SkiP HappEns Podcast
Resilience, Rhythms, and Rural Roots: The Inspiring Journey of Country Music’s Jacob Smalley
How does a kid from the secluded woods of northern Maine transform into a rising star in country music? Jacob Smalley's story is one of resilience, passion, and a love for music that refused to fade despite life's hurdles. We had the pleasure of sitting down with Jacob as he shared his incredible journey from teaching himself the banjo at eight years old to mastering multiple instruments, all while overcoming a life-altering hand injury. Tune in to hear about his current adventures promoting his latest single on a radio tour and juggling a home-building business in Missouri.
Discover the unique blend of construction work and musical creativity as Jacob opens up about recording his "Sleepy Little Town" EP in Nashville with some of the industry's top musicians. He takes us behind the scenes of his home studio, the songwriting process, and the importance of honest feedback, even when it comes at the crack of dawn. We also meet the dynamic members of Morgan County Line, a band that merges diverse musical styles to create their unique sound. From local bars to larger venues, this chapter highlights the band's journey and the challenges they face in the music industry.
Jacob doesn't shy away from discussing the tougher aspects of life, including navigating insurance for his daughter's rare medical condition and the emotional struggles that come with it. His candidness offers invaluable advice for aspiring artists, emphasizing the importance of love, resilience, and support systems. Whether he's sharing touching moments like hearing his song on the radio for the first time or offering heartfelt advice for those dreaming of a music career, Jacob's story is sure to inspire. Join us for this unforgettable episode as we explore his dreams, family challenges, and the exciting road ahead.
Thanks for listening! Follow us at youtube.com/c/skiphappens
How does a kid from the secluded woods of northern Maine transform into a rising star in country music? Jacob Smalley's story is one of resilience, passion, and a love for music that refused to fade despite life's hurdles. We had the pleasure of sitting down with Jacob as he shared his incredible journey from teaching himself the banjo at eight years old to mastering multiple instruments, all while overcoming a life-altering hand injury. Tune in to hear about his current adventures promoting his latest single on a radio tour and juggling a home-building business in Missouri.
Discover the unique blend of construction work and musical creativity as Jacob opens up about recording his "Sleepy Little Town" EP in Nashville with some of the industry's top musicians. He takes us behind the scenes of his home studio, the songwriting process, and the importance of honest feedback, even when it comes at the crack of dawn. We also meet the dynamic members of Morgan County Line, a band that merges diverse musical styles to create their unique sound. From local bars to larger venues, this chapter highlights the band's journey and the challenges they face in the music industry.
Jacob doesn't shy away from discussing the tougher aspects of life, including navigating insurance for his daughter's rare medical condition and the emotional struggles that come with it. His candidness offers invaluable advice for aspiring artists, emphasizing the importance of love, resilience, and support systems. Whether he's sharing touching moments like hearing his song on the radio for the first time or offering heartfelt advice for those dreaming of a music career, Jacob's story is sure to inspire. Join us for this unforgettable episode as we explore his dreams, family challenges, and the exciting road ahead.
Thanks for listening! Follow us at youtube.com/c/skiphappens
And here we go. Here comes the music. Hi everybody, it's Skip Clark and welcome to the heart and soul of country. You're going to hear stories unfold, melodies that echo the rhythm of life. I don't know, I have no idea where I got that from, but anyways, tonight we're going to be talking to Jacob Smalley and, believe it or not, he's originally from the Northeast, like the coast of Maine, yep. But I'm reading the bio here and it says it's a little bit of a country music outlaw. Growing up in the secluded woods of northern Maine, jacob began his journey in music at eight years old, when he taught himself to play five-string banjo.
Speaker 2:So anyways.
Speaker 1:Hey, I'm not going to read that whole thing, but I had boring stuff. Yeah, you know, it's the stuff that, yeah, it's cool, okay. But then again, you know, when I, when I get a bio, sometimes I go, well, how long ago was this written? Right? You know what I mean. So things have changed since then. Jacob Smalley, what's up, dude, it's so good to see you, it's good to be here with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, live in the world of being a country music artist to get a little bit. Where are you right now? Where abouts do you live?
Speaker 2:We're in Madison, Wisconsin. We started in Missouri this morning doing radio interviews and worked our way up through Illinois and we're in Wisconsin. We'll do a bunch here tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Okay, and where do you call home?
Speaker 2:We are in central Missouri, right by Lake of the Ozarks.
Speaker 1:Oh, I got you, so you're in a hotel right now.
Speaker 2:We are yes.
Speaker 1:And I saw the little one running around before we went out. Yeah, they're here.
Speaker 2:They're here. They love road tripping. The music industry is like their entertainment. They love to go to Nashville and go to the Opry with us and stuff. So we try and do that every time we go down.
Speaker 1:So gosh, I love that. I love that. It's great to have the family involved. It's you know, just being away would drive me nuts, but having, you know, your wife and the kids with you, that's just kind of makes it feel a little bit more like home yeah, yeah, it is, it's easier and it it keeps them involved.
Speaker 1:I think if I was just out doing it by myself, things would probably get a little hairy at home, you know so, um, you're out, uh like on a radio tour, yeah, hitting up the radio stations, going in and shaking hands and going I'm jacob smalley and I want you to play my music. I'm going to play a little bit for you and stuff like that. Right, it's all part of the grind. Being a newer artist, tell us about that grind.
