Episode 063 - Louie TheSinger Unplugged: The Rise to Country Music

Louie TheSinger: The whole truth behind this is was never even really about that. And I had to remember, when I fell back in love with the music, started finding myself more like doggy, you did want all this. You just didn't know what came with. You just wanted to do music like I literally walked in a place like this, and like, 

Taylor McAdams:  Hey everybody, and thanks for listening to another episode of the Kick Your Boots Up podcast. This episode is coming to you. Special this week. We have two releases in one week. I know it's amazing. We're so excited to cheer on this next guest, as he has an upcoming show that we're going to get to dive into. But before we do, I've got to give you a little bit of back story and tell you about our one of our newest and favorite and Dorsey's here at Justin. He's from head to toe adjusted in Dorsey, we love everything he does. Universal Music Group, Nashville recording artist, so big label back in him. No big deal. You guys. This is Louie, TheSinger. Louie, yeah, thank you for being on the podcast. 

Louie TheSinger: Thank you for having me. Man, this is cool.

Taylor McAdams: You're amazing, truly like so genuine and down to earth. And so I'm so excited to dive into this. I know everyone out there is as well. And so I guess, to get us started, we are kind of talking a little bit off-camera about a photo that you had when you were a little kid, which is on our website. Actually, I think we use it for your story, where you were in a diaper and boots. Oh yeah, there's so much to unpack with the beginning. But tell me about, like your humble beginnings, where you grew up, things like that

Louie TheSinger: I grew up right here, in Fort Worth, Texas, and it's cool that, you know, the Justice situation happened, but I'm from Northside area. If you're a local, it's called Diamond Hill. So I'm born and raised out here, and my family is originally from, like, my mom's side is from Texas, but originally everything comes from Mexico, you know. But where is Texas? And it gets, you know? 

Taylor McAdams: Like, I mean, yeah, where did you grow up? Going to eat. 

Louie TheSinger: Going to eat was Northside everywhere. I mean, even the stockyards. I would go to Spaghetti Warehouse with my mom a lot back when it was-

Taylor McAdams: Rest in peace. 

Taylor McAdams: Yes, we would eat in the trolley and stuff like that. I mean, the North side area, we had Chuey’s. You had anything you could think of, from tacos all the way down. We even had swim first pool hall. I never got to go, but my friends are always there. 

Taylor McAdams: Yeah, I’ve heard the stories

Louie TheSinger:  My mom was drunk, and I'm like, my mom didn't let me go, but we were kids just trying to go, keep pulling stuff like that. But, yeah, my dad was from the east side, so we definitely had ties over there to go eat over there, stuff like that, poor guys and stuff like that. 

Taylor McAdams: And it's so cool that you got that perspective too, of Fort Worth to then grow up and experience everything that you've gone through. But my favorite, one of my favorite stories that I just heard recently about you was whenever on Saturdays, when you would clean with your family,

Louie TheSinger: When and everybody says, “I heard a story about you” I’m Like…, no, yeah, so Selena was real big, so that's why it's real surreal that I'm playing with Chris. But growing up, yeah, I mean, the Astro don't show was something my mom kept on repeat, uh, her whole, her whole albums, you know? And this is back when you had CDs, so, you know, she's playing a CD for the whole day, and we're cleaning. And the house was no bigger than this, but just imagine, like, balls, and for whatever reason it took six hours to clean. It just never made sense. But it goes from like, oh, here it goes again, to like, okay, we're cleaning. And then it's like, no, she walk in the room and I'm like, five, yeah. I was like, it made no sense, but yeah, that's what, that's how it was, you know, and you didn't really realize, but that's where the musical stuff started coming in. And

Taylor McAdams: I feel like that was, like, a pivotal moment for you. Whenever you looked up one day and were like, Whoa, I'm actually pretty good at this.  

Louie TheSinger: I honestly wasn't even that I wanted to do a whole bunch of other things, like I remember, did you want to do at one point? I wanted to be a DJ. I wanted to be a stunt man. I wanted because I was always jumping off things like, jackass. Remember when I came out? Yeah, everybody had a video camera. Like, I mean, we didn't have that. We had a Kodak camera. And what we would do is do some throw and in the middle of it, we get the picture. So there's pictures of us jumping off of our shed with, like, you know, the top of our sandbox was a turtle shell. So we just sit and slide on some of this metal stuff. And then I wanted to be a stunt man, and it was like, Nah, like, I don't know. And then the horses came around, you know, because of my aunt, my grandma, sister, and so we got into that. And then, you know, just like every other team, every other kid, it wasn't cool, no more, right? You know. And then I got into rap, hip hop, the b1 me and my dad didn't have a big relationship like we did, but like we were always fighting, because we're so alike, right? Yeah, so my teen years was rebelling, and trust me,

Taylor McAdams: That's so relatable, by the way,   

Louie TheSinger: I'm getting my karma, trust me, I got a 15-year-old, you know. So what's crazy, though, is me and my dad connected on basketball, other stuff like that. I was already kind of trying not to, but steering the right, running around with the wrong crowds, but that's where I grew up. That's all I had. These are my homies. This what you knew all, that's we all kind of had to make the decision together. Like, you know, what are we doing? We gonna, you know, it like, you know, are we? That's just what it was. So me and my dad could not connect for whatever reason, because he's trying, you know, they had me young. My dad, I think he was, like, 16 when my mom was pregnant, you know. So I just remember one day being like, Yo, my dad knows how to break hands, you know. And this is kind of what kids are starting to and he taught me how to do. A windmill in the living room. I remember, that's your dad did? Yeah? My dad. My dad was a B boy in the 80s. So, like, oh yeah, like, La Grande Plaza mall, which is was known as town center back in the day. Okay, they used to not even have a roof. It was more like an outdoor mall in the 80s. Yeah, so you're talking about radio personalities like domino that were around in the early 2000s some of his first interviews were with little break dancers, and one of them was my dad, and they gave him his little nickname called spindle top. Yeah, spindle spindle top. He was, like, the one. He was the only five brothers and my uncle's dance too. So me and my dad got into that to the point where I started running with that real heavy like, I loved break dancing. I love B boy. And it was in the neighborhood, like, Yeah, we went to go do that. That's what we did. Like, we ran around, and we just would go, break dance, break fight, that's just what it was, run around. It wasn't until 17, is when things started getting a little like, holy sh-, what's going on? Sketchy. So Nemo was one of my first friends that I lost. Like that was really close to me. Unfortunately. What's crazy about it is his dad and my dad grew up together, and then me and him grew up around each other, and it got closer in our teams. We actually didn't like each other when we met, became and then after that, became the closest friends. Like brothers. Is this big Mike's son? No, she's actually Big Mike was one of the guys in the group. So big that's crazy, you know, so Big Mike is actually one of my dad's best friends. To call him rope man and be like, Man, what I wrote man. And I used to tell my dad why he called Big Mike rope man. He said, Because man. Rope man used to be tall, skinny, just I said, Mike was skinny. He said, Yeah, it don't make sense. No more big ass rope I said, dang. You know, my dad was always just like clown. That's just how it was. But he uh, but yeah, no, you're good. But Victor, big Vic and little Victor, which was Nemo, were close. Um, it wasn't till around 17, when things started getting out of hand. Like we were at Sonic right here on Main Street, north side, 28

Taylor McAdams: my favorite Sonic by the way.

Louie TheSinger: In the stockyards in the back. Yeah, we used to break down there. You're talking about over 150 kids with a big old diesel truck with the doors open in the middle of north side, like this and this. This is right here down the street. I was born and raised in Fontaine, the terminal right here in Diamond Hill, right Wow. It was until the night when it hit me like, this is getting bad. Victor was shot at running all the way to 711 he lived, wow. He lived. A couple months later, things caught up, and he was eventually, you know, unalived. And it was, uh, it was just like a real turning point, because a month and 13 days before that, Greg, one of our young buddies, Kirby, committed, you know, took his own and it was like, Man, this is getting really bad out here. Like, what am I doing? You know, then heavy people are going to prison from high school. I'm like, dang, I went to 12 high schools, and that's a real fact. I moved around a lot. I was in and out of juveniles since 14 years old. The first time I ever went to jail. Jail was 17, and

Taylor McAdams: They kind of just, it felt like you were passed around, maybe like you just rejected from all these high schools.

