Speaker 1: Carolam. She's a queen of talking. He was song. She's
Speaker 1: on the inside. She got the scoop on the law.
Speaker 1: On the one side, no one can do within quiet. Caralam, Carolam,
Speaker 1: no one can do within quiet? Back Caralam Carolin. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited about this episode of Get Real. I have
Speaker 1: my friend for over ten years, Kelly Lynn Jansen, joining me.
Speaker 1: She's married to Chris Jansen. She is such a powerhouse.
Speaker 1: She's a mom to four kids, amazing kids. They take
Speaker 1: the kids on the road. She is a manager, she
Speaker 1: manages Chris. She is a songwriter. She's had cuts with
Speaker 1: Chris and other artists. She's a publisher, has a co
Speaker 1: venture blushing company that she runs. She does it all.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, Kelly is a machine. She's so much fun,
Speaker 1: she's so faithful, she's got the best perspective on life.
Speaker 1: Wakes up every day just thinking life is a gift,
Speaker 1: soaking it up, living into the fullest. I love Kelly
Speaker 1: so much. We've truly been friends for over a decade
Speaker 1: and she's just one of my favorite people. She's so
Speaker 1: fun and so funny, is so great. So get excited
Speaker 1: for this episode and prepared to be inspired because she
Speaker 1: is so inspiring here she is hey, hey, hey, hey,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, one of my favorite people, Kelly, like Jansen,
Speaker 1: You're one of my favorite people. This is the coolest
Speaker 1: thing that you're doing, by the way, Like it's so
Speaker 1: awesome to focus on the wives and the women behind
Speaker 1: these awesome artists. I watched shirts with Caroline. Her instagram
Speaker 1: is hysterical. It's so great. It's I watched everything. I'm
Speaker 1: like obsessed, and so Michael and I over Christmas, we
Speaker 1: literally just dug into Caroline's instagram the crying yes. So
Speaker 1: her frett husband would be so mad at me, like Luke,
Speaker 1: Brian is so cool and like Carol, you're so funny,
Speaker 1: and she doesn't care. She gets every single person or
Speaker 1: a family like with a blowhorn. I'm scared my mom
Speaker 1: would have a heart attack and die on me. My
Speaker 1: husband would run chase me down, like, oh my god.
Speaker 1: He would not think it was funny. I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm like, how do I become my crpet?
Speaker 1: Then she has all these great sports to play along
Speaker 1: and they kind of get annoyed, but then they die laughing.
Speaker 1: It's hilarious. I loved watching it said, thanks, Caroline, and
Speaker 1: that kept me entertained over the holidays. It's so frantic
Speaker 1: with all this stuff going on during Christmas. So you're right.
Speaker 1: I watched it too. I think a lot of people did.
Speaker 1: It's pure comedy relief. But this is cool what you're doing.
Speaker 1: I love it. Well. Thanks. So I've been doing the
Speaker 1: podcast a whow But I started um on Wives this
Speaker 1: year and actually does Heart last year last at the
Speaker 1: end of last year, and I just was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is really a sweet spot because all these artists,
Speaker 1: these men artists are so fantastic, but the women who
Speaker 1: are beside them and helping them fuel of this business,
Speaker 1: keep their lives running are so fabulous and so interesting.
Speaker 1: I was like, who does I want to know about them?
Speaker 1: I do, I don't know about it? So cool. I
Speaker 1: love that and it has been It's been great because
Speaker 1: I've been able to see the other wives that because
Speaker 1: we're always out on the road. We're running. Everybody's going
Speaker 1: different circles, so we don't always get to visit. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're by the time someone else is getting to a festival,
Speaker 1: we're leaving, or vice versa. I've seen you out on
Speaker 1: the road several shops in the night, just like passing
Speaker 1: the planes in the air buses, um broken down. I
Speaker 1: don't know. Yeah, because y'all do planes, trains and automobiles.
Speaker 1: You know what. We do whatever we gotta do to
Speaker 1: get to the show. But um, this year, UM we
Speaker 1: travel all the time, and we tour all the time
Speaker 1: because Chris is the live performer and that's um, you know,
Speaker 1: getting out to the fans. So whatever we have to
Speaker 1: do to get there. But we found that the plane
Speaker 1: is way better. It just is so that we can
Speaker 1: still have it right. Oh no, no, no, no, But
Speaker 1: he did get his Yes, he did work on that
Speaker 1: for a little while and then things got too crazy
Speaker 1: and too busy and he needed his rest. You can
Speaker 1: get an airplane fining, yeah no. And he was only
Speaker 1: flying single engine and I need two engines. It's very scary.
Speaker 1: So you know, we have great pilots and um they're amazing.
Speaker 1: And it just allows to have to be at home
Speaker 1: or with your children, and for him to also do
Speaker 1: songwriting and for us to have some form of normal
Speaker 1: life because otherwise conscious we do we try to get
Speaker 1: back to our gain and get out so you're in
Speaker 1: your own bed every night pretty much unless we're playing
Speaker 1: on the West coast. So like this past week, Um,
Speaker 1: we did four shows. We did Butte, Montana, UM, Wyoming,
Speaker 1: and we were in Cheyenne, Butte Airway Heights, Washington, and
Speaker 1: UM one more I can't remember Utah, and so those
Speaker 1: were pretty far apart, and we flew and then we
Speaker 1: stayed out on the West coast. There would have been
Speaker 1: no way to come home. Yeah, so if you're on
Speaker 1: West Coast, you pretty much stay out there. You do
Speaker 1: a long run there. But we take our kids and
Speaker 1: we just do hotels and we experience it and we
Speaker 1: try to like, since we're homeschooling, I'm trying to teach
Speaker 1: them things as we go. I won't know, but I
Speaker 1: can't at least teach them what city we're in and
Speaker 1: a few facts. I mean, I'm definitely not that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: education is probably not one of my strong suits. Whatever
Speaker 1: you are, like you know how to make it happen, though,
Speaker 1: But I try to teach them how to count money
Speaker 1: and like how to count change and like we do
Speaker 1: things on the plane and um, and how to go
Speaker 1: have your dreams. Like you're great at that absolutely, and
Speaker 1: that you can do anything in this world you want
Speaker 1: to do if you just put your mind to it.
Speaker 1: It's America. It's it's such a wonderful country. We have
Speaker 1: so many opportunities, and I think every day that we
Speaker 1: wake up is a huge blessing and the sky's the
Speaker 1: limit in that way. Even because we've known each other
Speaker 1: for what like fourteen a long time, they don't tell
Speaker 1: our don't tell on us like we're still what do
Speaker 1: you mean we're still hanging out over at Belmar. We
Speaker 1: couldn't even drink when we met. What we're talking about
Speaker 1: weren't even legal. We I've known you and a single mom, yes,
Speaker 1: making furniture whatever I had to consulting, corresponding on my
Speaker 1: TV show, a TV show. I mean, you have always
Speaker 1: been such a hustler, such a go getter, such a dreamer,
Speaker 1: and you have always, even when you're a single mom,
Speaker 1: doing all these jobs making an end to me, You've
Speaker 1: always had this like incredibly optimistic attitude. You've never been like,
Speaker 1: oh poor me, look at all this I have to
Speaker 1: handle by myself. You've always been like, no, I'm going
Speaker 1: to make I want to do it. Yeah, where did
Speaker 1: that come from? Because not everyone responds to say situations
Speaker 1: that are maybe more like, you know, being a single mom.
Speaker 1: Not everyone handles it the way you would have. Well,
Speaker 1: I just I always try to look at the cup full.
Speaker 1: And I have healthy children. And even if I didn't
Speaker 1: have like a cool partner to raise them with or whatever,
Speaker 1: and I was a single mom, that's okay. I have
Speaker 1: these children and they're such a blessing. And every minute
Speaker 1: getting to do the things I did with them, drive
Speaker 1: them to school, take them, get their clothes, get their braces,
Speaker 1: work really hard to put food on the table, whatever
Speaker 1: I had to do. It was like, yes, I'm so lucky, Like,
Speaker 1: look at my kids, like they're amazing. There's such a
Speaker 1: gift from God. And I mean, oh my gosh, Graham
Speaker 1: and I grew he's so Graham's my oldest so Graham,
Speaker 1: and then I have Shell and she's in college at
Speaker 1: ut those are the ones that Chris says his bonus
Speaker 1: kids and yeah, but like they're my life. Oh, he's amazing.
