[00:00:00] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Song Saloon. I hope you're having a great start to your June. This episode we have Brad Miles with his song Stonewall. I do want to give a trigger warning at the beginning of this episode. We do get into some heavy topics in this song and in the interview, talking mainly about domestic abuse, which is a big subject in the song Stonewall.

[00:00:22] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Brad Miles is a singer songwriter based in Texas. He's written, played, and performed music for nearly three decades. And he writes honest, heartfelt, accessible, and emotionally vulnerable Americana country. He actually shared a different song with me before Stonewall. These songs, Struck me with the lyric writing quality and, the emotion behind the songs and the vocals that the Brad delivers.

Hope you enjoy the song and the episode today.

[00:00:48] Brad Miles: Hi, I'm Brad Miles, and this is my song, Stonewall.

[00:01:06] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Hey Brad, welcome to the show.

[00:01:09] Brad Miles: Man, Jordan, I'm super excited to be here, but I want to say that I'm a little bit, I'm a little bit intimidated because I've been listening to your podcast and, and like, you're, you're like a, you know, conservatory trained musician. You know what I mean? Like, you've actually been to school for this, and I totally have not.

I'm just, like, living on my own. a wing and a prayer here. So, so, uh, so anyway, I just want to say, it's nice to be talking to like a real musician. So that's, that's

[00:01:34] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Oh, man. Well, I appreciate that. But, um, we were chatting just before getting on here and you're telling me some of your, your backstory with, uh, Nashville and the record deal. So, I mean, you've, you've put in your time and you've got the experience.

[00:01:46] Brad Miles: I have it. I have learned, uh, by doing everything the wrong way and making all the mistakes. And so failure, uh, Jordan is a great teacher and, and it has taught me a lot. So,

[00:02:00] Jordan Smith Reynolds: That's awesome. 

I'd actually love to kind of go into that a little bit. Your, your story going into, um, pre Stonewall, which is the song we'll be focusing on today. yeah, let's, let's, uh, paint a little bit of an image of who Brad

[00:02:11] Brad Miles: yeah, man. Well, so when I was in college, and I'm not going to say that I'm not going to give you dates because it's embarrassing how long ago it was, but, uh, but when I was in college, I ran, I had a couple of friends and we would just kind of hang out together and, um, and we would just jam and play music together and, uh, play music.

But anyway, we, to make a really long story short, I, I kind of accidentally ended up in this band and we were, and we were touring around Texas. We played 50, 60 shows a year in Texas and, and, uh, and we were having a blast doing that, but we kind of just reached, uh, you know, we kind of gone as far as we could go where we were.

And so, uh, and so, uh, so then just kind of on a wing and a prayer, uh, we, I moved to, I moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and, uh, and that was a crazy story. My wife and I, like, my wife is amazing, by the way. She's, she's been my biggest fan as far as music goes. She loves music, loves it. And I think the thing that, really, really attracted her to me in the beginning was that I was a musician.

Well, I use that term loosely, but that I did music. And so, uh, and so she, so she was like, I was like, Hey, we should move to Nashville. And she was like, okay. And so we did, like, we just like, we just like picked up everything. You can do that when you're in your early twenties. And we moved to Nashville and, and we lived up there.

We had a blast living in Nashville and we'd been living there for a couple of years. And, and I eventually assigned a record deal and it was the most like record deal story ever. 

Okay. I was playing a, I was playing a concert in a Borders bookstore, if you remember those. And, uh,

[00:03:38] Jordan Smith Reynolds: I did that in high

[00:03:39] Brad Miles: and this dude came, literally this dude came up to me in the parking lot after the show.

And he was like, he goes, okay, I never do this. Right. But I'm an accountant and one of my clients is a producer. And

[00:03:50] Jordan Smith Reynolds: he like chomping on

[00:03:51] Brad Miles: yeah, it felt like that. It felt like that. He was like, one of my clients is a producer and I just feel like you guys should meet, you know? And so, and so we did. And so anyway, that event eventually led to me.

