I spend this episode talking about the music I’ve been listening to lately — mostly AJR, Shaboozey, and Jelly Roll — and why these very different sounds have been on repeat in my life right now. I dive into AJR’s Maybe Man and how its big theme is identity: these songs are like a pop-psychology class wrapped in catchy hooks, asking who we want to be and whether we’ll ever feel “enough” (cue my mid‑30s existential crisis, starring yours truly). I also gush about Shaboozey for the pure fun factor — party-ready, country‑rap energy that kept me awake on long shifts and made me feel like Thursday Night Football had its own hype track. Then I get real about Jelly Roll: his music leans into recovery, faith, and vulnerability — songs like “Winning Streak” and “Need a Favor” are gritty, honest portraits of people trying to heal and find community. I’m not pretending to be a musicologist — I admit I just like hearing my voice on these shows — but I do care about how music builds community and helps us process grief, identity, and faith (full disclosure: it’s been a rough year for me). So expect short clips, some goofy asides, and some quieter, sincere reflections on how these artists land in my life — laughter, tears, and all the joyful noises in between.

AJR's Maybe Man hit me like a late-night existential text from my younger self — you know, the one that asks “who am I supposed to be?” I walk you through the album's big ideas (identity, longing, the weird comfort of not knowing) and why songs like the title track, Inertia, and A Hole in the Bottom of My Brain stuck in my head. I even nerd out a bit: I compare AJR's themes to Kingdom Hearts — yes, the video game — because both wrestle with identity, belonging, and the possibility that being "dearly beloved" might be the whole point. Expect a relaxed, laugh-friendly take that still gets honest: I riff on imposter syndrome, the trap of chasing validation, and why learning to be okay with who you are can be as revolutionary as a chart-topping single.

Music does community work, and that’s literally why we started Some Joyful Noises on the Anazole Podcast Network: to make noise about music that shapes people and communities. I talk about how songs from AJR, Shaboozey, and Jelly Roll became a mirror for my own season of grief (I lost family this year, had some hard moments, and yes — I cried over playlists). I reflect on spiritual practices, too: Pentecostal hoots vs. Lutheran liturgy, the comfort of structured worship versus the need to just feel something — and how both can be valid responses to loss or joy.

I keep it practical and gentle: if you’re wondering whether music can help when you’re grieving or questioning God, I say yes — and offer simple next steps (talk to someone, find a pastor, join a community, or just press play on a song that says "me too"). The episode is messy, honest, and sometimes silly — just like life — and I invite you to share what you’re listening to so we can keep making joyful noises together.

Takeaways:

• I loved AJR's Maybe Man album — it's a poppy, existential ride about identity that made me think of Kingdom Hearts and who I wanna be, even if I still don’t fully know.
• I kept going back to “Inertia” because the physics metaphor hits — life stays the same unless something big pushes us, and I’m learning to accept who I am before I chase endless “bigger.”
• I’ve been blasting Shaboozey when I’m tired at work — it’s dumb-fun, party-ready country-rap that keeps me awake and reminds me music can just be a good time, no deep therapy required.
• Jelly Roll surprised me with raw, faith-tinged storytelling about addiction and recovery; I don’t agree with every theological point, but I totally support the community and vulnerability his songs create.
• After a year of personal losses, music helped me name grief and longings — I confess I sometimes only pray when desperate, and that truth made me value spiritual routines and real human connection.
• We talked a lot about music building community — none of us are experts, but we believe songs help people show up for each other, be honest, and stop pretending everyone’s on a winning streak.
• If you’re ever unsure what to do with heavy feelings, I say talk to someone — pastor, friend, therapist — and maybe put on an album that feels like a hug; music, prayer, and people actually help.

.

Check out merch for this podcast and discover other podcasts on the Anazao Podcast Network on our website:

https://anazao-podcasts-shop.fourthwall.com/

Hey guys, welcome to Some Joyful Noises.

This is the Amazon podcast, Experimental music podcast Dumping Grounds, where some of the leaders from various podcasts in the network just jump on and talk about some music they're listening to, reflect on some stuff.

None of us that I'm aware of are actually experts in music, but we understand the importance of music to forming community, which is the main thing we try to do on the Anazole Podcast Network, right?

We are a collection of different podcasts from different faith traditions.

All this stuff engaging honestly with, you know, whatever media, whether it be pop culture and systematicology, whether it be horror on Friday night frights, whether it be the church or with the ultra podcast theology, with theology on the rocks or my seminary life or whatever the Bible.

Let nothing move you, Christian Ashley.

We have a lot of stuff going on.

None of us are music experts, but we know the importance of music not only to the culture at large, but to forming community.

And if we're going to be honestly engaging with the world around us in searching for new life and whatever that may be, Podcast Network said, hey, we need a music podcast.

So here's one with no rhyme, no rhythm, no schedule, just random people come on sometimes and talk about the music we're listening to and just keeping it noisy.

So this is some Joyful Noises.

I am Joshua Noel.

I host some of the various podcasts on the network Be Living Water.

