0:00

when did you see the kind of the rise in fans and people listening to your music it was a song I put out called side

0:07

piece I posted a video singing it on Tik Tok went to sleep and I woke up with

0:16

millions of views about 30,000 people made their own videos wow singing the

0:23

song knew every word to it and those videos all had 500,000 views 200,000

CMT NEXT Women of County Awards, Sports, How Julia Got Her Start

0:31

views and it just changed my perspective completely I stopped focusing on Music Row I stopped focusing on the business

0:38

the industry any of that all that matters is a great song and connecting

0:43

with someone who needs that

0:48

song Julia Cole welcome to the podcast so happy to be here Ed I'm happy you're

0:54

here too I'm happy you're here too one of my favorite people in Nashville I said walk in I was like I'll take any

1:00

excuse to come hang out with you so that's awesome that's awesome so um gosh

1:05

lots to talk about where where to begin I was uh they gave they gave me show notes and I'm like oh I don't need notes

1:11

I'm like yeah just let's see what you come up with and I saw on there uh 2022

1:17

let me read it again CMT next women woman women of country uh I mean I I've

1:25

known you for a long time you've come a long way what's what's that like it's

1:30

definitely one of those like Pinch Me moments because every female in country

1:36

music that you're hearing on the radio right now was a CMT and next wom in a country like right before that happened

1:43

so it's it definitely feels like validation and recognition

1:49

from a person and an entity in the industry that has been right A lot of

1:54

times before so it's exciting yeah that's awesome I mean you know one of the things uh as I've watched your

2:01

career and uh you know just had our friendship for so long I've noticed your

2:08

work ethic and it really has been incredible because you were going to

2:15

Vanderbilt you were playing volleyball at Vanderbilt and you were playing uh

2:22

music I say on the side but you know you were hustling all the it definitely was on the side for sure I just didn't know

2:28

anything about the music industry and you I'm sure you've heard this story before but it's probably been a long

2:34

time but I got my start singing national anthems for my volleyball and basketball games so Sports was really my first love

2:41

and what I spent my entire life doing before I fell into this national anthem

2:47

gig and then I started doing it for everything in Houston so Texans Astros NASA Houston dynamos Rodeo so I'm in

2:54

high school singing in front of 75,000 people but I don't know how to write a song I don't know how to play guitar are

Growing up in Houston Texas, Family Life, Emily Cole

3:00

I had learned classical piano that my mom made me take growing up but I wasn't like currently playing piano or anything

3:07

like that music was not a goal but I've always loved music and singing along

3:13

with the radio and things like that so when I came to Nashville it was kind of

3:18

like let me just try and figure this weird new industry out that I've never

3:24

thought of before and simultaneously keep doing what I've been working on my

3:29

life which is academics and Athletics yeah I mean so so let's go back to you

3:35

were born and raised in Houston correct um I know your parents awesome people you have two sisters the best yeah what

3:43

what was it like growing up in Houston and uh you know did you start um music

3:48

there was it all about sports what was what was that like we I have like you said two sisters

3:54

all of us played Sports growing up and my dad always referred to our family as

4:00

the coal team and that's how my fan base is like referred to now and it's been

4:08

fun because all of these little pieces from my Sports World and childhood have

4:13

just kind of naturally fit into the progression of where my career is gone but yeah growing up in Houston was very

4:19

fitting for what I'm doing now because there's so many different influences in

4:25

that City it's a Melting Pot you know you've got Texas country you've got Beyond say everything is going on there

4:32

and with my sports teams we had so many different people of different backgrounds that were always together

4:38

putting together a locker room playlist or a bus playlist that there was never only one genre playing and you can

4:45

definitely hear a lot of that influence in my production and my lyrics country storytelling but a lot of creativity on

4:52

the production side yeah and so and you know when when it came to Growing Up were you always playing uh Sports as

5:00

well always that's it every sport I played soccer for over 10 years basketball for over 10 years volleyball

5:06

is my favorite played that for the longest ran track in Cross Country my

5:11

older sister and I passed the Baton off to each other in the 4x4 I mean Sports were like everything and your older

5:20

sister is in London she moved back she lived in London for 5 years and now she

5:26

lives in Connecticut and she I'm going to say this somewhat incorrectly but as

5:32

far as I know she runs coinbase's cryptocurrency hedge fund oh that's

5:37

pretty cool we got to we got to talk they acquired the company she was working at so I'm not sure if I said the

5:42

title correctly but that's where she is now and what she's doing and she was

5:48

also an athlete yes for our whole childhood for your whole child basetball

5:53

was more her like the way that I locked into volleyball she locked into basketball like that and then so where

6:01

did where did she go to to college Duke both of my sisters are Blue Devils okay she went to Duke and then after college

6:08

did she go straight to England or how did that work Morgan Stanley in New York City I see okay cool and then your uh

6:17

youngest sister Emily she's a track star still running at Duke right now she just

6:23

had her last first day of class day before yesterday guess

6:29

whatever Monday that's awesome mhm and she she's a she wrote a book too what

6:35

was what was that book she is so incredible it's been really fun to watch

6:41

her grow up into everything she's become and she is an author now and um her book

6:49

it's called The Players plate and she combines different recipes that focus on

7:00

helping you with something you're struggling with if that makes sense so if you're having trouble sleeping maybe

7:06

there's a recipe that is geared towards if you have this before you go to sleep it'll help you sleep better or if you're

7:13

needing more energy before a workout or if you're needing recovery better afterwards or a million different things

7:19

in this book that she explains kind of overall health and nutrition and how

7:25

your Macros work and carbs fats proteins what's going to be the best combination

7:31

of things for what your goals are but the coolest twist is that she interviews

7:38

Pro aletes and dieticians to give their input on what

7:45

their favorite meal is and what their favorite recipe is and it's kind of also an interview about something that they

7:52

struggled with and overcame in their career it's a very cool book and I I've

7:58

never heard of anything anything like it yeah it's awesome so she was going to Duke she was running uh was was it cross

8:04

country track and cross country steeple chase is her best event so that's track but she also does cross country okay she

8:11

was uh running track and cross country and at the same time writing a

8:17

book she took a class that helped write the book and it's a really cool class

8:24

because you can entered at different levels I believe and there's one where

8:29

it's like you sign up to actually work with a publisher and have an editor for your book and they kind of help you step

8:35

by step along the way but what an amazing experience and way to start

8:41

and I don't know that she's going to do another book you know she's not like I'm going to be an author for the rest of my

8:47

life she just was really passionate about this subject because of how much of an impact it's had on her and her

8:54

life as an athlete that she was like I just need this to exist in the world for other athletes who don't have what I

9:01

wish I had yeah and you know kind of the Catalyst from that correct me if I'm wrong uh I guess it was probably

9:07

2017 she had uh uh an incident where she

9:12

was in a coma for a while and uh what exactly happened close it was 2018 and

9:19

she it was the the night before the state cross country meet in Texas and

9:26

she had made it all the way to the finals and was projected to be in like the top four of the state this is

9:34

6a like most difficult level of competition in high school sports and

9:40

the night before she just her Cal started cramping and starty to get

9:46

nauseated and she ended up starting to to throw up a bunch and then her coaches were like yeah just you know rest maybe

9:52

you ate something bad like go relax and the next time her coaches came back from

9:59

the team dinner came up to check on her um she was unresponsive to what they

10:06

were saying and then started convulsing and then went

Julia’s Sister Surviving a Serious Medical Scare

10:12

into I think the the she was medic had a medically induced coma for almost 3 days

10:20

because she had been trying to fix her diet into a perfect combination

10:28

of the right macros and she didn't factor in Saline she did not put salt in

10:34

her food she just she was doing this all by herself she didn't have a nutritionist like she was just you know

10:40

youtubing what's the best way to eat basically MH and she cut out too much salt from her diet and was over

10:47

hydrating was sweating out all of the salt and what happens when you don't have the right saline levels is your

10:53

brain swells and then in the hospital they had to slow drift saline back into her

11:03

bloodstream cuz she couldn't it also makes your brain swell when you increase

11:08

the Salan level so that's why they had her in the medically induced coma because it took a very long time to slow

11:15

drip the saline back to the right level but it was the scariest thing you know our families really experienced cuz if

11:22

her coaches hadn't found her and her brain had just kept swelling in that hotel room you know don't even want to think about what could have happened

11:29

but her brain was definitely affected for a long time and took a a while to heal back to normal and so now that

11:37

she's the fact that she's able to run again and is back competing at the level

11:42

and she's running in like usas which is against our Olympians our gold medal Olympians that's who she's running

11:48

against it's the most impressive thing to watch but what a story of

11:55

perseverance and not letting something like that scare you away yeah so she had a lot and that's all in the book like

12:01

she writes about all that yeah I mean what was what was that like I I feel like we were together uh maybe you were

12:07

supposed to be going to Mexico or something and that happened but did you just get a call was it sudden yeah my

12:12

parents called and they and I booked a flly it immediately and just flew to it

12:18

actually we were in Austin cuz that's where the meat was cuz we're from Houston but they had the meet it was at

12:23

UT MH and so I ended up just booking a flight to Austin that you know as soon

12:29

as my parents told me and flying there that day yeah that's a that's a flight you don't want to take oh my gosh my

12:35

sister did my older sister did the same thing flew in from London like as soon as she got the call booked a flight flew

12:41

back from London yeah that's uh i' I've always worried over these years like I'm going to get a call you know I have to

12:47

fly fly for something like that it happened with my best friend Adam that died and it was pretty brutal was like I

12:54

was you know that's how it happens though I mean you think about so many things in life where you hear about a tragedy or this or that and it's all

The Whirlwind of 2018 for Julia, Reflecting on Work/Life Balance

13:01

just eventually the phone calls have to go out and people have to find out one way or another

13:08

and I I am constantly like I've got my my

13:13

list of goals and gratitude that I you know read in the mornings and there is always one that's I'm thankful for you

13:21

know my health and my family but I'm really thankful for my family's health I'm thankful for my friends I'm thankful

13:27

for my friend's Health like it's always an extra thing I add in there CU I don't want that phone call either no I mean we

13:33

you know there's we live busy lives where we're traveling and we're uh working on our careers and and those

13:39

type of things but you know the fact that you jumped on the plane of course you would no no question but it's easy

13:46

sometimes to you know forget what's important you know and I think that

13:54

um with the way social media is these days and the let's call it the Instagram

14:00

or Tik Tok culture where it's all about you know the views and these type of things we lose the human connection with

14:08

each other we don't lose it necessarily like you didn't lose it with your family of course you got on a plane right away but people see these you know these

14:15

clips of the best parts of our life yeah but um I think sometimes maybe people

14:22

forget what's super important and those type of instances are a good reminder of

14:27

all that 20 18 as a whole the reason why I remembered exactly I was like it's 2018 because there were a lot of things

14:33

that happened that year that I mean I was for sure a changed person the

14:40

very beginning of 2018 is when lri white passed away and I know I've told you about her but she was my publisher my

14:47

producer my Nashville mom I lived with her when I didn't have a place to stay during my summers at at Vanderbilt she

14:55

taught me how to write a song introduced me to people in the industry in Nashville just everything about her was like what

