Tony Scott: 0:21

Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a behind-the-curtain look at the entertainment industry, with insights you can't pay for and stories you've never heard. Now here's your host, Jay Franze.

Jay Franze: 0:49

Well, hello, hello, hello and welcome to the show. I am Jay Franze and this is your Backstage Pass to the Music Industry. This week, we get to talk with a country music recording artist. We get to talk with Trey Calloway. We'll talk to him about what it's like to be on the iconic billboard in Nashville, what it's like to be an award winner, and we'll talk to him about what it's like to perform at the legendary Billy Bob's. Now, trey, he is not only an amazing artist, but he is an amazing person, and I can't wait to talk with him tonight. So if you would like to join in, comment or fire off any questions, please head over to jayfranze. com. Now let's get started. What was it like to see yourself on a billboard the iconic billboard in Nashville?

Trey Calloway: 1:40

It was pretty cool, man. A lot of hometown folks were reaching out to me. They think I'm already famous and I'm still on my way. I'm trying my best, but it was good. Grandma was reaching out to me, and aunts and uncles and friends from high school and all that stuff. It was a lot of fun, man. We went out there and the way it works it's an electronic billboard, so it changes like every 30 seconds.

Trey Calloway: 2:03

So you got to stand out there and you got to wait for your picture to come back up there, and so, as soon as it popped up, we go all right, it's up, it's up, hurry up, take the picture. So, but it really was something else, man.

Jay Franze: 2:14

Well, that's still fairly new that it's electronic. It used to just be a still image.

Trey Calloway: 2:18

Yeah, they've got it. It's changing. I mean it rotates now and they put all the new artists up there and stuff. It's pretty cool.

Jay Franze: 2:25

That is pretty cool. How do you?

Trey Calloway: 2:29

get yourself on the rotation. Well, I think you call them, I think you just call them and you say hey, I've got a new single, I'm pushing and they'll do it, They'll do it. Now everybody. But if you're in Nashville recording and you're putting out some music and you know they see that you're, I guess, coming up or doing some hard work and stuff, they'll put you on there.

Jay Franze: 2:47

But it was really cool. Man, I'm sure if you don't spend much time in Nashville, you don't really know how iconic that billboard is and just how many people have been on it. And it's just right in the heart, right at the foot of Music Row.

Trey Calloway: 2:58

Yes sir.

Jay Franze: 2:58

So I mean everybody who goes to work, working in the music business, sees that billboard every single day.

Trey Calloway: 3:03

Yeah, it was pretty cool, man. It was actually right down the street from where I was living at the time and yeah, so it was pretty cool. It's right there by the local, this place right here and yeah, like you said, right there by Midtown, right there by Music Row.

Jay Franze: 3:22

So it was pretty cool, jay. All right, so let's take another twist here. You, my friend, have had a hat trick of music awards, and I say hat trick because you've won three josie awards yes, sir so tell me about it. How's that come about?

Trey Calloway: 3:31

well, we've been affiliated with josie's now for a couple years and um the for the past two years they've had it at the grand ole opry. So you, you get the opportunity, if you win something, to go up on the Opry stage and you can stand in the circle if you'd like to.

Jay Franze: 3:46

Did you?

Trey Calloway: 3:47

I did not, I chickened out. So that's a funny story. Actually there was one fellow that was real mad at me about it. He didn't like that. I didn't stand in that circle, but for me that circle is sacred ground. It's uh, it's um, almost like church to me. So you know, I have no problem with anybody else standing in that circle. Whenever you feel like you're ready, you go stand in it and have your moment and be proud. But for me I just didn't feel that the time was right and I may never get the chance. But being on the Opry stage in general is a big honor and Josie and Tina and all the people affiliated with that are great people. And I've been able to go to the TCMAs as well the Texas Country Music Awards as well and it's been a lot of fun. Man, I try not to get my hopes up too high, but we always get our hopes up to try to. Everybody wants to win something, but just being nominated is pretty cool, man. I appreciate you bringing it up, jay. That makes me happy, bud.

Jay Franze: 4:43

So how many have you won at this point?

Trey Calloway: 4:45

Well, this past year I was nominated for 11. Nominations. I've had a lot of nominations but I think I've won three or four now.

Jay Franze: 4:54

three or four now, I believe so only nominated for 11, but you won three or four of those.

Trey Calloway: 4:59

It was funny. We were walking through the line at the beginning and when the interviewers would ask me how many I was nominated for, I had my manager put me together like a little idiot sheet a little cheat card so I could read it off, and it was funny. There was this one lady that was like okay, just come on, man. But it was pretty good, though. So I don't have the world's best memory. I always say my memory is all locked up in song lyrics and chord changes.

Jay Franze: 5:26

So, dude, I know how that is.

Trey Calloway: 5:27

My memory is horrible I have to write everything down, jay, like all my wife wife, just so I don't forget her name, right?

Jay Franze: 5:35

I mean, I really do it's. I've called her by her name maybe five times in my entire life.

Trey Calloway: 5:41

Well, and it's got the double benefit of you being sweet and you're making sure you got yourself covered. You know, right, yes, sir, that's exactly it.

Jay Franze: 5:50

I used to say that all the time my grandfather used to call my grandmother wife, and I just thought it was the sweetest thing ever.

Trey Calloway: 5:55

So I'm just being sweet, that's all my my, my great grandfather used to call my great grandmother mama Cause, I guess, cause they had so many kids together. It was really sweet, it was a term of endearment.

Jay Franze: 6:05

Of course.

Trey Calloway: 6:06

Yes, sir.

Jay Franze: 6:08

All right. So an award winner nominated several times. As you get to go to the Opry, you know what's it like the first time you even walk into the Opry.

Trey Calloway: 6:18

Well, I remember very, very vividly my first time being at the Grand Ole Opry.

Jay Franze: 6:22

If you don't mind, I'll tell the story if that's all right.

Trey Calloway: 6:25

Oh, please do so. I think I was 14 or 15 and we went to see Charlie Daniels. It was Charlie Daniels and Darius Rucker and the Bellamy brothers and potentially Trace Atkins, I think, was there as well. We were up in the, the high section, off to off to like stage, right. I remember my mom had something some, I think, a camera or something and the batteries died. So I had to go run down to the gift shop to see if they had batteries for my mom. Well, I've. I didn't want to miss anything, so I ran down there. As I running back, I'm opening up the package and I'm walking at the same time and these batteries fall out and they roll towards the elevator.

