DAVE TROUT OF UTR MEDIA and WHITE OWL MUSIC FEST - Episode 360

This episode of Voices in My Head is brought to you by Podbean. With Podbean, you can create professional podcasts in minutes without any programming knowledge. Best of all, everything is mobile ready right from the start. Visit podbean.com/voices to find out more. That's podbean.com/voices. Welcome to Voices in My Head, the official podcast of me, Rick Lee James. I'm a recording artist, a singer, a songwriter, an author, a worship leader, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. The Voices in My Head podcast is where I discuss music, movies, books, pop culture, theology, and more with friends, colleagues, and sometimes just by myself. Now make sure to let me know what you think of today's episode by by leaving me a review on iTunes, or by tweeting at me @RickLeeJames on Twitter. And please join my mailing list at RickLeeJames.com where you can receive an email every time a new episode is released. And by the way, in case you're interested in a daily dose of kindness and encouragement beyond this podcast, I also run the Twitter account @MrRogersSay where I post daily quotes from Fred Rogers, one of the voices in my head. Well, I guess that's it for the intro, so sit back, relax, and listen into the latest episode of Voices in My Head. Hello friends, Rick Lee James here. I apologize that my voice is just barely hanging on, but I have been fighting the flu for about a week. I think I am becoming victorious over it, but still my voice is not quite where it should be. But I did want to start the show with, with two different things that I don't normally do. One, to let you know that I am running a Kickstarter for just a few more days on a music video for Love Enemies, one of my most popular songs so far from the album Thunder. And we're trying to raise $2,000, and I could use all the help that I can get. That money is going to go towards paying the video crew, paying for the rental spaces, hopefully buying some food the day of for all of the cast and the people that are in the music video. I'm really excited about it. I think we're gonna have a great time. And the best part is you— if you are listening today, you are invited to come be in the music video in Dayton, Ohio on March 28th. If you If you want to find out more details, just go to rickleejames.com. On the front page, you'll be able to find out more just by clicking on the Kickstarter link. It'll take you to our campaign. But we need all the help we can get, and even if you just visit the site, it helps us get more visibility. Now, the other thing I wanted to start this show with is Dave Trout of UTR Media is my guest today. And one time when I was calling him for this interview, I got his voicemail, and it's one of the coolest and funniest voicemails I've ever heard. So I hope he doesn't mind, but I'm going to play his voicemail for you as begin today. Thanks for listening to Voices in My Head.

Welcome to the world's number one game show, Dave Trout's Voicemail, presented by UTR Media. Siri, tell our contestant what they've won.

Welcome back to Voices in My Head. As always, I'm your host, Rick Lee James, and I'm so glad that you're here with us once again for this great podcast. Today we have a wonderful guest. He's back again, Dave Trout. Dave has been incredibly Christian radio in some form or fashion for over 20 years. He's worked for WETN FM in Wheaton, Illinois, WCFL FM in Morris, Illinois, Moody Radio, and Reframe Media. He started the Under the Radar radio show in 2008 while working at Reframe, and in 2014 that show became its own independent nonprofit ministry under Dave's oversight. In 2017, the organization underwent a creative relaunch and now produces a wider variety of media projects under new name, UTR Media. Besides well-crafted music, Dave loves pizza, watching Netflix and Hulu, Apple products, fishing, the Cubs, and driving 5 miles per hour over the speed limit. He recently moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee with his wife and 5 children, and I'm so glad to have a chance to have a visit with him again today. Dave Trout, welcome back to Voices in My Head.

Ah, yes, I love, I love being, uh, one of Rick's voices in your head. No, it's great to be here, Rick. Thanks for having me back.

You know, let's catch up a little bit first, just because there's been a lot of change in your life. I was looking back, and I think the last time you were on this program, it would have been back on Reformation Day, maybe a couple of years ago, because we were talking about if Christian music needed a reformation. And I think it was somewhere around October. Yeah, it would have been in October if it was Reformation Day. So it's been at least a couple of years since that time, and you've had a few life changes since then. I know we've hung out some at like the National Worship Leader Conference one year, and then we've done a couple of different events together since then, but I really haven't talked to you since your move from Chicago to Murfreesboro. So how's that all going?

