PODCAST EP. 382: Country Music Artist Drake White on Hunting, Music, and Healing

Speaker 1 (00:50.57)

Welcome to On the Wing Podcast presented by Purina Pro Plan. And fittingly, joining me to co-host today is Purina Pro Plan's very own Carl Gunzer. You have heard Carl before on this podcast. He's also been co-mc of the Bird Dog Parade with me. Carl, thanks for making time. along with Carl, our featured guest is country music artist.

Drake White, and back in 2016, a full decade ago, Drake was our musical guest after the Saturday night banquet at National Pheasant Fest and Quill Classic in Kansas City. and and Drake has been on a roller coaster since then. So we're gonna fill in the gaps of the last decade of what Drake's been up to and how hunting and the outdoors have bridged the gap over the last 10 years. so welcome.

Both of you. maybe Carl, we could start with how how you ca ultimately you are the person that brought Drake to me for a podcast opportunity. How do you how do you know Drake?

Speaker 2 (02:04.62)

Yeah. So a a quick story. So we've got a a mutual friend, Cody Alford from Hoax Bluff, Alabama. And I think Cody, you know, maybe grew up with Drake or have been longtime friends. And and Cody's a dog trainer and was feeding Pro Plan. And so we kind of got to know each other just through through business, but Cody and I sort of became good friends. And then I was talking to him about doing creating some content for social media and

Cody was friends with both Drake and Riley Green. And so he kinda made the introduction to these guys. And I don't know, probably five or six years ago, Drake, we we created some content for social media, for Instagram, kind of when we started. And for whatever reason, we shot that content and I just felt like I don't know, Drake and I just got along. We had kind of a a connection. I've always been a huge fan of his music. Like, so so it was just it was easy, right? And we both are dog people and

I don't know, we've just stayed in touch. that's kind of the way I see it.

Speaker 1 (03:07.828)

That that ring true for you, Drake? I i I mean it's partly it kinda comes back to dogs.

Speaker 3 (03:15.564)

Yeah, you can really get me with a song, or a dog or a chicken wing, you know. You can like no Cody, he's spot on. Cody is Hoax Pluff is a booming metropolis of thirty seven hundred people. We're we're from there and Cody's a great he's my dog trainer and trained one of Riley's dogs for him and just really think a lot of Cody and you know, ultimately Pro Plan was

was something I was feeding my dogs and watched some skin irritations get away go away and Cody was like, Well man, I you know, I got a good friend and Carl, that I want to introduce you to and we ended up doing these commercials out at Riley's farm and and yeah, just kinda no pun intended birds of a feather, you know, we just kind of started started talking and hanging out and I'm a little bit more better looking and more personable than Riley. So Carl Carl likes me more.

Speaker 1 (04:16.695)

Yeah. well that no argument. You you are better looking, you're more personal. What the so oddball question right out of the gates. And I remember this from Pheasant Fest too. You your signature look is being well A, it's the cowboy hat, the very unique hat. kinda it it what what specific is it a Stetson? What hat is it?

Speaker 3 (04:45.07)

So now I've got Stetson was the original but kind of the OG shape. kind of a rancher style Stetson. I didn't really enjoy like cowboy hats because I just didn't like the way they looked on me. so I just started wearing these hats around Auburn, where I went to school at Auburn and and started playing in them. And you know, upon a I think I started wearing them because like I got

Had some drinks out in Key West one time and just bought one off the street. And it's not a fedora. I'm not a big fedora guy. I don't like a small, but really it was my eyes are really light kind of color green, greenish blue. And like I'd always been a hat guy as far as just the shade and what it would it allowed me to see, you know. So there was a functional part there. And always wore a hat hunting. but then I didn't want to wear a baseball hat.

'Cause I think every guy in Nashville was wearing a baseball hat backwards. And I didn't want to wear a cowboy hat because that felt taken, you know. So kind of started this thing of custom, you know, and now I've got two or three guys, one guy in in Kentucky who's it doodling banjos is his his call deal. And so I got a couple of makers that and it's just a it's just I I kind of get infatuated with that.

Speaker 1 (06:08.876)

It's pretty easy. Yeah. It it's a good look, to your point. so that's that's what you look like you're coming right out of a quail hunt. so that fits. The piece that doesn't fit coming right out of a quail hunt is e every time I see you, you're barefoot. what's the i I mean, do you feel the music through your bare feet? What's the impetus behind that?

Speaker 3 (06:28.046)

Yeah, that would hurt.

Speaker 3 (06:38.85)

Man, right, you ask it. So it's gonna be I'm I'm can I I like to be connected, man. I like to be like I like shoes, I do, but I think that shoes with rubber soles like that disconnects you from the earth. And I'm not saying I walk around in sub zero temperatures and bare feet. And since my injury I I wear shoes a lot more, but I prefer I like to.

feel vibrations and and and feel when I'm playing music, I like to be barefooted and I don't I don't perform much barefooted anymore. but we grew up in Alabama and I grew up in the creeks and I grew up with my feet in the mud. And I think that there's some nutrients that can come from that and definitely some groundedness and some health that comes from having a little bit of dirt under your toenails and and being being that.

You know, that's just it's an Alabama grocery store just redneck thing that I grew up with, you know, if I'm being honest. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:39.584)

Yeah, well it fits. I mean it's a signature component of it. When I think of Drake what Drake White, I obviously I think of your music, I think of the hat, and I think of the barefoot Eddie Vetter of Country Music. And we're gonna talk a little bit about that. you know, the the film, the documentary, Ladder to the Sky and what's happened in your life the last ten years. before we get rolling, I do wanna thank our proud presenting sponsor, newly renewed.

