This week, the Dads sit down with Manitoba's own Sean Burns. He’s a sideman, a frontman and a radio man -- and he’s your new best friend. Sean has been playing bass and touring with one of Canada’s best underground country stars, Corb Lund, for years. He makes time for his own solo career as a songwriter and purveyor of classic country sounds as the frontman of Sean Burns and The Lost Country. And he’s also the evangelical lover of traditional real country music and as the host of the Boots & Saddle Show, your humble home of honky-tonk and beautiful country music by beautiful country music singers, he shares his takes on what make great country music every Tuesday on CKUW 95.9 FM in Winnipeg, and then on podcast services around the globe.

Throughout the show, they discuss the balancing act of being a touring musician with a deep passion for the music and being an engaged father to a young daughter. For Sean, it’s all about how the two worlds influence one another and finding the right balance as he navigates his life with his wife and kiddo.

2:01 -- Sean Burn’s country music origin story.

6:14 -- Dave asks Sean a very easy question: What is the best country music album of all time? He has his opinions, and then he gets into how to define country music -- what is and what isn’t country. It’s not as divisive as you might think.

9:24 -- The planning process for the Boots and Saddle Show.

13:30 -- The Canadian Music Rules and how Sean breaks the laws -- because he’s an outlaw! But he has great reasons for it. And then Sean goes deep into the history and Canadian infrastructure of country music through the 20th Century.

21:07 -- Balancing the road and the home life: Sean loves being a road warrior and “dadding up,” but it’s a hard balance.

25:33 -- How all the different creative pursuits provide different fulfillment to Sean that makes him a better and more complete person, which in the end makes him a better dad too.

30:00 -- Sean is a true critic and delivers truth without being a jackass. It’s not an easy process but the key is to be honest and keep it about the music, not the people. In the end, it is about what he wants. He also has some strong words about 90s country and the people making it.

36:01 -- The clear divide between the road and the home comes down to the responsibilities we all have. But the road and the music influence the home life, which exposes the little one to a bit of the road. And that brings the kiddo into the music life -- and gets to meet some weirdos. Driven and independent folks, but weirdos all the same!

41:24 -- The Dad Life Sound Check -- Sean and the Dads share their songs of the moment.

Thank you for listening. The best way to support us is to subscribe to the show on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or whatever podcast platform you use. If you want to see new episodes and more content delivered straight to your email inbox, please subscribe to our newsletter: countrymusicdads.substack.com. You can find everything we do on our website: countrymusicdads.com. And we’d love to hear what you think, so send us comments, suggestions, friendly banter on Instagram @countrymusicdads, or via email countrymusicdads@gmail.com.

• The Boots and Saddle Show
• Don Stickle aka

... or how I traveled with kids on summer break, and all I got was this grape snow cone. This week, the Dads talk about the season of family vacations. While these trips are a tremendous amount of work, all the research and our lasting memories suggest that, although these journeys aren’t exactly vacations, the family trip is incredibly valuable to the family unit.

This episode explores some of the research — both academic and anecdotal — that supports our theory that these trips are great for families (if only in the long term), as well as some of the great country songs that can help us through the grind of the summer family vacation or family trip.

01:08: How do we define the family trip vs. a vacation? Well, Google and the all-powerful AI summary help us out by delivering a clear and concise explanation.

02:08: Benefits of a Family Trip: While it’s exhausting, research seems to back the idea of taking a family trip. It keeps our family talking, helps our kids learn and enhances the bond between partners, no matter what was said when the directions were not followed exactly.

03:58: The Brutality of Traveling With Children: As a Stay-at-Home-Dad and “Default Parent,” Dave feels that family trips are often like business trips. So it’s just parenting on the road as you deal with the “brutality of traveling with children.”

06:28: Content Warning: The first mention of vomit.

08:33: Content Warning: The second mention of vomit.

9:39: Content Warning: The third mention of vomit.

11:35: Family Team-Building on the Family Trip: The idea of working together as a family during these trips helps the family grow together -- working as a team makes you a better family.

