Sawyer Brown's Legacy: Mark Miller on 40 Years of Music, New Singles, and Connecting with Fans

Mark Miller from the iconic band Sawyer Brown opens up about his extraordinary journey through the music industry, celebrating over four decades of success. This episode honors their ongoing 100-city tour and the thrill of connecting with both loyal fans and a vibrant new generation of listeners. Mark, known for his introverted nature, shares the unexpected twists that led him to Nashville and propelled Sawyer Brown into stardom. Despite his initial stage fright, he reveals how he transforms his nerves into electrifying performances night after night, including their upcoming milestone show at the Ryman Auditorium.

Get an insider perspective on Sawyer Brown's new single "Desperado Troubadours," co-written with Cody Jinks. Mark discusses the heartfelt process of writing songs that capture real-life experiences, rather than the usual love songs, and highlights the significance behind tracks like "They Don't Understand." This episode is filled with nostalgic memories, including memorable performances with Juice Newton and Alabama, and touching fan interactions that underline the band's enduring appeal and grassroots promotion efforts.

Join us as Mark dives into his daily routine, from his late-night habits to his dedicated workout regimen, and his commitment to sobriety. Revel in a humorous family anecdote from a sold-out show in Tacoma and the special bond Mark shares with his fans through songs that resonate across generations. Whether you're a long-time Sawyer Brown enthusiast or a new listener, this episode promises a heartfelt journey through music, memories, and the timeless spirit of Sawyer Brown.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Oh, we are live. I looked down and I didn't see it wrap up. But here we go, everybody. Welcome to Skip Happens. Yeah, I took my eyes off the screen for a moment. Mark's probably going. What's he doing, what's he doing? But hey, welcome to Skip Happens. As I mentioned, this is going to be a great show and, mark, just forgive me, I may geek out a little bit, because I have been a fan of Sawyer Brown, probably for the last four decades, I mean since you first hit the radio and now you know, hit after hit after hit and show after show after show, and always right there. I've seen your shows, I've seen your energy, I've seen you dance on stage and some of those moves, man, you know, let's just, let's be real. I mean, you and I we're not kids anymore, but you move like you are. That's pretty cool. It's good to see you. Mark Miller, what's up?

Speaker 2: 0:53

It's all great. We're on a 100-city tour. I'm in Minneapolis today and we're just the crowds and the fans keep coming out, keep being loyal, and it's just incredible.

Speaker 1: 1:11

Dude, I mean that's got to be such a good feeling. You've been to the top. I mean you're still at the top of your game and still going strong. And to see the fans, I imagine you see a lot of new fans as well. You see a lot of you know you and I and I are, like I said, we're a little bit older, but, uh, some of the younger people that are coming out and now they're getting acquainted with sawyer brown probably a quarter of the the fan base is under 30.

Speaker 2: 1:36

and you know them would be, you know they. They listen to the stuff with their folks and then some are brand new and so you 90s in particular is pretty hot. You know we've always had a strong fan base, so we're getting to double up really.

Speaker 1: 1:52

That's cool. I mean you're getting a new audience. Plus, you got your well-established audience. I mean we talk about the music of the races on and some girls do. Let me think here, six days on the road, thank God for you, you, the boys and me. Uh, now you've got a brand new single. That did I do pretty good there. That's a good sign that I'm a fan and I'm kind of geeking out right now. But no, it's all good. But you got a new single, uh, desperado troubadours, which we're going to be talking about here in just a little bit. But let's talk about the past four decades, when you know, when you fight because I never had a chance to sit down and actually talk to you when did you first start singing and how did that all get started for you?

Speaker 2: 2:34

well, you know, I'm a, I'm an introvert, pretty much in like. In high school I wouldn't even read out loud in class I would. I would literally take a zero if I had to read out loud, I just wouldn't do it. And when I was a junior in college, I had a guitar. I taught myself how to play guitar when I was, like in you know, a kid and I had the guitar that I would just sit around and, you know, learn four chords like everybody else.

