Dandelion: Greg Lato’s Tribute to Military Families

Wendy & Rich 0:00
Hey, everyone is Rich Bennett. Can you believe it? The show is turning 10 this year. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who've tuned in, shared a episode, or even joined the conversation over the years. You're the reason that this podcast has grown into what it is today. Together, we've shared laughs, tears, and moments that truly matter. So I want to thank you for being part of this journey. Let's make the next 10 years even better. Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios Harford County Living Presence conversations with Rich Bennett. 

Let me know who is. 

Rich Bennett 1:00
Today, I'm honored to sit down with someone who's not only an award-winning family musician and accomplished children's author, but also a brother, I guess you could say. He's also a proud Navy veteran with a deep respect for resilience and community. Greg or Joseph LaRose. Music has topped iTunes charts, been featured on Apple Music Playlist, and resonated with families across the country. But his latest project, Dandeline, Songs Inspired by Military Kids and Families goes beyond melodies. It's a heartfelt tribute to the strength, sacrifice, and spirit of our nation's military children. We'll talk about the stories behind the songs. We'll inspire him to work with real military families, as opposed to fake ones, I guess, and why he continues to focus his art on uplifting the next generation. If you've ever wondered what it looks like when music meets mission, this is the episode for you. So, grab your coffee, grab your tea, whatever you're drinking, and do me a favor. After you listen to this, I want to direct you to a website right now. Greg. Leyto. L-A-T-O. Dandeline.com. And when you look at everything on there, like I said, do it after you listen to this episode because you won't be able to stop listening to the music and watching the videos. So, first of all, how's it going, Greg? You're gonna like my first question. 

Greg Lato 2:30
It's going great. Thank you for having me. 

Rich Bennett 2:34
All right. I just got to ask right off the back, man. Old-school new school was... I mean, I watched the video and I can't get this song out of my head. Old school news, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, anyways, cred me if I'm wrong, but I've seen like a little bit of 

some rap, but was... They were big influence from "Saved by the Bell." 

Greg Lato 3:02
Sure. Yeah. I mean... Yes. I mean, that whole era, basically, 

from through the '80s and 

Rich Bennett 3:12
yeah, 

Greg Lato 3:13
through the early '90s, I guess, is a big influence on my music, that whole era. So, yeah, you could definitely hear the influences. 

Rich Bennett 3:23
Oh, you could see it. 

Greg Lato 3:25
You could see 

Rich Bennett 3:25
What 

Greg Lato 3:25
it, too. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 3:26
I'm referring to is you with the wig like screech from "Saved by the Bell." 

Greg Lato 3:34
That wasn't a specific reference that I... 

Rich Bennett 3:37
Oh, really? 

Greg Lato 3:38
But, you know, it's maybe just in me, you know, and just... 

Rich Bennett 3:42
Yeah. 

Greg Lato 3:42
My whole makeup, I guess, of who I am growing up during before that, and through that time, I guess. Yeah. So, it's all in there. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 3:54
All right. So, for those people that may not be familiar with your story, how did your journey of music and children's media actually begin? 

Greg Lato 4:04
So, from when I was very small, I mean, I grew up in a musical family. My dad was a jazz musician that played for many of the greats. 

Rich Bennett 4:15
Really? 

Greg Lato 4:15
He played for Tony Bennett, he played for Natalie Cole, the righteous brothers, and I grew up with him rehearsing in the house, you know, and just kind of would dive into his record collection, and, you know, he had many different styles in there, mostly... 

Rich Bennett 4:33
Right. 

Greg Lato 4:34
Dan's with horns, you know, like "Earth 

Rich Bennett 4:36
Mm-hmm. 

Greg Lato 4:36
Wind and Fire" and "Chicago" and 

Rich Bennett 4:38
Oh yeah. 

Greg Lato 4:39
all that kind of stuff. And I would just like, you know, immerse myself into that music and just sit in my room for hours and listen and read the liner notes. 

Rich Bennett 4:50
Yes. 

Greg Lato 4:51
You know, what we used to do. And, you know, that's basically how I got into music. And then when I was like seven or eight, 

Rich Bennett 4:59
just... 

Greg Lato 5:00
I would 

Rich Bennett 5:00
Mm-hmm. 

