Speaker 1: Another episode of Unsigned and Independent Season two, Episode two.
Speaker 1: The artist is Megan Ashley Kevin. Why did you pick
Speaker 1: to talk to Megan? Actually, her manager reached out to
Speaker 1: me on Instagram. Dang, we're being found out now on
Speaker 1: the show blow one up? But Unsigned it Independent, I know.
Speaker 1: So she reached out and she just kind of introduced
Speaker 1: me to her, and I came across her Instagram her
Speaker 1: music and liked what I saw. So I wanted to
Speaker 1: hear a story. So what if you didn't like what
Speaker 1: you heard? Would she be on here? Maybe? So you
Speaker 1: would bring out somebody think sucks? No, No, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: bring on somebody it sucks, And I want to know
Speaker 1: that they have a good story before I bring them
Speaker 1: on too. I need to do some background surgeon, I
Speaker 1: guess I'm say asking in case people are you wanted
Speaker 1: to hit you up? So you need to, like, maybe
Speaker 1: not personally with your preference, enjoy their music, but at
Speaker 1: least understand why people like it, like it's quality music, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then know a little bit about them. Yeah. It
Speaker 1: doesn't need to be something I would person be like,
Speaker 1: I'm going to listen to this every day, but you
Speaker 1: know more about them. I know and as long as
Speaker 1: it's good quality music, that's all right. So Meghan grew
Speaker 1: up on country music, and she claimed she didn't even
Speaker 1: know there was another genre until grade school. She moved
Speaker 1: to Nashville twenty nineteen for a few months, went back
Speaker 1: to Texas to grab her stuff, and then COVID hit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and she said she was building momentum in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: COVID hit, but it actually turned out to be a
Speaker 1: great thing for her. So she majored in knesiology. Was
Speaker 1: that something that she wanted to do or something that
Speaker 1: she just kind of fell into even though she didn't
Speaker 1: have a passion for that, Yeah, she just kind of
Speaker 1: fell into it. She said that her older brother majored
Speaker 1: in it and she didn't know what to do, so
Speaker 1: she picked that major. Okay, here we go. It is
Speaker 1: unsigned and independent, Season two, episode two. The artist is
Speaker 1: Megan Ashley. The interviewer mister Kevin O'Connell, here you go.
Speaker 1: You are from Texas. You're a Texas girl? Is that correct? Yes?
Speaker 1: Born and raised in Texas Hill Country. Yes. Now, when
Speaker 1: I read that, I thought it was it meant to
Speaker 1: say Texas Hill County maybe, but Texas Hill Country is
Speaker 1: an actual thing. Is that like you guys just you
Speaker 1: have your own little country out there, or where's Texas country?
Speaker 1: I feel like Texas is own country, right kind of
Speaker 1: that is true. But Texas hill country is just like
Speaker 1: between see Antonio Austin, a little north of It's just
Speaker 1: very hilly. It kind of reminds me of Tennessee a
Speaker 1: little bit. There's a lot of hills, not as big
Speaker 1: as you know here, but kind of the same. Okay.
Speaker 1: And what was Texas Hill Country like for you growing up?
Speaker 1: Is it out in the middle of nowhere are you?
Speaker 1: Were you born on a farm or did you live
Speaker 1: in like the suburbs? What was that like for you? Yes,
Speaker 1: so my parents were divorced, so I was in between
Speaker 1: the suburbs and the country and we just spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time in the country. Or just like the
Speaker 1: hill country quote unquote, there's just out there. There's just
Speaker 1: like a lot of lakes. I grew up going the
Speaker 1: lake all the time, wakeboarding that was my life back then,
Speaker 1: and fishing, and there's just so many great thing I mean,
Speaker 1: just Texas you know, yeah, Texas doing Texas things in Texas. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. And were your parents big music fans. Were
Speaker 1: you into music growing up your entire life or this
Speaker 1: something later on you got involved in. So nobody played
Speaker 1: anything or did anything but heavy country music. That's all
Speaker 1: on you growing up. I didn't know there's other genres
Speaker 1: till grade school, like what's this? But yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: my my mom is honestly the one that got me
Speaker 1: into just really loving country music and like everything from
Speaker 1: like the Mavericks to Lone Star. I mean obviously George Strait,
Speaker 1: So all you know all that great stuff. Is that
Speaker 1: your favorite? George Strait? Do you have a favorite? I
Speaker 1: love George. I mean, growing up such a weird kid,
Speaker 1: I just like loved George straight like as a child. Um,
Speaker 1: and my dad is actually from the same areas as
Speaker 1: he was from Texas, and so I mean George Strait.
