In this episode of the Biscuits & Jam Podcast, Southern Living's Sid Evans sits down with Brandon Coleman and Drew Nix, founding members of The Red Clay Strays, one of the hottest young bands in country rock. Brandon and Drew share their journeys from Alabama roots to music success, including the stories behind their hit single "Wondering Why" and their latest album, 'Made By These Moments.' The conversation touches on their songwriting process, Brandon’s recent Alabama wedding, and the role of faith in their lives and music.
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00:00Brandon Coleman and Drew Nix from the Red Clay Strays, welcome to Biscuits & Jam.
00:06Howdy doody.
00:07Great to see you guys.
00:08Thanks for having us.
00:09Where am I reaching y'all right now?
00:11We're in Spokane, Louisiana.
00:13I mean, Spokane, Washington. We're not in Louisiana.
00:17Spokane, Louisiana, baby!
00:20I haven't heard of Spokane, Louisiana before.
00:23Well, it's great to have y'all here.
00:26I'm a big fan. I've been following y'all for a while, and I love your music and love seeing what you're doing.
00:33And it's an exciting time to be the Red Clay Strays.
00:37Yeah, it's been a lot of work the past nine months or so.
00:42Or seven years or so.
00:44Well, so listen, y'all are from Mobile, Alabama, which is right down I-65 from Birmingham, which is where I am.
00:55Brandon, tell me a little bit about the house and the neighborhood where you grew up down there.
01:01I didn't grow up in a neighborhood. I grew up on my grandfather's property.
01:05It's somewhere between 30 or 40 acres or so.
01:09And over in a place called Turnerville, Alabama.
01:14And that was our neighborhood, essentially.
01:18Me and my brothers and cousins running around in the woods all the time like a bunch of little redneck kids that we were.
01:25So how far is this from Mobile?
01:29About 20, 25 minutes or so north.
01:32So if you're pulling into the farm, kind of describe it for me.
01:37I mean, what does it look like if you're just driving in? What are you seeing?
01:40Driveway off of Roberts Road.
01:43And my grandparents' house was closest to the road.
01:47And then my Uncle Frankie's house was about 100 yards from that.
01:53And then our house was, you know, 150, 200 yards up the hill from that.
01:59And it was, I think the place was called locally Coleman Hill.
02:03Wow, that's cool. So it was really kind of a family compound.
02:06Yeah.
02:07And do you have a lot of relatives going back a long ways in Alabama?
02:12I think my dad said they moved there when he was nine.
02:16My dad was born in 63.
02:19And so they've been there ever since.
02:22And my grandfather's brothers, they had left and moved to South Carolina.
02:31And that's where they and their families still are now, a place called Aiken, South Carolina.
02:39And another brother moved to Georgia, Augusta, Georgia.
02:44So we have family scattered from Alabama to Georgia to South Carolina.
02:49And Lord knows where else, all throughout the South.
02:53And Drew, what about you? Tell me a little bit about where you grew up.
02:57I grew up in Birmingham, actually Helena area.
03:00If you know where Oak Park is and where the Cherokee Beach sign is with the,
03:06it's like a big brown sign on Chasecrest Road.
03:09Yeah, sure.
03:11Take a right down that, then you take another right in that neighborhood.
03:14And I used to live kind of, I grew up there and then I've lived in Vestavia and Hoover.
03:21Just moved around with my mom wherever she would move around town.
03:26Now I live in Mobile.
03:28And tell me how y'all got to know each other.
03:31I met Drew through a mutual friend when I was a senior in high school.
03:38Me and this gentleman had started a band.
03:42It was just the two of us.
03:43And he was like, I got a guy who is kind of down on his luck right now, really kind of squats.
03:52He said he was squatting in a dorm and he was just needing something to do.
03:56He could really use a pick me up.
03:57He's in a low point of his life, so I'm going to let him book some shows for us.
04:00And I was like, okay, cool.
04:02That's so funny because I was not at a low point, but God.
04:07His words, not mine.
04:09What is your memory of it, Drew?
04:11Yeah, no, it just sounds like I was homeless and just needed some help or something, man.
04:16I was chasing a dream.
04:19I wanted to be a football coach.
04:21And this guy was just letting me pretty much use an air mattress in his room.