Louie TheSinger: But that's really just how it was with all my other friends. Man, where you at now? Boy, man, over here on this side. Man, my mom put me over here. I could kick that over here. And eventually, I mean, it's not too abnormal. And then you would think that I would finish making it already. My senior year dropped out, and I was just running around. And so my cousin tank, who grew up a block away from me, that's where that came in. His family took me in because I was sleeping at Echo Lake. That's where we would break dance. We would break that so,

Taylor McAdams: yeah, first of all, I want to make light of this, because a cousin named tank. I think everyone out there can relate to this one. There's always that cousin, right? I love that.   

Louie TheSinger: I love that.  it's Daniel 20s. Is like, it's like, hey, well, tank, tank, I wish you knew Daniel, but no, like, so me and Daniel grew up a block away from each other, wow. And he had another cousin on the other side of the block named Rodolfo, and we all grew up together. So that's right there in Diamond Hill tank. Got into real dancing too. But like, he was like, pop all this stuff, whatever. And one time he just found out that I was sleeping up, then he got mad. He was like, What are you doing? And so he took me home, and his mom was like, yeah, she would give us five bucks every night. We were bumpy kids, and she fully supported it. It was horrible. But you know, you know, Mexican moms, it's just like, I hate, you know, they let them go do what they do, you know, just as long as they ain't doing the bad sh. And that's what it was, because think, like, race cars, and we just wanted to go dance, and we would go to car meets and run from cops. And that was, it wasn't bad, you know. But Taco Bell burritos were 69 cents at the time. All we needed was one each, and then we had two bucks for gas back then, and like, oh 605, and a Honda hatchback that went to Dallas and back for sure, yeah, maybe one race, you know, I don't know, but yeah. So the dance was always there for me. And it was like, you know, I really, literally, I remember at one point I had nothing to butt net. Like, wow, when I tell you, people would leave. I never really got caught sleeping there, because I was still dancing for a couple hours. I wanted to get better. I wanted to just dance. I wanted to just let go. Anybody knows me. I have so much energy, yeah, and it's crazy that I I'll be honest, I have to smoke sometimes, and if I don't, I'm like, it's crazy, yeah? Like even now the coffee hit me. Oh no. Know, or it's like anxiety, you know, but I'm a real jumpy dude, and, like, I needed something and dance at the time was that because I was losing my friends, um, yeah, I mean, and, you know, my parents were divorced since I was nine. My dad always kind of was doing his own thing. And, you know, my mom wasn't her fault fully. You know, I kind of forced her hand, and she admits that she should have never let me go, because she let another man tell her to kick me out of the house, which wasn't her, like, a working thing. It was a probation my probation officer, and they, ironically, went to high school together, so there was, like, a weird, you know, where they could talk past professionalism, and like, Christie Lu, you got to kick him out, and you never gonna learn. And my mom kicked me out of the house, and I had nowhere to go if I because she said, you're going to school. I said, Am I going? I don't want to go to school because it was different kind of problems that she didn't understand. Yeah, talk about. So I just didn't go, and they kicked me out. But,

Taylor McAdams: and honestly, you might have felt alone, and even looking back, you probably think that so many kids, even to this day, go through that. So I think it's so cool, the mission that you have, that you're just like yourself, and you're open, and you're there to help everyone, you

Louie TheSinger: know, yeah, I mean, maybe, and yeah, I think that's what it is. I always tell people all the time, like, I always wonder, like, why wasn't there a hand that, for real, they could have just put which there were, though, the tanks of the world, you know, my grandma, you know, rest, like she's not, I was the sick rest or so. Be like Poor her. Because, man, man, I swear to you, my grandma, I'll tell you my uncle, Henry, her brother, didn't let me in the house one day with a shotgun. She stood in front of him, said, I'd rather my son come in at three in the morning than them call me at four saying I need to identify a body he's coming in. And that's when I remember just being like, Man, I'm so thankful not even being funny like I was even more hurt, because I knew that my life was never going to not be that. So I would distance myself, because I didn't want to keep bringing people down. And this is what it was. And then it's like, when they help me, I it up again, and then I'm just, it's like, I it was Repeat, repeat, repeat. And I know

Taylor McAdams: We're jumping ahead, but I have thought to say, I appreciate so much in your writing and your songs that you you've actually been able, in a beautiful way, to share your hurt, but then also share your good too, like your happiness, your healthiness, and your story is so unique. But I think something that I held on to most was your writing process, because you had just one interview I saw recently. You had just gone through a breakup, and you went into the studio to write, and please explain your writing process, because everyone else in Nashville probably goes in, they have some coffee, they're gonna take some notes, and you're like, listen here, I'm gonna come in, push record, I'm gonna smoke some cigarettes, and we're gonna get going.  

Louie TheSinger: You pretty much got it right, except the cigarettes. Okay, it ain't cigarettes,, no, no. So it's actually funny. You say that because there has been situations where, even just outside of Nashville, people have actually come in just to watch me write, because they've heard certain things. And I don't know how to explain it, the only way I could tell you is, I actually grew up doing, like, battle rap and R B stuff, right? Oh, my God, that's how it started. Wow, poetry, then battle rap. I was funny, though. So my boys would be, like, they were from New York. You just got to put those son and make them rhyme, and just do it on the beat. And I'm, like, on the beat, they're like, yeah, just kind of give I'm like, you know, even I'm 14, I don't know, like, I can dance. I'm hearing it i I'm hearing it for the first time, and all these guys, they're playing a boom box. And this is actually in Boswell High School in Saginaw. Yes. So these fools moved here from from New York, and I just moved from Hitler. I got kicked out, so I had to go over there. My mom used somebody's eyes dressed. I am so sorry. I don't can we get in trouble this far anyway? No, but so, so I, you know, I'm out there, and I'm like, Man, ain't nobody gonna relate to me. And I meet these guys. Hyson, he went by, see no figs and Chris, but there it goes. By Chris Lowell, they were rappers from Brooklyn, but I'm still friends with Chris, loyal to this day. And Chris, he's like, Yo, yeah, no, I said Yo, when's a raccoon. He goes, No, I say instrumental. So, you know, you don't want that guy. You don't know. Oh, okay, yeah, for sure. I went home and my mom was instrumental. She goes, I don't know, and I remember looking at the back of a CD, and I think it was like, brandy or something like that. The boy is mine, and it had the song, it had the beat, which said instrumental, and acapella. Said, Okay, it's just the beat. Got it. So next day, I'm like, boom. And so they taught me that eventually. So fast forward, when you have to learn how to do that on the spot for so many years when you go to second nature, yeah, to be honest with you, when I go to the studio, like, especially if I'm going through something, just get out the way. I told the guys on the road, I'm like, Hey guys, I'm gonna knock some out if y'all can't go to the roof or something like that, you know. And they'll go to, like, to the Airbnbs and just all chill to themselves. Yeah, I'll write and record a song in 45 minutes. But it's like, literally like that. The song I got with scatterbrains, who dope producers work with jelly like, on a lot of great things, actually put Chris Bennett and Bob Oh on the record as well. It's called, if I die tomorrow, well, I'm at CMA fest, and I'll give you the example of how it works. I'm at CMA fest having the worst things i. In my life, you know, and I'm working through it now. Like, I mean, I have to ease into who, you know, this new lifestyle. Like, I come from, there's a reason I wrote the way I roll. I'm just, I come from something different, you know. So it's like, it's hard to walk in a room, and I'll be honest, it just kind of hard, you know, I don't know where I'm at, you know, at the time I'm trying, yeah, time I'm trying to, like, work through it. And I think the drinking had a lot to do with helping clear the anxiety. So I stopped it, and I took the night before was the night that made me do it. So I don't want you to think I was sober in this process. No, no, I get to the CMA Fest and I do an interview with eckies. I believe it's a techies, and I don't want to mess it up, but it got put out in the Rolling Stone. And it's like, they talk about the top five Latinos in country music, I swear to you. And exactly. Now I'm like, this. I'm like, everybody already hates me. Why would y'all do this to me? And then they post it, and my face is the picture of it. And I was like, I'm going home. Come on, somebody. Well, I'm like, I want to go home. This is so much, right? Yeah, 100% because it's like, Man, I hate the not, I don't Hey, I dislike the titles, because that in that for one that discourages other artists that I'm no better than, you know, I'm saying I was you a year and a half ago, like I was still fighting, trying not to sell drugs two and a half years ago, just to not, you know. And, yeah, $80 I make on tick tock live. That took me six hours. Was everything. So you had it was everything to me. And sadly, I go buy two more Bud Lights and go even longer. That was how I did it, just so I wouldn't sell drugs. So why are we giving titles to this stuff, man, if anything, just be like our favorite pics, or, or, or ask everyone, you know, I don't know. I was asked if I was like, Yeah, I love it. You gotta remember, I'm new to this. I don't know what I'm signing up for. My manager thought it was a good idea. I was there. It was a good idea, Zoom meeting, and I thought that was it, man, I show up to the CMA fest, and I do this, I have the worst anxiety attack in my life not to make like anyway, I go back to the Airbnb, and one of the people from my team we wrote that I'm real close with, you know, Chelsea, she comes by and she's like, Hey, dude, are you right? And I'm like, yeah, she was, what's going on, not being funny. Like, straight up, yeah, tell me they thought I was lying. And I don't blame them, because when they met me, I was just fun, open guy that was ready for this. I didn't know what this was, so I had to adjust. And then in the middle of that, they threw a lot of things at me, which I'm not mad at. That's that's what makes superstars. That's what makes you in his business, business, right? Make it break you. And if you ain't ready for it, just get out. Somebody is I spent almost 20 years. You're not going to tell me that. I will drag myself dead. I will drag myself dead on the road before I quit, I told her. I said, I don't know what's going on with me. I said, I got personal things with my son. I got personal things with everybody, everything right now, it's so when I got home, I got seven people in front of me to begin with, from my kids to my baby mamas. I got three baby mamas and four boys. And we're all it's, it's never, you know, Rocky. Then I got guys on payroll that that takes care of itself. If you work, that's stress enough, bam. So you got to remember too, I don't go perform and I don't go out. We don't make money. The whole truth behind this is it was never even really about that, and I had to remember it. When I fell back in love with the music, I started finding myself more like dog. You did want all this. You just didn't know it came with you. You just wanted to do music. Like, I literally walk in a place like this and, like, there's no stress. Like, it's literally like, Dude, this is my job. This is what I get paid to do. This is, you know, and I couldn't tell her everything on the spot. And eventually, you know, it all came out. And I said, I just got to let this go. She left. I told the guys to go to the roof for a little bit. I went down there. I put on this beat that I literally got from scattered brains when I landed into Nashville three days before, not knowing. And I wrote and recorded that song, sent it to them. Just was like, I just had to let it I'm crying most of the time when I record songs like that. I went to bed and we got up to the CMA fest. I'm performing at Sky Deck on Fifth and Broadway in Nashville.

