Speaker 3: 0:10

Welcome back to another episode of that's Delivered. I'm your host, trucking Ray, and today we have a special guest, someone who embodies the heart and soul of the open road, a man who's logged over 3 million miles behind the wheel while also making waves in the country music industry. He's the real deal Truck driver, country singer and storyteller, tony Justice. We're going to dig deep into his life, while growing up around big rigs and chasing musical dreams and everything in between. Hey. Tony, first of all, welcome to the show. How you doing.

Speaker 2: 0:51

Thanks for having me. I'm doing great. Good morning to you and all your viewers.

Speaker 3: 0:54

Man, I'm so honored to have you here. I know you're a busy man balancing life on the road and on stage. I appreciate your time here. Let's start with right from the beginning. You grew up in Elkhorn Creek, kentucky, and your father he was a trucker. What was that like? What was some of the greatest memories of being around trucks and the lifestyle.

Speaker 2: 1:15

Just, you know, looking back today at those memories, the greatest part is the memories. You know, uh, I had the three brothers growing up and a sister and myself, so we had quite the clan, uh, that that had to keep us pretty busy, just to, I guess, probably keep us out of trouble. So, uh, we, uh, you know, every weekend our chores was to work on, work on the trucks. Uh, and he worked, he worked in and out of the coal mine so he would grease, grease those trucks every weekend. He'd wash them every weekend and a few times during the week. He was pretty particular about his trucks but he would literally, you know, grease the trucks every weekend because, you know, when you're going out of coal mines it's one of two things it's either really bad muddy or it's really bad dusty. And so he stayed on top of his game with that, with his truck, keeping that thing maintained and in good shape. So, uh, you know, those trucks, they got a workout back in the day.

Speaker 2: 2:08

I remember, uh, you know, one of my fondest memories was, uh, going trucking with my dad one day when I was little and, uh, you know, getting half, they had a d9 setting about three quarters up up the road going up to the top of the mountain.

Speaker 2: 2:20

Uh and uh, they were bringing in, bringing the d9 down, hooking the trucks and having to pull them on up to the top of the mountain up there, you know, because of the snow and the mud and all that. But it's just. You know, it was a lot of good childhood memories between getting in fights, you know little arguments with my brothers while I was greasing the trucks. I remember some mornings being so, so cold you couldn't hardly squeeze the grease out of the grease gun. It was just like every pump of that grease gun was like every ounce of strength you had to get it. That was like that Dad had the motto that he taught us a good hard work ethic that we won't always have everything we want in life, but we'll always have everything we need in life as long as we knew how to work and didn't mind to work. So that's kind of the way we was brought up and just a lot of great memories of Eastern Kentucky in those times.

Speaker 3: 3:20

That's perfect. Do you have a story where you got to steer the truck or shift the gears?

Speaker 2: 3:27

Yeah, I mean I got everybody. You know pretty much the same typical anybody else story that screw up with the dad or grandfather or somebody in their family. That trucked, you know, sitting on his lap, you know steering wheel was that big. Then you know, and thinking that you're driving, when I'm sure he was sitting over with his arm on the steering wheel. You know I'm here underneath you, that you know, and you know just driving and putting putting your hand on the gear shift, you know, under his, when he, when he shipped the years, you know, and things like that. So yeah, I had had a lot of those experiences, a lot of those memories still Nice. Were there any road trips or specific hauls that stood out to you? Two of my uncles drove two of the trucks. He drove one of the other ones and so I did a lot of those runs up and down US 23 from you know, pipeville, kentucky, paintsville area, and now the different coal mines there, holland and the Coe to Ashland, kentucky, over on the Ohio River around Catlasburg, that area.

Speaker 2: 4:40

But then when we moved to Tennessee, dad had a heart attack in 84, I think, and he loved it up here in Tennessee. We had to come up here on vacation and Mom wanted to get him out from underneath that distress. Co-business was really starting to decline, you know, in that time frame and she wanted to get him away from all the stress. So we moved up here and he ended up getting a job with a company called highway transport out of knoxville, tennessee. And so the first road trip over the road I went with him on, I was, I guess, probably eighth grade, something like that and uh, we went to texas and uh, and I was a huge Dallas Cowboys, pittsburgh Steelers fan back in the Terry Bradshaw days, you know, and the Starbucks days, and I remember he went out of his way in Dallas to go to where we would go by the stadium and see the Dallas stadium and I just thought that was the coolest thing in the world. I've never forgotten that Nice.

Speaker 3: 5:46

Yeah, fond memories are dear to our heart. That's awesome. It keeps us going right.

Speaker 2: 5:53

I'm sorry.

Speaker 3: 5:54

It keeps us going right.

Speaker 2: 5:56

Oh yeah, Heck, yeah man.

Speaker 3: 5:58

I was thinking also, you had music early on in your life. Your mom was in the gospel band and you played bass guitar as about seven years old. Is that right?

Speaker 2: 6:09

Yeah, so you know, people ask me all the time, you know, what come first, music or trucking? You know, and I always give the same answer from the very first time I was asked that question is I don't remember a time in my life where either one wasn't not a part of my life. And so you know, even though we started out early, you know early memories with dad and the co-trucks. You know, no matter what we were doing around the house, outside the house, there was always music playing. You know, mommy, there was going to be playing the piano and practicing. You know she had a gospel and she'd be practicing songs. Her dad would have the radio outside going with Johnny Cash or George Jones or all those great country giants singing on the radio while we were outside working on the trucks and things. So that just developed right along with the trucking side of things in my childhood.

Speaker 2: 7:07

And uh, I guess I, you know I had a knack or a gift to to pick up on that. And uh, the preacher son, when we went to church, his name was jerry castle, he played bass guitar. Me and him were really good buddies. He was a little older than me but he was patient with me and I always looked up to him and he played bass and I just picked up his bass one day and I really would sit and just watch him during church what he was doing. And it's like when I picked it up I already kind of knew what to do a little bit, you know, just a matter of getting the finesse of holding the strings just right and hitting them just right. So it was something I picked up really quick and, yeah, by the time I was seven I would, wherever mom would go with her and her gospel group, whatever church they were performing at that weekend, I played bass for them.

Speaker 3: 7:55

So it was a good time, man. That's awesome. The environment like that being around family, I mean, that's kind of helped in a large way. Man, those good memories everybody needs that in their life and that's great to hear that they were there for each other and creating those good memories.

Speaker 2: 8:11

man I like that.

Speaker 3: 8:13

Thanks for telling us that.

Speaker 2: 8:15

Great shout out. I wouldn't take anything for it Wouldn't change a thing.

Speaker 3: 8:19

Beautiful, beautiful. Did you ever write any songs as a young one?

