The Who, What, and Why of Country Music Dads

In our very first episode, Mick and Dave dive deeper into the mission of the podcast. Who are the Country Music Dads? What will we talk about? And why does the world need a country music podcast about parenting? We cover our distinct backgrounds, the six kids we have between us, and the key influences that have shaped our tastes in country music. We also give listeners an idea of the topics and structure they can expect from our first season. Thank you for tuning in! We are stoked to start sharing the music and the parenting stories that are helping us raise our kids country.

Mentioned in this episode:

• ⁠National At-Home Dad Network Convention
• ⁠DadHousePod⁠
• ⁠Whiskey Riff⁠
• ⁠The Johnny Cash Concert Experience⁠

Show Notes

• Mick and Dave share how they met and their previous creative endeavors in the parenting and country music space [01:35].
• Who are Mick and Dave and what are their perspectives? [04:32]
• What can listeners expect from the show? [07:27]
• The musical tastes and preferences that influence the Country Music Dads [18:18].

Sources

• Intro Music: ⁠“Dark Country Rock” by Moodmode⁠
• Farm Boy Update Theme Music: ⁠“The Wheels on the Bus Rockabilly Style (instrumental)” by Mike Cole⁠
• HARDY Report Theme Music: ⁠“Frantic” by Lemon Music Studio⁠
• ⁠“Where the Wild Things Are” (Luke Combs)⁠
• ⁠“The Redneck Song” (HARDY)⁠
• ⁠“Look What You Made Me Do” (Taylor Swift)⁠
• ⁠“Hurt” (Johnny Cash)⁠

Please subscribe to the show, rate it, and leave a review on ⁠Spotify⁠, ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠, ⁠Amazon⁠, ⁠OverCast⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠, or wherever you get your podcasts! And follow us on Instagram ⁠@CountryMusicDads⁠ and Facebook ⁠@CountryMusicDads⁠.

Transcript

Dave: This is Country Music Dads, the parenting podcast with a twang. We’re bringing you our highly subjective, sometimes questionable, but always 100% authentic country music analysis, as only two dads in the trenches of modern parenting could do it. My name is Dave, and I’m a country music dad.

Mick: My name is Mick, and I am also a country music dad. Thank you, thank you so much for joining us on our first episode here on Country Music Dads. So what we’re gonna do today is we’re gonna kind of treat this episode as a get to know us episode. Talk a little bit about why we’re doing this and what we like to listen to. So Dave, why don’t you start it off and introduce yourself, and we’ll go from there and get this ball rolling.

Dave: Sounds good, man, well, I’ll start by saying that I am very pleased, Mick, to be embarking on this little project with you. Like Mick said, thank you for joining us for our very first episode. You know, I’m already feeling the benefits, Mick, of doing this with you, because before, we’ve known each other for what, two or three years now, but I mean, we only really talk to each other once, maybe twice a year, in those three years. Yeah, I guess the occasional DM.

Mick: Right.

Dave: But you know, now since we’re starting this project together, once or twice a week, that’s a whole lot better. So it’s already been fun.

Mick: Absolutely, absolutely. So yeah, Dave and I met about three years ago, I think it was, in Cincinnati, at the National At Home Dad Convention, and didn’t really realize that we had so much in common at the time, all of that just kind of happened organically as we started following each other’s other and or previous creative outlets. I used to be very involved with another podcast called Dad House. Dad House was a group of five primary caregivers who have been friends for 15 years. And we did a show for about three years that was essentially just all about parenting advice from the dad perspective. And Dave was one of our great listeners and would comment on the show from time to time. And that was, we kept in touch that way.

Dave: People say that about me a lot. I’m a really good listener.

Mick: You are, you were one of our best listeners. I gave you shout outs on the show. I gave shout outs on the show all the time to you and your, and what you used to do to keep, you know, your creative juices flowing with your writing at Whiskey Riff.

Dave: Yeah, that’s right. So yeah, that was my, Whiskey Riff was my, I’ll link to them in the show notes, but that was my first foray into country music commentary. But it usually came from a parenting perspective. And that’s kind of what we’re looking to do here with our show. We’re gonna talk about music, the music that we liked the most.
As Mick said, we didn’t know that when we first met that we were both country music fans, especially coming from very different places.

