July 2, 2026 • 15 mins
On this episode, rising country artist Harper Grace joins Wayne D for an honest conversation about what it's like breaking into the music industry as a new artist. Harper shares her journey so far, the challenges and excitement of building a career in country music, and how she's finding her unique voice along the way. Plus, with the Fourth of July right around the corner, Harper talks about her favorite holiday traditions, summer celebrations, and what Independence Day means to her. She also gives fans the inside scoop on her latest music, the stories behind her new songs, and what's next as her career continues to take off. If you love discovering emerging talent and hearing the stories behind the music, this is an episode you won't want to miss. Tune in for a fun, inspiring conversation with one of country's newest voices, Harper Grace.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
That's saying, been a minute since last time I saw.
It wasn't even in like professional mode. It was like
it was like chill out at Mitchell at a sporting
event mode.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
We were we were enjoying the time.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Harper Grace, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm wonderful, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Life is good? You're getting ready to go do all
sorts of Fourth of July partying.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
You're going to d C all the way to DC.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I've only been to DC one time, So just a
bunch of friends are gonna all cram in one hotel
room and have a have a time, so it should
be fun.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So I'm writing America.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
My favorite part about what you said is, so you're
going to be in DC Fourth of July America two fifty,
which like has been the biggest deal for a while now.
The fireworks are going to.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Be sick Guinness book A.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I think they're saying it's like going to begin us
book A World Records firework show.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
So I some supposedly my friend heard on the TV.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I don't know if this is true, but apparently they're
like they're going to set off like like last year
was eighty thousand or something, and the guy's like.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
We're sitting off twenty times that. So I'm like, oh
my gosh, like one hundred fifty thousand. Like I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I was homeschool so I don't know the exact mouth
on that, but I'm like, that's a lot of firework.
It's gonna be there for like five hours, just staring
at the sky for a long time.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Meet you were homeschooled. She was public school, and she
don't know the numbers either, So we're fine.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
She catches straight.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We try, but but it's it's funny because fireworks are
a big deal. We were just talking on the radio
the other day. Drone shows have become popular as well.
Are you into drone.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Shows at all? Drone shows?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Have you seen a drone show? They're so? Have you
as anyone else?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Drones show?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
It's so do you like? Thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Is that where they find them up and they.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And then the lights so they move around right and
it's like pre programmed, so they move and then the
lights turn on and then they do whatever their motion is.
Then the lights turn off and then they reconfigure. I
think it is the lamest thing I've ever seen in
my life.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, I'm not sure I would be amused or like
entertained by that.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
It was Tay thinks it would look cool, but she
hasn't seen one in person. I've seen went person and
I was like, does it make.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Do they have music going on? Like oh, you're really
just looking at them and.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
It's not like it's not like they go and then
the lights come on and they go. It's just like
you hear that and then the lights yeah, and it's
more of like a oh oh nice.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
And so like, wow, that was crazy.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, I want I wanted to light up and scare
the hell.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, I want to feel like I'm gonna get shot,
like oh Godtually, this is.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
A crazy story.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Sounds like my neighborhood, my mom.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
This is real, like real, real, really for real. My
mother high school years.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
She was going to look at the Fourth of July
fires and apparently she said she like they watched something
and then she kept hearing like this, you like getting
closer and closer, and she's like, what is the noise?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And it literally smacked her back, like some fireworks smacked
her back, and she said that the air like left
her body and she was down on the ground and
then she like got back.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Up was like that, and it's an ongoing joke that
like if anything were to happen, it would always happen
to me and my mom And she's like, that's where
it started.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Was high school. I got snacked in the back by
a firework. So poor mom.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
It's so funny how like traumatizing fireworks can be. We
did my aunt like lived in a nice neighborhood and
they all did fireworks in the street and she uh,
and so we were all in the garage. So they
do the fireworks on the street. Well, I'll never forget.