15:02

I wanted to be when I grow up She was just brilliant kind beautiful loved

15:09

loved everyone else just a light and she was diagnosed with cancer in September

15:16

and died in January and had you know three children

15:22

an amazing husband Chuck Cannon the whole family was just rocked

15:27

and so that's and I remember calling you and I tried to tell them to call you

15:32

about going to to Tian or going to chipsa but it just already had progress so far and it was everything was

15:38

happening so fast for them I mean just think about that timeline September to January

15:45

um it's when nobody's an expert and they're having to make all these

15:50

decisions and they're just trying to to trust whatever information they can get the fastest by someone who they think

15:57

they trust the the the most it's all of it was very eye openening to

16:03

me because I just I watched it happen firsthand and I was

16:08

somewhat you know I was family with them I was over there every day

16:14

so it's not often when it's a person who's actually in your everyday life that that happens

16:21

toh um but that was the same year so I just remember there were there were a

16:26

few gut checks that year where I was like

16:32

nothing really matters more than your relationships with the people that you

16:39

love because what else really is there I mean

16:45

money's money money comes money goes yeah you want to have it to have your basic survival covered but once you've

16:51

got that covered like you know spend time with the people who you love and

16:56

who love you it's just important yeah no absolutely and I think about it

17:03

a lot especially now with my parents getting older you know would because I I do work so much yeah

17:11

but at what point do you have to dial it back a little bit you know to take care

17:17

of to to make sure you don't have regrets when they eventually go because that's all you know it's all going to

17:22

happen your parents still younger um but uh you know so you got a lot more years

17:28

and hopefully I have a lot more years with my parents but yeah it's really been the last couple years fresh on my

17:33

mind mhm and and we deal with a lot of death you know at the hospital and I've

17:39

experienced so much of that uh not necessarily with a close friend like you had in 2018 but so much of seeing people

17:47

at the end you get close to to those patients though yeah no for sure I've

17:52

even felt you know going for a week felt close to some people and you deal with it for months and years and then you

18:00

know things sometimes get better and things sometimes don't get better so I

18:05

can't imagine how you do what you do but the world's a better place for it and

18:10

thanks there's just a balance of you have to have purpose also in your

18:17

life and you have to have meaning in your life so you can't just chase you

18:22

know the good time of hanging out with your friends or your family like you have to also have some goals and

18:29

passions and things like that so just trying to have a balance I'm not going to I'm not going to cancel a concert

18:37

that I have just to go hang out with my parents sure but I cancelled my CMA Fest

18:44

shows because Emily was running in the national championship yeah this might be

18:49

last time in Emily's life she's running in a national championship yeah I'm not going to miss watching one of the

18:57

biggest moments of her life for a CMA fast show I'm going to play next year

19:03

too you know you know if I'm lucky knock on wood you anything can happen but like

19:09

got to just weigh it out and I'm like okay I believe I'm going to have more of these I don't know if there will be more

19:14

of these she's important to me I'm going to go yeah well that's that's one of the things about you I have a lot of respect

19:20

for because you do work really hard and but you have the I'm going to say common

19:27

sense I don't know if it's common sense but the logic of that to where you know

19:32

what's important uh and what's not and you can break it down and um I think

19:39

that's yeah that's really respectable it's hard to Define like what's success

19:45

and what's better because I I tell myself all the time like all right you know Michael Jackson Pinnacle of Music

19:53

success would I want that life would I want to experience what he was experiencing and and everything that H

19:59

absolutely not you know so there are tradeoffs for every different thing there are some people who I'm like okay

The Beginning of Playing Music in Nashville in 2015, Early Music Career

20:06

the way Taylor Swift has done it beautiful I feel like she has maintained a level of connection

20:15

with her family and friends while reaching the peak of musical

20:22

success so you know there are different routes to take but I'm like musical

20:27

success can't be everything because there are tons of people with musical success who I wouldn't choose that life

20:32

sure makes sense yeah I mean I guess so you know and and you're at where you're

20:38

at now but you you had that uh understanding before I mean talking

20:44

about 2018 uh your experience with Lori your experience with your sister um what was

20:52

like so let's go through the years here of being in Nashville so when did you start actually playing music in n

20:59

Nashville probably probably

21:06

2015 and terrible terrible music was being played I mean I was just trying to

21:12

figure out how to play guitar mhm you know how to write a

21:17

song and I was already a writer I wrote a novel in high school I won a bunch of

21:23

poetry contests so I already Loved Words and I loved storytelling and painting a

21:29

picture but poetry as much as I thought it would be really similar

21:36

to songwriting is very different from songwriting interesting and uh you know

21:42

takes time to to learn those differences and and how to

21:48

really craft a song and then on top of that finding your own voice what do you

21:54

really want to say what types of feelings do you want

21:59

your listeners to have after a song MH and all of that just takes time none of

22:06

that just happens immediately and I you know the I would love for someone to show me

22:14

a child wonder who who became huge by the age of 18 or 16 or whatever who

22:20

hadn't already spent their whole life writing songs you know they're the kinds of people who you see songwriting books

22:25

from when they were 4 years old and they had been playing guitar since they could walk like that type of thing yeah it

22:31

happens but they really did put time in on the front end so I I believe in that

22:39

that 10,000 hours Rule and it's like okay I didn't start till later but

22:47

like I'm going to put those 10,000 hours in as fast as I can to try and catch up

22:53

yeah so you started 2015 when did you start playing it South probably then that was in okay yeah yeah cuz I

22:59

remember um gurnie John gurnie and Filmore had their Duo at the time and

23:06

they W they asked look at the lookout yep and they asked me to come sing a riter John actually it was Drew Dixon

23:15

asked me to sing the first round and I didn't know anybody and I didn't know

23:20

anything and I'm sure it was just cute you know watching little Vandy Julia

23:27

sing song but with your South hat with my South hat hat I'm sure actually they maybe

23:35

they hadn't given it to me as like a because I at that point probably became a regular I was just like I love this

23:41

place yeah that was a that was a fun place South was like because you know living in Nashville my whole life you go

23:48

through like different iterations of of groups of musics that go in through the

23:53

through the uh bar and music scene per se and um that was a a really cool group

24:00

um a lot of people that you know were obviously still friends with um I miss I always felt like the baby I felt like

24:07

they were all really in the industry and I was just trying to

24:13

like like the little sister trying to hang out with the the older siblings and they were just like you know you're not

24:20

here yet but like one day and and it's fun cuz I think now in my career I have

24:26

more of a a songwriting collaborative experience with a lot of them rather than little baby Julia there you go yeah

24:35

me then so you know South ended up closing but you were obious that actually kind of where you got your start in Nashville and then um talk

24:42

about the evolution you know since then the last let's go from let's say

24:48

200 uh you know 15 to 2020 um I'm sure in that five-year

24:54

period you can think of different steps or uh different goals you accomplished

25:00

and uh let's kind of walk through that so what would you say the next step 2015 you're playing at South what happened

25:08

next so interesting how my career has unfolded

25:16

because it's bizarre the way that that everything's kind of happened and I

25:21

really didn't know what I was doing and I think part of that did add this like

25:26

ignorance as Bliss element to it I wasn't scared of anything I was just super confident that

25:33

like whatever if everyone else can do it I can do it like why not

25:38

and I think that it's cool that I never grew up around pressure from anyone else's

25:46

musical success was like no one in my life I had ever met was involved in the music industry everything I was doing

25:53

was just cool and fun and exciting so I remember from the start I

26:00

was just doing kind of outlandish fun things and it's how I got

26:05

a lot of deals kind of quickly I before I graduated from Vandy Vandy I had a I

26:13

had a manager I had a publisher and I had an agent and I was signed CIA one of the biggest agencies in the

26:20

world and it was all none of it came because I just had an incredible song

26:27

that was never it it was it was the work ethic and it was the I guess I was I

26:33

stood out because I wasn't scared to just be me and they could tell I was

26:41

really authentic but I think it was also because I came at it from an

26:49

entrepreneur mindset rather than just a creatives mindset and it was helpful and

26:56

I think I think I think all of those people the reason why Chuck and L signed that publishing deal really I think was

27:04

more because I had written a novel in high school and they were like okay there's perseverance work ethic there

27:13

and obviously writing passion we can teach her how to write a song CU they

27:19

are hit songwriters you know so that's how that one came about and then I remember Blake McDaniel saw me at a a

27:28

CMA Fest Riders round and he was my agent at CIA he saw me perform with a group

27:35

called the song suffragettes and it was just this group Todd Cassidy started

27:40

this company that supported you know young female songwriters and it was just

27:46

all girl all female writers rounds so he had a stage for CMA Fest and he got to

27:52

pick just you know five different girls to come up and and play some songs and he asked me to come play

27:58

we got to sing with Dena Carter and she sang strawberry wine with us there on stage it was she was kind of the you

28:04

know the icon on the stage and then there were four of us just newcomers and I was

28:11

singing in the it was the CMA close-up stage I think and so there were probably I don't

28:19

know 500 to a, people who were gathered around to watch Mostly DEA Carter

28:25

probably sing Strawberry Wine but we the the additional ones on stage with her

28:30

and I was wearing a hat with a GoPro on it and I was singing one of my really

28:36

fun you know party songs and just got the whole crowd participating and I was using the

28:44

GoPro as like y'all are on camera too like you're part of the show or whatever and Blake was at that show and

28:52

so I got signed to CIA not because my song SS were Incredible or anything like

28:59

that but it was just that maybe bravery crowd interaction whatever that was and

29:05

then I remember my management my first management deal he just couldn't believe the fact that I had a a business plan

29:12

like I had a paper printed out like full binder business

29:19

plan so none of those happened because my music was amazing and it's cool that

29:27

I've had time to look back and and learn from that and when everything really

29:34

started to take off for me career-wise industry-wise fans listening to my songs

29:40

millions of streams you know now we're at 20 200 million streams all of that

29:46

came from when I finally started to focus on the craft and actually digging

29:53

into the songs making sure I really pick pick a Melody

29:59

that's going to serve the song and not just show off a part a range of your

Her Song “Side Piece” going Viral, Lessons Julia Learned from Jelly Roll

30:04

voice it's a totally different intention

30:09

behind where my focus is going it's more about the art and the song and that's

30:15

when everything actually started to work for me so it's it's backwards from what I think a lot of other people in the

30:21

music industry have they maybe hate the business side and hate the

30:28

having to interact with the crowds or do the social media or do whatever that side of it is but I started out with

30:34

that because it was it was stuff that I had already learned it was what I was studying in school it was just maybe

30:40

easier MH because I didn't know how to write a song yet and then when I finally

30:46

focused it just changed everything yeah when was that like so uh when did you

30:51

see the kind of the rise in fans and people listening to your music Co

30:56

happened and I was forced to stop being just the hustle

31:04

Workhorse I was forced to sit back all my touring got cancelled everyone's did and I had to

31:12

figure something else out and it gave me this period of reflection on the songs

31:19

and the music and instead of spending every weekend out playing in some bar

31:26

somewhere I was writing more going back through

31:32

the songs I had written and revisiting ones making them better actually picking

31:39

you know this is a really awesome lyric let's tease this on social media and I

31:45

got to kind of test my songs on socials

31:50

and start gearing it more towards what people were interacting with and

31:55

engaging with because it was reaching people you know the message of that lyric was so much more than anything