That's going good. In fact, I can tell you it was that weekend at the National Worship Leader Conference, which was when we hung out, it was I think May of 2018, and you played at one one of the UTR showcase events that we did.

Yes.

And, um, it was, it was on that trip where I really started to feel, let's just call it sort of like a spiritual nudge to move to Tennessee and to move closer to Nashville. And, um, I, I— it was a very, um, interesting kind of palpable feeling that I had while on that trip. And I can't remember if I talked to you about it or not, but I remember literally talking to a couple people on, like, while it was still on that trip. And then I came home and immediately set down my suitcase and told my wife, honey, we need to go for a walk. I have something to tell you that's gonna sound crazy. And I told her about the desire to move to Nashville and just kind of how it came out of nowhere. And I felt it, felt it was very possibly kind of a spiritual leading. And, um, and sure enough, you know, we did that. That's what started the exploration process of moving. And, um, through, throughout the, that rest of 2018 and the first half of 2019, um, we just kept praying and, and seeking God for direction and, um, really kind of testing to see if it was— if we felt it was a spiritual leading. Um, and, and we did feel it was. So in, yeah, in some ways we— I mean, not in some ways, in major ways, yeah, we moved to Middle Tennessee, um, because we felt God leading us to do it and not because we had a real, real clear plan of how this is all going to play out, or, or we had like a job, you know, secure down here or something like that. It wasn't, it wasn't vocationally led or really anything other than us trying to just trying to be authentic pursuers of, of God. And, and we felt that this was the next step for our family.. And it's turned out to be a really great step. We have been super blessed. We didn't know exactly where we would land in the Nashville area. It just so happens that we landed in Murfreesboro.

Mm-hmm.

And we're really, really thankful we did. We love the area. We love the schools here. The community is fantastic. And it's also only about a half hour from Nashville, so we're able to stay in close contact with some of our dear friends that live down here and visit some of the great events that happen in the city. So it's really been a cool, you know, first 6 months here in Tennessee.

That's great. Well, it's interesting because one of my best friends in the world accepted a call to Murfreesboro, First Church of the Nazarene there about maybe a year before you guys moved there. So he's pretty new back to the area. And when I'm down in the area, sometimes he has me play at his church and I stay at his house. And I've always thought if I move back to Nashville area again, Murfreesboro would be a great spot just because you're not in the traffic of Nashville, but you're close enough that you can actually get there if you need to. And, and I really enjoyed the town that the couple of times that I visited there. So, but it's been fun to kind of watch your progress, and you've been a bit of a, of a hero to me in a lot of ways, even in the move, just because of your obedience. Because I remember somewhere hearing you tell the story story of all the houses that you had looked at when you were down there. And you know, it's interesting because sometimes we do sense that God is leading us somewhere and we just expect, well, everything's going to be easy and every door is going to open. And, and you guys really had a, a strong feeling God was leading, but you were having a hard time, it seemed like. And I think you even took an extra day more to look at houses, if memory serves, uh, while you were down there. And, and then when you finally did find the place, it was kind of like— I think you and your wife both felt, oh yeah, this is it, this is why we had come down here, if memory serves. So that's even a cool story too. And it's a hard thing to, um, you know, in some ways kind of like Abraham, step out and go, all right God, I'll go, but, but where exactly?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's, it's really, it's really good for, um, I, I mean, for your listeners to know that that, um, if you are authentically pursuing your dreams and even following what you feel to be a spiritual calling, um, there will be many, many, many times, at least in— and as this is true in, in my life and true in my wife's life, that there's been many times that we have said, have we made a mistake? Um, this doesn't make sense right now. Um, this isn't going the way we thought it would. Those are common feelings, and, um, and in some ways we do have to find the strength to persevere through those moments because there have been even, even after moving, there were times where we were like, have we made a mistake? You know, did we hear correctly? Um, did we follow correctly? And those doubts and those questions will always linger, but I think I think it's good, it's, it's okay to have those feelings. It's— and you're exactly right that it doesn't always go smooth sailing, even for people who are trying to follow God. It, it isn't always smooth, and sometimes God wants us to experience that roughness because it builds trust, it builds character, it builds perseverance. And so I think that there is a good that flows through the hardship, that it's worth still pursuing it. Yeah.