Speaker 2:We're hitting up stations that are playing the single. We're also hitting up stations that haven't picked it up yet to try and bring them on board and stuff. But the world of country music is just a complete mystery to me. It's, it is the strangest business. I build houses for a living. So this is a whole different world. I've been trying to break into this world for years and years and we've finally kind of gotten a little traction with this latest single. So we're we're going to ride it out and see where things go.
Speaker 2:So that's awesome, you're still building building houses as you, you go and do this.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, yeah, wow, yeah, how long. So how long have you been building homes?
Speaker 2:The business, our current business that we started when we moved to Missouri from Maine. We've been doing that for about three years and that that is always what I have done, you know, for a living back on the east coast as well.
Speaker 1:So I got you, but it's good to have something to fall back on just when the times do get slow, or maybe something doesn't work out. I know we've all been there, my friend. Oh yeah, believe me, you know radio. It's basically the same thing too. We all have something a little bit over here that yeah, oh, yeah, that we can turn to if we need to.
Speaker 2:But reading your bio, you've been playing music since you were like eight and you're self-taught with the banjo right, yes and and uh, I played banjo for quite a while and uh, probably 13, 14, I picked up a mandolin and from there I picked up guitar and it just kind of snowballed and I dabble with the drums a little bit here and there and stuff like that, but I I am strictly a rhythm guitar player at this point because of my hand injury. That happened 17 years ago or better.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, but I bet bet you, it seems like it was just yesterday it does that was a big setback for you yes, we um.
Speaker 2:So I was 17 or I would have been almost 18 I went to nashville. I, you know, had a bunch of songs I'd written and I thought, well, I'm gonna go cut this album and come home and be a rock star. And I came home and went back to work in my dad's wood shop and ended up getting my left hand stuck in a router.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:I took both of these fingers off One of them. They got put back on in pretty good shape. The other one, I got half of it put back on, but I have no feeling in either one of them. So playing an instrument is, if that's your, your fingering hand. So it's pretty hard to to do that now.
Speaker 1:So you try, maybe playing the other hand using the other hand kind of and how did that work for you it?
Speaker 2:didn't, it just didn't. I was a bluegrass flat picker, so I was used to playing very fast and I went from being a speed picker to not being able to pick at all and I got really, really depressed and stopped playing music for almost 14 years.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. But you probably regret stopping, because you're back doing it now and you've got a single that's being played on the radio.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think to myself sometimes, if I had just stuck with it and worked through that, I'd be a lot further ahead right now than I am. But um and it's, it's coming back, you know well, that's cool I have a fabulous band that uh backs me, so they they cover a lot of my guitar mistakes.
Speaker 1:So tell me, how did you get your? You've got to deal with, not the label Grassroots? Yes, right, and by the way, I say this every time they send a lot of artists my way. I've been doing this a long time, but you know a lot of newbies like yourself and some of the well-established artists as well, but you know they are the best, they are absolutely the best.
Speaker 2:They are fantastic. They have done an amazing job. Just in the last four weeks since this single came out. I was shocked. I couldn't believe the traction it was getting right off the bat and it's just continued to grow. We broke into the top uh 100 on the charts last week, so that was exciting, sweet, sweet yeah, so how long has it has it been available for airplay? Uh, the release date was june 17th okay, so it's pretty quick.
Speaker 1:So that's cool because you know it. Just I don't know if our viewers or listeners really know that this stuff does not happen overnight. No, it does not you know what, to crack the top 100, and it's only been out since june yeah that's pretty good. Pretty soon, you'll see, it'll hit 80, and once it gets to 80, it it could fly, which is cool pretty cool, a lot of people don't understand that.
Speaker 2:It's very exciting. I honestly I always thought it was a good song. I really liked the way it came together when we went and recorded it, but I did not expect that fast of a climb out of it, and they've just done a phenomenal job with promoting.
Speaker 1:Well, the thing with and I tell everybody this and those that are maybe you're watching this podcast the fact with the, with the promotion company, like grassroots, the radio people and their musicians, yes, and they know how to play that game right and they can get in front of who they need to get in front of and you know they pull for you. It's not just like somebody taking your money and you know sending your name to a radio station. They're making sure it's done right.
Speaker 2:That's right, it's your passion. We've dealt with plenty of people in Nashville that will take your money and run and do all that stuff. So I was very, very happy to come across Grassroots.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice. Tell us a little bit about your songwriting. I was reading that you're quite the songwriter.
Speaker 2:Well, sometimes I can write a song, and the current single, what Do you Say? I wrote that in about eight minutes drinking a cup of coffee one morning. And then I've written other songs that are on my EP, morgan County Line, for instance.
Speaker 2:I wrote that song when we first moved to missouri, because we live right on the border of morgan county and miller county okay so I kind of that's a story about my you know my past life in maine and packing up and moving down here and and, uh, I started writing that song and I got the first two verses and I got stuck for like three years and I could not finish that song and finally we ended up playing a big show in Jefferson City with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder and immediately after that show it was like he had just handed me the final verse and chorus. It was so strange.
Speaker 2:But you know, it was like he had just handed me the final verse and chorus. It was so strange, but you know it happens that way. It's sometimes they just come to you and sometimes you got to really, really work for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's pretty cool. I see that you shared the stage. I mean, I'm reading it here Gary Allen, our friends from Tiger Lily Gold love those ladies. Creed Fisher, he's kind of, he's very unique and he's, you know, he does his own thing. Uh, I just did an interview with him a couple of weeks ago uh, ricky skaggs and uh, of course, kentucky. Uh thunder, it says oh, joe diffy, the late, great joe diffy yep and dwight yocum's blast.
