Episode 296: Best of Calm Down 2024!

Putting a bow on an incredible 2024 recapping some of our favorite moments from the year that was. Erin and Charissa look back at their epic trip to London to finally see Taylor Swift live at The Eras Tour. They feature a fun conversation with their good friend, colleague and “work husband” Kevin Burkhardt sharing stories from the airport bar and his journey from car salesman to calling the Super Bowl for Fox Sports. Finally, they wrap it up with 3-time Grammy winner Miranda Lambert to talk about life getting better as you age and why girlfriends who build each other up are the best.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Calm Down with Erin and Carissa is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hey everyone, first of all, happy holidays and happy New Year.
So Aaron and I always talk about this, but I
hope you guys understand how much we appreciate and we

(00:21):
love you and your support. We see you at the stadiums,
we see your comments, we see the Instagram everything, and
we absolutely love doing Calm Down. We are doing a
recap of the twenty twenty four year. I know for us,
one of our favorite things that we love sharing with
you guys is our affinity and love of Taylor Swift.
So one of the highlights for us in twenty twenty
four was going to the Eras tour in London and

(00:43):
it was absolutely amazing and lived up to all our expectations.
I would love to say this, Taylor's team, thank you
guys so much. You guys were thank so incredible, so thoughtful,
and that came from her team and they were so lovely.
We had joked about, you know, going and you're not

(01:06):
cramming for the exam and Jarrett in my hotel, somebody's
at the door, leave me alone, and somebody Taylor's team.
Could you get that Jarrett had said, Hey, are we
gonna have a parking pass?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
And we're like, let's just hope we have tickets.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Okay, they give you a parking pass, they pick you up.
We didn't expect any of this. I really didn't. I
didn't know where the heck we were going to be.
I didn't even think that we would be near Travis.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
You know, you and.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Jarrett were texting and you know, He's like, see you
guys there when we got down. When they took no
one feels more comfortable at the bowels of a stadium
like Chris and I. When they took us down, I
was like, oh my god, could we possibly be in
this tent? We had never asked they brought us there?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
I mean I was. I think I looked at you
and I was like, holy because they don't tell you
where your tickets are. They don't tell you anything. They
didn't tell you anything.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, And I didn't expect it because I knew that
we've seen the people in there, and I wasn't expecting it.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
And I, you know, I just yeah, what am I
thank you?

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (02:05):
No, no, no, no.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
I think it just can't be overstated how amazing her
team is because we were just happy to go. And
I don't just say that like, oh, I'm just happy
to be there, like no, we were really genuinely just happy,
Like we went to.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
London for forty eight.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Hours just so we could go to this concert, and
anything else was going to be a bonus at that point.
So when they put us on that golf cart and
took us right to the tent, I was like, I know.
And at one point I was in the tent and
I was like dancing, doing my moves, which we'll get
to shortly, and then I was like I turned around
and her dad was right in front of me, and

(02:41):
I was like, ah, I'm so sorry, and he was
like dancing too with me, and he was so cute,
and then he gave me all these guitar picks and
I ran over to you and Kylie and I go,
I just made an ass of myself and I danced
like a spas and then her dad saw me and
YouTube both go, I know.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
We just watched that and I was like, don't care,
don't care. I'm so jacked up now.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, Ryan, We talked about it on our last podcast,
just about like how you act or how I act
in front of people, and like Stella McCartney walks in, like,
you know, we know Travis, but I still am like
very awkward. I'm like, I don't want to get in
his way. I don't want him to think I'm here
to be like particulation me next to Travis. So I

(03:20):
like in the back most of the time. And even
though I'd been like wanting to see everything, at one
point we were standing there and you know, Stella walks
in and all these Leslie man walk in and I'm
up in the front and I'm like, here, I'm a nobody.
You can stand up here, like it's fine, go ahead,
And then I'm.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Like I can't see.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
But no, it was just like I was like wanting
to hide, but it was. It was insane And we
can't think her team enough and yeah, they're amazing.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Well, I mean that's fantastic. Obviously, you know you two
getting the getting the special treatment. Not that we actually
take credit for setting them up in any way, but
the early advocates get in the special treatment from her
awesome team is obviously something incredible, and you can't expect
anything less from a world class act like that. You've
talked about the dance moves. There are some videos that

(04:12):
you guys had recorded that we haven't put out on
social media yet, but apparently there might have been a
little bit of tension, a little bit of tention over
some dance moves.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
Tension.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Tension is no post is gonna run with that that
we were fighting in the tent.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
No, here's here's here's the read between Ryan's words no tension.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
It is no tension. We did not establish.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
What I've learned later is Aaron and I are two
very different SIS protocols. Okay, yes, which, by the way,
we are the athletes, and it's like, hey, we'll learn,
we'll be better neck. We're very coachable, good so I
learn after the fact after participating in some of my moves,

(05:00):
and the videos will show eron not wanting me to
be up in her face.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
There's one video where I'm dancing and I'm like singing
her face and remember, like we.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Have been waiting like this has been like something we
obviously had talked about at nauseum for so long. We've
watched her the concert on TV like individually together like
we have been waiting.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
For this moment.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
There's some songs like I'd be the man, calm down,
like shake it off. There's just pure elation when these
songs come on. So I'm up in Aaron's face, I'm dancing,
I'm screaming, and at one point Aaron gives me the
full on in the heisman. Basically she like shuns me.
She's like enough and pushes me out of the way,
and I'm like, oh, not in the moon. And then
I go and like hop on over and I go

(05:44):
dance with someone else, and at one point Leslie Mann,
I didn't even realize it was Leslie Man because her
back was to me. I just smacked this girl on
the bum because I'm having so much fun and like
all over the place, and she turns around with this
big smile on her face, and I was like mortified,
but not really.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
I was like, oh my god, I'm so sorry.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
She's like it's okay, and then like starts dancing again,
and I was like, see, Erin, Leslie doesn't care if
I dance or smack her on the bomb, and Erin's like,
what I found out later is the dancer. And Aaron
really wants to concentrate on the concert, and I am
acting as if I've had ninety seven espresso shots and
I've just been let out of jail for the first time.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Nosy Rosie's there taking notes getting her report read.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
She busy, She's.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
Getting ready to you know, take some take some notes
on the choreography. You can't be getting in the way.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah, I know. It's like I like, and I'm, you know,
a big fan of her dancers. I follow them.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
I'm psycho with these like TikTok videos and I was,
you know, even ken my sister is asking me, okay,
tell me about like, you know, who's afraid of little
old me like, and I was like, well, yeah, there's
a stick and there's a thing. And I just and
I'm a sucker for what outfit is she coming out
with in style? Like I wanted to see, Yeah, and listen,

(06:59):
my girl all right here. And Kendra understood it because
we went to a Justin Timberlake concert and listen, Chrissa
I show I was showing Terry Bradshaw videos today from
the concert and he goes there, she is she's crazy,
and I was like, no, she's nuts. And I was like,
but yeah, like we're all not the same. And Chris
has said it perfectly. If we're at a football game.
You know, we don't want somebody talking to us or

(07:22):
like doing the you know, the play in front of us,
like they're like, oh, and he threw it like this,
and I'm like, let me fucking see the routine. Yeah,
it was fine, It was all good. No, we just
watched concerts differently products, that's all.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, we consume products did very differently.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Although again to Aaron's point, if we're at a football game,
the consumption is going to be the same. But don't
take me to a concert if you want to watch
the dance moves, because the only dance moves you're going
to be watching.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
I'm there, right.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
It was funny because and like, I love CT but
I was like telling her, you know, this is when
she does her kind of her mashup of a couple
of songs, and Kylie and I are sitting there and
I'm like, oh my god, it's got to be black Dog.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
It's got to be black Dog. I feel like it
is because.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
So long London, I feel like she would have done
last for the And Chris is like huh huh.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
And then this was actually very cute.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
As she's getting ready, she's starting to talk and she
I knew that those songs were coming. I was like,
highly do you know what they are? And she said
I don't. So I said, Travis, what do you know
what they are? And he was great, whether he had
a poker face or not, but he was like, I
think it's an old one, and then one of the
new ones, and it was adorable.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
I don't heard this.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
He goes and the bridge leads to this and I
just looked at him and I go the fact you
just said bridge. He blows my London Bridge is falling
down with Travis Kelsey saying bridge, it was very sweet.

