Josh: 0:00

play a lot of music when I'm fishing.

Mason: 0:01

Yeah.

Josh: 0:01

When I'm deer hunting not so much, and then when I'm up on hunting not really Cause when I did that last time, people got really upset at me.

Mason (Singing): 0:08

Yeah.

Josh: 0:09

They were like we said don't shoot, but, but I always play. It's always seems like in the camp.

Mason: 0:16

Yeah, always in the camp. Yeah, there's always music buffers. It's like before or after you're out. You know, right now, with your buddies, what do you?

Josh: 0:30

you know you're not gonna you're not gonna not show them, like this new artist you've been listening to or whatever you know. That's part of the fun. This is the bunkhouse podcast home of the sporting conservationist. We're broadcasting from the edge of the civilized world. I cut it up with a chainsaw. Oh boy, here we go. Oh, there we go. This is so cool. Oh, there we go, boys. The fish is way down there. There you go. Hold on to your hats, folks. September's here and hunting season has finally kicked into high gear. The wait is over and.

Josh: 0:59

Bunkhouse is here to get you fired up for the field. Here's what we've got lined up for you all. Today we're kicking things off with some hunting and fishing headlines that'll get your gears turning. It might not change your plans for tomorrow's hunt, but it'll sure give you something to chew on while you're waiting for that perfect shot. We'll also be digging into the past with our hunting history segment. We're unearthing the roots of bird hunting and let me tell you this story's got more layers than your favorite hunting jacket. We're going to sit down with the talented Mason Lively. We're going to pick his brain about songwriting, swap some tales from the great outdoors and get the lowdown on his latest album that just dropped. So whether you're listening from your truck or on the way to your favorite spot, or you're taking a break between hunts, join us for another round of the bunkhouse. The season's here, folks, let's make it count. Let's take a peek at what's coming across my news feed, a couple of key things that recently caught my eye. So here we go with In the News. Here's your hunting news.

Josh: 2:08

First up, let's head to the Lone Star State. Texas made a big move for our feathered friends. After years of research and hard work, they've given the green light to use medicated feed for wild quail. Now I know what you're thinking, josh. Why is this a big deal? Well, let me tell you. Quail populations have been hit hard by some nasty parasites, namely eye and cecal worms. This medicated feed could be a big game changer for quail survival rates. This is a true testament to what can happen when conservation-minded hunters and scientists put their heads together. Speaking of conservation and hunting pressure, pennsylvania is shaking things up with its new doe tag system. They're guaranteeing tags for most in-state hunters before out-of-staters can even apply. It's like making sure locals get first dibs at the neighborhood barbecue. This move will hopefully better manage deer populations and give more local Pennsylvania folks a chance to put some venison in the freezer. I say big ups to PA on this move. Now for you bow hunters itching to get out there.

Josh: 3:09

Georgia's white-tailed deer archery season kicked off this past weekend. There's something special about those cool, crisp mornings watching the sun rise as you wait for a buck to step into view. It's not just about the kill. It's about being out there, part of the landscape, honing the skills that connect us to our roots. I hope the Georgia family got out and enjoyed the opener.

Josh: 3:30

And lastly, let's talk elk. Montana's archery season is rolling along. We're into our second week now and reports of a healthy elk population in the mountains have been coming from a few of our Montanan friends. There's nothing quite like the bugle of a bull echoing through the valley. Montana and friends, there's nothing quite like the bugle of a bull echoing through the valley. It's a sound that'll get your heart racing and remind you why we do this to challenge ourselves, to connect with nature and to be part of something bigger. That's all for now. In the world of hunting folks, remember whether you're chasing quail in Texas or elk in Montana, we're all part of the same community of outdoors lovers. Let's keep supporting conservation efforts and introducing new folks to the joy of the wild.

Josh: 4:06

Tight lines here's your fishing news. Let's talk about a little fish with a big comeback story the Apache trout. These beautiful yellowy gold fish with their distinctive black spots have been swimming the streams of Arizona's White Mountains since long before any of us were casting lines. But not too long ago they were on the fast track to extinction, hanging on by the scales and just 30 miles of stream. But here's where it gets good, thanks to some serious teamwork between Trout Unlimited government agencies and the White Mountain Apache tribe, these native trout are making a comeback that'd make any underdog sports movie seriously jealous. As of September 2024, they've been officially delisted from the endangered species list. That's right. These fighters have gone from 30 miles of habitat to over 170 miles across 30 different waterways. It just goes to show what can happen when we all pull together. It's not about who gets the credit. It's about doing the right thing by the fish and the waters they call home.

