#694 - Zach John King on Morgan Wallen Tour Rumors + Getting Rejected by Luke Bryan on American Idol + His Surprising Brooks & Dunn Encounter

0:06 Got a job waiting tables on Broadway. And I remember the first day I drove and I had an apron on and a tie I had to wear. And I was like, what am I doing? It was like the first week in town. Didn't know anybody. Driving to 1230 Club to wait tables from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. so I could write during the day.

0:25 Today we're talking to Zach John King, one of country music's rising stars who brings a mix of traditional country and indie rock to the genre. His first song, breakout hit Get to Drinkin', is climbing the charts, maybe number one by the time this comes out. He just released his 20-song debut album, I'm What You Get, which has collabs with Brooks and Dunn and Brent Cobb. I mean, people love this guy. He's been out on the road with some of country music's biggest names and is currently headlining his own Get to Drinkin' tour. Here is Zach John King.

0:56 Good to meet you.

0:56 We haven't met until right now.

0:58 This is it. We have met. Oh, my bad. I can't stop thinking about the time we met. This is my story. This is my crazy story.

1:04 Okay, so for those that are watching on Netflix, he just walked in and he goes, I got a story. And I'm like, hold the story until we get going.

1:12 Now, tell your story. Yes. There's no reason for you to remember that we met. It's all clear the air there. I was on American Idol during COVID. And you were on that year, and I think for a few different years. I was on for four years. Okay. So, yeah. So, the last time I officially saw you, we were in L.A.

1:33 You did Hollywood Week? I did. I made it to Hollywood Week, and then I got, funny enough, Luke Bryan... sent me home ironically and uh told me to keep gigging but yeah the last time we talked we were by the pool and you actually encouraged me you were like wait we talked one time but on camera no just off camera oh so I was just walking around encouraging yeah you were the best and I because I like had an audition and I didn't feel great about it and you're like that was great and and then um obviously like ironically like not a single second of my footage got put on the show which now I'm I'm a little thankful for just the way everything panned out.

2:08 But at the time, yeah, it was a big deal. I got sent home. I just stopped by and said, what up? You did good? You said you'd seen my full band audition. I did a Kings of Leon song. And you were like, hey, that was really good. I do. That was you? Yeah, man. I do remember that. I was wearing a beanie. Yeah, you don't look like that.

2:25 No, no.

2:26 But yeah, that's the last time. That was 2020.

2:29 Kind of a blessing that stuff didn't get shown.

2:31 Yeah. Looking back now. 100%. But you're also right.

2:34 I mean, I would shoot every week hours and hours and hours of footage. And they would show three and a half minutes of it. Every week I waited, you know, to see myself. And it was, I think the one thing I got was like three seconds of me saying.

2:48 Go dogs. That was it. Like the whole season. It was just, that was all I got. Where were you living whenever you did that? In Athens. Yeah.

2:55 Did you live in Athens for a long time?

2:57 Did you have school there? I was there for four years online. And then, yeah, I did it because COVID hit. And then I was in an indie rock band and we couldn't play any shows because there's no venues were open. So then I was like, well, what if I just like try this? And so I made it to the Hollywood week. And honestly, looking back, it taught me a ton about just handling pressure and, and just, and then ironically, like I'm on tour with Luke Bryan this year and I told him about it. That's funny. And here we are.

3:27 Keep gigging. I did. That's what he said.

3:30 Yeah.

3:31 Keep gigging. Yeah.

3:32 What's fun for me about interviews like this is we haven't met and I know like the brief overview stuff, but I have a couple of friends that you're a cool guy. So I didn't dig in and I just kind of like to get to know people by talking to them.

3:42 Love it.

3:42 So I am ill prepared purposefully, which I rarely am, but people vouch for you. So I feel like I can be over-prepared and this will go good.

3:49 Deal. Okay, so you grew up in Georgia. Yeah.

3:52 I saw Fayetteville, Georgia. We live in Fayetteville, Arkansas a bit. And so sometimes when I look up Fayetteville, Fayetteville, North Carolina, Fayetteville, Georgia, and Fayetteville, Arkansas come up.

4:00 Yeah.

4:00 Yeah, what's your hometown like?

4:02 It was great. It's south of Atlanta by an hour and some change. And, you know, my dad had lived there his whole life. And then it's changed even since I was there in high school. But it's just a southern town. I mean, it's just a southern town.

4:18 You would go to Atlanta for concerts or for games?

4:20 Every now and again. I think our biggest was like, yeah, we do what used to be the Aaron's Amphitheater over there. That's where all the big shows would happen. And then Zach Brown's organization moved down to Fayetteville because we had a bunch of farmland. So Southern Ground, that whole operation moved down there and you could go to the Southern Ground Amphitheater, which was our little town amphitheater and go see the shows.

4:44 So where you come from had a bunch of farmland or you had a.

4:45 Bunch of farmland? Where I, like Fayetteville as a, as a, as a town, uh, had a ton of like untouched farmland and woods. And then, um, when the movie studios started looking like where to go, they went to Tyrone, Georgia, which is a little ways away, but like they bought up all the farmland and made a bunch of movie studios. So, Fayetteville is different now. Not in a terrible way, but just not as quiet as it used to be. Is it weird you're kind of making it now? Very weird.

5:17 Very weird. It's like I have to pinch myself a little bit because everything is so fast, and it also takes so much focus to do. And I've had a weird year. I've lost my dad and put a debut album out and toured with– everybody I've ever wanted to tour with. So it's like high, high, low lows. And mentally, I think it's just so day at a time type of focus that even with my guys, we're on this headline tour that sold out and we're playing in these cities.

5:47 We've always dreamed of playing to, you know, sold out crowds for us. And we're kind of like, is this like, is this happening? And it is, I just, I have to get better at like trying to take it in.

5:59 Yeah, but early on, and that's why I asked you that question, it's hard because you're having to work so much. You can't really have a lot of existential thoughts in the middle of being exhausted. 100. And it's not that you're crying about being exhausted because you haven't at all, but Yeah, it's hard to focus on things greater than you whenever you have to focus on that day.