Speaker 2: 8:25

You know I never really did. You know I was not a pencil and paper fan. Anything that made me sit still to have to do it. I wasn't a fan of it. I was wide open. You know I probably had ADT back before. Adt was a thing I remember. You know I'd get in trouble in school a lot and the teachers called my mom in one time and, like anyone, take him to the doctor. I think you know he might be hyperactive. I think they called it back then and we went to see a doctor and they wanted to put me on Valiums at like sixth grade and my mom was like I'm not putting my kid on volume. So you know I guess it's a long answer to your question. But yeah, I never did. Uh right, I didn't start writing until I was probably 20, 21 years old before I I really caught the fever to write and, uh boy, once I, once I wrote that first song it was. I was addicted it.

Speaker 3: 9:23

All right, what was your first live performance? Like?

Speaker 2: 9:28

It was kind of embarrassing to start off with. It was a songwriter competition up in Gatlinburg, tennessee, at TG's North of the Border Mexican Restaurant, and a friend of mine that got me into it, rick Cogburn. He said, man, you need to go up here and enter this songwriters contest. And I said, man, I've only written one song and you could do three songs in this contest. He said, well, just do the one you wrote, you know. And I entered that thing with a song that I wrote called this Old House, and it ended up winning against like eight other songwriters who had three songs. And I really had never wanted anything in my life up to that point I'm probably like 20, 21, 22 year old, you know air, the age frame, and I'd really never been successful you know what I'll call successful at anything and uh, so that's really the first thing that I wanted, just you know, really it hooked me hook line and sinker, you know.

Speaker 2: 10:22

next thing, I know I'm trying to be a songwriter, so that's it.

Speaker 3: 10:26

That's a beautiful story, man, awesome. Thank you. Uh, I mean you spent your earlier twenties performing music. Uh, tell me about that. Were you actually chasing a record deal or were you focused more on playing and just having fun and and making making good memories?

Speaker 2: 10:42

I was just playing and having fun, you know I didn't. It was some time later, you know, I said, hey, maybe I need to go to Nashville this and that, and by the time that come along, you know I was. You know I had a daughter and another one on the way and I, just I was never really willing to uproot my family and go to Nashville to chase a dream. You know, my number one key was supporting my family. Music would always fall somewhere behind that, and so I didn't want to uproot my whole family to go chase a dream. So I just, you know, I just kind of stayed around here and continued to write and perform wherever they let me perform at.

Speaker 2: 11:27

I'd go to Nashville every now and then I would demo some songs. I started building relationships. Every time I'd go down there I'd meet a few more people and a few more people. We never moved to Nashville and knocked on doors. I never tried to really get a record deal. I think now, looking at the way record deals deal, I don't. And I think, you know, now, looking at the way record deals are, I'm glad I did, yeah.

Speaker 3: 11:50

Yeah, yeah, same here, man I hear the story. Wow, yeah, you don't know what, you don't know, right.

Speaker 2: 11:57

Yeah, it's a yeah, pretty big horror stories. You know, coming out of Nashville, you know a lot of these people go on radio and you think they're doing really good or not doing as good as they seem like they are. You know, and really you know, your top 10, 15 artists that you hear on the radio all the time are really the only ones that are really, you know, making headway and doing good. But you know they're controlled and reigned quite a bit and there's a lot of people making a lot of money off of them as well. So it's just this way we get to do our own thing, cut our own songs, we go in the studio and I record what I want to record, you know which, which to me. That's the way I think it should be.

Speaker 2: 12:36

That allows my listeners to get to know the real me you know, by recording stuff that either I write, or stuff that I've heard that someone else has written, that really touches something inside of me and that that puts my character on display, my personality on display, and you know, that's, that's what's fair to the fans, that's the way it should be, I feel.

Speaker 3: 12:58

Yeah you're being blessed for that, man. I'm rooting for you to keep going down that road, man, because, uh, yeah, the authenticity is is important. You know, if you lose that, um seems like you kind of lose a little piece of yourself. So, um, and staying true to yourself, man, that's the real deal right there. So, uh, music, uh runs, you know, runs deep for you. Um, how did you uh what you being on a big rig, and what was the biggest gig that you played earlier? Did you ever have a moment where you thought you were about to make it big or hit it big? You know, I know, I know music is something you want to, you want to get big on it, but you know you can't, can't force it, but you had that moment maybe.

Speaker 3: 13:44

When did that take place?

Speaker 2: 13:46

I probably had four or five of those moments you know six in my life and, man, I wouldn't take nothing for those moments, even though the outcome from it wasn't you know what I thought it might would be. But everything's a stepping stone and, man, the last thing I want to do is just get ahead of God. But in anything in life, you know, I always want him leading the way and at the end of the day, he knows what's best for my family and me a lot more than I do.

Speaker 2: 14:15

And so you know, I don't pray for those types of things to happen and or have number one, or to get a big record record. I just he knows the desires of my heart, without me mentioning them, and we just work toward those things and what's meant to be will happen and what's not, there's a good reason that it's not meant to be. But, uh, but you know, we had some things back in the uh, let's see, I want to say two, two thousand five six. We wrote a christmas song called called bring daddy home. Uh, this really heartfelt christmas song about this little boy who had written a letter to santa, you know, asking what he wanted for christmas, you know. And and the little boy was, and finished a letter, but his mom hadn't mailed it out yet, and then he kept. The little boy comes home from school one day and he sees his mom in the kitchen crying and and she, you know, he asked her why, why she's crying. And and he sees his mom in the kitchen crying and and she, you know, he asked her why, why she's crying. And she proceeds to tell the little boy that his daddy won't be coming home for Christmas this year and his dad was in Iraq. He was a soldier. And this little boy runs upstairs and he changes, changes his letter to Santa.

Speaker 2: 15:20

And anyway, I went to Nashville and demoed that song. And you know this is demos or demos the productions aren't great on them, but it was a pretty good demo and I give it to a friend of mine. Before I left town and, uh, I hadn't even made it back home from nashville it's like a three-hour drive from nashville back to east tennessee and my phone rang and, uh, there's a guy named randy boudreaux on the phone and I didn't even I wasn't familiar with his name, but he had written some really big songs, songs like Alibis by Tracy Lawrence and a couple really big major hits. And anyway, my friend had played him this song and he heard it and he goes I need you to come back to Nashville and record this song. And he heard it and he goes I need you to come back to nashville, record this song. And I said I said, but I'm spending my money on demo and I ain't got the money to record the song. And he said I didn't say anything about no money so I want to produce this song on you. So we went back to nashville and, uh and did that's the first time I did, you know, a real recording, you know, with a producer and uh, I brought that thing back here to East Tennessee and I gave it to a DJ friend of mine at WIBK in Knoxville, tennessee it's a huge country radio station in our area Our cowboy friend Gunner that was his name on the radio, my DJ buddy and he played that thing and their chorus just started pouring in for it and, uh, they ended up putting it on.