32:03

else I had been doing and then specifically it was a song I put out called side piece and it's it's a funny

32:10

title but the song is actually like it's a I hate that it's so relatable for a

32:18

lot of people but it's a cheating song that that a lot of people just

32:23

immediately grabbed on to I posted a video singing it on Tik

32:29

Tok went to sleep and I woke up with millions of views about 30,000 people

32:37

made their own videos wow singing the song knew every word to it and those

32:45

videos all had 500,000 views 200,000 views like so it just I mean it was a

32:52

true viral moment and experience and it had nothing nothing to do with me it was

32:58

the song it was the lyric that resonated with people and it just changed my

33:05

perspective completely I stopped focusing on Music Row I stopped focusing on the business the industry any of that

33:11

and I was like all that matters is a great song and connecting with someone

33:17

who needs that song yeah so that was go what year Co it was Co 2020 that's

33:24

around when did I remember you and I going over to uh Jelly's office um where uh my

33:33

friend Adrian Michaels was over there with uh I forget the other person joh looba yeah looba and uh what did you

33:41

learn from jelly you know during you know you got to know him then but you've uh got to know him since too I admire

33:48

him so much and I

33:53

learned that you don't have to do it the way everyone else says you have to do it

33:58

you have to do it in a way that's authentic to you and when you're

34:06

giving your listeners your fans your community something that they can relate

34:12

to and something that they can use to get through something tough in their life it builds a family with your fan

34:20

base in a way that's so passionate that no matter what the industry says your

34:27

fans have your back and I'd never seen it the way that

34:32

he did it and I could tell listening to their conversations that the dynamic was just

34:38

different it wasn't artist begging the industry for a shot it was industry

34:45

begging the artists to let them be a part of the journey and I was like this is what I want this is awesome that's

34:52

the way to flip it yeah know it's it's it's been wild watching him since I mean

34:58

since then uh become one of the biggest artists in country

35:03

music truly and it's it's funny because you and I both know that that happened

35:11

before the record deal that happened before country radio deemed him worthy

35:18

he already was almost selling out Bridgestone yeah and then one year into

35:24

his career with label r I is now being called a superstar I mean he was selling

35:31

tons of tickets and like the hard ticket is how a lot of people in the industry

35:37

really call something successful he can outsell people who

35:42

have way more number ones than he does oh yeah ticket wise that's real fans that's people who want to go there and

35:50

experience everything about him not just one song yeah I was talking to Adrian about it and he's like yeah he's

35:57

worldwide he was telling me I forget the different countries that he's like I guess trending in or doing well in and

36:04

it's been incredible because you're talking about a guy who worked his butt off I mean the O the adversity that he

36:11

had overcome is is incredible but in his past but you know since he has been

36:18

working on music uh I mean he was living out of a van you know just grinding away

36:24

I think he said I had him on uh my old podcast a few years ago and I think he said he had 30 something 31 32 records

36:31

he put out and before anybody really took him serious and and he was just

36:36

doing was true to him he didn't care about the genre he didn't start doing country music because he thought oh if I

36:42

cross over to country music this is going to work he just put out a beautiful song that happened to fall

36:48

into the country genre and go extremely viral on the internet because people

36:55

already knew that everything he was singing thinking about was truly him from all of his past material but it's

37:01

almost like I've never seen anyone else do it except maybe like Kid Rock where

37:07

it just doesn't matter what the genre is it's just so true and authentic that you

The Jelly Roll Documentary, Playing the Grand Ole Opry for the First Time

37:14

can you can put any type of background music you want it's just believable and

37:20

makes you feel understood and like you really know the person well

37:28

yeah he he connects so much with the audience I remember when save me came out I think you showed me that song

37:34

before it was anywhere you were like look listen to this listen to this I I remember texting him this I think it was like July 2020 I could be off a little

37:41

bit but I said bro you might want to gramy for this and you know I I don't

37:46

know how this is so good and fast forward three years later the song is

37:52

being re-released with Laney Wilson and it wouldn't shock me if he was nominated for a Grammy for it and maybe wins such

37:59

a good song yeah so so good have you seen the documentary he did I need to

38:05

sit down and watch the whole thing I've seen Parts but I need to sit down and watch the whole thing oh my gosh I cry I

38:11

know I'm going to cry the whole time I'm like do it by be ready when I'm ready for that you know what I mean it's a mental mindset I'm like okay I'm ready

38:18

to just cry tonight yeah know I did I you know it's there was so many that's was like four or five times in the

38:24

documentary I mean because he's so he just connects with people and you see the impact that he's had on their lives

38:31

and uh and he's so honest like he says things like you know he's a good example of just pure authenticity of this is who

38:38

I am and I don't care what people think and I'm a good person and I'm doing the

38:44

best I can I have all these struggles but here I am world it's it's pretty

38:50

inspiring it's extremely inspiring and everybody has their thing nobody's

38:55

perfect everybody is going through something and when you can watch someone overcome as much as as he's overcome and

39:05

as much as other people in his community have overcome and and built because they

39:10

believe in each other and love each other and work together it's it's like that's goes back to what we're talking

39:16

about at the beginning it's about your your people yeah who do you love and who loves you and when y'all Focus your time

39:23

and energy on building each other up up and being there for each other it should

39:30

in theory help both of your dreams Thrive and I'm thinking relationships

39:35

friendships yeah whatever it is it's it's about that Community I don't I

39:42

don't believe that human beings Were Meant to ever be alone I don't think

39:47

that's what our species is was that's not what our uh natural instinct is for

39:55

survival no that's you know you think about like this I think of like the spirit of Nashville I think he embodies that but a

40:01

lot of people I don't think they realize how the people that are the most successful

40:06

and there's anomalies every now and then but they have a group of friends and people around them that are happy for

40:13

them and and supporting them whereas you know there's a lot of people get around other people that are haters you know on

40:20

the side and they surround themselves with that type of energy but you think about all of our friends I don't know

40:26

any body that's not happy for you I don't know anybody that's not happy for jelly I don't know anybody that's not happy for you all of our friends in in

40:33

the music industry we're all H we're all celebrating when our friends are doing

40:38

well it's like living in gratitude uh really is is the way to

40:44

be it's it's interesting when you're in the entertainment industry and your success is public or your failure is

40:53

public but it's really not not that different than someone else's whose

40:58

dreams are whatever to be a partner at their Law Firm or someone who just really

41:04

really wants kids and maybe has had a hard time having kids just when there's people in your life who have a goal or a

41:11

dream or just anything they're passionate about you should be happy for them when they get that whether it be

41:17

this public entertainment business success or just as simple as finally

41:23

finding someone who loves them they can get married to I mean it doesn't matter to me what the thing

41:29

is but if you love someone like you're going to support them yeah when they get

41:35

something that they've been working towards yeah no absolutely yeah I think that uh it really does embody Nashville

41:42

um this town's awesome it really is it really is you you hear these stories of

41:47

the negativity in other places and I guess it is it can be in any place but

41:53

overall I mean that's that's how I was raised here more Community Based than it is like this isolated competition thing

42:00

which I think the places you're and when you say other places I'm like La New York yeah but yeah Nashville is like I'm

42:08

as soon as I started doing stuff like that South scene we were talking about like I was the the little kid but I

42:14

still was getting invited to stuff like yeah come watch our thing come hang out with whatever let's write a song yeah

42:20

and in other places I don't know that it's as welcoming there's not that open policy

42:26

of like why not try it out yeah no not at all not at all I mean and some of the

42:33

iconic places in Nashville and move to this uh

42:39

segue uh you played at the Grand alopi for the first time it probably what two

42:45

years ago is that about right it was last year last year it was last year and I flew back into I was in Mexico I flew

42:50

back for it oh my gosh it was just the best it was the best Day Ever my I got

42:58

to sing a song that I wrote for my grandma mod to her at the

43:07

Opry and I got to wear my grandfather Poppy's clothing he passed away shortly

43:14

before my debut but he loved the Opera and Country Music more than anybody and this this shirt and this belt this is

43:21

all Poppy's fabric like every bit of my wardrobe since the then has been

43:28

incorporating poppy cuz he was he was country music in our family and and the

43:33

biggest fan of the Opry so I asked him if I could wear something of his on stage before he passed away because I

43:39

knew I was going to get to do my debut and he gave me all his old Western Wear shirts so I got to have him with me

43:46

on stage he made his debut looking down and I sang that song to motty so it was

43:53

just such a family moment there were 40 people from Texas and Louisiana where I'm from that came to my debut yeah and

44:00

it just felt like it wasn't just for me it was like all of us made it yeah well

44:06

I mean it is it's it takes a uh Village you know and that was that was it and

44:12

what was it like because you you had just experienced um you know his passing and uh you know when you got on the

44:20

stage and you're looking at the crowd and you're playing the grand o opery

44:25

which is the most historic Place uh for country music that there is what was

44:31

that like I definitely cried on stage could

44:36

not keep it together I tried to um but

44:42

it was magical it's the most nervous I've ever been for a performance because

44:47

it was you know how some people say it's easier to sing in front of a big crowd than it is in front of like your closest

44:54

community of people cuz it's you care more about what they think this was not only a big crowd in my first

45:01

time on this iconic stage but also everybody from my family who maybe a lot

45:08

of them hadn't really even seen me perform you know it's like people who it's not more than just my immediate

45:14

family I'm like this is my chance to like show them what I've been working so

45:19

hard for and give them this piece of country music that is part of who I am and it was

45:30

just so nerve-wracking and so beautiful all at the same time and I just remember

45:35

so many people I'm so thankful for this so many people warned me make sure you

45:43

take it all in don't let it just fly by cuz it's going to fly by and you don't want to you hear people being like gosh

45:49

I kind of just blacked out for it like I it just happened and it was over cuz the grand opery you only get to do for your

45:55

debut you you only get to do two songs mhm and I mean that's that's short compared to when you're used to doing

46:01

60-minute shows or 90minut shows and so I was like okay I'm going

46:07

to take a moment and I really did in between the two songs I was like y'all

46:13

just give me a give me a second and I just looked around and I just felt you

46:19

know I was standing in that Circle just felt the the spirit of Johnny Cash and Dolly

46:25

part and Elvis Presley and everybody who stood in that Circle

46:30

Ry I was like okay I have been invited into this country music family now this

46:37

is my family too now and it was just magical that's awesome what did uh what

46:42

did your grandmother say to you after that that show oh my gosh she was my

46:48

whole family was crying so much and M especially but motty is I always say

46:53

that she has like she's got God on speed dial I I feel like straight up if you

46:59

need a prayer to go through like ask M to pray for it cuz there's a different level of communication going on there

47:06

she had a liver transplant at age 52 and she's 79 now and I actually wrote

47:13

that song originally for her 75th birthday

47:19

um she she just was so thankful that Poppy got to

47:25

be a part of it too cuz they were married for she was since she was 20 19

47:33

or 20 and this was her first few months without him he had just

47:41

passed away and it just it felt like he still got to

47:48

be with us there and I think she was thankful for that and just proud yeah it's always amazing

47:56

when you get to bring in your family and do things special for them that's a special thing uh if someone's married

