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Speaker 1: all right, Welcome to episode thirty one of the Bobby Cast.
Speaker 1: And then this the first one, first second one of
Speaker 1: the year, right, second of year. Marion Morris is here. Hi,
Speaker 1: May finally, good to have you at the house, beautiful house.
Speaker 1: Oh thanks. I put you off for a while because
Speaker 1: you're too good to come in for a while. I
Speaker 1: felt like, I don't know about interview, Stal, but I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to hold off because it was
Speaker 1: right when you were blowing up and this last year,
Speaker 1: and it's weird because I want to go back for
Speaker 1: a second. But this last year feels like it has
Speaker 1: been a tornado of just the tornado of Marion. Does
Speaker 1: it feel like that to you as well? Yeah? It does.
Speaker 1: And I'm still processing, even after the holidays, still processing
Speaker 1: everything that had happened last year because it is too
Speaker 1: many things I think to be in one window of time.
Speaker 1: But I yeah, my my head is still getting wrapped
Speaker 1: around everything, especially towards the end of the year. I
Speaker 1: feel like so much crazy stuff happened. If we were
Speaker 1: sitting in these chairs a year ago today, so January
Speaker 1: of and I would say, hey, what is your goal
Speaker 1: this year? Like a year ago, what would you have
Speaker 1: said your goal was a year ago? Well, a year ago, Um,
Speaker 1: I just put Church out like it had just gone
Speaker 1: to radio. So that's just like a crazy concept. But
Speaker 1: I guess my hope a year ago was I hope
Speaker 1: people like my music enough for me to put this
Speaker 1: record out, because it's all really contingent on that um.
Speaker 1: And luckily, you know, people really responded to my Church,
Speaker 1: and I had Hero already waiting in the wings, and
Speaker 1: once it started to pick up traction, Um, we got
Speaker 1: an album at date and that was just an album. Yea.
Speaker 1: Even to get an album for a new artist in
Speaker 1: the land of EPs first where they'll put out four
Speaker 1: or five songs kind of and you did that, but yeah, um,
Speaker 1: but to get an album, that's a big deal because
Speaker 1: that's a commitment financially from a record label. It is.
Speaker 1: It's it's a very big deal. And I've had so
Speaker 1: many friends in this town that have had record deals
Speaker 1: where they're so good and they've made these full records,
Speaker 1: but then they get shelved and they never come out
Speaker 1: or see the light of day. So there's always that
Speaker 1: fear that like, oh, of this doesn't get bought enough
Speaker 1: or spun enough on the radio, I won't get to
Speaker 1: share the larger story, the whole story with everyone. And
Speaker 1: um yeah, I'm very lucky that that did not happen.
Speaker 1: But um yeah, I was just I had I had
Speaker 1: already basically had most of the album done before I
Speaker 1: signed my label deal, so it was sitting for a
Speaker 1: while and I was just like, Okay, my church is
Speaker 1: going to be the first hello to the universe, I think.
Speaker 1: And then, um was that part of the deal when
Speaker 1: you signed with the label, like I'm coming and I
Speaker 1: want this to be the first song because you have
Speaker 1: a little bit of negotiating power if you're coming with
Speaker 1: music and uh success digitally like you had. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you don't have to be developed or anything. A lot
Speaker 1: of baby artists they have to they're signed, and they
Speaker 1: don't do these deals so much anymore because it's just not,
Speaker 1: um financially great for the label anymore. But um yeah,
Speaker 1: if you are already developed and you have like a
Speaker 1: concept and you're just really solid in your artist rye,
Speaker 1: you don't need to be told what to do or
Speaker 1: what to where, or how to speak or how to sound.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, it's a much less riskier um investment for them.
Speaker 1: So my Church was going to be your first single
Speaker 1: before you signed with anyone in your mind? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Like the day I wrote it, I kind of knew
Speaker 1: that was the one. So what if you would have said, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're here and they're like, you know, we're gonna hold off,
Speaker 1: We're gonna go with drunk girls, don't cry, or they did.
Speaker 1: They actually not drunk roles. They wanted to lead with eighties.
Speaker 1: My label was like, I think we should hold off
Speaker 1: on My Church. Um, I think it was so long ago.
Speaker 1: It feels like it was so long ago. But their
Speaker 1: reason was they they felt like that was the ace
Speaker 1: up their sleeve and they wanted to throw it out
Speaker 1: later and just get the like the party song out
Speaker 1: of the way. You know a lot of artists, like
Speaker 1: their labels do that where they'll put the the fun,
Speaker 1: good time song out and then okay, now people know
Speaker 1: who you are, Now we can show them how credible
Speaker 1: you are with this song. And um, I just didn't
Speaker 1: really feel like I wanted to go that route because
Speaker 1: it didn't make sense to me. I was like, if
Speaker 1: honestly the odds are against me, I'm a new artist
Speaker 1: and I'm a girl. So if I'm going to come
Speaker 1: out with one and one only because this could very
Speaker 1: easily die, Um, I'm going to do the song that
Speaker 1: means the most to me and says all I want
Speaker 1: to say if I only got one shot with a song.
Speaker 1: So a year ago, I say, Okay, what's your goal
Speaker 1: this year? Um? I think what we're here one year
Speaker 1: ago right now, Mary, and what's your goal this year?
Speaker 1: You're you're a brand new Warters, you get nothing. Song
Speaker 1: just came out, like, what's your goal this year? I
Speaker 1: think my goal was just for people to understand my
Speaker 1: perspective because I don't know. I that sounds very vague,
Speaker 1: but I just wanted to, I guess, test the waters
Speaker 1: and see if you know, just being an artist was
Speaker 1: even going to be working for anyone outside of my
Speaker 1: own head. It's like, ah, and I hate to, you know,
Speaker 1: put so much stock into what others think, but it's
Speaker 1: like that that's what you do. It's like your music,
Speaker 1: but the reason you write it is so other people
Speaker 1: can relate to it and have that experience with you
Speaker 1: and as a human being. And so I just hoped
Speaker 1: a year ago, God, I I hope someone likes this.
Speaker 1: I like it, but I hope someone else gets it too.
Speaker 1: What was your perspective if you say you wanted your
Speaker 1: perspective out there, I don't know. I mean I think
Speaker 1: what I was missing from music, especially like from the
Speaker 1: female outlook, was just um an independence. And I I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to be like a dude basher by any means.
Speaker 1: I adore love songs and I've written hundreds of them,
Speaker 1: but I was just at the time of this record
Speaker 1: being written, I wasn't really in love. I was coming
Speaker 1: out of a really bad relationship, and um, I think
Speaker 1: as a woman, I just wanted to be inspired when
Speaker 1: I turned the radio on and here like a woman
Speaker 1: singing back to me, not about a relationship for once.
Speaker 1: You know it's and that's fine if they are, but
Speaker 1: I feel like the diversity is sort of lacking where
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, well we do have a little bit
Speaker 1: more to talk about here. I mean, dang, like talk
Speaker 1: about getting drunk or or a fight you had with
Speaker 1: your mom or something. It's just like a real life
Speaker 1: experience instead of always chasing the guy down. And I just, um,
Speaker 1: I I was obviously was like very bitter back then
Speaker 1: thinking that, but I still think that today, and I'm
Speaker 1: in a relationship with someone I really love and gets
Speaker 1: what I'm doing and isn't threatened by a powerful women
Speaker 1: or strength or success. I still crave that perspective from
Speaker 1: a female, um, where it's just not about love, it
Speaker 1: could be about anything. Um yeah, I think that's the
Speaker 1: perspective I wanted to bring to the table is um,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not like I don't have my sight
Speaker 1: set on marriage or like having a baby right now.
Speaker 1: It's like I'm in my mid twenties and that's a
Speaker 1: really special time because uh the generational pull from like,
Speaker 1: you know, when my mom was my age, she when
Speaker 1: she was my age now she already had a five
Speaker 1: year old me and I it's bizarre to think about
Speaker 1: that now. But I just didn't. I didn't. I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm rambling. I I just want to do all
Speaker 1: you want of Um yeah, I just I forget where
Speaker 1: I was going. I feel like I led myself down
Speaker 1: a rabbit trail. But um yeah, I just I feel
Speaker 1: like that's the perspective I was craving and the perspective
Speaker 1: I thought I was bringing at the table. You're getting
Speaker 1: a lot of you, and you are getting it now
Speaker 1: a lot of females, even mails that are going to
Speaker 1: use you as something in their life to aim toward
Speaker 1: or to have you as a peer. Who for you
Speaker 1: are those important peers that have kind of put you
Speaker 1: in the place where you are now. Yeah, Um, I
Speaker 1: have so many, but to sort of like rattle off
Speaker 1: some like current ones that I'm like very inspired by
Speaker 1: right now. I mean Miranda Lambert. She put out a
Speaker 1: weight of these Wings and I think it's incredible. And
Speaker 1: I have always really, in I guess, looked up to
Speaker 1: her in a way because you know, she's like a
Speaker 1: fellow Texan and she's just a badass, and she is
Speaker 1: an amazing songwriter, and I feel like she's a very
Speaker 1: powerful woman. But she's also not afraid to be vulnerable
Speaker 1: or sensitive, um and wrong. I really like her her
Speaker 1: writing style. And I love Chris Stapleton, I love Thomas
Speaker 1: rhet I just like I really and Sam Hunt. I
Speaker 1: like people that are not afraid to be different. And
Speaker 1: whether that's um, you know, being the bad guy in
Speaker 1: the song, or paying tribute to traditions of the past
Speaker 1: sounds in country, or paving the way for the new
Speaker 1: sound because it's ever changing I'm inspired by artists that
Speaker 1: are not copies of other people. Don you ever get
Speaker 1: into a room and write with someone and you're like,
Speaker 1: I can't believe I'm writing with this person, Like this
Speaker 1: is what what planted am I on? Yeah, I've had
Speaker 1: a bunch of those experiences, just as a songwriter who
Speaker 1: a young songwriter, because I had never really had any
Speaker 1: radio success as a songwriter until my Church and that
Speaker 1: was obviously my own song. But um, I got into room,
Speaker 1: was with like some really amazing people, and um, I remember,
Speaker 1: like the biggest artist I got to write with was
Speaker 1: Carrie Underwood and that was like two and a half
Speaker 1: or three years ago, and I would be surprised if
Speaker 1: she even remembers it because it was so long ago
Speaker 1: and she was writing so much for that Storyteller album. Um,
Speaker 1: and then she ah, she invited me to come out
Speaker 1: to her writing cabin, and I was so scared because
Speaker 1: I I had never written with an artist that gigantic before,
Speaker 1: and I was just like, I don't even know the drill, honestly,
Speaker 1: Like I've written a ton of songs, but I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't, and I've listened to her music, so I
Speaker 1: feel like I have a gist on you know, what
Speaker 1: she what she wants to say. But I I definitely
Speaker 1: was a sweaty palm to meeting her because that was
Speaker 1: the first time I met her was to write she's
Speaker 1: pretty disarming though, Yeah, and I'm doing a chance to
Speaker 1: get to create pretty well over the last if first
Speaker 1: kind of she's intimidating because she's very cool Wyatt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, she met does she not like me?