Trey Calloway: 7:08

And the guy getting on the elevator just happened to be the host of the Grand Ole Opry. I need to look up his name. I can't remember his name, but he's a bald-headed guy, real tall, skinny, fella, and he used to play fiddle on the Opry. We just sat there talking and I asked him what it was like to be on that stage. Since I was 12 years old, it's been my dream to be on the Opry. He just told me there's no other feeling like it in the world. That's my ultimate goal is to play the Grand Ole Opry Just once, jay, just one time, just one time. I say it everywhere. I go Just one time and that will be enough for me. But then all my buddies, all my player buddies that play the Opry all the time, they go, no, one time is not enough.

Trey Calloway: 7:52

You do it once, and then you want to do it again. One time would be good for me, though, I do think Well, yeah, the trick to. That is remembering that one time Exactly, if you can remember the one time, you're probably pretty good. Yes, sir.

Jay Franze: 8:06

So how do you handle the emotions but keep it so that you can remember the time that you're in.

Trey Calloway: 8:13

Well, I try to be, I guess at this point in my career. I try to be prepared. I always try to. I think preparation and luck meet somewhere and that's what success is, you know, being prepared but being a little lucky.

Trey Calloway: 8:27

So for me, nerves don't get to me as much anymore, as you know, say, when I was first starting out singing, my leg would always shake real bad. Everybody thought I was dancing, but I was just nervous, you know. But it's funny, but it was the truth. I was always terrified to get up on stage. I grew up singing in church and I would still be terrified. I knew everybody in the congregation was still scared to death. But now I don't really get the nerves.

Trey Calloway: 8:51

Now I do think that if I do play a stage like the Opry, I think I would probably be pretty nervous. And from the friends of mine that have done the Opry, that talk to me about it, they say that it flies by so fast because you, I think, when you make your debut, I think you only do one or two songs, so it flies by and it's like, you know, you get out there and you know it's hello, good night, and you're done. So that I I'm gonna do my best and I'll probably just be honest with the crowd, to be honest with you, if that day ever comes and I'll probably just be honest with the crowd to be honest with you If that day ever comes for me I'll probably just be honest with the crowd and say hey guys, I'm nervous as all get-outs, so you're all going to have to bear with me tonight. Yeah, you're going to have to if I mess up. I'm just singing jazz, just pick up the guitar.

Jay Franze: 9:33

It's a new picking pattern. It's a remix.

Trey Calloway: 9:36

It's a remix, yes, sir.

Jay Franze: 9:39

That's too funny. So we hear the story of you as a kid going to see Darius Rucker and the others that you mentioned. But what was it?

Trey Calloway: 9:52

like when you went in there for the awards and you get to go and be backstage. Well, this past year Neil McCoy was one of the presenters and I've always been a big, big Neil McCoy fan, just the way he treats fans great singer, great songs, very professional. And I walked back there and I was actually the first award of the night. I was the first one they called, so nobody else had gone up there. I mean, it was like literally lights came on, show started. Two minutes later I won an award. So I walk up there and I'm like I thought maybe, you know, I'd have some time to maybe figure out what everybody else is saying and kind of say what they're saying. But no, I was the first one. So I get up there and I just said something to the degree of you know, let's try to have a good time tonight. You know, it's great to see all my friends out there and people I don't know. And you know, thank you for this award. And I kept it real short and sweet.

Trey Calloway: 10:46

And then I walked backstage and there's Neil McCoy and he's looking at me and I said I said Mr McCoy, how are you doing? And he said I really liked your speech, son. So I was like maybe I did pretty good. And then it was. It was that brief, I mean. I walked back there and it was real dark so I couldn't see a whole lot. But I could definitely see that Neil was there and all the other people were standing back there waiting to present. But then we went back in the back room and then they interview you and they take some pictures with you and stuff, and then you go back and sit in your seat. My wife was going nuts. She was real proud of me.

Jay Franze: 11:23

She's my biggest fan, she's always the one cheering me on the most. How long did it take when you went off stage to get back to your wife?

Trey Calloway: 11:28

I'd say about 15 minutes. So you get your award, you give your speech and then you walk back there, shake some hands and they do a presser back there, take pictures and give you your awards, and then you walk back through and then you come and sit down. So maybe 15 minutes.

Jay Franze: 11:44

Was that the award you took home?

Trey Calloway: 11:47

Yes sir, yes sir, yes sir.

Jay Franze: 11:49

So you get the award. And was it personalized in any way?

Trey Calloway: 11:53

They do. It's personalized. They engrave what the category is and your name as well, and so what I won this year was Vocal Event of the Year. A friend of mine named Justin Bilton is another country artist. He's also the bass player in Three Doors Down, but he's also a country artist. We wrote a song called Working Thing. My wife was calling me one day and telling me she just didn't feel like working that day. She's like I need you to hurry up and get a number one hit so I can quit working, because I hate this working thing. And I said well, that's a hook of a song if I've ever heard one. So I wrote that down.

Trey Calloway: 12:31

Justin and I wrote the song and recorded it together. That made it a vocal event, that we did it as kind of like a duo, like a duet kind of thing, and he wasn't able to make it that night. So I got up there and I accepted the word for both of us, which I've still got. His award I've got to get. I've got to get together with him and give it to him because it still hadn't been that long. But he's busy out there on the road too and he's a. He's a busy guy especially when summertime rolls around, because three doors down goes out on tour and that's a great band.

Trey Calloway: 12:54

They're crazy, man. Yeah, they, they've. They've come back with a, with a force there. They're back at it, full on now.

Jay Franze: 13:01

Yeah, that's a band that I you know one of, the. That's the style of music I grew up with. That's the type of band I really like, oh yeah oh yeah, all right. So I asked you about getting back to your wife, because if it takes 15 minutes, how bad did that anticipation build in your wife?

Trey Calloway: 13:16

Well, I mean, she's Raina. Is so not a music business person? She is. She's from Ohio. She's your average small-town American girl. She went to Ohio State, she's, but she's so good at it she's, so people just love her to death. When they meet me and then they meet her, they they see why I fell so much in love with her. She's amazing. She likes to get dressed up and go to parties. There she is. That's how we just got married about a month ago and um, she's amazing.