Well, and it makes me think a little bit of our mutual friends Wild Harbors, and they have that song "Monument," which is kind of about making a monument to remind us that God did lead us here for the days when we have trouble seeing it. True. Yeah. Kind of live that out in a lot of ways. And, and there's some new things, which the reason that I have you on the show today is we're going to talk about another new endeavor that I think you really feel kind of God has been leading you into, and it's a big deal. And, and that's the making of a new music festival down in Tennessee. And that sounds like just an awful lot of work and a huge undertaking. And I know a little bit about it because I've been in sort of a chat group where we've been brainstorming ideas for the Festival. But let's talk a little bit about this. What is kind of going on in your heart and in your mind that is inspiring this new— I'm going to let you give the name. I won't give it away. But this new festival that you're working on right now.

Yeah. I mean, everybody loves— not everybody, but a lot of people love music festivals. They're great. They're fun They're the fun gatherings, um, and there's all different styles of them. There's, you know, pop music and rock music and jazz and folk festivals, and, and of course there's a lot of Christian music festivals across the country. And so, uh, so yeah, it's kind of fun that we are starting a brand new one, um, that's never been— never happened before. So, um, I'll tell you the name first that we just came up with, uh, earlier this month. It's going to be called The White Owl Music Fest, and it's going to happen in the Murfreesboro/Nashville area on Memorial Weekend, and we're so excited. It's been so fun bringing it all together, and thank you, Rick Lee James, for being a part of our— we've had a discussion group kind of coming up with ideas. We've had Yeah, just, we've been asking artists, you know, to get on board. We've been asking sponsors to get on board. It's been kind of a cool—

it's been fun—

first few weeks here of really, really getting this thing launched.

Yeah, it's been, it's been neat to be a part of this, the chat conversations about that and trying to come up with a good name. And, you know, the thoughtfulness that goes into naming a festival, for one thing, you know, there was a lot of fun and joking and different things. And Carmen even came up a couple times, which was kind of funny.

Of course.

But when everybody—

Why shouldn't he?

Why shouldn't he? Of course. The Addicted to Jesus Festival or whatever. But you know what? When everybody kind of settled in, and I think you kind of ultimately made the executive decision after lots of discussion on the White Owl Music Fest, I think it just kind of felt right to everybody too. Um, and maybe tell us, tell us a little bit about the White Owl and kind of the name behind this festival and, and why you really felt like that was going to be something that captured the spirit of what you wanted to do with this one.

Yeah, yeah, I, I— one of the things that I love about the name is, um, it sort of bridges these two worlds to me, one being a little bit more earthy, like like when you think of farms and barns, you know, an owl is not that far out of the equation. Like, you often would see an owl at a farm. And I should mention that this festival is going to be happening at a farm and inside of a barn venue. So that's one of the sort of images we wanted to project. But also, I love the, the more kind of mythical and literary, um, concept of the white owl as well. Um, there's a, there's a lot of sort of legend and mythical writings that, that talk about the white owl as, as this creature of, um, that, that empowers others into imagination, as well as is a, a unity a unifying creature that, that, that brings other woodland creatures together. And, and as I thought about the event, I thought that's really something that we're after, is we want to inspire people, want people to, to unlock imagination and creativity. We want people to feel spiritually enriched and encouraged and, and gather together to to be unified under that banner of God's love and under the banner of great faith-inspired music.

