WEBVTT - BobbyCast Presents: Unsigned & Independent: Allie Keck - Not Fitting the Mold 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:13.560 What's up, everybody. It's Bobby Bones here with another episode 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:16.840 of Unsigned and Independent. We do this show, so maybe 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:18.759 you find some new music to listen to. Maybe you 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:20.919 find new artists to support if they're playing a show. 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:23.319 Maybe you want to buy some merch because that's a 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.400 big deal to artists too, because that's money that they 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.120 actually get they get to pay their bills with. And 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:30.520 this is another episode of that show with Kevin O'Connell 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:33.720 aka kick Off Kevin. So we're talking about Ali Kick 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:36.560 Ali was on the voice and she said she didn't 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:38.239 have the best experience because she didn't really fit the 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:40.280 mold of what they were looking for when it comes 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:42.519 to a dramatic story, because they are, I can tell 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:43.760 you from experience, always. 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:44.760 Looking for a good storyline. 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:47.320 She stopped playing on Broadway the street here about a 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.320 year ago, and she now focuses on music and also 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:52.879 to make money. She's a real estate leasing agent, so 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:54.639 she was selling phone book ads when she first moved 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:56.720 here in twenty sixteen, so she could pay the bills 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:58.920 in order to make music, which is a very common 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.520 theme with pretty much all the artists unless they come 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:03.840 from like a ton of family money that happens sometimes too, 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:06.319 but most artists have to grind do two jobs until 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:07.880 they make it. And I wanted you guys to hear 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.880 this interview with Ali Keck, so here we go. She 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:12.880 moved to Nashville to chase her dream. Check her out 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:14.240 on social media, but she says she has a love 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.560 hate relationship with social media because she moved here before 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:19.760 that was a big part of what she was doing 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:21.920 and now she's had to kind of adapt and adopt. 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:23.080 But you can't follow her. 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:25.800 Ali Keck Music A L L I E K E 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.720 C K Ali Keck Music. Enjoy support if you can. 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:33.360 Here's another episode of Unsigned and Independent with Kickoff Kevin. 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:34.880 Ali. How are you doing? 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:35.360 I'm good? 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:35.720 How are you? 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.640 I'm doing good? Glad we got to get together again. 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:40.880 This is not the first time we've met in person. 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.080 The first time we met was at Whiskey Jam. Actually, yes, 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:46.280 maybe what a few months ago during the summer at 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:50.760 some point, and I remember hearing you play and I 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.160 was like, I gotta just see what her story is about, 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:54.760 you know, because I have this podcast and this is 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:56.080 what I love to do. I love to see these 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.080 artists that go out and play at these local venues, 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.280 especially a whiskey jam, which is great, and then kind 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:03.840 of find out more about you. So I went up 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:05.360 to you and I said, hey, how you doing. We 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:06.800 talked a little bit and then you said you're on 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.000 the Voice, and so this is what drew me to you, 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:10.959 and I want to jump right into it, your experience 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:12.280 on the Voice. I've had a couple of people in 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.959 here that have been on the Voice and they've talked 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:18.200 about how great their experience was and how it was 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:22.480 all you know, daisies and dandelions great, and you kind 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:24.960 of said you enjoyed your experience with a great experience 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.919 and good exposure for you, but it wasn't exactly what 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.400 you expected. Am I saying that right? Or can you 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:31.160 explain that more? 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:31.840 Yeah? 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:34.960 I think I met some wonderful people, and the people 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:37.960 who are running the show are wonderful. I think what 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:42.000 I struggled with the most was COVID. There was like 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:44.840 quite a few COVID rules and things like that that 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:47.440 resulted in you know, you kind of had to be isolated. 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.680 So it wasn't as wasn't as much fun as I 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:52.480 thought it would be. And then when it came down 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:54.359 to I mean I think at the end of the day, 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:59.080 they're casting a television show and it's a contest on 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.679 it's basically around a television show. More so so I 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:07.200 wasn't exactly I didn't exactly have like the story that 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:09.520 they were looking for, and so I struggled with that, 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:11.560 and I think that's why part of the reason I 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:13.880 maybe left a little earlier than I would have. 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:17.120 Liked to what, I mean, what is that story? 