Trey Calloway: 14:01

Well, thank you, sir. And uh, she's just she's's. I can't brag on her enough. She's, she's something else and she, honestly, she keeps me grounded. You know, I think a lot of times musicians are big dreamers, you know what I mean. And we're where our heads are in the clouds, and we're always looking at the, the next horizon. You, we're not paying attention to the valley, we're looking at the next horizon and that's something that we battle with. It's a blessing and a curse, because we want to succeed, we want to keep driving forward to the next thing and be successful, but you have that person. That's your anchor and that's what she is. For me, that's awesome. Yes, sir.

Jay Franze: 14:41

I was also married in October, but it was what 15 years ago, at this point?

Trey Calloway: 14:46

Congratulations, happy anniversary, bud. Well, thank you.

Jay Franze: 14:49

Is she really taller than you?

Trey Calloway: 14:51

Yes, she is about a half an inch taller than me. When we don't have our shoes on, she's got big heels. Well, she's also in that picture, kind of up on her tippy toes a little bit. I'd say her and I are about the same height. Honestly, we're about the same height. When she's on her tippy toes like that. She's taller, how come I feel like you're fibbing a little bit.

Jay Franze: 15:12

No, no, no, no, no, straight up, tell them the truth. Tell them the truth.

Trey Calloway: 15:15

When I have my boots on. I'm a little bit taller than she. Is she she? If she's taller than me, it's it's like quarter inch or half inch, I don't know maybe I just want to point out a quarter inch means a lot.

Trey Calloway: 15:30

I tell my wife that all the time yes, sir, yes sir, but you know it, never it, never it, never bothered her, it never bothered me. She's like she's, she comes from a super athletic family. They're all gymnasts and track runners, and and I'm over here with my guitar, like you know right, what?

Jay Franze: 15:49

what part of ohio is she from? She's from akron, canton area up towards cleveland there, yeah, yep, she's from up towards cleveland.

Trey Calloway: 15:57

Uh, big, big buckeye fan, like I said her. Actually, her, her family's hometown is a town called magador, which if you blink you'll miss it. If you're driving through and you blink you'll miss it. But then, uh, she grew up in a little town called green, which green is more of a of a. I would say magador is like a little tiny country town. Green is maybe like a suburb kind of. I guess you could call green a suburb. She's a, but she's a buckeye girl man. The other day when, uh, when michigan beat ohio state man, she was depressed for the rest of the day.

Trey Calloway: 16:29

So we don't say go, she was not liking it no, no, no if I say that I'll get in trouble let's say I was raised my dad. So, even though I'm from north carolina originally, my uh, my dad, grew up an alabama fan and raised me to be an Alabama fan.

Jay Franze: 16:44

Crimson.

Trey Calloway: 16:46

Because, you know, North Carolina really doesn't have any football to brag onto too much, so we've just been Bama fans. So that's created a lot of issues whenever Bama and Ohio State play. We have to. I have to because my dad will give me a hard time if I'm pulling for the Bucs and my wife will give me a hard time if I'm pulling for the Tide you know so it's a tough road for me.

Jay Franze: 17:11

I live in this area with Ohio State here and I know between them and Michigan, I know that battle.

Trey Calloway: 17:18

Well, I've become a Buckeye fan. You know, if they're not playing Bama, I'm pulling for the Bucs, pretty much always.

Jay Franze: 17:24

All right, sir. Well, let's get back to your music. We're talking about downtown, we talked about the Wild Beaver, but what about Jason Aldean's? What's it like playing there? So jazz?

Trey Calloway: 17:32

is pretty cool. It's called Tequila Cowboys and I just recently started playing there with a friend of mine named and we always bring in a drummer that plays with us. So we're working on trying to get some more shows there. My normal shows have been Alan Jackson's Good Time Bar. I've been playing that one for a while now, since I moved to town. Man, that place is like a family. A lot of those bars down there are. You know, it's definitely a job. You come to work and it's you know very corporate. It's tough.

Trey Calloway: 18:04

You do your thing and you go home, but AJ's feels like a family, and that's one of the things I love about it most. Everybody knows everybody. All the bands are all buddies with each other it is you?

Trey Calloway: 18:14

know, I thought about that one time. It's crazy that you bring it up because I thought about it one time and I was walking in one night. I just didn't feel I don't know. Sometimes, when you do this job for a living, you always have to put the face on. You always have to smile and be nice to fans and friends and thankful that they're coming out to see you and that they're spending their hard-earned money with you. But you don't always feel 100%. You don't always feel like king of the world that day.

Trey Calloway: 18:42

And I just happened to be kind of feeling that way one day. Maybe it was cold, it might have been last winter time or something like that. But I walked in there and I stood by the bar and I looked around. I said you know, none of these people know who I am. I had my hat pulled down. None of these people know who I am. It might have been right around the time I first moved to Nashville and I said you know, if I ever do get to be a big star or successful in the music business, these nights where I was just blended in and playing country music because I love it, these are the good old days. These are the days you'll miss one day. I don't know why I went off on that tangent.

Trey Calloway: 19:18

But you're a good interviewer, You're leading me right and it reminded me of that time. I guess the moral of the story is you got to stop and smell the roses every now and then.

Jay Franze: 19:30

How do you get through those moments when you aren't feeling?

Trey Calloway: 19:35

it that I handle. It is that realizing that happiness and sadness and depression or whatever you might be feeling, they come in spurts, things come in seasons in our life. As long as you realize that you got people that love, you keep working hard, keep your nose to the grind. Usually that picks me up out of that rut and normally a lot of times it just has to do with weather. Cold weather bums me out. Nobody ever told me that it got so cold in Nashville. I'm not used to this because I lived in North Carolina and North Carolina gets cold but it doesn't snow.

Jay Franze: 20:21

It's a different type of cold.

Trey Calloway: 20:23

Yes, gets cold but it doesn't snow. So you, you, it's a different type of cold. Yes, so the mountains, the Appalachian Mountains, block North Carolina from getting those big midwestern snow storms that come through, and then the hurricanes on the coast don't get far enough inland to hit North Carolina usually. So I grew up in this perfect little pocket of weather and then I moved to Tennessee and I think three days after I moved here it snowed like eight inches and I walk out of my apartment and there's this much snow on the ground and I was like, whew, we're not in South Carolina anymore.

Trey Calloway: 20:56

Yeah, we're not in South Carolina anymore, because I lived in Myrtle Beach, south Carolina, for a long time. That's basically tropical weather, so there's two weathers. They are hot and hotter.

