Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. It's Bobby Bones here with another episode
Speaker 1: of Unsigned and Independent. We do this show, so maybe
Speaker 1: you find some new music to listen to. Maybe you
Speaker 1: find new artists to support if they're playing a show.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to buy some merch because that's a
Speaker 1: big deal to artists too, because that's money that they
Speaker 1: actually get they get to pay their bills with. And
Speaker 1: this is another episode of that show with Kevin O'Connell
Speaker 1: aka kick Off Kevin. So we're talking about Ali Kick
Speaker 1: Ali was on the voice and she said she didn't
Speaker 1: have the best experience because she didn't really fit the
Speaker 1: mold of what they were looking for when it comes
Speaker 1: to a dramatic story, because they are, I can tell
Speaker 1: you from experience, always.
Speaker 2: Looking for a good storyline.
Speaker 1: She stopped playing on Broadway the street here about a
Speaker 1: year ago, and she now focuses on music and also
Speaker 1: to make money. She's a real estate leasing agent, so
Speaker 1: she was selling phone book ads when she first moved
Speaker 1: here in twenty sixteen, so she could pay the bills
Speaker 1: in order to make music, which is a very common
Speaker 1: theme with pretty much all the artists unless they come
Speaker 1: from like a ton of family money that happens sometimes too,
Speaker 1: but most artists have to grind do two jobs until
Speaker 1: they make it. And I wanted you guys to hear
Speaker 1: this interview with Ali Keck, so here we go. She
Speaker 1: moved to Nashville to chase her dream. Check her out
Speaker 1: on social media, but she says she has a love
Speaker 1: hate relationship with social media because she moved here before
Speaker 1: that was a big part of what she was doing
Speaker 1: and now she's had to kind of adapt and adopt.
Speaker 3: But you can't follow her.
Speaker 1: Ali Keck Music A L L I E K E
Speaker 1: C K Ali Keck Music. Enjoy support if you can.
Speaker 1: Here's another episode of Unsigned and Independent with Kickoff Kevin.
Speaker 4: Ali. How are you doing?
Speaker 3: I'm good?
Speaker 4: How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm doing good? Glad we got to get together again.
Speaker 2: This is not the first time we've met in person.
Speaker 2: The first time we met was at Whiskey Jam. Actually, yes,
Speaker 2: maybe what a few months ago during the summer at
Speaker 2: some point, and I remember hearing you play and I
Speaker 2: was like, I gotta just see what her story is about,
Speaker 2: you know, because I have this podcast and this is
Speaker 2: what I love to do. I love to see these
Speaker 2: artists that go out and play at these local venues,
Speaker 2: especially a whiskey jam, which is great, and then kind
Speaker 2: of find out more about you. So I went up
Speaker 2: to you and I said, hey, how you doing. We
Speaker 2: talked a little bit and then you said you're on
Speaker 2: the Voice, and so this is what drew me to you,
Speaker 2: and I want to jump right into it, your experience
Speaker 2: on the Voice. I've had a couple of people in
Speaker 2: here that have been on the Voice and they've talked
Speaker 2: about how great their experience was and how it was
Speaker 2: all you know, daisies and dandelions great, and you kind
Speaker 2: of said you enjoyed your experience with a great experience
Speaker 2: and good exposure for you, but it wasn't exactly what
Speaker 2: you expected. Am I saying that right? Or can you
Speaker 2: explain that more?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I think I met some wonderful people, and the people
Speaker 4: who are running the show are wonderful. I think what
Speaker 4: I struggled with the most was COVID. There was like
Speaker 4: quite a few COVID rules and things like that that
Speaker 4: resulted in you know, you kind of had to be isolated.
Speaker 4: So it wasn't as wasn't as much fun as I
Speaker 4: thought it would be. And then when it came down
Speaker 4: to I mean I think at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: they're casting a television show and it's a contest on
Speaker 4: it's basically around a television show. More so so I
Speaker 4: wasn't exactly I didn't exactly have like the story that
Speaker 4: they were looking for, and so I struggled with that,
Speaker 4: and I think that's why part of the reason I
Speaker 4: maybe left a little earlier than I would have.
Speaker 2: Liked to what, I mean, what is that story?
Speaker 4: Then?
Speaker 2: What is what is your story? Were you too vanilla
Speaker 2: from maybe yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I maybe that was it. I don't know if
Speaker 3: it was.
Speaker 4: It just had something to do with like I didn't
Speaker 4: really have any drama to give them, or like a
Speaker 4: maybe just there's could be something with being too relatable.
Speaker 4: I don't know, Like it was just I have all
Speaker 4: four of my grandparents. I'm very blessed to like not
Speaker 4: even have to deal with anything really sad, Like I'm
Speaker 4: very privileged, and I just kind of didn't really have
Speaker 4: I didn't really have anything a SOB story. I didn't
Speaker 4: really have anything too exciting. It was kind of like
Speaker 4: I was a real estate agent by day and a
Speaker 4: rock star at night. And the amount of real estate
Speaker 4: agents I know on Broadway is insane. I'm not the
Speaker 4: only one, so I think I just wasn't as like
Speaker 4: special as they'd like.