Speaker 2: 3:03

And, uh, my junior year of college, I, I started writing, I, I wrote some songs and then, in order for me to be able to, you know like, put them down on cassette, I had to sing them and, um, I played them for a buddy of mine who was a. I was working at Walt Disney World at the time as a trick water skier in the water ski show and my buddy was a was in the band leader and I played him these songs and he geeked out. He didn't, didn't believe it was me and he didn't believe I wrote him, and that was that was literally in February of my junior year. And then my brother talks me into coming to Nashville, or going to Nashville from Florida that's where I grew up. On spring break we had spring break, so I borrowed a buddy's van and I slept in the van and I just literally went door to door during spring break, you know I I literally got in to see some like rca, and and, and people were fascinated that somebody was just going to walk in with a tape and this was in 1980, okay, and and what blew my mind was everybody took me serious, like when they heard the tape, they kind of straightened up, they went oh, then they started telling me things that that that you know I need to do, he said first.

Speaker 2: 4:35

The first thing they all said is you got to be here, you got to move here. But what freaked me out more than anything else was these were the first songs that I had just written, maybe six weeks before this trip, and I had 10 songs and um, and they were taking me serious. That's what I couldn't believe more than anything else. That who would you know that? And it was funny because some people either really like the songs or they really like my voice. And then at that point I will tell you, the thought of me singing like in front of people was like terrifying. So I really kind of settled in my mind I'm, I'm just going to be a songwriter because I can write the songs and then just stay record them and try to get other people to sing them.

Speaker 1: 5:30

I mean you do have a very unique voice, I mean that's one thing, but the music you don't really do a lot of love songs. But you have and I read a little bit of this off the bio that was sent to me you do what you call life songs. And I'm thinking I go, god, you're right, and I look at the songs that you put out and I said, oh, this ain't no love song. No, this ain't no love song, but it's about life and it's about real life. So that's kind of cool, were you? Because you said you met with the labels and that can be pretty stressful in itself, but you said they were kind of, you know, maybe criticizing you a little bit or telling you to do things a little bit different. Did you take that? Very well, you know what I mean. Or were you like no, this is the way I am and this is what you're going to get.

Speaker 2: 6:23

Well, on that first trip no, there wasn't a lot of criticism on that first trip. Now, when I moved to Nashville and I got signed as a staff writer for Charlie Pryde Now a staff writer what you do is you sit in a cubicle all day long, you and you know, and you just rotate. You know co-writers, and you and you know, and you just rotate, you know co-writers, and you try to write songs for people. You know they're on the radio and that it was. You know, haggard jones, charlie pride, um, you know alabama had just come on the scene, but you know, ronnie milsep, kenny rogers, um, dolly parton, so, but you know, and I and I tried that, but, like I during this, I wrote Step that Step.

Speaker 1: 7:13

Oh, wow, okay.

Speaker 2: 7:15

And they wouldn't even let me demo it because they didn't think it was worth even demoing. And then I snuck into the studio and and like at two o'clock in the morning and got caught by, you know, the guy running the company. He's been out drinking, you know, and saw my car. So he tells me to come in and play it for him the next day. So I go in and I play it for him. He listens to a verse in the chorus and he just stops and he says, mark, what are you doing? He said who would cut this? And I said, well, I would. He goes well, you don't have a deal. You have to. You have to write songs for the current artist and that was.

Speaker 2: 7:58

That was pretty tough and and what happened was we put the band together and we got pretty hot on the club circuit and we were playing about half of our song, half covers. And what was really confusing to me was we would go out on the road and we would play, you know, the songs that I'd written and we were getting incredible response. And then I'd come back to Nashville and it was a no-go. You know, it was like man, you guys, you got to conform and you know. But I will tell you this, just the success and the impact we were having on the club circuit gave us the confidence to just stay with it.

Speaker 2: 8:52

And we did have one guy from Capitol Records. His name was Len Scholten. He flew to Cincinnati to see us Because he had heard about us and he wanted to see us in our element. And when he saw us he said do not change one thing about what you're doing. He said, even if Nashville doesn't accept it, don't change. And, fortunate for us, we got on Star Search, we go to LA, and then the whole thing changed. Whole dynamic of everything changed once we got on national TV and had the impact that we were having on the TV show.

Speaker 1: 9:41

Yeah, but you kind of carved out your own niche as well. I know I hit the same thing with my throat, but so you did that. You got yourself together, you got your own thing and obviously it worked very well. People were comparing you to groups like Alabama CDB, charlie Daniels Band but then I'm reading a little bit in the bio here said you look more like the Rolling Stones and Aerosmith.