Carl, thank you very much. Purina ProPlan, national dog food sponsor of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, and the presenting sponsor of On the Wing Podcast. My pups, Little Gitchy in Winter, have always eaten Purina ProPlan. And it not just because Purina supports the wildlife habitat mission of our organization, which is incredibly important to me and should be important to every listener that cares about.

Bird hunting and the outdoors. But what's most important is Purina ProPlan was created. The recipe was made for the working bird dog like yours and like mine by the world's best scientist and nutritionist at Purina. You can learn more at Proplansport.com. Purina ProPlan, nutrition that performs.

Speaker 3 (08:59.32)

From Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever National Headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, this is Casey Sill with the Upland Newsroom, delivering top stories from the Habitat Organization and across the American Uplands. Today we're going to focus on the state of Virginia. Tucked away in Sussex County, Virginia is a 10,000-acre wildlife area that's at the heart of the state's remaining quail population.

Much of the surrounding area has seen the natural landscapes that quail need to thrive converted to large-scale pine plantations that offer little to no value for Bob White's. But thanks to a $50,000 donation from conservationists Briscoe and Keenan White, alongside matching funds from the National Wild Turkey Federation, Quail Forever has helped the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources establish 55 acres of patch openings throughout the area.

To help provide local quail populations with the early successional habitat they need to thrive.

The work included thinning overstocked pine plantings, mulching the remaining stumps, converting the openings to native grasses and forbs, and re-establishing long leaf pine. Now that the restoration work is complete, the areas will be burned on a two year cycle to maintain habitat quality. Both quail and turkey will benefit from the project as both quail chicks and turkey bolts rely on the cover and increased insect populations that will result from the work.

This project was made possible by the collaboration of multiple partners, including the National Wild Turkey Federation. And though the project has technically come to a close, Quail Forever is still hard at work in Virginia, helping create more grassland habitat for quail, expanding public access, and empowering local communities to invest in the future of quail in their state. Quail hunting enthusiasts and conservationists who are looking to connect with like-minded people to help improve wildlife habitat in Virginia are encouraged to find a local Quail Forever chapter.

Speaker 3 (10:51.714)

And private landowners who are interested in incorporating quail-friendly practices into their land management can head over to quailforever.org and use our find a biologist tool to get in touch with a local biologist in their area. That'll do it this week, reporting from PF and QF headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota. I'm Casey Sill.

Speaker 1 (11:11.468)

All right. Drake, let's start with the backstory. You you you were starting to roll there with Alabama. Tell us a little bit about I I'm curious about your roots, hunting wise. Did did you grow up as a as a hunter in, you know, ducks, deer, quail? What's when did you first get involved in the outdoors?

Speaker 3 (11:33.462)

Yeah. well, I I grew up in Hoax Bluff, Alabama, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains that that creeped out in the top half of the state. It's if you've never been there, it's absolutely beautiful. And it's just just rolling hills, kind of rolling into the plains that that form their their s in the middle of the state. but grew up on the Coosha River, which is actually a river that starts in Bemidji, Minnesota.

A lot of people don't know that, but it starts in Bemidji, Minnesota and goes all the way and empties out, you know, basically in the Gulf. But it's it's it's just a muddy river. really muddy. So grew up the grandson of a preacher, that was a biker that was kind of a rebellious, that married a woman named my grandmother Sue, that saved him by the grace of God and and Jesus and

And he became a preacher. and he was a great trapper and a great fisherman and a great hunter. but along with that, he was a great articulator of words. You know, he knew how to explain the way a a fish was, you know, a bat maybe a largemouth bass was coming up out of the water and and and hitting a frog. And he hadn't this way of explaining it to to a grandson.

That just put it in layman's terms and and I think that was a a really, really big part of his wing shooting. He grew up a a quail hunter. my uncle's name is actually Bob White. and my name's Drake, so he built a lot better.

Speaker 1 (13:15.63)

Cause there's a there's an artist named Bob White as well. Is that different guy?

Speaker 3 (13:22.178)

Different guy. Okay, for sure. Yeah, he's he's not an artist. he's more of a yeah, he was wild. But you know, my dad was always into it. I was always infatuated with it. Everything that had to do with the smell of gun oil and a gun and a knife and Rambo and MacGyver. I grew up on MacGyver and Rambo and and just

You know, I I would sleep outside barefoot, you know, and and be I would sleep on our like right outside in our backyard, you know, over my bed, you know, when I was a kid. And and my grandfather just taught me how that that God gave us these animals and God gave us this these mountains and look at his his work and and hearing the Zicadas and hearing the Bob White quail and the birds and that's how I, you know, in a whimsical way, that's how I hear music. That's how I

first heard, you know, things. That's why you'll hear a lot of whistles and pops and and kind of lisp in my my music is because of it's the outdoors. And so I grew up like that. My grandmother, sorry, my mother was a cosmetologist and we had a one chair shop in our garage. So I grew up with a bunch of blonde headed cousins and women around me. And dad and my uncle was a Vietnam veteran.

And he took me to wet T shirt contest. So there was like this

Speaker 1 (14:49.806)

Four

Speaker 3 (14:52.568)

There were like this there was this like this full juxtaposition of of sinners and saints, you know. And so I just got a I got baptized in all this music and all this, you know, storytelling and you know, the ultimate storyteller is a preacher, you know, and and you're telling the best story of all time. And and so that's kind of how it happened and and hunting just became hunting was a hunting and music related to me, you know, the the dance of it.

And the the music behind it and and kind of the the game you play with hunting, the chess match and the game you play with words and music and trying to figure out different keys to unlock the you know, the senses, you know. So it's it it's comparable to me. Hmm.