Greg Lato 5:01
come up with my own melodies and and record them on a cassette. 

Rich Bennett 5:06
Yeah, yep. 

Greg Lato 5:08
Yeah, so in, you know, fast forward to when I got older and I would just collaborate with people and just just write songs. I basically started as a songwriter. 

Rich Bennett 5:19
Okay. 

Greg Lato 5:20
And, you know, became a singer to get my songs out there. That's, 

Rich Bennett 5:24
Right. 

Greg Lato 5:25
that's really just a vehicle to to be heard and eventually got into children's music. 

Rich Bennett 5:32
I was going to say, was it all these children's music or what were you playing originally? 

Greg Lato 5:37
No, for, for many years, before that, I was just doing like pop rock stuff. 

Rich Bennett 5:43
Okay. 

Greg Lato 5:43
You know, like adult themed stuff. And then since I had kids, I got into the children's music. 

Rich Bennett 5:54
I don't, I don't know if that's common or what, because I remember my, you know, when my daughter was younger, she loved the wiggles. And if I'm not mistaken, they, or maybe a couple of them, used to play in a rock band, and then they started the wiggles as a, I want to say like college project or something. But there's some other children's musicians that have done the same thing. Have started out doing either rock, jazz, whatever, even R&B, and then have converted over to children's music, which is great because to me, 

you'd rather have the young kids listening to the children's music, there's some of the stuff out there today, especially. 

Greg Lato 6:44
Right. 

Rich Bennett 6:44
So 

Greg Lato 6:45
Yeah. yeah, that's what I'm all about 

Rich Bennett 6:47
holding. 

Greg Lato 6:47
is 

Rich Bennett 6:47
Right. 

Greg Lato 6:49
content. So I 

Rich Bennett 6:49
Family 

Greg Lato 6:49
think there definitely should be more of that. 

Rich Bennett 6:52
Oh, absolutely. So what made you decide to actually go into the Navy? 

Greg Lato 6:58
Um, it was, um, just kind of like a decision I made. 

Rich Bennett 7:01
Okay. 

Greg Lato 7:01
It was like one of those things where I did want to be a firefighter at the time. 

Rich Bennett 7:07
Oh, 

Greg Lato 7:08
you know, I was doing music, but you know, I had to seriously think about a solid career. 

Rich Bennett 7:14
Right. 

Greg Lato 7:15
And, you know, I was interested in firefighting, specifically like maybe I like an airport. 

Rich Bennett 7:21
Oh, oh. 

Greg Lato 7:22
So, um, I had talked to somebody locally that, um, was a bit older than me, and had been in the Navy. And um, I guess like my parents, um, had me meet with him and talk about it before I made a decision. And they kind of went through it and about their experience, which was a great one. And I made the decision to go in. Um, and, and when I went in, it just so happened that I got stationed in San Diego, which was like two hours from LA, 

Rich Bennett 7:54
um, 

Greg Lato 7:55
where it's one of the music capitals, you know, 

Rich Bennett 7:58
yes. 

Greg Lato 7:59
Um, so I kind of just like on my time off would go there and make friends network and yeah, 

Rich Bennett 8:08
go to the club to sit down and jam with some of the musicians. 

Greg Lato 8:11
A little bit, but it was mostly just like networking with music 

Rich Bennett 8:15
industry people. Right. Smart. 

Greg Lato 8:16
Uh, because I had friends that went to Berkeley College of Music, and they in Boston, 

Rich Bennett 8:22
they 

Greg Lato 8:23
moved out there at the same time, you know, we're there. So I would kind of just like hang with them. And 

Rich Bennett 8:30
okay, 

Greg Lato 8:31
music industry people would be with them at the time and would just network basically. 

Rich Bennett 8:38
Okay with it, because everybody here's the horror stories about the music industry. We know it's hard to get into the different genres. Country can be hard. Rock can be hard. What about as far as children's music, was that pretty easy to get into and start getting, I want to say publish, but that's an author's. 

Greg Lato 8:57
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 8:58
Again, well, just getting your music out there. I mean, was it hard, still as hard as the other genres or was it pretty easy? 

Greg Lato 9:06
I mean, everything's difficult, you know, like with 

Rich Bennett 9:09
Yeah. That's 

Greg Lato 9:09
anything in music, especially, is difficult to break through. But I have to say like with not it that it's easy, but, you know, there is a tight knit community in the children's music genre, 

Rich Bennett 9:23
right. 

