From Major League Baseball To A Rising Country Music Artist (Motivational Speech)

In this episode, Reginald D sits down with Bryce Hensley, a former professional baseball player turned country music star. Bryce shared his upbringing in North Carolina, and how his family's musical background influenced his love for country music. From sneaking country music tapes to pursuing a career in baseball, Bryce's story is one of resilience and passion.

During our conversation, Bryce highlighted the importance of authenticity in both baseball and music. Bryce's transition from baseball to country music was driven by his desire to share his authentic self through his music and connect with his audience on a deeper level.

Overall, Bryce's story is a reminder of the power of authenticity, resilience, and gratitude in pursuing one's dreams. His journey from the baseball field to the stage exemplifies the transformative impact of following one's passion and staying true to oneself.

Stream Bryce's Music:  Under Bryce Hensley

Instagram Page:  Bryce Hensley Music

Facebook Page: Bryce Hensley Music

Transcript

Welcome to Real Talk with Reginald D. I'm your host, Reginald D. On today's episode, I have Bryce Hensley, a former professional baseball player with the Kansas City Warriors and a rising country music star.

Welcome to the show, Bryce. Hey, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

Man, I'll tell you what, when I read your story, man, I said I had to get him on my podcast, man. I really appreciate you stopping by. It's an honor to be here. I really appreciate it. So tell us about Bryce Hensley.

Man, see, that's such a broad thing. You got to give me more net. That's a lot to start off with. There's a lot of layers. It's like an onion, you know? Where do you grow up? I grew up in a town called Swannanoa, which nobody ever knows where that is. So I got to tell people Asheville, but it's a little town outside Asheville called Swannanoa. My family got to that land from the time that they settled until they sold it back in the early 2000s. So that's where I grew up. It was a beautiful place and we had a whole bunch of acreage out there and there wasn't a lot of kids my age around, but it was looking back, it was really cool to grow up and just be out in the wide open. And I think it developed a whole lot of who I was.

Oh, I bet it did. I bet it did. So you grew up and then you started your journey playing professional baseball. So how did that transpire?

My brother was a really good baseball player and he's nine years older than me. So I got to see him kind of go through the whole process of, you know, playing through high school and going to college and playing in college. And then he got drafted as well, and he played 10 years professionally. So it was, I think, the year or two after He retired that I got drafted and started my journey so it was kind of cool I almost had a mentor to, you know, kind of learn the ropes from so I didn't walk in blind and it was a really cool experience to be able to see him go through it and learn a lot from him so when I walked in there I kind of had an idea of, you know, how to compose myself as a professional and. And kind of what I was looking for, because that's the, you know, when you're starting a job like that and you're going and turning baseball from being a game that you're playing or, you know, playing in high school or college to now all of a sudden it's your nine to five job. It's a lot different. So it was really cool to be able to have somebody help me navigate the ropes.

Bet you had to put in a lot more work than when you hit that.

Oh God, he, you know, and that's, he always had this saying, it's, it's really hard to get there, but it's a lot harder to stay. So, you know, I learned that really quickly and it's kind of transpired into my life of, you know, getting opportunities awesome. And it's really hard to have doors open up, but once you get them, being able to stay there and continue the path is the really hard part of it.

Well, you grew up in a Baptist church, and your grandfather was a gospel singer?

Yes, sir. He was a pastor and a gospel singer. So growing up, country music was a big no-no. I was telling somebody the other day, I remember being a kid and having to sneak the Walkman in there, and I'd have to go on the radio and record the Top 40 that was playing on the country station back home. And that's how I got to listen to my country music, because that's, you know, all we got to listen to was gospel music. So I'd sneak the radio at nighttime and go in there and record on the Walkman so I could go back and listen to these songs.

Man, we got so much in common because my grandfather was a pastor and he sang gospel with all his kids. Man, they traveled all over the place singing gospel. And it was a no-no playing secular music. I remember a story they was telling one time, my uncle, he played guitar. As a kid, you know, all of them don't read music. They just play by ear. And a commercial came on called Secret Agent Man. And they was in there singing it. And my uncle started playing it on the guitar. My granddaddy came in there and got the guitar and broke it, man. He was like, yeah, you don't play none of that in this house. So it was hard. It was only gospel.

You're taking me back to the days. That sounds about right. Absolutely.

But I think a lot of those groups did help growing up and things like that. So I agree.

And like I said, I think it I think it shaped a lot of who I was. And it you know, I'm very thankful for my upbringing. I'm very thankful for my family. I'm very thankful for my grandparents. And, you know, they've they've been awesome. And they're I People always say, you know, people that are hard parents end up becoming the softest grandparents, is what I've always been told. And Mamaw and Papaw, they've been a little hard to get on the country music journey from time to time, but they're still very supportive, so. It's been cool to see. And, you know, Papo was the, to this day, the best musician I've ever seen. And he had a voice unlike any other I used to love hearing. He'd just sit out on a back porch and he'd sit out there and pick and sing. And, you know, people would come all the time. And like you were talking about, they used to travel. He's still got two tour buses sitting at his house. And I mean, being able to watch him go through that journey and it's, watch him do something he loved and then it transfers into something I love is, I think it's a really cool part of the story.

