FIRST THING: We couldn’t contain our excitement when award winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth stopped in to talk with Amy! I mean how can you not love Kristin’s amazing and unique voice whether on a Broadway stage, the screen or in her latest album, we just cannot get enough of her. Amy & Kristen talk about how her upbringing in rural Oklahoma shaped who she is now and her latest album "For The Girls". SECOND THING: With Hallmark Christmas movie watching season just around the corner, we had to get the scoop on Chenoweth’s first ever Hallmark movie (YAY)! After hearing about the movie and that Kristin co-wrote one of the songs she performs, we have to say that we are already planning on having the movie on repeat after it airs in November. THIRD THING: As if we didn’t already love her enough, we can’t help but be just a little obsessed after hearing about her heart for giving back! The Kristin Chenoweth Arts & Education Fund was set up in her hometown in Oklahoma to help cultivate young artistic expression through education, entertainment and experience. FOURTH THING: With such a full career and life, we couldn’t wait to hear what Kristin was most grateful for! Warning, things may get just a little emotional while Amy & her talk about family and adoption.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Amy. Thanks for checking out the Bobby Bones
Show podcast. While I have you here, I wanted to
share an episode with you of my podcast called Four
Things with Amy Brown, where each week I talk about
four different things, typically family stuff, lifestyle, gratitude, health. I
recently had on Kristin Chenowith. I talked to Kristin about
how she grew up in rural Oklahoma and ended up
with a career on Broadway, and I got the scoop
(00:22):
on her first ever Hallmark movie. We also got a
little emotional when we talk about family and adoption. If
you enjoy this episode, I'd love for you to subscribe
to hear more. Subscribe on Apple Podcast, listen on iHeartRadio,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's my episode with
Kristin Chinnewith. Okays, little food for you So life, Oh
(00:55):
that's pretty much. It's pretty beautiful full you're kicking Okay,
So this is exciting. Today's episode is Kristin Chenowith, which
is kind of just crazy and enough said in itself,
(01:17):
like she's just crazy talented. She has new music out
because she sings. I mean, obviously she was on Broadway.
If you don't know much about her, Well, I think
you're still going to enjoy it. I know I personally
didn't know some of the stuff that she shared, and
it was just really special to have her on And
she's just such a light and I think you'll hear
(01:38):
that in her voice as soon as the episode starts.
So it was really really fun to chat with her
about music, about a new Hallmark movie that she has
coming out, about just growing up in like Oklahoma, and
how you know she made it to a Broadway and
now has this crazy life, and we talk about gratitude
(01:59):
and things that she's thankful for. So with that said,
I'm just gonna get you right into the episode so
that you can enjoy it. But I will give one
quick reminder that since today's Thursday, and if you're listening
to this, when this podcast comes out every Thursday, Pimp
and Joy Tied Eye goes on sale tomorrow, and we
(02:20):
are so excited about this, and as you know, like,
well maybe if you don't, but if you're excited about
a new Pimp and Joy Tied Eye item, then maybe
you do. Know how Pimp and Joy has been able
to help so many different people listeners, people that we
don't even know different organizations, like all kinds of various causes.
(02:42):
And right when I was sitting down to record this,
I got a note from Morgan number two on The
Bobby Bone Show. And it was a friend of one
of our listeners who happened to be wearing something Pimp
and Joy and she when something happened to her. So
I'm going to read this quick note before we get
into the episode. But the DM on the Bobby Bone
Show Instagram said, Hey, I hope this reaches someone and
(03:04):
actually gets read. I'm sending this to everyone on the show.
My friend Heidi is an avid listener and has been
for years. She probably owns all of the apparel you
have out. She was recently in a bad car accident.
She was hit head on on the way to work.
She's very lucky to be alive right now. She had
a broken arm, shoulder out of place, all kinds of
(03:25):
stuff happening on her face, like a fractured spine, like
she said, like I said, so lucky to be alive. Anyway,
she was wearing her Camo Pimp and Joy shirt and
it had to be cut off of her I'm more
than willing to order her another shirt as a surprise,
but was wondering if when it's sent that if there
could be a card signed by everyone. She raves about
(03:45):
the show and she's the one that got me listening
every morning too, so uh like stuff like that is
just so I'm messaging with Morgan number two and yes,
we're gonna get her more than just that camo and
been Joy shirt to send her a little care package
and yeah, get the show to sign a card. And
(04:07):
I just love when like watching this friend wanting to
take care of her friend that was in a car
accident and reaching out. And I know that sometimes not
everything gets seen or taken care of. And I don't
want to paint this picture like we're perfect and we
see it all and we want to but this is
the kind of stuff that we love and we love
to get to do. So always reach out if there's
(04:28):
a way that we can be a blessing to some
of your friends, because that's what Pimp and Joy is
all about and started with my mom's cancer journey and
is morphed into something crazier, and you know, I just
love that we're able to brighten people's day in some way,
shape or forms. So a little care package will be
going out and I hope. I'm just glad, yes, that
(04:50):
your friend is alive. I don't even know if this
person listens to my podcast because this has to do
with the Bobby Bones show and the note the text
just came in for Morgan number two. So anyway, Pimp
Enjoy tied eye like the fact that we have the
merch to be able to bless people, and then from
the merch, we have the money to be able to
bless people in different ways. I mean, because of you, guys,
(05:10):
we've done over two million to various organizations and causes
and people and built homes for heroes and you know,
helped people with all like like tragedies that strike our
country or maybe not even in our country, different things.
We've done things in Haiti and other places. So and
it's because of you. So now that that is said
(05:33):
and done, I just wanted y'all to know, Oh, well,
one more thing since the Pim and Joy is up,
the four things, speaking of Haiti, four Things, Christmas pullover
is going to be customizable tomorrow too. So y'all asked
for that. We listened, and we're trying to make it happen.
So that'll officially go up and you'll have a little
(05:53):
bit of time to order it, so that way you
can get it, you know, before Thanksgiving, because after Thanksgiving
everyone starts to wear their Christmas stuff. Duh. Okay, I'm
done with all the housekeeping things. Here is Kristin chenowith first. Okay,
So for the first time in four Things podcast history,
we have a live audience. Let's hear from the crowd.
(06:16):
Kristin chenowit is here, and I'm super excited to have
you on. I mean, I have you know, and even
on the Bobby Bones Show, we have a bunch of
country artists that come in. We've got guests on the
podcast and different things. And my friends always know that
I work with different people, but they're kind of like, oh,
that's cool. And then I mentioned that I'm having you
on and suddenly it's like, when is it airing? What?
(06:38):
How did you get her? Yeah? I mean, you're makes
me feel so good, very iconic, big deal. So I'm
honored to have you on here for sure. And when
you were walking in, I guess did you walk past
some Chick fil a something us on empty bag? I
was like, dang, I wish that was full of chicken,
I'd eat it. Yeah. So yeah, you just kind of
(06:58):
said I love chick Fila more than life itself. That's
what I heard you say walking out. Oh I love
chick filt what's your go to order? Number one? Of course,
I've got at the pickles that comes with it, but
I also like to add cheese. I love the waffle
fries dipped in the Chick fil A sauce, oh for sure.
And the lemonade. Yes, that sounds pretty good exact thinking
about it, I'm a no pickle. No, yeah, no pickle.
(07:21):
That's okay. I'm not judging. Really it was. I was
in pep squad in sixth grade, okay, and I threw
up a pickle, you know, at the football games they
had those pickles, and I don't know, I cheered too
much or something. And then on the drive home, I
told my mom you got to pull over, and I
threw up the pickle. And now it's ruined me because
I feel like I'm the one at Chick fil A
(07:41):
that's like no pickle. I get it. I have the
same situation with Trout. But Trout, yes, you threw threw
that up. After pep squad, my dad get me fishing
a pond. I caught a trout. He made me. He's like, no,
you're gonna learn how to do it. I was like,
and he said, I'm just skating mine with the fins
and head and the head on it, you know. And
I said, if you eat that, if you can into that,
(08:03):
I must have been eight, I will barth. He did,
and I did, and I just ever since, like taste, smell, texture,
can't do it. So did you grow up like what
your dad did you grow up doing? Did he take
you out to do lots of that stuff? I don't know.
Did you grow up fishing and hunting? And well, yeah,
because I grew up in Oklahoma and my grandparents, my
granddad was a farmer, and my all my aunts and
(08:26):
uncles on that side of family are so in the summers.
Guess what I did. We did this thing. They don't
have to do it now. They have a machinery that
does it. We called moving pipe. So I would help
move pipe for irrigation. Oh my god, I remember. I
don't know why I'm talking about this. Well, I asked,
what did you what was your upbringing life? I have this.
(08:48):
I had these holly hobby socks And for those of
you who are in my age range, you remember the
dolls that were Holly Hobby and I had socks that
had I was very proud of him. And my uncle
Mine's like, you need a gap there, help move pipe.
I was like, what, I've got my Holly Hobby socks on.
He goes, get out dare and moved a pipe. And
I remember I run my Holly Hobby socks and so
moving pipe has really never been the same for me.
