RAELYNN: Getting Real About Motherhood, Growing Up in the Spotlight, Authentic Songwriting & Blended Families

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, so your story, like I knew, are we already recording? Okay?
So how should we just go and start at Caroline.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
She's a queen and talking, so she's getting me not
afraid the favorite episode, So just let it flow. No
one can do it quiet, car Line. It's sound for Caroline.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Be and Carolina about each other for a very long time.
How long have we known you? Okay, let's like ten years.
I was literally talking about it with my girlfriend on
the way here because she was asking about you. I
was like, first of all, she's like sunshine walking into
her room. That's how you've always been. But I said,
I have known Caroline for the longest time. I remember
one of my favorite oh my gosh, multiple dates, but

(00:56):
like and like me with you too. I was like, oh,
this is gonna be great for you. But like when
I first met you, like we would like I have,
my favorite memory is us drinking marks at Taco Mama
Sita exists no longer exists. But like talking about boy,
I think I think the best part about like this town.
And I was I was saying this recently, it's like

(01:17):
you like and I've lived here for almost twelve years
and you've lived, just like I feel like I lived
so much life, but then I can always go back
to certain points in my life and remember certain people,
and like, even though we haven't really spent a lot
of time with each other in the last like we
see each other. We see each other probably three or
four times a year at yeah, kid's birthday parties or
stuff like that, and of course, like wow, I mean
we need to hang out. It never happens. That happens,

(01:38):
But like all those memories, it's just you never like
chemical friends.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
You know, I get that now, you know I didn't
always get that. Yeah, but okay, so let me do
a quick on introduction. I am so excited to be
here with Raylan. I like you're saying, I've known you
forever since I was eighteen.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
And how old are you know? I'm we thirty this year,
thirty man, life is so good at thirty. God, you're forty.
I'm telling you, forty has been great.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
But it's also like whoa, like it's coming in layers
my thoughts about forties forty, Like I was super stoked
about what happened, and like just.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Like layers keep hitting afterwards.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Like oh my god, like I'm halfway through my life
and you can't rely on your like sex appeal anymore.
Like I leaned so hard on my looks in my
twenties and thirties, and it's like somebody said this when
you're forty, it's like nobody wants to like, you know,
like do.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
You you're not you know, it's not like you know,
it's not like people are like, man, I want to
like get with that forty year old. You're like a
very attractive forty year old year old. Figure it out.
You don't look for I'm not saying like, if I
didn't know that you were forty, I would think you
were like and if I didn't know that I was
about to be thirty, let's say, like age isn't a
number and I just had to guess, I would say,
you're maybe like thirty four, okay, three? I feel about that.

(02:49):
You know what I'm saying, Like you look great.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
But it's weird because like, and I started prepping for
this in my late thirties. I was like, I'm gonna
prep for forty and I like, I cut off on
my hair. I died a dark I remember that phase.
I stopped my botox. I took off lashes.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
I was like, who are you underneath all this stuff, Caroline,
because I.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Don't know who you are and you're about to be
forty and don't have them bed like crisis please.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Yeah, I did not want to have been life.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Crisis, and because I just didn't want to rely on
I have so much more than like looks. But when
you get into this music industry and this entertainment industry,
like you rely so much on your image and your
branding and how people perceive you that Like, I just
wanted to know how I perceived myself without all of
that and like, without trying to be something for so long.
M so I wouldn't freak out at forty. But anyway,

(03:34):
so we have known each other now and.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Now like you feel like you're like back, coming back.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
I'm like, you're cutting the moosh.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
I think it's good to figure out that. And you
know what, you found that out. And I remember seeing
you at Jen Wayne's baby shower and you were telling
me like, I'm I'm just figuring myself out right now.
She's like I'm not getting much tucks. I like that.
I was like, you do you obey? I don't know
why you're doing that, putting done this. I haven't drank
in nine months because I just had that daisy and
I having botox, Like, so shoot up my face and
I will take a I'm just kidding, yes, no, but

(04:01):
that's hey, I'm proud you went through that. That's good.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
Well, you know life is crazy time it does. This
whole journey of life is so wild, and that's.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
Why, like, I'm so excited to talk about you.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Okay, So, Raylan, you are the shining star you have been.
I've actually I was thinking about this a lot before
our interview. I was like, man, you have processed your
whole life in front of the world through your songs
because you went on the Voice when you were like
what how old were you?

Speaker 1 (04:25):
I was seventeen when I was on the show because
I was a minor, so it was just before eighteen.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
And you had your big flower in your hair and
your big petticoat skirts dresses and.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
You went on the voice and you made such an impact.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
It was season two. It was so new. Everybody's watching it.
I don't feel like TikTok and Instagram and all that
was like.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
What it is? What it was? So people would like
watch these shows, like.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
I feel like American Idol, the Voice was the TikTok
and the Instagram what was before TikTok. Now everybody has
a platform and those shows are cool.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
But the shows don't have the impact they they don't
have the impact that they used to because like everybody
has a platform, which is I think there's pros and
cons to both of it, to both of them, but yeah,
I mean it was when I was on the show
was definitely a different time than it is now it.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Is, and I want to talk to you about the
platform thing because you have a huge platform. But when
you went on The Voice, he made such an impact.
Blake Shelton like fell in love with you like a
little sister. He took you under his wing and still
he's like your big brother, I feel like, and he
like really like scooped you up and you kind of
like went straight into the big whirlwind of country music industry.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, right away.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
He became great friends with Miranda Lambert and like all
these celebrities, like instantly when you were seventeen started writing songs.
You put out a single immediately and you were just
like in it like.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Fast, it was fast. I don't think that I so
twenty and twenty one, I started like kind of processing
my life like with actually the therapist. It takes a
minute to like actually be like, Okay, now I'm ready
for this, and I don't really I don't think I
fully grasped how much of a whirlwind it was to

(05:57):
be a girl from Baytown, Texas, you know, helping with
worship every Sunday at church, to being on a huge show,
to then being in Nashville and being amongst all of
these artists that I grew up listening to every day,

(06:17):
I remember thinking, how the heck am I here? The
only reason why I'm here is because of Jesus, and
like the only reason why I'm here is because, like
I mean, it's not me, because it's like I couldn't
have You can't you can't plan or work hard enough
for something like that. It honestly just happens. It has
to happen. It just has to happen, and it has
to be what God wants, and it's like and when

(06:39):
I think back on that, especially now going into my
twelfth year of being in Nashville, I mean, I'm just
like and I'm like I'm still here, Like it's just
it's it has been. It has been some seasons. But
I will say the voice when when I was on
that show, I mean I was the first. So they

(07:00):
tell you what episode you're going to be on, but
they don't tell you where you're going to be at
in the episode. So I got an email and it
was like, Okay, you're going to be on the first episode,
and this episode's going to be the right after the
super Bowl. So whoa. It was the it was like
super Bowl and the right when the super Bowl ended,
the voice started, Oh my god, I'm also were watching that,
I know, and so but I didn't know. So I

(07:21):
was like, I was praying I was gonna be on
the first episode because I was like, that's going to
be the biggest episode obviously, because if somebody's still watching
the super Bowl, they're just gonna leave it on the TV. Sure,
it was yeah, And so anyways, they they told me,
aren't You're in the first episode? I was like, oh
my god, I'm on the super Bowl episode. It was
so exciting and it was hilarious because everybody, so our
my family has a church in Texas and so everybody

(07:43):
at the church was watching Super Bowl and they were
all staying to watch my episode at the church. It
was hilarious, and so I was like, I hope, I
wonder how many we're gonna have to get through, Like
where am I gonna get the episodes? And then it
goes you know, I think the Patriots won that year,
and and then it you know, it's showing the voice
and I'm like, oh my god, this season starts and
literally five minutes into the episode, it goes our first

(08:04):
contestant rightly, and I was like what. I was freaking out.
I was like, how can this be? Like what the heck?
So And this is a funny backstory to that. My
husband was was at his uncle's house and his uncle
is Michael W. Smith, which is hilarious. And then a

(08:26):
lot of people know that his uncle is Michael, and
you do a'll grow up together? Huh. We we knew
each other, but we didn't grow up to get Josh.
You always and I want to get into you got
to get into the Josh Josh. But I'm just saying
like so, But the funny thing is he was over
and Michael's watching the super Bowl with like Mike Fisher
and like other other people or whatever, and you knew

(08:46):
him at that point or you did not. I did
not know he did not know him yet, not know
him at all. He's just he sees you. So he said,
I'll never forget. Michael was like, oh, we know, we
know her. She's you know, and he was saying that
that's right, like and I was like what And so
he was like, he said he remembers being at the
house watching He was like, who's this country girl just
coming up on there? He goes, Wow, she's got a

(09:08):
lot of sass. And so it's so funny because it's
a memory in his head of like being there and
watching it too. But anyways, so after that, like and
and too, like social media was so different back then,
Like but I remember I went from having like four
hundred followers on Twitter Twitter, Oh my god? Which is now?

