Speaker 1: You know, one of the things I love most about
Speaker 1: my job. I could just call my friends at any time.
Speaker 1: Some are celebrities, most are not. However, when someone is
Speaker 1: a true friend, you can call them anytime. In fact,
Speaker 1: I am going to call a true friend one of
Speaker 1: the three or four people who has been the biggest
Speaker 1: support to me since I lost my son Zach in
Speaker 1: October of twenty seventeen, when Noah Judd has gone above
Speaker 1: and beyond to love me, to bless me, to support me.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to call her right now. Helped me
Speaker 1: through the darkest moments of my life for sure, And
Speaker 1: right now I'm in a caller just to say thank you.
Speaker 1: Let's see if she answers, well, how much trouble are
Speaker 1: we going to get ourselves in?
Speaker 2: Are so professional?
Speaker 1: I sweetie? Hi, hi, ne fun before we get into anything.
Speaker 2: I bought you all the time, like all the time.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I got the sweetest card today. One of my listeners
Speaker 1: sent me this card. And I don't know if I
Speaker 1: got lost in the mail, but the post date was
Speaker 1: some time ago, and it was just, you know, one
Speaker 1: of those cornies were done thinking of you cards, And
Speaker 1: then she wrote inside she said I've never met you,
Speaker 1: but I I listened to you talk about your kids
Speaker 1: on the air, and ten years ago I had a son.
Speaker 1: I named him Zach because your son sounded like so
Speaker 1: much fun.
Speaker 2: I just, man, isn't it amazing how God will reach
Speaker 2: through to us through stuff like that? And we just go, Oh,
Speaker 2: for God's sake, yep, just out of the blue, why
Speaker 2: don't you just throw me on the ground and stomp
Speaker 2: on me? And yay, I love this kind of I'm like,
Speaker 2: probably you, I love that stuff, but it just completely
Speaker 2: annihilates me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's slaysia.
Speaker 2: I call it devastatingly beautiful.
Speaker 1: Yes, it was devastatingly beautiful, and just what an honor that.
Speaker 1: You know, you never know, you never know who's listening
Speaker 1: or how it touches them. But she said all your
Speaker 1: Zach attacks stories over the years, she said, I purpose
Speaker 1: in my heart when I got pregnant, if I ever
Speaker 1: got pregnant and I ever had a son, I wanted
Speaker 1: a Zach attack.
Speaker 2: Hey, you never know. God uses us as a messengers.
Speaker 1: You know. I wrote in my book that being born
Speaker 1: with the show off gene can be tremendous, But when
Speaker 1: you're not born with the talent gene, or you don't
Speaker 1: wreck recognize what your talent is. It can be quite troublesome,
Speaker 1: you know, because typically kids get attention either from sports
Speaker 1: or from some gift like being in band or being inquired,
Speaker 1: you know, And I couldn't do any of those things.
Speaker 1: I had discovered my gift, but nobody else quite appreciated it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I had discovered I could talk, you know,
Speaker 1: before before I was two years old. I was I
Speaker 1: was walking up to complete strangers in stores and carrying
Speaker 1: on long conversations with them, much to my mother's dismay.
Speaker 1: So I had kind of discovered my gift, but nobody
Speaker 1: else really valued it or appreciated it for a while.
Speaker 2: Do you know that the only real job I ever had, Delilah,
Speaker 2: I got fired for talking too much about insurance and
Speaker 2: I would call people. First of all, I would apologize
Speaker 2: because I knew I was interrupting their dinner, because that's
Speaker 2: when they wanted me to call, because they knew they'd
Speaker 2: be home. And then I started to talk to them
Speaker 2: about Jesus and love, and I got fired for talking
Speaker 2: too much.
Speaker 1: But how old were you?
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 1: No, no, when you knew that you knew that you
Speaker 1: knew that God had given you not just this gift
Speaker 1: of music, but the desire to use your gift to
Speaker 1: change the world.
Speaker 2: Wow. Well, there are movies, you know, back when we
Speaker 2: did these things called home movies, and we had this
Speaker 2: camera that was not on our phone, and.