Speaker 2: 16:48

He calls me, he goes hey, your song made rotation. I'm like cool, what's that mean? He goes let's play. You know every. You know, once every hour, you know, or whatever, hour and a half or once in two hours, whatever it was. And I was like cool, that's awesome, you know. I'm like, okay, this might be it, you know, this might be the thing. And then, and then, uh, it calls me back like the next day. He goes dude, you're in upper rotation, you're getting more requests than anybody right now.

Speaker 2: 17:11

I didn't know that this was right during the christmas period, you know, you know mid-november, uh, something that time frame leading into christmas. And uh, and then mike hammond, which was the program director, calls me and he goes what's your plans with this song? Do you have a record label? I said no, sir. I said I don't know. I just recorded it a couple weeks ago. I don't know what to do with it. He goes well, you need to go to Nashville and get you a record deal. He said record labels all over the country will send us songs like this and and once they they perform like this and they get the kind of reporting back that we have for this song. He said that's when they put the big money behind it and take it, they'll take that single nationwide. He said you need to go get a record down. Okay, well, you know how do I do that, you know, and so I didn't, you know, I didn't go down there and try to get the record deal and all that. And it, christmas came and went, you know, and you start to see the decline. You know going back down as far as your chances and this and that, but, but that that opened so many other doors. Uh, for me that's really that song. Bring daddy home is what, with a little, to my knowledge, did.

Speaker 2: 18:20

I know there was a huge icon in the country music business songwriter, country music hall of fame songwriter, by the name of kim williams, who lived up on top of clinch mountain, which is a. If you ever take 25e from corbin down to exit 8 of 81 here in tennessee trucking, and probably a lot of your lindsters have ran that route when you get to the top of clinch mountain he lived right there just up in the trees, a little higher than what that overlook is at. He heard the song on IVK. Of course he was friends with everyone down there at IVK. Everybody knew who he was. Because of who he was, kim had written huge songs.

Speaker 2: 19:01

I don't know how many Garth Brooks songs. When Garth Brooks hit it big and just had mega, mega hits Country music ain't going down until the sun comes up. For example, just one of them, three Wooden Crosses, which is a multi-Grammy winning song across the board, and so you know he had a lot of influence to make calls for people. And so he called WIBK and said who's that artist singing that Christmas song, that Bring Daddy Home song? And Mike told him and said who's he with? What label's he with? And Mike goes, he ain't got a label. I said all I can tell you is Randy Boudreaux produced the song for him and he knew that Kim and Randy knew each other because they had co-written on a couple of pretty big songs.

Speaker 2: 19:48

And so Kim Williams calls Randy Boudreaux and goes who's this kid? You cut that Christmas song on, you know? And in the very words that Kim said, randy told him was this truck driver from East Tennessee down there? And Kim Williams said truck driver? And Randy said yeah, he lives right down at the bottom of the hill from you, pretty much over in Granger County. And man, it's just funny to think about how all this ties together.

Speaker 2: 20:16

But Kim said you know, we should cut that trucking song that we wrote for Kenny Chesney. He said we got all the music, we got a track that's in the right key. Maybe he can sing it right. So they had written a song for Kenny Chesney, called On the Road, and then Chesney decided he didn't want to cut it. He was wanting to cut a trucking song they wrote a really good one and Chesney, for whatever reason probably the label telling him he couldn't. I don't know that for a fact, but anyway, it's a pretty country song. So I figured that's the case.

Speaker 2: 20:47

But uh, so that song was just laying around in the, in the dust and it was recorded with all the music. So I had to do was go and uh sing, you'll sing to it like singing. I went to studios like singing karaoke, you know. They sent me the lyrics. I learned the song and the melody line and I went and recorded that and then I brought that back to my DJ buddy at the same radio station and, long story short, he ended up WIBK had a lot of dealings with the people at Pilot Pilot truck stops their home, their home offices are in Knoxville, so they did a lot of things together and he had given that to some people at Pilot.

Speaker 2: 21:29

And that's where we got the phone call about a year later out of the blue from people at Pilot asking me what I want to do with this song. And I didn't even know what song they were talking about. I'm like what are you talking about? He said this trucking song. It dawned on me.

Speaker 2: 21:40

I'll never forget I was coming out of Texas on a Friday, just got there reloading, trying to get back home for the weekend, and they called and was wanting to see what we wanted to do with that song. And that's when I told Ed Lady was the guy's name that called me in a real heavy English accent and he goes what do you want to do with this song? I was like man, I've been around trucking all my life. I think the best trucking songs have been written already, I said, but we've all heard them a million times. I was thinking if somebody took the time to put some new stuff out there, it might be well accepted. He said well, go record an album, we'll put it in the stores and give it a shot. That was in about 2011, I think by mid-2012, we had CDs sitting in all the pilots and flying J's across America. It just went from there.

Speaker 3: 22:28

Wow, that's awesome. What a beautiful story. You take a chance and you hope that someone takes a chance with you. There's a lot of people involved in that. Just you being yourself is what I feel like really sold it. How did you balance all of that? You know, driving truck, recording songs, I mean that's. It's quite the juggle, isn't it.

Speaker 2: 22:52

It is. I mean family, you know figured family, and I have. I have a large family and I have four children. I got three daughters and son and so we hadn't had all that. Had all that going on. First of all, an amazing wife that helped me with it. Misty was a godsend in my life. She stepped in and she would take care of the things I couldn't take care of while I was out trucking making money. She was working also, she was waiting tables to cracker barrel and then she'd come home and work, work on that stuff and do all the other things involved being a trucker's wife, home alone, you know, with kids and things, and my mom my mom was around to help out, you know as well and just a lot of family support. And god, and it was meant to be, because I don't think you can orchestrate that and say, yeah, look what I did. We pulled that off. It just happened the way it happened and it happened to work out.

Speaker 3: 23:50

Yeah, timing's a lot and the support is huge.

Speaker 2: 23:54

Yeah, I mean anytime you see anybody having, I don't care what amount of you know what amount of success you want to call it. You know there's different levels of success you want to call it. There's different levels of success. You have the Kenny Chestnuts of the world, jelly Roll and the big names. You have the more independent artists. There's a lot of steps Whatever step I'm on or anybody's on, if they're having any kind of success, there's so many people that's responsible for that success that nobody ever hears their name or sees their faces. And we, we've just been blessed to have have a whole bunch of people uh, that's helped us along the way. And just, you know, you just the type of things. You look back and you just know well, this, this was meant to be, or you know there's no way it could have happened.