Greg Lato 9:23
where a lot of the artists, you know, know each other and hang at the same networking events. And we have several things that we go to every year. We have like a children's music network conference, that we go to, yeah, so the grand, I go to the Grammys every year basically for the last three years. And we have a breakfast, you know, 

Rich Bennett 9:45
right, 

Greg Lato 9:45
together and, and just meet 

Rich Bennett 9:50
oh, 

Greg Lato 9:50
yearly, you know, so yeah, I mean, so that's a good thing about it. And I love 

Rich Bennett 9:55
yeah, 

Greg Lato 9:56
about children's music is that everybody kind of just like helps each other and supports each other, 

Rich Bennett 10:01
which that's great. 

Greg Lato 10:02
Which is, you don't get that in a lot of the other genres. 

Rich Bennett 10:06
Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, with Dandy Lion, this is your new album, right? 

Greg Lato 10:11
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 10:11
Yep. Alright, what was the spark that inspired Dandy Lion? And why- I think I know the answer to the second part of this question, but why military kids? 

Greg Lato 10:21
So I had never really, um, incorporated my own service, um, with the music. I- it was always like a separate thing, like something I did, you know, in my past and that I'm very proud of, I've always been proud of my service. Um, and as I get older, I get even prouder of it, you know, just, um, Just, I don't know, just you think about things more as you get older and more mature and you just, um, I have just a deep appreciation for it. 

Rich Bennett 10:55
yeah. 

Greg Lato 10:56
Um, so, and of the military in general. Um, but, you know, I was always genuinely, genuinely interested in how the families, um, deal with their, the service of their family member, you know, like the kids, um, because really in reality, the whole family 

Rich Bennett 11:16
serves. Mm hmm. That's true. 

Greg Lato 11:18
You know, the kids serve the, the spouse. So I was very interested in their stories and finding out how that all works, you know, like what, what are the kids go through? You know, new, new kid at school and moving constantly. 

Rich Bennett 11:34
And, yeah. 

Greg Lato 11:35
And a lot of those themes could lend itself to children's music. You know, because of, because it is family music, what I do. So I wanted to, um, dive into that world and just, uh, meet with the families and hear their stories and write songs based on those stories and meetings. 

Rich Bennett 11:57
And actually, so you, you collaborated with actual military families and children. Can you actually share what those sessions were like? Because I'm, I'm sure they're had to be some tears as well. 

Greg Lato 12:10
Yeah. I mean, they're obviously the children's arms. So I want to keep it 

Rich Bennett 12:13
Mm hmm. 

Greg Lato 12:14
light and upbeat and fun. And it was all fun. But there 

Rich Bennett 12:18
Yeah. 

Greg Lato 12:18
were many heartfelt moments, um, and it too. And it does reflect in some of the songs. 

Rich Bennett 12:24
Right. 

Greg Lato 12:25
But there were, you know, there were a couple of meetings that were not easy, you know, I mean, um, like one in particular, um, I met with an 11 year old girl that, um, her dad, um, passed away due to PTSD. He was a Navy veteran. Um, 

Rich Bennett 12:43
man, 

Greg Lato 12:44
and it was at a therapy ranch that she goes to, um, where she rides the horses and it helps her, you know, cope and, and you're an amazing kid, um, so much personality. Like we have, um, the content all on video and everything. And, um, I put some of it out, but I'm going to dive more into her story, um, but she shines in the video. I mean, it's all her. She's got so much personality and, 

Rich Bennett 13:12
right, 

Greg Lato 13:13
she's, you know, she has a great attitude. So, um, yeah, I mean, it was very emotional, especially like when I left, you know, after, you know, I had to kind of like, um, it took me a while to, 

Rich Bennett 13:28
yeah, 

Greg Lato 13:28
um, get through that and over it, you know, and I'm not over it, but, you know, 

Rich Bennett 13:34
I don't 

Greg Lato 13:34
come 

Rich Bennett 13:34
think you 

Greg Lato 13:34
down 

Rich Bennett 13:34
can 

Greg Lato 13:34
from, 

Rich Bennett 13:34
ever get over it. Yeah. 