04:25And I was just literally doing all I could.
04:27I lived in Biloxi, so I didn't want to drive an hour there every day.
04:33So he just let me stay.
04:34So that's a funny perspective.
04:38This guy is really down on his luck right now, really needs some help.
04:43And if you could just let him book gigs, that'd be great.
04:46It sounds like a good rock and roll story.
04:50So y'all started playing music together around then?
04:55Back to senior year in high school or so?
04:58Yeah, it was, I think, January 2015.
05:01I was getting ready to graduate, and Drew and this other guy were in college.
05:06And that's a couple weeks later after we met Drew.
05:11He had brought Andrew to play bass with us, and we went from a duo to a trio.
05:16So Brandon, you grew up on this farm.
05:20I'm wondering if you spent much time on the water, or maybe that came later.
05:26But everybody that I know from that part of the world, around Mobile,
05:32seems like they kind of grow up on the bay,
05:34or they grow up around shrimp and oysters and fishing and that sort of thing.
05:40Or were you kind of further away from that?
05:43Yeah, I mean, we always took trips to the beach as a kid.
05:48And I also grew up, my uncles took us on the river a lot,
05:53hunting and fishing and stuff like that.
05:55River rats is what they called it.
05:57We stayed going on the river every weekend.
06:00In the summertime, we'd launch at night and hunt all night till the sun come up.
06:05And then in the wintertime, we would go during the daytime.
06:10That's definitely a very significant time growing up,
06:15is going on the river with all of our spare time and hunting and fishing,
06:21or even just going up to boat ride and just be on the water.
06:24Well, I'm guessing you don't have a whole lot of time for that these days,
06:28as much as y'all are spending on the road.
06:30No, not really.
06:31Well, I want to say congrats on the new record.
06:37It's so great, and I really love your sound.
06:43It's called Made By These Moments.
06:46And I don't really know what genre to put you in,
06:50or if you even need a genre, but I just love it.
06:55It's so many great songs, and it has a real kind of timeless feel to it.
07:01It feels in some ways like it could have been made in the 50s or 60s,
07:05and in other ways, it feels very much like something fresh and new.
07:13It's just fantastic.
07:16Tell me a little bit about the title for the album and where that came from.
07:21Yeah, we were trying to think of a title for the album we could all agree on,
07:27and we passed along a couple of options, like The Human Condition
07:33and what was another one we had come up with?
07:37Do you remember, Drew?
07:38Nope.
07:40I'm still waking up.
07:42My brain is just at like 15% right now.
07:46We didn't bicker or anything, but it was just like,
07:50I like this.
07:51Well, I really like this.
07:52Well, I really like this, for weeks.
07:56We were trying to avoid naming it after another title track album.
08:01Made by These Moments just made the most sense,
08:03so we eventually just decided to stop fighting it
08:07and went along with it eventually.
08:11Well, your last album was called Moment of Truth,
08:15so you seemed to really like that idea of moments.
08:19Yeah, that at the time was our moment of truth,
08:22because we had waited five years to put out an album,
08:25and all these people loved us without having any music out.
08:29So it was just like, all right, well,
08:31we're going to put this record out and see what happens,
08:33and that was truly that moment of truth for us.
08:39It is kind of weird that we chose Made by These Moments for the second one,
08:43but it is truly a –
08:48it's just the whole meaning behind the whole album, really.
08:53It's like you start off at the beginning of the album
08:58and you're going through hard times,
09:00or something happens tragically,
09:02and you go through the whole album
09:04and you find these different headspaces of strife and just depression
09:10and places where you go where people shouldn't go mentally,
09:15like suicide thoughts and whatnot.
09:22Then you finally get towards the end of the album
09:24and you start finding that hope again,
09:26hope through Jesus, and you really wrap it up with God does.
09:31How Brandon likes to put it is that God does.
09:34It's really if we can leave you with anything,
09:36this is what we can leave you with.
09:39This hope, you can find it and you can do anything through God.
09:45That's what Made by These Moments is about.
09:48Every moment that leads up to the good or the bad,
09:53it's going to make you who you are in the end,
09:55and makes you who you are now.
09:57I wanted to ask you about the references to God and faith.
