Dan + Shay Co-Host 5/20-21

This week’s co-hosts will be Dan + Shay. Their current Top 10 is “You.” Shay says he’s lost 64 pounds in the last year, but he gained a new son in January. The guys have been in Dan’s home studio working on new music. This year marks the duo’s 10th anniversary.

Lon’s first observation is that he’s speaking with Dan and ‘Half of Shay.’  To which Shay says, “I think I’m down 64 pounds.  I think it took 6 months.  I look back at pictures, and it was pretty quick.  I’m an all or nothing kind of guy.”

Lon asked how Shay lost the weight: “I stopped drinking.  I haven’t had a drink in 10 months.  Nothing against drinking, but I’m all or nothing. I’m treating it like being an athlete. I’m also eating differently, I stopped eating processed foods, but the alcohol was a big part.  You don’t eat great when you’re drinking.” 

In keeping with that, Shay has been working out with Thomas Rhett: “I just started a 5AM workout class with Thomas Rhett.  If it ends at 6AM, we can take the kids to school.  So I like it. Thomas wanted to get a group together, and I was the only one.  We’ll see how long it lasts.  I’ve done it four times.”

Speaking of kids, Shay & his wife added their third son, Abram Shay Mooney, in January: “I snuck my name in there.  It was going to be Dan, bit we couldn’t fit it phonetically. They’re all ‘A’ names.  I’ve not once called my sons the right name, because they’re so similar.” Lon asked if he’s run out of ‘A’ names: “We’ll see.  We’re gonna find out if we’ll go for four, or if that’s it, keep it at three. We’ll see.”

The guys have spent the past five months working at Dan’s house on some new music.  Shay moved closer to Dan’s house so they could work faster: “It was a game changer.  I used to live about 30 minutes outside of town.  But it often took an hour.  Now it takes me 12 minutes, because I go all the time. That changed the game.  I’m living at his house now, but we’re having a blast.”

How much of it is done? “A significant part of it. Maybe 100% of it.  We’re ready. We’re still working, but we’ve had the time to make the album we want to make.  Now it’s just a matter of what worder the songs go into, and what song comes out first, all those details, but we’re really proud of it.”

Dan told Lon he recently ran into Megan Moroney in an unexpected place: “My wife and I were in Florida at the beach, and Megan was nearby.  They walked past our house, we were in the front yard, and they were going out for St. Patrick’s Day. She’s a lot younger than my wife & I. I had a hangover for a few days. They were doing tequila shots, and I was nursing a beer, but we had a fun time.”

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the duo’s debut single. Lon recalls he was in New Orleans for their radio debut. Dan says he has a different memory of that show: “we spent all this money, we rented an historic theater, but no one thought to have a PA system. Then I realized I didn’t have a guitar pick. Then a local guy from the theater came to me and said, ‘Got somethin’ for ya.’ And he handed me this Willie Nelson guitar pick. I had it for 7 years. But thanks for stickin’ with us, it really means a lot. You’ve been in our corner, such a champion, and it’s changed our lives. We’ll never forget it.”

Dan & Shay also have great stories this week about Brett Young, Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, Hailey Whitters, and Gabby Barrett.

NEXT WEEK: Scotty McCreery

Tags: featured

Category: CO-HOST