Sunday Drive- Let's Take A Trip!

This is Rodney from the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we explored manhood within Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds.

Sit back, enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Sunday's a comin'. You ever heard that expression? Sunday is a comin'. Of course, that typically relates to somebody will post something on a Friday leading up to Sunday services.

Sometimes you'll see churches kind of play on that. But today, a special interview for me today, because Sunday is coming in the form of Sunday Drive. Well, what is Sunday Drive? Well, that is a gospel group that I, it's just a privilege and honor to have on the show with me today.

Jeff, Misty, and Dusty Treese. Hey guys, welcome to the Man Up show. Hey, hey, it's good to be here. Well, it's great to have you guys, and I'm excited to interview you guys. You know, we met at the NRB in Nashville, Tennessee. Opryland Hotel.

Opryland Hotel. And of course, you were there as a guest, I guess, of Truth Radio, right? Stu Epperson had brought you guys in for a special evening with all the folks connected with Truth Radio, right? Yes, it was a wonderful, wonderful evening. Did we get a concert? Well done.

You did. You did an amazing concert, and we're gonna talk about that, of all of that, and so much more. But before we dive into what you're doing out there on tour and what you're doing within the gospel world, the gospel music world, let me just start with Jeff and Dusty. I know you guys are brothers, so people might have picked up on the same last name, and then of course, Misty came into the picture. Yep, we've been brothers all our lives. All your lives, you've been brothers.

Give us a little, Dusty or Jeff, or maybe you can kind of tag team. Well, it's not all his life, but all my life. Well, no, all his life we've been brothers. Who's older? Who's older? I am the oldest, and there's a big generation gap between the two of us, and mom and dad sat me and my older brother down and said, we gotta have a talk. Our family's going to change. I'm thinking we're going to move somewhere, but I was the youngest, and I was 17 years old.

That's how much, I was 18 when he was born, but 17 when they told me, and my older brother was 21, and so all of that started over. Okay, and so now who, okay, but who's, Dusty or Jeff, who's speaking? This is Jeff. Jeff, okay, so Jeff, you were 17, you had an older brother 21, and then the good Lord surprised the family with a new addition, and Dusty came along.

Is that how it? Yeah, mom called him her little angel. And he was born around Christmas. Her little angel, you almost say that with like some kind of apprehension in your voice. Well, you know, if you want to know what a little angel looks like, you know, look up Dusty. That's what it looks like when it grows up.

That's awesome. Okay, so three boys. What's your oldest brother's name? His name's Dwayne. Dwayne. Is Dwayne in the music world like you guys or no?

He could be. He's a great singer and musician, and he used to play and travel and sing with our family group back in years ago, but he kind of, he had family and stuff, you know, and he had a little car lot he ran, so he kind of took off from the music to do real life. Okay, okay, so Dusty, let me ask you, so music, it sounds like, has always been in the family? I pretty much came out of the hospital and straight onto a tour bus at that point. My family was touring all the time, and I basically hit the road immediately. They used to set me on stage, and I would play imaginary drums while everybody else was recording. Oh, that's awesome. Here's the picture I got, like the family could be up there and say, hey, you know, we have a lot of mouths to feed, including this new baby, this new infant here, so if you want to sew into and support Sunday Drive, here you go, right, here you go. Well, there was such a generation gap that my dad was 50 years old, so I always kidded and said that, you know, whenever he had his third child, he was able to get a senior discount on diapers. That's amazing. So you had an initiation into music right out of the womb, okay?

Oh, yeah. So, Jeff, tell us a little bit about the family traveling and touring, and was that under a different, like just a family name, or was that under a different name, and how long did they do it, and when did you get involved on tour? They were called Cedar Ridge, and they started in 1967, and I came along when I was 13 years old, the piano player quit, and mom and dad said, you got to play piano, and so I was a piano player, and I think back about that, because, you know, I barely could play the piano, so it must have been pretty bad back then. Well, I was going to actually ask it, did you actually play the piano when they said, hey, you're going to play, or did you have to get a crash course? I could just pick around on it, you know, and so they took me over to a guy here in Knoxville, Tennessee, and he gave me a crash course on how to chord, and so I became the piano player overnight, it seemed like. Well, at age 13.