Speaker 2: 10:10

Well, you know also, you know my mom listened to country radio and I grew up rock and roll and Credence and the Beach Boys, and you know the Beatles, the Eagles, and so when I wrote, there was this maybe hybrid that came out of me because my mom only listened to country radio, like Hager Jones, charlie Brown, oak Ridge Boys, and so when I actually wrote the songs, there was this kind of hybrid, this kind of country blend with rock, and so, and Alabama kind of opened the door. Alabama was the first self-contained band and we probably Exile, crossed over at that time out of pop and then then us and um and and and you know, but we did, you were right, we did, we had our own niche and that was because of the songs that no one else would would record and that's, I mean, that's the whole thing.

Speaker 1: 11:20

You know behind mark miller, and so you're brown. It's stuff that nobody else would do. You hid your own way of doing it and, like I said in the beginning, I've seen you on stage and just to watch you, I mean you're not just standing there and singing a song, you're working that stage, you're moving, and that's probably why you're so fit, I'm just saying, and it definitely kind of helps out. Uh, you know, I went out and bought a bike but I'm not moving on stage but stage. But I've seen you dance and I've seen you move around and the energy between you and the guys in the band is just phenomenal. That's a show in itself and that's pretty cool. You actually spent some time with Kenny Rogers in the early days, right?

Speaker 2: 11:59

Yeah, Kenny had seen us on Star Search. Yeah, we were. Kenny had seen us on Star Search and he called and asked if we would like to come out on the tour, on his tour. And then he liked. He liked what was happening so well that his tour rolled into the islands in the stream tour with he and I stayed out on that entire tour for a full year. So we came off Star Search and then we go out on this incredible tour and we're playing in front of 20,000 to 40,000 people a night for a solid year and a half. Wow.

Speaker 2: 12:43

So it's about just getting a jumpstart on everything and also performance wise. We, you know, we just started gaining more and more confidence, and I gained more confidence as it went along and kind of morphed into what you see now. You know.

Speaker 1: 13:00

Yeah, I mean. Let me ask you though, mark. I mean, does it first of all? Does it ever get old?

Speaker 2: 13:07

That answer is no, because now I tell you what gets old is. I'm sitting in a hotel room right now.

Speaker 1: 13:15

That gets old, I get it.

Speaker 2: 13:17

You know you can see the blue paint in the background.

Speaker 1: 13:23

Yeah, I know there's really not much to see there. I get that and I get them. At least you got a place to sleep. You're not on the bus, so that's that's a good thing. But, um, do you ever do like you know you're gonna go on stage, do you? It's like, is every? Are you pretty calm when you go on stage at first, or is it like, okay, here we go, you got the nerves going and all that. Do you still get that? Let me put it that way do you still get like the nerves and get a little, uh, okay, what's going to go on here?

Speaker 2: 13:49

And 100%, yeah, 100%. You know we're this in. In October 1st we're going to be playing the rhyme and that's our 6,000th show and and I can wow that I still get that feeling that you know.

Speaker 2: 14:09

Okay, you know because you know I, I still have that, that stage fright, that it kind of wants to show up that anxiety to fight that, and then then. But when I go on stage, I know what, what is expected, and I've always been you know, I grew up playing ball, an athlete. I know, I know what's expected, I know I'm prepared, and now I go to work and that's that's that's.

Speaker 2: 14:38

That's that's how I approach the whole thing is. You know, I'm clocking in and I'm going to work if I want to bring it every night. There's not a single night that that I don't. I don't try to bring it in the in. The rest of the band follows as well I've seen that too.

Speaker 1: 14:56

Tell them to come on in. It's all right. Is that housekeeping who's over? I love it, I love it the road, the hotel rooms.

Speaker 2: 15:06

It's like a frat house.

Speaker 1: 15:07

I get you.

Speaker 2: 15:08

Guys are going from room to room.

Speaker 1: 15:11

That's all right, and they're waiting for you to come back because they want to pop a cold one with you. I get it. I get it. I don't drink. You don't drink. Good for you, god bless you. That's awesome.

Speaker 2: 15:21

Never have Nope Bless you.

Speaker 1: 15:22

That's awesome. Never have Nope, nope and God bless you. That's cool. So you know, in the beginning we were talking about you know you are Mark Miller, but how many people actually don't know you? Or let's say they know you but they think, well, I guess they really wouldn't know you because they think you're Sawyer. I mean a name like Sawyer Brown, I mean that could be a catcher on a ball team.

Speaker 2: 15:47

And you know what? I just go with it. It's fine. There's times I tell people well, I said I'm Mark, the band is Sawyer Brown and they'll go, I don't care what you call me Sawyer.