10:04There's a lot of that in your songs.
10:09There's the song God Does, like you said, the last one on the album,
10:13and then you also have a song called Will the Lord Remember Me
10:20that came out a few years ago.
10:22Brandon, tell me about the spiritual side of this music
10:25and where it comes from for you.
10:28We just write music about our life.
10:31God's a big part of our life.
10:33I would even say God's the main part of our life.
10:35Everybody wonders, while they're here, what's the purpose in all this?
10:41When you accept the fact that you are made by a creator
10:46and you're put here with a purpose, you're put here with a job to do,
10:51and you're here for a reason,
10:54you kind of obsess over figuring out what that is,
10:57and if you know what that is, you obsess over completing it
11:01and getting it done.
11:04We've never been the type of people to try to preach to anybody
11:09or anything like that.
11:11We just make music about our lives
11:13and hope people can listen to it and relate to it.
11:17If they do, then that's great.
11:18If they don't, then that's cool too.
11:20Is this something that the two of you connected with early on?
11:24Did you have conversations as you're starting to get to know each other
11:29and starting to play music together about the spiritual side of the equation,
11:36or did that come later?
11:38I'd say so.
11:40We both were pretty open about it as soon as we met one another.
11:50It's one of the things we hit it off with with each other, I guess.
11:54It's been just all the success and stuff like that.
11:58It's just been too evident not to point out that God's been there all along.
12:05We talk about it a lot.
12:07Every night I fall asleep.
12:09I usually fall asleep saying,
12:12over and over until I'm asleep.
12:17It's great.
12:20We have that in common because it's inevitable.
12:25Was the church a part of your life growing up, Drew?
12:28I had an early age where I was going through a lot at one time.
12:33There was a point where I really thought about taking my life.
12:36I was probably 13, 14, 15.
12:40That's just how kids, sometimes you get there.
12:44I was going through a lot of stuff with family.
12:46There was a moment where I was watching House one day.
12:50There's a Bible verse that came on, and I can't recite it for you,
12:53but it was 1 Peter 1.6-7.
12:58Just that moment made me realize everything that I was going through,
13:01I was going through for a reason.
13:03I was able to carry that with me.
13:06Until now, it changed my life completely.
13:09I never really got involved in church until I met my wife,
13:13because I really wanted somebody to push me spiritually.
13:16I've been looking for that, and she does.
13:21I got baptized a couple of years ago, and it's been a lot better.
13:25Just staying involved in the Word and going to church every chance I can.
13:30That's good.
13:32What about you, Brandon?
13:34You grew up on this kind of family farm.
13:38Was church a routine for you all?
13:41We were in and out of church all throughout our childhood.
13:47My parents would send us to vacation Bible school,
13:51and then we wouldn't go to church for a while.
13:54Then find another church and start going there,
13:57and then we wouldn't go to church for a while.
13:59I think when I finally started consistently going,
14:01it was a little country church that I started going to with my grandmother.
14:06I started going there when I was around 12, I guess.
14:12I started playing drums for that church,
14:17because at the time it was just the pastor and his acoustic guitar.
14:21Just him and a microphone.
14:23He didn't even have his acoustic guitar amped,
14:25because it was such a little church.
14:29I started playing drums there,
14:31and that was actually the first place where I sang in front of a crowd.
14:36Probably around 20 or 30 people in attendance.
14:40I guess you liked the way it felt,
14:43and you probably got some good response when you did that
14:48that maybe encouraged you to do it again.
14:50I guess. I don't really remember, to be honest with you.
14:53I was so nervous.
14:55It's remarkable.
14:56I talked to a lot of artists on this podcast,
14:59and it's remarkable how many folks came through the church,
15:03particularly in the South,
15:05and kind of learned how to play music there,
15:08or were introduced to music in some way,
15:12and introduced to performing as well.
15:17I did the exact opposite.
15:19I went and played in a bunch of bars and traveled the world,
15:25and then joined our church and became a guitar player for the church.
15:31Well, you came around to it.
15:33Yeah. I love it, man.
15:35It's my favorite way to worship.
15:36Well, listen, y'all.
15:37This is a Southern Living podcast,
15:39so we've got to talk about food for a second.
15:44I'm curious, Brandon, I'll start with you.