(09:08):
So I got moved to milk and cows. Lots of
people think in New York in LA that you just
go squirt, squirt, squirt, squirt and it comes out. They
don't understand how much work it takes to get the
one tiniest little drip of milk out of a cow's teat.
Now you probably didn't know that this is where this
interview was going to go today. And I have never
really milked a cow, so I would like to know.
(09:30):
Now you know, I grew up in Teddy, but Austin,
so I was in the city. Oh, I love Austin.
But my dad grew up with cows and chickens, and
so he's going to listen to this song he'll reminisce
it down memory lane. Please please, if you know that
you're gonna be milk and cows, get the bucket and
send on it, like you see, because you're going to
be sitting there for a long time. Um. Shoveling manure
(09:51):
not my favorite. My uncle Wayne used to say, stick
your foot in there and see if it's old or new. Well,
when you have new Nikes, Nike, you don't want to
stick your food in there. No, I'm ruined so many
of my city girl clothes out on the farm. Yeah,
but I had some of the best times ever. I
learned how to catch a firefly. Oh yes, I was
never big on hunting. It's just not my thing. But
(10:13):
I did learn how to shoot a be begun. And
maybe there was a propane tank on his land, and
maybe we lined up coke cans on a propane tank.
Think about that for a second and the dangerousness of it.
And my brother's like, yeah, I just aim for that,
and he walked My uncle Wayne walked out and was like,
are you really going to try to shoot Coca Cola
cans off pane propane tank? Get away from there. But
(10:37):
you know, these are memories that I have as a child. Yeah,
So was it somewhere between laying pipe and wait? Is
that what you said at moving pipe? Lay pipe is
something different that happens in the morning or at night
after you drink coffee. And by the way, Amy, I
could talk about this subject all day. I love you
more than I ever could love anyone in this market.
Laying pipe and moving pipe, ladies and gentlemen are too,
(11:00):
very very different things. Very I prefer moving pipe. Okay.
So was it somewhere between moving pipe and milk and
cows that you decided I'm I'm I'm gonna do Broadway.
I'm made for more, like I'm I don't need to
be out here doing this. I want to perform or
(11:21):
so what was the origin of you? And you know
you're the career path that you're on because my daughter
is twelve and then two. I know you're also adopted
and my kids are adopted. So yeah, and we have
that little bond. And you know, how how did your
(11:41):
parents nurture your gift and your talents and let you
spread your wings to go find what you wanted to do?
Now she's she arrived in America at ten from Haiti
and then now she's twelve and um for her twelfth birthday,
I took her to New York and took her her
first Broadway show, What You See Wicked? What? Yes? No? Yes?
(12:02):
Did she love it? She was obsessed? She loved it.
So now she wants to sing, an act and be
a doctor, all of the things I say she can
in this day and age. There are no more rules, right,
you go for it? And so yeah, but it's like
I don't know where to start. I mean, obviously she's
just feeling out what she wants to do, But so
(12:23):
what what did that path look like for you? Because
she's definitely gonna listen back to this. If I tell
her I had the original Glinda good Witch, then will
you tell her? And this is this is advice to
you both because I had great parents who helped guide
me a lot. And their engineers. My dad is a
chemical engineer, my mom as a homemaker, and they don't
sing and they shouldn't ever sing whatever, right, So I
(12:49):
didn't have that kind of brain, but they saw in me.
I sang. I started singing in a church, gospel and country.
That's how it started for me, and they knew that
I had something special but they weren't pushy. They're not
stage moms and dad's you know, they just weren't that right.
They wanted me to develop things on my own and
find it, so they didn't know what to do with me.
(13:11):
And I grew up in a tiny town at Oklahoma
called Broken Arrow and next door is Tulsa, and that's
where I took piano lessons at Tulsa University. And they
took me to my piano teacher and she heard me
sing because I had a pretty high range color to
arrange when I was young. It was almost like where
did that voice come from? Right? So they took me
(13:33):
to the vocal department and I sang for them, and
they said, okay, first of all, when you come to
decide to come to college, you're coming here, but we
want to start teaching you your prodigy. That's what they said.
And my parents were like, it's up to you, Kristen,
what do you want to do? And I thought about
it and I was like, really wanting to go to
(13:54):
church camp. I really wanted to be in the school plays.
I really wanted to do church choir. I wanted to
be cheerly. I want to have a normal kid life too,
so I went that route instead of and I sort
of just developed on my own. I took piano, I
listened to my teachers, I did choir, and then I
got my degree in music when I went to see you.
(14:15):
So you see what I mean. My path wasn't I'm
a child star. It wasn't that because I was a
normal kid who in my town. I was like the
kid that could sing, you know, and dance. But I say,
let them develop on their own, because there's plenty of
time to be professional, and if she wants to do it,
(14:35):
she might come tomorrow and say I think I want
to take piano lessons, and that's what she's currently in
piano right now, So she's in piano and gymnastics. Perfect.
I say, let her be a kid and do these
things and find continue to find what her passion is.
I s best if I say I can gift to
a kid and to a parent. I love that. Well,
thank you, And you know, speaking of music, one of
(14:55):
the reasons that you're here is and I got handed
this when I walked in. But I will tell you
on my drive to the station, I was listening to
you and Dolly saying I will always love you, and yeah,
you do have is that higher like you know it's
you right when you come on, like you have that
special sound in that voice? And what is it? So
(15:18):
is Dolly like y'all friends? Well, I mean I met
her several meant like twenty five years ago. Don't remind
me a lot of each other. Now she's coming before,
And I'm just sorry I'm interrupting now because I just
want to say, y'all both have that sweet spirit about
you that's just like could they ever harm a flight? Like? Ever?
So the biggest compliment you can get you. By the
(15:39):
way I've searched the world over, I can't find a
soul and doesn't love her. But I grew up watching
her and feeling like her. Does that make sense? Like
recognizing that music and spirit was compared to her a
lot when I was younger singing, and I thought I
would never be ever get a chance to meet her.
(16:00):
So when I did all those years ago, she said,
and I was, you know, a lot younger than and
she goes, you're me, and I'm you. I said, I
know what You've just sounded like her? I said, I
know what you mean. And then over the years, seeing
each other at different things, but also just having she
knows I love her. And when I reached out and said,
(16:22):
what did you possibly do this? I thought we would
do something like here you Come again, that song that
I love it? Yeah, right, and she goes, well, if
I'm gonna sing with you, I'm in a song I wrote.
And I thought, she's not gonna do She's not gonna
no way. She couldn't get We're not gonna do it.
I wa was that can't I'll have a heart attack
right here, and she said, let's do I'll always love you.
(16:43):
And I thought, okay, how do you do? How do
you record that with Dolly without because I can sound
just like her, like I know her, I can do that,
but I wanted to pay tribute term but I wanted
to do my own version. And I laid my track
(17:03):
down and send it to her and she goes, oh
my gosh, I like that one like you do that's
like this. I never heard it like that. I thought,
oh my gosh, she approves, you know, and it it
made me feel so happy that she was inspired by that. Yeah,
and then she did outside herself of course on it,
(17:24):
and I just still can't believe she said yes, yeah,
well that's special. So Dolly's on it, and the album
is called for the Girls, and you've got Reba on
it as well, and yeah, Ariana Grande Jennifer Hudson. I mean, oh,
Desperado like Desperado. Yes, Um, I can't sing Amy, keep
(17:48):
that song on the inside, girl, I'm just gidding you
sing out, Louise. Anyway, that's a jail. That's good. You
know what I did. I wanted to do something That'll
Man wrote that I knew from a woman singing it,
so I fully orchestrated more in my style, with a
full orchestrat. Oh. I love that because I know two
(18:09):
artists that I originally sing at men. Who is it? Well,
it's it's Glenn Fry, It's the Eagles, Eagles, Don Henley,
Don Hinley. But then there's somebody else that did it.
Was it Garth or it might have been Clint Black,
Clint Black. Clint Black was Clint Black Because in high
school I was on grill team. I should not have been. Um,
I was two girl. I don't know how. I was
(18:29):
always in the back row and like nobody told me,
like just stop, it's time. But we did a kick
routine A Desperado slow, what it was beautiful? How did
you do it? Kick routine? Very thank A lot of
things I can. I still remember some of my kick
stuff me too. Yeah, I could show you, but um
(18:49):
with us is on podcast it much and you know Desperado.
That's why I think, And I think maybe we did
the Clint Black version or whoever it was, but anyway, Yeah,
so now we've got the girl, I've got the conversions.
And I always thought, man, I've relate to that song.
Women can feel lonely and alone and kind of m
I A, we can have all those same vielings men can. Yeah,
(19:10):
why can't I sing? It? So true and so like
when it comes to asking someone like, I don't know
Ariana Grande, how do you? I mean, I know how
you asked Dolly, But she seems pretty like a get.
She seems pretty busy and hip and awesome, pretty busy,
But I mean, how could you say no to you? Well,
I've known her since she was about eight. What she
(19:31):
came backstage to see Wicked with her grandma, and her
grandma said, my daughter loves you and she wants to
be a singer. And I thought, oh, that's sweet and cute.