Speaker 2: Did you ever feel any pressure to feel like maybe
Speaker 2: I should try to act like I'm somebody else just
Speaker 2: to fit that mold and be able to stick around
Speaker 2: a little longer than I want to, or then I
Speaker 2: guess that they're gonna have me here.
Speaker 4: Uh, yes, one hundred percent. I mean people all the
Speaker 4: time are like, well, why don't you just make up
Speaker 4: a story? Because it wasn't the first time I had
Speaker 4: auditioned for these shows, so this was probably the sixth time. Wow,
Speaker 4: I had done this one, and then I think I've
Speaker 4: done American Idol about seven times. So just my dad
Speaker 4: and I would go for fun when I was younger,
Speaker 4: and obviously, you know when I was younger. I can
Speaker 4: blame it on that, like I was just not ready
Speaker 4: for it. And I think maybe I was a little
Speaker 4: bit more seasoned with because I had really picked up
Speaker 4: on Broadway playing more often, and that's probably why initially
Speaker 4: I made it this time. But yeah, I think when
Speaker 4: it came down to it, I just couldn't even people
Speaker 4: were like, oh, you should just make up a story,
Speaker 4: make up this you know, and I'm I'm seen people
Speaker 4: get in trouble for that, so really when it came yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: there's a few articles you can look up where people
Speaker 4: have made up stories to get on these shows and
Speaker 4: then they figure out it's true and yeah, it doesn't
Speaker 4: end well.
Speaker 2: So and now we live in a world where you
Speaker 2: can find out pretty much anything about anybody with a
Speaker 2: nice Google search or some type of Instagram or social media,
Speaker 2: whatever it might be. So you've been going at it
Speaker 2: for a long time. Then you said, as a kid
Speaker 2: you were trying out for all these shows. Yes, how
Speaker 2: old were you? You're very first one. Do you remember fifteen? Wow?
Speaker 4: Because when I turned fifteen, they had actually changed the
Speaker 4: age at American Idol. It was around the justin Bieber time,
Speaker 4: and like I watched all these boys with bowld haircuts
Speaker 4: get sent through and they were like, you know, don't
Speaker 4: sing the Adele song. Like they were just like being
Speaker 4: particular about what they wanted at the time. And my
Speaker 4: dad and I waited in line all day and we
Speaker 4: did that again like I think the next year and
Speaker 4: the year after that, and then we started doing like
Speaker 4: the they started doing the bus tours that would go
Speaker 4: to the state Fair.
Speaker 3: We did that. I did online stuff, you name it.
Speaker 2: I've yeah, wow, was this all in? You're from Illinois?
Speaker 2: Where what's city?
Speaker 4: So I'm from a town called ne Yoga, but it's
Speaker 4: right outside of like Effingham area, if you're familiar with that,
Speaker 4: but like central southern central Illinois.
Speaker 2: Okay, And do these auditions come to you, said of
Speaker 2: state Fair? Or do you have to go to different locations?
Speaker 4: No? So the we would drive to Chicago, we would
Speaker 4: drive to Saint Louis, we would drive the furthest we
Speaker 4: ever went was Milwaukee, and that.
Speaker 3: Was because it came to the State Fair.
Speaker 4: So it was an hour and a half to Springfield
Speaker 4: and that was like the shortest drive. He's you know,
Speaker 4: you just just go figure it out.
Speaker 3: Wait in line. And he went and worked at like
Speaker 3: a coffee shop.
Speaker 4: And that was the one time I made it to
Speaker 4: the second round of like cattle call auditions. And the
Speaker 4: follow up or the callback was in Milwaukee, so we
Speaker 4: had to drive like eight or nine hours.
Speaker 3: It was supposed to be a really easy thing.
Speaker 4: And I was in college at the time, and I
Speaker 4: told one of my professors. I was like, you can't
Speaker 4: tell anyone I'm not going to be in class on Friday.
Speaker 4: He announced it to the entire lecture hall that I
Speaker 4: had a callback from American Idol, and I was just like,
Speaker 4: I was so scared I was gonna get in trouble.
Speaker 3: I didn't even make it through it in the next round.
Speaker 4: But it was just like one of those things where
Speaker 4: it was kind of a disaster the entire time.
Speaker 2: So you have to keep all that on secret, yes, everything, Yes,
Speaker 2: And they tell you that when they call you, Hey,
Speaker 2: this is like our number one rules. You got to
Speaker 2: keep everything a secret. If anything gets leaked, that's pretty
Speaker 2: much a pr nightmare for them right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, for social media purposes, and it makes total sense. Yeah,
Speaker 4: they just they ask you to keep it a secret
Speaker 4: no matter what.