Greg Lato 13:36
Right. So, um, yeah. So, yeah, I, and she's actually in the old school, new school video. I had her come back and don't enjoy the video. Um, but stuff like that, you know, where we're challenging and, and we're definitely sad and heartfelt moments. 

Rich Bennett 13:55
Mm hmm. 

Greg Lato 13:56
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 13:56
All right. You mentioned the video again. Did you save outtakes? Because 

Greg Lato 14:03
Oh, 

Rich Bennett 14:04
the 

Greg Lato 14:04
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 14:04
little girl in the beginning with a clapper. I was rolling before the song even started. 

Greg Lato 14:10
Those are some of the old takes. 

Rich Bennett 14:12
Oh, 

Greg Lato 14:12
Yeah. We, 

Rich Bennett 14:12
okay. 

Greg Lato 14:13
yeah. So, like, she was just supposed to click the thing. I 

Rich Bennett 14:18
it 

Greg Lato 14:18
don't know 

Rich Bennett 14:19
is. 

Greg Lato 14:19
what 

Rich Bennett 14:19
Right. 

Greg Lato 14:19
Um, you know, for the take. And, um, she was great, you know, 

Rich Bennett 14:25
she was, 

Greg Lato 14:26
I mean, that we to include all of those kind of like a little blooper real in the beginning. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 14:31
I love it. All right. So, with the Dandy Lime, why is the Dandy Lime such a powerful, simple, for military children? And 

Greg Lato 14:39
But 

Rich Bennett 14:40
how did that theme influence the songwriting? 

Greg Lato 14:43
Well, it's the official flower of the military child. It's, um, you know, due to its, its resilience as a flower, you know, it's it's, it can grow anywhere. Um, it's, um, with stands, weather. through adversity and, you know, it's just a strong and resilient flower it's 

Rich Bennett 15:04
Yeah. 

Greg Lato 15:04
seen as and you know when it blows it goes where the wind takes it, you know, so it's kind of like like the military child, you know, it's they have to be strong and they are brave kids and they do think about Like, they, some of the families, okay, I met with the kids, haven't been a school in a school for longer than a year and a half. Yeah, okay, so like, so every year and a half they move to a new town, sometimes a new country. 

yeah, with, you know, dealing with the language barrier, you're dealing with just new people overall, like you're 

Rich Bennett 15:45
Yeah, 

Greg Lato 15:45
just going to a whole clean slate every couple of And it goes, 

Rich Bennett 15:49
culture shock. 

Greg Lato 15:50
Culture shock and I just wanted to know, you know, what is that like, you know, dealing with that and meeting new friends, especially when you're in school, it's tough as it is in a place where you grew up, it's tough to meet new friends. And I deal with that with my, with that with my daughters, my daughters are 11 and 8. And my older daughter, especially, is just starting to get into that whole. with 

Rich Bennett 16:18
Clicks 

Greg Lato 16:18
friends and all that in school and it's just extremely difficult and I struggled when I was a kid too. 

Rich Bennett 16:25
But 

Greg Lato 16:26
it's like, I want to know for them, you know, it's especially difficult. 

Rich Bennett 16:32
Right. 

Greg Lato 16:32
Do they like it, you know, I wanted to know that some kids do like it, some kids don't like it, they like, they'd rather be in one place. So that's what I wanted to know and definitely got those answers and put them into song. 

Rich Bennett 16:45
So is the, the Dandy line, is that actually truly the military symbol for that? Or 

Greg Lato 16:52
something? 

Rich Bennett 16:52
is that 

Greg Lato 16:53
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 16:53
Create really. 

Greg Lato 16:54
No, yeah, no, I did not come up with that. 

Rich Bennett 16:57
I never knew that but it makes perfect sense. 

Greg Lato 16:59
It does, yeah. And they have, like April is the month of the military child, And a lot of the symbolism 

Rich Bennett 17:10
Ow. 

Greg Lato 17:11
on there, the advertisement of it 

Rich Bennett 17:15
Yeah. 

Greg Lato 17:15
is. a Dandy Lion blowing in the wind. So I definitely wanted to tap into that, you know, I wanted to use that, something that's familiar. That 

Rich Bennett 17:25
It's 

Greg Lato 17:25
if you look at it, if you're a military family, you know what that is. 