48:02

that long and you can only imagine it's their whole life you my parents have been married 51 years wow so um I can

48:09

only imagine that's incredible it is please hug them and tell them congrats for me I will I will yeah last year was

48:15

I think it's 51 um mid-september I should know the date but it's coming up it's coming up um but you know I can't

Meeting and Touring with Charles “Chip” Esten

48:24

imagine my dad without my mom or my mom without my dad and um cuz they really

48:29

become one one yeah and so yeah I mean it's just it's impactful it's meaningful

48:36

that you would uh that you would do that and you're still doing it you're still doing it I'm lucky yeah very very very

48:43

blessed um so that night though you played with did you play with chip as well so I have done the opri a lot of

48:51

times with chip but your opri debut is when the Opry asks you specifically to come out and saying I see so that one

48:57

was just me well I just I I think I just uh misspoke cuz I remember I couldn't fly out uh because of something at the

49:05

hospital I think it was that was the one I missed I felt guilty uh but um I I

49:10

I've seen you with chip at the Grand Old opery yes how did you uh meet chip for

49:17

those of youall wondering chip is Charles ason he's the actor from he plays Deacon Clayborn in Nashville and

49:25

Ward Cameron and Outer Banks so and a bunch of other roles also he's in whose lines in anyway in the office but he is

49:32

we became very close friends and he asked me to sing our duet together at

49:38

the Opry and our duet had another really crazy

49:43

viral moment that one video of us singing that song has like 15.3 million views on it nice

49:51

um so that's that's stemmed a whole not only stent of opery performances

49:57

together but we just did a tour together too oh nice yeah I you know I didn't even know the whole Outer Banks thing

50:03

with him uh we were at a party together and um they said oh you got to check out

50:09

Outer Banks I thought Outer Banks was the show from like the 90s or I forget

50:14

what what it was I was thinking that it was and they're like oh no it's it's this show I'm like oh and then um my

50:20

other friend said it was like the top Show on Netflix at the time every every time I new season comes out it's the

50:26

number one trending song song number one trending Netflix

50:32

show for a very long period of time like and that's really hard to do when

50:37

Netflix is I'm not going to say it's um quantity over quality but it's

50:42

definitely quantity a lot of quantity and there's always something new coming out so for it to be number one for a

50:49

really long rigning period every time a new season comes out it's a big deal yeah and you know I watch uh so I told

50:56

him I would watch it and then I binge to watch the damn thing I could not stop watching it I'm

51:03

like where's the treasure you could have been a character on that show what would I have done you could have just been like like I don't know but being like a

51:10

beach beach bum Beach Bum but like they're all secretly doing crazy cool

51:16

stuff yeah they're pretty wild you're like you're going to like find the hidden treasure and I could just see it

51:22

well I mean you're always tan you've got the tan for it thanks you know when I when I get

51:28

sunburn uh people always say oh my gosh you're so red I'm like I'm repersent Native American please don't uh say I'm

51:36

red but no um see that was that that was cool though and I know yall have worked

51:42

together a lot since and you're always doing stuff together how was the how was the tour it was so much fun we we went

51:52

out with my band and we played this really cool cool Duo headline show so we

52:00

co-headlined and I did my set he did his set and in

52:06

between all kind of throughout and then also for the last third of the show we

52:11

did a ton of Duets and it's fun cuz no shows that I

52:17

ever go out on my own will ever be the same cuz I can't do all those Duets by

52:22

myself and even if I did it's just not going to have the same impact and we did like Islands in the Stream and shallow

52:29

and just tons of cool Walk Away Joe

52:35

um fun fun songs that I might not have ever done just on my own I might not

52:42

have ever even tried to cover something like that so it was fun for me musically too to like look into more of the type

52:49

of music he would want to sing and him as well vice versa he he was like oh

52:54

like this is a cool song let's do this one too and it was a great experience I love his wife Patty with all my heart

53:02

she is an angel we had to beg her to to stay out on the road with us she's like

53:07

I got to go back and take care of the dogs and my whole band was like Patty we can't do this without you and so she got

How Streaming Statistics Work Now in the Music Industry, Julia’s Strategy to Producing Music

53:13

another dog sitter and just stayed that's awesome but yeah it was it was really fun yeah that's uh they're

53:20

they're they're cool people and it's it's awesome to see you you know getting 15 million views on a duet it's a great

53:27

song you did another duet though too um I I can't think of the guy's name forgive me um what what am I thinking of

53:35

I have a whole duet album oh so that might be what you're thinking of there

53:40

was one big one the really the first big one was called things I can't say okay was Spencer Crandle yes Spencer that's

53:47

right yes so that was our first that was our first song on hot country on Spotify which is like a big Spotify playlist so

53:53

it was really exciting for the two of us because it was both of our first one on there I see and uh you know

54:00

you were mentioning you have about 200 million downloads how does that work

54:05

like with for the music industry like there's there's iTunes Spotify YouTube

54:12

is it uh which ones do they combine for that so 200 million

54:18

streams I'm showing My AG downloads that like well you can also have downloads

54:23

but most people don't go to iTunes anymore because they use a streaming platform um and even if you save

54:31

something on your Spotify or apple it's still not te it's not usually technically called a download because

54:37

download usually means sale where someone spent a dollar on the song or

54:44

$1.99 or whatever you price your song at but if you have it just streamed or

54:51

saved um those I don't know what the

54:58

exact translation is numbers wise but it doesn't count the same like one iTunes

55:07

save is worth more than a big chunk of streams I don't know what the conversion

55:14

is but it's because their their theory on that is if someone buys a song that

55:20

one person's going to consume it over and over and over again and you're never going to know the amount versus is a

55:25

stream you just that was one listen I see and that person may or may not ever go back to that song again I see so um

55:34

you know with your music now you're talking about it's you're working on the

55:39

on the craft more uh do you think about the combinations of songs like uh

55:49

for albums that you're putting out in the future how does how does that work does it go off of what you're dealing

55:54

with in life what's the thought process behind that previously I had just been putting out

56:03

song after song after song and I I kind of studied Russ he's a rapper and

56:09

he I saw something where he he literally posted his tune core statements and showed how much money he was making as

56:15

an independent artist owning his Masters and he said I just started posting a song a week and this is my trajectory

56:23

and how much money I'm making and it was like crazy and so I was like okay maybe there is something to this consistency for a

56:30

few different reasons one your craft is going to get better you're working harder at it because you need them to come out more quickly two your fans

56:37

always know that something's coming so they're going to come back and be expecting a new song from you and

56:43

simultaneously it might remind them of your catalog and then they go back and consume the other music again who knows

56:49

three they might only like one song but if that song never came out you'd never

56:54

have that fan so the more songs you have out you're kind of giving more people a

57:01

chance to fall in love with your music cuz they really resonated with that one lyric or whatever the story is so for a

57:09

lot of reasons I was like this makes sense I have a lot of songs I'm not putting them out it's breaking my heart

57:16

that these songs are just sitting on a voice memo on my phone and the world has

57:21

never heard any of them cuz I only had a couple songs out probably when I learned

57:28

or had studied this I was like I'm just going to start putting things out actually I remember I only had I had

57:33

this little acoustic mixtape out that was

57:38

terrible I think it was literally called oh it was called the text mix no

57:44

not that what was it called I don't know but it was a mixtape

57:50

they were demos like these weren't Productions but I had that little eight song thing out and then I only had maybe

57:58

side piece and things I can't say and I was like okay I need to start putting more songs out I don't need to wait six

The Albums Julia has Released

58:03

months between releases or four months even whatever it is so I started really

58:08

trying to be consistent with my releases and make acoustic versions and make put

58:14

out cover songs and just continuously give people music to consume and that's

58:20

when I think I started to really find out one what was resonating with people more and two what I was liking the most

58:30

in creation and also what you know practice really does

58:36

always help you improve and I was doing it more and more and more and we were finding our favorite mixers and guitar

58:42

players and drummers and simultaneously my producer was getting better because

58:47

we were doing all this stuff together and we just kind of started to grow and that

58:53

process just was exponential and it just kept growing yeah and so um you know now

59:02

so and forgive me I just listen to your music I don't know if it's an album or what uh so when are you putting out

59:09

albums or for the first two albums I just put out country sugar which is a 14

59:15

song album and prior to that I put out you know the Julia Cole album tit like

59:22

self-titled album and that's 12 songs and um I also put out an acoustic album

59:31

of that first project so every one of those songs done in an acoustic version and I'm about to put out the acoustic

59:37

version of the country sugar album awesome so yes I have albums but I still

59:44

put every one of those songs out individually first as a single and then just packaged it okay that's why it's

59:49

confusing to me and I didn't necessarily plan it as an album

59:58

but the songs do go together and I try to put them in an

1:00:03

order on the album where they take you through in like a

1:00:10

easily digestible musical order mhm where it makes sense where you bring

1:00:15

people up where you want them to go up and then this is the moment for them to sit back and kind of hear a sad song and

1:00:21

I try to make it the same way I put a set list together for a show is kind of how put my album together but after

1:00:27

finishing that I have wanted for this next project to

1:00:34

be more specific about the project I'm doing

1:00:39

next instead of just putting it together kind of like a set list for a show really putting it together like an album

1:00:47

and I don't know if it'll be a full 12 song album or whatever that I do that with but I definitely want to have maybe

1:00:54

the EPS are done a little bit more intentionally where it's like no this era is for a purpose MH and then this

1:01:02

one because now I've got a ton of songs so instead of just releasing them all in

1:01:07

a random order being more intentional about this order is coming out first

1:01:13

then this then this so that people can live in a moment with me and then we all

1:01:19

go to that next moment together rather than kind of bringing them wherever my

1:01:25

music happens to take them next week yeah well and that's kind of like an evolution of a career though you know

1:01:32

because you started out uh doing a song at a time and then you started out putting a song a week or you know

1:01:37

however often you were doing the songs um I me one of the things that sticks out to me and you you kind of touched on

1:01:43

it but I've told you this your your music has gotten so much more mature as the time has has gone you've

1:01:51

always been a mature person personally at least from my exper experience um I mean sometimes you know you can W out a

1:01:57

little bit what do you mean I never do right but um you know you've always had

1:02:03

had had maturity but uh I can see it in your songwriting and see it in your

1:02:08

music and you know hear the difference of of what it was then and now um what

1:02:15

do you think the Evolution's kind of you know going to go to like when you envision yourself uh a year from now

1:02:24

five years from now where do you see yourself I think as I go everything's

1:02:31

just getting more refined like feel like I've always had the right

1:02:37

intentions and the right idea but it's really honing in on

1:02:43

cutting out distractions cutting out pieces that don't fit in the

1:02:50

puzzle and just smoothing out the rough edges obviously the more life you

1:02:57

experience the more things you can write about honestly with with real memories

1:03:04

to put that imagery into a song and I'm from what I've seen over the

1:03:12

last couple of years of my songw writing to even you know the last couple of

1:03:17

months of my songw writing hallelujah it's just getting better and better like thank good

1:03:25

cuz I listen back to something that maybe 2018 me had written and it's just

1:03:31

like God bless like just adorable because

1:03:38

everything again the inent the intentions were right they're not bad sure but that depth just isn't there