Yeah, that's terrific. Well, talk to us just a bit about kind of where this came from, because for a few years, for 6 years in a row, you actually did another sort of festival that was Escape to the Lake. And I mean, you just name a few of the artists just off the top of your head that you had at Escape to the lake over the years?

Well, yeah, the first one that comes to mind is Rick Lee James, of course.

But there are way better ones. So just, you know, let's go.

I don't know about that, but yeah, we've had, um, Ginny Owens, Sarah Groves, Burlap to Cashmere, Shell, Jenny and Tyler, uh, the Grey Havens, Randall Goodgame, Krista Wells, um, and, and I mean, really, I'm leaving out a bunch, uh, But there's just been— it's been an extravagance of riches in terms of the artists that we've had at that summer gathering. And in many ways, we sort of didn't necessarily plan on that going away, but we just sort of hit roadblock after roadblock and dead end after dead end. And we actually didn't do it at all last year, partly because of our move to Tennessee, but partly because we were just hitting so many dead ends even back then. And then we tried to even revive it again for summer 2020, and, and more dead ends and more difficulty. And, and of course, I, I think that you would agree with me that that a red light or, or a dead end isn't always, um, it isn't always God saying no, or it isn't always us, you know, being faced with discouragement. But oftentimes God uses those closed doors to just guide us and have us shift a little bit. And, and so I feel like this new event that we're putting on is a bit of a shift, and we're just, we we're turning away from the red lights and trying another avenue and in some ways using a lot of our experience to focus on certain aspects of this event to kind of create— I don't know, like I've been telling people it's almost like Escape to the Lake 2.0. We're trimming away some of the excess weight of that event that didn't always had a difficult time with or always felt a little bulky on, and then we're trying to amplify the things that we think we do well. So it gives us a kind of a clean slate in a way.

Yeah. Well, you had told me a little bit before about this place where the festival is going to be held at, and there are a couple of barns actually that you said have been turned into really concert venue spaces or for event spaces, and they'll do weddings and they'll do concerts and all all kinds of things, and it's connected with a church that's there in the area. And you kind of happened upon it when you were looking for different places to go, and it just felt like this was the place. And, and again, you had been looking, uh, feeling a tug on your heart to, to start another festival like this, um, and yet it wasn't until you kind of found this place, uh, at a church one Sunday— and it didn't ultimately become your church home but it just seemed like that was the right spot to do a festival like this. What are some of the benefits of, of meeting in a place like this? Like, what are some of the things that you saw about this venue and you thought, yeah, this is the place?