Rich Bennett 17:31
Right. 

Greg Lato 17:31
And you know that it's based on military kids. So I wanted that familiarity with it, you know, and that to come through. 

Rich Bennett 17:42
What's one track on the album that actually holds a particularly emotional or memorable story for you? 

Greg Lato 17:52
I would say there's a song called Home is not a place. And it's, I was asking the kids, all the families, basically, that moved around a lot. I would ask them, what does home mean to you? 

Rich Bennett 18:06
Greg, I got to be honest with you. I watched that video. I was freaking crying, man. I mean, that brought tears to my eyes. That -- Oh, God. Yeah, the interviews. Yeah, I'm 

Greg Lato 18:19
Oh, 

Rich Bennett 18:19
sorry. Go 

Greg Lato 18:19
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 18:19
ahead. 

Greg Lato 18:20
Oh, yeah. 

Yeah, so that's what I wanted to know is -- and you know, I get different answers. Very interesting answers. You know, like, you know, one kid would say, "I hear the birds chirp wherever I go." And that makes me feel like at home, you know? Or one parent said, "We bring the Christmas decorations with us." 

Rich Bennett 18:53
Yeah. 

Greg Lato 18:56
And that's what I wanted to know. 

And that's what I wanted to know. And that's what I wanted to know. 

And that's what I wanted to know. 

Rich Bennett 19:23
And that's what I 

wanted to know. 

And that's what I wanted to know. And that's what I wanted to know. 

And that's what I wanted to know. 

Greg Lato 20:02
And that's what I wanted to know. 

Rich Bennett 20:07
And that's what I wanted to know. And that's what I wanted to know. 

Greg Lato 20:11
I love the challenge, yeah, and it was like, you know, it just made it interesting, like as a songwriter, To find new content to write about, you know, it was I had never done that before. Usually the children's songs that I have written were like about my kids are, you know, making up funny songs, the things that they would do, you know, like stuff like that, 

Rich Bennett 20:35
right? 

Greg Lato 20:35
but this was actually like writing about other people's stories and there was just no lack of content. I mean, I just, and plus I go to that place, like if I have a topic, I automatically go to that, you know, children's music place, you know, like where I just start writing and not all the songs are about the military, you know, it's 

Rich Bennett 21:00
yeah. 

Greg Lato 21:00
The kids say anything and it could spark a song idea, you know, like like there's a song called 'Dipping And it's just about like kids' favorite food, 

Rich Bennett 21:11
Chicken'. 

Greg Lato 21:12
you know, like 

Rich Bennett 21:12
Chicken Tenders! 

Greg Lato 21:12
or, yeah, song about pizza, you know, because the family, when they have pizza nights, you know, like 

Rich Bennett 21:20
mm-hmm, 

Greg Lato 21:21
which are family traditions that they keep even when the parent is deployed, they 

Rich Bennett 21:26
yeah, 

Greg Lato 21:26
maintain these movie nights, pizza nights, just to kind of keep things in a constant, you know, like 

Rich Bennett 21:36
in mm-hmm, 

Greg Lato 21:37
normalcy in the 

Rich Bennett 21:39
yeah, 

Greg Lato 21:39
family, you know, so I wrote songs about that, you know, because it is a children's album. 

Rich Bennett 21:44
That's awesome. Well actually, what are some of the reactions you receive from the military families that heard the songs? 

Greg Lato 21:53
That's the best part 

Rich Bennett 21:54
is yeah, 

Greg Lato 21:54
of it you know, when they like it, love the songs and give me feedback and tell me that is the best, you know, that 

Rich Bennett 22:03
mm-hmm, because 

Greg Lato 22:05
you know, I'm making it for them, 

Rich Bennett 22:08
right? 

Greg Lato 22:08
You know, I'm making the album for them to have a soundtrack to military family life and also to people who don't know that world, you know, it's trying to let them know about it. But yeah, I've gotten a lot of feedback on social media and when they share posts and write their own little review, that's the best part of it and I've just such a positive, great response from the families that I'm really happy with how it all turned out. 

Rich Bennett 22:40
Now, are you, have you done music videos for all the songs on it or just some of them? 

