372. Whiskey River - A Veterans Day Special

Welcome to another great episode of the Bourbon Road with your host, Jim O'Brien, where they talk bourbon and of course, drink bourbon. Grab yourself a pour, kick back and enjoy another trip down the Bourbon Road.

We're very excited to have Blanton's bourbon shop.com is a new sponsor for the bourbon road podcast. In fact, this podcast is brought to you by Blanton's bourbon shop. Blanton's bourbon shop.com is the only official merchandiser for Blanton's original single barrel. Looking for a unique gift. Blanton's bourbon shop has got you covered. Blanton's bourbon shop.com is your home for all Blanton's gifts. The Bourbon Road is excited to have pintsandbarrels.com as a sponsor of this episode as well as our official custom apparel provider. Be sure to check out pintsandbarrels.com and browse their ultimate online store for bourbon loggers. Hello listeners and welcome back to another episode of the Bourbon Road Podcast. I'm your host Jim Shannon and today, today we're coming to you from the Bourbon Road Lounge. We've got some great guests with us today. It's been a minute since we've had a musician on or a group, but we're ready to make you music folks happy today. We're going to drink some whiskey and we're going to listen to some music. So we've got a couple who are returning here. They were once on the show way back in episode 14. Four years ago, a lot has changed. and we're gonna talk a little bit about that. So, welcome to the show again. Whiskey River, Cole and April. Hey there.

Thank you for having us.

Yeah, it's great to have you back. I think we reached out to you guys back in the spring, maybe? And you're so crazy busy.

So crazy busy.

But we put something on the calendar.

Yeah.

That day is here.

We're so happy to be back. Yeah, it's so fun. And things are looking good for you too.

Well, thank you. Which is good to see. Thank you. I'm probably looking at least four years older than I was.

I can't tell.

When you get to my age, it just piles on every year.

Just stop looking in the mirror. That's what I've done.

I heard something on TV the other day, somebody was saying, I looked in the mirror and there was this wrinkled old man. I was like, oh my gosh. No, that's not me yet, but I'm getting there. So, oh my goodness.

We're all headed that way, brother.

Well, if we're all lucky enough, we're headed that way, right? That's right. That's the best way to look at it.

It really is. We earned every line.

Well, today we're definitely going to talk about what you guys have been up to in the last four years, what's going on for you today. But we do have whiskey in our glass.

So good. Yes, we do.

And this weekend, this past weekend was Veterans Day. You guys are both veterans.

Yeah, we performed at the American Legion in Versailles and, you know, these little groups of people that don't do a lot of social media. They're in-house, they're living in the moment. When we go there, we've been there a couple of times and there's this gentleman who kind of lives on the streets a bit and he's not even a veteran. They let him in all the time and he's so sweet and he loves to dance. They feed him, they give him a beer. And so when we were there on Veterans Day, he came up to me and he goes, you know, they wouldn't take me because I'm too, I'm too crazy. And he did that motion with his finger around his ear. I'm too crazy. And I said, honey, don't worry. You would have ended up that way anyway.

We're all crazy, you know?

So yeah, just the love of that, the veteran community and being around other vets is something that warms our hearts.

Yeah, I think there's something definitely special about a group of veterans. They just have that wonderful love for each other. And it's kind of funny, you know, we do whiskey, right? We do bourbon. It seems like people in this community have that kind of love for each other, too. There's a camaraderie. There is. There's a camaraderie. But it's extra special with the vets. And anyway, yeah, happy Veterans Day to all of our vets out there who are listening. Thank you for your service. Thank you, April and Cole, for your service. We appreciate what you've done for us.

Thank you.

Thank you. And it's always nice to have a vet on the show. And it's always nice to drink a whiskey made by a vet. Yes, it is.

Yeah.

And that's what we're doing right now. So we've got this in our glass. This is from Lawrenceburg Bourbon Company. This is actually the Bourbon Road barrel pick from Bourbon on the Banks. I just opened this bottle fresh. Oh, wow. And Greg Keely, the owner, master distiller, master blender, the everything guy there, is a retired lieutenant commander in the Navy. and quite a patriot himself. And so he partnered with us on this bottle. This is 116 proof bourbon. It's a single barrel, aged four years, and it's a 70% corn, 21% rye, 9% malted barley mash bill. And it's absolutely delightful. But I'll leave that to you guys. You tell me what you think about it.

No, I really liked it. What'd you think, babe?

Well, let me have some. Oh, it's great.

Yeah, it's smooth.

Very sipper. Full bodied. Yeah, definitely holds its own in the glass, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. It comes on a little strong, but it mellows out. Yeah, well, it's a little early in the day for us, right?

That could be a factor.

You know, that first bourbon of the day, and I've said it in the past, that first one of the day always kind of catches you a little bit, like with a little bit of bitterness, right?

The first taste of the day is always a shock. It's that second one you have to really listen to.

And then you hit the third, fourth, fifth, sixth. Then it kind of just mellows in a little bit.

It just gets better and better.

It's amazing how that happens.

When we play music too and the audience gets more drunk, our sound just gets more amazing to them, it seems like. By the time the show is over, they're like, you're rock stars. We just played country roads. It's nice. It kind of mellows everyone out.

Now, does bourbon or straight whiskey mess with your vocal cords at all?

No, it doesn't actually. I've found it to be kind of soothing for the voice.

Well, you've got that gravel though. I mean, I would say it probably helps you. Yeah.

I think it does.

Definitely.

I usually have a little sipper on stage with me. Do you? I do.

Yeah. The only thing that, at least for me, that I can't drink while I'm singing is wine, because it kind of absorbs all the fluids out of your mouth.

Wine dries you out.

Yeah, it dries you out.

It's the tannins in there. It gives you that.

It's too much. Yeah. So I can't do the wine. The wineries always want to give you some wine. Sure. I can't do it. I'll have to save it for afterwards. Nope.

I go to play at the winery and order a bourbon.

Yeah. It works.

It's usually a comedy. Kentucky wineries always have a bourbon behind the bar.

Kentucky wine is amazing. We just have to wait. I just can't sip it while I'm singing.

Well, the last time you guys were on the show four years ago, you had just come off America's Got Talent. That's right. And things were really hopping for you.

Had you proposed yet or re-engaged? Ooh. 2019, because I think we were, I think we did like a long one year. We might have been engaged. Yeah. I think you're right. We got married in 2020 and then soon after something really incredible happened for us.

Oh, well, uh, yeah, April had, uh, children from a prior marriage, but I was able to successfully, uh, adopt them and I'm now their legal father and we've, uh, got the names changed and we're, uh, we're a family. It's fantastic.

We built it ourselves, you know, congratulations to you both. I mean, blending families together is never an easy thing. Uh, but there's, I love a success story. I love a happy ending.