Wow. Wow. It is. That's very cool. So Bryce, can you share a memorable moment from your baseball career that still inspires you today?

You know, I've got a lot of them, but One that really sticks out to me is, I wasn't a very good baseball player, up until you know the end of my high school career I was always very lanky and unathletic and I'm left handed so I struggle tying my own shoes sometimes it feels like, and I'll never forget my freshman year of high school, our coach asked us what we want to do and I told him I said I'm gonna play Clemson University I've always been a big Clemson fan but He laughed at me and he said, yeah, that'll be the day. And in my junior year of college, we won our conference and we went and we had a regional at Clemson. And I'll never forget, I called that coach who's one of my good buddies to this day. And I told him, I said, hey, I left you two tickets. I'm pitching at Clemson on Friday night. And he showed up and came out there and he was the loudest one in the stands. And he came up and gave me a hug afterwards. And he said, Bryce, that's the best crow I've ever tasted in my life. And it's kind of transferred into the, you know, people always use this cliche of, you know, do it and prove the people that didn't believe you wrong. And I've kind of always seen it the other way of. I don't care about the people that don't believe, you know, there's always going to be people that try to, you know, throw stones at glass houses, but I've always been a big proponent of, I want to go out there and, and do the best that I can and kind of, you know, make memories for the people who did believe in me when nobody else did. And that's always been the important part to me. And that, that story right there, when he came up and hugged me and he cried, it made me ball crying. And I, you know, that was one of those really cool moments I had in my baseball career.

Yeah. You touched on something I think is very valuable that proving yourself, you know, a lot of times, I grew up a lot of times trying to prove the naysayers wrong. But as I got wiser, you know, all I do is challenge myself. I prove to myself who I am at the end of the day. I don't care what anybody else say. Like you say, people gonna still throw stones at glass houses. Absolutely.

And I think that's a big point. And you know, it's, Baseball and life have so many connections and there's so many life lessons that I've learned from playing baseball, and that's why I've been so appreciative from it. But, you know, I think you create your own happiness and you find your own happiness. And, you know, when you're sitting out there trying to trying to prove people wrong all the time, you feel like you're never enough. And when you finally get to a point in life when you realize you can be happy being who you are and it it doesn't really matter. People ask me all the time. They're like, man, how will you know when you made it? And I said, I already did. It doesn't matter if I get a chance to travel the country and sing or if I ever made it to the big leagues or not. I'm so blessed to have a great family. I've been given so many opportunities that the guy lined up for me that I probably didn't deserve in the first place. And at the end of the day, when you look back and you realize, you know, I'm pretty happy where I'm at right now, that I think that's the biggest challenge and challenging yourself is you always want to get better. But at the end of the day, there's a difference between happiness and contentness. And I'm pretty happy where I'm at. I'm not always content about it because you always want to get better. But I think the ability to look at yourself and say, hey, if this is where it ends today, I gave it everything I could. And that's kind of where my baseball career went was I realized at the end of the day, I gave it everything I could, and that wasn't the path that God had carved out for me. It was just, it was a great chapter of it. And then it was time to close that chapter and move on to the next one.

That's it, and I think it's very critical that people understand and know when to shift in life. You know, some people try to stay too long in one place and not knowing God is trying to do something different with you, and they ended up ruining it at the end of the day because they don't understand and don't have the know-how to shift or be willing to shift when it's all said and done. They know they need to shift, but they won't do it.

Absolutely. There's a, you know, there's a big saying we used to use all the time in baseball where we would tell people to be comfortable being uncomfortable and that's I think a big part of it is when you get stuck somewhere for so long and you know I got there with baseball where I always tried to never identify myself as, hey, I'm a baseball player. It was always, you know, I'm Bryce. I play baseball. It's my job. It's not who I am. And I've made a really big, a really big point to live my life that way of, hey, this is what I do for a job. It's something I love, but it's not where I find my identity at. And, you know, I've had, I've had to have people that, you know, I called it ripping off the bandaid where there were times where I wasn't ready to be done with baseball and it was so comfortable, but I knew that there was no chance for me to grow and no chance for me to, for me to be able to go forward. And people had to push me to be, more than I wanted to be at times because of the fact of, you know, you get comfortable and sometimes you got to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

You're exactly right about that. You quit playing baseball. What made you decide to be a country music singer?