(09:29):
Do you do twittery? Do you do all the It's
a full time job to do all these I get
more stress that you do them all? No, not really,
but you do TikTok and instant. I try. I try
to keep up now, I'm just like trying to post
once a day. It's just I have a team for that.
I just do too much. And I'm a mom. It
just doesn't work. But anyways, so I literally watched my Twitter,

(09:50):
which is now ancient, go from five hundred followers to
over almost fifteen thousand followers, which was a big deal
back in the day. I mean now it's like that
can hope and overnight if you go viral. But you
were talking you know, twelve twelve years ago or eleven
years ago, and so I was like, wow, that is crazy,
and it was. It was really cool. So after that show,

(10:12):
you know, I didn't win that show. People think that
I won. I did not win. You one though, you
won because you got the good Yeah, but I I
won in the fact of I'm so thankful I didn't
win because I got to own more of my work.
If I would have made it through to the top,
like thank you Jesus for looking out for me, I
would have made it to you know, won the whole show.

(10:33):
I wouldn't have. I would have had to sign a
three sixty deal. And if you don't know what that is,
it's just basically like your label and everything, they own
all your music, everything, And with me not having gone
that far, I got to own the songs that I
write and pick what you know, publishing company I want
to go with. And I mean I was seventeen or
just turned eighteen, green as hell, like, and I didn't

(10:54):
know what any of that stuff did guide you. He
really didn't help me. And so he was a really
big advocate for me and just kind of helping me
find managers and like, you know somebody that I leaned
on to ask questions and kind of fight for me
in that way, and took me on tour and took
you on tour right away. He took me on tour
right I went straight from the voice. Yeah. So it
was tour with Blake Shelton, tour with Blake Shelton, and

(11:16):
then I toured with Miranda and then Rascal Flat and
it just, honestly, it just it all felt like when
I think back on it, I don't even remember what
life was like. You know, I remember being gone so
much that I had to, like, I have a Chihuahua
named Dolly, and she's still alive. He believed Dolly's still
Dolly got lost for a minute. You'll never forget what
she got lost. We founder, Oh my god, that was

(11:37):
like a four day certain, Like I remember being gone
for so much, so like so much. I had to
take her back to Texas and let her stay with
my dad because and my mom. But like I just
because that's I was like God made girls year. I
think I was home maybe fifty days that whole year,
and you're eighteen years old.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
I was, that's a lot, lot, lot to handle when
you're that age.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
Yeah, and I was still you know, I think, you know,
when I look back, I'm so grateful for my journey,
and I'm grateful for how young I was. Like all
of it, I would never you can't, you know. I
would never say should it would have could, or I
would have done it this way. But one thing, if
I had to go back, you know, it is a lot.

(12:20):
It is a lot to grow up in front of
an industry. And I think, what's hard what's been harder
for me now being thirty or almost thirty or twenty nine,
is it's like when I decided to not wear petticoats
anymore and I decided to wear jeans like that was
like the biggest deal. Or when I decided to not
wear the flower in my hair, like when I was
just naturally growing up and you know, when I wanted

(12:40):
to not sing about kissing frogs and God, big girls,
and I wanted to start saying stuff that actually mattered
to me, and like heartbreak and what it's like to
be in love and be married, like when I started
changing and becoming a woman in front of people. When
you're on a national television show, people don't really know
how to see you any other way, and so it
was kind of hard for me to not like it

(13:04):
was hard, but it was. And I will say my
fans that have been with me have been along this
journey and their moms now, I mean when I do
shows now, the you know, I see them with their kids,
which is so cool. But it was. That was probably
the hardest part, was growing up in front of an
industry that didn't like you when you're seventeen eighteen, because
you don't know who you are at eighteen, even eighteen nineteen,

(13:24):
even in my early twenties. Tonight, I just figured it out.
I feel like I'm just now finding myself in my
late twenties, and like, I'm so confident. I don't care
what you think about me. I don't care if you
don't like me. I just want to love my family,
Josh and Daisy, and do what I love and screw
everybody else. It's just kind of the way I'm But
you never had like.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
Your Lindsay Lohan Britney Spears moment, you know, because when
you when you do grow up that fast, there's usually
a moment where your brain explodes because it starts to
hit you that all these people now have huge opinions
about your life and you don't know how to process it.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
And then you have me.

Speaker 3 (14:02):
I've been processing my childhood in my early twenties all
the way through my thirties privately, you know, you're processing
that publicly, you know, and so like and through your songs.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
You know, it's like everybody's weighing.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
On your life through your songs because you're processing it
through your songs. It's like everybody has an opinion about
you through your whole adult like not adolescents, like teenage
into twenties, these fundamental years where you're figuring it out.
It's like everyone's judging you. Yeah, it's it's a how
did you not have that moment where your head fell off?

Speaker 1 (14:32):
I think it was. It had to have been Josh
John's another Josh and Jesus, because me and Josh and Jesus,
you know. I so I got married very young. I
mean we got married at twenties. Everybody said, don't do it.
Oh yeah, I mean we So we started dating when
I was eighteen. We broke up for two years and
then we got back together. And when I met Josh,
I was like, this is my person. Where'd you meet him?

(14:52):
I met him at church in Franklin, So okay, So
he lived in a different city, y'all knew each other.
He tried to Belmont, Okay, and the Belmont and then
and so I knew him through like mutual friends and stuff.
But I met him at church. And I mean, obviously
he's so cute and but he's so sweet. He has
such a gentle spirit. But he's also very strong, which
I love. But you know, everybody, everybody's journey is different.

(15:18):
I mean, my sister didn't get married till she was thirty,
and I think everybody like has to go through whatever process.
But I for me, I've always been an old soul
and I'm like, if if this is my person, I'm
just gonna go for it. Why would I wait, you know,
five or six years when we could have had five
or six years under Abelton marriage and like I just
I didn't have to wait, and so we got married

(15:39):
at twenty one. Oh but is he twenty one two? No,
he was twenty three or twenty four, like he was.
He's about three years older than me, sometimes four depends
on what time of the year.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
But he no.

Speaker 1 (15:51):
I mean everybody told me that, you know, like not everybody,
but people in the industry were like, oh, you've got
to be available, You've got to be you know, single,
or like this is not you know, this is gonna
you don't want to like you don't want to do this,
You're too young. And and the one thing that I'm
so grateful for is I always call it my god gut,

(16:12):
like genuinely, like I think if I wasn't so steadfast
and who I was as a person and who I was,
and like Jesus, I would have believed that, oh I
can't get married or oh I'm not gonna do that.
But I was just like I've always had this mindset
of like what we're doing now is so it is important,
and being and releasing music and the fans are important,

(16:34):
all of it's important. But also it's like in thirty years,
I don't want to look back from forty years. I
don't want to look back and be like, what did
I What legacy did I leave behind? And the legacy
that you leave behind, of course is in music or whatever,
but it's also in your children and your marriage and
who you impact. And so I was just like, I
don't care what you say. And if I make a mistake,

(16:56):
I make a mistake. But let me do that myself.
But like, I'm not I'm I'm not gonna I know
this is right, and I'm not gonna miss out on
the love of my life. I'm not gonna let you know.
Just ancient dudes who are married and have a bunch
of kids and have lived life tell me how to
live my life like and I think back if I

(17:16):
would have listened to them, And it's like, I'm about
to celebrate my ninth year of marriage. And I look
at my baby girl, Daisy, and she she'll be three
in September, she's two and a half. And it's like,
I'm better in music, I'm a better songwriter, I'm a
better everything because of my husband, because of my child.
And I like, I see my fans and my fans

(17:38):
aren't single running the streets like whatever, No, they're women
who are married who are raising children. I mean not
all of my be married. But you know what I'm saying,
they're they're adults, okay, And I'm not saying I'm not
trying to appeal to the younger audience too, Like if
you like my music, helly, yeah, jump on. But like
I feel like the one thing that I've really settled
into is like being right where I'm at and that

