Speaker 1:
0:00
Alright, let's go and get into today's episode, Metal Olivia. Could you imagine waking up one day and not being able to remember your family or your friends?
Speaker 2:
0:09
No, that would be terrible.
Speaker 1:
0:12
Is there anybody that you'd want to not remember?
Speaker 2:
0:15
Oh, absolutely. Let me give you my list. Okay, we don't have that long. This intro is going to be short.
Speaker 1:
0:22
Okay, we'll just go ahead and say well, today, listen everybody. Today we have two guests joining us. They're Bill LaHorne and Gabe Scott. They're two musicians and songwriters from Nashville and they're coming to share what we're calling or they call it, it's not me, they're calling it their high five moment story, and let me tell you it's an incredible story. Tell us a little bit about who you are, who is Andy and who is Gabe? Or is it best to rotate it? Maybe Andy tells who Gabe is and Gabe tells who Andy is. Oh, tricky, oh you guys choose.
Speaker 3:
0:52
Oh, I don't know what you want to do. I'll tell you who Gabe is. Gabe, my friend over here, is he's from Michigan originally and he moved to Florida to go to school where he met a guy named Andrew Peterson, who's a mutual friend, and he started playing music with Andrew many, many years ago. He traveled with Andrew for like 10 years and then he traveled with a guy named Bebo Norman for a long time and then he traveled with well Crowder for a shorter time, but then it has been just just a great musician, has played on all kinds of stuff and producer, and then a number of years ago he decided to set music aside and open a taco shop here in Nashville, which was really regret.
Speaker 5:
1:49
You think he's joking, but he's, yeah, he's being serious, yeah.
Speaker 3:
1:53
And he is the greatest taco shop in the world. It's amazing. It's the reason why I weigh 10 pounds more. Yeah, he still does music too, but we first met back in 2000 or something like that, playing a show. My wife and I were playing a show with Andrew Peterson. That's where we met Gabe, and we've been part of the same Christmas tour for the last 20-something years Andrew Peterson's Christmas tour so we've been friends for a long time. That doesn't really sum him up. He's just a great dude. He's also competitive, so we play a lot of sports and stuff together.
Speaker 3:
2:29
What kind of sports do you guys like to play Our favorite. As of the last six years, we play competitive badminton together and we're pretty good, I think. Where's the applause.
Speaker 2:
2:42
Yeah, oh yeah. You guys aren't playing pickleball. We were ahead of that curve.
Speaker 3:
2:51
We can play pickleball, but badminton is more fun, I think, and there's a bad beef between badminton players and pickleball. Kind of Not me. I'm fine with pickleball players.
Speaker 1:
3:03
You guys have special jerseys for your badminton competitions.
Speaker 4:
3:09
No, we should.
Speaker 3:
3:12
We do have the same shoes, but, yeah, we need jerseys.
Speaker 2:
3:17
Yeah they remind me that.
Speaker 1:
3:19
Yeah yeah, definitely, definitely, all right.
Speaker 3:
3:22
So I should also say Gabe is also married and has a, has a daughter who just turned 60 years old, and she's awesome.
Speaker 4:
3:30
How old is? A lot more left out, but let's stop there.
Speaker 5:
3:32
Six yeah, she's 60 of her.
Speaker 4:
3:35
So I was like 60. 60. I mean Gabe how old are?
Speaker 3:
3:38
you. Gabe is 87 years old, yeah.
Speaker 1:
3:45
So so, Gabe, I know you play a lot of instruments. What is your favorite instrument that you play?
Speaker 5:
3:50
I know you play a lot the dobro is has become my, my instrument soulmate. It's not even the one I'm best at, it's just the one I like to play the most.
Speaker 3:
3:59
What is? I didn't hear what you said.
Speaker 5:
4:02
Oh the dobro, you know, it's really see if I can do this with my hands.
Speaker 5:
4:06
Yeah, you know it lays like a guitar flat like this, and then you play it with the slide here and pick it here, like that. And then one trick. One trick I learned early on and I've been married for a long time, so I don't do it in any kind of weird way, but it's like even if Andy were to walk by, you know, you can go on the slide, you make it go. Whoo, you can make it do that, yeah.
