Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:08 What is up everyone? How we doing? Welcome back to the In the Round podcast, you got Matt and Tyler and we got the Dakota Bear and the podcast looking around. Oak Cake is sitting there wanting to, uh, jump in that washing machine over there. And speaking of the podcast, we have a great conversation today with someone who got very close with the podcast, I would say when she was in
Speaker 2 00:00:26 Against Her Will
Speaker 1 00:00:27 Probably, but against Her Will. It was fun. And, uh, you'll hear us talking about that this one episode. We recorded it a while back and, uh, are getting to release it this week and we are very excited about it. A girl, our first girl guest that we've had on. Yeah. And she is a certified badass. She is awesome. You guys know her, I'm sure she's got a lot of great music out. She just put out some new music and, uh, we got to have a real great in depth conversation with Miss Carly Rogers, a native of Vermont, who's been living here in Nashville for a while. Went to school at Belmont and uh, has some cool connections both in the mainstream country world, being on music row, playing on shows on the Mum street division, street playing Whiskey Jam, all those cool places. All those cool things. And also having a cool connection with the hop community. More, more, most notably with, uh, a Mr. Ryan Upchurch, aka Upchurch The Red Day. I'm excited for this one. Aren't you Tyler? I
Speaker 2 00:01:17 Am. It's a good conversation,
Speaker 1 00:01:19 Dude. It's so different from, from the other ones that we've put out so far. So you guys sit back, buckle up your seat belts and get ready for a great edition of In The Round featuring Lovely the Miss. Beautiful Carly Rogers. Tyler hit that music. What is going on? Everybody we're here in the round with one of my favorite people in Nashville. Met her at a bar, which is one of the best places to meet people here in this town. Absolutely. Miss Carly Rogers. Carly, how the hell are you doing? Good,
Speaker 3 00:01:58 How
Speaker 1 00:01:58 Are you? I am good. Thanks for coming and hanging out with us here today. I like the shirt you got on there. Thank you very much. Yeah, that's funny. So she's wearing the Hank and Jesus are watching the Revival shirt, the old school Revival shirt. I actually just got one, I was walking around the Kroger down in Spring Hill and people were just looking at me. They had no idea what it meant. So they're like, you really love Jesus, don't you, <laugh>? And I'm like, oh, something like that. It's something
Speaker 3 00:02:20 Like, like Hank
Speaker 2 00:02:21 <laugh>, northerners love
Speaker 1 00:02:22 Jesus. Yeah, right. Um, but yeah, so you've got a lot going on with you, don't you?
Speaker 3 00:02:27 Uh, yeah. Yeah. Same busy trying to stay busy at least. So
Speaker 1 00:02:32 Yeah, like this week, like in the past week, you were just hustling a lot. Yeah. Like you, you were in Dixon, you were on the radio doing stuff.
Speaker 3 00:02:41 Yeah, I released a new song.
Speaker 1 00:02:42 Yeah. The new song. How the hell did I Start with that? Dan? That's bad radio right there. Yeah, <laugh>. So the new song, it's called something Slick, right? Say something, say something Slick. Say something Slick. Yeah. And I bought it. I sent it to you as soon as we bought it. So yeah, I
Speaker 2 00:02:55 Listened to it quite a few times.
Speaker 1 00:02:56 It's great. Thank you. How's that? How's that response going on that so far? I know it's still early. It's been like what, a week since it's
Speaker 3 00:03:01 Been out? Not even, even, it's been about five days.
Speaker 1 00:03:03 Five days since it's been out. Awesome. So you guys make sure you check that one out and whatnot. And you've got a bunch, you got a, you've released quite a few songs over. The last one you released, um, two different places came out over the last couple months, right?
Speaker 3 00:03:16 November. Yep.
Speaker 1 00:03:17 Because I remember when you were, when you were writing that, when you were working, when you were playing that I went up to a show in um, you were in Cheatham County. Yeah. Well speaking of Cheatham County, yeah. That's something that you're very tired. That's something that's one of the reasons I was really looking forward to talking to you really to be honest, is to hear what's going on with, um, with your stuff with Upchurch and whatnot. Yeah. Because that's somebody that a lot of people, it's kind of, I don't wanna say like secretive, but he doesn't do interviews. He doesn't really do, like, you don't really find out a lot about him. He does a lot on social media and does all that stuff and I've been a huge fan of his even when I was living up in New York. Yeah. Like people listen to him around the country and stuff. How'd you get linked up with doing, with working with him and whatnot? Cause I know you've been in town for what now? Five years.