Speaker 1: But then you realize she's just soft until she's not,
Speaker 1: and then she's just awesome. Yeah, but she can be
Speaker 1: intimidating for a second. Well, yeah, it's intimidating because I
Speaker 1: mean she's I feel like she's always been famous and
Speaker 1: it's like from American Idol to Jesus take the Wheel
Speaker 1: to now there's really she's never had a down swing
Speaker 1: in her career. Really. Um So yeah, you walk in
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh my gosh, this is like the
Speaker 1: carry Underwood. And I had been around so many artists
Speaker 1: as a writer, but you still get like sort of
Speaker 1: jarred when you see people in person. But like after
Speaker 1: a few seconds, you know she like the ice was
Speaker 1: broken and she had a ton of great titles and
Speaker 1: ideas and we wrote two songs that day, and um yeah,
Speaker 1: that was one of the first Like whoa, I'm like
Speaker 1: in the room with this person. Were you eating off
Speaker 1: of songwriting at that point? Like you're paying your bills
Speaker 1: and groceries because you're writing songs. Yeah, Um that was
Speaker 1: I'm still in my first publishing deal. This is my
Speaker 1: last year before that option, but um yeah, that was
Speaker 1: like the first year I had my publishing deals, so
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, not banking by any means,
Speaker 1: but definitely living off of the songwriter draw. I have
Speaker 1: a lot of songwriters that come to the house too
Speaker 1: and we talk and uh leey. Thomas Miller, who was
Speaker 1: one of my dear friends, came and we talked for
Speaker 1: an hour and a half or so. When he said
Speaker 1: to him and Chris Stapleton every other Wednesday for three
Speaker 1: years wrote together for three years. Every other Wednesday, they
Speaker 1: just went and wrote and that was just their thing.
Speaker 1: Do you have any friends partners like that that you're
Speaker 1: right with on a regular basis that you're like, hey,
Speaker 1: we we just have to stay and kind of get
Speaker 1: into a groove and and stay in the groove. Or
Speaker 1: you call and you're like, I have something. You know,
Speaker 1: you're kind of my partner in writing. Yeah, I have
Speaker 1: a few people like that because, um, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I feel like Nashville is so rich in that way.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can have a writing partner, but in Nashville,
Speaker 1: it's so collaborative that you you really do right with
Speaker 1: so many people that are your favorites. So, um, Buzzby
Speaker 1: is a big one for me. He uh really just
Speaker 1: pulled something out of me that I didn't even know
Speaker 1: was there when we started writing for Hero you know,
Speaker 1: back then, I didn't realize we were writing for my
Speaker 1: future record. But um, yeah, he's incredible because he's just
Speaker 1: like a freak of nature when it comes to music.
Speaker 1: And uh he's an incredible like soulful singer and piano
Speaker 1: player and um yeah, so he and he's just the best.
Speaker 1: I feel like he we're sort of like an old
Speaker 1: married couple when we write, like it's just the two
Speaker 1: of us and we'll like start something and we won't
Speaker 1: talk for the next three or four hours. He'll start
Speaker 1: working on some like beat or track and building that,
Speaker 1: and then I'll be working on the lyric and melody
Speaker 1: in my head, you know, with my laptop in the
Speaker 1: corner and then like three hours later he'll turn around
Speaker 1: from his console and be like, are you ready to
Speaker 1: say ing? And I'd be like, I guess, I go
Speaker 1: up to the microphone. And then you know eighties Mercedes
Speaker 1: and that's so that's a song from YouTube that where
Speaker 1: that happened where you guys sat and it kind of
Speaker 1: came together that way. Yeah, And doesn't he have like
Speaker 1: a weird like back shed like Buzzby, like where you
Speaker 1: work out of it and it's kind of his little space. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you walk out through his backyard and it's very quaint
Speaker 1: and it's just like a little shed. And that's where
Speaker 1: he wrote eighties Um. And then he is based in
Speaker 1: l A. So he has a Nashville and in l
Speaker 1: A house. But we wrote My Church and how It's
Speaker 1: Done and once for the record out in l A.
Speaker 1: He worked with Keith a lot too, which all my
Speaker 1: world's collide because Keith's actually a friend of mine. And
Speaker 1: and you went on tour with Keith and I guess
Speaker 1: I was watching your snapchat and ended up getting picked
Speaker 1: up by the blogs. But it looked like a batmobile
Speaker 1: that he sent you. Yeah, I don't know that it
Speaker 1: was actually a batmobile, but just like a crazy car
Speaker 1: as a what was that's an auto cycle? Um it, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're telling me. I didn't know what it was either,
Speaker 1: because I thought he was kidding. Um it's a polarist
Speaker 1: sling shot. What are you supposed to park that? That's
Speaker 1: like you must want a dog. Like, here's your gift.
Speaker 1: There's a Dalmatian. You're like, well, it's really cool about
Speaker 1: what I do with it? Yeah exactly. It was one
Speaker 1: of those like and just insanely generous gifts where you're like,
Speaker 1: oh crap, like I don't have a compound to put
Speaker 1: this on im, Like I don't have, um a garage,
Speaker 1: like I live in East Nashville, like Inglewood. So I
Speaker 1: was trying to picture that parked in the driveway there.
Speaker 1: But then everyone knows where you live too, becauseile exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you want to go see where man lives, just check
Speaker 1: out the three yor old motorcycle in the driveway. Um. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It was so funny the way he presented it too.
Speaker 1: He like handed me this rolled up piece of paper
Speaker 1: and a really sweet note on the last day of
Speaker 1: the tour, which we were in Brooklyn, and he was like,
Speaker 1: thank you, so much for being out here, and he's
Speaker 1: just like the nicest guy. And he like had this
Speaker 1: rolled up piece of paper and it had like a
Speaker 1: ribbon around it, and I took the ribbon off and
Speaker 1: like unrolled it and it's a picture of this sling
Speaker 1: shot car thing. And UM, I was really confused because
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, maybe he got me like a
Speaker 1: ride in this thing, like I go to a yeah,
Speaker 1: take this sling shot tour around Nashville. Um, And he's like,
Speaker 1: have you ever been in a sling shot? I can't
Speaker 1: do an Australian accent, but I was like what He's like,
Speaker 1: have you ever ridden in one of these things? And
Speaker 1: I was like no, why how would I? Why would I? UM?
Speaker 1: And I was like, wait, you're giving this to me.
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, I got you in brett One And
Speaker 1: I was just in shock, like I've never gotten anything
Speaker 1: um at that magnitude. I mean, it's just insane and
Speaker 1: so generous. And we definitely had a ball with it
Speaker 1: or on Christmas Day with my my family. Where is
Speaker 1: it now? It's in Texas so Yans room. It's like
Speaker 1: the dog, you gave it a field to run in, right, Yeah? Exactly?
Speaker 1: Ryan and I hold it down to Texas for Christmas,
Speaker 1: and um my dad is basically helping store it, slash
Speaker 1: using it. Um, yeah, he was freaking out that he
Speaker 1: gets to take care of that thing. Just a sidebar
Speaker 1: on Keith, like, really and this is a show Bears
Speaker 1: town as much as Los Angeles is. I mean, it
Speaker 1: really is the show Bears town. But Keith is as
Speaker 1: nice and as genuine, even more so than he seems
Speaker 1: on TV or radio or anywhere else. Yeah, he is.
Speaker 1: And he is another one of those people that's like
Speaker 1: really jarring to meet in person because you know, I've
Speaker 1: been listening to Keith's records, you know, since you know,
Speaker 1: Golden Road, since before that album actually like black Top
Speaker 1: and that kind of stuff. And so when he called
Speaker 1: me about the tour and then I met him to
Speaker 1: announce the tour with Brett, and yeah, it's just insane
Speaker 1: how authentic he is and that famous and then the
Speaker 1: weird famous, and then there's like that kind of famous
Speaker 1: where you are known by most of the world. We
Speaker 1: were in my girlfriend I went to Australia and I
Speaker 1: was never going to tell the story, and then he
Speaker 1: kind of busted my balls for not telling it because
Speaker 1: I was given. I was kind of making fun of
Speaker 1: Sydney a bit. And we were in Sydney this last
Speaker 1: vacation and we went for Christmas and I've never been
Speaker 1: to Australia and so we go and he was in Sydney.
Speaker 1: He texted me, goes, hey are you here? And I
Speaker 1: was like, Hey, saw you come over to the house.
Speaker 1: We're having a Christmas party. And I want to go
Speaker 1: over to someone's house on Christmas. I'm just not someone
Speaker 1: who goes into people's space anyway. I like to stay out.
Speaker 1: I just don't like to impose more than anything. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, I really appreciate it, but I'm not. And
Speaker 1: I know he's genuine because he's just a good dude.
Speaker 1: The next day texted me again, he goes, hey, you
Speaker 1: have to come over having Nicole and I having a
Speaker 1: Christmas party. Come over to the house. And so we're
Speaker 1: in Australia. Keith Urban has Lindsay and myself and we
Speaker 1: go over and there's a big his dinner and it's
Speaker 1: like Nicole's mom and his mom and family. And I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, we could have been a cousin or something.
Speaker 1: He just sit down with us and we just all
Speaker 1: talked for like an hour and it was just like
Speaker 1: the most and I'm not normal because I'm just kind
Speaker 1: of a peculiar guy. It was just like a real
Speaker 1: nice human thing that I don't think people I think rich,
Speaker 1: famous people are anymore and he is I think, um
Speaker 1: like being like a family man and just his connection
Speaker 1: with his fans, and I don't know, I sort of
Speaker 1: saw behind the scenes, like the way he takes care
Speaker 1: of his crew, and he like got his production manager
Speaker 1: with Baja is his nickname, and he's like seventy years old,
Speaker 1: and he's loud and hilarious and always took care of us.