It's like burned into my pupils and my brain and
everything is one of the fireworks was like a like right, yeah,
(03:31):
and then it goes when it gets up.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I don't know why I had that sound effects.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I could have explained it to but yeah, But all
of a sudden, as they lit the wick thing, it
started going to s over. It tipped over and shot
right into the garage. And I'm telling you, the oldest,
whitest people were diving in every direction like they were
in the middle of World War Two. It was like, oh,
lawn chairs flying. The fruit salad tipped over off the
(03:58):
table like it was.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
I feel like that happens a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Like we used to light fireworks and bonfires and stuff
all the time, and there are there have been multiple
times that, you know, the guys would be like, let's
like fifteen at one time by the lake, which is like,
really not a great idea, but they do it anyways,
and then yeah, they'll tip over and everything, and I
think I have a video of one guy being like.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Bay'l bail, everyone bail, everyone bail. But yeah we bailed.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
We ran fast, and Lord Willing did smack my back,
but I felt for my mama. You know, Oh that's
that's scary. It's not don't play.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
With the fire That's what I like.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Watching them is fine. The other thing is, I feel
like lightning fireworks feels like a guy's thing to do,
but I feel like it should be a girl's thing
to do, because we do dumb stuff with fireworks. When
I was younger, we would like like light a bobcat
and like shoot it at animals as they ran away.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It was, oh, that's that's kind of me to do.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
But guys who don't like girls, I just feel'd be
like our guys run around with Roman candles and be like,
We're like, there, don't.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Hold as it's going off, and then the girls are like,
what the Sparkler the Disney Channel, Oh my god, watch me.
Oh they're cute.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
All right, Well let's talk music now.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
That's we could talk from the great what.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Brought you to music? Because we're just talking gymnasts. Do
you have a gymnast background?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Do you have a gymnast background? I was really supposed
to follow in my mom's footsteps. She was an elite
gymnast and was really really good, and so as a
six years old six year old, I was training for
Olympic hopefools at the time, and then I wanted to quit.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And do music and mom said music stupid, stand up fitness.
But I did not do that.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
So the thing that I've really found a lot of
love for country music specifically was actually one listening to
it with my dad in his truck.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
But also my nana played a big part.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
She had an accordion growing up, and she would sit
in this wooden archback chair in the middle of the
living room and play the heck out of that thing.
Whether that was like Roy Orberson, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash,
Loretta Lynn, Patsy Klein, like just all the greats, and
we would sing and dance and have the record player
on and she'd just play the accordion for hours and hours.
(06:14):
And every time I went to Nana's house, I wanted
her to bring it out as soon as I got there.
And so my nana gifted me my very first acoustic
guitar as a seven year old. And as soon as
that thing was in my hands, it's like I never
ever wanted to put it down.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I slept with it next to my bed. I woke up.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I wrote songs about shampoo conditioner and homeschooling and you know.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Whatever I was going through as a child.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
But yeah, I just found this super intense love for
wanting to tell stories as vividly as the ones I
loved so much on the record player.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
When you say listening to music and whatnot, what are
some songs that like come.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Up as you like?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Because obviously I had. Elvis was an influence on me
as a kid because my grandmother, when I spent time
with her, it was on all the time. But I
can pick out a couple of songs I can't pick
out like everyone we ever listened to. But what are
some songs that you think to those times that stand
out versus others.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
One of the very first ones was I Can't help
falling in Love with You, and that was not only
Dolly's version, but Elvis's version as well. That was something
that I thought was so simple but so.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Eloquent and beautiful all at once.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So that's been something that I have loved ever since
I was a child.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Blue Suede Shoes by.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Elvis was something that I would make my mom and
dad turn the TV off so I could get my
little hips moving and dancing and grooven. And then Jolene
by Dolly was the very first song I ever learned
on the guitar my Nana Bottany, and so as like
throwback songs, those were the core ones that I think
kind of shaped what I loved the most and the
(07:56):
things that remind me of why I fell in love
with it in the first place.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
As a as a newer artist introducing yourself to like
mainstream country music fans, you have your songs, right, but
covers can be a big a big introduction as well,
especially if you're playing a show like oh hey here,
I'll play a song that I know you love and
you'll sing along to, and then I'm gonna you know,
once you're like I'm having the best time, I'm gonna
hit you with the song you've never heard before. Yeah,
(08:21):
but it's mine and you're gonna get to know me
a little bit. So when it comes to like the
covers that you pick in those moments to help you
connect with the audience, you know, before you introduce one
of your songs or something brand new or something that's
been out, what are some of the covers that you'll
go to?