I'm one of the hosts of the whole Church podcast.

I help over at Systematic Ecology.

I edit for your Matter Matters.

I don't do as much as Christian Ashley, but probably a close runner out.

So check out some of those other shows if you want.

Today I just want to talk about some of the music I've been listening to.

You know, I think I do most of the episodes on this so far have been with me.

I don't think I listen to the most music.

I think I just like hearing my voice more than some of the other ones.

Not sure but.

But anyone talk about some of what I've been listening to lately?

Not all.

I'm going to do the weird stuff this episode and the stuff I normally listen to will be later on.

I'm still processing emotionally some of the other stuff.

So for those who've listened to other episodes with me on, you know, I tend to like more folky stuff and I really love Judah and the lion who just released a new album.

So in a later episode I want to talk about Noah Khan's thing from this year.

I want to talk about the new Jew and The lion album Prism.

I want to talk about passengers, new music, which passenger's my all time favorite artist.

So there's a lot of stuff that's really in my lane that I want to talk about that I probably know a little bit more about than what I want to talk about today.

Because today I just want to focus on some of the other stuff that's been playing on repeat for me.

Mostly because my car stereo, I got a new car and the stereo doesn't quite work, so I'm using a Bluetooth speaker and I don't like listening to podcasts on it.

So just been listening to music that keeps me awake, which unfortunately a lot of times is this like the loud yeet yeet kind of country music.

Unfortunately, you know, that pop country music that comes out.

But in doing so, you know, I got onto Shaboozi, which I'm talking some about, and then that led me into Jelly Roll, which had more meaningful lyrics and then somehow not country at all.

I get into AJR this year, figured out who he was.

I listened to the maybe man album, which might be in my top albums ever, ever.

I'm still processing a lot of it.

It's very existential in the lyrics, so it's fun, but it's also thought provoking.

Weirdly sorry, Pastor Will.

The maybe man with AJR is really kind of reminiscent to me of some of the stuff with Kingdom Hearts, my favorite video game franchise, which if you listen to anything with me on, you know that the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise largely deals with questions of who am I and identity, which is what the maybe man album with AJR is all about.

So we're going to get into some of these different music.

I'm going to start with the maybe man with ajr.

We're going to talk about a couple songs I've been listening to a Shaboozi.

Those don't get that deep.

They're just fun.

But you know, that's what some.

Some music is just for fun is Joyful noises.

And then Jelly Roll, who really surprised me with Man.

I really gravitated to a lot of his stuff.

Even though I could tell his brand of Christianity, his music isn't Christian music.

But you could tell he's really heavily influenced by that more evangelical brand that I don't always jive with.

Even though, yes, I'm part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

There's a certain brand of evangelicalism that's more with this atonement theories that tend to be more Jesus paid the price because we're all crappy and we have to acknowledge that we're full of crap.

And I don't love a lot of that.

I kind of tend to think Jesus more as the one who defeated death in the grave, that we can participate in his victory rather than we owe something because we are failures.

But that seems to be.

I think that's the type of Christianity that helped Jelly Roll.

And you can listen to his music and go, hey, whatever it is, it made a difference in this man's life.

Even if that's not the brand of Christianity, that's my favorite.

If I can see something touch someone else's life and I want to acknowledge that and say, hey, that's a good thing.

I'm sure we'll talk some about that too.

Sorry, this is a long intro.

I apologize.

I haven't done one of these episodes in a while and there's not really an outline or like a formula for how these are supposed to go.

And I haven't prepared a ton.

But hey, that's the point of this.

It's supposed to be random.

So don't expect a structured episode here, really.

And I just want to get some podcasts in out of my system before Beer Camp because I'm just excited to do some podcasting.

So here was an excuse to do some podcasting before Beer Camp and I'm here and it's for you if you care.

If you guys like some joyful noses, please Rate Review Subscribe Share with a friend if you don't subscribe, you're not really going to know when episodes come out because again, there's no set schedule.

They just kind of come out randomly.

It's probably been six months since the last episode, maybe.

So subscribe if you want to hear more because again, no plan.

Anybody can release episode, including you.

It doesn't have to just be hosted on the podcast.

If you want to host an episode, email us.

The email should be in the show link.

Let us know what you're talking about.

Send us an audio file.

I'll get it up here.

Because this show is for everyone, by everyone.

It's for you guys so that we can have community together.

That said, time to jump into some of the main stuff I already mentioned.

I want to talk about AJR's album Maybeman.

I won't go through every single song, but I don't think there's one that didn't really hit for me.

Even the one that's kind of like.

There's one that's really random.

That's, like, about his friend Dan going to London.

And it's just.

It feels random, but then it, like.

That ends up being kind of.

The point is like, yeah, life is just full of random stuff sometimes.

And what are you going to do about it?

So I'm going to play some of the titular song that starts the album.

I think this is one of those that it does help to listen to album all the way through.

Because there's a lot of symbolism, parallelism that he uses from one track, like the first track and the last track.

And I think it's just.

It's helpful to listen to it through without shuffle once.

But, yeah, I'm going to play some from this very first song on the album, which is of course titled maybe man and.

Sorry.

Okay.

It is, of course, titled maybe Man.

I'm just going to play the beginning.

What I like is he talks about, like, oh, if I wanted to be someone else.

And then he always finds a problem with that.

And there is.

There's like, oh, if I was going to be this person, that would be great.

And you're like, oh, yeah, but.

And then you think about it at the end.

Since I can't play the whole song, I'll let you know the end does go.

I want to be me, whoever the hell that is, because I don't know.

And that ends up being really what frames the whole album is like, I don't know who I am.

I don't know who I want to be so very much.

Again, the album is very much about identity.

I really enjoyed it.

So, yeah, I'm gonna play a little bit of this first one here for you guys and just see where we go from there.

Wish I was a stone so I couldn't feel you'd yell in my face It'd be no big deal But I'd miss the way we make up and smile don't wanna be stone I changed my mind I wish I had eyes in the back of my head Then I could see the places I've been But then I would know that you're talking shit I don't wanna know friends thing.

Skip ahead.

Wish I were my daughter I wouldn't.

Fit on my therapist couch God, I could really use him now I wish I was gone I never Trip up.

And if I did well, so why I could be cruel and break all your stuff.

Yeah, I'd be loved no matter what.

Yeah.

And he was.

If I was God, it'd get kind of weird.

Then I wouldn't know if you love me for real.

And that's, you know, this is.

The whole thing is like he talks about, you know, I wish I could play on TV because then, you know, everybody would pay attention to me.

I could practice my cry for my real.

But then you wouldn't know if I was crying for real.

And, yeah, it goes through, like, all things.

Like, I don't know what I even want to be, much less who I am.

I mean, I mean, that's powerful.

I do think about that a lot.

I'm in my 30s.

I guess I'm supposed to know what I want to be when I grow up, because I got some grown up.

I don't know.

I do think, you know, I'm pursuing a pastor in Lutheran church.

I think I was called into the pastorate.

I feel that calling, but I don't think that's the only thing I was called to.

I think I was called to podcasting.

I love the food industry.

I don't ever want to leave the food industry, but I can't keep doing all of this forever and expect to be the most successful at all these things.

But then maybe I wasn't supposed to be the most successful at any of them.

Even if you're supposed to be okay at all of it.

I don't know.

I don't know.

And I think that's part of why this album really speaks to me, is I don't always know who I am or what I want to be or who I want to be.

And it's powerful.

I think a lot of us can resonate with that.

And sometimes we don't need answers.

We just need to know we're not the only ones who feel that way.

And to go along with this.

My favorite song on the album, probably the most popular, one song called Inertia.

And it's about how things just stay the same unless something drastic changes it.

Everything tends to stay the way it is, you know, law of physics or whatever.

But he's applying it to, like, our lives.

It's like, am I really going to change?

If nothing's pushing me to change, and probably not, but still kind of want to change, but maybe I don't want to change enough.

I don't know.

And, yeah, I resonate with that for me and, like, maybe I need Something bigger than me to push me a little bit more.

But I'm gonna play a little bit of this for you guys.

I think it's just the course.

I guess this is just what I am.

I'm an object?

Emotion?

I'm lost on emotion?

My two legs are broken?

But look at me dance?

An object in motion?

Don't ask where I'm going?

Cause where I I'm going?

It's right where I am?

Where I am going?

It's right where I am?

Where I am going is right where I am?

I want to move out of this town?

But everyone knows me and packing is tiring Inertia.

I said I would start working out when I'm hungry And screw you, I'm trying.

I want to be big like my plans?

So why am I so tiny?

And why am I so mad?

It's inertia.

Guess this is just what I am?

I'm stuck in this life and I'm stuck in these paths.

Yeah.

And I. I really like the music video.

So for those of you watching on YouTube, because everybody's tiny, and there's all these little tiny things, and they even show the grave scene at one point, and it's like, yeah, I want to be.

I want to have big plans for my life, but nobody knows me here.

Changing is hard.

Working out's hard.

And, yeah, I mean, it's hard to make yourself do different things, to live up to maybe some of the dreams we had when we were younger or still have.

Yeah, screw you, I'm trying.

And then, yeah, that little scene where he's just kind of at, like, a tiny little graveyard, and you're like, yeah, we kind of like, if we don't push ourselves to change, we just live and die with who we are, and we could be okay with that, which is cool.

I personally think that's my goal, is to be okay with who I am.

Not necessarily to be someone huge so that I'll be okay, but learning to accept who I am rather than learning to be bigger so that I can accept.

Because I don't think you can keep getting bigger and bigger.

And you see suicides in Hollywood, you know, whatever else, all the stereotypical things.

But, like, getting bigger doesn't necessarily make you.

Make it easier for you to accept who you are.

Sometimes it just makes you feel like imposter syndrome or, like, why do people think more of me than they should?

And I think it's easier to accept who you are than, hey, yeah, push yourself to be better.