Speaker 3: 24:43

That's beautiful beautiful, a good community that's what I like to call it, even here. For myself, be able to be here with you. It took a lot of people supporting me as well so that we can make this interview happen. I'm really glad that we got to do this. So I think, let's see, you know, maybe there were some setbacks in the industry. How did you handle rejection? Did any of that come along too?

Speaker 2: 25:08

Yeah, anything else. You have those, you have setbacks, you have your battles. A lot of days you feel like you're just wasting your time and other people's time and just won't quit. You know, but I don't know, I mean I've, I've had, I've had the rough days. You know, I've had, I've had entire, you know, great bands just out of the blue. Just quit, everybody in the band just quit. You know, and it took four or five years to build, to build that, you know, and you got to start that process all over again. That's. That's happened to me two or three times in the course of 30 years. You know, and I mean that's those. Those are always hard. You feel like throwing in the towel.

Speaker 2: 25:47

You know, um, you go through some personal things. You know I went through divorce, went through, I went through two divorces actually, and the second divorce I got custody of my kids. So you know, all of a sudden I'm, you know, I'm the single dad, you dad with the responsibility of two daughters, making sure they got what they need and taken care of. That was about the era where the Christmas song come along. So this is it. I've quit, I've had my fun, I've had my time, I've got my kids. Now I've got to refocus all my effort to that. I just completely quit with the music. I kept writing and doing things like that, but I stopped playing places and going out and playing places and I just really took my foot off the pedal. And it's so weird because that's when things started speeding up, when I hit that, because it's my family, this music it's fun and I love it, but in the it's really insignificant when it comes to family and you need your family and everything. And you know I found out how insignificant it was.

Speaker 2: 26:53

You know, when Misty went, went through her breast cancer chapter, you know, all of a sudden this didn't mean nothing, you know, we just threw it all down and was there for her. But so it's a man. Yeah, we've had our challenges of blood, literal blood, sweat and tears. I can give you accounts of all three, you know. But at the end of the day, we, for whatever reason, we just kept we, we motored on when we could motor on. When we couldn't, we sit and idled and uh and waited until it was time to motor on, you know, and it's always just kind of kept going for us. Nice.

Speaker 3: 27:25

Nice. Yeah, good values make up a great person, man. I really appreciate that you sharing that. You know being vulnerable in those situations and a lot of people don't. They don't see that side of it. They don't know what, what all goes into just being who you are.

Speaker 3: 27:41

It's not just about the fame and the glory. Uh, there's a lot of blood, sweat and tears, like you said. It goes along with it, even just in trucking. I mean, man, that's a. You can be a lone soldier in that, where nobody knows what you do in the middle of the night. You know I drive at night, yeah, yeah, so, yeah, that's good. Um, all good things there to share. I appreciate that. Uh, at the same point, um, so you have a turning point. This is, uh, so, so picking it up, and did you go back to trucking and then go back to singing, or how did you? How were you able to maneuver those two, or did you kind of just it? Was it all consistent throughout the time? Well, I mean.

Speaker 2: 28:26

I went through a couple of jobs because of the music. You know, we were playing some NASCAR. We were doing a lot of pre-race concerts in 99, 2000. We kind of got a little gig going there and I had these NASCAR. I've always been a big racing fan and so we got these little gigs that were paying pretty good and and plus I was getting free tickets to some pretty cool nascar races and getting to go to do what I love to do and uh, with the jay howard events out of charlotte, north carolina, they did all the staging and and stuff for entertainment track side, on the start, finish line, you know, for drive, the stage where the drivers come up on for driver introductions and all that. And we we were playing, uh, you know, like an hour long concert leading up to driver introductions. So you know we were uh doing doing those type of things and uh, oh man, I lost my dog in the fight. Read that question again a little bit because I was making a point with all that. I don't know what you asked me.

Speaker 3: 29:27

Yeah, so I guess you know from what I was reading it looks like there were some years where you had to put down the singing and you're also mentioning some of the struggles that were going on in your life and it's like, well, you know how did you pick it back up, or did you just stay with trucking solely, or did you kind of mix them together?

Speaker 2: 29:48

Yeah. So no, we was doing, like I said, these NASCAR things and you know we played places like Atlanta and Daytona and Charlotte and Bristol and Las Vegas and Texas, a lot of really cool tracks and you know things were going pretty good. That's when the second divorce happened, got custody of the kids and I was just like I thought I was. I figured I was done with the music. You know, like you're going to be a full-time dad now, you know, and so, like I said, that's when you know I felt like I took my foot off the pedal and then things really started taking off with the Christmas song. You know that was in the 2004, 2005 era and it's just always been man, it was done.

Speaker 2: 30:46

There was a, there was like must've just God had a, a beanbag there. You kind of fell back into. You didn't hurt yourself when you fell, it was comfortable for a little while and then it was when it was time to go. He'd jerk it out from under and kick you in the tail, you know, and something, something would happen that. That you know you jump back into it, that give you momentum with the music and you know, and kind of pick up where you left off at, and sometimes a few times even be a few steps further up the ladder. So it's just. You know I had some. You know I've lost jobs over gigs. I have a big opportunity to go play Atlanta motor speedway. You know the 4th of July weekend, a big opportunity to go play atlanta motor speedway.

Speaker 2: 31:22

You know, uh, fourth of july weekend, and uh, I was driving for a company in blaine, tennessee, and uh, I didn't, I didn't take a load out that weekend. I said I can't, I can't take a load, I won't be down in daytona, you know. And I got fired, and uh, so not long after that I went to work for a company out of Greenville, tennessee, called ETI Everhart Transportation. The owner there and his wife were he's an old school kind of guy. He grew up on those same old trucking songs that I did and he's a big country music fan. He just automatically, when he heard about what I did, he got behind it.

Speaker 2: 31:59

That allowed me to do so much. If I need to go record record, go right, go make a video, go play a truck show, whatever it was here I mean, there were times he would. He filled the truck up and uh, he said, go grab the empty trailer and throw your merchandise in the back and go do that truck show. And you know that's one of them people that god puts in your life. He made so much of this possible, you know.

Speaker 2: 32:23

And uh, so it was just man. It's just been kind of crazy to sit here and put all these memories together and make it make sense to people how how it's all unfolded. But when you get to where where I'm at, and you look back, it's not hard to see God's hand in every bit of it. Beautiful.

Speaker 3: 32:40

Another beautiful story All right, I love it man.

Speaker 2: 32:44

Your story. I mean, I don't know if this is true, you know? Yeah.

Speaker 3: 32:47

I love it, man. That's what people love to hear.