Speaker 1:
4:31
That's good, that's good, all right. Well, gabe, I know one thing that I've heard you play a lot and I never even heard of it before Andrew's concert. Behold the Lamb of God, the Christmas tour. If you guys haven't seen it, look it up. It's an amazing. You won't find a Christmas event like this. I mean, it's just amazing. But the first time I heard was hammered dulcimer and it blew my mind with that. That instrument's like but yeah, so with that tell us a little bit about Andy.
Speaker 1:
4:56
Yeah, andy's a dandy, and I guess you got the wah-wah button. There you go.
Speaker 5:
5:06
I need one of those real life.
Speaker 5:
5:08
He is, and the funny part that's not so funny is that he grew up in Texas and which I'm now. You know, I married Texas a number of years ago and then opened a Texas style breakfast taco shop. So it's kind of like am I just trying to be Andy? I don't know. But he grew up in Texas and played a thing called a guitar, but also he spent a lot of time with animals out in the country. He's basically a farm boy and he's it turns out he's really good songwriter and a great guitar player. And it turns out I'm trying to roll with this farm boy thing. You take the farm boy and you send them to music city and something great happens.
Speaker 5:
5:56
So I tell people quite often I've been around music a long, long long time and heard a lot of songs. And I tell most folks who love great songs, like have you ever heard of Andy Gullahorn? And it's my favorite thing when they say they haven't, because I'm like check this out. And then they either tell me in person or via texts you know that they cried or that they laughed and that it made their day and it's the favorite thing they ever heard. And that just happened to me yesterday and I hadn't told you about it yet. Andy.
Speaker 1:
6:24
Okay, so how long have you guys been friends, Andy Well?
Speaker 3:
6:27
yeah, that's when we first met in 2000. And then I've been doing the Christmas tour. My wife and I have been a part of it for 21 years and Gabe's been there since the beginning. So like 24, 25 years, oh wow, so just. But we hit it off that first time that we met in Birmingham and then but got to spend more time together and really get to know each other over the years on the Christmas tour.
Speaker 1:
6:53
You guys have been friends that long. I would love to know has it been easy for you guys to stay connected Well?
Speaker 3:
6:59
like every year, on the Christmas tour. So it's like three weeks in December basically every year. We'd be on a bus together with like 10 other people who are all good friends as well, but we would be hanging out and playing games whether that's like playing sports or staying up late on the bus, playing you know random catchphrase games or whatever it is and every year at the end of the Christmas tour we would just say, man, we need to hang out more often, Like we have so much fun, let's I don't know, let's play racquetball every week or let's do something. And so for a number of years we tried to do stuff like that and then it just didn't. You know, life happened. He'd be on the road with somebody, I'd be on the road, and then we would just meet up again in December and be like you know, have fun.
Speaker 3:
7:51
On the Christmas tour We'd be like, hey, we should hang out more often. And we kind of did that every year. But one year in particular we were talking having that same conversation about wanting to hang out more often, and he told me that he just moved like a mile and a half from me, so kind of kind of the neighborhood. And while we were talking, our wives were having this conversation I had this really dumb idea and he said what if we? What if I text you on Wednesday and we leave our houses at the same time and we walk towards each other and we meet in the middle and we give each other a high five and then we just walk back home? We walk in a mile and a half, but if we do that every week for 10 years, then that's the kind of story that would be on CBS Sunday morning. So so I said, hey, you want to do that? And he's like Sure.
Speaker 3:
8:37
So we started that Wednesday walking three quarters of a mile to the middle point, which just happens to be at a park here in Nashville, and we gave each other a high five and talked for a while and then walked home and just kept doing that every week, and this April 30th will be nine years every week We've been walking, and so this changed. I mean, like we've always wanted to spend time together and we've gotten that in spades, but you know and that's kind of where plain badminton came out of that we meet at the park and then walk into the community center and play badminton every Monday morning, but a lot of other stuff has come out of it too, and so we see each other all the time. So, on a basic level, if the goal was for us to kind of hang out more often, it's totally worked. At the very you know, very basic level, we see each other at least once a week by walking and giving each other a high five, which is a ridiculous thing to do, but it was a ridiculous thing that we needed.
Speaker 1:
9:33
All right. So we you know this was. I know you guys story started with this high five, but there is a time that your high five moment could have been the last.
Speaker 3:
9:44
Yeah, basically. I mean, I think one of the things about doing something so dumb as a high five every week and walking a mile and a half to do it for years. When you talk to people about it like, it's hard to convey how significant it feels in your life and you know there's a time what happened, that kind of like showed me how significant it was to me, but COVID time. So, gabe, his taco shop is called Lady Bird Taco and it's here in Nashville, tennessee, where we live. It's really good, you should go sometime.