Jay Franze: 21:07

My family has a house in Myrtle Beach and I've yet to go to it. I've never been there.

Trey Calloway: 21:13

Do you know whereabouts it is?

Jay Franze: 21:14

No, I have no idea. Every year they say come meet us here, and every year I never make it.

Trey Calloway: 21:22

Oh, you got to man Myrtle's. Great, my wife and I were ready to go there this year, and then my family didn't make it I will tell you there there are places that you want to go to, that you definitely want to check out when you do decide to get down there.

Jay Franze: 21:34

Uh, give me a call, I'll point you in the right direction my wife is from somewhat the area, okay, so I mean she's from her family's from tennessee, but she went to high school in south carolina, okay, lakeview, yeah absolutely absolutely where pedro lives yeah, absolutely very cool man.

Trey Calloway: 21:53

Well, I enjoyed very much the time that I spent living in myrtle beach. You know, I I kind of feel like I was a part of a resurgence of country music coming back to that area because there's the legacy of Alabama at the Bowery, which is a really famous little bar on the coast in Myrtle Beach and Alabama. The band was the house band. They were called Wild Country at the time. They were the house band there. Then there was a place called the Beach Wagon down there that was really popular. It closed before I moved down there and country music didn't really have a kind of foothold. So me and about you know, three or four other my buddies were down there and we were playing country music again and country started budding into this kind of little scene in myrtle beach, which was really cool because it was all beach music. It was all like I love music.

Trey Calloway: 22:42

It was born within my soul. It was that very much like Motown stuff, you know what I mean. And then all these country boys were in there with fiddles, so we kind of brought it back, I think. So I'm pretty proud of that.

Jay Franze: 22:54

I laugh. I grew up on the coast as well, but I grew up on the coast of Massachusetts, Boston area.

Trey Calloway: 23:00

Yeah.

Jay Franze: 23:00

And their music scene was rock music. Oh yeah, and the venues that I used to go to aren't there anymore. Oh yeah, you had the Channel or you had the Rat. These were these places where Aerosmith and Extreme and the band Boston they all got their start. Yes, sir, that's cool man, that's cool Jay. That's the type of stuff that you know I miss.

Trey Calloway: 23:19

Well, you know, the longer I've been in the music business, the one thing I've learned the clubs and bars and venues come and go. They do, they come and go. You know you'll get really in love with this one spot. You're like man, this place will last forever and then it closes down and you're real sad. There's a bar in Charlotte that I would say, if I had to pick one club that I got my start in it, one club that I got my start in, it's a place called Puckett's Farm Equipment. It's down in Charlotte, North Carolina, or it was. I'm actually not sure if it completely closed down. I know that they were trying to sell it but I don't know if they did. But it was just this little tiny honky-tonk bar. The guy that started it back in the 50s was a farm equipment store and the more built up that area of Charlotte got got, the less farm equipment they were selling. So they turned it into a bar.

Trey Calloway: 24:07

He started selling beer and whiskey and you know the rest is history and that's a music venue turned into a country music music venue and man, I used to go down there with my cowboy hat on. I was probably god. I was probably 13 man 13, 14, it was right around the time we took that first trip to Nashville and I was really falling in love with country music. We went down there and the owner, gary Puckett just let me get up there with Mike Knight and sing my heart out.

Trey Calloway: 24:33

I had a lot of good memories in that place, those venues. They come and go. We carry the memory of them in our hearts. I would say the local is one of those places for me in Nashville.

Jay Franze: 24:47

You say the venues come and go, but there's one venue that I know of that just refuses to go Billy Bob's. Yes, sir, tell me about your time at Billy Bob's.

Trey Calloway: 24:58

Man. That was something else. So the first year that we did the Texas Country Music Awards, I got nominated for Song of the Year for a song that I'd written called One Tough Job for my dad Working man song about my pops and you know I really love the song, but the version that was cut of it was really just a demo. It wasn't like a full blown master or anything like that. And we submitted it and went really really well. We ended up winning it. So they invited us to come down there to play on the stage at Billy Bob's.

Trey Calloway: 25:30

You go back there and all the artists the legacy artists that have played there over the years they all get a brick in the wall that they sign and they put their logo on it. They can pretty much decorate it however they want to. They put their logo and they can pretty much decorate it however they want to. They put their logo and they put their um. All the members of the band will autograph it. If it's a band you know McBride and the ride they've got one with a big M, their big logo and stuff like that and all that.

Trey Calloway: 25:56

So we go back there and we're hanging out with all the people in there and and I'm meeting all these great Texas country music artist and you would think this North Carolina boy that's based in Nashville, coming and being in the TCMAs that I would have maybe gotten some blowback, but I never did. All of those Texas country music artists were just super nice and kind and courteous to me, made me feel right at home and I fell in love with Texas. My manager's actually from Texas and so he and I will go down there when I'm on tour in Texas and just have a ball. We'll hit Austin and Houston and Fort Worth, dallas and anywhere else we can. New Braunfels we've been to New Braunfels a time or two and I've really fallen in love with Texas. Everything is bigger down there.

Jay Franze: 26:37

What's your favorite city in Texas?

Trey Calloway: 26:40

Oh man, that's a hard question. I would say I'm almost worried to say one because I feel like I'll get slacked.

Jay Franze: 26:48

Well, they're all like different countries, so they all have a different flavor.

Trey Calloway: 26:51

Honestly, I will say this I won't pick a favorite city, but I will pick a favorite barbecue joint. I really like Terry Black's. Yeah, exactly, All right hold on a second.

Jay Franze: 27:02

We're not going to let you off that easy. If you're not going to pick a favorite city, at least tell me what you like about each one of them. Tell me something.

Trey Calloway: 27:09

Well, what I love about Austin is Terry Blacks. There's a barbecue joint right there in Austin. That is just so good. Me and my manager went in there and we dropped I don't know. We dropped 80 bucks a piece and I had like a. It's a cow, you know cow ribs. See, in North Carolina, where I'm from, is pork barbecue. Pork barbecue is king in North Carolina. You know, it's all about ribs. It's all about Boston butts. It's all about vinegar based barbecue sauce, mustard stuff and you know all that good stuff. Red coleslaw I'm a red coleslaw man till the day I die. So beef brisket and all that stuff was still something that I'm not super familiar with. But we go down there and I've got this. Looks like a dinosaur bone, you know, it's like a dinosaur rib. I got one of those and I got some sauces, was jalapenos all in it. I mean you can obviously tell by looking at me that I love to eat, you know you're not alone tonight.

