Summer is stunning. She had a perfect life in California with her family (who raises all sorts of exotic animals) and running her hair salon which was thriving. But then her client insisted she meet this Country Cowboy Jon Pardi (her client is best friends with Jon’s mom and they arranged the setup). Their first date was Jon flying Summer to Colorado for a weekend of his shows. It could have ended in disaster but instead led to love. We talk about how Summer let go of control and learned to let her life flow which has led her to so much fun and fulfillment, the biggest fight she and Jon have ever had, over Christmas decorations, and the sentimental side of Jon.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys. On this episode of Get Real podcast, I
have Summer Fawn Caroline Duncan. Yes, we talked about all
four of her names, which is amazing. She is the
beautiful girlfriend of John Party. They just celebrated their two
year anniversary, and this was a really fun episode because
Michael and I went over to their house and cooked
dinner afterwards, and we had a blast. Loved them so much.
(00:24):
Summer is so cool, She's so dropped dead gorgeous, and
she's just the coolest, most laid back chick in the world.
The story of how John and Summer met is amazing.
Summer is an incredible hairstylist and she was living in
California and her client was really good friends with John's mom,
(00:44):
and so John's mom and her client basically set John
and Summer up. And their first date was John flying
Summer out to Colorado to come to one of his shows.
Neither one of them knew each other. They had only
heard about each other from Summer's client and of course
John's mom, and it was just a blind date for
(01:06):
the whole weekend. It went amazing. They fell in love instantly.
She tells me so many great things about John like
how great he is a communicating how he's so sentimental,
really sweet stuff like this sweet big old cowboy is
such a little sentimental heart and it's amazing and there's
such a great match. And she also talks about the
biggest fight they ever had, which had to do with
(01:27):
her perfect Christmas tree. You're not gonna want to miss that.
So here is Summer Carol. She's queen, she's not afraid.
(01:51):
Just let sounds Carol. I am here with Summer Fawn Duncan.
Faun is your middle name. Fawn is my first Summer
Fawn is one summer fun more fun. Do people call
you summer fun? But I've been called fawn and I've
(02:14):
been called summer but no summer faun. But you're supposed
to be called technically summer fun. Technically it's a hyphenated
summer fawn. Caroline is the middle. There's another one, Caroline, Caroline,
I mean not the Caroline Summer Fawn Caroline Duncan. Okay,
(02:35):
are you like British or something horrible for signing like
legal documents, No British, no methan. My I forget which
parents chose which name, but they were like arguing over
summer versus fawn. So they're like, well, summer fawn love
Caroline is my grandma. I love that. Okay. So you
(02:57):
are just like covered in the name department. So you
have a very exciting upbringing. And it has to do
with your dad in particular, because he is like y'all
like raised all sorts of exotic animals, and you're from
California and you grew up with like zebras, old things.
(03:19):
What kind of animals did you grow up with? How zebras? Donkeys,
many donkeys to be exact, many ponies, regular size horses, rams,
I mean, pigs, peacocks, dogs. What did you do with
all these animals? They're just pets. They were all pul pets.
(03:39):
My dad growing up was like an animal fanatic. He
had like a pet book constrictor that lived near his bed,
and he had a pet alligator. I think, I mean,
maybe I made this that, but I'm pretty sure you
to put alligator that open this pool for a point
in time. Um, just crazy things. Get a pet skunk.
I always wanted to pet scunk. Was it decent? Was
it was east? Yeah? He didn't like spray on him. No. Um,
(04:04):
did he just love animals and those animals and he
just like hangs out with them all. What did he
do with all that? They're just there? You kind of
lived on a farm. Yeah, it's like a branch of
acres divided into two pastures and then the house. And
it's just fun. It was like you wake up, you
go out there, you feed the animals, and then they
just do their things all day and you come back
(04:25):
you feed them again. They're just fun. It's like just
make peaceful about it, you know, like when I live
I lived out there for a point in time obviously
after my whole childhood, but I was building a house
and so I moved there for like the six month period,
and I lived in the guest house which was above
the barn, and so like I had to get used
(04:45):
to all of the pigeons during their little cous because
my bedroom was right above their little pet pigeons. Also,
we have pigeons, and my dad tight eyes their homing
pigeons tight eyes them. So they're all like multi color.
So clud i'll show you a video later. They're so colorful,
it's amazing. So there's like twenty of them and they
(05:07):
fly in this you know, massive circle together and they're
all tight eyed and they love it. Oh, like they
actually love it. Is your dad like, is he just
the craziest? What's he like? What is it like growing
up with a crazy the best ever? Is he just
like an adventure adrenaline junkie, which I don't know, my
(05:29):
mom has handled it for this long, but they work well. Yeah,
he's he's a wild man and he loves adventure and
he loves thrill seeking things. And I mean we've talked
about your dad and my dad and not not ever meeting,
and they try to go and survive and some like
(05:52):
my dad could easily be on like naked and afraid
and love it. You have to tell a story about
the zebra with your dad's finger, because that to me
is like so yeah, zebra finger, so pet zebra Newman.
The Newman was the o G zebra get in there. Um.
(06:15):
And so my dad, being like Noah's Ark modern day,
decided that every other animal we have has like a
pair or more because they need a buddy, right So
aside from like, we have a mini bowl named we
Man and he's the only mini bole that we have.
But he loves to hang out with like the donkeys,
so they're his people. And so Newman was the only zebra,
(06:38):
and somebody's like, well, I should get him a real friend,
and so we then got juliet Little did we know
that apparently zebras, being like wild animals, don't do well
with competition, even if it's opposite sex. Well, Newman was
like in love with my dad. Oh so like my
like my dad as Newman's person, and Newman's not that
(06:59):
we well he's a zebra. Newman's the zebra. Okay, So
he brought Juliett and so then Newman and Juliette then
fought from my dad. At attention, your dad was just
trying to get him a girl, frist You're just trying
to get him, just trying to get him something, you know,
Like so long story, short way to separate them and
to separate pastures every you know. But it's fine now. Juliette,
(07:21):
she's a whole other story. But my dad, I mean
he's seventy two, he's had years of experience with feeding animals,
and like everyone knows, if you're going to feed a
horse or like an animal, you you know, you tuck
your fingers and pull them back and you keep them
together so you don't have, you know, a finger out
whims to be chomped on. And he was feeding new
(07:43):
with his left hand one day, just some oats, and
like I don't know if he looked away momentarily or
if he just got relaxed and his middle finger kind
of curled up and then it was gone, just like
just bit it off, ate it. He ate it. And
then not only does my dad, like a normal human
would be like, oh my god, I have to go
(08:06):
the doctor or like the hospital whatever. He gets out
his phone and starts instagramming and recording live video of
his finger missing, with like the bone and just blood.
And I'm like, does he think it's awesome? He thinks
it's amazing? Is he so glad that? I mean, I'm
sure at this point, like it's probably like a fifty fifty,
But is it a great conversation conversation people? It's he yeah.
(08:29):
The the insurance people that was his favorite, I think
when they called to like figure out what the deals
with the hospital bill and like the story, well, mozebra
bit my finger off. I mean, can you get that covered?
I don't know, but he filmed everything. He filmed it
from the moment he bit it off, and he filmed
it in the kitchen when he was talking to my mom,
and then he filmed it at the actual hospital where
(08:51):
they were cutting it and stitching it. And I don't
think that's legal, but he did it. Oh my gosh.
So you just had a wild childhood. I had had
a very fun childhood. What's one of your best memories
of growing up? Um that just brings you so much
happiness when you think about it. I mean probably just
ranch life. Like I mean, obviously it's back before internet
(09:13):
and all those things of being you know, a teenager
and a lill dial up, but just being a kid
out on the ranch and catching tadpoles. And that was
one thing that my brother and I always did was
we had a little pond, like not a legit pond,
but down by our fence. Water would collect and then
we'd go catch tadpoles. And every year my dad catches
you know, some gopher snakes and king snakes and we
(09:35):
got to play with those. It was just I think
growing up like on the ranch and then with all
the animals, and an awesome name too. He is Hawk
hot Hawk, like the bird chase Robert Hawk Duncan, but
I think he he may have legally changed it at
some point. So y'all are a four name? Were four
name Chase Robert Hawk family. I mean, yeah, I love Okay,
(10:01):
So then you grow up. You have this awesome exotic childhood.
You are like living such a fun life. It was
fun and out in California. Then you're like, I freaking
love hair. I'm gonna go to hair school. Hair started
when I was about fourteen. Discussion, Um, I would get
my hair done and then I would go home and
(10:21):
fix it and fix it like. My mom would pay
whatever amount. I'm sure it was not like appropriate for
a fourteen year old, but I had to have highlights,
of course, so she would pay for this to get done,
and then I would like go home and fry my
hair off with you know, box bleach from St. Mart.
And I'm like, okay, So but I started cutting hair.
(10:43):
I think, oh gosh, I was probably seventeen, and I
was working at our family business and we had a
big warehouse where we would be like tight eye and stuff.
What's the family business? Um? It started as Duncan Enterprise
or Duncan's ram Ex, and then it went to I
left to create. It's just all arts and crafts. So
any kind of tied out you've ever done, or any
kind of too lip fabric, paints or scribbles, any kind
(11:06):
of iron on crystals or just fun like all kinds
of arts and crafts, anything, okay, just creative, creative. So
I used to be in design and marketing, and so
I got to make the displays for like Michaels and
Joyanne's like like, you can create this with these products,
and so I would create that finance look and then
go in the stores and they go on to the stores,
(11:28):
and so after hours we would cut hair and like
the big aisles of the warehouse, just for fun, just
for fun. A couple of the girls there that trusted
me not I don't know why, but in the aisles
of the stores. So long story short, it was it
turned out fine. So you're like, okay, this is a passion.
I see this. So then I started assisting the girl.
(11:51):
I was my senior year of high school. Um maybe
right when I graduated. I was with eighteen. So I
started assisting the lady that had done my hair this
whole time, learned from her, did a little bit of
the apprentice program and then I transferred everything to beauty
school and finished there. I went straight to working at
(12:11):
a salon, and then at twenty two, I opened up
my salon. How was that to open your own salon
at twenty two? Where you or were you just ready?
I was so excited and my dad was like, you're
basically like bad ship crazy and it was not a
strong point in the economy and just a small business,
like everything was a bad idea from his standpoint of
(12:33):
being in business for so many years. And so I
had like my dad, who's this realist, my mom who's
an optimist, so she's like, it's going to be great.
That it was great. It was great. It was great.
And my uncle, who had passed away years ago, had
left me a little bit of money, and so, you know,
I was supposed to be for college, but I did
the beauty school thing, and um, so I asked my
(12:55):
dad if he you know, do you think that Gary
would be okay with me spending money on this? And
he's like, I mean, if that's what you want to do,
like sure, And so I opened that at two and
had thirteen girls working for me, dank sister. It was
fun and great. Girls were all still a team now,
like fast forward. My best friend now has a salon
(13:18):
and all the girls went with her when I moved
out here. Um, so when I go home and do hair,
we want to still be together, which is fun. Okay,
so you kind of. So then your story takes a
turn because you meet John party and that is why
you moved out here for the party animal himself party
(13:40):
party party. Yes, so you guys have quite the interesting
meeting because your mother's introduced you, right, his mom and
my client. Okay, so how did that happen? So his
mom is okay, my client, longtime client, family of friends.
I don't even know each other because you're over here.
Is he from Calfornym's from California? But we didn't know
(14:01):
each other. So mom living in California. Yeah, so she
lives up north and I grew up like three hours
south of where he was from. And so my client
had been friends with his mom for years, like long
time years, and so they had stayed in touch with
all the moves and whatnot. And John moved a lot, No,
but my client moving like down south and then to Fresno,
(14:23):
and then his mom always stayed up north. But they
still remained friends. So my client Ellen would grow up
to visit his mom and there they were friends, like
they have a whole group of girl friends. I forget that.