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Well, one of the very Joline Obviously, that has been
one that I've kept in my set because it makes
me feel like I get to bring home with me
everywhere I go. But when I had a piano on
stage growing up, I did House of the Rising Sun
a lot. That was something that I really love to do.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And then recently I kind of filtered back.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Wake Me Up by a Vigi was always one that
I loved playing on guitar, and during CMA fest and
a couple of the festivals that I did prior to
that as well, I kind of brought that one back
and I forgot how much I loved that song. And
so it's nice though to like you said, filter in
ones that people really really know I've done since You've
Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson. That seems to get the
(09:17):
girls going for that song, you know, scream it at
the top of your lungs.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Even the guys, you know, yeah, they get it onto. Yeah,
those are like the ones off the top of my head?
Is it?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Are there songs that are intimidating to cover because any song,
any song has the potential to become its own, like
life and being, and some are just so gigantic that
it's like, if I don't sing that the way someone's expecting,
the rest of the day is not going to go.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Great for me. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
That's a great question because I feel like I had
a vocal coach growing up, and she was from our church,
and she would keep me for a long period of
time because I was homeschool and.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I had nothing else.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Would do you know all out and hear about fifteen
gajillion times. You'll be like, Okay, we get it, you're homeschool.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
To shut up.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
No, But she used to say, like I harperized things,
and so I would always take a song and make
it my own. But as far as like I don't
think I've ever thought of covers of like, oh I
can't touch that one, or maybe that's scared.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Really it would.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I think the only song that I would be nervous
about bombing would just be the cover of the national Anthem.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
And I've already done that, bombed it, So it's okay.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Oh when I was a child eleven years old, oh no.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
But that's yeah. It's funny because I asked an artist
one time. We were in Vegas and I was working
for the hockey team in Vegas, and I had asked
them like, hey, would you do the anthem? And they're
like nope, And I go, you won't And he's like,
I don't know. It's not like a disrespect thing. He goes,
If I kill it, I was supposed to. It's a
natural anthem, he goes. If I just do okay, I suck.
(10:53):
If I mess up, it.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Will live forever.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
He goes, So there's no benefit to me doing the anthem.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, it's one of those songs that you really, I mean,
it's a hit or a mess, and whatever happens, the
whole world is going to see it. And so in
my case, as an eleven year old, to kind of
like brush past a long story. I didn't couldn't hear myself,
technical difficulties. All the things ended up actually being known.
When you look up like the worst national anthem ever,
I am one of the ones that pops up like worse.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Than category of like five top five.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Steven Tyler, Roseanbar Sina Aguilera, and Harper Grace were the
worst national anthems, like listed.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
A Fergie during the NBA also thrown me.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
She dethrowned me, because that's.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
The worst one I've ever heard.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
No disrespect, no disrespect, love her, But that was actually
the year that she had dethrown me from being the
worst national anthem.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
So.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
For Harper, but I still actually sing it a lot.