Speaker 1: You know, he lives in San Antonio like from there,
Speaker 1: so you know he's pretty big grown up for sure.
Speaker 1: I'll like. Yeah, what about any female artists? Did you
Speaker 1: grow up on any female artists or groups? Maybe the
Speaker 1: Chicks or anything like that. Oh I loved Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love them. I loved Lean Rhimes, loved her old stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm like her greatest hits and my mom's Mustang that
Speaker 1: was like my childhood. And then Lean Womack. I love
Speaker 1: the Liens, Martina, all of them, Okay, all the classics. Yes,
Speaker 1: I surprise your name wasn't Leon. Then, you know, for
Speaker 1: a while, I'm like, we could just added extra into Megan.
Speaker 1: I know, there you go. I like the I like
Speaker 1: the is your name? So your name? Is it actually
Speaker 1: Megan Ashley? Or is that an artist name? You know,
Speaker 1: some artists will come and move here and it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: it's easier than like Megan Ashley. I mean that's just
Speaker 1: as you know, easy as it gets and for an
Speaker 1: artist name. But is that your actual name? Yes, first
Speaker 1: in middle, Yes, Okay, well that works out just great
Speaker 1: then for you? Huh absolutely, I like it. And what
Speaker 1: prompted you or when did you move to Nashville. I
Speaker 1: moved to Nashville in twenty nineteen, and it was a
Speaker 1: big move for me because it's like first time moving
Speaker 1: out of state and honestly like out of like my county.
Speaker 1: And so when I first moved here, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give it a trial for like, I mean,
Speaker 1: I've been in Nashville before, I like visited and stuff,
Speaker 1: like that. But I was like, all right, I feel
Speaker 1: like I should do this. I just don't. Texas Radio,
Speaker 1: my radio promoter, encouraged me to move to Nashville. He's like,
Speaker 1: you should just do it, like you need to do it.
Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, I'll give it like a
Speaker 1: three four months trial. So I did and I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: I really like this. I need to go back. I
Speaker 1: went back to Texas and then COVID hit. Of course,
Speaker 1: but we can I supposed to move back, and so
Speaker 1: I ended up saying in Texas for three more months
Speaker 1: and they moved back up here and then honestly, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty was a pretty good year for me. I mean
Speaker 1: it was hard because it was like right before COVID hit,
Speaker 1: like I had a lot of like, you know, stuff
Speaker 1: going on. I was nominated for new Female Vocalists and
Speaker 1: Texas had a top forty on the Texas Radio and
Speaker 1: just open up for Mark Wills and its just like started,
Speaker 1: you know, building, and then COVID hit and I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: what do I do? And so just focused on riding.
Speaker 1: I did so many riders rounds in twenty twenty, and
Speaker 1: so it was still good spite you know, the challenge
Speaker 1: that COVID brought to all of us. Yeah, I hear you, Wolf.
Speaker 1: It wasn't for COVID, I wouldn't be out here too.
Speaker 1: So I know there's a lot of bad that came
Speaker 1: with COVID, but there's also some good if you look
Speaker 1: at it, absolutely, And what was it about Nashville that
Speaker 1: were you were out here for a short period of
Speaker 1: time You're like, oh, yeah, this is this is happening. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: I feel like and I'm super extroverted. I love people.