I call it theas or something. I remember. Okay, maybe
I made that up, but I don't know. But they
all stayed in touch, and so I guess they were
talking one day. I don't really know the full story
(14:44):
because it's kind of like a blur now thinking back,
but I remember getting a voicemail from Ellen when I
was at work, and she was like my client. And
so I had had years of just like not the
greatest relationships, and so I had been at a point
now I was like single, and I had my dog,
and I had my house and my salon, and I'm like,
fife's great, You're like killing it. I don't need a man. No,
(15:07):
I'm great. I got my dog Cooper, like we're buddies.
And so I get this voicemail at work one day
and Ellen's like, hey, you know, I I have this
guy I want you to meet. Like he's a great guy,
a family guy, grew up in the country, you know,
tall all the things never mentioned anything about who he
(15:27):
was or what he did for work. I just assumed
he was like a local because I was never going
to leave friends now. I loved friends now, and I
was like, which is just being you grew up there,
grew up there, and it was like it's a great
place for a family, and my family was there. I
never want to read it to college, so it wasn't
like I experienced anything else, and I just, yeah, I
(15:47):
loved it. I had the business and all my clients,
and I just always had that mindsetf like I'm never
going to leave here. And then so then I was wrong.
Ellen says, I got this dude John Hit. Yeah, he
was in the middle of like really breaking out, so
I think he had just one a c MS New
(16:09):
Artist of the Year. Did you know who he was?
Or were you a country music? I've always listened to
country like since day one, but I don't know any
names anymore. It's like, I mean I knew like Garth Brooks,
Allen Jackson, George Straight, like we when I when you
used to go and actually buy you know, c d
s or like just set tapes back at this you
know then now it's just like you stream things so
(16:30):
you don't necessarily know who it is. You just hear
a song. So I'd heard his songs, but I had
no idea and you didn't really know what he looked
like now and at this point when I had this voicemail,
I didn't even know who he was. And so then
she's like, call me if you want to know more.
So I'm like, so I call her and I'm like,
tell me more about this guy, like when can I
meet him? And she's like, well, he's in country music
(16:51):
and I was like, no, you're not interested, Like I didn't.
I don't know. I didn't want to be a part
of this whole. Like my initial that with sex, drugs,
rock and roll in the groupie Hose, which you know,
obviously I've been proven wrong, but that was my initial. Yeah,
I was like, that's a whole different life, Like obviously
(17:12):
that means no friends, no, and so I was kind
of like mm. And so I talked to my girlfriends
about it and they're like half of them were like,
go for it. What do you have to lose? And
the other half was like, I don't like the way
that that sounds like we're with you and that don't
don't meet him. And so he was actually in my hometown,
had you googled him and now you know him, And
(17:33):
I was like, okay, adorable, like freaking modern day Elvis
and James Danish steak and precious. It's so sweet and
um so he so you're already know you have to
meet him because he's steak. But I still was like
I just it was one of those things like I'm
not really adventurous. Yes you are, you grew up in
(17:55):
the wild, but as far as like like I was such,
I'm such a route teen person like John makes funny
because I have the same breakfast every day is a
scrambled egg. I mean sometimes it might do like a
frid egg one egg and some coffee. You scrambled just
one egg. I don't love breakfast, Like I'd rather say
my calories for like a really good lunch or dinner.
(18:17):
But you're just so boring to me. One egg. I
make him three eggs and then he's like, could get
some meat, Like okay, so I made, you know, whatever
he wants. But I'm just easy, like I don't want
to be like fool in the morning. You just want
to get going. Yeah, So I just that's like person.
(18:38):
So I'm like this breaks my routine. This breaks my like,
wake up, Fresno, work, friends, no, everything Fresno related. And
I just wasn't I wasn't sure about it. I was
so set in my ways. And so my best friend
was like, get the hell out of Dodge, like you
need to shake it up. Shake it girl. So and
(18:58):
she had been married at this point and like, I'm like, okay,
so I need to venture out. So he was performing
in my hometown, but I happened to be in Vegas
and my friends like, cancel your trip. I'm like, no,
what were you doing in Vegas with friends? Just having
a weekend. Yes, So we had a group of us
in Vegas and I'm like, I'm not going to cancel this.
I don't even know the guy. You're like, I'm not
(19:20):
going to cancel my trip. It's probably not going to
even out. And so and mind you, John didn't even
text me until the day of his shop stop, Like, uh,
you know, listen, Mrs John, like, your client gave me
your number and if you want to come to the
show tonight with some of your friends, I would love
to meet you. And I'm like, yeah, well I'm not here.
(19:41):
So and we just kind of like played it nonchalant okay.
So that was his initial meeting. That was his initial
like come out and hang just shoot your text in
the dark like hi, So so okay, so it didn't happen.
Didn't happen. I was like, s I'm in Vegas, and
so then that went into like, well when you know,
(20:02):
when are you free? Okay? So because so I think
I said something like maybe next time you're in town.
He was like, well that could be like a year
of now, which obviously I didn't know how that whole
lifestyle worked. And so he's like, I'm free. I have
two days in Denver that following week where he had
two shows when they happened to be like both in Denvers,
he was going to be, you know, stationary, and so
(20:24):
I'm like, should come see me? So he's like, can
I fly you out here? What y'all never even from?
And so summer you guys have never even met. And
he looked at my picture for like he said, I
looked at your picture for three days and then I
decided I'd call it. I'm like, okay, if he wasn't
a cute country star, that would be super creepy. So
(20:48):
I looked at your picture for three days for three days,
and I figured i'd call you. I was like, oh,
you're so romantic, my god. I mean that is kind
of sweet and a kind of creepy way. So I was, okay,
I'm just kidding. It's not creep I thought, So I
thought it was kind of. I mean, there's a there's
a little thing of creepiness in there. If I don't
know you, and I'm not gonna, like I don't have
(21:08):
an escape plan, like I can't just get in my
car and drive back to California. I guess because you
trust your client, you know that he's going to be
a I did have that. You know she's not going
to set you up with a serial killer. Yeah. No,
Ted Bundy's here. So he's like, let me fly you.
He's like, let me fly you to Denver. And I
was like, can I bring a friend. I'll pay for
(21:29):
her fly Like, I'm not asking you. Like, I was like,
I'm not asking you to pay for her. I just
do you mind if I bring someone I just don't
know you, you like Mary, just want to pay it
out there because I just don't know who you are.
And he was telling He's like, that's Telly fine, that's
so freaking love. He got my flight, I got her fight.
(21:50):
It was great. She's nervous. I was so nervous. Every
other day that week I was like, I'm going to cancel.
I even at one point I think I tried to
cancel because I had gotten confirmation from his travel agent,
but I couldn't change my flight because it had been
booked third party. So I was like, oh, ship, you're
stuck like it's happening. So you know what, You're ready,
(22:12):
You're ready for some adventure. You got your friends, you
got your backup. And my friend had been going through
like a rough relationship time. So on the days that
I was like I don't want to go, I'm nervous,
I'm scared, She's like we're going, Like I need this chip,
We're going, you need to go. We're going with stew
It okay. So I'm dying to know how this played out.
Did the trip play up? The night that I was packing,
(22:35):
the power goes out in my house, like the whole neighborhood,
and I'm like, this is a sign. I don't I mean,
should am I supposed to go? Like? Oh my god?
So anyways, I ended up going. We get there. You know,
my girlfriend and I we go to the hotel. We
get all dressed up for this first meeting, and he's
(22:56):
performing at Blue Moon Brewery. It's like a little radio.
Oh so it was a small private gig. How long
did you think about your outfit that first outfit? I
think I think I had it like nailed down. On
the flight over, I was like casual, not to like.
I think I had like black jeans on army like
T shirt you want to like try hard, yes, And
(23:20):
so I was feeling really good, like I was feeling confident,
like even if we don't click, like this will be
a fun girls weekend. And I didn't have any weird nervousness.
It was very interesting for me. I don't know. So
we go in and he's like, when you get here,
a call this number night. He was his tour manager,
and he goes, my guy, I will come on and
get you. This is one heck of a way to
(23:42):
meet somebody, right. So I see his tour manager tray
coming around the corner and I'm like, okay, here we go.
So he takes us back to where John and the
guys are like just hanging out before the show and
it was like nothing, and it was like we'd known
each other for years. So it was was initial conversation easy,
so easy, which was awkward because I'm so shy. You are, Yes,
(24:07):
I am still freaking shy. I'm so shy. Yes, I've
gotten better being out here and being in John's life,
like it's you're forced to not be. I do not
feel like you're shy. Feel so awkward? Yeah, oh my god,
you cannot see it that way. So it's so bad.
But how did the initial meeting go? Like when you
walk in the room, what happens? Honestly, it was such
(24:29):
a blur. I think I was so excited and it
was just like this energy that I had never experienced
before with when meeting someone. And obviously I was like,
oh my god, he's so hot and tall, like sexy
of tight jeans and cowboy boots and a hat. Oh
my god, you're like did I dream you? And so
(24:50):
I don't even know what we talked about. It's probably
something about how we met. I don't even know. But
it just flowed and we were laughing and it was
like the band guys were so nice. It was literally
like we've been friends for forever. And my girlfriend. I mean,
she's freaking hollo with this, and so does she have
fun to being. We had a great time. She had
so much but no being like your sidekick. She had
(25:12):
a blast and we had that first night we watched
his show, which was super fun, and we ended up
going to dinner afterwards. Um you John and your friend
and two of his band members and we had a
great dinner to steakhouse. We went to a champagne bar
(25:33):
after I had way too much champagne, and then we
went back to the hotel and John of course was
like like, come cuddle, and I'm like, no, sir, I
don't like nice try and he was trying so hard.
It was so cute because he was like I just
want to talk to you in the cuddle and I'm like,
uh huh. So he watched he walked us back to
(25:56):
our room, my girlfriend and I I said no, Summers said,
I said, And so I'm like that whole first role
in meeting, it would be hard to stay noble. I
was like, you're welcome to come hang out with us
for a bit, and so he came to our room
for maybe like twenty minutes and then he's like sure,
you don't want to come, good, like, I'll see you tomorrow.
(26:17):
And I told him that day. I said I had
a girlfriend and her husband that lived in Denver, and
I was like, we're gonna go today storing the cord um.
So I said, we're going to brunch tomorrow if you
are interested in coming, like no pressure, I know you
might be busy. And of course his first response earlier
that day when we first that was yeah, you know,
(26:39):
I probably have like an interview or something. And I'm like, yeah, okay, okay,
it makes good good. So the next morning I just
gave him like a courtesy text of like, hey, and
you said you might have like things going on, but
we're going to brunch at ten if you want to come.
Then he's like pick me about front. I'm like mm hmm, okay, okay.
(27:01):
So we had brunch with my friends. It was fun.
It was like chill, and then it turned into a
whole day and like we went to the mall in
Denver and we went shopping and he had the day
off the whole day and that night we had it.
He had a show that night at the Grizzly Rose,
which is like super honky tonk so fun, and that
was like his first real show that I was going
(27:22):
to see, because the previous night was just like guitar
pool thing sadly sent the whole day with like his
buddy mouth flew in and he's a comedian, he's a
freaking crack up, and his girlfriend and their friend. It
was just like a whole group of us that met
and just got along so well, and we walked around
the mall and went shopping and had drinks and like
(27:45):
just I don't know, it was just fun. Nervous. I
was nervous. I was so nervous. And at one point
he was walking behind me and put his hands on
my waist and I was like done, came over. But
it was nice to experience that and have like you
had butterflies, like you're just like a I text my
(28:07):
mom and I said something like sell my house, sell
my clothes, and send my dog like I'm done Dan,
and she was like, oh shit, okay, so and then
she she was like you remember when you send me
that text message? And she's like, I told Ali, who's
my best friend. She's like, I told Ali, like I
think summers, I think she's serious, and I'm like m
(28:28):
hmm yep. So that was it. So then I flew
home and how did you feel when you flew home?
I was so sad but also so like giddy. And
it was so funny because that night at the Grizzly Rose,
they had bus call at like one am, and so
we had the show. We like dance, we hang out,
we have our We had our first dance to Wheeler
(28:48):
Walker Jr's so romantic. That's kind of awesome. I have
that on camera on film. And so what was the song?