Yeah sweet that path. I gave her wand you know,
I said, keep this wand and always have it. And
then she kind of sang a little something and I thought, oh,
how old are you? I knew she was good, I
knew she was special, and we stayed close, and then
(19:54):
we did Hairsprayed Live for NBC a couple of years back,
and I thought, I think, if I'm my next workord,
I'm gonna ask or do something with me. And I
knew Leslie Gore, uh, you don't own me was kind
of I wanted to tip my hat to her. And
I thought that Ariana Grande would be great for that track.
And it's old school, new school. It's fully orchestrated, Amy,
but I've got electric guitar and I've got Ariana Grande
(20:16):
and me paying homage to Leslie love it. So if
people want to check this out, it's Kristin Chenowith for
the girls and you're looking smoking hot on the cover.
Thank you. And my dad was like, you forgot your
pants and so what do you say? No Dad? I
say no Dad, I'm just trying to do this trip
down and goes well, thanks a lot. Now, I can't
(20:37):
go to church. I'm embarrassed. I'm like, no, no, no, no,
it's all right. It's just me in a white tshirt,
you know, no spanks, no, not a lot to makeup,
just me. Yes. And then you've got necklaces that are
very representative of like girls. Yeah, just yeah, you got
warrior and bad bad ass. Yeah I haven't, I say back.
(21:00):
I started to say bad eggs, and I was like,
I'm a grown up, but you're a loud I'm allowed.
You know. It's it's funny because I always pause when
I say that word. But I think women are having
a round. Are you wearing them right now? I am, Oh,
they're so pretty, and I'm wearing my unclehom a soon
Or's necklist. So don't get mad at me. But I
am okay, so I've got to represent, yes, but I
do want people to you know, women are having our moment.
(21:20):
And I didn't set out to make a women power record.
It just kind of evolved, right, But it's okay that
we're warriors, we're warrior princesses, that's right. And so you're
doing something cool on Broadway, Yeah, it's gonna be a
for the girl's performance. Like November eighth through the seventeenth
or something. So oh man, I might have to grab
stuff here and come to that. Thank you, Nat. It's
(21:41):
only to our flight, baby, It's so easy. Come on.
Their daughter loved New York. Whenever we go. Time. We
were driving down Times Square yea, and it was loud
and kind of stinky and the yeash it's the yarns
and you know, and she we were just riding along
and she rolled down the window and taking it all
in and she looked at me and she goes, this
is kind of like, Katie, well, because it's so it's
(22:07):
all these people in one tiny island and it's so diverse,
which I love. Yeah, And you know, listen, you get
a waft of urine, right, get a whaft of bo
you get a waft of taco bell. It's what it is.
Some of that was just really resonated. I'm sure it did.
And I was like, what I had never thought of that,
that's an observation. But she loved all the other things,
(22:28):
went to Central Park and did everything. So I thought,
you know, I've got to make it's our little girls
trip every once in a while. I'm gonna have some
very special guests show up on different nights. Okay, but
if y'all want to come bring her backstage so I
can meet her. Oh well, that's that would be awesome. Yes, okay.
So something else I want to get into that is
equally as cool as your album in Broadway, at least
(22:49):
to me, is that you have a Hallmark Christmas movie
coming up? Like, who does it? I'm already on the
count down to Christmas? You are? Yeah, yes, me too,
So I'm ready for it. I think my husband's like,
oh great, here's bracing himself for like the TV constantly
being on the Hallmark channel. My friend Mary that I
(23:12):
make the Four Things totes with, she created this shirt
that she sells in it benefits like the military that
says this is my Hallmark Christmas movie watching sweatshirt, and yeah,
people from Hallmark, like, um, Candice Beret has one and
she wears it like uh and then uh, oh well
we'll send you one, will Yeah, I'll tell Mary she'll
get it too, Yeah, for sure. And so it's kind
(23:34):
of fun when people we just know people get so
excited about like what happened. I don't remember always being
that way, but something like the last few years where
it's just been like, oh, like in October, we just
start and we're like ready and we get excited and
it's like it ends. It's like now on my bucket list, Like, well,
how could I be like the coffee girl in a
Hallmark Christmas movie? Like a barrista? I could just like
(23:56):
try to do well. I mean, if you ever need.
I mean, I can't be like a double or sing
for you or anything, but I could do whatever. And
you're starring along Scott alongside Scott Wolf, which is amazing.
It's called the Christmas Song. Yes, And I mean, what
do you do? You have anything you can tell us about?
I want to tell you one thing. First of all,
Scott Wolf's eyes are as blue as you think, Okay,
(24:18):
and so I daily jumped in his eyes and went
swimming and I told him. But he's such an awesome
person and fun to work with. The story is the
subject matter. I wish I could talk about it, but
I can't give it away. Is very close to my
and yours hearts. It's a subject that Hallmark has not
tackled before. It was my producer Jennifer Aspen and eyes
(24:42):
sort of creative idea that we brought to them and
they said, yeah, then I play a choir teacher who
gave up being a Broadway star to go teach. Okay,
there's a kid that comes across town that you find
out what their relationship is. Okay. But what the coolest
thing for me is I've never gotten to do this
(25:03):
is I wrote a song. I do write songs. I
wrote a song for the movie. That's the title song.
It's called One Angel's Land and I wrote it with
my one of my best friends, Shelley Write. And that's
a first for me. So not only is the subject
matter very special, a song that I was a part
(25:23):
of writing is in the film. And I'm proud of
this movie. It delves into it's it is a love story,
of course, but there's two different kinds of love stories
going on at this in this juncture. It became their
Hall of Fame choice this year, and I'm really proud
of that because I didn't set out to do that.
(25:45):
It just yeah, I can't wait for you to see it.
Oh that's got to feel special. And now I'm even
more like I kind of got okay, you sold. I
mean I was already gonna watch it anyways, but now
kind of you said, there's a connection or an aspect
that I'm going to really connect with you. Definitely excited
about that. When it comes to all this success that
(26:05):
you have, where where's your heart? And I know you
think of others you want to give back, like where's
your where's your heart? And then how how do you
find how you're going to do that? Because you are
so busy and a lot of times you can like
be full steam ahead on all these different projects. But
then it's like, Okay, I know that I've been blessed
(26:25):
with so much. How am I going to spread it back? Got?
So what where's your heart on that? Here's what happened.
This is what happened. And I'm a god person, so
I believe it was a divine thing. About ten years ago,
(26:47):
my tiny town of Broken Arrow, we had like sonic
and Friday nightlights, Like that's what I grew up with.
That's what we had. We have a lot to do.
We dragged, mate, that's what we did. Yeh. There was
no performing arts center. Um I couldn't go see a show.
So somebody died and left us a lot of money.
So thank you person, whoever whoever that was. That anonymously
(27:09):
left us money. We built a state of the art
performing arts center, and they told me that they were
going to name the theater the Christian Channel Theater. So
when you see your name on the side of a building,
at first, I said, oh, I'm not old near old
enough to have anything named after me, and they said, yeah,
you are. You are. Actually I was like, oh crap.
But I saw my name, my dad's name, my grandpa's
name on the side of that building. I thought, we
(27:30):
are you gonna do with that? Are you just going
to come and play here once a year, you know,
and just perform or what are you gonna do with it?
So five years ago we just had our fifth year.
I developed what I call the Christian Channel with Broadway
boot Camp, and every year in February we have auditions
and last year we had over a thousand kids audition.
I can only pick fifty, and I bring in Tony
(27:51):
Award Week. On the night of the Tony Awards on
a Sunday night, we all come to the theater, we
watch it, we have a pizza party, we bond, and
then the next day starts Broadway boot Camp. It's not
participation Award Camp, it's singing, acting, and dancing intensive study
for a week and at the end of the week,
we put on a show and I bring in all
my famous, much more talented Broadway friends than me to teach.
(28:14):
And it is going to be. It is my legacy.
It is growing faster than I can count, and I'm
developing it more so into I'm building another building next
door that will be called the Creative Arts Center, which
will I'm most proud of this because it will be
(28:35):
for my home state of Oklahoma, kids that might not
have the opportunity to be able to afford singing, acting,
and dancing, graphic design, art writing, directing. I'm opening that.
I'll probably break ground in that in the next two
years and then it'll be a school, and then they
will also get dinner, so we'll feed them too. I
(28:58):
love that. So I'm really proud of when I'm doing. Yeah,
but I'm having a lot of a lot of help
with that. It's the thing that I love that when
people say, oh, I know you from this, or I
know you from that, or I didn't know you were
a singer, and I'm like, what, I know me from
a movie or a TV show or something, but this
if they know you from this. This is what I
want when I pass away, when I move on to heaven.
(29:19):
This is what I want people to know me for
your legacy. And this year we've had three of our
kids graduate from it and are there in college in
music school. I love that so much. You're just so
special and I'm inspired by you. And how am I
too old to sign up for Broadway boot Camp? I
(29:41):
would actually let you come and be an observer, Okay,
I actually I would love for you to talk about
your job because I think the show business now there
are no more rules and there the lanes are widening,
which makes me happy because I'm a wide lane artist. Yeah.