15:50Tell me a little bit about the food that you grew up with,
15:52the kitchen you grew up in,
15:54and what was on the table and who was doing the cooking.
15:57My mom and dad both cooked equally.
16:00Dad liked to cook breakfast and mom cooked dinner.
16:04So dad would cook scrambled eggs or omelets and bacon,
16:11and then mom would sometimes cook biscuits.
16:16It's just all the Southern food you can think of.
16:19She did barbecue chicken or she did chicken pot pie.
16:25Then I'd go down and I'd have breakfast or dinner at my grandparents'
16:28that were right down the hill,
16:30and then she would do cool things like shrimp and grits
16:35or pancakes with blueberries picked from her blueberry bush.
16:42My grandfather, he liked to cook seafood etouffee a lot,
16:47and holidays were always great too with food,
16:49just the way they would cook the turkey and the deviled eggs
16:53and everything else.
16:56All of my family cooked, really.
16:58That's the family get-togethers we would have.
17:01They would always have some type of a huge grill
17:04or a huge pot boiling seafood or cooking quail,
17:09cooking deer meat, cooking hogs that they had shot and killed.
17:16We were always cooking and eating on some type of celebratory occasion, I guess.
17:22Is this your grandparents on your mom's side or your dad's side?
17:25My dad's side.
17:27The only grandparent I had on my mom's side was my grandmother.
17:32She wasn't as Southern, I guess.
17:35She was Southern, but she just, you know,
17:39a little more on the broken side, I guess.
17:41She didn't really cook as much or anything like that.
17:45But your dad's parents, it sounds like they liked to entertain,
17:50liked to have people over, and especially liked to have the grandkids over.
17:53Yeah, they loved having get-togethers.
17:57Everybody went to their house for the holidays.
18:00Drew, what about you?
18:03My dad made some bean spaghetti.
18:07My mom, she used to make these things in a pan that were thinly sliced potatoes.
18:13We were very broke.
18:15She'd just make these thinly sliced potatoes and put them in some oil.
18:19My God, they were the greatest thing ever.
18:22But a lot of ramen noodles.
18:28Let's see.
18:29My dad made a pretty good steak, some burgers.
18:32Yeah, not a whole lot growing up, man.
18:37My dad can cook, I will tell you that.
18:39He can pick just about anything he wants and cooks it.
18:42He's good at it.
18:43My mom, she does her best.
18:46Lord help her.
18:47Well, y'all are down in Mobile, which is a pretty good place if you like to eat.
18:52I'm curious, what are some places that you like to go
18:56or maybe some places that the band can agree on that are favorites of y'all's?
19:04My favorite seafood place is a place on the causeway called R&R Seafood.
19:09R&R is pretty collectively our favorite.
19:13I got to shout out Callahan's, though, man.
19:17I don't know if you've ever been down to Mobile, but Callahan's has one of the best burgers ever.
19:21I've been to Mobile.
19:23I've been to a place that stands out in my memory.
19:28It's called, I think, the Bluegill.
19:30And it was right on the water.
19:33Yeah, Bluegill's okay.
19:34Bluegill's good.
19:36It's more touristy than anything.
19:38I'm just going to say it.
19:40It's overrated, dog.
19:42It's overrated.
19:44Put it on record.
19:45I don't care.
19:47They paid us crap anyway when we played there.
19:50Oh, you used to play there?
19:51I'm just saying it all.
19:52Yeah.
19:54Well, they had a nice spot right on the water.
19:57Yeah, it is right on the water.
19:59It's beautiful.
20:00It is beautiful.
20:01Yeah, I remember sitting there and you had birds kind of flying around, probably some egrets.
20:09It was a beautiful spot.
20:14You see manatees popping in and out of the water.
20:17It's pretty.
20:18And the food's really not that bad.
20:20I'm sitting here crapping on them or whatever.
20:23It's okay.
20:24I think you were just talking about the price.
20:25No, no, no.
20:26Yeah, I think the price is too much for what it is.
20:32Well, you can be honest here, Drew.
20:34It's only going to go to thousands of people afterward.
20:37I want to come back to the album, y'all.
20:40And again, it's called Made By These Moments.
20:43It's got to feel good for y'all to get this out there.