Speaker 1: Your dad or your mom would hold it and it
Speaker 1: would get shakier.
Speaker 2: They're the best. They're the best movies. And they're that beautiful,
Speaker 2: crazy color. You know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, somewhere my sister has a few.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I am seen coming behind. We had this curtain,
Speaker 2: I'll never forget it, this cream colored curtain, and I
Speaker 2: had to come behind the curtain every time my mother said,
Speaker 2: you would not just stand there and perform, You had
Speaker 2: to come behind this curtain. And I go, really, and
Speaker 2: so of course I'm loving every minute of this story.
Speaker 2: And she says I was three, so I must have known.
Speaker 2: And she has a picture of me holding a guitar
Speaker 2: at age three. And I hear from an aunt who's
Speaker 2: no longer with us, saying, you used to sing when
Speaker 2: you were three, like you were on Broadway. And I
Speaker 2: would just tackle and love the three year old thing
Speaker 2: because I'm like I could could not even dress myself,
Speaker 2: but I could sing.
Speaker 1: But you could sing.
Speaker 2: It must have been three. I knew at nine or
Speaker 2: eight when I knew Delilah, that I knew that I
Speaker 2: knew that I knew, and I was in the wilderness,
Speaker 2: and I knew that that was what I was going
Speaker 2: to do. At three is when I think I started
Speaker 2: to play and become that person. And so I think
Speaker 2: there's a two time thing where physically I realized eight
Speaker 2: or nine I was going to do it, but by
Speaker 2: three I was in.
Speaker 1: And you you were a young teenager when you actually
Speaker 1: saw that dream start to come true.
Speaker 2: I had no idea. Listen, I graduated from high school
Speaker 2: and I was thrown out of the house. I think
Speaker 2: I was around I put this in my book, and
Speaker 2: people are like, your mother threw you out of the house,
Speaker 2: and they go, yep. And I was living with a
Speaker 2: woman cleaning houses. And I came back to Nashville and
Speaker 2: my mom said, you know, nope, you're not moving back in.
Speaker 2: And I went and stayed with this friend of mine
Speaker 2: and his wife. And next thing I know, I've got
Speaker 2: a record deal and I'm eighteen, and I have no
Speaker 2: idea what's going on. The reason I say, all this
Speaker 2: is because for throwing me out, is because we were
Speaker 2: not connected at that time, and yet we got this
Speaker 2: record deal, which is kind of ironic because we weren't talking.
Speaker 2: And I think if it wasn't for music, I would
Speaker 2: not have a relationship with my mom today. Like you
Speaker 2: hear a lot of people talk about, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: not close to my parents. We only see each other
Speaker 2: once a year. I honestly don't remember even talking to
Speaker 2: mom except for, hey, we're going to do this audition
Speaker 2: at RCA. I was eighteen years old, mining my own business,
Speaker 2: going to you know, get a normal job, and I
Speaker 2: was working for this temporary service at the time called
Speaker 2: Jane Jones. And I've seen people who worked there. They
Speaker 2: come to shows and they go, we just loved you
Speaker 2: and we just remember you being such a bright light
Speaker 2: and so talkative and so friendly, and I go, yeah,
Speaker 2: and I got fired for it, but now I get
Speaker 2: paid for it, and they just love me and laugh
Speaker 2: and it's on. You know, it's just wonderful. Listen. I
Speaker 2: was eighteen, Delilah, and I had no clue, no rehearsals,
Speaker 2: no lead up to, no time to prepare. No we
Speaker 2: didn't even have outfits. We had to wear our own
Speaker 2: personal clothes on our first album cover because we didn't
Speaker 2: even have outfits.
Speaker 1: You had a gift that could not be denied. Like
Speaker 1: you said at three years old, you're hiding behind the curtain.
Speaker 1: And in my book One Heart at the time, I say,
Speaker 1: and I believe that everybody has a gift, but a
Speaker 1: lot of times we don't recognize it, or in my case,
Speaker 1: nobody else saw the value in it.