(18:02):
being like okay, And I think the reason why I
didn't go rogue when I was younger, like you were
saying back to your question full circle, is because I
had a stability with my husband and my faith.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
You know, something I have noticed in the music industry
now because I've been in it like twenty years so
many different life versions in myself is nobody knows anything.
People have good ideas and people have like done stuff
that works, and there are some formulas and there are
some definitely like.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
There's a system, there's a system for ever, but it
doesn't work for everybody.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
And as soon as you're not hot, these people who
would have told you don't get married, don't do all this.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
But as soon as like you're not hot, for one second.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
They throw you away anyway, and they don't care where
you made these big life decisions based on their thoughts.
But now if it's not working and you're not the
hot thing, it's like they're gonna get rid of you anyway.
And then you made these decisions for them that now
you're stuck with, like all this just the ashes that
you can't really weren't really true to you anyway. And

(19:12):
so I feel like that's why I get so confusing
for young people in the music industry and this field,
because they're listening to all these older people who are
just trying to make money off of them and they.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
Don't really care, and they don't really care. And the
ones that do care like there people and they know
who they are, that have been with me through different
multiple work record deals. The ones that actually care are
your fans for life, and they'll pick up the phone
when you call. I mean, I have friends in this industry,
I mean, because I've been here for twelve years that

(19:44):
know me, that you know understand like who I am
as a songwriter, artist, mother, all of it, And when
I call them, they'd pick up the phone and answer
at any time. Because I have those relationships and those
are the those are the people like that. That's one
thing that I will say is the industry. It is
full of people like you said, but they're also full
of incredible people that would you know, be out be

(20:07):
there for you through anything. And and I've definitely seen
that too. Like that's why when I'm talking to like
a new artist in town, and it's so crazy. And
now I've become the artist that like goes to coffee
mentor like mentor, which I actually love, Like, I am
so thankful for the women that were you know, you know,
held my hand on the way up, and I think
it's so important. And it's like I'm still learning too.

(20:29):
But the one thing that I always say is make
genuine relationships. Don't be fake. Like when you go to
lunch with you have a song called girl Town. Then
like when you go to lunch with somebody, get to
know them as a person before you can figure out
what they can do for you. I'm not saying you
shouldn't network and try to figure out ways to work together.
That's not the point you should, but you never like

(20:50):
get to know the person, get to know them, And
those are the relationships of mine. That have lasted forever
and be there for them, and that that is bigger
than anything that you can do in this industry is
when you can impact somebody and then I you know,
cause it's like life's going to move on. People get
first of all music music industries like musical chairs. Somebody
could get a big job or somebody could end up

(21:10):
working somewhere else and you'd be there for them through
a time that they need to be. So it's just
like when I think about, you know, the landscape of
me being here, and I think about all the different
positions people that I know have you know, some people
have gone here, some people aren't doing music anymore that
were hot when I was like artists like and then
it's like you get to see them again and you
just know the life that they've lived and it's just

(21:31):
it's cool. It's cool. But that's why I always say, like,
get to know somebody truly for themselves. And I mean,
of course you're going to collaborate, but yeah, people want
to collaborate with people that they love totally, you know,
and I feel like they do anything for you if
you're a good person. So I agree with you.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
So you don't want to get like dazzled or glamored
by all the stuff in the beginning. It's so important
to get to the depth of it, which is really
hard to do when you're young.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
It is hard to do. It's really always been an
old soul, though you're really special. I was like I
was hanging out with I didn't hang out with anybody
my age, always hung out with older people. I hung
always hung out with older people. It was hilarious. I
remember being at like, sorry, I say, I was, you know,
underage at Losers, Okay, getting through the back door, and
I'm hanging out with all the old like and at

(22:31):
the time, like I was my eighteen they were like
in their thirties forties. But I've always been an old soul,
and like you know, people, I had so many like
brothers that would look out for me, like obviously blake,
like like everybody that was here were just like in
the songwriters, like everybody looked at me like their little sister.
And it felt I was so when I say I
was so blessed, like it was. It was epic. But

(22:55):
I mean, but I always hung out with older people,
like I didn't even really find friends my age until
I would say till like my early twenties, you know,
but I don't really like I mean, me and Maddie
and Tay hung out a lot, and I still love
those girls, like but because we went on radio tour
together and they're still rock at they're still rock. I
mean we always talked. Me and us three have probably
lived a lot of the same life because we came

(23:17):
here at the same time. We're at the same you know,
publishing company for a while. I think they're still there.
And then now we all have babies, so met we've
all like been through life together and we we like
literally when I tell you, I saw them every week
on the road for like two years doing radio tour
when we were both on that schedule, like that was
that was our life. So I but there's somebody like

(23:39):
just love. I want to talk about your some specific songs.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Yeah, but have you weathered some hard storms in this
industry where you felt like it's over or like cause
you came out hot as can be and then you know,
like with everything that comes out, there's gonna be like, yeah,
a dip and then arise and a dip. And I
interviewed Marie Osborne one time and she was like, you know,
I asked her if I She's like, just be nice
to everybody, because you see everybody on the way up,

(24:04):
you see people coming down, and it's gonna switch and
it's like you're gonna see the people going up and down.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
It's like an elevator, you know.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
It's like and if you can ride it, you're gonna
be up and you're gonna be down for a long time.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
It's just a wave. Was there ever a moment in
the beginning.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
Where you're like, oh my gosh, like I am like
I can't handle this, or like it felt like did
you ever have a low moment?

Speaker 1 (24:26):
Oh my god? I had tons of low moments. I
can bavially remember two or three. I remember after one
of my singles, I think it was for a Boy,
you know, because God Made Girls peaked at like fifteen

(24:46):
or something like that. And when they they released For
a Boy to country radio, and then I ride before
I went on stage, and I just like, at this
point and I was already in a mental fog. You
can tell by my outfit. I mean, I will show
you I don't even know what the hell I wore
on stage to the Riverfront stage I was wearing. I

(25:08):
actually showed this picture of my girlfriend because I was
remember when I wore this on stage, I was wearing
like tights with shorts. I was figuring by the way,
I was figuring out who the hell I was I
was wearing. One time, I was wearing like care Bear
tops with freaking Doc Martin's and I'm like, I had
the worst style. It was cute, but it was like,
but like I said, I was figuring out who the

(25:30):
hell I was in front of the world, Like and
I do something different, you know, when I'm back to
Calgirl boots and jeans eddy coats like I always got around.
But I'm just saying, like, I but I remember when
they told me right before I got on stage, which
was so shitty. You're like, hey, we're pulling your single
from right before you go on the River not kidding,

(25:52):
right before you go on the riverfront stage in front
now thousands of fans. That's just cruel. And I was
just like, wow, and I'm supposed to go perform now,
I supposed to perform. And then I was just like
all right, well, maybe like maybe this is not for me,
like you know, maybe you know, I don't know and

(26:13):
then somebody else said, like, I think rays lost the fire,
and I was like, what's what's the fire? Like the
fire is? I got like because that was around the
time I got married, and I was still saying yes
to everything, like I just didn't I didn't understand, you know.
But obviously new people were being signed, new excitement, and
I was just like, okay, look, I see what's going

(26:35):
on that there's new puppies. There's new puppies. And then
I put together a project, brought it in, you know,
it was told that it was vanilla, and I was like, okay, cool, like,
but this is my story, this is whatever. And that
was a low point for me. But it's so funny
because it was super low. And then I left that situation,

(26:55):
went to another label and then they listened to the
project and was like, holy crap, like this is amazing.
Ended up being a number one bill Board record, which
was Wildhorse. Wow. Such a vanilla record, huh. And that's
why you know, you just can't. You cannot live everybody
listened to everybody's opinion of you. It's like some people
can't see your vision and that's okay, like, and that's

(27:16):
only another thing I tell artists too, Like if I'm
talking to somebody new, it's like, hey, just because somebody
doesn't understand your vision, it doesn't mean that your vision shit,
Like exactly, take it somewhere else. Like they're not the
only people with opinions. They're not the only person with opinions.
If they don't understand it, you don't want them to
be on your team. You want people on your team
to understand it. You don't have to convince you. You
don't have to be a mental leve you if and

(27:38):
like that, I get I get so discouraged when I
see an artist get discouraged because a label didn't like it.
And I'm like, who gives a shit. You have everything
you need to be an artist right now, do it
and then let the fans come to you and then
go get like a label situation, Like I it's just
so different. But anyways, that was a low point for me.
But then you know it went high. You didn't give up.

(27:59):
Didn't give up, did you. You went and shopped it,
went went and shopped it, found found a home for it.