Speaker 1: 16:07

Is there a particular song that you like to play out of all the songs you have? Is there a particular song that you will probably play at every show and one that you really enjoy? It doesn't get old.

Speaker 2: 16:19

Well, you know, I will tell you this when you come see us we play our hits. You know we really don't mess around. If you're a Sawyer Brown fan, you're gonna hear every word, you're gonna know every word to every song we play. But you know, the walk is special. Some girls do is special. You know that the race is on. You know you, you, just you, you can't wait to get to those songs.

Speaker 2: 16:52

You know, know, to see the reaction. You know the walk is sometimes becomes pretty emotional, not just for me but for all of us on stage. You know, because sometimes we'll have four generations of men down there. You know, their youngest grandson stand up when we sing that song and they've got all got their arms around each other and then you know that that's, that's pretty.

Speaker 1: 17:20

It's pretty emotional for us to see that, that it's had that kind of impact when, when four generations yeah, so it's just that we talk about four decades well over 40 years to get your six thousandth show coming up. Uh, how exciting is that? And who's been counting? I'm just saying or do you take the book and go, okay, okay, okay, just add them up.

Speaker 2: 17:42

Wow, that's amazing, dude we did a, we did a big, big, big deal in in salt lake city at the delta center for our 40th and when, when this for our 40, for, I'm sorry, for our 4 000th show was that at salt lake um, which, by the way, is our number one market I love it, yep don't know why. Uh, first place we ever headlined, and still to this day, is a strong, strong market for us so we did our 4 000th show there and I think when the 40th anniversary started coming up, we started going.

Speaker 2: 18:23

Let's see how many, how, where we are, where we stand. And we, we counted up and we knew during this year we were going to cross 6,000. Wow, so we just decided to make it. It's on a Tuesday night in Nashville, at the Ryman Auditorium.

Speaker 1: 18:40

Dude, it doesn't matter if it's a Tuesday night in Nashville at the Ryman, because it's Sawyer Brown, mark Miller and Sawyer Brown, it's not going to make a difference. It doesn't matter what night of the week it is, it could be a Monday and you're going to pack the place.

Speaker 2: 18:53

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 18:53

Yeah, and how special is the Ryman to you? I mean, I, you know, I talked to a lot of country artists and we, just everybody just says you know it's, it's just, it's the mother church. Now you're talking about playing the Ryman right downtown, correct? Oh my God, what a venue, what a venue.

Speaker 2: 19:10

Yeah, and you know we of course we've played there, We've done concerts there, but we've also done, you know, the Opry. You know it goes from there to the Opry House, back to the Ryman, back and forth, and we've done the Opry. You know tons of times. But you still get that feeling like you know when you're in the alley, out back and you're walking up those funky steps. Williams walked up those, and Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl and Jones Charlie you name it all walked up those steps.

Speaker 1: 19:52

And then when?

Speaker 2: 19:52

you go out there and they preserved it so incredibly well out there. And and they preserved it so incredibly well. Um, when, when the boys sound check every show, I go out into the crowd and I walk wherever we're playing. I walk the entire arena and I work with the sound guy making sure the sound is perfect everywhere. And and when you get to places like the rhyme and and you're out in that audience and you're staring down at the Rhyme, and you're out in that audience and you're staring down at the stage and you're going, man, in a few hours I'm going to be standing in that circle and I'm going to be playing, and it's an incredible feeling. It's very intimidating, but it's also just an incredible feeling to know that you've achieved that.

Speaker 1: 20:34

You know I got to tell you I've been going to the country radio seminar well over 20 years and we always go to the Ryman. We have a lunch thing there with one of the big labels and this and that. But I do walk around and I always think, wow, think back, who's walked up these stairs? And now I'm standing here. Maybe I look at it a little bit different than you because you're the artist and I'm the radio guy, but still, I don't know. It gives me the goosebumps.

Speaker 2: 21:02

I think we share that, because when you're walking up those steps, I'm not walking up there as the artist, I'm walking up there as a fan, and just the same way you or anybody else would do. So, yeah, you get that. It's. It's this, this humbling feeling that you know, maybe in some way you, you're gonna get to be a part of this right do you have to um because you know being mark miller, so you're brown.

Speaker 1: 21:34

Hit after hit after hit. Do you sometimes just got to pinch yourself and go? Man, I can't. This is. This is amazing. All these years, all these fans, all these number one songs it just is this a dream? Is this really happening?