20:47I know you've been working on it a long time.
20:49And kind of going back to the church thing for a second, there's a song on there called Devil In My Ear,
20:56which became something of a hit for you guys as a single.
21:00How did this one come together?
21:02Drew wrote that one.
21:03Yeah, I guess I can say it.
21:05Our drummer's brother took his life in 2020.
21:10That title popped in my head immediately after, because I couldn't figure it out.
21:17It was just like, man, you've got all this talent.
21:19He was an incredible musician.
21:22He could play anything he put his hands on, and better than any of us.
21:27He could sing.
21:28He could write.
21:29He was just well-loved, man.
21:31He had one of the most loving families in this whole world, and had good friends.
21:40I guess 2020 or something broke him.
21:45But the only thing I could come up with in my head was that the devil got to him, got in his ear.
21:53It was just kind of word vomit of all these things that I've thought about when I've thought about taking my own life.
22:03It's kind of, why, why, why can't I seem to hold my head up high?
22:07I guess it's the devil in my ear.
22:09Because all these things are just lies, man.
22:13All these horrible thoughts you get, they're not from God.
22:17There's totally the devil trying to get to you.
22:20Like I said, it was just word vomit.
22:22And in the end, not many people know this, but it's kind of up to interpretation.
22:29The way I wrote it ended up taking his life.
22:33It's not another day with the devil in my ear.
22:39It's a tough subject, and it's hard for even me to talk about, but it needs to be talked about.
22:47Drew, talk to me about the reaction that you get from your fans when they hear that song.
22:53And maybe everybody hears something a little different when they're listening to that song.
22:57I think that's what a good song does, is people interpret it in different ways.
23:04But how do people respond when y'all play it?
23:07We get a bunch of cheers for it.
23:11I've read comments online and stuff, and I've seen how people kind of interpret it.
23:18Different ways I've seen it, it's just like, you know, the devil's trying to get you to do something else.
23:26Or, you know, you're in here, you're just kind of making bad mistakes, or you're making bad decisions,
23:34and it's the devil that's getting you to do that.
23:37It can relate in a lot of ways, and I see that for sure.
23:40I don't really know how they're interpreting it out there.
23:43I just know it was therapeutic to me, and that's how I write.
23:47It sounds like something that you needed to say and that you had to put down at a certain moment.
23:53There's another song on this album that I love called No One Else Like Me,
23:58and I hear a lot of influences in there.
24:03But it also sounds like the point of the song is that y'all want to sound like the Red Clay Strays.
24:11You want to sound like yourselves.
24:14Brandon, was that what y'all were after with that song?
24:18No, that song actually was written by Matthew either when he was still in high school or fresh out of high school,
24:27you know, 2017, 2016, around that time.
24:31And he was mainly just trying to play with words as much as he could.
24:38The way we worked up that song, how we currently play it,
24:42isn't how it used to be.
24:45It used to be a slow country song, and we were just in the studio,
24:50and I had the idea to kind of put a groove behind it,
24:54change the drum beat and give it more of like a 70s type feel.
25:01And then that's just how we ended up doing it.
25:03And I think I wrote a couple lines in that process, just adding to it.
25:08But the song's really up for interpretation about however you want to take it,
25:13because I mean, I don't even really know what the song's about.
25:18And as far as me saying, you know, this is what I have to,
25:25this is my response to everybody who likes to compare me to other people.
25:28That was just something that was done on the moment.
25:32At a show, just because of that one line, there's no one else like me.
25:38Yeah.
25:39And so that's just what I personally do with it.
25:43But yeah, I mean, it's up for interpretation
25:46about whoever listens to it, how they want to take it.
25:49I mean, I read comments on that song sometimes,
25:52and there's a lot of people who pick out certain lines,
25:55like a dead man walking or a preacher talking.
25:59And, you know, it relates to them in their own personal way.
26:04And I think that's the point of that song specifically.
26:07It's not really about anything specific.
26:10It's however you want to take it.
26:12Like, my interpretation of it is somebody who's so unique
26:15that they can't really be boxed into any one thing.
26:19It's just like, this person is such a unique individual
26:24that you really can't compare them to anybody else.
26:28And that's how everybody is.
26:30Everybody's got their own qualities and things.