12:46: Dave’s Notorious Family Trip to Sequoia National Park and the Fisher Price Toy Lantern.

14:50: What is the best place to stay during a family trip? The rental house vs the hotel seems to be the debate. While the space and privacy seem to win out, the breakfast buffet is a huge plus.

20:40: Do Family Trips Need to Be Educational? Research suggests that educational trips make kids smarter, but do trips need to be explicitly educational for kids to extract value from the trip? The Dads touch on how just changing it up a bit, doing things you want to do and working through the difficulties on the road provides the real educational value — and how Dad Stories (read: lies about things on the side of the road) are critical.

27:32: Content Warning: The fourth mention of vomit.

29:50: Conquering the Family Trip: The Dads discuss packing, planning spreadsheets, and other key tactics.

32:19: Content Warning: The fifth mention of vomit, and this one is intense.

33:14: Giving our Kids a 90s Summer: Is this possible? Should it be?

40:27: The Songs of the Summer: The Dads debate the greatest country music for the summer. As well as a few songs for cleaning up vomit.

51:17: Change My Mind: Donnie attempts to change Dave’s mind about using profanity in front of the kids. It’s a great f**ing conversation.

Thank you for listening. The best way to support us is to subscribe to the show on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or whatever podcast platform you use. If you want to see new episodes and more content delivered straight to your email inbox, please subscribe to our newsletter: countrymusicdads.substack.com. You can find everything we do on our website:

Our guests this episode are The Doohickeys, a comedic country music duo who are on the rise in the Americana and country music worlds. Haley and Jack join The Dads to talk about their journey from house parties and open mic nights in LA to playing the Ryman Auditorium and releasing their debut album, All Hat No Cattle. We talk about their creative process, the current state of independent country music, and about how Jack was once starstruck by Jon Pardi.

We also talk about Dad Jokes: the definition, their proper use, and their pun-filled overlap with country music. This pair is hilarious and we hope you enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at their unique brand of comedy and music.

03:31: Creative Process for a Comedic Country Duo: Haley and Jack like to start with a clever premise. And even if they don't think Too Ugly to Hitchhike is the smartest song they've written, plenty of fans thinks so.

05:29: The Doohickeys Origin Story: The Doohickeys were born at an LA Halloween party and raised on a shared love of "good" country music and an original plan to make sketch comedy YouTube videos.

10:13: More Background on Creating Comedy Songs and Their Comedy Influences: Haley and Jack share the story behind Rein it in Cowboy. And they cover their main influences like Minnie Pearl, the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, and their very funny parents and grandparents.

14:54: The Doohickeys Play The Ryman: The duo share their thoughts on playing The Mother Church of Country Music and pooping in the same toilet as Hank Williams.

16:58: Making a Point vs Making It Funny: Jack shares some wisdom from Phil Rosenthal (showrunner for Everybody Loves Raymond) about the power of clarity in comedy to get laughs and to get your point across. They also comment on the balance that serious artists walk when trying to be funny, and that funny artists walk when trying to be serious.

21:33: The Doohickeys Get Serious: Jack and Haley give their commentary on the state of popular country music and the entertainment industry at-large, the uphill battle independent artists face, and their love/hate relationship with Spotify.

27:54: Please Tell Me You're Sleepin' is Not Safe for the Family: Dave shares how he accidentally played one of The Doohickeys' more risque songs on a family road trip, and Haley shares how they were banned from a radio station for that same song.

30:38: The Definition of a Dad Joke: The Doohickeys weigh in on Dave and Donnie's favorite comedy genre. Jack uses the poor pun in Tequila Little Time to share his true feelings about Jon Pardi.

38:20: The Dad Joke Laugh Off: The Dads and The Doohickeys go head to head with their best dad jokes in an effort to get a laugh (or at least a cringe).

• Saving Country Music review
• American Songwriter interview
• The Tiny Desk contest
• Minnie Pearl
• Ray Stevens
• Phil Rosenthal's