Speaker 2: Right. Well, you know I have a saying because I
Speaker 2: have a lot of these, being on the road for
Speaker 2: thirty five years. Fruit ripens early, fruit ripens late. Whenever
Speaker 2: it is ripe.
Speaker 1: You pluck it with me on the phone line. Is
Speaker 1: a very surprised why Noah Jada called her out of
Speaker 1: the blue, just because she's blessed me so much. We're
Speaker 1: talking life, We're talking love. We're talking about getting through
Speaker 1: the darkness, the storms of life. Just a reminder, I
Speaker 1: want to tell you that this podcast is made possible
Speaker 1: by my friends at the Home Depot. Whinonah was a
Speaker 1: friend who helped me through the darkest hours. The Home
Speaker 1: Depot is a friend who helps me through everything else.
Speaker 1: They have everything else I need in life. To keep
Speaker 1: my farm and my household moving. So thank you to
Speaker 1: the Home Deal PEP and all the support they've given
Speaker 1: me over the years. So what would you say to
Speaker 1: a young person who doesn't know what their gift is
Speaker 1: or how they can use it to change the world.
Speaker 2: See, you're talking to a fifty four year old woman
Speaker 2: who has plenty of experience and wisdom like you do.
Speaker 2: Because of our situation and how much we've traveled and learned.
Speaker 2: I think we are born. I believe in nature and nurture.
Speaker 2: For instance. I believe that we're born with that gift.
Speaker 2: I didn't go to college to learn to sing. You said,
Speaker 2: you came out of the womb talking and ready to
Speaker 2: You know, you never knew a stranger. I think people
Speaker 2: have a gift and they have to go and nurture it.
Speaker 2: For instance, me, I spent a lot of time alone,
Speaker 2: and so I played the harmonica just because I was
Speaker 2: doing hard time, and playing harmonica was the way I
Speaker 2: passed the TI. I'm no TV, no telephone. Like I
Speaker 2: don't know if you were talking into a mic that
Speaker 2: was your hairbrush when you were ten, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I will tell you this, and this is what I
Speaker 2: tell people everywhere. And by the way, I'm starting a
Speaker 2: mentorship program. I have one here in Nashville at Belmont University.
Speaker 2: I've actually started a mentorship program because a lot of people,
Speaker 2: the millennials, want to be famous, but they don't really
Speaker 2: want to work at it. Like for me, I rode
Speaker 2: in a car for a year meeting radio station people
Speaker 2: before we ever got played on the radio. Do you
Speaker 2: see what I'm saying. I mean, we worked it campaign.
Speaker 2: You know, you're on the campaign trail getting these radio
Speaker 2: people to know who you are to get played and
Speaker 2: put on the playlist. This is back in the days
Speaker 2: when we still did that, before it was automated, and
Speaker 2: you know, there were real people at the radio stations.
Speaker 2: And so I think what I'm saying is that when
Speaker 2: when you asked that question, the first thing I think
Speaker 2: of is and I told a girl this the other day,
Speaker 2: because look, I've done things at the boys. I'm getting
Speaker 2: ready to be on a mentor show with Shanaiah and
Speaker 2: we're talking to these new talented people that are the
Speaker 2: next generation of greatness, and I tell them, go and
Speaker 2: sing at every single thing you can because you never
Speaker 2: know where your miracle is going to happen. For instance,
Speaker 2: I would not guess in a million years that my
Speaker 2: job came from my mother being a nurse and that
Speaker 2: her patience father was a producer. Do you see my
Speaker 2: point there? I think that I would think that playing
Speaker 2: a club or you know whatever. But I think people
Speaker 2: think that you're supposed to be a contention on a show,
Speaker 2: or be the top of your you know, class in
Speaker 2: the choir department of the art. You know, blah blah, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2: God is in the big and the little stuff. Don't
Speaker 2: underestimate showing up for your miracle in a parking lot.