Speaker 1 (15:39.964)

so for listeners, you know, we're gonna talk a little bit about Ladder to the Sky, which is a documentary about Drake's life, very particular point in his life, which we're getting to. But Drake in the documentary talked about your parents. Your mom is kind of the featured element of that this segment where your parents really didn't know you were a singer until he kind of got

asked to help a buddy in a high school talent show. t tell us a little bit about that and then more importantly, like how it took off from there.

Speaker 3 (16:19.648)

just rebellious man my my dad is a great singer in the church and my mom was a great singer in the church and and you know after you know after I got introduced to the almond brothers and and Eddie Better and all those guys I meant I didn't I didn't I didn't want to be known as a choir boy you know I wanted to and so I was playing guitar some but in a small southern town with a sonic and a burger king and

They it's just baseball and football and and and I didn't really have anybody pushing me in that that guitar world until my sister's like two and a half years older and her friends started growing, you know, nice butts and breasts pretty you know at 16 and I was fourteen and and one of them asked me if I play guitar. I was like, Well heck yeah, I play guitar. What check this out.

Speaker 1 (17:15.318)

Okay.

Speaker 3 (17:17.098)

Yeah. And so that was how it kind of started. And then and then, you know, I just started becoming the guy that like I loved music, was infatuated with it. And mom my mom was always like, Well, you can sing, you can sing. And that I I was always in the F F A because it got me out of class and I could I could put Copenhagen in my mouth and in in in shop class. And

The fruit cell was going on and I heard Tyler Elliott singing I'll be by Edwin McCain and he was sc screeching through it like a like a stuck owl and and I said, Man, I th I started singing it and I hit that high crescendo on it. He goes, Man, you gotta sing this. They want this sung in the beauty pageant. And I knew a couple of the girls in the beauty pageant, and I was like, and I just remembered those butts and those boobs, and I was like, I'll definitely sing it. So I went out there and

And my mom didn't even know it until like one of her friends told her and they of course busted in the lunchroom right when I was about to start and I just let it eat, you know, I just took off and had the voice that I have now really and and everybody was like, What the? But yeah, and that's kind of how it started.

Speaker 1 (18:32.27)

That's that's you definitely have the sinners and saints stuff going.

Speaker 3 (18:40.782)

No, it I was troubled, dude.

Speaker 1 (18:43.246)

so where'd you get your first big break? Were you a guy that went to Nashville and you know, played at the Bluebird? Did somebody discover ya? Like yeah, you know how how'd you become like this full time?

Speaker 3 (19:00.972)

Yeah. I was going to school at Auburn and a buddy of mine that was in landscape architecture, I was in building science, kinda engineering based based schooling and and he said, Man, I don't have any money. I know you can sing, I've heard you sing, she talks to angels. let's buy some Martin guitars and buy a PA on a stick and go play at bars and start trying to make some money.

And AKA he wanted me to buy two Martin guitars and me to buy a PNL stick. And so I did. And we started playing in this cul-de-sac and got shut down by a cop. And the cop was actually good looking, like it was like a good looking woman. And she said, Man, y'all sound pretty good. It's just a noise ordinance thing. I gotta shut you down. And there was like seventy five kids out there.

And she goes, My friend runs the Wings to go up on the up on the strip. let me see if y'all can play there. We played there every Saturday night that I was at at at Auburn for the rest of the time and prayed for 150 bucks. and then we started playing for sororities and started bouncing around Oxford and Athens and but mainly just, you know, Alabama and Georgia and that that line right there. And you know.

That ended up being like, well, I can I can move to Nashville and figure this out. And so moved to Nashville. And actually me and John Party started playing the 10 to 2 slot on Monday nights at Losers. and

George Straits manager, Erv Woolsey, sat in the in the crowd every night. And he never said a word. And one night I got a little bulletproof. And I said, Man, is is this stuff good? Do you enjoy this stuff? I mean, is it is it ready? You think you can help us, help me, you know, introduce me to some stuff? And he looked at me, took a drink of his whiskey, he said, Not yet.

Speaker 1 (21:16.088)

Hahaha!

Speaker 3 (21:18.122)

And so but I I knew I had something, man. God put something in me. I knew that because it was it wasn't hard to me to sing these songs. It wasn't hard to write It was just something that came natural. And you're talking about somebody that no, I've never been like the star athlete. I mean, I've been a good athlete, but I've never been I've had to hit back practice and lift weights harder and just work. So that work ethic came into the music.

And I started playing everywhere I could in Nashville. I mean like everything that would anybody that would have me, I started playing. Started writing and just faked it till I made it really. Like people would ask me if I was a writer, I'd be like, Yeah, I'm a I'm a I'm a great writer. We you know, or I'm a writer, whatever. And I was playing at this place called Blue Bar called Alabama Line that that I made up with a bunch of buddies. Well, Jamie Johnson was there and a bunch of people.

And but it a guy named Brett Sleba walked in who is now my booking agent and said, Do you want to open up for Willie Nelson? Hmm. And I I said, Well, you can buy you can buy me a beer first, you know. Like I mean, of course. And so I I got to open up for Willie. That would is that's October twenty eighth of two thousand ten. That's my that was my first break, you know, where where I thought, man, yeah. That's it.

Speaker 1 (22:49.535)

And and during this time are you hunting, fishing, or is your life absolutely occupied by trying to make it in the music business?

Speaker 3 (23:00.332)

I'm hunting. I'm hunting. I'm not as good I'm not like I'm drinking a good bit. So I'm not getting I'm not getting up early in the morning. but yeah, I'm I'm I'm finding land and I've always lived out, you know, you know, in the count. Just kind of grew up like that. Mm-hmm. And I've always looked at property as habitat, always like

Speaker 1 (23:10.798)

Sure.

