Breaking Boundaries: AI, Music, and Ministry with Kevin Wingate

Guest: Kevin Wingate (Soundcloud, YouTube, Facebook)

Host: Jared Easley

Episode Summary:

In this inspiring episode of Starve the Doubts, host Jared Easley chats with Kevin Wingate, a multi-talented individual who seamlessly blends his passion for music, technology, and ministry. Kevin discusses his journey from being a DJ and running a vape shop to becoming a prolific songwriter leveraging AI technologies. He also touches on his transformation, commitment to faith, and dedication to building a community around music and ministry.

Key Points Discussed:

1. Introduction and Background:
   • Jared introduces Kevin Wingate, a process technician, minister, family man, and AI-driven songwriter.
   • Kevin shares his journey into music, starting with his love for various genres and early DJing experiences.
2. Musical Journey and AI Integration:
   • Kevin's transition from DJing at local events to using AI to create a wide range of music, including country, hip-hop, and Christian songs.
   • The origin of Dirty Bay Productions and the "fishing country" music concept.
3. Dirty Bay Productions:
   • Kevin's venture into creating fishing-related music and his YouTube channel showcased his DIY music and video production approach.
   • The challenges of navigating copyright issues and deciding to create original music for his videos.
4. AI in Music:
   • Kevin's experiences with AI tools, creating songs in various genres, and the potential of AI to democratize music production.
   • The significance of AI in allowing him to express his creativity and reach new audiences.
5. Ministry and Music:
   • Kevin aspires to blend his faith with his music, creating uplifting content that resonates with diverse audiences. You can listen over at Wingate Muzic! 
   • His involvement with Blast and Cast Ministries combines his love for fishing with his passion for ministry.
6. Future Goals:
   • Kevin plans to expand his music ministry, reach out through platforms like TikTok, and help others find their voice in music.
   • His dream is to have his songs featured on Christian radio and continue to innovate in the music and ministry spaces.
7. Final Thoughts and Contact Information:
   • Kevin encourages listeners to pursue their passions and use AI for creative expression.
   • He invites people to connect with him via email at dirtybayproduction@gmail.com and follow his work under AI Outlaw on various platforms.

Transcript

Starve the Doubts - Kevin Wingate (edited) (1)

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Kevin Wingate: [00:00:00] If you're wanting to do something and you don't think you can do it, there's ways around it. There are always ways to tweak something that you're kind of like the old saying if you attack your fears until you overcome them, And if you never attack your worries, you're never going to get over certain things. If you want to do something, you can't do it.

Kevin Wingate: You can do it.

Jared: Welcome back to the podcast. I'm your host, Jared Easley, and joining me today is Kevin Wingate. Kevin is someone that I met online. Through a mutual interest in songwriting, specifically songwriting with AI. And Kevin is actually a very talented songwriter. I hope we're going to tap into that, but he wears a lot of hats.

Jared: He is a process technician and a chemical plant. He is a minister. He is a family man and a dad. Yeah. So he's doing a lot of cool stuff that we'll get to start to learn about here. So, Kevin, thank you for taking the time to chat on the podcast. 

Kevin Wingate: [00:01:00] Absolutely. Yeah, man. Well, I appreciate you having me, man.

Kevin Wingate: It's A short talk we had before getting the podcast going. I appreciate you reaching out to me because that's what it's all about. Having, getting into a good community and having good fellowship with people around and just talking back and forth and things that we love to do. 

Jared: Absolutely.

Jared: So one of the questions I like to ask guests, most of whom are on the show, is, what's the best concert you've ever been to? 

Kevin Wingate: Oh, man. So, you know, I'm in Houston, in the Houston area. So many of the concerts that I've gone to are many rodeos. So. I go to a lot of; I've been seeing a lot of rodeos from Hank Williams Jr.

Kevin Wingate: Back in the day. I never missed a George Strait concert. Of course, I always did that. 

Jared: Nor should you. 

Kevin Wingate: Yeah. Yeah. Right. I was glad to see Willie Nelson a couple of years back. I know he was getting up of age. So, but you know, actually the, you know, when I was in my early twenties or late teens, um, I used to go to some nightclubs or whatever.

Kevin Wingate: I got actually to see. George Jones. He was at a local [00:02:00] little place. I saw Clay Walker before he got big. Tim McGraw when he only had Indian outlaw. So yeah, it's, Man, I like it all. I want, you know, even the, even the tiny guys doing Texas country locally and going out to, you know, floating the river, Guadalupe, you hear a lot of these Texas country bands coming through like Pat Green and, and, uh, Cory Morrow, things like that.

Kevin Wingate: So I can't pinpoint one. There's always something that, you know, kind of like if you do golfing or something, if you're not good at golfing and you have that one good shot, it keeps you coming back. You know, you go to different concerts, you just realize, Hey, that was pretty cool. You know, I mean, just the experience alone.

Kevin Wingate: Absolutely. 

Jared: So you mentioned that you're near the Houston area. So we're going to talk about that real quickly. So, we'll finish this sentence. I'm going to give you the beginning of the sentence. You complete the sentence. And the sentence is, if you ever visit Houston, blank. So finish the sentence, Kevin.