Signed a record deal. And then, um, and so I, I, uh, I had a national release that came out early in the early two thousands with my band ever, man. And, uh, and you can still find us. You can find us on Spotify iTunes, wherever you listen to music or in the discount bin at any, uh, CD store any place where you buy music, uh, There no, no, no borders anymore.

But anyway, so, uh, so, uh, so I did that for a couple of years. It was awesome. I loved it. Uh, uh, I, uh, it was a spectacular failure. I mean, just like an unlike every bad thing that could happen happened right from the start, you know? And so, uh, and so all like musicians always have this story. Yeah, I signed a record deal, but you know, but the record company, blah, blah, blah, or whatever, you know, everybody's got an excuse, but really it was, it was unbelievable.

Like one, But for me, I didn't care because the only reason I was doing music is I just love connecting with people. I love playing for people. I love connecting with people. And to me, that's what music has always been about. So, so even though things were just like abject failure all around me, I didn't really, I wasn't really paying attention, you know, uh, until I had to start paying bills.

And then I was like, Oh yeah, I need to pay attention to this. But, uh, but anyway, eventually, uh, uh, I saw, I saw my wife and daughter, uh, six days out of every month on average for two years. I would go six weeks sometimes without seeing him at all. And, uh, and eventually it was just like, man, you know, my family is more important to me than this.

And so, uh, and so I transitioned out of, out of all of that stuff. 

And, uh, And then, and then just kind of was like, well, I need to now get a real job, you know, so, so, so that's what we did. And, and I'm a, I'm a minister, I'm a pastor. So I've, I immediately kind of went back into, into that.

That's what I'd done before. And that's what I did after. And, um, and that's, and I still am, and I'm a pastor of a church now in Texas. And so I still had still kind of my, my day job, but I never stopped writing songs. You know, I never stopped making music. 

And, uh, and so recently then my wife was, she was hearing all these songs and, and what happened was, Jordan, as I, I kind of started a project on accident, uh, I kind of started a project where I was writing songs and the name of the song was the name of a town in Texas.

And they were all these songs that were about these people that I grew up around. Like they were, they were kind of story songs that were about these people that I grew up around. The struggles, the facing adversity, the, you know what I mean? And, uh, and so, and so Amy, my wife, was hearing all these songs and she was like, Brad, I love these songs.

And so anyway, behind my back, Uh, she got a hold of my friend who still lives in Nashville, who's my drummer with the band that I was in. And, uh, he's a producer now. He does drum tracks for people and, and, uh, and he, and he produces stuff. He's super talented, just really, really gifted guy. So behind my back, she like made some contact with him and, and kind of set up.

this recording, uh, uh, opportunity. And so I've been, so I went to Nashville, hung out with my buddy Chris and recorded four songs up there. And, uh, and, and so they, I just released that, but it's the first kind of taste of this project that I've been writing that generally, uh, is kind of inspiration for me.

from people I grew up in Texas, kind of a love letter to my home state. Texans are annoying like that. Like we, we love Texas so much that it's, it's really obnoxious. Yeah, it's, it really is. It's obnoxious, but, but that's kinda, that's kinda what this, uh, the project when I eventually release it will be called Deep in the Heart.

And I'm excited about that. I've got, I've probably got, I've got 20 songs written for it, so I'll have to pare some stuff down, but the EP that just released April the 5th is called Hold to Hope, and, uh, and Stonewall is one of the songs on that, on that EP.

[00:07:46] Jordan Smith Reynolds: awesome. So the plan is the entire EP will be part of a larger

[00:07:49] Brad Miles: Yes. Yeah.

[00:07:50] Jordan Smith Reynolds: larger Deep in the

[00:07:51] Brad Miles: Yes. Yeah. So these songs are kind of a taste. Well, actually, the, I hope that I can generate enough money, revenue. I go, I'm trying to use these songs to raise enough money to finish the album. So that's really the goal.

[00:08:06] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, and I mean, that's a really great way to show, like, the start of what it's going to be, right? Because I've done the crowdfunding thing before, Um, for one of my past EPs and it's a little harder when you don't have work to be like, this is what you can expect, you know, so you can show this is, this is, uh, part of the project and you can, you can show them, you can have 20 songs of this.