Speaker 1: Keith got him like the segue five years ago, and
Speaker 1: he would always just like drive it around. And you
Speaker 1: see like what he does for his crew that have
Speaker 1: been with him and are loyal to him, and there's
Speaker 1: just like this unspoken bond between everybody that that respects him,
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, it's just like it sounds like he's
Speaker 1: the best boss to work for and it's because he
Speaker 1: he really cares about these people. And there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people I'd asked him, I said, hey, what's the
Speaker 1: deal with country music in Australia. He goes it's nowhere,
Speaker 1: it doesn't exist, So what do you mean. He goes,
Speaker 1: it's like jazz in America. You have to go to
Speaker 1: the AM dial and hopefully you find some. And it's like, man,
Speaker 1: I want to I was like, well, how did you
Speaker 1: get played? He goes, I don't. It's just I'm cool
Speaker 1: in America to some people, so now I'm cool over here.
Speaker 1: But he was like, yeah, I don't get played anywhere.
Speaker 1: He said it was exciting to him because him and
Speaker 1: Carrie saw on The Fighter had just started getting played
Speaker 1: on like Pop and a C stations. He was like,
Speaker 1: it's great, mit, it's you know, and so it was
Speaker 1: cool that kind see him think something was cool again. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's crazy thing in your career, like that tour for
Speaker 1: you though. With Keith though, you really didn't have anything out.
Speaker 1: He just heard some stuff, right, Yeah. Very early on
Speaker 1: he um pulled the trigger and he I think his
Speaker 1: manager sent me or sent him a couple of my
Speaker 1: songs and they were they weren't even on iTunes yet.
Speaker 1: They were just like floating around. And Keith heard my
Speaker 1: Church in eighties and I think it was probably the
Speaker 1: EP and he called his manager and he's like, can
Speaker 1: we get this girl for the tour, and and he
Speaker 1: was like, who wrote these songs and the like she did,
Speaker 1: and so he was like, Okay, yeah, we need to
Speaker 1: get this this girl out here. And yeah, that phone
Speaker 1: call was crazy because I was like, Okay. I was
Speaker 1: just like, you know, put us a single out and
Speaker 1: you know, hope hopefully it goes up the chart. And
Speaker 1: then to have that insurance of being on a tour
Speaker 1: later in the year, Um, it's just it made everything's
Speaker 1: fall into place so well and so much easier. And
Speaker 1: I feel like he just really he saw something in
Speaker 1: me so early on before everyone jumped in. And I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, that's a gigantic risk to bring
Speaker 1: out a brand new artist who's never toured before. Um,
Speaker 1: what a tour for your first tour, I know, yeah exactly.
Speaker 1: I feel kind of spoiled. It's like, okay, we're just
Speaker 1: going right up here to Keith urban Um. But I
Speaker 1: learned so much, just like I had twenty five minutes
Speaker 1: to really make an impact on his crowd. And I
Speaker 1: feel like from the first show to the sixtie show,
Speaker 1: because it was a long tour, I got so much
Speaker 1: more comfortable on stage. I have more fun now on
Speaker 1: stage and he kind of set the parameters for me
Speaker 1: to achieve that, and I feel like, yeah, I just
Speaker 1: have so much more of a blast on stage now
Speaker 1: because I'm not afraid of it and I can walk
Speaker 1: out in front of twenty people and not. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm still nervous, but I'm not as nervous. So it
Speaker 1: feels like the last six months, you know, you're out
Speaker 1: and you're on TV and you're doing interviews. So that's
Speaker 1: the part that we've known of you is the last
Speaker 1: six months to year. But I don't have any idea
Speaker 1: how you grew up, Like, I don't know, like you're five,
Speaker 1: six years old, what's what's the house like? Um? You
Speaker 1: know my parents were like working middle class. They own
Speaker 1: a small hair salon in Arlenton, Texas. Yeah, yep. My
Speaker 1: mom still stands behind the chair and cuts hair. Is
Speaker 1: she extra cool now like to her clients everyone? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think they're going to be okay. Um yeah, I
Speaker 1: think like they sort of caught a second wind in life.
Speaker 1: It was like they've supported me for so long and
Speaker 1: then all this stuff to be happening now, Um yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean they just couldn't be prouder and they were
Speaker 1: at the c m As and they're going to come
Speaker 1: to the Grammys. They're is freaking out about everything as
Speaker 1: parents do, and but yeah, they still work and they
Speaker 1: come out to everything that they can, and uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I just grew up in a home whereas like my
Speaker 1: parents weren't they didn't. My mom liked to sing karaoke.
Speaker 1: She would like win karaoke contests at bars. Do you
Speaker 1: think that when your mom would win karaoke contests? I
Speaker 1: didn't think that was cool. I kind of do now.
Speaker 1: At the time, I was like, mom, come on, don't
Speaker 1: sing what She would sing like four non blonde. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a big one. She loved Dixie Chicks and Wagon,
Speaker 1: which like a mom singing that. It's just yeah, but
Speaker 1: she loves it. And I think, like I would watch
Speaker 1: her and I'd be like, Okay, if if you are
Speaker 1: having this much fun, what am I missing out on?
Speaker 1: And um, I think I was like eight or nine
Speaker 1: and I like I started to sing too, and um
Speaker 1: my dad bought me a I been as acoustic guitar
Speaker 1: when I was twelve, And I think that's just like
Speaker 1: where it all really cultivated. It was like, okay, I
Speaker 1: I've always loved to write. In school, I was terrible
Speaker 1: at math and science and that I was always really
Speaker 1: good at English and history and creative writing, and so
Speaker 1: I think it just naturally was like, oh, I'll just
Speaker 1: put these lyrics to this, like two chords, I know,
Speaker 1: and then it was a song and not a good one,
Speaker 1: but it was like a start, so um. But my
Speaker 1: parents never had like a second guess about um me
Speaker 1: doing this. It wasn't like, well, Okay, this is like
Speaker 1: a cute hobby for now, We'll just take you to
Speaker 1: these operies and talent shows. But then eventually like you're
Speaker 1: gonna able to call it right like they never said that.
Speaker 1: They were always just like on board from the get go,
Speaker 1: which is you know, I think what kept me going.
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Speaker 1: All right, so we're back here, and I guess we're
Speaker 1: talking about your parents and that they give you a guitar?
Speaker 1: Do you take lessons? Do you buy a chord cheat
Speaker 1: from Walmart? Like, what's what's the man More School of
Speaker 1: learning music. Yeah, my dad bought me like a chord
Speaker 1: book where you could like look at the pictures, and
Speaker 1: I would. I took a couple of lessons, but I just,
Speaker 1: um was super lazy. I didn't like I didn't like
Speaker 1: anyone teaching me how to play guitar. I was like,
Speaker 1: this is a feel thing. So of course I can't
Speaker 1: read music because I didn't stick with the lessons, But
Speaker 1: I get by enough on guitar to like to write songs.
Speaker 1: But I'm in no way John Osborne. So but by
Speaker 1: the way, it is such a good guitar player. Yeah
Speaker 1: he is. And people don't know that yet, Um, that
Speaker 1: that aren't inside, but he's the best. Yeah he is.
Speaker 1: There's an eight minute solo at the end of their
Speaker 1: first single that it ended up, you know, not being
Speaker 1: on the radio for eight minutes. He plays an eight
Speaker 1: minute guitar solo on the end of what is it?
Speaker 1: What's the first? Long? Um, it wasn't rung, No, it was.
Speaker 1: It was their second song, Rome was the first, the
Speaker 1: number one long Stay a little Longer. It was eight
Speaker 1: minutes older. Oh yeah, yeah, stay a little longer and
Speaker 1: him and it's so good too, and I've been, you know,
Speaker 1: I have just have a few personal friends and him
Speaker 1: and Lucy Silver's are like dear friends of mine. Lucy's
Speaker 1: just the She's I think, my only close friend I
Speaker 1: haven't had in here yet because of my close friends.
Speaker 1: I was like, let's just let's just hold off a bit.
Speaker 1: But it's such a talented and nice from that group
Speaker 1: of folks. Yeah, like John and Lucy Lucy. I went
Speaker 1: the other night. I said, hey, and for those who
Speaker 1: don't Lucy she um, she's New Zealand slash British slash American.
Speaker 1: Just been awesome all the way off. Yeah, she's all over.
Speaker 1: And I was like, listen, how big were you in
Speaker 1: the UK? And she goes, well, I sold a million
Speaker 1: records And I was like really, she was, yeah, I
Speaker 1: sold a million records, and you know, I didn't walk
Speaker 1: out and I said what was the big song and
Speaker 1: she said, well, I did Metallica. Um. It was a
Speaker 1: huge cover of a Metallica song with a full orchestra.
Speaker 1: And I came back and I googled it and I
Speaker 1: was like, holy crap, it was like nothing else matters,
Speaker 1: this full orchestral Metallica song. I couldn't believe it. It
Speaker 1: is sort of a double life that she's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I yeah, I please talk to her. I feel like
Speaker 1: I know her story, but I think you will bring
Speaker 1: something out that I'll be like, holy f Like that
Speaker 1: happened to Bobby, Bobby, why do you ask me this? Bobby?
Speaker 1: All the time she's sung with like Lionel Richie, like
Speaker 1: there's always like she's so humble it's annoying, but it's
Speaker 1: not annoying. It's like she means it and she's so
Speaker 1: nice that you're like, Okay, you're not bragging or humble
Speaker 1: bragging because she was telling st but Elton John, she
Speaker 1: was like she was playing with Daniel Bettingfield. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you know who Daniel betting I gotta get
Speaker 1: through this. I gotta make gottah if you're not the one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that one she was like, I was she was playing
Speaker 1: keys with Daniel Bettingfield for Elton John. And it was
Speaker 1: just like in passing conversation and I was like, John,
Speaker 1: I guess called you to have when he so what
Speaker 1: was that? What was that about? Um? Yeah, okay, So
Speaker 1: this that happened a few months ago or several months ago,
Speaker 1: and I am was randomly like at home for a
Speaker 1: few day stretch in Nashville, and I was just doing
Speaker 1: my laundry one day at the house and Ryan I
Speaker 1: had no witnesses to this phone call because he was
Speaker 1: out on the front porch talking to someone on the phone.