So I actually just ended my baseball career about two months ago so they've been overlap from August of 2020 ish to about two months ago I've kind of had to overlap. But in 2020 obviously the pandemic came through and it kind of changed a lot of people's lives and change a lot of people's schedules and I always tell people, you know, There's a great quote, if you want to hear a guy laugh, tell him your plans. And this is kind of the epitome of that. I was in spring training in Arizona with the Kansas City Royals. And we get called in and told, hey, you're going home. We don't know for how long, but just stay ready. You'll be back eventually. And I went home, and my dad is as blue collar and as old Southern school as it gets. And I came home, and I was living at home at the time. He said, well, if you're going to be staying at the house, you ain't going to sit around, you're going to work. And, you know, he owns a construction company and has been building houses for years. And so he put me to work and I always mess with him now. And I said, dad, you know, you had one professional athlete that worked for you and you had him do all the stuff you didn't want any of your guys to get hurt doing. And that always makes me laugh. And, you know, I realized that. as redneck as I am and as blue collar and as I, you know, I love to work hard, but I wouldn't cut out to build houses. And I, you know, my dad's done well for himself and he loves it, but that just, that wasn't the path I wanted. And I realized I wanted a job that I felt passionate about. So one day I wrote a song and I put it on the internet and turned out a lot of people liked it. And the gift of music was something I had never really shared with people. So I shared it and my baseball agent called me and said, what is this? And I said, well, I thought it was all right. And he said, Bryce, we make money doing this. Why haven't you told me? And I said, well, you were a baseball agent. I didn't really think I said baseball. And from then on out, he said, whatever we got to do to make this work, we'll do. And he's been the best with supporting it and really pushing me and opening up a lot of doors and opportunities. And it was pretty much a fact of, I don't like to wake up early in the mornings and I'm more nocturnal than anything else. And me in a nine to five and sitting still never would have gotten along too well. So I figured something where I could stay up late at night and I, you know, I get to be creative and I get to, I get to show off the talents that God gave me and the passions that God gave me. That's kind of something I always wanted to chase.

Okay. So what was the song that you came up with?

Looking back, it was terrible to be honest with you. And that's the, you know, that's the funny part is you look back and whether it be my dad looking at old houses he built and he's like, man, I could have done that so much better. But we wrote this song called the times. I almost died about a bunch of stupid stuff we did as kids. And somehow we made it through and wrote it and put it out on the internet. And I put it out. And some days I wish I never would have, but you know, when we walked into this, we were very green and I just got excited and we figured we'd do everything we could, but And, you know, it worked out really well to even though it wasn't that great of a song it gave me a chance to be able to believe in myself.

Right, right. Yeah, it's something about that first time and I remember the first time I was on stage in church, speaking, my first time. recorded it, my family recorded it actually. My mom has a copy of it, I guess it's a DVD or something like that, back in the day. And she plays that thing now, man, it's been 20-something years ago, man. I go to her house, she's down there playing that thing. I'm like, God, turn that off. That is awful.

You're really, see, this is why this is fun. You're really making me feel bad. I'll go over to my mom's house and my mom still, my mom still ain't got internet. They, you know, she just got a cell phone a while back and she'll text and she texts me an all capital letter. So it seems like she's yelling all the time. She's got a little flip phone. She's sweetheart, but I'd go over there, man. And she'd have the old VHS tape from the camcorder. She'd have those things playing on the TV. And I'm like, mama, we got to stop this. Like I, You know, when you hear yourself on a voicemail and you're like, man, that's how my voice sounds. That's, you know, it'll be stuff like that. And I'm like, mama, we got to turn this off. Like, I love you to death and I appreciate that you're proud, but we got to turn this thing off. I can't keep doing this.

I know it, man. I know it. It's something about it. It can't let it go, man. I know. I've been ready to let it go.

Exactly. Exactly. Over here, giving her new DVDs, like, mama, play this one. She said, no, I took this one on the camcorder. I used to get so embarrassed, Memo would take that camcorder everywhere. And I'm like, Memo, you make, I ain't a movie star. You're acting like you got to film everything I do. Like I got the paparazzi following me out here, but Memo's just out here following me around with a camcorder everywhere.

That's funny, man. That is so funny. So when you was playing baseball, you was doing country music at the same time.

Yes, sir. For the last for the last three or four years trying to trying to find a balance of, you know, being able to, you know, playing professional baseball, you're playing six days a week. So being able to try to find a balance of, you know, when can I go do a show? Or, you know, when do I have time to do this? And our coaching staff was great about if I had something booked, and they would let me go for a couple of days, but it was, it was really hard trying to live two lives. That's one thing I figured out it was exhausting trying to balance two careers and two lives.

Yeah, I bet so. You talking about baseball, you talking about country music, it's like, if they went together, it'd probably been a little easier, but it's two different things, man.

Exactly. And it's, you know, it's, you know, one's so physically taxing and mentally taxing, obviously, and the other one, you know, my, I'm out there with no voice and my body's tired and I'm sitting here traveling back and forth and I got to hop on a bus and ride for 13 hours. And it becomes a lot at the end, but I don't think I would have changed the journey for anything.

Right, right. I got you. I got you. So how do you prepare when you get ready to go on stage to sing and things like that? How do you get yourself prepared, especially when, like you said, you're just playing baseball and all the stuff is going on, and now you've got to get up and perform something totally different? How do you prepare?