Greg Lato 22:46
Not all of them yet, but I've, yeah, a lot more, 

Rich Bennett 22:49
it's or yet. 

Greg Lato 22:51
Yeah, yeah, because as the cycle of the album continues, I'm still gonna be rolling out more content and 

Rich Bennett 22:57
Good. 

Greg Lato 22:57
doing more videos. So far I have two music videos out. But I'm gonna be working on more and I have so much content of video with the families that I'm gonna be rolling out more too. 

Rich Bennett 23:13
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Greg Lato 24:48
Yeah, so I do have a lot of shows locally. 

Rich Bennett 24:51
In 

Greg Lato 24:52
my area, like the New England area, 

Rich Bennett 24:55
right, 

Greg Lato 24:55
but I'm looking to branch out more and maybe do some shows at like bases. I reach out to the USO as well to try to maybe do like a tour of bases through them. so hopefully I can do that and if anybody hears this and kind of like help me out with that, that would be great because I'm 

Rich Bennett 25:17
Actually, 

Greg Lato 25:17
really trying to tour bases. 

Rich Bennett 25:20
Greg Cox, if you're listening to this. Since you got the ties with APG Federal Credit Union Arena, I think I know great can fill that place up so uhm. Think you need to get in contact with him. They actually they to book you they do it right through your website, right? 

Greg Lato 25:39
Oh, yeah. Yep, I have 

Rich Bennett 25:40
OK. 

Greg Lato 25:41
Contact, uh, contact info on there. 

Rich Bennett 25:44
Well, I'm good. I got to get you down here. If we can get Mallory Lewis and Lamb chopped down here, we got to get you down here. 

Greg Lato 25:51
I'm ready. 

Rich Bennett 25:53
Yeah, post mine or jukebox and all that, so yeah, we got to get you down here. The thing is, and I just remember this from like again taking my daughter to see the wigels even though my daughter was in shock. It's just something about as an adult watching a children's musician in concert. It like it brings joy to you, you know, it's like it just makes 

Greg Lato 26:17
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 26:17
your day so much better. And it's not like we're the rock festival either. 

Greg Lato 26:24
Right? Yeah, I mean. 

Rich Bennett 26:26
You're done. 

Greg Lato 26:27
Right, everyone gets into it too. It's like 

Rich Bennett 26:29
Oh, 

Greg Lato 26:30
not 

Rich Bennett 26:30
yeah. 

Greg Lato 26:30
just the kids, the parents. Sometimes, you know, the grandparents. 

Rich Bennett 26:34
Yeah, 

Greg Lato 26:34
they're doing dances with me and with everybody. So it's really just like the whole family has fun. 

Rich Bennett 26:42
I'll even look, if you come down here, I promise I won't even if I can find it, get that screech looking wing. 

Greg Lato 26:51
I'll bring it. 

Rich Bennett 26:53
OK, there you go. And I'll wear it. 

Greg Lato 26:55
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 26:57
How do you hope the album will support children going through the challenges of military life? 

Greg Lato 27:03
I'm sorry. 

Rich Bennett 27:04
I said, how do you actually hope that the album will support children going through the challenges of military life? 

Greg Lato 27:12
Um, you know, just to use it as a sense of comfort. And, 

Rich Bennett 27:17
you 

Greg Lato 27:17
know, and so they know they're not alone, you know, there are a lot of other families going through the same thing, which they know that you know there's a big support. wherever they go. But, you know, there are a lot of kids that go to schools in military communities. hmm, 

Rich Bennett 27:37
Mm 

Greg Lato 27:37
that the school has like it's a public school, you know, so it has kids, civilian kids and kids with military and military families, and a lot of them don't know of a military kids in the schools too. 

Rich Bennett 27:51
Yeah, 

Greg Lato 27:52
you know, so like I did a week long songwriting workshop at a school with 20 military kids. 

Rich Bennett 28:00
Wow. 

Greg Lato 28:00
And some of the kids did not know each other was a military kid in the school. And some of them remembered some kids from previous duty stations that they didn't know they went to the school they found out at my workshop. 