I don't just do one thing, and my voice does
more than one thing, and it's always sometimes looked at
as a curse, like where does she lie? And I
(30:01):
want these younger kids to know, like, you can do
whatever you want. You can sing a country song. You
can also sing puccini if you'd like, But work hard
and train hard so that you can do it and
have a long career if that's what you choose. But um,
I would love love to have your so you can
audition at thirteen to eighteen and we get them ready,
(30:23):
We get them ready? All right, one guess I've aged out. Yeah,
let's get your daughter in there. Come. Yeah, we'll see
how she continues on with piano. Right, she has a
little keyboard in her room, Okay, and she practices and
you know, but she's still also learning English at the
same time. So there's a lot that we're tackling. It's
(30:43):
not just extracurricular fun stuff. It's the we gotta tackle
some of the hard things, just stuff where most twelve
year olds are right now, she's not there yet. She's
gonna get there fast, because when you're young, you learn quick.
M Yeah, yeah, I'm excited for her to see kind
of where she's she's gonna go. She had me download
(31:04):
an app on her tablet. She has a little fire tablet,
And I said, what is this new app? She goes,
it's a karaoke app so I can practice my singing.
I love her already, and she is a she I'm
a part of some thing that's happening here here in
Nashville tonight. And I told her I wasn't going to
be home tonight because I have an event. It's this magazine.
(31:24):
I'm vinan Dada and she said, oh, well, I know,
it's not that she thought I should be a part
of this list and what was going on tonight? She goes,
I know who should be on that list? And I
said who, and she said Ariana Grande and then she
turned and she goes and then me, of course I'm
already And I was like and then love, well okay,
(31:46):
but not mom. She's like, sorry Mom. I'm like, hey,
it's fine. He even got cut. I got cut from
something I've already it's already sign steel delivered. Like I can't.
I can't, but I have a feeling with this girl.
She's gonna run the wor all. So I want to
meet her. Yeah, she's amazing. So gratitude is something that
we focus on a lot on this podcast because that's
(32:09):
what brings true joy. Amen, And you know, just recognizing
what you're thankful for, whether it's something big or something
totally small, because I think we should be recognized little
things because on those hard days where it's just life
is just not and we're broken and it's heavy, sometimes
it's the little things that make us all that can
(32:31):
kind of So I would like to hear from you, um,
four things that you're grateful for in life right now.
Oh well, um, it's kind of I have to say.
(32:51):
I am looking at this bag that y'all did for me.
So on my bag it says Thunder. That's my dog,
named after the NBA team, So sins don't get mad
at me. New York because that's where I first sort
of made my mark, and then Broadway I love because
again it's a big part of my DNA in my history.
(33:12):
And I'm from Oklahoma, so that's my home. But I
want to tell you something that really makes me happy
that's happening in my life currently. I think I'm grateful
right now. Mostly there's a lot of healing going on
in my family. You know, families are families. We are.
(33:36):
That's why it's you know, you're it's dysfunctional and functional.
It doesn't matter where you're from or you know, but
it's your family. And there's so much healing going on
and it's slow and I am but it's happening. And
there's a broken relationships relationship I had in the past
(33:57):
that is healing. And I feel like God is like
giving me these like things where things are healing. It's
nothing bad like not erreforically broken or anything. Just healing
is happening. And I think it's important for us to
be grateful for when that happens, because we can spend
so much time complaining about why, why is this bad?
(34:17):
Why are men that person not getting along? Or why
is our tension here? But when there's healing, we don't.
We don't. We sometimes breathe this ivor relief, but we
don't go thank you. And that's what I'm grateful for
right now. And that's what I want to say. I
love that. Yeah, I'm sure that's something that somebody else
needs to hear right now too, because or maybe to
(34:40):
keep in their back pocket for later. It's coming. If
it's not happening for you yet, it's coming. Yeah what eight?
How old were you when you were adopted? I was
two weeks old, But I will say that I was
actually supposed to go to another family, but they found
out they were pregnant like days before I was born.
(35:02):
So here's this baby girl and where's she going to go?
And my mom, my mom, Junie Channel with who raised me. Also,
was it having surgery? I'm gonna cry? Was having having
to have has directed me? At twenty four? And she
the doctor who was my birth mom's doctor and my
mom who had raised me. He remembered that Junie channel
(35:25):
With had said, and I'm not going to be able
to have another baby, and I wanted to try. And
what happened is the way I was born in the
same hospital that she had her surgery and we went
home together. Okay. So I would like to say thank
you to my birth mother who gave me life. I
(35:46):
would like to say thank you to God for the
couple that was able to get pregnant when they didn't
think they could, so that I could be in Junie
and Jerry Channel with its home. Yeah. Yeah, that's your precious. Yeah.
And the fact that you recognize that did you have
you had the thankfulness for your birth mom and your yes,
(36:09):
your mom that raised you. I consider myself to be
my kid's second mom. Yeah, because they have their first mom.
I call it their Haiti mom, and we pray for
their haty moms. Well they've got my son and daughter
have different HATI moms Okay, and dads. We don't know
the dads, but we know who the moms are and
I we pray for them and I one day when
I take them back when they're ready. Yes, I want
(36:31):
them to meet their moms, of course, and so for
their moms to know that they're okay and that. But
look what, look at the opportunities and the chances that
I'm so emotional today that you've given them, and that
you're also willing to be a mom who's raising them
to pray for their mom. They're the woman that brought
(36:53):
them into this world. God has a he has his way.
You know, we think we got it all down, but
actually it's all supposed to work out the way it's
worked out. And all I'm gonna say is God, bless you,
and God bless JUNI channel with God bless Mamalin, who
gave me life, and I now know a little bit
(37:14):
more about my history. I don't talk about it very much,
but I know where the petiteness comes from. I know
where the music comes from, and it is like a
big puzzle that kind of fit. But I never felt
lacking for love in my life. Never. I always knew
that my mother, who gave me up, loved me. And
I know that because my mother who raised me told
(37:36):
me every day. Ah, I love that, and that's affirmation
for me to do the same. Yes, so that they
never you're doing it forget and they never because I
know there's always going to be that something inside of
them that just feels different. And you know, I don't
want to call it a void because it can be
filled with love and not I'm in the right kind
(37:59):
of love. But um, I know that there's that there's
abandonment and it comes with it. Yeah, it's just part
of it. It is no matter if you're part of
the story or a baby. When we're brought into the
world's like someone had, for whatever reason, had to relinquish you.
But boy, I just want to I really want to
(38:21):
speak this to any child he's been adopted. It is
a gift because someone chose you. Yeah. Oh okay, well
thanks a lot, am. Sorry, it's like tears for me.
Now come on girl, um well you still look beautiful.
Thank you, and we'll we'll just in there now that
(38:42):
probably anybody listening is a lot of times people listen
on their way to work or putting on their makeup.
Sorry us, we have our our live studio audience. Did
I ever address how many people are live studio audience
was in the beginning, No, it's two. We have two people.
We have the best two people well on the planet
watching us. Yes, thank you, thank you, Kristin. That's salvation
(39:06):
I ever got. Okay, So that is a rap with
the Kristin Chenowith interview. I hope y'all enjoyed it, didn't.
I tell y'all, she's just like the sweetest Seriously she is.
She is so kind and so cute and so talented
and I love that got to have her on, I
mean just kind of outside the box for us, So
(39:28):
we're going to start getting some different people that maybe
you wouldn't expect. So thank you Kristen for coming on.
And now it's time for the email shout out. This
one is from More m oo r E Moore. Hi Amy.
My name is More. I'm a twenty seven year old
girl from Israel. Ever since the shot Forward launched the
(39:48):
four Things laptop decal, I really wanted to have one
for myself. I love everything that you do when it
comes to spreading joy and helping others. The thing is,
when I went to buy it turned out you don't
ship to my country. Since I I really loved the idea,
I made my own four Things decal for my Mac
and the money that I would have spent on it.
I donated to a charity in my country. I'm writing
(40:08):
this to you because I wanted you to know, even
though I'm pretty sure you already know that you inspire
us to do good, be better, and spread joy. Thank
you for all that you do. And then she even
put in parentheses. Sorry if my English isn't perfect, It's
not my first language. So I just thought that this
was so sweet, and I had no idea I had
somebody listening in Israel. I mean, that's cool, and I
(40:31):
know the shot forward. I'll have to talk to Mary
about shipping there, but it's more difficult than you would think.
It's not that easy to just like ship certain places,
but I know that she can do Canada and certain
places in Europe, like well, the UK at least maybe Australia.
I don't know. I don't want to speak out here.
(40:51):
I wish Mary was here to answer this question. But
I will definitely share this with Mary and maybe more.
