know what's cool about that, Carl? He's written and performed with Hank Williams Jr., have you not? I

haven't performed with him, but I did finish a song.

And he's not even one to co-write, but about three years ago, He just made the comment, you know, like, man, I have this song, you know.

And his wife, Brandy, she just said, yeah, Brandy said, you should show Bobby this song.

And I thought he was talking about Kid Rock.

You know, that's Kid Rock's real name, Bobby.

And I just said, well, you don't need a co-writer.

What are your plans, Nate?

and

found my birth mother and she lives out west and i wrote her a letter and then she responded and it you know it wasn't the greatest story of how i got here but i got here and i'm and i just wanted to tell her and she's a great person i mean nothing that she did wrong that's sure just a situation it wasn't a good one and but she brought me into this world and i wanted to thank her i didn't want in a letter that i wrote her i'm like i don't want anything from you all i want to do is just say thank you for bringing me into the world.

He carried me for nine months and then let me go, you know, a few minutes after I was born.

And I was born in Mobile, Alabama.

And then sent to foster care in Montgomery.

And then my adoptive parents, you know, they wanted a child.

And so I ended up with them.

And not that you would know where that is either.

So,

Yeah, welcome.

Well, thank you again for having me on the show.

And as far as the song, it was during the holiday season.

And the last thing I was thinking about was writing a song, but there was a guitar there.

I was living in an apartment.

I remember on old Hickory Boulevard between Brentwood and Nolensville Road.

Cause I know there's a, there's great stories of how your mind

With everything that's changed, have you changed in the way that you approach your writing?

Well, as you know, I mean, it's all over the map, and now we have the whole AI situation [laughs] in which I just, it's just hard for me to wrap my head around.

Of course, I'm never gonna use anything like that to write a song.

At the same time, you know, we saw the invasion of the track guys who really came in, and it, it took away from the studio sess- demo sessions with several musicians, and now a lot of people are using the AI technique to do demos.

But to get back to your question, I'm just gonna stay true to myself, write what I do best.

From the heart, kinda sounds trite, but just be true to myself.

And, like, this year I've been writing with Buddy Cannon, great songwriter and producer, and we've ended up writing five songs for Willie Nelson's upcoming record, and three of them are with him.

What's it feel like for you when you walk into a studio, you're either laying down tracks for yourself or someone else is recording one of your songs?