Taylor McAdams:  It was a big deal. Everyone was people showed up. 

Louie TheSinger: I didn't even- people came out of the woodworks. I'm so sorry, guys. I just don't know how this works. I didn't promote it. I didn't know how to work. They were like, you can post I was I was supposed to post it CMA fest. I thought everybody just i They're like, No, there's 50 stages. I'm like, I don't know that. I'm like, bro, like, I'm y'all talking about the Mexican kid from Fort Worth Texas. I don't

Taylor McAdams:  Okay, but I've just got to say, if you didn't, if that was you not promoting it, I was there. That was a blessing. So many people, they came for you. 

Louie TheSinger: Yeah, that was a blessing. I just didn't know, and it was kind of cool because so I'm there, and right before the show, that was the day I stopped. I was like, I'm gonna stop drinking. And I saw I didn't drink that night, and I wake up and I'm, you know, I'm back there, I'm in the dressing room, and I'm doing my push ups, and I hear Chelsea come in, and she's so nice to everybody, Hey, what's up? What's up, what's up. And they see me, she's like, come here. And I'm like, what? And then they just like, this, are you okay? And I'm like, Oh, that. But that's how that happens. Like, I just. Go in there and, like, whatever, literally, whatever I feel. I'm just gonna they'll put the track on about five times, and I'll just sing in freestyle about five different songs. Pick the best ones. I like that many cool. What did I say? Wow, that was cool. So I swear to you, I've said things where they're like, would you say? And I'm like, I don't know what he was recording. Man, I just closed my eyes, and I'll just sing, and they'll put on beats for days, and I'll just sit there and drink saying, but that's how it happens, and that is it's real. It just it's quicker. 

Taylor McAdams: And honestly, you can tell that, like listening to your songs, I feel what you're feeling, and I don't even know the half of it. You know, like you're just now telling things that you've never gotten to tell before. And I think that's what makes you you, that makes you relatable. And something that I held on to was like a lot of people in your lifetime have looked up to you, like a story that you specifically told once you were in prison, they wanted you to start singing at the church services. And you're like, okay, maybe I should read the Bible, tell that story, because like that to me, that hit me.

Louie TheSinger: What's crazy is, when I went to prison, I had laryngitis, so my voice was barely talked like this, like it was so bad, like it was crazy. Wow. Stress everything. My dad just died. Like, right before we go, and I'm in the church service one day, and they're all like, dancing to, like, Christian rap. I mean, you know, like, at one point, you know, I'm kind of like the inmates do what they want sometimes. So the old kids in the gym too. So I went down there, and I still got a little something, so I went and I did head spins, and then one of the dudes tells, uh, forget his name, and I know him. He was from Lubbock, um, he was the drummer. And he told him, he's like, Hey, man, they said you can sing, sing something, but be godly. And I remember being like, dang. And he asked me, and I'm like, never would have made it. It was gospel music. Yes, everybody goes. I'm in prison. I ain't been here a week. I'm like, oh man. What did I this was a test. I'm in prison. I'm singing like, oh man. These foods gonna start winking at me. I with it too now, but it not being funny exactly that they're like, oh man. And then it was even funnier because I was Mexican. 

Taylor McAdams: They were like, man. They called you

Louie TheSinger: what up essay? Yeah, most of times. But what like with the mcames each other certain way? But yeah, I start going in there, and then I meet Brian Lowry in prison, and he's the band director at the time. He's playing guitar and stuff, and he's being honest. He's like, Man, I ain't gonna lie. Man, it's pretty lame. We need some spice. You got spice? You're like, I'm like, man, what do you want me to do? I don't know. He's like, Man, I don't know. You want to rewrite some songs with me. So we took Johnny be good and made it Jesus be good born to be a sinful kind of man. We changed simple man to simple man. So all kinds of stuff like that. Then I started writing my own, yeah? Then I started reaching. I even used to do Chris Stapleton, is there the broken? Yeah. So all of those, I would like, boom, but you're talking about Donna. Got it down to, but we would like, I mean, you're talking about church music, you know, we're doing it to Galilee, so everybody, man, you got people. I'm talking to Jesus right now. Don't bother me. My hands are on. That makes them singing, boy. And then I would break out the piano, and I would talk about my story, and then talk about, you know, I I'd be honest with, you know, what it turned into, and my mom would tell you turned into preaching. And that's where something I found, something that I want to do, you know, further on, but not get to that. But I would start singing, and I'd be like, Man, you know, you know, I it started with the faith, hope and love thing, and, you know, I'd sing, and then I'd jump into a couple Marvin Sapp records, eventually, egos and stuff like that. I realized it was a lot of weird stuff going on the church. A lot of those guys had different kind of charges. And I just can't be a part of be around this. You know, I got kids, and I'm good on that. So it was one of those things, oh, Victor. It was one of those things where it was like, I had backed out, but I found, don't get me wrong, in the beginning, I only did it because I was like, Man, I really got to sing something. I got to do, get it out, man. My mom told everybody one day he's gonna sing in church. I'm like, Good luck getting me there. God locked me up and put me straight in there. And was like, it was like a it was like putting a rat in a little box and saying, here's the cheese. You said. He never eat a cheese in the box. He got no choice. So I ended up doing that. I was on that unit for like, 13 months. And then this is in West Texas. Are you talking about 112 113 degrees in them dorms. So all we had was music sometimes, oh, my God. Then I got shot down to South Texas. I was on three different units down there, and in 2020, I walked out of the walls unit in Huntsville. I've actually went there, took pictures and stuff outside of it, have you? Yeah, because it was real big, like, for me, like, when I was on transit, I didn't talk to my family for like, two months, and so when I got down there, it was just like the pen was in the wind, you know, I started writing my mom, and then, you know, I'm like, Hey, is my release date still good? They're moving me around like crazy. You know what's going on? Yeah, I got out of prison, and you know, you're in a group of people. And slowly but surely, everybody starts flying, and I don't get emotional. Everybody starts finding their families. And I got to the end, and I was by myself, and I remember being like, dang, did nobody come to get me? And I turned around, I'm like, Did I miss something? And there my mom is little, and I guess I missed her, and she was like, no makeup on, and she had a gown on. She hadn't seen me, so my beard was all the way out, and I right now I'm about 175 but I'm on the bad side. But a time I was about 190 something just stuck. And I'm not a tall dude, so I'm walking around like this, and I got a chain back. I look over and she just broke. She was like, Oh my God. I was like, Mom, what's up? And she almost didn't even recognize me, and I was like, but it was kind of good thing, because I wasn't fully there. But I left a boy, and I came back a man, and I it wasn't because of why I the way I looked or moved, it was the way I thought. And I just realized, like, dang, I just put my whole family through this stuff. I can't do it again. And be honest, there was so many scares since then. That's why I have to be careful on how I move now, because there's a lot riding on this. Yeah, a lot people don't realize pressure. They think they do or sacrifice sacrifices and hey, I'm gonna take two days out the week and plan for this sacrifice is, Hey, I gotta be here for three days, but I'm not going because I'm gonna go do this, right? That's saying no, sometimes, all the time, that's sacrifice, and that's the worst part of it, because I've realized that in this position, only way I'm gonna get there is by pissing everybody off. Nobody has ever Johnny Luca said it on his Facebook the other day. I've realized it with real success comes hate. There's no way around it. Everybody wants something that you can't make also go through this. I went through it's crazy to me. Here we are, and