We'll see if there's a way we can get you
something in Israel. I don't know, just like something special,
but I have no idea. I don't want anybody else
listening in Israel to think that now we're gonna start
shipping there. Just kidding. That was a joke because I'm
(41:12):
sure there's probably nobody else listening more. You might be
my my only listener there, but I am proud to
have you, and I think it's super cool and I
just love that even though you couldn't get it, you're
able to make your own and you decided to donate
the money to a cause near you. That is what
it's all about. I love it, so thank you for sharing,
(41:34):
and y'all can send your emails to four Things with
Amy Brownett gmail dot com. Paced up little food for
you so life. Oh it's pretty much. It's pretty beautiful.
(41:58):
Beau of my familys taking up because of course said
he can't get your kick Get with four Things with
Amy brown
Hey, it's Amy. Thanks for checking out the Bobby Bones
Show podcast. While I have you here, I wanted to
share an episode with you of my podcast called Four
Things with Amy Brown, where each week I talk about
four different things, typically family stuff, lifestyle, gratitude, health. I
recently had on Kristin Chenowith. I talked to Kristin about
how she grew up in rural Oklahoma and ended up
with a career on Broadway, and I got the scoop
(00:22):
on her first ever Hallmark movie. We also got a
little emotional when we talk about family and adoption. If
you enjoy this episode, I'd love for you to subscribe
to hear more. Subscribe on Apple Podcast, listen on iHeartRadio,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's my episode with
Kristin Chinnewith. Okays, little food for you So life, Oh
(00:55):
that's pretty much. It's pretty beautiful full you're kicking Okay,
So this is exciting. Today's episode is Kristin Chenowith, which
is kind of just crazy and enough said in itself,
(01:17):
like she's just crazy talented. She has new music out
because she sings. I mean, obviously she was on Broadway.
If you don't know much about her, Well, I think
you're still going to enjoy it. I know I personally
didn't know some of the stuff that she shared, and
it was just really special to have her on And
she's just such a light and I think you'll hear
(01:38):
that in her voice as soon as the episode starts.
So it was really really fun to chat with her
about music, about a new Hallmark movie that she has
coming out, about just growing up in like Oklahoma, and
how you know she made it to a Broadway and
now has this crazy life, and we talk about gratitude
(01:59):
and things that she's thankful for. So with that said,
I'm just gonna get you right into the episode so
that you can enjoy it. But I will give one
quick reminder that since today's Thursday, and if you're listening
to this, when this podcast comes out every Thursday, Pimp
and Joy Tied Eye goes on sale tomorrow, and we
(02:20):
are so excited about this, and as you know, like,
well maybe if you don't, but if you're excited about
a new Pimp and Joy Tied Eye item, then maybe
you do. Know how Pimp and Joy has been able
to help so many different people listeners, people that we
don't even know different organizations, like all kinds of various causes.
(02:42):
And right when I was sitting down to record this,
I got a note from Morgan number two on The
Bobby Bone Show. And it was a friend of one
of our listeners who happened to be wearing something Pimp
and Joy and she when something happened to her. So
I'm going to read this quick note before we get
into the episode. But the DM on the Bobby Bone
Show Instagram said, Hey, I hope this reaches someone and
(03:04):
actually gets read. I'm sending this to everyone on the show.
My friend Heidi is an avid listener and has been
for years. She probably owns all of the apparel you
have out. She was recently in a bad car accident.
She was hit head on on the way to work.
She's very lucky to be alive right now. She had
a broken arm, shoulder out of place, all kinds of
(03:25):
stuff happening on her face, like a fractured spine, like
she said, like I said, so lucky to be alive. Anyway,
she was wearing her Camo Pimp and Joy shirt and
it had to be cut off of her I'm more
than willing to order her another shirt as a surprise,
but was wondering if when it's sent that if there
could be a card signed by everyone. She raves about
(03:45):
the show and she's the one that got me listening
every morning too, so uh like stuff like that is
just so I'm messaging with Morgan number two and yes,
we're gonna get her more than just that camo and
been Joy shirt to send her a little care package
and yeah, get the show to sign a card. And
(04:07):
I just love when like watching this friend wanting to
take care of her friend that was in a car
accident and reaching out. And I know that sometimes not
everything gets seen or taken care of. And I don't
want to paint this picture like we're perfect and we
see it all and we want to but this is
the kind of stuff that we love and we love
to get to do. So always reach out if there's
(04:28):
a way that we can be a blessing to some
of your friends, because that's what Pimp and Joy is
all about and started with my mom's cancer journey and
is morphed into something crazier, and you know, I just
love that we're able to brighten people's day in some way,
shape or forms. So a little care package will be
going out and I hope. I'm just glad, yes, that
(04:50):
your friend is alive. I don't even know if this
person listens to my podcast because this has to do
with the Bobby Bones show and the note the text
just came in for Morgan number two. So anyway, Pimp
Enjoy tied eye like the fact that we have the
merch to be able to bless people, and then from
the merch, we have the money to be able to
bless people in different ways. I mean, because of you, guys,
(05:10):
we've done over two million to various organizations and causes
and people and built homes for heroes and you know,
helped people with all like like tragedies that strike our
country or maybe not even in our country, different things.
We've done things in Haiti and other places. So and
it's because of you. So now that that is said
(05:33):
and done, I just wanted y'all to know, Oh, well,
one more thing since the Pim and Joy is up,
the four things, speaking of Haiti, four Things, Christmas pullover
is going to be customizable tomorrow too. So y'all asked
for that. We listened, and we're trying to make it happen.
So that'll officially go up and you'll have a little
(05:53):
bit of time to order it, so that way you
can get it, you know, before Thanksgiving, because after Thanksgiving
everyone starts to wear their Christmas stuff. Duh. Okay, I'm
done with all the housekeeping things. Here is Kristin chenowith first. Okay,
So for the first time in four Things podcast history,
we have a live audience. Let's hear from the crowd.
(06:16):
Kristin chenowit is here, and I'm super excited to have
you on. I mean, I have you know, and even
on the Bobby Bones Show, we have a bunch of
country artists that come in. We've got guests on the
podcast and different things. And my friends always know that
I work with different people, but they're kind of like, oh,
that's cool. And then I mentioned that I'm having you
on and suddenly it's like, when is it airing? What?
(06:38):
How did you get her? Yeah? I mean, you're makes
me feel so good, very iconic, big deal. So I'm
honored to have you on here for sure. And when
you were walking in, I guess did you walk past
some Chick fil a something us on empty bag? I
was like, dang, I wish that was full of chicken,
I'd eat it. Yeah. So yeah, you just kind of
(06:58):
said I love chick Fila more than life itself. That's
what I heard you say walking out. Oh I love
chick filt what's your go to order? Number one? Of course,
I've got at the pickles that comes with it, but
I also like to add cheese. I love the waffle
fries dipped in the Chick fil A sauce, oh for sure.
And the lemonade. Yes, that sounds pretty good exact thinking
about it, I'm a no pickle. No, yeah, no pickle.
(07:21):
That's okay. I'm not judging. Really it was. I was
in pep squad in sixth grade, okay, and I threw
up a pickle, you know, at the football games they
had those pickles, and I don't know, I cheered too
much or something. And then on the drive home, I
told my mom you got to pull over, and I
threw up the pickle. And now it's ruined me because
I feel like I'm the one at Chick fil A
(07:41):
that's like no pickle. I get it. I have the
same situation with Trout. But Trout, yes, you threw threw
that up. After pep squad, my dad get me fishing
a pond. I caught a trout. He made me. He's like, no,
you're gonna learn how to do it. I was like,
and he said, I'm just skating mine with the fins
and head and the head on it, you know. And
I said, if you eat that, if you can into that,
(08:03):
I must have been eight, I will barth. He did,
and I did, and I just ever since, like taste, smell, texture,
can't do it. So did you grow up like what
your dad did you grow up doing? Did he take
you out to do lots of that stuff? I don't know.
Did you grow up fishing and hunting? And well, yeah,
because I grew up in Oklahoma and my grandparents, my
granddad was a farmer, and my all my aunts and
(08:26):
uncles on that side of family are so in the summers.
Guess what I did. We did this thing. They don't
have to do it now. They have a machinery that
does it. We called moving pipe. So I would help
move pipe for irrigation. Oh my god, I remember. I
don't know why I'm talking about this. Well, I asked,
what did you what was your upbringing life? I have this.
(08:48):
I had these holly hobby socks And for those of
you who are in my age range, you remember the
dolls that were Holly Hobby and I had socks that
had I was very proud of him. And my uncle
Mine's like, you need a gap there, help move pipe.
I was like, what, I've got my Holly Hobby socks on.
He goes, get out dare and moved a pipe. And
I remember I run my Holly Hobby socks and so
moving pipe has really never been the same for me.
(09:08):
So I got moved to milk and cows. Lots of
people think in New York in LA that you just
go squirt, squirt, squirt, squirt and it comes out. They
don't understand how much work it takes to get the
one tiniest little drip of milk out of a cow's teat.
Now you probably didn't know that this is where this
interview was going to go today. And I have never
really milked a cow, so I would like to know.
(09:30):
Now you know, I grew up in Teddy, but Austin,
so I was in the city. Oh, I love Austin.