Speaker 4 (08:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
I was like, what about that three four defense?

Speaker 1 (08:47):
You know?

Speaker 2 (08:48):
But it was adorable, very okay.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
So Travis asple different concert goers, different concert goers, and
that's okay. It's all just a learning experience. And now
we know. Now we know, we have we have our
roots in place, we know what the expectations are. We're
good going forward. All right. You guys are big on smells,
particularly you've talked about it. Did he smell like his

(09:11):
signature lieu vauton? Where you worried, you know, halfway through
the show about your smells? You know, we're we sweating
what happened there.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Oh oh yeah, And I'd like to call somebody out.
I mean, we talked about, you know, judging women in
their bodies. I saw some of the comments, what's Aaron
in her soccer mom era? First of all, you're talking
about David Beckham's mom there, and Rinaldo's mom there, and
Messi's mom.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
So I'd love to beat point great.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
First of all, I will tell you this, and Carissa
almost made a massive mistake. She almost wore heels to
that concert. And the one thing everybody told us where sneakers. Now,
Chrisa is like Sarah, Jessica Parker, Carrie Bradshaw. She can
pull off heels and dance at them and be bopping along.
But I definitely went for comfort. I had two j
brackets for my soccer mom area era, so relax. But yeah,

(10:04):
it was like the tent. There's a lot of people
were bouncing around. Well Chris is really bouncing around, but no,
it's hot in there, and so I just we just
ripped our stuff off and put it over to the side. Now,
chrisal looked amazing and her sparkles and all that, and
I wish I had done a better job with that,
but I love my jackets.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
But relax on the soccer mom era.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Okay, you know what exactly And to your point, if
that's a soccer mom hot, fine, there was to elaborate
on that.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
I we've talked about.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
If you guys listen, don't Jarrett coin the phrase do
not cram for the exam. Since we talked about going
it was a concert a while ago. I thought I
had the perfect outfit. I was just gonna go white
T shirt and like these like very bedazzled jeans that
I got, and I was gonna I had to wear
a heel with them because the jeans were really long.
I didn't want to tell Aaron that I was gonna

(10:55):
wear a heel. I knew she was going to be mad.
She's going to be like, why are you doing that?
It's going to slow us down. Have you thought about
the walk from the parking lot, But unbeknownst to us,
there was a golf cart.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Could have worn the heel. Everything would have been fine.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
However, day of so obviously we both we can fly
in at different times. But then like that next morning
before the concert, we go shopping and I'm like, I
can't wear heels you're right, I'm gonna I'm gonna regret this.
So I got different pants, tennis shoes and it all
worked out. But we're doing a day think about she

(11:27):
was an audible. We can pull that off. She's a
designer decorator, she can pull that off. I can't know
if I can pull it off. It was just an
audible that made more sense. But all I could think
about is if Taylor Swift can perform for three and
a half hours every night in heels, why can't I
have heels on When I'm just bopping around in a

(11:48):
twenty by ten tent. She's moving the whole stage and
for the last I don't know, one hundred and fifty
shows or whatever number we're on. So but I ended
up wearing tennis shoes and it was probably the right choice.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
Okay, Well, the answer to that is, first year, not
training like I'm sure Taylor's training for these shows and heels,
And second, if you're not fully prepared for the Heisman
stiff arm that's coming from Aaron part way through the show,
that could lead to some destabilization and some potential injuries.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Interesting, Ryan, don't she's insane though? I mean, I know
like Chris has been. Yeah, you know, we watched the
concert multiple times. I've watched like, yeah, the countless, a
number of TikTok videos. Her stamina is incredible, like it's crazy.
And then you see the pictures out of her the

(12:37):
other night, inner heels again until four am. I'm like,
that was Aaron's text to me. Aaron's text me because
she had to leave earlier than I did, and so
I was still there and she's like, did you end
up going out? And I was like, no, I didn't
go out. I was like, I was sleeping and she's like,
and look at this one still in heels out.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
It is so impossive.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Two takeaways from this concert well three. Number one, I'm
so glad that you and I did this. I'm so
glad that we actually followed through. I mean, there's a
million reasons in life that you end up not doing things.
I'm so glad we did this. Number Two, Taylor and Travis.
I don't care what anyone says. I don't want to
hear it. Don't talk to me. In fact, if you
don't like Taylor and Travis, you shouldn't be listening to

(13:17):
this podcast, and you shouldn't like us because we love them.
We have obviously been credited for something that we didn't
have anything to do with, but we have advocated for
these two from the beginning and seeing it. This is
my first time seeing Travis in person watch her at
a concert, and I have these creepy pictures that I'm
going to send him, which I'm sure he doesn't need
because he has seven thousand pictures of him at her

(13:39):
concert that are Getty images. But there's a picture that
I took just of her on stage and like he's
like off to the side and the way that he
looks at her when he's performing. And I said to him,
I was like, you must be so proud. He's like,
you have no idea, and I just my takeaway was
how sweet it was that both of these people get
to watch one in their respective professions with like such admiration,

(14:03):
with such encouragement. And I was like, what a gift
that is to have a partner be able to aaron.
You've had it with Jarrett, like seeing him do his thing.
I do that with Steve over his laptop when he's
putting together a marketing presentation. Very similar, but like to
watch your partner do something that they.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
Absolutely love and crush. It is very cool.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
So that's my second takeaway is that they are so
adorable and in love and it's just sweet to see.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
And my third and final one is she is a.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Frickin' beast or I don't know how she does it,
but I am in a like complete awe. I think
that Aaron, you and I have really good work ethics.
And we'll get on a plane and.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
We'll fly here, you're on location.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
The second you got back, you're already like back out
traveling again. And I just think that the work ethic
of that young woman is to be admired and appreciated.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
So yeah, that deserves everything she has.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
The Chris I talked about, you know, him admiring her
and being so there was this moment and it's well
documented because Travis obviously can't do anything at her shows
without people taking videos. So we're not telling anybody anything
they haven't seen.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
Over the every angle yet every angle.