1:03:48

and again I wasn't focused on the songs and that's where I was wrong because at

1:03:54

the end end of the day this town will tell you it over and over and over again but I'm a stubborn person it took a

1:04:00

minute to get through my thick skull it's all about the song at the end of

1:04:06

the day yeah the music's everything no it is and uh yeah I mean it's it's you

1:04:12

can see it in your music now I mean not say I didn't like your music but it wasn't you know your the the the early

1:04:18

songs it was like party music My Thing frat party music you know but now I'm I

1:04:25

listen I'm like oh that's really good oh that's good hook there that's you know it's there's there's it's yeah it's it's

1:04:32

got a lot lot more substance you know to it not saying that stuff in the bass wasn't good but I'm just saying you know

Oliver Anthony and “The Rich Men North of Richmond” Breaking the Internet, Genius Songwriting

1:04:38

it's really good I think people can be you can it's that whole jack of all

1:04:45

trades master of none you can focus your attention in 10 different places and be okay at all of it but until you really

1:04:53

hyperfocus on one thing the Improvement is just not going to be going as quickly in that area as

1:05:01

it would be is if you focused and I just have really really focused on the songs

1:05:06

over really since Co when I realized that a song could connect to that many

1:05:12

people so quickly on social media and it had nothing to do with money behind it

1:05:17

it had nothing to do with a highly produced video it had nothing to do with some crazy production you know what I'm

1:05:23

saying it was the song well a good example of that that the world's seeing right now is Oliver Anthony right case

1:05:32

in point exactly I mean that song it is so good it's breaking the Internet it's

1:05:39

breaking it we actually it's funny you say this I just was looking him up with somebody yesterday because we were like what is happening with this he has like

1:05:45

six million monthly listeners and that song has like 50

1:05:51

million streams already or something crazy and I was like he just started like it

1:05:58

took me this long to get like I've had a million monthly listeners for the last like year and I'm that's and that's just

1:06:04

Spotify so it's it's more on other platform he have a sp he didn't even have a Spotify before he started his Spotify doesn't say oliv Anthony it says

1:06:12

Oliver Anthony music oh wow that's how new you can tell he is to it it's not it's not an Instagram handle it's like

1:06:18

it's supposed to be your name you know and it's cool though like we live in a

1:06:23

very amazing era that's the wild west of Music where the fans can pick what they

1:06:29

want well you know and when you listen to that song what I love about it so I used to love listening to the protest

1:06:35

music from the 60s during the Vietnam era in the early 70s and you know when

1:06:41

Co happened I was disappointed that nobody really wrote a lot about the

1:06:47

things that I was experiencing in life yeah uh and I think people are uh you

1:06:53

know to yeah afraid to and it's so polarizing and you know it's it happened

1:06:58

to Oliver Anthony uh you know they said oh like if you were to read a lot of the headlines it doesn't match what people

1:07:06

are saying but the headlines are far right you know rightwing or this right ring or that which isn't even uh the

1:07:13

case I mean they did some hit jobs on them and so that Alan song just have the same thing happened to him yeah and the

1:07:19

the Ali song was more of a I could see why that like uh cuz aline's somewhat

1:07:25

political uh and well his wife definitely yeah his wife is as well and um so they're going to have some some

1:07:32

people on the other side that just don't don't like them even if it's you know garbage uh thoughts but uh Oliver

1:07:40

Anthony didn't and he had some rightwing people I say rightwing he right-wing media support him and uh you know a lot

1:07:48

on the left were like oh you know because he talks about welfare and you know some but if you listen to the whole

1:07:55

song um I mean there it's about all a lot of issues that the bluecollar workers can really relate to I mean it's

1:08:02

so relatable to everybody who's experienced that you know I'm doing well

1:08:08

now but I I could think of you know times where when I was growing up my parents were you we weren't wealthy at

1:08:13

all they weren't wealthy at all and when my dad had his accident I think that we

1:08:18

probably could have gone on welfare and my parents never would do it they're like we're not doing it and I'm not

1:08:24

knocking somebody for having to do that at some point but I'm saying that they always were like they would I say look

1:08:30

down but yeah they would they would look down on people that would milk the system had nothing to do with those that

1:08:35

really needed the help but there are those that milk the system and yeah so I

1:08:41

totally got what he was saying oh I can't wait to go look at these lyrics cuz I honestly I've only heard little like whatever you know 20 second Tik Tok

1:08:49

Clips or whatever the song s I'm going to just pull up a lyric sheet and look at it cuz I will probably just be very

1:08:55

it's at the end of the day like like I was saying the reverse of poetry like finding the Poetry in it it's going to

1:09:00

be cool he calls out Epstein really oh yes uh I wish politicians would look out

1:09:06

for miners like uh coal miners and not just miners on an island somewhere shut

1:09:12

up oh yeah we got folks on the street they ain't got nothing to eat at the end of the day he's a brilliant songwriter

1:09:18

oh it's one of the most brilliant songs I've heard in a long time I spent it was

1:09:24

three days in a row of my life before bed Laura's was Laura was out of town so

1:09:31

sitting there all by myself in my bed watching these at night before sleep

1:09:37

watching uh the reaction videos to people couple hours a night three nightes in a row just because I enjoyed

1:09:43

it I liked watching every Walk of Life from white black latino watch the video

1:09:51

from the first time left right and see them impacted I'd say about a quarter of the people cry maybe 20% of people cry

1:09:57

just first time watching it because the lyrics are so impactful you can connect to it which was the polar opposite of

1:10:03

what the media was saying uh that it was you know I saw one headline the song

1:10:08

that's dividing America or something like that what are no actually who's dividing America is the media writing

1:10:14

those headlines this song isn't dividing America like they're the enemy for saying stuff like that because this song

1:10:20

is actually uniting and you know if somebody in the Ivory Tower and the bureaucrat from Washington DC or

1:10:27

intellectuals from a lot of the colleges can't connect with that they had their philosophical idea of what it's like to

1:10:33

be poor or what it's like to be black or what it's like to be marginalized but no

1:10:39

he's actually statical analysis of yeah it doesn't it doesn't uh uh land with

1:10:46

the average person who actually gets it and that's why I love the song and now

1:10:53

he he's coming out uh I'm going say against the right-wing media no not the right-wing media uh the Republican

1:11:00

presidential debate played his song and the politicians were talking about it he's like I'm talking about you yeah

1:11:05

he's like well don't don't act like y'all are you know on my side I'm calling I'm calling you out so you know

1:11:13

I think a lot of it could be that the country music

1:11:18

genre is not usually a super

1:11:24

super charged politically genre the hip-hop genre is mm so when a

1:11:32

song comes out that's political in the hip-hop genre it doesn't make as many waves because it's just so common but

1:11:39

country music so much more about like family

1:11:44

lifestyle and just storytelling

1:11:52

about kind of the I would say more of this like

1:11:57

specific personal experiences not the big

1:12:03

picture political world experiences you know they they're a lot more of like vignettes about this moment on the farm

1:12:11

or this moment in the the bar or this living room it's it's not a a

1:12:16

politically charged genre usually everything's everything in the last couple years is crazy cuz I don't know I

1:12:23

feel like Co did make people realize that if you politically charge something it sometimes will have better clickbait

1:12:30

or whatever but still for the most part it's a bigger deal when someone

1:12:36

does it in this genre because it's less common yeah well I mean he did it and he

1:12:41

wasn't trying like he he he recorded that song um in the woods when somebody

1:12:48

uh it was a how like this West Virginia I got like a natat here uh you crying

1:12:54

you wiping a tear wiping that tear no there was a I forget the the the company from I think it was West Virginia but it

1:12:59

was like a group that goes out and films artists of West Virginia playing so it was the first time he said it was the

1:13:05

first time you ever sing in front of a good mic wow he did acoustic and just belted it and um you know the rich was

1:13:12

that the one where there were all those thousands of people who showed up no that was they showed up after his okay

1:13:19

CU I saw that video clip or whatever on soci we'll listen to the song when uh I wish we had our TV thing going here

1:13:26

because I'm like Julia watch this listen to this yeah but um yeah Richmond north of Richmond that's uh Richmond north of

1:13:34

Richmond Virginia you know DC and uh it's a protest on that's what I saying so I loved those protest song during

1:13:42

protest songs during the Vietnam war you you could connect with them they had remember one uh it's one two three this

1:13:48

is at Woodstock one two three what are we fighting for don't ask me I don't give a damn my next stop is Vietnam am

1:13:54

and it's 567 open up the Pearly Gates oh there ain't no time to wonder why whoop be we're all going to die so that was

1:14:00

the you know you can tell the emotion of being drafted to Vietnam my dad was drafted and so that's speaking on real

1:14:07

issues they're going off to war for nothing at the time being drafted we're forcing you if you don't go to war you

1:14:15

go to jail and then at the time you know the the wealthy people they would get out Bill Clinton got out uh you know

1:14:22

they got they dodged the draft um so uh or the or the really smart people I don't know if had a lot of money but you

The Technological Revolutions, Sci-Fi is Becoming Reality, Prophetic Dystopian Novels

1:14:28

know those you find some loophole those yeah they find loophole but you know poor people or regular folks they're

1:14:35

still they're getting drafted and then um you know they're they're being sent back in these caskets you know that's

1:14:42

part of that song too so that the song hits on all that and so the old protest songs I mean I've been like waiting for

1:14:49

something like Richmond north of Richmond to come out because I'm like thank thank God somebody he put into

1:14:55

words what we've all been feeling you know and that is you know uh living in a

1:15:01

new world with an old soul like that's how I feel you know I feel like that's me you know a lot of people you know can

1:15:07

connect with that overtime hours [ __ ] pay like yeah this isn't those are also Timeless lines though yes they

1:15:15

are I just think about every single generation that goes

1:15:22

through will will one day not be the new guy so

1:15:27

you're going to be living in whatever world the new generation brings up no matter what no matter who you are yeah

1:15:34

there's nobody who's 80 right now that's living in a world that they designed

1:15:40

for where they are right now you know what I'm saying yeah no for sure I think maybe the why that line connect

1:15:46

connected so much is because with technology and everything going like

1:15:51

it's going I mean for instance our parents uh actually our grandparents are

1:15:57

well parents or grandparents are the the last generation of full

1:16:03

humans so you know we're not going to be full humans you have the transum

1:16:10

movement coming I mean Elon Musk is within 10 years away of the neuralink which is going to be a chip in the brain

1:16:16

wild oh yeah we have ai General AI is is coming close yeah um so that

1:16:23

the that that's where I it is pretty crazy yeah I mean this is every single sci-fi book

1:16:30

film short story is coming to fruition it's wild yeah I mean someone thought of

1:16:37

it back then and then smart enough people came around that they're like that was a cool idea let's make it

1:16:42

happen yeah well uh Warren was telling me Brave New World Was Written in like 1934 something like that I took a class

1:16:50

at Vandy called Virtual Worlds and augmented realities and we one of the short stories we read

1:16:56

is called the machine stops and so many things that happened

1:17:02

during Co like people's fear of touching each other the fear of human

1:17:08

contact um the the chastising of people for human contact that all was in that

1:17:15

short story and it was it was such a weird piece of the story that I hadn't thought that much about after the class

1:17:22

and and then when that happened I was like this is how people could end up in isolated pods in