Speaker 2: Process. Absolutely, and filling out some stuff before this, And
Speaker 2: you talked about being a child and stopping people on
Speaker 2: the streets, so this goes way back your auditions, right,
Speaker 2: Can you talk a little bit about that. I need
Speaker 2: to hear more about you being a child stopping people
Speaker 2: in the streets and singing to them.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 4: So my go to song was my Heart Will Go
Speaker 4: on slandy On, which says a lot, but basically, I'm
Speaker 4: from such a small town. I knew who the music
Speaker 4: teacher was, and so I would specifically stop her on
Speaker 4: her walks. And my older sisters would have these parts
Speaker 4: in the spring singing or whatever, and they would sing
Speaker 4: them to practice in front of us, and I would
Speaker 4: learn them and I would stop her and I would
Speaker 4: say them to her to let her know that, like
Speaker 4: when I was in her class, I was ready.
Speaker 3: I was ready for whatever she had to hand to me.
Speaker 4: And for a while I would do that, and then
Speaker 4: I went through this phase where I was really shy
Speaker 4: about it, but she would still give me parts. And
Speaker 4: then like there was a point, I think like in
Speaker 4: the fourth or fifth grade where I actually ended up
Speaker 4: singing like a little big talent song and like just
Speaker 4: ripped into it for the first time in a long time,
Speaker 4: because before I was just doing selindon, no problem. And
Speaker 4: then I got a little shy for a little bit,
Speaker 4: and then it just all came out one day and
Speaker 4: I haven't stopped since.
Speaker 2: So You've loved singing since you can remember, yes, probably
Speaker 2: since you can walk, Yes. And your parents have always
Speaker 2: been the big supporter of you. It sounds like since
Speaker 2: day one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, my dad always says that, you know, we didn't
Speaker 4: travel for sports.
Speaker 3: We traveled more for music and that sort of thing.
Speaker 4: And they still to this day go out in Effingham
Speaker 4: has like a great music scene and they're out like
Speaker 4: every week and no, we're seeing so and so, so
Speaker 4: and so, you know just all the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome. And what was the inspiration, like, like
Speaker 2: what were they listening to? Were maybe some Celine Dion
Speaker 2: or what were they listening to that would inspire you
Speaker 2: that you kind of would take and run with.
Speaker 4: So I kind of got I would say screwed for
Speaker 4: lack of a better word, because my dad would listen
Speaker 4: to Bonnie Rait, he would listen to sha Ka Khan,
Speaker 4: we would listen to like all these female artists. So
Speaker 4: I just thought everybody listened to girls. And I grew
Speaker 4: up and I was like, oh no, like not very
Speaker 4: many people do. And so I was I always tell
Speaker 4: people that, I'm like, I really thought that, like everybody
Speaker 4: listened to females all the time. But but we listened
Speaker 4: to that. We listened to Jackson Brown and the Eagles.
Speaker 4: Then my mom was like Madonna, Michael Jackson all over
Speaker 4: the place. But but yeah, we grew I grew up
Speaker 4: with a lot of female artists in the house, and
Speaker 4: mostly because I'm one of four daughters.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, well my next question, siblings, are you the
Speaker 2: only one that plays any instrument or musically talented at all?
Speaker 4: We all did pet band, like, uh, just we didn't
Speaker 4: have a football team, so we would play at basketball
Speaker 4: game games.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I grew up with no football either. Coming
Speaker 3: to the South was a like in high school. No,
Speaker 3: I didn't have it in high school.
Speaker 4: I went to community college, so I didn't even have
Speaker 4: I didn't go to my first football game until I
Speaker 4: was nineteen.
Speaker 3: What I know? I know, did you crazy?
Speaker 2: Yeah? That just seems that's wild to me. But did
Speaker 2: you know at the time, like growing up, how big
Speaker 2: football was even though you didn't have it, or was
Speaker 2: it just kind of like a foreign thing to you?
Speaker 3: No, I had no idea.
Speaker 4: I knew that it was a thing like in other
Speaker 4: areas in Illinois, like we have it there, but our
Speaker 4: school wasn't big enough. Like we don't even have a track.
Speaker 4: We have a track team that goes to state every year,
Speaker 4: but we don't have a track. They run on the asphalt,
Speaker 4: which or they run on the street, which is why they're.
Speaker 3: Probably so good.
Speaker 2: Wow, yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So honestly, like I, I didn't grow up with football
Speaker 4: like it. When I moved to the South, I did
Speaker 4: not realize like what Saturdays and Sundays looked like here
Speaker 4: at all. And then you know, people will text me, Oh,
Speaker 4: we're going to go watch the game, like one game,
Speaker 4: you know, it's like.
Speaker 2: Who, Like there's twenty of them today, you pick. I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 4: Exactly we're going to this bar because it's you know,
Speaker 4: X bar. I'm like, I don't, okay, cool.