Speaker 3 (23:29.378)

passing by a dominoes pizza that's got a thicket behind it. Like before all next, before anything, I'd always look at and be like, Man, I bet there's I bet there's some deer, you know, in there. And sure enough, you know, that now it's become a a thing. Yeah. But I've always had that in my head and always looking for and considered animals signs and symbols that I was going the right way. And just comes back to my

childhood of growing up on Cove Creek in Alabama and my grandfather telling me that, you know, red bird, red bird, please fly right, bring a big buck within my sight. And and like just being telling me those riddles and those stories, it just came back. But no, I wasn't hunting that much. I was I was going some.

Speaker 1 (24:17.3)

well, twenty sixteen I mentioned in the intro, you joined us at National Pheasant Fest and Quail Classic. You you put on just a spectacular, super memorable show after our national banquet in Kansas City, and you did that at it just fet friends and family disc discount because you cared so much about the outdoors and conservation. And then you fast forward

Speaker 3 (24:42.072)

Carl gave me a bunch of food too.

Speaker 2 (24:44.194)

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:48.046)

2019. So we caught you sort of on the rise, right? And but 2019, you're opening for Eric Church and Zach Brown Band and Luke Bryan. And then then Roanoke hits, and that's the the center point of this real tree documentary about you. tell us what happened in Roanoke.

Speaker 3 (25:13.218)

Yeah. so yeah, I felt like I was doing doing well. My career was going well, I was doing what I was supposed to do. I was working out a lot and and just getting in really good shape. That was something that I hadn't really done in the past. I'd worked out and stayed in pretty good shape, but like I'm talking about I was gonna I'd quit drinking and was just really focused on, you know, getting just like

is as good as as good as I could be. And started getting a headache in January of 2019 and landed me in an MRI machine. That MRI showed a mass of veins and arteries in the back of my back right side of my brain called an AVM, which is an arterior venous malformation. that is a big the size of a lime is how big it was and that that's a massive one. Nine

Nine centimeters, I think he said it was, or maybe millimeters, centimeters will be huge, but I don't know. It was the size of a line. And doctor this guy's name, I noticed on his name tag that he was a neurologist when he walked in. So I thought, crap, like I'm you know, I've got cancer or I've got something, you know, something happened, you know, but the headaches were imagin like they were horrible.

so I couldn't see and I couldn't, you know. And he basically said that because you're a singer and because you're so active, you have worn out the the brakes on this AVM and that blood is wanting somewhere to go and it's causing pressure in your brain. That's the headache. What we're gonna do is we're gonna go up through your feminal artery, Drake, with a catheter, and we're gonna go into the back of your brain into that AVM.

And we're going to squeeze it full of this glue called onyx. And we're gonna have to do eight or nine of these surgeries. but we can only do one about every six weeks because the brain doesn't like drastic change, but it will take minimal change over a period of time. See what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. And so I'm like, well, can I can I can I play? You know, I've got this tour, I've got Zach Brown, I've got, you know.

Speaker 3 (27:38.774)

I mean, we just played Finway Park and and played these places and and I'm I'm chasing this dream and he was like, Yeah, you should be able armed with this blood pressure medicine, you should be able to do these on Mondays, rest Tuesday and Wednesday, and possibly go out on Thursday and Friday and play on the weekends. Wow. And said, Okay, so we start we start skating down this hill and and the first here comes the first surgery.

I come out of surgery. I feel great. We have a show, you know, the next night. sorry, that that weekend. So I rested two or three days. And

Went out and played the show. And one show became ten shows, ten shows became forty shows, and one embolization became four very quick by the by the middle of August. And I was rocking, man. And I've always been a spiritual guy. I've always been a guy that that believes there's a bigger power and and loves Jesus. And and man, I I just my prayer life became, you know, I just

prayed that he would protect me and I believed that. I believed that I was protected and believed that I had a mission to go out there and and and write these songs and show people the light, you know. And so didn't really worry about it. And then August sixteenth rolled around and just another, you know, another routine run. And I go out there, man, and it's about a hundred degrees.

In Rowan Oak and I jump out on stage and man, you got a picture. This is like cotton candy skies, 2,500 people, like a beautiful Virginia setting. And I tear into these songs and stories and all this stuff, and about three songs in, I just kind of felt like everything got real heavy and real slow. And I it didn't feel bad, it just felt like maybe

Speaker 3 (29:47.576)

groggy like I was drunk like I was drunk or something, you know. And and I was like, man, this is weird. Like I can't get going. Like and I pressed through the next song and guys when I pressed through that next song I felt something snap in the back of my head and I heard this like a gunshot go off in the back of my like it snapped. Pow did like that. And when it did, I kept trying to sing through the song and I couldn't remember

And then everything flipped upside down. The grass became the sky. The cotton candy became the grass. Hmm. And I'm sitting there like, cause they had told me if this thing ruptures, it will cause a hemorrhagic stroke. And you got to get to the hospital. There's only a two percent chance of it rupturing. And every surgery lessen that two percent chance. And so, man, I was home free in

But I just remember thinking I have to get to a hospital and my top A personality wife had prepared a folder that that instructed the NTs or whoever got to me first that that this is what he has. He has an ABM and it's in his brain and it's in this portion of his brain. And if he has this this you know, if he starts acting weird, then it's hemorrhaged and you need to give him this coagulant. You need to get him to a hospital, but give him this to

to to stop the bleeding. it saved my life, you know? It it it's when I say that a bowling ball, it felt like a bowling ball was on my left foot and it felt like my brain was on fire. My head was on fire. Like a level one out of ten, a level 50 pain. Was just like I could not, I couldn't and I just started I started, you know, saying the name of Jesus over and over just

yelling it you know to to try to figure like I I thought I was I thought I was gonna die, you know, and they got me into a on a stretcher and got me to a hospital and there was a trauma one hospital three minutes from us. They administered that coagulate that made it stop bleeding fifteen minutes after it started. But it already but it had already done very, very substantial damage to my left side and and I was completely

Speaker 3 (32:14.114)

Paralyzed on my left side, was vomiting profusely, and was incoherent. What couldn't, I couldn't, I could hear everybody, but guys, it was like I was locked in my own skeleton. You know, it was like I couldn't I couldn't communicate with them. And I just heard them discussing things like being brain dead and and a shunt and sepsis and because this was a hospital like Vanderbilt. It was a hospital that was like a

student ran, you know, students were being taught how to be doctors in a educational hospital. And you know, so I'm hearing all these things and I'm just like, no, no, no, no, don't put a shunt in. Don't, don't, I'm not brain dead. I'm here. And you know, but they wouldn't give me any pain medication because they wanted me to to I could still verbally talk, but it I didn't know what I was saying. It was just kind of a weird

thing, but they made me s say my name a million times, say where I was at a million times. And you know, so that was that was the experience. And you know, in that moment, I kind of started floating over the bed and was like over over this just this crazy scenario of of what you hear, you know, and saw angels in the these four figures.

Or in the corner of the room just kind of watching over. I thought there was security guards 'cause I'm 'cause I'm vain, I guess. I don't know. but you know, it was just these very, very peaceful people. And then everything stopped. The pain stopped. Everything was, you know, I prayed that that he would protect me and he would he would keep me and and everything stopped and and you know, that was the experience of the

Speaker 1 (34:06.958)

the short all right so we're gonna jump to how hunting played a role in your long road back. Carl bring it to you just to you as we get out of this commercial here. I wanna thank Onyx. we don't hunt for that perfect picture on social media. With Onyx as your guide, we do hunt for the walk behind a good bird dog, the smell of burnt powder

Speaker 3 (34:07.116)

Stroke, you know.

Speaker 1 (34:36.736)

And the buddy right alongside us. The best spots mean more every time we return. Some were passed down to us, and some we found ourselves. And the traditions we carry forward are the ones we hope somebody carries on after us. Time out here has always put everything in perspective. Boy, isn't that true with our conversation today.

The best days rarely involve what ends up at the back of your vest or at the end of a tailgate. The stories we tell for years, the unforgettable dog work and the people who were there with us. Long after the season season ends, those are the things that stay with us. Onyx Hunt. Here's to the hunt. Yeah, Carl. this is a nice transition to you know, we've talked a bit about music and, you know, stroke and

Enter why you brought Drake my way, the hunting component.

Speaker 2 (35:37.112)

Well well first I gotta say I don't know hey if any of the listeners are not fans, you gotta go listen to Drake White if you've never heard his music. It's it's amazing. But I I'll admit and I've never told Drake this, I'm not a huge concert goer guy. Like even you know, we've sponsored Trampled by Turtles and and Turnpike. Yeah, yeah, and they're all great guys. I love all their music. I don't really like

a lot of people in concerts. So I don't go to a lot of concerts. And when I do, I'm usually pretty close to the door and and I'm out. I just don't like the crowd and and all that. I had never been to one of Drake's concerts and and my wife and I went this summer and it was unbelievable. I mean just the the energy and the performance and all that, it was incredible. And I and I say all that to say if you wonder why Drake had a stroke on stage.

go to one of his concerts. Like since I one of the great concerts I ever saw was Chris Ledoux and I just loved his energy and performance. And that's what Drake brings. It's just like an energetic I I don't know if it was that way, you know, ten years ago in twenty sixteen when he performed at Pheasant Fest, but the amount of energy and I'm gonna say effort, I don't you must sleep for like a day after your concert, Drake, just to just to recover. Yeah. I don't know how you do it. It's it is the word I have is powerful.

Speaker 1 (36:58.188)

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:03.326)

And we were, I don't know, we had a we had a great time. we're gonna talk about the hunts to healing. And my segue to that is you know, we were we were sitting in Drake's bus and my wife and and Drake and I are kind of visiting about hunting and the outdoors and and Drake, you know, I told Cindy, I was like, Did you ever watch the Hunts to Healing? And she's like, No, I she's like, I don't really like depressing things. And I'm like, Well

That's why you need to watch it. It is the opposite of depressing. To me, it's inspirational of the story, you know, of of the recovery and what it's meant. And I think it shows a lot about Drake's kind of career and what music brings to him and hunting and the outdoors that I think so many of your listeners would relate to that I just think it's a it's a cool story. So maybe more on that.

Speaker 1 (37:57.068)

Yeah, c i if if folks hear a debilitating stroke and then they hear, you know, you're performing to the level that Carl's talking about, that doesn't necessarily add up. You know, a lot of people that have a massive stroke based on what you're talking about happening in Roanoke, that the it's a it's a foregone conclusion. You you've lost, you know, function

side your body. And the the documentary Ladder to the Sky lays that out. You you didn't have an opportunity to bounce right back. This was a super long road. Talk a little bit about you know the the documentary really focuses on a duck hunt with Riley Green as a turning point, a hunt. Is that kind of the turning point for you in your mind? Was it hunting that

Was the transition or talk us through that process of returning to the person you are today?

