WEBVTT - BONUS EPISODE: Catie Offerman Interview 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.680 On the Bobby Bones Show. Now, Katie, Katie, I was 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:08.119 watching some stuff that maybe you'd put online, some old videos, 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:12.400 and any fiddle player that I know like that dominates. 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:16.000 They're they're what they do musically, right, most of them 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:18.480 if they're a fiddle player, like first and foremost. I 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:20.880 was very surprised to see you killing a fiddle because 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:24.400 I and that, and that is a massive compliment because 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:27.319 I went through and we've been playing, you know, some 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:29.320 of your music on the Women of Our Country and 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.040 the Country Top thirty, Like I program both of those shows, 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.120 and so I've been awesome. I've been a fan of 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.800 your music, and I've watched some of your videos where 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:38.520 you play live. I was just so shocked to see 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.239 you play a fiddle, because you don't. That's usually the 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.320 person's thing. I know. You know, it's such an interesting 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.600 thing because, um, I grew up playing instruments as opposed 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:50.960 to singing and doing my own thing. Um you know, 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.520 people always ask like, oh, what all interests do you play? Whatever? 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:55.200 It's like I have to categorize them by what I'm 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.960 willing to get paid for and for me, like that's 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:02.120 fiddle and you know me backumuss of a guitar, but 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:03.840 fiddle has just always been my main thing. Like I 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.080 grew up playing in polka bands and playing fiddle in 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:09.160 a German dress and like you know, all that it 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:12.520 is the normal stuff. And so for me, it's like 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:14.040 I had to learn when I came to Nashville and 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:16.920 when I started my own thing, like where does that 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.200 fit in what I do? Did you purposefully not want 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.320 to be a You're a fiddle player, obviously, but did 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:26.240 you not want to be known because there's not a 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:28.240 lot of art There's a couple that are really good 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.760 with the fiddle, there's not a lot of artists who 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.600 play the fiddle upfront. I think for me, it was 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.800 really important that people focus on what I have to 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:40.280 say and who I am as an artist, and that 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:44.560 be kind of like a spice that I added, you know, 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:47.520 and it not be in my pictures or something that 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:50.280 I'm like, I'm Katie, I'm the fiddle chick. You know. 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:53.000 I wanted to be like if you were to go 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:57.400 see gosh, I mean, even somebody like let's just say 0:01:57.440 --> 0:01:59.800 Taylor Swift, like somebody that everybody is kind of you know, 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:03.160 into of the years, if suddenly like mid set, they 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:05.559 picked up a fiddle and they played blow your mind 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:07.600 like on one song. And here's the thing too, It's 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.160 not about just pick up the fiddle. It's the difference 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:14.639 to me of playing something like Alison Crosswood versus like 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:16.520 I'm not. I'm You're never gonna catch me playing dead 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:19.600 one down in Georgia mid set, like please kill me 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.079 before that happens. And yes, I've done it too many 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.640 times and I'm over it. But for me, it's like, 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:28.239 while it will never be the forefront, it will never 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.720 be I'll never be the fiddle chick the fiddle, and 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:34.200 just my musicality is way too deep rooted in my 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:35.840 life and my career and who I am as a 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:39.120 person to ever completely neglect that. You know, yeah, it's awesome. 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:41.600 I mean it's kind of like the Lizzo flute thing, 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:44.600 right where what you pulls out the flute, you're like, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.359 what the crap? Who even plays the flute? And she's 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.240 so good at it You're like wow. But anyway, that's 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.240 the feeling that I got because I was not expecting 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:53.680 to see you on a stage grab a fiddle and 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:55.639 tear it apart, and it was awesome. Well thanks, I 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:57.960 appreciate that. Think that is a massive compliment you. When 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.040 you grew up in Texas, Yeah, loved it. You spent 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.400 time there that you know makes every text and happy 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.280 a lot. So near New Bronfels. Yeah, I grew up 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:08.760 in a ranch outside New Bronfels, born and rais was 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:12.880 there my whole life, Um, up until moving to college. 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:15.760 You know, and to me, like, I mean, Texas is 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:17.359 obviously a huge part of who I am as well. 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:19.440 I feel like that comes in my out my music 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:22.840 and um, even though I played all these different genres 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.440 like country music, I feel like you have to love 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:28.040 country music you're from Texas, but like that's what my 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.600 foundation was built on. Um, you grew up on a ranch. 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:35.320 So did you have to go out and I don't 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:40.320 know before you got to play the field. Yes, all right, 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:45.320 so tam I. But um, my husband two weeks ago 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.600 was like, you know, people have been talking about this 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:49.640 like raw milk thing. You know, I think it's like 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:51.280 pretty hit, Maybe I should try it. So we like 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.280 go to the Charlotte Farmer's market, we buy the raw milk, 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:56.280 and he's telling me how it's going to change my life. 