Something so quick drop him out, let me see them
knock her. It was flawless. We had a flawless dance.
And as the bus was leaving that night, he was
like waving out the window. Was so he was smitten
(29:11):
kitten he was he remember he was told me that
he was texting like his manager and stuff like I
just met this girl and like she's the real deal
or something like she's like a walking Carl's Jr. Commercial
like whatever. His funny things. I don't know. He was
just he was so funny. And then like Jen Wayne,
I met her recently after that after meeting him, and
she was like, oh my god, John text me when
(29:33):
he met you and I was like, I have to
meet this droll because he was totally in he was
in it, like Okay, let's get to know, like we're
on the same page. And so that last day with him,
he had asked me to come back and be his
date for the CMT Awards, which was like a month later,
and I was like a ship, okay, welcome, and he
(29:55):
had his people booked my flight like right then, and
I'm like, I'm going. I guess I'm going. And so
that was a month in between which we wouldn't see
each other. And so how did the communication go? NonStop texting,
phone calls, which I had never been a phone call person,
So you are like talking on the phone all this
(30:15):
all the time. And I hate phone talking, like every day,
every texting talking. And so my best friend when I
got home, you know, we were talking about it, and
John and I were texting and she's like, you're not
going to see each other for a month, and she
was like reading our text message and she's like that's
not going to work out. She goes, you need to
go see each other now. And so I had the
(30:38):
ability to move my clients, which is great, and so
I'm like Okay, I can make this work where I
can cramp everybody into like two days and then take
off again. And so I then met him like four
days later in Nebraska. Okay, and how is that job
cuttle time? That we tell he had cuttle time? And
it was so awkward like that, like rolling my suitcase
up to the bus and I'm like, like do we kiss? Do?
(31:02):
I mean? Like, because I had you all kissed you?
He kissed me goodbye? So you had just had liked
one kiss? Yeah? Was it like a big kiss or
is it just like a little kiss? It was like
a medium kiss, okay, not sloppy, not not too long, okay, okay,
and that was it. Then you're out and I was like, bye,
so that's what you left with, like totally okay. So yeah,
(31:24):
So then that week later I went and mad him
and it was like did you all kiss right away? No?
Like I was so nervous, and I think he was nervous.
I took about an hour and then how did it happen?
And then we were like cuddling on the bus and
then he just reached over and pulled my face and
kissed me. And that was that. I died. Done deal
(31:48):
so yeah, that it was. That was my first time
being on the bus, and I was spoiled because it
was just John his bass player and tour manager. It
was a like I think he was out with Tim
and Faith and so it was a you know, not
the full band. So that was a good intro to
my first bus experience because then the following trip was
(32:08):
like two weeks later. I started doing it like a
two weeks on with him and then a week call
him working, and then back for two weeks um and
that that was the rest of my life from that
point on. It never stopped. It never stopped, and you'll
just become official right then. Now. I took a couple
of months. I think it took yeah for him to
call me his girlfriend. How did that happen? That was hilarious.
(32:30):
He he like we had talked about things like, you know,
are you seeing other people? Because I'm not. I just
want to make sure on the same page. And he's like, no, no,
all about you, like blah blah blah. But you never know,
like it's new, and so you still have fears of
like your initial fears of what sure. Yeah, because there
(32:51):
were weekends that I wasn't out and you see things
on Instagram, you know, like I can't help it, but
I just had a feeling about it that I was like, Okay,
I trust this and it was a good thing and
a good feeling. And when I saw him and we
talked so much like before a show, after show, throughout
the rest of the night, all the time, and so um,
(33:17):
I think it's probably five months in. We were on
the bus one night and somebody said something and he
was like, oh, this this is my girlfriend. And I
was like, oh, you want to talk about that? Because
I didn't agree about that. I mean, you want about
I didn't know anything about this, but it was sweet.
It was like proud moment of like she's mine, Like
(33:39):
let's make this official. And so of course it felt
good for me and in my mind it was already
like a thing, you know, And so that that was that.
And then a couple of weeks later, we were having
Thai food for lunch and he out of nowhere was like,
so when you move here are you going to bring
your car? And I was like, again, do you want
to talk about this? So he makes of his mind,
(34:02):
So yeah, that's I moved. I think it was We
met in May and I moved out here officially for
Christmas and did you so then did you just like
sell you? I sold my house my best friend I
had built houses side my side, and that was amazing.
That was an awesome experience for two years and we
both sold our houses and her and her husband found
(34:22):
a great house and I just sold mine, sold my car.
Um my. So the year let's see, I met John,
so October before I met John, I was like foot
four months before I met him. My lease was up
at my salon, and so it was either renew or
(34:45):
figure out plan B. And I wasn't I didn't love
the business side of the business like I loved hair
and I'm so passionate about hair, and I think being
such a small business, I wasn't willing to give up
the control. And so I had a lot on my
plate of stress wise of like taxes and just managing
(35:07):
a business thing because my art is doing hair and
so is kind of like frustrating. Yeah, and so um
I talked with the girls, and I, you know, it's like,
what's your guys thought on if we if I don't
renew for Tangled, do we move you know to like
these little individual sweets kind of thing, and we had options,
(35:27):
and so long story short, everything worked out perfectly, like
there couldn't have been a more perfect end named to
that whole situation. So we all still got to work together,
but we had our own private suites and every girl
got to be basically their own boss, and they had
their own line business name. And and then when I
after I met John, that's when Ali opened a person
(35:50):
on and then all the girls went to her place.
It was seamless, like in the craziest way, which I
people always say, like everything happens and when it's supposed
to happen, it works out right, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
And then never in my life have I experienced that
in a true reform, like from me meeting John, like
(36:10):
actually from the business not renewing first was like, okay,
let's make a decision to not renew that. And then
I met John and I'm like, damn, if I had
kept tangled, I wouldn't be able to travel the way
I was. And then selling my house and my best
friend getting pregnant, and so it was just like it
all worked out so crazy and it was so meant
to be, doesn't make you trust like things more or timing. Yeah, absolutely,
(36:37):
which I always I didn't. I wouldn't. I doubt it,
doubted it when I was, you know, drawing up the
whole thing. But it's definitely like it's a real deal. Yeah. Yeah,
So when something is meant to be, it's meant to be.
But do you have do you think that you have
to allow yourself to follow? If I would have not gone, yeah, yeah,
(37:00):
it's crazy. So okay, so how are the same to you? Awards?
When you went to the first your first award show,
it was fun. I didn't walk the carpet with him
or anything, so I was thinking that I was enough
to do all that, and I was so freaked out.
And then it was like a okay, like a relief
of like okay, okay, we're just we're just gonna go.
And he walked the carpet and did his thing, and
(37:20):
I hung out with his managers, which are awesome, all
like majority girl team he has, which it was so
cool and they're so sweet, and um, we got all
dressed up. He had a lady that did my hair
and makeup and het up for you. He had it
all set up and so it was so sweet. It
was such a cab He's so thoughtful. I don't know,
(37:42):
it was sweet. Um, it was fun. We we ended
up leaving right after. I forgot if he was presenting something.
I'm so bad, but we ended up leaving. We went
to dinner a Jeff Ruby Steakhouse, which was my first
experience there, and it was so good and it was
just a fun night. We ended up going bowling after
(38:03):
that with some friends. Um, and that was it. It
was like over, like that, were you nervous to like
walk into the country music? I was so nervous and
I had to meet everybody. What did you think about
meeting like people that you've seen on TV? Everyone was
so nice and it was like now I thought it
was going to be weird. But like the first before
(38:23):
this even happened, he had CMT um interviews, like the
day before the c MT Awards, and so we were
at the CMT headquarters downtown and I was literally standing
able to elbow with Keith Urban and they were talking
all buddy buddy, and I'm like, what is this life?
I mean, I was kind of dying inside, but I
was very composed. John was like, I'm so like, I'm shocked.
(38:44):
You weren't like crazy or like asking for pictures And
I'm like, well, I mean I would never do that,
but I was definitely dying inside for sure, like dying inside.
I mean everybody that was in there, it was like wow,
like and they're all just normal people and they're so
nice and it was just like just another day at
the job. Have you felt now that you've been with
(39:06):
John two years, you said you're to year inn Mesery.
Have you felt do you feel now like super comfortable
in the funtry music community around everybody. Yeah, I mean
it's it's just like friends and family in a sense.
Everyone is so inviting, so nice, even if you don't
know them or like we passed um Sean performs the
(39:27):
Nissan thing for CFS with Thomas and the whole like
little big town gang was there and I do one
of the wife's hair and they all like I haven't
met any of them really formally, but they were all like,
oh my god, hey girl, and I was like that's sweet,
Like this is awesome. They're just everyone is so nice.
(39:49):
So it is something about country music is so down
home good people. Yes, they have these awesome careers, but
it's still just regular people. Everybody's like that, so normal.
So it's nice. It was I was pleasantly surprised, being
that my initial thought of this whole lifestyle was like,
you know, all bad things, right, that's what you see
(40:11):
growing up behind the music, VH one and all that.
So it's been good. Okay, So how have the two
years been moving away from Fresno, leaving Fresno that you
swore you would never leave. Now you're like on the
road all the time. This girl who loves her routine
never probably has one. How has that all been? It's
been great. What has it taught you about yourself? That?
(40:37):
I mean, basically that I just had more patience than
I ever thought I had, really, and that I am
open to not being in control of my life and
every part of it, which was tough. What have you
found to be the benefit of being open and not
in control? You're just happier, you think, yeah, yeah. Do
(40:57):
you feel like like you experience things that you could
just never have? Yes? And you know, because like when
I was in Fresno, everything, like like I said, it
was routine and I had you know, it was literally
like if I didn't have my stevia drops from my coffee.
If I was out or I didn't get all four
of them, I was like my day was ruined. And
it just like it would throw it off and I'd
(41:18):
be like, oh my god, and it's being you know,
in this lifestyle with yeah, so it's like I don't
have I mean, even if I wanted to have a
routine like that, it's really kind of impossible. So it's
like the adjustment from living out of a suitcase and
eating whatever you can at catering and sleeping when you
(41:41):
get to sleep, like it's just it's been fun to
take a moment for you to adjust to it, or
didn't get into it right away. I got into it
right away somehow, I haven't no. I think I was
just so in love and so willing to do whatever
like this. I just even my best friend she's like,
I don't know who you are. So have morphed into
a different person. Kind of obviously the same same person,
(42:03):
but so much more like I don't know what the
world like, not lacks, I don't know, like laid back,
which I've always been very laid back personality wise, but
lifestyle wise, it was, you know, I had to be
in control of everything. So now, so it's freedom, Like
(42:23):
it's freedom. Yeah, that's scary to put it. And it's
I still my moments, you know, like when we are
home for a period of time and then we have
take back on the road and I'm like, I'm so
comfortable with my Like it's been so healthy and okay
because you have this beautiful house. Living together has been fun.
(42:44):
What have you learned about yourself and John living together.
He's the first guy that I've ever dated, slash lived
with that I didn't pick apart. I don't. I think
it's just as I genuinely like I'm connected to him
or with him, um, and I'm happy and so I
(43:08):
like the little things don't irritate me, you know. I
mean there's some things like now, like leaving dirty clothes
next to the hamper on the floor, right, Michael just
off and just put them on the ground wherever he is.
But IM, it's literally right next to the hamper, John,
right next to the hamper. But I just laughed, like
(43:32):
like the next point of friend, I would have been
like fuming over and I just because it's so hamid
and like it's just a dude thing if but it's
just funny, and it's like it's almost sweet in a
sense because it's so yes and I'm like, come on, dude,
but it's just it's good. I used to be a
person that was so into my alone time, like I
(43:56):
would turn down hanging out with friends because I was like, no,
it's my like it's seven clock pm. I'm like coming
home from work and it's me and my dog and
I want to chill. And so that was the biggest
suggestment I think, was being with someone and not only
being seven, but being on a tour bus half the
week in a very small space, a very small space.
(44:18):
In the first eight months it was John and I
and told other guys dang. And so we went from that,
which I don't I literally don't know like and even
the guys we all laugh looking back when we talked
about stories of how the heck did you do that?