We had just the right. broken pieces. We just fit together.

It's a mosaic and it's beautiful. A mosaic. I like that.

It's amazing.

Yeah. We really did take the broken pieces and made something really cool. And we really had to forge and fight for what we have. And I hate the term broken families. It is a sad thing, but what we have now is so precious and couldn't have been created any other way. So we try not to think about the hard times too much, but it definitely got us here and we're ecstatic.

I think sometimes when you're going through those things that got you there, you think, oh my gosh, this is terrible. This is the end of it. I'm never going to come out the other side of this in one piece, but you can and you do many times.

It was dim, but there was a light. There was a light at the end of the tunnel. We just had to keep pressing through.

It's just love. The love we had for our children and what we know they needed to be a family. And it was really hard. And then he went out there, you know, going through that. We understand. And it seems to be a hard time right now for a lot of people. Our music that we've put out since we were there in 2019, we put out some originals and we put out a couple of covers. Our debut single, Cry Me Whiskey River is really hot. So was Hold On To Me, a song that Cole wrote. And we're really proud of them. And then later in the show, we're going to sing Two Party System, which is our newest release.

It's a lot of fun.

It's a lot of fun. And then transitioning into the future, Cole and I, being veterans and having, we struggle with our own mental health and we seek, we go to therapy and we're active in the VA and we also volunteer to do work with other veterans. It's constant. It's led us to a point where we want to start writing music about our experience, like what's going on in our heads. And so we've been kind of on this country music label, but really flexible. Our producer really wants us to find our niche. And so we put out a lot of different genres. Our songs don't all mesh into one genre. And we just love all types of music. And we finally found our voice after a few years of performing and perfecting ourselves. And we feel safe enough to put our own lyrics out there. I think it's hard. Musicians have these things they want to say, and it's so brave and difficult to put it on paper and say it to the world and put it out there. So he and I are actually really ready to do it because you've encouraged us everyone, especially other veterans. They're like, hell yeah, write a song. It's not specifically our music, not specifically about just the veteran perspective, but just the struggle with mental health in general that everyone can relate to. And so we're really excited, you know, maybe next time we're here, that's the phase we can talk about. Hopefully your followers can follow us and see where we're going on our journey.

Well, the next chapter, we'd definitely love to be there and to talk to you about that when you get to that point, because you never really know how the music's gonna... be received, right? That's right. You never really know. But I mean, if your heart's in it, especially on stage, once people see your face, when you're up there playing and people look into your eyes, I mean, you can transmit that to the audience. You can.

Absolutely. And the audience can tell when you're playing a song that you like. Yeah. When you're playing something that resonates with you or that you wrote or that is personal to you, it comes out. And someone in the crowd will connect with you. It might not reach everybody. But someone in the crowd is going through what you're going through and they're going to connect with those lyrics. And I think that's great.

Now, when you go to Amazon Music or Alexa or Apple Music, wherever people listen to their music at, and you queue up Whiskey Rivers music and you play through kind of the songs you put out, they are a little different. But one thing that stays kind of true is as you guys together, your voice is just You guys match each other really well. Thank you. Thank you very much. I think it goes good together and I think that you feel the relationship in your songs when you guys are singing. I don't know, it makes a statement about you as a couple and you as a group.

Thank you.

I'm glad that resonated with you.

Yeah, it's pretty cool stuff. Yeah, I hadn't listened to your music in a while, sorry, but I hadn't. But I wanted to get caught up and listen and I've just put you on repeat and I've actually had my headphones on for like two days and just playing through something.

Do you have a favorite song of ours?

I do like your new song a lot, but I don't want to talk too much about that because you're going to sing that in the second half for everybody. Um, I do like it a lot because I think the story it tells is, um, so cool. So awesome. I like your, I like your namesake song, cry me a whiskey river. I think that was just, I mean, that was our first single. Yeah. That's just, I just love it.

It's my, it's my personal favorite as well.

Yeah. That was April song. Yeah.

That was a song I had already written and ready to go and nowhere to put it. And so it was great that we met the producer when we did and we're on this. So we're on an indie label called Eminent Music, but it's under Sony. It's Sony affiliated. And he's got a lot of artists now on his label. He's growing it. It's pretty big. It's actually the fastest growing indie label in the country.

I'm surprised when I listen to that. I hear a top of the chart song. I mean, that's what I hear. I hear a song that in its time should have been at the top of the charts, but it didn't quite make it there.

No. So just the music industry right now and how it's been explained to us by our label and all the people that we work with is that there really is a sense of greed. At the top where the songs are being regurgitated amongst certain elite people and like those of us who are really great songwriters, like maybe as a duo, we couldn't get those, but I've written songs I feel like Miranda Lambert should sing, you know? And so we want to get stuff out there. And it's just so hard. They have a lock on it. There's like a barrier. And us indie people trying to make it, I mean, it's just very, very difficult. And so we don't take it personal that we're not making it big right now. And we agree with you. A couple of our songs we really feel like could be on the radio. but we're not alone in that. There's a lot of other great musicians that have been inspired recently. Like in Kentucky, you've got Tyler Childers and you've got some other indie artists that are popping up with their songs about the times and how hard it is and people are resonating with that. They want the grit, they want the dark, they want the real. And so we're excited to start our next phase of writing about songs, about how we feel and what's really going on and a song that isn't written by a computer or someone who writes songs for everyone else at the top. You know, so there's just really this bottleneck and greed at the top and isn't like the Nashville community. It's just very, very difficult.

Are they really writing songs with computers now?

Oh yeah.

What like the AI stuff?

Yeah, just regurgitate. You can tell like modern country music has such a pop. fling to it and it sounds just so computerized and digitized.

It's actually getting really almost scarily scientific with how they can predict how people will respond to a certain beat or a certain intonation. They know what songs will get stuck in your head. and they know how to write those songs over and over again. So we're getting a lot of easily digestible, easily memorable, you know, beats and lyrics and things like that, but they don't, they don't stand the test of time. You know, I still listen to like the 70s and 80s channel. That's right. I like stuff that's written by humans. I just do, you can hear it and you can hear the flaws in the recordings. It's not perfect, and the human experience is not perfect.

So the big stars, the big guys and gals, the ones you saw in the CMA Awards a week ago, they're all part of that. They're all getting those songs written by

machines or computers. I don't want to take any credit away from anyone who wrote a song from the heart and put it out there, but most of the song, I think people can tell on the radio, the modern artists are putting just some kind of pop beat behind it and it's all the same. It all kind of sounds the same because you can tell if you listen to modern country, just let the radio play, but if you pause and put on like a Johnny Cash song, or break it you you start to realize you can hear that you can feel the difference he's saying the human experience is lost. And he and I are such lovers of music and songwriting. We love Tracy Chapman and Jim Croce and Dave Matthews. I mean, we love the rawness and like he said, the imperfections, the human experience. And even in our songs, we're not auto-tuned to perfection and we don't have the world's greatest people.