You know, I think that's something I'm still working on. Baseball, again, I played it for, you know, 25 years, so I had it pretty down to a tee when I got to the field. I knew exactly what to do, and now, you know, like I said, I'm still so green on this, only about two months into doing it full-time. I think I'm still trying to figure it out, and I'm a big proponent of singing in the shower. I can tell you how the show's going to go usually by when I'm taking a shower, trying to get ready before. If I'm singing in the shower and I'm like, ooh, that don't sound good, I got to work a little harder today. You know, usually it's go out there and I'll get all the sound equipment set up and make sure I'm very packed. And I've had a great roommate for the last about a year that has really taught me a lot about it. Because when I came in, I just I flew by the seat of my pants all the time and figured, you know, I'm a big proponent of figuring out how to go and winging it. And I've always been great at that part. But, you know, when you're standing up on stage in front of people and and you're really trying to put on a good show and a good performance, it's a little bit harder to wing it sometimes. So I've had a lot of things go wrong that we've learned from, thankfully. But honestly, I think most of it's just clear in my mind. And one of the cool things is every time we do a bigger show and my dad comes out, and I used to get really, really nervous. Because you can put me on a baseball field in front of 20,000 people, and it's something I've done my whole life. But you step up on stage with a guitar, and you're very vulnerable. On a baseball field, there's nine people to look at at all times. And when you're on stage, But it's just you. And that's what people are paying attention to. And it's very vulnerable, especially when you're playing songs that you wrote that kind of mean a lot to you. And not to say that you write them for other people, but when you go up there and play a song you wrote and nobody claps, you're like, man, that sucks. But my dad used to do this. Well, he still does. But right before I go on stage, he'll give me a hug. And he always tells me you were born to do this. And it's one of those things that it kind of, he always used to do this thing when I would go out to pitch. I'd look and I'd find him in the stands and we'd kind of give each other a little wave. And it kind of calmed my nerves down just to know that at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. It's a game that we're playing, and at the end of the day, who I am and the love that my family has for me and my friends have for me isn't defined by performances. But it's also nice to know that I can go up there and screw up, and I can sound awful, and I can sing the wrong words. And at the end of the day, there's a lot of people that are going to love me just the same for it. So I think that's a big thing is calming the nerves down. And I've gotten the last year really good about trying to write set lists so that the guys I'm playing with at least know what we're playing or have an idea. And I'm never very good at following the set list, but I give them an idea of what we're planning on playing that day. So, but I think it's, you know, my biggest thing is going up there and having as much fun as possible. You've only got one life to live. and I'm so blessed and I never should have had this opportunity to play music in the first place and there's so many talented people in the world that love it and God's blessed me so much and I've had so many people open so many doors for me that when I go up there I just try to have as much fun as possible. because people can really read your energy when you're up there and you don't realize it until after. Like if I go up there and I seem miserable, everybody out there that's listening is going to seem miserable. They're going to leave. But if I go up there and people realize how much fun I'm having, it really transfers to the rest of the room. And I think that's the most important part is I just sit back and kind of reflect before I go up there and realize how blessed I am to have this opportunity that, man, I'm writing songs down about stuff that I feel and people are coming out to listen to it, which is, it still blows my mind to say out loud. So I don't know how much I prepare and what really routine we have. It's just show up and, you know, try to have as much fun as possible and put everything you got into it. And if you put your heart and soul into it and people don't like it at the end of the day, you can be content with that.

That's it. I always tell people, you know, you can be content with your efforts. Just don't be content with your results.

Exactly.

So how do you hope to impact others through your music and your story?

You know, I remember this old Nike commercial that it would go through about these athletes. And it would say, we're all just a kid from somewhere. And for some reason, that always really stuck with me. And I think the biggest thing about this is growing up in the church, you realize that God gives us a lot of gifts. And at the end of the day, our job with those gifts is to try to spread the kingdom. And I've always done that with the way that I love on people and the way that I care about people and try to be genuine. And I think that at the end of the day, there are so many people that sometimes don't realize that anybody can, you know, you can almost do whatever you set your mind to. And my big thing is if I can do it and if I can get up on stage and sing in front of people, because it was my biggest fear forever, I wouldn't do it for for years and years and years. And it took me a long time to get comfortable enough. And sometimes it's still hard. But I think it's one of those things where if I can do it, anybody can do it. And I think it's really cool to be able to show kids that. And, you know, I went to high school or went to the same high school with guys like Luke Combs and Chase Rice. And it was really cool to see the stuff that they're doing and realize, hey, man, you know, a kid from Swannanoa, North Carolina, they did it. Why can't I? And you know, as long as your heart's in the right place and you're doing it for the right reasons, I don't really think you can ever, ever lose. Like they always said in Friday Night Lights, clear eyes, full heart, you can't lose. And I really believe that. And that's kind of my impact I want to make on the world is country music is special. And the fact that I can write about stuff that I'm feeling that nobody else will talk about. And you know, it's my way to journal and people realize that they're a little bit less alone in the world. And they realize, hey man, I'm not the only one that feels this way. You know, sometimes I feel like I'm behind blah, blah, blah. And they realize, hey man, this guy wrote a song about this. It's not just me. Other people feel this way too. And that's one of the coolest things in the world to me about it.