Speaker 1: I love meeting people, getting to know people, and so
Speaker 1: when I first moved here, I mean I pose up
Speaker 1: to like three ad just like meeting people, and like
Speaker 1: my radio promoter from Texas introduced me to a lot
Speaker 1: of people here, Bart Butler and just like that Texas crew,
Speaker 1: and so I mean I just felt very welcomed and
Speaker 1: I just loved getting to know people. And there's just
Speaker 1: so much I mean, you're feeling Nashal's. I mean it's
Speaker 1: a big tab, but it's not that big, you know,
Speaker 1: So I feel like there's so much packed in and
Speaker 1: there's just so much to see, and like people didn't
Speaker 1: get to know and all that great stuff. Did you
Speaker 1: play were you playing in places at that time that
Speaker 1: you came just for that short period of time or no,
Speaker 1: did okay? I did, Oh we're at oh gosh, my
Speaker 1: first riders around. I did a lot of writers rounds
Speaker 1: first my first week here, I did a rider's round
Speaker 1: at Ali Taps in Printer's Ali, and I did the
Speaker 1: whole uh puckets thing back in a Leaper's Fork. So
Speaker 1: love area. Yes, So you've actually played there at Pockets
Speaker 1: I did first week. It was great. I didn't know anybody.
Speaker 1: I just kind of like, wait, it was so good though. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all the people out there great. That area, especially like
Speaker 1: during the spring and summertime, that area is absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 1: So if you're listening to this and you visit Nashville,
Speaker 1: try to go out to Puckets out there in the
Speaker 1: Leaper's Fog area gets you some What are the roasted peanuts?
Speaker 1: I think it is. See, I'm from California. We don't
Speaker 1: really have those, So they have those out there. They
Speaker 1: have good food, good barbecue. It's a nice little little
Speaker 1: area with beautiful homes out there. And what about now?
Speaker 1: Are you playing anywhere like downtown? Do you play Broadway
Speaker 1: or are you more riders around the Live Oak kind
Speaker 1: of thing. Right, So, when I first moved to town,
Speaker 1: I did Broadway. I like, literally I just win after it,
Speaker 1: And honestly, I was very proud of myself for like
Speaker 1: what I did when I first got to town, and
Speaker 1: then I right currently, right now, we're focusing on just
Speaker 1: opening shows. And I did last year. In the year before,
Speaker 1: I did like sixty about sixty to eighty per year
Speaker 1: shows like acoustic shows and stuff like that. So this
Speaker 1: year we're focusing on writing and obviously social media and
Speaker 1: opening shows and hopefully going on a tour with somebody.
Speaker 1: So oh yeah, something little in the works maybe or
Speaker 1: is that something that you're okay, okay, okay, Well I'll
Speaker 1: be on the lookout for that. Then do you have
Speaker 1: some people out here that have been big influence on you,
Speaker 1: whether it's a writer or promoter or anything. Yeah, So, honestly,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say Lindsay, my manager, she has been I mean,
Speaker 1: she's just an incredible person and so she became I
Speaker 1: mean through hiring her as my manager, we became really
Speaker 1: good friends and just like her values and just kind
Speaker 1: of like teaming up together and like, hey, like what
Speaker 1: do we want to do this year. You know, what's
Speaker 1: our goals, and like we've just exceeded them each year,
Speaker 1: and just like I think, just like her friendship and
Speaker 1: support and just who she is as a person has
Speaker 1: been honestly have a huge influence on me. What about
Speaker 1: your family or were they very supportive of you making
Speaker 1: the move out here? Um? Yes and no each other.