And you loved it. I loved it, and I loved it.
It did not bother me. And then you guys grow smelly.
(44:39):
I think the worst part was like then John always says,
it's the funny thing I've ever said, was how I've
never seen so much urine on a toilet seat on
the bus, but you just deal with it, and like,
I gonna keep like little Clarks. Why had I just
wipe it down like old Summer would have been, like
I am not staying on here, Oh my god. Like,
(45:00):
but I just went with it and it was fun.
And then we ended up going from that bus to
a bus with John's bass player and his tour manager
and then John and I and that was great. And
now it's just John and I on a bus, which
is awesome even better, and we do not we know Bear.
We're going to try to bring Bear out because he's
(45:22):
the most that's any one that's the doodle mix. He's mean,
he's my favorite. I think he's maybe John's favorite, but
he won't say that. Cowboys always going to be John's
favorite because Cowboys cowboys his baby. But Cowboy will like
Nivot people. So Bear is just a big goober. He's like, dude,
(45:44):
I'm Bear, but I'm curious to see. You'll have to
find a short run or we can bring him out
for like a night, Like we're doing a show in
Georgia one night for fourth of July that or the
third of July actually, so I'm like, maybe we'll do
that quick up and back and see how he does
on the bus. He's got he's a he's a bear
dog with high anxiety. We have doggies anex for him.
(46:05):
Sweet buddy, So he's so sweet. So we'll see. So
you have just completely upgraded your life. You now like
in Nashville, you go on the road all the time,
You live with boys and pe on the toilet, You
have no and you love it. It's good. Crazy. Probably
you would have never dreamed that you could be never
in a million years ever. So what does that just
(46:28):
go to you? Like now where you are now, after
like how you've grown up meeting John, all this change
within you? What is your takeaway on just like rolling
with it? I think it's the best best thing you
can do for yourself in life and for the people
around you. Why is it so hard to do that though?
(46:49):
I think it's just a control thing, or maybe it's
like a fear. I don't know, Like what's the underlying fear? Change?
I guess I mean for me has changed. But um,
I mean John is the complete opposite of me, So
he couldn't even help me figure out what was wrong
with me or why I had such a fear of
(47:12):
giving up things and changing my ways or changing my location. Um,
but I think I think it's great. I think it's
great to allow yourself to let go and see where
it takes you, because I mean, there's so many opportunities
that I could have missed or maybe I have missed
in the past, you know, being the way that I was,
(47:32):
And so that's weird to look back and think, like, what, like,
had I not been so dead set in my ways,
where would I have been? But then again, I would
never met John and you let it all go at
the right time. What's your favorite thing about John that
maybe people don't know? Mm hmmm. He doesn't keep much
(47:53):
private about him, like his personality obviously hilarious, but that's
I mean, they think the whole world knows that, Like
we can I can look at him or he can
look at me in the car and we'll just be
busting up with no words or anything. But he's just
he always making you laugh always, and he's I think
my favorite part is how sentimental he is. Like we
had our first all out, like blowout fight over Christmas
(48:18):
because I'm a control freak and my Christmas tree was
like the mona Lisa of Christmas trees and I was
so proud of it, Like he was so irritated when
I we took it. He had a show in California,
and I was like, Okay, I'm going to put all
my Christmas decorations on the bus and we'll get them
back to Tennessee, because like, Christmas is my thing. Like
(48:40):
you wanted to decorate a tree on the bus? No? No, no,
But like I had to get all my stuff. Like
I said, I sold everything in my life basically, but
I kept my Christmas decorations because I've spent like years
collecting that Christmas like my jam. So when it came
time for Christmas, I was like, we are getting my ornaments,
my trees, everything. So we set up a tree and
(49:01):
I was so proud of it, and he was like
it looks like a grandma did it. And I'm like
this hurt feeling. Okay, that's cool, rude, And so he
was like, where's all the fun ornaments? And I'm like,
what fun ornament? He goes like the fun like childhood
ornaments and I'm like, you can't put fun ornaments on
my Mona Lisa tree, Okay. And so we're sitting at
(49:22):
the table one night and he's online ordering like minion
ornaments and toy story ornaments, and I'm like, he'st my
tree and I'm like, why don't we just get to
a tree for the office and we'll do that, like
a fun tree. And he's like, why don't you just
let me put my ornaments on the tree for the
family tree? And I'm like, I was getting so fired
up and this goes back to me down to the
(49:43):
corn down. I mean, I was like blood boiling, and
he was too like because he's like, what in the
world let me put my fun over But You're like,
oh my gosh, why do you not appreciate this tree?
So I mean when I say this was our first
all out, like I was screw areaming because he I'm like,
I'm like, you don't understand. That's like putting a poopy
(50:05):
emoji on my on the mona Lisa. You don't you
can't do that. And he was like, why are you
being so crazy? He's like, it's Christmas, like you're supposed
to have fun ornaments and I'm like, it's my tree,
Like I just and then so the worst part about
this was I then text my best friend and I
were sitting at the table and I texted her like
I'm so freaking mad he's being so mean, and I
(50:27):
sent it to John across the table and so he
I was like oh and at that point I just
had to start laughing. And then he started laughing, and
I was like it was like this aha moment of
why am I so crazy and controlling over my Christmas?
Like over anything in life, Like all he wanted was
to have sentimental ornaments of like a lawnmower, and he's like,
(50:50):
I ordered you a lawnmower, babe, like because I have
a John Deer here at the house. And he's like,
I got you the green John Deer a lawnmower for
your ornament. He's like, and I got your dad a
zebra and like every and then I was like I'm
such a dick, Like I am such an asshole. He
is so sweet and so sentimental, like he's not ordering
these just to be like that tree, Like he got
(51:10):
his grandma a little bottle of tetoes like the you
know travel signs because not on he loves dirty dirty
like not dirty Martiniz, but she does, but she drinks
vodka like just solo cup filled with vodka and so
everything had Yeah, like they were all meaningful to him
in a way which I didn't realize that was our
(51:31):
you know, like I never knew his Christmas history and
he didn't know mine. And so he's like the sweetest
part about him is that I might think people maybe
maybe they don't see that part is how sentimental he
is and it is so freaking sweet. And so that
was I learned. I learned something big that day. So
do you think that let you let go of control
(51:52):
even more? Yeah, just like dropping control right summer, you're
going to turn into like a hole blown hip, you know. Good?
Right now, I'll still always have that little little submission
in the corner, just in the corner, still gotta be me,
(52:13):
that's right. But yeah, I'm impressed though, with like how
aware you are of everything too. I try. I was
in therapy before I met John. I my whole life,
I had never like been to therapy or anything. And
then prior to meeting him, I had seen this great
lady for like five weeks, and I was so excited
(52:34):
about the idea of like seeing someone because I was
always like everyone puts like a weird thing, like they're
ashamed or something of talking to someone and I'm like
it's a great, unbiased opinion and just like an outlet.
And so she's the first one that really helped me,
I think, and leading up to meeting John of her,
she was like, you should go and just let go
(52:55):
and be free, and I'm like that's where it all started.
So it kind of like a snowball effect meeting her
and then talking about her, working on yourself and you're
becoming aware and so I'm like okay, and then it
all evolves into this and I'm like thankful for it.
So what does success look like to you? Not like
(53:18):
just monetarily or career wise, just like a successful life
happiness and what is what is happiness? Like how does
that play out if you were going to design happiness
or like what is it? That's a type of question, um,
I mean for my life in particular for you, what
(53:38):
fills you with the most happiness? Like what do you
want your life to feel like, to look like, to
be full of, to have a happy life? What is
that to you? I'm so bad at answering questions. You're
great at him. Um, I don't know. I mean I
think just healthy balance, and doing what you want, being
(54:02):
who you are. Obviously, if you're in a relationship, being
happy in that and being open, you know, to communication
with that and not holding back anything. And if you
love your job, you love your job. If you don't
love your job, find something you do love. I love
my job, I love my boyfriend, I love our dogs,
I love our friends. So I'm happy. That's That's that's success,
(54:26):
in my opinion, a successful life, full circle of just
find what you love and stick with it. What do
you think makes a successful relationship? Because John said something
so sweet. He's like, this is the healthies relationship I've
ever been in he's talking about with you. So what
makes ya's relationships so healthy? Communication? One at communicating. Yes,
(54:49):
it's been a slow, slow road to it because when
we first met, you know, if if there was anything
that ever like hurt my feeling beings, or if he
did something I like, you know, can we talk? And
He's like, maybe we shouldn't be together, And I'm like, well,
maybe we should just talk. How about that idea? Because
he you know, I don't know, his past is his past,
(55:09):
and he's never had a relationship where he had to
communicate or be open to these things and so I'm like, well,
let's be adults and have a conversation. And so I
think that and just respect, Like, especially with his lifestyle,
there's girls everywhere, and there's Instagram and things that you
know come up on Instagram, and it's just communication and
(55:32):
respect and love for one another. Definitely make it and
keep it. How do you deal with all the girls?
I mean, I think it's funny most of the time.
Like I I love how much girls love him because
I love him and I see what they see and
then they see it ten times more. But most of
(55:52):
the time they're respectful, which is great, and then you
know there's always going to be those that aren't, which
we just laugh about it at the end of the day.
But does John make you feel safe within relationships? And yeah, yeah,
there was the other night we were out and this
junk guy was like total party fan. He was in
his thirties or set when he brought these two rolls over,
(56:13):
which clearly I was there with John, but we had
some other friends in the setting, and um, this guy,
I mean, there's just these two girls that were when
this one girl sat down next to him, and you
could tell. I mean, they had some cocktails and she
was she was on a mission. And John looks over
and he's like, ba, have you good? Like you good?
And I'm like, I'm good, bab. You do your thing,
you talk talk to those girls. But he's always sweet
(56:38):
about just you know, casually being like this is my girl,
Like I got you good, You're good. So he's he's
going to at that because I know it's part of
the job, Like he can't be rude people or he
can't you know, one drol ask him for a kiss
in Australia, He's like, you know, I can't do that.
And I'm like sitting in the backseat and he's in
(56:59):
the front passenger and it's like she's like, I'm married,
it doesn't matter. And I'm like, oh my god, I
like good with people. But he finds a way of
you know, having humor in it and making it, you know,
so they're not offended or they're not mad at him
not making it a big thing. Yeah, And then it
still makes me feel comfortable. And he's a he's been
(57:22):
dead about that since day one. So I'm lucky for that. Okay,
So I want to keep talking to you, but we're
already at like an hour, so we're about to do
an instant. We're having dinner. So excited for a minute.
Summer you were teaching me how to cook and I
still need less easy easy recipes though, because you're like
a really awesome chef. It's fun. I enjoy it. What
(57:43):
are your favorite things to cook? You know with salad,
you're sad. You do a good sal salad is the best.
But we I mean when we're home, we try to
eat home at home as much as we can, and
it's always like Mediterranean chicken, easiest marinade ever, and then
filet and salad, and we do like bacon, arter, sparagos
and maybe some rice. I love it, but it's like
(58:06):
that's that's the routine. It's our routine. Hey, I love it.
So we're going to do some What are we doing?
Coconut chicken curry curry? Oh my god, it's gonna blow
your well. I'm excited that you brought out this phenomenal recipe.
I can't wait. Curis my jam. So I leave every
interview would leave your light. So just leave some inspiration
(58:28):
to people listening on what you through all your life,
through all your journey. What you would like to share
with people that you think they should know to help
them in their life, that you have learned. I would say,
every day above ground is a day we're celebrating. So
my mom always had the string up and we go
to dinnerly big, are you guys celebrating anything? And you know,
(58:48):
everyone's like, now, it's just like life, because it is
every day that you're happy and alive and healthy, and
even if you're not healthy, or even if you're not
entirely happy, you're still alive when it's a great day.
So that's that's my thing. So I always say that
now when everyone and they're like, oh, you celebrating them
with life? Thanks Mom. I love that. So it's it's good.
(59:12):
It keeps you grounded, and it keeps you like in
check in those moments when when you do go to
dinner or lunch and they ask you that. I just
keep that in mind every day above ground and the day.