But my dad grew up with cows and chickens, and
so he's going to listen to this song he'll reminisce
it down memory lane. Please please, if you know that
you're gonna be milk and cows, get the bucket and
send on it, like you see, because you're going to
be sitting there for a long time. Um. Shoveling manure
(09:51):
not my favorite. My uncle Wayne used to say, stick
your foot in there and see if it's old or new. Well,
when you have new Nikes, Nike, you don't want to
stick your food in there. No, I'm ruined so many
of my city girl clothes out on the farm. Yeah,
but I had some of the best times ever. I
learned how to catch a firefly. Oh yes, I was
never big on hunting. It's just not my thing. But
(10:13):
I did learn how to shoot a be begun. And
maybe there was a propane tank on his land, and
maybe we lined up coke cans on a propane tank.
Think about that for a second and the dangerousness of it.
And my brother's like, yeah, I just aim for that,
and he walked My uncle Wayne walked out and was like,
are you really going to try to shoot Coca Cola
cans off pane propane tank? Get away from there. But
(10:37):
you know, these are memories that I have as a child. Yeah,
So was it somewhere between laying pipe and wait? Is
that what you said at moving pipe? Lay pipe is
something different that happens in the morning or at night
after you drink coffee. And by the way, Amy, I
could talk about this subject all day. I love you
more than I ever could love anyone in this market.
Laying pipe and moving pipe, ladies and gentlemen are too,
(11:00):
very very different things. Very I prefer moving pipe. Okay.
So was it somewhere between moving pipe and milk and
cows that you decided I'm I'm I'm gonna do Broadway.
I'm made for more, like I'm I don't need to
be out here doing this. I want to perform or
(11:21):
so what was the origin of you? And you know
you're the career path that you're on because my daughter
is twelve and then two. I know you're also adopted
and my kids are adopted. So yeah, and we have
that little bond. And you know, how how did your
(11:41):
parents nurture your gift and your talents and let you
spread your wings to go find what you wanted to do?
Now she's she arrived in America at ten from Haiti
and then now she's twelve and um for her twelfth birthday,
I took her to New York and took her her
first Broadway show, What You See Wicked? What? Yes? No? Yes?
(12:02):
Did she love it? She was obsessed? She loved it.
So now she wants to sing, an act and be
a doctor, all of the things I say she can
in this day and age. There are no more rules, right,
you go for it? And so yeah, but it's like
I don't know where to start. I mean, obviously she's
just feeling out what she wants to do, But so
(12:23):
what what did that path look like for you? Because
she's definitely gonna listen back to this. If I tell
her I had the original Glinda good Witch, then will
you tell her? And this is this is advice to
you both because I had great parents who helped guide
me a lot. And their engineers. My dad is a
chemical engineer, my mom as a homemaker, and they don't
sing and they shouldn't ever sing whatever, right, So I
(12:49):
didn't have that kind of brain, but they saw in me.
I sang. I started singing in a church, gospel and country.
That's how it started for me, and they knew that
I had something special but they weren't pushy. They're not
stage moms and dad's you know, they just weren't that right.
They wanted me to develop things on my own and
find it, so they didn't know what to do with me.
(13:11):
And I grew up in a tiny town at Oklahoma
called Broken Arrow and next door is Tulsa, and that's
where I took piano lessons at Tulsa University. And they
took me to my piano teacher and she heard me
sing because I had a pretty high range color to
arrange when I was young. It was almost like where
did that voice come from? Right? So they took me
(13:33):
to the vocal department and I sang for them, and
they said, okay, first of all, when you come to
decide to come to college, you're coming here, but we
want to start teaching you your prodigy. That's what they said.
And my parents were like, it's up to you, Kristen,
what do you want to do? And I thought about
it and I was like, really wanting to go to
(13:54):
church camp. I really wanted to be in the school plays.
I really wanted to do church choir. I wanted to
be cheerly. I want to have a normal kid life too,
so I went that route instead of and I sort
of just developed on my own. I took piano, I
listened to my teachers, I did choir, and then I
got my degree in music when I went to see you.
(14:15):
So you see what I mean. My path wasn't I'm
a child star. It wasn't that because I was a
normal kid who in my town. I was like the
kid that could sing, you know, and dance. But I say,
let them develop on their own, because there's plenty of
time to be professional, and if she wants to do it,
(14:35):
she might come tomorrow and say I think I want
to take piano lessons, and that's what she's currently in
piano right now, So she's in piano and gymnastics. Perfect.
I say, let her be a kid and do these
things and find continue to find what her passion is.
I s best if I say I can gift to
a kid and to a parent. I love that. Well,
thank you, And you know, speaking of music, one of
(14:55):
the reasons that you're here is and I got handed
this when I walked in. But I will tell you
on my drive to the station, I was listening to
you and Dolly saying I will always love you, and yeah,
you do have is that higher like you know it's
you right when you come on, like you have that
special sound in that voice? And what is it? So
(15:18):
is Dolly like y'all friends? Well, I mean I met
her several meant like twenty five years ago. Don't remind
me a lot of each other. Now she's coming before,
And I'm just sorry I'm interrupting now because I just
want to say, y'all both have that sweet spirit about
you that's just like could they ever harm a flight? Like? Ever?
So the biggest compliment you can get you. By the
(15:39):
way I've searched the world over, I can't find a
soul and doesn't love her. But I grew up watching
her and feeling like her. Does that make sense? Like
recognizing that music and spirit was compared to her a
lot when I was younger singing, and I thought I
would never be ever get a chance to meet her.
(16:00):
So when I did all those years ago, she said,
and I was, you know, a lot younger than and
she goes, you're me, and I'm you. I said, I
know what You've just sounded like her? I said, I
know what you mean. And then over the years, seeing
each other at different things, but also just having she
knows I love her. And when I reached out and said,
(16:22):
what did you possibly do this? I thought we would
do something like here you Come again, that song that
I love it? Yeah, right, and she goes, well, if
I'm gonna sing with you, I'm in a song I wrote.
And I thought, she's not gonna do She's not gonna
no way. She couldn't get We're not gonna do it.
I wa was that can't I'll have a heart attack
right here, and she said, let's do I'll always love you.
(16:43):
And I thought, okay, how do you do? How do
you record that with Dolly without because I can sound
just like her, like I know her, I can do that,
but I wanted to pay tribute term but I wanted
to do my own version. And I laid my track
(17:03):
down and send it to her and she goes, oh
my gosh, I like that one like you do that's
like this. I never heard it like that. I thought,
oh my gosh, she approves, you know, and it it
made me feel so happy that she was inspired by that. Yeah,
and then she did outside herself of course on it,
(17:24):
and I just still can't believe she said yes, yeah,
well that's special. So Dolly's on it, and the album
is called for the Girls, and you've got Reba on
it as well, and yeah, Ariana Grande Jennifer Hudson. I mean, oh,
Desperado like Desperado. Yes, Um, I can't sing Amy, keep
(17:48):
that song on the inside, girl, I'm just gidding you
sing out, Louise. Anyway, that's a jail. That's good. You
know what I did. I wanted to do something That'll
Man wrote that I knew from a woman singing it,
so I fully orchestrated more in my style, with a
full orchestrat. Oh. I love that because I know two
(18:09):
artists that I originally sing at men. Who is it? Well,
it's it's Glenn Fry, It's the Eagles, Eagles, Don Henley,
Don Hinley. But then there's somebody else that did it.
Was it Garth or it might have been Clint Black,
Clint Black. Clint Black was Clint Black Because in high
school I was on grill team. I should not have been. Um,
I was two girl. I don't know how. I was
(18:29):
always in the back row and like nobody told me,
like just stop, it's time. But we did a kick
routine A Desperado slow, what it was beautiful? How did
you do it? Kick routine? Very thank A lot of
things I can. I still remember some of my kick
stuff me too. Yeah, I could show you, but um
(18:49):
with us is on podcast it much and you know Desperado.
That's why I think, And I think maybe we did
the Clint Black version or whoever it was, but anyway, Yeah,
so now we've got the girl, I've got the conversions.
And I always thought, man, I've relate to that song.
Women can feel lonely and alone and kind of m
I A, we can have all those same vielings men can. Yeah,
(19:10):
why can't I sing? It? So true and so like
when it comes to asking someone like, I don't know
Ariana Grande, how do you? I mean, I know how
you asked Dolly, But she seems pretty like a get.
She seems pretty busy and hip and awesome, pretty busy,
But I mean, how could you say no to you? Well,
I've known her since she was about eight. What she
(19:31):
came backstage to see Wicked with her grandma, and her
grandma said, my daughter loves you and she wants to
be a singer. And I thought, oh, that's sweet and cute.
Yeah sweet that path. I gave her wand you know,
I said, keep this wand and always have it. And
then she kind of sang a little something and I thought, oh,
how old are you? I knew she was good, I
knew she was special, and we stayed close, and then
(19:54):
we did Hairsprayed Live for NBC a couple of years back,
and I thought, I think, if I'm my next workord,
I'm gonna ask or do something with me. And I
knew Leslie Gore, uh, you don't own me was kind
of I wanted to tip my hat to her. And
I thought that Ariana Grande would be great for that track.