Speaker 3 (28:04):
And then but that takes courage to like it, to
like be told that you're a vanil, especially when you're
this young yea, and to have the confidence to go
out there and put it out there when these big.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
I remember the time I was like, all right, this
sucks and I was like, no, this is great, this
record's great, you can do it. And I was like,
I hate you, but okay, let's try it. And then
we did that. And then when I think the biggest
heartbreak for me was radio, because you know, you're told, oh,

(28:37):
I'm gonna add your song or oh, I'm gonna love you,
I'm gonna you know, you're such a star, you're so this,
you capture a room, you're everything that you want an artist,
blah blah blah blah blah. You hear it, and then
you're just let down, let down, let down. It's like, dude,
like what what am I doing wrong? And then you
have to realize it's not you like and I And
when I got to that point, that helped me. But

(28:59):
an the other low point was probably was it twenty twenty.
I think everybody had low times in twenty twenty, but
it was probably after I had Daisy and I had
a new It was a new perspective of life. You know,
when you become a mom, it's just life matters, but
not as much because you're like, Okay, yes, I love

(29:22):
what I do, but being her mom is the most
important thing, like that U fourk no newborn feeling. Like
when I was nursing Daisy and it was like she
was two weeks old, like I'm never going to be
on the road again, you know, And then you get
back and you're like, all right, like I miss it,
and then you bring her out and like now I
see Daisy on the road and I bring her on
the tour bus and she's just like killing it. She
loves it. She loves the bus, she loves all of it.
But I, you know, the first year with her was

(29:46):
so much fun, but you know, I was at a
point where I just wasn't like looking as many shows,
and I just felt pretty low. And the end of
it was the end of twenty twenty one could tour too,
because they were touring, was still not really back up
and running, and I was just like and I think

(30:08):
I posted on my Instagram, but I literally had nothing
else to do but go. It was like, well we
can only go up from here, you know, like all right,
well let's hear what this gues. But I was just
like when I first moved to town, like the lord
I was praying, I was like, God, what do I do? Like,
you know, I don't know what to pray. I don't
know what my word should be for this year. I
don't want a stupid word like I don't know what

(30:31):
to do. And he said, I literally like they say
you and I don't. Sometimes I don't believe people can
hear audibly for war, but I really did, like hear
him say like bet on me, like bet on me.
And then I was reminded when I first moved to
town in twenty twelve and lived in an apartment in
the Gulch, before the Gulch was what it was, I
didn't have anybody to bet on. I woke up every

(30:53):
day just excited to be here with my guitar on
my back, you know, extensions from Sally's that didn't in
my hair, you know, like humped as hell, like everything
was exciting. Nothing was not exciting, And I was just
like happy as hell because I knew I was living
my purpose out. I wasn't jaded by the by this industry.

(31:14):
I was just doing what I love because I love
to do. It wasn't about the money. It wasn't about
the who liked me who didn't. I was just doing
what was right in front of me, going through the
doors that were opening for me. And if a door
be closed, I'd be like I really will say as
a when I was like eighteen nineteen twenty, like I
would just let stuff all over back O. I was closed.
It's not meant to be like I was. That's how

(31:35):
it was. I was bulletproof and I lost a little
bit of that. Could you get into this where you
think it has to be a certain way. I see
a certain way, and like you said, it doesn't have
to And so I was like, all right, I'm gonna
walk every Every win is a win. Every failure is
a closed door, and it's not a failure. It's just
a chapter that going to continue. Just a focus and

(31:56):
bed on the Lord and just see what happens and
doing that. You know, my first independent record had over
one hundred million streams. Like I've gotten to release children's book,
I've gotten to just do things outside of the box,
like do my first clothing collab. I've always wanted to
do stuff. In fact with Buddy's so so cute and
it's to me like a bootline. Like I've just gotten

(32:19):
to do so many things. I've gotten to release music.
I love music that I'm passionate about songs, Like I've
gotten to travel the world with my child, like bring
her on the road. I was told that that wouldn't
be a thing. No, my daughter goes with me on
the bus. She's the best kid ever on the bus.
Like It's just everything that I've wanted for my life
and more has happened. And I now like I was like,

(32:43):
all right, well, this is fun, Like betting on God
is cool, Like, O, why haven't we been doing this
our whole life? And it's just like that, I think
you can't. I think it's great to have goals, but
I think it's always like what you're gonna get? Don
Q one, Q two, Q three, Q four? Who cares?
I want to focus on what's right in front of me.
What's the next great song I can put out, what's
the next move? And that's honestly where I've been in

(33:06):
the last year and a half two years, and just
trusting in God's plan and focusing on my family, focusing
on my husband, getting my mind right. I think it's
taking me a while to be like spiritually and mentally sound,
it's like processing just the jump start of my career,
jump start of life, family, all that stuff like it.

(33:29):
It's hard, you know, And but I feel like I'm
now in this like season of I'm okay if I'm
not okay, and I'm okay if it all feels it
out tomorrow, and I'm okay if it all keeps on going.
You know. It's just and I think that that's where
the best music is made, too. And I'm really excited
about this next project.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
I feel you on the letting go and letting God
so hard, like I feel like and I'm just feel
like I'm just not getting it to forty.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
I've had seasons where I've done that and night's we
all go through my life and then I take control
back and then I try to, like, you know, hold
it really tight. Have you seen that Meme is like
the guy behind the door, and he said, when you
let God have control, but you're just checking on him.
Feel like I've been paving in a I'm just sugar,
You're gonna come over this God? Are test tests? Are
you there? Yeah? I'm so I don't have control, but

(34:19):
I'm still gonna be of control freak. I don't let
you have control God, Okay, you needn't do that. You
just got to relax.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
But finally, though, God will knock for me at least,
And I've realized this through a lot of podcasts, interviews
and like talking to you. It's like, finally, I feel
like God will take you to the mat enough. So
when you finally are on that mat and you're looking
up and you're like, okay, I tap out, like I'm out.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
I don't have any more moves, Like I am out
of moves.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
I literally have played them all. I don't have one more.
I don't have I don't have any clue what to
do next. So then it's like, basically, I feel like,
for the first time in my life, I woke up
in twenty twenty four this year and I was like,
my year is lighthearted. It's freedom, and it's freedom because
I'm letting God direct it.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
I've been trying to plan it.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
I've been trying to I've been upset that things haven't
gone a certain way, you know, had heartbreak, had disappointments.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
And it's okay to grieve those things, like it's okay
to want things for your life. You know, I think
the hardest part about growing up in a Christian home
and I'm very thankful I love Jesus more than anything,
is I got so obsessed with like, first of all,
I do believe in you're supposed to be thankful, like
I thank you Jesus for this and staying in a

(35:31):
thankful heart. But I think I never I stayed so
much in a place of I can't be upset about
that because I got to be grateful that I never,
like fully like grieve certain things that actually, like I
should have grieved. Do you know what I'm saying? Because
I never wanted to let myself grieve because I felt
I can't grieve because I don't want God to think
that I'm not thankful like and I'm because I am

(35:53):
thankful for my family, I'm thankful for this, I'm thankful
for my daughter. Thankful.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
But no, it's okay to be feel it and be sad,
Like be sad, but you gotta get back up. Well
you know that Ever is still in control, but you're
just you can still be sad.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
And I think that's the thing is, I know I
kind of pushed down those feelings for a lot of
years of like, oh, I can't be upset about that
because God did this or and it's good to stay
in that mindset because I do believe that you should.
One of the biggest things that my mother in law
said to me, Oh my god. I love my mother
in law, but she said, anytime you're feeling super woe
is me, me, me, me, me me, and you're low

(36:30):
about yourself, she said, go do something for somebody else.
Go take somebody some food, Go take somebody lunch that
you know needs it. And it always got me out
of a funk. And I love that. But also you
do have to you do have to greet some things,
and I think that that's okay and well necessary. And
then when you do, like properly go through things you can,

(36:51):
when you do have another win or something like that,
you've you're good and then you're excited. You know what.
It just makes you such a more The highs are great,
but you don't clean for the high. You don't clean
for the low. You know. It's oh my god. I
always say, I'm so I'm just jaded enough. I say
that now, like and the moments like oh my god,

(37:11):
I even was like, great girl, you're not a lot
of good. You know, we're all back on the road,
you know, putting out new music. How do you feel awesome?
And then some I'm like cool, been here before, you know.
I mean, I think it makes you bulletproof and you
know it can come. I wouldn't And that's why I
would never go That's why I would never change because
I was like, if I looked back, I think I

(37:31):
would maybe just if I had to change something, which
I won't. But if I did, let's say I did,
I would have started music later in life, you know
what I'm saying, Like professionally, but then I think about
all the cool shit that I've gotten to do as
it like eighteen year old, like playing the Grand Ole Opry,
Like I mean, like there's things that like that's what
I'm saying. I would never change my journey. But if

(37:52):
I did, like that would be what it was it is,
but like that's just that's the thing is you never
but I wouldn't be who I am today if I
didn't go through what I've gone through.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
So, okay, so I want to talk about a lot
of a few of your songs in Particulous, Dude, because
first off, like everyone's childhood, whether you.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
Feel like you have a perfect childhood or you have
a really.