It's a nice reminder. Amen to that. Ye summer fall on,
Caroline Duncan. It was such a pleasure having you on
over and out. This is your first podcast, my first podcast.
(59:35):
You killed it. I'm so excited for dinner. Okay, you're
the best. Bye, Bye,
Hey guys. On this episode of Get Real podcast, I
have Summer Fawn Caroline Duncan. Yes, we talked about all
four of her names, which is amazing. She is the
beautiful girlfriend of John Party. They just celebrated their two
year anniversary, and this was a really fun episode because
Michael and I went over to their house and cooked
dinner afterwards, and we had a blast. Loved them so much.
(00:24):
Summer is so cool, She's so dropped dead gorgeous, and
she's just the coolest, most laid back chick in the world.
The story of how John and Summer met is amazing.
Summer is an incredible hairstylist and she was living in
California and her client was really good friends with John's mom,
(00:44):
and so John's mom and her client basically set John
and Summer up. And their first date was John flying
Summer out to Colorado to come to one of his shows.
Neither one of them knew each other. They had only
heard about each other from Summer's client and of course
John's mom, and it was just a blind date for
(01:06):
the whole weekend. It went amazing. They fell in love instantly.
She tells me so many great things about John like
how great he is a communicating how he's so sentimental,
really sweet stuff like this sweet big old cowboy is
such a little sentimental heart and it's amazing and there's
such a great match. And she also talks about the
biggest fight they ever had, which had to do with
(01:27):
her perfect Christmas tree. You're not gonna want to miss that.
So here is Summer Carol. She's queen, she's not afraid.
(01:51):
Just let sounds Carol. I am here with Summer Fawn Duncan.
Faun is your middle name. Fawn is my first Summer
Fawn is one summer fun more fun. Do people call
you summer fun? But I've been called fawn and I've
(02:14):
been called summer but no summer faun. But you're supposed
to be called technically summer fun. Technically it's a hyphenated
summer fawn. Caroline is the middle. There's another one, Caroline, Caroline,
I mean not the Caroline Summer Fawn Caroline Duncan. Okay,
(02:35):
are you like British or something horrible for signing like
legal documents, No British, no methan. My I forget which
parents chose which name, but they were like arguing over
summer versus fawn. So they're like, well, summer fawn love
Caroline is my grandma. I love that. Okay. So you
(02:57):
are just like covered in the name department. So you
have a very exciting upbringing. And it has to do
with your dad in particular, because he is like y'all
like raised all sorts of exotic animals, and you're from
California and you grew up with like zebras, old things.
(03:19):
What kind of animals did you grow up with? How zebras? Donkeys,
many donkeys to be exact, many ponies, regular size horses, rams,
I mean, pigs, peacocks, dogs. What did you do with
all these animals? They're just pets. They were all pul pets.
(03:39):
My dad growing up was like an animal fanatic. He
had like a pet book constrictor that lived near his bed,
and he had a pet alligator. I think, I mean,
maybe I made this that, but I'm pretty sure you
to put alligator that open this pool for a point
in time. Um, just crazy things. Get a pet skunk.
I always wanted to pet scunk. Was it decent? Was
it was east? Yeah? He didn't like spray on him. No. Um,
(04:04):
did he just love animals and those animals and he
just like hangs out with them all. What did he
do with all that? They're just there? You kind of
lived on a farm. Yeah, it's like a branch of
acres divided into two pastures and then the house. And
it's just fun. It was like you wake up, you
go out there, you feed the animals, and then they
just do their things all day and you come back
(04:25):
you feed them again. They're just fun. It's like just
make peaceful about it, you know, like when I live
I lived out there for a point in time obviously
after my whole childhood, but I was building a house
and so I moved there for like the six month period,
and I lived in the guest house which was above
the barn, and so like I had to get used
(04:45):
to all of the pigeons during their little cous because
my bedroom was right above their little pet pigeons. Also,
we have pigeons, and my dad tight eyes their homing
pigeons tight eyes them. So they're all like multi color.
So clud i'll show you a video later. They're so colorful,
it's amazing. So there's like twenty of them and they
(05:07):
fly in this you know, massive circle together and they're
all tight eyed and they love it. Oh, like they
actually love it. Is your dad like, is he just
the craziest? What's he like? What is it like growing
up with a crazy the best ever? Is he just
like an adventure adrenaline junkie, which I don't know, my
(05:29):
mom has handled it for this long, but they work well. Yeah,
he's he's a wild man and he loves adventure and
he loves thrill seeking things. And I mean we've talked
about your dad and my dad and not not ever meeting,
and they try to go and survive and some like
(05:52):
my dad could easily be on like naked and afraid
and love it. You have to tell a story about
the zebra with your dad's finger, because that to me
is like so yeah, zebra finger, so pet zebra Newman.
The Newman was the o G zebra get in there. Um.
(06:15):
And so my dad, being like Noah's Ark modern day,
decided that every other animal we have has like a
pair or more because they need a buddy, right So
aside from like, we have a mini bowl named we
Man and he's the only mini bole that we have.
But he loves to hang out with like the donkeys,
so they're his people. And so Newman was the only zebra,
(06:38):
and somebody's like, well, I should get him a real friend,
and so we then got juliet Little did we know
that apparently zebras, being like wild animals, don't do well
with competition, even if it's opposite sex. Well, Newman was
like in love with my dad. Oh so like my
like my dad as Newman's person, and Newman's not that
(06:59):
we well he's a zebra. Newman's the zebra. Okay, So
he brought Juliett and so then Newman and Juliette then
fought from my dad. At attention, your dad was just
trying to get him a girl, frist You're just trying
to get him, just trying to get him something, you know,
Like so long story, short way to separate them and
to separate pastures every you know. But it's fine now. Juliette,
(07:21):
she's a whole other story. But my dad, I mean
he's seventy two, he's had years of experience with feeding animals,
and like everyone knows, if you're going to feed a
horse or like an animal, you you know, you tuck
your fingers and pull them back and you keep them
together so you don't have, you know, a finger out
whims to be chomped on. And he was feeding new
(07:43):
with his left hand one day, just some oats, and
like I don't know if he looked away momentarily or
if he just got relaxed and his middle finger kind
of curled up and then it was gone, just like
just bit it off, ate it. He ate it. And
then not only does my dad, like a normal human
would be like, oh my god, I have to go
(08:06):
the doctor or like the hospital whatever. He gets out
his phone and starts instagramming and recording live video of
his finger missing, with like the bone and just blood.
And I'm like, does he think it's awesome? He thinks
it's amazing? Is he so glad that? I mean, I'm
sure at this point, like it's probably like a fifty fifty,
But is it a great conversation conversation people? It's he yeah.
(08:29):
The the insurance people that was his favorite, I think
when they called to like figure out what the deals
with the hospital bill and like the story, well, mozebra
bit my finger off. I mean, can you get that covered?
I don't know, but he filmed everything. He filmed it
from the moment he bit it off, and he filmed
it in the kitchen when he was talking to my mom,
and then he filmed it at the actual hospital where
(08:51):
they were cutting it and stitching it. And I don't
think that's legal, but he did it. Oh my gosh.
So you just had a wild childhood. I had had
a very fun childhood. What's one of your best memories
of growing up? Um that just brings you so much
happiness when you think about it. I mean probably just
ranch life. Like I mean, obviously it's back before internet
(09:13):
and all those things of being you know, a teenager
and a lill dial up, but just being a kid
out on the ranch and catching tadpoles. And that was
one thing that my brother and I always did was
we had a little pond, like not a legit pond,
but down by our fence. Water would collect and then
we'd go catch tadpoles. And every year my dad catches
you know, some gopher snakes and king snakes and we
(09:35):
got to play with those. It was just I think
growing up like on the ranch and then with all
the animals, and an awesome name too. He is Hawk
hot Hawk, like the bird chase Robert Hawk Duncan, but
I think he he may have legally changed it at
some point. So y'all are a four name? Were four
name Chase Robert Hawk family. I mean, yeah, I love Okay,
(10:01):
So then you grow up. You have this awesome exotic childhood.
You are like living such a fun life. It was
fun and out in California. Then you're like, I freaking
love hair. I'm gonna go to hair school. Hair started
when I was about fourteen. Discussion, Um, I would get
my hair done and then I would go home and
(10:21):
fix it and fix it like. My mom would pay
whatever amount. I'm sure it was not like appropriate for
a fourteen year old, but I had to have highlights,
of course, so she would pay for this to get done,
and then I would like go home and fry my
hair off with you know, box bleach from St. Mart.
And I'm like, okay, So but I started cutting hair.
(10:43):
I think, oh gosh, I was probably seventeen, and I
was working at our family business and we had a
big warehouse where we would be like tight eye and stuff.
What's the family business? Um? It started as Duncan Enterprise
or Duncan's ram Ex, and then it went to I
left to create. It's just all arts and crafts. So
any kind of tied out you've ever done, or any
kind of too lip fabric, paints or scribbles, any kind
(11:06):
of iron on crystals or just fun like all kinds
of arts and crafts, anything, okay, just creative, creative. So
I used to be in design and marketing, and so
I got to make the displays for like Michaels and
Joyanne's like like, you can create this with these products,
and so I would create that finance look and then
go in the stores and they go on to the stores,
(11:28):
and so after hours we would cut hair and like
the big aisles of the warehouse, just for fun, just
for fun. A couple of the girls there that trusted
me not I don't know why, but in the aisles
of the stores. So long story short, it was it
turned out fine. So you're like, okay, this is a passion.
I see this. So then I started assisting the girl.
(11:51):
I was my senior year of high school. Um maybe
right when I graduated. I was with eighteen. So I
started assisting the lady that had done my hair this
whole time, learned from her, did a little bit of
the apprentice program and then I transferred everything to beauty
school and finished there. I went straight to working at
(12:11):
a salon, and then at twenty two, I opened up
my salon. How was that to open your own salon
at twenty two? Where you or were you just ready?
I was so excited and my dad was like, you're
basically like bad ship crazy and it was not a
strong point in the economy and just a small business,
like everything was a bad idea from his standpoint of
(12:33):
being in business for so many years. And so I
had like my dad, who's this realist, my mom who's
an optimist, so she's like, it's going to be great.
That it was great. It was great. It was great.
And my uncle, who had passed away years ago, had
left me a little bit of money, and so, you know,
I was supposed to be for college, but I did
the beauty school thing, and um, so I asked my
(12:55):
dad if he you know, do you think that Gary
would be okay with me spending money on this? And
he's like, I mean, if that's what you want to do,
like sure, And so I opened that at two and
had thirteen girls working for me, dank sister. It was
fun and great. Girls were all still a team now,
like fast forward. My best friend now has a salon
(13:18):
and all the girls went with her when I moved
out here. Um, so when I go home and do hair,
we want to still be together, which is fun. Okay,
so you kind of. So then your story takes a
turn because you meet John party and that is why
you moved out here for the party animal himself party
(13:40):
party party. Yes, so you guys have quite the interesting
meeting because your mother's introduced you, right, his mom and
my client. Okay, so how did that happen? So his
mom is okay, my client, longtime client, family of friends.
I don't even know each other because you're over here.
Is he from Calfornym's from California? But we didn't know
(14:01):
each other. So mom living in California. Yeah, so she
lives up north and I grew up like three hours
south of where he was from. And so my client
had been friends with his mom for years, like long
time years, and so they had stayed in touch with
all the moves and whatnot. And John moved a lot, No,
but my client moving like down south and then to Fresno,
(14:23):
and then his mom always stayed up north. But they
still remained friends. So my client Ellen would grow up
to visit his mom and there they were friends, like
they have a whole group of girl friends. I forget that.
I call it theas or something. I remember. Okay, maybe
I made that up, but I don't know. But they
all stayed in touch, and so I guess they were
talking one day. I don't really know the full story
(14:44):
because it's kind of like a blur now thinking back,
but I remember getting a voicemail from Ellen when I
was at work, and she was like my client. And
so I had had years of just like not the
greatest relationships, and so I had been at a point
now I was like single, and I had my dog,
and I had my house and my salon, and I'm like,
fife's great, You're like killing it. I don't need a man. No,
(15:07):
I'm great. I got my dog Cooper, like we're buddies.