Speaker 2: I'm serious. I've had more conversations. I just had the
Speaker 2: most beautiful conversation with this guy in a grocery store
Speaker 2: on Aisle twenty. I think I remember saying twenty It
Speaker 2: must stand for something, because this was a really, really
Speaker 2: heavenly conversation. You never know where you're gonna meet up
Speaker 2: with God and he's gonna go bam here. It is.
Speaker 2: So when I tell people here's what you do. You
Speaker 2: save your money, get a good lawyer, do not work
Speaker 2: with your family. You know that might laugh at me, Deliah.
Speaker 1: You know, my social media director is my sister.
Speaker 2: I know that, But what I mean by that is,
Speaker 2: for instance, Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift worked with her parents.
Speaker 2: I know too many stories about girls in my world
Speaker 2: in the eighties that like Lianne, she works with her
Speaker 2: dad and stuff, and it doesn't always pan out. Well,
Speaker 2: it does for some people. But I just would suggest
Speaker 2: getting someone who's objective, because as parents, we have a
Speaker 2: blind spot for our kids. You know that, we just do.
Speaker 2: And when I say that, I don't mean because I'm
Speaker 2: bashing mom or anything we were meant to sing together.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about working with managerial stuff. Money, Money changes everything.
Speaker 2: You know this they took you. Never give money to
Speaker 2: your family, never be co dependent and help an addict,
Speaker 2: and blah blah blah. We know the rules. But what
Speaker 2: I'm saying is I would tell a kid right now,
Speaker 2: and I do when I talk to these kids, I say,
Speaker 2: hone your craft, do not fart around and be famous
Speaker 2: and get hair extensions and look beautiful and Instagram. Who cares.
Speaker 2: Let's not do Facebook, baby, Let's do face to face.
Speaker 2: In other words, go and sing at the next open
Speaker 2: mic night. Because let me tell you something. I just
Speaker 2: did one and you know who was there some big
Speaker 2: guy with a big name, who has a million dollar everything,
Speaker 2: who is now signing us up for fifty shows because
Speaker 2: he saw us at this sort of po dunk. I
Speaker 2: guess we'll call it that. I see it as God
Speaker 2: shows up everywhere. But my point is a person of
Speaker 2: my caliber, they would say, listen, I'm singing at an
Speaker 2: open mic night, and this guy happened to be there.
Speaker 2: You see my point. So it doesn't have to be
Speaker 2: a world renowned anything. God will meet you in the field,
Speaker 2: in the wilderness if you will. So I would say,
Speaker 2: hone your craft because in my generation, my darling, we
Speaker 2: had to sing it twenty five times. We did not
Speaker 2: have the box to put it through to make it
Speaker 2: sound beautiful. We had to sing it from our tone.
Speaker 1: Now, so if somebody is listening to this podcast and
Speaker 1: they're saying, don't I don't even know what my talent is.
Speaker 1: I can't. I don't have a voice like Delilahs to talk.
Speaker 1: I don't have a singing voice like Whynona's to sing.
Speaker 2: Right right, Okay, this is what I'm going through right
Speaker 2: now with my daughter. She is like me times a million.
Speaker 2: She's got all the resources. What I mean is technology.
Speaker 2: I didn't have anything Delilah. I had a guitar, I
Speaker 2: had a record player. I don't remember having anything like
Speaker 2: the web or the tools that these. You know, you
Speaker 2: see these things advertised, and I think it might be
Speaker 2: an age thing for me now, because I go, what
Speaker 2: the heck is this? Oh? This is how to play
Speaker 2: the guitar in five easy lessons. Really really, but you know,
Speaker 2: I don't know anything about that. But here's what I
Speaker 2: tell people. If you will slow down long enough to
Speaker 2: see the flutter of the wings, you will see your angel.
