0:00
If somebody said that they had, you know,
0:02
my poor, they had depression, it was like,
0:04
ugh, you just felt uncomfortable.
0:06
I mean, it's like, me too, bro.
0:08
It's like, we're currently, like, what's in a club?
0:10
Join the club, you know, and it's, it's,
0:12
I don't know, things have changed in that way.
0:14
Yeah, I think it's about acknowledging it
0:16
and embracing it, right?
0:17
Like, we have it, but let's, let's build upon it.
0:20
Not playing the victim card to it.
0:31
Okay, guys, here with Nate Smith.
0:33
I'm performing all week out of America fast, dude.
0:35
Good to meet you, a person, man.
0:36
Good to see that watching person, yeah, sir.
0:37
I've got the AP right there, it's out of control.
0:39
Hey, I love it, man.
0:40
Come on, I was doing well this year.
0:43
How you been, oh, man, you been busy.
0:45
I've been busy, man.
0:45
We're starting to slow down a little bit
0:46
with the holidays and stuff like that,
0:48
but there's a few more things we're doing,
0:49
but it's, it's good.
0:51
I've been getting to see my family
0:52
and kind of hang out.
0:53
I hosted Thanksgiving this year.
0:54
So the first time you did the cooking yourself for?
0:56
No, I had somebody coming to do that.
0:59
I did, but it was good to have everyone over there, you know?
1:02
Let's grab my family.
1:03
It's important to you, family and friends.
1:05
Is that a big purpose for why you make music?
1:08
I mean, they definitely encourage me along the way.
1:10
You know, it's like, it's definitely one of those,
1:11
it's one of those gigs that everybody tells you
1:13
to do something else, probably.
1:15
It'll never happen for you, you know?
1:17
So, but my family's been really like,
1:19
you got this the whole way, so.
1:21
I mean, what a different lifestyle.
1:22
To see where you're on now to five years ago, right?
1:25
Dude, I was working, I was working as a certified
1:26
nurse assistant in the hospital.
1:29
I mean, that's what I've done since I was 18 years old.
1:31
That's all you knew.
1:32
It's all I knew, it's all I did.
1:33
And dude, I was happy doing it, taking care of people, man.
1:35
Like, I love bringing light into a dark situation.
1:37
So I would come in the room, see the patient and be like,
1:39
what's going on, man?
1:40
I'm just gonna bring that like enthusiasm to the table.
1:43
Yeah, how's off to all nurses and people in the medical
1:46
You guys saved lives.
1:47
For sure, bro, for sure.
1:48
And then how did this come about?
1:49
Like, was it a specific moment that inspired you
1:51
to start making music?
1:52
Yeah, no, I've always made music.
1:55
I mean, I have experience like leading worship and church.
1:59
And then also I moved in Nashville when I was 23.
2:02
And I got a record deal, it sort of fell apart.
2:04
Well, it did fall apart, not sort of gone zipped.
2:08
And went back home kind of with my tail
2:09
between my legs, and that was sort of it
2:11
for my music career.
2:13
But I'm from Paradise.
2:14
I don't know where you're from.
2:17
I don't know if you're familiar with Paradise.
2:18
It's in California, it's like an hour and a half
2:20
or the Chico, or Sacramento.
2:22
We had a bad fire there about seven years ago.
2:25
And it's still weird to say seven years,
2:26
because it feels like it just happened.
2:27
But we had a horrible fire there.
2:29
And I lost my apartment and everything that I've owned.
2:32
And like, I mean, stuff that my grandparents
2:33
handed down to me and stuff.
2:35
And you know, kind of had to start over.
2:37
And I wrote a song called One of These Days for Paradise.
2:41
And just posted it online just to kind of bring a little bit
2:43
of hope and stuff and ended up touching a lot of people.
2:46
And give me kind of a new focus of why I would ever want
2:49
to make music again and not make it about me, you know?
2:52
So it's sort of re completely shifted my entire life.
2:56
And then the next thing you know, my friends are like,
2:57
Nate, what if you go to Nashville again in your mid-30s
3:01
on a GoFundMe and see what happens, you know?
3:03
And I got my Honda Civic and I drove all over America.
3:06
I slept in my car and I got to Nashville,
3:10
paid my rent, paid my car payment.
3:11
And I had $14 left in my check-in account, man.
3:14
When you got there, wow.
3:16
And that's basically kind of the situation I was in.
3:19
And then I got a meeting with a manager like right away.
3:23
And I met with Sony Music and they gave me a publishing deal.