We have what we can afford. We have some pretty great people though.

We do, but it sounds incredible and it sounds just as good in a humanist, like a human way. And people like you, you hear it and like, hey, we like it. And getting it out there, you know, maybe your followers can help us share some of our music. Getting it out there is the hard part. And we're on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and that's free. If you Google Cry Me a Whiskey River, you'll find us. And we're on Instagram and Facebook. If you guys want to follow us, send us a message. If you guys ever need live music in your areas and want to reach out, we'd love to talk to you.

Absolutely.

Since 2019, though, another business we started from my husband had this great idea.

Oh, right. Well, I have experience as a bartender and we were both bourbon stewards. So we even thief society. Yes, sir. Absolutely. That's the right way to do it. There you go. I'm also a CSS certified specialist of spirits, which is a like a couple of years of independent study and then a grueling test that I just scraped by. You needed like an 80% to pass, and I got an 81 or something like that. But it was enough to pass and get that credential. So we went on and made a business called Revel Bartending. We do a lot of weddings, a lot of private parties. This time of year, a lot of Christmas parties, things like that. But we're very active in the world of spirits and in the world of music. So it's great to sit down with someone like you, who also has a foot in both worlds there.

So you guys are out of Richmond, Kentucky. That's right. So Lexington is very close. Louisville's not too far away. What about Northern Kentucky? You get up there too?

Not much.

No? Yeah, they just did that beeline thing up there, you know, because they're kind of on the outskirts of the Bourbon Trail, right?

They have some distilleries up there that are on the Kraft Bourbon Trail, but

They created this beeline thing where they're tying together bars, restaurants, and distilleries all around that theme and creating sort of this energy.

That's wonderful because the hospitality industry has been struggling. It was hit hard by COVID. I just got a degree, actually. I just finally got my bachelor's degree, and it's in hospitality marketing. Congratulations. Well, thank you very much. So I really feel for that community as well. They've taken a huge hit, and it's neat to hear that you've got something allying with restaurants. urban distilleries and things like that, helping each other out.

It's great. Well, for those who are listening to the show, how far are you guys able to reach out and get outside of Richmond to perform and to do your bartending gigs and things like that?

I mean, we'll travel Kentucky wide or really anywhere, you know, if the price is right. And we're very flexible and professional, easy to work with kind of thing. But it just depends on, yeah, we'll travel for sure, you know, and we'll we can, you know, make that work.

I think a lot of distilleries listen to this show and a lot of distilleries have bands on the weekends.

We have reached out to some of those, and we actually got a chance to, we didn't get to play music, but we got to both a bartend at Buffalo Trace for a private party. Was that last year?

That was fun. It was fun. That was like end of year last year, like a November, December. Fantastic. Time frame. And they've got, I'm sure you know, Buffalo Trace has a beautiful setup, wonderful bar, and we were invited to come and bartend for an event there. Just a great experience. It's lovely working with all the local distilleries, but Buffalo Trace is huge.

It was like a private room and this big, beautiful, empty bar. And they're like, here you go. And it was nice.

Fantastic. Well, you guys obviously play music at events. You can also bartend. It's kind of tough to do both at the same time, although we didn't talk about that before the show.

We can do it because we both bartend and play music. So he can do solo while I pour a beer and then we can switch.

So you just... You just got your advanced degree. Yes.

So I just I'm an alum from Eastern Kentucky University and faculty now. So I got my doctorate in education, leadership and policy took me a few years. It was just a great program, a great experience, and they offered me a job. So I'm teaching veteran studies right now at Eastern. It's just a general ed class and hopefully they'll give me more. I'm definitely ready to take on more and make that program exceptional. It was the first of its kind in the nation to have like a center of excellence of veteran studies. Like they really wanted to make it a thing. And the creator had to step, he's a veteran and he had to step down due to mental health. And it was this like picture of what we teach and talk about, you know, and so it was very difficult for him to develop this program and then have to kind of leave. He's like, the doctor said, I just can't do this. And not that it doesn't give him. you know, some something back, you know, but it was just too much. And so the rest of us faculty are kind of like, oh, what do we do? How do we grow this program? So I'm just so excited to be in it at this point, because we can really develop it from the ground up now and start over. We were in the psychology department, which makes sense. A lot of my students are psych majors who want to help veterans.

Sure.

Yeah. So but we have recently moved to the justice, safety and military science. department, which also fits in its own way. It's very little more who, you know, a little more army, a little more military over there. So people kind of understand where we're coming from. It's a bigger program in the school and they're going to help us grow. And I'm confident that this will be something I do for many years. I'm very excited. So like in my class in veteran studies, I basically just teach them from the veterans perspective, what we've gone through stories of wars, combat, what women had to go through, African Americans had to go through in the history of the wars and oh God, Vietnam, right? And all that dirt, right? All that stuff that happened. And I've got videos of some really personal interviews with some of these veterans who really experienced some such, such traumatic events. And then we transitioned into OIF, OEF, where I served in the desert more than two years in Iraq. I have fast experience and stories to draw from there. So I'm actually redeveloping my course to accommodate my own stories and what I know and my knowledge and really emphasize women in the service. Since my job, when I first got to the desert, I was the highest ranking female officer, the only female officer on the whole base.

Wow.

Yeah. So surrounded by hundreds of killers who aren't used to seeing you there.

And so it's- You'll have a real problem with a woman being there.

Sometimes. Yeah. Sometimes, but I would say in general though, I saw them as brothers.

Yeah.

And I know that some women have suffered from serving and had to go through tough times. We all kind of did. But I would say in general, I had an amazing experience and they were family to me and they loved me and I loved them.

Fantastic.

Yeah. When I said that, I was thinking, you know, what's, what's, are they thinking that you need protection, you know?

That's a whole abso-freaking-lutely. There's something about a woman that gives the men a reason to get up and go fight. Like there's just, um, what I, halfway into my first deployment, I had a soldier come up to me. He said, ma'am, you're just good for morale. and said, okay, get back to work, you know, careful. And so I loved them. And we all acknowledge this was new and different, and there's not a lot of us, but I always kept, you have to be very professional. Yes, as a woman, I had to watch out for myself in more than one way when I was in combat. And so that is part of the stories and the things I teach my students.

So getting your doctorate is definitely a long haul. An advanced degree at that level is not something you take on lightly. It's a big venture. It's a big journey you have to go through. Where you are now, is that kind of what you envisioned when you started that?