There's a piece of my uh story and journey where
I actually really have a heart to go into different
schools and foundations and talk about anti bullying because at
the time that I bombed the anthem, like had death
threats with knives and into our personal mailboxes at home,
people saying how they were gonna like murder me and
(12:05):
do really really bad things, like horrible things. If you
think of the worst thing possible that could have been
said or done physical bullying, cyberbullying, all of the kinds
of bullying. I can very confidently raise my hand and
be like it, heard it, done, it got it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
That's why. But I go out.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
And I've got I think at this point, we've done
like thirteen or fourteen different ballparks, arenas and stadiums in
the last two years where I've kind of gone on
what I like to call a redemption tour where I've
redeemed myself and I've sang it a couple of times,
and it's scary. I mean, I get a little bit
anxious and stressed out prior. But if I can show
(12:44):
people that if you fail, you can try again, get
back up and use the thing that you were scared
of as ammunition to just keep following the dream that
was placed in your heart. So it's dare fine, and
I want to put my pins, but I don't, and
I'll just sing it.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And then as they.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Say you can do, we're about to put you on
stage here.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Jason wonderful. After I told you it's great, but that
was it. Now you're not exactly I'm not wearing dress
that would be even worse.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Let's uh, you just gave me a funny story, but
I'm not gonna tell it of me, of somebody else
in a grocery store, But it's fine. Last thing I
want to ask is, you're going to be meeting a
lot of people for the first time as you play
the stage here, what's the song that you're like this
in your in your library of songs you have now, new, old,
(13:38):
what's the song that you're like, Hey, if I'm really
gonna introduce myself, I have to make sure to play
this one.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Oh, that's a really that's a really hard question.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
I think right now, Right now I would say, oh, gosh,
you stumped me, because there's I've written over five hundre
and eighty songs in the last three years, and.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
It like fluctuates each season.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
But I think I wrote a song recently called Tattoos
and Heartache that I really like. It just reminds me
of like the classic country that I grew up listening to.
But right now I'm in a season of really loving
like my friends and I have a really cool group
of girlfriends, and so there's a song called Nowhere that
is coming out really soon actually, and my best friends
(14:31):
are all in the music video, and we all I
we went to my birthday trip, and I have pieces
of them, like taking the camera and doing stuff with it,
and uh so that's I would say that because the
biggest piece of my life is just to be as
authentic and real as possible, and I think having close
community and friendships are really important. And so I'm singing
(14:52):
nowhere today, so let's do it. There's yeah, that's a
good question, of course.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Thanks having me
That's saying, been a minute since last time I saw.
It wasn't even in like professional mode. It was like
it was like chill out at Mitchell at a sporting
event mode.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
We were we were enjoying the time.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Harper Grace, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I'm wonderful, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Life is good? You're getting ready to go do all
sorts of Fourth of July partying.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
You're going to d C all the way to DC.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I've only been to DC one time, So just a
bunch of friends are gonna all cram in one hotel
room and have a have a time, so it should
be fun.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So I'm writing America.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
My favorite part about what you said is, so you're
going to be in DC Fourth of July America two fifty,
which like has been the biggest deal for a while now.
The fireworks are going to.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Be sick Guinness book A.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I think they're saying it's like going to begin us
book A World Records firework show.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
So I some supposedly my friend heard on the TV.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I don't know if this is true, but apparently they're
like they're going to set off like like last year
was eighty thousand or something, and the guy's like.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
We're sitting off twenty times that. So I'm like, oh
my gosh, like one hundred fifty thousand. Like I don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I was homeschool so I don't know the exact mouth
on that, but I'm like, that's a lot of firework.
It's gonna be there for like five hours, just staring
at the sky for a long time.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Meet you were homeschooled. She was public school, and she
don't know the numbers either, So we're fine.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
She catches straight.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We try, but but it's it's funny because fireworks are
a big deal. We were just talking on the radio
the other day. Drone shows have become popular as well.
Are you into drone.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Shows at all? Drone shows?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Have you seen a drone show? They're so? Have you
as anyone else?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Drones show?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
It's so do you like? Thank you?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Is that where they find them up and they.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And then the lights so they move around right and
it's like pre programmed, so they move and then the
lights turn on and then they do whatever their motion is.