Josh: 5:02

Now let's take a turn west to the Klamath River. If you're not familiar with it, imagine a river choked by four massive dams for over a century, blocking hundreds of miles of prime fish habitat. It's like putting a bouncer at the door to the best singles bar in town and telling the fish I'm sorry, sir, you're not on the list, you'll have to turn your fin around. Well, folks, that bouncer just got the boot In what is being called the largest dam removal project in US history. Those four dams are gone and the Klamath is flowing free for the first time since the BBC made its first daily radio broadcast, which was in 1922. For the curious minds and for the millennials out there, a radio is like a flip phone, but without the flipping or the phone part. But anyways, I digress. We're talking about 420 miles of river opened up to migratory fish like salmon and steelhead.

Josh: 5:54

This, by the way, didn't happen overnight. It took years of hard work, negotiation and plain old stubbornness from a whole coalition of folks tribal nations, conservation groups, commercial fishers and local communities. Trout Unlimited was right there in the thick of it. Because that's what we do. We don't just talk about conservation, we roll up our sleeves and get it done and get this. The fish aren't waiting around for an invitation. Early reports are showing that they're already starting to make their way upstream. It's like they've got their own GPS telling them hey, remember that place your great-great-grandfish used to spawn, and get it on. It's open for business again Now.

Josh: 6:32

I don't know about you, but stories like these make me proud to be a part of the angling community. It's not just about what we take from the water, but what we give back. Whether it's the Apache trout in Arizona or the salmon and steelhead in the Klamath, these victories show that when we work together, we can make real, lasting change. So next time you're on the water, take a moment to appreciate the fish you're after and the habitat they call home. Remember we're not just anglers, we're stewards of these waters and, who knows, maybe someday you'll be telling your grandkids about how you helped bring a river back to life. Until next time, this is texas josh reminding you keep your lines tight, your conservation ethics strong and your love for the waters ever flowing fish on. Friends, you've got mail.

Josh: 7:19

Susan in roswell, new mexico, asks I'm new to shooting and want to get into upland hunting. What shotgun gauge do you think I should buy, susan, you're stepping into a world of adventure and I'm glad you asked For someone new to upland hunting. I'd recommend a 20-gauge shotgun, and here's why it's an ideal choice for beginners. The recoil is manageable more of a firm push than a sharp kick. You can practice all day without feeling beat up, which is crucial when you're learning. Trust me, you'll want to shoot a lot without worrying about a sore shoulder. Don't be fooled by its size, though. A 20-gauge packs enough power to cleanly take down dove or quail at good hunting distances. It'll help you become a better shot too. The slightly smaller shot pattern compared to the 12-gauge encourages precision. You'll learn to focus on your aim and timing, and these are the skills that will serve you well as you grow as a hunter.

Josh: 8:06

Here's something to consider. Many experienced hunters choose a 20 gauge, even when they have larger options. It's light enough to carry all day, whether you're hiking through the arroyos after a scaled quail or standing in a sunflower field waiting for dove by sunset, when your legs are tired but your spirits are still high. You'll certainly appreciate that lighter weight. The 20 gauge isn't just a shotgun, susan. It's your entry point into the upland hunting tradition. It's a tool that'll help you create your own stories and experiences in the field. So go ahead and find a 20 gauge that fits you well. Spend time getting to know it. Before long you'll be chasing birds across the new mexico landscape, feeling the weight of tradition in your hands and the thrill of the hunt in your heart. Welcome to the upland hunting community, susan. There's a whole new world waiting out there for you.

Josh: 8:54

Well, folks, that wraps up our roundup of what's happening in the fields and on the water today. But you know what All this talk about current sporting events has got me thinking about sporting past. So let's dial it back a bit and dive into some hunting history. For our Instagram crowd, this will be familiar territory, but for you podcast listeners, we're breaking new ground here. Hunting history is all about the folks, the places and the stories that shaped our sporting life. So settle in as we take a little walk down memory lane and see what yesteryear has to teach us. Take out your pencils, get out your notebooks. Class is in session. Welcome to Hunting History Bite-sized facts for conservation-minded hunters and anglers.