Trey Calloway: 28:00

I, you're not alone tonight. I mean absolutely. And then we go to Houston that's where my manager's from is Houston, and he is all about Mexican food, it's all about the Mexican food, and so he's taken me to all kinds of great Mexican restaurants down there and in Fort Worth Dallas. I mean honestly, for me, if I had to pick a favorite one, if somebody held me up and said, pick a favorite, it would be Fort Worth Dallas, because West Billy Bob's is favorite one.

Trey Calloway: 28:24

If somebody held me up and said pick a favorite it would be fort worth, dallas, because west billy bobs is up there and the tcmas are all up there, the stockyards, the stockyards. Reminds me of nashville a little bit, you know, I think, uh, I think they've done a really good job of preserving their, their individuality, their personality in that place, but it definitely has that this is another capital of country music. This is another capital of country music. This is another hub of country music. I think they've done that really well there you talk about food and liking to eat.

Jay Franze: 28:50

I'm right here with you, buddy, as soon as, as soon as me, and you are done.

Trey Calloway: 28:53

I'm going to get dinner, man, I'm, I'm. I'm going to get me some dinner. I don't know what I'm gonna have yet, but we'll figure it out.

Jay Franze: 28:59

Well, I just finished it, my wife made raviolis tonight steak or ravioli is my two favorite meals, but we had a guest at the house last night. She's the founder of damn good cheesecakes and she brought a cheesecake over yesterday and I'm still eating on it today.

Trey Calloway: 29:15

Oh man, cheesecake is my language. Well see, my wife is half italian. She's half irish and half italian. Anything italian food she loves. Her grandma makes these really good stuffed cabbage. Stuffed cabbage in like a red, like a marinara sauce. They're good. Yeah, good stuff.

Jay Franze: 29:36

That's funny. My family is Italian Italian, but we do have a tiny bit of Irish in our family.

Trey Calloway: 29:42

Yeah, yeah, so they're her mom's side. They're called the Murphys, so there's like her grandpa had like 14 siblings, so there's a whole bunch of them. There's like 150 of them now, and so whenever we go up there for the holidays, they're, they're there and I and I I get to spend a bunch of time with them and you know there's about three or four last names. You know what I mean. The family has grown into being like four different families really, but they're all one family, it's really cool and my family is a little bit smaller, so it was a big cool thing for me.

Trey Calloway: 30:21

I mean, I feel like when I got married my family just grew so much, you know, and I've got a great family. We've all kind of spread out now but you know, I still I have a good family as well. My mom and dad are the best mom and dad you could ever hope for. That's awesome. Yes, sir.

Jay Franze: 30:39

All right, let's take it back to Billy Bob's for a second. All right, let's take it back to Billy Bob's for a second. All right, cool, I had a chance to be there for, I think, two shows in a row. I was out on the road with Steve Holey, steve Holey.

Trey Calloway: 30:50

I haven't heard that name in a long time. Man Great artist.

Jay Franze: 30:52

Good morning beautiful.

Trey Calloway: 30:54

Great artist.

Jay Franze: 30:55

But yeah, when I started out I'm an engineer and when I started out I was working with three producers in Nashville and one of them was a guy named Matt McClure and he was the front of house for Steve Holey, so I went on the road with him. It was awesome, it was a great time, but it was my first and only time out at Billy Bob's.

Trey Calloway: 31:13

It's something else, man.

Jay Franze: 31:14

It was an experience, for sure.

Trey Calloway: 31:15

That place is cool. I mean, it is just like a I call it a redneck playground. That's really what it is is a redneck playground, yeah it was awesome. It was definitely an experience. Redneck amusement park.

Jay Franze: 31:28

I remember too. We were pulling in on the tour bus and I was sleeping on the driver's side, back bottom bunk, and the driver took a left turn and hit a jersey barrier right next to my bunk.

Trey Calloway: 31:43

Oh, man and.

Jay Franze: 31:44

I had no idea it even happened.

Trey Calloway: 31:45

I slept through the whole thing yeah, well, it's good that they did what did his job.

Jay Franze: 31:50

Then you know, did his job you also mentioned mcbride in the ride. Which I find funny too is because they were on the show a few weeks back and they just told some killer stories and oh yeah, they were just such nice guys they terry and billy and ray man.

Trey Calloway: 32:06

They've really, uh, they've really been nice to me. So I mean, I, I, you know, I've had the fortune to write with terry and and, um, kind of get to know him a little bit better. And one of the songs on my next album that's going to be coming out next year is a song that he and I and my producer, brandon, wrote, and man, he's, I mean, the proof's in the pudding with that guy. He's just one of the one of the best songwriters I've ever had the honor of knowing and, uh, like you said, just one of the coolest guys. If you want to know who the coolest guy in the room, if terry's in there, he's the coolest guy in the room.

Jay Franze: 32:36

There's no doubt about it well, he definitely has some of the best stories ever. Oh yeah, absolutely. His stories are just insane.

Trey Calloway: 32:43

Yes, sir, and Billy and Ray, some of the most talented musicians I've had the pleasure of meeting. They let me come back there and hang out with them in the green room, even if I'm not opening for them. If I'm there they'll let me come up there and hang out with them, and they're so nice to me. I mean, you know, for a guy like me that doesn't have any hits. You know, hopefully that'll change, but you know I'm still the up-and-coming guy.

Jay Franze: 33:06

And they've really…, with several awards and 11 nominations.

Trey Calloway: 33:10

I'm doing my best, jay, you know I mean I think hard work pays off. I do believe that hard work pays off. A little bit of luck I think a little bit of luck and a little bit of hard work, I think go a long way in this business.

Jay Franze: 33:20

Luck and preparation. That's what they say Tenacity.

Trey Calloway: 33:22

I guess, I guess I'm just too stupid to quit Jay.

Jay Franze: 33:26

I was on a show the other night and I said the same thing and then somebody listened and said I just love the way he keeps calling himself stupid.

Trey Calloway: 33:33

Yeah, hey, a little self-deprecation goes a long way. I've had my team sometimes be like oh you know, the self-deprecation is cool, but you know, go easy on yourself. You know we're all hard on ourselves, man, I mean. And it's.