And it's old school, new school. It's fully orchestrated, Amy,
but I've got electric guitar and I've got Ariana Grande
(20:16):
and me paying homage to Leslie love it. So if
people want to check this out, it's Kristin Chenowith for
the girls and you're looking smoking hot on the cover.
Thank you. And my dad was like, you forgot your
pants and so what do you say? No Dad? I
say no Dad, I'm just trying to do this trip
down and goes well, thanks a lot. Now, I can't
(20:37):
go to church. I'm embarrassed. I'm like, no, no, no, no,
it's all right. It's just me in a white tshirt,
you know, no spanks, no, not a lot to makeup,
just me. Yes. And then you've got necklaces that are
very representative of like girls. Yeah, just yeah, you got
warrior and bad bad ass. Yeah I haven't, I say back.
(21:00):
I started to say bad eggs, and I was like,
I'm a grown up, but you're a loud I'm allowed.
You know. It's it's funny because I always pause when
I say that word. But I think women are having
a round. Are you wearing them right now? I am, Oh,
they're so pretty, and I'm wearing my unclehom a soon
Or's necklist. So don't get mad at me. But I
am okay, so I've got to represent, yes, but I
do want people to you know, women are having our moment.
(21:20):
And I didn't set out to make a women power record.
It just kind of evolved, right, But it's okay that
we're warriors, we're warrior princesses, that's right. And so you're
doing something cool on Broadway, Yeah, it's gonna be a
for the girl's performance. Like November eighth through the seventeenth
or something. So oh man, I might have to grab
stuff here and come to that. Thank you, Nat. It's
(21:41):
only to our flight, baby, It's so easy. Come on.
Their daughter loved New York. Whenever we go. Time. We
were driving down Times Square yea, and it was loud
and kind of stinky and the yeash it's the yarns
and you know, and she we were just riding along
and she rolled down the window and taking it all
in and she looked at me and she goes, this
is kind of like, Katie, well, because it's so it's
(22:07):
all these people in one tiny island and it's so diverse,
which I love. Yeah, And you know, listen, you get
a waft of urine, right, get a whaft of bo
you get a waft of taco bell. It's what it is.
Some of that was just really resonated. I'm sure it did.
And I was like, what I had never thought of that,
that's an observation. But she loved all the other things,
(22:28):
went to Central Park and did everything. So I thought,
you know, I've got to make it's our little girls
trip every once in a while. I'm gonna have some
very special guests show up on different nights. Okay, but
if y'all want to come bring her backstage so I
can meet her. Oh well, that's that would be awesome. Yes, okay.
So something else I want to get into that is
equally as cool as your album in Broadway, at least
(22:49):
to me, is that you have a Hallmark Christmas movie
coming up? Like, who does it? I'm already on the
count down to Christmas? You are? Yeah, yes, me too,
So I'm ready for it. I think my husband's like,
oh great, here's bracing himself for like the TV constantly
being on the Hallmark channel. My friend Mary that I
(23:12):
make the Four Things totes with, she created this shirt
that she sells in it benefits like the military that
says this is my Hallmark Christmas movie watching sweatshirt, and yeah,
people from Hallmark, like, um, Candice Beret has one and
she wears it like uh and then uh, oh well
we'll send you one, will Yeah, I'll tell Mary she'll
get it too, Yeah, for sure. And so it's kind
(23:34):
of fun when people we just know people get so
excited about like what happened. I don't remember always being
that way, but something like the last few years where
it's just been like, oh, like in October, we just
start and we're like ready and we get excited and
it's like it ends. It's like now on my bucket list, Like, well,
how could I be like the coffee girl in a
Hallmark Christmas movie? Like a barrista? I could just like
(23:56):
try to do well. I mean, if you ever need.
I mean, I can't be like a double or sing
for you or anything, but I could do whatever. And
you're starring along Scott alongside Scott Wolf, which is amazing.
It's called the Christmas Song. Yes, And I mean, what
do you do? You have anything you can tell us about?
I want to tell you one thing. First of all,
Scott Wolf's eyes are as blue as you think, Okay,
(24:18):
and so I daily jumped in his eyes and went
swimming and I told him. But he's such an awesome
person and fun to work with. The story is the
subject matter. I wish I could talk about it, but
I can't give it away. Is very close to my
and yours hearts. It's a subject that Hallmark has not
tackled before. It was my producer Jennifer Aspen and eyes
(24:42):
sort of creative idea that we brought to them and
they said, yeah, then I play a choir teacher who
gave up being a Broadway star to go teach. Okay,
there's a kid that comes across town that you find
out what their relationship is. Okay. But what the coolest
thing for me is I've never gotten to do this
(25:03):
is I wrote a song. I do write songs. I
wrote a song for the movie. That's the title song.
It's called One Angel's Land and I wrote it with
my one of my best friends, Shelley Write. And that's
a first for me. So not only is the subject
matter very special, a song that I was a part
(25:23):
of writing is in the film. And I'm proud of
this movie. It delves into it's it is a love story,
of course, but there's two different kinds of love stories
going on at this in this juncture. It became their
Hall of Fame choice this year, and I'm really proud
of that because I didn't set out to do that.
(25:45):
It just yeah, I can't wait for you to see it.
Oh that's got to feel special. And now I'm even
more like I kind of got okay, you sold. I
mean I was already gonna watch it anyways, but now
kind of you said, there's a connection or an aspect
that I'm going to really connect with you. Definitely excited
about that. When it comes to all this success that
(26:05):
you have, where where's your heart? And I know you
think of others you want to give back, like where's
your where's your heart? And then how how do you
find how you're going to do that? Because you are
so busy and a lot of times you can like
be full steam ahead on all these different projects. But
then it's like, Okay, I know that I've been blessed
(26:25):
with so much. How am I going to spread it back? Got?
So what where's your heart on that? Here's what happened.
This is what happened. And I'm a god person, so
I believe it was a divine thing. About ten years ago,
(26:47):
my tiny town of Broken Arrow, we had like sonic
and Friday nightlights, Like that's what I grew up with.
That's what we had. We have a lot to do.
We dragged, mate, that's what we did. Yeh. There was
no performing arts center. Um I couldn't go see a show.
So somebody died and left us a lot of money.
So thank you person, whoever whoever that was. That anonymously
(27:09):
left us money. We built a state of the art
performing arts center, and they told me that they were
going to name the theater the Christian Channel Theater. So
when you see your name on the side of a building,
at first, I said, oh, I'm not old near old
enough to have anything named after me, and they said, yeah,
you are. You are. Actually I was like, oh crap.
But I saw my name, my dad's name, my grandpa's
name on the side of that building. I thought, we
(27:30):
are you gonna do with that? Are you just going
to come and play here once a year, you know,
and just perform or what are you gonna do with it?
So five years ago we just had our fifth year.
I developed what I call the Christian Channel with Broadway
boot Camp, and every year in February we have auditions
and last year we had over a thousand kids audition.
I can only pick fifty, and I bring in Tony
(27:51):
Award Week. On the night of the Tony Awards on
a Sunday night, we all come to the theater, we
watch it, we have a pizza party, we bond, and
then the next day starts Broadway boot Camp. It's not
participation Award Camp, it's singing, acting, and dancing intensive study
for a week and at the end of the week,
we put on a show and I bring in all
my famous, much more talented Broadway friends than me to teach.
(28:14):
And it is going to be. It is my legacy.
It is growing faster than I can count, and I'm
developing it more so into I'm building another building next
door that will be called the Creative Arts Center, which
will I'm most proud of this because it will be
(28:35):
for my home state of Oklahoma, kids that might not
have the opportunity to be able to afford singing, acting,
and dancing, graphic design, art writing, directing. I'm opening that.
I'll probably break ground in that in the next two
years and then it'll be a school, and then they
will also get dinner, so we'll feed them too. I
(28:58):
love that. So I'm really proud of when I'm doing. Yeah,
but I'm having a lot of a lot of help
with that. It's the thing that I love that when
people say, oh, I know you from this, or I
know you from that, or I didn't know you were
a singer, and I'm like, what, I know me from
a movie or a TV show or something, but this
if they know you from this. This is what I
want when I pass away, when I move on to heaven.
(29:19):
This is what I want people to know me for
your legacy. And this year we've had three of our
kids graduate from it and are there in college in
music school. I love that so much. You're just so
special and I'm inspired by you. And how am I
too old to sign up for Broadway boot Camp? I
(29:41):
would actually let you come and be an observer, Okay,
I actually I would love for you to talk about
your job because I think the show business now there
are no more rules and there the lanes are widening,
which makes me happy because I'm a wide lane artist. Yeah.