Speaker 1: And so I'm just like in my house doing laundry
Speaker 1: and I had come back to my phone that was
Speaker 1: on silent, and I had two miss calls from like
Speaker 1: a South London number, because you know, on an iPhone
Speaker 1: it tells you where it's from. And I was like,
Speaker 1: that's weird. I don't know anyone over there that would
Speaker 1: be calling me at this time of day. And my
Speaker 1: manager texted me like two seconds later, and I could
Speaker 1: not believe it, but she was like, Elton John is
Speaker 1: trying to reach you. Um, And I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I just missed two phone calls from Elton John.
Speaker 1: Like what do I do? Like do I call this
Speaker 1: number back? I'm just like I don't even know the protocol,
Speaker 1: Like what do you do? And she was like, hold on,
Speaker 1: let me get in touch with his publicist or something
Speaker 1: whatever happens, and um, he called back and it was
Speaker 1: like an unknown number now and okay, gotcha. Is that
Speaker 1: what that means? Okay, well, I answered because I knew
Speaker 1: who it was, and um, He's like, hey, is this
Speaker 1: Maren And I was like, oh my god, I don't
Speaker 1: know what Okay, yes it is, and uh He's like,
Speaker 1: oh cool, this is Elton, like no last name is
Speaker 1: like you know, I'm calling and I was like, oh, hi, hello,
Speaker 1: how are you? And he was like, oh, I'm good,
Speaker 1: just at the studio and I don't know, I just
Speaker 1: wanted to get in touch with you to say that
Speaker 1: I got your record. I have it on vinyl. We
Speaker 1: were listening to it at the studio the other night
Speaker 1: and I love I love your songs and yeah, and
Speaker 1: so I feel like, okay, I'm living out some sort
Speaker 1: of fever dream or something. I'm sick. I think I've
Speaker 1: it happened. I lost my mind a point. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: like on mescalin full fledged in the desert and yeah,
Speaker 1: but it sunk in and I was like I was
Speaker 1: trying to find a response and I was just like, wow,
Speaker 1: thank you, that's so cool. Um, I'm obviously a huge fan.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, why don't I even go through the
Speaker 1: semantics of, you know, trying to be cool. It's like, uh,
Speaker 1: you're Elton John, so um, that's a huge honor. And
Speaker 1: it was so random too, because I had just been
Speaker 1: listening to his music like a few days prior, just
Speaker 1: randomly in my iPhone. To have him call me a
Speaker 1: couple of days later. I was like, Okay, this guy
Speaker 1: is across the world and he's in pop music and
Speaker 1: he's a legend. How what I wish I had asked
Speaker 1: him was like, how did you find my music? And
Speaker 1: I'll never know unless I meet him again or something
Speaker 1: or meet him, But I I don't know how he
Speaker 1: found my album, but he had it on vinyl, so
Speaker 1: there had to have been like some sort of like
Speaker 1: exchange or like someone gave it to him. I don't know.
Speaker 1: But how do you in the call of Dulton John?
Speaker 1: And who ends it? And do you? Is there a
Speaker 1: point where like I don't want to talk too long
Speaker 1: because I Dulton thinks I'm just a loser. I won't
Speaker 1: hang up right, yeah, or I just didn't want it
Speaker 1: to ever be awkward. I was like, this can be
Speaker 1: the shortest phone call, that's fine, um, But I was
Speaker 1: trying to like get outside so I could put it
Speaker 1: on speaker. So Ryan could hear it, and of course
Speaker 1: like Elton's like, oh cool, well, cheers love. It was
Speaker 1: so good to talk to you. Hopefully I'll see you
Speaker 1: in the future by and then like I opened the
Speaker 1: door and Ryan's like everything okay, And I was like, no,
Speaker 1: no one heard this, no one witnessed it. Um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: Elton Jon called me that was pretty freaking crazy. When
Speaker 1: you make a record like Hero which now as you
Speaker 1: look back at it in all its pieces, and I
Speaker 1: enjoy a record, I enjoy an album. And when I
Speaker 1: heard it at first, it came to me as, wow,
Speaker 1: this is a bold record now because it's so big,
Speaker 1: and you know how it is. Bold things become a
Speaker 1: norm once they become huge and popularity. Did you feel like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm taking such an artistic leap with this that it's
Speaker 1: either going to just thrive or the world's not ready
Speaker 1: for me right now? Because he wrote was a bold
Speaker 1: record that from the songs, the sound, the textures all
Speaker 1: for country radio. I you know, I sort of look
Speaker 1: at the artists that have I don't know, just just
Speaker 1: slowly chiseled away at a path where I could come
Speaker 1: in and do something all of my own and so
Speaker 1: I felt like there were elements of this record that
Speaker 1: we're reaching, like Okay, this is I. I was pretty strategic,
Speaker 1: but still like emotional in the way that I structured
Speaker 1: the album and which songs I picked, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's like there is a part of your brain that's like, okay,
Speaker 1: the set list, like the track listing, how is this
Speaker 1: going to work? And the songs that are maybe less country,
Speaker 1: like I have to balance it with something that is
Speaker 1: going to be palatable. And it's it's like your first
Speaker 1: album is it's so important because it really is the
Speaker 1: first impression. And I just felt like, yeah, this this
Speaker 1: album is definitely a very edgy and has you know,
Speaker 1: the words ship all over it. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I can cuss on this podcast, Um yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: there's like cursing, and there's there's you know, talk of
Speaker 1: like sex and there. I don't know, it's just like
Speaker 1: so many elements that I you know, I sort of
Speaker 1: laid awake at night and I was like, maybe this
Speaker 1: is not ready, like people aren't ready for this. But
Speaker 1: then I realized I was like I can't think that
Speaker 1: way because I think about like Miranda, and I think
Speaker 1: about Sam and you know, Sam Hunt has had some
Speaker 1: major freaking radio success and he's gotten like knocked against
Speaker 1: my people who are like leading the charge for the
Speaker 1: whole like traditional country sound. But he proved them all
Speaker 1: wrong because that record was massively successful and it was him,
Speaker 1: and you know, he's it's so weird that people. I
Speaker 1: hate to like branch off for a second, but it's
Speaker 1: it's strange that people are constantly comparing new albums to
Speaker 1: the past because I don't know, I just I'd never
Speaker 1: listened to music that way, where I listened to like
Speaker 1: a pop song, and I'm like, well, this is not
Speaker 1: like Mambo number five. You know, back in our day,
Speaker 1: chamba wamba sounded much better than you know, yeah, oh
Speaker 1: yeah exactly. It's really annoying, and I constantly fight with
Speaker 1: people to go, well that's not country, because I've been
Speaker 1: lucky enough to be able to talk to every one
Speaker 1: from Merle Haggard to Garth Brooks to the guys to today,
Speaker 1: and you know what they all say. They were all
Speaker 1: told what they did did not fit right. Then every
Speaker 1: freaking one of them, every one of them was told
Speaker 1: what all these dicks on all these blogs say constantly, oh,
Speaker 1: that's not country. No one has the authority to tell
Speaker 1: someone what something creative is. Yeah, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: there's historical significance in the roots of country music, but
Speaker 1: I think the roots of it have always been the
Speaker 1: same and continue to be the same. There rooted in
Speaker 1: honesty and truth and saying it like it is and
Speaker 1: real life situations and heart and lyrical value. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, that's in a lot of genres, but I
Speaker 1: feel like country music is known for that and really
Speaker 1: created that that realm. And so whether you put a
Speaker 1: synthesizer on a song or a beat or whatever, it's like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: Sam Hunt is you could compare him to like Conway
Speaker 1: Twitty and even the Johnny Cash who would talk and
Speaker 1: play quote devil rock and roll my Grandma's marks Markansas
Speaker 1: grandlmos of people would protest him because of the Devil's
Speaker 1: rock and roll that he would play. Patsy Klein considered
Speaker 1: Walking After Midnight a little old pop song, That's what
Speaker 1: she called it. She thought that was pop back then.
Speaker 1: So you think about today and it's like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: there's always going to be, you know, the nights of
Speaker 1: traditional country music values. But I think at the end
Speaker 1: of the day. It's like people want to People respond
Speaker 1: to music that's good and that moves them. So that's
Speaker 1: what kept me, uh confident and Hero coming out. So
Speaker 1: if Hero would have failed, you would have blank hmm,
Speaker 1: I would have kept writing. Yeah, I don't think anything
Speaker 1: would have changed. Honestly, I think it would have. I
Speaker 1: would have been discouraged, but I think I would have
Speaker 1: kept writing. I would have kept going because I'd be like,
Speaker 1: I loved this record and I'm proud of it no
Speaker 1: matter what, um, whether it wins an award or someone
Speaker 1: says it's a disgrace to country music. Um, I loved it.
Speaker 1: And I have seen so much more of the world now,
Speaker 1: um since putting the album out, and I feel like
Speaker 1: people are I don't know, they're they're more vocal about
Speaker 1: their love of country or maybe if they weren't a
Speaker 1: country fan, Hero turned them onto country. And that's like
Speaker 1: a huge honor because ah, it is a cool sort
Speaker 1: of like Gateway drug in a way. It's like, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: there are so many elements of country on my album,
Speaker 1: but you can also find R and B and classic
Speaker 1: soul and rock and pop, so many elements, but it's
Speaker 1: all rooted in the same thing. It's rooted in honesty
Speaker 1: and that like country lyrics structure where everything is like
Speaker 1: air tight and the rhymes are on top of each other.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, it's it's been cool to see uh,
Speaker 1: different age generations connect to that album because it really
Speaker 1: is um an album for everyone. There's there's no song alike,
Speaker 1: and I don't know. I'm really proud of it and
Speaker 1: I'm glad that people are are liking it too. This
Speaker 1: is my jam right here, but i'd be rich proud
Speaker 1: of So this is rich. That's how you why it's
Speaker 1: my jam, and I'll have you talking about it. I
Speaker 1: actually the personal story. So I I I'm on the
Speaker 1: road basically every weekend, and so um I was by
Speaker 1: the way, I'm glad you got here when you did.