Jared: If you ever visit Houston, blank. 

Kevin Wingate: Is that right? If we ever visit Houston, blank. Well, it used to [00:03:00] be like, back in the day, go to the afterworld and things like that. But if you ever visit Houston, I would say, man, we'd have to go to the piano bar in Houston. All right. Yeah. I don't know that I've ever been to a piano bar.

Kevin Wingate: Did someone enjoy it? Oh man, you have to go. Yeah. Piano bars 

Jared: they are fun. 

Kevin Wingate: Dude. Yeah. It's cool, man. They always play some good old journey or something. And they get to, you know, you go in there and don't think you're going to sing along, and all of a sudden they ring you, you know, they get you. 

Jared: Absolutely. Yeah.

Jared: Well said. Okay, you just experienced a birthday, so happy belated birthday. I appreciate it. 47. Yeah, well, you don't look 47, so whatever you're drinking in the water there in Houston seems to be working for you. So, how was your birthday? And yeah, fill us in there. 

Kevin Wingate: Well, uh, you know. You know, I was, man, it's been, I've been, uh, I married my high school sweetheart, and I had kids at about 20 years old.

Kevin Wingate: So I ruined my body from kids sports for there for many years, getting, getting home at eight 30, nine o'clock at night after [00:04:00] ball practice or softball, baseball, basketball, everything they did, I let them do, but, uh, just. Man, I got overweight pretty bad and, uh, didn't take care of my body. So now both my kids are grown, you know, out of they're done with college.

Kevin Wingate: They were both married, and luckily, thank you, Jesus. You know, they didn't move away from college. They both got houses next door to each other, a mile and a half from my home, and they're both married. So now it's just me and my wife—so empty nesters. Now I've been back at the gym. I'm back to the way it was in high school.

Kevin Wingate: Wow. 

Jared: Good for you. Yeah. 

Kevin Wingate: Oh man, it's, it's been great. You know, God's been good to me. So just getting back to the roots of when I played high school football and, and, and was really active in sports and, and act working out and I'm back to doing that and trying to see, you know, it's a challenge, you know, of course we don't have the testosterone levels we had when we were younger.

Kevin Wingate: And that's good. Yeah. Thanks for coming around. Pretty cool. I'm enjoying it. 

Jared: So college football is a big deal in Texas. And I, that's one of the things I [00:05:00] love about Texas. I used to live in Fort Worth and, um, I love college football. Do you have a college football team, even if that's not the school you went to, just a team that you follow?

Kevin Wingate: So, you know how people have rivalries, you know, people want to talk about like Longhorn fans want to drag on the A& M, you know, and this and that, but I follow both A& M and Longhorns. That's my two college teams I enjoy watching. I was a big Johnny Manziel fan back in the day. 

Jared: Yeah. Yeah. He was a fantastic in college.

Kevin Wingate: I followed Vince Young back in the day. And even going further back to Bucky Richardson back in the day when the Oilers were in town, you know, you had that left handed thrower, Bucky Richardson with A& M. So I follow those, I follow them. I actually was going to go play college football for Baylor and I had a wreck car wreck in my senior year in two days and I didn't commit because it was my junior year and they wanted me to commit that kind of killed my football career, but you know, 

Kevin Wingate 3: yeah, 

Kevin Wingate: but the Lord has better past.

Kevin Wingate: I think I'm in better, better spot, you know, [00:06:00] meeting my wife and having a young family at early age and, and having, having to battle with going to college and working full time kind of, I guess. It matured me quicker and it probably, uh, molded me to the man I am today.

Jared: So let's kind of start going there. Like I mentioned, you wear a lot of hats. But one of the hats that you wear that I is how you and I first met is your songwriting hat. And for people that are just connecting, listening to this podcast and don't know Kevin Wingate, they're hopefully going to go look up your music and they're going to learn pretty quick that you, you've been on a tear recently.

Jared: You've just been writing songs and just producing songs. You're, you're leveraging the different tools that are available through AI now. And man, I want to go there. So what was your background in music? And let's talk about how we went from that to now where you're just, you're pumping them out. [00:07:00] You're writing songs like crazy.

Jared: You're doing various things to kind of, you know, promote that and get that noticed. And, uh, that's how we, that's how we met. So that's why we're chatting today. And I'm really excited for you about that. 

Kevin Wingate: To rewind back from the early ages. I mean, I was an eighties kid, I guess, you know, my older brother, we had the jam boxes and we were Listen to old run DMC and a lot of old hip hop and country music was big with my family.

Kevin Wingate: Actually, the very first song that I learned to sing was, uh, just a swinging. 

Kevin Wingate 3: Oh 

Kevin Wingate: yeah, man. So, but yeah, I was introduced to a lot of genres in an early age, but my mom, we're conservative. Back in early days, she was, we're Baptist and she didn't, I wouldn't allow to listen to, to rock. I mean, I couldn't wear black shirts.

Kevin Wingate: It was the devil, you know, it was 

Kevin Wingate 3: the devil. 