Speaker 3 (39:04.791)

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:11.022)

Well for me, you know, hunting was something that that I was born with. I mean, I I literally have always been obsessed with what direction am I going? What direction is the wind blowing? You know, and it was from my heroes, my my my my grandfather and my uncle and my dad and and just those guys that carried a pocket knife and those guys that carried a you know carried a a pistol and carried a you know a firearm and and built to serve, built to built to provide and built to protect just just men, you know, guys that knew were were so my favorite characters were Daniel Boone and and and Lewis and Clark and and you know, these Hemingway stories just always danced in my head. A anytime I'd hear and a river runs through it or you know, see My favorite movie is Jeremiah Johnson. You know, it it was just like I've gotta do that stuff. So hunting, like I told you, I didn't I wasn't hunting, I was running on a hamster wheel chasing the dream that I loved and music. And I wanna let everybody know I had this stroke, and you might be looking at me and go, Well, you know, he looks fine. He probably had this, you know, being an entertainer. If you're thinking that I might have had this, you know.

velvet glove, velvet rope kind of treatment and just a a bank account full of money, you're wrong. We we knit we know what it's like to be a rock bottom, the basement of rock bottom financially. We know what it's like to not I grew up in blue collared world. My mom was a teacher. My dad worked a Goodyear, you know, so I'm sitting here working for this. I've got an engineering degree that I decided to be an artist and now I can't walk and I've got a bedpan.

And I'm I'm a hundred and forty pounds. I weigh 185 now. And I should have died. I want to let people know that. Like it I was dead. And I was pissed off. And I was, I didn't consider suicide, but I did begin to understand it. And I got really, really upset at myself that I was even considering it because not considering suicide, but

Speaker 3 (41:42.808)

thinking that it might was a reasonable thought. You know, and that scared me, guys. It's it it scared me to think that, man. And so I'm sitting there and I'm going, how can I get this? And then the pandemic hits, guys. Then the pandemic puts us all into this world of like whatever the hell that was, you know? Mm-hmm. And I'm

I start to get really pissed off and jaded. And I've always prided myself on being energy energy, on frequency, on coming in and being like, I'm gonna ch I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna show people a good time. I'm gonna show people that life is worth living because that's the way I felt like Jesus was and that's the way I'm gonna do it. And I just felt like this Eeyore of a human being. And I and I saw that black hole and I and then I just remember.

My my brother in law coming over and is like, Hey, let's you know, it was October, November, December. So you're talking four months after three months after the stroke, whatever. And I'm in a wheelchair and I'm sitting in my house and I'm got a couple of deer on the wall and I'm like looking at him and he goes, Hey, just try to cheer me up because he's a good dude. He's like, Let's put some trail cameras out back behind your house.

I was like, man, I ain't putting no trail cameras out there. I can't. I'm in a wheelchair. You don't see this, you piece of you shithead. Like what do you what are talking about? I was mad. I was jaded. And I was the person that I that I that I loathed, that I didn't like. And

Speaker 3 (43:32.706)

That trail he went down there and did it. And I looked at that trail camera thousands of times. And 175 inch deer in Tennessee shows up a hundred yards behind my house. And here's where the hunting story starts. The in river runs through it. The Jeremiah Johnson, the MacGyver.

The young kid that could kill a bear with a BB gun comes out. Hmm. And I start ups I started obsessing about this deer. And I forgot about

I forgot about paralysis. I forgot about a bedpan. I forgot about a wheelchair. I forgot about all of it. I said I started innovating. My engineer started coming alive. And I was like, okay, I gotta get a ground blind down here. I can't because he's got to come around. I started obsessing about this deer. Hmm. Well, in that time, y'all gotta understand I was on death's bed, on death's door, and Dr. Miracle is was the name of my surgeon.

that was his real name. He I come in for a checkup, guys, after I'd been hunting this deer. And I'm talking about I would roll down there and just sit behind some some brush with a you know, with a rifle or, you know, whatever. Crossbow. I you know, I I went as far as to use a crossbow. And and it's like I'm I'm in it. I'm not thinking about me having a stroke anymore. I'm thinking about killing this deer.

Speaker 2 (44:45.848)

Hmm.

Speaker 3 (45:13.976)

So I go back to get my checkup from Dr. Miracle and Miracle's looking at all these graphs, guys. And he's looking at it, he goes, He sees this light mine. He's like, What are you what have you been doing, man? Like you're you got the whites of your eyes back. And I'm like, I'm looking at my watch because it's getting there's a cold front coming in, and Alex is like, Hey, he's ain't ain't anxiety was something that happened from the trauma, but

Speaker 2 (45:35.534)

Vincent.

Speaker 3 (45:43.074)

I was ready to get back to the house. And I was rushing this very prominent doctor. And Alex was like, I'll tell you what he's been doing. He's been hunting every day. And he said, these I can't tell neuroplasticity is growing, but these charts show that your brain, it is working around that lesion. And that deer, I never saw that deer again.

Speaker 1 (45:53.518)

He's got buck fever.

Speaker 3 (46:12.12)

I saw him twice. once on hoof, once once, yeah, twice on hoof and once on two or three times on trail camera. But that deer, I never killed it. and I think it might have been an angel deer. I think it might have been a deer sent from God, but he looked at me and he goes, Well, the hunt's the healing, man. Keep hunting. And I

In that moment, I wrote a song. Well, he didn't say the hunts the healing. He said, he said, we'll keep hunting. And I wrote a song after the stroke called The Hurts to Healing. And I and I decided to share this story. You know, a lot of people ask me why I decided to share it through a hunting lens because that would turn some people off. Because there's not there's not there's way more just music fans in general than there are.

Hunting. And I said, because it I'm a primal human being. I'm a hunter. I'm a provider that was born in that. And I reverted back to that primal feeling of a boy that could kill a bear with a BB gun to to see the light in a darkness that was at one point suicidal. And a deer from a trail camera changed it changed it like that.