Um, that's, that's really helpful, I

[00:08:32] Brad Miles: Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of what I'm trying to do. And it's not because I'm smart. It's because I, it's because I just kind of have backed into this, like, it's the way I do most things in my life where I just kind of accidentally start doing something and then, and then I hope it works. So that's kind of what I'm doing now.

But I'm really proud of the songs. The only thing that, you know, uh, for me is, I'm, I'm a songwriter. That's at my heart, right? That's what I am. And, and I'll always be when my brain is in neutral, like when I'm mowing the lawn or taking a shower, not really thinking about anything, my brain wants the right song.

So that's, that's just kind of who I am as a person. And, and, uh, and so these songs though, I'm really, really proud. They're really different, uh, for me. Like they're not, a lot of them are not, uh, they're not in my voice. They're, uh, they're in other people's voices. And so, uh, so which was a real stretch for me.

It's not something that I've done before. And, uh, and it's been really good for me just as a person and everything else to, to try to put myself in the shoes of somebody else and write about their experience, you know, or at least what I imagined their experience would be. And so it's been really, it's been really cool.

It's been really, really fun. And I think I'm doing my best work. And let me say this to Jordan. 

I'm sorry that the other thing though, for me. Is that, you know, I'm, you know, I'm, I'm old, right? I'm, I'm 50, I just turned 50 years old. And so, uh, and I feel like, and this is so stupid and embarrassing for me to admit, but I feel like finally now for the first time in my life, I finally know who I am.

And I finally, I finally know what my voice is as an artist. You know, I spent my whole life. Yeah. I spent my whole life, uh, trying to pretend like I didn't like country music. You know, I, you know, if people would ask me, do you like country? I don't know. I hate country music, you know? Uh, but when I write,

[00:10:20] Jordan Smith Reynolds: every man is a

[00:10:21] Brad Miles: no, no, it's like acoustic pop, you know, I don't know what it was, but, but here's the thing.

All my songs always had that in them. And, uh, but I would be trying to write for what other people's expectations were for me or for a demographic that I thought would be successful. Or, and so finally I'm old enough now in my life where I don't care about any of that stuff anymore. And I'm just writing what naturally comes out of me when I sit down with my guitar.

And it's all this kind of folk Americana kind of country roots music. And I'm totally cool with that. Like, I'm fine with it. And, and my voice, like that's what my voice does naturally. It's kind of that bluesy kind of folky country kind of feel. And so, so I just am comfortable in my own skin for the first time in my life.

And, and I really hope other artists don't do this. I'm sure people find out who they are much earlier than I have, but. But my life has just kind of been a weird journey in that way. And so, so I'm really proud of that. I'm in this place in my life where I'm finally making honest music and I'm really excited about that.

[00:11:24] Jordan Smith Reynolds: I love to hear that. Um, and I think that it's, you know, it's, it feels a little bit like a moving target to me in songwriting, you know, you have to keep kind of following what your curiosity and what excites you, you know,

[00:11:38] Brad Miles: maybe that's, maybe that's a better description is that, you know, that I was kind of like chasing all these other things around. But, but honestly, one of the bad things about, you know, the whole Nashville and record deal and all that kind of stuff is that you're kind of conditioned to.

Like I was trying to write songs I thought would be popular, you know? And, and, uh, and I understand that. And I, and other people do that. I mean, Weezer is a great example of a band. Like they literally reduced it to like a formula and they're trying to do that. You know, I have mad respect for people who can do that.

I'm just, I'm not smart enough or gifted enough to do anything other than just be me. you know, than just be honest. And, and, uh, and so I've, I've, I've come to terms with that, right? I can, uh, you know, other people can like live in, uh, in other genres or, or experiment with other genres and there's, they're skilled enough and talented enough to do that.

I'm not right. I'm just, the only thing I can be is me and hopefully that's good enough, you know? So that's kind of, that's kind of where I finally come to terms with that. And I'm, and I'm okay with that.