I don't just do one thing, and my voice does
more than one thing, and it's always sometimes looked at
as a curse, like where does she lie? And I
(30:01):
want these younger kids to know, like, you can do
whatever you want. You can sing a country song. You
can also sing puccini if you'd like, But work hard
and train hard so that you can do it and
have a long career if that's what you choose. But um,
I would love love to have your so you can
audition at thirteen to eighteen and we get them ready,
(30:23):
We get them ready? All right, one guess I've aged out. Yeah,
let's get your daughter in there. Come. Yeah, we'll see
how she continues on with piano. Right, she has a
little keyboard in her room, Okay, and she practices and
you know, but she's still also learning English at the
same time. So there's a lot that we're tackling. It's
(30:43):
not just extracurricular fun stuff. It's the we gotta tackle
some of the hard things, just stuff where most twelve
year olds are right now, she's not there yet. She's
gonna get there fast, because when you're young, you learn quick.
M Yeah, yeah, I'm excited for her to see kind
of where she's she's gonna go. She had me download
(31:04):
an app on her tablet. She has a little fire tablet,
And I said, what is this new app? She goes,
it's a karaoke app so I can practice my singing.
I love her already, and she is a she I'm
a part of some thing that's happening here here in
Nashville tonight. And I told her I wasn't going to
be home tonight because I have an event. It's this magazine.
(31:24):
I'm vinan Dada and she said, oh, well, I know,
it's not that she thought I should be a part
of this list and what was going on tonight? She goes,
I know who should be on that list? And I
said who, and she said Ariana Grande and then she
turned and she goes and then me, of course I'm
already And I was like and then love, well okay,
(31:46):
but not mom. She's like, sorry Mom. I'm like, hey,
it's fine. He even got cut. I got cut from
something I've already it's already sign steel delivered. Like I can't.
I can't, but I have a feeling with this girl.
She's gonna run the wor all. So I want to
meet her. Yeah, she's amazing. So gratitude is something that
we focus on a lot on this podcast because that's
(32:09):
what brings true joy. Amen, And you know, just recognizing
what you're thankful for, whether it's something big or something
totally small, because I think we should be recognized little
things because on those hard days where it's just life
is just not and we're broken and it's heavy, sometimes
it's the little things that make us all that can
(32:31):
kind of So I would like to hear from you, um,
four things that you're grateful for in life right now.
Oh well, um, it's kind of I have to say.
(32:51):
I am looking at this bag that y'all did for me.
So on my bag it says Thunder. That's my dog,
named after the NBA team, So sins don't get mad
at me. New York because that's where I first sort
of made my mark, and then Broadway I love because
again it's a big part of my DNA in my history.
(33:12):
And I'm from Oklahoma, so that's my home. But I
want to tell you something that really makes me happy
that's happening in my life currently. I think I'm grateful
right now. Mostly there's a lot of healing going on
in my family. You know, families are families. We are.
(33:36):
That's why it's you know, you're it's dysfunctional and functional.
It doesn't matter where you're from or you know, but
it's your family. And there's so much healing going on
and it's slow and I am but it's happening. And
there's a broken relationships relationship I had in the past
(33:57):
that is healing. And I feel like God is like
giving me these like things where things are healing. It's
nothing bad like not erreforically broken or anything. Just healing
is happening. And I think it's important for us to
be grateful for when that happens, because we can spend
so much time complaining about why, why is this bad?
(34:17):
Why are men that person not getting along? Or why
is our tension here? But when there's healing, we don't.
We don't. We sometimes breathe this ivor relief, but we
don't go thank you. And that's what I'm grateful for
right now. And that's what I want to say. I
love that. Yeah, I'm sure that's something that somebody else
needs to hear right now too, because or maybe to
(34:40):
keep in their back pocket for later. It's coming. If
it's not happening for you yet, it's coming. Yeah what eight?
How old were you when you were adopted? I was
two weeks old, But I will say that I was
actually supposed to go to another family, but they found
out they were pregnant like days before I was born.
(35:02):
So here's this baby girl and where's she going to go?
And my mom, my mom, Junie Channel with who raised me. Also,
was it having surgery? I'm gonna cry? Was having having
to have has directed me? At twenty four? And she
the doctor who was my birth mom's doctor and my
mom who had raised me. He remembered that Junie channel
(35:25):
With had said, and I'm not going to be able
to have another baby, and I wanted to try. And
what happened is the way I was born in the
same hospital that she had her surgery and we went
home together. Okay. So I would like to say thank
you to my birth mother who gave me life. I
(35:46):
would like to say thank you to God for the
couple that was able to get pregnant when they didn't
think they could, so that I could be in Junie
and Jerry Channel with its home. Yeah. Yeah, that's your precious. Yeah.
And the fact that you recognize that did you have
you had the thankfulness for your birth mom and your yes,
(36:09):
your mom that raised you. I consider myself to be
my kid's second mom. Yeah, because they have their first mom.
I call it their Haiti mom, and we pray for
their haty moms. Well they've got my son and daughter
have different HATI moms Okay, and dads. We don't know
the dads, but we know who the moms are and
I we pray for them and I one day when
I take them back when they're ready. Yes, I want
(36:31):
them to meet their moms, of course, and so for
their moms to know that they're okay and that. But
look what, look at the opportunities and the chances that
I'm so emotional today that you've given them, and that
you're also willing to be a mom who's raising them
to pray for their mom. They're the woman that brought
(36:53):
them into this world. God has a he has his way.
You know, we think we got it all down, but
actually it's all supposed to work out the way it's
worked out. And all I'm gonna say is God, bless you,
and God bless JUNI channel with God bless Mamalin, who
gave me life, and I now know a little bit
(37:14):
more about my history. I don't talk about it very much,
but I know where the petiteness comes from. I know
where the music comes from, and it is like a
big puzzle that kind of fit. But I never felt
lacking for love in my life. Never. I always knew
that my mother, who gave me up, loved me. And
I know that because my mother who raised me told
(37:36):
me every day. Ah, I love that, and that's affirmation
for me to do the same. Yes, so that they
never you're doing it forget and they never because I
know there's always going to be that something inside of
them that just feels different. And you know, I don't
want to call it a void because it can be
filled with love and not I'm in the right kind
(37:59):
of love. But um, I know that there's that there's
abandonment and it comes with it. Yeah, it's just part
of it. It is no matter if you're part of
the story or a baby. When we're brought into the
world's like someone had, for whatever reason, had to relinquish you.
But boy, I just want to I really want to
(38:21):
speak this to any child he's been adopted. It is
a gift because someone chose you. Yeah. Oh okay, well
thanks a lot, am. Sorry, it's like tears for me.
Now come on girl, um well you still look beautiful.
Thank you, and we'll we'll just in there now that
(38:42):
probably anybody listening is a lot of times people listen
on their way to work or putting on their makeup.
Sorry us, we have our our live studio audience. Did
I ever address how many people are live studio audience
was in the beginning, No, it's two. We have two people.
We have the best two people well on the planet
watching us. Yes, thank you, thank you, Kristin. That's salvation
(39:06):
I ever got. Okay, So that is a rap with
the Kristin Chenowith interview. I hope y'all enjoyed it, didn't.
I tell y'all, she's just like the sweetest Seriously she is.
She is so kind and so cute and so talented
and I love that got to have her on, I
mean just kind of outside the box for us, So
(39:28):
we're going to start getting some different people that maybe
you wouldn't expect. So thank you Kristen for coming on.
And now it's time for the email shout out. This
one is from More m oo r E Moore. Hi Amy.
My name is More. I'm a twenty seven year old
girl from Israel. Ever since the shot Forward launched the
(39:48):
four Things laptop decal, I really wanted to have one
for myself. I love everything that you do when it
comes to spreading joy and helping others. The thing is,
when I went to buy it turned out you don't
ship to my country. Since I I really loved the idea,
I made my own four Things decal for my Mac
and the money that I would have spent on it.
I donated to a charity in my country. I'm writing
(40:08):
this to you because I wanted you to know, even
though I'm pretty sure you already know that you inspire
us to do good, be better, and spread joy. Thank
you for all that you do. And then she even
put in parentheses. Sorry if my English isn't perfect, It's
not my first language. So I just thought that this
was so sweet, and I had no idea I had
somebody listening in Israel. I mean, that's cool, and I
(40:31):
know the shot forward. I'll have to talk to Mary
about shipping there, but it's more difficult than you would think.
It's not that easy to just like ship certain places,
but I know that she can do Canada and certain
places in Europe, like well, the UK at least maybe Australia.
I don't know. I don't want to speak out here.
(40:51):
I wish Mary was here to answer this question. But
I will definitely share this with Mary and maybe more.
We'll see if there's a way we can get you
something in Israel. I don't know, just like something special,
but I have no idea. I don't want anybody else
listening in Israel to think that now we're gonna start
shipping there. Just kidding. That was a joke because I'm
(41:12):
sure there's probably nobody else listening more. You might be
my my only listener there, but I am proud to
have you, and I think it's super cool and I
just love that even though you couldn't get it, you're
able to make your own and you decided to donate
the money to a cause near you. That is what
it's all about. I love it, so thank you for sharing,
(41:34):
and y'all can send your emails to four Things with
Amy Brownett gmail dot com. Paced up little food for
you so life. Oh it's pretty much. It's pretty beautiful.
(41:58):
Beau of my familys taking up because of course said
he can't get your kick Get with four Things with
Amy brown
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