Yeah, that's awesome, man. That's awesome. And I'll tell you, people like you are here and you understand why you're here. To help others, you know, change lives and do the things that God has sent you to do on this earth. You know, and you embrace it, man. That's the amazing thing about you. I appreciate that a lot. So let me ask you a question. I know being a professional baseball player, country music singer, and all the stuff you've been through in life, I know you probably had some setbacks. How would you tell somebody that's going through life and they seem like they keep having setbacks on the goals and the dreams and things like that?

You know, funny enough, and you'll understand this one too, being from a church background, they were always really They always looked very badly at, you know, tattoos is one thing that my grandparents, they'd still to this day, if I go to their house, I wear long sleeves just as more of a sign of respect. And, you know, sometimes I'm like, man, I don't want to hear this, but my dad always told me, he said, you don't get tattoos where people can see them. And the first thing I did was get tattoos on my wrist. So dad loved that one, but I don't know if you can see it on this or not, but this one right here, it says, be where your feet are. That was one, you know, when I was having a lot of setbacks, I felt like I was looking so far into the future. And I felt like I was looking at, you know, why am I not here? I should be here. I shouldn't be so far ahead. And I finally had to come to the realization of I am where I am right now for a reason. And, you know, it goes back to the guy to having a plan of. If I wasn't supposed to be here, I wouldn't. You know, we were talking about people moving earlier. If God wants you to move bad enough, he'll find a way to move you. And that's kind of, I've really lived off the idea of grab some grass and be where your feet are and enjoy the moment of where you're supposed to be because people don't appreciate having everything given to them all the time. And when everything goes right, you don't really appreciate it. But when you get setback after setback, When you finally get that taste of victory, you finally get that taste of your goal, you appreciate it so much more because you knew how hard you had to work for it. And you knew you had to be down in the gutters to get there. And that's the part of encouraging other people and trying to make an impact of when people are down and stuff like that, when people are struggling, that's kind of where you revert back to of, hey, man, I've been there. People don't ever listen to somebody that had everything given to them and people that never struggled. Nobody listens to that. People listen to the people that, hey, man, I came from nothing. I fought and I grinded. And I kept fighting, I got knocked down, and I kept getting back up. And if you're right where your feet are and you understand I'm in this moment for a purpose, I think it makes it so much easier to realize, hey, at the end of the day, a setback is just a platform for a comeback. That's the way I've always seen it. And then the other one on my other wrist is 2 Corinthians 12-9, and it talks about weakness. And that was a big one for me, too, of playing baseball. And we always get told, you don't show your weaknesses, you show your strengths. You don't ever show any weakness. In that passage, he talks about his weaknesses and Paul asked God to take his weaknesses away. And he says, through your weakness, my power is made perfect. And Paul says, so I boast all the more in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. And it kind of goes to show me that, man, I got weaknesses. I got a lot of faults. I screw up a whole lot. But if I was perfect, God wouldn't have an ability to use me. So I think that's kind of what that all goes back to is you got to understand that sometimes you're, I don't want to use the word example, but sometimes God, you know, gives us setbacks and struggles. So. When we meet people that are having the same problems, Hey man, I came through it. I understand. I know how you feel. And that's one of my least favorite terms is I get it. I know how you feel, but when you've been through stuff like that, and you've been through setbacks, it makes it a lot easier. Like I said, to know you're not alone in the world. It's not just you that's going through this.

Yeah, man, that's powerful. Because what he does, he makes us a living testimony when it's all said and done.

Exactly.

And I always tell people a lot of times, we go through difficult times and things like that, but I think when people just stay motivated, they can just stay motivated to what they're trying to pursue or what they're trying to accomplish. I think that helps a lot. And I'm pretty sure you can speak to that.

Absolutely. I mean, you know, baseball-wise, you know, I'm really good at putting examples in baseball because obviously we did that for a long time. If I'm out there in the first inning thinking about the seventh inning, I'm not going to have a very good first inning, you know. My goal at the end of every game was to win, but I also have to realize, hey man, I got to go pitch by pitch. I got to go hitter by hitter. I got to go inning by inning. I can't be thinking about the seventh inning and the first inning or I'm never going to make it to the seventh inning. And that's, you got to fight the battles that are in front of you. And like I said, that's the reason I got this tattoo, man. Because when I'm struggling, I'm thinking about, I got to get this done. I got to get this done. Sometimes it's nice to literally grab some grass and realize my feet are where they are for a reason. This is where I need to be.

Got it. Got it. So let me ask you this question. Let's talk about baseball and pitching and all of this. Do you have a different, and you probably don't, I think you probably just, You probably all in on each pitch, but when you see that great hitter comes up to the plate that you know that can crush is your mentality different when you get ready to pitch to him versus somebody that's not as good or you just go at it the same.