6:17 Yes.

6:18 Because you've been running so hard.

6:19 That's exactly it. And honestly, I think that's a good mentality to have, like, right? Like one day at a time with anything, not focusing on, I'm obviously a Georgia Bulldog, but I've been looking at the Nick Saban documentaries and he's like really taught me a ton about like the mentality of discipline over focusing on the success. Like his whole thing is like, focus on the standard and not the result. And I think in music, a lot of times you get so focused on like, I want this amount of monthly listeners and these amounts of shows sold out and this, this, this, and those are all byproducts of the work you put in. So it's funny you bring that up.

6:55 I'm reading the Nick Saban book about to finish it now that was written about him and his success. Right. And so, so much of that way before Joel Embiid in the process and the Sixers was, was his process. And that, because he started at Toledo and, Michigan State and LSU and Alabama and the one thing that he is consistently and constantly preached is just do what's in front of you right now right yes because if you're looking at a week down the road six months down the road like that'll happen if you do what's happening right in front of you right and if you don't do what's happening right in front of you right that stuff a week six months it's never gonna happen right it's why in their locker rooms they don't have goals

7:35 of win the SEC championship yes they don't have one national championship It's win the next play.

7:40 It is.

7:40 And that's so applicable to any job. Very applicable to music. Because like, and then even more applicable to country music. Because it's, the sustained fan bases, I mean, you know this, the most sustainable fan bases are the ones that have come from decades of like, intentional hard work. Like, you know, like we were on the road with Riley Green and like, dude's been at it for 10 years. And you see the the mountaintop he's at now, but it's like, it came from playing every little show and meeting every person at the show when you could and like being intentional and then putting consistent music out. And so, yeah, it's, it's good stuff.

8:22 You ever seen that graphic where it shows the very tip of an iceberg and the tip of the iceberg is popping out of the water and it's like success. And then underneath the water that you don't see is all the trials, tribulations, failures, everything. I mean, that's very much, I think what a lot of artists go through because listen, if it were easy, everybody would be doing it.

8:38 Yes.

8:39 And a lot of people try it, but it's hard.

8:42 It's really hard. And it's also like you start to see when people start to make it, there's like people think that anybody's come up now as an overnight success because social media paints it that way. But I wish more people understood. I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about people that have found this really huge momentum online.

9:04 And it's like, I wish you'd seen them at the listening room five years ago, you know, playing, grinding. Like, I think people assume that it doesn't take the work it takes until, you know, they're at the top. They're like, oh, well, they're an industry plant, you know.

9:19 I think you're also tricking people, you specifically. I've come to this conclusion in nine minutes. Okay.

9:25 You're a really smart guy. Awesome. I'm not going to say that about myself.

9:30 You're an intelligent guy, and you got the Chase Elliott shirt on with the holes in it. I got a camouflage hat on. You're a country boy for sure, but I think people would look at you and go, ah, that guy's kind of dumb. Look at him with the mustache. Because you're not playing a character that you're not, but you're an artist.

9:49 You're a performer. You're a smart guy. I'm very calculated. You're a smart guy. I'm very... competitively calculated the overalls yeah Thank you. That's an easy one for me because we were trying to figure out last year what to visually set us apart with because everybody at the top has got their thing. Yes, exactly. You've got your glasses.

10:11 Posty's got his face tats. Ella's got her, her bangs. Riley's got steroids. It's like, you pick your thing, but we started to figure out like, we need a thing. Cause otherwise I'm another white dude with a mustache in jeans and boots. And it's like, especially in a stadium of people that aren't there for you buying a beer, they don't care at all. So my uncle Joe wore overalls every day. Uh, my great granddad never took them off.

10:38 Like he had a pair for church and then a pair for working. And then And I was like, okay. And I had some hand-me-downs from my Uncle Rob, like some old Liberty camo ones that he'd given me. And I was like, I tried it one night, and the first thing I noticed in the meet-and-greet line was like, love the boobs. And I was like, oh. So now it's become like, you know, not the only thing I have to wear up there, but that's definitely like something that I thought about, like visually. How do you set yourself apart visually? How do you do it? Yeah, I think about it a lot. Okay.

11:08 As soon as I would see videos of you, I think you were on Wallen's tour, right?

11:12 And you would come out with him.

11:13 Yeah. And I was like, oh, he's wearing the overalls. Like he probably really wears overalls at times, but this is brilliant because everybody's like just clawing for something.

11:21 Yes.

11:22 To set themselves apart in a medium where... Like every kind of person is fighting for attention.

11:30 Yes. And so I thought it was pretty brilliant. I appreciate that.

11:33 Are you finding now that you don't want to wear them all the time? Because I remember Jordan Davis because he had the big beard when.

11:38 He first started. Yeah. And that's what he was known for. It was like down to here.

11:42 And then he had to get to a point where he could make a decision to cut the beard.

11:47 You got to get to that point. You have to earn it. It's so true, man. I was talking about that with my team. Like, the Wallen thing, like, he had the cutoffs in the mullet for, you know, a long time. And it's like, you have to earn the right to kind of retire it. And if you do it too early, like, I'm not in the spot yet where I can show up and wear, you know, this and people go, oh, that's Zach John King. Like, I still have a few more years of putting in some work.

12:11 And then, you know, hopefully I don't want to be 70 and having to wear.

12:15 You're not going to be, you know, you're not going to be.

12:17 Earned the right to not do that.

12:18 Do you have nicer overalls now?

12:21 I've got a few. I just enjoy the the Liberties are my favorite. Those are like they don't make them anymore. That specific print of camo.

12:30 My overall knowledge is very low. So when you say brand.

12:33 So Liberties are like probably one of the most popular. traditional brand of overalls. They date way, way, way back. But they made a print of camo in the 90s that they don't make anymore. Those are from my uncle. And then I buy a bunch of Carhartt ones.

12:49 Have you considered wearing formal overalls to an awards show? I've been pitched the idea.

12:54 And I just have not found a combo that works. We were trying to, I think somebody pitched for the Opry, like a nudie suit version of overalls. And I was just like, nah, I'm going to wear something a little nicer.

