races in Tinaino. Oh, yeah. So I couldn't watch racing and everyone's like, what are you doing? Pick a lane, right? So yeah, it was kind of crazy. But then on Sunday, um, I saw you know more of the production and I got to see a little bit of it on Amazon Prime. It was pretty cool, actually.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Yeah, it seemed like a great stage coach once again this year. Yeah. Um, I know Post Malone he had a bunch of artists that came out. Jake Worthington actually came, he had him come out with them. I just I thought that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Yeah, Jake's a great guy, and he was just I just saw we saw him with Zach Topp down in Eugene um earlier in November. And I realized he's such a great guy. I love his music.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

He's got kind of a bosefus feel, like a little bit of uh He for some reason reminds me of Mark Testnut. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Oh my gosh, yes.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

He just has I don't know. I think of Mark Testnut. When I think of him, I I don't know. That's that's what comes to mind.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

I'm gonna see that in my head now for the rest of the year.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

He's like a little like mini Mark Testnut.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Oh my god, yeah. So maybe next year, if you've never been to stagecoach, it is a bucket list item. You do have to try and do it at least once. Yeah. I know, have you ever been to it?

SPEAKER_02 19:56

I have, I've been twice.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Okay, so you're lucky. Yeah, I have not done it.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

It has grown and changed. Like I it was, man, it's been probably eight plus years since I've been.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Um, and I do think, you know, kind of like we were saying the stages with Coachella, the stages have grown. They're not like Coachella, but the stages have grown for stage uh for stagecoach.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Right. So and there's four stages, and they've added stages, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

So they've always had like the main stage and they call it the main M-A-N-E stage, and then they have the Palomino stage, right? Which is where, you know, a lot of like the I don't want to say not as popular artists, but the up-and-coming artist. Yeah, or maybe some of the older, old school artists that, you know, aren't doing stuff as much anymore, um, play on that stage.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

But that stage get, I mean, that's where Ashton Kutcher hangs out. I mean, he was there again this year. I think he goes every year. I think he does. A lot of actual like celebrities go to that stage and hang out because there's it's not like the you're not getting Lainey Wilson on that stage, you're not getting Cody Johnson on that stage. Maybe at one point they did that stage.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

Yeah, but you know, you're getting some more random um artists that everybody's kind of intrigued about. Yeah. So that's a cool stage. But then there's also um the Mustang stage. The Mustang stage.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

That was the one.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Dip Low has a stage.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Um like kitchen area.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

Yeah, and then Guy um Beary, he did like a cook-off and he had like a stage there. I know Chase Rice played on that. Yeah. Um, there's just so much going so more so than when I went. It used to be the two stages, a couple activations here and there, but not like not like it is now. No. There's so much now. American Eagle, they had a massive activation there. Um Bailey. Bailey hung out there, Ella hung out there.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Um that's wild. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

So if you do want to go to stagecoach, you should actually probably start really thinking about it.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

It's almost like if you know you want to go, because they always have an incredible lineup. Oh, yeah. Always.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

It's not gonna fail you for sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

Exactly. So it's almost like, okay, it just ended for this year. Start doing your research on Airbnbs or hotels, starting. Saving your money because it's not cheap.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Nope.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

But you're getting a lot of a big bang for your buck, basically. You know, kind of like CMA Fest. Yes. Yes, it's expensive, but if you, you know, plant early, start saving early. I mean, you get so much. Yeah. You get to just, yeah, it's again, biggest bang for your back.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

The crazy story with my daughter, she got to go to Coachella because uh a few of her friends had bailed out the last minute. And they had said, Hey, we had something come up. We can't go. Would you want to buy the ticket? She's like, sure. Then they said, Oh, well, we have an Airbnb, but it's gonna cost you this. I think it was like$800 for the Airbnb for her for the week. Just just for the Airbnb. Yeah. And then it was like another$400 for her ticket. So there's$1,200 already. That didn't include her airfare. And then they had to get a car.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Also, that's face value.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Right. Which she's lucky because and it was very last minute. She found out like a week and a half before she was leaving.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