[00:12:42] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Good. Yeah. And I think it, it can be difficult for people to really figure out what their niche is and what, who they are. Right. So that's a, that's a big journey in itself. So I'm glad you have, you have found that. Um, that's super exciting. Um,

[00:12:59] Brad Miles: This whole, this whole self discovery thing is not for the faint of heart, Jordan. It's just, you know, so because you arrive, you arrive at this knowledge kind of who you are, you know, at this deep level, you arrive at that through a lot of pain. And, and failure and heartache and, and everything else, you know, also joy and, and victory and celebration, all those kinds of things.

But, but, um, but you just, you have to bleed a lot, I think, to, to, to really, to really understand yourself. And, and so I've done a lot of, I've done a lot of bleeding, you know?

[00:13:33] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, yeah, that's actually one of my least favorite things I hear because, you know, I'll go to a lot of music conferences and things, um, and the buzzword is authenticity, right? That's kind of like, oh, you got to make sure it's authentic. You got to make sure it's true, which is like, of course, very true.

That's a, that's an important statement. Um, but yeah, it's, I don't know how instructive that is sometimes for, for people to hear, you know, it's like, Oh, it's just gotta, just gotta do the thing and be true. Uh, cause I, and I think the reason for that is it's such an individual journey. Like you were saying, you had to do a lot of bleeding to arrive at it yourself.

Um, and so that's something, you know, when you're on a panel and you're talking to a ton of people, you really can't say like, this is the path that will work for you. This is the path worth for you. Um, and I guess that's why we kind of fall in that platitude of like, it has to be authentic.

[00:14:25] Brad Miles: and you know, often, so a lot of people, most, a lot of people, most people I know, they're much more self aware than I am. And then I was, as I was kind of going into my teens, I, you know, I, um, it's a long story, but, but, but, you know, I was, uh, uh, Uh, I had, I, I lived kind of in a state of denial, like I, I wasn't interested really in staring into the abyss of my, of my, you know, subconscious or whatever, you know, like I didn't, I wasn't really interested in doing that and, uh, and so some kind of some things, you know, uh, from my childhood, it kind of, kind of made me this person who I just wanted to paint a happy face on and just kind of get through life, you know?

And, uh, so I think that really made it difficult for me as an artist. The thing I loved about music and songwriting was it allowed me to tap into these places. I didn't realize it at the time, but what I was doing was tapping into these places that I hadn't really, that, that I wouldn't do consciously because I was afraid to, you know, um, but I could do it in that way and it was kind of safe for me.

And, um, but, uh, But, but as I got older and I was put in circumstances where I really had to just do business with myself, like I had to look at myself in the mirror and acknowledge my brokenness and my failure and my, my wounds. You know what I mean? And so, uh, so as I did that, uh, as I kind of grew, uh, Um, then, then it really, it really allowed me to be comfortable kind of in my own skin and it shaped my art in, in a lot of ways, you know, so, um, but, but I think a lot of people are able to do that hard work, uh, sooner maybe, and, and it may be in a shorter amount of time that I was, but I just was so like locked into denial and everything else that it just took, it just took a long time and it took a lot of, I had to be forced to do that stuff.

You know what I mean?

[00:16:10] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, well, I'm glad that you've gotten to a place where it feels like you can do this with this project 

[00:16:15] Brad Miles: You know what advice I would give a person who wanted to be a successful songwriter, because you're talking about authenticity. You want to know what my, you know what my number one advice is, my main advice would be? Uh, go to, go to counseling,

[00:16:28] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah

[00:16:29] Brad Miles: uh, you know, uh, find out who you are, you know, tap into the stuff that you're afraid of, like, like, look, look at yourself, uh, because I don't think that you're right authenticity.

You can't fake, I mean, the, the, the, you can't fake these experiences, right? Like authenticity is earned. And, um, and so if, if I was giving advice to a songwriter, I'd be like, well, know, know yourself, like, I mean, really know yourself because most of us, uh, spend at least a portion of time in our lives where we're just, we're trying to pretend like we're somebody that we're not because it's safer and it's easier for us.