Speaker 3: What color do I wear today? Who? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Who am I a fan of today? Because I just
Speaker 4: really don't have any allegiance to it. But I'm working
Speaker 4: on it.
Speaker 3: I'm learning.
Speaker 4: I'm learning how to be a sevener. I've been here
Speaker 4: seven years, so I need to figure it out that well.
Speaker 2: I mean, it doesn't take very long because I'm from
Speaker 2: southern California and football is big, but the South is
Speaker 2: a whole different ball game. College football in the South
Speaker 2: is a whole different ball game. You go out, like
Speaker 2: you said, to a bar. Every bar has a designated
Speaker 2: school that they're tied to, and all these fans are there.
Speaker 2: It's amazing, but it's definitely an adjustment, especially if you
Speaker 2: have never even been around it.
Speaker 4: So we I went to Illinois State and it was
Speaker 4: the one year that we actually like did pretty well.
Speaker 4: I think I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure
Speaker 4: this is when Colton Underwood was playing for us, and
Speaker 4: I could be making that up.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: That's what we'll go with it with it, but we
Speaker 4: actually ended up doing pretty well. And my friend and
Speaker 4: I end up like on ESPN just like waving to
Speaker 4: the camera, and my Dad's like, you've never even been to.
Speaker 3: A football game? How are you on the TV? How
Speaker 3: are you on the TV right now?
Speaker 2: That's awesome?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So you went to Illinois State and then you came
Speaker 2: straight to Nashville after you graduated.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like a month later.
Speaker 2: You knew the whole time. What did you major in? First?
Speaker 3: I majored in public relations.
Speaker 2: Okay, And did you know in college, I'm going to
Speaker 2: move to Nashville when I'm done here and pursue my
Speaker 2: music career.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because I couldn't get into music school, so I
Speaker 4: ended up just after that kind of fell apart. I
Speaker 4: wanted to be a music therapist, but I didn't know
Speaker 4: enough of the technicality basically behind it to get into school,
Speaker 4: and I was like, Okay, well, if I'm going to
Speaker 4: pursue this, I'll go to Nashville when I'm done here.
Speaker 3: And I didn't know anything, honestly. I moved here.
Speaker 4: I thought Broadway was Music Row and I was telling
Speaker 4: people that I was going to sing on Music Row.
Speaker 2: Yeah, They're like for what label exactly?
Speaker 3: We're like, okay, cool? Where like tutsies.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you've never been You've never heard of it? You said,
Speaker 2: music therapists, Yes, what what is that? What would that?
Speaker 3: So a lot of them work.
Speaker 4: My plan was to work like kind of side by
Speaker 4: side with speech pathologist and help with that or I
Speaker 4: also liked the idea of working with just special needs kids.
Speaker 4: I had always kind of uh volunteered in high school
Speaker 4: doing that and so it was just the thought. And
Speaker 4: it's how like, you know, stroke patients will learn to
Speaker 4: speak again, that sort of thing.
Speaker 2: Interesting. I've never heard of that, but that sounds I mean,
Speaker 2: I think there are Music in general is kind of
Speaker 2: a therapy for all of us in some way, right,
Speaker 2: whether it's a happy therapy or a sad therapy when
Speaker 2: you need it, Has it always been that kind of
Speaker 2: therapy for you?
Speaker 4: Music? Oh? Yeah, I mean especially I've been writing since
Speaker 4: I was sixteen, so just being able to get that
Speaker 4: out on paper, and it was just originally a homework
Speaker 4: assignment from my guitar teacher. He's like, you're gonna go
Speaker 4: home and you're gonna write a song, and then I
Speaker 4: just never stopped.
Speaker 2: Do you remember what song it was?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's called Reasons.
Speaker 4: I think I took it down off of YouTube to
Speaker 4: the chagrin of many people I went to high school with.
Speaker 4: They love it, yes, and it was very Taylor Swift,
Speaker 4: like Taylor Swift was obviously huge, you know. Teardops on
Speaker 4: my guitar was I think eighth grade.
Speaker 2: So yeah, okay, So then you first moved to Nashville.
Speaker 2: What you're a month in? Go back to being a
Speaker 2: month in Nashville? What do you think and what's going on?
Speaker 4: I am working at Ruby Tuesdays. My car has broken
Speaker 4: down the day after I moved here. Oh no, I
Speaker 4: where I think I had maybe had internet for a
Speaker 4: week at that point. I quit Ruby Tuesdays and I
Speaker 4: get a job selling phone book ads in a county
Speaker 4: in Tennessee that doesn't Basically it's twenty sixteen and I'm
Speaker 4: selling phone book.
Speaker 2: Ads going to say, was this nineteen ninety.
Speaker 3: No, it was a lesson my parents let me learn.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, yeah, how do you even How is
Speaker 2: that even a job in twenty sixteen?