Speaker 2: And I tell people this and I cry and I
Speaker 2: get emotional, and I think, you know what, We move
Speaker 2: too fast and we miss it. So what I tell
Speaker 2: kids is slow down, turn off the electronics, go take
Speaker 2: a walk in the wilderness. I had a girl come
Speaker 2: to the farm and she had five dozen eggs and
Speaker 2: she said, I just need to scream and throw these
Speaker 2: eggs at the tree and find out what God has
Speaker 2: for me. And I said, go for it. And she
Speaker 2: found her answer in the wilderness. And that's what I
Speaker 2: tell people. Slow down, get right with yourself, get quiet,
Speaker 2: listen to your inner voice. What is your joy? Follow
Speaker 2: your bliss? If you love to paint and I'm doing
Speaker 2: this with my daughter. I said, I want you to
Speaker 2: start writing things down, Grace. I want you to literally,
Speaker 2: because she's like, Mom, you know Elijah's this because Elijah's
Speaker 2: been doing his career since he was seventeen. He's got it.
Speaker 2: He knows what he's wanting to do for the next
Speaker 2: fifty years. Not everybody's in that place. But she's like,
Speaker 2: I'm not really sure because I love so many things.
Speaker 2: I said, Grace, you might end up doing four things
Speaker 2: in your lifetime. You don't know. But get by yourself,
Speaker 2: get quiet and listen to your inner voice. What is
Speaker 2: it telling you? And she said, be creative? And I said,
Speaker 2: what does that look like? She said, that's the next step.
Speaker 2: So I think my point is it's not going to
Speaker 2: happen like a big, bright bolt, a lightning bolt. It
Speaker 2: might start off really quiet. It might say, you know what,
Speaker 2: why don't you show up tomorrow at Starbucks. You're going
Speaker 2: to meet somebody there, and you might end up meeting
Speaker 2: somebody who needs help being an intern at a record label.
Speaker 2: You never know. So I think getting quiet, I think
Speaker 2: we moved too fast. We have too much noise in
Speaker 2: the world. I just wrote a song called the world
Speaker 2: yells God whispers, ooh ooh. I really I'm walking that
Speaker 2: right now. And I talked to Jane. I think Jamie
Speaker 2: knows too when she came to see me. I just
Speaker 2: love that woman. She's amazing.
Speaker 1: She is amazing.
Speaker 2: I say, tell your daughter to get really quiet because
Speaker 2: we move so fast. I was going to do a
Speaker 2: video recently and they said, well, we have to change
Speaker 2: angles every three seconds. I said, excuse me, Like that's
Speaker 2: how like distracted we are because we have to have
Speaker 2: something move every three seconds or we get bored. The
Speaker 2: thing for me right now is that these kids move
Speaker 2: at such a fast pace that I wonder sometimes they
Speaker 2: if they don't just walk by the person that they
Speaker 2: were supposed to meet that could have changed their life.
Speaker 1: I'm speaking with Whyona jud who embodies the idea of
Speaker 1: changing the world one heart at a time. She was
Speaker 1: called to be in the public eye at a very
Speaker 1: young age, and yet she has somehow remained in her heart,
Speaker 1: a simple country girl who loves and laughs and extends
Speaker 1: her love. Why Nonah, thank you for being here, Thank
Speaker 1: you for being present, for being grounded and being present.
Speaker 2: The thing for me right now is that these kids
Speaker 2: move at such a fast pace that I wonder sometimes
Speaker 2: they if they don't just walk by the person that
Speaker 2: they were supposed to meet, that could have changed their
Speaker 2: life because they were not paying attention to meat. Like
Speaker 2: at Christmas time, I won't shop anymore because I had
Speaker 2: a really interesting experience where this fifteen year old kid
Speaker 2: didn't even see me, ran right into me and busted
Speaker 2: all my packages. And I looked at him like he
Speaker 2: wasn't looking at life because he was looking down at
Speaker 2: his phone, and he didn't even care and kept walking,
Speaker 2: didn't even help me pick up my packages, And I went,
Speaker 2: you know what, where's the humanity in this? I just
Speaker 2: got really sad, and I thought, gosh, that wouldn't have
Speaker 2: happened in my generation, just because you know, and I
Speaker 2: can't fault him because we've helped him. You know. We
Speaker 2: blame society, but we are society.
Speaker 1: We are society.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think what I tell kids is how
Speaker 2: to find your gift. I'll tell you what do some
Speaker 2: workshops he might want to try that. I told my daughter.