At age 13, yeah. Wow, and Jeff, how many years did the as a family, how many years did the family travel as a family, 1967 till when? Our mother passed away in 1997, and so in 97, the family kind of just, so that was 30 years they traveled at Cedar Ridge, and so in 97, it kind of started dissolving, and I was like, well, you know, I like to play music, so I went to, I changed, well, it wasn't the same, you know, as the family, so I didn't keep the family name, and I did Jeff Treece Band, just, and I took Dusty, and we had a guitar player at the time, and he stuck with me, and so me and Dusty and the guitar player, we went out as Jeff Treece Band, and of course Dusty was just a little kid, and so we traveled, we did that.

Many more miles on the road. In 2009, Misty and I got married January, and so at that point in January, she came with the group, and things changed. Okay, well, I want to, you know, we was a boy band, and Misty came along, and everything changed.

Oh, I want to get to that. Don't get ahead of me. We now smell better, we look better, we sound better, we smell better. Well, a woman will have that influence on a man.

Yeah, they would. I found out. And so we changed names to Sunday Drive in 09, and so we've been Sunday Drive ever since. Okay, all right, all right.

Don't get too far ahead of me here, because I want to go back to Dusty for a moment, and then we'll bring Misty into the conversation. So, Dusty, so you have an initiation just right out of the womb, and so you're traveling with the family, and so at what age or how old were you, and do you play instruments, or how did you then get involved? I play, yeah. I started playing drums. Our older brother, Wayne, played the bass. So they had piano, and they had bass, so naturally that needed a drummer. So they pushed me toward being a drummer, and I started playing drums, but I actually didn't start playing, because drums, people like to make jokes about drummers, but they're kind of the key element. So it was about 12 years old when I started playing for the group. 12. Okay, wow.

Well, I actually kind of get what you mean. My oldest daughter is married to a drummer, Chad, and my son-in-law, Chad, who a number of years ago played drums for a little season of time there with DC Talk, a little group called DC Talk. Oh, nice. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's awesome. Yep, Chad, and with them, and currently, and his brother, his brother Lonnie's in music, and actually them and another set of brothers, all from all PKs, all Preacher's Kids, so the two sets of brothers have recently formed a country and western group called The Brethren, and yeah, just very recent. Chad had been out of music for a while, and he got off the road for a while, and so they just had the inspiration.

They were inspired to kind of a dream. Awesome. Look that up. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I think that once it's in you, it's always in you, and you might take a break, but it's always in you. Right. Absolutely. And so I am familiar with drums and a drummer.

Okay. So age 12, age 13, you guys are on tour with the entire family, and then Misty comes into the picture, and so Misty, how did you meet Jeff? I met Jeff actually through music. I used to be one of those people that went to see their family when they were in the area, and I used to see Dusty playing bongo drums. He was just a little toddler, and he was just playing in the back with his family band.

It was so cute, but I went to see them, and that's how I met the family. Okay. So that was back, say, 2009 or earlier than that?

Oh, no. This is way before 2009. They got married in 2009, but we've known each other for way longer than that.

Yeah. I've known the family forever. So they were always just family friends, and Jeff actually recorded one of my first demos, and then he recorded a first solo project for me. So I've been around with the family for a long time. I know the family. But then the Lord put Jeff and I together as husband and wife in 2009.

Okay. Well, I'm just trying to get a visual, Misty, as you're describing this. So I'm thinking, okay, here's Jeff helping you do some demos and put some things together. And he's like, at some point, obviously, it went from helping you promote or work on your career to going, hey, maybe there's more to this than just being...

I guess he wouldn't have been your manager. I don't know what the title would have been, but he went from helping you to saying, hey, maybe there's more to this that meets the eye, I'm thinking here. Jeff, let me go over to Jeff for a minute.

So Jeff, at what point, okay, from helping her produce songs and doing all that, at what point do you have your aha moment that, hey, maybe it could be more than just friends? You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Nikita Kolov here, and I am excited. Did you hear the huge announcement, the big announcement? Well, maybe it's a minor announcement. Anyway, Facebook, go look up my new fan page, Nikita Kolov fans, and like it, and follow today.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Well, I always thought that she was a star, and I always told her, I said, you're a star. You could be a, you're an undiscovered star, and so, but I always just considered her as a friend, you know, and she's nine years younger than me, and she was pretty young when I met her first time. She's 16, and so I didn't look at her like that, you know, I was just trying to help out a little girl. Yeah, yeah, we were just always family friends. Yeah, that's awesome.