Speaker 4: You know, it might still be if you looked hard enough,
Speaker 4: But basically, I it felt like a real job. Like
Speaker 4: they flew me to Chicago for t for a week.
Speaker 4: I came back, and that's actually when I would listen
Speaker 4: to the Bobby Bones show the most, was because I
Speaker 4: was like, I had an hour and a half commute. Wow,
Speaker 4: it was far, and so I would listen to Bobby
Speaker 4: Bones and that was kind of like my first month
Speaker 4: here was just kind of crazy doing that, but that
Speaker 4: was like the one light of my morning of being
Speaker 4: able to listen to that. And then eventually I got
Speaker 4: hired on to do I started leasing apartments and got
Speaker 4: hired at.
Speaker 3: Tutsi's all in the same like weekend, so it was crazy.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's a lot. And then so you're playing downtown
Speaker 2: for how long?
Speaker 4: So I did that for probably a few months and
Speaker 4: then ended up just deciding to do leasing for a
Speaker 4: little bit and then work on writing and writers rounds
Speaker 4: and things like that, and I'm glad I did and
Speaker 4: then twenty eighteen, I went back to Broadway basically full time.
Speaker 2: What was that? Like, what's your relationship like with Broadway
Speaker 2: as an artist?
Speaker 3: It's non existent anymore.
Speaker 2: And that's a good thing.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 4: At first, I was pretty upset because it comes down
Speaker 4: to one of those things where you know, you know
Speaker 4: that you're a lot of people down there who are
Speaker 4: super talented get the shorten of the stick when it
Speaker 4: comes to playing down there because I am not the
Speaker 4: type of performer who who's gonna take a shot with
Speaker 4: you because I have three more hours to go, Like
Speaker 4: I'm I am not a partier necessarily when it comes
Speaker 4: to being on stage, and those people tend to get
Speaker 4: more shifts.
Speaker 2: Interesting.
Speaker 4: So basically, at the time when I was losing gigs,
Speaker 4: I was upset. But now I'm kind of like it's
Speaker 4: a blessing in disguise. I'm not closing the bars anymore.
Speaker 4: It's sometimes being up there makes you feel unsafe because
Speaker 4: you can see everything that's going on and it just
Speaker 4: it feels chaotic, to be honest.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what did it ever? Because some people have talked
Speaker 2: about not being able to play their own music, and
Speaker 2: if you're on Broadway, you're pretty much never playing your
Speaker 2: own music, right, You're always doing covers, and it is
Speaker 2: what it is. It's part of what makes Broadway Broadway.
Speaker 2: And they you know, these tourists come in and pay.
Speaker 2: Was that a big thing for you as well, you
Speaker 2: weren't playing your own music, I think for sure.
Speaker 4: I mean especially because the one thing Broadway opened up
Speaker 4: for me was being able to write as much as
Speaker 4: possible because I could make my own schedule and kind
Speaker 4: of figure out, okay, I can fit in or write
Speaker 4: here right there. And that was when I was writing
Speaker 4: the most. And so you're spending your morning's writing these songs,
Speaker 4: and then you're up until three am singing other people's
Speaker 4: songs that you just don't even part of me couldn't
Speaker 4: even register what I was writing and what I was
Speaker 4: doing every day because I was so focused on making
Speaker 4: sure I made money singing other people's songs.
Speaker 2: So you're not playing there anymore, you're playing anywhere local still.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm still doing writers rounds pretty regularly, anything down
Speaker 4: on like Demumbrian or Division.
Speaker 3: And then I'm just kind of playing Illinois.
Speaker 4: I go back up there quite a bit and play
Speaker 4: every so often, and then just places here in Tennessee around,
Speaker 4: but I don't necessarily go down to Broadway anymore, just
Speaker 4: because it felt it felt a little exhausting after a while.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure they could take a toll on you
Speaker 2: the long nights, early morning. I'm sure if you have
Speaker 2: another job. Do you still have another job?
Speaker 4: So I at the time, like at last year, at
Speaker 4: this time, I was working part time leasing, I was
Speaker 4: still doing real estate, I was still writing, and I
Speaker 4: was still closing the bars. So I decided that I
Speaker 4: needed to take a second and basically Broadway went away.
Speaker 4: I focused more on writing, and then I took my
Speaker 4: license over to apartment locating. So I'm with apartment insiders
Speaker 4: now and I do that and I make my own schedule.
Speaker 3: So it's been way different.
Speaker 2: Awesome, way different. Okay, So what's the last year year
Speaker 2: for you been? Like making that adjustment and kind of
Speaker 2: has it been better worse?
