00:00I wonder if you could talk us through a little bit your speech. You got emotional and you were thanking some of the people. You said ahead of time you didn't want to prepare too much of your speech. So what were you thinking as you were giving your speech?
00:20I was thinking I had 30 seconds and I had a lot of people to thank, man. I wasn't going to have time, unfortunately.
00:28But the biggest thing for me is I felt like there's been a lot of artists in country music that have helped drive it over the last 10 years.
00:40And a lot of those guys that were in my class that sort of came out when I did it.
00:46And I thought of nothing else. I at least felt like they deserved an acknowledgement.
00:52Because I think Kerry, Keith, Kenny, Luke Brown, I think those guys have done a lot over the last decade as well.
01:01And so I wanted to make sure that I at least acknowledge them.
01:05You know, and then I just wanted to make sure my team, everybody, you know, I didn't even get to name them individually.
01:10I was running out of time. But, you know, it's just, I've had a great team around me from day one.
01:14And, you know, they've helped get to this point, you know.
01:19And, obviously, as the artists, we're the ones that get all the glitz and the glamour.
01:24But there's a lot of people behind the scenes that work really hard to get us here.
01:28And so I got a lot of them to thank. And I, unfortunately, didn't have enough time.
01:32I didn't have enough time. But, you know, it's just trying to, like, I looked up.
01:38And I saw 30 seconds. I'm like, oh, I'm screwed. There's no way I can do this.
01:42So, yep.
01:45So I think we all can look back and think about, like, the 80s were Alabama and the 90s were Garth.
01:51And so now you've gone down in the history books of this as the artist of the decade.
01:56Talk about getting that award from George Strait.
02:00Well, I said it on stage. I mean, he's, you know, he's the reason I wear the hat and the boots.
02:06You know what I mean? He's the guy that I think we all sort of, we all want to have a career like that.
02:13Everybody in country music respects him and what he's done.
02:16And I think we all hope to have a career that's like that and gain the respect of everybody in the country music community like he has.
02:25You know, to me, he's one of my idols growing up.
02:28And so to not only get that award but to have him come out and give it to me as, you know, almost like a little passing of the torch kind of thing,
02:36to me, you know, that meant a lot to me for sure.
02:39So it made a special night even more special for me.
02:44Hey, Jason.
02:45Hey.
02:46I can't help but think back to, I think it was three or four years ago when you won your very first Entertainer of the Year for ACMs.
02:53And there had been a lot of frustration, I feel like, prior to that, just how long is it going to take and what is it going to take?
03:00And you were so thrilled that they gave you one.
03:02You said, but I'd be glad if they gave me another.
03:04And now here you stand as the artist of the decade.
03:07So when you look back on sort of that arc of your career and what happened, I mean, can you just sort of talk about that?
03:14Yeah, I mean, I think for me, you know, I feel like there was a time there where we were sort of the perennial nominee, you know.
03:23And there were years where I felt like we, you know, we had legitimate shots at it.
03:28And it just kind of got to the point where I'm like, man, maybe it's just not going to happen for us.
03:32And that was just always an award that I just wanted to have once.
03:36That's all, you know, growing up watching it on TV, you know, that was the one everybody wanted.
03:40And that was just kind of a personal goal I had set for myself.
03:44I wanted to get that once in my career.
03:47You know, we also have a shelf life.
03:49So you start running out of time eventually.
03:52And, you know, so for me to get that one the first time, I mean, it was pretty amazing.
03:58And, you know, the Academy, they've always been great to me, even for my first year coming here to win.
04:04You know, top new male artist, my first award ever.
04:07You know, I've won quite a few years.
04:10So it's been, you know, look back on it, it's been a great run.
04:14You know, the last three entertainers and we had three male vocalists before that.
04:17So, you know, the last six or seven years for us has been pretty solid.
04:23You know what I mean?
04:24But, so, you know, I don't have any complaints.
04:27But, yeah, I mean, there's a time where you're, you know, for me personally, it's like, man, that award means a lot to me.