Speaker 1: I was packing. I don't know if you an't know
Speaker 1: about packing like me, Like I have to go through
Speaker 1: and make sure I have every piece of clothing for
Speaker 1: every available Like Okay, daytime, I'm wearing this. In the evening,
Speaker 1: i'll wear this, then I'll change into this, And I
Speaker 1: have to go through all of these little clothing changes
Speaker 1: in my head, do this and do that every week
Speaker 1: Oh no, I'm a terrible packer. Oh, I have a
Speaker 1: and then I have to get Then I go to
Speaker 1: pill everything back out and count it all back in.
Speaker 1: I'm so o c D about everything. Yeah, but at
Speaker 1: least you don't have to stress out about it once
Speaker 1: and then I get I forget some a sock or something.
Speaker 1: But I played this, And the reason I bring it
Speaker 1: up is so I have to stand up comedy shows
Speaker 1: this weekend, and this is a song that I played
Speaker 1: before I go out on stage. You do, yeah, so
Speaker 1: I play rich. So tell me about the song. Where
Speaker 1: were you who? Concept like, give me the whole deal here. Um,
Speaker 1: I was here in Nashville. I was at my publisher,
Speaker 1: Big Yellow Dog, and with Jesse Joe Dillen, Laura Belts
Speaker 1: and Jesse. Joe had told me this title like a
Speaker 1: week prior. We were at winners Um in Midtown and
Speaker 1: she was she's such an amazing writer, but she brought
Speaker 1: that title as a sad song. She was like, God,
Speaker 1: if I just want to write it, you know there
Speaker 1: and like, if if I had a dollar for every
Speaker 1: time you screwed me over or broke my heart, I'd
Speaker 1: be rich. And I was like, damn, like, that's really good.
Speaker 1: But then we got into the room that day with
Speaker 1: Laura and it was like, I don't think this is
Speaker 1: a sad song. I think it's like a fu song.
Speaker 1: And so we just started with this guitar riff and
Speaker 1: Laura was playing and um, I was trying to play,
Speaker 1: and we just started, like I guess, adding all these
Speaker 1: crazy examples, and then we got to the second verse
Speaker 1: and I was just threw out jokingly. I was like,
Speaker 1: if I had a dime every time you crossed my mind,
Speaker 1: I'd probably be sitting on a big as pile of dimes.
Speaker 1: And I was kidding. But then they were like, I
Speaker 1: think we should keep that because that's just funny, and um,
Speaker 1: so we did. It's like, whatever line, whether it's stupid
Speaker 1: or not, if you throw it out like nothing stupid,
Speaker 1: That's what I've sort of learn and except what I
Speaker 1: just did, drop the mic. Um, Yeah, I feel like
Speaker 1: you just have to like put it out there and
Speaker 1: then you can decide if it's not going to work
Speaker 1: or not. But I like to dare to be stupid
Speaker 1: in the writing room. But yeah, we kept that line in,
Speaker 1: and I don't know, it's one of my favorites. On
Speaker 1: the album too, and Favorites live because it's just the
Speaker 1: crossing a. Yeah, the girls, I feel like young girls
Speaker 1: really really you have a song that's just come out
Speaker 1: of you, like like some artists will come and go, hey,
Speaker 1: you know what the song is. It came in fifteen minutes,
Speaker 1: like the song was there and I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1: Do you have any of those? Um? Yeah, I could
Speaker 1: use a love song with sort of like that. UM
Speaker 1: in my church we wrote really quick too, but I
Speaker 1: could use a love song. Um. We wrote in the morning.
Speaker 1: It's a long story, but it was like after a
Speaker 1: couple of drinks, were all, yeah, we're all having like
Speaker 1: a really crap day, and Laura Belts had just gotten
Speaker 1: a ticket Jimmy Robbins something had happened, and then I
Speaker 1: had had a weird start to the morning. And we
Speaker 1: get there and we're all just like really dejected, and
Speaker 1: we're like, how how are we going to write a song?
Speaker 1: And Laura's like, do you want to walk to Losers?
Speaker 1: And so I was. It was eleven o'clock and I
Speaker 1: was like maybe, and we all were on board, and
Speaker 1: we went over and we had like one drink and
Speaker 1: walked back and I had most of Hero already done,
Speaker 1: and then Jimmy was like, do you have any like
Speaker 1: what are you missing off the album, which is like
Speaker 1: the weirdest question to get from people. It's like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, Um, I'll know it when I hear it,
Speaker 1: I guess. And I was like, it's weird. This whole
Speaker 1: song like doesn't have any love songs on it. It's
Speaker 1: like the first record I've heard in a while it doesn't.
Speaker 1: And Jimmy's like, oh, but you could you could use
Speaker 1: a love song though, right, and uh, Laura like jotted
Speaker 1: down that as a title, but it was just in conversation, like,
Speaker 1: oh but you could use a song on the on
Speaker 1: the album, and uh so yeah. We went back and
Speaker 1: she was like, I think we should just write a
Speaker 1: song called I could use a love song. And we
Speaker 1: I don't know, like the sky opened up that day
Speaker 1: and maybe it was because our filters had been drunk away,
Speaker 1: but we just like poured through that song and had
Speaker 1: the demo done within like an hour and a half.
Speaker 1: Played this for you tell me talking about this song
Speaker 1: right here? Better day man, it's hunched over in her
Speaker 1: chair right now. Okay, this is a silver bullet for
Speaker 1: the interview. I don't have bullets. Oh my good run
Speaker 1: its days? Where did you find that? What about what
Speaker 1: I had? I was, Oh my god, it's this Yeah,
Speaker 1: no play it. I can hear that thirteen year old
Speaker 1: pain kid? Did you write Better Days? I wrote it
Speaker 1: with my mom? Actually really yeah, I used to right
Speaker 1: back then. Uh oh my god, I feel like my
Speaker 1: face so hot right now. Um, I'm trying to remember
Speaker 1: back that far. I mean, that was like so long ago.
Speaker 1: I'm trying. Where were you playing that at bars? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And how are you getting into bar? Because your mom
Speaker 1: was like, hey, she's cool, she's with me, She's cool.
Speaker 1: I'm the karaoke champions. Um no, I mean in Texas
Speaker 1: it's weird. I mean you might know this. Like if
Speaker 1: you are a kid and you have your parents with you, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can drink and you can be in the bar.
Speaker 1: I mean I wouldn't drink, but I would definitely. I
Speaker 1: was able to play these shows in these you know,
Speaker 1: pretty honky tonks because my parents were there, um, and
Speaker 1: they were my managers, so they were, um driving me
Speaker 1: to and fro from all these gigs. But yeah, thirteen,
Speaker 1: when that gem of a song was written I was
Speaker 1: playing in like the White Elephant Saloon and like the
Speaker 1: crap stage outside of Billy Bob's. I don't know, I've
Speaker 1: I've been doing this so long. I make my sound
Speaker 1: myself sounds so old, but I really have been hustling
Speaker 1: in bars and honky tonks since I was twelve. Here's
Speaker 1: a song called walk on. Okay, can we just play
Speaker 1: all my demos instead? How old are you with this one?
Speaker 1: To go back? But there's something there, like you know
Speaker 1: it always I'm always like, oh, I'd like to hear
Speaker 1: stuff either from when I was seventeen on the radio. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but do you hear it? Like, do you hear something
Speaker 1: there in that thirteen year old voice? At think I
Speaker 1: was a little more nasally with let's just like talent wise,
Speaker 1: like something there, something there that's inherent. Do you hear
Speaker 1: something inherently in that? Yeah? I mean I've always I've
Speaker 1: always loved music, and I've loved performing and writing songs.
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, I try to think back
Speaker 1: to what my parents were thinking at the time, because
Speaker 1: they're obviously biased. It's like those parents that have talented
Speaker 1: kids quote unquote, it's like, well, you are their parents?
Speaker 1: So how do you really know? But then I'm trying
Speaker 1: to like look back at my parents and for them
Speaker 1: to put aside that parental love and be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: can she actually do this? Is she even like emotionally
Speaker 1: emotionally capable to play these bars and ship like I
Speaker 1: I think they do, Like Okay, you're gonna play these
Speaker 1: bars and they're gonna be a lot of rowdy drunk
Speaker 1: people or is it's like man, just go and we'll watch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean they they I never played anywhere to c
Speaker 1: D where it was like dangerous to be in there.
Speaker 1: They certainly would not have um taken me to a
Speaker 1: bar like that. But I grew up around adults and
Speaker 1: like people drinking and smoking inside and you can still
Speaker 1: do that in Texas, and like, I grew up in
Speaker 1: that environment. So by the time I turned twenty one,
Speaker 1: it was like not cool that you could drink um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but yeah, they definitely the whole time saw something in me.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, I mean, you're you're talking about
Speaker 1: like the thirteen year old self like to your friends,
Speaker 1: because you could you were singing and playing and regardless
Speaker 1: of where you were singing, and you were still singing
Speaker 1: and playing. Yeah. Yeah, they were all so excited they
Speaker 1: come to my shows, which the ones they could get into. Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it was weird. I went to like a
Speaker 1: public high school and on the weekends I would go
Speaker 1: do these shows around xas to talent shows and stuff.
Speaker 1: At school, I never did a talent show. I was
Speaker 1: in musical theater, so I did all the musicals and like,
Speaker 1: which one because I'm a little theater you are, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I degree so Danny Zooko in Greece. Wow, that's a
Speaker 1: big one. It was awesome. I like to dance, so
Speaker 1: we need to find that footage and it exists. I
Speaker 1: would like that. Ny. It all back from your key
Speaker 1: screen is your silver bullet? So what did you do
Speaker 1: so theater wise? What was your favorite? I did? Um,
Speaker 1: My first one was when I was a freshman, and
Speaker 1: it was It's Susical the musical Okay, Dr Stuce, Yes,
Speaker 1: and I played a little boy. So that was my
Speaker 1: first one. And then um, I did Little Shop of Horror.
Speaker 1: I did Little Shop of Horse. Who are you in it?
Speaker 1: I was Seymour, I was Audrey. That's so funny, Wed
Speaker 1: Mercy More that's so funny. Oh my god, that's I
Speaker 1: did agree. I did a Little Shop Was Love and
Speaker 1: my junior year and Greece my senior year. I did
Speaker 1: Little Shot my junior year, and that was like like that.
Speaker 1: It was so dark for high school. I'm actually really
Speaker 1: surprised my high school allowed they got it, though I don't.
Speaker 1: I think the movie was out and we were The
Speaker 1: movie was before me too, like Rick Maranis and stuff.