Taylor McAdams: I remember something stood out to me. You said, my mom barely recognized me with a beard and stuff. I think the song just be me. You might have that in the lyric. Is that what it says- “even my mama, can stand the side of my face.”

Louie TheSinger: That was actually I went through. She's cool with it. You know, we talked. I'm like, Are you open with it? Because even, like, with certain songs where I'm putting our private things out there, I've asked her, you know, like, is it okay? And she's being too real? Yeah. Well, you know that we talked about the abuse that you know happened, you know, in the song, put it down, and that song is about suicide. And I asked her, before I put that song, I said, I want to show you something, and if you say, No, I won't put it out. She said, No, this is your story. You tell it. I said, All right, so would just be me. Oh, this is the funny part. So that wasn't a good thing. So me and my mom had got into it, like, maybe, like 6434, months before that, and I didn't talk to her for like, two, four months, and it was bad. And I said, Man, you just hate me because I literally my dad. She says, No, I can't stand the side of your face because you're like your uncle Freddy. I said, What block list? I'm like, what the record stop? Yeah. I'm like, yo hold up the whole time. She goes, I could smirk. You do the way you laugh, the way you that. And I remember looking at my own mom like, are you What the hell like my own mother is like, literally disgusted. And I could see it in the movement of mouth. And I remember, at the time, I'm going through a breakup too, and I remember just being like, man, nobody understands me. Wow. I love my Uncle Fred, but I am definitely not uncle Freddy, right? Just trust me. Love you Uncle Fred, but now he's a wild 125. Years master Gunny sergeant. He actually escorted Donald Trump before like he's actually, well, accolades So, but I'm not my uncle. So it hit me like, Man, I want to really just go somewhere and just be me. I don't want to be no nobody else. I want to smoke. I'm going to drink and turn my music up. Everything that they tell me that I shouldn't be doing. That's who I am. Why it's that song, that's how it happened. What I literally, I can't help it that I'm different. It was about the country music too, because I was doing everybody was talking about me. I'm like, What is going on right now? So I went to the music and I wrote that song. I can't help it that I'm different. I can't help I'm not the same. They say love accepts everyone, but I see that's not the case. And then that's when I talked about moving on. Even my mama can't stand the side of my face. But I'll be all right, and I'll be okay.

Taylor McAdams: That one went pretty viral, too, didn't it?   

Louie TheSinger: Yeah, I got like 9 million views overnight. It was like 76,000 shares on Facebook. It was crazy.

Taylor McAdams: This was like, 20 what? 2022,

Louie TheSinger:  22 Yeah. And I used to go to this smoke shop for Diamond swishers. And at the time, you know, I only have money to kind of just buy a pack right to die. I get two pack, two diamond swishers Right the day, or whatever. And I walked in, and they would open up, we got two diamonds. They call me two diamond swishers. That's what they would call me. And then eventually I walk in, they're like, hey, two diamonds on my what? And they hold the phone this, you might Yeah, what's up? They're like, you'll be saying, Oh yeah, they're like, That's cool, man. And slowly, but sh, I started realizing I couldn't really go nowhere, but it was cool, because it was, like, it was just a viral thing. And then eventually, like, all the other songs about me, like sending me back, was about me going back to prison, like, all those things started well, because my family and this. Wasn't playing. My family was there with a banda, and maulita is sitting there under a tent by my grandfather and my dad's grave site, while they're sitting there playing, like on some real Mexicans. That's what we do. And my tias are all drinking like that. They had a glass bottle like, I mean, they're lit. My Tia fell in ants, and she's hitting the oh, it was crazy. But we pulled up to shoot there, and so eventually that started going viral. People were like, Yo, he's Mexican. Like, my, my grandma does that mother, and I'm, like, so relatable, yeah? Like, oh, I'm Mexican American. So, like, that's, you know, like, but I mean, anybody you ask me, like, what? Oh, I'm Mexican, you know, are you Mexican American? Clearly, yes, you know, between, yeah. I mean, I'm even that. Like, I'm keeping real with everybody. I'm not fluent in Spanish, you know, I grew up on the block. I grew up doing the wrong, you know, so is what it is, you know, so but, but I do. I do understand most of it, you know, saying, you know, they say, play dumb, I play smart. Oh, yeah, you do. But no, um, it was, it was just different. But, yeah,

Taylor McAdams: Yeah. Well, I've loved getting to know you. You've kept it so real. We're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, we have big things in store. We're going to get to see where Louis ends up in the future and what he's got going on now. So stay tuned. Narrator: Since 1879 our iconic boots have been trusted on ranches, job sites and beyond. Now we bring that legacy to our new just in jeans. Our jeans are meticulously crafted from a blend of materials offering uncompromised comfort and toughness, boots, jeans and clothes built for men who demand nothing less than craftsmanship and style. Find a retailer in your area, at Justin boots.com. 

Taylor McAdams: Hey everybody. Thanks for joining us. If you've missed it, go back and watch it. If you are just tuning in right now. You're about to be amazed at everything Louie has going. If you've already listened through and you have so many more questions, feel free to comment below or DM and whatever we love to answer questions here on the podcast. So I guarantee you, if there's enough questions, there might be a chance that he's back on we'll have to get some questions answered, but I'm going to jump right into it, and this is going to kind of-

Louie TheSinger: sorry,

Taylor McAdams:  no, no. Do you need to? Yeah,

Taylor McAdams: This is going to kind of like how you were talking about earlier with, like, The Rolling Stones magazine and stuff, like titles and things. This might throw you off a little bit, but because you don't toot your own horn enough, I want to toot your horn for you. So I'm going to read a quote that I found once you signed your deal with UMG Nashville, from the CEO of UMG Nashville, Cindy made and it says, I'm so inspired by Louie's energy purpose and intention to expand the sound of country music through his own personal story and his songs. I'm so proud to bring Louie into Universal Music Group in Nashville. And for hearing that quote, obviously, it's been months now, almost a year now since that happened, what does that feel like to you, to now be with such a big label, doing your thing, living your dream, having people like her say things about you?