1:17:30

a machine I don't know you'd have to read the story for it to fully make sense but

1:17:37

it's it's interesting to watch these dystopian novels or futuristic

1:17:46

horror stories be like wait this is kind of what going one yeah 1984 I mean yeah

1:17:52

it's it's it's pretty wild I one of the quotes that I think about is uh the

1:17:57

opposite of addiction isn't sobriety the opposite of addiction is human connection and so you think about as and

1:18:04

that's for um you know that was in the context of like alcohol alcoholism or or

1:18:10

drug use but you think about the addiction of the internet and so as we become more and

1:18:17

more on our phones you look at the hours on your phone um you know social media or

1:18:23

those things and then as Society um is getting more and more

1:18:29

disconnected so it makes me think about that like you know you think about I was talking to dedric my well you know

1:18:34

dedric my business partner um we were talking about leadership and he said leadership is the

1:18:42

algorithm and that's who's leading the thought because you're being fed things on social media based off of what you're

1:18:50

what you're doing or the things that interest you and so then you get this confirmation bias because that's all

1:18:55

you're getting fed and so as you know as that happens and we get this

Social Media Echo Chambers, Technology Addictions

1:19:01

confirmation bias uh we become you know in many ways more and more disconnected

1:19:06

because we think oh they're the bad people over there whereas if you were just able to talk to people um you'd

1:19:11

probably realize we have a lot more shared values than they'd

1:19:17

think I don't know how exactly to fix the the problem but it's

1:19:24

definitely a problem yeah and and I think about

1:19:30

how I'd like to think of myself as a pretty disciplined person even I get sucked in to the

1:19:38

vortex of it and just find myself an hour later I mean I've had to put timers

1:19:45

on on all of the social media platforms because I for my job have to be on these

1:19:51

platforms I mean it really is directly related to my monetary income like I

1:19:58

have to be on these platforms of course and so I'm like I'm logging on to edit something and post it and then something

1:20:04

comes on that's funny or somebody sends me a message of a video and I get pulled into it and somehow I end up on the for

1:20:10

you page and it's all things that are catered to my exact tastes it's stuff

1:20:16

that I think is funny it's it's stuff that I think is interesting it's people who I want to know what's happening in

1:20:22

their life so all of these things are yeah one after the other things I'm interested in so of course I'm going to

1:20:28

stay on and then before you know it it's like oh my gosh how'd that just happen I

1:20:34

didn't mean to do that and if I can get sucked into that you

1:20:42

know I just feel like it's everybody can anybody can cuz I don't have a highly

1:20:48

addictive personality you know what I mean I've I've never been somebody that's not able to kind of just cold

1:20:57

turkey cut something out y this one is a different ball game

1:21:03

because it's so catered to each person specifically it is and I I wonder how it's going to like form our kids' Minds

1:21:11

because if they if they're at it from an early age you know it's an addiction I mean it's uh a dopamine hit every time

1:21:17

you you know you open it up or you look and when we get off of the podcast one of the first things we're both probably

1:21:23

going to do is look at our DMS or look at our texts or you know that's that's that's not normal though imagine a kid

1:21:29

as their brain is forming you know we were out outside playing and you know

1:21:34

every interaction you have is being judged yeah and if you didn't post about it did it really happen yeah I mean it's

1:21:39

a bizarre I'm thankful that I was in the pre social media world as a little kid

1:21:48

riding a fourwheeler around the backyard like that you know fishing with my

1:21:53

cousins totally different than what you see now but I

1:21:59

still think that there if you if you

1:22:05

enforce the no iPad rule or the only this much screen time a day rule with

1:22:12

your kids they still have interests from their own Natural Instincts to go do fun

1:22:18

things outside I I I think that if a kid

1:22:24

if a parent really doesn't want to deal with their kid and just hands them a screen that's like please just distract

1:22:30

yourself so that I can do whatever I need to do then yeah that kid's not going to understand how much fun they

1:22:36

could be having with their friends outside but but I just I feel like I still see a ton of

1:22:44

kids out just distracting themselves playing in the sprinklers and doing stuff like that and I think it just all comes down to if they know that that is

1:22:50

out there they're going to prefer that to sitting on a screen up until a certain

1:22:55

age level when you start caring so much about what people think yeah and I don't know what age it is when that's what

1:23:01

starts happening but I feel like it's probably like maybe fifth grade what is

1:23:09

that like 11 10 11 yeah um that's when I'm like okay maybe this

1:23:16

the whole screen time thing and interaction needs to start really being monitored is like this can't be your

1:23:23

everyday every hour reaction to whatever you're doing like go play your soccer game yeah and it's it's it'll be

The Matrix, Simulation Theory, The Rollercoaster of Spirituality

1:23:29

interesting to see how all that evolves as well because you know right now we have um like with chat GPT 4 um it's

1:23:37

pretty smart uh it's really smart but it's also only good as the information that it has so but you know once we

1:23:45

reach the general AI where it's smarter then it can disseminate all the

1:23:50

information in the world and and come up with better conclusions than humans in

1:23:56

you know a millisecond or whatever M uh you know we're going to be we're GNA

1:24:01

have an interesting choice like do we do we give in to the Matrix or uh do we not

1:24:10

and so that's kind of just around the corner The Matrix was another one that we studied in that class oh really mhm

1:24:18

what do you think of that movie it's crazy because there's no reason why it can't be currently

1:24:25

happening right to all of us it's just like I like stuff like that though

1:24:30

that's like mindbending and you're just it makes you think that's part of why I love songw

1:24:36

writing too it's like a brain workout yeah um but the Matrix felt like that

1:24:42

it's just a there if you look factually logically there is nothing to say that

1:24:48

that isn't currently what every single one of us is experiencing yeah um I mean simulation Theory it's

1:24:56

it's there's a it's a theory I wonder though like I don't

1:25:02

think that but I'm just saying like I like that there was something

1:25:07

created that you really can't disprove oh yeah well Elon mus says we're likely

1:25:13

in a simulation you know that's you know that's that's his his thought my thing

1:25:18

is I've kind of gone I've had a kind of a roller coaster with spirituality over

1:25:24

the last 25 years I don't know how old I uh yeah over the last 20 years or so um

1:25:32

because I was kind of anti-religion for a while and then

1:25:38

uh basically I the more I started kind of challenging it I was still

1:25:44

praying and I started realizing it's not about my understanding it's about faith and there's I actually got this

1:25:52

tattoo in my arm when I was 19 it has Hebrews 11:1 which is Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of

1:25:58

what you don't see and I think how fitting it is now because it's really faith that I stop caring about my

1:26:05

understanding of it all and I just have faith and I know that if I pray you know

1:26:13

and the more connected I am with prayer and um talking to God as much as

1:26:19

possibly can of course probably talk to him even more but you know we have long conversations

1:26:24

every night and uh it's that's what's important not necessarily my

1:26:30

understanding of the things I can't prove or disprove within the physical

1:26:36

world intelligence is a funny thing because the smarter you are it's like

1:26:43

you realize that you'll never really know

1:26:48

because there isn't a way to know a lot of the answers to a lot of the burning questions that many of us have um but

1:26:56

there's also one of the things that I feel like I have chosen for

1:27:04

myself is to enjoy the mystery of a lot of these things instead of being fearful

1:27:12

of the mystery I'm like if there's no way I'm going to figure it out then for my own sanity and my own happiness let's

1:27:20

just decide that I like this more as as a mystery and and it's fun to to think

1:27:27

about the universe and space and the stars and heaven and all of the

1:27:33

different things that faith can mean rather than be just like totally lost in what is the truth of it a thing will

1:27:39

never have the answers to yeah absolutely no I think that's that that's

1:27:44

a good point and I know for me for in I'll give you example someone

1:27:50

who really challenged my beliefs was Joe Rogan and so he did a comedy skit um

1:27:56

which was uh Noah's Arc and he tells the story of Noah's Arc to an eight-year-old

1:28:04

guess you can't say what he said anymore 8-year-old [ __ ] boy and um he's and

1:28:10

the the whole story was how stupid the story of Noah Arc was that the that the kid was like just like there's a lot of

1:28:17

holes in that story and just completely crushed it and um you know

1:28:25

and Joe at the time would you know if you would have to

1:28:31

back up what you believed you know Jo was it was very much like that back in the back in the day and so I never

1:28:37

wanted to talk about religion around Jo because I didn't have an answer to that story and I was like ah he's like it's

1:28:43

right it's really challenging me but what I've learned I've been thinking about this a lot lately so I'm bringing

1:28:48

it up I what I learned was you know

1:28:53

it's good to have people challenge those positions and make you think about

1:28:59

things in a different way because quite honestly if he wouldn't have done that I you know maybe I would have a lot less

1:29:05

depth in my thought you know my thoughts of it and it brought me to it's one of

1:29:12

the main things that actually brought me to the idea of Faith like yeah there's a lot of holes in that story that's okay

1:29:18

there's also a lot of good points too and now I look at it as in in Parables too M so

1:29:24

it's people challenging your beliefs isn't a bad thing uh actually the more

1:29:29

your beliefs can be challenged the more you can really dive into it uh the more those beliefs can grow and you can

1:29:36

evolve I think a lot of that is why people in Nashville co-write because if you're only writing

1:29:43

from your own perspective you're not going to get the depth from your

1:29:50

story why quite as well as you will with a co-writing session where you've got

1:29:55

three people maybe who are all thinking about this one play on whatever the song

1:30:03

be a love song or a heartbreak song but everyone has their own perspectives of going through this this or this so that

1:30:10

when you do get those lyrics down on the page it's a whole different level of of

1:30:18

understanding and there's no right or wrong

1:30:23

to a lot of the questions that we have and I mean you think about faith and

1:30:29

religion and all those things but it's even in the same other than

1:30:35

math there's very little that has an undeniable correct

1:30:41

answer and I even remember taking a logic class where it was the the argument of

1:30:51

is any one person's life worth more than any other one life

1:30:58

or you sacrifice One Life To Save three lives why like is it worth that or is it

1:31:05

not that person's responsibility and and there were all these different it was a logic class for sure and I I remember I

1:31:11

actually just had this conversation this week with my sister and someone else but we were talking about this and I was

1:31:16

like there wasn't a right answer and the whole point of it was learning about all

1:31:21

these different theories from people over the years who have come up with

1:31:27

this Theory this Theory this Theory and a lot of them back up you know different governments that exist around the world

1:31:32

they're based off of this Theory or this Theory or this Theory and it's kind of just more for a general understanding

1:31:39

of humanity and the mind and how someone could come to this

1:31:45

conclusion what Rabbit Hole did they go down to get to this is the right answer when that answer sounds so crazy crazy

1:31:52

to you because you went down this Rabbit Hole to this answer but if you back it up to the initial starting point you can

1:31:58

kind of see where that initial disagreement happened

1:32:05

and if you can fall in love with the the not knowing and the learning of

1:32:13

like you were saying more perspective so that you can get more depth to whatever it is you

1:32:19

really do believe and you think um it makes it a lot more fun to talk about

Current Political Narratives and Controversies, Transgender Athletes in Sports

1:32:25

these these questions cuz there isn't if there was an easy right answer M yeah

1:32:32

there wouldn't be billions of people who disagree right no that's a that's a good