Dave: I’m out here in Los Angeles, Mick’s in middle America, but we’ve connected on that sense.

Dave: And we already knew at the At Home Dad Convention that we had a passion for parenting, but little did we know we also had a passion for country music.

Dave: So hence our new project together.

Mick: Combine the best of both.

Mick: How we parent via country music and how country music helps us parent.

Mick: It’s just a big circle.

Mick: And so we’re gonna talk about, that’s what we’re gonna show with you guys.

Mick: We’re gonna talk about the songs that either help us get through the day or the songs that remind us maybe of some of the highlights.

Mick: And let’s be honest, some of the lowlights of our parenting journey and talk about it all together.

Dave: Yeah, so a little more about me.

Dave: I mentioned I’m from Los Angeles, born and raised.

Dave: I’ve lived my whole life here out on the West Coast.

Dave: I have three kids, all boys.

Dave: They are six, four and almost one.

Dave: So I am in the thick of it.

Dave: Lots of high touch, chaos, violence amongst the boys.

Dave: I’m not responsible for any of that violence.

Dave: I don’t know where they get it from.

Dave: Yes, that’s what I spend most of my days doing.

Dave: And Mick, how about you?

Mick: Yep.

Mick: As Dave mentioned, I’m middle America flyover country to some people or as we generally refer to it, the heartland.

Mick: So Kansas City, I’ve got a nice little acreage here in town to try to keep me grounded a little bit, so to speak.

Mick: I am proud parent of three kids.

Mick: My kids are a little bit older.

Mick: So that’s something you’re gonna notice as we share our journeys with you.

Mick: Dave and I are gonna approach things a little bit differently based on the ages of our kids and where we are in our lives.

Mick: But I mean, I’ve got a senior in high school, you know, 18 year old getting ready to leave the nest.

Mick: So we’ve got from 18 all the way down to not even celebrating their first birthday yet.

Mick: So there’s a lot of different life experiences that we’re gonna be able to talk about in the middle on the show.

Dave: That is crazy, man.

Dave: I feel like I just graduated.

Mick: Well, you look like you could.

Mick: Do you get carded when you go buy beer?

Dave: Not anymore.

Dave: There’s a little gray in the beard now.

Dave: And maybe the bag’s under my eyes.

Dave: Maybe they’re like, all right, this guy.

Mick: That’s just from midnight bottles still.

Mick: That’s all that is.

Mick: That’s the only reason you got that.

Dave: Yeah, what kind of bottle are you talking about?

Mick: I didn’t specify.

Mick: But my son’s 18.

Mick: I’ve got two beautiful daughters, one in high school, 16, just learning to get out on her own with that driver’s license, which is an old new world of parenting angst when you set those kids free.

Mick: Then I’ve got my little dancer.

Mick: I’ve got my little 10-year-old who thinks she’s in charge.

Mick: She’s my prima ballerina, so to speak, because she thinks she runs the show.

Mick: Frankly, sometimes she does.

Mick: I’ll be honest, she’s got me wrapped around her finger like any old girl dad will oftentimes admit to.

Mick: But to bring it all together, I like to think of myself as the trophy husband to one heck of a unicorn.

Mick: My wife Kelly is the one that allows me to have the parenting journey that I’ve had and as being a primary caregiver for my kids for the last 18 years.

Mick: We are so blessed to be able to be in that situation.

Mick: All right, so we’ve kind of started talking a little bit about us.

Mick: Let’s tell everybody what we hope and I’m doing air quotes here for all of you listeners so that you can hear those.

Mick: Let’s tell everybody what we think the show is gonna look like.

Dave: Yeah, so as I’ve said, we are bringing you a fresh take on country music through the lens of modern parenting.

Dave: One thing that I’ve learned about modern parenting is that it is complicated.

Dave: It’s hard, and I’m still newish at it.

Dave: I’m six years into my parenting journey.

Dave: And something that’s helped me so far is whenever I hear stories from other parents about things that they’re going through that I can relate with and relate to, that’s gonna be a big part of our show.

Dave: We’re gonna, Mick and I will be sharing stories about whatever’s going on in our current parenting journey.

Dave: As he said, my kids are little, kindergarten and below.

Dave: There’s a baby still in the mix.