Rich Bennett 28:16
Oh, wow, 

Greg Lato 28:18
so it's 

Rich Bennett 28:19
do 

Greg Lato 28:19
a 

Rich Bennett 28:19
you all 

Greg Lato 28:19
sense of camaraderie that they have where they feel like they're not alone and I want this music to do 

Rich Bennett 28:25
that. Yeah, 

Greg Lato 28:26
to just kind of like um, buying them together, which they already do, but, you know, I just want the music to kind of support that experience. And also the other kids know that aren't in that world what they go through and endure, you know, and how they also serve the country. 

Rich Bennett 28:48
Yeah, I, so tell everybody where they can actually find the music. Beside, I know it's on Apple and Spotify. Is that the only way? 

Greg Lato 28:56
It's on all the streaming services. 

Rich Bennett 28:59
Okay. 

Greg Lato 28:59
Yeah. Apple music, Spotify. It's also on my website, Greg, ladle, dandelion.com. It's um, it could be streamed. And I don't have physical copies, but it's all online basically all to stream or download. 

Rich Bennett 29:17
Okay, I, this, this is, and I've never asked an artist's question, but this one, hopefully you can answer this because with music, they were seeing everything streamed lately. How is it that a musician actually makes money, especially if it's on Spotify where you can stream it for free and everything? 

Greg Lato 29:40
Well, you still get paid, but it's not, 

Rich Bennett 29:43
okay, 

Greg Lato 29:44
nearly as much, 

Rich Bennett 29:46
right? 

Greg Lato 29:46
If it was purchased, which is before the stream, you could purchase it, we can still purchase it, but, 

Rich Bennett 29:54
okay, 

Greg Lato 29:54
The main way is to stream it, but it is very small compensation, 

Rich Bennett 30:01
yeah. 

Greg Lato 30:01
so you would have to get quite a bit of streams to, to make any decent amount of money. 

Rich Bennett 30:09
Yeah. 

Greg Lato 30:10
So it's not like there's a lot of money to be made. 

Rich Bennett 30:13
So, so in other words, people need to book you so you can come perform for them, and actually, you mentioned workshops, do you do workshops online as well? Or is that just in person? Was that the one time? 

Greg Lato 30:30
I've done some workshop, that was the only workshop I did for military kids. 

Rich Bennett 30:35
Ok, 

Greg Lato 30:35
Which I kind of, which I am in talks with some other military organizations to do more. 

Rich Bennett 30:41
right. 

Greg Lato 30:53
To do more of that actually, because I had so much fun doing it. 

Rich Bennett 30:59
Yeah. 

Greg Lato 31:00
And you'd be surprised like how many kids are interested in the songwriting process. 

Rich Bennett 31:05
Oh, I'm 

Greg Lato 31:07
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 31:07
sure. I'm sure. I mean, that's, uh, well, you do. I'm glad to see that a lot of young kids are writing songs. What? You're seeing a lot of young musicians out there too. 

Greg Lato 31:21
Right. 

Rich Bennett 31:21
But I'm just glad to see that they are writing all types of music, which is great. Alright, so before I get to my last question, is there anything you would like to add? 

Greg Lato 31:35
Uhm, you know, just, uh, you know, I just want to thank all of the military families, you know, all of the organizations that, you know, supported this project. And, um, you know, there wouldn't be possible with it's really all them, you know, it's, I was just kind of like a vehicle to, to get the stories out, to get the word out, to kind of amplify the voices and highlight these experiences of the families. But this whole project is really just all about them. It's all about the military families. And what they go through every day to, um, ensure our freedom. 

Rich Bennett 32:15
Hmm. Alright. Yeah. Are you ready for this? 

Greg Lato 32:19
Yeah. I'm ready. 

Rich Bennett 32:20
Okay. So, I'm doing something new. We're instead of asking the same question all the time. I got like 50 different questions. So I tell the guests to pick a number between 150 and that's the question I ask. But if you don't, I just looked at this one question, which would be perfect for this. So if you don't pick 

Greg Lato 32:43
Okay. 

Rich Bennett 32:43
this number, I'm going to ask that question too, but pick a number between 150. 

Greg Lato 32:49
Uh, pick my favorite number, which is 10, 

Rich Bennett 32:54
10. Oh, okay. Why 10? I mean, I knew that your favorite number. But why is 10? Your favorite number. 

Greg Lato 32:59
My birthday is on the 10th and I just like the number 

Rich Bennett 33:04
10. Look, 

Greg Lato 33:05
I don't know why I just always did. So, 

Rich Bennett 33:08
all right, this is too. 

