How William Hung and Jimmy Wayne “Produced” Eddie of The Bobby Bones Show

Eddie Garcia, “Producer Eddie”, of The Bobby Bones Show recently spoke to me about the show’s success, The Raging Idiots comedic musical act, fatherhood, his expanding family, and, yes, about his friend/boss/show-star’s (Bobby Bones’) upcoming wedding.

Wake up at 3:30 am? No way!

“I met Bobby at an event in Austin,” Producer Eddie takes me back to the beginning of his association with Bobby Bones. “I was supposed to interview William Hung – the American Idol guy. Something happened last minute and he was unavailable. They gave me the emcee to interview – that was Bobby. Bones was just getting going and I didn’t listen to Pop Music, so I knew him but that was about it.”

After that substitute interview, the duo went their separate ways. Eddie, back to camera and production work for a local television station, and Bones to his growing radio and television endeavors.

“Bobby called me later on. He wanted me to do some video stuff for a show. I literally asked, ‘What time do you wake up?’ He said 3 or 3:30 am. I just didn’t think getting up at 3:30 was the career direction for me. No way. I actually turned down a job from Bobby twice.”

Laughing, Eddie is suddenly reflective, “I saw Bobby’s drive back then, though. So, later, when he said ‘national show’, I was in. No question. I knew there was NO WAY he would fail.”

Producer Eddie was right.

The Bobby Bones Show

With nearly ten million weekly listeners, The Bobby Bones Show is the top country format morning show in the U.S.

The backbone of the show’s success lies in the cohesion of its stars: Bobby Bones, Amy (Brown), Lunchbox, Producer Eddie, Raymundo, Morgan and Mike D.

Each day the show’s tagline, “A Bunch of Friends”, plays out in over 150 markets across America.

“When we moved (the show to Nashville), I wasn’t too worried. I wasn’t going to be leaving any enemies. If it didn’t work – and Bobby told me that this could fail miserably – we could come back and we’d be fine. But, it was time to go big or go home. Really, I felt like I was just following my friends,” Eddie says nostalgically.

The Raging Idiots

“Everything changed show-wise, for me, when Bobby and I started the Raging Idiots,” the music-adoring Garcia can’t hide his enthusiasm for the band he and Bones created.

“When you speak to people all over, you want to get to know them – how they think about things, talk, act, what they like,” he continues, “That’s not easy. Going out on the road and meeting our listeners face-to-face through music put who we were talking to into perspective.”

The Raging Idiots was, as Eddie describes it, a perfect recipe to get to know fans while scratching an itch for both he and Bones.

“Bobby loved to sing, had the live comedy tour. I always wanted to be a rock star. We both love music. It was a perfect fit. We got to see the country – it was great,” Eddie pridefully gushes, “We didn’t know what to expect. One of the first stops – just a quick radio thing in Wichita – had 3,000 people show up. IN WICHITA, KANSAS! It was awesome!”

Producer Eddie eyes a return to the road for The Raging Idiots in the post-pandemic world. Whenever that is, fans can look forward hearing “a few finished songs that are really funny,” according to Producer Eddie.

Bobby Bones Wedding Game

A hallmark of The Bobby Bones Show are silly games that pit Producer Eddie, Lunchbox, and Amy against each other for little more than daily bragging rights.

In that vein, and with the big news of Bobby Bones’ engagement and upcoming nuptials (currently planned for Summer 2021), I provided a few wedding “FIRST” activities for Eddie to pair with his show cohorts:

Diving into Producer Eddie’s personal life begins in McAllen, Texas, in a big, close, traditional Mexican (Texano) family. His father hated music, he loved it – and dreamed of becoming a touring musician.

Given his aspiration for musical stardom, settling into a “normal” life as a husband and father, Garcia admits, was rocky. His rock star dreams now derailed by the new pressures at home, Eddie found himself confused, scared, and on the brink of divorce.