So anyway, that's my, sorry, that's, this is a music podcast and I'm doing, I'm talking about counseling, so I'm sorry about that.

[00:17:09] Jordan Smith Reynolds: no, this is very important advice. Um, and actually it harkens back to another episode I did with Lennon Vanderdoes earlier this year. Um, where we talked about, um, music and life and I think there's this this false idea that a lot of artists have that they have to kind of Be suffering to make good art, you know Um, and maybe that's I mean, there's a lot of great art that has come from suffering like that is true.

Um, but uh life should come first like life should be enjoyed and Feel like live to the fullest I think. Um, and then you're going to have great art as a result from those things. So, um, I do think that is an important note to have. So yes, counseling.

[00:17:53] Brad Miles: and, you know, uh, empathy is impossible without self awareness. Like you, you really can't empathize with someone else until, you know, you're yourself. And so, so for a lot of, like, for me, like this process, I've been writing these songs that really are there. It's, it's an exercise in empathy for me.

Right. But I couldn't have done that. At any point in my life other than the one I'm in right now. Because I didn't know myself well enough to be able to do that. And so that's kind of why, that's kind of why I say that. And that's the lesson I had to learn the hard way.

[00:18:23] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah. And if this, if the whole goal of music is connection, uh, to the self and to others, then empathy is

[00:18:31] Brad Miles: yeah,

[00:18:31] Jordan Smith Reynolds: That needs to be learned.

[00:18:32] Brad Miles: right. Yeah, I agree.

[00:18:34] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah. Well, I'd love to get to the song Stonewall. 

Is there anything you'd love to say about it before diving

[00:18:41] Brad Miles: Yes, yeah, I mean, this is, this is, Jordan is a really, it's a really tough song. I'm probably, I'm probably, As proud of this, I'm probably maybe more proud of this song than I am any song that I've ever written. But I think it's because, so the short version of the story is that my wife and I, uh, uh, we, we had, we had a six year old daughter and we were, we were expecting our youngest daughter.

Uh, but we decided, uh, we really felt like that we were supposed to to adopt, we really felt like that that was supposed to be part of our journey. So we kind of got into the process of that. And, and that brought us into contact with like the child protective services, you know, system and everything else.

And the super short version of the story is that there, uh, we met, uh, we met this, uh, beautiful woman. Uh, one time that, uh, that we felt like that we should, we kind of should pursue, uh, adoption. And, uh, and we kind of started into that process and, and we weren't, we weren't able to do it. There are a ton of factors happened that made that impossible.

When we had our youngest daughter, my wife was in a really precarious health situation, like a life threatening kind of health situation that, that really kind of like reordered our priorities completely. But, but here's the thing, and people may not know this, but when you're, when you're thinking about adopting, um, the, the CPS system, Child Protective Services, they'll give, they give you a packet, um, that, that includes every, every child.

Every time that, uh, there was a CPS report or an incident or an investigation on this child, right? And so, and so we got one of those packets, right? I mean, it was probably, it's probably two or 300 pages, um, for, for this girl. And, and when we were going through, we were going through this packet and we were just seeing like all of this evidence of horrific, uh, abuse that she had lived through at the time we met her, you know, she was nine And she was removed from the home that she had been in when she was six.

And so for, for most of her life, beginning when she was like, before she was two years old, until the time she was six, she had just experienced, uh, just mind numbing abuse. And to be honest with you, like I didn't know what to do with all of that pain. Um, and, and I felt really powerless because, because I, you know, we, we were kind of in this position where we were, we felt like we were, we were gonna, we, we might be able to help this girl and then, and then we weren't.

And, and I felt like we, I just, I just felt, uh, I was struggling a lot and I, and I wanted, and I wanted to like, to process all of that myself. Um, but also, uh, I just wanted, I wanted to imagine if I could, what it, what it felt like to be this little girl, uh, growing up. And, and so Stonewall is, is my, that's what I was doing with this song was trying to put myself in her, in her skin as, as best I could try to communicate maybe how that, how that must have felt.

