The Josie Show with Karissa Ella

Josie chats with Karissa Ella about her EP Growing Wings, and so much more. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mr brun Bray Bray bray Bray.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Rot around the world on the World Wide Web. Ladies
and Children period is. The other stations are.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
Oh Yeah, broadcasting live from the Josey Network Studios in
downtown ma Dinah, Tennessee.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
It's that time a week again.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
It's time for the Josie Shoe, bringing you the most
exciting music news and guests from.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Around the world.

Speaker 4 (00:49):
Right here on the Jersey Show.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Please make walking beautiful.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
It's talented, he love Me America.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Business.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Josie assent hen Over.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Hey, everyone at Josie Pasentino Boon, Welcome back to the
Josie Show.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
We have a great interview coming at you with Carissa Ella.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
We had such a great chat, so I'm really looking
forward to you all here in this great interview. It
was such a fun one and I want to thank
you all so so much for all of your support
and love at the Eleventhanniel Josie Music Awards.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
It was such a successful evening.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
It was so much fun getting the chance to see
everybody and it was it was such a great time
and you can check out the photo gallery and everything else.
The official winners list all at Josie Music Awards dot
com to check out the website.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
All right, I hope you all enjoyed this interview.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Right now, please welcome to the Josie Show. My guest
Carissa Ella. Hi, Hello, how are you?

Speaker 4 (01:54):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
I'm doing wonderful.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Thank you so much for joining me. I've been looking
forward to this. I am a fan.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
Oh, thank you so much. You're so sweet. I thanks
for listening. I appreciate it, of course, my pleasure.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
I've been looking forward to talking to you because you
have so many incredible things going on right now. But
first I have to start because i've seen you just
got back from Japan for your honeymoon.

Speaker 4 (02:14):
Congratulations, Thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (02:17):
Yes, I'm married.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
We went to Japan on our honeymoon. People thought we
were crazy because they're like, aren't you supposed to go relaxed,
and we were like, no, we want to walk twenty
steps a day. Yes, that's what we want to do.
But yeah, it was so much fun. Thank you so much.
It's been a dream. Good.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Oh, I'm so glad. I'm so glad. You looked gorgeous
at all of the photos and all that looked amazing.
So congratulations. But I'm so excited to talk to you
about your EP, Growing Wings, because, like I said, I'm
a fan. I've been listening to this one and we
just love it here at the Josie Show. So, first off,
the title growing Wings, is there a personal story behind it?
Can you tell us how that how that title came

(02:53):
to be?

Speaker 4 (02:54):
You know, I don't really think there's a specific story
as to why we picked that. You know, I wrote
the song growing Wings, and I really loved it and
knew I wanted it to be on the project. And
then when it came time for picking, you know, an
EP title, I always like it to be kind of
all encompassing of all the all the songs and the

(03:15):
EP and for it to make sense. And at the
end of the day, I thought, actually growing Wings is
kind of the best I think, you know, representation of
these songs because it's kind of like, no matter what
you're going through in life, whether you know you're finding
love or you're leaving you know, your hometown, or you're
leaving a bad relationship and you're moving on and you're
finding yourself, you know, you're always growing wings and getting stronger.

(03:38):
And so that's why I thought it would be the
perfect fit for this project.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
It's a perfect fit, it really is. And we just
love the collection of songs that you have on this EP,
and so can you tell us a little bit about
what new listeners can find on this EP? Tell us
a little bit about it, because all the songs, there're
songs that are for literally everyone. So can you talk
a little bit about this?

Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well, thank you, that's the goal so perfect. There's a
little bit of everything for everyone on this project. We
were trying to pick out the singles. It was hard
because you're having friends be like, okay, rate your favorites,
and everyone had different favorites and it was because everyone
was going through different things. So that's why I love
this project. Like I said, no matter what you're going through,

(04:18):
it has something for you. Whether you're falling in love,
you're getting out of a breakup, you are. I talk
about my hometown a lot and my family, so hopefully
people can resonate with that too, and just it's just
a project that is giving listeners a little piece of
where I'm at in life right now and hopefully it
can guide them to But there's seven songs and like

(04:41):
I said, yeah, a little bit of everything. And I
am really proud of this project. I think it shows
growth and my songwriting and growth and just me as
an artist. And it's my fourth project, which is insane.
But I couldn't have asked for a better fourth project.
I love Growing Wings very very much.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Yes, you know, and as artists and just as people,
we evolve and grow. So do you feel this EP
differs from like your previous works?