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.280 I'm like, cool, I'm probably I'm not a huge dairy person. 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.480 But um, so that in the process of doing that, 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:05.760 He's like, well, have you ever tried it? I'm like, yes, 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:10.040 straight from the goat. I would go out, I just 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.440 take the utter and I put it straight to my mouth. 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:14.920 I can't even believe I'm telling you this, because that 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.320 does that seems so far from the person that I 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:20.479 am today. Um, but like I was that girl, Like 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:24.160 I'm like, I want to be unpopular, you know, let 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:25.440 me tell you how to do it. Grow up on 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:28.599 a ranch, be homeschooled, being only child. You're best friends 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:32.599 are your goats, and you play music. You were homeschooled 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.440 on the ranch. Who was your teacher? My dad? And 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:39.640 what was his expertise? The best attitude? What is not 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.680 his expertise? If you talk to him. Um, you know 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.800 at the time he was a horse trainer. And so 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:47.920 we grew up like just kind of a simple life. 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:52.360 And I was homeschooled the attack room of our barn um, 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.400 you know, like just being homeschool being only child. Like 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.440 it's funny now, because I think that's the problem with 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.240 kind of like social media and just it's easy to 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.160 assume things about people and see my life on there 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:06.560 and be like, oh, man, looks like she's you know, 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:09.359 doing the thing, must be cool whatever. And it's like, 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:12.640 deep inside, I'm still kind of like that twelve year 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:15.359 old that's out of the ranch, that's just kind of 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:18.159 like by myself, just kind of doing my thing and 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:22.880 like not cool at all, you know. And I'm just 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:25.080 so lucky that my dad homeschool me, because I think 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:28.919 if my mom had, I would have been a horrible person. 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:31.840 Think she would have stressed me out. Love her, but 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.359 not in the classroom. Did you guys have a music class? 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.440 Did you do anything like that? You know, my parents 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.120 are not musical at all, So then how are you 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.839 so musical if they're not? Man, I don't know. Maybe, yeah, 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.840 just kind of got lucky. I think that for me 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:52.640 is like we grew up going to church, you know, 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.360 and I'd see the old gal at the front. It's 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:58.240 nothing special to me. Yeah, I mean now I go 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:00.000 to a big church and it's like the light show 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:03.040 and the whole deal. I'm into it. I definitely wouldn't 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:04.600 want to go back to my small church. But it's 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:08.839 crazy how far like you know that even just going 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:10.600 to that Presbyterian Church when I was a little kid, 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.080 like the one person when old playing piano inspired me, 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:17.160 and I just remember asking my parents like mll it's 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:18.599 kind of cool, like I want to do that, and 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:20.719 they were supportive to help you do it, so supportive. 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.920 They're the best. You know. I really couldn't be and 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.320 do all the things that I do without having all 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:30.760 their support over the years, and like, yeah, I think 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.720 it's just been a game changer for me, even just emotionally, 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:36.479 like to have that support. So you grew up playing 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:41.320 the fiddle obviously the accordion. Yeah, so the accordion, that's 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:44.479 something like that's like the cool attention I've been thinking. 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:45.960 You know. The funny thing is I have my old 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.320 according at the house and it's broken. Your house here, 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.240 you're back in Texas. No, it's here. Oh if you 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:53.880 brought that in and played on our show, that I 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.680 would be I'd be better than a Garth performance. See, 0:06:57.240 --> 0:06:59.080 all right, we've added to the fiddle to this set. 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:02.440 We've not out of the accordion. Hilarious and awesome and 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.600 tough and hard to play. It's all the combination. It's 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.280 a lot, man, I'm not saying no, so maybe sometime 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.400 we'll do that together. But it's funny because my according 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:13.920 all the buttons on the left are stuck and it's 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:17.320 just got It sounds like just the worst. And so 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:19.880 I was thinking recently, like, you know what, maybe it 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.840 should just like go on Amazon and like order some 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.160 like cruddy just cheap like little you know, maybe I 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.480 learned the button box because I feel like that would 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:27.960 be so fun to bring out to a show for 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:30.800 one song. People wouldn't even they wouldn't know what. They 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:32.840 would be like, what is happening? Yeah, it would be 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.720 awesome because you would surprise folks and give up something 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:39.640 they haven't seen before, no one's ever played. There might 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.400 be a reason for that. No, I take it back, Um, 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:45.440 the Texas Twist Eddie, who was it became Tim mc 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.920 graw brought in the Texas Tornadoes. Oh they played Texas Tornadoes. Yeah, 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.120 Oh that's what it was. And they brought in an accordion. Yeah, 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:53.600 the whole group it was, and it was awesome, And 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.239 I was like, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.720 restaurant in Mariachi. Right, man, you've only seen them more. 