Braxton Keith walked off stage at XRoads41 in Oshkosh and we followed him onto the bus. First time at this festival for us, first time for him too, and the first time he has ever opened for Wiz Khalifa, who was still landing on a PJ while Braxton was playing.

He was supposed to be a dentist. His mom is a hygienist, his dad is a dentist, and both of them told him to stay out of the medical field because school probably was not his thing. He took that as a challenge, went in as a biochem major, and got wrecked by the labs. Then they told him the music thing probably would not work out either. Real Damn Deal has been out three months.

We get into the album cover, which came from an old Moe Bandy record where Bandy is miniaturized inside a beer glass. James bought someone's entire Moe Bandy collection off Marketplace a few weeks back and cannot stop talking about how every title makes you flinch. Braxton explains why that kind of honesty is what he is chasing, what Hank Williams and Merle Haggard did that he is trying to do a little more modern, and why he wants every person in the crowd running their own movie of the song in their head.

Plus: his first concert was Elton John in Lubbock at age eight, where his mom covered his eyes during a song she did not want him hearing. His Elton top three. Why fans are asking for the slow songs at a festival. And what happens when the Gavin Adcock run starts at the end of August.

We also brought him a gift, because what do you get a guy who loves Crocodile Rock and did not become a dentist.

Real Damn Deal is out now.

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