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Before Lit had a hit, they had a Cadillac running on fumes and a steady diet of Del Taco.

Michael & Paul hang with Ajay Popoff of Lit and gets into the stuff you don’t always hear — the years of getting passed on, almost running out of gas (literally), and how My Own Worst Enemy ended up becoming one of those songs that still shuts a bar down 25+ years later.

They also talk about how different the game is now,
from chasing radio adds to just putting music out and why chart spots still matter more than people admit.

Ajay teases new Lit music too, including “Anybody Have a Light,” and why they’re done waiting around for the “perfect” moment.

Recorded at The Atomic Inn

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We brought in two of our guys for a real fun show: Lil’Skinny (if you’ve been in Nashville longer than 10 minutes, he probably knows your cousin) and Grayson Russell — yes, the redheaded kid from Talladega Nights. And somehow, this turns into stories about John Daly, CMA Fest, getting dropped into wild situations with no warning, and how Nashville works when you’re new in town and just willing to meet people.

But it’s not all jokes — Grayson talks about the acting road, faith, and what it was like being protected as a kid in Hollywood. Skinny talks about learning life the hard way, why the simple stuff matters, and how the best memories usually aren’t the flashy ones.

If you want an episode that feels like you’re sitting at the table with us… this is it.

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Drew Baldridge came up in the music industry the hard way.

Michael & Paul sit down with Drew and talk about the early grind. Tour vans, playing anywhere that would have him and what happened when Drew lost his record deal right before the world shut down.

Instead of quitting, he started playing graduations during COVID, then built a backyard tour by DM’ing fans, cold-calling schools, and routing shows himself. Hundreds of backyards later, he had rebuilt his fanbase from the ground up.

Drew also tells the real story behind She’s Somebody’s Daughter — how it went viral, still got turned down by Nashville, and why he decided to hire his own radio team and push the song independently, eventually taking it to #1.

They get into the pressure of betting on yourself, starting a family while everything’s uncertain, and what it actually takes to keep going when there’s no safety net.

Just a real conversation about not quitting everyone needs to hear.

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https://drewbaldridgemusic.com/

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