26:34It doesn't make them 100% like anybody else.
26:37So it's like the perfect song about individuality, I think.
26:41Well, I think it's great.
26:43And whatever message is in there, I think people will hear what they want.
26:47But it's a great song.
26:48I want to ask you all about one more.
26:50And this is really the first one I heard from y'all on the radio.
26:56It's the way I kind of got to know you guys.
26:59And I think probably a lot of people did.
27:02It's called Wondering Why.
27:03It was kind of a breakout hit for y'all.
27:06And I think you both have songwriting credits on this one.
27:11Tell me a little bit about how that one came together.
27:14We were writing with a man named Dan Couch in Nashville in 2019.
27:22And at the time, we were still playing the bar shows
27:26and doing four-hour shows and getting paid like $120 a man
27:31and struggling to make ends meet, trying to keep bills paid
27:35and going out on the road and going broke, going in debt
27:39and not being a provider, so to say.
27:43We were just sitting around trying to come up with something to write about
27:46and just got on that subject about how the women in our lives
27:52get the short end of the stick on all this, really,
27:55because they're having to put up with this crazy dream of ours
27:59and they keep on loving us and we're just wondering why.
28:02Like, what's in it for you?
28:04Why are you sticking around?
28:07And that's kind of what led to that song.
28:09Brandon, you got married not all that long ago.
28:14It sounds like it could be a tribute there to your wife, perhaps.
28:20I'm not even much of a songwriter myself.
28:22I just kind of sit in the room and somebody put it as
28:27when people get too far in the rabbit hole, I'm up there to pull them out.
28:33Like, what about this one word?
28:35And everybody's like, oh yeah, that's it.
28:37That's what we were trying to think of.
28:40That's songwriting, buddy. I'm sorry.
28:43I'm usually there for moral support.
28:45I think I come up with the private school line, if I remember correctly.
28:49I can't even remember, honestly.
28:51No, Brandon's lying to you. He's a songwriter. He's great.
28:54That song to me ended up, whenever I was thinking of the lines,
28:58I was thinking of my current wife now.
29:01It's a great one and it's super memorable.
29:09You hear it and it stays with you in a good way.
29:14And I'm sure that y'all get great feedback on it when you play it.
29:18There's probably a lot of people that still are waiting to hear that one.
29:23Yeah, annoyingly so.
29:25Yeah, every night, right?
29:27Wondering why!
29:29Do y'all have a favorite song to play live right now
29:34that you really are enjoying at this moment?
29:38Not really for me. I love playing our shows.
29:42I'm not really a fan of the festivals where we go on
29:45and we have a strict time frame and we have to play an hour
29:48and get off the stage.
29:51That's just not really my cup of tea.
29:53I like getting there with our fans and having the stage for as long as we want
29:58and just being able to spend the night.
30:01It's like hanging out with family or something.
30:03Just get to spend the night with your fans and play the music.
30:09Really, that's my favorite song.
30:12The songs that the fans are loving and receiving something from,
30:16singing along with, or whatever else they may be doing.
30:19Brandon, I know you got married recently.
30:25I saw a picture somewhere of a little church.
30:31I'm wondering, was that somewhere around Mobile?
30:35Where was that? It looked like a really pretty spot.
30:37No, that was in Stockton, Alabama.
30:39We were just routing around because she wanted a white church wedding.
30:45So we were just routing around when I was home looking for white churches.
30:51We had found that place, driven past it, and got the information.
30:57It was just a little country church.
31:01I can't even remember the denomination.
31:03I think it may have been a Methodist. I'm not sure.
31:06Probably 20 or 30 people go there.
31:09It was a 100-year-old building.
31:14I think they said we could pay them like 50 bucks to have our wedding there.
31:19It's a beautiful spot. Is your wife musical?
31:23No. No, she doesn't play music.
31:26I'm kind of glad, honestly.
31:29Why?
31:32Just because most of the time when I come off the road,
31:35I kind of just want a break from music.
31:37Oh, okay. That's fair.
31:39My wife is musical.
31:41Yeah, you can't get away from it.
31:42She's phenomenal.
31:44Oh, well, I don't mind it.
31:46I love sitting down and jamming with her, writing with her.