Speaker 2:
10:25
That's what I've heard, yeah.
Speaker 3:
10:27
And so so.
Speaker 3:
10:30
But the opening date for Lady Bird Taco was March like 22nd I think, 2020, which, by the way, horrible time to open a restaurant because there's this thing called a pandemic and the whole world's going to shut down like that day. So that was the original opening date and so that got pushed back to like June of 2020. And you know, he opened just having carry out and all this kind of stuff and what people weren't able to come into the dining room. Gabe was working so much and just kind of like wearing himself down as someone who opens a restaurant in COVID, as you can imagine.
Speaker 3:
11:09
But around Labor Day he started to get sick a little bit before then and, not knowing what was going on, and on Labor Day went into the ER just with some serious headaches and that kind of stuff, and they sent him home and just said that he was fatigued, kind of exhausted, just needed to rest, which was probably true to a point. But the next day got a call from his wife, just afraid because she was coming back with him from a doctor's appointment and he couldn't remember going to the doctor's appointment and then he couldn't remember her name and she asked if I'd come over to the house and he was just in a bad shape and we took him to the hospital and it turns out he had viral meningitis and encephalitis, which is attacking his brain.
Speaker 3:
11:59
And so particularly those first couple of days, like all his memory wasn't working, like he couldn't. The first night I went to go stay up there in the hospital. I'm pretty sure he didn't know what my name was. He was still very nice and kind to everybody, but pretty sure he didn't know my name. And then the next couple nights later I stayed up there and he did know my name. I remember he was asking me about my oldest son going off to college.
Speaker 3:
12:28
But the short-term memory was also really affected. So we would tell the same stories and ask the same questions over and over again. But I remember at some point that night I was like Gabe, do you remember the story about the high five? And at that point we've been doing it, the high five, every week for six plus years and we had told on stage, talked about it, we'd been on podcasts, we've been interviewed about it. We had t-shirts with our pictures of us giving each other a high five on the t-shirts that I'd been selling at shows. And I said, so, do you remember the story about the high five? And he's like no, what are you talking about? So I kind of told him the basics of the story and he said, well, that's weird. And I was like, yeah, it's kind of weird now that I think about it.
Speaker 3:
13:16
But the next morning, you know, he had forgotten about that whole conversation. The next morning when he got up he got to use the restroom or something, and when he was on his way back I said Gabe, this is going to be weird, but I need you to give me a high five on the way back to the hospital bed. And he was like sure. So he kind of walked towards me and he was pushing the tower of IV fluids, you know. But when he got to me he did the clap and the snap before he gave me a high five and I never even told him about that part. And so for me I kind of started crying and he was like what would I do? You know, I was like you did the clap and the snap, you know, which probably didn't make any sense to him.
Speaker 3:
13:59
But it was just a picture to me of kind of what it felt like that whole time. We've been doing this really simple thing over and over again every week for a long period of time and felt like it was really significant for some reason. And that picture was just like, oh, even when in many ways his body was failing him, his mind was failing him, it's kind of like the memory of the commitment and the habits of showing up for each other, his friends was like burned into his body, memory where that was just a part of who he was. And of course I would prefer to never have that image and never have gotten sick and had to go through that. But it was this really beautiful image of what happens when we are consistent and make that a priority. It just changes our lives. It's really good.
Speaker 1:
14:55
Gabe? Yeah, take us back to that moment. What did it feel like to you? I mean, I've never experienced that To be in that situation where you're not remembering these things.
Speaker 5:
15:05
It's very weird. It truly was trying to sort out. If I was, I'll just say this it was so weird that I think I was starting to question, like, am I alive or not alive? Is this a weird altered reality? Is this heaven? Is this hell? I mean no offense, andy, but it was kind of like and, yeah, trying to take in this info that I didn't, that felt like it wasn't in me. But the fact that it resided in me, without me even knowing it, when my hands slapped together and I snapped and high-fived my buddy, it felt like that felt like a victory, because I wasn't even Honestly, this sounds weird to say, but I don't feel like I was in control of my body in that moment, like it did it on its own. It just did what it had been doing for six years every week, and, even though I didn't remember ever doing this, my arms came up and they did their thing. So it's hard for me to deny I think it's even Maybe it's hard for anybody who hears this to deny the importance of, in that moment, the importance of consistency, the things Andy brought up consistency, friendship, commitment, dedication.