Speaker 2:That's probably one of the funnest shows that we've we've ever played was the show with Diffie and Sawyer Brown. Sawyer Brown was those guys. I grew up listening to those guys and my former band back home in Maine, the Jacob Smalley Band, when we got that show booked I just thought we had totally made it.
Speaker 1:It was the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 2:You get to go play with your musical heroes.
Speaker 1:It's pretty cool and it's pretty, pretty cool, and it's not every day that a band gets to do that. No, for you to to have that opportunity, it's huge, huge, yep yep it's pretty cool and sawyer brown they're going to be on.
Speaker 1:The podcast is. It might be tomorrow night, might even be wednesday I gotta look at the calendar, but they're coming on too, so I can't wait to talk to mark millick. I mean just some really, really cool stuff that I want to ask him. But that is a man full of stories, yeah. So how do you, when you open up for, like creed fisher or colt ford, is that a different? Because you know they have their own thing going. They're a little bit more redneck outlaw. Yeah, a lot, right. How do you put yourself up against them, would you say? You're the same, a little bit different. What's up?
Speaker 2:We're definitely different. So when you hear my single it sounds fairly mainstream country. You know my actual band. When we perform that song it's a little more edgy, there's a little more. It's a little more edgy, there's a little more bite to it. You know, we, we kind of fit in with that outlaw crowd live more than you would gather listening to that single.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 2:The, the, the live. The live performance is it's the same, but it's. It's definitely got a little more fire under it.
Speaker 1:Let me see. You know what I think. If I just hit this little button here, we can just hear a little bit of it. Before YouTube goes, hey, facebook, or something.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:This is it Like, what's it called? Go ahead, you tell everybody.
Speaker 2:It's called. What do you say?
Speaker 1:All right, here it is.
Speaker 2:Just a little bit. Don't you think it's time you finally realize that in this world there's no place? I'd rather be. There's nothing I can't do as long as you're with me. What do you say? We just get there tonight, lay skin on skin beneath the star-filled sky. Wow, hold me close and let our love wash the dirt away. What do you say? Wow.
Speaker 1:Dude Wow.
Speaker 2:They did a fantastic job recording it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, who is that guy? No, of course, it's none other than Jacob Smalley. Listen, that is fabulous If you're, you just caught a little bit of that, but if you want to get more of that, I would imagine you can go online and download it. Get your own copy of that and tell your friends about it as well. That is really really cool. And tell us about the writing of that song. Is there any special meaning behind it? You said you wrote it over a cup of coffee.
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, um, so it. It's basically just a love song about, you know, relationships and and you know anybody that's been married or been in a long-term relationship knows they don't. They don't always go smoothly all the time. You know, you have your ups and downs and and it's basically just about let's, let's come back together. Don't, let's, let's not lose this. Let's just you know I love that I love that have you?
Speaker 1:has anybody asked you to play that, like at a wedding or anything like that? It is a love song, like you say. I just you know I could picture some of that happening we, we have played that at weddings. Yes, back when you did weddings.
Speaker 2:We still do weddings from time to time but, yes. Yeah it is. It's actually one of my favorites that I've written I'm we're working on, and actually later on the end of the month we'll be back in Nashville recording again.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Uh, cutting a new single that I've just written and that one I have really high hopes for. I think it is commercially probably the top as far as stuff that I've written. So we're right along.
Speaker 1:You can hang up the hammer.
Speaker 2:Right, I would love to hang up the hammer. I I enjoy what I do for a living, but the singing is. That's where my soul and where my heart's at.
Speaker 1:Do you ever let's say, you're building a house and got the guys hanging out and said you know, we've done enough for today, let's go get a six pack and then grab your guitar and play a couple of songs? Have you ever done that?
Speaker 2:It happens a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Especially if we're pouring concrete.
Speaker 1:Oh man.
Speaker 2:I.
Speaker 1:I leave that to the pros I mess with concrete.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we pour a lot of concrete.
Speaker 1:I bet you do. I bet you do. Um, and the housing market right now, I mean you guys must be pretty busy, it's you know. And the way the prices are right now with the homes I know around here, they're through the roof.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, yeah, it's crazy Most everything you start building sells before you're done building it.
Speaker 1:So yeah, hey, tell us a little bit about back. I read in the bio that it was back in November that you released a EP. I think it was Sleepy Little Town.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Can you tell us a little bit about that? Yep, so that is just. It's a six song EP. That they're all, all original music. We went to Nashville recorded with Beard Music Group.
Speaker 2:Oh nice, fantastic group of guys when we went in the studio. You know, I'm such a music geek. You know I follow the songwriters and studio musicians more than the actual artists most of the time. So I have this weird thing where, you know, we went in the studio and I'm sitting there and Eli Beard is is there and I know that he plays for, you know, shania twain and he's got a whole bunch of stuff with the opry and stuff.
Speaker 2:So that was really cool. And then this guy comes walking up the sidewalk and he's carrying this big heavy steel guitar case and he walks in eli's like well, this is uh, this is scotty, he's gonna play steel on your record. I'm like you're not scotty sanders you know, scotty sanders has played on yeah, 30 000 records.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean he cuts records for george straight and travis tritt and everybody you could imagine and yeah, no, it was scotty sanders and we ended up having a great time together, became really good friends over that course of us recording. And same we had Evan Hutchins playing drums for us. You know he's the ACM drummer of the year for like five years in a row. You know it's.