Louie TheSinger: Well, first off, thank you. Love you, Cindy. Cindy is amazing when I tell you like

Taylor McAdams: you're good, take your break. Will

Louie TheSinger: I smoke. It's not COVID. Not worried. Thank you. Now, so Cindy's amazing man. Like, um, Cindy's big thing with me was always to make sure that I that she changed my view on labels, because I've been doing this a while. And not only that, like, I'm not no respect to anybody, but I'm not a dumb person. So I knew that going into things, there was going to be a lot of things we're gonna have to work out first. She was okay with that. She's okay with the creative control. She was okay with me doing what I wanted, how i Hey, man, you know he's gonna might ruffle some feathers, and his his team might be like, Yo, what's going on? But hey, y'all, one of the real deals here he is. She told me, she goes, I've been looking for you for seven years. Where you been? I said, in jail. She was I figured that she told me that. She goes, I've been looking for you for seven years. She told me in front of my mother, she goes, I'm gonna tell you right now, Louie, all those knows you told me about from Nashville, from the radio stations and everybody. She goes, I am telling you personally, Louie, I'm gonna put you on my back, and I'm walking through every door in Nashville and saying he's with me, if you give me the chance, I do not want to be a CEO, to just do music in country. I want to change it. You're my guy. And I remember being like, holy sh-, there's a lot on this. Woman, yeah, well, I remember just sitting there, and this is in the this is in the dressing room at trees and Deep Ellum at a sold out show. And this is, this is a Mexican VAPA from Fort Worth Texas that is not signed on a major label that just put 800 people in a room in Dallas. I'm from Fort Worth, people that know that we don't, yeah, and hometown is always hardest. Man. I went up there my mom, I see my mom. I see everybody, and I rocked, you know, and Cindy has been, and Chelsea have been, you know, just so such a blessing. Like to have those people. And, you know, to be honest, too, it's also overwhelming, because she has an amazing lineup. She has the war. In treaty. Those people sound so those people that, okay, there's people that sound those people that sound like they do in real life. It's a thing for whatever reason, they sound 10 times better in person. And it is very intimidating. I don't think that they know that, but I There you go. You're officially saying it, there's that, there's, there's, I mean, even, like, with the newer ones coming to Colt, Graves is dope timberland and universal. He's a good friend of mine, so it's like to be a part of that is crazy. But big shout out to Cindy. And, like, I always say, man, thank you for taking, you know, a chance on the Mexican you know, I'm saying so, you know, I mean, like, I always tell her as, like, I'm the guy for the job. You know, I'm always gonna do a job. I might not talk. That's not my thing, but I'ma get it done.

Taylor McAdams: Oh heck yes, and you are, and it's proving it. And there's two directions I want to go, so I'm gonna bounce back and forth for a second. You mentioned your hometown. I can't help but think of Billy Bob's and your show there. Talk about that. That was probably, you probably had to take a moment at some point and, like, take it 100%

Louie TheSinger: Oh man, the whole time. And this is before my anxiety got bad, because I It wasn't even like I would just get nervous before, you know, and but nothing big. And I remember that show because it was hometown. People don't realize the history we have info worth like we're really familiar. My mom has crazy stories where she's hanging on to a mirror and my dad's on top of the truck, banging it, and they're dragging them through the stockyards, and they're trying to get their ATM card, their debit card, back, you know, my God, they she said my dad's on top of the truck. Ask my baby's money through the debit card and cash from the debit card out or something like that, the window, and they jumped off. My mom said her heels are going because she's sitting there hanging on. I've been banned from almost every bar you could think of in stockyards, but we're not going to talk about it, because I want to come back anyway. But no, what's crazy is, you know, like there's history there with this, like, real history. My grandma used to go to ISIS theater back in the days as a little girl to watch movies, you know. And now it's open again, you know. Mark my words when I walk my grandmother in on a red carpet on the ISIS theater for her to see her grandson on the screen. It's going to be the that's going to be the world to me, you know. And

Taylor McAdams: We heard it here first. 

Louie TheSinger: Yeah, first. So, there's a lot of things I want to do here, and everybody's like, man, well, you know, do you sure you want to do that? I'm like any other artist that came in here to do that. Y'all will be culture Vulturing us straight up because Fort Worth we have a lot of rich history. No, don't run to Dallas. Oh, no, don't. Don't come back from Dallas. Now talking about, Oh, I love Dallas 100% you need Dallas. Yeah, I love that. But just like Dallas, would you represent where you're from? I'm from Fort Worth, Texas, yes. I'm saying, anytime I step out, I tell people I'm from Fort Worth, anytime I'm further, I tell people I'm from Dallas, Fort Worth, I represent, you know? I'm saying, Yeah, but I am from the north side area of Fort Worth. My mama struggled to pay the bills here. I lost my father in the city. I lost homies on these blocks. I almost lost my life on these blocks. I became a father in the city. Yeah, I'm not gonna take none of that from me. And if you want it, come and take it. Y'all wanted the real deal. Here it is all you think there's a song about that too? Yes, call come and take it like I had a good talk with one of my friends in Nashville, and he was like, you know, what do you think changed with the Mexican was in country music for you? I said, You want me to tell you the truth. We always had the representation. We always had that. But the truth was, it was never really handed to us. We need to kick down the doors. And none of y'all had to boost for it, honey. Y'all just weren't I, respectfully, I would have loved to grow up on a ranch like y'all, or grow up with, you know, the right things around me. It wasn't me, and unfortunately, and fortunately, that's what made me so that, with that being said, I'm the one to kick down this door. I want to come do it. I'm not here to talk about it and be like, Hey, I'm this, I'm this, I'm that. Nah, man, I'm coming in here to let people know, like, hey, it's enough. We're here if it's a problem, no problem. But other than that, let's make some freaking awesome music, and just put a stamp in music, you know, Freddie fender and them. Let's pick up, not after. Let's pick up where they left off. You know, like pushing the culture out. You know, it's not about taking it and dividing it. It's about taking it and giving it out. It was country music. Should have never belonged to it never belonged to a people or a person. It belonged to the people of country. You can't tell a man he ain't country because you, he don't ride a horse every day like you. You can't tell a man you ain't country because he don't farm like you. Come on, there's different kinds of cowboys. Yeah, Boots might be different. Yours might be still told. Mine might be to ride.

Taylor McAdams: I think you might be writing a song. 

Louie TheSinger: Yeah, I actually have one called cowboy, and it's an okay, talks about pipeliners, oil tankers, 60 fours and church pews. It's all at the end. Everything all called cowboy. We all really like, it's a thing out here. People don't realize what a cowboy like. I never thought about that until I get out of town and I threw it around. Or, howdy, howdy, Honey, how y'all doing? Y'all really say that, and I'm like, oh god. It's like, we are far from home, you know, so they are, yeah,

Taylor McAdams: we are not in the south anymore. Yeah, no, that's,

Louie TheSinger:  that's where it's at. 

Taylor McAdams: Well, I love that. And I love your passion for Fort Worth, too. And then, oh goodness. My side question to that was, you mentioned, well, with UMG comes a lot of opportunities and things like that. And we were talking after off-camera earlier, about the People's Choice Awards. Yeah, you got an invite. Yeah, talk about that. I mean, how cool,

Louie TheSinger: Man. I. Just remember getting my manager's car. I don't remember where I was at. I think I was in Nashville, and he's like, hey, the People's Choice Award country war, People's Choice Country Awards hit you up and they want you to walk the red carpet. Like, I'm not getting invited, or I'm like, walking the red carpet. And they were like, let me clarify. So clear. They were like, no, we want him to walk carpet. And so when I got there, and the publicist from Universal was there and, etc, etc. I'm like, Whoa, this is real deal. I have you ever been to red carpet event? I've only been to like, one, and it was when they gave Cindy Lifetime Achievement Award. That's where I met big boy. LL, cool. J, Becky. I've known Becky since we're younger. That's a whole different story. But like, yeah, that's crazy, managers when we're little, yeah, I end up seeing, you know what? It was kind of like, yeah. But as I like that, yeah? I mean, well, I was still in the red carpet. Was sending them taking pictures, but just with the label, when universal got there, okay, they had her come out, kind of cool. She's like, my guys, I need them. And it was like, me, Brad Paisley and like, the orange tree, and I'm like, Just standing there, like, holy crap. Yeah, we made it food. Yeah, I had to start drinking, and I was always gonna be a problem. So me and Chris Pat, is there whatever? You know, we're doing an acoustic version to come and take it and but my this one was different because so we red carpets. When people get there, I don't know if you ever see kind of like, the phones you can, oh, that's such a sudden you can hear everybody saytheir name.

Taylor McAdams: That happens?  