Jay Franze: 33:47

We all want to do our best.

Trey Calloway: 33:48

Yeah, I mean. You know. My only thing is I learned a long time ago. There's a lot better singers than me out there. There's a lot better songwriters than me out there, but do they work as hard as I do? I think that's the thing that I think. At the end of the day, if it doesn't happen for me, I'll say I gave it my best, I tried my hardest.

Jay Franze: 34:09

That's what we used to always say as engineers, and I remember Jeff Balding. He was speaking one day at a college in Nashville and he just said how he got there and how he became. Dan Huff's main guy was he was the last one in the room standing Amen.

Trey Calloway: 34:30

Well, you know, I mean, you know that's the thing about it is, is it's? If this is what you want to do and you believe it wholeheartedly that you've got what it takes to do it, then chase that dream. Chase that dream as long as you can, because I think if you don't See.

Trey Calloway: 34:47

During a couple years ago, during the pandemic, I almost gave up. I was ready to quit. I was living in Myrtle Beach and I was just over it, man. I played so many gigs. I played every bar, every club, every this and every that recorded. And you know, I was, I was just over it, man. I played so many gigs. I played every bar, every club, every this and every that recorded songs written them. And you know, nothing was really happening.

Trey Calloway: 35:02

And I said, maybe this is just where I hang it up, Maybe this is where I go get a house band gig and just be a happy musician for the rest of my life and in a bar four or five nights a week, make a great living and just be a beach bum, you know. And um, and I met who's now my wife. I met reina and and you know she was the one that talked me back into it she said, no, go to nashville for a year, see what happens. So I went to nashville for a year and her and i's deal at the beginning of that year, naively on my part, was a pub deal, a record deal, whatever. After a year, Lost it.

Jay Franze: 35:40

Which is an outrageous goal.

Trey Calloway: 35:42

Yeah, well, of course it is. And, Jay, you and I both know that, but me, three, four years ago didn't know that and I came out here and things were going great. Things were going great and they started spiraling. And you realize, I think when you're young, you realize you think it's going to be that one big step. It's going to be that you're in a club, somewhere, some bar somewhere, and some guy, some A&R guy or girl, is going to come in and go. That guy's a star.

Jay Franze: 36:12

I want to make him a star. Make them a star.

Trey Calloway: 36:17

Yeah, guy's a star, I want to make him a star, make them a star. Yeah, it just didn't work that way. It doesn't, and I don't necessarily know if it ever did. I think the biopics that we see on tv and the, and I think that they, they give people that illusion. But no, it's a series of little steps. It's a series of tiny steps, thousands of tiny steps. This coming January will be three years, and where we've been, where we are now and where I was when I came here, is night and day. And you know, I'm proud of what my team has done. I'm proud of what my wife has dealt with. I'm proud of her for dealing with with being, because she lives in Myrtle Beach. Still, her and I have been doing. Yeah, it's been, it's been tough on us, jay. She's been living in Myrtle Beach and I've been living yeah, it's been tough on us, jay, she's been living in Myrtle Beach and I've been living in Nashville Because she's an engineer she's working on her career.

Jay Franze: 37:26

I have so many questions. How do I make that happen? How can I get my wife to be in Myrtle?

Trey Calloway: 37:30

Beach. Is that a possibility? I'm not saying a word.

Jay Franze: 37:32

Wait a minute.

Trey Calloway: 37:32

I've not met your wife yet.

Jay Franze: 37:33

When I meet her the first time, if she looks at me and gives me the green light, that's okay, and then you'll love her and you'll hate me. I get it. That's how it always works. Everybody loves her.

Trey Calloway: 37:41

No, but I'm sure she's great man. You're great, Jay, You're a great interviewer.

Jay Franze: 37:45

She's all right.

Trey Calloway: 37:46

Well, the thing about it is it's been tough on, where we'll call each other and we're both on the verge of just breaking down and like, man, I miss you. You got to come out here, you got to come out. But she's chasing her dream as well. She always wanted to be an engineer. What type of engineer? She's a civil engineer. She's a dang good one too. She works her butt off. She's an amazing woman and I'm proud of her and I want her to keep chasing her dreams're. Balancing it. We've. We've found a good work balance a good work, life, love balance, and and it's, it's working now, and the momentum that my career is picking up is just it's, it's. I can't quit it, man, Jay. It's like a, it's like a drug.

Trey Calloway: 38:31

It gets in our blood and it's, it's, you know, we just can't, we can't, we can. It gets in our blood and we just can't walk away from it. I feel like at this point in my career, I'm that one song away, I'm putting that one song out away and I think, when it does happen, if it happens, if it's God's plan to happen, when it happens.

Trey Calloway: 38:47

Well. Thank you, jay. I appreciate you saying it when it happens. If it happens, whatever All the sacrifices that her and I have done and my son and all my family, because I don't get to see my family in North Carolina very much. I get to see them when I go back home, but I'm out here pounding the pavement every day. If anybody out there is listening. Young kids are out there listening, or other artists out there. Man, if you believe in yourself, come on out here man.

Jay Franze: 39:21

Don't ever give up.

Trey Calloway: 39:23

And never give up. Amen, yes, sir.

Jay Franze: 39:26

I know exactly what you're talking about. I mean, my wife and I have been through similar challenges. I mean when I was in the music business 35 years and as it started winding down from an engineer's point of view, we had to pivot. So I pivoted into the transportation and security side of things, where I would work with tour buses and that type of stuff and then providing the security for the team while they're out there. And that took a big leap to make that happen. And my wife, I told her I said, can you just give me six months to see if I can make this happen? And it did, and it happened and it went extremely well, thank God yeah that's awesome Because we have three kids now.

Trey Calloway: 40:10

And they all like to eat. Yeah right, isn't that weird that they kind of sort of have to eat and gotta, you know, give them clothes and stuff. I have a 10 year old son too, so I have a 10 year old daughter.

Jay Franze: 40:23

Maybe we could hook him up.

Trey Calloway: 40:24

That sounds like a plan man from one dad to another man to just keep up the good fight. Keep up the good fight, man it's, uh, it's tough. It's tough, but I wouldn't trade my son for anything in this whole wide world. He's the best kid. I just got off the phone with him not too long ago for I for I called you up, but he's uh, he's really something. I pray his name's cash. I'm real proud of him that's awesome he's a good boy I have three daughters.