“I’m gonna open up here. For a while, at first after the marriage and baby, I went the WRONG way. Like, BAD. My wife struggled with postpartum depression, my music dream was done, I had a new baby. I was tired, scared. I was there for support, but mentally and emotionally checked out,” Eddie’s body language slumps.

“My wife stuck it out for two or three years. I even stayed on Bobby’s couch for six months when we separated. Things weren’t good, but my wife kept going. Seeing her stick it out made me want to stick it out, too,” Eddie’s serious demeanor shows the gravity of these early marriage memories.

“Faith helped my wife through. I needed time to get it together,” Eddie perks up a bit, “She had people tell her to move on, get a divorce – but she didn’t. That’s why I told Ray (the show’s recently married Executive Producer), before he got married, ‘Marriage is hard – the hardest work you’ll ever have to do’. I made sure he was totally ready. I wasn’t.”

Jimmy Wayne and Becoming a Foster Parent

With two growing boys and a career continuing to take-off, achieving certification to become a foster parent was not top of Eddie’s mind.

“My wife was a caseworker in Texas and always wanted to help kids – through adoption, foster care, anything. Where I’m from, no one did that. A foster parent had like fifty cats and lived in the house no one went in – that’s the image I had of a foster parent,” his signature smile and laughter accompanied the errant thought.

A self-proclaimed skeptic of everything, Producer Eddie was not completely “in” to entertaining the idea of being a foster parent – until one Sunday at church.

“One Sunday at church, a country singer named Jimmy Wayne got up to speak. Jimmy told us that he was a foster kid and that without his foster family, he’d NEVER had been able to make music. I was like, ‘Wait, we can change a kid’s life simply by opening our home?’ From that point on, I wasn’t quite 100% yet, but I was in.”

Eddie’s family achieved their foster home certification after a grueling process and waited for a child to meet their family’s criteria.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally, after nearly a year, the family was called to help a newborn baby at a local hospital. They joyfully obliged.

Settling in as a family of five just a few days later, once again a social worker called – this time to inform Eddie that their new foster baby had a half-brother now in need of a home.

“I didn’t know what to do. Our baby’s brother was older. I didn’t know what my kids would do, if we could do it, if I’d be wrecking my family,” Eddie grins and shakes his head, “But, my kids heard us talking. They were like, ‘We’re doing it, right? We HAVE to!’ They were into it and it just felt right.”

Producer Eddie’s family of four required a table for six virtually overnight.

Now, nearly two years later, Producer Eddie refuses to think about a future that does not include his wife and their four glorious children.

“I don’t think about them going back to their biological parents. That would be devastating. I mean, they are OUR kids. They know no different, we don’t either,” I witness the hint of dread gather as Garcia thinks about the outside chance for his foster kids’ to be reunited with their biological parents.

“It weighs on you – you know. But, we have faith and God does have a plan,” Eddie seemed ready for my line of questioning to move along. I was, too.

Producing Eddie Garcia

With that, our conversation was over. Eddie wished me well, grabbed a brown coffee cup, and tipped the brim of his Pizza Hut trucker cap to me.

I told him I appreciated his time and hoped that his many successes – both in his professional and personal life – would continue.

Simultaneously bummed out for having to go and invigorated by having spent an hour talking, I thought about Eddie’s journey to top of country music radio.

I Googled William Hung. I watched Hung’s torturous American Idol audition and the compassionate Simon Cowell dismissal that he energetically shook off. I laughed that this American Idol disaster laid the foundation for Eddie and Bobby Bones’ friendship.

Then, closing my laptop, I opined over Jimmy Wayne’s words having cut directly to Eddie’s soul that day at church – compelling him to change the lives of two children he’d only later meet.

Maybe William Hung and Jimmy Wayne did produce a piece of the Eddie Garcia we get to know each morning.

Or, more aptly, they are anecdotes in the success story of Producer Eddie of The Bobby Bones Show – a book whose chapters on fatherhood, friendship, compassion, and faith will undoubtedly become must-reads.