Speaker 2: 32:49

you know, all that stuff just falling together I think you know that's one of the things that's really, I think, helped with our music. You know, is it is real and there's not a lot in this world that's real anymore. You know that's really authentic. You know you got all these reality shows and you know they're popular and everything. But everybody knows it's all skidded. You know, I mean what's real at the end of the day, what can you talk about that you're attached to?

Speaker 2: 33:14

That's real and I think that's what made so many of the drivers that heard my music and my story become supporters and fans of it, because they know I'm one of them, they know I'm out there in the trenches every day, just like they are, and, on top of that, chasing a dream and putting a lot of work and effort and doing all this other stuff outside of that, and them knowing how hard it is just to be a full-time driver, full-time family guy. You wonder, well, how in the world is he doing this? You know, and it just it all connected and you know it's like they all want to see me do good because I'm one of them. You know, and that's this thing's always been real and I think that's 100% of what's kept it fueled and kept it moving forward for us.

Speaker 3: 34:00

I can relate, I can totally relate.

Speaker 2: 34:02

Yeah, at moving forward for us.

Speaker 3: 34:03

I can relate. I can totally relate. Yeah, for sure, man. So, thinking about this show that's coming up I don't know if you want to speak on it, but Mid-America Truck Show. How did? You get involved with that show and what it turned out to be, what it is today.

Speaker 2: 34:17

Oh man, that's some pretty cool stories. I wish my wife was in here to share some of this with me. But yeah, we went. I think the first year we went to Mid-American Truck Show. We just got Pilot had just picked up the CD and was distributing it in their truck shows. We're like, well, people's got to know about this album. They ain't going to know to buy it just because it's in the store. I mean they're going know to buy it just because it's in the store. I mean they're gonna go buy it.

Speaker 2: 34:42

So how you know, how do we, how do we promote it and let people know? And we didn't have a clue what we were doing. We, uh, we booked a room like 60 miles or 40 miles away from the truck show because they were cheaper and uh, we're definitely operating on a small budget back in those days. And uh, we, we, um, had a suitcase with wheels on it and handle that pulled up and uh, we'd walk in that show on Thursday morning until the doors closed, and then Friday and then Saturday, and I don't know how many uh CDs, but the on the road CD. I mean we'd go booth to booth and we just hand a CD, a card, shake a hand and start building relationships. And then we made friends with the folks at OIDA.

Speaker 2: 35:32

So the next year we did the same thing but we got booked out in the Papa John's concert for a little concert on Saturday night, which was a lot of fun, but they always had the big concert on Friday night. So my wife Misty made it a go early on. She goes I'm not stopping until you're in there on that big stage performing. You know, and that happened finally about I don't know I think 2007, 18 or something like that we got to open up. I can't remember who the headliner was, but we finally got to perform there and it went over really great.

Speaker 2: 36:06

And we've done two or three more openings for that show over the years since then. And then and this year we got the invitation to to be the headliner man, you know, of all the, all the people that could have picked. We got the call and network. So before we go in there and get to play about six, seven songs and you gotta get out of the way, and this year we get to go in there and play our host show. So we're pretty excited about it that's amazing, yeah man that's awesome, good, good story again.

Speaker 3: 36:35

Yeah, man, good memories I think, it's going to just keep adding to your success, and all those that are supporting you as well. I champion you, man. I think you're, I think you're the real deal. Looking into what you have there, I was inspired myself, so that's cool. Yeah, I appreciate it.

Speaker 2: 36:53

You know we've hit some roadblocks. I don't know how much time you have on here, if we're getting close or not, but there's always roadblocks and I think, especially if it's if you're doing something that's God's will, you're going to get tenfold probably, the roadblocks thrown in front of you. And you know, just case in point, it was about a little over a year ago. Most people knew, most people knew my mom. Everybody called her mama J. I never know anybody, a woman, called mama by so many different people as my mom. Everybody called her mama jay. I never know anybody, a woman, called mama by so many different people as my mom was.

Speaker 2: 37:24

But she would go to all the shows with us back when she was healthy and everybody loved. You know, everybody loved mama jay and uh, she, she fell on some health, health issues and um, back, not this past thanksgiving but Thanksgiving of 2024, she got COVID and caught COVID and before that she was early stage dementia and things like that. And when she got the COVID it really started going downhill pretty fast for us and as a business with the record label we were doing good, you know. But on a personal side of financials which blows my mind about business, you know people talk about wanting to be in business for themselves, and just because you have some money in the business doesn't mean you can take it out and use it for your personal. You know I mean there's laws against that and things, and so we was doing decent in the business side, but the personal finances were terrible.

Speaker 2: 38:32

And you know I was just in that, you know, usually any other time in this type of scenario, I could just go out and get in the truck, hit it hard a couple months and dig myself back out. I've always been able to do that, you know, and I've. I put ourselves in that position many times, you know, doing this music, and had to just go out there and, you know, dig ourselves out, dig ourselves out. We've always had the ability to do that. But, uh, this, this particular time, mom had gotten in such a bad shape that I couldn't just go out and do that and leave her here with my wife. It was too much for her by herself or any one person to care that she was needing. And, man, we was dangling, I mean by fingertip hanging on to the edge of the cliff, you know. And I told my wife, I said I'm just going to have to lay off the music, you know, just go back to just, you know, get this figured out and get back to working full time and doing the music part time or just when we can. And you know, and then, just out of the blue, there, right there, at the last minute, you know, I get this phone call from the folks at Bennett. Let me back up just a little bit While we're in that corner. You know, I was still working at ETI and I get a phone call from my boss lady, and she goes and she's almost in tears. I'm like what's wrong, lisa? And she goes. Hey, you know, we love you and we believe in you Because at this time they were sponsoring my outgoing fuel in the bus for the shows and they were keeping my insurance going.

Speaker 2: 40:00

It was like I was a driver there, even though I wasn't driving that much. And so the insurance people come in and audited them, and Lisa wasn't in the office. She was dealing with some cancer deals with her dad, and so Lisa would be pretty good about sweeping certain things under the rugs, you know. And so a few things didn't get swept under the rugs and the insurance people come across my file and first thing they ask is why are we covering this guy? He hasn't been on the payroll in five months, and the girls that were there told him, you know, told him, well, he's just toning this, you know, and we sponsor him and he goes. That's cool, but we can't cover him. So in the middle of, you know, dangling off that cliff, I get that call that we didn't have insurance anymore. You know, and of course, with Misty being a breast cancer survivor and patient and all that, you know, insurance is something that's very, you know needed. And I was like, oh, this is the final blow, you know.