So a friend of mine posted people were selling because obviously Bieber was the big you know draw for it. People were selling tickets, like just general admission tickets for like$7,000. And some of those were selling. Right. So Lexi got lucky.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

She did really get lucky. And so if you want, and if you again, it's a bucket listing. If you're gonna do it, book your Airbnb now or start looking for hotels now. You can always get a car. That's a that's a gift. You can get your tickets, they're not even on sale yet, but you'll be able to get them. Start saving. Start saving, but definitely get your hotel room for sure. For sure. Definitely. And and you never know who's gonna be there, but guarantee it will not be a bad shot. Yeah, the last couple years they had Journey, they had Nickelback. Well, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

Like, yes, you even if you don't, we're not the biggest fan of the headliners, right? There's so I mean, like, I I would actually be interested to go in and count like how many performers are at Stagecoach. I'm sure we could probably Google it, but I mean there's gotta be hundreds.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

You know what it reminds me of? Uh, just when you said that is like on the smaller stages, we've seen that at the Oregon Jamboree before, right? There was the main stage, right? And then there was their secondary stage. I'll never forget when we walked over and watched Warren Ziders on the secondary stage.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

That's who when you just started mentioning, that's where my mind went.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

That literally, I mean, anybody that was in that section, I mean, it was butt cheek to butt cheek. It was no, you could hardly breathe because everybody went over to that area. And that's the same thing at the Palomino stage and the Maverick stage and all these different things. You could see those types of acts because that moment, I forget who was on the main stage, like nobody even saw that act. The main stage is probably still mad at Warren Ziders for it.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Maybe, maybe. Um producer is telling us there is over a hundred performers at stage, because I believe it. I thought I bet that's closer to 200, honestly. There's so because again, you have surprise pop-up artists and this year was like Sam Barber, uh Averyna got a new uh ACM.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

They presented her with that. She won the new female vocalist of the year, which is cool. That was cool. So it's like the baby acts are coming up on those little stages, and then next thing you know, they're gonna be on the main stage.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:04

Because I think Ella, I don't even think Ella was ever a part of stagecoach in the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

I don't think so either. I think that this, I think this was her first year.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

But she's on a different trajectory.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

She is. I mean, her path is crazy crazy. Yeah, she got on that yellow brick road real quick. She did. And she is traveling because, yeah, kind of like Laney. I mean, you know, again, they're just trailblazers right now.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

I and it's funny too, because I was thinking about this the other day. I'm like, it I saw a video posted of Carrie Underwood at Stagecoach in 2022, which if you think about it, it was only four years ago. Oh, okay. And she was on the headline, but I can't remember that she did that. But you know, that that's what I'm saying. Those are the kind of artists you're gonna see.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Everybody's always it's gonna be worth it no matter what. It's worth it. And it's a great time, especially if you go with friends. I mean, like, what an incredible weekend.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Yeah, that would be like bucket list number uh 125 for me.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

We're gonna start checking some things off.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Yeah, I got a lot to check off before I get there. Uh, the other big thing that happened over the weekend, which was really cool, and and I thought it was funny. I don't know if you saw their promo ad for it. Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan performing together in their hometown state of Georgia.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Uh yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Did you see the promo that they put together?

SPEAKER_02 26:16

I didn't. Oh, it's do I need to go back and look and watch it?