Speaker 1: That was one of the biggest things I fell in
Speaker 1: love with him. When we first dated. He looked at
Speaker 1: me and I was like, wait, let's just have fun
Speaker 1: and he's like, no, I love you. And I was like, well, wait,
Speaker 1: I have children and those children are my life. And
Speaker 1: he was like, great, I love kids, and he was like,
Speaker 1: no problem, and um I was like, well I'm a
Speaker 1: little bit older than you. Yeah, no problem. Love that.
Speaker 1: Don't ever bring it up again. And so from that
Speaker 1: moment on we were like in. My kids adored him,
Speaker 1: and soon after obviously they met him, and it wasn't
Speaker 1: too much longer after that Chris asked of them two
Speaker 1: if he could marry me, and I had no idea.
Speaker 1: And then they helped pick out the ring and he
Speaker 1: tells us a great story and this was This gives
Speaker 1: me chills to every time I hear it, because this
Speaker 1: is the kind of human he is just as as
Speaker 1: a human and he was just born with such a heart.
Speaker 1: And he always says, those are my bonus kids. I'm
Speaker 1: their stepdad, but I stepped into their life. They're not
Speaker 1: step kids. They didn't step into mine. I stepped into theirs.
Speaker 1: I'm the stepdad. They're the bonus. They're like such a blessing.
Speaker 1: So he talks about that, and he wrote a song
Speaker 1: called Holding Her about all of us, but what a
Speaker 1: blessing And going back to just waking up every day
Speaker 1: and looking at your blessings, looking at the fact that
Speaker 1: we all woke up today. It may not be perfect,
Speaker 1: but we woke up. And you're gonna have obstacles. I
Speaker 1: mean everything there. Every day, you're probably gonna get hit,
Speaker 1: smack dab in the face with something. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: gonna be someone that doesn't like you. There's be someone
Speaker 1: who says something bad about you. There's gonna be um,
Speaker 1: I mean, you stump your toe or I don't know,
Speaker 1: like silly stuff. Well I don't even have any Like
Speaker 1: most people are independent contracts, but you're always dealing with something.
Speaker 1: There's always gonna be a bus that breaks down. There's
Speaker 1: always gonna be a plane that the heat goes out.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be but hey, we gotta plane. Ye, look
Speaker 1: at the good side. I don't care if it's cold,
Speaker 1: I'll get an extra blanket. Um. Every day in this
Speaker 1: world we live in, there's gonna be obstacles. God says
Speaker 1: that like nothing's ever perfect. It's just what you make
Speaker 1: of it. And whatever he throws at me, Like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna deal with it. I'm gonna. We all are. We
Speaker 1: don't really have a choice if if we get but
Speaker 1: you don't do the woe is me thing, You're never upset.
Speaker 1: Where did that mentality come from? Is it from your
Speaker 1: I don't have time? I mean, who's got time to
Speaker 1: feel sorry for their self? Right? Like? Who has time?
Speaker 1: And I tell my kids this all the time. I
Speaker 1: gets so held up though on past you can't. You
Speaker 1: just have to find another way to go around. And
Speaker 1: you have always done that well. I mean it's kind
Speaker 1: of like a challenge. I remember having a coach in
Speaker 1: high school. I was a cross country runner, and it's
Speaker 1: like no paying, no gain. You have to put in
Speaker 1: the work, you have to never quit, and then no
Speaker 1: matter what, there's always a way around it. If if
Speaker 1: I mean pretty much anything in our life, there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a way to get around it. And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying you're always going to get everything you want, because
Speaker 1: I definitely probably had some dreams that I didn't get
Speaker 1: like all the way like what I wanted, but I
Speaker 1: think I did because I've found something in me that's like, Wow,
Speaker 1: what more could I have? Four healthy kids, a beautiful,
Speaker 1: amazing husband, you know, And that's all I really need
Speaker 1: is that is God and my kids and my husband
Speaker 1: and family and friends and these amazing fans that we
Speaker 1: meet out on the road, and the topic you're getting
Speaker 1: to live a life of pursuing a dream with your
Speaker 1: husband that you guys are both so invested in, which
Speaker 1: I mean, how blessed is that. It's such a blessing.
Speaker 1: It's such a blessing. I mean, I never dreamed in
Speaker 1: a million years. This isn't what I set out to do.
Speaker 1: Also manage right, Well, I'm his manager, which is okay,
Speaker 1: so how did that? And I'm the one who said, okay,
Speaker 1: so here's what happened. Like we didn't plan this at all,
Speaker 1: like we um, Chris is super talented. I've said that
Speaker 1: and I'll say it again and again and again. I
Speaker 1: believe in him a lot. I saw his talent and
Speaker 1: I was just like, oh my gosh, you're so incredible.
Speaker 1: And he was going through a time where he had
Speaker 1: just gotten out of a business record deal. He um
Speaker 1: actually know the record company had decided to it went away.
Speaker 1: It folded. Yeah, that good work, honest work. It went under.
Speaker 1: There was there was no more label, so he was
Speaker 1: just kind of stuck in the paperwork. And I was like,
Speaker 1: you're so talented. You just step on any stage, whether
Speaker 1: it's on a corner of a road. If you pick
Speaker 1: up your guitar and perform, people are going to come
Speaker 1: and watch you body experience when he plays, like every
Speaker 1: part of his body is moving. And no matter what,
Speaker 1: whether you're stuck in a record deal that's out of
Speaker 1: business and there is no label like the fans and
Speaker 1: the people will come to see you. They want to
Speaker 1: see So who were out touring and we're just doing
Speaker 1: it on our own. We had a great booking agent
Speaker 1: and we were playing festivals and fairs and and we
Speaker 1: had been saying he's going to have a record coming out,
Speaker 1: but then the label folded. Well, the fans don't understand
Speaker 1: that they want to hear music. So um, he was
Speaker 1: just writing as a songwriter, having a great time. He
Speaker 1: actually had written this song and he he was hoping
Speaker 1: Blake Shelton or Tim mcgrawl or Luke Bryan would cut
Speaker 1: it because we had just gotten his first big cut
Speaker 1: with Truck Yeah and bought our house the Truck Yeah.
Speaker 1: And he's saying it was Tim mcgrawl's one of his
Speaker 1: fastest moving singles. And Chris Co wrote that with the
Speaker 1: low Cash Boys friends for a long time. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: And and at the time, we were just pregnant with
Speaker 1: our first baby, and we were like, um, it was
Speaker 1: such a blessing because that as a songwriter, when those
Speaker 1: guys get cut by other artists, it provides an income
Speaker 1: and that was much needed at the time. And God's
Speaker 1: timing is always perfect, it really is, like right when
Speaker 1: you're like at this point, you're like, how or end's
Speaker 1: gonna meet? What's gonna happen? So it happened. Always happens.
Speaker 1: So literally, we were just trucking right along. I was
Speaker 1: working a couple of day jobs, two or three actually,
Speaker 1: and and furniture everything. Yeah, Like I said, anything to
Speaker 1: make money, yeah whatever, like making payton furniture, running two
Speaker 1: junk stores and buying it and refurbishing it, antique malls
Speaker 1: like whatever. Like every little bit of money adds up
Speaker 1: and it helps. And it's like I always tell my
Speaker 1: kids this, I'm like, there's always a way to make money.
Speaker 1: There's somebody that will call you to work by the hour,
Speaker 1: to pick up pine cones in their yard, to do anything.
Speaker 1: But anyway, at the time, I wasn't doing that. I
Speaker 1: was doing furniture and I had a couple of gigs
Speaker 1: and it was amazing and um, Chris was writing songs
Speaker 1: and he wrote this song too that I was just
Speaker 1: like blown away. So um, we put them up on
Speaker 1: iTunes and Bobby Bones played one of them and what
Speaker 1: happened to be buy Me a Boat and that song
Speaker 1: that's like you hear that song one time and it's like,
Speaker 1: obviously it's been a humongous It was huge. It was
Speaker 1: a big, big, big day for us. And did it
Speaker 1: go instantly went to number one on iTunes when we
Speaker 1: had a record deal or anything? Oh yeah, we had nothing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we know we did a record Actually, catbirds eat for
Speaker 1: an artist because now here's your song on iTunes number one.
Speaker 1: You don't have a record deal, so now you kind
Speaker 1: of get to like have the record labels coming for you,
Speaker 1: a look, correct. So we had like ten or twelve
Speaker 1: opportunities right there, like that first week, and that's the
Speaker 1: greatest feeling it was. It was overwhelming, and honestly at
Speaker 1: the time we were kind of like, oh, wow, how
Speaker 1: do you make a decision. We were so happy to
Speaker 1: just have a song that fans could buy on iTunes
Speaker 1: and things were so great and we had no one
Speaker 1: telling us what to do or how to do it.