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:02.400 You need to give him out to a polka show. Sometimes, 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:03.960 I've never been to a polka show. We went to 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.640 a bar in Vegas, right, Eddie wants it was polka. 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:12.240 Oh that's German. Yeah they did yeah, yeah and polka bar. Yeah. 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:14.800 I don't know, I just know it was fun. Yeah. 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.240 It was like green. It's very green. Yeah, green, and 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:22.880 people are going to put it's a good time. You know. 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.080 People drink a lot of beer, you a lot of sour. 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:30.480 Crimean man, I remember when I was like twelve eleven, 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:32.920 twelve thirteen on the road with his polka band, Like, 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:34.840 I've never eaten more. You went in the road with 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:36.959 a polka ban when you were twelve or thirteen, for sure, 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:42.040 Like he doesn't. I mean, man, I'll tell you this. 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.920 Up until like when I moved to Nashville six years ago, 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:47.560 I used to play with this guy back in Texas. 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:49.280 His name was Terry Cavanaugh, and he was like the 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:51.920 reason why I started playing shows because I was playing 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:54.520 all these instruments, but it was, you know, primarily either 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:59.000 classical base or kind of gospel bluegrass, and for me, 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.199 like all the the only potential I saw in my 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:03.520 musicality was either playing in an orchestra or like playing 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:07.400 at home or playing kind of at the church. But 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.400 when I started taking according lessons from Terry, he was like, man, 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.600 you should do in my polka band. And so Terry 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:15.840 and I long story short, played together for a long time. 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:17.800 We kind of ended up having a falling out, I 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:22.400 think because he saw me leaving the polka industry or whatever. 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.000 And you know, it was just I looked one day, 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:26.760 I woke up and I looked in my closet and 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:29.640 I realized I didn't have any clothes. Like, I'd never 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:35.000 wore jeans to a gig. I wore a diurnal And 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:38.400 so anyway, years went by. Terry and I didn't really 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:40.280 you know, talk much. I was doing my thing. He 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:42.680 was still playing polka music, and he was like in 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.320 his sixties. When I moved to Nashville, you know, starting 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:51.480 out semi desperate, and Terry calls me and he was like, hey, 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:53.360 I know it's been a while. Do you want to 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:56.640 make some extra money? Like heck yeah. So we would 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.640 go play these secret polka gigs over Auprey Mills at 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.000 the Brow Beer Garden. So I'd be there like every Tuesday, 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:05.080 so and I'd be like, please, God, let me not 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.440 see anybody. I know. Um, So I did that until 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:10.080 I started seeing people out that I knew and I 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.880 was like, you need to stop. So the funniest thing 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:17.640 about that is that is now the coolest thing that 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:21.679 you would that you have that skill. No, but it's 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.360 so not cool that it's super cool, Like it's because 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:25.920 I just don't know anything about It's why I say 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:27.920 it's not cool. I know that there's like a tuba 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:30.360 and people aren't suspenders and people going up and down 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:36.600 like the yes whatever idea suspenders that is, so I 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:40.960 think that, uh yeah, it's just totally shape too. I 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.840 am and um got me this place, Like I would 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:45.880 never do it any other way that, you know, awesome. 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.040 I'd recommend to anybody go play some polka music and 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.360 come back. You play the mandolin, wicked piano, all these instruments. 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:53.560 So you could you decide to go to music school? Yep? 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.000 Do you go to school for the instrument or for 0:10:56.040 --> 0:11:00.320 your voice? So I didn't really find my voice for 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.200 a while, you know, That's kind of what came last 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:03.960 and so for me, like I was still kind of 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:06.360 figuring out my deal when I went to college. I 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:08.080 went up to Berkeley when I was sixteen, I had 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.800 already started college at that point sixteen, so you were 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.520 finishing earlier because at homeschool you did all your stuff early. Yeah, 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:15.439 that's kind of a long story. I ended up starting 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.400 college like a few years before I went to Berkeley, 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:21.320 so I was super young and it's kind of a 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:23.440 crazy opportunity I had, and so I kind of ran 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:26.960 with it. And I was like fifteen amar in college. 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:28.760 It took a year off school, was just playing like 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:30.959 western swing gigs around Texas, and I'm like, what do 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.640 I want to do with my life? And this loser 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.240 guy I was playing with at the time handed me 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.600 this Berkeley like pamphlet thing. It was like I'm not 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:43.600 gonna go, like you should go. I'm like okay. So anyway, 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:48.600 I ended up there and you graduated. I actually graduated, yeah, graduate. 