Speaker 4: The stuff that I've gone through this year, it doesn't
Speaker 4: feel real like it's I moved, I lived by myself
Speaker 4: for the first time. I had to basically pivot my
Speaker 4: entire career that I've been used to since the pandemic,
Speaker 4: both real estate and Broadway. And then I was on TV,
Speaker 4: and that's obviously a huge turning point. And then you know,
Speaker 4: also just dealing with like the Internet, TikTok things like that,
Speaker 4: learning how to add all of that into my schedule
Speaker 4: because that's so important these days too, and learning how
Speaker 4: to just kind of work with how quickly the music
Speaker 4: industry has changed in the past few years, Like especially
Speaker 4: this last year in general, has been like chaotic for
Speaker 4: me to be able to figure all of it out.
Speaker 2: Now, what's social media like for you? Because it's a
Speaker 2: big part of what I talk about on this podcast,
Speaker 2: just because most artists on this podcast are huge on
Speaker 2: social media because as an independent artist, you kind of
Speaker 2: have to be to stay relevant, right, And it could
Speaker 2: be a real love hate relationship. Like that's how I
Speaker 2: feel about social media. It's a it could be a
Speaker 2: great thing, but it can also be exhausting, it can
Speaker 2: be overwhelming, it can be unhealthy. So as an artist,
Speaker 2: for you, how what is that relationship like for you?
Speaker 4: I have a love hate relationship with TikTok. I think
Speaker 4: most musicians do, especially people who have been here longer.
Speaker 4: Because the thing I struggle with the most is that
Speaker 4: I've been here for seven years and when I moved here.
Speaker 4: It was a ten year town, and you do this
Speaker 4: and this is how it works, and you go in order,
Speaker 4: and it feels and if you're putting in the work
Speaker 4: and posting the tiktoks and writing the songs, I'm all
Speaker 4: for it. But sometimes it just feels like people skip
Speaker 4: the line a little bit. And that's what I struggle
Speaker 4: with the most because I have done the things. You know,
Speaker 4: when I first started singing, I was fifteen or sixteen,
Speaker 4: I'd upload a YouTube video every week. That was the
Speaker 4: thing to do. And then on when Instagram became the thing,
Speaker 4: I would upload a video a day. That was the
Speaker 4: thing to do.
Speaker 3: TikTok is three to five a day.
Speaker 4: That's insane that I would be mentally unwell if I
Speaker 4: had to do that.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like music has the quality of music
Speaker 2: has taken a dive a little bit because of that,
Speaker 2: because everyone's always looking for the next thing. Like people
Speaker 2: are coming with songs every week now, like dropping in
Speaker 2: like almost like a single every week. It seemed like
Speaker 2: a on every Friday. It's like so and so, like wait,
Speaker 2: they just came out with an album of twenty songs
Speaker 2: two months ago, and I have more music coming out already, right.
Speaker 3: I think definitely.
Speaker 4: I don't know if it's quality necessarily, I think the
Speaker 4: biggest thing I wonder whenever I see people doing that,
Speaker 4: I'm like, where are you getting your money from? Especially
Speaker 4: if they are independent, I'm like, what are you doing?
Speaker 4: How are you doing this? Like do you know somebody?
Speaker 2: Are you?
Speaker 3: Are you dating a producer? Like what are you doing?
Speaker 3: Like do I need to learn how to do this myself?
Speaker 3: That sort of thing?
Speaker 4: And yeah, I just that's the one thing I struggle
Speaker 4: with the most is like where the money's coming from?
Speaker 4: Because I can't that's I think right now. When I
Speaker 4: first moved here, it was maybe like a song a chorder, yeah,
Speaker 4: and now it's six to eight weeks. Is what you're
Speaker 4: really shooting for?
Speaker 3: That's minimum because you.
Speaker 2: Have to pay for all that studio time and recording.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure it is not cheap.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean average right now, I would say two
Speaker 4: thousand of song, Yeah, if you want something quality and
Speaker 4: the one of the things. And this sounds like I
Speaker 4: don't know how else to explain this, but with my
Speaker 4: voice some times it's hard to like it can sound
Speaker 4: bad because if it's too loud or it just needs
Speaker 4: to be compressed correctly. And if it's not done correctly,
Speaker 4: I can hear it, everybody else can hear it, versus
Speaker 4: like if you have an easier, softer voice like mine
Speaker 4: is here and all over the place, and so I
Speaker 4: do have to pay more to get that done on
Speaker 4: some or make sure it's done right basically, because I've
Speaker 4: had instances where I've had to redo something and spent
Speaker 4: even more money than I planned because it was not
Speaker 4: done right the first time.
Speaker 2: Do you think that's what's the hardest thing about being
Speaker 2: an independent artist?
Speaker 4: Probably the money? Then, yeah, I still think it's the money,
Speaker 4: because that's just a song. Okay, we need visuals, Okay,
Speaker 4: we need you need visuals.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 4: Are we gonna pay for playlisting on this one? Are
Speaker 4: we gonna, you know, outsource it too, Like I've outsourced
Speaker 4: playlisting before, just like to another country, because I don't
Speaker 4: know how else I'm supposed to afford it, versus like
Speaker 4: using playlisting here like and a lot of people I
Speaker 4: don't even know how many people really know what that means.