Louie TheSinger: Yeah. Oh, 100% like came in shabuja. That's something, you know. So I remember being like, who got paid to mess with my brain right now, I'm like, This is crazy. I got a jacket made by Rob the original. Shout out to the homie, super dope and very, very, very popular viral artist from California, made my jacket. He drew Freddie fender on the back. Freddie fender pulled my grandma on stage back in the 70s at the rocket in the north side, right? So I let her pick the picture. Oh, it's like a whole thing. We're from here. And when I tell you, so she does that, and the rocket was cool. If you didn't know this, back in the day, there was just dances. It wasn't like clubs. It was like, dance, we're going to the island. Like, it's like, it's like, where they ran out of Hall. A band plays, they charge you at the door. Dance Yes And wow, the rocket was dope, because the ceiling would slide open so you could dance into the stars. I have a song called Dance with me, and it was actually like I pictured myself in that era with my grandma, because my grandma used to was the only person I ever knew growing up that drank Jack and Coke. She never drank. She drank she drank maybe three times my whole life, and she only drank Jack and Coke. So my song starts off with a Jack and Coke, good old smoke, a country girl, somebody that. But it talks about, I can see the stars in her eyes because the cinema, but that's where it came from. So, um, we end up doing the red carpet here, and I'm walking out, I got the Freddy fender jacket on, and I hear people saying “Louie” I mean, I'm really, I'm just, man, I'm me. I'm like, Yeah, I'm wearing a white cowboy hat, and I'm walking out and black denim jacket, you know, and I've got some jewelry on. So I walk in, I don't know what to expect. And it's crazy when people like, Hey, keep it up. Keep it up. Even people that I know online, they're like, Hey, man, keep it up. Man. What's up? Hey, Louie Wright, and I'm like, Yeah, what's up, man. And it's just, so it was just very surreal. But like,

Taylor McAdams: Did anyone tell you anything or ask what was the weirdest memory from that night?

Louie TheSinger: What was like, Man, I'll tell you. Oh,

Taylor McAdams: Did somebody ask for your socks or anything weird? Like, no.

Louie TheSinger: I mean, it was more just industry people at it. So everybody's kind of cool. You know, I would say the craziest thing I was about, I went like, because I did have somebody like, yeah, no. 

Taylor McAdams: There's definitely crazy moments where they ask you weird questions, or,

Louie TheSinger: Yeah, they try to put you on the spot sometimes, and I'm like, Man, I'll say some throats get us all canceled. How about that? You know, I'm just kidding, but yeah, no, yeah. So the red carpet was definitely different. It was cool. It was just, it was surreal for real.

Taylor McAdams: Oh my goodness. And it's, you go from a high like that. Was just a few weeks ago, last week, something like that. You go from that high to now it's football season. We're gonna go into basketball season, baseball season. You get to be dad as well. Talk about that. Yeah, that's like, a really high transition high. 

Louie TheSinger: So my kids are, like, age wise, they're so separate. It's cool though, because I taught me my brothers, but I was one of four brothers. I have four boys. How that worked out? I don't know my oldest. You said karma, right? That's the beautiful karma. Yeah, bad karma was when they started acting like me. But my oldest man, I love him to death. He can sing as well. Um, he's 15, but he's more. He reminds me a lot of myself. Um, so mad at the world and everything in between it, because everything that it did to you, you know, and I get it. So there's times where I distance myself, because I know what I want to say. But with the babies, it's the opposite. It's like I can yell all day, and they sit there and they'll still do it. But there's many kids are spoiled. They got bounce water, bounce houses, regular bounce houses in the backyard. I gotta we have a barn with a pool table and a basket basketball arcade. What else is back there? Bunch of stuff that we didn't have, you know? I mean, my brother, we look at it all the time, and he's like, imagine having this as kids. I go, it wouldn't last in three days. No, you know, because we did dumb sh, you know. But you know, and my nine year old, he is my music guy for. Sure, though, the kids already recording himself. He has a piano, guitar, drums and recording software and a bass in his bedroom. Like he, you know, he will talk sometimes in the counter slots fans, when he's I haven't had time for the music, but when he's on it, I'm like, there with him, and then I'll tell him, like, hey, what do you think about maybe changing this word? Because he has recordings in here. He's just like, he's like, yeah, I get what you're saying, but it's just, it's not gonna go how I want it to end. Just, just wait till I'm done first. And I'm like, that's funny though, oh, yeah, but it's creepy. I'm like, now I know what people deal with me, but when you know, you know, so just let them work, you know. Yeah, no, man, I might dad all over again with my kids, like we're more outside, you know, like we're running around, like, it's hard to run around, to be honest with you, out nowadays, because, you know, I do get recognized, and, you know, the guys gone with me, you know, different places. But, I mean, it's like, man, to be honest, like, I'm, I come from different like, Man, I don't want my kids to be like that all the times. Well, when I went out of town to go for my kids for their first day of school, I don't by myself. Nobody even knew. Like, my like, the guys knew and stuff like that. But like, my manager didn't even know I went by myself, and in the morning I came back. He was like, What are you doing? I was like, heading back. I went to the kids first day of school, and until about the time goes, Oh, who's driving me? He goes, you by yourself? I said, Yeah. He goes, this food. So that just shows you where it's at for me. And sometimes I have to realize, like, when my own managers realized, like, why are you by yourself? You don't need to be by yourself. Yeah. And then I get approached all the time at bars. People tell you, it's all on Facebook. Man, just ran into Louis, the singer coolest voucher, Drake, and talked to him for 30 minutes. 

Taylor McAdams: I'll chop up with you, you know, like, that was cool. But also, yeah,

Louie TheSinger: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm yeah, I'm cool. I'm really cool. It's just, you know, going out with my kids now, like parks and stuff like that, like we do get filmed and stuff like that, and it gets it's cool. It's just, like, hard for the babies to understand. I was in Vegas for my son, so my last date of tour was in Vegas. I played the House of Blues at the motherly Bay, a dream that's crazy. Yeah, wow. And my son, that was his birthday. I'm like, dang, I flew him and his mom out for and, you know, he's watching me at the top and stuff like that. But before that, I said, we'll go shopping. You know, don't bring clothes. We'll go shopping while we're there. Happy birthday. Um, I remember taking pictures with fans and looking over and he had just a stair like, when do I get one time? I'm like, Dang. His mom were already going out in my defense. So I kind of just like this, you know what? I gotta, I gotta, I gotta do this, right? So just stayed with the move, walked around, did it, and then at one point it was just me, him and his mom, I believe. And then, but yeah, I, I, I try my hardest to do to make it as normal now, because I don't know anything else but it. But no, like, when I'm with my kids, they know, a lot of people know, don't even bother me, yeah? And that's good, yeah. And it makes me be okay whenever I get back on the road, because when I'm far from them for too long, or we're just not in like, agreements, you know, the schedules don't line up. It hurts, you know, and it bothers me, because I do all this to give them life I didn't have, and I have my phone on the way. Don't get me wrong, you know, like, I love my job, so if you ever see me out smiling, having some drinks when I'm working, I mean, I think if anybody's mad at that, they just mad that it's not their job, because I would have been too but, I mean, I get it, you know, so, but there are times where I trust me, my guys know if I wanted to, I take off for two weeks, won't talk nobody, as long as I got my mic and everything to record my music, I'm good. Ain't gonna like the bank. But the truth is, is I'm not that guy. It's not if I go, I'm working. You're always working. Oh man, 100% and if they'll tell you, there's days I wake up dealing with the craziest stuff with my children, and you would never even know it. Interview to interview afterwards, just till I get back and they'll tell you straight up, I throw everything off. I'm pissed I woke up. I've tore up a whole Airbnb before. Took off in my own RV, left where everybody without everybody just left my own manager call me like, I'm gone. He's like, you're by yourself. Yep. He was like, you drive an RV? I said, they own it. Oh, I've lost my whole brain on the on tour, namely just standing from being away from the kids and knowing all this sh going on. And imagine what tour just starting. It's like, man, you know, I had a lot going on, motor sun this year, and full circle stuff, you know. So it's like, in the way. I'm kind of happy in a bad way that I'm in a bad way. I'm mad that I know what what to expect, because I was there, you know. And it definitely trick trickles into my work, you know, and me wanting to be out, and my anxiety and stuff like that. But I wouldn't trade none of it, because it's only thing that keeps me saying being a dad,

Taylor McAdams: And I love seeing the side of you too, because you are a tough guy, and you've been through some stuff that's made you tough. But this is the second time in like a month, that I've sat next to a grown man that is wanting to get teary eyed about their kids. So I just got to give a huge shout out to you, because that means you care. You're on it, and I bet at some points, like my parents and I. Talked about at times they just wanted to, like, pick me up and shake me and be like, get back on the right path. What are you doing? I'm sure you can relate to that. You want to just like, come on, Chad, get it together. I want you to do this, but we don't have to go there. I just, I just want to say that I commend you so much for that. And you mentioned to kind of change things a little bit. You mentioned in Vegas playing, yeah, okay, so I've got to ask you, this is on my list. What has been your most favorite place to play, and then in the future, what is like your like next goal level?