Speaker 1: We're just yeah, like this is such a blessing. But anyway,
Speaker 1: long story short, we ended up signing at Warner Brothers
Speaker 1: or Chris ended up signing at Warner Broth. I didn't.
Speaker 1: I don't sing, definitely, so when when I suppose signed Chris,
Speaker 1: it was amazing. Chris Lazy over there is fantastic and
Speaker 1: the rest is history. I mean they've had a wonderful
Speaker 1: working relationship. We're in the deal, there's new single coming out.
Speaker 1: Life is so good. And yes I do manage because
Speaker 1: Chris is one of those artists. He loves making the music.
Speaker 1: He's so talented at it. He loves writing it, he
Speaker 1: loves being creative. So he wrote, produced, co produced, wrote,
Speaker 1: and um obviously performs and tours all the music. And
Speaker 1: he doesn't have time to schedule anything. So basically, as
Speaker 1: a manager, I just approve things, say yes we'll use
Speaker 1: that picture, Yes we'll do that show, Yes we'll do that.
Speaker 1: So it works well because I mean it's basically the
Speaker 1: same thing you do UM at home keeping up with
Speaker 1: your house, Like you schedule things, you schedule the babysitters
Speaker 1: or you schedule the people to come fix the Does
Speaker 1: he weigh anything or is he just trust you completely?
Speaker 1: He pretty much, he trust me completely. He anything musically
Speaker 1: is all Chris. But he doesn't deal to details. But
Speaker 1: as far as the simple details or the complicated stuff
Speaker 1: that yeah, all that So it works fine, it works
Speaker 1: really good actually, and we're very very blessed. And um
Speaker 1: we traveled together, we pray together, we sleep together, we
Speaker 1: do everything together. We raise our kids together. How do
Speaker 1: you guys, that's a lot of together and so how
Speaker 1: do y'all like, are y'all one of those couples that
Speaker 1: just always is like thriving together? Do you ever need
Speaker 1: a loane time? Or like how do you create balance?
Speaker 1: And all of you know what? There's so much balance.
Speaker 1: I don't even I mean basically I think, um, well,
Speaker 1: he has a couple of things he does that I
Speaker 1: am like, yeah, I'm good, I'm not going. One is
Speaker 1: hunting and being outside in the woods and hanging out
Speaker 1: with our son, like both boys actually Jesse and Graham
Speaker 1: go with him hunting and like that's their favorite thing.
Speaker 1: Our four year old loves to fish. Chris does that,
Speaker 1: so they have like their farm stuff they do and
Speaker 1: then um, I run off, Gosh, just five minutes to
Speaker 1: go do my nails or whatever. So we have like
Speaker 1: our alone time that we have our own things we
Speaker 1: like to do. But traditionally he loves to sit out
Speaker 1: by the fire when we're home, and we like just
Speaker 1: being home because we're never home. So when you spend
Speaker 1: four or five nights out on the road, when you
Speaker 1: get home, you just kind of chill and he sits
Speaker 1: out by the fire when it's not raining. We've had
Speaker 1: so much rain lately. Goodness, I'm so excited just to
Speaker 1: see a little son and um, and then with kids,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you've got Georgia wanting to play
Speaker 1: date and um, homeschool teachers coming in and out and
Speaker 1: just a lot going on. But um, we balanced really well.
Speaker 1: We we do turn off our phones and turn off
Speaker 1: the music and turn off the show and just kind
Speaker 1: of have quality husband wife time. But it's normally maybe
Speaker 1: midnight or going to bed when we crawl on the
Speaker 1: bed at the end of the day, and our kids
Speaker 1: are usually in the room with us. So when you
Speaker 1: have a four year old and a seven year old,
Speaker 1: they both want to be in the bedroom with you.
Speaker 1: Like you work so hard your entire life to get
Speaker 1: like your house, like your dream home. Or whatever, and
Speaker 1: literally they've never slept upstairs in their beds. No, we're
Speaker 1: all in one room in one bed, and you know
Speaker 1: it's okay because having the older kids, it flies by
Speaker 1: so fast. Tell me about that, Like, what have you
Speaker 1: learned from being a parent and kind of having like
Speaker 1: you had a Shell and Graham who are now in
Speaker 1: super young Literally right out of high school, I had Graham,
Speaker 1: and then I had Shell, and um I was a
Speaker 1: single mom super young, and then when Chris and I
Speaker 1: got married, it's like I sort of started over. So yeah,
Speaker 1: there's quite a bit of age difference between the one
Speaker 1: in college obviously, and then Georgia in UM first and
Speaker 1: second grade, and then Jesse in preschool. So, so, what
Speaker 1: have you learned from now Shaw and Graham then being
Speaker 1: older and adults now would be able to take care
Speaker 1: of themselves. What have you learned about that time? How fast?
Speaker 1: I've learned that it flies and you can't stop it,
Speaker 1: and that this life we live is so precious, and
Speaker 1: that every minute of these children when they come in
Speaker 1: with um the sweetest little notes from preschool, and when
Speaker 1: they have that sweet innocence of Christmas and Santa Claus,
Speaker 1: and when they want to wake up at four and
Speaker 1: five thirty to get up for Santa. It's okay, just
Speaker 1: do it because it flies so fast. And when you
Speaker 1: have to send that first one off, and I'll start
Speaker 1: crying just thinking about it. But like when Graham left
Speaker 1: to go um to college, it was just like no,
Speaker 1: like like, you know, you have these children their whole
Speaker 1: entire life, and then all of a sudden they're ready
Speaker 1: to fly. And I mean I was sad, but I
Speaker 1: will never forget. I was coming home from dropping Graham
Speaker 1: off in his dorm at college because he played football,
Speaker 1: and we found out I was pregnant with my next boy.
Speaker 1: So I think I think I was either pregnant with
Speaker 1: Jesse or George. I can't remember, but I was No,
Speaker 1: it would have definitely had to been Jesse, I think.
Speaker 1: So Anyway, another full blessing in my life that I'm
Speaker 1: so thankful for, because I'm so thankful to have fallen
Speaker 1: in love with Chris, to have gotten an opportunity to
Speaker 1: have an amazing husband and be madly in love with him,
Speaker 1: and to get to experience parenting with him. And what
Speaker 1: does parenting like with Chris? And honestly, every kid is
Speaker 1: so different I don't even know that raising one when
Speaker 1: you're super young, and then raising even more now. I
Speaker 1: think kids are also different no matter what frame of
Speaker 1: life you're in, whether you have a little money or
Speaker 1: you have no money, or you're a single mom, or
Speaker 1: you're working. I mean, I've had it all, I've done
Speaker 1: it all, and I don't even know that it's different.
Speaker 1: Each kid is so different, and each kid is challenging.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're all just they're they're into different things,
Speaker 1: they're different humans, which is such a blessing, Like it's
Speaker 1: such a it's just an honor to be a parent.
Speaker 1: I can't even tell you. I feel like we're put
Speaker 1: on this earth as women. Two and I know some
Speaker 1: women aren't able to have their own that's okay, but
Speaker 1: like to adopt to to just spend time as a
Speaker 1: teacher with children, Like those kinds of things are so important,
Speaker 1: So whether or not you were an absolutely and raising
Speaker 1: them up, even if you can't be a parent yourself,
Speaker 1: because there are reasons and things, and some people are
Speaker 1: working and they don't have time or whatever. I think
Speaker 1: just putting back into society the virtues and the wonderful
Speaker 1: things that these children need. I get Like I said earlier,
Speaker 1: I had a coach that was so inspirational in my life.
Speaker 1: He taught me so grind and such hustle that later
Speaker 1: in life I had to use those things. And I
Speaker 1: think as as humans, we should definitely invest in our
Speaker 1: young people and our children, whether they're ours or our neighbors.