Speaker 3 (38:13):
Traumatic child every childhood goes through the Yeah, you're gonna
have to like process your childhood.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
And so you actually had a pretty intense childhood.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
Yeah, And I've been listening to your story a lot,
Like I didn't realize your mom.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
Had four kids and was married.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Like I thought your parents just got married and had
you and then got divorced. But it's like there's a
really huge story to your beginning, huge gap and like,
so you, okay, tell a little bit about your story
because love triangle and then you kind of answer love
triangle with the broken one.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
I feel like that like the answer to yes, it's
definitely the answer. Oh and then then like she chose me.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
She chose me, like you almost your mom was in
such a situation that like she almost chose an abortion.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Yeah, absolutely, and you almost weren't here. Yeah, it's like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
This is so much to process at seventeen, when you're
growing up in front of the world and like you're
learning about your childhood and you're even like figuring out
what divorce is, and like figuring out what your parents
went there. You don't even know, you know, like it's
hard to even like understand that.

Speaker 1 (39:14):
I feel like I'm like an onion obviously, and the
Lord's just like peeling back certain layers. And I didn't
really know my parents full story, like I knew obviously
the divorce, going through that love triangle were you're was
your mom? Do you know the four? Like are you
close to the forest? Oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, we're

(39:34):
super close. They're my siblings. Did your mom and her
first husband are Do they still get along? Yeah, they're
still going along. Do your dad get along?

Speaker 5 (39:41):
Now?

Speaker 1 (39:41):
Yeah, everybody's great, but there was a season when they
didn't get along. Yeah. Well I would just say, like
right right. I mean that's a testament to everyone in
your family. I think it's just testment to Jesus. Honestly,
the fact that I over that you I don't like.
I think the thing is is like you just have
to when kids are involved and like grandkids, you've got

(40:03):
to be like, Okay, are we going to focus on this?
Are we going to focus on you know, the pain,
the hurt hurt situation shouldn't it's hurt, But are we
going to focus on that. Are we going to continue
to move forward and be a family? Right? And I
think that that's kind of where my family was always at.
I I was the only child with your mom and dad.
I'm the only child. So my mom and dad they

(40:24):
they got divorced when I was three years old. They shouldn't.
They were a match made in hell. They should have
never gotten married. And we should write that song. I know, genuinely,
I have it on my note how.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
Is your But did your mom and dad also like
you've exposed their life in your songs too?

Speaker 1 (40:35):
Yeah? You know? But also my dad it's really emotional
during my sets. I'm like, dad leave during this song
during okay, Like he's just he's very bo but I
you know, so love triangle. They really were you know
how you normally have one crazy parent. I have two
wild parents passion different kind of wild. Like my mom's loud,

(41:00):
while you know whatever. My dad is like Louisiana Kuna's crazy,
like he is like a character out of like a book.
He'd be in Talladaga Nights like not even kidding you,
Like he is hilarious. That's probably why there's some serious
passion there. Oh yeah, absolutely I could totally see it,
but I so yeah when I you know, it was

(41:20):
really hard for me because I felt like when I
first moved to town, I was just writing a bunch
of songs that were just like pop bops that didn't
really like I mean, they were fun, they were different, man,
I didn't have part and I was like, I feel like, well,
I've never really been broken hearted or like I was like,
I don't think I've gone through any pain. Like I
haven't gone through anything, and like I was like mad,
I was like, where's my trauma? And it showed up.

(41:44):
I was, you know, somebody that I really look up
to is like, you know right where you're at, like
show up to every right and write where you're at.
And so I was headed to a rite with Nicole
Gallion and she was like a mentor for you. She's
a big mentor to me. She's still like a big
sister to me. And I was had to write with
them with those two and thank god, they were people
that I trusted and they were they were new friends,
but they felt like old friends. And I sit down

(42:08):
and I was like, yeah, I gotta be honest, I'm
so like irritated right now, like I'm going through all
stuff on my parents. You know, I'm nineteen. Why am
I still in the middle, Like I'm just over this shit?
Like did your parents not get along for a long time.
It's not that they didn't get along, it's just tense,
you know. And I think about like if I was

(42:28):
in their shoes, Like it's just tense, like you just
you know, like when you're around your mom, when you
talk about when you love your being with your dad
too much, that she's probably getting her feelings hurt vice versa.
That's just a lot. When I think about Daisy, you know,
I would never want if we weren't together, Like let's say,
which is never gonna happen, Like I would never but

(42:51):
also like what if I had a lot of pain
towards Josh, Like I don't know, Like so, but kids
pick up on everything. Daisy like I was being funny
and put a color pencil on my mouth a couple
of days ago, and she puts the color pents on
her mouth and starts laughing. So it's like kids pick
up They mimic, they see and they know, oh if
if if I'm talking about daddy, Mommy gets a little
swarmy or like mommy gets and it's like it's not

(43:13):
like it was outwardly like, but it was just it
was this tense feeling and like I just you know,
hated it, you know, and I just and the other things.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
But yeah, Triangle, I mean that one.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
Yeah, It's like that is the that is the most heartbreaking, truest,
the best divorced song from a child's perspective I have
ever heard of my entire life.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
And I am it's so funny because when I go
back and listen to it, I don't even this might
be very blonde of me to admit I don't even realize,
like because Love Triangle is such a whirlwind two like
the chorus, like you know, maybe it's because I'm married
now and I have a daughter, but some moms and
daddy's living in a straight line, like just the way
that the lines just go together, and like seeing fans

(44:06):
like that. That song has been my biggest connection with
my fans in so many ways. But when we were
writing this, Nicole and Jimmy, I was like, I'm really sad.
Let's write a upbeat song today. And I was like,
I have a title name called Love Triangle let's write
it about me, you know, fall in love with having
two guys that I think are cute or whatever. And
then I said that right when I came in before

(44:28):
I started being emotional, and she was like, okay, you know,
they're just trying to be sweet or whatever. And then
I was like and then like I think it was
Nicole or somebody like my I was just really down
and you can tell because I'm very uppy person, like
you know when you see a text message and you're
just like whatever, And she's like, what's going on? And
then I just started like venting about what it's like

(44:49):
to be stuck in between two parents. And then when
I started talking, they all looked at each other and
we were like, Oh, this is what love Triangle's supposed
to mean. There's God, a end, God at the end. Yeah,
and it's like and then we got them making that moment. Yeah.
It was literally like a little songbird went on our shoulder,
my shoulder, our shoulders that day and we wrote that
song within a couple hours, like two and a half hours.

(45:11):
It was so fast, and it was crazy because I
was just meeting with a new manager the next day
and her name was Carrie Hanson and Carrie you know,
managed the juds and Joina Smith like at the time,
she had like few acts, but the biggest person was
the judge and Wine on a jud and I was
going to meet with her, and I remember I had

(45:33):
like a beanie on a sweatshirt. I just didn't really
care because I was just like going between rides. I
was like, Hey, this is the only time I can work.
I'm not going to look like a star that day,
but you can. You can see through the mask hopefully,
and you.

Speaker 4 (45:43):
Always I'm sorry, you can't hide it.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
You can't hide that shine. You're very sweet. But I
walked in and we're talking and I'm playing her some
songs and she was really sweet, and I was like,
oh wait, I got a new song that I just
wrote yesterday called Love Triangle. Can I listen to it
on your speaker? And the first time I listened to
Love Triangle, I was in a room with the girl
that ended up being my manager. But she like, I'll
never forget. I played it for her and she was

(46:07):
like she looked at me, and I was like and
then I'm crying and processing.

Speaker 5 (46:12):
Like, oh, this song's actually really good, Like whatever, in
front of this girl I just met, and I was like, sorry,
it's so funny, and then you know, ended up changing
my life.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
Like and two, I will say Love Triangle was one
of the first songs in town that got me a
lot of credibility as a songwriter and put me in
rooms with songwriters I would have never dreamed of working with.
And it just really like jump started that side of
everything for me, Like, oh, she's not just the kitchy girl,
and that's why I really started and that's when I
really just started diving into the truth. It's like, Okay, yeah,

(46:45):
keep up's fun, rowdy's fun. That's definitely not pun of you,
my gosh, but it's not all of me. And you know,
as I've continued this journey, I've realized, Okay, my fans
grasp obviously they love the fun songs, but they really
grasped towards the storytelling with me and me talking more
about my life. And as I've started to uncover things
in my life, the biggest way for me to process

(47:05):
something emotionally in my life is to write about it.
And you know, when I processed, I found out a
couple of a couple of years into my marriage with
Josh that and I started just asking questions like, oh,
you know, when a mom get pregnant with me, You're like,
when did this happen? And or you know whatever, and
the timeline just wasn't lying up, and I was like, oh, okay.