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:52.120 I was nineteen, And I say those were kind of 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:53.760 like the bonus years of my life because I got 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:57.320 to go and like moved to la and get told 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.360 no like a million times for a couple of years, 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:02.120 and it was like, what was your degree? It wasn't fiddle? 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:04.360 So I did go for fiddle. Wasn't for voice? Do 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.320 they have fiddle and violin a different no, No, it's 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:09.360 it's all the same. I just feel like fiddle makes 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:12.520 me seem like a like you want to be my friend, 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.319 you know, it's more approachable, like, oh, I play the 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:18.600 fiddle and say like, oh I play the violin. Yeah, 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:20.520 and I you know, the same thing I would say 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.520 if you were selling I agree with that statementing play 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:26.040 because it fidd was warmer, right, like some biscuits. Right 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:32.200 if you were someone who wasn't believable as a country artist, 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:33.760 because there will people they're like, oh, like, how country 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:35.880 I am? And You're like, you never know. This is 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:37.440 just a game to you're trying to make into music, 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:38.800 and this is where you think you have the best shot. 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:41.719 But you are so freaking country that it doesn't. I mean, 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:43.679 you know, you could say I'm playing the cello, we'd 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:47.680 be like as a country cello. Yeah. You know That's 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:51.680 the thing. It's like, I've never had to um sell 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:53.840 that part of me. You know. It's like even I've 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:56.880 lived in Boston, I've lived in la you know, I've 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:59.560 traveled all of the world and I'm not you know, 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:01.679 there are other parts of me that are not just 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:05.840 that girl on the ranch, you know. But um but like, 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:07.839 like I said, that's always even my foundation, like a 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.560 group listening to Bob Wills and Ray Price and people 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:13.560 that you're saying earlier about do you know this song? 0:13:13.600 --> 0:13:16.240 Because you know you're probably too young for him, Like man, 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.680 the older, I'm more likely to know it. You know? 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.280 Is that because of your parents at all? You say 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:24.959 they weren't music but a lot of music, you know. 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:27.440 I feel like I really listened to that with my grandparents. 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.240 Like my grandfather would just trying records, you know. And 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:32.280 he's the reason why I started playing fiddle, because he 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:35.080 was like, ah, they're gonna go to poun shop today 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.760 and buy a fiddle and try to play because you know, 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:40.680 he played violin in high school. Which is that weird 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:42.920 that I say violin and fiddle in the same sentence, 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.280 because I mean I can differentiate and what even what 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:50.280 you mean by yeah difference? There's a style difference when 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:52.360 you say the two. Yeah, it's a stylistic thing. I 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:55.439 feel like it's the kind of person you are, um 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.319 like are you wearing jeans? Are you wearing like trousers? 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.800 Like you know, it's like just different different kinds of people, 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.280 different kinds of whatever. I like fiddle vests. But um, 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.240 he took me to the punch shop and it was like, 0:14:07.360 --> 0:14:09.720 we're gonna get a fiddle, and he brought it home 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:11.640 try to play. He was in his eighties and so 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.720 he's like, man, I got two bad arthritis in my hands, 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:16.880 and so he gave the fiddle to me. It was like, 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.320 you can do something with this. So that's something I 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:24.600 always hold on to, and that's what keeps me always, 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:26.760 you know, at the end of the day, keeping that 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:29.680 in what I do. So because I think it's important 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:31.880 to keep the fiddle alive and know that that's a 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:34.960 huge part of who I am. I'm more of let's 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:45.440 keep the Yeah, all right, I'm working on that, so 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:50.120 we'll see. How How would you describe your journey to 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:52.400 Nashville because it sounds like there are a lot of 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:57.040 really interesting character building stops along the way. Yeah. I 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:01.680 think the the biggest, um maybe time period of my 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.760 life that really taught me a lot of lessons and 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:06.840 made me grow up a lot was living in la 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:10.520 after college because I wasn't I really wasn't playing on 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.000 I'm moving out there and I was gonna go either 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:15.920 back to Texas do some kind of a Texas scene 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:17.880 thing and come here. I was just gonna come here 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:25.600 and I met Simon Fuller, who created American Idol. He 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:29.000 happened to be at a show I played, and I 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:33.280 was backing up a few different people, but Annie Lennox 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.280 was one of those people and who he I don't 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:37.800 know if he still manages, but it was managing her 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.320 at the time. And he