I should not be laughing this hard at the comment section of a podcast clip— let alone featuring the frontman of Train, of all people— but here we are.
The “Drops of Jupiter” singer Pat Monahan was a recent guest on American Songwriter’s show, Off The Record, and as an avid Los Angeles recording artist, the 57-year-old had some judgy opinions about the culture shock of recording in Nashville. According to Monahan, “Everybody in Nashville is super weird. Like no one has recording equipment.”
He shares that people just use their iPhone…which is a pretty common thing to do when you record a quick demo after a writing session, but I guess Monahan’s a little too hoity-toity for the convenient method. Host Lisa Konicki then asks, “So how is it different in Nashville than it is in LA?” and he quips back, “I have recording equipment in LA.”
He basically explains that it’s equipment heaven when you’re in LA, whereas in Music City, “everybody’s like moving books and sh*t.” He mockingly gestures, “Here you can sit on my bed.”
Visibly appalled at the low-key environment, he stutters, “What are you? Really?” but hey, guess he’s just got to suck it up because “some of the great musicians in the world are here.”
Tons of users lined up in the comment section of the clip, some hyping up the validity of a good ‘ole bedroom write and others pointing out that beyond the MANY studios lined up around Nashville, even if you’re writing in someone’s home, pretty much everyone and their mother still has recording equipment. Moral of the story: people think the take is “unc,” “rage bait,” and that they’re “Not letting this guy sit on my bed.”
Arguably the most heated person in the comment section was none other than legendary songwriter and “Deep Blue” singer, ERNEST. The Nashville native went OFF on Monahan first, calling him the Walmart brand Jason Bateman, noting “Bro looks like God’s first attempt at Jason Bateman” and hilariously doubling down with, “Bason Jateman.”
I mean c’mon…he was pretty spot on with that one.
He continued calling the take “dumb af lol” and echoing the fact that, “even the people that don’t have a set up studio equipment in their house have a room or closet with studio equipment in it. People that work at the bank are likely to have some form of studio in their house.”
Then, in my personal favorite comment, ERNEST uses Australian country Keith Urban who recently joined Train onstage as a prime example, firing back: “Keith Urban just popped up with you in Chicago…I guess he failed to mention to you the fact he bought and owns/kept alive ONE of the more iconic studios in Nashville.”
Which, for those who don’t know, is Urban’s restored former Tracking Room, now known as The Sound, located right on Music Row. Parts of Ella Langley’s iconic 2026 album Dandelion were recorded at the location, which Ernest had a bit of a helping hand with, co-penning “Loving Life Again” and her more recent duet with Koe Wetzel, “Jaded.”
All in all, I think most of Nashville would agree that Monahan’s take was a pretty pompous statement, considering I’ve never listened to a Train song and thought, “Wow, this sounds like it was recorded on some snazzy equipment.” To put it best by Ernest, “Train been a**.”