Speaker 5:
16:41
If it's raining, yep, we're still gonna walk and do the high-five If we don't have time, because lives are crazy, we're still gonna high-five and we came up with a different one for that, or we're not allowed to talk, called the silent high-five. But yeah, just the fact that it's a. There's this silly thing that we've been doing in our lives and somehow that transcended brain damage and memory loss, this thing I had done with my friend, wow, and to put a punctuation, a big exclamation point after that. I guess this is a moment when I didn't remember who my wife or daughter were, but I remembered to clap and snap and high-five my buddy. So her body did yeah.
Speaker 1:
17:31
Well, olivia, you must have a question, because I see you're reaching for your button. Do you have a question?
Speaker 2:
17:35
I do have a question Right, great story, by the way. Thank you for sharing. Both of you have said that you've learned dedication consistency, all of that, through this experience. How have you used dedication consistency, friendship, in other aspects of your life outside of your friendship? Hmm, hmm.
Speaker 3:
18:03
That's a great question. Why don't you answer it, andy? Yeah right.
Speaker 3:
18:10
I just think, kind of in the same way that Gabe said it was like in his body. I just think it changes everything. I think it changes the way I looked at parenting. I've got three kids and one way that they could do that is thinking about knowing that the consistency of small things with the kids is showing up with it and having these traditions and routines and that kind of thing where it's like you can look back over. Well, let me say this you could spend a lot of money and take them on some big, huge vacation, hoping that they're going to remember that the rest of our life and think it's going to be really amazing. Which great. They would probably like that.
Speaker 3:
18:57
But the kind of stories that I love are ones that are like there's a lot of history built into it. So a story about just walking one time and giving Gabe a high five isn't a great story. I think it's only great because we just did one simple thing over and over and over again, and I think with family it's like sitting around a table and having dinner. One dinner is just kind of like oh, whatever, but you do that over and over and over again and it creates kind of this history and a story of its own? I don't know. To me that's what comes to mind, gabe you have a better answer.
Speaker 3:
19:39
It's not better.
Speaker 5:
19:41
It's not better, but I've got one, which is that the high five has taught me. Well, I'll say this I think it's a moving, it's something that's still moving, it continues to teach, and when I say the high five, just meaning commitment, dedication, and I think I had already learned from it before illness, but even after it's, yeah, it truly it makes me care about every moment, this moment that we're in right now, the moments when I'm having a great time, the moments when I'm high fiving or playing badminton with Andy, the moments I'm hanging with my family, the moments our family is in unrest or not getting along, trying to find a way to take every moment, make it matter, make every moment matter. I think what I've learned from being committed to something is that it's bigger than we think it is, it matters more than we think it does, and so much so that, you know, my brain gets whacked really hard by something. Basically, in a lot didn't survive, but commitment did. It's all part of the metaverse.
Speaker 3:
21:19
It's all part of the metaverse. That's what he's going to say.
Speaker 2:
21:22
It's all part of the taco making process. It's all part of. It's all part of.
Speaker 1:
21:31
He's leaving us hanging until the next time.
Speaker 2:
21:34
It's a lot of back.
Speaker 5:
21:36
It's all part of. Yeah, it lost me caught, always back, but I.
Speaker 2:
21:44
He thinks that's what the magic in the ground is.
Speaker 4:
21:48
Yeah.
Speaker 3:
21:49
I think what he's saying is that yeah, go, I'm his greatest hero. I think you're about to say that.
Speaker 1:
22:06
He's really his suspense. He loves this suspense on us.
Speaker 3:
22:10
This is like an epilepsy thing, yeah.
Speaker 5:
22:13
I literally just sang, and, but I got cut off. I was yeah, did you?
Speaker 3:
22:18
Oh, he's singing. He's singing Win, beneath my wings. I know you're singing, you're about to sing, when beneath my wings it's got you up, probably because there's some like licensing thing here, that they.
Speaker 2:
22:29
Yeah, that's very true, yeah, yeah it's all part of you.
Speaker 1:
22:37
Want to try it one more time.
Speaker 5:
22:40
Yeah, sure, I mean, do you all want it to cut off again Because?