Louie TheSinger: Okay, I thought you're gonna be like, what's the crazy happened? I was like, looking at through that craziest place I've played so far. I have to honestly say, Billy Bob's because I was hometown to see almost 3000 people in a room on a Wednesday right after Christmas.

Taylor McAdams: For you, yeah, it was Wednesday right after Christmas. Christmas, two days after

Louie TheSinger: it was little like, whoa, Angela, this, you know. And my I was wearing all white, and my mom's friend, Stephanie, she was like, you know, he not being funny came out. It was like, freaking Elvis. I loved it. And I'm like, too, you know. But I was like, you know, Philly, knowing that my people that were so close to me growing up felt that way, it shows me that that was a whole different energy level, you know. I'll be honest, there's times where I stand there for at least a minute and they just don't stop screaming, and I'm just sitting there, they don't even know it like I'm trying not to either cry or just be like, What the hell going on, you know, but I'm sitting there just taking it in, and before I know it, I'm like, I haven't said nothing for a minute. Even the guys, my buddy and he was in coumadia Kings back in the day, goes, dude, you got to do the freeze. I'm like, What's the freeze? He goes, they already doing it for you. We used to go on stage and boom, the whole band would stop. He said he stopped for six minutes. I go, Oh, hell no. I'm like, No, I'm definitely not the COVID kings yet, boo. I'm like, for six minutes they're gonna be like, he's a robot, you know, it's 2024 we can't do that. He say, I mean, I know stuff, so nah, like, um, Vegas. I mean, Billy Bob's was the dopest one, but on my bucket list, yeah.

Taylor McAdams: If you could do it tomorrow, where would you perform at your dream place?  

Louie TheSinger: I don't know, because it's not really about the place. It's about who's there, you know, like, like, we're like, like, I don't know how to explain it. It's like, though, if it's gonna be that, it's gotta be like, when, like, my mom and everybody there. And it's like, where the true? Yeah, because, like, the People's Choice Awards, I had one invite, and I my first choice was going to be my mom or my grandma, but I couldn't take both. So I was like, All right, I'm not going to take the other one until I could take both. So I took my manager, and he was like, I'm not mad. If you don't want me to go, I go. No. I said, No, I want you to go. I think this is cool for both is my first one, but, and

Taylor McAdams: then, now, when you get invited for an award, you're nominated for something, then you can bring,

Louie TheSinger: like, even with the guys, like, you know, because only for everybody going there, man, I bought everybody else's tickets just to be in the crowd and was to hang out, like, because we didn't even expect it. But we saw a lot of dope performers, uh, like, I mean, just, just all kinds of stuff.

Taylor McAdams: I feel like that. Okay, so have you gotten to me Jelly Roll?

Louie TheSinger: Jelly is super cool, man. He is so nice. He's definitely showing love, even online. We got something crazy with that. But to conclude on that, yes, I mean, I would like to headline, you know, something like American Airlines center one day, and something big like that, you know, like, just come on me. I don't know if you saw Morgan Wallen, just Yep, 150 7000 people at his hometown show. He beat the Jackson Five

Taylor McAdams: records that Jackson Five, I hadn't heard that 

Louie TheSinger: Jackson Five was the last one to hold that record, and he beat it. Do you understand what that must like? He's probably somewhere on Cloud mind. Man, like, that's beautiful, you know, yeah, something like that would be cool. Like, honestly, like, you know, shut down all of Fort Worth and, or something like that, and just have like, a show. And, you know,

Taylor McAdams: maybe LLouie TheSinger day, yeah, it's

Louie TheSinger: like, man, like, I'm from here, you know, saying, like, like, you know, bring out the people from Fort Worth, neon bridges, you know, like that. That's the homie. People don't know this. Leon was my backup singer in 2000 living no facts. It's his first time ever on stage was the house booze in Dallas with me. He put it online, and that kind of, like, sparked a lot of things. And my managers, like you got to tell people, I'm like, why is that? Because nobody will, like, it's a dream. Like, all right, cool, but yeah, no, there's like, that's crazy. Like, with me, me, Becky, Leon and everything. Like, they didn't know each other, but, like, that was all around the same time, and I was in prison when they were having their big boom. And I remember being like, it was a real bad story, but yeah, I would like to have a little singer day. That'd be cool, yeah, one day, yeah,

Louie TheSinger: One day. But we're doing Dickies Arena in like nine days. Okay, so let's talk about that. Then big I was actually a big I was actually a big Ryan Bingham fan because of Yellowstone. Okay, me too. That's

Taylor McAdams: How I found him.

Louie TheSinger:  Yeah, he comes out in prison. You know, I'm like, I kind of relate where he's not the big dude. But you could definitely tell him place this fool off. You know, it's like, but he does music. I'm like, I relate to rip more than anything. But now I'm like, yo. I. All wrong. I like this guy. You know, when I got into the show, real heavy became Orion Bingham fan. Of course, listen to the music. I remember listening to his songs first and being like, dude, how does your voice sound like? That's so awesome. It's like, super old school, but modern, like, it doesn't even it sounds like some out of a movie. You can't explain it. 

Taylor McAdams: Yeah, sounds like somebody you can feel same like you like you can feel his emotion, the grunge, just like the rawness.

Louie TheSinger: So of course, I was a Ryan Bingham fan, and I get a call and they're like, Yo, you want to play. I don't remember how it happened, if it was through the agency or through whatever, but I remember getting a call like, Hey, do you want to dig his arena with Ryan Bingham? He wants you to open up. Like, yeah, what? And they told me that he was actually on a show recently, my mom's old boss hit her up to him like I was listening to an interview with Ryan. Interview with Ryan Bingham, and he brought up Louie. It was like, I got great Texas acts that ended up opening up for me coming up Louis. I was like, what this is cool, you know? And then, of course, uh, shabu z, I remember seeing his um, Spark on the internet around the same time, and not being funny, he got the number one single first, bam. So he was gone, you know, and he's doing all that. So when I saw a full circle moment of him ending up back on with this show with me, I was awesome. And of course, Shane Smith and the saints, those who's cold with it, like, really, really cold with it, yeah. And then, of course, Tanya Tucker, Tanya, just to be a part of, like, a lineup like that. It was cool. But also the only Mexican American representation on there. And I don't really like to bring that up, because I don't want to don't want to, always want to make it this box, you know. But the truth is, is they're starting to recognize, yes, you know. And I get tired, don't get me wrong. But if they say, go here, here, here, it'll be a good thing. We spark something every city to where there's going to be other men of color with opportunity. Definitely, I don't even mean just Mexicans. There's some Asian country singers that are cold, straight up. It's a thing. Maui, right? Mayoli is another one. He's actually like, Islander, right? He's like Hawaiian. He's got a great following. He does like, a Hawaiian country mix. It is, Oh, it's beautiful. Okay, now I'm gonna go look that. Oh, it's cold. So it's like, I just, you know, I see all these other guys working, like, you know what it's it's just all time to push down the wall together. 

Taylor McAdams: There's room for everyone, man, period.

Louie TheSinger: There's so much. Because the truth is, let's be honest, everybody's worried about the money, and the moment you're worried about money, that's when it don't work. Genius, you're right. The truth is, there's enough money for everybody, because the even bigger parties. And it gets to that point, what the hell are you gonna do with all this money? Right? I gotta go buy some sh, holy. I gotta learn about tax, right? I gotta run about, learn about, well, my S corp, like, oh, man, I don't know nothing. They take taxes out for payroll, and my assistants having to explain that, and I'm like, You didn't tell me, you know? Like, it's just so much, you know. So 

Taylor McAdams: I like your outlook on that, because there will be a point one time when you get to the point where you're like, I've done it all. I've seen it all. I have it all. What? Well, not only that, the funny part is, is

Louie TheSinger: there's two different people that jump into the industry, people that want to be rich in families, and people that just want to do music. There are people that want to throw families off of music, that's a whole different thing. Yeah, yeah. That's the guy that goes to work that don't want to be there, but he knows why he's there, you know? But at the same time, imagine when you do love your job. That's the win, win. 