But I think maybe it's better to accept who you are first.

Like, hey, if I died today, I'm okay with who I am.

The input should be bigger.

And, yeah, that's challenging.

I think I'm getting there more myself, but I'm not quite there.

Something I'm still learning, still working through.

So that song helps me really reflect on a lot of that.

It's kind of random, but I actually read an article about the actor who plays Dr. Cox, Dr. Barry Cox in Scrubs.

You know, the new Scrubs revival, which I love is new.

It's just.

To me, it's just because of the old.

Hasn't lost any of the magic.

Still has an interesting story to tell.

I think we need it in our own times.

Even new stuff, it's good.

But I learned that the actor was doing a lot of big moves, doing all this stuff, and he didn't stop doing movies because he didn't want to be big anymore.

Actually, he had a child.

He ended up being a single father of a child with down syndrome.

And he said, I want a job that's going to keep me here in LA so I can be with my kid.

And he pushed really hard to get that job on tv, which was, you know, seen as a less important job than a big movie role, so he could be with his kid.

And then he ends up using that platform that Scrubs goes on for a long time.

Obviously, it's a very popular show.

He gets a lot of fame from that, but he didn't do it for the fame.

And he actually ends up using that fame to really push these campaigns that.

To stop people from saying the R word.

Because of his kid with down syndrome, which, again, the whole article is about how ironic it was because after Perry Cox in the show, all about tearing people down and all this stuff, but then in real life, he used his fame as the actor who played that doctor to push this campaign that says, hey, let's stop using these words that put these people.

Any man, to me, that's powerful.

And that's, I think, the message of this song, too.

Learning to be okay with who we are and then with what we have.

Let's live up to who we want to be first.

Let's set who we are.

I don't know, maybe it's not, but that's just kind of my reflections on it.

I like the song, though.

It's a lot of fun.

It's a very fun, poppy song.

Next one's a little bit.

I don't know.

I don't know.

The last one I Want to Play is the sad one.

This one's just another one from that album, I guess there's a lot on the album.

I couldn't share them all because that would take me too long.

But I do want to share at least this one.

So let's hear a little bit from this one.

It's called A Hole in the Bottom of My Brain.

There's a hole in the bottom of my brain if I make money the hole away now there's a thing made it go in a home that I own From a song that I wrote about likes and hellos on a post on my phone Of a party I throw in the hole in the bottom of my brain this is how, you know, I dance up.

I'm sorry to be that guy.

Heads up.

I'm looking to just get by let's just say.

Let's just say.

Yeah so this one part of the fun.

So it plays in some of the old, like, I don't say folky.

Those are old, you know, those songs.

It's like there was something on a log and there was something on that thing on the log.

There was something on that thing on that thing on the log.

And you kind of just keeps building.

It kind of plays on that in a fun, poppy, more modern way.

And the way the song starts, he's like, I threw a party to get your attention.

Talking to some girl.

He's like, and then you weren't there.

So then I made posts about the party so it seemed like it was a cool party so I could get your attention.

And then it just kind of built and built and built.

Like, I keep doing these things so that someone will notice me, so that someone will care about me, someone will like me.

And then it spirals into this whole life being about getting attention, doing all this stuff, and it's all trying to fill a hole in the bottom of his brain, bottom of your heart, whatever it may be.

And yeah, I think that's just the world we live in very much.

A lot of people probably feel that I don't care so much about social media, but I still feel that where I'm like, am I doing what I do at work because I want to satisfy my boss others so that I can bring money home for my wife?

Am I doing it because I care about it?

Do I have friends because I feel like I'm supposed to have friends?

Do I go to certain events because I feel like I'm supposed to be there?

Because I want to be there?

Because I want attention for the podcast that I do or like because I want it.

Am I doing it to fill a hole or am I doing it because I enjoy it?

Hard questions sometimes.

And then this is sad one.

It's not the last song, the album.

I highly recommend you all listen to the whole thing all the way through.

Dealing with identity.

Very meaningful and also fun.

Poppy sounds.

I mean, it's good.

I like AJR a lot.

It turns out I just governed him this year, so if there's anything the person I don't like, you know, but for now, I enjoy it.

I don't always look up a lot about people's personal lives that I listen to, so.

Not sure this one, though.

He's got the news his dad might never leave the bed again.

His dad's dying.

And those who don't know My grandmother just passed away.

I had an uncle pass away recently.

My cat died.

It's been kind of a hard year for me.

Been thinking a lot on death, which is interesting because the next Kingdom Hearts game seems like it's going to be about death.

So I'll probably have some music from Kingdom Hearts 4 When it comes out that I'll talk about next year.

Yeah, so this is God is Really Real.

So this Christian network, we don't always explicitly talk about Christian things, but this one does kind of touch on what I think the general public's thoughts on God are.

Anyway, we'll talk about it after I listen to it a little bit.

I think it's interesting how the world keeps moving, but his dad can't get out of bed.

Our lawns will still be wet and my dad can't get out of bed.

God is really real when you really, really need him.