Speaker 1:That's what a lot of these guys do. They're not the front man like you are. You know they provide. They're not the front man like you are right, you know it's the they provide. You know the instruments, the playing of those instruments for in-studio work and of course, they get paid for doing that. But you could go to nashville as just you and then you hire, you know you get a studio, and then you need a steel player. You need, maybe you need a dobro, maybe you need a guitar, acoustic, whatever. So these guys come into play and then you find out holy crap, this guy played with reba, this guy played with shania. This guy has done this. This record that you hear on the radio, oh my god, he's playing steel on that, but you don't. That's what viewers and listeners don't realize, that yeah, no, it's wild, they were were.
Speaker 2:You know two of them. Troy Lancaster played lead guitar on the record. Troy has played on everything you can imagine from hard rock albums to you know Tammy Wynette stuff. It's just, it is wild how many things that man has done. And they were going to cut a single for Carrie Underwood, you know when they left. And they were going to cut a single for Carrie Underwood, you know when they left. I got to go to work for Carrie for the next couple of hours, I know, but it's not weird.
Speaker 1:It shows that you're somebody and you're in the big studio and you got these guys playing with you. That means a lot right there yeah it does. I realize you know you have to pay for that, but still they make it all come together for you because they want you to succeed, and you know, and it's going to sound damn good yeah, so yeah, and for what?
Speaker 2:for you know the, the financial burden, so to speak, that we put into it.
Speaker 1:I think the record came out fantastic, excellent sound quality is amazing so I have to ask you, jacob at home, do do you have a home studio?
Speaker 2:I do. Yeah, I record, you know, anything new that I write, I record it and then I send it off to the band so the band can learn it. And then you know we'll go from there. If it works out fantastic, it starts going into our live shows. If it doesn't really work out, then I might play it acoustically while we're taking a break or whatever, and, you know, incorporate it into the set that way.
Speaker 1:But yeah, yeah, how often has it have you done a song at home? Walked out of the studio and went hey, honey, come here, I want you to hear this, and then she would go yeah, jacob, I don't know. You know I mean, but do you play a lot of things off her just to get her opinion?
Speaker 2:Yeah, almost every morning actually. You know a lot of people get home from work and they do their practicing then. I do it at 530 in the morning when. I wake up and I sit out in the living room and drive her out of her mind. Oh no, so I hear that a lot.
Speaker 1:And usually it's not the best feedback at 5 30 in the morning. Either no, no, no it. Maybe it's well it could go either way, I guess I think it's more my timing.
Speaker 2:But yeah, yeah, a lot of times, you know, it's so strange the way that songs come to me. A lot of songs come to me at two o'clock in the morning. You know. I could have been having a dream and I wake up and there's like half a song there and I'm like scrambling around in the dark trying to find something to write on. So I don't lose this, because either you do it when it's there or it's gone, you know.
Speaker 1:No, exactly, and that early morning thing, I totally get it. I get up at six, it's become a habit now. My wife doesn't get up to about 7.30. But if I was to grab an instrument and start playing something in the living room, I would no longer be in this house. But I too, I have a full studio. I do this from my home and I have a full podcast studio and a voiceover studio. That's why I always ask you know you being a musician, more than likely you're going to have some sort of studio in the house yeah, I, I do and I, I need to, uh, I need to kind of make it more soundproof for, you know, everybody at home.
Speaker 1:But it is what it is for now it's especially at 5 30 in the morning that's right and they and the kids are like dad's at it again oh, they love it.
Speaker 2:See, there's the problem. They'll just go downstairs and join in really at that hour.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh wow. No, you said you have a four-year-old and a two-year-old. Yeah, god bless you because you definitely, and your wife, because you're gonna have your hands full. I've got three grown daughters and I got grandkids, but how do they feel? Obviously, you said that they love it when dad plays music and they join in or they hang out or you just play fun stuff for them, or they have.
Speaker 2:You know, they have their favorite songs that I've written and stuff, so every day I have to play them their favorite song, and it's just they love every, everything to do with this process, you know that's cool. As many live shows as we can. You know, depending on where they're at and things like that, I bring the girls to them. If they're not, you know, incredibly late at night or whatever.
Speaker 1:Right right, right right.
Speaker 2:Tell me a little bit about your band. Morgan County Line is a I don't know how to describe morgan county line. So my um, I come from a very, very solid, like 90s, 80s, 90s country background with bluegrass mixed in. So, uh, like my former band in maine, we did my music, but then we would do Joe Diffie and Brooks and Dunn and all of that stuff that you know was so awesome back in the day.
Speaker 2:And the new band my bass player. He learned to play bass two years ago because he was a guitarist and a drummer and I needed a bass player. But I knew the guy's personality would fit so well in the band that I asked him I begged him to learn to play bass and he's done it and now I think he owns about $24,000 worth of bases and uh, but you got him into, I got him into it and he absolutely loves it and he's so good at it.
Speaker 2:My guitar player he's a blues man, fantastic guitar player, he can play anything, but his background is Stevie Ray Vaughan and and you know people like that Kenny Wayne Shepard. He brings that edginess to the band. My drummer is actually his daughter and she is into 90s grunge rock. Okay, all right, you get all of this mixed together and you got Morgan County Line and it's kind of a different thing. But that's why I say when we perform these songs live, they're a little more edgy, you know um I like that spencer, my guitar player.