Speaker 1 (15:16):
She was singing lover and she was just singing to him,
and we were kind of all standing there watching it,
and it was awesome for the romantics like Chris and
I for a guy that we cheer for. On and
off the field, and obviously we're a massive fan of hers.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
It was really cool.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
It was kind of like an inside look of like
a relationship of that you know, all of us had
been hoping for.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
But it was really really special.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
And he was just standing there and just you know,
taking her in and I posted this picture.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
It's awesome. Jared has this photo.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
He's standing right behind Travis and it looks like she's
pointing to Jared and she's going to Travis and Ryan,
you said, a great texture and always finds his way.
Chrisa and Jared, they always find their way into something
like they just do. They're so good at it. The timing.
But yeah, it was listen, I we all fall into

(16:13):
We don't really know what's going on behind the scenes.
We were there, we saw them. I don't believe for
a second this is an act. I'm embarrassed of all
the people that said it was a PR stunt. I
don't want it to be. I will say this. I
hope to God they get married. I want this thing
to last. It is so cool to watch and even

(16:36):
you know, like Chrisa just said, having a guy that
is that successful, he walks into a room, he lights
up a room. Having him support her the way he
does is such a great message for so many people.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well said, no, seriously, it's a baby.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
And I have to say to Iby Remiss that we
were there in a bunch of tracks, us as friends
were there and they couldn't have been lovelier. And I
think it says so much about who you are as
a person of the friends that you keep. And these
are friends that he's had in his life for a
very long time, and you know their significant others, like
we're just lovely and just in talking to them on
a very like peripheral level and like surface level, but

(17:17):
just you know, all you want is for your friend
to be happy, and I know that they feel and
even like what anyone has ever said about her, and
you know the impact that she's had on his life. Clearly,
we love them together and we hope that love is
all the things that we hope it is. Keep advocating
people are great people, all right. So you talked a

(17:46):
little bit about outfits. We talked about a last minute
of wardrobe change. One thing that we got a lot
of d ms about was the I think custom made
jacket or the jean jacket story on that A lot
of people were and on that they want to know
if they can buy it. I don't know if that's possible,
but yes, people are loving that jacket. Yeah, so that

(18:09):
is there an NFL wear jacket that we have and
that was an idea from our COO of ware, who
also made eight million bracelets for our envy and they
were so adorable. Lauren Fenner love you so much. She
and Portia, who works for our manufacturing company of where
decided I was like, I kind of want to wear wear,
and so we decided to make an use our NFL jacket.

(18:31):
Lauren bedazzled it. She put calm down on it, put
the War Era, she put a bunch of cool patches
from Taylor's songs, and yeah, Chris and I traded back
and forth wearing it and it was just so cute.
You can buy the NFL and the team jackets and
we have them in all teams, NBA, NHL, MLB online.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
But yeah, no, I was.

Speaker 1 (18:53):
Kind of I'm thinking of maybe doing a little auction
for it and money goes to Tyranny, you know, That's
what I was hoping, a tailor charity that she supports.
But yeah, we're going to figure all that out. But
so it was pretty cool. It was so cute, and Chris,
I know, you can add to this. There were just

(19:14):
fans from all over the world in London to see her.
We saw a lot of Americans. Jarrett and Steve were creepers,
were like, hey, where are you from, to like little
fifteen year olds and ten year olds because they were
genuinely curious where people were traveling in from. The little
girls with their moms and their dads. Like I was
getting so emotional over and I think that's another such

(19:34):
a special thing about Taylor Swift that people don't give
enough credit to, just you know, the different generations and
the dads taking their daughters and stuff. To elaborate on that, Aaron,
So We're at a restaurant and Steve so Aerin and
I are on the inside of the booth and Steve
and Jared on the outside, and we saw this like
smoking hot mom and like a bunch of girls with her,

(19:57):
and I was like, I was like, they've got to
be here for the Tailor Swift concert.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
Like it just it's like they have to be here.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
So Steve leans back and he goes, hey, where are
you guys from the little kids?

Speaker 2 (20:06):
I go, WHOA?

Speaker 1 (20:06):
I was like first, and I looked up immediately at
the mom and I said, oh my god, I'm so sorry.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
He doesn't mean that.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
We just want to know if you're here for the
Taylor Swift concert. I was like, Bro, you can't lean
back and ask a ten year.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
Old, hey, where are you from? Like, it's not a
good look.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
So what we ended up deducing in the correct way
was that they were from Seattle and the mom was
there with her three daughters. And all I was thinking
about in that moment, Aaron, like you said, is that
they'll never forget that. Like and first of all, it's
not cheap to fly to London from Seattle and hotels
and all the things, but like those memories, and I
hope those not those specific young girls because they seem lovely,

(20:44):
but I hope all the little girls that I saw,
or little boys or any not even little just could
be adults for that matter that like went really like
appreciated it the way that we do, because those are
experiences that you're like not going to get back again,
and especially if you're doing it when you're younger with
your family, so very all.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
Right, So we've talked a little bit about Steve and
Jarrett as you just mentioned, what was this whole experience
like for them? Now we know Aaron was locked in
on what was happening on stage. Go ahead to that point.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
Jared tried to kiss me during like one of her walks,
and I go stop, I.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Just want to watch. He'll definitely tell you that story.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
And I apologize the next morning because he was like
he was like, he goes, I'm so happy, babe, thanks
for bringing me and try to kiss me and goes
stop and I'm trying to listen. That makes me feel
so much better, Jared, I love you so much. Which
can I say this? You can get mad at you
can get mad at me. But when we were at
the bar and there was a stressful situation. We were
doing a pub crawl before the old concert and you're

(21:48):
in a stressful situation, which I totally understood, and you
were putting an order in and like you didn't you
wanted to try all the different varieties because you could't
figure out the right drink, and you.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
Go, actually, can I try that one?

Speaker 4 (22:00):
Can try?

Speaker 1 (22:00):
This was like on your fourth one, like can I
try that? Jared says to me, got the bartender goes,
poor bastard.

Speaker 4 (22:14):
I started that.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Because I knew the stress that you were under and
the way that he said.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
It was so funny because the bartender at that points like,
bitch just ordered a drink.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
It was so funny drink. I think it was here
tried to kiss you in the middle. Sweet And I'm.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
Also embarrassed because I think Kylie was standing right there
and I.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
Was like stop because I wanted to watch, like if
I forgot what song it was.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
It was like I think it was like black Dog
or something, and I really wanted to know what bridge
or whatever. And I was like, I'm really happy, babe,
I love you and he tried to kiss me.

Speaker 3 (22:45):
It goes, she's got Jared.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
She just fucking putting us on everybody. I think there
was also like a moment four of us. There's so
many fun because Steve's hilarious. He's obsessed with Reddit, like
Jared comes up with these. I don't know half of it,
but I think like we were all sitting there and
where we were at dinner, and Steve.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
Goes, I'm having a really great time. I'm so glad
we did this.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
I love you guys, and Jered goes they have creamspinach babe.
Okay for anyone that like gets that where it's like
there's a sentimental moment and then it's like what, I
don't know, it's just all funny to me. But yeah,
and she always had a great time. I had a
lot to do with that, or her show is incredible.

(23:34):
If you can't have fun at that show, yeah, there's
something wrong with you.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
So what about what about sort of like the vibe
overall and like all of the fans, like, how would
you describe that? Because sometimes concerts are like, oh, it's
like a party, and obviously we see all the videos
of guys like you Grant or Prince William like just
going down, like Paul McCarthy McCartney, Yeah, so how would
you describe that?