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:17.280 Then? 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:20.440 What is what is your story? Were you too vanilla 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:22.040 from maybe yeah? 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.639 Yeah, I maybe that was it. I don't know if 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:25.000 it was. 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.640 It just had something to do with like I didn't 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:30.160 really have any drama to give them, or like a 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.400 maybe just there's could be something with being too relatable. 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:38.160 I don't know, Like it was just I have all 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:40.560 four of my grandparents. I'm very blessed to like not 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.560 even have to deal with anything really sad, Like I'm 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:46.520 very privileged, and I just kind of didn't really have 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.680 I didn't really have anything a SOB story. I didn't 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.160 really have anything too exciting. It was kind of like 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:55.880 I was a real estate agent by day and a 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.240 rock star at night. And the amount of real estate 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:00.560 agents I know on Broadway is insane. I'm not the 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:02.760 only one, so I think I just wasn't as like 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:03.760 special as they'd like. 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.360 Did you ever feel any pressure to feel like maybe 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:08.800 I should try to act like I'm somebody else just 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:11.000 to fit that mold and be able to stick around 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:12.960 a little longer than I want to, or then I 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:14.520 guess that they're gonna have me here. 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.080 Uh, yes, one hundred percent. I mean people all the 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:18.279 time are like, well, why don't you just make up 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:19.840 a story? Because it wasn't the first time I had 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.800 auditioned for these shows, so this was probably the sixth time. Wow, 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:24.640 I had done this one, and then I think I've 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.039 done American Idol about seven times. So just my dad 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.479 and I would go for fun when I was younger, 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:32.440 and obviously, you know when I was younger. I can 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:34.880 blame it on that, like I was just not ready 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.040 for it. And I think maybe I was a little 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.360 bit more seasoned with because I had really picked up 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:42.320 on Broadway playing more often, and that's probably why initially 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:46.200 I made it this time. But yeah, I think when 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:48.200 it came down to it, I just couldn't even people 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:49.599 were like, oh, you should just make up a story, 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:52.040 make up this you know, and I'm I'm seen people 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.840 get in trouble for that, so really when it came yeah, yeah, 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:57.320 there's a few articles you can look up where people 0:04:57.400 --> 0:04:59.200 have made up stories to get on these shows and 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.880 then they figure out it's true and yeah, it doesn't 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:02.440 end well. 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:04.000 So and now we live in a world where you 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.080 can find out pretty much anything about anybody with a 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.840 nice Google search or some type of Instagram or social media, 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:11.720 whatever it might be. So you've been going at it 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:13.600 for a long time. Then you said, as a kid 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.279 you were trying out for all these shows. Yes, how 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:19.320 old were you? You're very first one. Do you remember fifteen? Wow? 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:23.720 Because when I turned fifteen, they had actually changed the 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:26.640 age at American Idol. It was around the justin Bieber time, 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:30.000 and like I watched all these boys with bowld haircuts 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.080 get sent through and they were like, you know, don't 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.400 sing the Adele song. Like they were just like being 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:38.039 particular about what they wanted at the time. And my 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.159 dad and I waited in line all day and we 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:43.560 did that again like I think the next year and 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:46.160 the year after that, and then we started doing like 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:48.520 the they started doing the bus tours that would go 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:49.320 to the state Fair. 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:52.400 We did that. I did online stuff, you name it. 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.240 I've yeah, wow, was this all in? You're from Illinois? 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:56.960 Where what's city? 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.200 So I'm from a town called ne Yoga, but it's 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.560 right outside of like Effingham area, if you're familiar with that, 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.840 but like central southern central Illinois. 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:08.440 Okay, And do these auditions come to you, said of 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.080 state Fair? Or do you have to go to different locations? 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:14.320 No? So the we would drive to Chicago, we would 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:17.120 drive to Saint Louis, we would drive the furthest we 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:18.600 ever went was Milwaukee, and that. 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:20.240 Was because it came to the State Fair. 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:22.400 So it was an hour and a half to Springfield 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:24.159 and that was like the shortest drive. He's you know, 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:25.800 you just just go figure it out. 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:27.360 Wait in line. And he went and worked at like 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:28.159 a coffee shop. 