Kevin Wingate: So, you know, but I got to go to a friend's house to listen to some guns and roses and things like that. And so [00:08:00] I, I, that's where, that's where the music came around was all the different things, you know, from my roots of country music to hip hop. I was. We were, I was raised with a mixed racial family.

Kevin Wingate: I had a stepfather raised me since I was three years old. He was Hispanic. So we grew up in the, in I don't know if you're familiar with Baytown. We live in a town called Baytown and we were in the old part of Baytown. And me and my brother, I had a stepbrother. It was, it was. It was a Mexican and me and my, my brother, which is, we're both white guys.

Kevin Wingate: We were the only two white guys in the neighborhood. So we dealt with the, the Hispanic heritage as white people. And we were the minority. Some people say it was the other way around, but we were the minority going in. And that's where I got to see a lot of, a lot of different things and open up my eyes to, uh, how How people can, can, uh, come together, I guess, as a family.

Kevin Wingate: But, you know, as I got older, I'll fast forward to, you know, the hip hop things like that. And music, when it came to music, I was intrigued with, with [00:09:00] DJs and, you know, and, and how they performed, you know, it's a show, it's a show. And, um, I loved, I went to church early with, you know, my father took me to church when I had him on, on weekends and stuff.

Kevin Wingate: He was a non denominational guy and I was into the hymnals and that kind of stuff. But Christian music always was, was, was the things that I liked to, you know? And so it kept, I kept evolving around all different types of genres. And, uh, as I got older, of course, I've leaned more towards a music ministry, which I grasped.

Kevin Wingate: My brother, he's, he's big in music. He learned how to play the guitar, the acoustic, the bass, the drums. Um, when he was in high school, he picked it up and he was really good. And I wasn't good at that kind of stuff. I learned how to play the guitar. I can do acoustic guitar pretty good, but my vocals just is not good.

Kevin Wingate: I couldn't sing. I tried, I tried, I tried. So I started writing songs and doing poetry as a, as a kid, you know, and I had friends that they're, Uncles were in bands. They, have you heard of Zadik, [00:10:00] Zadikasian music, Zadiko? So I had a, one of my best friends growing up, his name is Joe Johnson. Probably one of the best voices I've ever heard in my life.

Kevin Wingate: I, I'm, I really wish, I really wish he would have went off and done something. Cause this was a guy who would get on stage on his uncle's band and the girls would just flop. He would sing. Play that funky music white boy or something. He would just get to jamming and man, you just see him come alive. And so I was around bands.

Kevin Wingate: I was around my brother that learned to play instruments. And that just really woke me up. So when I got older and I had my own family, I started getting into DJing, you know, like I'd have friends come over for New Year's parties and stuff. And a neighbor had a, was a DJ. So he shows up and he brings all his DJ equipment.

Kevin Wingate: And this thing was, he was rocking, man. He, this guy had the equipment. And it's New Year's Eve and we're rocking and I said, Hey man, can I bring some music and get a playlist because I got so and so coming over and these people [00:11:00] kind of like hip hop. And then I got these people coming over and they like country music.

Kevin Wingate: And then I like, you know, my sister in law really don't like country, but she likes rock and I do too. So I'm going to play some of the, you know. So he's like, yeah, sure. And then he got the plan. He was jamming and I was sitting behind him and watching what he's doing, how he's flipping these tracks in over here and finding the beats per minute.

Kevin Wingate: And, you know, moving in a country music right after into a rock song. But, you know, he was checking out the beats per minute. I was learning, I was just soaking it all in and then he moved and I was like, man, I miss having a DJ at my parties. So I went ahead and started buying my own equipment so I can have my own DJ Little DJ set up for when I had my parties, whether it was fourth July or whatever kind of little get together we had.

Kevin Wingate: And then I got really pretty decent at it. And, uh, the DJ for my son's junior high, my son's junior high dance, they didn't have a DJ, he like backed out and I'm like, I'll do it. 

Kevin Wingate 3: So 

Kevin Wingate: I got my first [00:12:00] gig at a, at a junior high homecoming deal. But luckily, you know, my daughter was a few years older. She was in high school.

Kevin Wingate: They're like freshmen in high school. So they're like, dad, you can't be playing this. You got to have this top 10, this and that. And I wasn't used to the newer hip hop or the newer rock stuff, but 

Kevin Wingate 3: they, 

Kevin Wingate: they just made me play it and play it in the vehicles to where I started getting an ear for it. So when I showed up on, I did my homework and I showed up on that homecoming night for the little dance.

Kevin Wingate: I had, man, I split out my genres, man, and I knew I had to only play this amount. If I played too much, they're going to be mad. And then this group of kids would come up and want this and that. So I mixed it in pretty good. And after it was over, I had parents that were like, they were chaperoning, right?

Kevin Wingate: They come to me, Hey man, you did, you did a really good job. And you know, I think the kids really liked what you did, blah, blah, blah. Can you do my kid's birthday party? I'm like, yeah, absolutely. So I'm a shift worker. So it's like, well, you know, I was so excited. I took vacation just so I can [00:13:00] go DJ to make only a couple of hundred bucks, but it was for fun, you know, it was more of a hobby not to make money.

