Uncle Buck’s Boobie Bungalow recently got the kind of publicity money can’t buy, thanks to comedian Theo Von’s popular podcast “This Past Weekend.”
On the podcast’s August 28 episode, Von interviewed country star Lainey Wilson. She was there to promote the deluxe edition of “Whirlwind,” her latest album.
Von and Wilson are both Louisiana natives now residing in Nashville. During the interview, they talked about Wilson’s music, Wilson competing in beauty pageants growing up, and her engagement to former NFL and Samford University quarterback Devlin Hodges.
Wilson is known for hits like “4x4xU,” “Heart Like A Truck” and “Watermelon Moonshine.” She’s also collaborated with top rock bands like the Rolling Stones, a live cover of Stones classic “Dead Flowers,” and the Black Crowes, duetting with frontman Chris Robinson on Crowes single “Wilted Rose.”
Around 35 minutes into the Wilson chat, Von asked his team to pose a question to A.I. powered search engine Perplexity: “what are some take titles of songs lainey wilson could sing”?
The A.I. generated funny possibilities. Those included, “Whiskey on a Wednesday,” “Roadside Halo,” “Pickup Truck Confessions,” Bellbottom Strange,” “Mason Jar Miracles” and “Kissed By Kudzu.”
One, “Twang in My Bones,” even had Wilson coming up with and singing an off-the-cuff hook for that hypothetical song.
Von, whose interviews are homespun yet deftly instinctual, then asked his team to ask Perplexity “what are some goofier ones”? The A.I. didn’t disappoint. It came back with titles like “Honky Tonk Hiccups” and “Lasso My Latte.” Von and Wilson had a good laugh.
Scanning down the list, shown onscreen on the podcast’s YouTube, Wilson then said, “Hold up …” One title, “Gravy on My Guitar,” caught her eye. And sparked a funny story from being on tour.
“It just reminds me,” Wilson said. “Hardy [a mononymous country singer/songwriter who’s penned tunes for the likes of Blake Shelton] took me and some of my crew to a strip club in Huntsville [Alabama], and they have biscuits and gravy night.”
Von’s interest was understandably piqued. “Oh, that’s great. Is it pricey over there?” Wilson replied, “Well, he [Hardy] gave me a hundred ones, and it was like, have fun. It was like my end of tour gift.” Von asked, “And you’re over there just buying biscuits?”
Wilson answered, “Well, it wasn’t biscuits and gravy night that night. We had just missed it. This was like a Friday night or something. but they were like, y’ all gotta come back for biscuits and gravy night. Blah, blah, blah. And I thought, that’s nice. You know, sit around eating some biscuits and gravy. No, they’re rolling around in the gravy and people are throwing the biscuits.”
Von said, “Oh, yeah. I don’t want that. My mother loves biscuit biscuits and gravy. If I took her and you didn’t get to eat it, she would be upset.”
The story was picked up by country music blogs. And Uncle Buck’s Boobie Bungalow took note. Promoting their next “biscuits, gravy, and wrasslin'” event on Nov. 26, the club posted on social media: “We’re cordially inviting Lainey Wilson & Theo Von as our ringside judges!” No word yet if Wilson and Von will take them up on it.
Von’s Wilson episode, which has garnered more than 800,000 views so far, isn’t the first mention of Huntsville on his podcast.
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Last year, Von, whose YouTube account has more than 4 million followers, interviewed country-rap phenom Jessie Murph. The teenage Murph, who recently made news with a controversial music video for her single “1965,” grew up in nearby Athens, Alabama. But she was born in Huntsville.
In the Murph ep, which has more than 2 million views, Von said, “Huntsville is kind of a cool place. I feel like it’s the next Lexington [Kentucky], kind of. There’s a lot of odd diversity there.”