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.200 And that was the one time I made it to 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:35.560 the second round of like cattle call auditions. And the 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.160 follow up or the callback was in Milwaukee, so we 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:40.279 had to drive like eight or nine hours. 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:42.440 It was supposed to be a really easy thing. 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:44.120 And I was in college at the time, and I 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:46.159 told one of my professors. I was like, you can't 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:48.159 tell anyone I'm not going to be in class on Friday. 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:50.960 He announced it to the entire lecture hall that I 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:54.479 had a callback from American Idol, and I was just like, 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:56.279 I was so scared I was gonna get in trouble. 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.080 I didn't even make it through it in the next round. 0:06:58.160 --> 0:06:59.800 But it was just like one of those things where 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.120 it was kind of a disaster the entire time. 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.760 So you have to keep all that on secret, yes, everything, Yes, 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:06.880 And they tell you that when they call you, Hey, 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:08.400 this is like our number one rules. You got to 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.160 keep everything a secret. If anything gets leaked, that's pretty 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:12.480 much a pr nightmare for them right now. 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.680 Yeah, for social media purposes, and it makes total sense. Yeah, 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:17.400 they just they ask you to keep it a secret 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:17.920 no matter what. 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:21.560 Process. Absolutely, and filling out some stuff before this, And 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:24.480 you talked about being a child and stopping people on 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.640 the streets, so this goes way back your auditions, right, 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:29.840 Can you talk a little bit about that. I need 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:31.720 to hear more about you being a child stopping people 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:33.600 in the streets and singing to them. 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:34.000 Yes. 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:38.040 So my go to song was my Heart Will Go 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:43.679 on slandy On, which says a lot, but basically, I'm 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.200 from such a small town. I knew who the music 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:49.480 teacher was, and so I would specifically stop her on 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.560 her walks. And my older sisters would have these parts 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:55.920 in the spring singing or whatever, and they would sing 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:57.760 them to practice in front of us, and I would 0:07:57.800 --> 0:07:59.800 learn them and I would stop her and I would 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:02.360 say them to her to let her know that, like 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.080 when I was in her class, I was ready. 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.320 I was ready for whatever she had to hand to me. 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:11.640 And for a while I would do that, and then 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:13.280 I went through this phase where I was really shy 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.120 about it, but she would still give me parts. And 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:16.640 then like there was a point, I think like in 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.040 the fourth or fifth grade where I actually ended up 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:22.360 singing like a little big talent song and like just 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.520 ripped into it for the first time in a long time, 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.320 because before I was just doing selindon, no problem. And 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:28.920 then I got a little shy for a little bit, 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:30.440 and then it just all came out one day and 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:31.440 I haven't stopped since. 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.360 So You've loved singing since you can remember, yes, probably 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.400 since you can walk, Yes. And your parents have always 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:39.520 been the big supporter of you. It sounds like since 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:39.920 day one. 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:43.400 Yeah, my dad always says that, you know, we didn't 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:44.200 travel for sports. 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.679 We traveled more for music and that sort of thing. 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.600 And they still to this day go out in Effingham 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.000 has like a great music scene and they're out like 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:53.760 every week and no, we're seeing so and so, so 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:55.400 and so, you know just all the time. 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:58.000 Yeah, that's awesome. And what was the inspiration, like, like 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:00.960 what were they listening to? Were maybe some Celine Dion 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.240 or what were they listening to that would inspire you 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.760 that you kind of would take and run with. 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.360 So I kind of got I would say screwed for 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.800 lack of a better word, because my dad would listen 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.720 to Bonnie Rait, he would listen to sha Ka Khan, 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.240 we would listen to like all these female artists. So 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.320 I just thought everybody listened to girls. And I grew 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:25.960 up and I was like, oh no, like not very 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.400 many people do. And so I was I always tell 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:31.720 people that, I'm like, I really thought that, like everybody 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.560 listened to females all the time. But but we listened 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:36.480 to that. We listened to Jackson Brown and the Eagles. 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:40.079 Then my mom was like Madonna, Michael Jackson all over 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.560 the place. But but yeah, we grew I grew up 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:44.960 with a lot of female artists in the house, and 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:47.760 mostly because I'm one of four daughters. 