Then the lights turn off and then they reconfigure. I
think it is the lamest thing I've ever seen in
my life.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, I'm not sure I would be amused or like
entertained by that.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
It was Tay thinks it would look cool, but she
hasn't seen one in person. I've seen went person and
I was like, does it make.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Do they have music going on? Like oh, you're really
just looking at them and.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
It's not like it's not like they go and then
the lights come on and they go. It's just like
you hear that and then the lights yeah, and it's
more of like a oh oh nice.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
And so like, wow, that was crazy.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, I want I wanted to light up and scare
the hell.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, I want to feel like I'm gonna get shot,
like oh Godtually, this is.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
A crazy story.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Sounds like my neighborhood, my mom.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
This is real, like real, real, really for real. My
mother high school years.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
She was going to look at the Fourth of July
fires and apparently she said she like they watched something
and then she kept hearing like this, you like getting
closer and closer, and she's like, what is the noise?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
And it literally smacked her back, like some fireworks smacked
her back, and she said that the air like left
her body and she was down on the ground and
then she like got back.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Up was like that, and it's an ongoing joke that
like if anything were to happen, it would always happen
to me and my mom And she's like, that's where
it started.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Was high school. I got snacked in the back by
a firework. So poor mom.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
It's so funny how like traumatizing fireworks can be. We
did my aunt like lived in a nice neighborhood and
they all did fireworks in the street and she uh,
and so we were all in the garage. So they
do the fireworks on the street. Well, I'll never forget.
It's like burned into my pupils and my brain and
everything is one of the fireworks was like a like right, yeah,
(03:31):
and then it goes when it gets up.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
I don't know why I had that sound effects.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I could have explained it to but yeah, But all
of a sudden, as they lit the wick thing, it
started going to s over. It tipped over and shot
right into the garage. And I'm telling you, the oldest,
whitest people were diving in every direction like they were
in the middle of World War Two. It was like, oh,
lawn chairs flying. The fruit salad tipped over off the
(03:58):
table like it was.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
I feel like that happens a lot.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Like we used to light fireworks and bonfires and stuff
all the time, and there are there have been multiple
times that, you know, the guys would be like, let's
like fifteen at one time by the lake, which is like,
really not a great idea, but they do it anyways,
and then yeah, they'll tip over and everything, and I
think I have a video of one guy being like.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Bay'l bail, everyone bail, everyone bail. But yeah we bailed.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
We ran fast, and Lord Willing did smack my back,
but I felt for my mama. You know, Oh that's
that's scary. It's not don't play.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
With the fire That's what I like.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Watching them is fine. The other thing is, I feel
like lightning fireworks feels like a guy's thing to do,
but I feel like it should be a girl's thing
to do, because we do dumb stuff with fireworks. When
I was younger, we would like like light a bobcat
and like shoot it at animals as they ran away.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It was, oh, that's that's kind of me to do.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
But guys who don't like girls, I just feel'd be
like our guys run around with Roman candles and be like,
We're like, there, don't.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Hold as it's going off, and then the girls are like,
what the Sparkler the Disney Channel, Oh my god, watch me.
Oh they're cute.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
All right, Well let's talk music now.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
That's we could talk from the great what.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Brought you to music? Because we're just talking gymnasts. Do
you have a gymnast background?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Do you have a gymnast background? I was really supposed
to follow in my mom's footsteps. She was an elite
gymnast and was really really good, and so as a
six years old six year old, I was training for
Olympic hopefools at the time, and then I wanted to quit.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
And do music and mom said music stupid, stand up fitness.
But I did not do that.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
So the thing that I've really found a lot of
love for country music specifically was actually one listening to
it with my dad in his truck.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
But also my nana played a big part.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
She had an accordion growing up, and she would sit
in this wooden archback chair in the middle of the
living room and play the heck out of that thing.
