WEBVTT - BONUS EPISODE: Hannah Ellis Interview 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:03.360 Show. 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:05.400 I were in the car record studio and we're doing 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:07.520 a podcast. You know we should do because Eddie's here 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:11.200 as well. We should do like they do the beginning 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:15.000 of football games. Okay, I'll go first by bones six 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:18.920 foot one, maybe six foot and a half, one hundred 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.520 and seventy five pounds, doctor, University of Arkansas. 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:23.680 Nice already lying great, love it, but there was no lot. 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:29.960 There's no lot, sorry, doctor, producer Eddie Sam he's the 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.959 state university. Six foot zero, you're not six and eighty 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:35.080 pounds all muscle. 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:37.560 Okay, okay, that's good. 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.880 It's good. Hannah ellis about five. 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:42.960 No, No, that wasn't a trick to get her. 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.600 I was not going to anyone was no way. 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:54.360 Yeah, one hundred pounds even I graduated from the University 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:56.959 of Kentucky with a bachelor's to grow there. 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:57.240 You go. 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.000 She's she's die hard Kentucky. 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:01.760 You know, Bobby's a diehard Arkansas. 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:02.800 Ray discussed this. 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:03.240 Yeah. 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:04.959 Yeah. We drove around in the hunday for like fifteen 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:07.240 minutes and they were like talk about just driving around 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:08.679 the hoad to talk about like journey and we're like 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:13.800 coach cow. It was very rare basketball. So That's really 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:15.960 all we talked about. While that's the footage they have. 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:17.600 Why did you go to Kentucky? 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.720 There was only one option for me. Honestly, no, but 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:24.240 I really I always loved the University of Kentucky. Grew 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.319 up big Kentucky fan, and I did a program in 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.360 high school called GSP and basically, if you completed the 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.880 program and had certain testing scores ACT scores. 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.600 They would give you a full ride academic scholarship. 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:39.640 You got a full riding Kentucky I did. Would you 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:43.600 get on your ACT I'll tell you what I got online? 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:45.679 Twenty eight? Oh my god, Well I got a thirty. 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:47.199 I was so mad. 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:49.760 I wanted a thirty so bad. I took it like 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:52.360 four times. But then you know how, like eventually it 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:53.680 just starts going down. I was like, all right, we're 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:54.360 gonna call this. 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:58.800 We're good here. So this is called bronze metal syndrome. 0:01:58.840 --> 0:01:59.440 What just happened? 0:01:59.480 --> 0:01:59.800 Okay? 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.480 So they say that at the Olympics, people that win 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.200 the bronze medal are so much happier than people that 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:08.760 win the silver medal because people that win the silver 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:10.639 medal are like, I was so close to the gold 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:13.680 where bronze was like, oh, man, yeah I got so 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:16.120 I had the bronze medal there because I scored a 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:18.520 twenty eight, and I was like, oh, I got school 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:20.720 paid for wherever. I was pretty happy with that, and 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.000 then you went, I scored twenty nine. Ah, I hated it, 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:25.120 and she hit me with the silver medal. That's right, 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:26.119 thirty was the goal. 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.000 You're so right. I wanted. I wanted. But then you know, 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:30.959 like you said, free school was free school? 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:32.640 So what math was my worst? 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:33.240 That's it. 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:35.560 I literally to this day it's like a joke with 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.520 my band or anything I do wrong, I'll just say, yeah, 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:40.880 I'm just really bad at math, because that's how. 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:41.480 Bad it math. 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:43.320 Can't you probably made it like a twenty five. 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:46.280 I know, I won't even tell you it's actually very low. 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.200 But it can't be that low if it doesn't matter. 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.440 Great job twenty nine, But we're doing the math on 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:53.280 how you get tasty. 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.280 It looks like a nerd, though, like I wouldn't think 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:57.920 she was the nerd. 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.320 This was a journey. Okay, this is a journey, and. 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:02.839 Now I guess I'm still at the beginning of mine, 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:06.600 this journey. We're just starting on the wagon trail. 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:11.680 That's your hometown, Campbellsville, Kentucky, about two a little over 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.359 two hours northeast of here. It's two hours if I'm 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:18.239 driving it. But yeah, real small, but not as small 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:19.639 as yours quite. Yeah. 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:21.720 We had seven hundred people in Mountain Pine. What your 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:23.200 town population? Do you have a sign? 