3:27
I got a record deal and we're on our fourth number one right now.
3:30
Dude, it's crazy, bro.
3:35
I haven't written that song yet.
3:36
And I need to write that.
3:37
You need to write that.
3:40
So you're at about one or two meals.
3:41
Bro, I had, yeah, definitely one at that time.
3:44
You know, it's probably 70 pounds, half a year.
3:45
You should count seven years ago.
3:47
I saw this 55 pounds.
3:53
Just diet change or diet change.
3:54
And just, I don't know, like I think I ate, you know, because it was a comfort thing for
3:59
me instead of with stress and everything like that.
4:01
So I think kind of figuring out like, hey, man, like I don't, I don't want to look like
4:05
I don't want to feel like this.
4:06
So I just made some changes.
4:08
I also think your lifestyle living on the road, it's hard to eat healthy, you know?
4:11
It is if you're not like, it'd be easy not to.
4:13
Let's put it that way.
4:15
It'd be easy not to eat healthy.
4:18
Let's take the bun off.
4:20
Maybe do the sugar free vanilla ice coffee, you know, but it's working, man.
4:26
Fourth number one, huh?
4:29
We got another song called After Midnight.
4:31
We'll probably talk about it later and stuff, but with Tyler Heberd, so from FGL.
4:36
And he, you know, I just put this one out, but it's already 34 on Billboard Country
4:40
We just, we just dropped it to radio.
4:41
So it's flying up the charts right now and I'm so excited about this one, man.
4:45
Dude, that's insane.
4:46
It's such a fun song.
4:47
It's a celebration for that one.
4:48
Um, honestly, like, I'm a big Florida Georgia line fan for, for those people out there
4:52
that listen to your podcast that like country music, FGL is like the ultimate like anthem
4:58
I mean, everything they sing is just like a sing along festival kind of thing.
5:00
And so I wanted a song that was kind of like that.
5:03
And Tyler wrote one and he sent it to me and he was like, dude, I'll sing it with you.
5:08
I'm like, oh my gosh, let's do it.
5:09
So it's kind of like a full circle, amazing moment for me.
5:12
Dude, that's incredible.
5:13
Is your creative process pretty similar for each song or do you kind of, for different
5:17
Dude, different methods.
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6:15
I haven't, the treat is bro, I haven't had a lot of time to be super creative.
6:20
I've been pretty much on the road touring full-time right now.
6:24
But when I am home and when I'm creating, it is different every single time.
6:28
Sometimes it starts with the melody, sometimes it starts with the title.
6:32
But I just want to make music that inspires me so that way I can inspire other people.
6:35
I got to write something I'm like, oh my gosh, this is something special, you know?
6:39
Yeah, and I know mental health is big for you.
6:41
Depression runs in your family.
6:42
So writing about those resonates with you.
6:46
Thank you for doing that.
6:47
Bro, yeah, of course.
6:50
No, I feel like it's growing up.
6:51
I was ashamed to talk about it.
6:52
You were mental health, yeah.
6:55
Even admitting I had anxiety or depression.
6:56
Yeah, because you didn't want anybody to think you're like psycho or weird.
6:59
Like weird, yeah, yeah.
7:00
Because it wasn't, it was actually kind of a weird thing.
7:02
I mean, if somebody said that they had, you know, bipolar or they had depression, it was like,
7:08
You just felt uncomfortable.
7:09
Yeah, I was like, me too, bro.
7:10
I'd like to be kind of like, what's going to club?
7:13
You know, and it's, it's, I don't know.
7:15
Things have changed in that way.
7:18
Yeah, I think it's about acknowledging it and embracing it, right?
7:19
Like we have it, but let's, let's build upon it.
7:23
Not playing the victim card to it.
7:25
I think, if you can, if you can, you know.
7:28
But for me, it's just like, I don't know.
7:30
I always want to better myself.
7:31
But it's, you know, it's a day by day thing.
7:33
I'm in therapy and I do the whole thing.
7:38
Five sessions in now.
7:39
You'll know pretty soon if that's the right person for you.
7:46
Well, I just got married.
7:48
Yeah, I know it's important.
7:49
That's a big, big deal.
7:51
But that's not like the final goal, right?
7:52
I want to still be better and have kids and everything.
7:55
And our lifestyle, we're out of the house a lot, you know.
7:58
We get stressed, dealing with shit.
8:01
How long has it been together?
8:07
I knew like, you had seasons.
8:08
Yeah, we had seasons.
8:09
I knew like probably two years in.
8:10
So you'll skip the honeymoon phase.