And so I get this voicemail at work one day
and Ellen's like, hey, you know, I I have this
guy I want you to meet. Like he's a great guy,
a family guy, grew up in the country, you know,
tall all the things never mentioned anything about who he
(15:27):
was or what he did for work. I just assumed
he was like a local because I was never going
to leave friends now. I loved friends now, and I
was like, which is just being you grew up there,
grew up there, and it was like it's a great
place for a family, and my family was there. I
never want to read it to college, so it wasn't
like I experienced anything else, and I just, yeah, I
(15:47):
loved it. I had the business and all my clients,
and I just always had that mindsetf like I'm never
going to leave here. And then so then I was wrong.
Ellen says, I got this dude John Hit. Yeah, he
was in the middle of like really breaking out, so
I think he had just one a c MS New
(16:09):
Artist of the Year. Did you know who he was?
Or were you a country music? I've always listened to
country like since day one, but I don't know any
names anymore. It's like, I mean I knew like Garth Brooks,
Allen Jackson, George Straight, like we when I when you
used to go and actually buy you know, c d
s or like just set tapes back at this you
know then now it's just like you stream things so
(16:30):
you don't necessarily know who it is. You just hear
a song. So I'd heard his songs, but I had
no idea and you didn't really know what he looked
like now and at this point when I had this voicemail,
I didn't even know who he was. And so then
she's like, call me if you want to know more.
So I'm like, so I call her and I'm like,
tell me more about this guy, like when can I
meet him? And she's like, well, he's in country music
(16:51):
and I was like, no, you're not interested, Like I didn't.
I don't know. I didn't want to be a part
of this whole. Like my initial that with sex, drugs,
rock and roll in the groupie Hose, which you know,
obviously I've been proven wrong, but that was my initial. Yeah,
I was like, that's a whole different life, Like obviously
(17:12):
that means no friends, no, and so I was kind
of like mm. And so I talked to my girlfriends
about it and they're like half of them were like,
go for it. What do you have to lose? And
the other half was like, I don't like the way
that that sounds like we're with you and that don't
don't meet him. And so he was actually in my hometown,
had you googled him and now you know him, And
(17:33):
I was like, okay, adorable, like freaking modern day Elvis
and James Danish steak and precious. It's so sweet and
um so he so you're already know you have to
meet him because he's steak. But I still was like
I just it was one of those things like I'm
not really adventurous. Yes you are, you grew up in
(17:55):
the wild, but as far as like like I was such,
I'm such a route teen person like John makes funny
because I have the same breakfast every day is a
scrambled egg. I mean sometimes it might do like a
frid egg one egg and some coffee. You scrambled just
one egg. I don't love breakfast, Like I'd rather say
my calories for like a really good lunch or dinner.
(18:17):
But you're just so boring to me. One egg. I
make him three eggs and then he's like, could get
some meat, Like okay, so I made, you know, whatever
he wants. But I'm just easy, like I don't want
to be like fool in the morning. You just want
to get going. Yeah, So I just that's like person.
(18:38):
So I'm like this breaks my routine. This breaks my like,
wake up, Fresno, work, friends, no, everything Fresno related. And
I just wasn't I wasn't sure about it. I was
so set in my ways. And so my best friend
was like, get the hell out of Dodge, like you
need to shake it up. Shake it girl. So and
(18:58):
she had been married at this point and like, I'm like, okay,
so I need to venture out. So he was performing
in my hometown, but I happened to be in Vegas
and my friends like, cancel your trip. I'm like, no,
what were you doing in Vegas with friends? Just having
a weekend. Yes, So we had a group of us
in Vegas and I'm like, I'm not going to cancel this.
I don't even know the guy. You're like, I'm not
(19:20):
going to cancel my trip. It's probably not going to
even out. And so and mind you, John didn't even
text me until the day of his shop stop, Like, uh,
you know, listen, Mrs John, like, your client gave me
your number and if you want to come to the
show tonight with some of your friends, I would love
to meet you. And I'm like, yeah, well I'm not here.
(19:41):
So and we just kind of like played it nonchalant okay.
So that was his initial meeting. That was his initial
like come out and hang just shoot your text in
the dark like hi, So so okay, so it didn't happen.
Didn't happen. I was like, s I'm in Vegas, and
so then that went into like, well when you know,
(20:02):
when are you free? Okay? So because so I think
I said something like maybe next time you're in town.
He was like, well that could be like a year
of now, which obviously I didn't know how that whole
lifestyle worked. And so he's like, I'm free. I have
two days in Denver that following week where he had
two shows when they happened to be like both in Denvers,
he was going to be, you know, stationary, and so
(20:24):
I'm like, should come see me? So he's like, can
I fly you out here? What y'all never even from?
And so summer you guys have never even met. And
he looked at my picture for like he said, I
looked at your picture for three days and then I
decided I'd call it. I'm like, okay, if he wasn't
a cute country star, that would be super creepy. So
(20:48):
I looked at your picture for three days for three days,
and I figured i'd call you. I was like, oh,
you're so romantic, my god. I mean that is kind
of sweet and a kind of creepy way. So I was, okay,
I'm just kidding. It's not creep I thought, So I
thought it was kind of. I mean, there's a there's
a little thing of creepiness in there. If I don't
know you, and I'm not gonna, like I don't have
(21:08):
an escape plan, like I can't just get in my
car and drive back to California. I guess because you
trust your client, you know that he's going to be
a I did have that. You know she's not going
to set you up with a serial killer. Yeah. No,
Ted Bundy's here. So he's like, let me fly you.
He's like, let me fly you to Denver. And I
was like, can I bring a friend. I'll pay for
(21:29):
her fly Like, I'm not asking you. Like, I was like,
I'm not asking you to pay for her. I just
do you mind if I bring someone I just don't
know you, you like Mary, just want to pay it
out there because I just don't know who you are.
And he was telling He's like, that's Telly fine, that's
so freaking love. He got my flight, I got her fight.
(21:50):
It was great. She's nervous. I was so nervous. Every
other day that week I was like, I'm going to cancel.
I even at one point I think I tried to
cancel because I had gotten confirmation from his travel agent,
but I couldn't change my flight because it had been
booked third party. So I was like, oh, ship, you're
stuck like it's happening. So you know what, You're ready,
(22:12):
You're ready for some adventure. You got your friends, you
got your backup. And my friend had been going through
like a rough relationship time. So on the days that
I was like I don't want to go, I'm nervous,
I'm scared, She's like we're going, Like I need this chip,
We're going, you need to go. We're going with stew
It okay. So I'm dying to know how this played out.
Did the trip play up? The night that I was packing,
(22:35):
the power goes out in my house, like the whole neighborhood,
and I'm like, this is a sign. I don't I mean,
should am I supposed to go? Like? Oh my god?
So anyways, I ended up going. We get there. You know,
my girlfriend and I we go to the hotel. We
get all dressed up for this first meeting, and he's
(22:56):
performing at Blue Moon Brewery. It's like a little radio.
Oh so it was a small private gig. How long
did you think about your outfit that first outfit? I
think I think I had it like nailed down. On
the flight over, I was like casual, not to like.
I think I had like black jeans on army like
T shirt you want to like try hard, yes, And
(23:20):
so I was feeling really good, like I was feeling confident,
like even if we don't click, like this will be
a fun girls weekend. And I didn't have any weird nervousness.
It was very interesting for me. I don't know. So
we go in and he's like, when you get here,
a call this number night. He was his tour manager,
and he goes, my guy, I will come on and
get you. This is one heck of a way to
(23:42):
meet somebody, right. So I see his tour manager tray
coming around the corner and I'm like, okay, here we go.
So he takes us back to where John and the
guys are like just hanging out before the show and
it was like nothing, and it was like we'd known
each other for years. So it was was initial conversation easy,
so easy, which was awkward because I'm so shy. You are, Yes,
(24:07):
I am still freaking shy. I'm so shy. Yes, I've
gotten better being out here and being in John's life,
like it's you're forced to not be. I do not
feel like you're shy. Feel so awkward? Yeah, oh my god,
you cannot see it that way. So it's so bad.
But how did the initial meeting go? Like when you
walk in the room, what happens? Honestly, it was such
(24:29):
a blur. I think I was so excited and it
was just like this energy that I had never experienced
before with when meeting someone. And obviously I was like,
oh my god, he's so hot and tall, like sexy
of tight jeans and cowboy boots and a hat. Oh
my god, you're like did I dream you? And so
(24:50):
I don't even know what we talked about. It's probably
something about how we met. I don't even know. But
it just flowed and we were laughing and it was
like the band guys were so nice. It was literally
like we've been friends for forever. And my girlfriend. I mean,
she's freaking hollo with this, and so does she have
fun to being. We had a great time. She had
so much but no being like your sidekick. She had
(25:12):
a blast and we had that first night we watched
his show, which was super fun, and we ended up
going to dinner afterwards. Um you John and your friend
and two of his band members and we had a
great dinner to steakhouse. We went to a champagne bar
(25:33):
after I had way too much champagne, and then we
went back to the hotel and John of course was
like like, come cuddle, and I'm like, no, sir, I
don't like nice try and he was trying so hard.
It was so cute because he was like I just
want to talk to you in the cuddle and I'm like,
uh huh. So he watched he walked us back to
(25:56):
our room, my girlfriend and I I said no, Summers said,
I said, And so I'm like that whole first role
in meeting, it would be hard to stay noble. I
was like, you're welcome to come hang out with us
for a bit, and so he came to our room
for maybe like twenty minutes and then he's like sure,
you don't want to come, good, like, I'll see you tomorrow.
(26:17):
And I told him that day. I said I had
a girlfriend and her husband that lived in Denver, and
I was like, we're gonna go today storing the cord um.
So I said, we're going to brunch tomorrow if you
are interested in coming, like no pressure, I know you
might be busy. And of course his first response earlier
that day when we first that was yeah, you know,
(26:39):
I probably have like an interview or something. And I'm like, yeah, okay, okay,
it makes good good. So the next morning I just
gave him like a courtesy text of like, hey, and
you said you might have like things going on, but
we're going to brunch at ten if you want to come.
Then he's like pick me about front. I'm like mm hmm, okay, okay.
(27:01):
So we had brunch with my friends. It was fun.
It was like chill, and then it turned into a
whole day and like we went to the mall in
Denver and we went shopping and he had the day
off the whole day and that night we had it.
He had a show that night at the Grizzly Rose,
which is like super honky tonk so fun, and that
was like his first real show that I was going
(27:22):
to see, because the previous night was just like guitar
pool thing sadly sent the whole day with like his
buddy mouth flew in and he's a comedian, he's a
freaking crack up, and his girlfriend and their friend. It
was just like a whole group of us that met
and just got along so well, and we walked around
the mall and went shopping and had drinks and like
(27:45):
just I don't know, it was just fun. Nervous. I
was nervous. I was so nervous. And at one point
he was walking behind me and put his hands on
my waist and I was like done, came over. But
it was nice to experience that and have like you
had butterflies, like you're just like a I text my
(28:07):
mom and I said something like sell my house, sell
my clothes, and send my dog like I'm done Dan,
and she was like, oh shit, okay, so and then
she she was like you remember when you send me
that text message? And she's like, I told Ali, who's
my best friend. She's like, I told Ali, like I
think summers, I think she's serious, and I'm like m
(28:28):
hmm yep. So that was it. So then I flew
home and how did you feel when you flew home?
I was so sad but also so like giddy. And
it was so funny because that night at the Grizzly Rose,
they had bus call at like one am, and so
we had the show. We like dance, we hang out,
we have our We had our first dance to Wheeler
(28:48):
Walker Jr's so romantic. That's kind of awesome. I have
that on camera on film. And so what was the song?
Something so quick drop him out, let me see them
knock her. It was flawless. We had a flawless dance.