Taylor McAdams: But that's when the spice comes along.  

Louie TheSinger: That's why everybody Yeah, they're like, oh well, but I want to, I said, but you didn't hear what I said. That's when you love your job. I love this. People were like, Why you work so much? I'm not working. I'm having fun, you know, and I can't sit still, but I don't move forward. I'm not I'm that is a that is negative momentum to me. I just spent 24 hours not moving forward. Why? I have people, artists, complain all the time. How did I do this? How to do that? I need this. I did. I said, Man, I got four kids, felonies, got it, went to prison and back and lost a whole bunch of bullsh- to this man, sound like excuses to me? Yeah?

Taylor McAdams: You want to go get it, wake up and do it. Yeah?

Louie TheSinger: My dad taught me something that I never lived by, but I applied to certain things. I did. Live by it and running, but it wasn't you should live. He taught me you got a problem, fixing somebody's in your way, moving, that's it. And you know what the truth is? In this industry, that's exactly what it is. I had so many no's. It's like, you know what? I will go somewhere with it, yes, but I will remember those no's, and I won't shun them out, but I will say, remember, come on now, because it starts somewhere. It's got to start somewhere, you know, just be the bigger mouth with some of these guys, man. Because the truth is, is, longevity isn't meant for everybody, and that might not even be here next week. Guy that holds my camera, not him, but like the guy that, or anybody could say the guy that holds my camera next week, he's a country artist. You're right. You know the guy that's a country artist next week, he's holding the camera. It's a thing. Don't get no ideas. 

Taylor McAdams: Well, that reminds me of the story. I don't know if you've heard about Cole Swindell and Luke Bryan and how they have you seen that documentary? Okay, well, in your all your free time that you don't have, okay, check it out. But that's exactly how Cole Swindell came. He was selling T shirts for Luke Bryan, yes,

Louie TheSinger: I do know the story. Yeah, he was the merch guy.

Taylor McAdams: Yeah, the merch guy. That's how he's now,

Louie TheSinger: That's always a thing. Yes, that's always a level he used to be, and now he's my assistant, moving on to a road management position. You're actually going from getting paid just to do some. Shirts, and then getting paid to do everything for me, and then I get a percentage of everything, because you are doing that. You know the levels of man, I have been to labels where, two years after I've been there, the water guy that let us in is the guy I'm having a meeting with. 1,000% I've seen it. I've seen it like, weren't you to Yeah, man, so I'm it's a long story, but what's up? Talk to me about the music. And I'm like, you were the water guy. I

Taylor McAdams: He got me a water you know, like, you know, like, 

Louie TheSinger: So it's, I can, I mean, little things like that to me are inspiring, because it's like, you never know I my manager will tell you, because he's do music. I always wanted to be in the room. I was had nothing to do with me. I wanted to be there. Just wanted to learn and wanted to be involved. 

Taylor McAdams: You know, that is the right attitude to have, especially, like I grew up rodeoing, and the same thing translates, right? Yes, yeah. So we probably have that in common. We get to week. It's probably a whole nother podcast about horses. But the gate guy, the gate guy, was always the one you wanted to be friends with, not because it mattered to you, not because, but because he didn't have to be there. He's opening the gate. He gets no he's probably not even being paid. It's probably volunteer or, I guess, gate woman too, yeah, but you gotta treat them the same and think, and then the next thing you know, they've worked their way up there, the president of the roundup club or the president of the rodeo, or same concepts. 

Louie TheSinger: You know what's weird? I'm nice to I'm cool with everybody. Like, it's one of those situations they know me, and I'm in my mood. I'm like, man, and it's really, like an anxiety thing. I'm like, Man, I won't talk to somebody. Give me a second, and it's because I don't want to make a fool of myself. But there's times where I've talked to somebody, like, one of my guys made the mistake of thinking one of our but we're cool now, we thought this artist was a camera guy for like, three days straight. So I I'm like, because I'm working, and you know, when I'm at the studio in Nashville with universal, I I was already told that there was gonna be artists watching me work. I didn't know whatever I got so much going on, yeah, for five days, that's minor, yeah? So I'm like, cool, you know, y'all are introduced me. So I swear to you, I felt bad little me. He thought he was, like, sitting there, standing, and I finally asked him, Hey, man, who just bought the man, I'm in here write these records. Like, did he sign anything? Like, what's going on? 

Taylor McAdams: Yeah, he's recording all this.

Louie TheSinger: Yeah, Daniel, Daniel goes that camera guy's assistant. Yeah, that's cool. So I thought he was got me guys assistant. I'm cool with him for three days. He was the artist timber in the universal just, but that shows you, you just be cool with everybody, because the truth is, you ain't better nobody. This could be over tomorrow for me. Wow, this could be over next year. You know, saying, yeah, like, that's the truth, but be, no, it won't be, but because I'm not lying to nobody, yeah, sometimes I'm a piece of sh, and I try not to be, you know, saying, but I'm changing, like I'm trying to change like everybody else,

Taylor McAdams: but every single person relates to you, because of that, we all have, you know, we can, you know, for real though, like, even when you're doing good and you're on track, you still have a negative thought, or you still so, like, 100 every

Louie TheSinger: The single I don’t give a dang, which is one of my records, is the most yelled out song. And I always start that off with, I'm like, be honest with you, how many y’all gotta go to work tomorrow? Yeah, how many y'all really don't give a dang? Then it's like, and that's when I'm like, You know what? Yeah, this is crazy. And just to give you a little plug, I do have a song called POS coming out. Okay, Paul took the reins on it. So Paul was gonna put-be putting out a record called POS featuring Louis, TheSinger. And can't tell you, yeah, but just trust me, I can't tell y'all, but I will tell you this the internet, I swear to you, has been asking for this for almost two years.

Taylor McAdams: Oh my gosh. Well, I absolutely can't wait. I think that was like the perfect segue to end this thing, because we're going to be anxiously waiting for for that to come out, and honestly cheering you on Billy Bob's, I mean, sorry, Dickies Arena is happening by the time the podcast is going to be out, it's going to be this weekend. So you guys go get your tickets. You're not going to want to want to miss it now that you've gotten to sit here and get an experience that, like, really no one else gets, you've gotten to hear his story, where he came from, like, it's going to make you I'm like, right? I'm so happy. I'm like, Okay, let's go Tyler. Tyler, my husband. Let's go to every show from now on, you know. So anyways, thank you for being here so much, and I can't help I've got to give you a plug on your social media. So everyone right now, take out your phones and go follow at Louie TheSinger on social media. And fun fact, it's not Louis the singer, it's Louis the singer. That's kind of a running joke around. 

Louie TheSinger: Yeah, everybody's like, and, I mean, I was whatever young when I came up with the idea, because I only came up with it for handles. Okay, so if you didn't follow me or and you just saw my name, you knew what I did, at least, yeah, oh, Louis. That's why I changed. I used to buy something else, but I changed it to Louis the singer, because I saw social media was changing around 2011 so I changed my name for that.

Taylor McAdams: Very smart. Yeah, very smart. So you guys go check him out. He has a website that keeps up to date with the shows. If you can't make Dickies Arena, you're not in Fort Worth area. There's one coming up on 10/19, 10/26, he's going to be in Harlington, Texas, Hobbs, New Mexico, everywhere. He's got some shows in December coming up. So you just really never know where he might pop up. But stay tuned for POS that's going to be coming up in the future. Like it, download it, favorite it, leave it a review, whatever you got to do. And then same here, if you have any more questions, if you want to know more, if you think I didn't. Maybe ask a question that you wanted answered. Feel free to comment below, and then, as always, hit that bell in the top right-hand corner to subscribe to this channel. Subscribe to all the podcast episodes, and we are so excited to see you in the next episode. But thank you guys for kicking your boots up with us. Thanks for joining us on Kick Your Boots Up. I'm your host, Taylor McAdams, and we can't wait to share the next story of the west until then, feel free to like subscribe and leave us a review. Follow us on social media at Justin boots to keep up with our next episode, and we'll see you the next time you kick your boots up.