Yeah, actually, even before we've— we looked at any houses in Murfreesboro or anything like that, um, this is last summer when we were house hunting. Uh, we actually have a friend that lives in the town here, and, and they gave us a tour of of— they kind of drove us around Murfreesboro showing us around. And, um, and they drove us past this place. It's this farm called The Grove, and they were just talking about it, just, just, you know, being able to see the outside of it. And they said, oh, they, they do so many cool things there. They host some of the school proms, and, uh, there's concerts and weddings. And, and I was just like, that's so cool that not every town has a neat space like that. And so I mean, that was on my radar before we even moved here. And then, like you said, I visited that church, which happened to— that was the first week they were meeting at that place, The Grove. And so just being able to experience a gathering inside the barn and listening to them doing the worship music, it was definitely inspiring, I will tell you. I mean, There's something within me, there's something about seeing the venue that inspires the ideas. That's one of the reasons why Escape to the Lake was having trouble the last couple of years of getting, kind of keeping the momentum going is we had to switch venues again and without having a venue in my head and just sort of knowing that knowing where we would land, I felt really uninspired. And so that Sunday at that church gathering, I left feeling very inspired, not necessarily to do a whole festival, but I just felt, "Oh, I'd love to do an event here. This is an amazing space, and I feel like the music that we promote would be perfect for this kind of space." And kind of just left, left it at that for, for a little, for a few weeks at least, just thinking we'd do kind of a one-night event. Um, but when we realized Escape to the Lake probably wasn't going to happen in 2020, I started— this was in December, so just a few months ago— started allowing that initial idea of a concert at this barn to grow. And I started to think, well, what if it was like an all-day festival? And what if we built a little weekend experience around that, that day where, you know, folks who maybe used to come to Escape to the Lake or who just want to meet other music lovers and hang out for a weekend in the Nashville area, what if we kind of built something for them to come? And of course, that, that one day of concerts would be sort of the centerpiece, but we could build some other, other things around that. So that's all of a sudden all of a sudden, the ideas started flowing and then just a few weeks later started contacting artists to get them on board. We rented, put down the deposit to rent out the Grove and then just within just a few weeks, sponsors have been saying yes, artists have been saying yes and things have come together just just super quickly. It's really been a team effort to put together all the details, the website, the logo, even help with sponsorships and things like that. Everyone is— there's just a whole team of people that have been interested to get involved with something new, which has been so, so fun, which is really, really why we want to do it. We just want to have fun and You know, honor God with our gifts, but, but it's like, man, we can, we can apply those gifts into the wrong place and that's no fun. But yeah, but when, but when you see, when you see your gifts being used kind of in the way that they're intended to be used, it's, it's a lot of fun. And that's kind of what we're after.

Well, that's terrific. I'm so excited about the event. And I wonder if now would be a good time to talk about some of the great artists that you know for sure that have confirmed to be there with you.

Yeah, absolutely. I'd love that. Um, so, uh, somebody that you talked to recently, Joy Ike, is coming, and her sister Peace. They're from, from Philadelphia. Um, one of my new favorite artists, Russ Moore, who I don't know if you've heard him or not, but he, he released the best gospel album of 2019. It's called The Kingdom Sessions, and he's a St. Louis worship artist, and he's gonna have a a full band. It's going to blow the barn roof off.

That's terrific.

We're going to have Brothers McClurg. Yeah. Fantastic. They produced your latest album.

Yeah, they're great.

Ah, so good. And they're going to just— the barn is going to be such a perfect venue for them.

Yeah, I was thinking that too, that that just kind of screams for Brothers McClurg to be there. Yeah.

We, um, we talked about— you mentioned the name Wild Harbors, and they're going to be playing at the event. Um, we also have, um, let me say— oh yeah, I kind of, kind of forgot. Sarah Groves is going to be at the—

Sarah Groves at the Grove. It's perfect.

Oh, so, and I mean, she's, she's like basically, um, a Mount Rushmore of, of like like well-crafted music. I mean, she's one of the greatest songwriters of our generation. And so, uh, to me, to have her at the event is an immense, immense blessing. And, um, and it'll be so fun to, uh, to gather together with folks to just celebrate music. And there's, there's actually going to be about probably 4 or 5 other artists that performing that day.

Um, and I was just gonna interject real quick, you know, uh, Sarah Groves, she truly is kind of an artist's artist. And a couple years back— well, it's been more than a couple years ago— when I had Michael Card on this podcast, and I asked him, I said, who are, who are some of your favorite writers? And of course everybody kind of holds up Michael Card as one that has such depth in his writing.

Yeah.

And, and he said, he said, I can tell you two. He said Andrew Peterson and Sarah Groves. And, and, and then it was shortly after that that Sarah came on my show and just had a great time talking with her. But But I think, again, that's going to be a perfect fit and a great draw, I think, because she's such a well-respected artist by both listeners and artists alike. I think that's going to be amazing.

Yeah, the funny thing is when I initially had the idea of doing a one-night event at the Grove, I was thinking, "Well, I'll get 2 or 3 artists involved." Now we live near Nashville, so this is awesome. We can just have some of our friends from Nashville hop on over. And here we have Sarah Groves from St. Paul, Minnesota, Russ Moore from St. Louis, Joy Ike from Philadelphia, Brothers McClure from Buffalo, New York, Daniel Asher from Chicago. People are coming from all different states, the artists, to play. It's really fun to see it all come together.