Josh: 9:36

Hunting has always been important to humans. In fact, the oldest recorded story ever is a hunter's tale. Some 44,000 years ago, people on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi painted a hunting scene on cave walls. The scene is of a community of hunters working together to hunt large game. It depicts one group driving quarry as another one awaits with spears. One can only imagine there was so much effort. A feast of gratitude would have followed a successful hunt like that.

Josh: 10:05

Closer to home, the oldest recorded story of dove hunting in Texas, a tradition which is deeply rooted in our cultural heritage, appeared in October 1895 in the San Antonio Light. The paper read Hundreds of thousands of wild dove flew from all directions of the globe light in the sunflower and millet fields or the prairie near the farmhouse or the post oak trees where they delight the hunter's heart with their simple but melodious song. The paper stated that dove can be shot in plentitude and tasted very good if properly prepared and cooked. This tradition of dove hunting has passed through the generations and continues to be a significant part of our hunting culture in Texas. But we had to be hunting and eating dove before 1895, right, I mean, they're delicious. Well, we were.

Josh: 10:50

At Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar. There is compelling evidence that Neanderthals, our ancient ancestors, exploited rock doves for food for over 40,000 years, the earliest evidence dating back to at least 67,000 years ago. And get this. Archaeologists have found repeated evidence of the practice in different widely spaced temporal contexts within the cave, indicating that hunting was not just casual or sporadic. This extensive history of dove hunting, spanning thousands of years, points to the enduring tradition and the cultural significance of this practice. So there it is, painted on walls and written in the remains. The story of hunting reaches back into the ages and points to communities built around it, and though the modern world has changed how we hunt, the communal aspect of it still exists today, and nowhere does that community shine more brightly than in a southern dove hunt. It's a shared experience, a bond that transcends time and place, and you, as a hunter, are part of this rich tapestry of tradition.

Josh: 11:51

I think Jonathan Miles best stated it in Field and Stream when he wrote more than the reappearance of school buses on the roads, it's the dove opener that signals summer's passing in the deep south, which is perhaps why dove shoots, big communal events with dozens of hunters scattered throughout a field, have long been paired with celebrations, barbecues, grand revels. In the northern climes, the hunting of morning doves, which some consider songbirds, is a controversy-scarred topic. In the south, however, dove hunting is a venerable tradition, older than bourbon and beloved as college football. Miles continues to say that dove hunting offers challenging past shooting. It's true, but here it's about much more than that Kids, wives, dogs, camaraderie, post-hunt cocktails, grilled dove breasts and pork barbecues, old customs and the changing of the seasons. Maybe we'll get to hunt together this year, maybe we won't, but wherever you are. If you get out on the opening day. I hope you enjoy your hunt with friends and family and I encourage you to take a. You get out on the opening day. I hope you enjoy your hunt with friends and family and I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on the past and think about the cultural heritage and know that you're carrying the torch for a time-honored tradition. Stay sharp, stay curious and I'll catch you next time. On Hunting History.

Josh: 13:08

Well, it's that time of the show where we get to hang out with a good buddy of mine, mason Lively. If you don't know Mason yet, you are in for a treat. This guy, he's not just someone I love to share a field with hunting birds behind good pointing dogs, he's also got away with words and a guitar that'll knock your socks off. His new album has been riding shotgun with me in the truck, and let me tell you it's something else. We sat down in the old caboose at the ranch to plot and scheme for the upcoming dove season. Nothing quite gets you fired up like laying out hunting plans with a good friend. But our chat didn't stop there. We got into life, music and why we can't get enough of the great outdoors. Now I want to share that conversation with you, the listeners of the Bunkhouse, so get ready to dive into Mason's world. Mason buddy, the floor is yours.

Mason: 13:53

I like the vibes here. It's really cool. It's very more, it's like a little more contained. It feels more like podcast space for sure.

Josh: 14:00

Yeah, A little less of a less of a party. There's not quite the bar and stuff.

Mason: 14:03

Yeah, I love the Bunkhouse. I love the Bunkhouse when the cameras are off. Exactly, it's fun.

Josh: 14:10

Well, first of all, congratulations on your new album. Thank you appreciate it, I guess it's. How long has it been out now?

Mason: 14:16

I guess it's been out for a little over a month now yeah, so it's, it's new it's still pretty new.