Speaker 2: 41:01

And then, out of the blue, you know, at this time we just put the Greatest Shifts album out and Bennett had sponsored that album, which is a trucking company out of southern Georgia down there in McDonough, georgia, and Lisa, my boss, goes Tony, can't Bennett do something for you? They're so much more of a bigger company than we are. And I told her, I was like, and I had been made known that there was an offer there at Bennett, if I decided I wanted to do that, and they'd been trying to get me to come to Bennett for about a year and a half, and I would tell them no, because of my loyalty to ETI. I told you earlier how much they'd done for me. If it wasn't for them, bennett wouldn't know who I was, they wouldn't want me to come work for them and help promote their brand. And I told her, I said there's been a deal out there At least. I said, but I won't take it. And she said why not? And I said well, if it weren't for you and Klein, none of this would be happening and my loyalty is with you and it's the way it always will be. And she said Tony, honey, we haven't been helping you all this time to keep you bottled up here. We've been helping you to hopefully see you grow.

Speaker 2: 42:19

And if Klein, her husband, if Klein knew you had an offer and you didn't take it and it could better your life and and would help you reach your goals better, he will kick your A-double-S. He said, you know, and so that's when, that's when the deal with Bennett come along, right in the clutch of the. I mean, we were done, we were our goose was cooked. And that happened. And you know, I made the phone call to David Lowry, being it, and I'm like, hey, man, I've got.

Speaker 2: 42:41

I wouldn't have normally done this. I said, but I've got the blessings from eti, my boss, man, lady, to to talk to you about what you guys have in mind. You know what to do. And and then we, you know, we cut this deal with being it and, uh, life got better. You know, I got, I got a got a good little salary I get every week, you know, and a certain amount of sponsorship that goes to my label every month and it's been a big blessing. It's just that group of people, like I was telling you earlier, man, when you're having success, there's so many people that's responsible for it that nobody sees or meets them or sees who they are. And, like I said, we've been blessed with a ton of those and God's always put it on the people's hearts at the right time to do stuff like that for us.

Speaker 3: 43:25

Wow, another beautiful story that is amazing. That was pulling on me, man. You put me right there, it's all real man I mean it's all through stories and struggles.

Speaker 2: 43:37

Everybody goes through struggles, no matter what you are in life. You know I had struggles on the trucking side of things. I mean you have struggles. You know doing what you're doing right now, I'm sure when you get done here you got to probably hurry up and go get ready for a load or do something, catch up on some logs or something that you got to do. You know that you're putting off and a lot of sacrifices to be made, so it's anything worth pursuing in. Life is always going to have its challenges.

Speaker 3: 44:08

Yeah, I could cut it out if you want, but do you want to share about your podcast venture?

Speaker 2: 44:16

Yeah, I mean, yeah, sure, it's a. No, it's called's called. I think Charlie cut me off guard on that one. I think we're going to be airing the first episode. It's called the Roadshow with Tony Justice and friends. I think we're going to have 10 or 12 shows this year. We're not going to go for every month. For the first year We've got them all pre-recorded over the winter. I think we're going to start airing them next month, pretty excited about it.

Speaker 2: 44:47

Man, we've got some killer guests. We've got Aaron Tippin. We've got Ruby Lee from the Voice. Lisa from Ice Road Truckers is one of our guests. Man, she's really cool to have on there. Got the NASCAR hauler driver for Austin Hill, richard Childress, racing Austin Hill the driver. Just a really bunch of cool guests. We talk a lot about NASCAR, country music and trucking. Those are three things that I love, so it's a lot of fun. Hopefully everybody can tune in and be on my, be on my youtube channel at the tony justice y'all hadn't went there and subscribed yet. Do so. And we just released the first episode of the remaking of purgatory. You know we're doing a complete makeover on my truck, hoping to give it, get it done by matt, so we're going to do a reveal at the bennett booth the Bennett family of companies booth at the mid American truck show, and so we're a lot of stuff going on, a lot of stuff happening on my YouTube channel for people to go check out so get some pretty good content on there.

Speaker 3: 45:47

Heck, yeah, that's amazing. Yeah man, yeah man. That's a blessing, yeah. And yeah, I man, that's a blessing, yeah, and. I got to check out some of your videos on Facebook. I don't put out to so putting your face out there and, like you said, this industry is either you know all or nothing. So, yeah, the support you get keeps you going.

Speaker 2: 46:10

Absolutely man. We've been blessed with so many people.

Speaker 3: 46:14

Yeah, that's going to be great.

Speaker 2: 46:15

I think the podcast is gonna be yeah, that's gonna be great, man we'll see, man, I don't know how I did, but you know it's uh, but we've got. We got some learning to do, but I think it'll grow and yeah, we'll see. We'll see how it does, you know for sure, yeah, no, no, do you?

Speaker 2: 46:30

try. You know, that's kind of my philosophy and so that's what we did, and we didn't get too many sponsors for it, but we got enough to kind of cover what it cost us to do the first, the first go around. So we haven't lost any money on the deal.

Speaker 3: 46:43

So that's there you go good start and the reward is all the people you're going to be helping when they listen to the podcast. Podcasting is so nice because it's that authenticity, that authentic, uh, original, um, like you said, real and and raw, you know, like that, instead of it being produced and packaged and made, look real pretty, you know. So, even if it's something that doesn't go right, you never know how it's going to turn out when someone listens to it. Because they like that real, you know, just not packaged up and you know fake Real people sitting back.

Speaker 3: 47:17

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 47:17

Back and forth about things. Yeah, I get it. Especially, you know fake real people sitting back. Yeah, back and forth about things. Yeah, I get it especially.

Speaker 3: 47:20

You know, like you said, I've not been.

Speaker 2: 47:22

I've never been one to sit around the back to the hypertension thing as a child, I think. Uh, I've never been one to really sit and watch podcasts or videos on my phone or nothing like that. So, uh, it should at least be original, because it's not like I've watched any podcast to get any ideals from. So that either helped me or that'll either really help it or really hurt it. One of the two, I don't know which I think you did great.

Speaker 3: 47:46

Um, yeah, you don't have to be just like the other person. That's your fingerprint. I think, too, what I like about it. I try to encourage, you know a lot more people if they want to have a podcast. You know that they they bring that original flavor. Um, that can't be duplicated yeah, and you know, you go down the road, you listen to music and after a while it's like man it all sounds kind of the same.

Speaker 3: 48:09

I gotta change up my john genre, you know. Just look something different, kind of mix it up, you know, but podcasting right away, you get that mixture right from the jump, you know. So think that's going to be good, good surprises ahead for you guys, for your listeners as well.

Speaker 2: 48:25

Thank you, we're excited, so thanks.

Speaker 3: 48:27

Yeah, thanks for sharing that. I can't wait to see it and check it out. So, yeah, I mean, this year you've got things ahead of you looking at the mats and also the podcast. You've got family. You got a lot of reasons to be blessed and thankful for what God gives us right.

Speaker 2: 48:44

Yeah, absolutely buddy.