Speaker 1: And um, such a blessing, Such a blessing. So how
Speaker 1: would you describe you and Chris's parenting style together? What's
Speaker 1: it like? What's the typical day like it's on the
Speaker 1: road and then at home. I'm a lot more lenient.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of like, yeah, whatever, I mean, anything goes
Speaker 1: like it's fine, Oh, she's good. Who cared? Like you know,
Speaker 1: do not worry? You don't really stress to you not
Speaker 1: too much? Do you not stress because you give it
Speaker 1: to God. I get well. I we start with prayer
Speaker 1: every day. We have this devotional that we've read our
Speaker 1: entire relationship. When I first met Chris, he was a
Speaker 1: super stress case about um, his well. He was just
Speaker 1: in a really weird musical spot and he had people
Speaker 1: like trying to tell him what to do and it
Speaker 1: didn't work. Because he's such a he's such a unique individual,
Speaker 1: like all that is kind of the general consistent consists, consists,
Speaker 1: its consensus. That's a hard word for artists when they
Speaker 1: are being forced into box when they just can't be
Speaker 1: boxed in. It doesn't work. I don't think it works
Speaker 1: with anyone. Know, you've got to be who you were
Speaker 1: meant to be. Yeah, you have to and whether and
Speaker 1: none of that ever looks the same if you look
Speaker 1: at it, because all coming from within that artist's heart
Speaker 1: and who they feel they are called to be. Well,
Speaker 1: and it kind of it's even a bigger thing than
Speaker 1: just country music and looking at it saying country music
Speaker 1: artist and everybody being into viduals. It's the same way
Speaker 1: in the world. God made us all so uniquely and
Speaker 1: special and different. There's not one of us, just like
Speaker 1: I said about my four kids, not one of them
Speaker 1: is there. They have things that they're similar and the
Speaker 1: same with you and I. We both have blonde hair, whatever,
Speaker 1: we're both perky, and we're both cool, but I mean
Speaker 1: so sol But I mean we're also different, Like we
Speaker 1: are so different. So I think God made us all
Speaker 1: that way, and that's the beautiful thing about the world
Speaker 1: we live in. To embrace who you are, you embrace
Speaker 1: who you are. You feel confident in your own skin.
Speaker 1: I've learned that from Chris. How do you? Because I
Speaker 1: we've talked about this before, Like I struggled more like
Speaker 1: insecurity and I was younger. I didn't wake up just
Speaker 1: feeling like, oh my gosh, I've got it all together
Speaker 1: my life. We all do, I think as as girls
Speaker 1: in like say, when you're in the college years or
Speaker 1: and I didn't go to college, but I mean I
Speaker 1: just jumped right out and moved to New York City
Speaker 1: and was like, I'm gonna make it. The world is
Speaker 1: waiting on me. And you did like some soap. I
Speaker 1: did some stuff. Yeah, life was good, and then I
Speaker 1: got pregnant, and like I said that, the rest is history.
Speaker 1: I you know, I tried to do the right thing
Speaker 1: and get married and do that whole deal. And um,
Speaker 1: you can't ever force things like that. You just can't.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't work out. So does not You just
Speaker 1: have to sometimes in life I would say, where were
Speaker 1: we going with this? Talking about how like Chris is
Speaker 1: so confident and you learned how to be so confident
Speaker 1: from But at that age in our lives when we're
Speaker 1: like nineteen, maybe we're not as secure in our own
Speaker 1: skin as girls. And I just think a lot of
Speaker 1: that has to be true, because like you don't know
Speaker 1: who you are, you're still kind of trying to figure
Speaker 1: it out, like what are you good at? Like? Who?
Speaker 1: Who am? What I want to do? What do I
Speaker 1: want to do? Am I going to be? Like? Received, Well,
Speaker 1: it's my work I had. I think I worried too
Speaker 1: much about what other people think, and so that that
Speaker 1: probably was something that I had to get over and
Speaker 1: I didn't switch for you. Yeah, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: really don't know. I know that the older you get,
Speaker 1: the more you either don't care what others think or
Speaker 1: you build some form of confidence. Honestly, quite frankly, I
Speaker 1: don't know that I even had time to care. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I tell people that all the time, Like you're so busy,
Speaker 1: I don't have time to go sit and worry about
Speaker 1: what she thought of me, Like I can bear keep
Speaker 1: up with what my kids think of me? If I
Speaker 1: want to know. And you know what I'm saying, I
Speaker 1: feel like if we there's a scripture and I don't
Speaker 1: mind is the Devil's workshop? And I truly believe, and
Speaker 1: I don't mind is the devil's workshop. And if you
Speaker 1: do not keep yourself busy and and thinking of the
Speaker 1: things you have to do or the things that you
Speaker 1: need to do to get to where you're going. And
Speaker 1: if you don't know where you're going, just go somewhere,
Speaker 1: just give it a shot. You may not like it,
Speaker 1: but it's okay. I mean, I think you have to
Speaker 1: stay busy, is the main thing. And then you don't
Speaker 1: focus on what your sorority sister thought of you, or
Speaker 1: what the guy at the restaurant thought of you, or
Speaker 1: if that boy didn't text you back, or if you
Speaker 1: didn't get that date, or And I think the other
Speaker 1: thing is you can never go back and learn and
Speaker 1: go wonder what's wrong with me? You don't ever need
Speaker 1: to do that. It's not what was wrong with you.
Speaker 1: It just wasn't. It was right for the moment, It
Speaker 1: wasn't right for the situation. It wasn't. And I think
Speaker 1: the biggest thing I ever from my life is you
Speaker 1: can't go looking for love. It's you're not going to
Speaker 1: find it if you're looking for a man. Because you
Speaker 1: and I were single together for a while, we went
Speaker 1: on some dates, we get some double dates. I mean,
Speaker 1: we looked a little bit and it never panned out.
Speaker 1: It was awful. It was awful. Oh my god, it
Speaker 1: was the worst thing ever. But that's I mean, you
Speaker 1: got it. You're fun. I don't even think we were
Speaker 1: taking that serious. We weren't. So tell me how they'll
Speaker 1: love find you because you weren't. You got to the
Speaker 1: point where you weren't looking, And then how did you
Speaker 1: when I finally got to a place where I said,
Speaker 1: I'm fine as a single mom. I I've got this,
Speaker 1: I've got i've got work, I've got food on the table,
Speaker 1: I've got healthy children, great friends, so cool, like, this
Speaker 1: is fine. I will be totally fine the rest of
Speaker 1: my life. You know, a bad relationship will make you
Speaker 1: want to just be single. Yes, and I had had
Speaker 1: plenty of those, so because it's worse to be in
Speaker 1: a bad relationship. And that's the thing I think you
Speaker 1: don't realize when you're young, is you think, oh, I
Speaker 1: just want to be with someone more correct. But no,
Speaker 1: growing up in the South, you think, and I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe it's all over the world, but where I came from,
Speaker 1: in a small town in Georgia, you just you're supposed
Speaker 1: to have a man like that's kind of what they
Speaker 1: tell you in society. So whatever I you know, and
Speaker 1: and it was never an issue. I just I never
Speaker 1: picked the right one until Chris came along. And I
Speaker 1: literally was not looking. I I was totally at peace
Speaker 1: with where I was in my life, with my job,
Speaker 1: with my children, with everything. And then when he came along,
Speaker 1: I remember someone saying, you definitely want to be with
Speaker 1: the person who brings you up and who you're not
Speaker 1: constantly having to bring up. And so when Chris and
Speaker 1: I got together, it was like best friends and attracted
Speaker 1: to one another, like everything on every level was just perfect.
Speaker 1: And I never had experienced that in my life. And
Speaker 1: you guys both have that high energy and that drive,
Speaker 1: because when he moved to town, he was like sleeping
Speaker 1: in his car to play Tootsies and he did whatever
Speaker 1: it took to get his dream done, just like you.
Speaker 1: And I feel like you guys match like that. Like
Speaker 1: y'all both have been so driven from the start, and
Speaker 1: that's probably so important to each other and it's probably
Speaker 1: why you'll work so well as a partnership. Probably. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would say he is the only human I ever
Speaker 1: met that had all of those things like he was
Speaker 1: so ambitious and he grew up with nothing, and I mean,
Speaker 1: I won't say nothing. He grew up with a great family,
Speaker 1: but as far as materialistically, he he didn't have a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff growing up, and he knows how to
Speaker 1: I when I met him, he was he already had
Speaker 1: a farm and he had like all these things, and
Speaker 1: I was like wow. So I was so impressed. And
Speaker 1: so I think, what you have to find or what
Speaker 1: finds you and when you fall in love. I think
Speaker 1: the thing that's worked for us is we mutually respect
Speaker 1: each other, like we totally, I totally have so much
Speaker 1: respect for him as a human. He doesn't drink. He
Speaker 1: is so faithful, he's so loving. His heart is so pure,
Speaker 1: he says, and I believe him that he only has
Speaker 1: eyes for me. I mean, he makes that really clear.
Speaker 1: He is so devoted openly towards you. Just a great human.