Karma just appears when you suddenly believe it, hear it loud and clear.

Just as long as it's con.

Laughs Fucking long till it stops.

And God's fake till he's not.

There's robots that are way too good at art.

Yeah.

So, yeah, that's just really interesting piece in the album.

And I don't think it's necessarily supposed to be theological, but it is.

Like most of us in our modern time think ideas like God or superstition, karma are kind of dumb until it's convenient.

Until my last shot is prayer.

Then all of a sudden, yeah, of course I believe.

Now, for me, personally, I always believe in God.

But, you know, I see that and I don't judge that.

I understand the sentiment.

Like, we live in a world where the mystic, the spiritual seems unimportant, insignificant at large.

But then we still have these moments of real humanity, of hurt, of loss, of confusion, when we're like, maybe we do still need the mystical, the spiritual.

And yeah, I don't want to turn this into a see, this is why you all need Jesus moment.

That's not why I'm doing this.

I think it's a true, a real sentiment.

It's something even as a Christian, I tend to.

I grew up Pentecostal, and I turned away from that into Lutheranism.

I do more liturgical church.

I think it's more helpful for me that order, the structure, whatever.

But I tell you what, man, My grandmother just died, and I wanted to go to a Pentecostal church.

I wanted to go somewhere where I could just hoot and holler, feel the spirit and not have to worry about, when am I supposed to see the Creed, When I'm supposed to stand or sit or whatever, just feel.

And that's not saying.

I think it's more true all of a sudden because I think sometimes we just need different stuff, and sometimes that mystical, that spiritual stuff that we try to act like isn't that important is truly the most important thing in certain moments.

There's a time and place for all of this.

Recently, whole church, we talked with Pastor Will Rose.

We talked a lot about Ecclesiastes.

Check it out.

But yeah, there's a time and place for weeping, for mourning, for structure in church, for.

I just want to shout in tongues and feel this thing, man.

Time and place for, hey, let's not worry about spiritual.

Let's just think about intellectual.

Let's do math, let's do whatever.

And there's time to go.

I need real art, not this AI generated crap.

I need to really see other human connection, to feel something.

Man, I hate keep bringing up Kingdom Hearts, but, like, that's why in a game about identity, the franchise is about identity.

Yes, It's a silly Disney meets Final Fantasy game series.

I'm doing another series on that system, Echology with Christian Ashley.

I don't want to sit on it too long, but there's a reason that Taylor song, I talked about that on another episode of Some Joyful Noises.

Actually, it's called Dearly Beloved.

If you're gonna talk about identity, what we want to believe about ourselves and what it means to be human, what it means to be me, that main thing, I think, has to be that I am dearly beloved.

And that's why I think the Christian message is so powerful.

Because the message is that God so loved the world, all of us, every individual person and all of us collectively, because none of us exist on our own.

We're all entangled.

We're all in community.

We're all connected.

That I so love y'.

All.

I'm willing to send myself and die as a human to be one with you and elevate humanity to me.

Because you are dearly beloved.

And that's what it means to be human.

That's where, like, to me, yeah, that song, Dearly Beloved and Kingdom Hearts, it sounds so spiritual.

It's why I bring it up most times when I talk about music, because I'm like, it's the most meaningful, most moving piece to me that I've ever heard with no words.

Because I know what it's trying to convey.

Love, friendship.

To that connection to one another is the most important thing about who you are.

About who I am.

Okay, moving past hard transition.

A lot of Shibuzi has been playing in my ears lately.

Mostly because trying to stay awake, working long hours.

And again, that whole Bluetooth radio in my car right now situation.

Everyone knows you know the bar song, so I won't play it.

I do love it played a lot.

I think the most fun one I've been listening to is Drink no drink don't need no mix I'm not meant to talk like this.

Sorry, guys.

I am very white, but Shibuzzi's a lot of fun.

So I'm gonna play a little bit of this just for fun.

This one's just for fun.

Don't forget the drink don't need no miss.

What the is this?

I'm trying to get fatty, babe this ain't gonna do do the drink don't need no mix I need more than this I'm trying to get faded, baby this ain't gonna do the drink don't need no mix hey, hey.

Trying to get to my level 2.

Four shots of some cos rib.

I used it on mix, but this is a handful.

Trying to see why this room at a standstill Everyone waits supreme I can.

Stand yeah I don't know.

I. I vibe.

I have a fun time with it.

I couldn't sing along.

I can't dance.

I'm extremely white again.

But I kind of like the fusion of some rap culture with the country.

And, hey, maybe that's not real country.

Who cares, man?

It's fun.

Drink no needle mix pop out type I want straight I can get faded.

I can't fault him for that.

Add some joyful noises.

It's fun.

It's a good time.

What I think is interesting we'll talk about a little bit later is he does do some stuff with Jelly Roll, who's had a pass with, you know, getting away from alcoholism and, you know, being part of like, AA meetings and all that.

So it's gonna be interesting seeing them play together and kind of talk about their, what, history, collaboration, whatever.

But first, I do had.

I did have one more.