Speaker 3: 48:46

Absolutely Every day. I can't wait to check out the truck, yeah that's going to be awesome.

Speaker 2: 48:53

I'm going to see the smile on the back of my face. When you brought that up. It's kind of weird. You know, when the music started getting traction, you know I was in my truck purgatory, you know. And so that truck branded with me all these years, right along with the music, you know, and you know it's kind of like not the same level of success but comparable to when I started doing this deal with Bennett. I'm like we've got to bring Purgatory Purgatory's got to come. Part of the deal that was the ETI truck. It was a company truck and I'd just been driving it all these years and taking care of it. I treated it like it's mine. It's kind of like the Duke boys without the General E.

Speaker 2: 49:43

That truck, I think, is more recognizable and better known than I am. I mean honestly, and it was funny because we were having a meeting at Bennett and we're walking into a restaurant in McDonnell, georgia which I've never lived there a day in my life, and this guy comes walking out of this restaurant. He goes Tony Justice. I'm like, yeah, what's up? He goes hey, man, I know you love your music, this and that, and I'm with all the Bennett people and we're having this conversation about purgatory and the first thing he asked me after we say hi and all the pleasantries, she goes, it's purgatory here. You know, that was like the icing on the cake, like, okay, we probably did bring this truck with tony when he comes down here, you know. And so, yeah, we've been lucky over the years to build a lot of relationships. So we um purgatory's got a lot of miles on her, man, you know it's 2000, 2006 model and she's needing some tlc. And throughout the years of driving her and making relationship, building relationships with people, it's just the topic came up about doing a, you know, remaking a purgatory, and I started talking to some people and first thing, I know I got well, I'll do the stretch on it, man, I'll sponsor that. And then then the folks was at a truck show one night and the folks from talladega fiberglass were hanging out with us and we're talking about it a lot. Man, we'll do the fenders and box in the frame and do your fuel tank panels and, you know, man, t-bars and things like that, if you can get it down there to us. So you know, we've got some great sponsors. You know Bennett being number one for buying the truck. And then, you know, c&nw repair for doing the stretch. We have a talladega fiberglass. Put all the goodies on it. Our trucks lights uh, give me over 381 lights. That we're gonna be. You know dual revolution that we're gonna be putting in it. And uh, we got mary berry chrome shop, my buddy um uh over there. Uh, mr carp Carpenter and all those guys the Mayberry Chrome Shop, mayberry Truck Show over there. They're doing the final little touches and the paint job and all the body work and Air Dogs doing my fuel system. I mean.

Speaker 2: 51:52

So next thing, I know I'm sitting here. I'm like man, we're getting to redo this truck. I mean it's going to look like a show truck. I'm not. I mean I'm not going to. I'm not going to be a show truck guy. I enter it in shows. But you know we like to have it at many of the truck shows as we can, just to be there. Because I show up at all these shows and everybody asks me where's Purgatory, where's Purgatory? You know I had to drive the bus. I couldn't bring Purgatory. We're working on a deal. We're going to have Purgatory at one of the truck shows. She's going to be sitting there looking as good as the trucks in the show, hopefully.

Speaker 3: 52:28

That's cool, even the name. I love the name. How did you come up with that? How did that happen?

Speaker 2: 52:36

I get that question a lot. I was watching a Western with my dad I don't know, I'm nine, ten years old, I don't know how old I was Younger definitely and it's about these outlaws, three outlaw guys. They get killed and they go to purgatory. And purgatory was like another little Western town, and they couldn't get in any trouble, man, because if they did, that's it. They're going straight to hell, you know.

Speaker 2: 53:00

So they're doing all these good deeds in this purgatory town, you know, and a couple more outlaws later on die. And these guys, they just don't care. They're still meaner and robbing, stealing from people, being mean to people and there's nobody there willing to, willing to, you know, try to do anything about it, because they don't want to do anything wrong, mess things up while they're in purgatory. No, they want to go to heaven. And so the, the original outlaws that went to purgatory after so long, they, finally, they just had enough, they couldn't take it no more. And it turns out that was their test. So they, finally, they just had enough, they couldn't take it no more.

Speaker 2: 53:39

And it turns out that was their test. So they, they actually stood up for all the people and laid it on the line. You know we'll just damn our souls to hell, but we're not. We're not letting these guys push these people around anymore, so they take them out and that's what actually got them into heaven, for it was because they did that, you know. And so I just thought about that movie and the meaning of purgatory and I'm like you know, trucking is kind of, you know, somewhere between heaven and hell. It's having some days and other days it's pure hell. And you know, I said well, I couldn't figure out a better name for truck than purgatory. That's what's up. I like that, I like that a lot.

Speaker 3: 54:14

Yeah, because when you're out there driving man, you know you see some things happen. Yeah, I'm like wow, if I didn't take this job serious, even on that note, you know, just on a safety note. Yeah, you know you can really hurt people out there.

Speaker 2: 54:29

So I got to take the job serious yeah.

Speaker 2: 54:31

Yeah, it's the craziest job in the world, man. I mean it can, could be. You can be out there riding along the prettiest bluebird sky day, everything going your way, the world's perfect to the world's upside down and just in a blink of an eye, the whole world being turned upside down. You know well, yeah, I know people it's happened to. You know and, uh, it's this, it's a risky occupation, man, it's every second of it. It's a huge risk, you know, I mean, and even when it's not when these accidents happen, a lot of times it's not these drivers fault, it's still. They still find a way to make it your fault, even if it's right okay, the driver didn't mess up, he was legal, he's doing everything right.

Speaker 2: 55:16

Well, let's rip this truck apart and see what's wrong with it that could have caused the accident, or the company. Oh okay, well, the truck's good, there's nothing wrong with it. Well, let's go to the company. Did they watch this mandatory 15-minute DVD that costs $800? That tells them all stuff that they already know? But it's mandatory that they buy that and watch it and sign this sheet of paper. I mean, those lawyers just keep digging, digging, digging and digging until they find something, man, and it's.

Speaker 2: 55:43

It's a risky business, I've told people. You know, I've always, you know, had the desire to be an owner operator. But I'm not a great mechanic, I'm just kind of. I can do little things. You know, I can service a truck, I can service one and, you know, do some ins and outs If a motor needs to come out, if you need to pull heads or change a transmission. I've never been that caliber of a mechanic, nor do I have a shop or the tools to do that with. So I've always been afraid to take that leap and buy a truck, because if anything like that happens, I'm going to have to pay to have that fixed. And I know you're working with some pretty tight margins as owner operators, especially these days, and I knew that if I had to pay for that kind of stuff that I probably wouldn't make it. But it's just risky, you know, and even if you can do all those things, you've got to have one bad little incident. You know it's not even your fault, you have no control over it. Then you have all this litigation to come at you and you know insurance claims and all your fees and it's it's uh, yeah, you have to definitely be uh genuinely passionate about this industry to do it and to keep doing it and stay at it, because it's it's uh, not a lot of money in it like it used to be, and the risk are even higher than they used to be, especially with traffic volume the way it is now versus back when I started in 2000.