Speaker 1:
22:48
Let me just hit the wall Like I think he's doing this on purpose. Now he's like how long can we just keep it there? It's like he's frozen again. My wife and me talked about at Christmas time, about the real treasures in life as each other, friendships, relationships we make of people and this reminds me of that. Like a good friendship, a really good friendship, someone that's a consistent friendship, people that go the extra mile to try to stay connected. It's a valuable treasure, especially in the busy world that we're in today, even for all of you here. You make times to connect with friends, do special things. I'm not going to say another special thing's happening right now for other creators. I don't want to say it in case they're in here as well, but I know people are doing things to help each other, show each other they care. Some of you I connect with and we play mini golf. We're building together, scripting together, learning from each other. It's just being available when somebody needs to talk. It's valuable and it is a treasure and these good friendship can offer us, can offer us those moments of joy, the moments of comfort and especially in the times that you need strength because you're weak.
Speaker 1:
24:03
Okay, by Karen, your story going through that. I'm terrible at remembering names, but that's just a bad thing. But I couldn't imagine getting to the place where I've forgotten everything my wife's name, my kid's name but from your guys' consistency, something triggered that memory and I think it's because of that consistency and that friendship and what I've always struggled with it was wanting to do more, wanting to do more for my friends. But your guys' story has helped show me that even the simplest gestures, like a high five, can play a huge part in a friendship. And we don't really know. Like you know, your guys' story is very unique and it's very eye-opening and reminding to us like that our time here is short and we don't know what tomorrow holds or what it's going to, how it's going to affect our lives, period. So make the best out of those moments. So I thank you guys for sharing that. What would you hope people would take away from today's show? Both of you, what would you guys hope people would take away from your story today?
Speaker 3:
25:21
I mean selfishly. Well, sometimes when we tell the story, people are like oh, what are the rules for the high five? Can I do this, you know? Or I want? There's a friend I wish I could do this with. I wish that everybody would do it in their own way. And the trick is just starting at that first time, like when people hear the story of people who've been giving each other high five for nine years, they're like oh, that's a great story. But like the nine years starts with one time, with one Wednesday, and then it's the next Wednesday. So it's like to think about, like, oh, what kind of story would I like to have in 10 years? And let me start living that right now. It's just like do something really simple with somebody you want to connect with and just reach out to them. That's kind of I would love for people to walk away encouraged to write their own story in that way, that's good, that's good.
Speaker 1:
26:22
Take that first out. How about you, gabe?
Speaker 5:
26:26
Well, I don't disagree with Andy because he's smart and always says good things, right, right, yeah, except for that one time. But yeah, I'm a broken record and as soon as I try to say it again I'm probably gonna freeze. But yeah, intentionality just being the in every aspect of our lives, chasing down intentionality with the people that we love, that's what matters most. It just does and I get to drop a line now that is pretty true, which is that I'm living proof that clap, snap, high five that happened, that I didn't realize was happening, is proof that intentionality and friendship relationship is what matters most. So chase it down every single day, in every way that you can.
Speaker 1:
27:22
That's awesome, awesome. Thanks, guys. Thank you. I knew, as we get ready to wrap up, I'm not going to close out the show yet, because Andy's gonna. Andy, are you good to do a song for us, are you good?
Speaker 3:
27:36
I'll try to. I'll try to see if I can play a guitar looking at a fake world, but I will. Yeah, sure, let me see. Okay, so weird playing it without looking at the guitar. Okay.
Speaker 4:
28:02
When you close your eyes to pray and your mind starts drifting off, do you feel a little shame, like you're getting something wrong, like there's a way you're supposed to be that you haven't figured out. And if any of it is real, then you should be there by now. Well, god is in no hurry. You can't take your time Trusting that. The process is part of the design, following the crumbs of what makes you come alive, because he loves you where you are, not where you should be. God is in no hurry. When you step inside the church and you see the hands held high, do you wonder what they hurt and why you can't feel that fire? So it's either all pretend, just emotions all stirred up, or a deficiency within. You're not spiritual enough. Well, god is in no hurry. You can't take your time Trusting that.
Speaker 4:
29:46
The process is part of the design, following the crumbs of what makes you come alive, because he loves you where you are, not where you should be. God is in no hurry. You could try to force yourself into being what you're not. You could dress the doubt up well, in the Sunday best you got. But I don't think God above should be so hard to find. He's in the things you love. So linger there a while, because God is in no hurry. You can't take your time Trusting that the process is part of the design, following the crumbs of what makes you come alive. He loves you where you are, not where you should be. God is in no hurry. He loves you where you are. He loves you where you are.
