Kristen Brown

Josh Mattei, is back from his two week vacation and is chatting with Kristen Brown! Kristen, was a contestant on season 24 of The Voice on NBC and is currently working on her debut album.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This week on Country on Deck. You know, it's been such an
amazing experience. It was funny, though, the first
day I got here. I'm talking hours within my cars
and park. I'm in Nashville.
I'm saying to my dad and my fiance, I'm finally here.
I can really just go for it. And my phone rings.
I took my dad to the Country Music Hall of Fame to thank him

(00:21):
for driving me 'cause we wanted to go together.
Neither of us have been, and we're taking a picture outside
of the Hall of Fame. My phone goes off.
I got a phone call that said, hey, Kristen, can you be in
Modesto, CA next week to open for Dustin Lynch?
So I flew back to California as soon as I got to Tennessee, got
to the airport again, went all right, we're going back to

(00:42):
Tennessee. Phone rings again.
Hey, can you come to the show with Brett Young in Lodi, CA?
So I was in California for two straight weeks.
California wasn't ready to let you go.
They weren't. They noticed I was gone and said
hey, wait a second, where'd she go?
They're like, we're going to find every excuse to drag her
back here. Exactly.

(01:05):
Discover the stories of rising country stars Country on Deck
with Josh Maddie. Kick off your boots and settle
in country on this about to begin.

(01:29):
Josh Maddie's here. Stars on the rise.
Voices of hope, dreams in their eyes, singer songwriters,
stories on phone. Hearts are wandered, hearts out
of bones, dusty roads to writes Angelines.

(01:53):
Capture the Journey shares theirright Country on deck.
We're tuning in well, the new star stories are coming in.
In a small town Dreams, they're going to take you away.

(02:14):
Country on Deck with John Mayer.Hello and welcome to another
episode of Country on Deck whereI sit down with today's rising
country stars and help you discover the stories behind
their music. I'm your host, Josh Maddie, and

(02:34):
I'm back, I'm finally back at mydesk in Connecticut with another
rising country star on the show.This week took a couple weeks
off and I'll share with you the rising country star that we are
chatting with in just a bit. But first, if you missed our
reposted, we did put a reposted episode up last Friday for you

(03:00):
to listen to. It was a conversation that
originally came out in November of 2024 and I believe it was
November 14th of 2024. It was a conversation with the
talented and very, very kind Josh Ward.
We talked to Josh about his album that was going to be

(03:21):
coming out at the beginning of this year.
It came out in January of 2025. This album of course, called
Same Old Cowboy, Different Rodeoand when we talked with him he
told us a couple reasons why he was really excited for the album
to come out and why. It was so special to him.
There's a reason this record is.Special.

(03:42):
It took everything that I had toput it together, it took
everything that I had to write the songs.
It took everything that I had tocome back.
And we're finally getting to seeit.
If you'd like to hear our full conversation with Josh Ward,

(04:03):
that reposted episode from from last year, it is streaming.
It's below this episode on the platform that you're listening
on. And don't forget to hit that
follow button on the platform that you're listening on right
now. We released new conversations
with new rising country stars each and every Friday, and we

(04:27):
don't want you to miss one. Man, I'm excited to be back
doing what I love. Of course, we took the last
couple weeks off. I'm sure you noticed that with
the reposted episodes, the the Josh Ward episode that we've
been talking about and the Cody Hibbard episode that was
reposted the week prior had a ton of fun in Pennsylvania and

(04:51):
Washington. DCI was talking to Timothy James
about this prior to the the start of the writers round.
That happened the other night atthe barn our our November
writers round and we were talking about taking a step away
and how awesome it is and how needed it is from time to time

(05:13):
to take that break. And then when you go back and
you have your first Co write or if you have your first episode,
it feels it feels new again. It feels a little bit more
exciting. And and that's how I'm feeling
right now about this week's episode.
Just so happy to be back bringing you the stories behind

(05:36):
rising country stars. Very excited for this episode
with a rising country star from California.
You might have seen her on The Voice part of Team Gwen and a
short time with Team John Legendseason 24 of the of the Voice.
She's currently hard at work on her debut album.

(05:58):
Excited to ask her all about that on the show this week.
Kristen Brown. Kristen, thanks so much for for
making some time for Country on Deck.
I'm excited to have you on and chat with you and help people
learn more about your story. Of course, thanks for having me.
You you recently just had a birthday, right?

(06:20):
I did. I turned 27 over the weekend.
Awesome. Happy happy birthday.
How did that go? Thank you so much.
It was, you know, super nice. My mom came into town from
Sacramento and so it was just mymom, my fiance and I went to a
few antique stores in Bell Buckle, TN, went to brunch, and
then just kind of took it easy. That sounds like a pretty good

(06:43):
birthday, just kind of a little extra R&R time to celebrate.
Exactly 100%. Are you big into antiques?
Oh absolutely. Like it's one of my all time
favorite things. That is my self-care routine is
put in the headphones and walk through an antique mall.
That is my happy place. What What's one of the most
interesting things you found on on one of your searches?

(07:05):
That's a really good question because I feel like everything,
everything is fun when you find that it has its own story.
My family actually, as a unit found one that was really
interesting fairly recently in an antique store in Auburn.
My dad ended up finding this trophy and he was reading it and
my dad's a professional bass fisherman and it was for a

(07:26):
fishing club in Socal. And he was trying to make out
what it said and he took a picture of it and he sent it to
to the club and he said, hey, does this mean anything to you
guys? And they called him back
immediately and said, where did you find that?
This is for one of our the top fishermen.
They had had and their trophy room had burned down.
They lost all of their memorabilia.