Speaker 1: You have a good relationship with both. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: love my parents. My parents are They're honestly some of
Speaker 1: the greatest people you'll ever meet. You know, they're just
Speaker 1: super kind, down down to earth, hard workers, and they're supportive,
Speaker 1: but they also like they have no idea. They're kind
Speaker 1: of like they kind of just learned through me. I'm like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is how the industry is. Like I kind of
Speaker 1: just like kind of explain to them. And it's funny
Speaker 1: because sometimes my dad's super supportive in the idea and
Speaker 1: my mom will be like, oh my gosh, and lea
Speaker 1: vice versa, like, well mom thinks I should do this
Speaker 1: or you know so, But I know they're proud and
Speaker 1: I just want to make them proud as well. Have
Speaker 1: your parents come out to visit you since and seen
Speaker 1: you play out here, somewhere, so my mom, so nie
Speaker 1: of them have seen me play out here, but obviously
Speaker 1: they go to all my shows in Texas. Um. I
Speaker 1: go back to Texas usually about once a month to
Speaker 1: play shows, and so they're always They've always been supportive
Speaker 1: of that since my first show in college and my
Speaker 1: mom's coming to visit. My dad is super like small
Speaker 1: town main country boy doesn't really fly. So I'm like
Speaker 1: to get him out here and might have to drive them,
Speaker 1: but we have to. We have done a road trip, actually,
Speaker 1: he went with me. I was before actually in twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: before I moved out here, I was invited to go
Speaker 1: on a to play for iHeartRadio, like a fundraiser in
Speaker 1: Saint Louis for like this like softball game type thing,
Speaker 1: and so I was like, well, might as well make
Speaker 1: a like a trip out of it. And so we
Speaker 1: stopped and obviously Texas, Oklahoma place shown Kansas and then
Speaker 1: went back. We went through Nashville. Was like, well we
Speaker 1: got to go to the beach in Florida before. It
Speaker 1: was like a huge road trip and I'm like, sorry, Dad,
Speaker 1: but but we had to. He probably made it to
Speaker 1: Nashville before I moved here, so do you feel like
Speaker 1: you have a little bit from each of them where
Speaker 1: you you had that small, small town vibe to you,
Speaker 1: but you can also get out of your comfort zone
Speaker 1: and move to Nashville and chase a dream, and you
Speaker 1: get that from both of them kind of they're very
Speaker 1: much like live in the same zip code, die in
Speaker 1: the series. Okay, it's I admire, Like, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think you know, they're content. My dad's just just a
Speaker 1: good old boy, he really is. And so with him,
Speaker 1: like I feel like I get my extra rudeness friendliness
Speaker 1: from him because he's like the friendliest guy you will
Speaker 1: ever meet, just love like he will just talk to you,
Speaker 1: you know, the girls store, like everybody's his best friend.
Speaker 1: And then my mom and they're both hard workers. But
Speaker 1: my mom has been a really hard worker growing up.
Speaker 1: She always worked two to three jobs, you know, And
Speaker 1: so I get that from her because I'm the same way.
Speaker 1: I'm like hustle. Like, let's go, we'll Speaking of jobs,
Speaker 1: have you had another second job out here other than
Speaker 1: music or three jobs? Yeah, you say it like you
Speaker 1: had quite a few in the short time you've been
Speaker 1: out here. So when I was in high school, I
Speaker 1: worked a job and over the summer I was at
Speaker 1: home more than I guess I should have been, and
Speaker 1: my dad was like, why don't you you need to
Speaker 1: start working. I was like that to have a job.
Speaker 1: He's like, we'll go get another one. Really, I was
Speaker 1: like okay, So I did, and like ever since then,
Speaker 1: I've always worked two to three jobs. In college, I
Speaker 1: did the same. I paid my way through college and
Speaker 1: then as soon as I graduated, so I can make
Speaker 1: you more money once you get that degree. You're right.
Speaker 1: My first paycheck went to my first EP and so yeah,
Speaker 1: So I've always had a day job and I've always
Speaker 1: like worked remote, so that kind of helps, but it
Speaker 1: also helps fund my dream too, because it's I honestly
Speaker 1: don't know what I've done without it, you know, financially.
Speaker 1: So I've always loved and honestly it's never having like
Speaker 1: a day job where I work remote has never affected
Speaker 1: like my dream. And my boss has always been super
Speaker 1: supportive of like, hey, if you need to go do
Speaker 1: something like, let me know and go do it. So
Speaker 1: what are those jobs consists of? Yes throughout the year.