You know it's funny I. The redneck in me comes out when I answer questions like this, because I had the great Frank Viola won a Cy Young and, you know, won a World Series World Series MVP was a borderline Hall of Famer. He was my pitching coach for the last three years and became one of my really close friends and mentors. And he asked me one time, he said, Bryce, when you pitch, what do you see? Which is a strange question, you know, because when you're standing up there, you're thinking you're like, man, all I see is a catcher and a hitter, but When I was really good and when I was really locked in and when I really had it figured out, I didn't honestly ever see who I was pitching to. I didn't pay attention. The only thing I saw, you touched on it earlier, it's me against me. And, you know, that was kind of my mentality of it is at the end of the day, if I throw the pitch I'm supposed to throw and it does what it's supposed to do and I put it where I'm supposed to put it, there's not really anybody that can do much with that. You know, and that's, I never battled another team. I never battled a hitter. I just always battled myself. And I want to make sure what I do. is as perfect as I can make it. And I've always been a big believer when the pitch leaves my hand, I have no control over what happens. You know, I've made great pitches that people have gone out there and hit out of the park. And I've been, Oh my God, what do I do? Like, I don't know what else to do. And I've made terrible pitches that somebody should have hit 500 feet that they swing and miss or they take. And I'm like, how did you, how did you not hit that ball? How'd you not hit the cover off that ball? You know, So I think like you touched on earlier, it's always been a me against me thing. I think I just looked at everybody the same and I went out there and tried to give it the best that I had. And I never really saw who I was pitching against most of the time, especially when it was really good. I just it was like the the old movie for the love of the game. I don't know if you've ever seen it. But where he zones in and everything else kind of, I, you know, I would get into those mentalities of all I would see was me and a catcher. And it was, that was part of the beautiful part of baseball for me. It was, it was my three hours a day where nothing else in the world mattered. And when I walked out there, I don't know how to explain it. I don't know how to make it do it on anything else, but those were the only two things I saw were a catcher and a plate. And outside of that, whatever happened when the ball left my hand, I had no control over.

I like that. I like that. Because that's the thing about it. That's kind of powerful when you say, when the ball left my hand, I had no control over it. And that's the same thing about life, man. Once you make a decision, once you go for what you're trying to go for, once you make that decision and you launch it, you really don't have no control over it. You just want to make sure it's the right decision for the right time and what you're trying to do.

Exactly. And that's the, you know, I keep using these cliches, but I've always been big on them. Cliches are cliches for a reason. You know, I've learned to roll with the punches because when you make a decision like that, you can't control what other people do. You can't, you can't control, you know, outcomes. All you can control is your effort and your attitude. And that's, you know, you gotta learn how to roll with the punches and you gotta learn how to kind of figure it out as you go. Because people, you know, people don't always make the right decisions when you make a decision. So you gotta learn how to, all right, where do we go? We finished that one onto the next step.

That's it, man. That's it. So what advice would you give to young athletes that's trying to... First, let's talk about baseball. What kind of advice would you give to young athletes wanting to start playing baseball or want to be a professional baseball player?

Man, that's a hard question. I think the two biggest lessons that I learned from playing professional baseball and like I said, I was very blessed to have a brother that did it for a long time and him and I looked at baseball very differently. And he'll be the first one to admit that. And, you know, we talked about I saw him a week or two ago and we kind of had a conversation about that when I got drafted, his mentality. for me was, hey, man, you know, somebody's trying to take your job every day. And he was like, man, you got to go out there. And it was I don't want to use the word selfish, but it was a very, you know, baseball's a team sport built around individual accomplishments and professional baseball. And I didn't always get along too well because it wasn't always about winning. And, you know, my my whole life I've been taught, hey, this is how you win. And that's what I was really good at. And, you know, so my first year playing professionally, I kind of had that attitude of, you know, it was me. It was I still wanted to win. But at the end of the day, I have to perform. I have to move up. I have to push myself forward. I've got to put up these numbers to be able to move up. And I took a look in the mirror after my first year, and I didn't really necessarily like what I see. And I made the decision consciously of every day I'm going to show up and be the most thankful person in this locker room because I get a chance to play baseball for a living. You know, I could have been working construction for my dad and I get a chance to come out here and play a kid's game for a living and people show up to watch it. And number two, I want to be the best teammate that I possibly can. I saw a video on somebody that they were talking about retiring and he said being a good teammate kept me along in baseball for a lot longer than I should have been around and and I kind of figured that out my last couple years of Man, at the end of the day, I want to be, I want to be the best guy in that locker room that I possibly can be, you know, I and I want to be the same person when I step on the field is when I step off of it and people always talk about you know shifting your mentality to be a killer and I honestly I mean, I might have made it big leagues if I had that but I wouldn't change the journey for anything because At the end of the day, the one thing that blessed me so much that, you know, I still hang out with a lot of my old teammates. You know, I live in the city that I played in and I still see them a lot. And that's the one thing that they told me was you were an unbelievable teammate. You know, when I died, I never wanted my headstone to say I was really good at baseball because I would have really failed at life. But the fact that when I left, they told me I was a great teammate and a great friend, that's what meant more to me than anything. So I think obviously you work hard and you want to go out there and you succeed. But at the end of the day, Be as good of a teammate as you can be and show up and have fun because that's the part that so many people lose when it becomes a job and it becomes a business is people see it as hey this is my job instead of man I'm playing a kid's game. I get to go out here every day and throw and hit a ball. And people show up and they cheer and they watch it and I think that's the most beautiful thing in the world. And that's what I'm going to do with music to right now I get to you know I used to play in my basement. I used to dress up in my you know my my Sunday best and stand in front of the mirror and sing songs and now people show up to watch me do that. And I think it's the most beautiful thing in the world and. And it's also, you know, I don't take it. I don't take it too lightly of the fact that I've been given a gift and an ability and a platform to be able to make a difference. And if you use that for selfish gain, then I think that's the worst thing you can do. But make a difference, be a good teammate, work hard, and just at the end of the day, have fun and realize how blessed you are.