31:50But yeah, I do get where you need a few days.
31:55Have a break.
31:56Have a break.
31:57My wife's always been more the photography side.
32:00She took all the pictures for A Moment of Truth and Made by These Moments.
32:06Oh, great.
32:07She's great.
32:08Well, Brandon and Drew, I just have one more question for y'all.
32:12Drew, I'll start with you.
32:14What does it mean to you to be Southern?
32:16I guess it means just about everything.
32:18This is the worst tattoo,
32:20but I got this right here because Alabama is always going to be,
32:24and this is like one of your main arteries in your arm.
32:30The thought of mine was that Alabama is always going to be in my blood.
32:36I don't know if it's dumb or not, but I like it.
32:39Screw anybody else who thinks it's dumb.
32:42I grew up very Alabama, man.
32:45My mom's side of the family were coal miners up north
32:49and got involved with football.
32:51My whole family, growing up on the river,
32:56both my grandparents were hardworking,
32:59or both sides of grandparents were just hardworking Southern people.
33:02Both families were just, you know,
33:05it's all about the draw and the food we ate.
33:11Country music, man, just, you know,
33:14it's all about just working hard and having soul doing it
33:18and loving each other and being polite.
33:22There's just a lot of being Southern that I love.
33:25I leave the South and I just want to go back
33:29because I miss the people, I miss the views.
33:32It means everything.
33:33Brandon, what about you?
33:34I guess similarly.
33:37I always think like, man, it's so crazy that
33:40out of all the places we could have been born,
33:42we were born in America,
33:44and then out of all the places in America,
33:46we were born in the South,
33:48and it's something I've always been very thankful for
33:51just because, to me, being Southern
33:55includes just giving the shirt off your back
33:59to whoever's in need,
34:01respecting other people, working hard,
34:04and, you know, just trying to be the best person you can be,
34:09just be a good human being.
34:11I tend to get called like a Southern gentleman
34:13or anything else like that.
34:15I mean, I think it's just,
34:18there's like a certain standard
34:20that comes from being with the South,
34:22you know, the yes ma'am and no ma'am
34:24or yes sir and no sir,
34:25and just showing that level of respect to people around you,
34:32and that's kind of what it means to me,
34:35just trying to help people
34:37and being polite and being courteous to one another.
34:43And honestly, though, it is a South thing,
34:47but you can leave,
34:48and we've traveled all over the country,
34:50and I've seen rednecks in every single state,
34:54and I've seen city people down in the South.
34:58I don't even know if city people is the correct way to put that,
35:01but I think at the end of the day,
35:03people are just people.
35:04Yeah, just that common decency of showing respect
35:08and working hard and trying to be a good person.
35:12I feel like where you were going with that was that there's...
35:15It's almost like there's Southern people everywhere.
35:17Like even, you can go to Iowa if you're out in the country
35:20and find people just like us, you know.
35:24I think there's kind of a city attitude,
35:26which is not bad, it's just different.
35:29And being Southern and being country are synonymous, in my opinion,
35:35but you can also be Southern but not from the South, I guess.
35:40I think what you mean, too,
35:43like missing being in the South when we're gone on tour for a long time.
35:50When you go to places like New York or Los Angeles
35:55or these big cities,
35:57it's like people are afraid to talk to one another almost.
36:03Everybody's out for themselves,
36:06and it's not really like that in the South.
36:09You can be walking around in the middle of a city
36:15you've never been to in the South
36:17and feel comfortable enough to walk up and ask for help
36:21or ask somebody a question.
36:24It's not like that when you get out of the South and get to other places.
36:28Nobody looks at you and nobody talks to you
36:30and everybody's real standoffish.
36:34A long time in that environment, you can start to feel alone, I guess.
36:38And so that is one thing you'll miss from being in the South.
36:42Y'all are probably going to be missing it quite a bit
36:44because I know you're going to be on the road a lot
36:46and not just in the country but really all over the world.
36:50So good luck with that and congrats on the album
36:56and congrats on the tour and all the great songs and all the success.
37:02Brandon Coleman and Drew Nix, founding members of the Red Clay Strays,
37:06thanks for being on Biscuits & Jam.
37:08Thank you for having us.
37:09Thanks for having us.