Nashville-based singer, songwriter, guitar player who earlier this year put out a new song and is currently working on a new album. She is a part of five specials done by media and lifestyle outlet Country Rebel and last month did a string of performances across the Alabama-Florida border as part of the 37th Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival, with another show coming up on December 21st in Houston. Her official YouTube channel has over one million combined video views and she has more than 16 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify. She was a guest on this show close to four years ago, way back on Episode 135.
"Every opportunity is an opportunity. That's the thing. And you can't look at it as anything less. So, to always be -- and that's the thing about doing a lot of practicing behind the scenes and stuff, and that's where it really counts, is the behind the scenes and just always kind of being ready for an on-the-spot moment."
"Sometimes you have to come up with the idea and ask... So, not being afraid to ask as well to make things happen... I think is a lesson in itself too."
"I've really, really learned to just lay back and throw anxiety out the window. I don't give weight to thoughts that make me really, like, anxious nervous. I think there's a good level of healthy nervous and excitement nervous."
"Being a bit overprepared for something, then you can relax when you're there."
"With the whole perfection side of things and always wanting to be perfect, in that comes overthinking, and overthinking you don't remember the moments or the memories being made."
"I don't want to rush it because it's so important to me to let the music do what it's going to do and let the music create itself."
"I almost feel like a vessel for songwriters who aren't entertainers and performers, who just solely write for a living, who, a lot of their songs don't see the light of day because of that."
"I would not cut a song just to cut a song if I didn't connect with it like it was my own. And I'm okay, though, with saying I didn't write it."
"I literally started on the road when I was 12 years old, on tour with Kidz Bop. And that was my first taste of music and what life on the road is like and being a performer and entertainer."
"I think, in a way... I have to slightly prove myself a little bit more, being a mom now... because... people think automatically, 'Oh, they're a mom now.' So it's a bit out of the ordinary to be, like, 'No, I still want to continue on this big career path'."
"Just being so much yourself when you put yourself out there... If... you're trying to be somebody else, it's going to weigh on you. It'll get to you eventually."
"It is, like, surprising, I guess, if you keep (your new, unreleased music) to yourself but at the same time I'm really antsy to just get it out there anyways, so if I have an opportunity to perform it, I'm all for it."
"At the end of the day if you're music makes you happy, I think that's what matters."
"That's the thing about being an artist, though, is not (being) willing to conform just because someone else thinks you need to do this and do that; knowing who you are and knowing your sound and what you want to say to the world, comes from you and you only."
"You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" (40th anniversary edition)
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" (Christmas version)