Brent Jones
Big Changes From Small Habits, Sturgill Simpson, and Rediscovering Your Identity (Ep. 118)
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Intro
In this episode, Zach talks with Brent Jones, host of The Music Burrito podcast, and owner of Jones Mulch Service in Minnesota. They discuss the allure of Amy Winehouse, how songwriting has changed due to social media and the way music breaks down cultural barriers in a positive way. Brent also shares the origin of The Music Burrito and how he learned at age 25 that he had over 30 half-siblings. Other topics include how to start your own business, the brilliance of Sturgill Simpson and why an Applebees in Virginia becomes a twerk-fest at night.
Key Takeaways
Music Breaks Down Barriers We Don’t Even Know Are There
When you broaden your horizons, you discover something about yourself
(3:42) “Some of the bands that we do we’re big fans of and those are the best episodes for us, obviously. But then there’s other bands that we like to challenge ourselves with.” - Brent
(3:58) “We’re comfortable talking about any band or artist regardless of if I’ve been a fan of them for 10 years, or if I just discovered them 2 years ago.” - Brent
Great music is a transcendent
(4:13) On Amy Winehouse- “She seems like such an old soul because for whatever reason I assumed that she was not alive as recently as she was. I had no idea she was releasing music in the mid-late 2000’s up until she died.” - Zach
Art is equal parts beauty and destruction
(5:49) On Amy Winehouse- “It’s insane to see the paparazzi that would surround her daily. How do you deal with that? How do you get away from that? And it’s no surprise that her fate ended up being what it was. She just pretty much self-destructed.” – Brent
(6:03) On Amy Winehouse- “No one had her back.”- Zach
The Listening Experience Changes with the Times
Streaming has devalued the album experience
(8:09) “It used to seem so intimidating to listen to a full album. It doesn’t really take that long.” - Brent
(8:18) “That’s how they intended for it to be listened, in a sequence. It’s got ebbs and flows to it. A lot of them tell a story.”- Brent
Music is now written with ‘social media’ in mind
(8:28) “People have the attention spans because people listen to podcasts for an hour, two hours, three hours at a time. But I think the way the music industry is, songs are definitely getting shorter.”- Zach
Transformation is an inevitable, positive force that drives our lives
(9:38) “It’s evolving. Music, that’s what it does. It doesn’t stop.”- Brent
Success is Pursuing Your Passion While Meeting a Need
Podcasting is an area of exponential growth
(10:33) “You can think on one hand that ‘oh, there’s a podcast for everything right now. It’s so oversaturated.’ But at the same time, it’s like, ‘there are still a lot of people who don’t listen to podcasts yet that probably will in the future because it kicks ass.”- Brent
It’s important to find your niche
(11:31) “Music was like the one thing that I think we have a special take on and we’re good at talking about and would enjoy talking about.” - Brent
(16:28) “If my job could somehow be in the future talking about music, that would be the best thing in the world to me. Even if the chances of that happening are very low, I’m like, whatever. That’s what I’m going to go for.” - Brent
The best ideas consider longevity
(12:43) “If it’s a good show that people like, we’ll find a fucking way to make it happen.” - Brent
(15:00) “The most important thing for me has been just keeping myself interested.”- Zach
Setbacks often lead to opportunity
(21:14) “If we broke our podcast up into segments and put them in a playlist with the songs in between, it was totally legal.”- Brent
True Appreciation of Music Goes Beyond Simple Enjoyment
Proper equipment is essential
(17:41) “Since I’ve been able to listen on some nice headphones, it just allows you to completely absorb the music and let it take you over.”- Brent
Music brings people together
(17:50) “I love hanging around people that I can have my full 3,000 song library on shuffle and whatever comes on, people are going to be fine with it.” - Brent
(19:31) “The way I see it, the more types of music, the more different bands I’m into and that I know about, that’s better for me because it’s more people that I can go out and have great interactions with.”- Brent
(19:43) “You can hang out with people that don’t even speak your language and you can throw on songs.”- Zach
There is a perfect song for every moment
You can’t replace the live experience
(25:59) “If you see a band live, and then go back and listen to their albums afterwards, or their top songs, it’s a lot of the time a totally different experience.”- Brent
Sturgill Simpson is an Underrated Genius
His groundbreaking Netflix film ‘Sound & Fury’ pushes the boundaries of the traditional album
(27:50) “What kind of fucking world does this guy see when he closes his eyes?”- Zach
Constant reinvention inspires creative quality
(30:00) On radio country- “Sturgill is not going to play their game, or whatever it is that they do and he was just going to do his own thing. I don’t think he’s a guy who likes to be controlled.” - Brent
Simpson’s work directly inspired The Music Burrito podcast
(31:51) “I’ve always felt like something older that I haven’t heard before is just as new to me as something new that I haven’t heard before. I didn’t realize there was as much good new music as there is.”- Brent
Experiencing Life through the Lens of Other Cultures
Traveling can broaden your horizons
(35:54) “Everything is just a different pace here. It’s more about the hustle. You know, everyone is trying to constantly make something of themselves. It’s really hard to value yourself out of work.”- Zach
(37:23) “Obviously, there’s things that they’re doing better over there and there’s things that we do better here in America. But just by going and seeing these other places and experiencing it you can pick up on little bits. Like, ‘oh, they do this. This makes way more sense. I’m going to start doing things that way.’ And you can learn a lot from it.” – Brent