Josh: 14:21

Yeah, new baby it's interesting because so many, so many of those songs I heard before before we recorded it.

Mason: 14:28

Yeah, yeah, and we'll be putting those videos out.

Josh: 14:30

I don't know if this might come out before those videos, but yeah, we recorded some uh, really cool acoustic videos, along with some of the content of me uh hunting out here with you guys, and yeah, that'll be cool to get out there yeah, I think it'll be really neat to for people to see those, and I was stoked when we saw it, when we were looking at one before this and and I don't know what's going to come out first, this uh podcast or the video, but whichever one, it's all going to be cool.

Josh: 14:56

Yeah, go find the video yeah you know or be stay tuned in for the video, because they'll be pretty close together when they do come out. One of the things that I wanted to know is how does this album differ from your previous albums?

Mason: 15:15

Yeah, I kind of made an effort with this record from the beginning of the kind of inception of the songs to the production, everything like that to just be a little more honest with myself as an artist and think less about what the. It sounds contradictory because it's like, oh, I'm going to record an album that sounds less like what the is. It sounds contradictory because it's like, oh, I'm gonna record an album that sounds less like what the labels would want, maybe just like the right labels might want this record. You know, like, just, I want to just be more of a songwriter, more of a roots based I'm a country americana singer, songwriter and I'm gonna make a record that sounds like that and not try and chase something that's gonna like perk up up Nashville or go, you know, go in the wrong places. You know.

Mason: 15:54

I think for the first couple of records I was kind of trying to find who I was as an artist and now I a hundred percent know and that was my, that was my game plan through the beginning, through writing these songs.

Mason: 16:04

Each song on the record is just a song written by myself and one of my favorite songwriters that I enjoy writing with, and I like how it ended up like that. It's eight songs, two writers myself and someone else that is just a buddy of mine at this point and I have multiple different writers on that record, but it's very different. I think people can listen to the record and then listen to some of the stuff I put out before that and see how different it is, listen to how different the vibes are from this record versus the others, and it's definitely more of a me record and I'm excited to stay in this lane of of who I am as an artist because now, like I said, I know who I am as an artist. When you start young, like I did, it sometimes takes a little while and takes a little grow growth before you can really flesh that out.

Josh: 16:47

you know well, and it's as a person even too yeah art is a reflection of who you are, I feel like, and a lot's changed, uh, in my life too.

Mason: 16:54

Being a dad and married, yeah, between the second record, the salt title one, and this one burn the ground. Um, a lot happened in my life. So you can't you get to like really kind of look at a big picture viewpoint of who you are, not only as an artist but as a person, just be like I'm just going to do what I want to do. I'm more confident in who I am. So just because of I've got all this other great stuff going on in my life, it makes me more confident as a person. It's going to make me more confident as an artist, you know.

Josh: 17:23

Yeah, and I think people definitely if they. If you haven't listened to the album yet, it freaking stunning album. Thank, you man appreciate it there are some songs on that album that just get stuck in my head thanks, man. The title song yeah, I've burned the ground that's been stuck in my head for for a year like yeah, well, you're one of the first to hear it yeah, I love it every time and we played it on the on the bunkhouse yeah and we may, we may cut in, we may have to dig that up and put that out there somewhere at some point in time, cause that was really fun hearing it that way.

Josh: 17:55

Let's take a listen to that track right now.

Mason (Singing): 18:10

Might be time to cut some ties From what's trying to weigh me down. I've got to hold my head above the water Before I drown. I've been down and out too long. It's time I break free. They've been digging in the dirt but they won't bury me. They've been digging In the dirt but they won't bury me. I'll make sure there's nothing to run back to. Promise I won't leave the way I came. No, I'll burn the ground, believe me. Promise I won't leave the way I came. No, I'll burn the ground. Believe me, if I have to Set every bridge I've crossed up in flames. Guitar solo.

Mason (Singing): 19:16

Might be time to let you know Something's gotta change Outwards where you're standing. If you're standing in my way, you ain't gotta look too hard To see. I've had enough. I won't let him get the best of me the way it always does, but I'll make sure there's nothing to run back to. I promise I won't leave the way I came. No, I'll burn the ground beneath me. Promise I won't leave the way I came. I'll burn the ground beneath me if I have to Set every bridge I've crossed up in flames. Guitar solo. I'll make sure there's nothing to run back to. I promise I won't leave the way I came. I'll burn the ground, but leave me. If I had to Set every bridge, I've crossed up in flames, I'll burn the ground, but leave me here by hand soon. Set every bridge. I've crossed up in flames. Guitar solo oh.