13:09 Is the mustache something that.

13:10 You would normally have? Yeah, the mustache started when I could actually grow one. And it took me, this takes me like two months to grow. I have no facial hair to speak of. And so I just started to like having one. And then the artistry thing kind of started to happen. And I realized that like, it's a, it's another little thing, right? I got the tattoos, I got the bibs, I got the overall, and I have a very specific version of a, of a hat that I wear. So it's just one of those other pieces of the puzzle where I was like, yeah, let's try it.

13:40 It's quite aware of you.

13:42 So if it's you and you have a good team, like I noticed that because I do that. Like I have to find little things in just a, a clouded world of people making content and people doing podcasts and people doing radio like what am i going to do because i'm a generic white guy yeah as generic.

13:57 As you could possibly be i'm one of a million rednecks you know like and you need that though too you need to be like the whole version of the beautiful thing about country music is it's you are an every man like you should be like i'm not trying to be anybody other than the dude from fable that My cousins can go, hey, that's Zach. It's not changing.

14:19 But for every relatable factor, you have to have something to compete with. Literal thousands of people fighting for your attention, especially online.

14:31 Let me ask you some more questions. Just general stuff because I don't know a lot. So, okay, you're from Fayetteville, Georgia. You lived in Athens for a while?

14:38 Yeah. I was there for four years. What for? I moved there to do music. I moved there to be in an indie rock band with my buddies. Do people just love R.E.M.

14:47 In Athens or is that.

14:48 Yeah, they do. Are they like the godfathers there? It's almost like the... Nobody's ever made it bigger than them out of Athens. So it's like almost like that's what they're known for because they were ginormous.

14:59 Are they still celebrated in Athens?

15:00 Yes. Okay. They're royalty. And I actually worked at a grocery store and... i've checked out every single one of them no individually but like they all came in at one or like michael came in one time and i was just like totally starstruck he bought sweet potatoes and it's like yeah i was like oh my god so cool he eats like a normal person but yeah they're celebrated for sure um but then you got like drive-by truckers really started out of there um And just a great place. I tell people like a great little pond to test the artist stuff. Because you can play the circuit of Athens and conquer it in a year. Because it's college kids that buy into it. So we did it.

15:43 We cut our teeth. For years? Four years? Four years, yeah.

15:47 Would you guys get close to it? Getting any sort of recognition, label talk?

15:52 I don't think so. That's a hard format. It's really hard, dude. I don't envy the indie scene because there's no infrastructure to help you. I mean, there's no... The fun thing about country is it's a genre that is constantly inviting other people to join. Indie is like almost you're on your own and good luck. And if it works, it could either go Phoebe Bridger's size... where you're doing arenas or it could always be at a club level and you never get bigger. So it's just a toss up.

16:23 So yeah, I think, I think COVID by the time COVID, like we made it through as a band, but it really gave us all time to kind of sit there and look at like, what are we doing? And it gave me more time to figure out that like I, at that point I'd fallen in love back in love with where I came from. So really what it was, it was like, high school into college, I was like, I don't want to be known for being from Fayetteville.

16:47 I don't want to be known in any way to be a redneck or whatever you want to call it. I told people I was from Atlanta because I thought that was cooler. I think I ran away from who I was during that period of time. Part of me did. I stayed pretty true to some other parts of myself, but definitely didn't want to be associated with my town and my people. Then COVID gave me a chance to kind of look back and fall in love with it all again. And then I was like, I love country music because I grew up on country music.

17:19 Have you got any pushback that you weren't always country?

17:22 Oh, yeah. I mean, if people, yeah, I think the idea is like it was a season of my life where I don't think I knew who I was. And I think everybody goes through that. Mine happened to be in music. Like it happens to be recorded. You can go listen to me figuring it out. But I also know that about everybody. Like we all go through seasons. Oh, I did.

17:43 I signed a hip hop record deal at one point. I did pop radio. I did alternative radio. But I'm from Mountain Pine, Arkansas.

17:51 Right. Right.

17:52 So it was interesting when I first came to town. I was very much hated on for that. Also, because when I was just doing the radio show, I was playing hip-hop on the country national radio show. Right. But my whole thought was, man, everybody's like this. The business has never really allowed it because the business didn't want to have anything that was blurry.

18:13 Yes.

18:13 It wasn't good for business to have blur. And I was all blur.

18:16 Yeah. But now, man, everybody's like that. Everybody. Yeah. All it is is you have to find, as an artist... You have to find yourself, and when you find yourself, people go, oh, that's it. They can tell immediately what's authentic and what's not, especially now. I feel like social media has trained people to see BS and see authenticity.

18:42 One of the things that I like that people do, and what you even did, is if you have done music or content in whatever part of the genre world we live in, if you're just open about it no one thinks you're full of crap right it's the people that run from it and hide from it and those are the ones you can sniff out pretty quickly.

19:00 Immediately and you can just it doesn't it doesn't make anybody want to buy in is like a super fan like I figured that's I'm obsessed with that lately like how do we convert even on these headline shows this is the first time anybody's seen me play my own show and like how do you convert the 600 people there let's say there's 40% are like raging to every song But there's another 60% that are kind of figuring it out. Like, the next time we come into your town, how do I convert everybody to, like, diehard fans? And I think it's something as simple as just being honest with them. We do free meet and greets. And that's something that, like, Gavin Adcock told me. He's like, dude, I did that until I couldn't physically do it anymore.

19:42 That's the greatest problem to have.

19:44 Yes.

19:44 Is I used to do that, too. After a theater show, I'd go out and just meet everybody.

19:48 Yes.

19:48 And then it became.

19:49 where the safety folks would be like, you can't do this anymore.

19:52 It's too many people.

19:53 So it sucked that I had to stop, but it was awesome because it meant that I was growing to a place of.

19:58 Yes. And so I think that's great advice.

20:02 Like go do it until they have to tell you you can't do this anymore because you're putting people in danger.

20:05 Yeah. And that means it's working. But also like, let's say you get to a place where like you can still do it in a thousand cap room.

20:12 Okay.