Speaker 1: And you know his dad is the same way, so
Speaker 1: he I think you can look at people's parents and
Speaker 1: see a lot um. Chris has wonderful parents and his
Speaker 1: dad is that guy, and he is that way with
Speaker 1: Chris's mother. And I'll never forget one of the first days,
Speaker 1: our first like hang out was He asked me to
Speaker 1: write a song, and so we were trying to write,
Speaker 1: and I was telling myself, like, you know, this is
Speaker 1: gonna be a cool right, and this guy is so talented.
Speaker 1: I'm so nervous to be nervous. I was nervous, which
Speaker 1: I don't know why, because you're never nervous. No, I mean,
Speaker 1: I've got whatever, but I mean I had my little
Speaker 1: lyric book and I got so nervous I couldn't even concentrate.
Speaker 1: And I remember him leaning back in this porch swing.
Speaker 1: We still have the porch swing by the way, and
Speaker 1: he just looks so cool at me, and he was like, so,
Speaker 1: what are you doing with was? I was kind of
Speaker 1: with somebody at the time, and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I'm just hanging out. Like I don't
Speaker 1: believe in love. It doesn't exist that you had gotten
Speaker 1: to that point, oh yeah, and he was. I was like,
Speaker 1: we're just kind of friends, but you know, I don't
Speaker 1: believe in it. And he was like, that is so sad.
Speaker 1: My mom and dad are still married. They have love.
Speaker 1: He's like, what about your parents. I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're still married. They've been married a long time they're
Speaker 1: in love, he's like and so I thought about that,
Speaker 1: and I was like, he's so right, like maybe, and
Speaker 1: so that I guess that first opened up my brain
Speaker 1: to think that to hear something else out there who
Speaker 1: believes in love so much correct, to see that was
Speaker 1: probably really like incredible to see like this guy is
Speaker 1: so fiercely believing in love correct, and normally it was opposite.
Speaker 1: You know, normally guys are normally girls are the hopeless
Speaker 1: romantic and guys in this relationship, he always tells me,
Speaker 1: because his always like, oh my god, you're the guy
Speaker 1: in the relationship, like you're so like he says, I
Speaker 1: don't cuddle, and I know I do. I have a
Speaker 1: huge heart, And I guess when I fall asleep at night,
Speaker 1: I don't even Yeah, when I hit the pillow, I
Speaker 1: run all day, So when I hit the pillow, I'm cuddling.
Speaker 1: Is probably just not in the cards. But um, anyway,
Speaker 1: I just I feel so lucky to have for us
Speaker 1: to have what we have, because we do have something
Speaker 1: special and I never even knew it existed. And he's
Speaker 1: a lot like my dad, which is another thing I think, Um,
Speaker 1: it's so cool because my dad's like super skinny. My
Speaker 1: dad and Chris could not be more alike. Love each other.
Speaker 1: Like you'll notice, he's been in all my he's been
Speaker 1: in all of Chris's music videos. He you know, Chris
Speaker 1: will invite him to ride with him. My husband loves
Speaker 1: to drive and go to hunting camps or whatever, and
Speaker 1: he'll totally take my dad with them everywhere. So they
Speaker 1: are best friends. That's important. That's that's awesome. So I'm
Speaker 1: very thankful for that. Um Just life's good. It and
Speaker 1: and you know we were saying earlier, like when you
Speaker 1: first got here, I was running late because I've been
Speaker 1: on the phone a couple of little things hiccups this morning.
Speaker 1: But you know what, in in work, not with Chris
Speaker 1: and I, but like I just think in life, every
Speaker 1: day you're going to have those. And I think Chris
Speaker 1: and I've learned that. I just think that you focus
Speaker 1: on the things that you can control, and you focus
Speaker 1: on the things that you can think positive thoughts about,
Speaker 1: and everything else pretty much always works itself out. So,
Speaker 1: um So do you just not let yourself get too
Speaker 1: stressed about anything? No, I mean I do. I stress
Speaker 1: a lot, I work a lot, I pray a lot,
Speaker 1: and I found out, like they say, stress is the
Speaker 1: lead calls and getting wrinkles and getting old. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't need to stress. I better just go get
Speaker 1: them aside, whatever you gotta do. But I try not
Speaker 1: to stress. I'm sure people that work with me would
Speaker 1: say she stresses. I'm sure because I do. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to take care of things. I want things.
Speaker 1: What do you like as a women a woman in
Speaker 1: a kind of a man's world in management, Like, how
Speaker 1: do you like approach that scenario? Because there's not too
Speaker 1: many women managers managers out there. Well, there's more than
Speaker 1: you think, really, and there's some great ones that I
Speaker 1: have learned from and that I do call in this
Speaker 1: so country music is such a wonderful community and family.
Speaker 1: And there's some women out there in this town that
Speaker 1: are managers, that are leaders. I mean Leslie over at CMT,
Speaker 1: Regina Stuvie, Um, oh my gosh, the list goes on
Speaker 1: and on. There's just some great and and Regina is
Speaker 1: a publicist. But managers. Marion Kraft one of my favorite
Speaker 1: people on the planet, Such a composed, smart woman. Carrie Edwards,
Speaker 1: I mean, such a great I mean, I've watched her
Speaker 1: work and I'm always like, you're always so she always
Speaker 1: has it together and so these women are inspirational, Like
Speaker 1: I I watched them and I'm just like wow, and so,
Speaker 1: um it's hard. I'm not kidding. As a woman, it's hard,
Speaker 1: but then as a wife and trying to get them
Speaker 1: to take you serious, it's even triple. How do you
Speaker 1: get through that? But people want to look at you
Speaker 1: as his wife and they don't want to respect you
Speaker 1: as Excuse me, but like this is what we probably
Speaker 1: should do or can we work this out? Or can we? Um?
Speaker 1: So I have backup plans. I have UM, I have
Speaker 1: a partner UM that works with me very closely and
Speaker 1: it's amazing. UM. So we teamed up with red Light
Speaker 1: Management and they're great and so you know, again I'm
Speaker 1: not complaining though it's perfect. I mean, I would not
Speaker 1: say to being a woman or a wife. So it
Speaker 1: is what it's worried about. People like having to be
Speaker 1: a little more difficult, Like that's never been something. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think you just have to prove yourself. I think
Speaker 1: they have to realize that your best interest is the
Speaker 1: same as theirs. And that is for Christiansen's music and
Speaker 1: for christ Jansen to be seen as much as possible
Speaker 1: in the world performing and doing what he does and
Speaker 1: singing his songs and being on stage. We all have
Speaker 1: the same goal. We all want to sell records. We
Speaker 1: all want to have him on every streaming and and
Speaker 1: radio station. I mean, it's just we just want to
Speaker 1: do it. So you know, we all have the same goal.
Speaker 1: So no matter if I'm a woman, if I'm his wife,
Speaker 1: if I'm a manager, like, we're all in this together,
Speaker 1: and teamwork makes the dreamwork, and um my intent and
Speaker 1: everything behind everything I do is just passion for passion
Speaker 1: for what he was given and it's a gift. And
Speaker 1: so with that passion comes like persistence and long nights
Speaker 1: and lots of travel, but it's so worth it. It's
Speaker 1: such a blessing. And when you hear the song and
Speaker 1: when you see the show, you're just like, yes, it's happening.
Speaker 1: We're so fortunate. Country radio has been so amazing and
Speaker 1: everything the record label has been so amazing. So what
Speaker 1: would you say? Some of your top moments have been
Speaker 1: being married to Chris on this journey, even including motherhood,
Speaker 1: like the whole ride, Like what if you had to
Speaker 1: mark time by a few moments. What are some that
Speaker 1: have really impacted you? I know this on the spike
Speaker 1: so hard, like every every moment. Um, I mean going
Speaker 1: in a few minutes star four year olds little Valentine
Speaker 1: party at school, Like I can't even wait to see
Speaker 1: Jesse that today. Oh it's today, it's at one fift
Speaker 1: and it's just to see his little smile. And this
Speaker 1: morning rushing out the door and yeah, I was so tired.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, and we did val well. So last night
Speaker 1: we were out really really really late because all of
Speaker 1: country radios in town and it was amazing and we
Speaker 1: got to see everybody. And then you know, this morning,
Speaker 1: we wake up and it's time to run and he
Speaker 1: he's like we had to get red shirt because it's
Speaker 1: Valentine's And I'm just so excited. I want to go
Speaker 1: um to that. Those moments, those little moments like that
Speaker 1: are so special. Skiing the other day in Park City
Speaker 1: um with the kids so special. Uh. We even had
Speaker 1: our tour manager with us, and and we didn't have
Speaker 1: time to go to classes and we had just gotten
Speaker 1: on the mountain or we were like a circus. But
Speaker 1: I was like pizza, pizza and Cam's looking at me,
Speaker 1: going what and pizza means like you have to snow plow,
Speaker 1: so you like turn I just remember as a kid,
Speaker 1: that's all I knew to tell them to do, is
Speaker 1: like turn your skis in so you can like make
Speaker 1: a plow in the snow and you don't go down
Speaker 1: the mountain. It was everyone's first time skiing except mine
Speaker 1: and Chris. We had skied before, but it had been
Speaker 1: a while, and so it was so fun just you
Speaker 1: know what, every day just trying to find the things
Speaker 1: like that that are memories because at some point those
Speaker 1: we're not here forever. We're not promised forever. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: a good friend of mine just lost um, their mom,
Speaker 1: and it's just like it's been eye opening because like
Speaker 1: I cried with her. I watched that happen, and cancer
Speaker 1: is awful. It's just awful, and it takes so many
Speaker 1: of our friends and family and people away from us.