came up to me afterwards 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:42.600 and was like, you know, what are you doing with 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:44.960 your life? And I'm like, well, I don't know. I'm 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.040 fixing a graduate and we're gonna see what happens. And 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:51.680 that anyway, that all brought me out to LA and 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:53.680 I'd finally just so scared, I'm gonna go out there 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.280 and just kind of chase this thing, you know, us 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.520 moved out well, he said we were gonna do music, 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.280 you know, but he was coming up with a show, 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:03.440 or he had come up with a show that was 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:04.840 going to take the place of Idol. And this is 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:08.480 when Idol, I guess was before it came back. And 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:10.080 because this has been several years ago, I was ten 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:12.960 years ago. And he was like, I think it would 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:14.240 be great if you were the host of the show. 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.560 And then we made your music kind of throughout the 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.320 whole thing, and so I'm like, god, cool, you know. 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.800 Suddenly I was being picked up in black cars, like 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:25.920 from my apartment in Boston. I was saying, the airport 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.240 flu like I'd meet him in New York at the 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.640 Plaza Hotel. Like everything felt very glamorous, flown out to 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:36.640 La you know. I mean, I was just like, Wow, 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:41.360 what is happening with my life? And then as time 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:46.040 pass passes, you realize, like things don't fall through. They 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:49.160 fall through, they don't happen, you know. And I hadn't 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.560 learned that yet in life because I was so used 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.120 to like play a gig, do a good job, get 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:56.560 hired back, you know, and like these little baby steps. 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.280 But it seemed like out there it was like do 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:03.560 this and tomorrow we'll put you on a billboard or 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:07.439 you know whatever. Everything was so grandiose that after a 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:11.160 while the show didn't go through. I was having to pay. 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:12.760 They told me, we're going to put you in classes 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:15.240 to be a TV host. We'll let you pay to 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.000 go have this gal, get rid of your accent, you know, 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.639 like all these different things, and I'm like all I 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.959 lost there was my money, and it's just funny. It's 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.679 like all these different things that totally weren't me. But 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:30.679 I wouldn't do it any other way because, you know, 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.920 looking back now, like that shaved me so much. And 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:36.760 I ended up partning ways with Simon. I pretty much 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:38.600 just told him, like, I need to go find me. 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:43.720 You know, you can't do that, and I stayed out there. 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.560 It was kind of having like a you know, feeling 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:48.920 like I was in crisis modus twenty one years old. 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.120 I had broken up with this manager that I thought 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:56.600 was going to change my life, and I said, screw it. 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:58.479 So I went to Europe and I wrote for several 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:02.960 months and came back, got offered a record deal on 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:06.159 Sony with those songs i'd written they were so god awful. 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:13.159 And finally realize the importance of getting told no a 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.840 thousand times but knowing when to say no to a yes, 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:20.639 you know. And I realized, like, if I stayt here 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:23.280 any longer, I'm gonna get stuck in something I don't like. 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:29.080 I'm gonna be wearing some some probably like slutty leotard, 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.480 I'm gonna have sparkles falling from the sky, and it's 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.360 just I'm gonna be so unhappy, you know, or I 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:40.280 can figure out why I do music and what I 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:44.160 do it for, and you know the route to who 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.119 I am. And so I realized I cried for like 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.679 a month, and I moved to Nashville. And so I 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:52.280 say that that that little portion of my life, that 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.840 chapter taught me the most. Now I don't get excited 0:18:55.920 --> 0:19:01.920 by anything, like what's even exciting food Going to a 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:03.879 good restaurant that gets any food that's in front of 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:05.280 you right then you know you can eat it for sure, 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:07.280 right right, right right, because you may get there and 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:09.400 it's all the menu that happens too. First day I'll 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:11.080 go on yelp and look and be like, oh, awesome, 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:13.000 they got those crispy brussels, you know. And then I'll 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:17.280 go and be like, yeah, well those brussels. Yeah, I'm like, no, 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:22.159 ma'am u. So yeah, And just like finding contentment in 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:25.040 the journey because I realized what I learned from La 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:30.239 was it like I what I'd see work in the 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.639 past was just the blood, sweat and tears of showing 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.879 up being a good human, playing a show, whether it 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:39.120 was polka music, whether it's a country you know, whether 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.640 there's one person or ten thousand, and it was just 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:46.000 showing up every day and doing it again the next day. 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:48.479 UM So I feel like that's kind of the mindset 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:50.360 I'd try to get back into when I moved to town. 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:52.720