(47:27):
And then I found out that my mom, you know,
almost you know, had an abortion with me because she
was going to maybe go back there. She was she
was going to get back together with her husband. And
I thought about that. I was like, okay, Like, because
I always try to put myself in other people's shoes, right,
and like, think about obviously I can't feel what my
mom felt. But she had to have been really really

(47:47):
really freaking.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Low, really low to think, oh, you know, I have
to end this child's life like I shared had four
no no a life's like know what a child like like?

Speaker 1 (48:00):
You have to be at a very low spot and
to be in a situation where she is ready to
be with someone else too, you know. It's like but
I think I think times have changed in that like,
cause I think back then, you know, you would have
to get a divorce and get married to the other person.
But I think now, you know, hopefully you could work
it out in Jesus name, and it would take a
lot of Jesus and not have to give up your

(48:22):
whole life to do the right thing. Does that make sense?

Speaker 3 (48:25):
And even how you said, she shows me like people
talk in that small town and everybody has opinions.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Everybody has opinions, and I you know what I wrote,
she chose me. I was like, damn, Like this song
is really great because I wanted it to come from
a perspective of you know, she had the appointment, Yeah,
she had the appointment of everything. And I was like,
I want to write a song. How do you write
a song that talks about such a deep subject but

(48:51):
not come across judgmental but also not even just that,
like you know, because everything's so political and you know,
black and white and this and this, and like everybody
love all of it. And it's like, I'm not that.
I just want to love people and write music and
be authentic. But if I'm not being authentic to myself,
then why am I in music? Like freaking Johnny Cash

(49:14):
wrote hard songs, the write Lene wrote hard songs. Dolly
Parton wrote hard songs like and that's what made them
the artists they are today and if I feel like
I can't even write about it, like then we're we're
in a really bad spot, right, And so I was like,
you know what, I'm just gonna write my story and
if that's what I'm doing, I'm sticking to the story
and we'll see what happens. And I wrote, we wrote,
she chose me, and I wasn't gonna put it on

(49:36):
my project. I worried about your mom. No, sorry, mom, Now,
I mean you know I was worried.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
I was.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
I wasn't worried because I first of all, you know,
it was her, it was it was her choice, and
and and two like I felt like this song is
going to do so much good and it goes to
show that everybody's human. We're all human, we all go
through low moments and it's all about how you handle
those low moments. And obviously, thank you Jesus, I'm here.

(50:06):
But like I'm I think that there's more good that
this is going to do being out than bad. And
so anyways, I like I said, I wasn't going to
put it out, and I was just like, this is
more for me, Like it's like writing in a diary.
I'll tell you why Oh so I was like, this
is a song like I wrote and be like me
writing in my diary. I don't want you to know anything.
This is my song. She chose me.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Was it kind of like hurtful to you to think
that you might have been? Like was that kind of
like hard for you? Don't let people know that you
might have been a yes?

Speaker 1 (50:34):
And I didn't know how people would receive that, like,
because at that time when I released it, I mean,
it was very it was very Everything was very political,
Everything was very heated. Everybody got upset about everything. And
I was like, well, I don't want somebody to get
a negative view on me who I am as a
person because of the song that I'm releasing. And but anyways,

(50:55):
I was like, all right, we're just going to show
this song for a little bit. We'll just put it
over here. And I did a podcast with Tom Douglas
then let me tell me about your father, and I
ended up, you know, airing out everything. We were talking
about everything. I mean, there's something about Tom Douglas. Oh God,
he's like the best song. It's like, so just imagine
talking with him. Yeah, he's like writing the song of

(51:16):
your life.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
In the podcast, He's literally like, here's your life in
a song, and it's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
It's so beautiful. And so I I to tell him
about this, I start breaking down crying. It was great,
not great, but you know, cathartic. It was very cathartic.
And so Ross Copperman, who is the guy that's helping
him like produce the podcast out and Tom Douglas and
Ross Popperman, and so he said, uh, do you mind
if I play She Chose Me at the end of
the podcast, and I was like, oh, great, yeah, take cares,

(51:44):
go for it. And I think that they got over
like thirty thousand downloads, Like it was wild. How big
that podcast got from that one story. I think. I don't. Yeah,
it was. It was wild. It got huge, like and
I was like, oh my god, what the heck? And
I saw such a surge and love for She Chose Me,
and I was like, you know what, it's just gonna
live on that podcast. It will just be something that
lives on the podcast. Well, I was picking records for

(52:06):
Baytown songs for Baytown, my latest full length album, which
is titled after My Hometown. Every country ours just got
a title a record after their hometown. You just gotta
let them do it. And I had this reoccurring dream
three nights in a row. Does that happened too often?
Not reoccurring ones, you know? And I'm not very like

(52:28):
I know, and I feel like a dream is worthwhile.
And then some dreams are like okay, that meant nothing,
But then that was when you have some when you
have the same dream three nights in a row, like,
God is definitely telling me something. And I was sitting
down with my manager and another person I look up
to in the industry, and I was going through my
songs like for my record, and I was like, this song,
this song, she chose me. And I just said she

(52:50):
chose me three different times. And in the dream, in
the dream, I'm just going through the same dream, going
through the list of songs. I kept saying she chose me.
And I was like, all right, guy, well obviously you
want the song to go on the record, so we
put it on the record. The record comes out a
week after I have Daisy, So motions are high. You know, gosh,
you have birthed a record and a baby in the

(53:12):
same week. Well, we had everything in the can, but yes,
the record came out that's a big moment. My legs
were still swollen from that that freaking epidural, you know
what I mean, I had my compression stocks on gyleen.
When I look back at my knees, I'm like, damn,
like how did those? I remember looking at my ankles.
I was like, maybe one day I'll see my ankles.
Like you know how it is.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
It's your little nervous system has gone through so much,
like you put yourself out there on such a big
level always so I am.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
You know, breastfeeding Daisy, new album came out, a new
album came out, Watching Gilmore Girls, and I literally videos
just start flying in if she chose me, Like when
I tell you thousands and thousands of video, I think
between all the platforms, there's almost a million is out
there now, like choosing life, choosing life, young young girls

(54:03):
telling their stories, people choosing adoption, people choosing like the
people choosing just people advocating for life and children. And
I was just like and just being the I mean,
I still like tear up talking about it because I
was just like, dude, this is like, this is what
music's about. It's not about the fluff, It's not about
where your song ends up on a chart. It's about
affecting people's lives and if, like, and I've always said,

(54:27):
if my song touches one person, if it changes one heart,
then I've done my job. You've done your job right.
And like, I think back at that moment and I
was like, you know, I know that God has in
here for a reason and this and this song really
changed my perspective of what I thought about the music
that I put out. And I was like, you know what,
I will never not go with my gut on what

(54:48):
I'm supposed to put out. And then you know, that
song obviously took off. Keep Up did really well, which
was fun. And you know, I released Broken One and man,
that one, Broken One. I teased it on Instagram and
I think it had like a couple thousand like comments
and was just it kind of just took off. And

(55:10):
basically the story behind Broken One is, you know, you
found a home and a girl from a broken one,
and it's finding love and finding a resting place and
finding a partner when all you've known is separation. And
I think the biggest part for me was feeling good
enough for Josh and even though I knew I was
good enough. I knew the Lord rewrote my story. I know,

(55:31):
I know what God says about me, But I was like, damn,
Like I like when I first went to see Josh
as I'll never forget. It's kind of a culture shock
because I'm used to split homes, I'm used to holidays
being chaotic, going to this person, this person, this person.
And I'm not saying any of that's bad. I'm like
everybody's life respective is different, and they make them who
they are, and it makes them who they are. But

(55:51):
did you feel when I went to his house in Georgia,
you know, meeting his mom with his dad, seeing them
together like you've never seen them, never seen that, and
walking up and down the hallway, and seeing all these
cute photos from like you know, they're all we're in
the same outfit, cute as hell like photos of Josh.
And I was just like, damn, Like this is like

(56:12):
this is the dream, Like this is wild and I've
gotten to do some of the coolest things in life.
But what Josh's mom and dad have done are cooler
than anything that I've ever done. Like the family, the
love the children, all their kids, love them, all their
kids nobody's perfect. Every family's got their shit, but like
it's not about that, like the legacy that they're going