It was. With the GI bill being offered, I used it for my masters and I had some money left over. And I just thought, you know, I really just need to up my game here. And just in general with the times and seeing what do I need to be credible to get a career that's going to really advance me. I'm a person used to rank. I was a captain at one point. I feel like it's hard to match that in the civilian world, right? And I know I can do it. I know I can do just about anything I put my mind to. So I decided, I have a lot of teachers in my family. My grandfather was also a professor and wrote textbooks and was very admired and loved for what he did. And I have the, I remember that in my memories. I remember how much his students adored him. and how much it gave him. He would look so happy and fulfilled after he would be done teaching or serving somewhere. And so it really was a no-brainer for me that I needed to do something more. Even just having a master's degree, I'm like, I wanna play in the big leagues. I'm not a bench warmer. So I feel education for me, in my opinion, was my way to the top. And so now hopefully, you know, I teach one class right now. The idea is to teach more. And it's very flexible. I can teach online and I kind of have a say when I teach so we can still play music. We can still bartend and do all the things we want to do. It's a lot. And sometimes it stresses me out. I don't want to lose the things that we're doing. I mean, if the music gets huge, then we're gonna tour and I will teach online and I will figure it out. But we still have to put food on the table and we wanna pay off our student loans and do other things. So the music is fun, the bartending's fun, and it pays some of the bills, but we gotta do something. And I just felt like I have to do this. I didn't choose education right away, but it just made sense. to me. And now that I'm teaching, I didn't realize how fulfilling it is. And to teach veteran studies is like, it's been like therapy for me. So my students have seen me cry.

That's so cool.

And it was like the best classes. Those were the ones where I had these 18 year old kids staying after class to tell me that they're sorry for my loss because I did lose A female NCO, she was not under my command at the time. It was my second deployment when she passed away, but I did have to give a eulogy in the desert in front of hundreds of men who didn't understand why the women were dying first.

Yeah. Wow. Nicole, you're a pretty awesome guy, but you definitely married up my friend.

Oh no, I definitely did.

No, I can't do any of this without him.

And if I can say so, you're still good for morale.

No, without my family and support from my husband, I couldn't do any of it. I annoy the crap out of him. I tell him every little thing all the time so he knows what's going on in my brain at all times.

We've always got a battle plan.

Yeah, I do. I have to always have a battle plan, but I can't do it without my battle buddy. It's, it's, you know, we, like we said before, we created this family, we created our life. It's a mosaic, maybe kind of messy to some people, but we've gotten used to just picking up the pieces and putting them where they go in life.

And we pick up the slack for each other. Yeah, that's cool. All the time, constantly. All right. Well, we're going to, we're going to keep sipping on this bourbon beer and we're going to take a short break. But when we come back, we got more from April and Cole. We're going to get you guys to play a song for us. Sounds good. We're going to drink another whiskey. Sounds better. Another patriotic whiskey, right?

I hope.

All right. Cheers, folks. We'll be right back. Looking for a unique gift? Blanton's bourbon shop has got you covered. All of their hand-crafted wood products are made in their in-house wood shop with authentic bourbon barrels. Specializing in barrel-age potent treats, they use Blanton's barrels to age their own maple syrup, honey, and coffee. Find the most unique gift ideas for your golf lover, cigar connoisseur, avid coffee drinker, and Blanton's fan. Want to win an authentic Blanton's barrel head? Make sure you sign up for the giveaway on the home page of their website. Blanton'sBourbonShop.com is your home for all Blanton's gifts. If you're a bourbon drinker, and I bet you are if you're listening to this podcast, you need to head over to pintsandbarrels.com and check out the ultimate online store for bourbon lovers. Pints and Barrels Company was started by bourbon lovers for bourbon lovers. From spices to t-shirts, you'll find the perfect bourbon gift. Pints and Barrels proudly supports the bourbon road and invites you to visit pintsandbarrels.com. You need a custom apparel or swag for your bar, distillery, maybe even your bourbon society. They can do that too. As a matter of fact, they print our apparel. We're so happy with the quality and fast turnaround, pintsandbarrels.com, the ultimate bourbon lovers gift shop and branding specialist. All right, folks, we are back. We had a nice little break there. We kicked back with a little bit of that whiskey we were drinking. We actually had another pour during the half, didn't we?

Oh, so good.

You guys are big Four Roses fans.

We are. It's just... Honestly, it's our daily sipper, you know? Yeah. They've managed to make a fantastic whiskey at a great price point. And it's just, it always seemed like the logical choice for us.

It's always good.

We've tasted just about all of the major whiskies and, and bourbons and.

Well, every time we have Four Roses products on the show, I always say the same thing. I had to go out and get it because I ran out of the one that they sent me or I ran out of the one that I wanted to have on the show. I can't keep it around here. It's so good.

It's a good problem to have.

Yeah. My bar is down here and my pantry is up there and I keep my daily whiskeys in the pantry, you know, because I don't want to run downstairs every time I want to pour. And I'll carry a bottle full of roses up and it just disappears.

It's magic.

Crazy how that happens.

I'm really big on the single barrels. I love those single barrels.

Single barrels, great. They make a good small batch too.

Yeah, they do. Small batch select, that's pretty nice stuff. Yes, sir. Yeah, they've got a wide range of products. It's good stuff. But anyway, we pulled the only four roses bottle I had on my shelf off. We all had a pour of it during the break and that was really nice. But we're going to get back to patriotic whiskeys now. And we've got another whiskey in this half we're going to drink from. It's in our glass and this Veterans Day on Saturday, Jephthah Creed released their newest version or newest batch of their red, white, blue heirloom corn mash bill. And it's kind of a great story. We've had it on the show before. As people tour their distillery, they have a barrel setting out and it has this in it. And, um, And if you're a veteran, you get a chance to sign the barrel, you know? And it's kind of a great story. And every year on Veterans Day, they bottle it and they sell it. And it's quite an event. They have a big shindig over there at the distillery and people come from all over. And then they donate the entire proceeds to veterans' organizations. So it's a good deal. That's fantastic.

It tastes good.

So this has red, white, and blue corn in it. So apropos, right?

Absolutely.

Red bloody butcher corn, white sweet corn, and then a blue corn, which we all know from blue corn tortillas, right? Right. But there's a lot of the stories making blue corn whiskey now. Oh, it's nice. Yeah. So red, white and blue corn, this is a hundred proof bottle. It is a bourbon and it's not marked as bottled and bombed, but it is a hundred proof and it is four years old. So there you go.

We talked about on the nose, how it's like old library books, sawdust, wood shop, old, like, like at a state sale.

It transports you. Yeah. And a good whiskey will do that. It takes you to a different place.