Speaker 2: 21:51

hey, and we'll sit around, we'll sit on the bus and we'll be able to see the parking lot and the people coming in and parking. And you know, one of the reasons I go out during soundcheck and I want every seat to have a good sound is I can. I can imagine when I was a fan and we'll go to concert and I would buy the ticket a month ahead of time or six weeks and I couldn't wait and I and I and I still think about that fan who bought the ticket that's going to sit in that seat and and I want, I want it to be everything's day to be and I work out every day.

Speaker 2: 22:39

I weigh the same right now as I did in high school.

Speaker 1: 22:43

Lucky you.

Speaker 2: 22:45

Well, I really have to work at it. I really have to work at it. But that's the reason that I do that is that there is an expectation and I want to live up to that expectation and I really, really want more than anything for that fan to walk away and go. Man, that's the best show I've ever seen, and this is my band. These guys are my guys.

Speaker 1: 23:15

How did how'd y'all get? How did y'all meet? Have you known each other since childhood days? How did the band come about?

Speaker 2: 23:23

Hobie and I, our keyboard player, who was walked in a little bit, he's gone again.

Speaker 1: 23:31

In and out.

Speaker 2: 23:31

Yeah, he saw. Oh, it's an interview. I'm out of here.

Speaker 1: 23:36

Tell him to come over. It's an open book here, we don't care.

Speaker 2: 23:41

He and I have known each other since the eighth grade and and we moved to Nashville together and we met all the guys. And you know, especially back then everybody was hanging out on music row and we met all the guys. You know, especially back then everybody was hanging out on Music Row and we met all the other guys there and we put the band together, initially just to make rent, you know, and you know I would be writing during the day and then we would go do our shows at night and you know that's kind of what everybody was doing.

Speaker 1: 24:17

I see I can look at some of the comments here. I don't know if you can see them or not, but Michelle is saying she remembers seeing you guys, along with Alabama, at a place called the Weed Sports Speedway, which obviously is Speedway. It's west of Syracuse, but that was back in 1986. Wow, that is just.

Speaker 2: 24:35

You know why? I know that we only did a handful of shows with Alabama, and that was one of them.

Speaker 1: 24:43

You actually remember the Speedway Weed Sport, Speedway Dude kudos.

Speaker 2: 24:49

I don't know if she's still on, but I think Juice Newton was on that show as well.

Speaker 1: 24:54

We'll find out. I think she's still on. I'm sure she'll comment, but that's Michelle. Yeah, roger's saying hello, and you also have another big fan on there. Her name's Lori. Says hi, mark. So it's just. You know. I mean, so many people look up to you. There's a lot of new artists that look up to you as well and they say you know what I want to be like sawyer brown, I want to have that energy, I want to have that sound. Uh, it's rock, but it's country. It's like rock music within the country sound, if that makes sense. And um, what? Is there certain advice that you would give to somebody that wants to follow in your footsteps?

Speaker 2: 25:32

Man, you know, I just think you got to be stubborn a little bit, but you got to be smart. You can't be stubborn and you know, know that you just keep hitting a wall. You know if you're doing something and you can see there is some success somewhere in it, um, and, and you can, you know, be determined. Um, you know so much of what we do today and, and, and you know people ask me for advice for artists starting out. I don't even think it's relevant because you know the way it was when we came out to where it is today. You know it's, it's tough because of the social media thing.

Speaker 2: 26:17

Now, I do think this I think the social media thing is a great outlet and has, you know, you look at guys like Zach top and who, who started out, uh, strictly, you know, with social media and, and my, my buddy, cody Jinx, and you know with social media and my buddy, cody jinks, and, oh my gosh, yeah, so you know some of these guys that really built a following and, but they had to work hard at it. You know, if you, if you go back and look, man, they had to post and post, and, and those would be the guys to ask what you do.

Speaker 1: 26:56

Yeah, I know You're right. You're right, I get it now. You made a very valid point, very valid point, and you think about the social media and we got your Zach Brines and Zach Topp and Bailey Zimmerman.

Speaker 2: 27:07

Yeah, we have to play that game. I mean, we have a whole staff of social media people at our office. You know, we have a creator, we have an editor, we have all that, and we knew three years ago that we were going to have to get into this in order to make it through this next. You know, whatever this next time frame is to make the next cut, so to speak.

Speaker 1: 27:35

Yeah, you mentioned Juice Newton. I see Michelle chimed back and she goes. I think Juice Newton might've played that night as well at Weed Sport.