Dave: Mick’s are a little bit older, school age, high school age, middle school age.

Dave: So we’ll share stories at the beginning of the show in a segment that we’ll call the Dad Life Sound Check.

Dave: What I’m hoping is that I will benefit from some of Mick’s wisdom as I share some of these things that he’ll probably remember.

Dave: But hopefully you as a listener will also, some of these things will resonate with you.

Mick: And also it’s not just going to be the parenting stories of our everyday lives.

Mick: That is going to be a big part of it because we want you all to be able to find the common ground that is parenting, and that is country music.

Mick: We’re also going to share what we’re listening to.

Mick: What songs we either heard on our Endora or Spotify stream, or what we heard on the radio, and how some of these are hitting us either in a parenting way or a life way.

Mick: Because every song right now is just, it’s so easy and or so wonderful that you can get certain things out of it as certain things change in your life.

Mick: So for example, Where the Wild Things Are by Luke Combs is getting a lot of radio airplay right now in my market.

Mick: It’s a cool song, but the one little line that I keep pulling out of it is where the singer is talking about his brother fires up his motorcycle and drives away and breaks his mother’s heart.

Mick: And as I mentioned before, I’ve got an 18-year-old who’s getting ready to leave the nest in a few months.

Mick: And it’s not that he’s going to make a decision that’s going to break his mother’s heart, but he’s going away.

Mick: And I know his mom is going to struggle with that.

Mick: He’s going to struggle with that a lot.

Mick: So every time I hear that line in that song, I’m just like, okay, how are we going to move into this next part of our life when somebody we love drives away?

Dave: Yeah, that’s crazy, man.

Dave: Yeah, for me lately, my boys, for whatever reason, they like hearing songs about being a redneck.

Dave: I don’t think I can claim Redneck status.

Dave: Thanks to Hardy and all the songs that he sings about being a Redneck, all the virtues of being a Redneck.

Dave: My boys, they aspire to be Rednecks, I think.

Dave: So that’s what they’re asking for, and as a result, that’s what I’m listening to, which is a big improvement over the Baby Shark and-

Mick: The Wheels on the Bus go round and round.

Dave: The Power Rangers theme song.

Dave: So I’m all for it.

Mick: Exactly.

Mick: So then the next thing we’re going to do, after we give you our status update, for example, we’re going to come up with, we’ve got a couple recurring segments that each one of us is going to drive one.

Mick: The one I’m going to drive is going to be entitled The Farm Boy Report.

Mick: And the reason behind that is, I mentioned, live on an acreage in Kansas City, but I’m an Iowa farm boy.

Mick: I grew up on a John Deere tractor.

Mick: That’s where I learned to listen to music, is on the AM radio, on the old John Deere.

Mick: So that is still a very big part of my life, is all things country.

Mick: My wife works in the agriculture industry.

Mick: So that is what we know.

Mick: That is what we live.

Mick: And with our little acreage in town, we try to keep it as country as possible, instead of just the urban homesteading moniker that you hear out.

Mick: I like to think to my mind that I’ve got my own little farm going out there with my garden.

Mick: It’s not, but it works for me.

Mick: So between that and the animals we got running around, we’ve got chickens in town and I let them, we’ll open the doors and we’ll let them run, do the whole free range thing.

Mick: That is just my little way of staying true to my roots, staying as close to the country as possible by getting out, getting my hands dirty in the dirt and working with livestock.

Mick: Chickens, I’ll be honest.

Mick: It could be a little bit of a stretch there depending on who you talk to, but it works for me.

Mick: And then just all the aspects of what it takes to take care of an acreage that has a whole bunch of trees on it.

Mick: So I’m gonna, for the Farm Boy Report, I’m gonna tell you what I’m doing outside, whether it’s the garden, the chickens or using my chainsaw because one of my elm trees died.

Mick: I’ve had 120 some elm trees die over the last 25 years.

Mick: It’s been kind of a major pain in the butt and I have a huge firewood pile, but that’s a whole separate story.

Mick: But that’s the Farm Boy Report.

Mick: That’s kind of my passion is getting outside and working with my hands.

Mick: Dave has a different kind of a passion.

Dave: Yeah, I have one question.

Dave: So no more tractor for you on the homestead.

Mick: Oh.