That's funny. I hadn't even thought of that. Would you name a few of the artists? Oh, that's terrific.

And it just happened organically that way, but like you said, it actually creates a little more buzz for the event because they're artists that don't always play in Nashville that often. And so folks get to see some artists that they're, you know, maybe dying to see. And I think it's just going to be a super memorable night of music, a lot of fun. And so all that's happening on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Okay, you got to track with me Rick Lee James.

All right, I'm tracking.

You got Memorial Weekend, right?

Memorial Weekend.

The Sunday is May 24th, and so we're gonna pack in, you know, 10 or 11 artists on just that one day alone. So it's like an all-day music fest. And so, so people from all over the area can, can, can, can just come for that one day if they want. Um, and then for a smaller group. We're probably going to just cap it at like 40 or 50 people. We're going to create this weekend sort of VIP experience. So you get to just kind of experience a little bit more of Nashville. So we're going to have a private concert and reception at our house. So you get to see where we live. It's going to probably be like a backyard concert and just some refreshments and fun hanging out. That's going to be like to kick it off on Friday night of Memorial Weekend. And then the Saturday is going to be filled with field trips, and we're going to go to, uh, at least a couple different kind of iconic locations in Nashville. Um, and then of course Sunday is, uh, and by the way, we'll have like, we'll have maybe some special artists that will show up at some of these locations, some of the artists that that aren't even involved in Sunday. So it's a meet and greet with some additional artists.

That's true.

And then we have the whole day Sunday events, what really kind of happens after the church time. So Sunday afternoon and evening. And then Monday we're going to end with a big old Nashville brunch at Loveless Cafe with Sarah Groves.

All right.

Maybe even a couple of other artists. Included. So we're kind of building out this really fun weekend experience for anybody who wants to kind of come for the whole time. That's great. And then, and then for those who just want to dive in for one, one full day of concerts, we just have that Sunday picked out for you. So we're trying to, trying to kind of scratch both of those itches.

Well, you know what I really love about this, and this is sort of like, again, Escape to the Lake 2.0 or whatever it was that you said before. Because one thing that was so great at the Escape to the Lake when I was there, what really was the fellowship time that you got to have. I mean, the music was wonderful, and of course you were gonna get great music, but it was really a wonderful time to make some long-lasting friendships. And even with artists that were there, like, we don't always get to know each other because we're always playing different places. So I love the idea that you you're actually building in, um, kind of a fellowship weekend, you know, where you get to kind of hang out, see some cool places, do some things that maybe you wouldn't know about. And it especially makes the draw for people who are not from the Nashville area. One thing I'll be honest that I really like about this is that it is in like a Murfreesboro area versus like touristy spots in Nashville, because, because that's— that really is not the, uh, the touristy areas are okay, but that's not the great part of Nashville. Honestly, it sounds like you're get, if you go to this festival and do the VIP thing, that you're really going to get to see some of the things that really do make Nashville great in that area. So I love that whole idea.

Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, we're trying to create, you know, just a taste of— you get to kind of taste the city and taste some of the things that are happening. So you will feel like you had a little holiday weekend Nashville vacation, but it's going to be kind of a guided vacation. You'll get to just experience some things that the average person in Nashville hasn't even experienced. We're still putting some details together, but might be able to visit some music studios or kind of just do some really cool kind of behind-the-scenes things that most don't get to experience. That's the hope. Is it'll just be a lot of fun. It'll, um, we really want to amplify that community time and the fellowship time. Um, and, uh, and, and honestly, one of the things that we always struggled with, with Escape to the Lake, was trying to make the event like a little more like conference-y, like, um, having breakout sessions and doing educational workshops and things like that. We sort of did it just because we thought that's what everybody else does. I guess, I guess that's how you— that's how you're supposed to function. And then, and this time around we're saying, you know what, let's just let go of that. We're not gonna have educational sessions, but you know, other— you can get, you can get that at other conferences. We're gonna create a more experiential weekend where you're living it out, you're getting out out around the town, you're seeing different things, you're meeting different artists, you'll walk away with an experience rather than just knowledge or information.