Speaker 2:You know, like I said, he loves blues. He's real, real big into the steel woods and blackberry smoke type stuff as well. We have kind of a we're definitely country, but there's like a bluesy southern rock undertone there.
Speaker 1:That's pretty strong I love it live stage, so see, I, I, in my opinion, I I think you did it right. You've got members of your band. Everybody's got a little bit of a different interest. Yes, when you bring it all together, the sound's got to be like it's a little bit of this, a little bit of that a little bit of this, a little bit of that, that's cool. Bit of this. A little bit of that, that's cool, that's really cool.
Speaker 2:You know we play different songs. We do a lot of you know, chris Stapleton, johnson Brothers type stuff we do. We cover Seminole Wind from John Anderson.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:It's done, you know, not in the traditional fiddles and pianos kind of a way. It's done with kind of a bluesy rock guitar playing the melody and you couple that with Shaley's kind of grungy drum beats, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:No, I bet it is. You're making it your own. When you do that, you're making it your own. It's the song, but obviously done in a different way. Right, and people are going to remember that.
Speaker 2:So you've got to stick to the. You know the, the core of the song, but you can still. You can still make it your own.
Speaker 1:I need to ask you and what? What would you say? Maybe there's a few. What are your biggest challenges to being an independent artist?
Speaker 2:I think that my biggest challenge to being an independent artist right now I would honestly say booking, because we're at a point where I've done the bar scene for years and years. I don't want to do the bar scene anymore. We're trying to shoot for it for a higher level here. You know, absolutely I want to do this commercially and for a living and actually make this fly. So it's very hard to break away from. Yeah, we'll play for two $200 down at, you know, bill's Bottle Joint and honestly it causes kind of a problem, you know, with the band members sometimes because they're just, they're a band they want to play.
Speaker 1:Sure sure.
Speaker 2:And it's not every day that you get to go on stage with Gary Allen. You know that that's sure. Those are few and far between, until we get to a higher level. And you know grassroots and other people are, you know their. Their advice is well, you have to. You have to stop booking for two hundred dollars. You have to put your rate at what your ability is and what your talent level is and just start being that, because that's what you are.
Speaker 2:You have to, you have to charge for that, and so it. It does sometimes cause some problems when you know I, I won't take a gig for no money.
Speaker 1:Well you know, but you're taking gigs where you get paid more, so it makes up for what you don't do.
Speaker 2:So or or the publicity factor is right, exactly.
Speaker 1:Exactly yeah, there's a lot more to it. I know everybody wants to get out and play and do their thing Right. There's a lot more to it too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, we were at CRS in Nashville in February.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we probably walked by each other. We probably did Several times.
Speaker 2:And we got an opportunity to actually perform there at the Omni and Spencer I was there with my wife, the band was not there, we were there pushing the single. And we got this opportunity to play and I called Spencer on the phone. I'm like, dude, can you get to Nashville in like the next 12 hours? He's like, yes, I'm there. What are we doing? I said, well, we're going to play at the Omni, and so he dropped everything he was doing. He owns a heating and air company, probably left some guys on the job to cover for him and he drove to Nashville and we played that show that evening for no money.
Speaker 1:Right, but it's exposure. Look who you were in front of. I mean, I've been going to the CRS, the country radio seminar, for over 20 years, oh wow, and it's just being in front of these people that can really change your life. I mean everybody from label execs to radio programmers to. You know, the more people you can get in front of the better, and that was a great opportunity. Where did you play in the Omni?
Speaker 2:In one of their suites.
Speaker 1:Oh, in the suite.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, I bounced around suite to suite, to suite, yeah.
Speaker 2:And it is. It's kind of a, it's kind of a racket. You don't know, you could be playing for a couple of drunks, or you could be playing for the owner of. Sony, you don't really know, there was a lot of drunks, oh yes, I kind of made a home in Barline. Yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I owned one of the stools there. I think, right, yeah, absolutely, it's a great opportunity to do that, there's no doubt. But yeah, the challenges. You say it's the booking. Does your wife help you with that at all? Do you have a team behind you or how does that work?
Speaker 2:We pretty much are at this point still doing it ourselves. She manages the band and everything, you know, to the best of our abilities and stuff. We do have a booking agent out of Nashville that is working with us, the Reed promotions. She is booking us, but when we brought her on you know it was late in the year. Pretty well everything for this year was booked up. So we're going to meet with her again, uh, the end of the month and we'll, you know, go over our plan for next year and and give the band some more bigger shows calm down, guys.
Speaker 1:Come down. We got this going. We're doing everything which you know. You're way ahead of some others. So just saying you know you've already. You've got a song that's getting played on the radio and hopefully more and more every day. There's others that are still struggling to get to that point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's staggering sometimes when you actually sit down and think about it.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 2:It's like you just want to pinch yourself and go, yeah, we heard it on the radio driving up here today and and how to.
Speaker 1:I was just going to ask you when you heard it, what did you have to pull over? Crank up the radio? What happened in the car?
Speaker 2:but yeah, uh, I just kind of sat there stunned, and both girls started screaming daddy's song.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, that's so awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's exciting, it's really really exciting.
Speaker 1:I'm going to ask you a really crazy question. It's not music related. What was your favorite toy growing up?
Speaker 2:Um I, I had a little red wooden barn.
Speaker 1:Okay, A barn a miniature barn. And did it have miniature animals?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:I played with that thing all the time.
Speaker 1:I ask everybody, and it's amazing the answers you'll get. It's just it makes you think back a little bit and go, and then you're going to go.