Speaker 1: And you know, I just remember my grandmother being gone,
Speaker 1: and like, at some point we're gonna lose a lot
Speaker 1: of our loved ones, and so I try to treasure
Speaker 1: every minute every day my mom and dad, I have
Speaker 1: him over all the time. I'm like calling what's up?
Speaker 1: Come over, Come hang out with me. Come pick out
Speaker 1: this outfit? Should I wear this? Come come see me,
Speaker 1: hop on the plane, go with us to the show.
Speaker 1: So I try to just I think I've learned in
Speaker 1: life that we're not promised tomorrow. We're not gonna always
Speaker 1: have everybody. So every minute that you can spend with
Speaker 1: the people you love, you better spend it with them.
Speaker 1: And so just like those memories that you're talking about,
Speaker 1: you and I years ago, Like how fun was that?
Speaker 1: Like precious? Yes? And every minute I can see your
Speaker 1: pretty face and your smile like it's a blessing. So
Speaker 1: those times, um, I think music industry moments. Probably Grand
Speaker 1: ol Opery induction was kind of awesome. That was definitely
Speaker 1: the youngest living member of the Grand Ol operation. Such
Speaker 1: an honor, and and he puts so much passion. He
Speaker 1: loves the history of music and the history of those
Speaker 1: things and starting on it since he's like he studied
Speaker 1: and he knew these things. And he is such a
Speaker 1: Hank junior and Hank senior, and he can do a
Speaker 1: Hank senior better than anybody I've ever seen. And and
Speaker 1: he just Merle Haggard, We we got to tour with
Speaker 1: Merl Haggard in his last days, and and those moments
Speaker 1: that Chris got to like get on his bus and
Speaker 1: talk to him, and anyway, the grand ol opery moment
Speaker 1: unbelievable for Chris would grow up idolizing these people and
Speaker 1: then now being in their company. I can't even tell
Speaker 1: you I made such a fool of myself that night,
Speaker 1: Like I literally had no idea, and we're hard to surprise,
Speaker 1: like we're all into every No, we had no idea.
Speaker 1: We we never even fathomed it. And what we were
Speaker 1: doing was we had his first soul I set up
Speaker 1: to play the Ryman during country radio seminar, so we
Speaker 1: had reserved that. Well, it's sold out, so it was
Speaker 1: such a blessing. It was like, oh my gosh, he
Speaker 1: sold out a Ryman show. So we were so excited.
Speaker 1: And then Chris was like, hey, I might have some
Speaker 1: of my buddies come play with me tonight because that
Speaker 1: would be kind of fun. Like he I think he
Speaker 1: had asked like Tim mcgrawl, and Tim was busy doing
Speaker 1: something else and he asked Keith, and Keith actually said yes,
Speaker 1: so Keith um and they had just performed together. I
Speaker 1: feel like somewhere else, but they go way back, Like
Speaker 1: Chris and Keith were friends and when Chris was just
Speaker 1: getting started, they had met and hung out. So anyway,
Speaker 1: Chris had texted him and he said, sure, I'll come out.
Speaker 1: Well that's all we knew. Well that's enough to make
Speaker 1: you nervous, like as a manager and every tour manager
Speaker 1: were like, oh my gosh, we have to make it
Speaker 1: perfect for Keith. He's gonna be here to night. What
Speaker 1: can we put in his dressing room? We should make
Speaker 1: me up the right water. And I remember with my
Speaker 1: dormator doing all that, and then on top of it,
Speaker 1: Cam got the flu that day. But yes, and so
Speaker 1: we were just trying to make it all happen. We
Speaker 1: had a new stage, we had a new set, like
Speaker 1: you have to go out and get these things for
Speaker 1: the road. So we were so proud of our because
Speaker 1: every little milestone in your career you're excited, and we
Speaker 1: were so excited to have this new stage. And um,
Speaker 1: I remember setting it all up that day and there
Speaker 1: was one little light that was wrong. We're dealing with that.
Speaker 1: Long story short, all of this into the frantic day.
Speaker 1: I was still in my yoga pants and the show started.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the show. I never got time to get dressed,
Speaker 1: like I literally had on probably the same thing, like
Speaker 1: a little Lululu and starting a pair of leggings and
Speaker 1: lo and behole. If all of a sudden, Keith Urban
Speaker 1: stopped singing or whatever and does that presentation and then
Speaker 1: Sally Williams from the Green to Opery walks out, and
Speaker 1: my heart and everything in me just hit the floor
Speaker 1: and I started screaming, and Chris called me out there,
Speaker 1: and I'm pretty sure I ran out there and I said,
Speaker 1: Praise Jesus. He was like, oh my gosh. And it
Speaker 1: was just one of those moments and looking back, I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, what did I have on? But pure
Speaker 1: excitement and you're just in it. It's our day in
Speaker 1: the life. Like there are most days that I do
Speaker 1: not even get to go get all cute and cut
Speaker 1: our fancy clothes because I'm I'm too busy running around
Speaker 1: just trying to make sure the show gets off and
Speaker 1: that we get the show to start on time and
Speaker 1: that everything happens. So that day was incredible, And yeah,
Speaker 1: I would say that's probably career wise, that day was
Speaker 1: probably one of the definitely at the very top and
Speaker 1: and then every milestone. You know, the other night we
Speaker 1: played our first arena on the Waiting On five tour
Speaker 1: out in um Beat, Montana, and he sold so many
Speaker 1: hard tickets and they sold out a beer and like, yes,
Speaker 1: like it's happening because you want to know that people
Speaker 1: are paying to come see your show. Yes, Because when
Speaker 1: you're on a tour with a big like a superstar artist,
Speaker 1: they're there to see Luke, Bryan ever, Blake Shelton, like Blake,
Speaker 1: We've you know, someone, it's your tour. So when it's
Speaker 1: your show, yes, and when you're not playing a hockey
Speaker 1: talk you're playing a big, huge people buy tickets to
Speaker 1: come to for you. It's overwhelming. And so you know
Speaker 1: we'll fly in and drive up to the venue and
Speaker 1: just be like, oh my goodness, Like it's such a blessing.
Speaker 1: I can't tell you how thankful we are like to
Speaker 1: see people spend their money to come see his show,
Speaker 1: and I mean it's worth it, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: but like it's still a blessing to know. And it's
Speaker 1: crazy to think though someone who had a little a
Speaker 1: dream as like a young child, and you too, like
Speaker 1: all your dreams, like you have these dreams and then
Speaker 1: to see them connect to life, it is It's like,
Speaker 1: what does that moment feel like? Is it surreal? Because
Speaker 1: you know you've worked hard for it, you know you've
Speaker 1: earned it. You know that like if anyone deserves to
Speaker 1: be the there, it's you, guys. But still to have
Speaker 1: it happened, like when it's happening, it is, you know,
Speaker 1: night after night cam and I cam again as a
Speaker 1: tour manager, and we'll be standing side stage and literally
Speaker 1: just hearing Chris performs some of these new songs wherever.
Speaker 1: They're like bawling like babies, and He'll put post up
Speaker 1: and I'll put post up. And I know people probably
Speaker 1: get sick of it, but truly for me every night
Speaker 1: because I do love watching him do what he does
Speaker 1: so much. I mean, it would be like anybody in
Speaker 1: the world married to their best friend and someone they
Speaker 1: love so much watching them do their job, you would
Speaker 1: be so proud. I would be so proud of him
Speaker 1: if he was no matter what he was doing. But
Speaker 1: his just happens to be performing. And so when I
Speaker 1: get hard on the line every single night, and that's
Speaker 1: what I love about his songs. He puts his heart
Speaker 1: and soul into every song he writes, and and they're
Speaker 1: all real and there's every kind of them. But like
Speaker 1: just hearing him sing these songs, um it pretty amazing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he's got one. It's a lot to be thankful for.