Yeah, and you know, the Loveless Cafe, by the way, you mentioned that, it's worth it just to go there just for the biscuits. I mean, they're amazing. Oh man. The last time I was there— Again, this is a place I'm not sure even most Nashvillians know about. But it's like this old hotel that's been, you know, kind of turned into this restaurant that's amazing that they have this like secret recipe for biscuits. I think the last time I was there was with Jeremy Casella and we had breakfast one morning and it was just so much fun. So are you saying, when you say Sarah Groves is going to be there, is she going to be playing at the cafe like while you guys eat or is that still kind of something you're working on in detail?

We're kind of working that out, but we're gonna, we're gonna try to rent a private room so our group has kind of a room to ourselves. And then, and then I'm hoping that, that Sarah and maybe one or two other artists will each play a song and, you know, just have a chance to even talk a little bit, just mingle with everybody. It'll be chill, like no big formal, you know, bank. It's not gonna feel like a, like a a gala banquet, and we're not gonna— we're not gonna be like asking people for money, um, that kind of— it's not going to be that vibe. It's just going to be more like, ah, this is fun, this is a cool hangout, yeah, this is memorable, let's, um, let's Instagram about it and make everybody feel like they're missing out. That's—

well, that's right. Well, I, I've got to tell you, to be honest, I'm at, uh, just personally, I'm at at least a half a dozen conferences every year. Yeah, whether I'm speaking at it or playing at it or something like that. And one thing that I personally do get tired of is honestly the breakout sessions, because it always feels like, oh great, another class to go to. And some of my favorite times, I always feel like, I wish we could just go out and hang somewhere and eat and do stuff. So that— I love that whole idea. Like, this is— even today talking with you about it, this actually is, is new information to me, and it makes me more excited about it, and I love it. So that's going to be a great experience the whole weekend, so I'm really excited about it.

It's really tough because, because I'm going to tell you the, the temptation as a, as an event planner. I'm going to let you in on the, like, event planner side of it.

Sure.

The temptation is to load up on those sessions because because it gives you more platform to have a bunch of speakers and a bunch of artists and presenters, which makes your roster bigger. It gives you a little more promotional leverage to say, "You're going to walk away with these practical tools." You know what I mean? It helps people feel like, "Okay, I can part I'm going to part with my hard-earned money because I'm going to walk away feeling like I'm getting an education for it. So the temptation is to go that route but I think you hit it on the money. Even the people that put down the money for the education walk away saying, "It was the experience parts of this conference, the Hangouts, the meal times, the getting to meet people, Those are the parts I'm going to cherish the most, not the 7 steps to a better this or that. It definitely is a little bit of a risk because I am wondering, will people respond? Will people realize the benefit of the experience and of the Hangouts and see it as something, "Yeah, I'm willing to invest some money to have this incredible weekend experience?

Sure.

I'm hoping the answer is yes, but I'm— but as an event planner, it does feel like a bit of a risk.

Yeah. Now, before we end our conversation today, I want to find out— you said at the time we're recording this, everything is still being planned, but by the time we release this, things like the website and logos and things like that will all have been unrolled, and we'll have links to all that web page. But what is the website going to be for this festival?

It's whiteowlmusicfest.com.

Okay. So very easy. Yeah.

Very easy to remember. whiteowlmusicfest.com. We also have @whiteowlmusicfest on Instagram. You can follow us there. Obviously, if you can't make it to the event, we will be posting Instagram pictures and videos and things like that. We'll do our best to give good coverage. My hope— this is definitely just kind of a dream— but my hope is to actually pull together kind of a ragtag video crew that we could actually capture some really cool performances and some great moments of the whole weekend and share some of that stuff, kind of package some of that stuff and share it even over the next year that follows.