Whether that was like Roy Orberson, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash,
Loretta Lynn, Patsy Klein, like just all the greats, and
we would sing and dance and have the record player
on and she'd just play the accordion for hours and hours.
(06:14):
And every time I went to Nana's house, I wanted
her to bring it out as soon as I got there.
And so my nana gifted me my very first acoustic
guitar as a seven year old. And as soon as
that thing was in my hands, it's like I never
ever wanted to put it down.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I slept with it next to my bed. I woke up.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
I wrote songs about shampoo conditioner and homeschooling and you know.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Whatever I was going through as a child.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
But yeah, I just found this super intense love for
wanting to tell stories as vividly as the ones I
loved so much on the record player.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
When you say listening to music and whatnot, what are
some songs that like come.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Up as you like?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Because obviously I had. Elvis was an influence on me
as a kid because my grandmother, when I spent time
with her, it was on all the time. But I
can pick out a couple of songs I can't pick
out like everyone we ever listened to. But what are
some songs that you think to those times that stand
out versus others.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
One of the very first ones was I Can't help
falling in Love with You, and that was not only
Dolly's version, but Elvis's version as well. That was something
that I thought was so simple but so.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Eloquent and beautiful all at once.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So that's been something that I have loved ever since
I was a child.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Blue Suede Shoes by.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Elvis was something that I would make my mom and
dad turn the TV off so I could get my
little hips moving and dancing and grooven. And then Jolene
by Dolly was the very first song I ever learned
on the guitar my Nana Bottany, and so as like
throwback songs, those were the core ones that I think
kind of shaped what I loved the most and the
(07:56):
things that remind me of why I fell in love
with it in the first place.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
As a as a newer artist introducing yourself to like
mainstream country music fans, you have your songs, right, but
covers can be a big a big introduction as well,
especially if you're playing a show like oh hey here,
I'll play a song that I know you love and
you'll sing along to, and then I'm gonna you know,
once you're like I'm having the best time, I'm gonna
hit you with the song you've never heard before. Yeah,
(08:21):
but it's mine and you're gonna get to know me
a little bit. So when it comes to like the
covers that you pick in those moments to help you
connect with the audience, you know, before you introduce one
of your songs or something brand new or something that's
been out, what are some of the covers that you'll
go to?
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Well, one of the very Joline Obviously, that has been
one that I've kept in my set because it makes
me feel like I get to bring home with me
everywhere I go. But when I had a piano on
stage growing up, I did House of the Rising Sun
a lot. That was something that I really love to do.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And then recently I kind of filtered back.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Wake Me Up by a Vigi was always one that
I loved playing on guitar, and during CMA fest and
a couple of the festivals that I did prior to
that as well, I kind of brought that one back
and I forgot how much I loved that song. And
so it's nice though to like you said, filter in
ones that people really really know I've done since You've
Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson. That seems to get the
(09:17):
girls going for that song, you know, scream it at
the top of your lungs.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Even the guys, you know, yeah, they get it onto. Yeah,
those are like the ones off the top of my head?
Is it?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Are there songs that are intimidating to cover because any song,
any song has the potential to become its own, like
life and being, and some are just so gigantic that
it's like, if I don't sing that the way someone's expecting,
the rest of the day is not going to go.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Great for me. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
That's a great question because I feel like I had
a vocal coach growing up, and she was from our church,
and she would keep me for a long period of
time because I was homeschool and.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I had nothing else.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Would do you know all out and hear about fifteen
gajillion times. You'll be like, Okay, we get it, you're homeschool.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
To shut up.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
No, But she used to say, like I harperized things,
and so I would always take a song and make
it my own. But as far as like I don't
think I've ever thought of covers of like, oh I
can't touch that one, or maybe that's scared.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Really it would.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
I think the only song that I would be nervous
about bombing would just be the cover of the national Anthem.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
And I've already done that, bombed it, So it's okay.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Oh when I was a child eleven years old, oh no.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
But that's yeah. It's funny because I asked an artist
one time. We were in Vegas and I was working
for the hockey team in Vegas, and I had asked
them like, hey, would you do the anthem? And they're
like nope, And I go, you won't And he's like,
I don't know. It's not like a disrespect thing. He goes,
If I kill it, I was supposed to. It's a
natural anthem, he goes. If I just do okay, I suck.