Speaker 4: But basically, you have somebody basically curate playlists and send
Speaker 4: out your song and hopefully it ends up on playlists.
Speaker 2: And you're doing all that yourself, and it's I'm sure
Speaker 2: it can be hit or miss, and sometimes you make
Speaker 2: You're looking at me like, yes.
Speaker 3: It's been all the bus It's been everything.
Speaker 2: What's the best part about being an independent artist for you?
Speaker 4: I can pick whatever I want to put out, and
Speaker 4: I can post whatever I want and do whatever I
Speaker 4: want on social media, And you know, I think if
Speaker 4: I if I had I think, if I had restrictions,
Speaker 4: I don't know if I'd even prefer that. To be honest,
Speaker 4: I'd prefer money. But at the same time, I don't
Speaker 4: know if i'd prefer the restrictions.
Speaker 2: And then what do you How would you describe your
Speaker 2: style of music? Because I've heard a few of your songs,
Speaker 2: seen you perform, and at first I'm like, oh, this
Speaker 2: is like some heart, it's like a rock chick. So
Speaker 2: you get it, you know, and then you look. You
Speaker 2: hear some of your songs like the Vanilla song is
Speaker 2: more like a softer song. And you talked about your
Speaker 2: voice a little bit, So how would you describe your
Speaker 2: your type of music? Genre of music? Is there a
Speaker 2: certain description I always.
Speaker 4: Tell people kind of like a southern rock anywhere from
Speaker 4: like Morgan Wade, el King, Cassie Ashton, Like in there,
Speaker 4: I get compared to Cassie Ashton vocally a lot, so
Speaker 4: anywhere in there, and I think she's kind of the
Speaker 4: same way where they're like she's pop, she's country, she's this,
Speaker 4: she's that, you know, a little bit all over the place.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which is that versatility can can definitely help you.
Speaker 2: Who have been some of the people out here in
Speaker 2: Nashville that have helped you, you know, when you're struggling
Speaker 2: or say, been a shoulder to lean on in the
Speaker 2: industry because I know it can't be easy. There's obviously
Speaker 2: a lot of dark days with some good days, but
Speaker 2: there have been somebody kind of look to for whether
Speaker 2: it's advice or what to do in a certain situation.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Jackie Stevens, So she I don't know, do you know, Jackie,
Speaker 4: it might sound familiar.
Speaker 2: Word.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: She worked with UMG for a long time or for
Speaker 4: she was with Brothers and Eric Church and Kylie Morgan,
Speaker 4: John Langston. She was basically in radio with them and
Speaker 4: then now she's the producer on Nights with Elena.
Speaker 2: Oh really yeah, Okay, how'd you meet her at Whiskey Jim.
Speaker 4: She had Yeah, at Whiskey Jam, of all places, she
Speaker 4: had heard a song.
Speaker 3: This is so funny, she's going to die that I
Speaker 3: told the story.
Speaker 4: She had heard a song that I had written for
Speaker 4: my friend Williams, who's an awesome artist, and she was like,
Speaker 4: I love this song. I want to figure out if
Speaker 4: I can help you. And at the time I thought
Speaker 4: she was an accountant. When somebody said she was something accounts,
Speaker 4: I was like, she's an accountant at Universal.
Speaker 3: Got it cool, Like, but what what can she really do?
Speaker 4: And I just told people for the longest time that
Speaker 4: she was an accountant, and she's like, Alie, I work
Speaker 4: in radio, like I actually like work with these artists personally.
Speaker 4: Like I was like, oh, I'm still going to tell
Speaker 4: people you're an accountant, because like, if you're I just
Speaker 4: want to be your friend, Like I just want this
Speaker 4: to be normal.
Speaker 3: I can't think of you as this like you.
Speaker 4: Know every she knows everyone, really, yeah, she knows everyone.
Speaker 3: She's kind of seen it all, so I always go
Speaker 3: to her for advice for sure.
Speaker 2: Nashville for me has been I've met a lot of
Speaker 2: people who have helped me or wanted to help me,
Speaker 2: and it seems like that kind of town. I know,
Speaker 2: everyone can be a little bit different experience wise outside
Speaker 2: of her even Do you feel like you've gotten a
Speaker 2: lot of help out here in the last seven years.
Speaker 3: I do. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I feel like, especially in the past few years with
Speaker 4: just the voice and like things kind of building up
Speaker 4: a little bit more, I feel like I've gotten some
Speaker 4: more help, some more meetings, just like things like that.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I feel like Nashville has always been a
Speaker 4: super a super friendly town. That's the one thing that
Speaker 4: hasn't changed. There's been a lot that has changed since
Speaker 4: I moved here, but the one thing that hasn't is
Speaker 4: most musicians are willing to help help you out if
Speaker 4: they can tell that you're a good person.