Speaker 4 (05:04):
I definitely do, yet like I feel different, like I
feel more mature and just I feel like every time
I get the opportunity to write a song, write a
song by myself, I'm always getting better. I'm more always
learning new things, but mainly, you know, my songs, Like
even we did this project and since I'm like, oh
my god, I have all these other songs that I've
been writing that I love that. You know, it just

(05:26):
keeps getting better and better and so and life keeps
changing and stuff like that, evolving and growing and hopefully
I can just continue to write songs like that for people.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yes, absolutely, I just I love it. And your latest
music video for one of the songs on this EP,
honky Tonk Harpyt.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Is doing so well.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
What was it like filming this music video? There's some
line dancing in this one. Y'all tell us a little
bit about this.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
I could not wait to film this music video. I
was so excited. I made my twin sister be in
the video too, even though we're not twins. She's vernet
or Day and Night and all these fabulous dancers here
in Nashville. We started filming at at eight am, and
we were like line full glam, line dancing in a
bar at eight am. I was like, never thought I'd

(06:11):
be doing this, but I'm having a blast, so much fun.
And I did it with my friends Kelsey Kopeki and
Oceana Colgan, who has shot all of my stuff for
this project, every picture, every video. She's amazing and I
just really love working with her. And when you work
with people that you know are incredible and love their work,

(06:33):
it's so much easier and it's so much fun. So
we had two different locations. We shot at a bar
and then we shot at a little like vintage shop
in East Nashville, and it was so much fun. And
you know, I love days like these because they don't
really feel like work. You just feel like you're, you know,
just hanging out with your friends and it's kind of
cool that you get to bring your music video to life.

(06:54):
And people have been doing the line dance and asking
for the line dance certain bars, so it's been so
much fun. The feedback has been great. So I love
that people are dancing along the honky tonk cart feet.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
It's been such a fun video. I love it so much.
It just it just looks like it was a blast,
you know what I mean. So that's that's amazing. And
you know, like you said, like you mentioned a little
bit here, you know, fans are now learning this line
dance and are putting up their own videos, so that
has to feel good. It does.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
Oh my gosh, it's my favorite thing to see like
people are learning the line dance or making up their
own line dance. This line dancer Rob Holly made up
the dance and I was so grateful. I was like,
this is so cool. You have no idea in fact,
my song has a line dance now. But also there's
you know, so many ways that we you know, there
can be aligned dance. So people are making up their
own and people were learning this one, and you know,

(07:45):
it's just so cool to see and tagging me in them.
It just means the world to me, it's so special.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
It's so special. That's amazing. And I want to also
ask you, Yes, I wanted to ask you. You know,
you have had so many career highlights on your journey
so far. You open for some incredible played a wonderful festivals.
Is there a highlight that you can share with us,
one that kind of just stands out in your mind?

Speaker 4 (08:06):
Would you say, oh, my goodness, one, I will have
to say this. I'll speak about something that's more recent.
This year, I got to play in my hometown, this huge,
huge country music festival called the Country Fest. I grew
up going there and seeing my favorite artists play. Last

(08:26):
time I was there, it was a while ago, and
I was a fan in the crowd seeing Dirk Spentley.
And so this year I got the call to play
and it just so happens to be on the same
day as Dirk Spentley. So it was such a full
circle for me. Yeah, it was insane. So but in
the lineup was me, Tyler, Braden, zach Top and Dirk Spentley,
and I was just like head over heels. I mean,

(08:48):
they made me feel like an absolute star the whole weekend.
And you know, sometimes you do these shows and you
get in and get out, but this one was truly
one that I wanted to soak up every single second
of And it was such a full circle moment, such
a bucket list moment for me. So that's been the
most memorable one, but we've had some pretty fun ones.
I've also got to sing with Randy Travis. I always

(09:10):
have to say that that was such a tonic thing
that I feel like I got to do that I'll
always be grateful for. So she's got some pretty cool
stuff you have.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
You have.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Wow, if only little Chrisa knew what she would be.