And, um, and so that was kind of the, that was kind of the motivation of the song. And for a long time, I didn't play it for anybody. The only person who ever heard it was my wife. And I didn't really think it would ever be a song that that was heard by the public. You know what I mean? But, but the more that I, the more, every time I would share it with somebody, they would tell me, man, you know, people need to hear that song that, you know, because I think people who've been through that struggle sometimes feel like they're not seen.

You know, like nobody knows what they're going through. And sometimes it's really powerful for you to hear something that, that makes you feel seen. And so that was kind of the motivation behind the song. And I don't know how well I've done, you know, unpacking all of it. I, uh, I talked to a friend of mine recently who, uh, she grew up in, in, uh, in a situation of really painful abuse.

And, um, and she actually told me when she heard the song for the first time, she was like, Brad, that's, That's exactly what I felt like. That's exactly how I felt. I even imagined some of these words that you put into the song. I even imagined those myself. And so it just made me feel, even if she was the only person who heard this song and felt like, man, somebody sees me, right?

Somebody knows my pain. Then it would have been worth it to write the song. To write the song and, and to perform it and everything else. So anyways, that's the short version of the story. If you can believe it, there's a much longer version that I didn't share with you, but, but, um, but, uh, but that's kind of where the song came from.

[00:23:27] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Awesome. Yes, thank you for that. 

Let's let's dive right in.

[00:23:30] Brad Miles: Okay. 

[00:27:21] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Thank you so much.

[00:27:22] Brad Miles: You bet. That sound okay.

[00:27:24] Jordan Smith Reynolds: That sounded great. 

I think one of my favorite things about this, like heartbreaking favorite things about this is it's how unresolved it

[00:27:33] Brad Miles: Right.

[00:27:35] Jordan Smith Reynolds: at the end, which sounds like it paralleled your, your situation with the experience too.

[00:27:39] Brad Miles: Yeah. I mean, for, you know, for us, uh, I still think about that little girl a lot. I mean, she would be probably in her early twenties now, mid twenties, you know, and we, we've, we've just, we've prayed for her and, and thought about her and, it just really hoped, you know, for that she found like grace.

And healing. And, So, yeah, so, but it was very unresolved, and that was one of the points of writing it was that, like, that's what I was frustrated about, right? I was frustrated that, that, that there was this, that there was this heartache and there was this pain that this person experienced, and there was literally nothing I could do that could help that or ease that pain, and so, or help her toward healing in any way.

And so, so I really did want to write a song that where, where at the end of it, you're just like, You know, there's, I mean, there's no answer and I wanted to write it for people who were in the middle of a situation like that, you know? Um, because a lot of times when you're really in the middle of heartbreak and suffering and everything else, when you hear a song that kind of ties everything into a neat little bow at the end, you're like, man, that's a bunch of bull.

I mean, that's not my experience at all, you know? And so, so I just wanted to sit in that. I just wanted to sit in that. Um, that feeling of, you know, the only way I can survive this is to make myself hard, right? The only thing, the only way I can survive it is just, is just to, is just to crawl within myself and make myself hard.

And, um, and I, I don't know that there's, that there's hope beyond that, right? We're just, we're not, we're not even thinking about hope, right? You can only, Pretend that you've lived another life when you're at your weakest and you can't be weak, right? You can't be weak. You've got to be strong. And so to be strong, you've got to be hard.

[00:29:28] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah. As a father of three girls now, I just had my third a month ago. It's Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. It's, um, it's a very powerful song you've written.

[00:29:38] Brad Miles: And well, you know, I would say this too, Jordan, like, cause I have two girls and, um, and one of them is, one of them just got married a couple months. So you have that to look forward to bro. Let me just say that's good. So, uh, and then my, my youngest is, uh, is in high school, you know, and, and I just want to say too, that one of the things that, that, uh, that's so gripping to me and, and, and was part of the journey in writing this song was, um, I just, watching my girls grow up and all of these things have just shown me that, that like women have a very different experience of the world than, than, than I do as a, as a man.