(07:48):
And so we were able to buy this $20 trophy, send it to them, and
now it's their first piece and their new Hall of Fame.
Oh wow, that's a really cool story.
It's wild. And then when I asked, 'cause I
said, well, how did you find this?
They said, oh, I think Carol from the church brought it in.
I was like, where did Carol Girlget it?
She didn't realize what she had on her hands.
She had no idea. Is that part of the the

(08:10):
excitement going in and kind of seeing the the value in
something that maybe somebody else doesn't?
Oh, absolutely. Another fun thing is when you
walk through and you go to because there's the beautiful
things, right, that you want to purchase and take home with you.
And then there's the things thatyou have to think to yourself.
Someone had this in their house and it's always interesting

(08:34):
because there's something for everybody in an antique store.
I was on vacation the last couple weeks and I went to
Pennsylvania. There's there's this big farmers
market out there called the Green Dragon and they have a
bunch of antiques throughout thewhole property.
And it was definitely really cool to see.
So I definitely agree with you, it's a lot of fun.
It's a boss, it's a great time and it's nice and relaxing.

(08:55):
What was it like for you personally growing up in
California? We were talking about the the
weather before we we hopped on. It must have been awesome
weather all the time, nice and warm.
California weather is phenomenal.
I am from Northern California sowe do see a little bit more of
seasons than Southern California.
I lived in a little town outsideof Sacramento called Roseville

(09:18):
for my entire life and then two for only two years before I
moved to Nashville. I lived in a town called Cool,
kind of up by Forest Hill. And so that town saw snow.
That was the first time I ever had to drive in snow, exist in
snow. I was terrified.
And then everything else. I mean, I don't think it really
got colder than 50°. So when I got here and yesterday

(09:42):
for example, my mom and I are walking around 12th Ave. in
Nashville and it is 37°. It is snowing.
My poor mother from California is dreading her decision to come
visit me. She's like, of all the times I
went to Nashville, it's got to snow.
Exactly, and I take her back to the airport today and it is a

(10:02):
solid 50°. Oh man, sounds like New England
just all over the place. You know, but it's, it's always
fun. We get fall colors here, the
season, we get seasons here. That's going to be new.
You said the name of the town inCalifornia it was called Cool.
It was. We had a sign that said have a
cool day. It was.
It was awesome. My mind instantly went to the

(10:26):
the weather like it was. It's ironic that a town in
California that gets cold is called cool.
You know, I thought that too. When we moved there, we realized
that it is in fact 10° colder and cool than it is in
Roseville. And so whenever someone would
say something, I'd say, yeah, it's definitely cooler because
that's who I am as a person, butit's fine.

(10:48):
Musically, your your mom knew that you were going to be
musical while she was pregnant with you.
Like right away she. Did you do your research?
That was impressive. You're like consulted the baby
book. We found everything out.
Yeah, I guess when before I was Earth side, I guess I was very
active with music and everythingand certain beats.

(11:10):
And then, yeah, it was just a thing that I took to really,
really young. Both my parents showed me great
music. My mom is big in the 70s music.
So I grew up with a lot of, you know, Elton John and all that on
Carpenters on her side. And then my dad showed me the
classic country, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, all that on his
side. So it's a lovely little melting
pot of music. You're a big fan of the the

(11:32):
Chicks growing up as well. That was your first record they.
Were it's a burned version of mydad.
So my dad had a copy of Home andhe burned me a copy.
I still have the the knock off CD.
Sorry chicks. I will pay for it now if you
want me to. The burned copy really did get
its its use. It's not even labeled.

(11:54):
It's just this white CD with blueprint on it.
And that's how I remember what it is.
But yeah, they're my very first record.
I knew White Trash Wedding by the time I was 4.
My mom did not find that very funny.
My dad found it hilarious. Both sides of the argument.
Exactly. But I mean, on that record, I
grew up with Traveling Soldier, Long Time Gone, just really

(12:17):
stellar music. So it was a really good jumping
off point for country music. You sound like somebody that was
maybe making your own like playlists growing up like on
ACD, like a burnt CD. Oh, my best friend and I, we
definitely did that as soon as we figured out that you could,
because everything else before it would just be playlist you
made on your iPod nano. And then past that, Oh yeah, Oh

(12:38):
yeah, we're throwing it back. We would have that.
And then iTunes, you were able to put your playlist together.
And that was back when laptops had ACD port.
So we would make each other likemusical theater mixes and all
the stuff. It was fun.
You, you recently moved to to Nashville, right?
Like not that long ago. Yeah, it's funny.
I'm so glad we were finally ableto do this.

(12:59):
But the first time we actually were going to hop on the phone,
I was in the car driving to Tennessee.
Oh wow, that that was part of your trip to move out.
It was, yeah. So I played a Vegas residency in
early September, and my dad and my mom came one night, and then
they flew back to SAC, and my dad drove my car with all of my
equipment back to Vegas. And from Vegas, we drove to

(13:23):
Tennessee. Well, that explains it now why
you were so busy that meant. It it was a it was a lot.
It was a lot of nothingness. I felt so bad.
I took so many business calls that dropped every 5 minutes.
It was great. That must have been really
exciting for you though, to finally make that big move and
and kind of commit to to music full fledge in Nashville.

(13:45):
You know, it's been such an amazing experience.
It was funny, though, the first day I got here.
I'm talking hours within my carsand park.
I'm in Nashville. I'm saying to my dad and my
fiance, I'm finally here, I can really just go for it.
And my phone rings. I took my dad to the Country
Music Hall of Fame to thank him for driving me 'cause we wanted
to go together. Neither of us have been and

(14:06):
we're taking a picture outside of the Hall of Fame.
My phone goes off. I got a phone call that said,
hey, Kristen, can you be in Modesto, CA next week to open
for Dustin Lynch? So I flew back to California as
soon as I got to Tennessee, got to the airport again, went all
right, we're going back to Tennessee.
Phone rings again. Hey, can you come to the show

(14:27):
with Brett Young in Lodi, CA? So I was in California for two
straight weeks. California wasn't ready to let
you go. They weren't.
They noticed I was gone and saidhey, wait a second, where'd she
go? They're.
Like we're going to find every excuse to drag her back here.
Exactly. That's cool though, opening up
for those are some pretty big names.