(56:35):
to leave behind. Damn, Like this is what I want
from my life. And so I'm in the writing room
with my buddies, Justin Morgan and Jason Duke, and you know,
we it's so crazy. So Justin, Justin's wife, her parents
are divorced, Jason's wife, her parents are divorced, and then

(56:55):
both of their parents are married. So they both have
felt it from a marriage personective with their wife. Like
remember the first fight me and Josh had, I'm like, oh,
he's gone, He's leaving my crazy ass, Like you know,
I was thinking, because that's all I've known. I'm like okay,
and I was like, oh he stayed, Oh okay, like
you know what I mean, like just that that feeling
of like and so we wrote and then I had

(57:18):
the idea broken home and then ended up being the
like the track being you know, she found he found
a home and a girlfriend a broken one. And I
love that song because it's like the buck stops with me,
like when I you know, I see my daughter and
I see the life that we have now, and I
always tell this to I'll tell this to Josh's dad,

(57:38):
because Josh's dad came from a broken home too, and
he prayed every day over his children like he's like,
I prayed a blessing over them. I prayed that the
that the spirit like almost like the divorced spirit that
was on, you know, with my parents, that it would
be broken, that all my kids would be married, that
they would have great marriages, long lasting marriages. And I said,

(57:59):
isn't it's so funny when you prayed that over your
your son, you also broke that off, like you prayed
that over me too, And I said, you didn't even
know that, like you were just touching like his life,
you were touching my life too, And it's just like,
but that's how that's how God works. He's like he does,
he has his We think we have our way of praying,
like oh I want this, but you don't understand who

(58:20):
else like that of prayer respecting And yeah, I mean
that broken one has been one that's been a great
song and it's it is the answer to love triangle
because it's like what what happens after a love triangle?
Where where does that girl go? And that's why that
song was, you know, birthed through the process after you know,
love triangle. So come on.

Speaker 3 (58:42):
But and I feel like I feel like I didn't
come from a divorced family, but I feel Michael did.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
He came from a divorce family.

Speaker 4 (58:49):
And I feel like.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
Your dad's awesome. He thought it by a shark, right, yeah, okay,
I always remember that. I'm sorry, Okay, yeah, so happy
like he literally got bit by a freaky shark in
the face. Okay, sorry, every time I think about your dad,
like I think I told Josh was like her dad
got good by shark. Yeah he did. He's got extreme energy,
like dad. He's great. He's great.

Speaker 3 (59:27):
So I feel though, like your little spirit, your little soul,
was looking for a resting place. Yeah, even though like
you have love with your mom and your dad and
your family, it's just not that. It's just you were
just are all over the place, like you could not rest.
Like your whole childhood, you had no place to rest. Yeah,
because you were always torn, you.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
Know, and when you it's crazy that you say that,
because like my therapist said that to me. She said,
I think you you've always had to go go go holidays,
go go go this when you're with Josh and when
you're with his family, you rest, You stay in one spot.
You get to you get to relax, like you get
to let take off the Raylan blanket and actually be

(01:00:11):
yourself and you don't have to be anything else. You know,
did you have because did you feel like you kind
of had to like keep everybody? Everything's entertaining? Where where
and where? And where are this? You don't want to
fill the sadness when you're a kid, No, you continue
to go. And I have that personality. I I want
to go, go, go instead of dealing with stuff because
it just helps me just to have to deal with sadness,

(01:00:32):
just keep on going. But Josh has been a resting
place and his family has been that for me too.
But that and this and the video is my favorite
that videos. That video is so great. It starts off
with love Triangle and then it goes into broken one
and I just you know, but that's what music's about.
And I'm very, very very excited about this new chapter.

(01:00:53):
Tell me about the new chapter.

Speaker 3 (01:00:54):
What's the new Because it's because you've spilled your heart
and I feel like you have to do that. You
have to go through your pain you have to process it,
and you've processed it through your songs, and you've shared
it with the world and let other people heal through it,
which is such a gift Raylan.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
And the fact that you never went rogue and you're.

Speaker 3 (01:01:08):
Able to keep yourself together enough not to like, you know,
I really have to pick up the pieces of a
mental breakdown. Not that we don't all have no breakdowns,
but like you know, you've been able to like hold
it and Josh has been that for you, that safe spot.

Speaker 1 (01:01:20):
But it's like you've healed.

Speaker 3 (01:01:22):
Yourself in so many other people by your vulnerability and
the fact that you've been willing to share this really hard,
painful story through song.

Speaker 1 (01:01:31):
And I think that that's what I'm continuing to do
is just do you.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
Feel like the isn't there as much though now that
you've shared it, Like it's more of a scar instead
of an open wound.

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
Yes, that's it, And honestly, the it's not you know,
I think you know, I always say it's like I'm
grateful for it, Like I always think that every everybody's
got to go through a little something. When I got
work to heal it, you didn't just like you didn't.
I'm thankful I did it young, and I'm thankful add
the right people around me. And the one thing. Another
thing is like replay seeing things in my life with

(01:02:02):
good people and good habits, Like that's been a big thing.
It's like, you know, what can I who can I
lean on? That was this person in my life now,
like that's a healthy person. So it's just like finding
those people around you that you can bring around. But
I this new chapter, I'm just you know, I'm writing
where I'm at. I don't go to a write unless
i'm inspired. I'm not gonna write five days a week.

(01:02:24):
You probably know who write with too. I know who
I want to write with, or I'll write with new people.
I love writing with new people because they are out
of the you know, music row bubble and they just
think outside of the box. And that's what I want.
But I think now that the music industry has changed
so much with like streaming and like your platform is
just on your phone. It's just everything is so different
now there's no you know, black and white way of

(01:02:47):
doing things that It's given me the freedom to be
super creative and I'm not worried about do you like
how to evolved. I love the way it's evolved. I
think the biggest thing for me is finding my you know,
ecosystem of what I think it should be like, because
it is like the wild West right now. There's so
much and there's so many ways to put out your music.

(01:03:07):
There's so many, so many platforms you can focus on
that will pop you off or whatever. I'm just like,
you know what, I'm gonna keep on releasing music, do
this tour and see what the Lord has and just
do what feels like the next right thing. Man and Lord,
I feel you on that. I but this project is
coming together so great. I just it's obviously like a
lot of heart. It's you know, I being married for

(01:03:31):
almost nine years that comes with its highs and lows
and all those things, and like talking about that and
being really honest about like what's it like to say, No,
I'm like, we're in this like every year me and
Joshua could are like really do it. But it's true,
and it's like there's nobody like and I'm not gonna
say nobody because I'm sure there's an artist out there somewhere.
There's always artists that are telling stories, but artists need

(01:03:54):
to write where they're at. And because there is somebody
that maybe is in a marriage for a long time
and you know, like are in a low part, but
they're gonna they just need somebody to say, hey, stick
it out, because once you get over, when you get
over a lot of point and you can get back up,
you love that person so much more. You're like, oh,
preach it. But it's like people writing about that and

(01:04:14):
like that's the thing. It's like I've always tried to
be like, oh, I got appeal to this person, I
gotta pill to this guy, I gotta pill to this
country radio. No, I'm just gonna write where I'm at
and and it's gonna find its fans. It's gonna find
its place. And I'm like, and I love Jesus, but
I'm not the picture perfect esque version of the Lord
like I am. Yes you are, because you're real, Thank you.

(01:04:35):
Jesus was real. He was real. He was real. But
I'm just saying like I've I've let that go too,
because it's like I feel like I've always tried to
like your heart is guided by God and that's all
you gotta do. And so the music has that roughness,
but it also has that like spiritual ask that I
feel like all country music does have has that. I
love country music because country music has an underlying faith,

(01:04:55):
which you know, you'll hear a guy talking about a
beer in the next part talking about Jesus, and I
think that that's part about countries have fun. It's all
serious and oh my god, we can't make it through.
But I mean, I'm I'm really excited. It's very vibe
of this new album.

Speaker 3 (01:05:10):
I would say organic, But like, what is the feelings
that are emoding because, like you know, with like my motherhood,
marriage fun obviously I have to have fun. Very country,
super country. Uh, the lyrics and melody and really great storytelling.
I would say, is it a do you feel like

(01:05:33):
you're is it because like some of you've had some
heavy topics in the past and like some heartache, but
it's like beautiful heavy topics on this, this one about
motherhood and marriage and yeah, just yeah, motherhood probably, Yeah,
what has been the hardest part for motherhood for you?

Speaker 1 (01:05:49):
Actually? I love motherhood.

Speaker 4 (01:05:50):
I love motherhood.