20:13 Well, that's a thousand people that get to walk up to you and have a conversation with you. And you get to have a conversation with them. And that obviously tells me who my people are, but also makes people take ownership of you. And that's all you want as an artist. You want people to go, that's my guy. Like, I'm in. And so our mentality is like, for the hour and a half after every show, every night, for the vocal strain of talking to people, we're going to do it until we can't. Because, again, when you've got 50 other options for people, like, okay, we're in Boston on Saturday night. Yeah. There's all kinds of things to do on a Saturday night in Boston. And you happen to come to my show. So how can I keep

20:53 you there? You know, how can I make you go, oh, that was worth it? Because there's all kinds of ways to justify like not doing those meet and greets. And it's tiring, but it's like that's the stuff.

21:04 You don't need my advice, but here's my advice. keep hand sanitizer with whomever you're with because you just touch a lot of hands. You just don't know where those hands have been. And people are lovely, but sometimes my hands aren't in good places.

21:14 Oh, 100%.

21:14 And I'm touching things. So that's my only advice.

21:17 No, I have learned that. Keep those hands sanitized. I have learned that. I do handshakes. That's most, I'm not a, the hugging thing just gets kind of weird sometimes. And if you ask for a hug, I'll give you a hug. But I do handshakes and I started to notice like, oh, I've touched the hand of 700 people tonight.

21:35 And some of them have had their hand in their butt right before they come to you.

21:38 You know, I've thought about it. Without a doubt. I've thought about it. Yeah.

21:41 Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor. And we're back on the Bobbycast.

21:56 What else do I want to know? You moved to Nashville what year?

21:58 2023. February of 2020. No, February of 2022.

22:04 What was the catalyst that actually made you pull the trigger to come?

22:08 Man, a lot of prayer, honestly. And it was one of those things where I was working. I was a behavioral therapist in Athens. It's working with children with autism. The therapy is called ABA therapy. And it was like the best job I've ever had. Like my bosses were great. The kids were great. The work we were doing was insane.

22:29 I mean, we get kids coming in that couldn't talk and leave reading and talking and writing. I mean, it was insane. And I noticed that even in that job, I was still daydreaming about music. And I was like, okay, well, that means that something's not lined up with where I'm at in my life. And I just felt like at that point that the Lord was trying to tell me, hey, you probably need to just try this. And a lot of things for me are based off of regret is my biggest fear. I hate the idea of like, looking back and being like man I should have tried it failure doesn't scare me like it used to because I we fail all the time that's part of this job so you just have to get thick skin about figuring out how to how to hear no all the time

23:17 and how to fail all the time and then finally it works failure never scared me regret scared me more so it was one of those things where at that point I was like I had a window to go had nothing tying me to Athens moved to song right didn't move to do the artist thing so I quit my job and then Got a job waiting tables on Broadway.

23:35 And I remember the first day I drove and I had an apron on and a tie I had to wear. And I was like, what am I doing? It was like the first week in town. Didn't know anybody. Driving to 1230 Club to wait tables from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. so I could write during the day.

23:51 How long did you do that?

23:53 I did that for a year and a half and then I got fired. Because at that point I was calling out enough for rights that the management was like, hey, You're done. You worked waiting tables for a year and a half? Yeah.

24:05 As someone who's waited tables, that's a long time to work in one place.

24:08 It's a really long time. They were great, though. They were great. I mean, that is a compliment. Yeah. Yeah. It was good, hard work. And it's funny. I still have people like I have a couple of people I worked with that pull up to shows and stuff. And I told myself I wasn't going back to eat there until I signed a publishing deal. So when I signed my pub deal, we had dinner there. Oh, that's a good one.

24:28 Kind of cool.

24:29 Yeah.

24:29 Anybody cool ever come through? Randy Travis. I got to weigh his table. That was insane. I was like totally starstruck. He was super kind. What's the biggest tip you ever got? My dad.

24:45 Doesn't count.

24:46 Dang it. It's good advice, though. Okay. No, no, no. I mean money tip from waiting tables. Oh, I thought you were literally talking advice. No, your dad tip. That counts. I'll come back to that. I'm talking about waiting tables. No, your dad's advice doesn't count. Okay. Oh, biggest tip. Oh. Whoa, I know what it was. Jimmy John, the owner, like the dude, Jimmy John from Jimmy John's Sub Sandwiches was like a minority steak owner in the restaurant group. And he would come in every like once a month and bring, I mean, probably 20 people at the table. And he would always tip just an unbelievable amount. I was a back server, though, for clarity. So my servers, like if he, one night he tipped 10,000 bucks and they would just

25:27 tip you out. And then I would get a little, a little, a little, you know, here you go. But at the time it was like, it was good money. Broadway, Broadway service is hard work, but it's good money.

25:39 I do want to know the tip your dad gave you. I literally was talking about waiting tables. I never, I never, I never saw the direct tips. It was always like the, the runoff. We always had to tip out to bus boys.

25:53 Cause I was a bus boy first before I got to be a waiter. So we'd have to tip out the.

25:56 Bus boys and we'd tip out the hosts or hostesses as well because they really had control of, Who went where.

26:04 100%. Yeah. So I felt like I was pretty generous. Good. To out-tipper. Yeah. I felt a couple ways about it sometimes. Like when I would run food, we'd have nights where we'd have 800 covers. And it was like, I remember looking at my phone. It tracked my steps one time. And I had walked 12 miles. Wow. Because the restaurant's super long. It's like a football field. And that part of me was a little bit like, I'd kind of like to get a little bigger. bigger spot on the tip. But, you know, I didn't serve, officially ever serve. So it's like, you got to earn that.

26:39 Now I do want to know the actual real life tip.

26:41 Your dad gave you. The good advice? Yeah. No, the best advice I've ever gotten was, my pops told me, he said, keep tilling the garden. That was his big advice. He started his own general contracting business and started it from scratch after trying to start another business that failed. And then he got back up and started another one that ended up like providing the life that we had and his big thing, even in the middle of like those first two years in Nashville, man, were brutal. I mean, like no money, terrible apartment and nothing's happening. Like there's just nothing going on. I mean, I don't have any, like my buddies are getting calls from publishers and stuff and I'm not. And this was like, you know, what

27:23 am I doing? And it was like, just keep tilling, like, just focus. Like we talked about, just focus on the process of, of the little things. And then the rest of, you know, eventually that, that fruit will come up from the ground and you'll have something. And that turned out to be true.