Speaker 2: I said, let's get you into I don't know, spend
Speaker 2: a week in a baking class. Why don't we try this?
Speaker 2: Why don't we try that, try a few things and
Speaker 2: see if it sticks. She goes, I love kids. I said, well,
Speaker 2: then maybe just follow your bliss. What do I tell kids?
Speaker 2: I say, follow your bliss? What make What is it
Speaker 2: that Vince Gill told me? And I think this is
Speaker 2: brilliant And I'll end it with this. He said, it
Speaker 2: best pick something that you love doing so much that
Speaker 2: you would do it for free. Keep doing it so
Speaker 2: much that you get so good at it that people
Speaker 2: will pay you for it.
Speaker 1: Awesome, And Vince Gill told you that.
Speaker 2: I think that's one of the most brilliant things I've
Speaker 2: ever heard.
Speaker 1: Well, why no not, go be brilliant, Go mentor go bless,
Speaker 1: go sing, go do everything that you do so well, girlfriend,
Speaker 1: you've got You've got the voice of an angel. You
Speaker 1: know they have auto tune and auto this and aut
Speaker 1: of that now, But when you open your mouth and
Speaker 1: let God's love flow through you, heal hearts, you change lives,
Speaker 1: you inspire. You got me through more dark nights than
Speaker 1: you will ever ever, ever ever know, just listening to
Speaker 1: your music, and so thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I adore you like I adore you in
Speaker 2: a way that's family. Beyond just two alpha chicks hanging
Speaker 2: out at an event. I have always felt connected to you,
Speaker 2: and I think what you're doing matters, and I think
Speaker 2: people who are lonesome, don't we have a pandemic in
Speaker 2: this country of loneliness. I think your voice coming through
Speaker 2: the darkness. Literally, someone in their car hearing your voice
Speaker 2: sometimes is the only Bible they will ever read. No pressure,
Speaker 2: I have no pressure you. I think you're literally what
Speaker 2: keeps people from losing their minds. So together you and
Speaker 2: I are really something, and I'll help you in any
Speaker 2: way I can anytime, because I want to help this
Speaker 2: next generation understand that what's real is more powerful to
Speaker 2: me now, more so than ever.
Speaker 1: On that note, I have to say, between you and
Speaker 1: me and God, if I didn't have your music last year,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be alive today.
Speaker 2: Music's a healer, my dear, and what we're doing matters,
Speaker 2: and I thank God for you, and our friendship is
Speaker 2: so sacred, more so than ever before, because I'm getting
Speaker 2: to the point where I like my animals a lot
Speaker 2: more than most people.
Speaker 1: Anona, I love you to the ends of the earth.
Speaker 1: I love you to eternity and back. Thank you for
Speaker 1: being so vulnerable. Thank you for putting yourself out there
Speaker 1: in so many ways. You give me strength, You give
Speaker 1: others strength. Your journey has inspired so many more than
Speaker 1: you will ever know.
Speaker 2: Bye for now. I don't like buye, but I'll say
Speaker 2: bye for now.
Speaker 1: Love you, Bie, sweetie.
Speaker 2: I'm here. I'm here anytime you need me, I'm here.
Speaker 1: Okay. This podcast has been made possible by the wonderful
Speaker 1: folks at the Home Depot. Now, when you need help
Speaker 1: because your bathroom faucet is leaking, because your bathroom is ugly,
Speaker 1: and you want a new sink, you want a new vanity,
Speaker 1: you want new dial go to the Home Depot. Go
Speaker 1: to the Home Depot. Tell them Delilah sent you, and
Speaker 1: they will help you with all these things and so
Speaker 1: much more. Thank you for spending time with this podcast
Speaker 1: Conversations with Delilah. We're going to change this world. You
Speaker 1: and I are one heart at a time. We're going
Speaker 1: to change the dynamics in our family and our workplace,
Speaker 1: in our communities, and in our world by reaching out
Speaker 1: and loving others, one heart at a time. Thank you
Speaker 1: for joining me. Find me on Conversations with Delilah.