That's just a fun one with Shibuzi and this one's.

I heard it before.

I heard it on espn and I immediately was like, oh, yeah, this was made for football.

College night Football, Thursday nights, which you don't know.

I love College Night football.

Even though my Florida State Seminoles have really sucked lately, I still love football.

I still have fun.

I watch all day Saturday, Thursday, if there's a game plan, I don't care if the team I hate, I'm going to watch it, cheer against them, cheer against both teams if I have to.

I have fun with it.

I love college football.

It's just fun.

So.

Every Thursday night we gonna let em know when we go to town we gonna let em know and we gonna play around we gonna let em know do everything to win if something's gotta give don't know what it is we gonna let em know when we come to town we gonna let them know every single down we gonna let them know do anything to win if something's gotta give if you don't know what it is we gonna let em know.

Yeah, it's just fun.

I actually listened to it the Saturday I had to work the Saturday, the last Florida State game, we were playing Virginia and I was like, ah.

I mean, we're gonna lose for sure because we suck now, but I'm gonna pretend like we're not gonna lose.

We're gonna let them know yeah, we rough and tough.

It's also why I think it's so funny when like, someone gets attacked, when they just trip somebody and they get up like, oh, I'm like, dude, I just trip somebody.

Like I make fun of us, but I'm still one of the sports geeks that I'm like, yeah, we gonna let them know.

I'm gonna pretend like we don't suck for a little while.

Yeah.

And speaking of sports geeks, There is a YouTube series on systematic ecology called Sports Geeks.

So if you want to hear people talking about geeking out on sports, you can do that over there.

Also part of the podcast network.

So of course I did find out later he recorded specifically for Amazon prime and their new Thursday Night Football thing they got going.

So it was for Amazon.

I don't have a problem with Amazon and it was a fun song.

So I mentioned I want to talk about some of his collaboration with Jelly Roll.

So here's a song they did together.

Remind you Jelly Roll sings a lot about breaking addiction, getting away from his old past, that kind of stuff.

Clearly Shaboozy dreams.

I want it hard I want to, you know, party.

So this song is called Amen.

Play a little bit of this.

It's them collabing together.

I thought it was interesting.

Don't look way I'm way too gonna say I'm digging my grave down 12ft deep got none so I'm on my knees begging Somebody said prayer for me cuz it feels right out and I still can't sleep Somebody said a word upstairs cuz the bar shut down and I'm God knows where Course you not gonna store mind ain't working anymore Somebody.

Yeah it's interesting Just somebody say a prayer for me I need help Clearly Shaboozi isn't like, oh, I'm an alcoholic and turning to Jesus anything but thought it was important to collaborate and say, hey, this is still an important message.

I. I think a lot of people miss as you can enjoy alcohol, enjoy partying, and still think alcoholism addiction is a bad thing.

You can care about both things.

Care about wanting to party and have a good time and make some joyful noises.

And also care about how some people need to step away, need to not be around that stuff.

And I'm gonna support you because that is an important thing.

Even though I still like to party and I don't have that problem.

That's something I wrestle with a lot.

You know, I have a lot of family who thinks alcohol at all is a sin.

I have family who have struggled with alcoholism.

And then I personally am like, I like a beer, I like a few beers.

I don't have a problem with it.

I don't think it's a sin.

I also have never, to my knowledge, been an addict or an alcoholic.

I can stop anytime because I do it all the time because I can't afford it.

So I go months at a time without it because I'm like, I can't afford beer.

I'm not going to buy that thing that I can't afford.

But still, if I'm around someone who I know is alcoholic, I'm not drinking.

I'm support them.

I'm like, hey, whatever you need, man.

And that's what's interesting with Jelly Roll.

So you see a lot of the stuff with.

When he makes references to Christian unity, he's definitely talking about this, like, penance kind of idea.

This idea that, like, Jesus paid a price, a ransom for our sin.

Rather than this victory or we're participating in salvation or anything else, it's we owe God something.

And that's not a reign of Christianity that I prescribe to.

But, man, if it's working for him, I support him.

I want to support that church helping other people, even if I don't completely agree with their model of atonement, whatever.

I'm like, hey, we're helping people.

That's something I want to get behind.

You know, I've come probably the opposite part of Shabuzzi.

Shabuzzi come for that party thing that's like, hey, I still care about this.

I'm going from like a church mindset that's like, I believe in a different theology.

I still want to support this.

Also, there's some sensory stuff with Jelly Roll.

Some people are like, oh, he's a big Trumper because he shook Trump's hand.

He said some stuff earlier in the year.

Now a lot of Trump people think he's anti Trump because he made some jokes about him on a late night show and he's just like, yo, I want to stay out of it.

He did make it very explicitly clear I care about the immigrants and do not like what this administration's doing.

So I know.

I don't know if he falls conservative, liberal, wherever.

I know I agree with him with the immigrant thing that it is a problem.

Not that I personally think that Trump is evil.

I also agree with Jelly Roll that you do owe a certain level of respect.