Mason: 21:17

That's a great one. Wayside is another great one. That's been talked around about a lot. And when Do you Go? Songs like that, you know. I'm really proud of it and proud of the tunes on this record, for sure.

Josh: 21:28

You should be, so you mentioned some of the artists that you collaborated on this, so it's you and another writer on every song. How did those relationships come to be on this album?

Mason: 21:42

yeah, so a lot of them are guys I've written with before. Some of them were my only time that I've written with the artist. I started going up to nashville to write with people just solely to write, and thanks to my good buddies that have friends in high places, like wade bowen and a couple of folks that helped me never heard of that guy, yeah right helped me meet the right people and get in the right writing rooms and everything like that.

Mason: 22:06

I've gotten to write with some pretty incredible songwriters but like burn the ground. The title track is with a good buddy of mine who I've written a ton of songs with. His name is Ben Danaher. I wrote that song and wayside with Ben and I wrote love ain't done a damn thing from the last record with Ben too. So I really enjoy writing with him. If you you can't tell and we always end up getting good stuff that I'm like I'm gonna record this what does it look like when you write together?

Josh: 22:29

do you? You just go hang out in a space.

Mason: 22:33

It starts is very much just like a hang out. Yeah, it's like we're gonna go right, the accept or, I guess, the um. The goal is to not really force a song, like there's very much an expectation of like we might not get anything. You know, it's kind of like fishing. It's just like we're gonna go out have some fun, but instead it's in a writing room or it's in you know one of our places or whatever, and just mess around on the guitar and strum some stuff that we think sounds cool and see what comes out.

Mason: 23:00

You know, and I think there's a there's a strange click with who you're writing with. That sometimes you get it with co-writers, sometimes you don't, and with Ben it's always like, oh, that's really cool. When you have more of like that, oh, that's really cool moments of whether it's something that you're playing on the guitar or a line that you have or like a melody, it there's something about doing it with that right person that writes on writer and maybe the mood that you're in or whatever you know where you're at that something really, really cool can come from that. And then sometimes it's hours. Sometimes we write half the song and then we send each other voice memos and then later it gets fleshed out, you know. But each song has a, has a different process, for sure.

Josh: 23:41

So the the outdoors kind of a lot of times fuels creativity, at least for me.

Mason (Singing): 23:45

Yeah.

Josh: 23:45

That's where I go and I get creative. Is there any aspect of the time, because you spend time in the outdoors whenever you can. Is there any aspect of that creativity that's on this current album or on a previous album?

Mason: 24:00

Yeah, I mean a lot of going into the production. I think about, you know, being out here, Spoke Hollow, you got to put in the right mindset of like I don't know it's hard to explain without sounding corny and like the energy of places and everything like that, but it is. You know, for me specifically, I grew up in the outdoors and I grew up listening to music in the middle of the day and then in the early morning of that day or in the evening I was out with my grandpa and my dad and hunting and stuff like that. So I think music and hunting has a really cool like kind of correlation in my mind. And even if I'm writing a song or whatever, sometimes I'll just envision myself while I'm creating the song, like in the woods somewhere. You know it helps.

Mason: 24:40

I don't know how to explain it, but it does yeah and um, yeah, as far as getting to where I'm, you know more in the outdoors now it's harder being a musician and then having a family like that. It's few and far between, but when I do, it's always treasured, it's always very much cherished and it's always a moment in time where I can like really kind of not even just look at like my, my music or my art or my career, but like my life as a whole and and I mean I think I think that's why people like the outdoors you know you get to it does a zoom out on the lens of your life and you get to look at everything and you're somewhere quiet and somewhere where there's really an objective and a clear cut objective and that's really where your mind starts to put a bow on things.

Mason: 25:21

I feel like you know and it's cool to me, put a bow on things. I feel like you know, and it's cool to me.

Josh: 25:25

You touched on it balancing a schedule, you know, between family, career, spend the time outside, overlapping those things with family. Is there a spot that you love to be? That's kind of like when you're like man, when you think like, oh, I'm going to, I'm going to go outdoors Is there like a fishing spot or a hunting spot.