Kevin Wingate: But then actually I got to where I was going to value city wings with a little, like, like a little, one of these little restaurants, like bar and grill wings restaurants. I started getting some gigs on the Mondays that I had off. I would go and I would DJ in their little, uh, outdoor area in the evenings on certain nights.

Kevin Wingate: And I would play some music and stuff like that. And I did a Halloween party with them one night. Nice. That's how I just started getting into some of the DJ and stuff. And then I had, I got into some older groups and said, Hey, I, someone's got a 40 year old birthday party. We're going to rent this big old venue.

Kevin Wingate: He likes Texas country, this and that. So we're going to have a Texas country band coming, but on their breaks, we want you to set up the DJ setup so we can keep the party going, people dancing and things like that. So it was kind of cool with me. So I didn't have to really throw in the country because we had a country band in there.

Kevin Wingate: So I was. Putting up the more of the electric, electric [00:14:00] slides, stuff, some rocks and other kinds of things to get it going. And, uh, yeah, that was fun. I did that for a while and it kind of played off there for a little while. Actually, I became a business owner on the side to end up opening up a vape shop.

Kevin Wingate: So that stopped my DJ career to run a business for about four or five years. And then even though I was doing all that, I still was into music, you know, going to church and. Trying to figure out what's the new Christian bands out there, the new top 40 from them and things like that. So I kept writing, kept writing, and that's kind of how it went getting into the music.

Kevin Wingate: I'm probably bouncing around here a lot, but, you know, cause I can sit here and talk all night. It'd just take a long way to get to where I'm at today. 

Jared: Well, no, I love it. So, so you, you were doing, you know, professional gigs and in terms of people were hiring you to come in and do DJ stuff. And then, like you said, you had family responsibilities, you had business stuff.

Jared: And so you kind of got, got away from that for a little bit, but you were still writing. And you [00:15:00] mentioned the different genres and stuff, and that was one of the things I thought was really fascinating about you is, uh, you write country songs, you write hip hop songs, you write Christian songs, you even have a special niche that I had never even heard of for country, like fishing country.

Jared: Oh yeah. So, and that's when you introduced me to Dirty Bae Productions. So let's talk about Dirty Bae Productions and what that is and what compelled you to start that. 

Kevin Wingate: Okay, so I'm always got to put my, my hands into something, you know, I mean, I'm a shift being a shift worker. You have some time off, whether it's in the middle of the night or, you know, you're off in the middle of week.

Kevin Wingate: So I have some, a little bit of time on my hands if I'm not working a lot of extra overtime. But so after I, I closed my vape shop down due to FDA issues, and I just didn't want to get into that further on, I needed to do something else. I'm a big fisherman. So both my kids are finally in high school. I don't have to take them to ball practice no more.

Kevin Wingate: I don't I have time to do something other than just going to ball practice or games, which, of [00:16:00] course, I missed it. But I got it. I was fit back to fishing more and started fishing and this and that. And I said, you know what? I think I'm going to go ahead and start making my own lures, fishing lures and fishing rods.

Kevin Wingate: And because I don't want to go to Academy and, and buy this or that. I want to do it myself. I'm always a hands on guy. So I did that. And as I started doing that little side business of selling a bunch of lures and stuff, of course we're from the dirty Bay. Baytown is. We're just called Dirty Bay. It's kind of a nickname for our town.

Kevin Wingate: The bay waters are dirty. So that's why we, you know, from the Dirty Bay. So I was just like, all right, let's call it Dirty Bay Fishing. So that was the name of, you know, of my little, I guess, lure company, Dirty Bay Fishing. So I like doing a lot of editing because, you know, I try to make music and this and that.

Kevin Wingate: So I went ahead and I started, I went, started a YouTube channel. And since I started a YouTube channel, I started getting all the equipment for video and editing. And I didn't want to be one of those guys that just [00:17:00] does tutorials. I want to be kind of different. So if you was to watch one of my YouTube channels, you'd be like, okay, I'm on the boat with this guy.

Kevin Wingate: He's just talking. Just one of the guys. And, uh, I wanted to put a little music in there because music's about, is, is what, you know, what I love to do. So I would go and find some music that I can put in as a, as a backdrop. Like if I'm doing a B roll and I'm in between me cruising in the water before I get to the spot where I fish, I wanted to have some music.

Kevin Wingate: So I'd have a little bit of hip hop or something, something that's got a good beat to it between my scenes or whatever. Well, I kept getting hit with, uh, friend that was a copyright for infringements, right? I kept, you know, no, no, no, this is this. So I looked on YouTube and I found some instrumentals that were copyright free.

Kevin Wingate: So I tried that. Some of that stuff still came back, even though it was free content. I said, you know what, I'm gonna start making my own music. Fishing related. And of course, I, you know, like I said, I did poetry phone songwriting. So I was like, you know what, I'm going to do a [00:18:00] hip hop with a good instrumental beat and it's going to be about fishing.