Speaker 3 00:03:59 Four and a half. Um, so actually we met back in 2017 at a birthday party. Um, actually I was just about to turn 21 and my buddy Taylor had a birthday party. Taylor, Phillips and Ryan was there. And midway through the night, Taylor kind of grabbed me and was like, Carley, come here. I want you to meet somebody. And uh, and walked me over to Ryan was like, Ryan, this is the girl that I was telling you about that, you know, she'd sang, she writes or whatever. She's really cool. And Ryan was like, dude, it's awesome. Nice to meet you. He is like, I'm church. And I was like,
Speaker 1 00:04:30 I'm church.
Speaker 3 00:04:31 He goes, I'm church. And I was like, your mother named you church <laugh>. He goes, no, like, I'm up church. And he was, I go, so your mother named you Upchurch? Like that's your first name? He goes, no, it's Ryan. And I was like, oh, hey Ryan, what's up? I'm Carly. It's so nice to meet you. And he was like, uh, all right. And Taylor kind of grabbed me to like swing in and swoop this con the, the, the conversation. Cuz honestly like I just, I just wanna know your name, you know, like Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:05:01 You're key. We're just chilling. We're at a birthday party.
Speaker 3 00:05:03 Yeah. And, uh, which that's not like indicative to how Ryan is whatsoever. Um, but that was just like the first interaction, you know? And it's funny too cause I used to watch him on Vine when I was in, probably like a freshman in high school or or eighth grade. We used to watch him on Vine and, and on YouTube. And then in my head I, he kinda like fell off, like didn't see him on Vine, didn't see him on YouTube, like didn't hear another thing about him. I hadn't had Facebook yet. I was only 13 or 14. And uh, so yeah, like didn't hear anything more about him. Nobody really listened to his music up there. So, uh, like when I saw him I was like, oh, like yeah, I know who you are, but I'm not gonna let you like, you know, flex on me real quick.
Speaker 3 00:05:43 Like, what's your name? And so Taylor kind of swooped in to save the situation and was like, yo, like I've known her for four years. She's like, she's cool. Like she's laid back. She's not into the whole like fame thing, whatever. And uh, and she's a really hard worker. And Ryan was like, well cool, well hey, like before I leave I'm gonna grab your information, whatever, maybe we can get in the studio. And in my head I was like, okay, cool. Like studio, like I'm not funny. Like I'm not really that funny. So I don't know why I would be like, cuz he did skits and stuff. Yeah. And uh, I was like, all right, whatever. Well, two or three months later he hits me up and he was like, Hey, I still wanna get in the studio if you wanna come down, whatever. And his studio ends up being like right around the corner from my house. Really? So I'm like, yeah, I can be there in five minutes. Like just I'll get in the car and head over. And I went over and he was like, so what do you wanna write today? I go, what are we writing? Like I thought, I don't know what we're doing. He was like, well, do you have any ideas you wanna write about? Or like, I can show you some of the songs that I've had. And I was like, songs. He was like, what?
Speaker 1 00:06:39 So you had no idea about like any of the previous records he had put out
Speaker 3 00:06:43 Any of the 10 records he put
Speaker 1 00:06:45 Out? No. Yeah. Like son, like son of the Southy, chicken Willie, like any of these things that were huge on iTunes or anything. You just knew him as a kid in Vermont. Yeah. No one watching him making redneck jokes and being a crazy country boy.