Okay. And so, but then, probably it was in 08, you know, it was like my dad walked up to me and says, I claim you as my daughter-in-law, and it about freaked her out. Come on, come on. Did dad have like a dream, a vision, or maybe a prophetic word or something? He was very persistent in his perception. Maybe he was thinking, these two ain't gonna do this, I'm gonna have to brush it along. I'm gonna have to lend a helping hand, since they're not seeing what I'm seeing, right? And my dad got involved too, so we had both dads working. Oh, hey, this could fall into the category of the old Jewish arranged marriage I'm hearing here, you know, I'm thinking.

I'm just saying, I'm just saying. They certainly had plans, they certainly were trying to drop hints, and like I said, it's only God's timing, and he has to work things out the way. When he's ready, well, when he knows we're ready, actually, and he worked out his perfect timing, but yeah, my dad and this dad both were planning. They were in cahoots with each other, and to make this happen.

Well, you said, mister, you said a very interesting thing. God's timing, and sometimes we think we are ready, right? When he sees the bigger picture, right? Top to bottom, beginning to end, and he's like, ah, no, you're not quite ready. You think you are, you're not quite ready. There's still some more preparation I need to do in your life, and for whatever it is, whether it's marriage, or music, or you know, launching into a career, or whatever else, God's timing. Exactly.

His timing is perfect. Yeah. We just have to trust it. Sometimes we don't understand, and you know, we try to put things in our hands, and try to figure it all out, but we have to trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not into our own understanding, but acknowledge him, and he shall direct our past. That's the word, you know, Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6. So we just have to trust his timing, trust his ways, and just step when he calls us to step, and stop when he calls us to stop. Well, that's a good word for somebody out there right now listening.

That's a good word right there. So, all right, so Misty comes into the picture, and Sunday Drive is launched. Dusty, let me ask you, so whose idea, so you go from the family travel, family name, and decide to, and go from the Jeff Treece band, right, to Sunday Drive. Whose idea was that, Dusty? Who gets credit for that?

Well, Misty came with the group, and at that point she was the lead singer, and it would be kind of weird to be called the Jeff Treece band, but she's the lead singer, the lead singer. So we went through a little time of looking at names, but Sunday Drive is the one really that you just, you know, kept coming back to it. It was the one that hit everybody. It's a special name for me, because I remember as a child, every Sunday we would go out to eat, me, my mom, and dad. We would go out to eat, well, we'd go to church, then we'd go out to eat, and then we would take a Sunday drive. And we didn't necessarily have a destination, but we were together as a family, and, you know, on the Lord's Day, and start at church, go out to eat, and then just spend that time in the afternoon together, driving around enjoying the beauty of God's creation, and enjoying the family time together. And that's something, that's a memory that I have forever in my heart, and am so thankful for, of all the fun times that I look back on, and just the joy of that moment, and just the relaxation of that moment. You know, there was no stress, it was just, we were together on a Sunday drive.

Some good quality time together, right? And for me, my parents were so old at the point, we didn't really do Sunday drives, they did more Sunday naps. Yes, I could actually relate to that one, but yes, yes. There was less Sunday drives and more Sunday naps in my childhood.

I got you. Well, you know, Misty, you bring up an interesting, I just had this conversation, actually just recently with someone, and we were talking about, you said something interesting, because you said you go off for the Sunday drive, you didn't necessarily have a destination in mind, which, you know, a lot of times you get in a car and you do have a destination in mind, right? Like, I got in the car this morning, I knew I was going to end up at Truth Radio Network, right?

In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, I had a destination. Here's what's interesting about an automobile versus, this is just a random thought, but an automobile versus other modes of transportation, because if you think about it, you get on a train, or you get on a plane, or you get on a ship even, or there's, 100% of the time there's a destination, right? I mean, you know, but that plane's going to land somewhere, intended to land somewhere, that train is intended to stop somewhere, that ship is intended to port somewhere, but really the automobile is the only mode of transportation that you can, well, I guess the others you could technically get on and not, and just wander, but... With a lot of detail, yeah.

Right, but you just bring up an interesting illustration of how the car can be used in a way, even without a destination, how the car can be used in a very positive way to lend to quality time with your family, to enjoy, as you said, God's beautiful creation, that's amazing, and so, well, let's do this. It's an amazing thing that you can do, and I know with my dad, he knows every back road in the area, and he learned us through the years of all those Sunday drives that we took, you know, he would just take off down the road, this was way before GPS, and just, let's see where it takes us, and it was such a fun time, and I'm so thankful for it. Well, it led to the group name, and let me, Jeff, let me ask you, so it leads to the group name, and so you launched Sunday Drive, and I know you guys are out there on tour, the tour bus was mentioned earlier, you guys are out there on tour, like if people wanted to follow you guys, if people wanted to, you know, maybe introduce to some of your music, they're not familiar with Sunday Drive, you know, where can they go do that, where are you guys on tour, where are you guys doing that? Well, they can check out our tour schedule on our website at sundaydrivemusic.com, at sundaydrivemusic.com, and they can also reach us on every streaming platform, they can listen to our music, you know, Dusty Notes, iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, all of them.