Speaker 2: 27:44

Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 1: 27:45

Wow, you got a great, you know, with all the shows you do and all the different people that you meet everywhere you go all around the world. I don't know how you could just remember that, maybe because the few dates with Alabama, but that's amazing.

Speaker 2: 27:57

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 28:00

You know, that is a.

Speaker 2: 28:01

Alabama fan and big juice Newton fan too. So so that show I remember the boat. You know that was a big deal to get to do that show with those, both of those acts.

Speaker 1: 28:12

Absolutely. Let's talk about the new music, though. You got a brand new single out, even though you're approaching your number 6,000. When it comes to shows, desperado, troubadours let's talk about that a little bit. Did you write that? Or let's tell us about the song with a song.

Speaker 2: 28:33

Well, the album is produced by black Shelton just. I did read that, yes and the song Desperado troubadours was written by me, cody Jenks, in Tennessee jet, and it was the first zoom right that I'd ever done, because this was I get the tail end of COVID and everybody had learned how to zoom. I'm still not good at it. Talked about that before I got on.

Speaker 1: 29:02

Yeah, I know, push the button and smile. You see the light come out on the camera. You're good, so I'm just saying.

Speaker 2: 29:07

It was the first zoom ride that I had done and, um, man, it was incredible Cody, and man, it was incredible. Cody is a fan and we had met him at the Opry. We were both doing the Opry and he had come up and he talked to me about how much the walk had meant to him. And I met him there and we ran into Cody, out on the road in Billings, montana, and reconnected. And then, when I my daughter has always been a big Cody Jinx fan and she's always said, even before I knew who he was, she said, dad, you and this guy would write well together. And and so we did and we wrote. You know, desperado Troubadours was the first song, and then we rolled right into that to write Under this Old Hat, which is on the album as well.

Speaker 1: 30:00

Nice, nice. I see I'm reading some of the comments here and it's pretty cool. Jill says Hi, mark, hope you guys will be playing at the Turning Stone again soon. That's a casino right up the road in Verona, new York. I've been a fan since Star Search, holy crap. And she goes ask Skip every time he sees me. And this is so true. Now I know exactly who this is. When I'm doing an event, she has a Sawyer Brown t-shirt on. It is very. Every single show we do with the radio station she's like there it is. You know that's got to make you feel good when you see the people buying the merch. They're wearing the merch, they're. You know they're, obviously they're. They're big fans. They wouldn't do it. I mean, I have a mitchell 10 penny shirt on because we did a show just the other night. But yes, I'm a big fan, but I'm also a big fan of sawyer brown, so it's pretty cool, pretty cool man, it's, it's an honor.

Speaker 2: 30:54

It's really cool anytime. I see that it's just an honor, that that you know they want to wear our shirts and and, and you know, hear the songs.

Speaker 1: 31:03

It's an how do you do you um get caught up with grassroots? Uh, I love the promotion team that they have. I know they're musicians, they're radio people, they make it work and but you're such a well-established artist it's not like you know you're in an independent newbie, anything. You know that's not you, but you've obviously signed down with grassroots well, we're still with curb records oh okay, so there I get you yeah, but I got.

Speaker 2: 31:33

I'll tell you a quick story about grassroots. Yeah, but I'll tell you a quick story about Grassroots. We have a song called they Don't Understand. It's on an album that we did. I think it's on the Mission Temple album. Actually, okay, I was in a furniture store in Nashville and a guy waiting on us he recognized me. He said man, I've been a songwriter here for 30 years and never gotten a cut. He said, man, I got a song that I'd like to give you and play for you. And so I literally went with this guy and we went out to his car and he pulled this, this CD, homemade CD out of the floorboard of his car and he hands it to me and my wife and I on the way home we literally had to pull the car over and I invite everybody to go listen to that song on the Mission Temple album. It's called they don't understand.

Speaker 2: 32:33

Anyway, this guy, uh, his, his wife is theresa and she is the president of grass, oh yeah oh yeah, oh yeah, know him well okay and, and we established a relationship then and uh, and they've, you know, we've, we've just put out records on our own and they've worked them all along and they're just incredible. She's incredible.

Speaker 1: 33:00

Yes, nancy and Teresa just do a great job. Like I said, you know they're musicians as well as the radio side of things, and they bring it all together. It's not just somebody running a company that has no idea what goes on either side.

Speaker 2: 33:13

And Curve has brought them on the team to come alongside this record.