Speaker 3 00:06:58 Well, like I knew Taylor, I Hallbrook sang and I knew Luc Combs, like I, you know, cuz they would sing on their vine, but Ryan was always just being funny. And then come to find out like Taylor Song, Southern Land, I've been listening to that since I was 15 or 16, but I didn't know that Ryan was on it. Like, I thought Taylor was rapping it, I thought Taylor was a rapper. So like, I had no idea. And then he was like, yeah, so what song you wanna write? And I was like, oh, that's what we're doing. Well, okay, well we're gonna have to go about, go about this a little bit differently. And uh, you know, so I was like, hey, and, and because of, of who he was or whatever, I was like, I'm, you know, I'm gonna like record all this. I wanna, I'm gonna date timestamp it, whatever, because you just never know, like writing with new people, I always take voice memos anyway, but I always preface with like, Hey, I'm gonna record all this, put on a voice memo, work tape, whatever. I'll email it to you so that we both got it. And um, and just play my card safe or whatever. And ended up writing this song called Step On It that Night within 30 minutes had it demoed. And um, the next day he texted me ba or texted me again and was like, Hey, come back in the studio or whatever if you want to. And we wrote Cowboy that second night within like an hour or so. So yeah, it was really cool.
Speaker 1 00:08:04 Which I think I told you the night that I met you with that night. That was a, that was a Thursday night. It was after Whiskey Jam with Cody Purvis. And if anybody knows Cody Purvis <laugh>, he's an awesome dude. I love him Like a brother that was Cody, that was the night that his song drink, that his single drinking terms dropped. He was headlined and Whiskey jam and I was out with him and his brother and it was just, and and, and, uh, Ethan, Ethan Willis was out with us too. And we were just working our way down to Mum Breeded and we ended up being at this bar. And you were sitting at the bar?
Speaker 3 00:08:30 I was sitting at the bar with, uh, my buddy Shelton and I just ordered pizza to the bar. Yeah. Cuz the kitchen was closed
Speaker 1 00:08:36 And, and you got up to go to the bathroom and she looked at me and was like, I just met you. I know your name's Matt, but will you guard this pizza with your life?
Speaker 3 00:08:42 Okay. Also, total side note beforehand, Matt was like, oh, like I'm kind of new here. What's up? Everybody like, how are you doing whatever comes up, makes friends at the bar. And I'm like, like around my pizza and you guys know how I am with pizza. I'm like, Hey man. Like I thought you were just some Vandy kid coming up and being like, Hey, can I a slice to your pizza? And I was like so defensive <laugh>. I was like, um, hi. And my friend Shelton was sitting right there and Shelton always just has a chip on his shoulder anyway. Yeah. So he was just like, what's up man? Like he was going out and Matt's like, oh, nothing. Just, you know, just hanging out. Like it
Speaker 1 00:09:14 Was the night with Cody Pervis. So we were all a little, little cranked up
Speaker 3 00:09:18 And, but he's like, so what do you guys do? And I was like, I'm a nurse. And Shelton's like, yeah man, I uh, like I sang and write cuz Shelton doesn't sing and I'm not a nurse. We were messing with Matt and he's like, oh, so like, you guys know each other? And Shelton's like, nope, like never met this girl before my
Speaker 1 00:09:32 House. I'm think I'm thinking she's just talking to this random guy and I'm, I'm like, I don't wanna intrude. Is he trying to stick game with her? <laugh>? And then I got Cody Purvis running around the bar. I'm trying to watch him too. And Logan and Logan and Logan and Ethan. And there's like a whole just crew that we're probably like 10, 10 it's pieces
Speaker 3 00:09:46 Circus in, there's like, this is like the time.
Speaker 1 00:09:49 Yeah, it was like 1 45, 2 o'clock in the morning on a Thursday and it was like, like a couple weeks into me being in town. Yeah. And,
Speaker 3 00:09:56 And well, and Shelton and I kept the poker face like so solid. Like we had it very well. And then all of a sudden, like, I looked over at Shelton and I looked down at my pizza and I looked at Matt and was like, oh, I gotta be so bad. And I, I'm, so, I feel horrible for being such a jerk to this guy. So I was like, Hey man, it was all a joke. I play music, he does a little bit of everything. Can you just watch my pizza while I go to the bathroom because I don't trust Shelton not to eat it. <laugh>. And Matt's like, yeah, like why'd you lie to me though? <laugh>? The question
Speaker 1 00:10:23 Is, what kind of pizza was
Speaker 3 00:10:24 It? It was barbecue chicken from Dolce Vita with no bacon or onions, <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:10:29 It was a good looking slice of pizza,
Speaker 3 00:10:31 But that's the only place I get barbecue chicken from anywhere else. I get cheese. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 00:10:36 Like Domino's.