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.160 I would say, I would say now, it's probably actually 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:28.400 closer to like ten thousand because. 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:31.600 Street crazy Wall Street, because we have. 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.440 A college there, and I think that's had like a 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.520 super big impact on just like people moving in and 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:40.800 jobs and all that stuff. But still got that small 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:42.280 town vibe. 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:43.760 And it's definitely how I grew up. 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:46.720 You know, musically, what was happening around your house that 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:48.960 made you want to get in? Where'd the love of 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:49.680 music come from? 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:52.040 Oh gosh, from my parents big time. So they are 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:54.360 both actually really good singers. They would sing at weddings 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:58.200 on the weekend and they would I always say that 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:00.440 I was singing before I was talking because I couldn't 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.240 hardly form sentences. But my dad will be like, all right, now, Harmon, 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.280 I was with your sister I was like three. So 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.800 we came up very musical in my house, singing in church, 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:11.760 singing in contests. 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.760 And so it was always no, no, no. 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:16.919 I mean it's just funny because like, you don't you 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:19.560 only know what you know, right, I didn't know. I 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:21.480 don't think I knew where songs came from. I guess 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.120 I assumed the song or the artist wrote them. 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:25.560 But then I didn't. 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.800 Even get into that side of it till I was older, 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.280 because yeah, there was no instruments, it was just singing. 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:32.400 What were you listening to, like at that young age, 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:33.520 what were you really into? 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:35.480 Okay, So when I was like really young, we were 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.120 pretty much like Christian music, only house right, like the 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:42.240 other music we was called secular music. My first secular 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:48.520 CD was a Martina McBride CD, which, no, yes, my mom. 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:48.919 Bought it for me. 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.880 She was like, loved Martina. My dad was always a 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.960 die hard country music fan. But back in the nineties, 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:57.400 I mean there was a lot of like cheating and 0:04:57.480 --> 0:04:59.640 drinking and my mom was like, no, no, we're not 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.160 listening to that up and here, and then Martina came 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:03.840 out and she was like, Okay, now this I can 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.600 get down with. But yeah, so, I mean tons of 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:10.880 like Kathy Tricoli, She's like a kind of a gospel. 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:11.200 Singer back then. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:13.680 Now we did the Gatlin Brothers though that was that 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:17.520 was mom approved as well, but kind of came up 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:20.280 in that Christian world and then lots of country once 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:21.200 I figured it out. 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:23.440 The first time you came to Nashville, how old were you. 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:25.279 Little? 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:28.680 We came to auprey Land for like a vacation, so 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:32.840 like aprey Land had rides and stuff. I don't think 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:35.839 people even know that about Nashville now. And of course, 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.880 you know, my sister aren't dressed the same because hashtag nineties, 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.000 but uh yeah, we're in here like cowboy hats going 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.279 to aprey Land. And that was that was probably six 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:47.400 maybe you know, really little. 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:50.960 When did you think that you could actually sing and 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:55.839 make a life? Was it before college? Because you know, 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:56.760 why do you go to college? 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:57.320 Yeah? 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:00.640 So I feel like there was a when I was 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:04.239 in like thirteen fourteen where it was like my dad 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:06.039 and some of it were kind of like, wait, she's 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.440 really good. And that was when like Leanne Rhyme's was 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:12.680 kind of happening, and or I guess had happened. And 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:14.920 I think there was like a moment where that was 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:16.960 like oh maybe that and then it was like, oh wait, nevermind, 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:18.400 We're not going to do that. She's too young. 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.080 We're gonna let her make her own life choices. And 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:22.800 then it's actually. 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.920 Weird but funny story. I took my little sister to 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.040 the Hannah Montana movie when I was about three months 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.320 from graduating, already had my scholarship to college. 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:33.000 So you wanted to go to the movie. You just 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.960 needed a reason to say you wanted to get No. No. 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.599 She was like a die hard Okay, she was a 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:43.520 die house and I took her to the movie and 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.320 I swear it was just like my come to Jesus moment. 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:49.159 I like was like bawling by the time I leave, 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:51.159 and I'm like, oh, I feel like this is what 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:51.800 I'm supposed to do. 