Speaker 1: 33:18

I love it. I love it, good choice, good choice. And Laurie chimed in and said by the way, that's an awesome song. So, yeah, exactly, I'll have to ask Teresa about that. That's pretty. That's pretty cool. Tell us about a day in the life of Mark Miller. Let's say you're home, uh, you're not on the road. What's a day in the life of Mark Miller? Let's say you're home, you're not on the road. What's a day like for you?

Speaker 2: 33:37

Well, it could be several things. I could get woken up by my two grandsons at about seven o'clock in the morning that are jumping on top of me, and you know that my day might start that way. Um, if they're, if you know, if they're in school, um, it, it. You know, I, I, I stay up pretty late and I have a bit of an insomniac, so I, I will sleep till eight to nine in that range, um, in the morning in the morning, now morning now being a musician, though you're usually up, you know, your hours are usually shifted a little bit oh yeah, I'll still be up to one, two o'clock in the morning, but I don't, I don't require a lot of sleep, so so I'll get up and, um, um, I'll, I'll.

Speaker 2: 34:31

I usually don't work out as soon as I get up because I'm just I'm not quite awake. It takes me a little while to wake up. I have a Diet Coke. I established I don't drink alcohol ever, and so I'll get Diet Coke and my wife would tell me to go wake up, and and then I usually eat an early lunch. I don't eat breakfast and I'll eat an early lunch around 11, and then, um, then I'm, I'm gonna, you know, go work out, or if it's a music day, I'm I'm, I'm gonna go in the studio and work after my workout. I'm gonna get my workout in regardless. After my workout. I'm going to get my workout in regardless, and if I'm not able to get my workout in, I do it before I go to bed. So I try to do 600 sit-ups and a hundred pushups.

Speaker 1: 35:23

Wow, god bless you, that is. That's pretty good. I mean, I'm just saying you know, you and I both were not spring chickens anymore, so they continue to do that and keep the heart pumping and bring that heart rate up and get the blood flowing and, you know, not drinking. I think that's awesome. And you've never smoked either, correct? I?

Speaker 2: 35:44

have never tasted beer. I don't even know what it tastes like. So that's you know.

Speaker 1: 35:50

So that's how that's, that's that's pretty awesome yeah yeah, now when my son Zach turned 21, he said he wanted a six-pack of Bud for a birthday present. I'm like all right, but you know what? He drank about a half a bottle and that was it and he hasn't touched it since he goes. I just wanted it because I turned 21, and he's also special needs, but still, you know, he knows. So the brand-new song, desperado Troubadours they can get that from any of the streaming platforms. You can download it and you can buy it on iTunes.

Speaker 2: 36:28

Yeah, it's out, the album's out, the single's out, absolutely yeah.

Speaker 1: 36:34

Okay, cool. Are these Mark Miller? Are these, um, mark mark miller? Uh, are these, uh, the guys that you're playing with? The guys that you've played with since the very beginning?

Speaker 2: 36:43

yeah, me and jojo yes yeah, okay and and shane is the new guy.

Speaker 1: 36:47

He's been here 20 years he's, he's got 20 years, is there? Um, is there any particular show that really stands out to you that you say, man, that was the best? Or maybe it was an amphitheater, maybe it was somewhere that you're going to go. You know what I want to go back there. That place was beautiful, that place was the best.

Speaker 2: 37:13

You could say Syracuse, which would be good so many venues, you know, uh I I will tell you this the buffalo, new york area oh yeah got a group of guys called the buffalo boys and and they come out and honestly, we love these guys, but they get so drunk.

Speaker 1: 37:41

So drunk they're stupid.

Speaker 2: 37:43

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 37:44

Oh, my God.

Speaker 2: 37:44

And we literally have to scold them. I mean, there's like a bunch of them and they come out. We know they're going to be there and they get there early and we have to say, guys, you're going to have to behave, know, because because they'll be hanging around around the bus and want us to come out and talk to them. But, um, you know, so buffalo is one of those. Um, man, you know, we we've got to play so many, so many great venues from. You know, one of our first big shows was Carnegie Hall in New York. Um, like I said, the uh, the Salt Palace in in Salt Lake City was the first place we headlined. Um, that, that's a special place to us. Um, we sold out the Tacoma dome 23,000 people and we didn't even have an opening act.

Speaker 2: 38:36

You know, memorable show, uh, real quick, my, my kids were my kids were younger and I had. It was in the summer and it's 23,000 sold out the Tacoma dome, tacoma, Washington, and my wife and kids have been out for like three weeks. My wife is like she is just a mom, she doesn't care about all the stuff. So I said, hey, bring the kids in, let them see the show tonight, because this is a big deal. This has been forever. And she said OK, that's a great idea. So we do the show and we get like seven encores and it's like the most unbelievable night of all time.

Speaker 2: 39:19

And I get out to the bus and she's in her pajamas and the kids are asleep in their bunks and I look at her and say are you kidding me? I thought you were going to bring them in. She goes. You know I brought them in. Oh no, you were going to bring him in. She goes. You know I brought him in. He goes and she goes. You play so loud and everyone was screaming. She said I just, it was too much. It was too much. She said we got ready for bed and they went to sleep.

Speaker 1: 39:50

Maybe it was too much for her, but I'm sure the kids would have been like just over the top with it.

Speaker 2: 39:56

Oh, this is strictly too much for her.

Speaker 1: 40:00

I promise you, yeah, I would have to agree with you. We've been chatting with Mark Miller tonight, right there. So you're Brown and you know he's the lead man, he's the voice, very unique, so many hits over four decades, and they're working on their show number 6 000 here, pretty quick. It just amazes me that, uh, you know you're still going strong. I mean this in a good way. You're still going strong and you're still packing the places, you're selling out arenas. You're doing what you have to do, and it's not that you have to do it, you do it because you love it.

Speaker 1: 40:32

I can tell already this is you, this is mark miller, this is, uh, the guy that just I don't, like I said a few minutes ago, you get on stage and you just let it all out. You just you go. I've seen you dance, I've seen you, you know just, and do the whole thing. And just, a great, great music, the new single, desperado, troubadours, and check that out. Uh, definitely good stuff. And uh, mark, I just want to say thank you, because I know you're very busy, you're on tour and he took time out to speak to us here on. I call it skip happens and it just skip happens every day. That's the way I look at it. You know it. Just, it doesn't matter, it does happen. So.

Speaker 2: 41:10

It's been great and it's. I will tell you this man, we, you know, we, we do just tons and tons of interviews and when we run across people like you, that that are not only fans, but so prepared and and it, it, it makes, it makes my job really easy.

Speaker 1: 41:34

So you've done that. So thank you, thank you. I always, you know, usually I will ask and say, okay, how did it go? You know, it's just, I did geek out a little bit. I will admit that I've been a big fan, like you said, but yeah, I mean it is what it is now. It's just like you and I talking as friends and I love that and I love that about you. Real quick, jill says my daughter Alicia, just asked me to ask mark to tell hobie. She said, hi, I don't know what that's all about alicia okay yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 42:03

So there you go area syracuse syracuse.

Speaker 1: 42:06

We're in syracuse, yes, like right in the center of the state. We've got albany this way, buffalo this way, about equal distance. We're like right in central new york. You know it's. It's crazy. I'll tell a quick story. We had the last couple of weeks. Our weather has been well, it's been crazy everywhere. Even Nashville's been nuts. It's been so hot. The heat index, we had over 20 confirmed tornadoes in central New York over the last couple of weeks and that has never, ever, ever, ever happened. So this whole climate change thing, there might be something to it.

Speaker 2: 42:42

Sounds like Arkansas or Iowa.

Speaker 1: 42:45

Yeah, but they're flat. So those areas where it's flat you're more able to get a tornado. There here in the Northeast, I mean, we have the Adirondacks, we have the mountains, we have, you know, there's a lot of hilly areas. So but yeah, it just. It just amazes me, but, thank the good Lord, everybody's okay. Mark Miller, sawyer Brown, thank you, thank you for being you, thank you for giving us the great music on the radio. It just I always say it's a two, two way street because if it wasn't for the great artist, and especially somebody like you with the experience and the four decades of putting out great tunes, uh, number one songs hit after hit, it makes radio stand out and we make the artists stand out. So it's, it's kind of a two way street.

Speaker 2: 43:30

So thank, thank you man for for. So thank thank you man for for you know, for the outlet that you provide us. And yeah, so yeah, we're partners, man, so thank you.

Speaker 1: 43:42

Mark Miller, Sawyer Brown, Thanks for joining us tonight. Stay right there when we sign off and thank you everybody for watching and make sure you subscribe to skip happens on YouTube If you're in the area where 92.1, the wolf and definitely check out the new single Desperado Troubadours Right there. Mark Miller, Sawyer Brown, have a good night everybody. Dude, you're awesome.