Kevin Wingate: So that's how it kind of went up, went about, uh, I wanted to have the right. You know, the key to songwriting of course, is having the right words that go to what you're into, you know, it can't be lame. It's got to kind of be interesting. And, and, you know, you got to have a good little bit of slang word in here that's, that's catchy, but you.

Kevin Wingate: You can't got to make sure you're putting the right gear that you have that you're fishing in this and that. And so that's what I did, man. I started making some music that way and being creative with songwriting, making a hip hop version of music. And then the AI stuff came out and I was like, well, I don't have a voice for country.

Kevin Wingate: That's for sure. Because, man, I've tried that and it's horrible. I break your eardrums. You try to let me hear you. I've heard of. 

Jared: But I don't think it's as bad as you're saying, cause you've played tracks for me where I've heard your vocals and I, I don't think it's quite as brutal as you're pointing out.

Jared: Yeah. But anyway, it's all good. 

Kevin Wingate: I think everybody's their own critic, you know, to a [00:19:00] certain extent you want to be better than you really are. And that's just what we want to do. But like just The AI stuff, it, my first AI was, got me hooked was, uh, I made a rap song. I don't think I've shared it with you yet, but my very first one was Snoop dog singing dirty Bay fishing.

Kevin Wingate: And 

Jared: the song you wrote, right. That that's what, yeah, 

Kevin Wingate: yeah. So that got me hooked. And then. Of course, I met you in a community with the software that we use for a lot of AI stuff and that right there is really what woke me up on my songwriting because it gave me an ear. It allows me to express me how I want to introduce my creativity of songwriting.

Kevin Wingate: And yeah, that's, uh, that's where I was able to put Fishing stuff into the country as well. Not just the hip hop because that's, you know, the country's a lot of main genres that I love so much too. So I got to actually put an ear of country [00:20:00] music with the fishing theme. It actually turned out pretty good.

Kevin Wingate: I was impressed. 

Jared: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I, Kevin, I'm not blowing smoke here and I think you're being a little bit humble, but I, I have listened to a number of songs that I've come across in this AI, uh, generated music space. And I would dare say some of the best in terms of the lyrics and the melodies and stuff, you have a really good ear for that.

Jared: And so some of the better stuff that I've listened to is, has been yours. So that, that would have certainly led to you and I connecting and, and, uh, being on this podcast today. Thanks guys. You know, because you got your hand in, in, uh, you know, several different genres and just kind of having fun with it and, and playing, what do you see this going, if anywhere, is this just kind of a fun thing, or could this be something where, you know, you might kind of approach other artists and see if you can collaborate or something, what is it that you'd like to see happen, if anything?

Kevin Wingate: I would like to, it's all in God's hands, you know, like, like we said in the past, you know, he asked if I was a minister and I am, my father was a minister. And, and, uh, when he passed, that's when I decided to follow in his [00:21:00] footsteps. He does an online ministry. It's called Wingate ministries outreach. And, uh, he used to do a lot of his sermons online.

Kevin Wingate: And they also, you know, he preached as a sub preacher for his main preacher. When he went out, did often did. Missionary work. So, but, uh, I did that. So I have a lot of people that can follow to a certain extent, not a great amount or whatever, but I would like to do a, a Wingate music ministry when it comes to Christian music, whether it's Christian hip hop or Christian.

Kevin Wingate: Country, which a lot of people probably think is this guy. I mean, he's like far left and far, right. I mean, I am. 

Jared: They're two different, two different styles. That's for sure. 

Kevin Wingate: It is, but I want to be different, you know, like when you hear praise and worship, some people that they can't relate to Christian music, it's too dull, maybe for some, when some people think it's the best thing in the world.

Kevin Wingate: And I love it, but also like, I like a little bit of twist where if I write a [00:22:00] country music song, it's a mild worship. Does that make sense to you? Like a mild worship to where it catches someone's ear that isn't, that is not into praise and worship, but they appreciate God and they do, they have accepted Christ or, you know, things like that.

Kevin Wingate: They can actually lean more towards, Hey, this is a feel good, man. I need something that that's lifting and then they can go to that and, but they don't ever want to go listen to like Air One or, or, you know, any type of Christian radio, but they have this to where they have something they can go to that can lift them up.

Kevin Wingate: And that's kind of where I'm going with Christian country music is to where I can reach people outside the box to where they can say, Hey, you know what, I can get into this. Yeah. And it's a storyline. Most of my stuff is all based by life reactions, you know, like I think you, you actually made a comment the other day about daddy's girl, right?

Kevin Wingate: Yes. So daddy's girl, 

Jared: daddy's girl is one of your [00:23:00] songs for people that don't know. Yeah, 

Kevin Wingate: man. Yeah. And it, it wasn't too much of a Christian, but it was I'm thankful for where I'm at. And it was a life story of, I was a young kid. I had a young girl. I didn't know what to do. She just turned out, I wanted a boy.

Kevin Wingate: I didn't have my boy, but I had my first child. It was a girl and man, it just rocked my world. And then, then there's other things, uh, that I wrote that was lean towards the Christian country. And it was life changing things that I wrote that was everyday life. I wanted people to, to see that. I wrote one about my dad.