Yeah, I mean any whiskey can cause a conversation like that. Now some whiskeys cause a conversation and it's not a good conversation. And that can happen. But this is actually a good conversation. This whiskey is very interesting. It has a lot of interesting things going on. It's got some notes in it that you don't often get. And, uh, I kind of like it.

They found a way cleverly to mash up those three different types. And I love that they made an effort to make it extra patriotic and the red, white and blue. I didn't see that on social media. I'm sure they've advertised that for Veterans Day and stuff. So hopefully the word got around. I really appreciate them doing this for the veterans.

Yeah, their website's a little unique. I mean, it's a great website, don't get me wrong, but when you're on your phone and you go to the website, every article or event they have reduces to single, just a photo. So you don't get any words or heading. You have to click on a picture to find out what the picture's about.

Get a zoom in. Yeah.

So it's kind of hard to, if you're on your phone and you're trying to figure it out, it's hard to catch. You go to the If you're on your laptop and you do it, it's a different story. You get all that. Anyway, I like it. I have to say that this distillery has been on a journey like we all do. We all go on a journey in life, but they started at the beginning and they finished up at a place now, I think, where they're making good whiskey. It wasn't always great along the way. Sometimes their releases were less than perfect, let's just say. And they didn't make the show, right? But this one did. This one did. This one absolutely makes the show for me. It's good. I did get to taste their six-year-old wheat-weeded bourbon, and it's pretty fantastic. I'm sure that's they've got some good things going on. Yeah, I think they're coming out of the funk. Let's just call it that.

Let's have another sip for them. Let's make sure we like.

That's smooth.

Always good to double check.

And you added some water to it. And you said it sort of changed.

Well, just a drop or two of water, I found really brings out that red corn you were talking about. I mean, it's got to be. That's the ingredient I'm not familiar with. And I'm getting something brand new from this pour. So that's got to be what's coming through. But yeah, I love what you were saying about how a good bourbon can start a conversation. That's exactly what this is doing. We've discussed this over the break. And we're talking about it again. Something to try. Conversation piece.

Yeah. They're not the only distillery using Bloody Butcher Corn either. There are others doing that. And honestly, it does bring this very unique and earthy profile to a whiskey. And for me, these guys are literally my neighbors. I mean, they are less than a mile from here. And, uh, lucky you. I want the whiskey to be great, right? Because they're my, that's my go-to place. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm so excited to have, to see their whiskey coming into its own and becoming.

This is good. They need to keep this up. Yeah.

They need to keep doing what they're doing now and put the past behind them and just embrace the future and make good decisions.

And that's part of being a good bourbon steward and connoisseur is letting the companies improve and make adjustments. It's human error, it's life, it's science, right? We're figuring it out. It's good of you to let these companies impress you and not give up on them entirely or say bad, you know what I mean?

So it's kind of like a kid here, you know? It's kind of like our music, you know? We put out a couple of singles and now we're changing. We're getting a little more folky, a little more Americana. We're finding our voice. And I think Jephthah Creed is finding their voice as well.

Absolutely. And it does exactly what you were saying, April. I mean, if your hometown distillery didn't quite hit the mark the first time around, Give them another shot.

Yeah.

Come back and revisit. Support them. They'll learn from their mistakes. Yeah. And I think you'll find that they'll either improve or they won't be around very long. If they're still around after five or six or eight years and you didn't like that first batch you got from them, there's a reason they're still around.

Yeah. Give them another try, right?

Exactly. Yeah. Absolutely.

Everyone deserves a second chance.

Yeah.

Even our bourbons. Cheers.

Cheers.

That's one I can drink straight.

Yeah. So good. Well, the hundred proofs a little easier to tolerate earlier in the day like this, right? The first one we had was a little bit higher in proof, right? A little bit, but this is a hundred proof has always been kind of my, I don't know.

At your sweet spot.

Yeah. The saddle, right? And, uh, and, and, you know, do I like to be above that a little bit? Yeah. I would say for me, 100 to 110. Okay. Maybe 108. I mean, I can drink the higher proof stuff, but you can't do it all the time. You'll burn your palate out. Yeah. Right.

At a certain point, you're just showing off. Find something you enjoy.

Yeah.

Yep.

Do you guys like right whiskey?

Oh my God. We have actually a favorite cheap one.

Yeah.

The Canadian stuff. What's the Canadian, the Canadian rye we always drink.

Oh, the Canadian club.

Right.

Yeah. So did you guys mix that a lot or drink it straight? You know what? We mixed that. It plays well with others. It was a, it was a nice, inexpensive option for the time. And their rye is superior. Uh, you know, they make a whole line, obviously. Uh, but we, we love the rye. Uh, like you were saying, Canada's known for their, their rye whiskies.

Absolutely. Well, I'm kind of a rye fanatic. If you look at my bar up there, you'll see a lot of bourbons, of course, but you're going to see an unusual number of rye. And that's because, well, my prior co-host and I, we always get shipped whiskeys, right? We're constantly getting shipped whiskeys from distilleries. They want us to try them and review them. And he would take the bourbons and I would take the rye. He took off with all the bourbons, and I ended up with the rice. But anyway, yeah, I'm a big rye fan.

You're like, I got the kids, so I'm wanting this.

I like spiciness. A little pepper.

Little heat.

That might be one reason why the Jephthah Creed kind of turns me on a little bit, because it's got that extra little bit of spicy note.

It's like a smoke. And I love it when Cole has this smoking thing he has at home where he can like encase my drink in the certain flavors of smoke.

Hickory smoke, applewood smoke.

Yeah, just after smoking it afterwards. And I love the smokiness in general, something about it. Maybe because I used to be a smoker and I can't do it anymore or something. Nostalgia. Yeah. No, I love a little smokiness for sure.

Yeah. So, um, this little smoke thing you got, so you, you put these little wood chips in it and you set them on fire and then this little pump pumps them into that.

That's absolutely right. Yep. It's battery powered. It's got a little, uh, teeny hose that comes out of it and dispenses the smoke. You put it right in the glass. I have a little, uh, like bell jar that goes over the top to smoke the whole thing. Uh, and it doesn't even need much. Um, you put a little smoke in it, cap it. 30 seconds like smoked old fashions or anything you want.

So I love it. I love it so much.

I do a good Hickory smoked old fashion. Yeah. It adds a little something adds another layer, something more complex.

I like that it's not mixed in it. It's something he puts over it and cases it. And it's just this nice. Yeah, and you can still enjoy it to the end of the drink. It just works. The smoke is just...

I've even seen some places, some bars where they do it on the empty glass.

Yeah.

And then they make the drink in the empty glass and then it, you know, so it's a little lighter touch, right? Maybe.

Yeah.