Hmm. Cause the hunting, the hunting started, baby, and you couldn't tell me nothing. Like I was gonna so I go to my I go to my trainer and I said, I gotta learn how to climb a ladder. And he was like, Drake, you gotta learn how to walk, bro. And I go to my wife, I said, I gotta learn how to climb a ladder. And she goes, You're not going to Illinois that and cause I showed her a picture of the deer. I said, Alex, look at the picture. It's it's a Tennessee deer. It's right here. And my my trainer is a hunter, he was like, my God.

I mean 175 inch deer is that's a big deer anyway. And so we started, he goes, Well, get on that bursa climber and start climbing. And I look like a, you know, I I ain't even gonna tell you what I look like trying to climb the first time, but Alex stood at the base of that ladder that first morning and I climbed to the top of it and I hunted all day and didn't see a deer. And hunted for two or three weeks after that.

Speaker 3 (48:39.692)

So saw a bunch of deer and saw a bunch of stuff. But hunting healed me. We documented it and we went out there and going to all these trade shows, met Carl, met met all these people, did it did a bunch of stuff with Michael Waddell and and all the all the Lee's out there. Lee Lakowski Lee.

Speaker 2 (49:03.724)

Well caskies. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:05.142)

Leah Tiffany, and Lei

Speaker 3 (49:07.886)

that does seek one who's so amazing. but anyway, it's just a story, man, that I thought worth it was worth documenting and it saved my life, man. And it what saved my life is God showing me he knew exactly what I needed in that moment, and that was a purpose. Yeah. A purpose to to pursue something because he knew I was a a primal being. He knew I was a hunter in my gut. And now

It it just switched this. Now I hunt I hunt year round now and and fish and do stuff, but now it's changed. You know, we just went dove hunting the other day, killed the crap out of Well do you not think that's healing my brain? Having to see a dove is hard enough anyway. Having to hit it with a 12 gauge or 20, like that is training my left side to do what my right side tells it or do what my brain's telling it to do. So

The hunts the healing, man. It's born and and so that's that's my message.

Speaker 1 (50:08.352)

Are you what percentage would you say are you back to where you were pre Roanoke?

Speaker 3 (50:17.166)

man, sixty five seventy. Wow. I mean I I I performing wise, man, other than the guitar stuff that I have to tune to open tunings and but see the innovation I'm talking about? Like I had to I had to go think of another way to play a guitar. Yeah. Or how do you think how do you think Zeppelin and Irvana and all these things were born? They were born out of

Speaker 1 (50:23.864)

Sure.

Speaker 3 (50:44.248)

heartache or necessity or something happened. How many times have you heard it the David and Goliath story? Like it's and I so I just started going, you know what? I'm lucky. I'm lucky I had the stroke. Because now I can help people and benefit for the brain was born and Lob Lollifest was born. And you know Hunts the Healing was born and now these people are coming to me saying, Hey you saved my life, man. This music saved my life or this story saved my life. Well why

If I that that is the hands and feet of Jesus, if I've ever heard it or seen. So I know I started this podcast off a little rough around the edges. Like I, you know, but it's like that's what it comes back to, the spirituality of like, hey man, I'm I'm here for a purpose. And now I know that purpose. I know why I had the stroke. And when so many times I beat my head against the wall asking why, you know, why why did you bring me through this? I know why now.

And it's it's to help people see the light through dark times like this.

Speaker 2 (51:46.286)

Well well, Drake, I saw that, you know, at your concert w we were there early, you know, some you do these little meet and greets with a small crowd, and I don't know if it's 20 people or something like that, and you perform and see it was like a it's an amazing connection that people have with you. And I think it's a lot of people that that need some inspiration. They're looking for that that story of overcoming and how you've you know, whether it's

I don't know whether it's support or love or compassion or empathy or whatever you have for people, but I can just tell the people come up and tell you stories and and it's really it's really kind of a a unique deal. And I think that goes back to your your benefit for the brain too, is really helping people with mental health right now because you've sorta lived it, you know, you've you've been there. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:40.002)

Yeah, you had the authority to speak on it because you you go into somebody that that is considering that black hole of of suicide or whatever and they're like, What do you know? You don't know what it feels like to for your wife to run out on you or cancer or or you don't know what it feels like to for your mom to commit suicide or you're right, you know, maybe I don't. Maybe I don't, but I do know what it feels like for the the thought of suicide to creep in and be that low.

And be at a point where I thought I had no purpose. And I just picture kind of the devil laughing, you know, in that, and because he's got you. And if you, if you can find one thing to change your, just stand up and I'll I I do this thing all the time where I swing my arms real vigorously back and forth and like a swimmer's thing. And it's just changing my composition. It's like changing my mind. Like if I feel tired or feel

negative about something, I just I stop it immediately. Nope, I'm alive. I'm alive today and I didn't have to be because there's so many people. The majority of people die, you know. They die when they go through that.

Speaker 1 (53:49.422)

Arguably your most well known song is Live in the Dream.

Is that take on a different perspective after all this or is that reading too much into it?

Speaker 3 (54:03.032)

The a a lot of the songs took on, you know, different perspectives and and that's the funny thing about songwriting and spirituality. Like I think those songs were written before their time. And then when when I listened to and was able to put out into the ethos with this experience and people knowing this story, they compounded their

They compounded their

Speaker 3 (54:36.906)

Effectiveness, I guess. I was trying to think of a better word than that, but like just compounded it, you know, 'cause so if he can say that, if he can still sing this song after that, then I need to keep going or I need to you know, whatever that is. You know. So yeah, they they they've all taken on different meanings for sure.