Speaker 1: So yes. So I've in a success coach for an
Speaker 1: education company and so I help other people reach their
Speaker 1: goals and dreams and just kind of like help them
Speaker 1: like set their goals, like small baby steps stuff like
Speaker 1: that to reach their goal. So which helps with mine? Obviously? Interesting? Yes,
Speaker 1: so you're almost like investing in yourself while also getting
Speaker 1: paid to help other people out and have a side job. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's very smart of you. Yes, that's very smart of you.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what that was in college, but I
Speaker 1: love it. Exactly. What college did you go to? I
Speaker 1: went to UTSA and for my undergrad and then I
Speaker 1: did a grad program um for a fun kind of thing.
Speaker 1: What company was paying for Alabama World Tide? Wow? Your
Speaker 1: company was paying where? You can't beat that exactly. So
Speaker 1: and where did you enjoy your time at both UTSA
Speaker 1: and Alabama? I did? Yes? Um, looking back, I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: I wish I said went to Alabama, But you know,
Speaker 1: it's just like when you're young, you don't know, like
Speaker 1: that's all. That's all I knew, and so I'm proud
Speaker 1: of it. I'm thankful, I'm we did good and I
Speaker 1: have a lot of great friends from college and just
Speaker 1: good memory. So did you go to school for music
Speaker 1: anything in music? No, not at all. I went for kinnesiology.
Speaker 1: So what transition to you, like what we're at, what
Speaker 1: age or what year? Was there a specific moment or
Speaker 1: time where you're like, you know what, this was fun?
Speaker 1: It was great. I got my degree and that's awesome.
Speaker 1: But I want to go chase music, right, I've always
Speaker 1: wanted to I just didn't know what to do. I
Speaker 1: haven't no idea. So it was like the time. I
Speaker 1: was kind of like a clueless. I didn't have much direction,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that. But I'm an older brother. And
Speaker 1: when I was like, okay, I guess I've got to
Speaker 1: go to college now, I'm like Mark. My brother's name
Speaker 1: is Mark, and I was like, what do I do?
Speaker 1: He's like, well he did kinesiology too. We're both really
Speaker 1: into sports and stuff like that. So it's kind of
Speaker 1: the route we went. I've always wanted to do music.
Speaker 1: I just didn't know what to do. What direction? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I was like I don't know what to do. So
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, how to play in my
Speaker 1: room and stuff like that and for my friend and
Speaker 1: with my friends and stuff like that. And so it
Speaker 1: wasn't until like, all right, I want to take this serious,
Speaker 1: Like what do I do what's my next step? Book?
Speaker 1: My first show in college at this little pizza place
Speaker 1: and Bernie, Texas, and it was free, but I did
Speaker 1: my first show there and I just figured out, Okay,
Speaker 1: what's next step? You play more shows around town? I
Speaker 1: would just like cold call places, be like hey, I
Speaker 1: would love to play a show. Do you music? This
Speaker 1: is what I've done so far, and then I went
Speaker 1: from there. So, so you were booking yourself, you're performing,
Speaker 1: you're performing for free, and if you're paid, it was
Speaker 1: probably the bare minimum. I imagine, right, yes, what age
Speaker 1: were you? What year was this when you figured out
Speaker 1: you wanted to do all this full time? Cart will
Speaker 1: like seriously just start like, okay, this is what I
Speaker 1: want to pursue, and this is what I need to
Speaker 1: start doing. I need to start cold calling, I need
Speaker 1: to just start go performing and just kind of seeing
Speaker 1: where it goes. Absolutely so, I mean always I wanted
Speaker 1: to take music serious, but again, like I had no
Speaker 1: I'd never been to Nashville. I had no idea of
Speaker 1: like what the next step was. So it was like
Speaker 1: my senior year when I booked my first show, and
Speaker 1: that the summer of before I graduated, And yeah, this
Speaker 1: kind of this, I was like, all right, what I'd
Speaker 1: do next? And yeah, yeah, and you haven't looked back since,
Speaker 1: right right, right, it's been great. Has Nashville always been
Speaker 1: on your mind? It? Yes, I had never been. I
Speaker 1: honestly never been outside of well, we would go to
Speaker 1: Florida every summer, like the destinary. We of family over
Speaker 1: in that area in Georgia, so that was like our
Speaker 1: family reunion vocation. So I'd only been to like those
Speaker 1: southern states on I ten to get there, okay, until
Speaker 1: after I graduated and me and my friend's cigaroo trip
Speaker 1: up here to Nashville, and that was my first time
Speaker 1: in Nashville and it was great. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I want to go back, So I just figuring out
Speaker 1: how to get back. Yeah, I link it to you now, huh. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. Good for you. Is there a time out here?