That's, that's, I've got one of those things. I've never used it, so I need to do it sometimes. It's fun. It's fun. Yeah.

And you can get different wood chips, right?

Oh, I've got like 10 different styles of wood chips. Yeah.

So you could find your certain kind of smoke.

I keep going back to the hickory wood and the apple wood.

Applewood does a great job for an old fashioned thing like that. We can have an old fashioned.

The next time we come, get out your smoker. He'll show you how to use it and we'll figure it out.

I need training.

We can do that.

So if somebody hires you guys to come out and do a bartending event, you bring the smoker with you?

If it's part of the deal, yeah, if they want that, yeah.

We offer custom cocktail creation with our service at no extra charge. It's a flat fee just hourly for April and I to go out and do the bartending. And we include up to three custom cocktails. Literally, you can just tell me your tastes, your preferences, what you drink at home, what you drink when you're on vacation, what you like, and we'll come up with something. We've done colored cocktails to match the wedding theme, things like that.

His and hers, bride and groom, have their favorite drinks, custom cocktails, and we'll help them design them.

We make them from scratch sometimes, from the ground up, and it's a lot of fun. You get a lot of different requests. Some people want smoked cocktails. Some people want like a shaved ice, like a frozen margarita, something like that.

We have a margaritaville.

We love our Margaritaville, our IP Jimmy Buffett. So you're big tequila fans? You know what? I'm getting into tequila. Are you? It's a new road for me. I've been bourbon and whiskey for the past couple of years, and I finally started getting some really good tequilas that are changing my mind on the whole institution. It's a whole new world. It really is. It's like discovering a spirit for the first time again. Yeah. No, it's wonderful. That's true.

No, because the first time we ever drank together and were friends, I had been sort of out of the dating game bar scene for like a really long time. And so the last time I partied, quote unquote, is when, you know, college tequila shots. I'm like, OK. So I go to the bar and Cole is at the table with like some other friends and I just order. I'm like, what do we drink when we just want to party just around the Cuervo? Because I'm psycho. And so I come to the table with shots of tequila, and they're like, OK. We weren't dating yet.

It was fun. She was trying to make a good impression.

I didn't get out. And I still had very small children at home. And that was my role on my terms. And so getting out and drinking in public was something I just hadn't done in such a long time. And I wanted to impress. And I wanted to have a good time like I used to. So tequila shots. And they were like, Uh, you know, like there was not the best.

I still winced back then. Yeah. When I did the shot. But I didn't.

Well, we moved to Kentucky and we learned about bourbon and changed our hearts.

You know, of course, moving to Kentucky, the first thing you do is do a deep dive into bourbon. Right. But I'm rediscovering tequila. I just had a really good one. And I'm not like on the on the bandwagon for all of these celebrity owned wines and spirits that are coming out. Some are good, some are publicity stunts, in my opinion. But I had a surprisingly good tequila. It's called Fletcher Azul, Blue Arrow in English, and it's by Mark Wahlberg, of all people.

Fletcher Azul is pretty good. Taramania is not bad, but there are some out there that are just... I had a sip and it was lovely.

It changed my whole mind on tequila. So I'm doing a deep dive into tequila now, kind of learning about it from the ground up and trying different things. And it's funny you bring that up because it's an exciting new field for me.

These whiskies or these tequilas with celebrities behind them, a couple other good ones, Black and Metallica. Yeah, pretty good stuff. And then Heaven's Door, you know, pretty good. I mean, some of them are doing it right and others not so much. So beware, but be open.

What do you think about the Brothers Bourbon from the guys from the Vampire Diaries? I don't know if you've had it or heard of it.

Oh, I haven't had that, no.

So, you know, the brothers from the guys, the main characters from the Vampire Diaries. Yeah. So they got together and they created Brothers Bourbon and the, oh, forgive me, the older big brother on the show. So he was the face of it and he's been in Louisville a couple of times at either- Ian Somerholder. Like, yes. So he was either at Liquor Bar, he was at, what's the other part? The wine, Total Wine. He was at one of those and he was like signing and he was there to promote it. And he's been promoting a lot in Kentucky. And I don't think we've tried it yet, but I wanted to try it and see.

I have to try it too. I haven't tried it yet.

Brothers Bourbon.

Okay, cool.

Yeah, and he, I don't know, I think it might be good, because I like them, so I'm hoping.

Well, maybe they'll listen to the show and they'll send us both bottles. That's right.

What was his name again, babe?

Ian Summerholder, and I might be butchering that. I'm sorry if you're listening.

Yeah, the Vampire Diaries main characters, people know probably what that is, but they don't do that TV show anymore. They're family-oriented now kind of thing and doing their businesses.

Yeah, well, that's fantastic. No, I have to try that one for sure. And if they're listening, by all means, send a bottle to the Whiskey River and send a bottle to the Bourbon Roof.

Send a bottle to the Bourbon Road. And it's funny, we're talking about appearances. That Mark Wahlberg one, the Fletcher Assault, I actually got at a signing in Louisville. So I waited in line all morning in the cold, talked to Mark Wahlberg for 30 seconds, got a picture, got a signature on the bottle. Fantastic. That's a lot of fun, isn't it? It was my first time actually doing that process, just standing in line waiting to meet the person. It was a lot of fun.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, guys, I know we've talked about this song you're going to play for us. I'm pretty excited to hear it. Uh, this is your new single that just released and, uh, you're going to do an acoustic for us. That's right. Awesome.

Yeah.

The song's called two party system.

Uh, and it's, it's kind of a lighthearted honky tonk kind of vibe, but it's about, Unity, reaching across the aisle, if you will. America's become kind of divided lately. I don't think I'm the first person to notice or bring it up. But we're splitting into factions. And I think communication is key at this point. Just find someone different than you, talk it out, see another perspective. Uh, cause we're not always right. This song is not political.

No, it's not, no, playfully political politics, but not political. And we advertise it as, we advertise it as, you know, music is supposed to bring us together and here's a country song that doesn't make you choose a side. And that's what we need.

Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. A few things do bring us together. Food, bourbon, and music.

Hell yeah.

That's right. Awesome. I'm ready. Let's do it.

Let's do it.

Let's do it.

All right. Here we go. Two party system.

Well, me and my neighbor often disagree By what we read in the paper and we see on TV We both know that a Saturday's for cracking a cold one and rolling in the hay So we sat down and came up with a plan It shouldn't be hard to understand Yeah, they're having a party and I am too Nobody's turning red or feeling blue

Gonna rock all day and get rowdy all night If you get left out, it'll be alright The band's packing up, but if you missed them Come back tonight, we got a two-part system

Well you can stay on the fence, but if you wanna switch sides Old Billy's got a tractor and he'll give you a ride Parties are jumping, there's no need to choose We're conserving the water, but we're living with the blues We're just getting started, so hold on tight We'll all be friends, my dawn's early light Can I have a little party?