Speaker 1: But I think it made it so safe because he
Speaker 1: was so safe that everyone kind of lost it. I
Speaker 1: look back on it now, I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: Like in the movie and the play, like I have
Speaker 1: to be hit, not like for real, but like she's
Speaker 1: in an abusive relationship, and there's like all these like
Speaker 1: dark sex jokes, and I was like, if I was
Speaker 1: a parent in the crowd, I'd be like, who okay,
Speaker 1: this this is like way too advanced for high school kids.
Speaker 1: But we didn't. You're right, we didn't get it. We
Speaker 1: didn't get it at all. It was almost it was
Speaker 1: the SpongeBob effective plays, like the kids don't get the
Speaker 1: adult jokes and SpongeBob. I just thought I was freaking
Speaker 1: talking to a plant and you know, but that that's so.
Speaker 1: It was just I was magic. That's funny. Tell me
Speaker 1: about this all that it takes at here. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I was actually oh yeah, I was seventeen. This was
Speaker 1: my UM number one in Texas. When you get a
Speaker 1: number one in Texas, do you think, okay, well, all right, Texas,
Speaker 1: thank you. Now it's time to go and bust out nationally,
Speaker 1: Like do you think it was just gonna be like
Speaker 1: pop up up um? I think okay. So I was seventeen,
Speaker 1: and I I think at the time, I was like, no,
Speaker 1: now I'm going to be in the big leagues of Texas.
Speaker 1: And I didn't have any sights to go to Nashville
Speaker 1: until I was, like, you know, in my early twenties,
Speaker 1: but I yeah, I wanted to like tour around Texas
Speaker 1: and basically head line and you know, like all the
Speaker 1: greats down there to me, like you know, I loved
Speaker 1: Wade Bowen and Stoney LaRue and Randy Rogers and uh
Speaker 1: Rodney Foster and all those guys. It was like green
Speaker 1: Hall of cool place for you to play. Yeah, I've
Speaker 1: played there once and I actually requested on my headline
Speaker 1: tour that we hit Green Hall. So I'm going to
Speaker 1: do a Green Hall show, which I'm so excited about.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's the coolest venue. I feel like in Texas.
Speaker 1: It's the oldest dance hall and it's like George Straits.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's the George Straight I'm here. So
Speaker 1: you were in Austin, So do you remember? Um, he's
Speaker 1: still around and I love him. But Bob Schneider, Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: Bob played my show many times. Yeah, so I Um,
Speaker 1: I saw him at Green that was like the last
Speaker 1: show I saw there. But I love him. Um, but
Speaker 1: I'm excited. It's sort of full circle to get to
Speaker 1: play there on my own tour. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: run Bob when I was in Austin was dating Sandra Bullock. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because she lived in Austin too. Yeah, Boba came bind
Speaker 1: Players show all the time. That's crazy, but it's not
Speaker 1: crazy because we're, you know, from basically the same place. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I've been a fan of his for over a decade now,
Speaker 1: so I think he was a little before his time frankly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he's one of those where it's like he can
Speaker 1: do anything. He can do any genre. So I think
Speaker 1: it's sort of hard to to find a spot because
Speaker 1: he is so good at so many third album, Born
Speaker 1: Again somewhere. What was the goal with this record? It's funny,
Speaker 1: it's like born again and now there's my church. Um
Speaker 1: I was nineteen. I think I sound a little more
Speaker 1: like myself. I feel like definitely more country, weirdly like
Speaker 1: that Texas country too. I think there's some Texas country
Speaker 1: and Hero though, like I hear it, I still hear
Speaker 1: all you do, I do? I do? What's ever said
Speaker 1: that to me? I I, you know, lived in Texas
Speaker 1: for a long time, you know, and I do so.
Speaker 1: I do hear a little bit of Texas country and Hero,
Speaker 1: but I hear a lot of things in Hero, which
Speaker 1: is what's cool about the record because every song there's
Speaker 1: a little bit of similarity, but there's a lot that's
Speaker 1: not as you go from track to track, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense at all. Yeah. I have some other audio
Speaker 1: clips here and like talking about um no more like that,
Speaker 1: don't worry. Speaking of Lucy Silva's villain, Yes, familiar with
Speaker 1: the song, how so I wrote it because we've had
Speaker 1: you we the Crombi down and I'll take the phone
Speaker 1: if you're if you if you're looking for She's so good? Yeah,
Speaker 1: how she told me the story aboud this music video.
Speaker 1: I've seen the video and the parts about what tell me, Well,
Speaker 1: we shot it at an actual prison, um near Huntsville.
Speaker 1: Are you gonna call her? I I just came to
Speaker 1: do like makeup touch ups. This is like a year
Speaker 1: and a half ago. But we shot it at a
Speaker 1: working prison, and yeah, it was pretty crazy too, to
Speaker 1: be in a prison with real into Yeah, and like
Speaker 1: Lucy is so beautiful and like her walking past, and
Speaker 1: then I idiotically wore shorts that day and all the
Speaker 1: guys are like, whoa, oh god, this is so so crazy.
Speaker 1: Let's see if Lucy answers. I think she's in town.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't quick gonna hit it with her.
Speaker 1: Let's leave a message how back to you? Oh no,
Speaker 1: the mailbox is full. Okay, she may call back. How
Speaker 1: about the song here Greener Pastures? Yes, we know about
Speaker 1: this one. Ryan and I wrote this with John and
Speaker 1: t J D. Try and drink into the pure. Man
Speaker 1: had to go to that. You all four you guys
Speaker 1: right there, June Yan righte. That for those two, the
Speaker 1: four of us that just sitting around, you guys are
Speaker 1: just like, let's just rock something out. It was weird
Speaker 1: because like we've been friends with John and t J
Speaker 1: for years, we've never written together and they've never been
Speaker 1: homes honestly, so we had it on the books to write.
Speaker 1: It was like a for real co write, and um,
Speaker 1: I was nervous because like to write with friends is
Speaker 1: it can go either way. It can either be amazing,
Speaker 1: which luckily this one turned out to be, or it
Speaker 1: can be like kind of a downer and it's like
Speaker 1: everything's cool, but yeah, let's not do this again. But
Speaker 1: you know we I had that title for years in
Speaker 1: my phone and no one would write it with me.
Speaker 1: And Ryan will attest to this like I I threw
Speaker 1: that title at him and writes for like two years
Speaker 1: straight and no one ever bit at it. And then
Speaker 1: finally I threw it out the final time at this
Speaker 1: brother's Osborne co write, and yeah, I was like, I've
Speaker 1: had this title Greener Pastors in my phone forever, and
Speaker 1: I like looked at Ryan and I was like, I
Speaker 1: feel like it could be a cool play on words
Speaker 1: about like breaking up with someone or them leaving you
Speaker 1: and then you just go smoke a joint or something
Speaker 1: like moving on to Greener Pastors and John and t
Speaker 1: J laughed and like loved it, and then John started
Speaker 1: playing that like riff and m Yeah, it was like
Speaker 1: a pretty easy co write, which I'm astounded at because, um,
Speaker 1: with friends it can be weird. But we Yeah, we
Speaker 1: had the best time. And then when they played us
Speaker 1: the recording of it and J Joyce produced it, which
Speaker 1: I I love. I loved J Joyce. Um, I'm a
Speaker 1: huge Patty Griffin fan, and he did her Flaming Red
Speaker 1: album which I loved. But he produced that song for
Speaker 1: John and t J and I just like died listening
Speaker 1: to it, And it was cool to hear them do
Speaker 1: it at the rheman at their show. It was really cool, man,
Speaker 1: so much so I'll ask you this. And when Ryan,
Speaker 1: by the way Ryan heard was then you've mentioned him
Speaker 1: a few times, and I'll do the same thing with
Speaker 1: you that with Ryan, I didn't bring you up until later,
Speaker 1: but he just kept referencing unfl Well, if I don't
Speaker 1: address what you're referencing, people aren't even going to know.
Speaker 1: So Ryan heard your boyfriend right now? Yeah, And so
Speaker 1: I'm a huge Ryan fan. Yeah, minus Marin, I'm a
Speaker 1: huge Ryan fan. Like I, I just I enjoy him.
Speaker 1: I enjoy his music. I love where he comes from.
Speaker 1: He just seems like a guy that is like it
Speaker 1: into a happy universe, if that makes sense. Like he
Speaker 1: just seems like a guy that wants peace in the universe,
Speaker 1: and he makes me want to have peace in the
Speaker 1: universe when like I'm around him. And so you guys
Speaker 1: write a lot together, do you guys talk about music
Speaker 1: a lot? I mean, is that really what the bond? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's how we met each other was in
Speaker 1: a co write and um, it was like three and
Speaker 1: a half almost four years ago, and we've just been
Speaker 1: friends for years and we were both in other relationships
Speaker 1: and um, but yeah, I think that was the first.
Speaker 1: Um bond was just hey, I love writing songs with you.
Speaker 1: And we got our first cut together with Tim McGraw
Speaker 1: and then yeah, we just asked our publishers to keep
Speaker 1: putting us on our books and yeah, I think, well
Speaker 1: it was Funny Brothers Osborne. That was our second like
Speaker 1: actual cut together. But we've had a few placements and
Speaker 1: stuff on Nashville and whatnot. But at the crux of it,
Speaker 1: it was like, Okay, yes, I love writing songs with you.
Speaker 1: But after you know, we sort of started like falling
Speaker 1: for each other and not just like in a friendly way.
Speaker 1: It was like, I don't know. I used to to
Speaker 1: worry about oh, like I always want to be able
Speaker 1: to write songs with him, that's this relationship. But now
Speaker 1: it's like I don't really care. I mean, it's cool
Speaker 1: if we get a cool song, but it's cool to
Speaker 1: be in a relationship where that's not contingent on it anymore.
Speaker 1: It's like we've written plenty of great songs together and
Speaker 1: now it's just about our relationship and leaning on each
Speaker 1: other during the craziest time of our lives, like kick
Speaker 1: starting our artist careers. And yeah, um, he's he's just
Speaker 1: an incredi double person. Like I could probably talk about
Speaker 1: him for the rest of this podcast, but I won't.