Okay, okay, so all the streaming platforms, they can catch your music? You can find us on all the, yeah, all social medias, you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, you just got to just type in Sunday Drive, it's usually the first thing that pops up, it's got a little blue check mark right at the top. Come on, Sunday Drive, all the streaming platforms, and, but you guys are on tour during, doing, how often do you guys go out, Misty, how often do you guys go out on tour? We, I'll answer for her, we, okay, we go on tour probably around, we used to do a lot more dates, we've kind of felt like, you know, I've got a family now, I got a kid, and, and then we like spending a little more family time, and so it's usually probably 100, around 100, probably, dates a year. Okay, about 100 dates a year, and of course, I'm guessing your website would, would have, like, what town, what towns you guys are going to be in, and, yeah, yes, you can, under tour on our website, it has, it will have all the details of everywhere we're going to be. Yeah, we just got home Sunday from an eight-day straight tour in Florida, which, you know, I always liked going to Florida in the wintertime, and so it was sunny and 70 down there, and it was cold up here and rainy, so we were, like, calling home, going, like, that's a good thing, that's the fun thing about the touring, is you get to call your family back home and go, oh, it's, it's, it's 78, and it's sunny here, what is it there?

Oh, 27 and rainy, oh, okay, or whatever's known. Yeah, and, and home, and home is where for you guys? Knoxville, Tennessee.

Knoxville, Tennessee. Oh, Rocky Top, T for Tennessee, and, okay, T for Tennessee. You guys wouldn't happen to be volunteer fans, would you, or just saying?

What a silly, what a silly question that is, right? Well, just for the, hey, just for the record, you guys handed one to, I'm a Roll Tide fan, you guys handed one to the Tide this year, so. I was actually at that game. Oh, you were. All right, I still, I still love you. Yeah, Alabama fans are really upset over that, and I'm like, and, and I'm like, hey, one out of 15 years, I mean, come on, give us one. Right, right, give me one, right?

So, anyway, so. Well, hey, before we run out of time, we're, we're, we're almost out of time, but I know you guys, talk to me about your, your Dove nominations, that's, that's quite a, quite an honor, just take a minute, somebody, one of you, and talk about the Dove nominations. Well, we were very surprised and thankful, and we got two Dove nominations on our new record, under the Bluegrass Country Roots, and it, for Album of the Year, and then also our song, Grace and Goodness, for Song of the Year, and it was, it was a blessing and an honor to be nominated.

We got to go down there to the awards show, and, and hang out with all of them, and it was pretty fun. That was at the Dove Awards, yeah? Yes. Yes. Okay, because my youngest daughter, Colby, I'm not sure who she, she's there usually every year, she's, she's does songwriting, and she's usually there every year, on one of those, one of those interview stands, you know, the, the red carpet interview things.

Okay. Yeah, she usually hosts, yeah, yeah, so, so Colby usually hosts, in fact, she just told me recently, she met, I guess it's pronounced, Jonathan Rumi, I guess, how you pronounce his name, the one who plays Jesus in the Chosen series. Oh yeah, yeah, he was there, he actually presented an award. Yeah, yeah. He was actually sitting like three rows in front of us, and, or right there at us, and, and we didn't get, we didn't get a selfie with Jesus, but we, we wanted to, but he got out of it pretty quick.

Well, you didn't get the selfie with him, but you got, you, you each got him in your, in your heart, so you got him with you in your heart. That's right, that's right. Yeah, so, well, pretty, that's pretty amazing, so, man, it's just a, such an honor to have, have you guys on, on the show today, Jeff and Misty Trees, Dusty Trees, and the Sunday Drive, and I just want to encourage everyone to go out there into all the streaming platforms, and, and download their music, go to their website, website, one more time, give us your website, sundaydrivemusic.com, sundaydrivemusic.com. All right, well, tune in again for another great episode. It's time to Man Up.

Hey, sometimes we even have women on the Man Up show. God bless you. This podcast is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers, support, and generous gifts. May God bless you for your continual contributions. Go to koloff.net and donate today.

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