Speaker 1 (23:58):
Tom Cruise, I would say, wait for this, a cornucopia
of people that are truly having like think about that.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
We are in London, Sir.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
Paul McCartney is outside of the tent where he could
clearly just go in and hide away from the masses
of fans, but he's out there dancing to but Daddy,
I love him.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
Knock it off. You have like you mentioned he ran,
you have Tom Cruise, you have.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
All of these people, you have the most famous people
in the whole world, and then you have these daughters
and their dads or their moms or whatever. It's like
it's literally just everyone coming together who are like pure
joy is the way that I would sum it up.
And I think that first of all, obviously, because I
was dancing around, it went by so fast.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
I was like, I was so bummed. I was like, oh,
I want more. Poor girl. She's like three and a
half hours.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
In enough for you, lady, But like I wanted, I
wanted more, and the crowd was screaming more.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
I just love.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
I loved it. Pure Joe is how I would sum
it up. Pure joy.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
Feeling comfortable in your skin even though I look like
a soccer mom, which there's nothing wrong with that, missus
Beckham suck.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yeah, why do we say that you were in jeans
and a T shirt? What am I missing? I mean whatever,
I was comfortable, it was.

Speaker 4 (25:21):
It was.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
It was amazing. I mean I came home. I remember
somebody was like, was it worth it? I was like, yeah, yeah,
it was.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
I want to go again.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
And unfortunately, like we have football on all the weekends
she's coming to the States.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
I'd love to try to figure it out.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
She's Yeah, I will say this and again if I
think we said this as we left the concert. If
you don't like her and you don't like her work ethic,
and you don't like how she makes people happy, then
you don't.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
I got nothing.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
I know, Yeah, I got nothing to say to you
on that.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
I mean, it's clear obviously our affection and admiration for her,
but I just think in general, in a world where
everyone has something negative, like finds a negative, there was
I remember I was telling Travis's story about when I
first fell in love with Taylor Swift.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Was because my niece.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
I don't know if I've said it before on here,
but when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, all
she wanted to do when she got out of that
hospital at six years old was go to a Taylor
Swift concert. And this has now been fourteen years and
so we were at the Taylor Swift concert with this
poor little baby all bandaged up, and she was singing
every song and just like pure joy. And I was

(26:31):
telling Taylor, or I was telling Travis this story, and
he goes You know what's crazy, christ Like, how many
of those stories that you hear, and every single one
is about how she has brought like so much joy
to somebody or made them feel better or whatever it is.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
And like, you know, hard it is.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
I'm sure like to be consistently nice, I'm not like
and it's just you know, she probably just wants to break,
but she all of these stories and all of these
things are always about how she goes out of her
way above and beyond you people feel great. So if
you have a problem with her, well you're the problem.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
It's you.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah, we had so much fun, so many good memories.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
We're so manifesting when we're going to meet Taylor over
cocktails in.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
The New Year, so all of that.

Speaker 1 (27:17):
Just always loved talking about it and kind of peeking
out with you guys. Okay, Next up, we had on
one of our favorites KB Kevin Kirkhart a little baby KK.

(27:37):
He had some great travel and airport bar stories. We
also talked to him about going from a car salesman
to calling the Super Bowl and working the World Series,
all of those he does so well and like we said,
we love him so much. One of the articles that
Aaron sent me in case I didn't know your backstory,

(27:59):
which I do, and it's one thing maybe that we
have in common. keV. You and I have both got
out the forefront of selling some Chevrolets. All right, just
off Ive four or five, Exit eighteen and Kirkland Lee
Johnson Chevrolet, come on down. You and I should have
like a spokesperson like sound off before you well in
conjunction was starting your career. You went and also sold cars.

(28:23):
So I need you to give us the backstory and
your own words about how that happened where you went
as the headline, and I will read the headline, which
made me so happy because again you deserve all the
recognition in the world. Kevin Burkhart, one time car salesman,
is Fox's new NFL play by play guy. He was
a used car salesman. Now he's calling the Super Bowl.

(28:45):
So how do you go from that? Wall Street Journal,
by the way, wrote that that's pretty big shit when
you have a whole article about you.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
I didn't get asked for that one weird.

Speaker 5 (28:54):
I'm like, what can I do to put you in
this New Tahoe touchdown Cowboy? It's all on the same
it's all on the same breath, you know what, it's
actually really it's actually really fun story. And if we
don't do it, if we don't do a car commercial together,
at some point, I don't even know what you're doing.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Seriously, Fox is missing a huge opportunity here with the
two of I mean, hello.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
You've got a friend in the car business. We'll do
our jingle later.

Speaker 5 (29:21):
Yeah, oh I could. I don't remember the jingle, but
I did do a commercial for them, ironically later and
it was horrendous, but I did it.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
Okay, we got to do You remember any part of it?

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (29:31):
I remember all because we played it on the Baseball
post game show. They busted my playing it. Yeah. It
was just like me and this. It was me and this,
like this giant Like I had a shirt that was
like sixteen X and I weighed like one hundred and
seventy pounds. I was like, Hi, welcome to Pine Belt Chevrolet.
And I was like, I can't believe that guy's on
the air doing like the Fox A game. It's wild.

(29:53):
But anyway, yeah, so I went. I just basically as
we've all been, right, you get hit these parts where
you're just okay and I just hit a wall, and
I was like, why can't I get a break? I
don't understand what's going on. And so I literally just
went through the Sunday Classifies back when the newspaper was
still being delivered, and I found a car dealership and
I was like, you know what, I'll go to that.
I had no idea to sell, how to sell cars,

(30:15):
any of that stuff, and I just went in. The
guy said okay, sure you're hired, and then I kind
of said, well, yeah, I think I'm a sportscaster. So
he's like or whatever, and then like we just started
talking and he like I got like some some opportunities
to fill in occasionally on like WCBS in New York,
and and then he just he heard me one night
driving home from the dealership and he's like, man, he's like,

(30:36):
you're really good. He's like okay, He's like, so you
let me know when you get like for this opportunities.
I'll just let you go. Just keep it between me
and you. So he turned into a real friend, and
this guy by named Mike Travina, who still owns one
of the couple of the dealerships, and so it became
like a relationship and like when I got gigs, he
just let me go and then I sold. You know,
I did pretty well selling cars. So it actually was
really I enjoy talking back because I enjoyed telling young

(30:58):
people like, hey, like you know, I was in the
middle of it trying to figure it out too. You
don't you don't have to like get it right out
of college and go to the you know, the top
thing like you can. Your path can be kind of weird.
So it was a good It was a good learning experience,
no doubt. I actually took a lot from it. It
was cool.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
That's a big thing.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
It taught you, sorry ct when a kind of holding
out and having a schlap and sell cars and all that.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
Yeah, the big it's er It's a great question. Quite simply.
It just taught me to ask for stuff I wanted.
And because I was always like it don't rock the book,
I still kind of am.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
I'm like I'm not.

Speaker 5 (31:33):
I'm pretty laid back, you guys, know, like I'm unless
I get to the point where something really pisses me off,
like which doesn't happen very often at all, and so
I'm usually just to go with the flow guy and
like doing that job very simply. You either asked for
what you want or you don't do you don't put money,
and you don't pay rent, you know. So it just
taught me to negotiate, to ask for things because the

(31:54):
worst people could say is no. And then from there
I took that lesson and like I called a guy
who I'd worked with before. It was a program director
at the Fan in New York, Eric Spitz. I just
called him. I said, Hey, I think I'm good enough
to work at your station, Like, can I audition? And
he said, Uh, okay, come in Friday. I'm like what.
So it's just like a It was just a simple lesson,

(32:15):
but it was just one that I just, I guess
I just never knew how to do. So it taught
me a very valuable skill.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
But don't you also appreciate that you had to do
things like that, because now when you sit in a
booth and you call a Super Bowl, or you sit
on that desk alongside Alex Rodriguez or Derek Jeter or
Big Poppy and you're at the world here, he's like you,
I imagine, because it's how I feel when we've all
had the great fortune of living out our dream job
is that You're like, oh, but it didn't No one

(32:43):
just handed you a willy want a golden ticket. It
is like, you get to do this, you had to
go through all these other things where you had to work,
you know, your way up to get to where you are.
So I imagine the appreciation is there and you wouldn't
change it for the world.