(14:49):
That's awesome. It was so much fun.
We had, we had a blast. And then I mean, if California
wants to keep calling with stufflike that, I will always answer.
What was one of the first exciting things that happened in
Nashville? Truthfully, I've been very, very
fortunate. Within a week of living here, I
was able to go take a few label meetings which were really great

(15:11):
and everyone has been so sweet and so supportive.
Got to do some more writers rounds and I could actually say,
hey guys, I live here now, not I'm here till Tuesday and that
was a big deal. How often would you when you
were still based out of California?
How often would you go back and forth?
Pretty often or. I would try to go every other
month if I could just because shows would be so crazy to where

(15:35):
you can't always predict when you're able to go.
I would try to come out here every other month.
That's exciting. That must be, yeah, must be feel
like a kind of a grind though the the back and forth.
It is my, But then what? There were so many flights when
I first got here. None direct because we are an
independent artist. So we don't have those funds

(15:57):
yet, folks. But I think I probably took 16
to 18 flights within the first month.
So yeah, very familiar with the movies that I download on my
iPad. You already had your on flight
snack picked out. And I've already learned that if
you're on Southwest, the shorterflights mean the Graham

(16:17):
crackers. So I do hope for those.
What, what was the the driving force that made you take that
that leap? Like was there something
specific? Ever since I was on The Voice,
the opportunities have really been absolutely incredible and
everyone's been so, so open to me and my music, which has been
incredible. But it was just a thing where I

(16:38):
went, if I really want to do this, I have to show country
music that I'm 100% committed tothem.
And that meant moving to be in the hub of country music.
And you know, it's, it's been great.
That's really cool though, that you were on The Voice, that
that's part of your story. How did you decide between This

(16:59):
is one of the things I was the most curious about.
How did you decide between Gwen and Reba being a country
aspiring country artist? That must have been a heck of a
challenge for you. I know.
And I felt so bad for them because the whole time leading
up to it, in every interview, I was like Reba, Reba, Reba, I'm
going to team Reba. That's going to be my goal is
Reba. And then they tell you and it's

(17:20):
100%. They say trust your gut in the
moment. And I am the most indecisive
human being that exists. And so when I'm standing there,
you genuinely have 10 to 15 seconds to make this decision.
And it's not even just the decision of what team you're
going to be on in those 10 to 15seconds.
You have to think, OK, which coach do I think is going to let

(17:42):
me get through battles? Who's going to take me to
knockouts? Who's going to like, you're
trying to see the long game? And they cut out a lot of Gwen's
pitch for me to join her team. She probably talked to me for 10
minutes just fighting for me to get on our team.
And Reba is the she's so sweet. I love her so much.

(18:02):
They're both incredible women artists and women.
And it was really, really tough.But I had to trust my gut in
that. Gwen fought hard.
And if someone is going to fighthard for me, they're going to
fight hard for me the whole show.
And she did. And I love her to pieces.
She did my introduction at Allred last month, but it was a
very difficult decision and one that I did hear a lot of lip

(18:23):
from, from my family when they said I thought you were going to
three. But he said.
But Gwen is everything. Did did you listen to a lot of
her music growing up? I did.
Oh my gosh, it was funny. About a month after the blinds
were airing, we're at a family outing at a roller rink where my
go to request was Sweet Escape and I was in my Team Gwen

(18:47):
sweatshirt and it was just the most surreal moment where I
went. Huh, this is weird.
Like as I've I've just I've always loved Gwen.
I've always loved Reba. So it was really, really tough.
But the cool thing about the voice is that all of the coaches
care. I got to talk to John before I
was even on his team. I talked to Niall before I was
on his team, same like or talkedto Niall like not being on his

(19:09):
team and same with Reba. They all want to help the
artists. They're not only like this is my
team and I will only help my team.
Having that connection to Gwen, what was going through your mind
when John stole you to be on histeam where you just like, thank
goodness I'm still on the show? Or were you like oh man, I miss
Gwen or. What was so crazy?

(19:30):
So when you're not on, so you'redouble miked on the show, you
have the mic in your hand and then you have the mic that's
taped to you under the outfit that you're wearing.
And so the one that's taped to you, that's where they get the
talking. And so the coaches have those.
So we can't hear when you're backstage.
We can't hear what's being said.We only hear when people sing,
and so we don't know how many steals are left, saves are left.

(19:54):
We don't know any of that. We could kind of guess based on
accents our season, because everybody had a different
accent. So that helped, but we had no
idea what was left. And so, as far as I knew going
into the knockout round, there was a Gwen.
Steal and a Reba save and that wouldn't do anything for me in

(20:17):
the event that I didn't win my knockout.
So we do everything. I end up crying in the middle of
my knockout round. It was just got super emotional
with the song and I wouldn't change a thing.
But that ended up happening. And so we go to do the lineup
and all the coaches are picking someone different.
And then Gwen picks Kara today. So deserving.

(20:38):
Kara's a sweetheart. So she runs down the victory
tunnel. And I think to myself, OK, so
that's it. And I'm thinking, man, I have to
now tell everyone I'm coming home earlier than I that I
wanted to be. And I I'm sitting in a little
chair and they make you go up and give your speech.
Carson Daly said. OK coaches, I want to remind you
that Kristen's available to steal.
And I thought that was for editing and I thought that was

(20:59):
so mean. I thought that was like salt in
the wound. And so I start giving my speech.
I said like, you know, this was my turn and it'll be my students
turn because I was a vocal coachat the time.
And as I say it, like when I go back and as I say that John
Legend presses the steel button,I had no clue that even existed.
I didn't know there was a chanceat that.