Food carries a different meaning in other countries
(38:05) “Saying that you were full was meaningless because you’d get food on your plate anyway which was great.” – Zach
(39:36) “Everyone in Italy, and I think largely in Europe, they just can’t believe how many overweight people there are in America. Just how normal it is.”- Brent
(40:30) “We have more people who die from obesity now than starvation in America.”- Zach
Americans should be grateful of the opportunities they have
The Best Employment is Self-Employment
A work ethic always translates to success
(46:56) “If I’m hired to do something, I’m going to do a good job at it.” - Brent
(45:53) “It’s pretty simple. Just do a good job, have good communication and the business will keep coming.” - Brent
The biggest mistake in business is not taking the first step
Flexibility outweighs the burden of responsibility
(47:44) “If I’m going to be dating a girl from Italy, there’s going to have to be a fair amount of back and forth. I’m not going to be able to have a city job where I get 2 or 3 weeks off per year or whatever. It’s just not going to work.”- Brent
(54:50) “What I really love about having my own business is that the harder I work, the more efficient I am, the better I improve my systems and operations, the more money I make and the more free time I have.”- Brent
You’ll find satisfaction you can’t find anywhere else
(52:44) “It’s a rush the first time someone offers you money to do something directly when you’re not working for another company that’s taking money off the top.”- Zach
(54:33) “If you just have like a typical 9-5 job, I don’t know how you don’t have some kind of side thing. Like some kind of hope for a way out.” - Brent
Discovering Your Dad at 25 is a Bit Disorienting
The culture around nontraditional parentage has changed
(58:02) “They said that back then they didn’t really tell you how to handle that. Like it was almost encouraged to just keep it hush hush. Who knows? Because of church and stuff too or whatever. Nowadays, I guess they’re more encouraged to tell kids as early as they can.”- Brent
A single truth can change your perspective on everything
(58:17) “It was really tough for a while after that because it’s like you just kind of replay your whole life through this new lens. Everything you thought you knew about your identity, like how you were born and who you are, it’s like, you just have to reconsider everything.” - Brent
(59:24) “He was just a college kid getting some beer money probably. It’s just crazy to think that that’s how I was actually made.” - Brent
(1:00:31) “You thought something was one way for 25 years and then it wasn’t. What’s to say that the life I pictured for myself, why does that have to be a certain way? Why not just say ‘fuck it’ and go for it?” – Zach
Brent has over 30 half-siblings from a man he’s never met
(59:08) “He was cranking it out. Back in the day, he was doing his side hustle trying to start his own business.” - Zach
Knowing who you are leads to who you become
(1:01:56) “Come on, a person’s got to know who they are. You’re growing up and you’re trying to figure out who you are and what you’re supposed to do in this world and you don’t even know the most basic fact about who you are and why you’re here?” - Brent
Taking Control of Your Life One Step at a Time
Meditation improves your internal and external awareness
(1:09:24) “They say everyone that goes when I read reviews, it’s like, the hardest thing you’ve ever done, but at the same time the most rewarding. Which, I’m sure that’s the case.” – Brent
(1:10:09) “It sounded like even if you don’t learn something about yourself that’s new if you go on a silent meditation retreat, a truth that you already know will become deeper.” - Zach
(1:10:48) “I mean, you sit there for 10 days. Some weird shit’s going to happen in your brain.” - Brent
Cold showers promote focus and productivity
(1:12:45) “Every day with the cold shower, it’s never easy. Every time you’re trying to talk yourself out of it. It’s just something you’ve got to fucking do. But then you do it, you feel better and everything else for the rest of the day is so much easier.” - Brent
Small habits can create big change
(1:16:12) “If you’re trying to enforce a good habit, you make to make it as attractive to yourself as possible.”- Zach
(1:16:47) “If you know it’s good for you, you know you have an incentive to do it. So, it’s personal for everyone to figure it out.” – Zach
(1:19:43) “Take care of yourself now, and you’ll be happier now and in the future.” - Brent
Pursuing Your Dreams is About Pursuing Yourself
People plus presentation builds a brand
(1:25:54) “We hope we can get people who they start to like our personalities so much that they’ll listen to other episodes that they wouldn’t have normally listened to and discover new bands.” – Brent
(1:26:56) “Personality is so important. Spotify didn’t pay Joe Rogan $100 million because of his expertise in podcasting even though he’s an expert at this point. It’s the personality that he communicates to his listeners.” - Zach
Zach’s baseball career led him to sold-out crowds, and a club-like Applebees
Nothing in life worth having is easy
(1:23:16) “Whenever you start something it always takes more work at the beginning to get in that rhythm. But now I’m definitely at the point where I want to consider ‘okay, what’s something I can do competitively whether it’s baseball, or jujitsu or just like something in my life?’” - Zach
(1:23:38) “Podcasting, it’s more like you’re competing with yourself. You’re trying to be better every time you do it, and you’re trying to improve. But there’s nothing like when you step on the mound in baseball where you’re just like ‘I’m going to own this motherfucker.’”- Zach
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