That's terrific. And you know, one thing that I'm hoping too, something that's come up a few times in just our conversation today, whether it be your move to Nashville and feeling the prompting of the Spirit to do that, and then doing this festival. And, and you're a person that I think tries to listen when God is calling and is opening new doors into doing new things. I was just thinking as we were talking, wouldn't it be wonderful too, if a festival like this was a moment that actually gave people some space to maybe be able to hear from God in ways that other conferences and things don't always do because they're so overloaded and so busy. And I just think it's one thing that I oftentimes crave. I can think of a couple of songwriters' retreats that I've been to, and they kept us so busy the whole time I thought, I haven't had a chance to even like have devotion since I've been here. Right. And yet, you know, one of the coolest things that I could see about this event, especially because of the location, the atmosphere that you're creating is, you know, to— that people really can maybe connect with God as they're connecting with each other in these times of fellowship and these times of music and times of traveling together and just all that goes on with it. That's a lot about, you know, we hear God best, I think, when we hear God together in that way. And so I love that this could really be an event that, that helps us maybe to do that in some new ways.

Yeah, absolutely. That's so— I appreciate, I appreciate that a lot. I, um, my, my family has, um, just started kind of landing at one church that we're going to, and, um, it's, uh, it's actually not even, not even super close to my house. It's called Journey Church in Brentwood, Tennessee, and, um, and they, they have like a few pillars of, of their church, a few like core beliefs. And, um, and one of them is that I believe that God is at work in you. And, and, and the essence of that is that as we gather together, um, and as we share our stories, we, we acknowledge that God is at work in your life slave. And, and you may not even have the same perspective that I do.

You—

I may even view myself— I might view myself far behind where you're at. I may view myself far ahead from where you're at. But it doesn't matter. God is at work in you. And, and because God's at work in you, it's going to minister to me too. And, and guess It also means God's at work in me, and God is allowing me to, in my story, to help influence and encourage and inspire others to experience God's goodness. So we get to experience the Holy Spirit in the lives of each other, really probably more than any seminar or lesson or class could. So that's really what we want to emphasize, is the opportunity for people to meet God and meet the Spirit in a new, fresh way. That would mean the world to us.

Well, that's terrific. I'm so excited to share more about this. So everybody listening today, make sure when you go to voicesinmyheadpodcast.com, you're going to find some of these links that we've talked about on the show. Show today. But another website that we've talked about you do want to go and check out is whiteowlmusicfest.com. My recommendation would be when you're listening to this podcast, or when you finish, that you immediately go and purchase your tickets so they don't run out. Because especially if you want the VIP weekend, it sounds like it's gonna— I think it'll probably sell out pretty fast. It sounds like it's gonna be a great thing. So Well, Dave, this has been really great, and I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to come and have a visit today and tell us not only about the festival, but it's so good to hear about what God is doing in your life. And I want to thank you for stepping out on faith and being faithful to do some of the difficult things, because as you know, it's, it's a hard thing to move and to pick up and go places and And yet I think you're seeing some of the fruit of that as well as God is continuing to show you what part you have in his story. And so I'm grateful for that, and I'm grateful for the good things that you're doing. So thank you again for being one of the Voices in My Head this week.

Thanks so much, Rick. Really appreciate you and your friendship too. Thanks a lot.

Thank you for joining me here this week on Voices in My Head. I hope you'll visit me on my website at rickleejames.com, where you can find out more about me, get my music on vinyl and CD, follow my blog, and even schedule me for a concert or a speaking engagement. Better yet, even a book signing in your neighborhood. You can find all that and more at rickleejames.com. Also, it would mean a great deal to me if you could write a review of this podcast on iTunes. The more positive reviews that we receive, the more visible this podcast will be online. And now for the benediction: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. God bless you, and thank you for listening to Voices in My Head.