Absolutely, man. Absolutely. So you hit on something about singing country music now. So you started out Basement in the Mirror, put on your Son of the Best. and start out playing like that, and that probably was inspiring you to do more when it comes to country music. So what would you say to a kid who's wanting to be a country music singer or something like that?

You got to put your heart into it. I mean, that's the biggest thing, you know, I've really found from watching concerts and from playing them and from, you know, just being a country music fan, you can really tell when someone's not authentic. Like I said earlier, when you stand up on that stage, you are as transparent. I told somebody the other day, I said, it's like that terrible dream you had in elementary school of being naked in front of your class. You know what I mean? It's kind of the same thing if I'm standing up there with a guitar and you can see straight through me. And if I'm not authentic and I don't believe what I sing, you're going to know. And that's the biggest thing that I've got is, you know, be authentic, put your heart into it and make your own path. The one thing that I've gotten the recognition for and the pretty much the only reason I got a chance to do this was the songs that I write because I don't hold back and I, you know, whatever I feel and you can always tell what season of life I'm in by the kind of songs I write. And, you know, it's. Writing songs at the end of the day is about you. You're not writing songs for other people. I'm not trying to write top 40 hits. I'm trying to write songs about how I feel and how I'm living right now. Because if you look at it, half the world probably feels the exact same way you do right now. And they just don't realize that the world's a lot smaller than people make it out to be.

Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. So Brian, is there any new projects or collaboration that you're excited about working on with your music?

Right now, I'm pretty much just playing as many shows as I can, but I don't know what's happened the last month or two. I've been on a writing bench. So I, you know, they come and go and, you know, I'll go a year without writing something, then I'll turn around and I think I've written four or five songs this week. So it, you know, I released my first album last year in January and tried to see where that went. And, you know, obviously we're getting a chance to talk to you on the podcast today, and I'm very grateful for it. But I started writing my second album as soon as the first one came out. You know, I just I want to write as many songs as I possibly can, because somebody told me you'll write a thousand bad songs and you'll write that one good one. And that's all that matters. And I found out I will write a thousand bad songs. But hopefully one of these days we get one of these good ones and we'll take off with it. But right now, it's it's about getting as comfortable as I can playing in front of people and and, you know, making a point to walk out and talk to people and thank them for coming out. And, you know, when you grow an army of people around you that are there to support you and people that show up time after time, to come hear you sing, I think that's the biggest part of, I don't like the word fan base because I don't consider people fans. People are supporters and people show up to support, but at the end of the day, I appreciate their support as much as they appreciate coming to hear me sing. So that's what we're working on right now is just trying to play as much as we can, trying to book as much stuff as we can, trying to have a great time, and trying to meet as many new people, and try to spread the music, spread the joy, and kind of spread it all around.

That's it, man. That's got to be exciting, doing it that way. I think that takes a lot of the anxiety out of it. You know what I'm saying? When you're doing all this kind of stuff, because people, like you say, they do it because they got so-called fans, and they do it just because they want to be popular and all of this stuff. But when you do it to touch people's hearts, you do it Being genuine, and you hit it on the head a minute ago. Being authentic, man. You've got to be your own authentic self. That's who God created. He created you to be that way. You can't be nobody else. You've got to do it your way.

And that's the whole point, man. I talked to a guy in Nashville a while back. Nashville is a place I haven't spent a whole lot of time. I've spent a little bit there, but, you know, so many times people try to fall into a mold and say, all right, this is what people are buying right now. And, and, you know, obviously as the world works, you see it, you know, stuff people used to wear back in the seventies. People are turning around wearing now, you know, trends turn back around in the, I grew up with the nineties country music and it will always be my favorite. And I think it's always timeless. You know, the Allen Jackson's the Brooks and Don's the, You know, the 90s country sound is something I've loved and it's coming back around and I love that. But I think when you walk out there and you're completely yourself and you do what you love, I think there's no other way to do it. If you try to meet a market or you try to be something that you're not, you're going to hate it. And people are going to realize, hey, you know, that's not very authentic. He's trying to fit into a mold right now. And people pick that apart very quickly.