(21:20):
So there was a moment of relief.There was a moment of relief I
was on the show and relief that I didn't curse on national
television when I realized that what the heck that was, That was
our Lord and Savior saving me from anything else.
And I mean, it was amazing. And then they cut away pretty
quick. But in the moment, I remember

(21:41):
going and hugging John. And as I came out of the hug
with John, Gwen has her hands and her nails digging into my
arms. And she's like, I love you so
much. And I told her I love you so
much. So she's still so amazing, like
she hated, hates letting anybodygo from her team.
So she's just, she still stays involved.
Man, that sounds like a lot of hard decision making and and a

(22:03):
lot of emotions for everybody. A lot of whiplash.
A lot of whiplash involved. I could definitely picture you
up there though, like with this jaw down to the floor, like what
just happened. Yeah, definitely.
What was nice was a few of the other contestants had already
gone through the stolen process at that point.
And what they don't talk about is you're so excited when a

(22:27):
coach steals you and you're still on the show and you know
you're coming back next week. But there is still a moment
where, because like I said, it'swhiplash.
You think in your brain, you're leaving the show and then all of
a sudden you're not. And a lot of us actually talked
about it on how it it can affectyou.
Like you are sad and you don't know why.
And then it occurs to you that you're like, oh, I'm still

(22:49):
processing that. I'm going home feeling.
So that was interesting, but I mean, it made the IT made the
journey even more exciting. Both coaches, Gwen and John,
they, they brought like very different things to the table
for you to learn. They did.
John. It's so funny.
I always describe him as very regal.
When he walks in the room. You feel as though a king has

(23:09):
entered, has entered the premise.
And so John, he's really centricon the lyrics and the feeling of
whatever you're what you're going to be singing.
And Gwen is, I mean, she's the ultimate showgirl.
So she would walk us through, you know, this is how to convey
that message physically. And this is what we're going to

(23:29):
do in terms of that emotional connection as well.
Gwen gives the vibes of you can just sit on your couch and drink
wine and giggle. And so they were both so amazing
and they both helped me a lot. And I still carry a lot of what
they told me as I continue to perform.
Your your final performance on the show, you sang Lady A, a

(23:50):
song from Lady A Everybody thought you did a really, really
great, but it was not enough to stay on the show.
Why do you think that that you kind of fell short in that last
performance? I know I was so bummed.
I remember running off the stage.
Well, it was special. My parents were in the audience.
I was most proud of that performance.
And I ran off the stage and one of the production assistants was

(24:11):
standing there and I went, was that enough?
I kind of think that was enough.And he goes, I kind of think
that was enough when we were pretty celebrating.
Never do that. So then I was kind of sitting in
the back and believe I was the second person to perform that
day. Second or third and we went back
up on the stage and I know that team Jon was tough that season.

(24:34):
Like honestly, season 24, all the seasons have so much talent,
but season 24, I, maybe I'm biased, but there was just so
much talent and so many amazing people that it was tough.
And so I don't know, it comes down to whatever Jon's looking
for in that moment. I was very grateful that when
the show did air and it became aepisode for America to kind of

(24:57):
look at everybody, that they were so receptive of my
performance. And, you know, people were
bummed they didn't go to lives. But it's OK.
I got to keep performing. It's not how far you get on the
show. It's what you do when you get
off of it. Not completely familiar with how
everything on The Voice works. Were there steals still
available at that point, or was that already done with?

(25:17):
No, this was the very last roundbefore the lives.
And so we did a super, super save our season.
And so we were going into playoffs, which would have been
the top four of the team, but they ended up bringing someone
back to each team. We had five performers.
Yeah, it was tough. Oh, it would have been the top

(25:39):
five. And they brought someone back
and it made it the top 6. So that was it was a lot.
But I mean, we had we had a great time.
I went back for the finale and got to see everybody and
celebrate together because we started it together.
We might as well end it together.
Did Reba walk up to you and be like you should have chose me?
She. Didn't I know the the way I

(26:00):
would have spiralled if she would have done that?
I mean, when it happened, I remember I felt pretty OK with
it out of the gate. And then I remember them cutting
the cameras and Niles just like looking at me, Glenn's just
looking at me. And then Reba, I guess, was
actually pushing for me to go through to the lives.

(26:20):
And she was saying she hoped John would push me through and
send me through. And she said that in her private
interview. And then when we were in the
middle of where the coaches givetheir opinions, she was even
saying then, but she's like, youneed to keep going through.
And so I never knew what was going to happen.
You never know what's going to happen with stuff like that.
But it was just all the coaches were still so supportive when

(26:41):
the cameras cut. And I saw Niall after the show
and he said, keep doing what you're doing.
And I was like, OK, so I took Niall's advice and here we are.
I love how they're all still supporting you even after the
show is over. Oh yeah, they're very involved.
That's great looking back on on everything and experiencing what
you experienced. Would you do all of this again?

(27:03):
I absolutely would. I met the icons who I've looked
up to forever. I met some of my very best
friends on the show. We all still talk like the
entire season still keeps in touch.
It's been 2 years. Our group chat actually with 80
of us was going off about a weekago.
I met a lot of people. It brought a lot of people to my
shows for the first time. The only thing that was tough

(27:24):
was it is the most stressful experience I think I've gone
through in 15 years of music because you have 90 seconds to
prove 15 years worth of shows and to prove that you deserve to
be there. So that's the only thing that I
would say. It gets stressful but I would do
it again in a heartbeat. That's definitely got to be
stressful. Like if you feel like you're not

(27:44):
on your game, a game that one particular day, it's like almost
the fans don't really know your full back story possibly.
So you feel like there's a kind of like a big let down there
maybe. That actually happened for my
blind audition. I was so nervous that I got a
cold the day before and the day of my blind audition.
Oh Gee. Well, you definitely didn't
sound like it. Thank you, that's so nice.