Speaker 4 (09:22):
Up to, I know, Oh my gosh, she'd be freaking out.
She'd never believe me. Right. Yeah, that's amazing.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
And I have some fun questions for you if you
don't mind the couple perfect perfect. So the first question
that I have for you, has there any been any
embarrassing on stage moments that you can recall anything that
just think go as well live and in person.

Speaker 4 (09:44):
Oh I am so sure that there has been. Yeah,
I've blocked it out apparently. I will say. One thing
I love to do is forget my lyrics or like
I'll sing like the second verse in the first verse,
and then I just have to go back to singing
the second verse again. I'm like, why did I do that?
I've sang these songs forever, like I know them like
the back of my hand. I'm so confused. So that's

(10:06):
always embarrassing to me, right right, I haven't like sometimes
people notice. I don't think people ever really noticed. I
guess no one says anything. But I haven't done anything
like fallen or anything crazy like that, not yet that
they definitely probably on the books for me, that sounds
about right.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Listen, I understand clumsy over here. I understand it would
happen me too. Oh yeah, it's not not far off.
I make sure I wear pretty comfortable shoes.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
That's very important to see preventatives.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
I love that. Yes, when you're live, you're at the
mercy the audience, anything can happen. But those are those.
Those weren't too bad, those weren't too crazy.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
And the next question here for you, because we are
both we have something in common. We both are fans
and Miranda Lambert. So I seen somewhere that you were
talking about the influence that she had on you, your
storytelling and your son. Can you tell us a little
bit about that?

Speaker 4 (10:59):
Oh? My gosh. Miranda Lambert I think is one of
the best songwriters singers ever. I love her how she
can make such sentimental and she can pull up your
heart strings, but then she can also make you like
want to go you know your ex boyfriend's car that
she eat on you. It's sassy, and she gives you.
She gives, she doesn't hold back, she gives you everything

(11:21):
she's feeling. And her storytelling is so honest and true
and it's what I love about country music, and so
it's something that I try to adapt into my songwriting
and remember while I'm being an artist as well, like
what would Miranda set here? Or how would she do it?
Or you know, and then put my own twists on it.
But she's definitely one of the biggest influences just because

(11:41):
of who she is, and especially she's very involved in
philanthropy too. I just think she's an overall just really
great role model and she seems like a really great person.
I hope and pray one day that I get to
meet her and think her for you know, paving the
way for me and everyone else, all the other women
I should say and country music. But yeah, she it's
just she's sassy, she's just she's hers. She's not afraid

(12:05):
to be yourself anything. It's very authentic and that's what
I love.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
Yes, one hundred percent. And I can see you. I
could see a collab happen. I want to see it
that petition. Who do we got to talk to?

Speaker 4 (12:15):
We're putting it out there, We're.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
Putting on the universe exactly, exactly, And I hope everyone
checks out your EP Growing Wings right now. It's available
on all of the platforms that you listen to your
music to right now, everybody, and also before we go, key,
please give out your website and social networking sites so
people can follow you of course, don.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
Yes, yes, thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (12:35):
Thank Please go check out my music and check me
out at on my social media at Instagram, TikTok, Facebook,
all the good stuff YouTube at Carrista Ella Music and
if you want more information on tour dates, merchandise, all
that good stuff, you.

Speaker 4 (12:52):
Can find me at carrista la dot com.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Check her out, everybuddy, Thank you so much, and then
really pleasure talking to you. Thank you so much for
joining me, Thank you so much for having me I
really appreciate it. My pleasure, Chrissa Ella. This show is
brought to you by KDK Booking Agency and is located
in Springfield, Missouri, and represents professional and talented singer songwriters
that perform for venues in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and

(13:18):
across the US. To contact KDK, you can find their
website at Kdkbookingagency dot com and twenty twenty one Productions.
CMA Member presents Mikayla Gunn, a voice that carries faith
with a country soul. Her music blends heartfelt Christian lyrics
with the roots of country sound, authentic, powerful and inspiring,

(13:41):
and with every song, Mikayla opens the doors wider, bringing hope, warship,
and inclusiveness to the deaf community through ASL Faith Country Connection.
Experience the music of Mikayla Gunn at Mikaylagun dot com,
mk ay La g u n l n dot com.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
Streaming now everywhere