Kevin Wingate: My dad was a minister and I don't know if you've heard that one. I might send you a link to that, but I basically wrote, you know, daddy, I'm getting older. I'm sitting on the, on the front porch and I'm, I'm strumming the guitar and I'm singing to my dad, basically talking to him. I'm getting older and the wrinkles on my face is, you know, is showing the stories that I've, you know, the storyline of my life showing the, you know, that I'm getting older.

Kevin Wingate: [00:24:00] And I'm just, I'd say a quote that my dad used to say to me, Hey, just stop and pray to the Lord, you know, and that daddy 

Jared: I'm growing old. Is that the one? 

Kevin Wingate: Yes, yes, yes. So basically, um, that was, You know, I lost my dad last November, so I sent that to my brother and he instantly wrote, started strumming chords to a guitar to that.

Kevin Wingate: And he sent it back to me and I just put tears in my eyes that, you know, it's more of a closure type deal with my old man. It's kind of a way that I can express my feelings a little bit. And I guess it's more of a self therapy. That would be a real good word for it, self therapy. A lot of my writing when it comes to Christian country has been self therapy.

Kevin Wingate: Now, it may do a little twist later, but right now it's a lot of life events that I can express to people to listen to and they can relate to me. I want to relate to somebody to where I'm not that holy roller guy that's just, you know, Hey, you need to come to my church or you need to [00:25:00] come do this or that, but they can relate with it.

Kevin Wingate: Well, 

Jared: I, I definitely, uh, sense that just meeting you online. So that part of, of who you are is present in your online, you know, your different, yeah, your different profiles and stuff. So I, I really appreciate that about you, Kevin. So a couple of things as we'll start to wrap up here, I wanted to talk about, What is it that you want to see happen with, uh, your father's legacy and his, and the ministry there, and maybe how could, uh, some of the music tie into that, if at all?

Jared: So let's touch on that for a moment. 

Kevin Wingate: Yeah, so I'm leaving it all in God's hands. He's done a lot of, he's been working on me, I mean, greatly lately. I'm seeing people, you know, my, my younger brother, which is a half brother, he, he, my father wasn't his father, but, He's come to me and he sees me, I guess, shining a little bit more as, as I'm getting older and I'm getting closer towards ministry.

Kevin Wingate: I'm also a staff member of, of Blasting Calfs Men's Ministry. It's a, an [00:26:00] outdoors outfit. They do hunting and fishing. 

Kevin Wingate 3: Love it. 

Kevin Wingate: So what I do as a staff member is we do events and people out in the public will sign up for these free events. And I'm kind of like a fishing guide, but I'm not, we're not charging.

Kevin Wingate: They come on my boat. I take them out for a good time. We do fellowship. We do a morning sermon, a devotional in the morning, things like that. There's people that offer to, they want to be baptized. We baptize them in the water before we leave at the boat ramp and Blast and Cast Ministry, anybody needs to look out for those guys.

Kevin Wingate: Blast and Cast Ministry is wonderful people, man. They, they reach out to a lot of people and they do a lot to the community. So that's another thing that's wanted me. Become a minister is because I would like to step up and if they can't, my local town needs to do an event, I can do a blast and cast event.

Kevin Wingate: I would like to do the, uh, the morning devotional and baptize people. And so my younger brother kind of means says, you know, I would like for you to, to baptize me and my wife. [00:27:00] I would need to start getting closer to God. And I look up to you and I see how you are and how you carry yourself and see that you're happy.

Kevin Wingate: And I want that in my life. And, uh, My son's, my son's married now. He, his wife or his fiance at the time come up to me and she said, we would like you to marry us. She goes, I can't think of anybody. I want a godly man to marry us. And I want it to be personal with someone we know. And you're the most godly person that I know.

Kevin Wingate: And I'm a modest guy. Cause you know, we're all sinners. We all make mistakes, but we're trying to make better ourselves and be as righteous as we can is what, you know, Jesus wants us to be. I was just like, am I, am I that guy? You know, I mean, this was before I decided the field going forward to being a minister.

Kevin Wingate: And I think that woke me up is when I heard two people tell me that I said, you know what, I think this is where I need to be. And so moving forward, I want to have a [00:28:00] music ministry. I want to do my, keep the online ministry going. I don't know if I'll ever, you know, have a church and things like that, but as far as being an evangelist.

Kevin Wingate: I want to keep outreaching to people and spreading the gospel and sharing my story and someone wants to be baptized. I'm there for them. Um, I'm always reaching out to people that's online that that's struggling. I call them and say, Hey, can I pray for you? You know? Um, and when I see that people struggle, I do tick tock, by the way, I forgot to bring that.

Kevin Wingate: I have a Texas preacher on tick tock. I like to do short sermons real quick. And, you know, if I see that someone's having a hard time, I, I do some Bible study and I make a quick sermon about it, and people come back to me and say, Hey, thank you, Kevin. That's, I needed that today. So that right there is telling me that that keeps me going.