(28:06):
I remember waking up going OK cool.
So I'm going to need a tissue onthe side of the stage, but until
then we're fine. A tissue and someday quilt you.
Know no kidding. I was like I'm going to need my
zicam. I need a lot to get me through
this. You were just on a big tour,
right? The coast to country.
Was that like your first like big solo tour or?
It was, it was so funny. I started it out and you know,

(28:29):
we were just going to do a shorter tour.
It was just going to be few spots in a few different states,
mainly on the West Coast, but wealso tapped into the East a
little bit. And then within a month it just
loaded up. And so it was really, really
cool to be able to travel, meet a bunch of new people.
I was able to add Ohio to my list, which was so cool.
And I actually get to go back toOhio in December.

(28:53):
So I can't wait. It's just been really great to
be able to visit these new places, meet these new people
and make these relationships where I can come back and I'd
want to come back. How do you decide the places
you're going to go to? Is it a little bit of just do
you want to sightsee or like howdo you make those decisions?
Sometimes it's a little bit of both.
Sometimes they'll reach out to me and they might be towns I'm

(29:15):
not super familiar with, but youknow, we got to do it.
It's so much fun. I love to play a lot of small
towns because I feel like they don't get as many touring
artists as the major cities do. And so if you're able to bring
music to the towns that don't get as much live music, I think
that's something that's really, really special.
But sometimes it is the, oh, I really want to knock this off

(29:36):
the bucket list. So let's let's submit for this.
And that's kind of been my mentality with shows, with
national anthem submissions, with all of that.
It's this is my job and I love it so much.
But what shows can I book for? Like my mom's a huge 49er fan,
so took her to the 49er game when I did that.
So it's wondering how I can use my job to, you know, pay back

(29:58):
the people who have helped me. Are you a big 49ers fan as well?
Die hard You can't be from Northern California, not be a
49ers fan. Have you been to any New England
states? I have not.
I have not. I admittedly have not.
You got to knock that off the bucket list at some point.
I do, I do. There's a lot here that I

(30:19):
definitely need to get taken care of.
I need to take care of some stuff.
New York City. Have you been to New York City?
I went once when I was 13 with my middle school when we did
that DC, New York trip. My mom and I actually about 20
minutes ago, we're talking aboutmaybe going next year to go for
Christmas and see, you know, Rockefeller and see all of the

(30:42):
Christmas stores and basically reenact Elf was what we what we
came down to. Oh wow that's so fun.
My birthday is in December so I they my family always brought me
out there to see all the Christmas stuff and celebrate.
Oh yeah? Well, happy almost birthday.
Almost. I don't want to think about it
yet though. And once you hit 30, it's kind
of down, downhill. Got it.

(31:04):
Got it. I follow.
Yeah. You're nowhere near your
birthday. You have so much time.
It's November. What are we talking about?
They get a little less exciting as you go along.
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Besides your coast to country tour, what have you been up to
since the show? Like what's your biggest goal
since being on on The Voice? Oh, I mean, well, since being on

(32:32):
the show, I feel like mainly I've been in the studio trying
to finish up the music so I can get it out hopefully in the next
few months. Don't quote me on it.
We're doing our best. I'm very, very picky with what I
want the sound to be. And I know I only get one trip
out of the gate. And so it's one of those things
where I'm finishing up the musicin the studio.

(32:54):
I'm self producing the first record too.
And so I'm about to bring in another producer to finish it up
and we're going to go in on it together, figure it all out.
And then so I've been producing the music, been on the road.
Yeah, it's been a lot of travel.I'm still teaching from time to
time because that's really hard to let go of in my heart and
soul. Teaching music.
But I do, I teach vocal lessons a little bit still to younger

(33:15):
kiddos. I'm really big on young artists
need an advocate to get them ready to perform because what,
they turn 20 and they go to perform and they don't have any
experience. So I've actually set up a
showcase in the Sacramento area where young artists perform once
a month and they have to put together their own set lists.
They have to put together all oftheir own music, how they're

(33:36):
going to talk to the crowd. And I'll watch it on a Facebook
Live. We'll go over what they need to
do to improve. And so that way they just get
that experience at 13 years old.And so by the time they're 20,
they're pros. So yeah, it's been a lot of
just, it's music all the time and it's the best.
They must be so starstruck. They're like, we're getting
advice and getting coached. By Kristen Brown from season 24

(33:59):
of The Voice. They think that at 1st and then
they get to know me and then they're like, oh, her jokes are
bad. She's a big sister mode.
I don't know. I don't know about this.
What's the the biggest challengeof juggling this whole career
for yourself solo and then teaching students?
It's pretty simple actually withjust because I don't teach as

(34:22):
much as I used to. Back when I was on The Voice, I
had 40 something students. It was, it was a lot of it was a
lot of people. Now it's only from time to time.
It's not even necessarily a consistent thing.
I just try to be there as someone who can help when they
need it. For example, some have booked
some Major League Baseball national anthems or anything
like that. And so I want them to be able to

(34:44):
have someone they can call and say, what do I do for this?
Like what should I expect? And cause the parents are so
sweet, but if they aren't in themusic industry, they don't
always have the answers that their kids need.
And so they call me. And that part's so fun.
So honestly, the teaching part'seasy.
I will say touring while trying to plan a wedding, not so much.
When did the wedding happen yet?Or that's coming.

(35:05):
Up. It has not.
Here's how we're going to look at this.
Just as though I'm not telling you your birthday is coming up.
My wedding is nowhere near coming up.
I have so much time. What's your perspective on
saying that you're just nervous about it or?
There's so much to get done, there's so much to do.
It's so planning and being on the road, but it is.