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:52.839 I feel like I'm supposed to be. 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.360 This the climb. It's the climb. I knew it. 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:57.600 And uh I go home. I'm like crying. I tell 0:06:57.600 --> 0:06:59.240 my mom, I'm like, I think I'm supposed to like 0:06:59.279 --> 0:07:00.760 be a singer. I think that's what I'm supposed to do. 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:02.760 And she's like, let's call your dad, and so we 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.440 called dad and he's like, listen, miss, I start and 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:06.560 quit a sport every year. 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:08.839 This is a commitment. 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:11.400 Of this is like different than that. He said, I'll 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:13.200 come over in the morning, we'll talk about it. So 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.440 we did, and I was very much like, let's go 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.560 to Nashville, let's move. And they were kind of. 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.520 Like, you have free school, and we just like we 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.280 need to like get you. We need you to like 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:25.200 suss that out. 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.200 And they were like, but absolutely, we will do everything 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:30.720 we can to help you chase your music dreams. 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:32.560 And they did did you sing in school? 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:34.800 Oh yeah, oh yeah, I was in show choir. 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.520 I always did the contest in the small towns, you know, 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:39.000 like I won. 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:41.560 A couple of those where I would go to like 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:43.400 the regional or even the state. So I was in 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:45.480 FFA and I got to go to like. 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.880 The national of that Singing of America. 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:52.120 Yes, it's why I stayed in it for four years. Yeah. 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.000 So they did a singing contest and I got to 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.520 sing at Conseco Field House up in Indie and it 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:01.680 was like thirty thousand people and I was like, oh, 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:03.040 I'm way too comfortable doing this. 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.080 I was like eighteen. I was like, yeah, and when 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.120 you're at college, do you go and sing like at 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:10.560 any bar? 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.120 Yeah? Oh yeah, like the four hour shows. 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:14.400 How do your parents feel about you singing at a 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:15.200 bar though at eighteen? 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:19.720 Because oh they were there, Okay, let's go yeah. Oh yeah. 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.080 It was totally different at that point because it was 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.680 just like, oh, this is helping her in her life 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.640 and in her career. And Eddie Montgomery had a steakhouse 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:30.240 I was like right outside of Lexington, Kentucky at the time, 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:32.720 so I would go there and play those like four 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:34.920 hour covers slash. 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:36.920 Please listen to this song I wrote shows You know, 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.120 what did your friends think when you were in college 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:40.840 doing this? Because like when I was in a band too, 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:42.319 when I met Bobby, and I'd make Bobby go to 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:44.600 the show. A lot of times, it's just Bobby, yeah 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:45.880 and a couple other friends, that's it. 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:48.680 So my friends thought it was cool because I was 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.199 coming back and forth to Nashville, so they were like, oh, 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:53.080 this is like legit, she's really trying to do this. 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:55.280 Like sometimes my friends would make me like stand on 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.200 a table at one of the parties and sing to 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.679 prove to some other person that I was a good singer, 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:02.200 and I was like happily oblige. 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:04.559 Say less. 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:06.959 But no, I mean they were really supportive. I mean 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:08.840 I played the ten roof up there, and they would 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:10.679 all come out and droves. I mean it was a blast. 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:11.400 It really was. 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:13.880 When you finished school, how long until you packed up. 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:14.960 And moved Not long. 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.000 So I actually graduated early because I knew I wanted 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:20.160 to come to Nashville. So I like finished all my 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:24.400 classes in three and a half years and graduated in December, 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:27.080 and then moved here in February. So I went home 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.200 for like a month like Christmas, do it, and then 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:29.680 I was here. 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.800 And when you come to a town like Nashville, because 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:35.560 there are different places that you can play. Had you 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.440 played at all in town? Was there a place that 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:40.760 you had called to say, I'm coming to town, can 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:42.480 I get on stage? Did that happen at all? Yeah? 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:44.120 So, I mean definitely the listening room. 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.200 I was like emailing anybody who was getting a lot 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:47.280 of bounce backs at the time. 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:51.800 But I tried to get in there. I played. I 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:55.480 played at maybe Tequila Cowboy one or two, the. 