Trey Calloway: 40:47

I always say it's god's way of punishing me I know my dad, so my dad, so I have a little baby sister. She's 10 as well. My mom and dad basically had two only children, if you think about it. My dad's trying to tell me having a little boy is one thing, but having a little girl is a whole different ball of wax.

Jay Franze: 41:09

I don't have a son, but I can tell you, it is for sure.

Trey Calloway: 41:13

My wife and I are probably going to try to have some kids here eventually, and I just know that we're going to have one. That's just like my wife. She's going to look at me and tell me I'm doing something wrong and I'm going to sit there and grin.

Jay Franze: 41:27

My daughter at the dinner table tonight. She apologized by saying I'm sorry you feel that way, yeah, exactly. And I said you're just like your mother. My wife goes. I don't say that. I'm like no you live and breathe it. That's what you do.

Trey Calloway: 41:43

Well, you know, I mean, it's just, I look forward to it. I'd love to have a daughter one of these days.

Jay Franze: 41:47

man, I'm sure it's, I'm sure it's great, I have three, we can arrange it. Yeah, borrow one. Just take one, the youngest one. She still doesn't even know better.

Trey Calloway: 41:58

Oh man, how old are they.

Jay Franze: 41:59

I've got a 14, a 10, and a 2.

Trey Calloway: 42:03

Oh, wow, so the baby's a real baby.

Jay Franze: 42:04

Yeah, it's a real baby.

Trey Calloway: 42:05

yes, it's a little tornado yeah.

Jay Franze: 42:09

And you know what I've noticed too, is the 14-year-old you know, sweet beautiful girl, old, you know sweet beautiful girl the 10 year old, because she has a 14 year old sister, has always acted like she's 14 as well. She wants to be like her big sis, right, and she hangs out with her friends. When her friends are over, she's just right up in their business.

Trey Calloway: 42:28

Yeah.

Jay Franze: 42:29

But now the two year old. She thinks she's 14. Oh wow, oh, it's incredible man, I'm sorry brother, any chances of having another one?

Trey Calloway: 42:37

No, wow, oh, it's incredible man. I'm sorry, brother, any chances of having another one?

Jay Franze: 42:39

No stop, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Trey Calloway: 42:41

Maybe try one more boy. I'm trying to help you out.

Jay Franze: 42:46

No, that's not helping me out. No, I don't even touch my wife anymore. Forget it. I barely find myself in the same room.

Trey Calloway: 42:54

I feel like she's off to the side of the camera right now.

Jay Franze: 42:56

Yeah, with a shotgun I'm going to throw a brick at you. Yeah, that's her for sure. That's cool man. That's very cool brother. Oh dear God, no Curses, curse you.

Trey Calloway: 43:08

I'd like to end up with two or three more. I'd like to end up with four. Think good for you. Let's say I came. I was an only child, you know. So I'd like to have, I'd like to have a bunch of little kids running around.

Jay Franze: 43:19

I think that'd be cool I met a lady last night who was pregnant and you know was talking to her, and she says oh, I'm seven months pregnant. I said, oh, congratulations, she goes. Yeah, this is number five.

Trey Calloway: 43:29

I'm like, oh, my lord well say my drummer, so my d I don't. I'm not sure if you know Tim Atwood.

Jay Franze: 43:34

Oh yeah, he played at the Opry for a long time, okay, okay.

Trey Calloway: 43:37

Well, his son is my drummer, tristan Atwood, plays drums for me and he has got five girls. He's got a wife and five girls. So, man, he's all the time he's just surrounded man, but I've met most of his daughters. I haven't met his youngest youngest one, cause she's real little, but most of his other daughters I met. They're all real sweet One of them works at the Grand Ole Opry, if I'm not mistaken. There you go and you know, of course Tim's.

Trey Calloway: 44:03

I mean Tim's a legend man. He played at the Opry for about 40 years. He's just one of those everybody and played with every legend there is.

Trey Calloway: 44:14

And Nashville is a crazy town for that it really is man and you know it's, the the more you get into it here, the more you just realize man it's. It's like I said, it goes back to that thing I said about ages. You know, these are the good old days, these are the days that, even if I never make it, jay, if I never am some big star, I'll I'll. I'll remember these times, I'll tell my grandkids about these times, rondé, you know, I know that.

Jay Franze: 44:42

Well, let's talk about your music and take it a step further. I mean, this year alone, you've got over a million and a half streams. Yes, sir. So I mean you're definitely making massive progress.

Trey Calloway: 44:53

We, we, we're, we're. Uh, I'm proud of us. You massive progress. I'm proud of us. You should see our rap from this year and last year. It's night and day. I'm proud of the work that all the people involved in this have done.

Jay Franze: 45:07

Was it Brandon that was your producer?

Trey Calloway: 45:10

I'm working with a guy named Brandon Hood now. He and I are in the middle of cutting. As a matter of fact, I'm going in to do some comps next week. We've already cut six tracks. We've got tracks for six new songs, but I've got to go in there and sing them. I don't know for 100% whether it's going to turn into a full length yet. That'd be great if it does.

Trey Calloway: 45:30

We just released the Wanted man album and then the Christmasmas single that will. That were put out right now, christmas with you, which I wrote with my buddy, jp williams, and uh, it's streaming really good man everybody's loving williams blind guitar player he is, he's a he's a blind fella and he's, uh, his biggest claim to fame, his biggest hit, that he wrote his best shot for jimmy allen.

Trey Calloway: 45:53

He wrote best shot and, uh, I mean, he's written all kinds of songs. He's one of the good ones. He actually just called me. He actually just texted me as I was talking to you. I've got to give him a call back here.

Jay Franze: 46:06

I worked with him on a couple different occasions.

Trey Calloway: 46:09

JP's the man, he really is JP and Cody Kelly a fellow named Cody Kelly and a guy named Doc Lewis wrote a song called Horses in Heaven that I'm really proud of off that One In man album.

Trey Calloway: 46:20

And yeah man, jp's great JP and I have written a bunch of songs, and the way the Christmas With you song came about was my team had booked me a recording session and they were like you've got to be in the studio in like two days to do a Christmas song, cause you know, that's what you're supposed to do right now.