1:32:38

point and there's there's a lot of subjects like that you know that people get so stuck on being

1:32:45

right and the other people being wrong that they lose in many ways the humanity

1:32:50

in the middle you know it just kind of separates people further and further apart but in

1:32:56

reality you know if we were to sit down and talk about shared values uh we'd realize that we're not

1:33:03

that far off you know I think about a lot with what's going on in the world

1:33:09

right now I tell you something that bothered me uh so it probably shouldn't but it just bothered me

1:33:15

because uh my experience is it's kind of what's it's kind of like the headline

1:33:21

talking about Oliver Anthony dividing like like his song isn't dividing the country but Candace Owens you know Marin

1:33:30

Morris and um uh Britney Aldine had a little spat or whatever half and

1:33:38

uh so Candace Owens goes and goes on this whole video that she had obviously

1:33:45

like planned she was sitting in front of the camera like different angles and stuff and she's talking about real

1:33:51

country music like Jason Aldine and fake country artists with no Talent like

1:33:57

Maron Morris and I'm like gosh why is she saying that because all that's gonna

1:34:05

like first of all Marin is extremely talented and she just lost pretty much

1:34:10

anybody who is having a honest intellectual argument knows that Marin is Awesome You can disagree with her I

1:34:16

don't agree with her politics she might call me a transphobe even though I wouldn't consider myself that that's

1:34:21

okay but you know I'm not so jaded to where I would call her talentless it's I

1:34:27

see what you're saying though it's like she ruined the whole basis of her debate by saying something that was inherently

1:34:33

not true just to trigger people yes when she could have just stuck

1:34:38

to what the actual debate or conversation was about and said some

1:34:44

points that would have been carried forward and trusted by both sides rather

1:34:50

than being so obvious that you're biased from the first sentence exactly and you lose people yeah that way and it causes

1:34:56

a to VI then I started thinking um kind of going down this this Rabbit Hole of I

1:35:02

really like Jason Aline and Britney I think they're wonderful people they uh backed operation light shine here um

1:35:10

they are now backing The Sentinel Foundation um both of those organizations uh fight uh child

1:35:17

trafficking uh I was on the board of operation Light Shine On The Advisory board for Sentinal Foundation I mean

1:35:23

they're backing causes that I truly believe in now let think about Marin Morris okay you have Marin Morris I have

1:35:29

a lot of friends that are that are friends with her that I've known her for years friends that are are on the left side of of politics but that I can still

1:35:37

absolutely talk to and then thinking about all the divide that happens you know in between with comments like that

1:35:43

or putting them on the right or her on the left and you know she has her views I bet you her spouting off but if you

1:35:48

were to put those to in a room and break down why Britney and Jason are really

1:35:54

concerned with what's happening with their our children and why uh they think they're being

1:36:00

sexualized uh and you were to bring out certain points I'm sure Mar would be like okay yeah I'm not down with that

1:36:05

either and then maybe Maran would say well I don't think that these trans people should be abused I think Britney

1:36:11

and Jason would say I don't think they should be abused either right right and it's they're not that far off on what

1:36:18

they're go they're trying to protect people people yeah everyone wants the world to be a better place but instead

1:36:24

you know Marin thinks that they're uh transphobes and they're doing and and

1:36:29

it's just all this division without any logic but I'm I'm almost positive like

1:36:34

my friends wouldn't be friends with her or her husband if they didn't uh if they

1:36:41

weren't good people too yeah it's it's definitely when you take something out of context and you miss what the goal

1:36:47

was of the initial point that someone was making yeah like you said it comes down to they're both trying to protect

1:36:57

people but there are there are sometimes losers

1:37:04

and sometimes winners yeah and that's when it gets hard

1:37:12

to sometimes you can't have everybody win right and that's when it gets tough

1:37:17

is when you're saying well by helping these people do this XYZ that is hurting

1:37:23

XYZ like for example female athletes mhm people can do whatever they want to

1:37:30

themselves what I'm not having an opinion on on anything of that sort but I as a female athlete if there

1:37:38

were men in our locker room that were Iden biological men in the locker room

1:37:43

that were identifying as women and I'm watching interviews from female athletes who are talking about this it's just so

1:37:50

painful for me to watch because I just think about my childhood if that had happened to me how different I would be

1:37:57

as a person it would have totally taken my innocence so

1:38:03

quickly and I would have been forced to think about and learn about things far earlier than I needed to

1:38:11

and that's happening right now well and so let's take that that thought that's a logical thought that doesn't mean that

1:38:18

you're a transfill would you agree with that that doesn't mean you're absolutely not yeah okay so you know but you you take something like

1:38:25

that in society could say oh well you're transphobic because that and that is my I was told on the CMT red carpet under

1:38:31

no circumstances are we like we cannot talk like if someone asks you that question because they know how much you're involved in women's Athletics and

1:38:38

I think this had just happened with like a um a biological male who identified as

1:38:44

a female had just won like NCAA National Championship swim meet yeah and so they

1:38:50

were like this was right before one of the red carpets and I remember the publicist I had was like you need to have an answer

1:38:56

prepared you can't give any opinion on it your answer needs to just no be no

1:39:02

comment or or I love all people or just something totally beat around the bush

1:39:09

and and I never got asked any question about it so I never really had to to go

1:39:15

through that but I was so mortified cuz I was like oh my gosh I don't know I don't know what I'm supposed to do in

1:39:21

the situation and I think a lot of people are feeling that because you have thoughts and opinions

1:39:28

but PE this there's a cancel culture out right now where even when you you're

1:39:33

having things with good intentions in your brain thoughts that you they are to protect people or to help people or

1:39:39

whatever that is you're still so scared of the cancel culture because that's not

1:39:45

what you meant right you didn't and people will spin anything you say now to be skewed yes 100% a different direction

1:39:53

no and that's and that is exactly the point is that you know my advice to you

1:40:00

is just tell the truth and be honest and kind about it because what you just said is is very very logical and it could get

1:40:07

spun but there's no bad intentions in that and if anyone's being intellectually honest about it it's very

1:40:14

very reasonable I mean a woman a biological woman should not have to see

1:40:20

a penis in their locker room that is not especially in your developmental years

1:40:26

even older I mean I was it's it's just you shouldn't have to see that flopping

1:40:31

around while you're getting dressed that's ridiculous you think about it I mean like even the saying I almost laugh

1:40:38

because of how ridiculous that sounds and I understand yeah that my parents

1:40:44

didn't let me watch PG-13 movies till I was like 16 I grew up in like a a very

1:40:51

safe protected environment where you know they weren't weird my parents are super awesome and and normal but like

1:40:58

they didn't want me to be exposed to things that were going to ruin my innocence for no reason exactly on

1:41:04

purpose well and that is so and and for instance that is my experience of uh

1:41:10

what Britney's saying you know when when she's posted about it's like this type

1:41:15

of stuff is wrong um it doesn't make her

1:41:20

transphobic I'm sure like if if they were to see somebody being bullied on the street or picked on they would go

1:41:27

defend them totally that was that was a trans person totally and we have caused this divide but that's why I went down

1:41:33

that rabbit hole because well it was kind of what you said you know you saw from the philosophy class how they

1:41:39

started really close and how far away it got and I think that's what it reminded me of was that that interview that she

1:41:45

did with that Candace did talking bad about uh mirin being talentless and I was like God we've gotten so far far

1:41:52

away you look at the two sides between what uh the aldin are are are going through and what Marin Morris is is

1:41:58

saying and and going through and I bet you if you were to sit down and have a

1:42:04

conversation you wouldn't be that far off now maybe the you know they I

1:42:10

actually don't know the whole uh the debate between them but from my not knowing the whole thing that's going on

1:42:17

I can at least say I bet you they're halfway reasonable and the Divide is

1:42:23

coming from I'm not a fan of doing it super publicly on social media in what seems to be like a middle school

1:42:29

argument kind of a way it's like if you're going

1:42:35

to make statements or have conversations or disagreements I just feel like

1:42:40

there's a better way to do it that doesn't feel like I because of the industry that we're all in it's hard for

1:42:47

me to see through like no matter what side people are on are you doing this

1:42:53

for clickbait or are you doing this because you want to make a change in the world and I have the every time I see

1:42:59

something charged on either side I'm always like what was your intention behind this

1:43:06

yeah and I'll never know you know unless you're having unless you're there in the moment or you're having that conversation you never really get that

1:43:12

answer but I just can't help that that's always in the back of my mind of like whatever you're saying did you say this

1:43:18

for clickbait or did you say this because you think you're genuinely making the world a better place Yeah

1:43:25

well yeah I I that's a good point and you know for Candice it was she was

1:43:33

raing up her base obviously yeah um I don't know Marin I know for Britney like

1:43:40

what when she talks she's down for the cause she I mean she's making a difference they're raising a lot of

1:43:45

money for these organizations that are making a big difference um and you know you do have to look at what are people's

1:43:52

you know kind of in in intentions behind MH all of this

1:43:57

and and that that's what people Miss what are the intentions you know and I I

1:44:03

do think though that most people are good people and at least our friend group I

1:44:10

mean I'm in East Nashville so I've got the the the left crew here in East

1:44:15

Nashville I'm like the only actually I'm more of an independent but you know but I get along with all my friends over

1:44:21

here we and we talk and we do we talk politics and we're actually in in in the

1:44:26

end not very far off uh on our views if you the talking

1:44:33

points may make us seem like we are but when you get to the you know the important parts of it it's like oh no

1:44:40

like anybody who would want to sexualize Children is a problem and they you I

1:44:46

don't know any friends that think that that's okay uh anybody who thinks that a biological male uh going into a bathroom

1:44:55

uh with their penis out uh isn't going to be offensive to a certain amount of women and can't see the other side is

1:45:03

kind of like they're not being intellectually honest about that and there's a lot of different issues you

1:45:09

know that are like that but I mean and it's it's at the end of the day it's

1:45:14

putting it's still like I said earlier there's always winners there's always losers it's still making someone else

A Nation Divided, Citizens Getting Along, Religious Arguments

1:45:20

suffer to make someone else feel better so either way somebody is losing in those

1:45:28

scenarios and it's just for some reason it's

1:45:35

become very politically charged in every

1:45:42

different conversation you're having where whereas these used to not be things that even be cons were even

1:45:48

considered part of politics right like everything in the world now like falls on one side or the other side and it

1:45:54

used to just be a conversation ex that's that algorithm getting you with the the the confirmation bias causing the divide

1:46:01

and the media and the clickbait from from those that get their masses to follow along and uh you know that's why

1:46:09

I'm even talking about this because I do I want to find a way everybody can we

1:46:14

got to figure out a way to get along with each other you know it's T's oldest time people have always had Wars and no

1:46:20

one's ever going to all get along no well Al but in our country sadly I mean

1:46:26

I'm an optimist but I'm also a realist and I like I love European history so I'm just like thinking back to all of

1:46:32

these different historical things that have happened I'm like this is just human nature I think it's why Sports

1:46:38

were even created it's like people want to have someone that's on their side and then a team that they can battle against