Speaker 1: I'll um save you from that. Um. But yeah, he
Speaker 1: just he really does have a heart of gold. And
Speaker 1: you're right where he lives in this world where um,
Speaker 1: he's so thoughtful and he really he cares about the
Speaker 1: energy around him, and he cares about like if you're okay,
Speaker 1: and not like in a pressing way. He's just he's
Speaker 1: always aware of if people are feeling taking care of
Speaker 1: or not, and um, He's like that with really every
Speaker 1: facet of his career would sponsor Mike, We're good, alright, cool,
Speaker 1: Uh so let's talk. Let's go to now. Um, we're
Speaker 1: just now. It's weird and in a great way. So
Speaker 1: I thought, what you said at the c M is
Speaker 1: pretty remarkable and poignant and such a big stage and
Speaker 1: such small awesome words where you were like a year ago,
Speaker 1: I watched this from across the street, Mat I thought
Speaker 1: it was just like, I mean that the neated with me.
Speaker 1: I'm not even trying to be you, and that resonated
Speaker 1: with me. I wonder like, did you have that ready?
Speaker 1: Was that? Because I still remember you getting up and
Speaker 1: saying that and going, I mean that, that's the perfect
Speaker 1: thing to say right there, like everybody's inspired. I don't
Speaker 1: care what you're doing, music, live, digging ditches, driving truck
Speaker 1: like you should. That's inspiring right there. So talk about
Speaker 1: that moment for a second. Well, when I got up there,
Speaker 1: and I've been thinking about that all night, Like I
Speaker 1: didn't think I was going to be able to accept
Speaker 1: an award that night, but I was thinking just to myself,
Speaker 1: like in a personal way, I was like, oh my God,
Speaker 1: Like I didn't even think I was going to get
Speaker 1: an invitation to the c m AS this year, let
Speaker 1: alone be nominated. And yeah, I was just thinking, like Wow.
Speaker 1: I sat across the street from Bridgetone a year ago
Speaker 1: um with friends and we got dressed up and went
Speaker 1: to the Palm Bar and just watched on TV and
Speaker 1: watched people like Chris Stapleton's life change with one performance.
Speaker 1: And yeah, that had been kind of rattling around my
Speaker 1: mind all day really, but when I got up there,
Speaker 1: I was so overcome with emotion and I like laugh
Speaker 1: and cry watching the footage back because I brought my
Speaker 1: purse up on stage with me, like my clutch. I
Speaker 1: should have just like left it, and I'm trying to
Speaker 1: open it because I had a note card inside with people.
Speaker 1: Lucy's calling Hello, Lucy. Hey, I'm with Marin right now,
Speaker 1: and so you're you're on record, So don't say anything
Speaker 1: that you wouldn't want out there. Don't talk about me.
Speaker 1: Oh you're you're in a bad place. Listen, you're cutting out?
Speaker 1: Where are you? Okay? Okay, Okay, I'm going I don't
Speaker 1: even know she can hear me, now I can, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can hear. That doesn't mean I know what you're saying,
Speaker 1: but I can hear you now perfectly. You don't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we got you. We're talking about you, and so you
Speaker 1: don't know what we're talking about. So it's good that
Speaker 1: you're kind of hopping in. Oh. How would you describe
Speaker 1: Marin as a friend. We have so much history and
Speaker 1: so many stories that I have many ways, But the
Speaker 1: first thing that comes to my mind is that I
Speaker 1: don't know. She's so she's so sweet. She has like
Speaker 1: a little giggle that she giggles at things and it
Speaker 1: just makes her horrible. Um. But I don't know as
Speaker 1: a friend, supposed to just a person in general, I'd say, um,
Speaker 1: she's got a lot of empathy for the people around her. Um.
Speaker 1: I've always thought she's been there for some of the
Speaker 1: most important, probably the most important time in my life,
Speaker 1: which is that they got married as John's best man. Oh,
Speaker 1: she said she was John's best man. That I didn't
Speaker 1: know that, and she you know, I think she's just
Speaker 1: one of these people that um. Um. I just she's
Speaker 1: got a mystery around her. But as a friend, she's
Speaker 1: never she's she always feel like she's there for me.
Speaker 1: I can tell her things I don't and that's you
Speaker 1: don't have that with everybody with friends, you're always some
Speaker 1: friends you have to think. I'm going to filter that
Speaker 1: out because I don't want to tell them that. But
Speaker 1: I don't feel like that was Marion. So it was
Speaker 1: my deepest talker secrets. And now, Lucy, how am I
Speaker 1: is a friend? You're awful? Know you? Well, it's so
Speaker 1: far You've been great. You tell the truth, which I like, well,
Speaker 1: thank you. Hey, Well we I feel like, Lucy, we
Speaker 1: do these shows and you come up with every one
Speaker 1: of them one because I'm just yes, it's like the
Speaker 1: fourth one that you've come up, so now we've got
Speaker 1: to make a point to get you, to get you
Speaker 1: up here. But yeah, I want to hear that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: were you? Were you? According? Right now, I'm actually just
Speaker 1: doing vocals on a song that I wrote with Ryan Beaver,
Speaker 1: and so I'm like, I love Ryan the best day
Speaker 1: listening to his voice, and I'm very excited to just
Speaker 1: go home and sit on my porch for the rest
Speaker 1: of the night and do nothing. I'm about to do
Speaker 1: that too. Well, thank you for calling me back. Lucy,
Speaker 1: talked to you soon. Bye. Lucy showed up at um
Speaker 1: Our show a couple of nights ago with Ted dancing,
Speaker 1: and she was like, hey, because she writes with Ted's
Speaker 1: wife Mary, And so Ted Dancing shows up, and you know,
Speaker 1: when you get to see cool people, most of the time,
Speaker 1: it's just it's cool. But it was Ted dancing. I
Speaker 1: was like, that's freaking Ted dancing. It's like Cheers, It's
Speaker 1: like Becker, and so I was like, dude, I get
Speaker 1: a picture. It was like sure, And then I got
Speaker 1: out on stage and everybody look his dead dancing. He
Speaker 1: was nice, oh, super nice and really good looking. Yeah
Speaker 1: it is Mary. He's one of them. Really mind And
Speaker 1: I hated to cut you off there. I don't want
Speaker 1: to put Lucy let keep ringing. Oh yeah, you have
Speaker 1: your you have your your clutch with you. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: I just you know, you don't really have time to
Speaker 1: think or do much except walk forward. And so I
Speaker 1: brought my clutch and Jennifer Garner's trying to help me
Speaker 1: open it for like what seemed like an eternity, and um,
Speaker 1: I just had a note card inside and all it
Speaker 1: said was like the names of people like my manager
Speaker 1: and obviously like my mom and dad, and these are
Speaker 1: the only people I got to Um, but I was
Speaker 1: just yeah, I had just come off this like high
Speaker 1: from performing, and that was such a gigantic performance, just
Speaker 1: so much energy on stage and so much music, and
Speaker 1: I was just firing on all cylinders. And then I
Speaker 1: got off stage with all this adrenaline and they were like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we need to see you really quick because they're about
Speaker 1: to do best New Artists. And I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: just catching my breath and then they called my name
Speaker 1: and was it weird to hear your name? Yeah? It was.
Speaker 1: I felt like I was in the twilight zone for
Speaker 1: a second, because you have those dreams kind of since
Speaker 1: you were a kid. And then I heard her say
Speaker 1: it and yeah, I mean you see it in my face,
Speaker 1: just the utter shock and um I I got my
Speaker 1: clutch and hugged Ryan, hugged Stapleton, and walked up there,
Speaker 1: luckily without tripping, and I just couldn't. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was almost going to be one of those cries that
Speaker 1: you can't get words out, and I was dancing on
Speaker 1: that line, but I was just overcome with emotion and
Speaker 1: my parents being in the audience too, and I bought
Speaker 1: them seats, but they were like further back, and I
Speaker 1: just I knew. I was like trying to find them
Speaker 1: in the crowd. I couldn't but um, and then you
Speaker 1: see the the time thing ticking down. It's like, okay,
Speaker 1: you have four seconds left to say thank you to
Speaker 1: all these people that got you there, And UM, yeah,
Speaker 1: I couldn't fit everyone in, but I feel like I
Speaker 1: got the really important people. And um, that was Ryan's
Speaker 1: birthday that night, so it was just like a double celebration.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I didn't have prepared that I was in
Speaker 1: a bar a year prior. But I was thinking about
Speaker 1: that all night that I was sitting in. Now that
Speaker 1: gave me chills because it wasn't just about you or
Speaker 1: the industry or that moment. It was about what everyone watching.
Speaker 1: I could look at and go, you know, every long
Speaker 1: journey does start with a step, and here's that journey,
Speaker 1: and here's a step, and now are you freaking are?
Speaker 1: And what can happen in a year? I wonder as
Speaker 1: your parents are sitting in the crowd, and they've allowed
Speaker 1: and encouraged you, like and it's hard when you love
Speaker 1: someone a lot for that love to grow, But has
Speaker 1: the love grown as you've areciated more what they did
Speaker 1: for you? When you were younger. Oh yeah, absolutely. It's
Speaker 1: sort of that mentality when you, uh, you live with
Speaker 1: your parents and you're so ready to move out and
Speaker 1: like go be an adult, and then you're like a
Speaker 1: few years into paying all your own bills and you're like, wow,
Speaker 1: they really took care of me. And then I'm sure
Speaker 1: it changes even more when you get married and have
Speaker 1: kids and you're like, oh my god, my parents were
Speaker 1: right and the same thing happened, you know, because I
Speaker 1: was sort of a child performer. And now I'm you know,
Speaker 1: going on twenty seven soon, and I think about my
Speaker 1: parents and the sacrifices they've made because we didn't come
Speaker 1: from money by any means, Like my mom grew up poor. Um,
Speaker 1: just like very humble beginnings. I never had any sort
Speaker 1: of hand out and neither did they. And they would still,
Speaker 1: you know, pay the band when the owner of the
Speaker 1: crappy club would stuff us our money, they would pay
Speaker 1: out of their own pocket. That was not deep And um,
Speaker 1: I I think about everything that they sacrificed their time,
Speaker 1: and yes they had fun doing it too, but at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, it's like they they really
Speaker 1: did give up everything. So on a whim just a girl,
Speaker 1: an eleven year old, twelve year old that like to sing,
Speaker 1: could do it in front of a few people, and
Speaker 1: it's just snowballed. So yeah, I definitely think about that
Speaker 1: now and have so much better appreciation for all my
Speaker 1: parents did for me and UM. And it's not even
Speaker 1: about money, it's not about anything. It's just about giving
Speaker 1: your kid the tools to think something of themselves. And
Speaker 1: I'm very passionate about like fine artis education because I
Speaker 1: didn't go to like a cool or like nice school.