27:38 Now, I think a lot of artists will say that in a bit of their story is a story they're making up because it wasn't quite that hard.

27:47 Yes. Now, are you saying yours was that hard? I'm just saying– I'm just going to tell you that it was– I moved to town and knew one person here and worked– waiting tables till two in the morning to write during the day and went out when I wasn't working to writer's rounds with a sales pitch. And I would go drink a sparkling water with lime every night so I wouldn't get hung over for the next day. And I would say, hey, I'm new to town. We should get coffee.

28:21 And I would do that four times a week. And of the 20 people that I talked to, one every two weeks would say, let's grab coffee. And then out of that, an even smaller percentage would say, let's write. And you just do that enough times to build a little network of people. And luckily I had good people around me and it grows from there. So there's like no, there's literally no shortcut. The Morgan Wallen thing, I think the fact that he took a chance on me makes people think that it was, there's something behind the scenes going on. Was there? No. How'd that happen? That was literally a, he found me on TikTok and And it was during a season of that, too, where I felt terrible about it. The views were low. Nobody was really listening.

29:08 And it was July 4th weekend last year, and my manager said that he– so the Neal agency is my booking agent. And then at the time, Austin Neal came in as his manager, and they were having coffee, and my manager was like, hey, Like, Morgan really likes your stuff. He thinks it's cool. Like, he was the one that showed Austin your stuff. And I was like, oh, cool. Like, okay.

29:34 That was all. I just needed encouragement. And then a month later, I got a call completely out of the blue. that he had made a spot on the tour for me. I'm not making, like, he didn't have a first to four slot. He made it. We started in Arizona. And, you know, people thought I bought it.

29:51 Well, so that was my question. I've heard that. I also know it's not true.

29:56 It can't be.

29:58 That's why I know it's not true.

29:59 You can't buy that. It doesn't work. So you've heard that you bought the spot.

30:04 That's going to be so frustrating whenever you've just freaking slugged your way to even have a shot.

30:08 And it was a total, total out of my control. God, thank like, there's no other way to explain it. I wasn't, I wasn't going viral on social media at all. It was just found me, liked it. He took a shot on it. And we, I think the biggest thing I would tell people is like, we, We had three days to prepare for those shows. We got a call on Tuesday, and we had to be in Arizona for that Friday show.

30:36 And I think that's the biggest part that I wish people understood. You can get the call. You can get the opportunity. But you got to kind of make it work. You can't mess it up. And I don't feel like we messed it up. I feel like we handled it.

30:48 I think my exposure to you first in social clips was you coming out with him.

30:52 Yeah. When all you guys would come out.

30:54 Yeah.

30:55 And sing with him. That was another crazy thing. Which was what? It was night one. And my family had surprised me. And we had played our show. And then there was no talks of me coming up for anything after people were actually in the building. And the production manager came back and he's like, hey, he heard your set.

31:16 Wants you to do Uptown. Are you down for it?

31:18 And I was like.

31:19 Immediately, yes. But then I realized the implications of that. You know, going to get up there in front of 60,000 people. Everybody recording it. Everybody recording it. And my family was there. And so I just practiced for like three hours that night in my green room over and over and over and then got up there and didn't fall and didn't mess it up.

31:41 It's also funny, a song that you think you know every word to, when the pressure's on to know every word to it. Because I was out in... Me and my buddy Eddie, we have this music deal and Toby Keith had us come out and open for him because his opener had gotten sick. And so he said, I'm going to send the plane down and pick you guys up.

31:58 And he flew us up to Jiffy Lube Live right outside of DC in Northern Virginia. And so we go and we're there and we play our 20 minutes, right? We were the first of three. And they're like, hey, Toby wants you to come out and do Red Solo Cup. And I'm like, when the radio's on, I know every word to Red Solo Cup. When I have to sing every word to Red Solo Cup, I'm like, I fill you up. And then you start to say, so I'm back there just reading lyrics over and over again. It's all different when you have to do someone else's music, right?

32:29 So I can understand how nervous or how nerve wracking that would have been.

32:35 Yeah.

32:36 It was a lot.

32:36 Did you get off and think that was awesome?

32:38 I was in full, that first one, I was in full adrenaline. I felt like I had won like the national championship being the quarterback like I literally like was full adrenaline just just crash out because I never felt what it felt like to be in front of 60 to 70,000 people ever let alone like be singing up there pretty cool it was insane yeah and then the weird thing is by the end of this year's tour uh with him because we we got asked back out the obviously love doing it, but like you get used to it very quickly. Like it's not that it's not a huge thing, but your body starts to handle like adrenaline differently. So like we've learned, like my whole band talked about it. Like these shows, these headline shows are

33:24 more fun for us now because we don't get those nerves like we used to because our threshold for that adrenaline is a lot higher. What's cool about the headlining shows. Sure.

33:35 People can go you know, if you're playing a smaller room of 600 people, 600 hard tickets is so hard to sell.

33:42 It's insane.

33:43 And people don't understand the difference in going out and playing with someone being support in any fashion, main support, opener, but selling 200 hard tickets.

33:54 Absolutely. If you can do that, that is success in this world. Yes. Again, to the point where like, think about the options people have on a weekend to do anything, let alone go pay sometimes too much money to go see a show. Uh, and especially like our set. I mean, it's not, I ain't got pyro, you know, I got like a backdrop. We're playing a hell of a set, but it's like, that's just insane to me. And I tell people every night, like, I don't take it for granted.

34:23 I really don't. And we'll play, you know, like our biggest, our biggest show, this tour was 900 people in Chicago. And then our smallest show was like, I think it's like two 50 and it, it like, we're going to give the same show. every room, but yeah, it's insane. I don't take it for granted. Yeah.