Mason: 25:47

Well, I love it out here. This is one of my. This is always no, no, shameless plug, but I love, love coming out here and just um, just BS with you guys and hunting out here. It's a whole lot of fun. Bird hunting season comes around. I look forward to and we'll go. We'll just go bass fishing. That was my last experience in the outdoors, which was a couple of weeks ago. I went out there and caught a couple of really nice bass, so that was fun and yeah, it was just another moment of like.

Mason: 26:20

I went out there with my buddy on the lake right before I had to go and play a show down on the coast like a Victoria area. So I'm like I'm just going to get up extra early. That's another thing. That's hard to do. You get up early knowing that you're going to be out late playing a show. You got to get get on the road and get your gear and everything later that night. But I'm going to get up early and just go fish because you know I want to and I want to get out of my not out of your system but like you do, you kind of have this feeling. You're like I haven't been outdoors in a while, I haven't gone fishing or hunting. I need to like have this moment. You know, and that was, that was really nice and so nice to where you start texting. You're like I would text my wife. I was like man, I went fishing this morning. It was great, it was well needed.

Josh: 26:59

Yeah, yeah, I mean that's it's always. You know. It's funny Cause when I go fishing it's pretty similar thing.

Mason: 27:06

Yeah, Like catch one thing or catch 10, you're still just like this is nice.

Josh: 27:14

Yeah, it's really nice. Your music, I feel like, really resonates with people in the hunting and fishing community.

Mason: 27:17

It's always really cool to see that, yeah.

Josh: 27:19

Have you noticed that and connected with any fans over the over the years?

Mason: 27:24

that yeah.

Josh: 27:25

Um, that you know are kind of from the hunt fish community.

Mason: 27:28

Yeah Well, I mean, I've had people like tag my song on Instagram and stuff like that. Or people use like a song or whatever in the background of a tick talk or whatever in there, you know tree stand or whatever you know, and that's always cool. You're like oh cool, it's somebody that likes to do what I do. That's also digging my music, you know. Yeah, rather, I don't write songs that are, you know, clearly about hunting but, yeah, it's cool to be.

Mason: 27:49

That's why I wanted to do this, because I had soundtracks to what I did growing up and I just want to be on the soundtrack to people's lives and whatever they're doing, whatever they enjoy doing, and if it's hunting and fishing, that's extra cool because I like doing that. Yeah, I like having songs on when when I do that, whether it's my earbuds- yeah, I'm fishing.

Josh: 28:07

I play a lot of music when I'm fishing yeah when I'm deer hunting not so much, and then when I'm up on hunting, not really, because when I did that last time people got really upset at me. Yeah, they were like we said don't shoot, but but I always play. It's always seems like in the camp. Yeah, always in the camp. Yeah, there's always music playing it always seems like in the camp. Yeah, always in the camp.

Mason: 28:25

Yeah. There's always music playing, it's the buffers. It's like before or after you're out On the ride out You're with your buddies. You're not going to not show them this new artist you've been listening to, or whatever. That's part of the fun. Yeah, it's funny it seems like that too that there's always, every year particularly when we go to west texas, which you need to come to west texas this year. I know, dude, that sounds fun, we should. After this, and what do y'all do? What we all hunt out there?

Josh: 28:51

blue quail, blue quail, it's just blue quail. Big country, beautiful. You know the southernmost tip of the rocky mountains? Yeah, you know where the appalachian mountains collided with the rockies yeah, the. The swirling you know, just collision of old and new mountain ranges. That's cool, and being out there is just you're in the middle of nowhere.

Mason: 29:14

Yeah.

Josh: 29:15

It's like there's. It is nowhere out there Middle of nowhere like South of marathon, and so it's blue quail, but you should come out for sure. We need to set this, uh, set aside some time and just make that happen.

Mason: 29:27

Let's do it, I would really dig it.

Josh: 29:30

Are you in the studio again? Can we talk about?

Mason: 29:32

that I'm going in a second week of October for a few days. Yeah, I mean we can talk about it, cause I'm kind of going in blind. There's really this, and that was another thing, another goal that I set for myself, uh, when I'm recording music. Next, I've literally only have maybe three or four songs that I think are good that I want to record, but I'm just going to take a couple in. Luckily, I'm in a studio here in Austin. There's plenty of high class, perfect, amazing studios that you can go and record something in in Austin. So go right up the road Um, it's with a buddy of mine that has a great studio and I'm just going to record a couple of songs with them and the band that they have there and just to see what comes out. Something really cool comes out. Then might release it, just kind of. I like the no, really no plan aspect of it, and I think that's what I'm going to lean into next.