Speaker 1: And he's right. I mean, just getting to sit in
Speaker 1: front of the baby grind at your own house. We
Speaker 1: got a lot to be thankful for, and I think
Speaker 1: we all do. And I think that song will relate
Speaker 1: to a lot of people because I think we just
Speaker 1: have to remind ourselves in the midst of all the
Speaker 1: crazy turmoil and a mess that you watch on the news,
Speaker 1: there's always something good coming out of it, and there's
Speaker 1: something to be thankful for. I love that. So after
Speaker 1: all this, everything you've been through, your journey, just such
Speaker 1: a journey that you've had as a a single mom.
Speaker 1: Now I told you it's a country song. Are a
Speaker 1: country song. Now Larry to Chris and you'll have his
Speaker 1: thriving life and career. What do you think the point
Speaker 1: of life is? Oh, my gosh, the point of life
Speaker 1: is loving everybody that you can come in contact with,
Speaker 1: and definitely loving the kids that you raise and raising
Speaker 1: them right and spending time to discipline them, spending time
Speaker 1: to plant those seeds so that when I'm dead and gone,
Speaker 1: there is a legacy. There is something. I hope my
Speaker 1: daughter daughters shell. I hope that she will live on
Speaker 1: to have a family and those children will be raised
Speaker 1: by her. And I hope the legacy that my grandmother
Speaker 1: has given me and my mother has given me in
Speaker 1: the strong women in our family, I hope that they
Speaker 1: will continue to nurture and pass that down that I've
Speaker 1: passed down to my girls, and my girls will pass
Speaker 1: that down to the next girls. And I just think
Speaker 1: that you just have to get all you can out
Speaker 1: of this life because it goes by so fast. That's
Speaker 1: that's it. I mean, love and do good things for people,
Speaker 1: and no matter what you're doing, I don't care if
Speaker 1: I'm painting furniture or sitting with Chris at the Academy
Speaker 1: of Country Music in a fancy dress, hanging out with
Speaker 1: you know, fancy people and people that are just amazing.
Speaker 1: I think the true meaning of life is to find
Speaker 1: peace and happiness within your heart and never being content.
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong, never get comfortable, Always strive for more,
Speaker 1: because they're always no matter what it is, squeeze that
Speaker 1: orange and get everything out of it that you can.
Speaker 1: But that could just mean more time with your children,
Speaker 1: more time, um loving your husband, more time because one
Speaker 1: day we are going to be sitting beside a bed
Speaker 1: with our spouse or someone and we're gonna be losing
Speaker 1: them and they're gonna be gone and those moments are gone.
Speaker 1: So you're very aware that this life is short and
Speaker 1: is precious. That is so precious. And I just think
Speaker 1: every minute doing everything you can, even if it's cleaning
Speaker 1: your house, I mean, just thank god I got one
Speaker 1: to clean. And like, I don't know, it is so
Speaker 1: weird and I sound so cliche, but I just I
Speaker 1: think it's important. And I just think you have to
Speaker 1: seize the moment. And I think you also have to
Speaker 1: be ready to go when it's your time to go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And and make sure the ones around you know how
Speaker 1: much you love them. I mean make sure they know
Speaker 1: because by telling them, by showing him. How do you
Speaker 1: how do you like to tell people? How do I
Speaker 1: text my my big kids every morning? I try not
Speaker 1: not every morning, but most mornings and just say I
Speaker 1: love you and I hope you have a great day. Um.
Speaker 1: I try to call them. I tried to UM every night.
Speaker 1: I drive them crazy because I'm constantly like, are you home?
Speaker 1: Are you good? I love you? Is everything good? Leave
Speaker 1: me all alone? Mother? But I mean it's important to
Speaker 1: stay in touch with him. I try to every night, UM,
Speaker 1: right there in my own bedroom or whether it's on
Speaker 1: the floor in our bed, hug the other ones and
Speaker 1: tell them good night and say their prayers with them.
Speaker 1: I think it's so important to build that security in
Speaker 1: our children. And I mean just um. I called my
Speaker 1: mom and dad every night. I try to make sure
Speaker 1: they made it home safe. My mom was like, yes,
Speaker 1: we're home. So like, I'm like, you just keep you,
Speaker 1: just keep the rollex flowing everybody. You said earlier you
Speaker 1: don't worry your stress, but my family would probably disagree.
Speaker 1: There comes from just making sure everybody else is okay.
Speaker 1: I just want to make sure boy else is okay.
Speaker 1: I just you need your people, you love your people.
Speaker 1: I do. And a new thing that I think we
Speaker 1: all should do is make sure you eat your raw garlic.
Speaker 1: I learned what it's so true. Raw garlic is like
Speaker 1: the cure for everything. So my granddad years ago used
Speaker 1: to always tell me he would do like these garb
Speaker 1: um garlic tablets. So I don't do garlic tablets. I
Speaker 1: Chris and I were at this big event with bass
Speaker 1: Pro and we met this wonderful man, so great. He
Speaker 1: was older, and I said, wow, you're so in shape,
Speaker 1: you're so fit. What what do you do? You know?
Speaker 1: I want my dad to do this, like I want
Speaker 1: my dad to stay young, because every little girl wants
Speaker 1: her daddy to be like the daddy that we we
Speaker 1: know right like muscular and smart, acoholic and strong and
Speaker 1: healthy and those our daddy's And so I was like,
Speaker 1: I want my dad to and it happened to be
Speaker 1: Gary Player, the famous golfer, and he um. He's like, well,
Speaker 1: I work out, and you know it's very important to
Speaker 1: do this and this and and he does. He has
Speaker 1: great exercise things that you can google. But more than that,
Speaker 1: he told me about um garlic. He's like, I eat
Speaker 1: raw garlic every day and that there's something in the raw.
Speaker 1: It has to be raw, the raw garlic that will
Speaker 1: um kill cancer. Do you just throw it down kill cancer?
Speaker 1: I do. I make myself like I'm trying to be
Speaker 1: a little like you, like do that presser and press
Speaker 1: it up. I just do it, like I don't know.
Speaker 1: I just take a knife on a cutting board and
Speaker 1: I cut me a big old chunk of it and
Speaker 1: I put it in my mouth and I chew it up.
Speaker 1: How's your breath? Well, I don't know to tell me
Speaker 1: I had to put dumb in my mouth, but it'll
Speaker 1: be fine. Whatever. I mean, you feel better alive like
Speaker 1: it kills cancer. Do you feel Do you feel better?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I haven't gotten sick. I mean I
Speaker 1: literally didn't get a cold the flute, nothing knock on
Speaker 1: would this year, So I don't know. I feel like
Speaker 1: raw garlic is really good for you. And I just
Speaker 1: saw this other I follow, like we said Caroline, and
Speaker 1: I saw one of her comedian friends um putting down
Speaker 1: garlic clothes too, So there must be something to it.
Speaker 1: And I think somebody told me it's on the Cancer
Speaker 1: Society's website, like it really does do something for fighting that.
Speaker 1: So I'm a true believer, Like I love garlic so
Speaker 1: good thing. My husband loves me. Nights he comes to
Speaker 1: bed and he's like, oh my gosh, that garlic. Uh No,
Speaker 1: he drinks a lot of mountain opposite of you know,
Speaker 1: that you asked me earlier. How we like make everything work?
Speaker 1: I learned a long time ago you can't make someone
Speaker 1: else do what you want him to do. So like
Speaker 1: I let him do what he wants, like he does
Speaker 1: the do if he wants to do the do. He
Speaker 1: can drink all he wants like I can. He drinks
Speaker 1: a lot of it. It's it makes for a big
Speaker 1: dental bill. I will say that. But is it regular diet? Oh? No, regular?
Speaker 1: Oh with all the sugar and everything? Oh yeah, is
Speaker 1: that other stuff is not good for you? Like saccharine
Speaker 1: or whatever. How do you think he has a lot,
Speaker 1: I don't know. We have a full time um backpack
Speaker 1: that travels around with us with cans. Amountain doing it
Speaker 1: because he only likes the cans. He's eccentric. I mean
Speaker 1: this is weird. Like he's eccentric like that, which is cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like I don't care. Like I got things I like
Speaker 1: to I like Starbucks coffee in the morning. That's my
Speaker 1: ritual every day. The kids hop in the car with me,
Speaker 1: we go to a Starbucks drive through and we get
Speaker 1: a Vinty Bold Black with non fat milk. Because I'm
Speaker 1: trying to watch calories or whatever, get a bowl black
Speaker 1: coffee and nonfat milk. Yeah, it's the cheapest thing too.