Speaker 1 (54:57.396)

I wanna re be respectful of your time. I said we'd be done at the top of the hour and we're closing in. first of all, Drake, thank you very much for for sharing your story. I do wanna point people to ladder to the sky. It's it's available and you can find it on YouTube. if correct me if I'm wrong, but you wrote and directed. I mean, that was your baby, right, Drake?

Speaker 3 (55:21.132)

Yeah, yeah, we did it all last year. Holt Engels and my good buddy Zach Knutsen co-produced that with me. But yeah, I I we did it out at Honey Break and you know, it's not it's not over. I I did a turkey one called Finding My Strut and I I'm throwing proverbial logs on that fire that we've already built. I'm just you know, I'm gonna continue. We're going

going back to Honey Break this year to to to film a duck hunt but I never did really say the thing with Riley but I'll be really quick about this. But the Riley duck hunt, you know, obviously Riley has done great and you know he's like this Captain America dude out there doing all this stuff. And he's from my hometown, literally right down the road from my hometown in Jacksonville, Alabama. And you know it was a very

Hard thing for me to watch, you know, right after I had that stroke 'cause I was so competitive. I'm not saying it was right. It was just hard for me to watch maybe his success and me be sitting there with a bedpan. And so he asked me to go to Honey Break. Well, I already had my relationships established at Honey Break. And I was like, Man, I don't wanna go to Honey Break with him and Tyler Jordan. I I I I I I wanna go, you know

And I wanna go on my own merit or whatever. Mm-hmm. And that wasn't it at all. I didn't want to go because I didn't want to hinder the hunt. I didn't want to I didn't want to show them that I my weakness. And I couldn't get a pair of waiters on. And the waiters, my left foot wouldn't go in the waiters and and so we just documented that in the story that Riley wakes up

I'm down there, I'd been down there for two hours trying to put these waiters on in a broke out sweat. And Riley wakes up and walks down there and is like, Hey man, what's going on? you need some help? And I was like, No, no, no, I'm good, I'm good. And he's like, Man, come here just a minute. He walks over there, picks me up, like, shoves my feet, runs his hand down in the in my pants, my waiters, and and flattens my foot out. My foot wouldn't be wouldn't flatten. And it broke, man, this bondage of like

Speaker 3 (57:43.406)

competitive shit that I had and we just waxed deer and ducks for two days and you know got to see a bunch of dogs, got to see just all this stuff. And and like that was kind of the it'd be that's why I wanted wanted to conclude with it. Like this business, the hunting business, the music business is so competitive and guys will cut their legs out from each other. And like it there's enough for all of us, man.

There really is. And it's all it's God's creation. It's not yours. Give back to the land. Leave a small footprint. Go out there. Walk behind a dog. Don't use a crossbow or don't use a rifle. Use a bow. Use a fly rod. Use a spinning rail. Use a zebco. I don't care. Just get out there and see. Yeah. See the creation, you know?

Speaker 1 (58:34.503)

you mentioned a dog at the beginning. What what breed of dog do you have?

Speaker 3 (58:39.192)

I've got a golden retriever. and I love it. I was a lab guy forever. I've got a song called You Can't Have My Dog after this. But lab guy, lab died. My girlfriend at the time said, Well, don't get another lab. Everybody's got a lab. Get a golden retriever. I got a golden retriever. I read Gun Dog, that book. You know Gun Dog? yeah. And man, I'm just

Speaker 1 (59:04.908)

Yeah yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (59:08.748)

I've always loved I've always loved a well behaved dog. Just a dog that does what you say you're gonna do and and Cody, you know, turned me on the bat and then I I got this awesome golden retriever and he's he's a hammer, you know, he's a shed dog now. So

Speaker 1 (59:26.398)

a last question, I ca again I wanna be respectful of your time. The your story in the documentary ends with you becoming a father, you have a son, and I believe your son's name is Hulk. What is it? Hulk?

okay. My interpretation was Hulk and I was thinking ...

Speaker 1 (59:55.254)

What you're a big Hulk Hogan fan, what's going on?

Speaker 3 (59:59.542)

If your wife lets you name your son Hulk.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02.53)

That was gonna be my question, how you gotta do with it?

Speaker 3 (01:00:06.668)

No, it goes back to honors. Mm. I I had this opportunity in to have a bush hogging company when I was in Nashville. Graduated from Auburn, got out, got this big job with a construction company. Two thousand and eight happened, they made a bunch of cuts and bought this clearing company and started

Bushhog and well, you know, if you've ever bush hogged there's always a lot of hawks around. Well, the Cherokee meaning, and Cherokee and Creeks were really pre prevalent in Hoax Bluff and North Alabama where I'm from. Cherokee meaning of that of a hawk sighting is you're going the right direction. So we went through seven years of IVF after the stroke, and after my wife was paralyzed for a number of months.

We went through seven years of infertility and went through all of this IVF stuff and it was just a it was a nightmare of a of a of a run. But we finally got pregnant and all these hawks started showing up in my backyard and we were working through names and and I said, Man, we should just name him Hawk. And I told her that story and she goes, I love that name. And so

Wil William Hawk White was born January the twentieth. And after science and everything else helped along, we we did it and he's he is Hulk. He could be Hulk or Hawk.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43.16)

Well, hawk is much bet better than Hulk. So congratulations. Drake, thank you very much for sharing all this time. Carl, thank you for making the introduction. sincerely appreciate your story and it it certainly tells the power of hunting in the outdoors to who we are as fabric of human beings. So thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (01:02:09.464)

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:11.424)

All right, folks, I'm Bob St.Pierre. Thanking you for listening and reminding you to always follow the dog. Something good will rise. Thanks, folks.