Absolutely, man. They will. They will. And you may not think it, and I always tell people, even if you're working for a company and you're in leadership or something like that, the people that work for you, if you fake, they're going to pick it up quick. Exactly. And it's going to be like poison in that building, man. You got to be right. You got to do the things the right way. So Bryce, I'm kind of feeling this. I feel like once we launch this thing and we've been talking back and forth about different things, I feel like there's going to be somebody that's going to listen to this. I hope so. That's given up on life, that feel like they can't make it, that feel like it's the end for them. What would you say to someone that feels that way?

You're only one day away from the best day of your life. And that's the way that I look at it. you know, one, one thing that I love when people tell me is, you know, you're always so positive and you've got a positive outlook. And I felt like for a while, I didn't always have that. And I, you know, I always look for something wrong and I realized I hated being that way. You know what I mean? You, again, with the cliche, you make your own luck sometimes and I, and I'm a big believer in, you know, attitude really drives outcomes. So, you know, some days it's really hard and, you know, I have those days too. I had one the other day where I woke up and I felt awful, something going around and, You know, when you sit around and you allow yourself to feel awful sometimes you're never going to get better. And I think I have to realize a lot like you know. whether it be in music, I'm only one, I'm only one song away from a big break or, you know, whether it be in baseball, Hey man, I'm only one pitch away from getting out of this inning. I think it's all about how you look, how you look at it. And, you know, my dad and I have talked about this a lot. You know, it's, it's not always what you say. Sometimes it's how you say it. And it's always not how you feel. It's how it's perceived. And I believe that when you look at life from, from an idea of I'm only one day away from being where I need to be. You know what I mean? It takes a little changes and people try to do too much sometimes and they try to turn their whole life around in a day. And it's, I think finding little victories is huge. You know, some days, and for some people, and you know, I've had people I love that are struggling and some days their victories are, hey man, I got out of bed today. Hey man, I went to the store today. And I think it's, you can't set expectations and goals so high for yourself that you never reach because you're just sitting there flailing for something that you'll never find. But, at the end of the day, you know, I'm going to play this show in a couple hours. If I go out there and I play one song that people love, hey man, that's my small victory for today. I go out there and I play a new song I wrote this week and people clap afterwards and somebody's like, man, I really liked that song. That's my small victory for today, you know? You don't have to go out there and I don't have to put on a show and people be like, man, you're about to sign a, you know, a national recording contract. This is it. You're about to be a millionaire. You know, that's an unrealistic goal for myself to set. today. So like I said, I'm being where my feet are. I'm going to go out there. I'm going to, I'm going to put everything I got. I'm going to have a blast. And that's what I'm looking forward to. It's, it's always, you've got to find something to look forward to. I want to be where my feet are, but at the end of the day too, I've got to find something, Hey man, this is going to be the highlight of my day. And I, I try to make a big point. You know what? Every night I think back about my day and I try to reflect a little bit and like, all right, this was a really good part of my day. This is one thing I'm very thankful for. And, and that's, you know, life comes back to thankfulness of, Most of the places we end up being and most of the doors we get open, we never deserved in the first place, and it should never happen. And most of it's happenstance and just absolute chance and just absolute God. But I think at the end of the day, if you can look at it from a positive attitude of, hey, man, maybe tomorrow's the day. Maybe tomorrow's the day that I get this break that I need. I think that's where the big positive attitude comes from, of you never know how close you are if you give up.

That's it. That's it. I really like that, man. I really like that. I mean, we're going to leave it at that, too. We're going to leave it right there. So Bryce, where can listeners find your music and stay updated on your latest news and events?

Music, you can find anywhere you stream music. It's under Bryce Hensley. Hopefully we'll have some new stuff out before too long. And then I try to keep Instagram, it's Bryce Hensley Music, and Facebook is the same. I try to keep those updated on the dates I book. And I got a website, but the redneck side of me isn't too great with technology, so I got to figure out how to update that thing a little bit. But hopefully I'll find somebody a lot smarter than me to be able to help us get that part updated. Yeah, you'll get it figured out. Exactly. That's why I surround myself with people a lot smarter than me, because I know what I'm good at, and I know what I ain't, and technology ain't ever been one that I'm good at.

Hey, man, we're in the same boat. We're in the same boat. Trust me.

We got a whole lot in common. I like it. I like it.

That's it. That's it. So there you have it, everybody. Bryce Hensley. Thanks so much for stopping by, Bryce. 

SPEAKER_00
41:08 - 41:15

Hey, thanks so much for having me. It was a blast. I enjoyed it. All right. Enjoy the show tonight. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Thank you so much again. I enjoyed it. 

SPEAKER_01
41:15 - 41:22

All right. Thank you. 

SPEAKER_00
41:22 - 41:24

Hey, you ever make your way down to high point of Greensboro, you let me know. All right. 

SPEAKER_01
41:24 - 41:27

All right. We'll we'll yeah, I'll definitely do that. I definitely do that. Okay. Thanks for tuning in. Real talk. Reginald D. If you enjoyed the show, please share with anyone you feel the need to take this journey with us on being a better you. See you next time. 

SPEAKER_00
41:27 - 41:40