Kevin Wingate: When I get feedback that someone enjoys it, just like, I appreciate you getting, coming to me and saying, you noticed my music and things like that. So that keeps me moving forward. I am on all platforms as AI Outlaw is [00:29:00] the artist. So my artificial name is AI Outlaw and created by me, produced by Dirty Bay Productions.

Jared: Yes, as it should 

Kevin Wingate: be. Yeah, so, like I said, I'm still all over the place. One day I might get all organized and things like that. But, yeah, it, it, it. AI keeps going forward like this. I would like to see a song or two of mine on a local Christian radio station. That would be pretty cool.

Jared: You know, you talked about how all of a sudden these things are kind of happening. I think it's a, you're God's hand on your life. You know, the weight loss, the, you know, the, the opportunities, the explosion and the creativity with your music and. And you being available to kind of share things that God's put on your mind through whether it's TikTok or, you know, online or however you're doing that.

Jared: But Kevin, it's awesome to see you just being compelled to move forward with the things that God has put on [00:30:00] your mind to do. So as a new friend of yours, I just want to say thank you for that. And I appreciate that example. 

Kevin Wingate: Yeah, man, if anybody wants to listen. So I think there's some things that I kind of want to do too.

Kevin Wingate: I kind of want to get a, uh, in order to get on, on like a radio station, there's a process you've got to have a, was it a press kit, a media press kit or something like that? So I thought about getting a little, I guess, portfolio page of, of my productions and separate them in categories for the hip hop part of the Christian hip hop in the Christian country.

Kevin Wingate: It's outta my realm on the pop. But you know, with ai, who knows, I, I may come up with a couple of pop stuff in the future and add that to the giant, the little portfolio that I'm working on. So it's gonna be Dirty Bay Productions, but Wingate Ministries, that's kind of where I'm leaning forward towards Wingate Ministries is, is of course anything that God is, I'm, I just wanna be a vessel, right?

Kevin Wingate: So Wingate Ministries is, is me as a vessel. And whether it's [00:31:00] spreading the gospel and preaching on media platform or music ministry, that's kind of where I want to go. And if I'm trying to learn, where do I get more organized? And maybe you guys out there can help me and you might have some people that can help me get in the right direction.

Kevin Wingate: But yeah, I mean, does it sound silly that AI Outlaw can be hip hop and country? I mean, do I need to have two different AI artist names, but you know, cause with AI, you know, it's different vocals. So you're never going to get the same vocal. I hope AI gets to a point to where I can say, Hey, this is my vocal voice for everything that I write.

Kevin Wingate: I'm hoping it can get to that direction, but it's not there yet. But I have had some people reach out to me. I just want to touch off producing AI is some people might think that it's not creative enough or this or that. Well, I've begged a different because someone who has a, an ear for music, but don't have the talent to use their own [00:32:00] vocals, it still takes.

Kevin Wingate: Production, whether it's something that's already been put together, you still have to compress, you still have to, you know, put delays in, you have to, you have to know how to structure the 

Jared: song and know how to go back, go back through and prompt it if it's not working. Yeah. 

Kevin Wingate: I ran into a UPS guy that delivers regularly with me and he knew I, I was a minister through I do ministry and I do, I'm a staff member through Blaston Castman's ministry.

Kevin Wingate: Well, he does sports ministry and he, he reached out to me and he's like, listen, we, we sell sports gear to, you know, that's through Christian based. I want to do a song cause he listens to some of my music. So I'm actually working. Actually, I have a hip hop song that he goes through. It's kingdom of God is what they go through.

Kevin Wingate: Okay. So I made a hip hop song of kingdom of God. So he wants me to produce songs for him doing for his. His ministry for sports [00:33:00] ministry. I got a guy at the bowling alley. God, I do a bowling on Monday nights now. And he listened to some of my music goes, dude, I need a studio. I was like, well, I'm a home studio.

Kevin Wingate: I'm still learning, but I think I have some tools that can get you where you need to be because now I'm listening to your stuff, bro. It's, it sounds good. So he's, I'm making hooks for him right now, AI hooks, and I'm taking the stems out, I'm, I'm making things for him. So here pretty soon, he's actually going to come over to the house and I'm actually going to start producing some of his vocals.

Kevin Wingate: And I'm going to be actually making, uh, The songwriting for the hooks for him, and he's going to do the freestyling, the songwriting for some of the, the hooks that I make and start producing for him. 

Jared: That's awesome. 

Kevin Wingate: And then I'm, I've got some that I've written already and he wants to try them out as well.

Kevin Wingate: So that's going to be pretty neat. I love it. Yeah. And he's going to actually going to do some, some hip hop Christian and some regular hip hop. So That's kind of where that's going. It's going to be [00:34:00] interesting. I hope I'll send you some links to that too, but I hope that that turns out pretty well. So producing music.

Kevin Wingate: Oh, and actually, um, I got a guy at work that his boy plays. He does. He has a band. He's just in high school, but he has a gig every weekend. He does Texas country. Oh, cool. And he goes through a studio, so I'm going to reach out to him and say, Hey, man, I need it. Not really guinea pigs, but you know, I need some people to work with, so hey, bring your acoustic guitar.