Speaker 2:I only say that because when you asked me that, that immediately popped into my head and it's been a minute since I've seen that little red wooden barn, yeah, and now you're going to go.
Speaker 1:Whatever happened to that barn. You know what I mean? Yep, yeah, so that's kind of cool.
Speaker 2:That's kind of cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, If you could collaborate with anybody. Who? Who would you like to get together with, get up on stage and do a collaboration, or maybe even in the studio?
Speaker 2:The dream collaboration would be Travis Tritt. That man has dominated my musical mind for years.
Speaker 2:I absolutely love everything that he's ever put out. I think our live performance style is very, very similar, nice, um, I am trying to collaborate with tiger lily gold at this point and I haven't quite made that happen. But I have a, a song that's off of the uh ep. That's actually written as a duet but I have not. I wasn't able to find a vocalist. I thought would fill that female verse of the song. When we played that show with gary allen, those two girls, the way they sang together.
Speaker 1:I was like there it is. That's exactly who I need you know, we did a um, we did a show with them. It was the day after they got their acm award oh nice and you know you could. Just they flew in that next morning. I mean they probably had been up all night partying, they still came, we did a show. They kicked ass. It was just phenomenal. Yeah and uh, we've had them here a couple of times.
Speaker 2:I just love those ladies and uh at crs is where we met them the first time and then, oddly, we ended up playing a show. We've had them here a couple of times. I just love those ladies. Yeah, they're at CRS. That's where we met them the first time, and then, oddly, we ended up playing a show together with Gary Allen a couple months later.
Speaker 1:Very cool. That's Gary Allen's, another one that I haven't seen in a long time, but I would love to go see Gary Allen.
Speaker 2:Yes, gary Allen was my first concert ever. I was going to ask you. They took the question right out of my mouth. Yep, so yeah, very well. And josh turner, in bangor, maine. Josh turner opened for him and, uh, I was hooked.
Speaker 1:I went, you know what I'm gonna do that. So, being from the coast of maine, you must have you probably fished uh were you like right, well, well, on the coast, do you do like you see the whale watching stuff, do you any of that plus? Oh, yeah, that's cool, yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2:Um so I was born in in Portland, which is literally right on the beach.
Speaker 1:No, exactly where it is, yep.
Speaker 2:So we I mean we we could walk to the beach from our house. We spent every day on the beach all summer long. You know it was. It was good. And then, um, the only other place that I've lived besides Missouri, oddly, is, uh, kodiak Island, alaska. So, wow, it's stuck to coast. I absolutely love the coast. I owned a big boat while we lived there and, you know, just fished nonstop. And now I find myself smack dab in the middle of the United States of Missouri.
Speaker 1:Something is not clicking here. Something is like you went from this coast to Kodiak, Alaska. Now you're smack dab in the middle of the beautiful United States.
Speaker 2:And I love it. I honestly I do miss the, you know the ocean we go to, uh, destin, florida, quite a bit and stuff like that. But um, I love Missouri.
Speaker 1:How did you, um? How? How did you get to Alaska?
Speaker 2:Was it a job opportunity, or was it just doing your thing, or no, I had a friend from church that ended up going up there and doing some mission work and I went up there to visit him and I just absolutely fell in love with the place he left and I stayed there.
Speaker 1:I hear it's beautiful.
Speaker 2:I was there for two years. It was absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1:And how did you end up where you are now?
Speaker 2:So I married a girl from Jefferson City, Very nice. So that's, my wife is from, you know, Missouri. So that's kind of how we ended up there and there you are and there I am. And we met in Maine. She was in Maine for college.
Speaker 1:Oh cool.
Speaker 2:Going to the University of Maine at Orono and I worked for a building materials company as a contractor salesman and she was a kitchen designer that worked at that. So that's how we actually met.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we, we the whole kitchen design thing. We redid our kitchen here and Yep, and it wasn't cheap. But we actually, you know, the young lady came over and we sat down told her what we wanted and she was doing all the drawings and the measurements and you know all that stuff and it was pretty cool and anybody that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:So she's looking out for time and actually it ties right into what I do for work now, because my wife can come into our custom home builds and design their kitchen for free.
Speaker 1:I love it. Oh, for free, wait a minute. No, no, no.
Speaker 2:They think it's for free. It ain't for free. No, they do. I know.
Speaker 1:I know that's cool, so how did you get involved in building?
Speaker 2:My family for like three generations, all of my grandfather, my dad, you know they were all builders. So if you do, you know, do you know Kenny bunk port at? All Yep, yep, yep, if you're, if you're down there along the Kenny bunk beach or or Wells beach, all of those little beach homes along the front. My grandfather and my uncle built all of those little houses.
Speaker 1:Very cool, very cool, a lot of them you know it was back in the fifties.
Speaker 2:You know a lot of those are built with old hand tools and stuff. You go in some of those places that just the woodwork is amazing and I look at my woodworking skills and go, damn, you know he did it all with a hand file and a plane. You don't want to look at my woodworking skills. Hopefully you can't see any here?
Speaker 1:damn, you know he did it all with a hand file and a plane. You don't want to look at my woodworking?
Speaker 2:skills.
Speaker 1:Hopefully you can't see any here, but you know I have a problem mitering the joints together. It's like oh they're opposite or there's something it's like. How did I?