Greg Lato 33:09
There's a lot to do with my birthday. 

Rich Bennett 33:12
This is just too weird. Okay. So 10 and 30, 10 and the other number is 34. Did you send me these questions? 

You're going to love this. So you picked number 10. This is, this is the question that's on number 10. If your life had a theme song, what would it be and why? 

Greg Lato 33:38
Um, 

just grateful, you know, like, I mean, I'm just grateful for everything that I have in life. You know, it's, um, you know, I'm grateful for my family. I'm grateful for this journey, you know, the music has taken me on. So I guess that's probably what my theme song would be. 

Rich Bennett 34:05
Have you written that theme song yet? 

Greg Lato 34:08
Okay, I have a song called thankful on my last album. 

Rich Bennett 34:12
Oh, okay, what that'll work. 

Greg Lato 34:14
But yeah, I guess that works. 

Rich Bennett 34:16
I, 

Greg Lato 34:17
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 34:18
I'm telling you, man, great. This is just too weird. So that was number 10. Here we are talking about music, and theme song. Something else we talked about earlier. And I am not lying to you. This is on this list of questions. I've never seen this list. I'm still having to look through all the questions. What does home truly mean to you? 

Greg Lato 34:42
Is that one of the questions? 

Rich Bennett 34:43
Yes. 

Greg Lato 34:44
That's amazing. 

Rich Bennett 34:46
know. I told 

Greg Lato 34:47
I 

Rich Bennett 34:47
you. That's a said. Did you send me these questions? 

Greg Lato 34:53
Um, just hearing my kids voices, you know, hearing them laugh, you know, it's, um, there's nothing in the world like that. 

Rich Bennett 35:05
Yeah, 

Greg Lato 35:06
you know, when you come home and you hear your kids, it's like, that's the best. 

Rich Bennett 35:11
It is, it is. And it's funny because some of you say your girls are 11 and 8. 

Greg Lato 35:19
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 35:19
Right. Oh, yeah. When they grow up. Oh, god. It's funny because one of the things. I. I always taught my kids, and I got a, well, my, my boy is 32 now. My daughter is 23. Now, my son still does it. One of the things we always say before we leave, you know, I love you hugging all that. My daughter used to do it all the time when she was younger. I don't know what happened. But now her big thing is, like, if she's going away, she won't say I love you to me. Uh, it's mm-hmm, so it's, 

Greg Lato 35:54
[LAUGHTER] 

Rich Bennett 35:55
like, it's like, goodnight Grace. M-hmm. So I guess that's our way to say it. I love you. So be ready when they get older. That may change a little bit. 

Greg Lato 36:05
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 36:07
Greg, thanks. Oh, yeah. But thanks a lot. Thank you for your service. Thank you for everything you're doing. Those of you listening, make sure you go to the website, Greg, uh, later, dandy lion dot com, and I'll have the link in the show notes, talk to Brad Cox over to you federal credit union arena and anybody else. I mean the middle God, Aberdeen proven ground, there's a lot of places where we got a lot of military family down here, and we need Greg down here performing. So reach out to somebody and make sure you get him down here. Greg, thanks a lot. 

Greg Lato 36:43
Thank you so much. I appreciate it. 

Rich Bennett 36:45
Thank you for listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and learned something from it as I did. If you'd like to hear more conversations like this, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love it if you can leave a review. It helps us reach more listeners and share more incredible stories. Don't forget to connect with us on social media or visit our website at conversations with rich Bennett dot com for updates, giveaways and more. Until next time, take care, be kind and keep the conversations going. You know, it takes a lot to put a podcast together and my sponsors help add a lot. But I also have some supporters that actually help me when it comes to the editing software, the hosting and so forth. There's a lot that goes into putting this together. So I want to thank them. And if you can please please visit their websites, visit their businesses, support them. However, you can. So please visit the following, Real-life real life prosthetics, cutting edge solutions, restoring ability since 2001. Go to real life prosthetics dot com full circle boards. Nobody does charcuterie like full circle boards. Visit them at full circle boards dot com, Sincerely, Sincerely, sincerely, so you're photography, live in the moment. They'll capture it. Visit them at sincerely so you're calm.