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:59.200 Broadway things, but that wasn't really ever my thing, and 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:00.880 I knew that wasn't and kind of be my in 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:03.760 I would say when I really got here, I was 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:06.679 trying to get in the songwriter community, which. 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:08.319 Is why the listening room is probably. 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:12.920 Exactly exactly because that was still really early in my like, oh, songwriting, 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:16.920 co writing, that's how you develop artistry. And also there's 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.800 kind of this idea, which is not wrong in Nashville, that. 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.200 Like the way to a record deal is through a 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:23.880 publishing deal. 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.000 And that was definitely the thing when I moved here 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.000 back in twenty thirteen, Like everybody kind of that was 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:31.559 like the trajectory. 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.800 You know, now it's so different, but so that was 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:36.040 really the big focus. 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:37.280 So when you move here and you want to be 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.719 a songwriter and yeah, I used to be a town 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:41.920 of get a publishing deal, right, then maybe you can 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.080 write enough songs that are good songs for yourself. Yeah, 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:47.760 So where do you go? Who do you talk to? 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:49.960 Is there a group here that as a new writer 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:51.440 you can go and kind of be like, hey, I'm 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:52.400 new here, what do I do? 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:52.880 Yes? 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:56.120 Absolutely, I mean my first stop and the first stop 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:58.880 I tell anybody that's trying to come to town is NSAI. 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:01.800 It's the Songwriter Association. 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:06.160 And they're just super helpful in like connecting you with 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:09.439 people that are where you are, right like other new 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.360 writers in town other publishers that are willing to take 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.360 a meeting with someone that's really really green and. 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:16.480 Just kind of coach YOUO long. 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:21.920 And they were hugely influential in my early days here. 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.199 When you moved to town and you see that everybody 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:29.280 else in this whole town is really good, intimidating. 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:33.040 Oh absolutely, I mean you immediately get the uh, what 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:33.600 is the fish? 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:33.760 Thing? 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:33.960 Right? 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:35.560 It's like a big fish in a small pond. You 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:37.680 are a very very small fish in a big pond. 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:39.880 I mean when I first moved here and I went 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:43.160 to some shows, I thought everyone was famous because. 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:43.880 They were so good. 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.520 I was like, obviously, I just don't know who they 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.120 are because I don't know what's up. But like I'm 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.079 sending videos every night to my friends and family being like. 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:54.320 Have you ever heard of this person? 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:54.640 You know? 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:56.360 And they were just like as green as I was. 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:58.840 They were just really good, you know, but it was 0:11:58.920 --> 0:11:59.440 it was fun. 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:02.600 Did that make you? Did it challenge you to get 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.040 better and intimidate you to do both both both. 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:09.280 I'm super competitive naturally, and so anytime I see the bar, 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:11.040 I'm like, okay, well that's at least I have to 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.360 hit that or above and Also I was just out 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.680 and when I would realize that was before I knew 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.080 the like way to like, oh, you can't go up 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:19.640 and ask people. 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.240 I would just like be lying it right after the show. Hi, 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:24.520 well you're right with you know. That was so me. 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:26.880 But you know what, it worked a lot in those 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:29.920 early days because we were all young and trying to 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:30.560 figure it out. 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.560 I mean, it was so funny. The second show I ever. 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:35.040 Went to in Nashville, the one where I'm taking all 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:36.920 the videos of the people I thought was famous, it's 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.000 the night I met Laney Wilson. We both had the 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.040 same boots on, and so we just sat down and 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.960 she was super new to town as well, and so 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:45.200 it's like then we. 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.280 Would just attack people together. It's less weird. 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:49.360 You know, how do you find your style in a 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:51.240 town like this when you're look in like, oh my gosh, 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.480 everyone has their own thing going, Like I got to 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:54.520 be different than everyone else. 