Speaker 2:do that.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:I screwed up the stuff they used to do with hand saws, though I'm telling you yeah, I know yeah, I know, get the miter box right. Yeah, I know, very, very cool. What do you drive? I drive a, uh, toyota tundra what, wait a minute?
Speaker 1:oh no, the tundras are nice. No, no, they're nice, they are nice, it's a full size. So yes, I was thinking, yeah, oh, that's cool I've had a lot of tacomas.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna just tell you right now, but tundra is my, is my go-to vehicle all right, okay, being a builder.
Speaker 1:That's why I was asking you know, probably got you know the bed in the back and all that oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, but I expected to hear like maybe chevy yeah, ram the 2500 dually or something like that, so right yeah, I can't get away from my tundra.
Speaker 2:The whole back window goes down, dude that's awesome it is. I can haul 20 foot rebar in the front of my truck and the guitar on the front seat.
Speaker 1:That's right. Yeah, you gotta do. You take that everywhere you go? Would you take those a lot of places?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, I, but the problem is now, though, that that I've started buying very high end guitars. So, you know, like my, my, wife is listening.
Speaker 1:You may not want to say that too loud.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she's a good girl. She usually signs the papers on them. So, ah, that's good, that's good, but now I need to get another beater guitar, cause I hate taking my eight 18 to the job site and it's going gonna put a foot through it or something I get it.
Speaker 1:I get it. You should get a beater, something good. You know, if it falls, it falls right, but you could still play it.
Speaker 2:So yeah yeah, that's kind of cool something to take to the bars where they throw bottles at me yeah, bang, um.
Speaker 1:So what do you do for fun?
Speaker 2:I love to hunt. I am an archery hunter. I love to to hunt with my bow. I love to fish. I do not fish as much as I should in Missouri, but we did just buy a, a nice fishing boat, so we'll probably start doing that a lot more, but yeah.
Speaker 1:Very cool. And how often do you get to Nashville?
Speaker 2:Uh well, you've been there. This trip will be five times this year, okay, yeah, that's quite a bit. Yeah, back and forth. Quite a lot.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. And what's the future? What do you see down the road for you?
Speaker 2:We're going to cut this new single at the end of the month and then I would like to take the whole band down there in november and cut a full uh 12 song album very cool.
Speaker 1:Then you bring the whole band back for crs, that's right. That's right, you know what. And we get you should see if you can get on that stage in bar lines. Yeah, you know, they do a lot in there too. So of course you, you know right, your team will will definitely do what they need to do to get you in front of people. Excuse me, so you know you gotta love that. So this has been great. Got to know you a little bit. I know the music is out, um, so you have your own website.
Speaker 1:Yepbsmallymusiccom is the website and socials are you on all the typical anywhere you can find.
Speaker 2:Uh, find me on socials is jacobsmally and morgan county line got it and, um you know, music is available everywhere you can stream it, so I love it.
Speaker 1:How, um, who does your socials? Uh, we do. You do it all yourself good for you, all us, so I love it. How, um, who does your socials? Oh, we do. You do it all yourself. Good for you, all us, so I love it, I love it. Good for you, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a job balancing that and the and the um you know, it is a job. It is a job it is a job the construction company. My youngest daughter has a rare genetic disorder. We have to balance that constantly too. So it's uh, we're busy, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:My, my excuse me again. I have a son that's uh, actually he's 23, but he's down syndrome, okay and uh. So you know we have certain issues we deal with and you know it's it's, it's, it's work sometimes.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, anna has a condition called isovaleric acidemia. She's one of 14 people in the country that have it. It is extremely rare and the best way to describe it. Her body cannot process protein. She's like she's allergic to protein. She turns it into ammonia and um at. At four days old she went into a coma, was in the intensive care unit for 16 days and was on dialysis, you know, trying to filter her blood out. We almost lost her at four days.
Speaker 1:Oh my God.
Speaker 2:And, uh, it's just, it's a struggle constantly, you know, trying to find something that she can eat that doesn't have protein in it, that, will, you know, has enough calories to keep her alive.
Speaker 1:Can I ask what do you feed a person like that? What do you have to get I? Know we're a little off subject here, but I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, it's interesting. You subject here, but I don't know. Yeah Well, it's interesting, you have different. She can eat some fruits and vegetables, things like that. Some fruits and vegetables she cannot eat because they have too much protein in them. A lot of stuff we can buy, you know, medical foods that have had the protein and leucine extracted from them. It's ungodly expensive, you know medical foods that have had the protein and leucine extracted from them. Right.
Speaker 1:It's ungodly expensive.
Speaker 2:you know a cup of oatmeal with the protein removed from it that's dangerous for her is like 50 bucks for a cup of oatmeal. You know it's a cup. Yeah, wow, it's just, it's unbelievable. So, and it's hard because her condition is so rare. You know, getting her approved for insurance and stuff like that, because I mean, nobody's ever heard of this before. There's so few people that have it.
Speaker 1:but well it's a daily, it's a daily struggle, but I'm sorry, jacob, to hear about all that, but she's your daughter, you love her and you're going to do the best you can and God bless her. That's all we can do and we're not a fan of insurance companies, but I know we all have to have them. But even with Zach being down syndrome, there were certain things like we tried early on and I know we're off the subject of music here but early on in his life we wanted to get life insurance through Gerber. Gerber would not insure him because he was down syndrome. Right, and that's not right. Nope, it's not right and it just. You know, we ended up in a battle with them. My wife you want to piss my wife off and probably the same way with your wife. You know what's right and what you should have, and when somebody says no, you can't have it, whoa, whoa, whoa. Right. So, but we actually lost it. So you know we had to go another route, but still.