Trey Calloway: 46:42

And I said well, I don't have a Christmas song and I didn't feel like going to find one and stuff I didn't. I wanted to write one. So I called up JP and and I said hey man, I know it's super last minute, can we, can we get together and just for like an hour and write a Christmas song? And we ended up writing this song, just for an hour. Just for an hour, man, and it just kind of flowed out of us. We both had a hand.

Trey Calloway: 47:08

Both of our hands are on that song. There's a lot of both of us in that song and it's just about being away from it. When did you write it? And it's just about being away from it. When did you write it? I think we cut that back in July or August.

Jay Franze: 47:21

Okay, that's what I want to check. Christmas in July, that's when we go to Nashville. It was definitely.

Trey Calloway: 47:25

oh yeah, I mean it was definitely not cold yet when we went to cut. I mean, you know, Nashville, the weather here it's, you know, 103 degrees in my car in the summertime and it was 17 degrees the other night. It felt like 13. It's insane, man.

Jay Franze: 47:43

Did you decorate the studio at all?

Trey Calloway: 47:47

No, no, the decorating that I do is usually when I go back to Charlotte. When I say Charlotte, that's the town that my folks live near. They don't live in Charlotte, they live in a town called Mooresville, which is about 30 minutes north of Charlotte. So that's where my folks live. Now my dad is like what's the guy from Griswold? My dad's like.

Trey Calloway: 48:13

Griswold, and so he goes hard in the paint with the Christmas decorations, and so he needed my help this year. So we got out there and spent the whole day putting up all the inflatables.

Jay Franze: 48:25

I could use your help this year. Hey man you let me know we don't have a single thing out right now.

Trey Calloway: 48:30

Man, it's Christmas decorating is a whole. There's some people take it to a whole other level, man, have you seen that show that's out now about the world's biggest Christmas decorators and they go around? I think it was on some show that my mom was watching and I just happened to be downstairs watching it with her and man, there's some really good. There's some people out there really going hard in the paint with it.

Jay Franze: 49:00

If I ever have the money to do it, I'd love to do it too, but that's a lot of money, a lot of time. I'd have to have the money to pay somebody else to do it. You ain't kidding, that's not my thing.

Trey Calloway: 49:04

I mean, we got my dad, my mom and dad's house decorated really cool, so it looks good this. It looks good this year and, uh, thanksgiving and christmas is probably my favorite time of year. Oh, I love Thanksgiving, me too, me too.

Jay Franze: 49:17

All right, so we mentioned Brandon and you also mentioned your team, so can you tell us who's on your team?

Trey Calloway: 49:22

Well, so I have a social media marketing guy, a guy named Dom, and he's also the one that goes on the road with me sometimes, and then a fella named Scott, my publicist Great dude Loves Scott to death. And Brandon Hood, my publicist Great dude, love Scott to death. And Brandon Hood, my producer, and I did the whole Wanted man album with a guy named Grady Saxman. Grady's another one. He's just phenomenal and he's a super good producer, great reputation. Everybody in town loves him. The way I got hooked up with Brandon was through Terry. Terry and I went to go write one day and he was just asking me you know, did you ever wanted?

Trey Calloway: 49:59

to branch out, just work with a different producer. You know nothing against Grady or anything like that, but it was just like sure.

Trey Calloway: 50:04

I'd love to. So Brandon reached out to me and we really clicked off from the get go. I think he and I are kindred spirits when it comes to our love of country music and the barn burnerer stuff, the 90s stuff and the rock and roll boogie woogie country that I really like to do. It was a good fit. We got in there in the studio heaping together a great band for this six songs that we've already done. Bruce Boughton I don't know if you've ever met Bruce or talked to Bruce. Bruce is, in my opinion, one of the greatest steel players of all time and we had a lot of good players on that set. Mark Hill, I believe, is his name, plays bass for Brooks, and Dunn played on the session with us too Great guy. So I'm excited about these songs coming out and I know you know, jay, that's how every artist is you put out an album and you're like, yeah, that album's great. Of course, listen to this one.

Jay Franze: 50:58

I'm working on now.

Trey Calloway: 50:59

So that's how it goes with me, man.

Jay Franze: 51:01

You mentioned Brooks and Dunn A couple of those guys have been on the show and Jeff King, the guitar player, one of the best in the world. He actually invited me and my daughter, the 10-year-old, to go see him when they were in Columbus. Yeah, so we went up there to see him and he took us backstage and we had dinner with everybody. But then John Root, who's their drum tech, he was also on the show and he took my daughter on stage and let her play the drums and she got to go front of the stage and look out over the arena.

Jay Franze: 51:34

That's so cool man it was awesome and um, greg morrow is the drummer that's out with them. Amazing studio musician drummer awesome.

Trey Calloway: 51:43

Well, you know that's what we talk about, man. I mean this, this this town's just chock full of so many talented dudes and girls, and I mean just everywhere you look, somebody's just a phenom man. And I just love this town. I really do, man. I have fallen in love with Nashville. It's a great place to be. It's a great place. The vibe is all amazing. Sometimes people go through a hard time. You've got your buddies and sometimes they'll get depressed. We all get depressed and feel bad about our careers, but there's people there to pick you up and make you feel better about it. I love the support.

Trey Calloway: 52:20

I was actually writing with a fellow named Richie Brown tonight. Richie Brown and a guy named Collins Horton two fellows I wrote with tonight. Richie wrote a bunch of hits for Garth Brooks and wrote a bunch of hits with Jared Neiman and a bunch of different. I mean he's had all kinds of cuts but he's one of the good ones man. He really believes in me and he's a good dude.

Jay Franze: 52:43

That's awesome. Yes, sir. Well, on that note, similar path. We do this thing here we call Unsung Heroes, where we take a moment to shine the light on somebody who's worked behind the scenes or somebody who may have supported you along the way. Do you have anybody you'd like to shine a little light on?

Trey Calloway: 52:56

I would love to give a big old shout out to Sandy Murphy. She's my mother-in-law. She's just been one of those people that's believed in me for a long long time. Her name's Sandy. I love you, sandy.

Jay Franze: 53:07

A big thanks to Trey for taking the time to share his stories with us and thank you for taking the time to hang with me here. I really do appreciate it. If you know anyone that would enjoy this episode, please be sure to share it. You can do that and find the links to everything mentioned over at jayfranze. com/ episode 108. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next week.

Tony Scott: 53:33

Thanks for listening to The Jay Franze Show. Make sure you visit us at jayfranze. com. Follow, connect and say hello.