 We were on tour and we were driving down to Colorado. I was driving, it was like three in the morning. Everyone's asleep in the back. It was February and we were in a conversion van with like a really cheap trailer. There was just snow everywhere and it was like blowing and I remember going over this hill. All of a sudden the back of the van just started fish tailing it. We ended up like rolling in the snow bank like three times. Total the van and trailer came back home and was like, what now? I just don't know if I wanna do this anymore. What's up y'all, this is Devon Dawson. Welcome to Nashville. Today we're in my kitchen here and I'm here with Uproxx and Straight Talk and we're gonna be making one of my favorite dishes, Nashville hot chicken tikka masala. I love pulling this dish out when we have a bunch of people coming over. It's inexpensive, it's easy and it makes a bunch of food. It's a great value, which is the same reason I use Straight Talk for my wireless service. With 30 day plans starting at $35 a month, it's a no-brainer. You wanna start with prepping your vegetables? I grew up in Northern California, little town outside of Sacramento called Orangeville. Something that I had always enjoyed as a kid, cooking with my grandparents. And we would dig a six foot pit in our backyard and we would have a pig roast. I always liked to help and I kinda just fell in love with cooking. I remember the first time I had chicken tikka masala was in my hometown in Sacramento and it was just this little home wall. Man, the first time I tasted it, it was just like one of the best flavors ever and even to this day, like even trying to make it, like I'm still trying to replicate what they did. We're gonna start on our tikka paste and the first thing you wanna do is toast some of your raw spices. As far as music goes, I think it started with just my mom. Huge, huge record collection. Our next door neighbor was having a garage sale. There's this red Stratocaster, kinda like the one from Back to the Future that Martin McFly plays. And so I was just like instantly drawn to this thing. That's what sparked it, my mom. You're gonna have to take it away from me because like, you know how hard it is to have a guitar in your hands and not play. There's just a bunch of little components that I just wanna make sure that I'm getting all right for you. My brother and I just wanted to start a band every single day after middle school. We would go to Eric's house and practice in his garage. You know, we started out with like California classic rock. By the end of high school we were playing like pretty heavy metal. Played shows and some tours and we eventually got signed after high school to Metal Blade Records. You do it cause you love it. You definitely don't do it for the money. We lived in a van, you know? We got $150 a night if we were lucky. That kinda weighs on you after a while, after four or five years of that. You know, we got in that rollover van accident and it was the last straw. I think I had just been beaten down from doing it for so long and not really being successful. And I did a bunch of odd jobs. I was a forklift driver for a while, worked in the warehouse. But I also went to culinary school for like six months. Whole peeled tomatoes. Blend them up until they're super smooth and then we're gonna strain them a little bit. There's a bunch of different parallels between music and cooking. I mean, you're making something that, you know, the sum of their parts are greater and you're making somebody feel something. Hopefully they feel good. I quickly realized that I loved it, but it wasn't a career for me. I think it was more of a hobby. I remember I had breakfast with my dad. He's like, how you doing, you know? I said, like, I'm not in a bad place. I'm just like not super happy. Like I'm not like fulfilled, you know? And of course the first thing out of his mouth was like, well, you should go to college. He mentioned Belmont. I saw that they had a songwriting program. You know, singing and playing and writing songs was the only thing I ever wanted to do. And it was the only thing that I was gonna fully lean into, no matter what. I moved from California to Nashville. I just fell in love. Like it was just such a cool community of people that were just as crazy as I was and wanted to chase this dream. Just like I did. What I loved about country was the stories. And this shift started happening. And I just started getting more fulfilled by those songs. And so moving to Nashville just strengthened that. My wife is a vegetarian. We're gonna make a cauliflower in the oven so she can taste it with us today. Smells good. Thanks, honey. Yeah. This is my beautiful wife, Leah. She's gonna help us finish the dish off today. She's gonna be a little taste tester for me, yeah? I signed to Warner Brothers Records here in Nashville. And we made this incredible record that I'm really proud of called Dark Horse. My first single was called All On Me. That song is now double platinum. It's crazy. Just such a cool affirmation moment. And we're ready to plate it. So here we go. Being a metal guy coming from California, like living in Nashville and singing country music, I really enjoy being that guy. That's where my compass points. That's what my gut tells me. I'm gonna make sure you get those spices in there and you just literally drizzle it. This is my favorite part. I like a lot. Cheers. Cheers. Let me try it. Oh my God. Awesome. Keep pushing the boundaries. Keep being different. Keep being the Dark Horse because I think we all need it.