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:49.800 Oh okay, well my next question, siblings, are you the 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:53.560 only one that plays any instrument or musically talented at all? 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.760 We all did pet band, like, uh, just we didn't 0:09:57.800 --> 0:09:59.840 have a football team, so we would play at basketball 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:00.480 game games. 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.640 Oh yeah, I grew up with no football either. Coming 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:05.800 to the South was a like in high school. No, 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:07.240 I didn't have it in high school. 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:09.280 I went to community college, so I didn't even have 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.200 I didn't go to my first football game until I 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:11.800 was nineteen. 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.440 What I know? I know, did you crazy? 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:21.560 Yeah? That just seems that's wild to me. But did 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.240 you know at the time, like growing up, how big 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:26.600 football was even though you didn't have it, or was 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:28.600 it just kind of like a foreign thing to you? 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:29.440 No, I had no idea. 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.319 I knew that it was a thing like in other 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.760 areas in Illinois, like we have it there, but our 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:37.920 school wasn't big enough. Like we don't even have a track. 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:40.920 We have a track team that goes to state every year, 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:43.199 but we don't have a track. They run on the asphalt, 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.280 which or they run on the street, which is why they're. 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:45.960 Probably so good. 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:46.880 Wow, yeah. 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:47.360 Yeah. 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:51.640 So honestly, like I, I didn't grow up with football 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:53.920 like it. When I moved to the South, I did 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.720 not realize like what Saturdays and Sundays looked like here 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.920 at all. And then you know, people will text me, Oh, 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:02.360 we're going to go watch the game, like one game, 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:04.319 you know, it's like. 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:06.920 Who, Like there's twenty of them today, you pick. I 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:07.520 don't know. 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:10.320 Exactly we're going to this bar because it's you know, 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:12.800 X bar. I'm like, I don't, okay, cool. 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:15.800 What color do I wear today? Who? Yeah? 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.000 Who am I a fan of today? Because I just 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.480 really don't have any allegiance to it. But I'm working 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:20.760 on it. 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:21.360 I'm learning. 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:23.000 I'm learning how to be a sevener. I've been here 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.200 seven years, so I need to figure it out that well. 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:28.679 I mean, it doesn't take very long because I'm from 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:32.040 southern California and football is big, but the South is 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.120 a whole different ball game. College football in the South 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:35.560 is a whole different ball game. You go out, like 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:38.559 you said, to a bar. Every bar has a designated 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:42.160 school that they're tied to, and all these fans are there. 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:46.240 It's amazing, but it's definitely an adjustment, especially if you 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:47.959 have never even been around it. 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:51.120 So we I went to Illinois State and it was 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:54.000 the one year that we actually like did pretty well. 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.000 I think I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:00.320 this is when Colton Underwood was playing for us, and 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:01.720 I could be making that up. 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:02.080 I don't know. 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.640 That's what we'll go with it with it, but we 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:08.280 actually ended up doing pretty well. And my friend and 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:10.960 I end up like on ESPN just like waving to 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:12.800 the camera, and my Dad's like, you've never even been to. 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.280 A football game? How are you on the TV? How 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:16.400 are you on the TV right now? 0:12:16.480 --> 0:12:17.040 That's awesome? 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:17.600 Yeah. 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:19.400 So you went to Illinois State and then you came 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:20.760 straight to Nashville after you graduated. 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:22.160 Yeah, like a month later. 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:24.240 You knew the whole time. What did you major in? First? 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:25.640 I majored in public relations. 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.640 Okay, And did you know in college, I'm going to 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:30.760 move to Nashville when I'm done here and pursue my 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:31.360 music career. 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:34.880 Yeah, because I couldn't get into music school, so I 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:38.400 ended up just after that kind of fell apart. I 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:40.200 wanted to be a music therapist, but I didn't know 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:44.439 enough of the technicality basically behind it to get into school, 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.280 and I was like, Okay, well, if I'm going to 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:49.319 pursue this, I'll go to Nashville when I'm done here. 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:53.000 And I didn't know anything, honestly. I moved here. 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:55.440 I thought Broadway was Music Row and I was telling 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:57.040 people that I was going to sing on Music Row. 