Speaker 2: Do you have like a a envision in your brain
Speaker 2: where you're like, if I do this, I know I
Speaker 2: made it kind of thing. You know, whether it's make
Speaker 2: a big viral TikTok video, but that's probably not your thing,
Speaker 2: but you know, like or is it signing with a
Speaker 2: record label, is it performing at a certain venue. Do
Speaker 2: you have something in your head where you're like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm successful now right, I made it?
Speaker 3: I think well and it's funny.
Speaker 4: Jackie and I went to Beyonce actually I'm gonna bring
Speaker 4: it up again, and she was like, do you want this?
Speaker 4: And I was kind of like that feels like a
Speaker 4: little big for me, But I love like the Ryman
Speaker 4: maybe would be like huge for me, Like I would
Speaker 4: be I would be cool with that.
Speaker 3: Basically, especially with like what Jason is a bull. He
Speaker 3: just sells it every October like a whole week out
Speaker 3: or whatever. Like I think that's dope.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be. That would be amazing. Yeah, have
Speaker 2: you would you have a certain venue that you played
Speaker 2: at that's been your favorite, most memorable venue you've ever
Speaker 2: played out?
Speaker 3: Man, I I'll say that.
Speaker 4: I I recently did a festival that's new to Effingham
Speaker 4: that they're really trying to bring some like bigger acts there.
Speaker 4: Cooper Allen did it. Uh, I'm trying to think of
Speaker 4: who else. Cooper Allen Big and Rich Brett my Goals
Speaker 4: And then I was on the same bill as BlackBerry
Speaker 4: Smoke and they put up this whole big I mean,
Speaker 4: it was a huge festival. It was their first year
Speaker 4: and I just did that and I have to say
Speaker 4: that that's still my favorite because it was kind of
Speaker 4: cool to see it in my hometown.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that area for sure.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Do you ever play? Have you ever played? And you
Speaker 2: probably have, but recently in your your small hometown.
Speaker 3: Yoga yoga, I haven't.
Speaker 4: Actually I was asked to do hometown Christmas but I
Speaker 4: unfortunately I'm not going to be there for it. But
Speaker 4: I haven't played there since I think two years ago,
Speaker 4: and I did their like little Christmas thing and it
Speaker 4: was super cold, but it was cool because my nephew's
Speaker 4: got to see me play. And yeah, no, I haven't
Speaker 4: played there in a long time. We don't have too
Speaker 4: many venues. We're not a huge like drinking town has more.
Speaker 2: Bars, gotcha?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, what else? As we kind of wrap this
Speaker 2: up here, you talk a lot about music. What else
Speaker 2: do you like to do? What are some of your hobbies?
Speaker 3: I am.
Speaker 4: I try to stay in shape. I like to exercise
Speaker 4: just for mental stability. I actually am like a huge
Speaker 4: I'd listen to podcasts all the time, comedy podcast specifically.
Speaker 4: I love stand up I love anything along those lines.
Speaker 4: What else did I do? I hang out with my friends.
Speaker 4: I wish I had more cool hobbies, but music is
Speaker 4: like pretty much all.
Speaker 2: I do Do you ever go to Zanies?
Speaker 4: I went to Zanies. I saw Jared Freed there for
Speaker 4: the first time. I had lived here for so long,
Speaker 4: but I finally went to Zanies.
Speaker 3: It was really cool.
Speaker 4: I saw a Nate Bargatsi do the Opry out there.
Speaker 4: That was really really cool to see because I had
Speaker 4: never been to the Opry and saw him perform there
Speaker 4: and it was awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's one of my favorite things.
Speaker 2: Do you ever do any stand up for any comedy?
Speaker 4: I've considered it in the past, but I don't think
Speaker 4: that I I have like told jokes on Broadway and bombed,
Speaker 4: And the differences is I can just go into a
Speaker 4: song and if I'm on stage, I don't think I'd
Speaker 4: be able to handle that.
Speaker 2: Bring your guitar.
Speaker 3: I feel like I've seen enough rejection in my life already.
Speaker 3: Now the time to start.
Speaker 2: That's true. Little PTSD for you. Yeah, Well, what else
Speaker 2: do you have coming up? Maybe at the beginning of
Speaker 2: next year or throughout twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4: Yes, I am planning on releasing quite a bit of
Speaker 4: music next year. I know my first single will be
Speaker 4: called Fallout. I wrote that with Taylor Davison, Matt Morrisey.
Speaker 4: So I'm super excited to have that one out in
Speaker 4: the world and then plenty more to come after that.
Speaker 3: So that's the plan.
Speaker 4: I had a couple hold ups this past year from
Speaker 4: releasing all that I wanted to, so plenty next.
Speaker 2: Year will be on the lookout. Follow her on social media,
Speaker 2: Ali keech Music, check her out streamer music. Support her. Ali,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: This has been a Bobby Cast production.