SPEAKER_01 26:19

I I don't want to tell you, but I I want to tell you, but it was so funny because they're such pranksters. They are. Yeah. I just thought it was fantastic. Uh one of my co-workers, Katie Neal, that I work with, she was there. Oh, cool. A former co-worker of mine who lives in Cleveland. She was there and they all had the suites. So it reminded me a lot of the time when we got to go see Cody and Luke Combs in Seattle. We all had our suites. Yep. And we all got to do something special with them. Right. And I remember in our suite, David Lee Murphy came up and said hello to everybody. Yes, I remember that. Pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

I it took me back to that.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

I kept saying David Lee Roth, and I and I'm like, and my mind was saying David Lee Murphy, but my mouth was saying David Lee Roth. Because I think I said that to you, and you're like, wait, what?

unknown 27:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

But yeah, it was those those moments, again, like the fear of missing out. I'm like, why can't we just have like a quick plane ride to Georgia?

SPEAKER_02 27:09

And I wonder if that's gonna be because I feel like it was such a success. And I feel like just from what I've seen, Luke and Jason really enjoyed their moment there.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

And I think it was really like I'm so I'm wondering if it's gonna be an annual thing.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

I would I would think so.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

I would hope so.

SPEAKER_01 27:27

I do too. I I I think this I think the stadium holds like 80,000 people.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Yeah, because I think I read there was like 78,000 people there or something like that, or 73,000. It was a lot.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

And and they were they had planned this for a while. They announced this last year.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

In like, because I remember watching Game Day College. Yes. One of the games, and they're like, yeah, we're gonna be able to do that. We had talked about it. Right.

SPEAKER_02 27:49

I didn't realize how big it was really. I mean, I knew it would be something big, but it was pretty massive.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Well, and you think about like all the states that are there. That's the one thing that's great about the Midwest and the East Coast. Like, all those little tiny states are so close to one another.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Like my son Tanner's going to Georgia in a couple weeks, and he's gonna be, you know, landing in Atlanta, and then he's going to drive down with some friends and hang out and stuff. So I'm like, you're gonna get to see so much, which is great. That's really cool. Taking the view everywhere you go, because a lot of history there. But um, that's the thing I love about that because you could be in Georgia, you can be in Florida, you could like literally in 20 minutes. Right. You know how close they are.

SPEAKER_02 28:27

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

But I did not see any of the performances, I only saw the production piece they put together that they before the show even started. So all 80,000 fans were watching this.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

And it was uh very funny. It was who's gonna go first? And it is hysterical. You have to go watch it, you'll find it. But the thing that I really loved is they brought our brought out their own Georgia Peach, Miss Lauren Elena.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

They did, yes. Lauren Elena and Brantley Gilbert.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

Yep, he showed up writing for songs for Jason.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

Well, and I thought it was really cool that they um so like Jason would play some songs and then they it was truly co-headlining. Right. It wasn't like, okay, Jason's gonna go first, play his set, and then Luke, right, or vice versa. It truly was a co-headlining tour. I'm not sure. Every few songs, and then they would switch off, which I think is it's cool not only for the artists, but for all the fans. Like I think I think that's great.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

I want to see more shows like that.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

I do too.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

I don't I don't mind I don't mind going and seeing, okay, there's four acts on the show. Like, I'll just use Jason as an example. Coming to the Cascades Amphitheater in July, he's gonna have Chase Matthew, Mackenzie Carpenter's gonna be there, and then Jason. So we know there's gonna be three sets. Sure. In this particular case, it's different when it's a Jason and a Luke together, or even a Keith Urban, right? Like those stages are so big. Yeah, I say put up three drum sets, you know, and then and then your guys can walk out with their guitars, their basses, and their fiddles or whatever. But the the main is your drums.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

Yeah, I have the kit set up.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

I would love to see that. Yeah, that would be like incre I would love to see more shows like that.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Yeah, and it sounds like that's how they did that, which I think was fantastic. Right. It kind of made me go back to, and I know we both saw the tour, Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw. Yep. But Tim went on first and then Kenny. Yep. And then I know Kenny brought Tim out and they played some songs together, but like originally it was kind of billed because it was the Brothers of the Sun tour, and it was kind of billed as a co-headlining tour, or maybe maybe it wasn't billed as a co-headlining tour, and I just kind of thought it was. But like those two, that could have been something where they're both on stage together.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

I thought they flip-flopped, and maybe that would be-I can't remember.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

See, I can't remember because that was back in gosh, I think that was I think it was a while ago, but I think 2010. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

No, it's I think Tim opened some. Like Tim would open, yeah, and then the next town Kenny would open. I don't know. And the next town was Tim, then the next town it was Kenny.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

Because this doesn't happen often where it's like that.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

No.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

So I think, and who knows, maybe Jason and Luke are gonna kind of set a new trend. Um I hope so with this.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

How long was the show? Do you know? Did you ever hear or see anything about it?