Josh: 30:19

Are you going to add more songs to it, but try to add. Do you have a goal of adding more to it at all before and will you? Will those be collaborative with?

Mason: 30:28

other artists. I'd like to, yeah, I'd like to do a more collaborative thing. Um, yeah, I, I have like a base, three or four songs that I want to record, um, and then if I put them out as singles first and then eventually record more and then do a whole record and put out a record, then that's what we'll do. Luckily, it's a we're at a time in music now to where you can not really like have all that planned and a year in advance, you know, you can just kind of go with the flow with with how you do that stuff. But I'd love to collab with artists, because I haven't really done that and it'd be cool to explore that it's been a year, like I said, since we've sat down and recorded a podcast together on the road.

Josh: 31:08

Relative to music, is there anything that stands out? Because you've toured, I've been watching you played a lot of different places.

Mason: 31:14

Yeah, we've just been playing a lot. We've gotten into like Kansas and Tennessee, more just different states, which has been really cool, opening up for big artists like Wyatt Flores and know Pat Green and guys like that, and it's just always a blast to keep getting your name out there and just hit the road and get better as a band how was that opening?

Josh: 31:32

because I know a lot of people are going to want to know, like, how was it opening for Pat Green? How was it playing with Pat?

Mason: 31:37

with Pat. Oh, I've been opening for Pat for a little while now, wherever I can. It's always fun. It's always a trip when people are every person in the crowd sing along to wave on, wave at the end of the show and he'll pull me up and I'll sing like the second verse with him and stuff too. It's always a lot of fun.

Josh: 31:51

That's cool. Yeah, it's got to be a lot of energy, a good energy. Pat Green shows are always a lot of fun.

Mason: 31:56

Oh yeah, yeah, he puts on a fun show for sure yeah, he does so.

Josh: 32:00

We talked about how the outdoors are important to you. You know how you can't even reflect on them when you're writing music. If you had just some advice to your fans about being in the outdoors pursuing their passion, how to balance because you do a good job of balancing now being a dad, being a husband, being a career musician and then also getting that time outside what advice would you give to fans on how to make that happen for themselves?

Mason: 32:30

uh, yeah, I just do it and set it and set that calendar uh, in advance, because it's gonna be hard to. It's hard to do things on the fly. That's what I miss a lot is just doing things like as soon as you want to, you're like, all right, I'm just gonna go and, you know, play, or I'm gonna go and just have fun with the guys and go hunting and fishing and stuff like that. You gotta really make an attempt to to plan things out, and that's been the most challenging thing for me, but it's uh, it's rewarding at the same time. It makes it that much more rewarding when you get to go and whether it's going on the outdoor excursion or even just, you know, planning a date with your wife or it could be anything just make things happen and schedule things yeah, make it a priority get it on the yeah, priorities are important, for sure there's always kind of like that, like oh, man

Josh: 33:20

I can't do that, but I think you're right.

Mason: 33:22

it's like get it on the books and just yeah, Try not to find excuses as to why you can't do that. You know yeah.

Josh: 33:30

Mason thanks for being in this caboose Dude absolutely Love the caboose. This is a lot of fun. We've got stuff on the books we're going to be hunting. September 1st opening day.

Mason: 33:42

Oh yeah, going to be back playing in the night, hopefully not too hot.

Josh: 33:47

I don't know. Hopefully it'll cool down, hopefully it won't rain. Man, somebody would just murder me if they heard me say that Hopefully it won't. If it rains, I won't complain.

Mason: 33:57

Well, you don't have any control of it at the same time. No control of that, but I'll see you in the field, man, yeah, man, it's gonna be fun cheers.

Josh: 34:06

And that wraps up another episode of the bunkhouse podcast. We've covered a lot of ground today, from the rich history of dove hunting to the origins of bird hunters. Our thanks go out to mason lively for joining us. Whether you're a hunter or music lover, or just someone who appreciates a good tale, we hope you found something to take away from today's show.

Josh: 34:29

Until next time, keep your boots dirty and your spirit wild.