I am too Nobody's turning red or feeling blue We're gonna rock all day and get a rally all night If you get left out, it'll be alright The band is back in, if you missed em Come back tonight, we've got a two-party system Let's all democratic and your vote counts You can pour some beer by the glass And whiskey by the ounce Yeah, I've been having a party and I am too Nobody's turning red or feeling blue We're gonna rock all day, get ready all night If you get left out, it'll be alright The band is packing up and if you missed out Come back tonight We've got a two-part system Oh yeah, those boys are packin' up But if you missed them Just come back tonight We've got a two-part system Yeah

All right. That's pretty amazing. That is such a great like lyric. I mean, it's so, so these guys, these people are neighbors and they don't, they don't agree, right? That's right. Politically, but they can come together at night and have, have a party and have two parties.

People have forgotten how to coexist. I don't know why everyone feels like you must pick a side. And then that means that you have to hate everyone else who doesn't cross that line with you. And so many different facets. We've lost so many people we thought were friends because they forced us or forced the people in their circle to feel a certain way. And we just like, we don't do that. We just don't. And as veterans, we don't pick a side. As musicians, we don't pick a side. You've got to be all inclusive and open, you know?

Yeah, we, you know, as a podcast, we try to avoid those topics where it comes up because, um, you know, everybody has their belief system. They have what they feel and, uh, you know, uh, you may not agree with your neighbor, but it doesn't have to be the end of things for you. And many times it ends up that way. Unfortunately, it ends up destroying friendships, destroying families, even sometimes. Definitely. It can. And it's a shame.

You know, if you just had a conversation, you would realize that they're people too, you know, and they're not so different.

Yeah.

You could ask them why they feel that way instead of condemning them.

Learn something instead of doubling down on your own belief system. Right. Yeah. Oh, well, you know, it is... You can't change people.

I'm not going to say it's terrible times, but it's odd times. It is odd times. It's very odd. And every day I kind of just shake my head and say, I hope it gets better.

That's kind of where we are too. So maybe this song will help unify someone. Country music used to be known for addressing what's going on. Remember Alan Jackson, when 9-11 happened, we all remember we were, you know, the Toby Keith and all those great musicians who acknowledged veterans and the issues that were going on in the country and somehow they were fun and brought us together. And we just feel like country music needed a song like that again. And we're kind of multi-genre and we are going to shift into our own folk Americana sound soon. But this song just needed to be done. And when he wrote it, I'm like, that's just perfect. You know, it's not meant to be this great soulful, like deep soulful song, you know, it's, it's, it's, but it's neat. It, I don't know. I loved it. He was like, unsure about it at first. I'm like, no, we need, we've got to put that out.

Is there something that happened that sort of triggered this, this, uh, this songwriting session?

You know what? I wish I had a story, uh, a big, uh, Aha moment. But honestly, it's just the culmination of where we're at as a country. Yeah. I just had to sit down and say something like it doesn't have to be this way. Yeah.

And the play on words two party system, I said, babe, if we don't put the song out, someone else will.

Yeah. Yeah.

So let's just do it.

Yeah.

I think, I think had you submitted that to, um, other, other people, we're hoping I'm hoping that jelly roll or Luke combs picks up this song or something and wants to do a cover of our song and really make that way the world can

I think Jelly Roll would be a good choice. Now, right now, he's singing about his own pain. Of course.

And he's awesome. We appreciate him.

But maybe he'll come to that point where he can... Yeah.

Because he could bring the world together.

Yeah.

The right artist who's already known and loved could sing a song like this. not saddened but like no one in the country music community or anywhere has really addressed it like this ever because they're so scared you know and and some country musicians you've seen them on social media condemn each other yeah um it's oh we don't like it

Yeah, there's still some strong personalities that stand on their own out there. And maybe one of them will step up and do it. That would be pretty awesome. Yeah, I agree with you. I'd love to see Jelly Roll do this song. That would be amazing. That would be awesome. We'd play with it a little bit, but you know what I mean? That's OK. That's OK.

But maybe it'll get picked up. And we were hoping it might be an anthem for the world right now that it needs just for this moment, just for a second. You know, it's not going to be a song that people are going to love and adore in 25 years. Well, hey.

Maybe they will.

It's for this time. And so we were hoping it makes a difference.

Well, that's awesome. That's so great. Boy, I wish we had the time for you guys just to rip through a number of your songs because you've got some really good ones. And how are things going for you guys in the streaming universe? I mean, are your songs sort of still keeping up and people sort of playing them on a regular basis?

You know what? Every now and then one tends to take off. So people are still listening to them and they make their way onto certain playlists and get replayed. We have some loyal fans out there.

Yeah. So when you guys travel around and you're going to different venues, you've got your core fan base that kind of sticks with you.

We do. And we have some veterans locally that try to come see us everywhere we play. I mean, it really means a lot.

We always have a familiar face in the crowd. There's always someone there we've met before.

Well, I'm hoping you get to Shelby County because we need a band like you guys here.

We're hoping your listeners will look us up. So anyone who messages us on Instagram and Facebook, I promise you we'll get that message if you guys ever want to have us, a couple of veterans entertain you. And we play a wide variety. I mean, we love 70s and 80s music. I'll pull out Jim Croce at any point. And Cole does great, Sieger and Springsteen. I bet you do a good Sieger.

Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah.

We just want to, we just want to make, make people happy with our music. We really at this time in our life and in the world just needs music and it needs it bad. It needs good music. Do you remember what good music felt like? Like the albums you'd get and you put them on or in our case, the CD you'd go buy, you know, um, and just listen to it over and over and get lost in the story that they're telling on their album and things like that. Like I miss those days.

Yeah, I mean, I grew up in a time, and I'm a bit older than you guys, but I grew up in a time where my childhood music became the music of the world. And not just for a decade, but for five decades. Yeah, for sure. 70s music and 80s rock.

We got requests for Elton John at the Legion. We never know what we're gonna, it's always that era.

You're absolutely right. It has staying power. That music that was written with heart, that was written it's gonna stick around. I couldn't tell you what the top song was last year. I can't keep up with the thousands of pop songs that are coming out every day. It's all pop now, and it all sounds the same. But yeah, I can't remember who was the top performer last year. But those 70s and 80s, they stay.

They do. You guys have a big library of cover songs you do.

We've got like four or 500 songs. Oh, do you really? Oh my gosh. We can pretty much play anything.

How do you do that?