And, um, and, and what my daughters have had to like, have had to like, Weighed through as women growing up in the world, Jordan is just, it's unacceptable. It's hard. It's, and, and as a father, right, it's been really convicting for me to think about, well, how did I, whenever, you know, whenever I was stupid and ignorant and young, how did I contribute to stuff like that, to, to situations that, that women have to deal with almost on a daily basis that just aren't fair, you know?

And, uh, And so this, you know, this story, uh, of victimization is like the, the extreme, you know, uh, of that, but, but the reality is that, that my daughters have seen, have seen things from the world that I've never, I've never had to, to see or experience or try to navigate. And, uh, and I think that's true too, and powerful to think about and reflect on as well.

[00:31:07] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah. And it's something that you can, you can definitely put yourself in the song for, um, even if it's not, you know, to the same extent as the experience you mentioned. Um, yeah, I think one of the lines that really stands out to me is the, then the world will break against me. Um, I think that was really powerful.

Can you tell me about, uh, just kind of the lyric writing process for you and how you came up with that?

[00:31:34] Brad Miles: This song, this song, well, originally it was probably 10 minutes long. It had probably like seven or eight verses, you know, uh, and I had to like pare it all down because you want, you know, I wanted for it to have maximum impact, like I wanted it to land, you know, so, uh, but, uh, but the words honestly just came like, And, and they're not always like this, Jordan, most, you know, this most of the time, a lot of times when you're writing a song, it's a painful process and there's a lot of editing and revision and everything else.

But, but for this, like the words just came rushing out of me and, and that line in particular, the world will break against me. You know, uh, I kind of, I kind of thought about when, when, what you have experienced of the world is the world damaging and harming you. Right. So what you feel like you have to do is you have to make yourself into something that when the world bashes against you, it shatters and not you.

Because the, the, the fact is that the world is going to, you know, when you see the world that way, right, the world is going to come at me. It's going to harm me. It's going to, it's going to, it's going to run into me. And so I've got to make myself into something. I have to make myself into the destroyer instead of the destroyed.

Right. And, um, and I think that there are people who their experience, the trauma that they've experienced in their lives has conditioned them to kind of view the world in that way. And, uh, and, and so that's kind of a little bit of what I was trying to, to capture.

[00:33:04] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, and that's where, uh, pain and, like, cycles can continue and persist as well. Yeah, I think that, I think that captures that really well, in that line. yeah, thank you so much for this. This, uh, this is part of a 20 song, or not 20 song is the

[00:33:22] Brad Miles: it'll be 10. Hopefully it'll be 10. Like, I've got 20, probably 20 songs written, but you know, maybe half of those are good. So, uh, but, but, uh, but hopefully a 10 song album, one, you know, one day maybe here in the next two or three years, I'll be able to get it completed and get it out. Uh, But they're all songs about people.

And if you listen to the EP, like, you know, the, there's a song on there called Winners and Winners is a town in Texas, you know, uh, it's a little bitty dusty, you know, Texas town. And, and it's a song about like, you know, I live out here on the plains, you know, so that like, you can, you know, You could see for miles, we joke, because you can watch your dog run away for two days.

You know, it's a, it's, you know, uh, but it's a song about watching this storm roll up across the plains and knowing that there's nothing you can do to get away from it. And so like, so the tagline is winners come and winners go. You know, like you just, you just hunker down, you just grit your teeth and you just weather the storm because, because there's something on the other side of it for you, right?

So, so I imagine, like these farmers that I, and ranchers that I grew up around, like I imagined them, like these are words they would have said to me, right? These wise and though, because they've lived through everything. You know, fires and, and blizzards and, you know, the weather appears super crazy, you know, so they've lived through all of it.

And so they, I could just hear them saying, Hey, look, don't let things get you too down and don't let things get you too up. Right. You just gotta, you just gotta weather it, whatever it is. So, so all the songs are like that. They're, they're like these, you know, these, they're about people that I, I grew up around, you know, so.