And as the bus was leaving that night, he was
like waving out the window. Was so he was smitten
(29:11):
kitten he was he remember he was told me that
he was texting like his manager and stuff like I
just met this girl and like she's the real deal
or something like she's like a walking Carl's Jr. Commercial
like whatever. His funny things. I don't know. He was
just he was so funny. And then like Jen Wayne,
I met her recently after that after meeting him, and
she was like, oh my god, John text me when
(29:33):
he met you and I was like, I have to
meet this droll because he was totally in he was
in it, like Okay, let's get to know, like we're
on the same page. And so that last day with him,
he had asked me to come back and be his
date for the CMT Awards, which was like a month later,
and I was like a ship, okay, welcome, and he
(29:55):
had his people booked my flight like right then, and
I'm like, I'm going. I guess I'm going. And so
that was a month in between which we wouldn't see
each other. And so how did the communication go? NonStop texting,
phone calls, which I had never been a phone call person,
So you are like talking on the phone all this
(30:15):
all the time. And I hate phone talking, like every day,
every texting talking. And so my best friend when I
got home, you know, we were talking about it, and
John and I were texting and she's like, you're not
going to see each other for a month, and she
was like reading our text message and she's like that's
not going to work out. She goes, you need to
go see each other now. And so I had the
(30:38):
ability to move my clients, which is great, and so
I'm like Okay, I can make this work where I
can cramp everybody into like two days and then take
off again. And so I then met him like four
days later in Nebraska. Okay, and how is that job
cuttle time? That we tell he had cuttle time? And
it was so awkward like that, like rolling my suitcase
up to the bus and I'm like, like do we kiss? Do?
(31:02):
I mean? Like, because I had you all kissed you?
He kissed me goodbye? So you had just had liked
one kiss? Yeah? Was it like a big kiss or
is it just like a little kiss? It was like
a medium kiss, okay, not sloppy, not not too long, okay, okay,
and that was it. Then you're out and I was like, bye,
so that's what you left with, like totally okay. So yeah,
(31:24):
So then that week later I went and mad him
and it was like did you all kiss right away? No?
Like I was so nervous, and I think he was nervous.
I took about an hour and then how did it happen?
And then we were like cuddling on the bus and
then he just reached over and pulled my face and
kissed me. And that was that. I died. Done deal
(31:48):
so yeah, that it was. That was my first time
being on the bus, and I was spoiled because it
was just John his bass player and tour manager. It
was a like I think he was out with Tim
and Faith and so it was a you know, not
the full band. So that was a good intro to
my first bus experience because then the following trip was
(32:08):
like two weeks later. I started doing it like a
two weeks on with him and then a week call
him working, and then back for two weeks um and
that that was the rest of my life from that
point on. It never stopped. It never stopped, and you'll
just become official right then. Now. I took a couple
of months. I think it took yeah for him to
call me his girlfriend. How did that happen? That was hilarious.
(32:30):
He he like we had talked about things like, you know,
are you seeing other people? Because I'm not. I just
want to make sure on the same page. And he's like, no, no,
all about you, like blah blah blah. But you never know,
like it's new, and so you still have fears of
like your initial fears of what sure. Yeah, because there
(32:51):
were weekends that I wasn't out and you see things
on Instagram, you know, like I can't help it, but
I just had a feeling about it that I was like, Okay,
I trust this and it was a good thing and
a good feeling. And when I saw him and we
talked so much like before a show, after show, throughout
the rest of the night, all the time, and so um,
(33:17):
I think it's probably five months in. We were on
the bus one night and somebody said something and he
was like, oh, this this is my girlfriend. And I
was like, oh, you want to talk about that? Because
I didn't agree about that. I mean, you want about
I didn't know anything about this, but it was sweet.
It was like proud moment of like she's mine, Like
(33:39):
let's make this official. And so of course it felt
good for me and in my mind it was already
like a thing, you know, And so that that was that.
And then a couple of weeks later, we were having
Thai food for lunch and he out of nowhere was like,
so when you move here are you going to bring
your car? And I was like, again, do you want
to talk about this? So he makes of his mind,
(34:02):
So yeah, that's I moved. I think it was We
met in May and I moved out here officially for
Christmas and did you so then did you just like
sell you? I sold my house my best friend I
had built houses side my side, and that was amazing.
That was an awesome experience for two years and we
both sold our houses and her and her husband found
(34:22):
a great house and I just sold mine, sold my car.
Um my. So the year let's see, I met John,
so October before I met John, I was like foot
four months before I met him. My lease was up
at my salon, and so it was either renew or
(34:45):
figure out plan B. And I wasn't I didn't love
the business side of the business like I loved hair
and I'm so passionate about hair, and I think being
such a small business, I wasn't willing to give up
the control. And so I had a lot on my
plate of stress wise of like taxes and just managing
(35:07):
a business thing because my art is doing hair and
so is kind of like frustrating. Yeah, and so um
I talked with the girls, and I, you know, it's like,
what's your guys thought on if we if I don't
renew for Tangled, do we move you know to like
these little individual sweets kind of thing, and we had options,
(35:27):
and so long story short, everything worked out perfectly, like
there couldn't have been a more perfect end named to
that whole situation. So we all still got to work together,
but we had our own private suites and every girl
got to be basically their own boss, and they had
their own line business name. And and then when I
after I met John, that's when Ali opened a person
(35:50):
on and then all the girls went to her place.
It was seamless, like in the craziest way, which I
people always say, like everything happens and when it's supposed
to happen, it works out right, and I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
And then never in my life have I experienced that
in a true reform, like from me meeting John, like
(36:10):
actually from the business not renewing first was like, okay,
let's make a decision to not renew that. And then
I met John and I'm like, damn, if I had
kept tangled, I wouldn't be able to travel the way
I was. And then selling my house and my best
friend getting pregnant, and so it was just like it
all worked out so crazy and it was so meant
to be, doesn't make you trust like things more or timing. Yeah, absolutely,
(36:37):
which I always I didn't. I wouldn't. I doubt it,
doubted it when I was, you know, drawing up the
whole thing. But it's definitely like it's a real deal. Yeah. Yeah,
So when something is meant to be, it's meant to be.
But do you have do you think that you have
to allow yourself to follow? If I would have not gone, yeah, yeah,
(37:00):
it's crazy. So okay, so how are the same to you? Awards?
When you went to the first your first award show,
it was fun. I didn't walk the carpet with him
or anything, so I was thinking that I was enough
to do all that, and I was so freaked out.
And then it was like a okay, like a relief
of like okay, okay, we're just we're just gonna go.
And he walked the carpet and did his thing, and
(37:20):
I hung out with his managers, which are awesome, all
like majority girl team he has, which it was so
cool and they're so sweet, and um, we got all
dressed up. He had a lady that did my hair
and makeup and het up for you. He had it
all set up and so it was so sweet. It
was such a cab He's so thoughtful. I don't know,
(37:42):
it was sweet. Um, it was fun. We we ended
up leaving right after. I forgot if he was presenting something.
I'm so bad, but we ended up leaving. We went
to dinner a Jeff Ruby Steakhouse, which was my first
experience there, and it was so good and it was
just a fun night. We ended up going bowling after
(38:03):
that with some friends. Um, and that was it. It
was like over, like that, were you nervous to like
walk into the country music? I was so nervous and
I had to meet everybody. What did you think about
meeting like people that you've seen on TV? Everyone was
so nice and it was like now I thought it
was going to be weird. But like the first before
(38:23):
this even happened, he had CMT um interviews, like the
day before the c MT Awards, and so we were
at the CMT headquarters downtown and I was literally standing
able to elbow with Keith Urban and they were talking
all buddy buddy, and I'm like, what is this life?
I mean, I was kind of dying inside, but I
was very composed. John was like, I'm so like, I'm shocked.
(38:44):
You weren't like crazy or like asking for pictures And
I'm like, well, I mean I would never do that,
but I was definitely dying inside for sure, like dying inside.
I mean everybody that was in there, it was like wow,
like and they're all just normal people and they're so
nice and it was just like just another day at
the job. Have you felt now that you've been with
(39:06):
John two years, you said you're to year inn Mesery.
Have you felt do you feel now like super comfortable
in the funtry music community around everybody. Yeah, I mean
it's it's just like friends and family in a sense.
Everyone is so inviting, so nice, even if you don't
know them or like we passed um Sean performs the
(39:27):
Nissan thing for CFS with Thomas and the whole like
little big town gang was there and I do one
of the wife's hair and they all like I haven't
met any of them really formally, but they were all like,
oh my god, hey girl, and I was like that's sweet,
Like this is awesome. They're just everyone is so nice.
(39:49):
So it is something about country music is so down
home good people. Yes, they have these awesome careers, but
it's still just regular people. Everybody's like that, so normal.
So it's nice. It was I was pleasantly surprised, being
that my initial thought of this whole lifestyle was like,
you know, all bad things, right, that's what you see
(40:11):
growing up behind the music, VH one and all that.
So it's been good. Okay, So how have the two
years been moving away from Fresno, leaving Fresno that you
swore you would never leave. Now you're like on the
road all the time. This girl who loves her routine
never probably has one. How has that all been? It's
been great. What has it taught you about yourself? That?
(40:37):
I mean, basically that I just had more patience than
I ever thought I had, really, and that I am
open to not being in control of my life and
every part of it, which was tough. What have you
found to be the benefit of being open and not
in control? You're just happier, you think, yeah, yeah. Do
(40:57):
you feel like like you experience things that you could
just never have? Yes? And you know, because like when
I was in Fresno, everything, like like I said, it
was routine and I had you know, it was literally
like if I didn't have my stevia drops from my coffee.
If I was out or I didn't get all four
of them, I was like my day was ruined. And
it just like it would throw it off and I'd
(41:18):
be like, oh my god, and it's being you know,
in this lifestyle with yeah, so it's like I don't
have I mean, even if I wanted to have a
routine like that, it's really kind of impossible. So it's
like the adjustment from living out of a suitcase and
eating whatever you can at catering and sleeping when you
(41:41):
get to sleep, like it's just it's been fun to
take a moment for you to adjust to it, or
didn't get into it right away. I got into it
right away somehow, I haven't no. I think I was
just so in love and so willing to do whatever
like this. I just even my best friend she's like,
I don't know who you are. So have morphed into
a different person. Kind of obviously the same same person,
(42:03):
but so much more like I don't know what the
world like, not lacks, I don't know, like laid back,
which I've always been very laid back personality wise, but
lifestyle wise, it was, you know, I had to be
in control of everything. So now, so it's freedom, Like
(42:23):
it's freedom. Yeah, that's scary to put it. And it's
I still my moments, you know, like when we are
home for a period of time and then we have
take back on the road and I'm like, I'm so
comfortable with my Like it's been so healthy and okay
because you have this beautiful house. Living together has been fun.
(42:44):
What have you learned about yourself and John living together.
He's the first guy that I've ever dated, slash lived
with that I didn't pick apart. I don't. I think
it's just as I genuinely like I'm connected to him
or with him, um, and I'm happy and so I
(43:08):
like the little things don't irritate me, you know. I
mean there's some things like now, like leaving dirty clothes
next to the hamper on the floor, right, Michael just
off and just put them on the ground wherever he is.
But IM, it's literally right next to the hamper, John,
right next to the hamper. But I just laughed, like
(43:32):
like the next point of friend, I would have been
like fuming over and I just because it's so hamid
and like it's just a dude thing if but it's
just funny, and it's like it's almost sweet in a
sense because it's so yes and I'm like, come on, dude,
but it's just it's good. I used to be a
person that was so into my alone time, like I
(43:56):
would turn down hanging out with friends because I was like, no,
it's my like it's seven clock pm. I'm like coming
home from work and it's me and my dog and
I want to chill. And so that was the biggest
suggestment I think, was being with someone and not only
being seven, but being on a tour bus half the
week in a very small space, a very small space.
(44:18):
In the first eight months it was John and I
and told other guys dang. And so we went from that,
which I don't I literally don't know like and even
the guys we all laugh looking back when we talked
about stories of how the heck did you do that?
And you loved it. I loved it, and I loved it.
It did not bother me. And then you guys grow smelly.