No, because we already love the song. We just love, because we memorized them as kids, both of our like childhoods, we had parents that were constantly playing that music. And I mean, I still love Whitney Houston and Phil Collins and Genesis. And like, there's just music out there that's so great that people kind of have forgotten about. What really broke my heart was we hired a photographer. And she's not like super young or anything. And I told her, hey, you know, I put out a cover of All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix. And she goes, who? I wanted to instantly fire her. People just don't know what good music is. We're really excited. We love the songs that we've put out and they do mean a lot to us. We've had some great covers that we've put out as well, but we're really looking forward to this next phase of songwriting. We just needed to get maybe the platform and the confidence, and we just needed to put out some songs, make some mistakes, make some improvements, kind of like the bourbon whiskey making process, right? Sure, sure. And find that right note, right? So, you want to close the show with one of our originals?

We will. First, we'd like to give you guys an opportunity though to remind our listeners where to find you. Sure. Where are you going to be playing? What's your schedule look like for the next month or so? Because we're actually going to release this Wednesday, the Wednesday following Veterans Day. So we've got pretty much half the month of November left and December.

All right.

And so we'd love to know where you're going to be playing. So let's come check you out. We definitely want to know where to find you online, on your website, social media, all that kind of stuff.

to run through all that? Well, sure. Sure. So you can find us at whiskyriver.live. That's our website. You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook. If you just put in Whiskey River, we're usually the first thing that pops up and our profile picture is consistently our logo. So you'll know that it's us. So our next show, so we're entering the phase of our holiday themed music, which we love. So we're one of the few bands in our area that offer just Christmas music. And we love that because we get to kind of put away our rock voices and get out our choir voices and just sing pretty and have some fun. So we're going to be actually in Richmond at Chanel Vineyards. And I don't know if you guys have ever been there. It is so beautiful. They have their holiday barn market event where they have tons of local vendors come. It's all Christmas themed. Go get your Christmas shopping done and shop from local vendors. And so we're going to be providing Christmas music there. That is November 25th. It's a Saturday at Chenalte Vineyards and we'll be starting kind of in the middle of the day, like 11 a.m. noon. And we'll just play for a couple hours there. But come and do some shopping as well and see a beautiful winery. If you guys haven't been to Richmond, we play at a lot of wineries in our area, greater Lexington area and Chenalte Vineyards is as good or better than. It stands up and the people there are incredible.

Oh, they've been great to us.

So we're doing some private parties and then we are going to be at the Patty Wagon on Friday, December 8th. The Patty Wagon Irish Pub is owned by a former EKU professor and it's one of the main college bars right there in Richmond near EKU. So come see us at the paddy wagon Friday, December 8th. And then we're going to be at Morley's backyard. That's going to be Christmas music on December 15th. And our last event of the year, our probably biggest event, is every year we play New Year's Eve at Madison Garden Bar and Grill. It's been there a long time. It's one of the oldest restaurants in Richmond. Please come see us New Year's Eve. We would love to entertain you. And they have food, great drinks, and specials there all night.

Is that like a ticketed event? People need to get tickets in advance?

No, actually, Jason, the owner, he has a thing. He calls it the no ripoff cover charge. You can come see us for free on New Year's Eve at Madison Garden Bar and Grill in Richmond. Come get dinner. Their kitchen's open late and they've got a lot of bourbon. always like Buffalo Trace is like their go-to. I think they always advertise that. So come see us there. And then if you follow us on Facebook and Instagram, we always post events or just send a message. Hey, we're going to be in your area. Do you happen to be playing somewhere? We would love to communicate with you. We also perform and do, uh, we have professional bartending business called rebel bartending. So we can do bartending for you or live music really anywhere in Kentucky. If you guys want to reach out to us. Um, and we're going to, and then the new year, you know, we're going to be posting more events. We play almost every weekend. in our area and we'd love to branch out. So if maybe you're not in the greater Lexington area, but you own a restaurant or you want to have a private party in your barn or at your pool, we've done it everywhere. So we'd love to entertain you guys. And then you get to hire a couple of veterans that are just cool anyway.

Well, that is so fantastic. Yeah, definitely follow these guys. Check out their Facebook page, their Instagram page, their website. Definitely hop on to your favorite music app.

Yeah, please check out Cry Me a Whiskey River and hold on to me. Star songs right now. They're kind of leading the charts those two and they were both written by us and we're very proud of what we've been able to do You know to serve your country, you know and you get out There's this there's this period where you have to adjust to civilian life and a new way of thinking and a new way of living and I think for Cole and I music has just been consistently this friend from the beginning to the last breath, I wanna hear music.

It's what brought you guys together? It is. Right.

So we met, we were both out of the service when we met, and we were both volunteering our time with a nonprofit that does music therapy with veterans. And so we met in the Washington DC area, volunteering.

We were paired up for a veteran's sake.

We were paired, yeah. They just brought in a couple of musicians and they said, hey, because this organization hires quote unquote, military, service members who have musical talent. So let's say they're opening a museum in the DC area related to veterans and they want a veteran to sing the national anthem for their opening or something like that, or they want to have veterans specific. So when we were on America's Got Talent in 2019, the voices of service, didn't they get fifth place overall? They did. They made it to the very, yeah. And so episode, no season, I'm trying to remember the episode anyway. So the one song they sang where we got to sing with them, that was incredible. We got to be their backup chorus on America's Got Talent and kind of see that process. And all the love that we got as being veterans sharing musical talent. And we can actually frickin' sing. This isn't just a charity thing. We have talent. And I could have been getting music lessons and starting a band in my early 20s, but instead I answered the call to 9-Eleven. And so I personally appreciate a chance to share my music after all this time.

Such a great story. Such an awesome story. Guys, thank you so much for being on the show. We really appreciate it. I'm going to give a short outro. I'm going to give an abbreviated outro for the Bourbon Road because I want to leave more time for you guys to play one on the way out today.

You got it. Awesome.

Sounds good. So folks, you can find the Bourbon Road on all social media outlets. List them. They're there. We do them all. You can also hear us on every podcast app there is from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, even tell Alexa to play us. It all works. Every Wednesday we put out a show. We hope you listen to us every single week, but until the next time, we'll see you down the Bourbon Road.

Oh, he looked like a dream Yeah, she waited for that man He said, I'm not what I seem Just hold on if you can

You may not understand But everything will be alright He said hold on to me I'll take you places you'd never go Make you feel like a flame that never burned out Make you feel alive, oh Keep your eyes closed Don't believe in what you see We won't find a love like this again So hold on to me They say life is but a dream And every dreamer has their story to tell We're on a journey now that has no end And it started when we fell When the darkness comes Hold my hand and be still I'll make you feel all you are to me Babe, I promise I will You just hold on to me I'll take you places you never go Make you feel like a flame that never burned out Make you feel alive, oh Now keep your eyes closed Don't believe in what you see So hold on to me