8:14
I think that's important.
8:15
That's kind of what I'm trying to do in my life, you know.
8:18
Because it's so fleeting.
8:21
It's like all those like crazy, you know.
8:24
I think you know quick, right?
8:26
I've thought it was the one every single person I've ever dated.
8:28
I'm like, that's definitely it.
8:30
That's the girl, man.
8:32
And then like three weeks later, like, things get real.
8:34
I'm like, maybe not.
8:36
I think I'm going to just bow out here, you know.
8:37
Too far easily, huh?
8:41
Is it looks what draws you to it?
8:44
And I guess, you know, like, I think I.
8:47
Have had this like idea of like the perfect person or something, you know.
8:51
Instead of trying to become the perfect person, which none of that really exists, you know.
8:55
But, you know, I don't know.
8:59
I just tried to create this, this idea of what I think that they might be or something.
9:02
And then when it's real and.
9:04
The breast stinks in the morning and you got.
9:07
I don't know what it whatever it is.
9:09
But you kind of go, I'll call it X.
9:13
Pretty, pretty easy sucks.
9:17
There's memes about that.
9:18
How girls have like a list of like hundred X and a guy.
9:19
Have you seen TikToks of like.
9:24
Even walking weird, isn't it?
9:26
Men like splashing in the water.
9:27
A guy like men who are cold like this.
9:32
Standing on your tippy toes.
9:34
Oh, that one's so bad, bro.
9:36
Like you can't do anything.
9:37
Anything an ice cream cone is a new one for me.
9:40
People eating an ice cream cone.
9:41
Like wow, disgusting.
9:42
That's a turn off for you.
9:45
Just in there licking the thing and just, you know.
9:46
Some people bite ice cream though.
9:47
That to me is like psychopathic.
9:48
Is that serial killer?
9:49
That gives me serial killer vibes.
9:51
Because how do your teeth not get so sensitive?
9:53
And I've got like fillings and stuff.
9:54
So that would, you know.
9:55
I do a lot of things.
9:58
Did we talk about your new song, Preya?
10:03
So I just, one of the ways I write is I write with a group of guys, Ashley Gourley.
10:07
He's, uh, he's kind of like in a lot of ways.
10:09
I'd say he's like the biggest.
10:12
He's the biggest songwriter in country music.
10:13
100% not even a question.
10:15
I'm going to say he's got 80 number ones.
10:17
It's something like that.
10:18
Something in that world.
10:19
And, uh, me, him, Taylor Phillips, Hunter Filps and Casey Brown.
10:23
Um, wrote this song.
10:25
And we were just talking about everything that was going on in the world right now and stuff.
10:27
And we weren't like a overtly political within or anything like that.
10:30
But like, there's lines in there like what I saw on that screen.
10:33
I can't get out of my mind.
10:34
And we all know what we're talking about with that, you know?
10:36
Um, so it's like, I think it's something that we need.
10:38
And when I think about Charlie and everything that, you know, he stood for and everything.
10:42
Um, you know, I think the biggest, the biggest point that I think he was trying to make was just to find Jesus, you know.
10:48
And so, so Preya, I think is a universal big thing.
10:51
So I think it could touch a lot of lives.
10:52
I really believe in this song, man.
10:54
Look at what he's built, man.
10:55
Look at what Charlie's built.
10:56
This conference is insane.
10:57
There's like a two hour line just to watch people speak.
11:00
There's this new technology floating around that people cannot stop talking about.
11:04
It's called the light system.
11:05
Before you roll your eyes, it's not some gadget you strap on or supplement that promises the world.
11:10
Every once in a while, I come across something that actually stops me in my tracks.
11:14
And the light system is one of those things.
11:16
This isn't a supplement.
11:17
It's not a biohack.
11:18
It's a full on energy environment built to help your mind and body synchronize, recharge and operate at a higher level.
11:24
It uses light patterns, color frequencies and coherent energy fields.
11:28
All the stuff that your body naturally responds to to create a coherent, energetic field around you.
11:32
People are saying they feel more clear, more centered, more alive in their environment.
11:36
And honestly, the science behind it is fascinating.
11:39
As I've seen a lot of wellness tech, but the numbers coming out on this new study of the light system are actually insane.
11:45
Researchers measured human chic cells before and after sitting in front of the system and get this.
11:50
A 30-minute session boosted cellular conductivity by 61%.
11:55
The study even showed increased conductivity in isolated DNA, which is associated with stronger structure and better repair pathways.
12:02
The result, more clarity, more balance and more alignment.