The thing with one of the things with Donald Trump that's evil that I hate, maybe not evil.

I do hate is how he completely ignores certain protocols.

Like, we're supposed to respect the president before us.

We're not supposed to be making fun of the other presidents.

We're supposed to be a united country.

And Trump seems to always want to tear us apart.

So what Jelly will say is like, he was always taught you respect the president.

Doesn't matter who is there, even if I don't like him.

So I don't know, I might be willing to shake Donald Trump saying because he's the president, but then maybe not.

I probably shake his hand.

I think you're evil and want to confront evil because I think that's a biblical thing to do.

There's ways of going about that, but I don't think it makes him a trumper.

I don't think it necessarily makes him not a trumper because he said other things.

So I know there is a past there when it comes politically.

I'm not want to touch on that too much, but I do want to say what's working for him is a good thing and it's something we need to get behind.

Even if we don't always agree with some of the theology or some of the, you know, religion behind it.

This is.

It's what's helping him.

So this song's called Winning Streak.

It's very much about his AA meetings.

And I found this so powerful.

This is why I wanted.

Been wanting to do an episode about Jelly Roll.

Anyway.

Sweating in an old church basement Wishing I was wasted Never thought I'd say.

This hello, my name's Jason.

I've been losing myself I've been losing my mind I've been standing in the Rangers trying to stay dry I was so ashamed to be in this seat Till I met a man who was 20 years clean he said, everybody nobody walks through these doors on a winner's tree.

Yeah, I'll stop for a minute.

We'll listen to some of his other songs.

But I think that's some of the most powerful sentiment in any of Jelly Roll's music to me, is no one is just like this pure paradigm of success and winning who've never had a fault.

And the fact that someone who went to this AA meeting, they meant 20 points.

Hey, listen, none of us walk through this door on Winning Street.

We're all here because we're still struggling.

I think even outside of aa, that's what church should be.

Even if I don't prescribe the same theology.

Whatever else.

When you go to a church, a community of people who believe in Jesus, the ultimate example of humanity, that ultimate example of humanity wasn't someone who was just perfect and never had any problems.

It was somebody who was persecuted, tortured on a cross.

It was someone who spent 40 days under temptation in the wilderness.

Yes, he never sinned, but he was fully human.

I don't think.

If you asked Jesus while he was hanging on the cross after being beat, like, hey, would you consider this a winning streak?

He'd be like, oh, heck, yeah, man.

No.

Not only am I losing, but those here losing.

His heart was also broken for those around him.

Forgive them, Father.

They don't know what they're doing.

It wasn't God, we got him.

It was a deep sorrow.

It was a deep.

He asked the Father to spare him Even he felt that pain.

He felt sad for the humans who did it to him.

Like Jesus wouldn't have called it a winning streak at that moment.

That's ultimate humanity.

None of us are on a winning streak.

None of us are.

Like, I always come up on top.

No, I'm constantly struggling.

I'm constantly under some kind of, I don't know, sadness impression, whatever, you know, I have it better than other people.

Other people have it better than me.

That's what it means to be human.

And the fact that someone, when we walked through that door, said, listen, I've been clean 20 years.

No one comes through those doors on a winning streak.

And that changed this man's life.

Forget theology and religion for a minute.

Being that vulnerable, that human with someone else.

That's what it means to be Christ.

So I love that.

That made into the song.

I think it's really powerful line.

Even if it's not his own necessarily.

I'm glad he shared it.

Here's another one.

Let's talk about how people judge him.

They see him driving down the street, how he's actually trying to get to church, how he's trying to find help, whatever.

It's just fun.

I also just like Jelly Roll.

So we're just play this one.

Skip my share of sermons so he brought one to this Chevrolet.

I ain't going where the wild things are I ain't going to the cigarette store I ain't going to the col to check in on the Tennessee score I'm just having me a talk with the man Send him out so long search they might judge me on his too long playing room but little do they know I'm going church I'm going to church.

I didn't need a revelation at Romans and alter call to call me home who have thought it'd be a Saturday morning when he sat.

Yeah.

So General is not a Christian artist per se, but he does talk about his faith.

He talks about stuff.

It's very much just country music.

But it's interesting if you've seen Jelly Roll, seen how he's tatted up everything else, or if you saw the YouTube video earlier.

People judge people who look like.

Especially in the south, right?

It's a Saturday morning, he's driving in the Chevrolet and people are like, oh, he's probably going to bars, going to whatever.

Ian.

People make all their assumptions, get out of my way.

And he's like, actually, someone started playing on the radio.

He heard a sermon on the radio or something.

I forget exactly what the details were.

It's in the lyrics, but so listen to song yourself.

I'm actually just having a moment with God right now.

People see me and they assume, whatever, but I need this.

I'm staying on the road.

I'm going to keep singing, keep acting a fool in the car right now.

Whatever.

It kind of reminds me of David's dance, and people make fun of him, and he's dancing before the Lord and his clothes are coming off, and he's like, I don't care right now.

So this is one last one.

It goes back to that song I played from ADR earlier.