Speaker 1: Has there been a time out here in Nashville where
Speaker 1: you're kind of thinking to yourself, Man, this is a lot,
Speaker 1: this is tough, this is hard, this is a grind.
Speaker 1: Did I make the right decision? Right? I've never thought
Speaker 1: I always honestly felt like this is where I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to be. I mean, it's definitely been hard, but I've
Speaker 1: never let a hard situation like to tear me from
Speaker 1: like this is where I know I should be, Like
Speaker 1: this is where I feel like I'm called and what
Speaker 1: I should be doing. Like I could not imagine quitting music,
Speaker 1: you know, and so I love to work hard. And
Speaker 1: I mean it's been tough, you know, especially being a
Speaker 1: girl in the industry. But it's been and like I said,
Speaker 1: like my manager, she's been Oh my gosh, Like I'm
Speaker 1: so thankful for her friendship and just her support. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, how did you two meet? You and your manager? Um?
Speaker 1: Off Facebook? I think um. I had heard about her
Speaker 1: from somebody and I was like working out one day.
Speaker 1: I loved workout. I was working out one day and like,
Speaker 1: She's like popped in my mind because I was thinking, Okay,
Speaker 1: for the new year, I would love to hire somebody
Speaker 1: to help me like booking and stuff like that. And
Speaker 1: so I reached out to her and then we just
Speaker 1: started working together, kind of figured it out as we went.
Speaker 1: She had just graduated from Belmont and we just kind
Speaker 1: of went with it. And it's done really good. Like
Speaker 1: people that we know in the industry are like, wow,
Speaker 1: like you know, y'all are great work working together so well.
Speaker 1: If it wasn't for her, you wouldn't be sitting here
Speaker 1: as well, because and dmme on Instagram, and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh okay. And anybody who goes out of their way
Speaker 1: or or reaches out, you know, that says a lot
Speaker 1: or it's just it's not easy to reach out to
Speaker 1: somebody like hey, I have this artist. And she obviously
Speaker 1: was just very polite about it. Check her out, no problem,
Speaker 1: if not this and that. And I think that the
Speaker 1: way that she went about it was definitely the right angle.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, okay, this is interesting. So
Speaker 1: shout out to her, and shout out to you guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it shout out to lindsay. Is there a time or
Speaker 1: a moment or goal of yours where you're going to
Speaker 1: think like, holy crap, this this is it, like I
Speaker 1: finally made it or is it more of the journey
Speaker 1: for you? I think it's honestly the journey. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously I have my goals. I would love to play
Speaker 1: the Green Ole Opry one day just because it's just,
Speaker 1: you know, awesome. I would love to go on tour,
Speaker 1: and honestly, just like writing songs that like make a
Speaker 1: difference that affect people in a positive way. What goes
Speaker 1: into your mind when it comes to the writing a song,
Speaker 1: like what is do you have a certain angle or
Speaker 1: do you wake up one day or does a thought
Speaker 1: come in your head? Kind of what is your process there? Yes,
Speaker 1: so I definitely have like little notes in my phone
Speaker 1: that has all ideas that pop in my head. But
Speaker 1: typically it's just like a little antenna whenever I hear
Speaker 1: like a good like just like an idea, or even
Speaker 1: it could be just like a line, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: that'd be great to write about. And so before I
Speaker 1: started all this though, I wrote down amission statement very
Speaker 1: like corporated oriented every year. But I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: what's my purpose? Because I don't want us to make
Speaker 1: music just to make music, you know, I want it
Speaker 1: to you. For me, what country music has done is
Speaker 1: make a difference in my life, and so I want
Speaker 1: that to do the same thing, you know. So I
Speaker 1: want to have a purpose behind it. And so I
Speaker 1: always try to remind myself because it's easy to get
Speaker 1: off that path, you know, and like follow other things.