Speaker 5 (32:55):
Your spot on I mean, you know me, well, I
would never change it, and I would never I will
never not appreciate what I'm doing because I know the
alternative right and just sitting there trying to climb the
ladder and hope you get any anywhere near the top.
Forget about to the top, just you know, getting traction
and moving up in the industry and doing things you
want to do. So yeah, from there, there's never a

(33:17):
time that I don't go and walk a field at
a stadium with Aaron and not look around just for
a second and be like, this is pretty cool that
I am standing on this field and going to talk
to all these people later doing this like there's never
one game where that doesn't happen. And you're right, it's
because of that experience and like my journey here and
you know everyone. You know, there's a lot of people
that come out and go right in the star is
right from school or right from high school. Like, God

(33:39):
bless them. That's great. I don't think I would have been.
I think the way that I did it was good
for me, Like I don't. I think it helped me
get to be who I am today. So I embrace it.
I really do. I'm happy it happened that way.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
I want best cars sales pitch. I like say, I'm
just going in as a woman. What things should I
stay away from from guys like you? What things are
like you? You? Son?

Speaker 2 (34:05):
Don't tell me? Like what what? What is one? What's
your always your go to?

Speaker 1 (34:09):
Like I always have my fallback go to question for
Kyle at halftime or Matt at halftime?

Speaker 2 (34:14):
What was your go to sales pitch?

Speaker 5 (34:16):
What is most important to you? It was always like okay, oh,
people always had a trigger, So it was always is
the monthly payment important? Is it a newer used car?
Is it a certain feature in the car? Like they
always had a trigger. So it was finding out what
that trigger was and then kind of working off of that.
The crazy thing is that I don't know if it's

(34:37):
still the same. I mean this was one that I
last sell cars. I mean, I don't remember.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
It's all the.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
Same as a daughter of a used car salesman a visits.
It's all the same that if you can sell, you
can sell. It doesn't matter if this is nineteen eighty
six or if it's twenty twenty four. Like that's all
the same, true.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
No doubt.

Speaker 5 (34:55):
But Christy, you know, like the crazy thing is and
I tell people this and they still don't blame it
like you would, just the way it's structure. And maybe
it's not like this at every place, but you know,
our place had depended on you know, what kind of
incentives the dealer had and things like that, and you
get paid a lot on structure, like if you sold
eight cars that month, you got a bonus, you know,
something like that. And there would be times where I
would sell, you know, a fifty thousand dollars suburban and

(35:17):
I would make fifty dollars on the sale, and it
made no sense, like literally no sense. So it was
like it was just no rhyme or reason to sometimes
it depended and then there'd be other times you sell
a twenty five thousand dollars car but the dealer owned
it for a certain price and you'd make a good amount.
You made a couple grands. So it just it was
a you had to be like, Okay.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
I think it's one of the I'm only I'm only
interjecting because I think it's one of the hardest thing. Again,
my father worked construction, hurt his back, and then he
had to sell cars, and so I watched him growing
up like that idea and then eventually, to his credit,
like you like, he ended up owning the dealership where
you know, he didn't become the lead announcer for Fox,
but I'm sure he would have loved that opportunity. But

(35:58):
when you watch the buddy, but you're dependent, sales is
the hardest thing to do because there is no guaranteed
money and you have a family to support, and it
was like the stress that comes with that.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
But so I give so much.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
I have so much respect for doing that job, and
not only doing that job, because I've watched it be
hard for my father, but also because you were willing
to do anything to support your family, and I think
that that's something that's like so commendable. Here's the one
thing that my dad talked yeah. My dad always told
me don't close after the sale. Like if I'm on

(36:30):
the lot and I'm like, okay, i'll take it, and
then you keep being like and there's air conditioning and
there's this, it's like, ooh.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
They already got it.

Speaker 1 (36:36):
Don't shut up, just shut off because now you might
say more and it's like they've already said they're going
to buy the car. So like so many times, and
I think about this in my own life, like if
like whatever, I get a job and I'm like, okay, but.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
I'm gonna work really hard and I'm gonna do this.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
It's like, you're shut up. We just gave you the job,
now you're ruining it. Walk away, Go sign the goddamn
paperwork before they take it back.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
So don't close after the sale was big, and I.

Speaker 5 (37:01):
Promise you will regret it and I'll keep you.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Yeah exactly. It's like okay, lady, But yeah, I just
love that. That's so great.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
Well, Kevin, it's not a surprise to me though, that
you were successful at that because, and I say this
so unbiasedly, just yes, I feel lucky enough to be
your teammate, as I know Aaron does. But you are
one of the nicest. Anyone listening to this, you have
to know that what you see is what you get
With Kevin. There's no like he's one person on TV

(37:30):
and another person when the TV.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
You know, he walks out of the booth and takes
the mic.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
Not true, Okay you, Sassy, Kevin is a fucking time Okay.
I meant the kind person that, like, you know, he's
not an asshole behind the scene, Sassy, yes, but kind
Kevin in the person that like, no matter what would
happen in life, like you would always be there. And
I just love you for that. You are so consistent

(37:56):
in that department. Now, Sassy, let's turn it over to
Aaron from or On that there'll be times and no
one knows is better than Kevin and curs out. We
are week twelve, we are week ten, We're tired, we're sassy.
We're boarding an airline and maybe you can't all go together,
or maybe it's like you get somebody that's loading into
the plane that just isn't too happy. And this one

(38:19):
turns around to me as he's as he's boreding, and
he goes Wow, strict Saturdays in full effect, And I'm
just like sassy Kevin is bored in the plane my
man to Detroit.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
The one liners this guy has are insane. They're insane.

Speaker 5 (38:38):
I'll throw out some one liners. I you know, Aaron
loves the sassy keV. We were talking about John Lynch earlier.
He used to say, the jersey's coming out, like the
jersey's coming out. Oh kybe the jersey KBS coming out
a little bit now, Yeah, yeah, you get that. You
get it. You know, I get some moments because I
love that though. I may save a couple for Aaron
on weekends just to you know, just to I save

(38:59):
them up so then I could unload them on you know.

Speaker 1 (39:03):
My favorite is when keV just said, you know, from
everything that he's gone through in his career to be
where he is now, that's why he takes an extra
minute to enjoy walking around the field. I was going
to say, except when you're going and you're you're broadcasting
a Detroit Lions game and the punter smokes your fucking.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
Hand with a ball.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
What was his hand was fucking broken?

Speaker 5 (39:25):
John Fox saved my life like we were we were?

Speaker 3 (39:29):
That was?

Speaker 5 (39:29):
I forgot about that? That was last year, right? Was
that last Yeah?

Speaker 2 (39:33):
Was it Thanksgiving?