(35:26):
It's so much fun. It's a blast that I get to have
this be my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Being an artist and and writing music, how do you choose?
Maybe you haven't even thought about this yet with how much you
have to plan, but how are you going to choose your wedding
song? I know, it's insane.
I haven't even gotten that far yet.

(35:46):
I think that'll be one of the last decisions possibly made.
I feel like I have to make sure I watch the Jennifer Lopez movie
The Wedding Planner where she tells you what songs not to
pick. Just for a reminder, yeah.
Just for a reminder, I'm like, Ivaguely remember that I
shouldn't use this one Olivia Newton John song, according to
Jennifer Lopez. When when you were first getting

(36:08):
into music, you were a part of acountry trio called Auburn Rd.
I was, yes. That's cool.
How? How did that help shape your
your career? What were those days like?
Oh my gosh. Well, we all met when we were
about 8 years old. And so I've been doing this for
for so long. We started taking it seriously
when we were about 13-12 or thirteen years old, and it

(36:31):
really shaped my work ethic above all else.
It showed like I was homeschooled my last two years
of high school because I was on the road and I was working, so I
didn't have necessarily that entirely normal high school
experience. My high school was great.
I got to do all of the like, prom and all that.
But yeah, it shaped how I work. It shaped really, it taught me

(36:52):
how to produce music, edit video, do all that.
I learned a lot of how to do it by myself.
So that way you're not commissioning out as much,
especially as a small artist. That's super important is for a
lot of the indie artists to knowhow to do all that themselves.
And so that's it taught me a lotof that.
It got me on the road young. That was when we opened for
Morgan Wallin, Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts, and it was it was

(37:15):
really, really great and I was very grateful.
It pushed me into this, into this next chapter, which makes
everything on your own feel likeyou already know what you're
doing, which is good. Oh wow, you opened up for Morgan
Wallin. We did back when he only had up
down, believe it or not. Back when his ticket prices
weren't $2000 for the nosebleeds.

(37:35):
Exactly. You get it.
That's still pretty cool though.That's like an awesome name to
be able to say you opened up for.
That's great. Oh yeah, he was so sweet.
His whole team lined up on the side of the stage when we were
done and they would just have like a high 5 train.
It was so cool. Yeah, he was.
He was super, super sweet. Learned a lot from all of those

(37:55):
opening experiences and all of the artists were great.
Where are the the other two girls from the the trio these
days? Are they still working in music?
I believe only one of them is still working in music in the
Sacramento area. But you know, they're following.
They're following their dreams and their hearts and what they
want to do. And I'd support them 1000%.
That's awesome, I saw that you work Princess parties back.

(38:19):
In Oh God, yeah, you do your research.
My goodness. That's that sounds like a a
really cool job. I, I loved the story about the
little girl that you were that you signed with as Wonder Woman.
That was a really touching story.
We had a tent that was where youwould take a break and I had to
go into the tent and I had to collect myself because it was

(38:41):
just, it was really special and it was something that kind of
took us all, caught us all off guard a lot.
Yeah. Parties were great.
Great way to make money when you're 17.
Couldn't recommend more. I didn't know that a a job like
that existed to be honest. Yes.
I was really wondering when my Disney knowledge was going to
pay off a little bit. And there was a company that had

(39:03):
just, there was quite a few in the Sacramento area and 1 was
just starting to open up and I was one of their first
performers. And really all they ask is that
you know the songs and that you,they have activities and stuff
that you do and you have to knowhow to face paint.
I know we're adding a lot of talents here, but I can paint a
Mean Olaf, but you basically just have to know the songs and

(39:26):
then you go. That's what you would do on a
Saturday was you would do multiple parties sometimes as
different characters throughout the day.
So I know I would be like Fell in the morning and Wonder Woman
in the evening. It was so bizarre.
But that's. Like the minor leagues of
Disney. Exactly, Exactly.
And they tell you you're not allowed to go anywhere in your

(39:47):
costume. But you know, after these
parties, we're all going througha Starbucks drive through and
people get very confused when Anna from Frozen rolls up to the
window. Oh man, yeah, I could only
imagine what they're thinking. Like what the heck?
Oh, yeah, there it. It's hilarious.
It was one of my favorite things.
Or I remember having to stop in to pick something up at one of

(40:10):
my best friend's houses and her neighbors called and said, I'm
pretty sure Ariel just walked into your house and she goes,
yeah, it's fine, don't worry about it.
Any any talent making a balloon look like a dinosaur or anything
like that? Balloons I can't do.
I'm afraid they're going to pop.I tried before and it's just
not. The call is not coming from

(40:31):
inside this house. It's not going to happen for me.
That that little girl that you made such a great connection
with, have you ever been able tolike touch base with her and
reconnect years? Later, I have not.
I have not. It was a big Expo, so for
anybody listening who wants a fun little story.
So I was Wonder Woman and they do tea parties where they people

(40:53):
would buy tickets and they wouldcome to this tea party with all
the princesses. Wonder Woman was not one of the
princesses at the Tea Party. That's just who I was that day.
I was off with Spider Man. We were doing the superhero meet
and greet. And my boss comes up to me.
I was on my break. And she says, hey, I know you're
on a break, but there's this little girl in a little pink
dress over here. She's walking into the Tea

(41:14):
Party, but they don't have a ticket.
Can you kindly escort her out? Some of the other parents were
wondering like, you know, they bought tickets, what's going on
kind of thing. I said of course.
And so I walked over to the little girl and I was asking her
where her mom was. And she was just looking at me.
And so I asked her again and I see her kind of look around and
she starts doing sign language. I know very minimal sign.