34:42 I think that's one of the things when I have friends that don't know a lot about music, but if they're talking about concerts, they don't understand how hard it is to.

34:50 Sell 50 tickets. Yes.

34:52 Because when you're the guy, it's all on you. Like a promoter is taking a risk and they're paying you money thinking that you're going to make them back enough money, but it's all on you. And it's not even just what's happening in town.

35:01 It's Netflix.

35:03 It's, it's, every piece of entertainment possible.

35:07 Yes.

35:07 And they're deciding to come and watch you. And it is a huge compliment.

35:10 It's massive. And then you come in, you've bought a ticket, you come in and buy some merch. You're there like, well, I can't ask for anything else. That's why like, I can't, this is a little bit of a tangent, but like when artists complain about like the job, it's just like, it infuriates me. Cause I know, I know it can be hard, but I, Just don't understand how you could ever like complain about the fact that people are voluntarily showing up to support you at the thing that you wanted to do with your life. Like it's literally my dream and I'm getting to do it because they're going and buying tickets. So like I'm never complaining about the meet and greet line taking two hours instead of like

35:56 it just it doesn't. I think if you start feeling that way about it, then you've lost some connection with Your fans. And the reality that you're just, I'm just a dude that happens to make music that people enjoy. Do people throw stuff at you at your shows? I've had some. Stop.

36:11 Everybody stop doing that crap.

36:13 Yeah. Now, they don't, my people don't do it. I've never, no. My people don't do it. But I've had shows. We played a rodeo this year. And I don't think they liked it at all. And somebody threw a... Didn't like you? Just didn't like our music.

36:27 Yeah.

36:27 Just didn't like my set. And it's fine. But they threw like a, you know, like the bell on a hotel desk, like the ding, ding, ding. They threw the whole bell? They threw a bell up there and it missed my head and hit the drums. And I was like, what was that? And it was a bell.

36:42 What a random thing to even bring to a rodeo.

36:43 Yeah.

36:44 Yeah. Aside from throwing it, why is that in your pocket? Oh, I got my bell. Oh, show him. A lot of times people throw stuff too out of love. Yes. It's just, we should, no throwing. I don't think the throwing is the move because it just, number one, it distracts from putting on a good show. And then number two, like if I get hit in the head with the bell. Yeah, you're done.

37:06 I'm like. Come on, man, depending what part of the head you get hit in you're done.

37:09 Yeah.

37:10 Uh, okay Here's another random question. Like what do you like? Like what's fun take music out? Like what's what's fun for you?

37:15 I love to cook Really? It's been a big thing like best stress relief if i'm off the road um I cooked chili last night. I got a good chili recipe. I just turned on like billy holiday And just like cooked chili for like an hour and a half. It was great. Um Obviously, all the cliches, but they're true. I love to be in the woods. I love to hunt.

37:39 Love to fish. Just haven't had time. Golf is a new one for me lately. Really bad at it, but enjoying just getting out there and trying to get better each day. And then being outside, just as beautiful. And I love movies. I'm kind of a movie nerd. You have been or you are now? I have been for a long time. I just love anything from the way that they... color graded the, like the film to like the way that they pick shots of like, I'm a nerd when it comes to like, I can tell what movies use natural light, which, which don't like, I love it.

38:14 Do you watch the Odyssey? I did. I was just about to bring that up. It's good, huh? It's one of the most visually beautiful movies I've ever seen.

38:20 Did you watch it though on the IMAX?

38:22 I did. I'll say I didn't.

38:24 I watched it regular theater. I'm not hard to impress, but I really liked the movie.

38:28 Yeah.

38:28 But you guys that are tracking, because Mike has a movie podcast and You guys that track down the IMAX, like respect.

38:33 You got to.

38:35 It was built for it. Yeah, I hear you.

38:37 But I have bad vision and I'm colorblind.

38:39 I just have a lot of things with the old eyeballs. It didn't really matter to me that much. I did really like the movie, though. Oh, it was excellent. Yeah. Me and my wife went and watched it and we bought the road too close. So we were like this and like.

38:51 We bought the road too close and we didn't go. We went to the regular theater instead because I'm like, I'm not sitting too close.

38:55 I know. And it was almost almost a problem. Like it was almost to where my like I was like, this is like a lot. But the movie was so good that we kind of didn't care.

39:06 Favorite five movies of all time.

39:08 Number one. It's a Wonderful Life. I know it's a Christmas movie, but I think that's probably the best movie ever made. Number two. Lord of the Rings, Return of the King. All those are great, but that one's the best. Oh, you're a movie guy. You're a real movie guy. La La Land.

39:28 Great.

39:29 Best. Probably maybe the best ending. That's what I said. It's a perfect ending.

39:33 One of my buddies was saying, that ending sucked.

39:36 Spoiler alert.

39:37 I know the movie's been out, so I'm going to give everybody a breath here. If they don't want to hear this, they can either skip the podcast or move forward on Netflix. I love the ending because it personifies real life.

39:47 Yes. In such a perfect way where everything doesn't happen to work out. But it still worked out in a way that's beautiful. But it's not the.

39:55 Way that Hollywood has always taught it.

39:56 This is like freaking life. Yep. I loved it. It's perfect. Great pick. Number four. Cool Hand Luke. Never seen it. Oh, man.

40:05 70s, right?

40:05 Yeah.

40:07 Yeah.

40:08 60s or 70s?

40:08 Yeah.

40:09 One of the coolest, grittiest. Paul Newman just crushes it. It's a great film. Number five. Number five, I think for nostalgia's sake, probably The Rookie with Dennis Quaid. It's about him being like the oldest dude to be a professional pitcher.

40:34 Yeah, and his kids were like, you got to go. You made a deal with them.

40:37 Yeah, my dad showed me that film, and I love that movie. Yeah, that's probably five for me right now. You're married? Yeah. How long? Five years.

40:48 Six years.

40:49 Yeah, six years. Did you get married at 12? What's happening here? No, it's COVID. Dude, that's a crazy story. Supposed to be literally from in front of 500 people in Chattanooga, Tennessee. And it was 10 people in my front yard of my house. Like I got ready with my brother watching Power Rangers in the basement. That was crazy.