Like, sometimes we don't necessarily believe in God till we really need that God thing right now.

This is the last song I'm gonna play today.

So this is Jelly Roll's nita favorite.

And this is the first one I heard that.

To me, I was like, oh, yeah.

By the time I fold my hand I only talk to God when I need a favor and I only pray when I got a prayer.

So who.

The hell am I?

Who the hell am I to expect a savior?

Oh, if I hold and talk to God when I need a favor God, I need a favor yeah, man, Y oh, you more than one and beggars can't be choosers But I pray for all I done Just please don't let me lose her I owe it Talk to God when I need a favor and I only pray when I got a prayer so who the hell am I?

Who the hell am I to expect a savior?

Yeah, mostly the lyrics, but I do.

I just love that song as a whole.

It says something deep.

That's multiple songs.

I think a lot of us have the sentiment of, like, when we need God, seems like God's there.

And maybe that's not true all of the time.

Maybe it is.

I don't know for you guys, but yeah, sometimes it's like, I don't pray, and then I'm like, maybe I should have been praying.

I need God now.

And then you feel guilty because you haven't been to church all these times.

You haven't been in prayer all the time.

But then God still shows up, and he calls us to do the same for others, even if they're not always there for you, even if you haven't talked in a long time.

When a friend's like, hey, going through this right now, do we show up or do we not?

Are we being God to others?

I don't think it's an important question.

But, yeah, sometimes it's like, not until it's the last resort, am I going to pray?

Then you're like, maybe should just always be in commune with God.

Because somewhere deep in me, something seems to think that I need that mystical, that spiritual thing.

I think there's a deeper truth that we don't always realize until we're in desperate situations.

And I don't think it's necessarily something we should feel guilty about.

I think it's something we have to do, feel guilty, but maybe we shouldn't.

And the important thing is God is there.

There's a time to recognize that and say, hey, I need to be in communion with God more often, because I need this in my life.

Not just in the bad moments, the good moments, the in between moments.

I think it's important.

Again, I don't always subscribe to the same thing Jelly Roll subscribes to when it comes to faith or theology.

But I think you can see how faith has changed his life and how that sentiment of, like, sometimes.

And again, going back to hr, who I don't think is Christian at all.

When you're going through loss, when you go through hurt, you need that mystical, that spiritual thing.

So if you think right now that you're like, hey, maybe I do need that in my life, it's not a bad idea to pray.

Go to a church, talk to a pastor, talk to somebody qualifying to talk about spiritual things with you, assess your spiritual health.

You know, mental health is important.

Physical health is important.

So spiritual health.

So I think it's important to assess these things, talk to somebody.

You know, I'm not gonna do altar call on a podcast.

I don't think that's the time.

But I think if you say, hey, maybe I do need more of the spirituality in my life that I've been ignoring.

You should talk to somebody.

And I'm willing to talk.

If you guys want to email, try, get my number, whatever, I'm willing to talk to you.

I just don't think public platform is necessarily the place to do it.

And I think for myself, sometimes I have to evaluate how much time I spend.

I do spend a lot of time thinking about faithless stuff, and it helps me a lot.

I try not to push on others, but I do think it's helpful.

I think it's an important thing sometimes to recognize there are moments in our lives where we need these things.

And it helps to have some kind of spiritual routine, spiritual life before you're like, oh, maybe I need that.

And again, it is not to be explicitly, you have to believe in God.

I don't think.

But I think it does help to have some kind of spiritual something you can lean back on.

Even if it's Kingdom Hearts, video games, if it's certain music that speaks to you in a way, just something that's there that's helping you care for your spirit.

So when these times it needs come up have something, I just, I do think that's really important and not trying to convert everybody on the spot or anything like that.

I just, I think there's a reason this has made it to the zeitgeist of our pop culture.

The reason that a lot of us feel these ways.

And sometimes it's okay to just feel it and just sing along and be like, yeah, I feel like I need a savior right now.

Or maybe I don't believe in God until I need to believe in something.

I feel that and just want to listen to some of the songs.

That's cool too.

Again.

Soon I'll do an episode with Noah Khan, Passenger Jun stuff, maybe multiple episodes of the Juno lion album.

Of course, peak all their stuff's peak so it was Passenger.

These are some of my favorite artists coming out with music this year.

I'm still just processing, but I I plan on releasing it soon.

I just want to get something out now.

Podcasting before Beerkin because that's what you do, you know, if you enjoyed this or if you didn't consider rating reviewing wherever you get your podcasts.

Also, make sure you share with a friend.

Subscribe.

Otherwise you'll have no idea when another episode comes out because there's no set schedule.

There's no rhyme, rhythm or reason.

It's a music podcast.

Why would we have those things?

They'd be crazy.

Guys, thank you again so much for joining us.

Hope you continue to find more music to sing along to.

Share some with us.

Email us.

Let us know what you're listening to.

Join the Facebook group that I occasionally check just to let us know what you're listening to or making.

If you make your own music, we love to hear it and just join us as we continue to make some joyful noises together.