Speaker 2: 57:02

I mean back in 2000,. I always liked to run at nights. You know, 7 pm to 7 am kind of guy. When I trucked you would hardly see no four-wheelers on the road. Now you just see trucks. You know car every now and then, and now it's, you know, car every now and then. And now it's, you know well, 45 percent more traffic at night. So there was back then or 50. There's cars 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and right, it's, uh, it's crazy, it's, and uh, it's cost more to do it and the risks are increasing, it's all at the same time. My hat's off to all the guys and gals. I try to keep doing it day in and day out, because I'd hate to know what would happen to this world if it wasn't for those folks.

Speaker 3: 57:39

Right yeah. Yeah, you hit the nail on the head so speaking of health care too. You add that in there, just trying to take care of your health.

Speaker 2: 57:50

I mean just running the business alone, especially small business these days. You know it's. Yeah, small businesses don't ever get a tax break. I never know small business to get a tax break. You know it's crazy.

Speaker 3: 58:02

I can cut it out or not, but you say, uh, hurt your leg.

Speaker 2: 58:06

Yeah, I broke my leg, so went fishing, me and my son. Me and my son have had it on our bucket list to go to Florida and uh, and Florida strain bass, you know go down and do some wild shiner fishing the months of January and February when they're getting ready for their spawn and really feeding up. And me and him been fishing together since he was big enough to walk and so finally got the chance this year to go do that. And, lo and behold, I broke my leg while we were down there in the boat. We both had a rod apiece with some live bait on it, and I baited up a third rod just to kind of throw out, just to increase our odds you know, have an extra bow out there and I thought I'd push the button that lets the line pull off the reel when you cast it, you know.

Speaker 2: 59:00

So that way if something hit it it would just take line. Well, I didn't, and it was just kind of sitting up there by itself. And I get up in the back of the bass boat and I hear a noise and I turn around and that rod is going out of the boat and it's actually in the water, except for about that much of it. And then the reel and the reel is hung on the. The only thing to say that it was the reel caught on the side of the boat. Yeah, yeah, kind of hung up on it. And this is a rod that my wife bought me last year for my birthday. Made by All-Star Rods, it's a really big. I use it for throwing an A-rig. And this by All-Star Rods, it's a really big, I use it for throwing an A-rig. It's almost a $300 rod. It's probably got another $240 reel on it. That's a $500-$600 outfit about to go in the lake. I just turned and ran. I just made it go for the rod In between the passenger seat and the driver's seat.

Speaker 2: 59:56

When you come off the deck. There's a step there and then you step down from there to the main floor of the boat and my son has a little portable radio that he keeps in the boat. He Bluetooths, listens to a little music, you know, and he keeps it on. That first step push all the way to the back and you still have that much step on. But I just in my haste, I didn't.

Speaker 2: 1:00:24

I stepped on that radio and it rode out. It rode out from under my feet and I come down on my left foot in the boat with all my weight, couldn't get my right foot down to take you the weight off of it and rode it backwards and then somehow fell forward, put my hand out and stuck a big hook through my hand. It's healing up pretty nice. But yeah, the process of all that, we did save the poe, we did catch the fish. I was in the floor with a topwater mouse lure about that big stuck in my hand and a broke leg, and laughing and reeling in pain all at the same time, because we always do something stupid when we're fishing together. We always make a great memory, get to laugh at each other for some stupid every time.

Speaker 2: 1:01:03

That day was my turn to do something stupid. It just ended up.

Speaker 3: 1:01:06

it was a broke leg, oh man, healing process goes well and you can just keep celebrating it. Yeah, getting there, getting the pole and the fish and the memory.

Speaker 2: 1:01:18

Well, you have sometimes Victory man getting the pole and the fish and the memory. Well, sometimes the Lord's going to slow us down a little bit, and if we ain't smart enough to figure that out ourselves, he'll kind of do that. So it's really allowed me to get some things done that I probably wouldn't have done, you know, because I really can't really do a whole lot of anything else. So it's things done that I usually put off. So everything happens for a reason.

Speaker 3: 1:01:41

I'm sure you're going to make the best of it. You're a champion through and through. So, man, this has been an honor to be able to have you on and talk about Matt's talk, about the memories and the struggles that everybody goes through no one's exempt and showing that you have that passion, that grit to keep pushing through. I mean staying true to who you are, and I know God plays a big part in your life, so that's good for everyone to know that we can lean upon him. So, man, I really thank you for being part of my show as well, coming on and telling your story. I champion all my guests, because their stories is what makes it all possible, so I really appreciate you having me here. So, to wrap it up, before you go, where can folks find your music, some of the good things you're doing? Do you mind letting the listeners know?

Speaker 2: 1:02:35

Yeah, so we've been on good old Facebook forever. That's my go-to, you know. So you can find us there. Tony Justice Music Band page Just search. It's the Star Stripes and White Lines logo that will pop up. We're on Twitter, the Tony Justice YouTube, the Tony Justice Instagram. My website's, tonyjusticemusiccom Pretty much keep up with everything I'm doing there. You know, if you're not a social media person, we post our concert schedules and videos there. I think we even put the Large Cars and Guitars Truck Show link. When you register your truck for the show, it actually takes you to our Tony justice music website and so you can register your truck for the shows. Check out all of our other stuff on the website as well. So it's a yeah, just look around. We're out there and all the music's on all the streaming platforms. So Pandora, spotify, all that good stuff, so check it out that platforms. Pandora, spotify, all that good stuff, so check it out that's awesome.

Speaker 3: 1:03:38

That's good man. That's what's up. So yeah. So for all of us, check out Tony justice. He's got a lot to share, a lot of great songs and a lot of good memories to make for the future coming up here. So be on the lookout for Tony justice and his crew. So again, thank you for coming on and for all the truckers out there who keep the wheels turning, always stay safe on the road and until next time, truck and Ray is here signing off from that's Delivered and Tony, I don't know.

Speaker 2: 1:04:07

I just want to wish continued blessings to you and your hard work and your podcast, man. We'll keep you guys in our prayers, Hope you keep growing and appreciate what you're doing for the industry as well. You know there's a lot of people out here doing a lot of good for the industry and you're one of them. So keep it up, man. Keep up the hard work.

Speaker 3: 1:04:24

Oh man, wow, that's what's up. I love that, thank you. Yeah, man, I'll be riding on that one for a.