SPEAKER_02 31:01

I don't know, that's a good question. I my guess it was, I mean, it had to have been over three hours. Two to three hours had to have been. Yeah, I mean, when Because when you think they all they you know everybody's there to hear their hits.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

And they both have such a vast collection of You'll see this in the funny opening.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

They Well, I'm gonna have to watch it. We'll link this opening below because now I can't wait to see it.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

Yeah, it's so funny. I can imagine. They just it's the it was perfect. Yeah, whoever wrote it all, or if they sat down and wrote it together, props to them because it was fantastic. Yeah, it was really. He came at Luke in the situation. Luke was trying to be Mr. Funny, and then Jason would re reply to him, be like, Yeah, me too, man.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

Okay, just kind of cut it.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

So it was very funny. When you see how much they have in common, yeah, it was fantastic. I really loved it. Um, and I but I would imagine, like, you know, when Bruce Springsteen was here uh a couple months ago, like a month ago, that man performs for three hours. He does. And he and so do the Eagles. Yep. They give it everything they got, day in and day out, every single night. And that's why they're taking like a show and then two days off. And then those are right, because you need to rest. Vocal rest. Vocal. Right. That's the biggest thing. So I would imagine a show like that could easily do three hours.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

You could do Yeah, you're probably right. I bet it was three hours.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Probably it can it can actually even go longer, really. It could probably go like an hour and a half for each artist. That's three hours right there. And then if you give your opening act a 35 or 40 hours.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

Oh, yeah, I was just thinking three hours just for them.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Oh, yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, you know, like Lauren Elena, she's I know she doesn't have a lot of hits, she's probably got like seven or eight.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

It's a good 45 minutes set. Easy.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Yeah, and I feel bad when those artists uh come out because like they, oh, you get to sing three songs. Like you're just getting warmed up.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

And it sucks because you're you're getting into your rhythm, you're feeling good.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

Especially like the very first opening artist at a show. I mean, I because I typically I think they only get like 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:02

And then, you know, but you're right, by the time they're at their last song, they're just now like ready to fire in all cylinders.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Yeah. And I think about the time that we saw it was Laney's show. She was very fair and very cool about it. She gave Jackson Dean 45 minutes, she gave Zach Top 45 minutes, and then she invited both the guys back out, which was awesome because I feel like you're right. They have so and when you have a talent like Zach Top and a Jackson Dean, you want to let them have their moments too much. Sure, you gotta share that. Another huge concert that was this weekend was also George Strait with Miranda Lambert and Zach Topp.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

I know.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

I'm like so much great country music.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

So much went on this, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

I I saw Zach's opening. I didn't see any of Miranda, I saw Zach's opening, I saw a lot of his performances, um, and people were just blown away.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

Of course, yeah. It's Zach.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

He is just he's like Laney and Ella right now. He's on fire. I saw one of the performances of a bluegrass song that he performed, and we saw it here in Eugene.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

So good.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

That crowd was not ready for that.

SPEAKER_02 34:07

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

They were, you know, George's George's crew is they're they're deep. They know they love Amarilla by Morning, the fireman, and everything else. But when he started playing that, like he got like a 10-minute standing ovation.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Wow. It was awesome. That was so cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

So cool to see. I didn't see anything from Miranda, which is kind of a bummer. I really like to watch her perform because she's one of my faves.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:27

But George, again, the king, like that guy can do no wrong in anyone's eyes.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

I know.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

But I'm like, yeah, and he had three hot spots to be at this year. Where would you choose? What would be the number one for you?