(10:53):
If I mess up, it.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Will live forever.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
He goes, So there's no benefit to me doing the anthem.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, it's one of those songs that you really, I mean,
it's a hit or a mess, and whatever happens, the
whole world is going to see it. And so in
my case, as an eleven year old, to kind of
like brush past a long story. I didn't couldn't hear myself,
technical difficulties. All the things ended up actually being known.
When you look up like the worst national anthem ever,
I am one of the ones that pops up like worse.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Than category of like five top five.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Steven Tyler, Roseanbar Sina Aguilera, and Harper Grace were the
worst national anthems, like listed.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
A Fergie during the NBA also thrown me.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
She dethrowned me, because that's.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
The worst one I've ever heard.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
No disrespect, no disrespect, love her, But that was actually
the year that she had dethrown me from being the
worst national anthem.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
So.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
For Harper, but I still actually sing it a lot.
There's a piece of my uh story and journey where
I actually really have a heart to go into different
schools and foundations and talk about anti bullying because at
the time that I bombed the anthem, like had death
threats with knives and into our personal mailboxes at home,
people saying how they were gonna like murder me and
(12:05):
do really really bad things, like horrible things. If you
think of the worst thing possible that could have been
said or done physical bullying, cyberbullying, all of the kinds
of bullying. I can very confidently raise my hand and
be like it, heard it, done, it got it.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
That's why. But I go out.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
And I've got I think at this point, we've done
like thirteen or fourteen different ballparks, arenas and stadiums in
the last two years where I've kind of gone on
what I like to call a redemption tour where I've
redeemed myself and I've sang it a couple of times,
and it's scary. I mean, I get a little bit
anxious and stressed out prior. But if I can show
(12:44):
people that if you fail, you can try again, get
back up and use the thing that you were scared
of as ammunition to just keep following the dream that
was placed in your heart. So it's dare fine, and
I want to put my pins, but I don't, and
I'll just sing it.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
And then as they.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Say you can do, we're about to put you on
stage here.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Jason wonderful. After I told you it's great, but that
was it. Now you're not exactly I'm not wearing dress
that would be even worse.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Let's uh, you just gave me a funny story, but
I'm not gonna tell it of me, of somebody else
in a grocery store, But it's fine. Last thing I
want to ask is, you're going to be meeting a
lot of people for the first time as you play
the stage here, what's the song that you're like this
in your in your library of songs you have now, new, old,
(13:38):
what's the song that you're like, Hey, if I'm really
gonna introduce myself, I have to make sure to play
this one.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Oh, that's a really that's a really hard question.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
I think right now, Right now I would say, oh, gosh,
you stumped me, because there's I've written over five hundre
and eighty songs in the last three years, and.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
It like fluctuates each season.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
But I think I wrote a song recently called Tattoos
and Heartache that I really like. It just reminds me
of like the classic country that I grew up listening to.
But right now I'm in a season of really loving
like my friends and I have a really cool group
of girlfriends, and so there's a song called Nowhere that
is coming out really soon actually, and my best friends
(14:31):
are all in the music video, and we all I
we went to my birthday trip, and I have pieces
of them, like taking the camera and doing stuff with it,
and uh so that's I would say that because the
biggest piece of my life is just to be as
authentic and real as possible, and I think having close
community and friendships are really important. And so I'm singing
(14:52):
nowhere today, so let's do it. There's yeah, that's a
good question, of course.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Thanks having me
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!