Speaker 1: But I always just try to mind myself, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what do I want to release and like why so
Speaker 1: that's kind of like my goals. Do you have you
Speaker 1: ever gotten this? Listen to your music? You have like
Speaker 1: a very calming, soothing voice, thank you. Have you ever
Speaker 1: thought about even doing one of those the apps or
Speaker 1: thing where you can kind of because your voice, Like
Speaker 1: when you hear your voice, you're kind of you're whether
Speaker 1: you're driving or just sitting there, you can't help but
Speaker 1: to just kind of sit there and relax. I mean
Speaker 1: certain songs obviously, right, but you have a very calming
Speaker 1: sound to you. So have you ever heard thought about
Speaker 1: something like, hey, maybe I should do some type of
Speaker 1: apps for like a calming or a meditation app or
Speaker 1: something like that. Free then two seconds, yeah exactly, and
Speaker 1: then just start singing to him, just start singing real
Speaker 1: quick and you're love that. No, I appreciate that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I hope so Rex like I feel I feel like
Speaker 1: that's in my friendships soon as my relationships, Like I'm
Speaker 1: always a hope that I'm like, you know, just a piece,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a peacemaker. I'll have you know, everybody
Speaker 1: being friends. So yeah, I never thought about that, but
Speaker 1: well that's one of the first thing that came to
Speaker 1: my mind when I heard a couple of your songs
Speaker 1: and I was like, this sounds just so calming, like
Speaker 1: I just want to I just want to sit here
Speaker 1: and relax. I just thought about that. Love that. But
Speaker 1: as a former teacher though, and somebody who is you know,
Speaker 1: chasing what you want to do and it took a
Speaker 1: few years to figure it out. I'm right there with you.
Speaker 1: It took me a while. Do you have any advice
Speaker 1: for somebody maybe listening to this and think, you know,
Speaker 1: even if it's not music, I would like to ask
Speaker 1: this question, right, wrap it up, Like, even if it's
Speaker 1: not music, what is your advice to somebody maybe listening
Speaker 1: to this thinking about I want to go do this
Speaker 1: or I want to move here and there. They're hesitant
Speaker 1: on it, right. I'm definitely a go getter, like I'm
Speaker 1: going to have a person. I'm not going to wait
Speaker 1: around to go do something Like I'm like, let's go
Speaker 1: do it, Like why not? You know, I think the
Speaker 1: biggest thing, like God's a big part of my life,
Speaker 1: so I think, like, you know, he always puts ideas
Speaker 1: in our hearts that we should honestly go after. It's
Speaker 1: like why not like we get one life and it's short,
Speaker 1: and so go after whatever you're thinking of. And you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of things can be daunting,
Speaker 1: Like you know, it's like oh, music industry, like oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, like where do you even start at? You know,
Speaker 1: and a lot of times like you're pioneering because nobody
Speaker 1: before you and your family did it or X y Z.
Speaker 1: So I just really think writing down baby steps, so okay,
Speaker 1: like here's my goal, how do I get there? And
Speaker 1: it's like the Bay steps. So you do that and
Speaker 1: then you go from there. And it's the same thing
Speaker 1: with like I love to work out, and so it's
Speaker 1: the same thing with that, like over the years, like
Speaker 1: the baby steps and just focused on your goal and
Speaker 1: enjoy it. On anything that's the biggest thing. And also
Speaker 1: like the relationships you like earn on the way, like
Speaker 1: Lindsay for example, like she's like a lifelong friend now
Speaker 1: and it's just like I'm so thankful, like no matter
Speaker 1: what happens tomorrow, like I'm just so thankful, like I
Speaker 1: have her friendship now and we got to like do
Speaker 1: this together and so it's been really good. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: And what are some of your highlights. I know that
Speaker 1: you've played at the National Finals Rodeo in Vegas last
Speaker 1: year and you're playing again this year. Is that correct? Yes?