Speaker 1: I'm really cheap and so um I do that. And
Speaker 1: then the kids get cheese sticks and they share a Um,
Speaker 1: I get it, put in two separate cups. But they
Speaker 1: do like some kind of non caffeinated caramel frappuccino or something.
Speaker 1: So but every morning they roll out jump in their
Speaker 1: car seats. In the first place, we go Starbucks. No
Speaker 1: matter what I mean. It could be Christmas morning after
Speaker 1: we've done Santa, it could be. Um, you're going to
Speaker 1: Starbucks every day, every day, and and on the road.
Speaker 1: If Cam and I are like on the West Coast,
Speaker 1: we do too. We're it's a journey every day we can.
Speaker 1: Don't show around. Cam and I go into Starbucks. You
Speaker 1: don't miss it. We've driven hours hours back in the
Speaker 1: day when we used to ride the black coffee with
Speaker 1: non fact milk. Yeah, and I'm even exciting. And Starbucks,
Speaker 1: if you're listening, please bring back that sugar plum something
Speaker 1: Danis she had during Christmas. It was so good. Oh
Speaker 1: my god. Actually you're not even getting an exciting order.
Speaker 1: This is my deal. I don't know. I'm weird, but
Speaker 1: I they're like the banana bread. It's good too. Does
Speaker 1: their black coffee days better than just a regular coffee
Speaker 1: that you can make. I can't make it. You can
Speaker 1: buy a cureg my mother made me. I have a cure.
Speaker 1: We have all that they can use it. But Starbucks
Speaker 1: cur and just do it right, not the same. I
Speaker 1: like leaving my house like I you like an outing.
Speaker 1: I like going out. I don't one day. What if?
Speaker 1: What if something happens and I'm stuck here all the time?
Speaker 1: I would be I gotta go girl, or live in
Speaker 1: this life? You're squeezing the mara. So Starbucks is the
Speaker 1: first stop. It used to be waffle house. I used
Speaker 1: to go eat the waffle house fanatic. I go through
Speaker 1: like periods of time. Used to the waff house every
Speaker 1: single day, every day. It was my routine. It's how
Speaker 1: I met like most of the music industry to get
Speaker 1: me my gig. Who even knows that people go to
Speaker 1: the waffle house? Everybody? My girlfriend, Missy and I. That's
Speaker 1: where we met. I remember being there after a music
Speaker 1: video I did gig from basically a waffle house I did.
Speaker 1: We met at the waffles. That's fine. And we still
Speaker 1: have meetings at the waffle house. Girl, I will always
Speaker 1: love that. Like you can take the country, you can
Speaker 1: take me out of South Georgia, but you can't take
Speaker 1: a country out of me. Like it just is who
Speaker 1: I am. And I don't know that Wallfiles is country,
Speaker 1: but I mean it's pretty pretty scattered. Yeah, I've tried
Speaker 1: to up my game a little bit and be a
Speaker 1: little more um healthy, which is why I choked down
Speaker 1: the garlic. But um yeah, that you gotta have waffles
Speaker 1: that right now? Then Okay, I want to talk to
Speaker 1: you forever, but I gotta go to Valentine's Day and
Speaker 1: we gotta wrap up. I like to end all my
Speaker 1: episodes and leave your light. So obviously you've dropped a
Speaker 1: lot of inspiration. But what are some things that you
Speaker 1: just inspiration that you would like to share that you've
Speaker 1: learned over your life that you think is important for
Speaker 1: other people to know. Oh wow, so love yourself, love
Speaker 1: yourself so much, love yourself, and don't be scared to
Speaker 1: be you, I think would be the top thing. And
Speaker 1: find every day something to go do, like stay busy,
Speaker 1: stay busy, do not be idle. If if you don't
Speaker 1: have to work to make a living like I had
Speaker 1: to do. Then go do charity work, go do something.
Speaker 1: There are so many hurting people in this world and
Speaker 1: so many places to love and hug, and I mean,
Speaker 1: do a blessing box. I just found these things. It's
Speaker 1: the coolest thing I've ever said. I'm so excited about it. So,
Speaker 1: my mother in law had our kids over Christmas, and
Speaker 1: there's these blessing boxes and basically there would boxes at
Speaker 1: a church out in rural areas and people go and
Speaker 1: put groceries in them. And so, say you're a single mom,
Speaker 1: you're having a rough time him and you know who
Speaker 1: wants you don't want anyone to go without, or you're
Speaker 1: an elderly person or you lost your job, you just
Speaker 1: go to this blessing box and open it up and
Speaker 1: pull out a box of cereal or whatever you need
Speaker 1: and so and then on the other hand, people who
Speaker 1: have plenty can go and stock up the blessing box.
Speaker 1: And I just think it's such a great thing and
Speaker 1: it's such a wonderful way to get back. So I
Speaker 1: just say, shine your light, man. God gave us all
Speaker 1: a light, no matter how big or how small, and
Speaker 1: no matter where we are you could just be at
Speaker 1: the grocery store and and just share a smile anything,
Speaker 1: asked the girl behind the counter how she's doing, Find
Speaker 1: one sweet thing you can say about her one because
Speaker 1: that might be the only sweet thing they got all day,
Speaker 1: And try not to lose your patients. Like that's another one,
Speaker 1: Like you know, so, uh, someone brought this to my
Speaker 1: attention one day. So what if the guy in front
Speaker 1: of you cut you off and shoots you a bird?
Speaker 1: How do you react? Well, guess what. That person might
Speaker 1: have just had the most awful experience in their entire life.
Speaker 1: They could be leaving a funeral, They could be leaving
Speaker 1: getting fired from a job. They could be leaving catching
Speaker 1: their spouse with someone else. They could be going through
Speaker 1: so much. You really never know where someone's coming from.
Speaker 1: For someone to shoot off some anger like that, there's
Speaker 1: something going on, something happened to them, super tragic. So
Speaker 1: I just think you just have to love them and
Speaker 1: have compassion and a forgiving heart and trying to not react.
Speaker 1: I just think it's that's so true, not reacting because
Speaker 1: you have no idea what that person because it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're gonna accidentally pull out in front of
Speaker 1: somebody and they're gonna get really mad at you. But
Speaker 1: like and I so you just have to sort of say,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I'm so sorry. Like I just feel
Speaker 1: like the way we react to things in life not
Speaker 1: feeling everything. Yeah, because like instead of feeling it with
Speaker 1: anger because they did something, instead of having grace and
Speaker 1: love and be like, Okay, you're going through something, let
Speaker 1: me actually send you some love and love on people.
Speaker 1: I mean we say it all the time and Valentine's
Speaker 1: it's you love love love, but I mean putting it
Speaker 1: into action, I think is so important. And you have
Speaker 1: to tell yourself that because we all forget like and
Speaker 1: and no matter who it is, it can be, Um,
Speaker 1: it can be any of the people we deal with
Speaker 1: on daily basis, the person working at Starbucks, or it
Speaker 1: can be you know, the biggest star in the world.
Speaker 1: We're all human and we all have things inside of
Speaker 1: us that are a little talking voices. And I just
Speaker 1: think you just have to remember to stay thankful, work
Speaker 1: really hard, and try to love your neighbor because you
Speaker 1: don't know where he's came from. I love that, key
Speaker 1: La Jansen. I hope we're all going to heaven. Hey,
Speaker 1: not today, but not today, but so glad you enjoined me.
Speaker 1: The best love how inspiring is Kelly Lynn Jansen. She
Speaker 1: is just She's a machine, like I said for she
Speaker 1: does it all and she's so excited about life and
Speaker 1: has so much joy, so optimistic, just I. Every time
Speaker 1: I'm around her, I'm like, I'm so uplifted hearing her
Speaker 1: story and hearing everything that she manages. She's amazing. Uh.
Speaker 1: Next week, I have Casey Williams joining me. She is
Speaker 1: the sister of Jason al Dean. She is also dating
Speaker 1: Chuck Wicks. She has so many connections to country music
Speaker 1: and she's also a badass all in her own right.
Speaker 1: So get excited to hear her story. We'll see you
Speaker 1: next week.