Speaker 1 (01:05:51):
I can't the biggest thing for me being a mom
is like I can't believe like God trusts me with
this precious human being. And it's like I see a
lot of like I've just grown so much as a
person because I know the things that I would never

(01:06:12):
let like happened to her, and like so I just
I feel like processing that like of just this protectiveness.
Do you know what I'm saying? And I don't know.
It's it's it's been very interesting. But I I've never
been one of those people that, thank you Jesus, like
some people will deal with postpartum depression stuff like that.

(01:06:33):
I never felt like I lost myself. I felt like
I was exactly who I was meant to be being
a mother probably more than that, Like I just she
just gave me such a sensive foundation that But I've
always wanted to be a mom. I've wanted to be
a mom since we got married. Like I was ready,
I was like, let's go. But I but I'm thankful.
You know, we were married for five years before we

(01:06:54):
got pregnant with Daisy. But yeah, I just And two,
I think I hate talxing mom culture more than anything.
Can you really stand up against that? I stayed up
against it. I'm so against it because people are saying
what you can't be this is the thing. If you
are a stay at home mom, that is a job.

(01:07:15):
You know it is. It is a job, first of all,
Like this is one of the best ways I've heard it.
I obviously have help with Daisy. I have somebody that
helps me with my day to day, but like there
is somebody doing that job that I can't do because
I'm working, because it's a job. If I because it's
a job, we pay somebody to help because it's a job.
So when somebody says that being a stay at home

(01:07:36):
mom's not my job, I'm like, they lost their mind.
You've lost your ever loving mind. It lost a job.
And but I you know, I have help on certain days,
and then there's other days that I don't, And like
I don't have a full time nanny. I was like,
because I want to be a little uncomfortable, I want to, Okay,
if you need to meet with me, Daisy Ray's gotta come,

(01:07:57):
all right, She's coming to lunch, all right, go between
this time and this because she's got a nap and
you don't want to hang out with her when she
doesn't have a nap, because I'm won't labor with you.
But I'm just saying, like it's like I'm never gonna
make her feel like she is not a priority. And
I think, you know, that's why I bring her on
the road. I want Daisy to experience life with mommy.
I don't want her to think she chose a career
and mommy leaves and does her career without me. Yeah,

(01:08:19):
mommy leaves. I think she it's good for her to
know that mommy goes to work whatever. But she is chosen.
She is a part of this family. She is a
part of my career. She's a part of my life.
She is not second. And that has been the biggest
thing for me. And yes, it's hard being being married,
like being married is hard. Being a mom is hard.
Having a career is hard, like not having a career
is hard. All of it is hard. Chose you're hard

(01:08:41):
and you go for it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
And I.

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
But there's so there's something that opens up for you
when you have a kid in the life, like the
creativeness that has opened up in my heart, the just
the way I view things, like things just roll off
my back in a different way. And it's just like
I know I'm standing up for something and then like
bigger than me because I have a child, now. So

(01:09:05):
it's just different and I'm just I think my biggest
thing that like another thing that I want to do
is like inspire, Like if you want to be a mom,
go be a mom. Like you can be a mom
and be an artist. You can do it. Is it hard, yes,
but like I love seeing more artists if it's what
you want. Because if you don't want it, that's fine.
But I'm just saying, if it's what you want and
you have a desire in your heart to be a

(01:09:25):
parent and a mother, don't put it off, don't put
it off. Do it, and God will give you the resources.
He's gonna take care of you. You're still gonna be hot,
You're gonna be cool. Like all that is bullshit. And
who cares if if you all care, if yourship good
because I'm mom cool bro, I don't even give a
shit about your opinion. I care about Josh's opinion, the
lords and my daughters. But it's like it's all about

(01:09:47):
like your perspective. Yeah, and I'm really excited seeing like
you know, Maddie and Tay being moms and Mackenzie Porter's
pregnant now and like there's just and then a lot
of songris like even a cool guy when she was
talking about when I had Charlie, the world opened up
for me. And I think that there's a lot of
it's just it's just really cool. But one of my

(01:10:09):
biggest things in this next phase of my life is
just to advocate for just being a positive light as
a mom and because it's it's hard when you're a mom,
you get it. I agree with you, though.

Speaker 3 (01:10:21):
It has been the absolute greatest blessing of my life.
I mean like I was wandering until I have yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
And then you have her, and it's like, do you
also feel like what did I do with my life
before my child?

Speaker 5 (01:10:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:10:31):
And I cared about all this stuff because like you
literally have no extra bandwidth to care.

Speaker 1 (01:10:35):
About anybody else done anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:10:37):
I took off chipped blue nail polish this morning with
a twitt paper because I don't have any cotton swaps,
but Sonny's used them all to put on a fake
lotion on her face, and so I was like, I
can't give a chip blue nail plush.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
Yeah, but I just like, you know, nope, I don't
he long nails anymore. I don't do certain things, but
I will always keep my extensions and I will always
or whatever. But I'm just saying, like, you pick your things.

Speaker 3 (01:10:56):
Pick that I because you have no extra time. Because
people are like, well, what are you doing? It's like
if you were with your kid, that is what you
were doing.

Speaker 1 (01:11:02):
That's like what you're doing.

Speaker 3 (01:11:02):
You Yeah, you're like chasing them around and wiping their
butt and like cleaning up messes and making food.

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
But eve known, like when you go to a party,
you don't really enjoy a part, Like it's fine, but
you're chasing your child, like you have to take care
of your child. But no, it's That's been Another thing
for me is just like you know, and I feel
like a lot of my friends are like you were.
I was one of the first ones to get married, yeah,
twenty one twenty one, I mean, and then everybody started

(01:11:28):
kind of getting married. Few people have had divorced. You're
the first to do a lot of things, right, Just
so you know what, we've stuck it out. We're here.
You know, you were just ready sooner. Yeah I thought
you ready. Yeah, it's it's been it's been cool. But
I'm I'm very excited.

Speaker 3 (01:11:40):
And now look at you in the matching outfits. I
know I love like Josh had on the and I
just got into them. How did I get into him
so late? It's so fun, mommy and fun. I'm dead over.

Speaker 1 (01:11:49):
I love. I love to match her, and like I
always like to color, like you know, we don't have
to be matching match all the time, but like she
wore her Barbie sweatsuit and so then I wore a
gray swetsuit with like a pink like vest. Like we
always are coordinating. We're coordinating girlies twenty four to seven.

Speaker 3 (01:12:03):
Me and Daisy, she is sunny, will get upset with
me if I don't if we if we can't like
make it match, then.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
She gets upset about it and wants me to change.

Speaker 3 (01:12:13):
Though that's not a problem because like I have to
like we have to have the same bible, and like
with this outfit, like she didn't have this on okay,
so she did not want.

Speaker 1 (01:12:20):
Me to wear this. No, so I have to like
fight for clothes. Four and a half, I gosh full
full opinion of everything.

Speaker 3 (01:12:28):
Yeah, So it's like if I'm not in her, if
it's not suitable to her standards, like she won't let
me wear it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:34):
That's so funny. Yeah, so the matching is great. And
so it's like Daisy's really into makeup. So when I
get my makeup done or whatever she wants to touch,
she wants to she use her crowns to like give me,
you know, eyeshadow or whatever. But she is so she's
so fun. I love you, Rylan. I'm gonna wrap up
with Leave Your Light. What It's just a full, big question.
What do you want people to know.

Speaker 3 (01:12:54):
About me, about you, about life, what you've gathered over
this whole journey, Like what's a little piece of wisdom
that you just want to leave with people that you
think could really help them in their lives.

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
First of all, I mean that's a really good place,
super broad, superbroad. I'll just go with what's worked for me.
And just like I don't know what everybody's faith is.
For me, it's Jesus and God and I believe he's
the creator of the universe.

Speaker 3 (01:13:21):
But like.

Speaker 1 (01:13:24):
When things fell out of control, just to let it
go and let me like yeah, and just do the
next right thing and keep going through the doors that
are working for you and and don't force things to happen.
But just really, truly, you don't have to be a
believer of God to let let go and let God

(01:13:46):
control your life. Like and I, you know, I would
say that. I would just say that, you know, fight
for what's right in your life. You know, the convictions
you have, the values you have, like stick with those
because they're and you for a reason. And you know,
chait like follow the next right thing and don't get
too obsessed with the rest of it. Amen, I'm going

(01:14:11):
to church with Raylan. Thank you so much for joining
me on get real. This is amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
You're kicking off the season this year, so kicking off
season or that's right, It's gonna be right year, Okay,
Love you, ry Lin,

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Host

Caroline Hobby

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