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:00.559 Yeah, They're like for what label exactly? 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:04.160 We're like, okay, cool? Where like tutsies. 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.360 Yeah, you've never been You've never heard of it? You said, 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.640 music therapists, Yes, what what is that? What would that? 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:12.679 So a lot of them work. 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:14.560 My plan was to work like kind of side by 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:18.040 side with speech pathologist and help with that or I 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.120 also liked the idea of working with just special needs kids. 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:25.319 I had always kind of uh volunteered in high school 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:27.320 doing that and so it was just the thought. And 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:29.680 it's how like, you know, stroke patients will learn to 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:30.839 speak again, that sort of thing. 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.640 Interesting. I've never heard of that, but that sounds I mean, 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:35.959 I think there are Music in general is kind of 0:13:36.000 --> 0:13:37.720 a therapy for all of us in some way, right, 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:40.439 whether it's a happy therapy or a sad therapy when 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:42.160 you need it, Has it always been that kind of 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:42.720 therapy for you? 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:45.880 Music? Oh? Yeah, I mean especially I've been writing since 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.760 I was sixteen, so just being able to get that 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:52.040 out on paper, and it was just originally a homework 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:54.719 assignment from my guitar teacher. He's like, you're gonna go 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:55.960 home and you're gonna write a song, and then I 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:57.120 just never stopped. 0:13:57.320 --> 0:13:58.320 Do you remember what song it was? 0:13:58.679 --> 0:13:59.880 Yeah, it's called Reasons. 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:02.400 I think I took it down off of YouTube to 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:04.640 the chagrin of many people I went to high school with. 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.160 They love it, yes, and it was very Taylor Swift, 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.280 like Taylor Swift was obviously huge, you know. Teardops on 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:12.600 my guitar was I think eighth grade. 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:15.920 So yeah, okay, So then you first moved to Nashville. 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.520 What you're a month in? Go back to being a 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:20.520 month in Nashville? What do you think and what's going on? 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:26.720 I am working at Ruby Tuesdays. My car has broken 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:29.320 down the day after I moved here. Oh no, I 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:31.800 where I think I had maybe had internet for a 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:35.240 week at that point. I quit Ruby Tuesdays and I 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.640 get a job selling phone book ads in a county 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:42.080 in Tennessee that doesn't Basically it's twenty sixteen and I'm 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:43.040 selling phone book. 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:45.000 Ads going to say, was this nineteen ninety. 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:46.840 No, it was a lesson my parents let me learn. 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:49.800 Oh my god, yeah, how do you even How is 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:51.760 that even a job in twenty sixteen? 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.320 You know, it might still be if you looked hard enough, 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:58.560 But basically, I it felt like a real job. Like 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:00.920 they flew me to Chicago for t for a week. 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.120 I came back, and that's actually when I would listen 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.240 to the Bobby Bones show the most, was because I 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.400 was like, I had an hour and a half commute. Wow, 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:11.560 it was far, and so I would listen to Bobby 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:13.480 Bones and that was kind of like my first month 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:16.600 here was just kind of crazy doing that, but that 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:18.720 was like the one light of my morning of being 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.840 able to listen to that. And then eventually I got 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:26.360 hired on to do I started leasing apartments and got 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:26.920 hired at. 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.640 Tutsi's all in the same like weekend, so it was crazy. 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:32.640 Wow, that's a lot. And then so you're playing downtown 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:34.320 for how long? 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.840 So I did that for probably a few months and 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.880 then ended up just deciding to do leasing for a 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.240 little bit and then work on writing and writers rounds 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:45.800 and things like that, and I'm glad I did and 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.600 then twenty eighteen, I went back to Broadway basically full time. 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:52.320 What was that? Like, what's your relationship like with Broadway 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:52.920 as an artist? 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.280 It's non existent anymore. 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:56.760 And that's a good thing. 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:57.400 Yes. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.320 At first, I was pretty upset because it comes down 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:04.040 to one of those things where you know, you know 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.320 that you're a lot of people down there who are 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:08.960 super talented get the shorten of the stick when it 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:11.960 comes to playing down there because I am not the 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:14.880 type of performer who who's gonna take a shot with 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:16.840 you because I have three more hours to go, Like 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:19.320 I'm I am not a partier necessarily when it comes 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.400 to being on stage, and those people tend to get 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:22.080 more shifts. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:22.800