1:46:44

just for the the Rivalry of it it's an instinct that for some reason the you

1:46:50

human species just they kind of get off on it they just the competition is

1:46:57

a why else would there be competition created through your entire life even

1:47:02

for fun no I yeah I don't disagree that it's human nature um it's just at this

1:47:08

point in societ we're at a you know it's it's the worst that's ever been in

1:47:13

America at least in my lifetime um and if we don't at least try to have the

1:47:23

conversations it it's it's my view but I don't know how much longer we have in America I mean I'm I can't see it

1:47:30

lasting another 10 years um I wouldn't say it's that much better anywhere else

1:47:35

though well okay yeah you if you're going to to cherry-pick really tiny

1:47:40

places like okay Sweden maybe everything's great there there's nobody there I mean that's obviously not true

1:47:46

there's people there but it's a much smaller pool of people you you just have millions and millions of people here no

1:47:54

one's ever going to all agree on something and I think every other country that's big has the same kind of

1:48:01

politically charged debate going on or they have some sort of ruler who doesn't allow any discussion and that's not

1:48:07

better either so yeah a lot of the other places I mean so England went through this a few years ago kind of before us

1:48:14

but they were being pushed there's an ideology that that's being pushed and

1:48:19

that's where the you know the Divide is because there's people that are saying like no we don't want to go a certain

1:48:26

direction and then you have another side yeah I mean right now it's two sides I he the other side um and even even those

1:48:33

on the left a a lot of my uh a lot of my friends they like wow the left has gone

1:48:39

so far left I might be on the right now I mean Scotty talking about being a conservative like not exactly but he's

1:48:46

like golly I'm talking about conservative ideas that's wild when you think think of Scotty you know he's he's

1:48:52

like Rage Against the Machine think about Europe think about King Henry like

1:48:57

first starting the Church of England and leaving Catholicism and then you've got

1:49:03

the Catholics versus the Protestants in every country over there it's not that different I mean it's using it's it's

1:49:10

religion versus politics to be the main dividing Factor but I think our political side uses religion in it as

1:49:16

well in the same front but entire countries battled over this many many many people died because of this people

1:49:25

would defend it to the death that ideology that they had because they

1:49:31

supported this ruler or that ruler and that wasn't even technically to a

1:49:37

different God you know what I'm saying it was just a different sect of the of

1:49:42

worshiping the same religion with a different view of just how it's being

1:49:48

communicated and who has power down on Earth is it the king or is it the pope well then the question is though if if

1:49:55

we've already seen the The Playbook and we've seen this happen before like it's the definition of insanity you know well

1:50:02

they never really fixed it if you think about it so it's not like oh well let's learn how they fixed it and fix it they

1:50:08

never fixed it yeah there are still Catholics and still Protestants and I think more people just found something

1:50:14

else to be more passionate about because they got tired of watching a bunch of of their friends and family members die

1:50:20

but yeah it's you know the human race is going to find

1:50:25

different things to to polarize itself with I don't know why but it's happened

1:50:33

forever it has happened forever and we're living through it so now we just get to you know we're exper it's just

1:50:38

our turn on the stage someone else will do be in the play after us like it's a

1:50:44

good yeah I mean that's that's a a good point I mean it's a It's actually an optimistic view because uh that's why

1:50:50

I'm like I just want to hang out with my friends and my family and I love making music and I love going to the beach I

1:50:55

love hiking and climbing mountains I love seeing the world feeling new experiences getting cultured with things

1:51:02

I would have never known about I I enjoy that rather than just so passionately digging my heels in and being like this

1:51:09

is the only way when if you look historically it's just

1:51:15

like we're all just here for our blink and

1:51:20

make the most of it be a good person try to make life better for people around you hopefully you can or hopefully

1:51:28

people around you are doing that for you too if you've got a community and a base and a purpose I feel like it's the best

1:51:35

you can really ask for and I I don't know anything and I think by knowing

1:51:40

that I don't know anything is how I kind of have this piece of like there's there isn't really an

Being Open to New Ideas and Possibilities, Helping Society Through Divided Times

1:51:46

answer I just am trying to to

1:51:52

peacefully exist for the time I'm blessed with and spend with people I

1:51:59

love that's that's really good that's really good maybe I shouldn't get into politics and just but you're passionate

1:52:06

about it you enjoy you enjoy the the the

1:52:12

way it probably makes your brain work oh yeah definitely I mean when I hear for instance your your your perspective

1:52:20

though I mean it it's it's a great point I haven't really thought of it like that in a while so I'm like yeah I'm not

1:52:27

saying maybe Ian maybe maybe I should as well but that's the fun part about being

1:52:32

open to possibility and ideas because you know I do want to pack or unpack uh

1:52:39

the history and kind of make sense of it and I think you know for me I like to make a difference in specific areas if I

1:52:47

can uh if I can or I can't can't you know

1:52:52

and helping Society get through these wild times is important to me um it

1:52:59

really is but uh you might not change the world in a minute in a blink but you definitely

1:53:06

can make people's experience while they're here better yeah you're still doing it for a a reason that is

1:53:13

purposeful and makes sense I just don't know that there's going to ever be like an end all fix for all of the world you

1:53:19

can't save the world you can try and only people who try ever even get close

1:53:26

yeah so why not try have you read Atlas Shrugged haven't oh say when you have

1:53:31

the weight of the world what do you do you shrug you know you just shrug no it's it's good though and I like I

1:53:39

actually like your perspective and it's a I mean there are plenty of people that could listen to that and say oh well you

1:53:47

know what those are really really great points and and maybe I don't have to carry this weight with me in in

1:53:54

everything CU I feel like uh a lot of people are feeling this weight right now I mean this is the first um you know

1:54:03

it's it's a great argument uh of another way of being and it doesn't mean that you don't care about the issues or those

1:54:10

type of things but it is a uh a great point of you know you look at history

1:54:15

you know human nature is to fight each other and um are peace Bringers from

1:54:22

history who you can study how did this specific ruler have

1:54:27

an 80y Year peace period in this country that had been fighting before so there

1:54:33

are things that you can pick from to be like this this might help

1:54:41

for while we're on this planet you know our blink here there there's there

1:54:46

definitely are still things that can make it better well like you look at Gandhi what Gandhi did you look at Mart

1:54:53

Luther King you know you look at those Nelson Mandela and that's what I mean is by by the ones who are thinking big

1:55:00

enough to be like I can make a difference are the ones who do you know what I mean yeah but there's just the

1:55:07

other perspective of if I'm not going to spend all my time effort and energy into

1:55:12

fixing that problem because I'm spending all my time effort and energy trying to

1:55:18

make music that helps people through the experience of Life MH which is UPS Downs

1:55:26

sickness health love pain all these incredible different things I'm spending

1:55:32

my time making music to help people feel understood connected to empowered like

1:55:37

they can get through it yeah the Jack of all trades versus the master of none

1:55:43

like I'm trying to be the master of that trade which means I can't spend a ton of

1:55:49

my my time working in you know how am I going to make the political world better or how am I going

1:55:56

to bring together this group of people this way it's like if my songs do some of that and I do have a lot of songs

1:56:02

that are about coming together and supporting each other and loving one another but I'm going to focus on it

1:56:08

through that that voice and that angle which me being

1:56:16

the the hyper sensitive person to I don't want to speak on things I'm not

1:56:22

qualified to speak on like if I'm not spending a ton of time studying what's going on in the

1:56:29

political world I don't know who's running for what I mean I'm really not paying attention to that world at all I

1:56:34

feel like I can't have an opinion because I haven't put the time in to learn well that's I mean I feel

1:56:42

like where Society is right now that's some good advice but you know then again

1:56:49

every every body can vote I know so should they not vote if they haven't put their time

1:56:56

in I'd be allowed to go vote I mean I am allowed to vote I'm saying if that's making a decision for yeah it's it's

1:57:04

definitely I don't know that there's right and that there's wrong in again what you spend your time on the planet

1:57:09

doing like um I don't think it's realistic that every single person on this planet is going to aot 20% of their

1:57:16

time to studying politics so that they have a ly educated I was just saying a vote a vote as an opinion I voted for

1:57:23

the councilman in my district I was like I didn't hit a button

1:57:28

really and that's what I mean is I feel guilty about that I didn't know I feel bad

1:57:35

about like putting my opinion on something where I didn't put the time in

1:57:40

to educate myself on it now I will a little bit I knew a little I knew a little bit to where I was like you spend

1:57:47

definitely more time on it than I do but if you were to like harshly critique the

1:57:53

lyrics of a song I'd be like I've spent a lot of hours studying

1:57:59

songwriting I feel like no I'm not the

1:58:04

best songwriter on the planet it's be the equivalent of like okay I'm not running for

1:58:09

president but I have put a lot of time in I feel like I can weigh my opinion and feel validated on what I'm saying

1:58:17

yeah and I guess that's that's me just being overprotective about like I want to make sure I'm qualified before I dive

1:58:24

in on something and I think that's also something that women do more than men in general it was one of the studies that

1:58:30

had happened of I remember like I can't remember what if

1:58:35

this was in I think it was in one of my classes but there were a lot of Statistics that had shown that

1:58:43

women will not apply for a job that they're not that they don't believe they're qualified for

1:58:50

and men will will apply for something they know they're underqualified for and just be like well I'll figure it out and

1:58:56

I'll do it so I've worked a lot to have more of that mentality because that's

1:59:01

how you get the higher job like I am still trying to write songs that are

1:59:08

going to win Grammys that is still my mindset because everyone starts

1:59:14

somewhere right absolutely but I'm like I'm going to also put in as much work as

1:59:20

I can to also feel qualified to do that when it happens I guess my thought was I

1:59:26

never feel qualified for anything that I do and uh my entire life I'm like ah

1:59:32

let's just figure it out so I can I can relate like that in my music career I

1:59:39

started out doing the things that I really felt qualified to do I'd studied a lot about marketing or business I was

1:59:46

majoring in entrepreneurship and corporate strategy at Vandy I was like like I'm going to focus on the business side of it I'm going to focus on the

1:59:51

marketing side of it probably because I was a little scared and felt underqualified on the music and

1:59:57

songwriting side of it because I knew when I got here all these people had been writing since they were four years old and I'm like oh my gosh I'm just

A Friendly Farewell Until Next Time….

2:00:03

starting so I had to overcome that and then when I finally was like okay you

2:00:10

can't become qualified in something until you just really dive into it so go for it and then now I have that

2:00:16

mentality more yeah where I'm just if I want to be in that world and I want to be qualified for it I'm passionate about

2:00:23

it I'm going to go for it well I think you're qualified now I'm definit I don't think you need to ask for permission

2:00:29

anymore and uh you can just go and [ __ ] do it amen you know let's go

2:00:36

well Julia thanks for uh hanging out with me today I'm sure we'll have you

2:00:41

know for those that don't know we have like discussions like this all the time

2:00:47

and was like oh let's go down a little rabbit hole here and you made me think which I enjoy because I'm going to uh

2:00:52

really think about what you just said and try to make uh yeah just unpack it it's it's good

2:00:59

stuff so well you're one of my best friends in the world I admire you all of the things that you're passionate about

2:01:06

and that you're always working on especially everything you're doing over it in Tijana I mean it's it's incredible

2:01:14

and it makes me want to make a big impact as well so just know that you are

2:01:19

making a big difference I know you already know that but you are well thank you love you Julia love you too