Speaker 5 (39:35):
No, it wasn't Thanksgiving. I think we were there another time. No,
it definitely wasn't Thanksgiving. I know that it was. It
was weak too, were there, Yeah, that's right, Yeah it was.
It was weak too, and we were we were we
were down on the you know you're at you know
it is. You always have to pay attention when you're
on the field, but we were like off the field.
We were like off the sideline. I mean honestly five

(39:56):
yards off the sideline, so usually there you're not going
to get and no teams were warming up. This is
like special teams period, so it's just like Fiel go
unit stuff like that. So I wasn't even thinking of
looking at the field at that time. So I'm talking,
you know, we're talking to John Fox, and Aaron was
was like over positioned this way, and I'm like I'm
like looking this way and John John is like somehow

(40:16):
looking back, and all of a sudden we're talking. John
goes look out like last second and I so I
just did this, and then the punt hits me like
right here hand. It hit like my hand in my head,
and I was like I had no idea how punt
got there. But I guess, like uh, Jack Fox, the

(40:38):
punter for Detroit, who by the way, was amazing. He
came like running over like are you okay. I'm like, dude,
like thank you, but like go do your job. But like,
so we got me good, and I was like, all right,
this is gonna be great. Do a game like can
cuss race fantastic. But it hurt. It gave me like
I was like, man, I don't know how you guys
catch these things like it hurt. My hand was like
blowing up. It was like all right, well see if

(40:58):
it's broken. It was fine, but yeah, everyone's like we're
getting you to the doctor right now. Get the doctor.
She had me like lots and loaded.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
Get she got me.

Speaker 5 (41:07):
She got me, I she got me the whole thing.
She took care of me.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
She is far before she was a mother to Mac.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
You are very good in those situations there in crisis situation.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
Sure, I mean, is there anyone better than Kevin Burkhart.
The fact that this guy is just as nice as
he is talented. He is a rare.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Bird, one of one. We love you, Kevin. So we
had so many amazing interviews. One that really stood out
to us just because we loved her before we got
a chance to interview her, and then after we spoke
to her, we were like, oh my god, you are

(41:46):
everything we wanted in more. Miranda Lambert talked about how
things just get better once you get in your forties.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
She's learned from so many different lessons in her life.
She's the ultimate girls girl.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
Also has an incredible line of boots that she's sent
us that are so great you guys have to check
it out at boot Barn. But we love Miranda Lambert
and we appreciate how authentic she is amongst many other
things you mentioned, like you've always been you and you've

(42:16):
always been authentic, which is one of the many reasons
that people love you. It's why we love you is
because like it or not, Aaron and I very much
are like who we are and that's sometimes met with criticism,
but we don't care. I think we're both out of
like fuck it like place in our lives and that
we're very confident in our own life forty, better, worse
and different.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
You just turned forty, right.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
I did, and it's awesome.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
It's awesome, Oh yaactly exactly.

Speaker 6 (42:41):
It's just it's a little it's freeing, and it feels like, yes,
just more permission to like only care about the opinions
of people that really matter to you, and the rest
of them just they're noise. And I don't I give
even less of a shit now about the noise, because
I want the people in circle that are really valuable

(43:02):
to my laugh and that I value everything they say.
I listen to them and I drawtled the noise, and
I feel like turning forty really helped me like do
that even more. And everyone that's in there forty says
it's the best decade, and so I'm like, let's go.

Speaker 4 (43:15):
It's gonna be awesome.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
Is there a song that you love on this new album,
Postcards from Texas, which, by the way, is coming out
September thirteenth. Is that correct? Yeah? Yeah, that's right. Is
there a song about not giving a shit? Because that's
really been Chris and I's anthem. Although I do love
armadillo because that was my secret password when I was
a child and we lived in Texas. If a stranger

(43:38):
ever picked us up, our parents are like the secret
code word is armadillo?

Speaker 2 (43:42):
That ever happened?

Speaker 1 (43:43):
Yeah, but ially not give a Shit song like, don't
give a shit now.

Speaker 6 (43:47):
I think Damite Randy is the closest, and there's also
one called Bits on the Sauce, but.

Speaker 4 (43:51):
She doesn't it's so good. But yeah, you know, I
just feel like, you know, and I had to do.

Speaker 6 (43:58):
I did Wranglers on this record too, and it felt
really important to me. Like you know, people say, oh
you're back, I'm like the fiery girl never left, you know.
I mean, I feel like there's songs on this record
almost every song could have been on Kerosene, which is
my very first album, or Crazy Ex Girlfriend or Revolution
or there's like snippets of every phase of my musical

(44:20):
career on this record, you know. So it feels I mean,
my really good friends are texting me going this record
feels like I could have heard damn It Randy on Revolution,
and I could have heard Wranglers on Kerosene, and it's
like that makes me feel even better, like I made
the right choices and I and I stuck with my
gut and made the record I was supposed to make
for this time of my life.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
We're in so much of who you are is again
but we love is that that not give a shit attitude,
but in a way. I mean, there's all you know,
there's the other side of that is, like you do
care and there are so many headlines that get written
and you have lived your life in a spotlight, So
how do you balance that and where does your ca

(45:00):
confidence come from to be able to just put away
the noise and to know what's true to yourself and
just sort of where does that all come from having
lived in the spotlight for so long?

Speaker 6 (45:09):
You know, I didn't get into this for the spotlight
at all. I love country music like I got into
it because I am lucky enough to get a gift
of songwriting, and I was like, oh, I have this,
I have to do something good with it. And I
just didn't never want to, you know, I never remember
saying like I want to be famous or any of that.
I wanted to make music that mattered and really, as

(45:31):
a woman, use my songs and my voice to you know,
lift up other women to save dogs, which I'm sure
we'll talk about in.

Speaker 4 (45:38):
A minute, you know.

Speaker 6 (45:39):
I just I feel like I didn't get into it
for that. So I've tried to not ever let that
creep in because it's like it's also just noise and
it's you know, It's not like it doesn't bother me sometimes.
I mean, of course it does when people say things
that aren't true, or take things out of context, or
judge you on something that's completely fald, you know. But

(46:02):
I know who I am, and I don't I don't
surround myself with yes people. I have real friends in
my life, real people, and my management team. I've been
with my manager for twenty one years and it's an
all girl team over there, and they'll tell me the truth,
you know, and so I don't.

Speaker 4 (46:17):
You know, I feel like it keeps me like in
a good grounded place.

Speaker 6 (46:21):
And I've really worked on that my whole life to
stay grounded, even though this business is crazy.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Sometimes it's such a good I love we Aaron. I've
obviously work in a male dominated industry. Okay, find all
of that kind of stuff, and I've always been like, oh,
I'm a guy's girl whatever. As of the the last
few years, I have leaned so hard on my girlfriends.
Like I remember, I was in a terrible marriage and
Aaron called me and she goes, I will not be
friends with you anymore.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
If you stay in this, you're ruining your life. You're
ruining yours.

Speaker 1 (46:48):
And she was the only person that would have the
balls to say that to me, and she was exactly like,
it was exactly what I needed and the catalyst to
give me out. And I leaned so hard on my
female relationships now. So that's so cool that you have
because they'll save your life. They're like the life jacket
on your boat that will just save you from drowning
in your own shit sometimes.

Speaker 6 (47:07):
So they are and it's important to tell the truth,
and it's important to lift each other up like good,
bad and ugly, you know.

Speaker 4 (47:14):
And I think a lot of times people.

Speaker 6 (47:16):
Think women are like pitted against each other, and I
just don't think that's true, not in my world.

Speaker 4 (47:21):
I mean, I'm like, go run live your dream, be amazing.

Speaker 6 (47:25):
I'm here for the highs, I'm here for the lows,
and my friends are there for me for both of
those things too, And I just think, you know, it's
a lot more energy to like, you know, somebody said this.

Speaker 4 (47:36):
The other day. I was on vacation with my manager.
Went to Italy.