Speaker 1: So fun. How is that your favorite venue or event
Speaker 1: that you've ever played at? Okay, So, I grew up
Speaker 1: with rodeo. I've worked on the rodeo hall throughout, like
Speaker 1: you know, kindergarten through twelfth grade, you know, just with
Speaker 1: my mom, she did a rodeo or she you know,
Speaker 1: worked on the radio. To you, and so I kind
Speaker 1: of stepped away from that like industry for long times,
Speaker 1: kind of because I don't ride horses by any means anymore,
Speaker 1: but you did growing up. Cows. Oh yeah, I'm like
Speaker 1: I was a horse girls, I was, though I love horses,
Speaker 1: but I also like, wasn't the wake boarding scene too
Speaker 1: growing up? But um Nfar, like my gosh, Like I mean,
Speaker 1: I grew up with the San Antonio Rodeo. We did that.
Speaker 1: Um but Nfar was just like another just another world,
Speaker 1: so much fun. I could have stayed out there all
Speaker 1: ten days. So but it was just like great because
Speaker 1: there's live music everywhere a lot of people from the
Speaker 1: industry were there, so it was really cool to see
Speaker 1: you know some people I know different you know, aspects
Speaker 1: of the industry. Um, and obviously you got like cowboys
Speaker 1: everywhere too, but like, um, it was really cool. I've
Speaker 1: heard amazing things about it. My mom was actually out
Speaker 1: there this past year, not for that, but for something else,
Speaker 1: for a word conference, and she was texting me and
Speaker 1: she's like, Kevin, like you need to come to this.
Speaker 1: There's cowboys everywhere and there's just like people everywhere, and
Speaker 1: I've seen a documentary on them before and I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is like they're super Bowl right Literally was yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: So it's a huge event and it's ten days long
Speaker 1: and it's definitely on my bucket list. And then as
Speaker 1: soon as I brought it up, I could see your
Speaker 1: face just light up and you just smile and be
Speaker 1: like it's amazing. So maybe I need to go out
Speaker 1: there this year and maybe I can see you perform
Speaker 1: out there. That would be awesome. That would be great. Fine.
Speaker 1: Do you enjoy songwriting or performing more? That's hard? Um,
Speaker 1: I love both. Um, it's so fun to perform. Like
Speaker 1: I said, like, I love people. I love meeting people,
Speaker 1: and so we need to perform. You know, you meet
Speaker 1: so many people and I love doing that, and then
Speaker 1: writing is great because it's like, especially once you finish
Speaker 1: writing a song, I feel so it feel so great.
Speaker 1: So to create something and then you know, yeah, bring
Speaker 1: it to life. That's awesome. Well, Megan, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for coming on here. I really appreciate it. It's
Speaker 1: been a lot of fun here in your story, here
Speaker 1: in your journey, and I know there's many things that come.
Speaker 1: What do we find you on social media? Megan Ashley Music, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: on everything, yep, simplest so you can spell it. Okay,
Speaker 1: So Megan Ashley Music on social media, go follow her,
Speaker 1: check her out. Is there anything else do you want
Speaker 1: to promote? Talk about upcoming? Maybe this year? Go for it.
Speaker 1: The floor is yours. Yes, so all my ex'sluming taxes.
Speaker 1: Female version. I feel like I had to do that.
Speaker 1: It's been on my mind for a little bit, so
Speaker 1: because obviously, you know, George is singing about some girls,
Speaker 1: and so I'm singing it about some voys. So that's
Speaker 1: a mix of the female version and just be able
Speaker 1: to look out for more music this year. Oh okay,
Speaker 1: you can't go wrong with there's a lot of George
Speaker 1: straight going on this podcast. Isn't I know. I know
Speaker 1: it's not a bad thing. I don't mean another bad thing.
Speaker 1: Absolutely no. Everyone loves from George straight, so that's a
Speaker 1: great thing. Well, Megan, thank you so much and I
Speaker 1: really look forward to see what the future holds for you.
Speaker 1: Thank you appreciate it. Thanks