(41:37):
I would love to know more, but that's, and I think I know a
little more than I did at this particular time.
But what I did know was I knew how to sign.
Where's your mom? And so as Wonder Woman, I signed
to her. Where's your mom?
And she freaks out because one woman knows sign language.
And so she points to her mom. And then I walked over to her
mom and I said sign, told her itwas nice to meet her, that she

(41:59):
was beautiful and she's losing her mind.
She's signing her name at me. And she was so sweet.
I ran out of my knowledge and sign at that point.
So I was really glad that it kind of ended there so that she
could have this knowledge that and it is her mind.
One woman knows all of sign language.
That one instance alone made four years of lugging party

(42:21):
boxes and hoop skirts so worth it.
Do you feel like a similar excitement when you connect with
with a crowd as well? Absolutely.
Especially when you're performing to a crowd and you
have the younger kiddos who go, this is what I want to do, this
is the job I want to have, and that makes it so special.
And just when you get to hear people's connection, especially

(42:44):
when I sing my own music and they go, I know this feeling in
my core. And so then you get to talk to
them about that. And music brings everyone
together. And so whenever you get to
experience that one time 10 * 1,000,000 times, every single
instance is special. Speaking of writing your own
music, you wrote a song for a for a play, a Hollywood play.

(43:04):
Yes, over the summer, I actually, I have a friend who
wrote a show for the Hollywood Fringe Festival and he hired me
to write the song. And he goes, hey, we need a
song. Can I hire you to write this?
I said absolutely, write the song.
Get I get the script. I write the song and then kind
of doing our thing and I send itto him and he goes, OK, this is

(43:26):
great, thank you so much. And then a few days later he
calls me back and goes, I don't want anyone else to sing this
song. Can you be in the show?
And then before I knew it, I wasback and forth to Lai was still
on tour. And so I would go during the
week to LA, fly back on the weekends to wherever I was
performing, and then fly back toLA to this tour and do the shot.

(43:51):
And so it was so cool. I made great friends.
I was a theater kid back in the day, so the fact that I got to
revisit those roots was so fun. What do you do for like casual
fun when you're not flying around all the place?
Like when? If you find a musician who has a
casual hobby, will you send themmy way?
Because I've yet to find one. But I would say honestly, I like

(44:15):
to keep it as low key as possible whenever I'm not on the
road, just 'cause that's kind ofwhen you have to take care of
yourself. So, you know, I like to go to
the movies. I love to paint ceramics, I like
to antique. Like that's more.
I operate like I'm a million years old is what I'm telling
you. Like to crochet?
Bed by 7, you know. I'm pretty at least in bed

(44:40):
watching New Girl by 7. New Girl?
I don't think I've ever seen that before.
Very good one, Zooey Deschanel, an icon among us.
Oh yeah, I alternate my sitcoms but that is the most recent.
Are you a big Netflix person? Do you watch Netflix?
I have every streaming service known to mankind.
That's my vice. That's my guilty pleasure, my

(45:01):
Starbucks coffee and my streaming services.
And so, yeah, I mean, I'm tryingto think I just finished Modern
Family for like the fourth time because that's just a good feel
good type of show. Big Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
But that's not on Netflix. You have to go to Hulu for that,
I think. You're the target audience for
those commercials that are like,do you forget how many streaming

(45:22):
services you have? Will download this one app and
it'll tell you everyone that youhave and.
You can. I would be so lying if I said
that I didn't think about it from time to time.
Whenever I see those I go. I mean like maybe I do need that
but I did find the App Store will tell you all of your
subscriptions so I have gone through them to cancel them out.

(45:43):
Only a few, Only a few. Someone thought I was lying when
I said like when I said I had 7 streaming services and I said no
I don't have cable and I don't like being bound by what
streaming service I have. Take that number and double it,
you know. Exactly, exactly.
See what you got to like. You got to share.
You have some people who pay forHBO, you have some people who

(46:03):
pay for Peacock and then you share.
Hopefully they don't ever hear this, but.
I'm I'm guilty of sharing some stuff, you know?
I mean, sharing is caring at theend of the day.
Are you excited for the the new season of Stranger Things?
Do you watch that show at all? My best friend is their biggest
fan. Another one of my friends just

(46:25):
worked on their production in New York I believe and so it's
go her. I've only seen season 1
horrible. I hear it's great.
I I loved season 1. I don't know why I I think if
too much and this is no shades of Netflix or Stranger Things.
I think they're phenomenal. If there's too much time in

(46:45):
between, I'll forget. And that's my problem because
then I've, I don't have the timeto rewatch the season before
I'll be like, wait, what happened two years ago?
Like I just, I'm I'm very bad with that.
As someone who grew up with the TV that you could watch an
episode every week, that's it's tough.
It's funny you say that 'cause Iwas watching some like new
season hype videos yesterday andI was thinking to myself, if I

(47:09):
watch this new season I I feel like I'm not even going to
remember anything because when did the last season come out?
Like 2022 or something. Yeah, when the kids and
literally you watch one episode and they're nine and then you
watch again and they're 14 and Iget so confused.
Yeah, they'll have to get real creative with the the storylines
to keep it like looking relevantand like believable I guess is

(47:31):
what I. For sure, absolutely.
And so I definitely maybe I justneed to ask my best friend to be
ask her how they do that, if they explain it or if it's like
a grease thing where we're just supposed to be like, yeah,
they're in high school. I hit the crew like the the Fast
forward button on it or something.
Exactly. I'm like, are we doing like a
time jump? I'm a sucker for a time jump in

(47:51):
a show so I'm just curious. The first scene is like a a
black screen with like 7 years later you know?
Literally that's all I'm expecting.
So I maybe, maybe I'll open the new season and just see if
that's how it starts. And if it doesn't, we'll see
what happens. So I'm excited for the for this
album to come out that you were talking about.