Dave: Oh, you do?

Dave: No, I got a tractor.

Dave: Oh, nice.

Dave: Yeah.

Mick: It’s still green.

Dave: Good stuff, man.

Dave: Yeah, as Mick mentioned, my passion is a little bit different.

Dave: I don’t have a homestead.

Dave: I live in the concrete jungle out here in LA.

Dave: I want to be real and authentic on the show also.

Dave: So I’ll admit to all you new listeners that I am a Hardy super fan.

Dave: He might not be 100% country, but that’s why I love him, actually.

Dave: He’s a…

Mick: You know what?

Mick: He’s unapologetically country.

Dave: He is unapologetically country as hell.

Dave: So I am the preeminent West Coast Hardy apologist.

Dave: So it is my mission through the Hardy Report on each episode to give you just a little glimpse into the Hardy verse.

Dave: So it might be about a new song, a review of one of my old favorites, or just some Redneck stuff that he’s up to.

Dave: But yeah, I mean, I’ve been parenting as a diehard Hardy fan for a long time now.

Dave: And I think it’s going pretty well.

Dave: My kids, they don’t really know what a Redneck is, but they wanna be one, thanks to Hardy.

Dave: And hopefully I can convert some of you into Hardy fans as well.

Dave: Maybe even you, Mick.

Mick: Well, I will admit that I have been in an effort to stay current with your conversations.

Mick: I have been listening to more Hardy than I ever have in the past.

Mick: And I will say that he does have some angel-like qualities.

Dave: Angel-like?

Mick: Mm-hmm.

Mick: You didn’t get that, did you?

Mick: Was it too obscure?

Dave: Oh, give heaven some hell?

Mick: No, it’s a duet with Lainey.

Mick: Whoever she says, she doesn’t know if he’s an angel.

Dave: That’s right.

Dave: I guess maybe it’s a common theme, I guess.

Dave: Hardy imagining that he’s dying.

Mick: So I’ll be honest, you’re gonna find this.

Mick: Some of my references, they’re too obscure.

Mick: So we would play a game in the car when we’re doing long road trips.

Mick: It was called Guess the Movie Game.

Mick: And the whole idea is you pick three facts or storylines, whatever, of said music, and then you would stay them, and then everyone had to guess the show.

Mick: So it was my turn.

Mick: I picked Princess and the Frog.

Mick: And I said, music, swamp, candy.

Mick: And nobody could guess it.

Mick: And they got so mad when I told them what movie it was.

Mick: And they’re like, well, what was the candy reference?

Mick: And I said, well, remember the part in the show where Mama Odie pulls everything out of her pocket and she offers them a piece of candy?

Mick: And they’re like, no, we just want to be human.

Mick: And she’s like, no, but this magic candy, it would have turned you human.

Mick: So, and they got so mad at me because, you know, that wasn’t a driving point of the movie.

Mick: So yeah, some of my references are gonna be a little obscure at times.

Mick: I’m gonna warn y’all now.

Dave: That’s okay, I think that’s part of being a dad, not being able to be understood by the youth.

Dave: So.

Mick: Was that a dig at my age?

Dave: I’m sure my kids don’t understand things I say also.

Dave: Okay, okay.

Mick: But yeah, so those are gonna be the recurring segments, the Farm Boy Report, the Hardy Report.

Mick: That’s how we’re gonna, we want some consistency.

Mick: As far as the main theme of the show, it’s gonna vary.

Mick: Sometimes it’s gonna be about an artist.

Mick: Sometimes we’re going to talk about a particular song that’s gonna hit us in a certain way.

Mick: And sometimes we’re just gonna have a fun episode with like a top 10 list, maybe something along the lines of top country rock songs to listen to when you’re scrubbing toilets.

Dave: And we’ll usually start with, like I said before, we wanna share some kind of parenting insights or give opportunities to share some of our things we’ve learned, things we’re going through.

Dave: But we’ll be usually picking either a particular song, a particular theme to talk about in our main segment, go a little bit deeper on that particular topic for each episode.

Mick: Yeah, the common theme is just gonna be about the relationship between raising kids and country music, raising kids country.

Dave: Speaking of country music, so what is your taste in country music like, Mick?