04:33And I really wanted to have it once.
04:35And you just, you don't know.
04:37There's nothing you can do but go out and play your shows and keep your head down and do your thing.
04:40And it's kind of out of your hands, you know.
04:42So when it finally happened, I mean, it was a big night for sure.
04:48Hey, Jason.
04:49Kayla from CMT.
04:50This is a huge accolade and a huge accomplishment.
04:53But the cool thing about you is that when you're talking to some of the other artists, you've managed to stay incredibly hardworking,
04:59be a huge mentor to a lot of these other artists and take a lot of these younger guys under your wing.
05:04So what do you hope for the artists of this next decade?
05:07Well, you know, I mean, I look out when I see guys like Luke Combs.
05:10I see Ashley McBride and, you know, Mary Morris and Kane Brown.
05:14I see, you know, a lot of talent, a lot of future, you know.
05:19It's cool.
05:20It's people that are, you know, love country music and want to take it the next step.
05:24You know, the thing about country music is, you know, it's going to change.
05:28The way we do it now, this next generation is going to do it a lot different than that.
05:33You know, we do it a lot different than the guys that were before us.
05:35So, you know, I love taking younger artists out on the road.
05:40You know, the last couple of years I've had Luke Combs and Kane Brown and Lauren Alaina and, you know, people like that out.
05:46And it's really cool.
05:48You know, I'm sitting there playing my show every night.
05:50I look over and there's, you know, Luke or Kane and they're sitting there watching kind of everything that's going on with our show.
05:55You know, kind of being students and learning.
05:58And I think that's really smart.
06:00I mean, that's what I did going out with, you know, Flats and McGraw and Chesney and those guys.
06:05You know, you go out and you sit there and watch, I think you can learn from anybody.
06:09So, you know, I think those guys are doing it right.
06:12I think there's, you know, bright future in country music.
06:15It looks good and hopefully they'll let us keep being a part of it for a while.
06:19But, you know, I love new acts.
06:22I love, you know, every wave of new acts has different influences.
06:26It just creates a whole different sound of music, you know.
06:29And so it's always cool to see what's going to come out of that.
06:33All right, and last question.
06:36Hey Jason.
06:37I wonder if you could point to a couple of things that you're most proud of in your career.
06:41You know, whether it's, you know, stadiums or albums.
06:44You know, anything that just never comes to mind.
06:47Yeah, I mean, to me, you know, it's really hard to put my finger on a couple of things in particular.
06:55Because there for a while, you know, I felt like every week we were accomplishing something different that we had never done before.
07:00But, you know, I think the Buck Out of Party album and the Night Train album, to me, I said this to somebody this week, it was like, you know, those two albums were game changers for me.
07:14And I can honestly go back and look at those albums this many years later and say, I don't think I could have cut a better record for those two albums.
07:24And you don't always get to say that when you cut a record.
07:27But, you know, I feel like we were really locked into something really cool at that time.
07:31And, man, those records were just, you know, amazing records, I felt like.
07:36And so it was just really cool to watch them, us feel like what, you know, what we had just made was really cool.
07:42And then to watch them explode like they did and really kind of change the game for us.
07:47You know, that was pretty neat to see.
07:51You know, starting to play stadiums, playing Sanford Stadium, University of New York, being from Georgia.
07:57But, you know, that was, that'll go down as one of the highlights of my career forever.
08:01I mean, to get to go back home and sort of play a show of that magnitude and kind of come back and sort of plant the flag on the ground.
08:10Like, you know, we've arrived in country music a little bit.
08:13It was a really cool night for me.
08:16You know, coming here, winning my first male vocalist, my first entertainer of the year.
08:23You know, those kind of things.
08:25And it just, like I said, it just, it just seems like every week, you know, for a while there,
08:30it was like every week you're experiencing something that we had never done before.
08:33And it was just like the train was rolling, you know.
08:36So it, it's been, you know, pretty, pretty wild ride.
08:41A little bumpy at times, but it's been, it's been pretty great.
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