(44:39):
I think the worst part was like then John always says,
it's the funny thing I've ever said, was how I've
never seen so much urine on a toilet seat on
the bus, but you just deal with it, and like,
I gonna keep like little Clarks. Why had I just
wipe it down like old Summer would have been, like
I am not staying on here, Oh my god. Like,
(45:00):
but I just went with it and it was fun.
And then we ended up going from that bus to
a bus with John's bass player and his tour manager
and then John and I and that was great. And
now it's just John and I on a bus, which
is awesome even better, and we do not we know Bear.
We're going to try to bring Bear out because he's
(45:22):
the most that's any one that's the doodle mix. He's mean,
he's my favorite. I think he's maybe John's favorite, but
he won't say that. Cowboys always going to be John's
favorite because Cowboys cowboys his baby. But Cowboy will like
Nivot people. So Bear is just a big goober. He's like, dude,
(45:44):
I'm Bear, but I'm curious to see. You'll have to
find a short run or we can bring him out
for like a night, Like we're doing a show in
Georgia one night for fourth of July that or the
third of July actually, so I'm like, maybe we'll do
that quick up and back and see how he does
on the bus. He's got he's a he's a bear
dog with high anxiety. We have doggies anex for him.
(46:05):
Sweet buddy, So he's so sweet. So we'll see. So
you have just completely upgraded your life. You now like
in Nashville, you go on the road all the time,
You live with boys and pe on the toilet, You
have no and you love it. It's good. Crazy. Probably
you would have never dreamed that you could be never
in a million years ever. So what does that just
(46:28):
go to you? Like now where you are now, after
like how you've grown up meeting John, all this change
within you? What is your takeaway on just like rolling
with it? I think it's the best best thing you
can do for yourself in life and for the people
around you. Why is it so hard to do that though?
(46:49):
I think it's just a control thing, or maybe it's
like a fear. I don't know, Like what's the underlying fear? Change?
I guess I mean for me has changed. But um,
I mean John is the complete opposite of me, So
he couldn't even help me figure out what was wrong
with me or why I had such a fear of
(47:12):
giving up things and changing my ways or changing my location. Um,
but I think I think it's great. I think it's
great to allow yourself to let go and see where
it takes you, because I mean, there's so many opportunities
that I could have missed or maybe I have missed
in the past, you know, being the way that I was,
(47:32):
And so that's weird to look back and think, like, what, like,
had I not been so dead set in my ways,
where would I have been? But then again, I would
never met John and you let it all go at
the right time. What's your favorite thing about John that
maybe people don't know? Mm hmmm. He doesn't keep much
(47:53):
private about him, like his personality obviously hilarious, but that's
I mean, they think the whole world knows that, Like
we can I can look at him or he can
look at me in the car and we'll just be
busting up with no words or anything. But he's just
he always making you laugh always, and he's I think
my favorite part is how sentimental he is. Like we
had our first all out, like blowout fight over Christmas
(48:18):
because I'm a control freak and my Christmas tree was
like the mona Lisa of Christmas trees and I was
so proud of it, Like he was so irritated when
I we took it. He had a show in California,
and I was like, Okay, I'm going to put all
my Christmas decorations on the bus and we'll get them
back to Tennessee, because like, Christmas is my thing. Like
(48:40):
you wanted to decorate a tree on the bus? No? No, no,
But like I had to get all my stuff. Like
I said, I sold everything in my life basically, but
I kept my Christmas decorations because I've spent like years
collecting that Christmas like my jam. So when it came
time for Christmas, I was like, we are getting my ornaments,
my trees, everything. So we set up a tree and
(49:01):
I was so proud of it, and he was like
it looks like a grandma did it. And I'm like
this hurt feeling. Okay, that's cool, rude, And so he
was like, where's all the fun ornaments? And I'm like,
what fun ornament? He goes like the fun like childhood
ornaments and I'm like, you can't put fun ornaments on
my Mona Lisa tree, Okay. And so we're sitting at
(49:22):
the table one night and he's online ordering like minion
ornaments and toy story ornaments, and I'm like, he'st my
tree and I'm like, why don't we just get to
a tree for the office and we'll do that, like
a fun tree. And he's like, why don't you just
let me put my ornaments on the tree for the
family tree? And I'm like, I was getting so fired
up and this goes back to me down to the
(49:43):
corn down. I mean, I was like blood boiling, and
he was too like because he's like, what in the
world let me put my fun over But You're like,
oh my gosh, why do you not appreciate this tree?
So I mean when I say this was our first
all out, like I was screw areaming because he I'm like,
I'm like, you don't understand. That's like putting a poopy
(50:05):
emoji on my on the mona Lisa. You don't you
can't do that. And he was like, why are you
being so crazy? He's like, it's Christmas, like you're supposed
to have fun ornaments and I'm like, it's my tree,
Like I just and then so the worst part about
this was I then text my best friend and I
were sitting at the table and I texted her like
I'm so freaking mad he's being so mean, and I
(50:27):
sent it to John across the table and so he
I was like oh and at that point I just
had to start laughing. And then he started laughing, and
I was like it was like this aha moment of
why am I so crazy and controlling over my Christmas?
Like over anything in life, Like all he wanted was
to have sentimental ornaments of like a lawnmower, and he's like,
(50:50):
I ordered you a lawnmower, babe, like because I have
a John Deer here at the house. And he's like,
I got you the green John Deer a lawnmower for
your ornament. He's like, and I got your dad a
zebra and like every and then I was like I'm
such a dick, Like I am such an asshole. He
is so sweet and so sentimental, like he's not ordering
these just to be like that tree, Like he got
(51:10):
his grandma a little bottle of tetoes like the you
know travel signs because not on he loves dirty dirty
like not dirty Martiniz, but she does, but she drinks
vodka like just solo cup filled with vodka and so
everything had Yeah, like they were all meaningful to him
in a way which I didn't realize that was our
(51:31):
you know, like I never knew his Christmas history and
he didn't know mine. And so he's like the sweetest
part about him is that I might think people maybe
maybe they don't see that part is how sentimental he
is and it is so freaking sweet. And so that
was I learned. I learned something big that day. So
do you think that let you let go of control
(51:52):
even more? Yeah, just like dropping control right summer, you're
going to turn into like a hole blown hip, you know. Good?
Right now, I'll still always have that little little submission
in the corner, just in the corner, still gotta be me,
(52:13):
that's right. But yeah, I'm impressed though, with like how
aware you are of everything too. I try. I was
in therapy before I met John. I my whole life,
I had never like been to therapy or anything. And
then prior to meeting him, I had seen this great
lady for like five weeks, and I was so excited
(52:34):
about the idea of like seeing someone because I was
always like everyone puts like a weird thing, like they're
ashamed or something of talking to someone and I'm like
it's a great, unbiased opinion and just like an outlet.
And so she's the first one that really helped me,
I think, and leading up to meeting John of her,
she was like, you should go and just let go
(52:55):
and be free, and I'm like that's where it all started.
So it kind of like a snowball effect meeting her
and then talking about her, working on yourself and you're
becoming aware and so I'm like okay, and then it
all evolves into this and I'm like thankful for it.
So what does success look like to you? Not like
(53:18):
just monetarily or career wise, just like a successful life
happiness and what is what is happiness? Like how does
that play out if you were going to design happiness
or like what is it? That's a type of question, um,
I mean for my life in particular for you, what
(53:38):
fills you with the most happiness? Like what do you
want your life to feel like, to look like, to
be full of, to have a happy life? What is
that to you? I'm so bad at answering questions. You're
great at him. Um, I don't know. I mean I
think just healthy balance, and doing what you want, being
(54:02):
who you are. Obviously, if you're in a relationship, being
happy in that and being open, you know, to communication
with that and not holding back anything. And if you
love your job, you love your job. If you don't
love your job, find something you do love. I love
my job, I love my boyfriend, I love our dogs,
I love our friends. So I'm happy. That's That's that's success,
(54:26):
in my opinion, a successful life, full circle of just
find what you love and stick with it. What do
you think makes a successful relationship? Because John said something
so sweet. He's like, this is the healthies relationship I've
ever been in he's talking about with you. So what
makes ya's relationships so healthy? Communication? One at communicating. Yes,
(54:49):
it's been a slow, slow road to it because when
we first met, you know, if if there was anything
that ever like hurt my feeling beings, or if he
did something I like, you know, can we talk? And
He's like, maybe we shouldn't be together, And I'm like, well,
maybe we should just talk. How about that idea? Because
he you know, I don't know, his past is his past,
(55:09):
and he's never had a relationship where he had to
communicate or be open to these things and so I'm like, well,
let's be adults and have a conversation. And so I
think that and just respect, Like, especially with his lifestyle,
there's girls everywhere, and there's Instagram and things that you
know come up on Instagram, and it's just communication and
(55:32):
respect and love for one another. Definitely make it and
keep it. How do you deal with all the girls?
I mean, I think it's funny most of the time.
Like I I love how much girls love him because
I love him and I see what they see and
then they see it ten times more. But most of
(55:52):
the time they're respectful, which is great, and then you
know there's always going to be those that aren't, which
we just laugh about it at the end of the day.
But does John make you feel safe within relationships? And yeah, yeah,
there was the other night we were out and this
junk guy was like total party fan. He was in
his thirties or set when he brought these two rolls over,
(56:13):
which clearly I was there with John, but we had
some other friends in the setting, and um, this guy,
I mean, there's just these two girls that were when
this one girl sat down next to him, and you
could tell. I mean, they had some cocktails and she
was she was on a mission. And John looks over
and he's like, ba, have you good? Like you good?
And I'm like, I'm good, bab. You do your thing,
you talk talk to those girls. But he's always sweet
(56:38):
about just you know, casually being like this is my girl,
Like I got you good, You're good. So he's he's
going to at that because I know it's part of
the job, Like he can't be rude people or he
can't you know, one drol ask him for a kiss
in Australia, He's like, you know, I can't do that.
And I'm like sitting in the backseat and he's in
(56:59):
the front passenger and it's like she's like, I'm married,
it doesn't matter. And I'm like, oh my god, I
like good with people. But he finds a way of
you know, having humor in it and making it, you know,
so they're not offended or they're not mad at him
not making it a big thing. Yeah, And then it
still makes me feel comfortable. And he's a he's been
(57:22):
dead about that since day one. So I'm lucky for that. Okay,
So I want to keep talking to you, but we're
already at like an hour, so we're about to do
an instant. We're having dinner. So excited for a minute.
Summer you were teaching me how to cook and I
still need less easy easy recipes though, because you're like
a really awesome chef. It's fun. I enjoy it. What
(57:43):
are your favorite things to cook? You know with salad,
you're sad. You do a good sal salad is the best.
But we I mean when we're home, we try to
eat home at home as much as we can, and
it's always like Mediterranean chicken, easiest marinade ever, and then
filet and salad, and we do like bacon, arter, sparagos
and maybe some rice. I love it, but it's like
(58:06):
that's that's the routine. It's our routine. Hey, I love it.
So we're going to do some What are we doing?
Coconut chicken curry curry? Oh my god, it's gonna blow
your well. I'm excited that you brought out this phenomenal recipe.
I can't wait. Curis my jam. So I leave every
interview would leave your light. So just leave some inspiration
(58:28):
to people listening on what you through all your life,
through all your journey. What you would like to share
with people that you think they should know to help
them in their life, that you have learned. I would say,
every day above ground is a day we're celebrating. So
my mom always had the string up and we go
to dinnerly big, are you guys celebrating anything? And you know,
(58:48):
everyone's like, now, it's just like life, because it is
every day that you're happy and alive and healthy, and
even if you're not healthy, or even if you're not
entirely happy, you're still alive when it's a great day.
So that's that's my thing. So I always say that
now when everyone and they're like, oh, you celebrating them
with life? Thanks Mom. I love that. So it's it's good.
(59:12):
It keeps you grounded, and it keeps you like in
check in those moments when when you do go to
dinner or lunch and they ask you that. I just
keep that in mind every day above ground and the day.
It's a nice reminder. Amen to that. Ye summer fall on,
Caroline Duncan. It was such a pleasure having you on
over and out. This is your first podcast, my first podcast.
(59:35):
You killed it. I'm so excited for dinner. Okay, you're
the best. Bye, Bye,
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