Mick: It’s all, it’s kind of all over the board, really just from the standpoint, like I mentioned, I grew up listening to music on the tractor radio.

Mick: So started just, you know, here in, you know, Willie and Waylon and Hank Jr.

Mick: when I was younger.

Mick: And then George Strait was the man, still is, but he was, he ruled the radio in high school, middle school, you know, then kind of Clint Black and Garth Brooks took over when I was in college.

Mick: And Garth was just the, you know, preeminent driving force that you heard a lot of over the years.

Mick: So my first exposure was really just what I listened to driving down the road or working on the farm.

Mick: Never really bought a lot of CDs or cassette tapes even, you know, back in the day.

Mick: You know, then the whole smartphone revolution kind of changed the way I listened to music.

Mick: Pandora, Spotify, and the ability to plug in the songs, the artists that you really, really liked.

Mick: So, you know, that brought you around to somebody else that you maybe never even heard of, but realize that, hey, this song is hitting me in a particular way and I really enjoy it.

Mick: So what I’ve kind of found out is that I like country music with an edge, you know, I’m not going to say deep dark, but I like songs that have that throwback, Willie, Waylon and Hank Jr.

Mick: sound, you know, so when Eric Church came out and Kip Moore, you know, started, you know, I really liked their songs, you know, with an edge and that kind of got me into Cody Jinks and Chris Young now and really just feeling their songs that just make you think.

Mick: I mean, country pop is great when you’re driving down the road and you’re singing along with your kids.

Mick: I mean, I’ve got a Swiftie in the house and, you know, that is something that I love to say that, you know, I, you know, can really sit back and enjoy and just sing our, you know, Taylor’s our song with her and, you know, verbatim and she and I can enjoy that.

Mick: And that’s great for when we’re driving in the car.

Mick: But when I’m just sitting back by myself and thinking about life, I want a song that’s got some soul to it.

Mick: It’s got some depth, it’s, you know, just a little bit, a little bit out there and it’s gonna make me think.

Dave: You’re saying that T. Swift doesn’t have depth?

Dave: You’re gonna anger the Swifties.

Mick: No, I’m giving her a shout out for the fact that she gives my daughter and I something to listen to together.

Mick: No, that she does have depth.

Mick: Have you ever seen the song Look What You Made Me Do?

Mick: She’s climbing out of the ground, for example, you know, for God’s sakes.

Mick: That’s depth, man.

Mick: Coming back.

Dave: Absolutely.

Mick: Coming back from the dead.

Mick: Yeah.

Mick: That’s actually Kelly and Kate’s, that’s probably one of their top three favorite songs.

Mick: It’s definitely my wife’s favorite Taylor Swift song.

Mick: You know, I mean, Taylor Swift rocks Kansas City, man.

Dave: Yeah, for sure.

Dave: Especially this year.

Mick: Oh yeah, it’s been nuts.

Dave: Yeah, I’m not a pop country hater.

Dave: I love pop music too.

Dave: And I mean, I’m kind of a country music late bloomer.

Dave: I didn’t grow up with it out here in LA.

Dave: I grew up more with punk rock.

Dave: So that’s just what everyone was listening to when I was going to high school.

Dave: So it wasn’t until college when my roommate introduced me to Johnny Cash.

Dave: It was actually his very last album before he died.

Dave: That’s when I started to listen to country music a little bit because I had-

Mick: Hold on a second.

Mick: Your first exposure to Johnny Cash was via the American recordings.

Dave: Yeah, the last one.

Mick: That’s awesome.

Dave: American Four with The Man Comes Around and the Hurt Nine Inch Nails cover.

Mick: Interesting Johnny Cash story.

Mick: Just last week, Kelly and I went to the Johnny Cash concert experience at the Kauffmann Center, the main big thing down here.

Mick: So what it is, is they’ve got a band up on stage.

Mick: They got John Carter doing some old show clips.

Mick: It’s a lot of TV clips from his show.

Mick: Sometimes Johnny is singing and the band is accompanying, sometimes the band is singing too.

Mick: But John Carter gets up there and talks a little bit about growing up in the way that he did, and what made his dad sick and everything.

Mick: So for somebody that’s a Johnny Cash fan, if you have a chance to go see the Johnny Cash experience that’s traveling around now, I highly recommend it.

Dave: It was awesome.