41:10 And looking back, I'm thankful for it.

41:11 Power Rangers wasn't COVID. That was just your brother.

41:13 That was my brother. Yeah, yeah. Just for the record. It was. In my head, I was like. Was it the only option during COVID? In my head, I was just like, I'm going to have all my groomsmen and we're going to be at some fun hotel or whatever. And it's like, no. But it was great. And then a year later, we had a huge party with everybody, which was great.

41:31 But yeah.

41:31 We got married during COVID.

41:32 We got so lucky that. The timing worked out where it was during COVID. It was right when the first, hey, everybody can not wear masks for a minute. And it just so happened to be at that time. So we had a wedding on our property here and nobody wore masks.

41:47 Yep. And it was great. But then like two weeks later, it was like masks back on. Kind of did that. And I was worried, like, there's no pictures from this. Get out.

41:53 People are going to be all like, oh, he's not having a super spreader. Oh, this will tie in. So Ronnie Dunn sang at my wedding, right? I love Brooks and Dunn. Obviously, he's a close friend, but he sang on the record on yours.

42:04 Yeah, dude. That's insane. That's insane. That was a crazy moment because we had been on the road with them with the Morgan stuff because they were direct a lot of those days. It was like Ella and them. And yeah, we shared like a dressing room hallway the first weekend out. And I was just like, this is insane. Like I looked at my name out there and then like a door down is Brooks and Dunn. And yeah, I got to know him and then asked him for coffee. And we met. in Nashville in December. And they gave me an hour of their time. They came in early and gave me an hour just to like, I asked them just a bunch of annoying questions about how to make it in the music business. And then from there, I just,

42:45 I had the record built out and I didn't write a single one of those songs with a feature in mind. Like we wrote those songs just because I loved the music. And then we started thinking about like who we wanted them to be on them. And I was like, well, let's take a big swing. They can say no. And they said yes. That's so cool. Insane, man. That's so cool.

43:04 They're just the best. The best. They're the best. And their show is incredible.

43:09 It shouldn't be so good.

43:10 No. Eventually get older. Slow down a little bit. Ronnie's vocals live are maybe better than they've ever been. The show is insane. And getting to see everybody in a stadium sing every word. No matter what age, it was like, oh, that's a hit.

43:33 The Bobbycast. We'll be right back. This is The Bobbycast.

43:47 So what happened with your dad? He had a heart attack just out of the blue three months ago. When you say out of the blue, there was... Oh, I mean, my... Mom and him were on their wedding anniversary trip. Been married for 35 years. My pops was 62. They were hiking. Went to the beach all day. Had a great week.

44:08 And he fell over on the trail and he was gone. No heart issues? Family history of heart disease. But he had just been to the cardiologist two weeks prior. Full checkup, full checkout. Was on time with his medicine. Really healthy in his lifestyle there. And yeah, man, I was in Cincinnati in a hotel room. Got my mom's call. And I knew something was up because it was an early call.

44:35 And my mom called me and she told me to call her back. That was a big red flag. She left me a voicemail. I was asleep. I woke up like five minutes later and she said, call me back. Not like when you can. So I knew it was something. And then. thought it was maybe have some like my grandma's really old and my my great uncle's really old so I thought maybe it was it was them and yeah it was it was it was my dad and um it's just been a weird year because he was my guy man like it's hard to even explain like what my my dad means to me and I say means that means still um but it's just a weird thing because like Our family has been through a lot. Yeah, we've lost a lot of people. And it feels like the loss has come at these pivotal times. I signed

45:30 a publishing deal three months after my niece passed away unexpectedly. And it was weird because I'm celebrating this thing that I've wanted to do. And then I'm also like, oh, this is terrible. This is the worst possible outcome. And then now it's like I'm having... the biggest year of my career and I thought my dad was going to be here for it and he's not. And I think it's just a weird way of keeping me humble because I, I know what matters now more than I ever did.

46:04 I know kind of what at the end of the day, what the people at your funeral are going to talk about and it's not going to be music. It better not be music, you know? But my pops was the man.

46:18 Yeah.

46:19 There was like 1,600 people at the funeral back in Fayetteville. Yeah. Visitation was like out into the parking lot. What about him do people love? He was the best, unbiased because he was my dad. He was the best person I've ever met at intentionally thinking about people all the time. He was the best at reminding you that it was somebody's birthday. He was the best at checking up randomly on a Tuesday. Hey, man, how are you? He was the best at making people feel just like he was your best friend. Like everybody in that service at the funeral felt like they were dad's best friend. And that's just like, I've never met anybody that did it better.

47:03 When your mom called you in Cincinnati, did you just go home immediately?

47:06 Yeah, we had a show that day. I never cancel shows. We had a festival that day. canceled that and then canceled the next two weeks, three weeks worth of shows. And it was interesting because a lot of that was the Luke Bryan tour. And, you know, Luke has been through a ton of loss and they were so gracious to let me, you know, take the time I needed.

47:32 But yeah, we drove home, had a four hour van drive and just, it's weird. Like when you, you know, you're in shock and, It's just like you're sitting there the whole drive just like what is going on? And then it just gets more real and more real and more real. And it's still I have moments where it three months into the grieving process. And I have moments where I wake up and I have this like cognitive dissonance of like I have to catch up. I'm like, oh, it's not a dream because I thought for a while it was a literally think like sometimes I still think I'm asleep in Cincinnati and I'm going to wake up and be like, oh, this was a nightmare.

48:08 But grief's a weird thing. Because you're lucky if you get to grieve, first of all, because that means something was valuable to you.

48:18 So true, dude.

48:18 So that's first, is that it's not really the way that I think a lot of people approach it. I've had to, in my life, have a better understanding of grief.

48:28 My mom died.

48:30 Grandma who raised me died. Like all these things happen. And so I found that, one, I was lucky.

48:36 Mm-hmm.

48:37 That it affected me so much because that meant something affected me so much.