Speaker 2:Right yeah.
Speaker 1:God bless you, my friend, I know.
Speaker 2:It's a struggle, but she's almost two. She is with, with, with her condition and the two gene mutations she has. She is the only person with those two mutations that has lived to her age. Most of them die in the first two weeks. Oh my God.
Speaker 1:So she's doing fantastic, it's very Wow, I can't even imagine.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You're a strong guy. You know all of you. That's good. God bless her and hopefully she'll go on to live. She's doing very well, a good, normal life, as normal as it can be.
Speaker 2:Right, wow, yeah, it's wild. I'd never heard of such a thing.
Speaker 1:You know? No, I haven't either. But you know, when I talk to these artists and we start talking about life and we start talking about things, it just it proves one thing that you're human, you're no different than anybody else. We all have our challenges, we all have our difficulties in life, you know, from our kids to whatever, but we all have them. Yeah, and you know, as an artist and somebody we hear on the radio and somebody that makes us feel good. But if you look beyond that, well, wait a minute.
Speaker 1:You know, Jacob's just a, just a guy. He's out there, he this is what he does, he loves doing it. He makes us feel good, but you know, you're real, real good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah it's, it's funny. You know. You say he's just a guy and this, and that All of the people that I work for you know, because they know that we're promoting to radio and this, and that you know we did a bathroom remodel for a couple back in the spring when we first released the single and they're having me autograph the inside of their vanity. Yes, If this takes off, I'm going to sell this vanity. You know we pour concrete. We have to autograph the slabs that is cool though, and I get it.
Speaker 1:I get it. That's cool. Yeah, we're a big baseball family here and we used to house the baseball players for our AAA affiliate, which is one below the majors, so a lot of these guys would go up and down, up and down. Years ago it was Washington Nationals and one of the guys that lived with us he was the talk in the neighborhood because he was all buff and everything. Every day he'd be outside, you know, polishing his Camaro and everything. But when it came to sell that, he autographed the inside of the glove compartment Right. And came to sell that, he autographed the inside of the glove compartment right. And you know well, the guy that wanted to buy it said you need to autograph this, so I'll always have you know. So it just kind of made me think of that that, yeah, exactly. So wow, it's just amazing, amazing.
Speaker 1:Jacob, you're awesome, dude, you're awesome. God bless you and your family. The music just is super. Just keep doing what you're doing. Like I said, you've got a great team behind you. You've got the best in the biz as far as I'm concerned. I know I talk to a lot of different artists with a lot of different people, but what Nancy Tunick and her crew does is just phenomenal.
Speaker 2:They're pretty amazing. We're really, really happy to be a part of that, because there's just so many out there that take your money and do nothing for you.
Speaker 1:It's so true, it's so true. One quick question as an independent doing what you're doing, what advice would you have for somebody else trying to do what you're doing?
Speaker 2:trying to do what you're doing. Don't be afraid to take the step. If this is really what you want to do, you have to go out on a limb and spend a little money and just go do it.
Speaker 1:Do you hear that? Do it.
Speaker 2:It's scary to do. I mean, we've dropped some crazy money in the last year, I'm sure Promotion and recording and everything. But the industry is so competitive. If you do not sound and look as good as the guys at the big record companies, nobody's going to pay attention to you. That's true. That's true.
Speaker 1:That's sad to say, but it's true.
Speaker 2:It is very sad to say, but it's amazing.
Speaker 1:I know, I know I get it Jacob Smalley, jacobsmalleymusiccom. Correct.
Speaker 2:Yes, you got it there it is.
Speaker 1:You know it's been awesome chatting with you, you too, and hopefully we have some viewers that'll go and get the music this is going to. It'll be all posted on our YouTube. It's live on our Facebook right now as well. I'll make sure you get the link. I'll make sure you get the link. You can share it with all your co-workers. Say hey skip happens, baby, the way I look at it, skip happens every day. We just pick it all up and move on all you can do, sir.
Speaker 1:God bless you and your family. Jacob, give the little ones a hug. They're so adorable. Good luck on your radio tour. How much more do you have to go? I think we're doing three tomorrow. They're so adorable. Good luck on your radio tour. How much more do you have to go? How?
Speaker 2:much further We've got. I think we're doing three tomorrow and two the next day, and then we're off for five days and then we go and hit Nashville and south from there.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. If you're in the northeast, you know you said you've been up through Syracuse. You've passed through a few times. You definitely have to look us up if you're up here, and I'll put you in front of some fans, some radio listeners and every bit helps one fan at a time.
Speaker 2:One fan at a time is how it happens alright, oh, do you know who's?
Speaker 1:so I got Lise Yako. Do you know who's? Second? Elise Yako Do you know her? She said great interview, so.
Speaker 2:I do not believe so.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you. Thank you for watching, absolutely so. All right, jacob, you're hang on, we're going to sign off. Thank you so much for joining us here on skip happens.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 1:Some great information and you're off and running. Dude, don't look back, look ahead, just keep going, and I may be calling you to build me a new house. Very good, I do travel. Okay, anyways, you're awesome. Stay right there. God bless you and your family, jacob Smalley. Make sure you check him out online. Just your family, jacob Smalley. Make sure you check him out online. Just Google Jacob Smalley. You'll get everything that you need to know about Jacob and get his new music. Thanks, jake.
Speaker 2:Thank you, sir.