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:56.760 Yeah, I think that that was actually a bit of 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:00.440 an issue for me on the early days, cause I was, 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:02.960 like I said, so competitive that I was just trying 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.720 to do what was already working, and so I wasn't 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.120 chasing what is Hannah Ellis I was like, Okay, Taylor 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.560 Swift's doing it this way. Okay, Carrie Underwoods doing it 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:14.960 this way. And so I was more like emulating them, 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:17.640 you know, for probably those first couple of years, and 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.200 then it was like, okay, well I'm not doing that's 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:22.520 not working. And then you do finally get to this 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:25.080 place where you're like, oh, if I just do what 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:28.680 I do, naturally, people seem to gravitate towards that a 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:32.560 lot more so, I think it's just a learned art. 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:36.360 Unfortunately, to get a publishing deal, what were the steps 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:38.960 that you went through to take a while, And what 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:40.679 happens after you get a publishing deal? They get paid 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:41.440 to write songs. 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.640 Yeah, so I would say, yeah, I mean again, I 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.720 was just like I would write two and three times 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.680 a day, like just as much as possible, and trying 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:51.560 to kind of keep those connections I'd made in the 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:53.600 early days. And I would just send them songs no 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:55.760 matter what position, if they were A and R somewhere 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.240 or if they were because I interned at Big Machine 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:00.000 in the A and R department when I was in college, 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.560 and so I kept all those relationships and so I 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.080 just kind of send songs periodically and just say you. 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:07.600 Can tell me if they suck, just help me. 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.760 And so music kind of just got passed from one 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:12.640 friend to the other, like, hey keep an eye on 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.760 this girl, go see a show of hers. And Janina 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:20.840 Appleton was at Word Country Word Entertainment started like a 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.920 little country arm and she was who called me and 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:27.680 was like, hey, I like your writing, but I also 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.960 like that you write for men, because so many women 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.400 were only writing girl songs and like this is like 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.160 mid two thousands, I mean, there wasn't a lot of 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:39.720 places for those to go. And so we started chatting 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:42.240 and I got my publishing deal in twenty fifteen. And 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:45.200 it was funny because at that time I would never 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.360 say there was a moment where I wasn't an artist, 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.760 but I would say I did have like, Okay, I'm 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.200 a songwriter and then an artist in those moments because 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.480 I was being paid to get songs cut, so I 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:57.880 focused on that a lot. In twenty sixteen, got some 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:01.160 cuts with like Carly Daniel, Brad Russell Diggerson, and then 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:03.000 I was like, okay, now back to me. 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:07.760 Is there an expectation that, Okay, I'm gonna write a 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:10.320 song somebody's gonna put it on hold, it's gonna be good. 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:12.240 Then they're gonna cut it. I mean, like, what's the 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:13.200 success rated that? 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:16.520 So I'm pointzh one. 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:20.960 I think at first you definitely think song on hold 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:23.920 means song cut, and then it's like there's song on hold, 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:26.720 then there's song on hold by the artists, then there's 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.080 song that's cut by the artists, then there's song that 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:31.360 makes it on the record, like because I mean we 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:35.680 had a huge heart breaking yeah right, It's like we 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.840 had a huge heartbreak song where like I actually wrote 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.880 it with my husband Nick and Josh Kerr where Keith 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.960 Urban cut it, and I mean we were young songwriters 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:47.360 and we were all freaking out then like we didn't 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.160 even know until like we knew we cut it because 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:52.440 we'd heard the cut of it. Then the record comes 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:56.040 out and sound on the record heartbreak turn around, Tim 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:56.880 and Faith cut it. 0:15:57.360 --> 0:15:59.160 So everybody's like, oh, they're gonna use it on their tour. 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.960 Right. So in the promo video that you remember they 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:05.880 did this big show with the Ryman. In the promo video, 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.120 it's like the name of that song is on there. 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.560 You can see it, you can see them singing. It 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.000 didn't make the record, and it was just like that 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.680 is the most classic Nashville storied. Of course, my husband 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:19.760 Nick was like fine and putting it out myself, but 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:20.960 he did. 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:22.880 Yeah, yeah, he's like forget it. 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:25.800 But I mean it was just such a crazy Nashville 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.120 story because that's like really common. 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:31.400 Actually, what's the money situation at this point, Like in like, 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:33.920 are you banking on these on these to get cut 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:35.560 and none these two? Are you kind of like, all right, 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.080 I make enough now to kind of just do this 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:39.680