12:05
You could say $500 now if you go to the lightsystems.com and use discount code Sean.
12:10
It's crazy getting to be here.
12:14
I never got to meet him, you know.
12:16
But it's so humbling to be a part of what he's built, you know.
12:20
And hopefully make a difference.
12:22
And my whole goal for today, because we're playing here in a little bit, you know.
12:25
My goal is just to instill boldness.
12:27
Just to instill boldness and just kind of put it all on the line, man.
12:30
You can do it in love.
12:31
You do the love, but you can confidently walk into who you are and just own that.
12:35
No matter what the concept went through.
12:37
It feels good, man.
12:38
Did turning point reach out to you like years ago or what's the relationship there?
12:42
They reached out over actually Charlie Kirk's Instagram DM to me.
12:46
I was like, oh my gosh, that's crazy.
12:47
So we talked on there and they originally asked if I wanted to speak.
12:51
And then I said, whatever I can do, I'll be involved.
12:55
And then somehow, some way they got in touch with my management and my booking agencies
12:59
to book the actual show.
13:00
But my turning point, sorry.
13:03
My turning point was right after Charlie passed, I had a show.
13:09
I've been on tour with Jason Aldin and obviously Jason's really outspoken and courageous.
13:14
But I ended up, we were playing in Chicago right after it happened.
13:19
So we did Detroit and we did Chicago, like two of the most dangerous cities in America.
13:22
And it was kind of like, I was nervous.
13:25
I was nervous to get on stage, man.
13:26
I was scared that this could happen to us too and that there was going to be this crazy thing.
13:31
We were all kind of uncertain.
13:32
And when you think about like a Jason Aldin show, that's a massive conservative show.
13:38
So I was kind of like, I don't know.
13:39
But like I went up there and just kind of was like, I don't really care anymore.
13:42
I don't really care.
13:43
And this guy threw me a Magahat and from the crowd.
13:48
And I picked it up and I was getting ready to sign it.
13:50
And I was like, nah, like I'm putting this thing on.
13:52
And I'm gonna lay everybody now.
13:53
And they were just like, it was just like the most insane thing.
13:56
But it was the most freeing feeling that I've felt in five years, in five years, bro.
14:02
Because it was like, everyone said you can't talk about it.
14:04
Everybody said don't get political.
14:05
Everybody said you can't make a stand for something like that.
14:07
And it's like, that was a moment where I just kind of went on my own.
14:10
And I noticed I lost a lot of fans and I gained way more, way more.
14:14
Because people were kind of going, now we know who you are, Nate.
14:17
Like because that's, that's in country music.
14:19
They want to know who the hell you are.
14:20
They want to know what you believe and like what you stand for.
14:22
And I think the ones that aren't taking a stance, the ones that aren't standing up for one way or another.
14:27
I don't know, I don't know.
14:29
You know what I mean?
14:30
I feel like that's how you connect with people.
14:31
That's a hell of a story.
14:34
That's a hell of a story.
14:35
It's so relatable for people that have a following, whether it's music industry or podcasts.
14:39
They were scared to speak out about their political stance, especially for Trump, I feel like.
14:44
Because there has been consequences.
14:48
And there still can be consequences for speaking out and stuff like that.
14:51
But in a lot of ways, I kind of joke, I have these hats that I'm starting to sell for my, say cancel culture is dead.
14:57
Because I kind of feel in some ways it's sort of this.
14:59
Like the fear of being able to, to be yourself, what are you going to do to me?
15:04
We sort of like, we're standing up to the bully kind of in a way and we've been gracious for too long in a lot of ways, you know?
15:09
And it just feels good to be able to just be like, this is who the heck I am.
15:13
I'm Sean and this is what I stand for, you know?
15:15
I think it's dead, bro, because I've had on the most canceled people on the internet on my show.
15:18
And now they are the biggest people.
15:21
They have the biggest voices.
15:23
Because we know who you are.
15:25
Well, dude, thanks for your time.
15:26
I can't wait to follow your journey.
15:27
I want to come to one of your shows one day, too.
15:29
Did you were welcome any time, bro?
15:30
If you're ever in Vegas or West Coast, I'll be there.
15:32
You live out that way.
15:33
Yeah, I'm in Vegas.
15:35
Also just want to say thanks for what you do, man.
15:37
Thanks for being bold.
15:38
Thanks for sharing with what you do and making the stands as you did.
15:40
There was a time where this wasn't cool, but you did it anyways.
15:45
And you're wetting everything.
15:47
Best of luck on your journey, brother.