Speaker 6 (47:39):
It was amazing. We went to Como and Florence and Tuscany.

Speaker 4 (47:44):
It was awesome.

Speaker 6 (47:46):
For her birthday and there's a big group of people,
and there was this really wise friend of hers, Elizabeth,
and she said, you know, there's a difference in winning
and wanting to beat everybody. And I was like, wow,
Like that really struck me, because we can all win.
But when you start trying to beat each other and
like step on toes to get where you think you
need to go, is where all the ugly comes in.

(48:08):
And if you just stay in your lane and lift
each other up and cheer for them even if they
are ahead of you, it's like everybody, we're all gonna
win in our way at some point, like you know.
And I just think that resonated with me, and I'm
gonna use that a lot in my last moving forwards.

Speaker 4 (48:25):
You know, it's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
I do want to talk about my nation, but I
would be rerested if I didn't ask you this and
maybe for you to give a little bit more of
your pep talk motivation love to my best friend. You've
been very public about what's gone on in your life
in terms of marriage, finding love again, getting married again,
and saying you know, I'm so glad I did it.
This is the happiest I've seen my best friend in

(48:55):
a relationship and it's one of those. And I don't
know about you. Like my husband wants to hang out
with her boyfriend, I call her boyfriend her husband because
I want them to get married.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
What do you recommend about doing it again? Miranda?

Speaker 6 (49:08):
You know, I'm so happy I learned so much from
all the experiences that were even you know, I always say,
you don't learn when everything's going great. You don't learn
when everything's this smooth fale, and you get the lessons
hearing the hard stuff. And that's where I really grew
as a woman and kind of grew in my heart
and like understood myself more. And so I think I

(49:30):
k I spent so much time like relearning myself during
that really hard time to Like when I met Brendan,
I felt like I was much more prepared and like
much my heart was like much more open and ready
to love.

Speaker 4 (49:45):
And I'm also a risk taker.

Speaker 6 (49:46):
I'm like, I take risk in my career, I take
risk with my charity's and my brands, So why not
take I mean no.

Speaker 4 (49:54):
Risk, no reward.

Speaker 6 (49:54):
It's like I know that love loving big means hurting big,
but does subside, And so if that's the only risk
is the pain I lived through that.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
So I'm like, let's go.

Speaker 6 (50:06):
Let's because I want the reward of what this great
love can be and it's worth it to me to
like just run and jump off that cliff, you know.

Speaker 4 (50:13):
And a lot of.

Speaker 6 (50:15):
My friends are like, they say to me, like, you're crazy,
but we wish we were like that, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 4 (50:19):
So I think it's like, what do you have to lose?

Speaker 1 (50:23):
You know, it is really inspiring to hear that, because
I do believe in love. And I will tell you
who the number one indicators of a good man is dogs.
When I first introduced my dogs to my boyfriend, they
didn't bark, they didn't growl, and these dogs are like
I've got six, Miranda, but these two in particular would
be the first ones to be like warning, warning, like

(50:46):
aboard mission. So when you know that, like you have
a good man is when the dogs are all in.
You do incredible things. You love dogs the way that
Aaron and I do, and we I just mutt nation.
Please tell everybody more about and how you got started
and where your love of animals and particular dogs came from.

Speaker 6 (51:04):
Well, I had nine dogs when I met Brandon nine rescues.

Speaker 4 (51:08):
I know, I know, and I was like, now, I'm like,
why didn't you think I was like a crazy dog lady?
And yes, I am a crazy dog lady.

Speaker 6 (51:16):
So he saw that and married me anyway, but he like,
but speaking of dogs, like, I started My Nation with
my mom in two thousand and nine, and my mom
and dad were private investigators my whole life, so we
sort of like wanted to use her, like her experience
and like vetting people to Like I was asking my

(51:37):
fans to go, hey, I started a charity called My
Nation Foundation. We're asking you for money, and I wanted
to be able to tell them where their dollars were going,
you know what I mean, where, like what exactly we're
spending this money on. And so my mom and I
just started this little, you know, kind of a mom
and pop operation back then to raise awareness for span

(51:57):
neoter to push adopts adopted shop to we we started
it just for that those small little reasons because I
used to volunteer at the shelter in these Texas. But
it just has grown so much and we've done such
amazing programs and we've raised almost ten million dollars since
did we start.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Wow, ten million dollars, Maria, that's incredible, incredible.

Speaker 6 (52:23):
And we have saved hundreds and hundreds of dogs and
we don't have a shelter some people. I mean, we
got a text today it was like I found a dog.
Like so I worked with a ton of shelters. What
we say is that nation lifts up the shelters, like
we help with renovations, we help with transport vans. We
give grants every year to all fifty states, to shelter

(52:43):
in all fifty states to you know, I just met
a lady the other day that we had given a
grant of five thousand dollars to last year and she
bought a transport band because she saves mama dogs that
had puppies, because she like fosters the puppies. I mean,
just these little organizations all around the US that that
people aren't really looking out for.

Speaker 4 (53:01):
That's where my nation comes in because we see them.

Speaker 6 (53:04):
Because we see them and they're small, and we also
do huge things like when Harvey happened, we were booths
on the ground. We had every vehicle we could find
and we were down there moving dogs out and helping
place local dogs. And it was one of the hardest
but most rewarding things that I've ever been a part of.
But you know, I'm just I'm really thankful that people

(53:25):
are sewing into this charity.

Speaker 4 (53:27):
That's it's my number one passion.

Speaker 6 (53:28):
I mean, music and mouths are my two things that
I live for, and so the fact that I can
mix the two, that my music has got me a
platform that can speak for the voiceless, makes me so happy.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
Oh my god, Well I really want to get involved
and I will talk to your people about that because
I'm very passionate, but I don't have children, and like,
these are my children, and my whole feed in Instagram
is like dog rescue and savings, like literally then just
crying and be like how can I help this random
dog in Alabama? So I totally feel that, and Aaron
does too. She's got her golden retriever Howie, and we're

(54:00):
so passionate about that.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
So it's amazing. I can't believe you raised ten million dollars.
That's really really, it's incredible.

Speaker 6 (54:05):
And you know, I will say that when sometimes people
like I get overwhelmed, even like I'm like I'm not
doing enough.

Speaker 4 (54:10):
I can't do enough. I can't save them all.

Speaker 6 (54:12):
But I do think that if people can't, you know,
if they're not in a position to go adopt a dog,
or they're not in a position to you know, volunteer
for ten hours a week. It's like just one hour
of your time a week, like can change the entire
trajectory of a dog's path, like interacting with humans, getting
them out of the their create or getting them out

(54:33):
of their enclosure for an hour and human interaction. So
like I encourage people, We're not asking just for money,
maybe just an hour of your time a month. Even
it's it's start small, because every little bit counts, And
I have to remind myself of that all the time
because I get overwhelmed. I follow all these filters and
I'm like, how can we help? But that's what my
nation is here for. It is like one little, one

(54:54):
little step at a time, and we can do huge,
amazing things.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
I can find out more about my nation and at
muttnation dot com because that's where I went to check
it all out.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
What's your biggest hope?

Speaker 1 (55:04):
What do you want to what do you want to
get bigger and better about all this? What's your dream?