(48:12):
I noticed that you have the one the one Christmas song
available. You mentioned that you're you're
very critical of your music and you want everything to sound
perfect to your ear. What, what, What's like?
One of the biggest reasons for like such a gap in between
releases. You know, to be fully honest.
So I released the Christmas songright when I left the girl

(48:32):
group. So I didn't have any of my
originals at the time. I had just had this Christmas
song that I wrote for my mom's best friend and I put it on
Facebook the year prior and it it kind of went crazy.
And so I didn't realize I thought it was just a thing
maybe my family was going through.
And I found out it was in fact auniversal thing.
So I decided as soon as I left the group, I'm going to release

(48:55):
this song. It's going to be my first big
jump and this is what we're going to do.
And so I released the song and then right after that I got into
writing the record. So it was probably around I, I
released the Christmas song fromproduction, starting to release
in 30 days and did the music video and edited that myself.
And so it was, it was a feat to take on by myself, but I wasn't

(49:16):
intending to necessarily push that out to radio or do anything
like that. I am intending that with these
songs. So that does take more on the
funding side. And I am an independent artist.
I'm not signed to a label currently.
And so it's a lot of figuring out how to do that on my own.
But also I went to The Voice in the middle of that.
And I started that audition process in November of 2022, and

(49:39):
that was until the December of 2023 was when everything
wrapped. That's a good point.
Makes you a lot more busier thatyou can't work on music.
Yeah. And, you know, there's just
certain things we can and can't do.
And I remember just like I just took the time to get in the
studio and get it ready to where, like, if someone were to
come up to me tomorrow and say, put the song on the streaming

(49:59):
service in the next 20 minutes, I can.
The song is, for all intents andpurposes, ready.
The first single and then the rest.
Just need, you know, a little bit here, a little bit there,
and then they're done, too. So that part's nice.
Was it a little bit bittersweet that you were so locked into the
voice that you couldn't like kind of put stuff out, or did
you feel like you were getting enough out of that voice

(50:20):
experience that it was it was not an issue for you?
You know, if I had been putting stuff out prior to The Voice, I
don't think they would have reached as big of a market as
I'm now able to since being on the show.
I think everything I'm a big advocate for everything happens
for a reason. Timing is everything and I think
that me being where I'm at in Nashville right now, at this

(50:44):
time in my life, I think it's all, I think all the cards are
coming out and at the exact timethat they're supposed to.
Sounds like you're in a really good place.
Thank you. I'm, I'm, I'm very, very
grateful. You have to take everything, the
good, the bad, all of it, and know that you know this is what
we asked for and the fact that we get to do this is the best.
Once this debut album is is out into the world, do you have like

(51:08):
anything planned for like a big party or a big release event or?
I'm gonna have to. I think that that's a really
good idea. And you're coming in from
Connecticut. Yes, that.
That'd be cool, yeah. Yeah, Oh my God, I would love
that as. OK, So as soon as I get the
party figured out, I'll, I'll get on Canva.

(51:28):
I'll make something. I'll send it your way.
Do do you have? I don't know how much you can
talk about, but do you have likea name for the album or like how
many songs or? The name is shifting between two
things currently, so I don't want to say anything and lock
anything in. The first single will likely be
my song 12 Steps though. 12 steps That's a has an intriguing

(51:50):
name to it. I try, I try to do that.
One of my favorite games to playactually when I'm in the car is
to play Hot Country Radio. And I just read the title and I
guess what the song's about before it starts.
And if I'm right that's cool, but if I'm wrong I have my own
song concept. That's interesting, I've never
I've never heard of that game before.
It's really fun. I drive too much.

(52:14):
Not a lot of singing in the car,probably, right?
Oh, you know, sometimes, sometimes we'll do a little
karaoke. Little Clark on stage, YouTube
action. Sometimes though, it's it's
podcasts because my rest of my day is music.
What what what podcast do you listen to?
Oh, I've been alternating a lot.Right now I listen to a lot of

(52:35):
Krista Innes. She's a newer podcast, which is
what makes it fun. So her podcast is really fun.
I used to listen to Chatty Broads back in the day.
That was my favorite podcast of all time.
I'll have to do some research onthis.
Oh yeah, they were great. Well.
Kristen, it was a lot of fun being able to have some of your
time to to chat with you and andhear about the experience on The

(52:59):
Voice. And I'm excited for this new
album that you put been putting so much work into to finally be
out. Oh, thank you so much for having
me. Seriously, it means so much.
I'm glad we finally were able todo this and then I will see you
at the release party. Yes, absolutely, yeah.
Yes, that's going to do it for this week's episode.
So great to be back this first episode under our belt after a

(53:24):
couple weeks away. Thanks so much for for joining
us. And thanks so much to Kristen
Brown for making some time to beon the show and really enjoyed
helping her share her story withyou.
You can learn more about KristenBrown by heading to our website,
kristenbrownofficial.com. Yeah, head to our website, check

(53:45):
out her bio, head to her social media accounts.
You can find out everything you need to know about this rising
country star. Everything you need to know
about [e-mail].
We'll be back next week. We're doing it all again.
Another rising country star on the show, so make sure you hit

(54:07):
that follow button so you don't miss it.
I'm Josh Maddie, and this is COUNTRY on Deck.
Kick off your boots and settle them country on this about to

(54:30):
begin. Josh Maddie's here.
Stars on the rise. Voices of hope.
Dreams in their eyes. Singer songwriters, Stories on
phone. Hearts of wander.
Hearts at a bone. Does he?

(54:52):
Rhodes, She writes. Angelines capture the journey,
shares their fights. Country on this.
We're tuning in where the new star stories are coming in from
a small town dreams they're gonna take you away.

(55:17):
Country on date with drunk man 8.
Thank you so much for listening the Country on Deck with Josh
Maddie. Josh is back at his desk every
Thursday talking with a new country artist, so make sure you
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