[00:34:55] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, yeah, I love that. It kind of reminds me of Taylor Swift's folklore album. She kind of explored like every single song is like a different personality kind of

[00:35:05] Brad Miles: yeah,

[00:35:05] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Um, The Killers actually just did one too, uh, very

[00:35:08] Brad Miles: Oh, yes. It's awesome. I love the killers. You know what I, what I thought though was, uh, uh, I read these, this book, this, uh, Spoon River Anthology whenever I was in school. And it's just a collection of poems about this little town and not, it's a fictional little town, but it's about all the different people.

And when I was writing this, I was thinking about that. I was thinking about Spoon River Anthology. So I don't even remember who the poet was, but like we read it when I was in high school. So it's kind of like well known, you know, but, uh, but that's what I was thinking whenever I, whenever I wrote it.

[00:35:40] Jordan Smith Reynolds: it can be a really freeing experience to write from a different perspective,

[00:35:44] Brad Miles: Yeah, it was for me. It really was for me. And it stretched me too. Like, you know, to, to view life from, from someone else's perspective. And I know that we're limited in our ability to do that. Right. So I get that. But, uh, but to try to put myself in somebody else's shoes and try to experience, you know, a little bit of maybe what they've, what life has thrown at them and what they've tasted, you know, uh, it's been really, really powerful and really good for me.

And then, and some of the songs are about people. that I know that, you know, they're from the perspective of people that, that I've been close to, or I've been associated with, you know, so like, so that kind of also makes, made it really beautiful and powerful for me. And, and, and some of the songs are really kind of gifts to these people that I, that I love a lot and that, uh, that, that I've kind of walked through life with a little bit.

So that's, that's cool too.

[00:36:30] Jordan Smith Reynolds: For sure. I love that. 

How can people follow you in this project? what's, where's the best platform, place to look for

[00:36:37] Brad Miles: yeah, man. So obviously, um, Instagram and, uh, and Facebook are probably the best place. I'm probably most active there. I have a tick tock page, but I really have no idea of what I'm doing on tick tock. So, uh, but Instagram and Facebook are good places to stay in touch and, and for sure. Follow me on Twitter.

On, uh, you know, wherever you get music, you know, uh, Spotify, uh, Apple, uh, iTunes, you know, or, uh, or Amazon music, any of those places, YouTube, uh, any of those places where you listen to music. I've got a lot of content on YouTube too, so you can find me on there, but it's Brad miles music, all those places, Brad miles music.

So, uh, that's kind of the tag there, but, uh, but, but I would love it if you, if, uh, if your listeners were to, were to, were to come with me on this journey, cause, uh, cause I think it's going to be a crazy fun ride. So

[00:37:26] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, deep in the heart is the, is the, oh, I don't know if that was announced or not.

[00:37:30] Brad Miles: no, we did. I said it earlier.

[00:37:32] Jordan Smith Reynolds: we did.

[00:37:32] Brad Miles: that'll be the name of the eventual project right now, the hold to hope.

And, uh, and so that's a line from that song winners that I was telling you about before. That's where the title came from, but hold to hope is the name of it. And I just, I love the title because that's actually kind of what all the songs are about. It's about gripping onto hope. And there's actually a Bible passage from Hebrews where the, the author of Hebrews is saying, Telling, you know, hold tightly to this hope you affirm.

And, and, uh, and I just think a lot of my life has been that it's been this process of learning to, to hold tightly to, to the hope in my life, in the middle of every other crazy thing that's going on. And so that's kind of what the, the EP is about. So I hope you guys enjoy it. And I'd love to hear from you.

Like, if you listen to it, I'd love for you to, to tell me, you know, what you liked, even what you didn't like. I just love, I love the ability to connect with people through music. So i'd love to hear from you.

[00:38:24] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Wonderful. And all those links will be in the show notes, so definitely check it out, and let Brad know what you think.

[00:38:31] Brad Miles: awesome. 

Jordan. It's so good to it's so good to meet you, man Thanks for inviting me to do this. What a privilege. What an honor it is to be on the

[00:38:38] Jordan Smith Reynolds: It was a pleasure. Yeah. Thank you for being here, Brad. It was great. Awesome. Well, I'll see you next time. Thank you. Thank you so much. 

[00:38:46] Brad Miles: Bye.