48:40 Yes. That doesn't mean it doesn't suck and doesn't hurt. Sure. But it just hits at random times, even still. Oh, yeah. How long has it been for you with your mom? Now it's been like 12 years. Yeah. Or maybe a little longer than that now. COVID doesn't count. So those years. Yeah.

48:55 But I remember the call, same how you're talking about your mom. I was on the air and I remember my sister called and nobody calls me during the show.

49:02 Right.

49:03 They know the hours that I am for sure working. And I was like, Something.

49:07 Whatever this is, is not good. Yeah. And she was like, yeah, mom died.

49:11 And I was like, and my mom was 40 in her forties. You know when that happened?

49:14 I'm really sorry that happened, man. I appreciate that. I think the one thing I'm learning is grief refines you if you let it. It'll take things that you needed to learn and speed them up out of necessity. That's one thing I'm learning. The two things, yeah.

49:35 I feel fortunate to be able to grieve and have Like my grandma raised me and I miss her all the time. Like she, she adopted me for a while. And so like, I'm lucky that I get to miss somebody. And then, you know, we were talking earlier about, you know, being an artist and out grinding. I feel at times too, when I get really tired, I have to appreciate the fact that I get to be so tired doing something that I love.

50:00 Yes.

50:01 Because you're going to have those moments. You probably have already had many where you're just dog tired.

50:06 Yeah.

50:06 And you're like, this sucks. I don't feel good. I got a sore throat. I have a two-hour drive back. But I've been able to learn to appreciate that I get to be sick and tired of doing something I love when most people get to be sick and tired of something they hate doing every single day.

50:22 Yeah. It's just such a privilege to be able to be exhausted from that. Yeah. Yeah.

50:30 I have a friend that is a massive fan of yours and you were in town in Chicago. Did you play Chicago the last few weeks?

50:37 Yeah, we did.

50:38 So I have a friend, I'm friends with a lot of those Barstool guys. And so I have a friend that's a massive fan and he's like, do you know Zach John King? I was like, I don't know him, but I know of him. And he was like, man, he's coming to town and I want to go to the show or. And then he said he was going to like message you and invite you up to the office.

50:57 And he said, but then he saw that you were touring the office and he missed you by like five minutes.

51:02 Yeah, we toured the barstool spot. Pretty cool, huh? It was a blast. Yeah.

51:06 I went up there a couple weeks ago and I can have a bunch of friends up there that do those shows. So I go and we'll just sit in and do the shows with them up there. But he's a massive fan. It's got to be funny now to have like adult men. Even older than you adult men think you're cool.

51:21 It's awesome. Especially if I'm fans of them. I watch Barstool, especially for college football, a lot. And it was cool to just meet everybody. Did you meet Brandon Walker? He was gone. He was at the Mississippi State game. But he's my guy. That's my guy. Yeah. I watch him more than I watch network TV. Same.

51:42 100%. Him and Mark Titus are good friends of mine. And so I go and do that. Like when Arkansas beat Vanderbilt. A couple of days ago when we're recording this, I got one text from them that said Arkansas.

51:52 Yeah. That was the only text. That was it. That was the only text. Yeah, man.

51:56 Well, man, this has been awesome. And, you know, I was looking at stuff to promote when you came in and the song's about to go number one.

52:02 Yeah.

52:02 From when we're recording this. And so I hope you get to ring the bell.

52:06 Thank you.

52:07 I feel like you're going to. Yeah.

52:09 So congratulations on that.

52:10 Thank you. The shows are almost all sold out, if not all sold out. Yeah, they're all sold out. We just announced a second leg for the spring.

52:18 Are they on sale right now?

52:20 They're just opened this morning for RSVP.

52:24 So, by the time this runs, this may be a week or so until it runs.

52:27 Yeah, they'll be on sale.

52:28 They'll be on sale. So if there's any left, get them.

52:30 Yes.

52:31 But you didn't need, you're one of the rare guys that was coming. You didn't need anything from me.

52:35 Oh, wow.

52:35 So, you know. I appreciate you.

52:37 I just enjoyed hanging out with you.

52:39 Thanks.

52:40 And of course I remember our time by the pool. I told these guys when you were coming in, I was like.

52:46 I wonder if you remember our time by the pool. Yeah, it wasn't like you met a thousand kids that day. Yeah, you know, that dude by the pool, pool guy. Remember guys? Pool guy's coming in. The dude in the beanie with the guitar.

52:54 Yeah, yeah. You still having fun?

52:56 Yes. Yes. Having fun. Learning how to have fun in all of it, not just the highs. Learning how to have fun in the fact that we've been on the road for 14 straight days in a van.

53:14 And we're living off a Taco Bell. Yeah, that's rock and roll touring, dude. That's not country music touring. That's rock and roll touring.

53:20 It is. That's the kind of stuff you wanted to do back in the day. Oh, dude, all I wanted to do was that.

53:24 Get in a van and live on the road.

53:26 And it's like I'm doing it now, and I find myself pissed off about it. But I'm like, high school me, man? That would be the dream, and it is the dream. So I'm learning how to have fun in those moments for sure. What do your friends call you? Zach.

53:42 Yeah.

53:43 Zachary John King is my full name. And my dad's name was John King, which is crazy because I picked my three names because, again, to set myself apart, there's a John King that was already a country artist. And then there's a Zach King that's this big magician. It's like an illusionist with a million-something followers. So I was like, well, I can't be that guy. And then I can't be John King because somebody else already in country music. Can't be my Martin Luther King. Nope. Don't fit that bill.

54:16 Already taken. Already taken. Already taken. Couple differences there. Yeah. It was like Zach John King. Three names. My name sets me apart. And now it's cool. Yeah. You really got them.

54:29 It's rare that someone throws a cognitive dissonance reference in there.

54:34 It's rare. It's rare.

54:36 Really good to spend time with you.

54:37 Thank you, man.

54:38 Go to his site. Go to socials.

54:41 And if there are still tickets left, go get them. I doubt there will be by the time this airs. But super cool to spend time with you. There he is, the great Zach John King.

54:48 Come on.

54:49 Thanks for listening to a BobbyCast production.