Dave: Yeah, man, it sounds right up my alley.

Dave: But yeah, that was my first introduction.

Dave: So something about his sound takes you back to that era, 50s and 60s.

Dave: I love George Jones, a little Hank Williams.

Dave: When I first started playing George Jones at home, my wife thought that I was joking with that old classic sound.

Dave: I don’t know if it’s my late grandfather who grew up in Oklahoma who’s kind of channeling his spirit through me or what, but I just I love that stuff.

Dave: You said you like country music with an edge.

Dave: I like sad country songs.

Dave: And there’s nothing sadder than a George Jones song to me.

Dave: Like I said, I’m not a pop country hater.

Dave: As I started to get in country music, my gateway drug was bro country because it’s just good time country.

Dave: My taste is kind of evolving a little bit.

Dave: I mentioned I like the crossover country rock people like like Hardy or Koe Wetzel.

Dave: Chris Stapleton is kind of a crossover guy.

Mick: I like Chris Stapleton a lot too.

Dave: Yeah.

Dave: Very soulful guy.

Dave: And Charley Crockett, he also kind of evokes that old classic sound.

Dave: More recently, I’ve been listening to the Red Clay Strays, kind of similar, sound like they’re from a different era.

Dave: But I would say I’m an equal opportunity country music fan.

Dave: I like the independent stuff.

Dave: I like Tyler Childers and Turnpike.

Dave: You mentioned Jinx.

Dave: Jinx is coming out to California this year, and I’m trying to figure out a way to see him live.

Mick: I think he’s going to be in Kansas City in August too.

Dave: Nice.

Mick: Or July, one of the two, I can’t remember.

Dave: I’m definitely still exploring the genre and all its different offshoots.

Dave: It’ll be exciting to go on that journey with you too, Mick, so you can educate me on all that 80s and 90s country that maybe I missed.

Mick: Absolutely, that is the goal.

Mick: That is the plan.

Mick: Just pull things together, talk about what hit us at what particular time in our life and why, maybe throw in a parenting story around it, but maybe the parenting story is going to hit us of the song.

Mick: We’re not going to decide, we’re just going to let it flow, and we’re going to let the music dictate, just like the radio does.

Mick: We’re just going to let it play, and we’re going to see how it comes.

Mick: So, yeah, that’s what we hope.

Mick: That’s what we hope to put together for you all, combine our passions, combine our likes, and, as always, we’re glad that you’re going to take the time out of your day or your week, whatever the case is, your drive down the road or your driving in the field, on that John Deere to listen to us and share our journey with you.

Mick: So we would love to hear your feedback.

Mick: So we’ve got a Gmail address, countrymusicdads@gmail

Mick: We’re going to be on all the socials, or actually we already are, on all the socials @CountryMusicDads.

Mick: And eventually the website will get put together, countrymusicdads.com.

Mick: Go ahead and book it now.

Mick: Nothing quite there yet, but that’s okay, because that way you’ll be ready for it when it comes.

Mick: So most importantly, if you like the show, please give us a five-star rating on whatever podcast platform you use and tell anybody else, whether they be a parent or whether they be a Country Music fan, that you think may enjoy this show and benefit from spending a little time with us and talking about kids and talking about country music.

Dave: Well said.

Dave: So thanks again for joining us for our first episode.

Dave: And for our next episode, we will be diving into the universe of maybe Country Music’s brightest star right now.

Dave: Her name is Lainey Wilson.

Dave: You may have heard of her.

Dave: We’re going to be talking about the song Things a Man Oughta Know.

Dave: It was her first big hit.

Dave: And we’re men.

Dave: Are we not men, Mick?

Mick: We’re men.

Dave: So we ought to know something about that, I think.

Mick: I would agree.

Dave: So thanks again and we’ll see you next time.

Mick: Thanks for joining us.

Mick: Flip through the radio dial and come back and let us know what you’re listening to.

Mick: I don’t know why I have so much trouble with, I’ve done, and I did it last time too, I have so much trouble with Luke Combs and Zach Bryan.

Mick: I have no idea why.

Mick: I just can’t.

Dave: I think it’s the Zach Bryan, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs.

Mick: There is.

Dave: Just like that chain.

Mick: Yeah.

Mick: Yes.