Speaker 1: I went to public school was kind of ghetto, and
Speaker 1: you know, it just it didn't have a fine arts
Speaker 1: program that was anything really Like I did theater and
Speaker 1: choir and stuff, but there was just no funding to
Speaker 1: do anything. But I was so lucky at home to
Speaker 1: have parents that believed in my love for music and
Speaker 1: UM gave me that platform to be able to do it.
Speaker 1: And I know a lot of kids like they want
Speaker 1: to go to school to escape home because maybe at
Speaker 1: home no one does believe in them, or it's put
Speaker 1: on the other kid, or there's just no one home.
Speaker 1: And I think about, you know, when you go to school,
Speaker 1: like the people there that are supposed to be like
Speaker 1: enriching you creatively. Uh it just gets less and less,
Speaker 1: I feel every year. So I was really lucky in
Speaker 1: those formidable ages to have parents that really gave a
Speaker 1: ship about me. Um. So yeah, I'm I'm excited. My
Speaker 1: mom is going to be my date to the Grammys,
Speaker 1: and uh, we've been going back and forth about what
Speaker 1: we're wearing and um yeah, I mean she's earned that
Speaker 1: spot just as much as I. The emotion coming from
Speaker 1: her voice when you talk about them really, Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to stay cool. I've cried enough at the c
Speaker 1: m As, so you're trying to keep it together now.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm excited for them to come out to that,
Speaker 1: because they came out to the c m As, but
Speaker 1: this time it's like my mom and dad and sister Carson,
Speaker 1: my younger sister. She's never gotten to come to an
Speaker 1: award show, so it's like their first time at that
Speaker 1: and it's freaking Grammys. So and yet for four Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I texted Kelsey Um the morning the
Speaker 1: announcement came out about the nominations, and it was so early,
Speaker 1: and I think I may have been like the first
Speaker 1: person to tell her. I don't know. I might be
Speaker 1: taking that credit, but I texted her the second I
Speaker 1: found out that we were both up for Best New Artists,
Speaker 1: and I was like, we're going to Hollywood and yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I was just like astounded that I got
Speaker 1: nominated in that category. But also it's so cool to
Speaker 1: like have this full circle moment with artists like Keith
Speaker 1: where you took me out on tour and now we're
Speaker 1: both up for Best Album and to be in these
Speaker 1: categories with like Thomas Rhett and I don't know, it's
Speaker 1: like it's so cool to see these like buddies of mine. Um,
Speaker 1: like we all are coming up together, and especially artists
Speaker 1: like Kelsey. It's like we are in this class of
Speaker 1: new artists and it's cool to have these wins and
Speaker 1: whoever wins that night, um honestly, like it sounds cliche,
Speaker 1: but I do think just being nominated, I mean, think
Speaker 1: about the thousands of write in forms um entries that
Speaker 1: were given to these awards shows and the Grammys, and
Speaker 1: you think about they narrowed it down to five and
Speaker 1: that's like a huge win in itself. Vote I voted
Speaker 1: last night. I had a mail bag. Yeah, did you
Speaker 1: have to overnight it. Yeah. Yeah, it was like I
Speaker 1: cut it really close, um, because I've I've been gone
Speaker 1: like for the last few weeks. Um. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: voted the day before yesterday. I'll keep all the country
Speaker 1: stuff out of it, but I voted for Adele on
Speaker 1: about every single pop he did. Yeah. I think Hello
Speaker 1: should have won just about every yeah, major song or
Speaker 1: pop category. Yeah. I mean that was like the biggest
Speaker 1: song of last year for sure. I mean they just
Speaker 1: engulfed all of all time and space, Yeah, YouTube, radio, everything.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a showdown, I think. I think it's
Speaker 1: going to be. I mean the thing about Beyonce's though
Speaker 1: hers didn't crossover as much into just the regular mainstream well,
Speaker 1: people walking down the street, every dude who is forty
Speaker 1: eight years old new Hello. Oh yeah. Yeah. In just
Speaker 1: terms of like knowing music and it being commercial, yeah
Speaker 1: for sure. I mean Adele sold eight million copies. I
Speaker 1: think of school, yeah too. I mean she's doing it
Speaker 1: from a place of and she reaches I think a
Speaker 1: wider age spectrum to like you go to her show
Speaker 1: and you see people like our age and then you
Speaker 1: see nine year olds. They're both winners. Let's not Liveners.
Speaker 1: They're they're doing all right, Mike and the un asked
Speaker 1: and before we wrap her up, how do you get
Speaker 1: the call to do SNL? What happens? Um? So the
Speaker 1: way that happened was after the c M A S.
Speaker 1: I think the talent booker for SNL he saw my
Speaker 1: performance and it was so last minute because they were
Speaker 1: trying to find the last two or three artists for
Speaker 1: their last few shows of the season, and they reached
Speaker 1: out to me because they had they had heard about
Speaker 1: me for you know, the whole year. It's like Helton
Speaker 1: finally he put the word in. Um. Yeah, all those
Speaker 1: like TV talent bookers know each other and they're all
Speaker 1: like vying for the new artists or whoever. It's like
Speaker 1: very competitive and like crazy. But SNL is such um
Speaker 1: an esteemed music breaking show, and they have fewer episodes
Speaker 1: than like obviously Good Morning America blah blah blah, Jimmy
Speaker 1: Fallon um that they they're just so picky and they
Speaker 1: don't really have country artists on their all that often.
Speaker 1: I think the last country artist they had Margot Price
Speaker 1: this year and then Stapleton and yeah, yeah, I always
Speaker 1: get nervous for live stuff just because it's live and
Speaker 1: I don't know, with SNL, it's just so legendary. Did
Speaker 1: it in Like I'm a huge comedy guy, so for me,
Speaker 1: but even I used of the music that's been broken
Speaker 1: there that you walk around looking the pictures in the
Speaker 1: walls and take it in. Yeah, I looked at the pictures,
Speaker 1: Like in my dressing room was all the musical guests
Speaker 1: that had been there, and um yeah, just walking down
Speaker 1: the hallway and seeing these cast pictures from every season
Speaker 1: and seeing like you know, the Will Ferrell's and then
Speaker 1: um seeing like I don't know, there's so many um
Speaker 1: down the hallway and like the first cast and like
Speaker 1: seventy five having like Dan Ackroyd and Chevy Chase. It
Speaker 1: was so cool to see the history. And then you know,
Speaker 1: I'm I've just started like getting into Dirty Rock and
Speaker 1: it walking the hallways of SNL and like NBC Rockefeller,
Speaker 1: like it's just crazy to feel like you're in that
Speaker 1: show and it's just yeah, like seeing Keenan walk by,
Speaker 1: You're like, oh my god, Like Bobby moynahan like doing
Speaker 1: the thank you at the end and like turning around
Speaker 1: and talking to the cast and you're like you're Bobby moynahan.
Speaker 1: And then we went to the after party and it
Speaker 1: was already so late, like way past my bedtime, and
Speaker 1: um we went to the restaurant where it was at
Speaker 1: and we just like sort of formed our own party
Speaker 1: at the after party, like my friends and the band
Speaker 1: and stuff. And then we, uh, We're like, oh crap,
Speaker 1: it's like four in the morning. We're like we need
Speaker 1: to go, and UM, I was like, I'm gonna just
Speaker 1: check to see who's left in here, and it was
Speaker 1: Vanessa Bear, who was so cool, and then Lauren Michaels
Speaker 1: out at four and I We've been running around the
Speaker 1: past two days like at s NL that and the
Speaker 1: cast is everywhere, but I never saw Lauren, but everyone
Speaker 1: else in my camp did, like they were like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: he's just always hanging know, he's watching every skit, and um,
Speaker 1: I was like, I haven't. I haven't gotten to meet
Speaker 1: him yet. And I'm just a huge fan. He's just
Speaker 1: a legend. And so I I was like, do I
Speaker 1: need to walk over? Like I'm gonna walk over. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna do it. He's with his family, I think,
Speaker 1: and it's four am and he's still rocking at this
Speaker 1: after party and it's winding down, obviously, but I go
Speaker 1: over and he sees me walking towards him and he's like,
Speaker 1: oh hey, he's like a great job tonight, that was awesome,
Speaker 1: thank you for being here. And I said, well, thank
Speaker 1: you for having us. I mean, this is truly like
Speaker 1: we'll never forget this. This has been a dream on
Speaker 1: all of our bucket lists. And he was like, you
Speaker 1: live in Nashville, right, My daughter goes to school there.
Speaker 1: And we just chatted for like a minute, and then
Speaker 1: I was like, I'll leave you back to your your dinner,
Speaker 1: but um, thank you for having us. And I walked
Speaker 1: out and I was like, I cannot believe the last
Speaker 1: person I saw in this place was Lorne Michaels. And
Speaker 1: but he's been doing the show for so long. That's
Speaker 1: their schedule except for a brief period of time, the
Speaker 1: whole time, like he started it and came back, then
Speaker 1: when it went down, he came back, and so he's
Speaker 1: used to just staying up that mare and it's good
Speaker 1: to have you. This has been fun for it's been
Speaker 1: fun for me. I have a wall of people that
Speaker 1: I really root for it, and I don't keep them
Speaker 1: all up there, but I have I just noticed this
Speaker 1: Jansen and the little big town guys and Passway and
Speaker 1: Keith and Kelsey and on the bottom. The latest one
Speaker 1: is a hero a vinyl from you, so so cool
Speaker 1: you always got a friend. Well, I'm glad that we
Speaker 1: got to do this. I've been wanting to for a while.
Speaker 1: You get too big. I couldn't get it, couldn't get
Speaker 1: you in glow trotting all over the world. I congratulations
Speaker 1: on this so fun. Thank you Marion Morris, and buy
Speaker 1: the record and if you hear this one, the next
Speaker 1: record is out. It's fantastic, because second record is amazing.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're hearing this then it trust me,
Speaker 1: it's just as good a European dance rock. She finally
Speaker 1: did it, fantastic redid the Dinosaurs song So episode thirty one.
Speaker 1: Gonna go Marion Morris and we'll see you got next time.
Speaker 1: Thanksas