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Oh. You know, I think just because it was the first one, I would probably say Georgia. Only because it's the first one. Really want to see that.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Um, yeah, that's what I would pick. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 34:48

It would have been easily that one for sure. I mean, I've seen George, I've seen him so many.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

I've seen him, I've seen Miranda.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

And I feel like we can all, I don't know. I just feel like for the first one.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

You want to be part of the inaugural if that's it?

SPEAKER_02 35:01

Kind of like the first thing. Yeah. I just kind of see how it's gonna go. And what if they don't do it again? You know?

SPEAKER_01 35:07

Yeah, it could that could have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Yeah, you're done. I I hope they don't. I hope not.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Yeah, I hope that that's gonna be a thing.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Because I bear I I can only imagine how much tourism that brought in to Georgia. So much. You know what I mean? That probably that benefited the state. Yeah, and it was interesting. I did see like the days leading up to it, and even like maybe even the day of like I Jason specifically, I saw like he was out in the trailer, like the merch trailer, yeah, um, signing stuff. Surprising people, he got it. Yeah, so I mean, I felt like they were very connected with all the fans that they knew, like, okay, this is a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 35:42

This is a big deal for the fans. I want to make them feel a part of this, right? Which I thought was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 35:47

Yeah, I have and I feel like also in those situations with those you're like the money you're bringing in, Stagecoach too. I mean, they brought in so much money. I mean, the Airbnbs, the car rentals, I mean, they should be patting everybody on the back saying thank you, the promoters for sure because they are making money hand over fist. I was trying to think about this. We went to the races uh Saturday night up in Tinaino, um, a place called South Sound Speedway. Okay, and we haven't done an asphalt track in a while. But for two beers, it was 16 bucks. I'm like, that's kind of a good deal, not too bad. You go to the Blazer game, you know, it's$16 for both of them.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

Yeah. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

That was pretty reasonable. Yeah. Right? You go to the Blazer game, it's like$12 a beer. I don't know what they were charging in Georgia, but I know come football games between LSU and Georgia. Those are high stake games. And um, I my son Tanner wants to go, and I told him, I said, I don't think you're ready for that yet. It's a whole different ball game.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

It's another level.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

But you take about all the food hot dogs, pizzas, popcorns, beers.

SPEAKER_02 36:49

Everything.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Yeah, they brought in so much money to the community. So I'm sure people are like, please do this again. You saved our business. It was one of those things.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

And I have no doubt knowing Jason and knowing Luke and how their ties to just Georgia in general, I'm sure they were did a bunch of donations and stuff like that, just because that's the type of guys that they are. So yeah, I bet it I yeah, it was a very it was a good weekend. It was a good weekend all around, except for us because we missed out on all of this.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

We had FOMO and a lot of it. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

So no more FOMO for us. No, we gotta get moving.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

We're still working on the CMA Fan Fest in June in Nashville, and hopefully you've got plans to get there. If not, and we do get the word that we are gonna go, trust me, we're taking you with us. It's gonna be awesome for sure.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

If you don't subscribe already to the podcast, please share, tell your friends, like, comment, find us on YouTube, all your Spotify places, uh Spotify, Apple, Apple, Amazon, Amazon, they're everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

All the podcast platforms.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

I can't keep up with them all the time because they were always adding something new. So yeah. And we'd love to hear from you. If you've ever had a fear of missing out moment, what was your favorite FOMO moment? Kind of. We'd love to hear from you. Text us, write us, email Julia myself.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

Yep, email us at cmr at countrymusicrocks.net.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Yeah. Love to hear from you. In the meantime, hopefully you have a great summer. Summer's on its way. We got some great shows lined up for you. We're gonna be at all of them. Come find us, come say hello, and we'll look forward to seeing you next week on the podcast.