Quick answer: On Modern Wisdom with Chris Williamson, in a story also used in a Viral Podcast Shorts clip, Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney of Dan + Shay look back at being broke in Nashville. One of them says, "Dude, I would do about anything to get money," including paid research groups and a hard-cider tasting that paid "like 40 bucks." They say, "Our rent in Nashville was like 150 bucks a month. I mean, the house was falling apart. There was no heat, no AC, no locks on the doors. That's that's where we met." Shay, recounting "the first time I met Dan," says they were invited to a party because "they have a keg," that "the door wouldn't work," and that he "had to reach inside of the door, open it from the inside." Inside, "he had these sheets draped over the living room to keep heat in."
Clip: Viral Podcast Shorts YouTube Short from the full source linked below.
The official YouTube title of the November 14, 2026, episode is "We Won 3 Grammys and Still Felt Like Failures" - Dan + Shay (Live Performance). This article stays with the meeting-story segment used in the Short and does not take up the Grammy material in that title. The official description identifies the guests as "Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney"; those full names are not spoken in the used clip. Shay says "this was the first time I met Dan." The $150 rent and money-hustle lines are presented as theirs, without forcing a speaker label the captions do not make clean.
Research groups, and a $150 house
The money story comes first. "Dude, I would do about anything to get money," one of them says, then eases off: "Not not quite anything, but like research groups and stuff was like you could try on a" t-shirt "for 20 bucks." He describes "a hard cider tasting or something like that" where, he says, "I probably shouldn't be saying this publicly, but you needed a DD to like sign up and show up and we were each other's DD." They "pounded them all, got hammered, and got like 40 bucks," and "made it back home, which is pretty impressive."
Then the house. "Our rent in Nashville was like 150 bucks a month. I mean, the house was falling apart. There was no heat, no AC, no locks on the doors. That's that's where we met."
A keg party, and a door that would not open
Shay picks up the first meeting. "When I met him, dude, I had to like perform a B&E. I was breaking and entering the very first time we met because we got invited to this thing. We were both like broke." The invitation, in his telling, was simple: "these guys are having a party. They have a keg and I was like, 'Cool, I'll go there.'" Someone adds that "the keg was a gift," and Shay says "it was also 7 months old."
He "arrived at the house" and "wasn't like 100% sure that it was the right house." One of them puts an address on it: "507 Morton Avenue. We'll never forget." At the front door, he says, "it had kind of a glass pane on the front. the door wouldn't work. So, I had to reach inside of the door, open it from the inside." That is his account of how he got in, in a house they had just described as having "no locks on the doors." This article does not treat it as a crime.
Inside, he says, "he had these sheets draped over the living room to keep heat in." "I like literally like this was the first time I met Dan. Dude, it was this was the reveal." The Short ends on that entrance. A magazine headline just after the used window is outside this piece.
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FAQ
How much do they say the Nashville rent was?
"Our rent in Nashville was like 150 bucks a month," they say, in a house that "was falling apart," with "no heat, no AC, no locks on the doors."
How do they say they met?
They say that house is "where we met." Shay describes being invited to a party because "they have a keg," arriving unsure he had the right place, reaching through a glass pane to open a door that "wouldn't work," and finding Dan inside with "sheets draped over the living room to keep heat in."
What money stories do they tell from that period?
One of them says he "would do about anything to get money," then describes research groups, including trying on a t-shirt for $20, and a hard-cider tasting where he and a friend signed up as each other's designated driver and were paid about $40.
When was this interview released?
The Modern Wisdom episode, hosted by Chris Williamson, was uploaded November 14, 2026. The official description names the guests as Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney.