August 6, 2025 • 29 mins
In this episode, we dive into the heart and soul of Connor Flanagan's latest album, "Seasons." Join us as Connor shares the journey of leaving his full-time job to pursue music, the challenges and triumphs of life as an artist, and the inspiration behind his most personal work yet. Discover how the album reflects the different seasons of life, offering a soundtrack to Connor's experiences and a testament to faith, resilience, and authenticity. Tune in to hear about the creative process, the stories behind the songs, and the powerful message that "Seasons" brings to listeners everywhere. https://www.connorflanaganmusic.com/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to Connor playing again to the podcast.
So Connor is nice to sit with you finally.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hey, it's been a long time in the making. Thanks
for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Yeah, well being it's a only time in making. Connor
and I I think I reach out to Connor back
on like twenty twenty three, so we're almost in twenty
twenty six. We're almost halfway. We're already halfway through twenty
twenty five, and we were going back and forth. I
think we Brad and I had something played and Connor
took a little break on social media and everything, and
then like we try to get in twenty twenty four
(00:28):
schedules in a lineup. But now we're doing this, So
we're doing it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I you know, I'm I feel like the industry just
moves that way. Like when things are supposed to happen,
they happen, you know what I mean. And so I
think this is this is the perfect time to have
this podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Conrad. Can you tell us a little bit about your
music journey, Like what may you come to like Christian music?
Like how did faith and music start to come to you?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, I I mean music has been a part of
my life, my whole life. I feel like I grew
up in a big Irish family, and so every family
gathering or party had live music in it in somewhere,
you know. I grew up playing the flute in the
ten whistle. My cousins played the tim whistle of the fiddle.
My I had other cousins who Irish danced, and so
every family party had some sort of music and dancing
(01:09):
element to it, and so I fell in love with music.
I learned to play by ear from a very young age,
and then picked up instruments in like Greade school and
played all through high school. And but always I always
just had a love for live music. I grew up
going to this festival called the Alive Fest and in Ohio,
and that's when I really felt the like fire start
to grow in my heart. Of like I watched these
(01:30):
artists on these stages and I was like, man, I
just want to do that. And I didn't know, Like
I remember thinking like I didn't know you could do this,
Like you could use your musical gifts to glorify God
and worship in this way and communicate joy in this way.
And it was just I was so captivated by it
and it was actually cool, like from that moment sitting
around a campfire, because we would camp at this festival
(01:52):
multiple summers of my childhood. I remember sitting around the
campfire just you know, thinking about and dreaming about, like
I want to be one of these guys. And just
just last weekend I played a live fest for the
first time.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
As you just played there, I.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Think, yeah, so it was a really cool, really really
cool full circle moment for me in my career. And
we had a great show. It was awesome. But yeah,
I just I fell in love with that at an
early age and then just kind of had the hunger
and in an age before it was like Instagram and
TikTok and social media. All I knew how to do
was like the next thing in front of me. So
I was like, well, I guess I should ask for
a guitar for my birthday, and then I guess I
(02:26):
should take guitar lessons, and then I guess I should
find people in my school who want to try to
write songs with me. You know. It was just kind
of like all these simple, little practical steps and all
the while God was growing this gift and this desire
in my heart to the point where it's brought me
this far you know where. Now I'm doing it as
a full time artist all these many many years later.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Cool, and you said a livefest is in Ohio.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Are you from Ohio then, yeah, yeah, I grew up
just outside of Cleveland in a town called Richfield. I'm
now living in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I've been here. My
wife's from here, so we've been out here for almost
twelve years now. But I grew up, yeah, just outside
of Cleveland, Michigan.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So I don't get them all.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Well, contrary to mosti Ohioans, I am not an Ohio
State fan. So we can we can have a friendship.
We'll be okay.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
That's why I don't worry like Ohio State heads or Michigan.
I was interviewing an artist with somebody and he was
an Ohio State fan, Billy Buchannon. He's he was a
fuse box back in the day, and we were talking
about Michigan Ohio State like back and four point five
minutes on the podcast, that's all we're break before the
gate two.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So it's like, now I am I am a Notre
Dame fan, and I know there's a lot of beef
with Notre Dame in Michigan, but it's not nearly as
extreme as Ohio State Michigan, so we should be okay.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Not bad, I'll give you that. Yeah, yeah, so we
can continue this podcast episode down now. I know that
Connor's out of Ohio State fan, but you were just
talking about all I FS and with that, you probably
prove you have a new album that is coming out
or coming out depending on the date we released, so
caught Seasons. Can you tell us a little bit about
that project and the journey of that, like, what's the
(04:04):
heart's what sparked that project.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, the record's called Seasons. It's coming out of August fifth,
so maybe if yeah, depending on when you release this episode,
you might have already heard it. Maybe today's release day.
I don't know who knows. It's uh, it's really just
the story of these last two years. So about two
years ago, uh to this summer, I quit my full
time work to be an artist. I've been building my
music business in my artistry for almost ten years now,
(04:28):
and it was just two years ago that I quit
my job to go full time and we quit, I mean,
we discerned it. We prayed into it, we felt really
called to it. We felt a lot of peace about
the decision. But once you're on the other side of
that decision, man, it was It's been a wild ride,
the ups and downs of making a living as an
(04:48):
artist and paying bills and providing. You know, I have
four kids and another on the way very very soon.
Uh so we'll have five kids here soon. And it's
just been a wild ride. And I thought the discernment
to make the decision to go full time was hard,
and that was the easy part. Like praying into that
was the easy part. Now being on the other side
of it living it, like living that yes, like we
(05:10):
said yes to God's call, and now living that yes
has been the hard part. And I say that in
a joyful way, like it's been awesome. You know, it's
been so life giving for our family. It's been God
has been providing for us, but it has been tough.
So this record is just that story. It's called Seasons
because it just talks about the different seasons of life
that God has us in and it's these songs are
(05:31):
songs that I wrote for myself to help me get
through this season of life, like to keep me anchored
and to keep me grounded, to keep me close to
Jesus in times where I felt immense stress and anxiety,
to keep me to keep my spirits up when I
felt like I was down in the depths of despair,
and like this, God, you know, we followed you into
this unknown of a music career as a full time artist,
(05:54):
and you know where are you now in the midst
of it. So it's been Yeah, this record has really
been kind of the soundtrack to my last two years.
And as I was going through the ups and downs
of the last two years, we were just I was
getting together with my producer every other week and we
were just writing and we're just and we're just kind
of putting demos aside. And it wasn't until like even
(06:14):
like eight months ago that I was like, Man, I
think I think it's time we really finished some of
these And so we we got together and cranked it out,
and yeah, I'm really excited. It's it's the best music
I've ever made by far, and I can't wait for
people to hear it.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
With that being said, like even nor kind this for
the last two years, it's kind of like that pot
because so like this is probably what you were up
to it at a time, So it's really exciting. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah,
that's it.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
You know. You had mentioned earlier that I had taken
a step back from social media, and it's so true.
I just felt God calling, like a god saying, hey,
like focus on Him first and foremost, and then focus
on my music and my art. And in today's day
and age in the music industry, like social media is
such a huge part of it. Like you, it's hard
to exist as an artist if you're not dumping time
and energy and resources into the digital space. And I
(06:59):
was like, I just and tired of it. I need
to like go back to how I originally started writing songs,
which was like me, my guitar and the Lord, and
I need to go there for inspiration first before I
go online for inspiration. And so this record is the
fruit of that, Like, this record is the fruit of
me kind of getting back to my roots going to
Jesus first, cutting out all distraction and just writing what
(07:21):
I felt like God was welling up in my heart
and writing the story that I was living, putting it
to music, and honestly, like what you know, I'm holding
it loose like this record. I don't know what it's
going to do. I feel like it's going to be
a big record for me, but it's already been big
because it's brought healing and peace and joy to my soul,
and so my prayer is that it would do that
(07:42):
same thing for whoever whoever listens to it.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
During this record season, was there a specific moment where
you fought like God's presence in a unique way, like, Yes,
let's keep going on with this record, because I know
in a genre that's ever so changing in the music
in Christianusic industry especially, it's ever so changing. Now you're
seeing like a big emergency and like kip hop, but
now you're also seeing a big emergency like country, R
and B and all these artists as are trying eight
(08:06):
hundred styles now, like Brandon Lake's Lash album, it was
a country, it was rock, it was hip hop. Did
you feel like his presence in like a different, unique
way or like, how do you feel about like the
different genres like everyone's involving trying to do different genres.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that. I was just on
Instagram today and I saw a friend of mine who's
an independent artist, and he's like a rock artist, and
he just posted a reel of him doing this like
really upbeat pop song, and it just felt I was like,
oh man, I like I My prayer is I just
hope artists are being authentic. If you're being authentic to
who you are, you could try any style you want.
But oftentimes I worry that people are chasing trends. Right,
(08:44):
They're seeing what's popping off and then they're chasing that.
And I think that's one of the ways God showed
his face to me most clearly in the last two years,
is just affirming the choices I was making with my life,
like got you know, affirming my decision to get off
socials right, affirming my decision to double down on songwriting,
(09:08):
Affirming my decision to prioritize my family first, even though
I quit my full time job to be an artist.
And it could have been like hustle, grind, you know, work,
work until I'm red in the face and sweat and blood,
you know, and it's like no, Like, God has been
so faithful to my trust in Him in my pursuit
of peace that only He can provide. And these songs
(09:30):
I think are the fruit of that and for me,
you know, I'm a hip hop slash pop artist. I
actually like to tell people I'm a hip hop artist
with the worship leader's heart. You know. I a lot
of my songs start on the guitar, and I think
the style of music I make is starting to become very,
very trendy, and so I do worry about that. I'm like, man,
am I going to be influenced by the Forrest Franks,
(09:50):
the counter Price, the Nick d you know? Even like
you know, one of my biggest influences are you know,
Toby mack, John, John Belly and Mackilmore Christian so non
Christian artists. And in the last two years, I shut
it all off, Like I didn't. I did not listen
to any music. Like people will be like, oh, what
do you listen to? And I'm like, I listen to jazz,
(10:12):
Like that's it. Like I only listen to either lo
fi music or jazz music. I don't listen to anything
else because I want all of my inspiration and my
thoughts to become from what God is speaking to me
and the style that I want, like I feel called
to make and not be influenced by what's trending or
what's popular, and I think we did that. Like this record,
(10:33):
you know, I listened to all these songs and it's modern,
Like it sounds very modern and has a lot of
really cool sounds, and but it's not. And I there's
not one song on the album that feels like it's
trying to be something it's not. There's not one song
on the album where it's like, oh, he was chasing that.
And that's one thing I've always loved about Toby Mac.
One of my greatest inspirations is through the ups and
(10:54):
downs of styles and genres and what's popping almost trending,
Toby always comes out with and you're like, man, he
just is so true to himself, and he's always crafting
a new sound that's fresh and clean and attractive and
you know, sonically awesome, but it never feels like he's
chasing anything. So I try to model that in my music.
(11:15):
I think we have some really cool songs on this album,
and I'm really proud of the fact that we kind
of shut out all the distractions and we're like, you
know what, We're gonna make what we feel called to make,
and not chase what someone else is doing right now.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I like how you brought it to me.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Man.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
He I think his Life After Death album is one
of my favorite albums of all time at Christian He's
like that album is just so impactful and so powerful.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, yeah, it's so good. I mean, he's just he's
a storyteller, right, And I think you know what you
can run into is if you're just trying to chase
a sound or a trend, as you lose the element
of a story. And I think that's one of the
most powerful parts about good songs is they tell stories, right,
they take people on a journey. And if you're just
chasing a trend or you're just chasing a sonic yeah,
(11:59):
sonic trend, you're gonna you're gonna lose that whole element
to your your songs and your music.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
And what's powerful is with the music industry is one
has their own unique sound and it makes this genre,
how to say, like a verse in so many ways.
Like there you can have like, oh, I'm a Christian
rockcards I'm a Christian rock rdist too, but then you
have like scream, oh you have like garage rock, you
have like like I've been seeing a big emergency pop
punk like Christian pop punk a lot.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, totally, I love it. I think there's so much
room for it. There's the world is so big. I
think there's an audience for everything, and so I love
watching all this creativity kind of blossom and flourished across
the industry right now, but season is coming out.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Do you have anything behind the stories, like scenes, behind
the scenes stories, like any fun unexpected stories that you
would like to share?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Oh, I got it, Yeah, gosh, I got a ton
I there's probably there's two stories that I think that
come to mind right away. As one one of my
favorite songs, if not my favorite, there's a song on
the album called Die Trying, and it's just about me
not feeling It's my story of like how I don't
feel like I'm ever good enough and I compare myself
(13:12):
to a lot of people, and god, I know I'll
never figure this out, but I'll die trying, right Like
I'll spend my whole life trying to be good enough.
So it's kind of this plan, like I know that's
not healthy, like that I should all that I'm trying
to overwork myself into being good enough. Like I know
I'm loved as I am as a son of God,
and I know where my identity lies. But that's the temptation,
(13:33):
right is to like So it's just as honest song
about my pursuit of being valued and good enough in
my career, in fatherhood, as a person. And the day
we wrote that song, I had a session schedule with
my producer and I was not feeling inspired. I had
zero energy. The day before was just a terrible day
at work for me. I was just in my studio,
(13:55):
like banging my head against the wall. At this time,
I was in my basement studio. I have a new
studio now. I was in the basement, so I heard
my kids running around upstairs all day. They're banging on
the floor, They're making a ton of noise. So I
was kind of coming off of like a really discouraging
day and I was driving to the studio and I
said to myself, honestly out loud, I was like, man, well,
if I can't be creative today, or if I'm not
(14:17):
feeling creative, at least I can be honest. And I
sang out loud this line with a melody that I
was saying, my life is now divided between my family
my sanity, how do they become enemies? And I just
sang it out loud. I was like, that was the
cry of my heart, is like I feel like, God,
(14:37):
you're you know me working in my house now, in
my basement is is making me go crazy because I
hear the chaos of family life and it's distracting me.
And I can't stand that I'm distracted by the chaos
of family life. I want to be a good present
dad and so it was this tension in my heart
and so I just sang it out loud. It was
like the most honest thing that I could say. And
(14:58):
I show up at the session and I'm like, hey,
I think this is the song, Like this is what
I want to put into a song, is this line.
And it became this really cool song called Die Trying.
And it's the song that has been getting like as
I've shared the record with people, and I'd be happy
to share a copy of it with you before it
comes out if you want to listen. As I've been
sharing it with people, it's been the one song off
(15:18):
the record that almost I mean nine out of ten
times people are like, dude, die Trying like that song.
So yeah, that story, and then there's gosh, I mean
one of my cousin who drums for me. He's a producer,
and you know, we had ten songs slotted for this record.
(15:41):
We had to drop one of the songs because of
the feature on it couldn't finish it in time, and
we kind of knew that. So I was like, all right,
let's just let's save the song to be a single
in twenty twenty six and I'll replace it. My cousin
Patrick was you know, he went to a concert and
was inspired and stay up till like three in the morning,
and he texted me this beat. He's like, hey, I
wrote this, I created this instrumental, this beat. I think
(16:03):
it's going to be called carry Me, and I have
some ideas for lyrics if you want to hear it.
I was like, yeah, man, send it over. And I
really liked it, and so I was like, I don't
know what we're going to do with this, but let's
finish it. And so called up my go to writer
in Nashville, Bbe, and I was like, hey, do you
want to finish this song with me and my cousin.
She's like, yep. We hopped on a write. We finished
(16:24):
it and we all were like, dang, this song is good,
Like we like this track. And this was like a
couple of weeks before we were kind of getting into
like finish the album and we needed this like tenth song,
and so I went to my cousin. I was like, Hey,
could I put this on my album? Like are you
cool with like this going on the record? And he
doesn't produce me, like he's he's a budding producer, he's
(16:44):
kind of just getting started and he's like, yeah, I mean,
if you want to. So it was cool. So it's
just fun. It was a fun moment for him to
get a big cut, like his first cut on a record.
And I really liked the song. It's a fun, upbeat
pop song and the messages really powerful and Phoebe is
just a rock star when it comes to melodies, so
(17:05):
uh yeah, it was just it was a really fun
song to write and it's a really fun song to
perform too.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
So cool and like those things that happen to unexpected
things are always the best way. But I feel like
there's a lot of songs that people want to cut
from an album or add into an album last minute,
and I feel like those are always like the most
impactful and most like important ones that everyone foks to.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yeah yeah, And it's it's kind of been an anthem
like the songs called carry Me, and it's just about
like how it's kind of me crying out saying like God,
you carried me, then carry me out through all that
I'm going through. You know, I've seen you do it once,
do it again, and I go back and listen to
it as like I need to hear this song, like God,
you you provided for us last month, I need you
(17:45):
to provide again this month, you know. I like so
it's a powerful song and it's convicting every time I
listen to it.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Hope your cousin once't coming back around? Cold Play concert?
Okay too soon? Too soon?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah not quite, not quite, Nope.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
That they just spend like up the internet lately, Like
every time I go ahead Instagram of Facebook, I see
like one of those like you always have the meme
of the summer, and that's like the meme of the summer.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
It's crazy how much that can kind of just spread
across all platforms so fast.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
And do you have any goals or like dreams you
hope with this album, like do you plan on like
doing any of my shows, I know you just did
a lot best or do you have like any goals
or something you want to work on with this album,
like to help promote the album.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, I mean I'm treating the album. I'm treating it
like it's a collection of ten singles, and so I'm
kind of reversed. I'm reversed promoting it. So I'm putting
an album out, but then I'm gonna promote each song
like their individual single. So for between August fifth and
January first, it's about every three and a half weeks,
I'm gonna promote each song it's a single, So you're
(18:48):
for three weeks you will see me go hard on
socials promoting one song at a time. So for three
weeks it'll be the title track Seasons, and then for
the next three weeks it'll be the next song you know,
Oxygen or Sun Comes Up or whatever they are. Because
when you're when someone's on their feed, they don't know
if songs are singles or if they're cut from albums
(19:10):
or whatever. And so for me, it's like, well, i
want to put an album out, I want to get
ten of my best songs out there and then promote
each one like it's a single, so that if something
pops off or if people really like it, they can
end up back on Spotify and be like, dang, there's ten,
you know, there's nine more for me to go listen to.
So the goal, the goal in terms of promoting it
is just to go you go, harden the paint with content,
(19:31):
really really crush Instagram and TikTok and and get these
songs to people. I'm doing a fall tour, so we're
doing about ten to fifteen dates across the Midwest this fall,
which I'm really really excited about. We're still locking some
of those in, but they're coming in and they're getting
on the calendar, which is awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And honestly, man, I just like, I just really I
believe these songs are going to reach people, like because
they're just they're written from the most honest places in
my heart and so I know, I know there's people
out there who will benefit from them, and I just
can't wait to hear those stories.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
The most honest songs, like the most honest songs are
like the most impactful songs. And I see that a
lot now, Like for like every artists like we brought
Toby Mack earlier, like twenty one years that was like
a big impactful and honest song. Yeah, and then there's
like Spread by Way Jamie McDonald like all those like
impactful songs, like they are whole personal stories, And I
feel like that's what this music industry is going to.
Katie Nicole has like a lot of like honest songs
(20:26):
too recently. Yeah, I feel like that's where a lot
of the people are flocking towards now.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Yeah, they just I mean, in our increased uh in
are in the world, in a world where digital entertainment
is becoming more and more and there's more and more distraction,
and there's more and more fake everything. People just want
what's real, you know, and and it takes a lot
of work to write that. You know, you have to
go through renditions of songs, and it's gold. It's mining
for gold, right, You're just digging in your heart all
(20:54):
day long to try to figure out how can I
just say what's honest in a way that people can
relate to. So, yeah, it's a fun challenge and I
think we I think we struck gold with some of
the songs on this record. And it gets me excited
for some of the stuff I'm writing for twenty twenty
six and beyond.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
We should walk towards the album. Listen to it, leave
a comment till it's all you think about the comments.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Please Paul Connor's journey on Instagram. He has a lot
of engaging reels with it. Like you said, he's gonna
promote the heck out of all these songs. It's gonna
be exciting, right See.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I hope I'm annoying online. That's the goal.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Not being annoying online, You're not doing your job right.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, I feel like the bigger social media presidence you have,
the more act of your fan base will be That's
my reason again. I found that out.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, and it's it's kind of I feel like it's
becoming more and more of a common thread in the
industry or talked about. You know, it takes it takes
around seven touch points for somebody to buy something, if
you're like am you know, affiliate marketing or whatever. It
be like someone has to see something around seven times
before they go click on it. And I think I
noticed that my own life, you know, if I just
I just bought some like supplements off an Instagram ad
(22:02):
and it was like, Man, I saw that ad so
many times before I clicked on it. And I think
a lot of musicians are adopting that mentality of like
man artists or your your average consumer and needs to
see your music pop up in their feed multiple times,
building trust with you as an artist before they go
and get off the app into Spotify or Apple Music
to actually you know, engage with your platforms there. So
(22:24):
that's the goal. It's just to flood the market and
create content that's meaningful and encouraging and inspiring for people
and you know, really get them to come back and
listen to the record.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I was doing some of my artists research if you're
if you want to check out some of comments music
that's out if we're opposed to before this season, you
had a song with Seth Leader before even counting My
Blessings come out, and I was really cool to see
when I was researching a little bit.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. SEP's family it's not like it's
not public knowledge, but he and I go back. We
were second cousins, I think, so I knew him growing up.
One of the first shows I did UH was for
one of was his dad runs a ministry out of Toledo, Ohio,
and he had me come out and do a show
for them, and I remember Seph was like, I don't know,
(23:06):
ten or twelve years old, like in the audience, you know,
like rocking to my show. But yeah, I love I
love Sef. I'm so proud of him. He's crushing it.
And yeah, that song is that song is one of
my favorite songs I've ever written today, and I would
love to get more ears on it because Seph's verse
on it even is one of my favorite verses. Like
I sent him that song to write to it, and
(23:27):
within like two hours he was just like, Hey, how
does this sound? And I was like, bro, you need
to do more hip hop songs, man. Your voice, like
his voice just crushes on this verse. It's got like
an old school kind of post Malone kid Leroy type
feel to it. And so one of these days, when
we're playing the same festival, we're gonna do that song
together live and it's gonna be a blast.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
And for those who haven't watched it, you can check
out my interview with Seph Shooter. It's about a year ago.
So you're gonna have to deep dive into channel. But
that was a great fun interview to have.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, that's awesome. I have to go listen to that too.
I'm excited to hear what y'all talked about.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
And do you have any more festivals at this year?
I know you just did a live fest. Do you
have like any like favorite memories of a live fest
or is there a festival you wish you could play
at one day?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I mean, a live fest was always the big one,
so to I mean, obviously we'd love to go back, right,
It would be a you know, we made a lot
of great connections there and met some new fans, and
so it would be awesome to have a chance to
go back. And their team, the a live festival team
is unreal. I have never worked with a festival team
that was across the board from the first email I
(24:29):
got to the last person I shook hands with and
said goodbye to when we were like on the festival grounds,
every single person from tech to crew members, to the
owners of the festival, to catering to you know, stage management,
all every single person was unbelievably hospitable, kind. They cared
for us, Our needs were taken care of it was
(24:51):
really like next level. So that was a huge shout
out to the Alive Fest team because they were unreal.
But Kingdom Bound, you know, was another one that's been
on the books for a while. We've we've gone back
and forth with them a lot, and we're just trying
to find the right time to make it happen, you know,
and then you you name it. You know, As an
independent artist, I'm always reaching out and trying to get
(25:14):
on the bill and which is hard to do, but
it's you know, you just got to keep knocking. And
we've had a lot of success just knocking. We played
Creation Festival a handful of years ago before shutdown River
Rock Festival out in Main Awesome festival they had to
close too, but man, it was a really cool festival.
So yeah, I'm grateful as an independent artist. You know,
people are always taking a chance on us because we
(25:35):
don't have major label backing or anything like that, and
so when people do, I take it serious, like we
really want to deliver and bring a ton of value
to these festivals and to the stages that we're on
because I'm always so honored that we get an opportunity.
So yeah, well we We'll play whatever comes our way.
So if there's festivals listening to this, hit us up,
we'd love to play it. Some of my favorite events
(25:55):
we play are the smallest ones. We played a budding
festival called Break the Chains in the middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania,
and the stage was like a tractor trailer with a
tent on top of it, and it was unbelievable. The ministry,
it's a ministry helping people who struggle with addictions, and
that's they're helping them break their chains, and so it's just, yeah,
(26:19):
we we've got they They saw us at Creation and
then asked us to come play their festival the first
year they did it, and it was just unbelievable. People.
Unbelievable people again, so kind, so intentional, so genuine, such
huge hearts for the work they were doing in this
tiny town. And you know, it's one of those things
where they bring you in to kind of bless them
(26:41):
and give your performance, and we end up leaving feeling
almost more blessed by who they were and how they
served us and the opportunity that they gave us and
the conversations that we had and the people that we
prayed with or prayed with us, Like we always leave
these events feeling so spoiled, like wow, we get to
do this and people like us to come in and
(27:02):
so yeah, it's events big or small, stages that are
big or small, it doesn't matter, Like we just love.
We love being able to use our gifts to honor
God and to serve people and to bring joy to
whatever atmosphere and environment that we're in.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
So I recommend checking out Unity Fest and this is
fine one for you, like I'm talking to you right, yeah,
Like Unity that's in Michigan. They have a couple of
independent artists here, so that this year before Eli Gables
was signing with Capitol Records that they have Eli Gable.
They have the band Jarring coming up that have Caleb
and John.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, they've I actually I don't know
if I've reached out to Unity Fest. I've seen them
and their stuff from Afar for a while now and
it looks like an awesome festival. So I'll have to just.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Right across a lake in the state from here.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
So yeah, yeah, it's not far Michigan, though, depending on
where you're trying to go in Michigan, it can be
a funny place to get to because you know, the
big hand. I don't know, however, you guys do it, uh,
you know, like if in some ways it might even
be you know, easier for me to go way north
up through Canada and then come back down. We played
we played Big Ticket Festival, which is like northern Michigan,
(28:05):
and that one was a long one to get too,
because once you get to Michigan, you're like, oh wait,
we still have like two more hours, three more hours
to drive north to get to this this festival.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
So and festals are always fun to go to, like
I said, like you said, festivals are just a great thing.
I feel like that's a big thing in Christian music.
I feel like festivals are like the summer version of
a winter jam, but it's every different. Every festal is
like a.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Different Yeah, it's so the festival environment is like electric,
like everyone's just there to have a good time, to
cheer each other on, to support each other. You know,
we're at a live fest. We're meeting other bands, We're
in the front row at other people's sets, you know,
like cheering them on. And I love live music, like
I you know, as an artist, I'm I am an
artist because I fell in love with live music, and
(28:47):
so I still love going to shows, like I still
love being a fan, even if it's the smallest artist.
It doesn't matter, Like I'm every show I play, if
I have an opener, I'm always down in front watching
the opener, you know. At the fest like all the
artists who played on the stage that we played on,
I was down in the crowd, like I'm like, these
are you know, I want to support y'all, like I believe.
(29:09):
I don't just believe in what I'm doing. I believe
in what this industry is doing. And I'm a big
fan of the industry too. I'm a big fan of
all these artists because gosh, the world needs it. The
world needs more artists who are Christians who are trying to,
you know, preach the gospel in dark places and even
even in light places. People who do believe need more
encouragement to keep going because life is hard, you know. Community, yeah, yeah,
(29:33):
And so festivals are just like a shot in the arm.
They're like a great place to just get excited about
what you're doing, connect with other artists, find awesome new artists,
drink lemonade, eat funnel cakes, you know, do the whole thing.
Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to Connor playing again to the podcast.
So Connor is nice to sit with you finally.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hey, it's been a long time in the making. Thanks
for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Yeah, well being it's a only time in making. Connor
and I I think I reach out to Connor back
on like twenty twenty three, so we're almost in twenty
twenty six. We're almost halfway. We're already halfway through twenty
twenty five, and we were going back and forth. I
think we Brad and I had something played and Connor
took a little break on social media and everything, and
then like we try to get in twenty twenty four
(00:28):
schedules in a lineup. But now we're doing this, So
we're doing it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I you know, I'm I feel like the industry just
moves that way. Like when things are supposed to happen,
they happen, you know what I mean. And so I
think this is this is the perfect time to have
this podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Conrad. Can you tell us a little bit about your
music journey, Like what may you come to like Christian music?
Like how did faith and music start to come to you?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yeah, I I mean music has been a part of
my life, my whole life. I feel like I grew
up in a big Irish family, and so every family
gathering or party had live music in it in somewhere,
you know. I grew up playing the flute in the
ten whistle. My cousins played the tim whistle of the fiddle.
My I had other cousins who Irish danced, and so
every family party had some sort of music and dancing
(01:09):
element to it, and so I fell in love with music.
I learned to play by ear from a very young age,
and then picked up instruments in like Greade school and
played all through high school. And but always I always
just had a love for live music. I grew up
going to this festival called the Alive Fest and in Ohio,
and that's when I really felt the like fire start
to grow in my heart. Of like I watched these
(01:30):
artists on these stages and I was like, man, I
just want to do that. And I didn't know, Like
I remember thinking like I didn't know you could do this,
Like you could use your musical gifts to glorify God
and worship in this way and communicate joy in this way.
And it was just I was so captivated by it
and it was actually cool, like from that moment sitting
around a campfire, because we would camp at this festival
(01:52):
multiple summers of my childhood. I remember sitting around the
campfire just you know, thinking about and dreaming about, like
I want to be one of these guys. And just
just last weekend I played a live fest for the
first time.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
As you just played there, I.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Think, yeah, so it was a really cool, really really
cool full circle moment for me in my career. And
we had a great show. It was awesome. But yeah,
I just I fell in love with that at an
early age and then just kind of had the hunger
and in an age before it was like Instagram and
TikTok and social media. All I knew how to do
was like the next thing in front of me. So
I was like, well, I guess I should ask for
a guitar for my birthday, and then I guess I
(02:26):
should take guitar lessons, and then I guess I should
find people in my school who want to try to
write songs with me. You know. It was just kind
of like all these simple, little practical steps and all
the while God was growing this gift and this desire
in my heart to the point where it's brought me
this far you know where. Now I'm doing it as
a full time artist all these many many years later.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Cool, and you said a livefest is in Ohio.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Are you from Ohio then, yeah, yeah, I grew up
just outside of Cleveland in a town called Richfield. I'm
now living in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I've been here. My
wife's from here, so we've been out here for almost
twelve years now. But I grew up, yeah, just outside
of Cleveland, Michigan.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So I don't get them all.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Well, contrary to mosti Ohioans, I am not an Ohio
State fan. So we can we can have a friendship.
We'll be okay.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
That's why I don't worry like Ohio State heads or Michigan.
I was interviewing an artist with somebody and he was
an Ohio State fan, Billy Buchannon. He's he was a
fuse box back in the day, and we were talking
about Michigan Ohio State like back and four point five
minutes on the podcast, that's all we're break before the
gate two.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So it's like, now I am I am a Notre
Dame fan, and I know there's a lot of beef
with Notre Dame in Michigan, but it's not nearly as
extreme as Ohio State Michigan, so we should be okay.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Not bad, I'll give you that. Yeah, yeah, so we
can continue this podcast episode down now. I know that
Connor's out of Ohio State fan, but you were just
talking about all I FS and with that, you probably
prove you have a new album that is coming out
or coming out depending on the date we released, so
caught Seasons. Can you tell us a little bit about
that project and the journey of that, like, what's the
(04:04):
heart's what sparked that project.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, the record's called Seasons. It's coming out of August fifth,
so maybe if yeah, depending on when you release this episode,
you might have already heard it. Maybe today's release day.
I don't know who knows. It's uh, it's really just
the story of these last two years. So about two
years ago, uh to this summer, I quit my full
time work to be an artist. I've been building my
music business in my artistry for almost ten years now,
(04:28):
and it was just two years ago that I quit
my job to go full time and we quit, I mean,
we discerned it. We prayed into it, we felt really
called to it. We felt a lot of peace about
the decision. But once you're on the other side of
that decision, man, it was It's been a wild ride,
the ups and downs of making a living as an
(04:48):
artist and paying bills and providing. You know, I have
four kids and another on the way very very soon.
Uh so we'll have five kids here soon. And it's
just been a wild ride. And I thought the discernment
to make the decision to go full time was hard,
and that was the easy part. Like praying into that
was the easy part. Now being on the other side
of it living it, like living that yes, like we
(05:10):
said yes to God's call, and now living that yes
has been the hard part. And I say that in
a joyful way, like it's been awesome. You know, it's
been so life giving for our family. It's been God
has been providing for us, but it has been tough.
So this record is just that story. It's called Seasons
because it just talks about the different seasons of life
that God has us in and it's these songs are
(05:31):
songs that I wrote for myself to help me get
through this season of life, like to keep me anchored
and to keep me grounded, to keep me close to
Jesus in times where I felt immense stress and anxiety,
to keep me to keep my spirits up when I
felt like I was down in the depths of despair,
and like this, God, you know, we followed you into
this unknown of a music career as a full time artist,
(05:54):
and you know where are you now in the midst
of it. So it's been Yeah, this record has really
been kind of the soundtrack to my last two years.
And as I was going through the ups and downs
of the last two years, we were just I was
getting together with my producer every other week and we
were just writing and we're just and we're just kind
of putting demos aside. And it wasn't until like even
(06:14):
like eight months ago that I was like, Man, I
think I think it's time we really finished some of
these And so we we got together and cranked it out,
and yeah, I'm really excited. It's it's the best music
I've ever made by far, and I can't wait for
people to hear it.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
With that being said, like even nor kind this for
the last two years, it's kind of like that pot
because so like this is probably what you were up
to it at a time, So it's really exciting. Yeah, yeah, well, yeah,
that's it.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
You know. You had mentioned earlier that I had taken
a step back from social media, and it's so true.
I just felt God calling, like a god saying, hey,
like focus on Him first and foremost, and then focus
on my music and my art. And in today's day
and age in the music industry, like social media is
such a huge part of it. Like you, it's hard
to exist as an artist if you're not dumping time
and energy and resources into the digital space. And I
(06:59):
was like, I just and tired of it. I need
to like go back to how I originally started writing songs,
which was like me, my guitar and the Lord, and
I need to go there for inspiration first before I
go online for inspiration. And so this record is the
fruit of that, Like, this record is the fruit of
me kind of getting back to my roots going to
Jesus first, cutting out all distraction and just writing what
(07:21):
I felt like God was welling up in my heart
and writing the story that I was living, putting it
to music, and honestly, like what you know, I'm holding
it loose like this record. I don't know what it's
going to do. I feel like it's going to be
a big record for me, but it's already been big
because it's brought healing and peace and joy to my soul,
and so my prayer is that it would do that
(07:42):
same thing for whoever whoever listens to it.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
During this record season, was there a specific moment where
you fought like God's presence in a unique way, like, Yes,
let's keep going on with this record, because I know
in a genre that's ever so changing in the music
in Christianusic industry especially, it's ever so changing. Now you're
seeing like a big emergency and like kip hop, but
now you're also seeing a big emergency like country, R
and B and all these artists as are trying eight
(08:06):
hundred styles now, like Brandon Lake's Lash album, it was
a country, it was rock, it was hip hop. Did
you feel like his presence in like a different, unique
way or like, how do you feel about like the
different genres like everyone's involving trying to do different genres.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that. I was just on
Instagram today and I saw a friend of mine who's
an independent artist, and he's like a rock artist, and
he just posted a reel of him doing this like
really upbeat pop song, and it just felt I was like,
oh man, I like I My prayer is I just
hope artists are being authentic. If you're being authentic to
who you are, you could try any style you want.
But oftentimes I worry that people are chasing trends. Right,
(08:44):
They're seeing what's popping off and then they're chasing that.
And I think that's one of the ways God showed
his face to me most clearly in the last two years,
is just affirming the choices I was making with my life,
like got you know, affirming my decision to get off
socials right, affirming my decision to double down on songwriting,
(09:08):
Affirming my decision to prioritize my family first, even though
I quit my full time job to be an artist.
And it could have been like hustle, grind, you know, work,
work until I'm red in the face and sweat and blood,
you know, and it's like no, Like, God has been
so faithful to my trust in Him in my pursuit
of peace that only He can provide. And these songs
(09:30):
I think are the fruit of that and for me,
you know, I'm a hip hop slash pop artist. I
actually like to tell people I'm a hip hop artist
with the worship leader's heart. You know. I a lot
of my songs start on the guitar, and I think
the style of music I make is starting to become very,
very trendy, and so I do worry about that. I'm like, man,
am I going to be influenced by the Forrest Franks,
(09:50):
the counter Price, the Nick d you know? Even like
you know, one of my biggest influences are you know,
Toby mack, John, John Belly and Mackilmore Christian so non
Christian artists. And in the last two years, I shut
it all off, Like I didn't. I did not listen
to any music. Like people will be like, oh, what
do you listen to? And I'm like, I listen to jazz,
(10:12):
Like that's it. Like I only listen to either lo
fi music or jazz music. I don't listen to anything
else because I want all of my inspiration and my
thoughts to become from what God is speaking to me
and the style that I want, like I feel called
to make and not be influenced by what's trending or
what's popular, and I think we did that. Like this record,
(10:33):
you know, I listened to all these songs and it's modern,
Like it sounds very modern and has a lot of
really cool sounds, and but it's not. And I there's
not one song on the album that feels like it's
trying to be something it's not. There's not one song
on the album where it's like, oh, he was chasing that.
And that's one thing I've always loved about Toby Mac.
One of my greatest inspirations is through the ups and
(10:54):
downs of styles and genres and what's popping almost trending,
Toby always comes out with and you're like, man, he
just is so true to himself, and he's always crafting
a new sound that's fresh and clean and attractive and
you know, sonically awesome, but it never feels like he's
chasing anything. So I try to model that in my music.
(11:15):
I think we have some really cool songs on this album,
and I'm really proud of the fact that we kind
of shut out all the distractions and we're like, you
know what, We're gonna make what we feel called to make,
and not chase what someone else is doing right now.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I like how you brought it to me.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Man.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
He I think his Life After Death album is one
of my favorite albums of all time at Christian He's
like that album is just so impactful and so powerful.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, yeah, it's so good. I mean, he's just he's
a storyteller, right, And I think you know what you
can run into is if you're just trying to chase
a sound or a trend, as you lose the element
of a story. And I think that's one of the
most powerful parts about good songs is they tell stories, right,
they take people on a journey. And if you're just
chasing a trend or you're just chasing a sonic yeah,
(11:59):
sonic trend, you're gonna you're gonna lose that whole element
to your your songs and your music.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
And what's powerful is with the music industry is one
has their own unique sound and it makes this genre,
how to say, like a verse in so many ways.
Like there you can have like, oh, I'm a Christian
rockcards I'm a Christian rock rdist too, but then you
have like scream, oh you have like garage rock, you
have like like I've been seeing a big emergency pop
punk like Christian pop punk a lot.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Yeah, totally, I love it. I think there's so much
room for it. There's the world is so big. I
think there's an audience for everything, and so I love
watching all this creativity kind of blossom and flourished across
the industry right now, but season is coming out.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Do you have anything behind the stories, like scenes, behind
the scenes stories, like any fun unexpected stories that you
would like to share?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Oh, I got it, Yeah, gosh, I got a ton
I there's probably there's two stories that I think that
come to mind right away. As one one of my
favorite songs, if not my favorite, there's a song on
the album called Die Trying, and it's just about me
not feeling It's my story of like how I don't
feel like I'm ever good enough and I compare myself
(13:12):
to a lot of people, and god, I know I'll
never figure this out, but I'll die trying, right Like
I'll spend my whole life trying to be good enough.
So it's kind of this plan, like I know that's
not healthy, like that I should all that I'm trying
to overwork myself into being good enough. Like I know
I'm loved as I am as a son of God,
and I know where my identity lies. But that's the temptation,
(13:33):
right is to like So it's just as honest song
about my pursuit of being valued and good enough in
my career, in fatherhood, as a person. And the day
we wrote that song, I had a session schedule with
my producer and I was not feeling inspired. I had
zero energy. The day before was just a terrible day
at work for me. I was just in my studio,
(13:55):
like banging my head against the wall. At this time,
I was in my basement studio. I have a new
studio now. I was in the basement, so I heard
my kids running around upstairs all day. They're banging on
the floor, They're making a ton of noise. So I
was kind of coming off of like a really discouraging
day and I was driving to the studio and I
said to myself, honestly out loud, I was like, man, well,
if I can't be creative today, or if I'm not
(14:17):
feeling creative, at least I can be honest. And I
sang out loud this line with a melody that I
was saying, my life is now divided between my family
my sanity, how do they become enemies? And I just
sang it out loud. I was like, that was the
cry of my heart, is like I feel like, God,
(14:37):
you're you know me working in my house now, in
my basement is is making me go crazy because I
hear the chaos of family life and it's distracting me.
And I can't stand that I'm distracted by the chaos
of family life. I want to be a good present
dad and so it was this tension in my heart
and so I just sang it out loud. It was
like the most honest thing that I could say. And
(14:58):
I show up at the session and I'm like, hey,
I think this is the song, Like this is what
I want to put into a song, is this line.
And it became this really cool song called Die Trying.
And it's the song that has been getting like as
I've shared the record with people, and I'd be happy
to share a copy of it with you before it
comes out if you want to listen. As I've been
sharing it with people, it's been the one song off
(15:18):
the record that almost I mean nine out of ten
times people are like, dude, die Trying like that song.
So yeah, that story, and then there's gosh, I mean
one of my cousin who drums for me. He's a producer,
and you know, we had ten songs slotted for this record.
(15:41):
We had to drop one of the songs because of
the feature on it couldn't finish it in time, and
we kind of knew that. So I was like, all right,
let's just let's save the song to be a single
in twenty twenty six and I'll replace it. My cousin
Patrick was you know, he went to a concert and
was inspired and stay up till like three in the morning,
and he texted me this beat. He's like, hey, I
wrote this, I created this instrumental, this beat. I think
(16:03):
it's going to be called carry Me, and I have
some ideas for lyrics if you want to hear it.
I was like, yeah, man, send it over. And I
really liked it, and so I was like, I don't
know what we're going to do with this, but let's
finish it. And so called up my go to writer
in Nashville, Bbe, and I was like, hey, do you
want to finish this song with me and my cousin.
She's like, yep. We hopped on a write. We finished
(16:24):
it and we all were like, dang, this song is good,
Like we like this track. And this was like a
couple of weeks before we were kind of getting into
like finish the album and we needed this like tenth song,
and so I went to my cousin. I was like, Hey,
could I put this on my album? Like are you
cool with like this going on the record? And he
doesn't produce me, like he's he's a budding producer, he's
(16:44):
kind of just getting started and he's like, yeah, I mean,
if you want to. So it was cool. So it's
just fun. It was a fun moment for him to
get a big cut, like his first cut on a record.
And I really liked the song. It's a fun, upbeat
pop song and the messages really powerful and Phoebe is
just a rock star when it comes to melodies, so
(17:05):
uh yeah, it was just it was a really fun
song to write and it's a really fun song to
perform too.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
So cool and like those things that happen to unexpected
things are always the best way. But I feel like
there's a lot of songs that people want to cut
from an album or add into an album last minute,
and I feel like those are always like the most
impactful and most like important ones that everyone foks to.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yeah yeah, And it's it's kind of been an anthem
like the songs called carry Me, and it's just about
like how it's kind of me crying out saying like God,
you carried me, then carry me out through all that
I'm going through. You know, I've seen you do it once,
do it again, and I go back and listen to
it as like I need to hear this song, like God,
you you provided for us last month, I need you
(17:45):
to provide again this month, you know. I like so
it's a powerful song and it's convicting every time I
listen to it.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Hope your cousin once't coming back around? Cold Play concert?
Okay too soon? Too soon?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah not quite, not quite, Nope.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
That they just spend like up the internet lately, Like
every time I go ahead Instagram of Facebook, I see
like one of those like you always have the meme
of the summer, and that's like the meme of the summer.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
It's crazy how much that can kind of just spread
across all platforms so fast.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
And do you have any goals or like dreams you
hope with this album, like do you plan on like
doing any of my shows, I know you just did
a lot best or do you have like any goals
or something you want to work on with this album,
like to help promote the album.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, I mean I'm treating the album. I'm treating it
like it's a collection of ten singles, and so I'm
kind of reversed. I'm reversed promoting it. So I'm putting
an album out, but then I'm gonna promote each song
like their individual single. So for between August fifth and
January first, it's about every three and a half weeks,
I'm gonna promote each song it's a single, So you're
(18:48):
for three weeks you will see me go hard on
socials promoting one song at a time. So for three
weeks it'll be the title track Seasons, and then for
the next three weeks it'll be the next song you know,
Oxygen or Sun Comes Up or whatever they are. Because
when you're when someone's on their feed, they don't know
if songs are singles or if they're cut from albums
(19:10):
or whatever. And so for me, it's like, well, i
want to put an album out, I want to get
ten of my best songs out there and then promote
each one like it's a single, so that if something
pops off or if people really like it, they can
end up back on Spotify and be like, dang, there's ten,
you know, there's nine more for me to go listen to.
So the goal, the goal in terms of promoting it
is just to go you go, harden the paint with content,
(19:31):
really really crush Instagram and TikTok and and get these
songs to people. I'm doing a fall tour, so we're
doing about ten to fifteen dates across the Midwest this fall,
which I'm really really excited about. We're still locking some
of those in, but they're coming in and they're getting
on the calendar, which is awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And honestly, man, I just like, I just really I
believe these songs are going to reach people, like because
they're just they're written from the most honest places in
my heart and so I know, I know there's people
out there who will benefit from them, and I just
can't wait to hear those stories.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
The most honest songs, like the most honest songs are
like the most impactful songs. And I see that a
lot now, Like for like every artists like we brought
Toby Mack earlier, like twenty one years that was like
a big impactful and honest song. Yeah, and then there's
like Spread by Way Jamie McDonald like all those like
impactful songs, like they are whole personal stories, And I
feel like that's what this music industry is going to.
Katie Nicole has like a lot of like honest songs
(20:26):
too recently. Yeah, I feel like that's where a lot
of the people are flocking towards now.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Yeah, they just I mean, in our increased uh in
are in the world, in a world where digital entertainment
is becoming more and more and there's more and more distraction,
and there's more and more fake everything. People just want
what's real, you know, and and it takes a lot
of work to write that. You know, you have to
go through renditions of songs, and it's gold. It's mining
for gold, right, You're just digging in your heart all
(20:54):
day long to try to figure out how can I
just say what's honest in a way that people can
relate to. So, yeah, it's a fun challenge and I
think we I think we struck gold with some of
the songs on this record. And it gets me excited
for some of the stuff I'm writing for twenty twenty
six and beyond.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
We should walk towards the album. Listen to it, leave
a comment till it's all you think about the comments.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Please Paul Connor's journey on Instagram. He has a lot
of engaging reels with it. Like you said, he's gonna
promote the heck out of all these songs. It's gonna
be exciting, right See.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
I hope I'm annoying online. That's the goal.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Not being annoying online, You're not doing your job right.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Yeah, I feel like the bigger social media presidence you have,
the more act of your fan base will be That's
my reason again. I found that out.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, and it's it's kind of I feel like it's
becoming more and more of a common thread in the
industry or talked about. You know, it takes it takes
around seven touch points for somebody to buy something, if
you're like am you know, affiliate marketing or whatever. It
be like someone has to see something around seven times
before they go click on it. And I think I
noticed that my own life, you know, if I just
I just bought some like supplements off an Instagram ad
(22:02):
and it was like, Man, I saw that ad so
many times before I clicked on it. And I think
a lot of musicians are adopting that mentality of like
man artists or your your average consumer and needs to
see your music pop up in their feed multiple times,
building trust with you as an artist before they go
and get off the app into Spotify or Apple Music
to actually you know, engage with your platforms there. So
(22:24):
that's the goal. It's just to flood the market and
create content that's meaningful and encouraging and inspiring for people
and you know, really get them to come back and
listen to the record.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
I was doing some of my artists research if you're
if you want to check out some of comments music
that's out if we're opposed to before this season, you
had a song with Seth Leader before even counting My
Blessings come out, and I was really cool to see
when I was researching a little bit.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. SEP's family it's not like it's
not public knowledge, but he and I go back. We
were second cousins, I think, so I knew him growing up.
One of the first shows I did UH was for
one of was his dad runs a ministry out of Toledo, Ohio,
and he had me come out and do a show
for them, and I remember Seph was like, I don't know,
(23:06):
ten or twelve years old, like in the audience, you know,
like rocking to my show. But yeah, I love I
love Sef. I'm so proud of him. He's crushing it.
And yeah, that song is that song is one of
my favorite songs I've ever written today, and I would
love to get more ears on it because Seph's verse
on it even is one of my favorite verses. Like
I sent him that song to write to it, and
(23:27):
within like two hours he was just like, Hey, how
does this sound? And I was like, bro, you need
to do more hip hop songs, man. Your voice, like
his voice just crushes on this verse. It's got like
an old school kind of post Malone kid Leroy type
feel to it. And so one of these days, when
we're playing the same festival, we're gonna do that song
together live and it's gonna be a blast.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
And for those who haven't watched it, you can check
out my interview with Seph Shooter. It's about a year ago.
So you're gonna have to deep dive into channel. But
that was a great fun interview to have.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, that's awesome. I have to go listen to that too.
I'm excited to hear what y'all talked about.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
And do you have any more festivals at this year?
I know you just did a live fest. Do you
have like any like favorite memories of a live fest
or is there a festival you wish you could play
at one day?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I mean, a live fest was always the big one,
so to I mean, obviously we'd love to go back, right,
It would be a you know, we made a lot
of great connections there and met some new fans, and
so it would be awesome to have a chance to
go back. And their team, the a live festival team
is unreal. I have never worked with a festival team
that was across the board from the first email I
(24:29):
got to the last person I shook hands with and
said goodbye to when we were like on the festival grounds,
every single person from tech to crew members, to the
owners of the festival, to catering to you know, stage management,
all every single person was unbelievably hospitable, kind. They cared
for us, Our needs were taken care of it was
(24:51):
really like next level. So that was a huge shout
out to the Alive Fest team because they were unreal.
But Kingdom Bound, you know, was another one that's been
on the books for a while. We've we've gone back
and forth with them a lot, and we're just trying
to find the right time to make it happen, you know,
and then you you name it. You know, As an
independent artist, I'm always reaching out and trying to get
(25:14):
on the bill and which is hard to do, but
it's you know, you just got to keep knocking. And
we've had a lot of success just knocking. We played
Creation Festival a handful of years ago before shutdown River
Rock Festival out in Main Awesome festival they had to
close too, but man, it was a really cool festival.
So yeah, I'm grateful as an independent artist. You know,
people are always taking a chance on us because we
(25:35):
don't have major label backing or anything like that, and
so when people do, I take it serious, like we
really want to deliver and bring a ton of value
to these festivals and to the stages that we're on
because I'm always so honored that we get an opportunity.
So yeah, well we We'll play whatever comes our way.
So if there's festivals listening to this, hit us up,
we'd love to play it. Some of my favorite events
(25:55):
we play are the smallest ones. We played a budding
festival called Break the Chains in the middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania,
and the stage was like a tractor trailer with a
tent on top of it, and it was unbelievable. The ministry,
it's a ministry helping people who struggle with addictions, and
that's they're helping them break their chains, and so it's just, yeah,
(26:19):
we we've got they They saw us at Creation and
then asked us to come play their festival the first
year they did it, and it was just unbelievable. People.
Unbelievable people again, so kind, so intentional, so genuine, such
huge hearts for the work they were doing in this
tiny town. And you know, it's one of those things
where they bring you in to kind of bless them
(26:41):
and give your performance, and we end up leaving feeling
almost more blessed by who they were and how they
served us and the opportunity that they gave us and
the conversations that we had and the people that we
prayed with or prayed with us, Like we always leave
these events feeling so spoiled, like wow, we get to
do this and people like us to come in and
(27:02):
so yeah, it's events big or small, stages that are
big or small, it doesn't matter, Like we just love.
We love being able to use our gifts to honor
God and to serve people and to bring joy to
whatever atmosphere and environment that we're in.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
So I recommend checking out Unity Fest and this is
fine one for you, like I'm talking to you right, yeah,
Like Unity that's in Michigan. They have a couple of
independent artists here, so that this year before Eli Gables
was signing with Capitol Records that they have Eli Gable.
They have the band Jarring coming up that have Caleb
and John.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, they've I actually I don't know
if I've reached out to Unity Fest. I've seen them
and their stuff from Afar for a while now and
it looks like an awesome festival. So I'll have to just.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Right across a lake in the state from here.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
So yeah, yeah, it's not far Michigan, though, depending on
where you're trying to go in Michigan, it can be
a funny place to get to because you know, the
big hand. I don't know, however, you guys do it, uh,
you know, like if in some ways it might even
be you know, easier for me to go way north
up through Canada and then come back down. We played
we played Big Ticket Festival, which is like northern Michigan,
(28:05):
and that one was a long one to get too,
because once you get to Michigan, you're like, oh wait,
we still have like two more hours, three more hours
to drive north to get to this this festival.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
So and festals are always fun to go to, like
I said, like you said, festivals are just a great thing.
I feel like that's a big thing in Christian music.
I feel like festivals are like the summer version of
a winter jam, but it's every different. Every festal is
like a.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Different Yeah, it's so the festival environment is like electric,
like everyone's just there to have a good time, to
cheer each other on, to support each other. You know,
we're at a live fest. We're meeting other bands, We're
in the front row at other people's sets, you know,
like cheering them on. And I love live music, like
I you know, as an artist, I'm I am an
artist because I fell in love with live music, and
(28:47):
so I still love going to shows, like I still
love being a fan, even if it's the smallest artist.
It doesn't matter, Like I'm every show I play, if
I have an opener, I'm always down in front watching
the opener, you know. At the fest like all the
artists who played on the stage that we played on,
I was down in the crowd, like I'm like, these
are you know, I want to support y'all, like I believe.
(29:09):
I don't just believe in what I'm doing. I believe
in what this industry is doing. And I'm a big
fan of the industry too. I'm a big fan of
all these artists because gosh, the world needs it. The
world needs more artists who are Christians who are trying to,
you know, preach the gospel in dark places and even
even in light places. People who do believe need more
encouragement to keep going because life is hard, you know. Community, yeah, yeah,
(29:33):
And so festivals are just like a shot in the arm.
They're like a great place to just get excited about
what you're doing, connect with other artists, find awesome new artists,
drink lemonade, eat funnel cakes, you know, do the whole thing.
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