Speaker 6 (55:10):
I want to really raise awareness just keep raising awareness
for people. Filters are not scary places. They seem scary,
but they're amazing dogs that are already there that need homes.
So we need to cut down on the breeding span.
Neoter is so important, y'all. It's like there's just there's
this you know, rush of this certain kind of breed
everybody wants, and then everybody breeds it and then they

(55:31):
bring them to the shelters, and it's just it keeps
perpetuating the problem, so, you know, and raising more money.
I mean, I'm doing a show in Nashville on October
fifth atisond called Music for Months, and it's all the
money goes straight to the my Nation, so we can
fill our pot again and start pushing out money to
all of the amazing people we work with. And this

(55:52):
awareness is our biggest thing. Like I really want to
encourage people to just give it a shot.

Speaker 4 (55:56):
Just go buy the shelter. If you're in the market
at all to adopt.

Speaker 6 (56:00):
Just stop by and see, like who grabs your heart,
because they will.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
It's so it's funny to say that because I'm like,
I want to adopt them all. And so I recently
have purchased a ranch, a much smaller ranch than yours.

Speaker 4 (56:13):
I know you have.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
I think you have four hundred acres?

Speaker 4 (56:15):
Is that right outside of Nashville?

Speaker 2 (56:16):
Incredible?

Speaker 1 (56:17):
And I was like, I just want to rescue them
all and bring them all to the ranch they can
just run around and be free. But it's really beautiful
what you've done, and I definitely want to and we'll
get involved to help you.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
So let's just go back to your other passion of music.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
You have done so much and obviously in the world
that Aaron and I are in with athletes, we're constantly
asking them, you know, what do you want to your
bucket list of like check off the things?

Speaker 2 (56:38):
Do you want to win the MVP?

Speaker 1 (56:40):
Obviously their goal is always to win a Lombardi Trophy.
Do you have goals that you set for yourself? I
mean the countless awards that you've already achieved in your career?
And is this your tenth record?

Speaker 2 (56:51):
Is that right?

Speaker 3 (56:52):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (56:52):
It's TENTHU your double digits sister.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
I mean, is there is there a checklist of what
you want to achieve or do you just can You
need to live out your dream every day and be
grateful for where it goes.

Speaker 4 (57:04):
I want I have a lot I want to do.
I don't have it like all.

Speaker 6 (57:07):
I actually talked to my manager about that this morning
on the phone that I want to like lay it
out on paper. And the great part about it all
is that I'm only just turned forty and I achieved
so many of those from my.

Speaker 4 (57:21):
Like goal list early, which was really.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
Over you like I thought, you know so, But I really.

Speaker 4 (57:30):
Feel like music has led to so many things. My nation.

Speaker 6 (57:33):
I mean, I want to keep growing and getting bigger
and better with that. My brand idle Wind at boot Barn,
I'm super involved in that. Like you have the fringe.
I'm super involved that nothing I have my name on.
I see everything that has my name on it, like
cats Rosa are Bar on Broadway. The first I just
want to I like, three chords have have led me

(57:55):
to all of this, and that's crazy to think about.

Speaker 4 (57:58):
You know, my dad taught me, taught me four in
case I needed an.

Speaker 6 (58:01):
Extra, Yeah, taught me for towards at seventeen on the guitar,
and since then, all all these other amazing things have
come to fruition and so but all that to say,
it starts with the music. So I just want to
keep creating because I just started a label called Big
Cloud Texts. I'm a founder of that label to sew

(58:21):
into younger artists, especially from our amazing states. So much
music comes out, and there's so many kinds of music.
So I just want to keep letting all the arms
that have like reached out from the music grow. But
I have to keep that creative part so sacred because
that's where it starts and ends.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
I was reading a great article where you talked about,
you know, much like Chris, I don't have kids. Chris
has got, you know, all her animals. I know you
do as well, but like to mentor young artists. And
I'm not young and I'm not an artist, but I
feel like you're mentoring me right now with all the
things are saying.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
What kind of advice do you give them?

Speaker 1 (58:56):
What's your first piece of advice when they want to
kind of try this industry out, or they have these
dreams or want to, you know, write down these words
on paper, what do you suggest to them?

Speaker 6 (59:06):
You know, my mom's advice to me when I started
at seventeen was know who you are and stick with it,
and that has gotten me through this crazy roller coaster
of entertainment.

Speaker 4 (59:17):
Business.

Speaker 6 (59:17):
So I that's my first piece of advice. It's like,
I want to know who you are. I want to
know how hungry you are too, Like you have to.
I mean, this is not for the fanto of heart,
especially for female artists, like you got to really want
it and know what it takes to get there. And
so you know, I asked them to ask themselves that

(59:38):
because my mom made me ask myself that and me
not having a plan B.

Speaker 4 (59:43):
I wasn't going to go to college. I didn't. I
wasn't very good at school.

Speaker 6 (59:47):
Like, I just knew that I wanted to chase this,
and so my parents would like, think long and hard
because there's no plan B.

Speaker 4 (59:52):
This is for college money like this it did, Oh
my god.

Speaker 6 (59:56):
So I mean I feel like, you know, you can
tell a early on if someone's gonna really want it,
And I think the hunger for it and the passion
for it is so important because it's hard.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Aaron and I talk about that all the time, when
you know women will ask us. Aaron and I both
whatever we twenty years into this wonderful industry. This was
both our dreams to be sports broadcasters, and we feel
so grateful every.

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
Day to do it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
But young girls will be like I want to be
on TV and you're like, okay, well, this ain't got
to work because you have to be able to think
about those you know long that weeks and months and whatever,
and you're away from your friends and you're away from
your family and you're staying in the middle of nowhere,
and like it sounds like a parallel path in a
way of like you're playing those small bars that like
no one's in and like you're having to do that.

(01:00:39):
So when you say that your parents were like, oh,
that's your college money.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
What were you using that money for?

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
Like gas, to get to a club, a guitar? Like
I mean, honestly, it was.

Speaker 6 (01:00:51):
Like in my I mean my parents were cops and pis,
Like we didn't have much, and so I knew, like
if I use this, that's it, or I'm just gonna
have to go work at the dog.

Speaker 4 (01:01:01):
Shelter, which also I would have loved. You can do
both exactly now I get to do both.

Speaker 6 (01:01:06):
But this was it's just a it's a crazy path,
but it's beautiful to be able to recognize early like
this is my dream. I'm going for it, and like
hill or high water and it takes grit and I
love seeing that and people like you guys, because I
know how hard it is to get to where you
want to go, and not everyone is cut out for it,

(01:01:29):
you know, but when you get there, then you have
so many stories to tell and like you can help
younger women go, hey, this is what it takes. And
I'm here for the eyes goodbye and ugly, Like I'm
close with Lanny Wilson and I'm so I love watching
her star rise and like he called me one night
and it was her. I was late at night and
I was on the bus. She was on the bus
and she's like, she's like, hey, I just want to

(01:01:52):
call you because my song went number one, my very
first number one, And she was like, I just wanted
to hear your voice because I wanted to talk to
somebody who knew exactly what that felts, like.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
Oh my god, what does it really like? That's so amazing?

Speaker 6 (01:02:04):
Well, it feels like it feels like, oh my god,
like relieving because you need it so bad, and then
it feels like, oh shit, now here we go.

Speaker 4 (01:02:13):
You know what I mean, because it's a big deal.

Speaker 6 (01:02:16):
So I just so things like that that's where I'm like,
I'm glad y'all have each other. I'm glad that you
can find this girl tribe that you can lift each
other up and be like here for the highs, There
for the lows.

Speaker 1 (01:02:29):
Calm Down with Erin and Carissa is a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
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Speaker 1 (01:02:34):
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