Kevin Wingate: I want to learn and get better at recording your acoustic playing and then save it, put it as the beat, and then we'll, we'll record your vocals, get several takes and see if I can clean it up and see how he likes that. And. Maybe that's something there for me as well. 

Jared: Absolutely. No, I, I think we're just scratching the surface here and, uh, yeah, and you're very innovative.

Jared: I think you're kind of still tapping, dipping your toe in the water and, and kind of figured out what you like and how, how you want to take these new opportunities and run with them. [00:35:00] Um, and I'm, I feel fortunate that I caught you when I did. But you, yeah, like you're introducing me to stuff that I didn't know about, like placeit.

Jared: net where you, you make your album artwork and stuff like that. There's, I never even heard of that. And so there's a number of things that you're doing, I think are pretty, uh, uh, innovative and unique. And, uh, again, Kevin, just want to congratulate you on, uh, the opportunities that God's opening up for you with music and with, uh, your ministry.

Jared: Uh, with your family and with the business and, and just appreciate you being on the show tonight. Uh, we always like to close out with two questions. One is, um, where can people connect with you? You mentioned, you know, the, the name of your music, which is the, uh, AI, AI outlaw? So if people, people want to do a search for AI outlaw and dirty pay productions, they're likely to find most of your stuff, but where can people connect with you?

Jared: Online. 

Kevin Wingate: So online, you can also send me an email. It's called dirty bay production at gmail. com. If anybody wants to just to do a shout out at me or whatever, if you're a songwriter and you want to see your stuff coming [00:36:00] alive. Shoot me an email and send me your lyrics and see what I can produce for you.

Kevin Wingate: That would be pretty fun for me. I would dig that. A. I. Outlaws and all platforms. I have one album that's all country. I have nine tracks that's Christian country and it's not released yet through DistroKid, but that's going to be on all platforms. I'm trying to get a full album and I'm going to release an album that's all Christian country.

Kevin Wingate: Love it. AI Outlaw is going to be the artist's name. And right now you'll be able to get some of my Dirty Bay Fishing music on there. I have some releases and also have that it's called Proud Texan. So that's, uh, I'm proud to be a Texan. I think it's what it's called. I have to go back to that, but if you look up AI Outlaw, that's, that's how you can find us on YouTube.

Kevin Wingate: YouTube music or, you know, Apple music or any of those platforms. So that's where it's at now. And never know. We might have a, I might have a Facebook page or a website to go to, but that's about where I'm [00:37:00] at right now, but you can definitely email me. 

Jared: Absolutely. And I definitely hope that people will check out what you're doing.

Jared: Uh, you got a lot of music on SoundCloud as well. Uh, that's where I listen to a lot of your songs. A couple of my favorites is Proud My Boys of Texan. That that's one of my favorites. Uh, you've got, uh, others, just friends. You got, you got a few out there that are, that I think are, I mean, they're all really good.

Jared: Uh, so you're not going to go wrong checking those out. So last thing is I always like to ask, uh, do you have any final thoughts for people who are listening to this today? 

Kevin Wingate: So final thoughts is. If you're wanting to do something and you don't think you can do it, there's ways around it. There's always ways to tweak something that you're kind of like the old saying, if you, you attack your fears until you overcome them.

Kevin Wingate: And if you, if you never attack your fears, you're never going to get over certain things. If you're wanting to do something, you can't do it. You can do it with AI music. Cause I know that's one of your biggest deals is music as well. If I think anybody can do music now, [00:38:00] especially with the AI. If you have the love for music, you're going to have to put your time in, but it's going to be rewarding if you put your time into it and you have the passion.

Kevin Wingate: And if something don't sound right, don't just throw something out there that, hey, I made a song or whatnot. Take your time with it. If you don't like it, if you don't think it sounds good on the radio, then don't put it out. I mean, if you really like it and share it, absolutely. But if you, everybody's their own worst critic and you probably have a hundred songs that you said, you know what?

Kevin Wingate: And just delete it. Right. I have more than that, you know, but when it sounds good, it sounds good. And for those out there that are even the people that doesn't believe that, that AI is real creativity, it is. Because I know people, I'm sure you've went out online and you've tried to say, Hey, I'm going to get AI to write a song for me.

Kevin Wingate: It's always the same stuff. I've tried it. It just don't work. The more you practice, learn structure, intros, [00:39:00] verses, choruses, breaks, outros, you learn the steps and a process, how to write a song and you keep practicing, you're going to get there. Absolutely. 

Jared: Well said. Hey, Kevin, thanks again for your time and best wishes with you and the family and the ministry and, and certainly with the music and, uh, I'm looking forward to following your journey.

Jared: I'm looking forward to having you back on here in several months and we're going to talk about all these exciting things that opened up that we didn't even consider in this interview. So thank you again, Kevin. 

Kevin Wingate: Yeah, I appreciate it, man. And with, if that Christian country album breaks out, we'll have another talk.

Jared: Well, it's going to, it's just a matter of when. 

Kevin Wingate: That's right, brother. I appreciate you. God bless.