Speaker 3 00:10:37 I like Domino's. Like we just ate. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:10:39 Yeah, yeah. We, we had to, we had to order some dominoes. The official pizza of Miss Carly Rogers. Yes. <laugh>. Um, but then she introduced herself and I, so I was like, what's your name? And she was like, Carly Rogers. I'm like, wait a second, I I know that name. And she was like, oh really? And I'm like, yeah, you're, you sang on um, on the Upchurch's Supernatural record, you, you and or a couple songs cuz Rizzie Meyers was on a couple songs too. Yeah. I was like, wait a second. Yeah. Fucking Cowboy. And she's like, yeah, I wrote that with Ryan. I'm like, oh shit. Damn. <laugh> this is what happens. You meet people that you, you were listening to up north at like two in the morning at a freaking bar on a doghouse on a Thursday night and yeah. Damn. And then I think I went out to see, uh, it was like a week or might have been that weekend. Yeah. Up in Cheatham County at that little, up at that little bar and whatnot. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:11:22 Sidelines good place. Yeah. Really awesome food. On Friday nights they have this, uh, they like grill out steaks and medallions and stuff like that. Oh, they're so
Speaker 1 00:11:30 Good. Yeah. So that, so, so something I gotta ask you. So obviously you hang out in the mum a lot. You're buddies with a lot of the crew that plays at Revival Whiskey Jam. You, you get you're you're part of that songwriter circuit. Yeah. You're, you're in, you're one of, you're one of, you're one, almost like one of the guys. You're a girl, but you're, you are in that group, like with all those people that are writing and a lot of with music Row and stuff, but then you're also with the connected throughout church with this, this country rap thing. Yeah. Which is such the opposite. Such as like, oh, I don't wanna say like anti-us, but like kind of like just opposite, you know, where it's like different Yeah. So how does that, how does that all work with you kind of being where you're writing songs with Demon Jones and Upchurch and all those guys and then you're in these writers' rooms and you're working on Music Row and stuff. Like what is that kind of like
Speaker 3 00:12:15 Bouncing between those two? You know, it hasn't, well it's, it's funny you're the first person to ask that. Cause I've done a lot of co uh, uh, podcasts and, and radio interviews recently. And, um, you're the first person to ask that. And, and I don't know, maybe people haven't wanted to
Speaker 1 00:12:28 See, I I just, I love both themes. I love that I'm passionate about both scenes. Like even going back to what Colt Ford and the LAX were doing, say like five to seven years ago. Yeah. Like, I've always been a fan of that hip hop country rap scene. Yeah. And then coming down here and seeing just how different it is, like how the two are are just so different from each other and whatnot. And you're, you're involved in both Yeah. And you're playing at those bars in Georgia where hip hop and country rap is so big and mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you're playing those writers rounds. Just how do you, how do you balance being in both, you know?
Speaker 3 00:12:57 Yeah, no, it's, I've gotten really good and, and maybe it started when I was younger, but like, I always, I've always was good at keeping different types of friend groups and not because I'm one person with one set of friends and another person with another set of friends. But I feel like I've just always been able to get along with the theater and music kids and the athletes and, you know, and there's nothing wrong with either group in my personal opinion. Um, but for whatever reason, different cliques and different friends groups or, or what have you, um, they don't always see eye to eye on stuff. And it hasn't always been easy. I remember when I first started writing and, and working with Ryan, half my friends on the other side of the team were like, oh my God, like, that's so cool. And then the other half like, kind of like disown me and were like, really? If she's working with him, like we can't really work with her anymore because she's, she's doing that thing that's, that's,
Speaker 1 00:13:47 That's fucked up because Ryan's putting out great music and as his demon as is anybody in that kind of country wrapped that redneck nation circuit? Yeah. There's, there's, they're putting out great tunes just like everybody's doing on, on the other side, you know? Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:14:01 Well, and it's all, it's the industry thing and it's the people who are afraid of getting the backlash, um, or are afraid of getting the, what's the word I'm looking for, I guess like the repercussions that come from Music Row and, and that side of the industry with working with him. So working with him is a little bit more taboo on, on Music Row. And I've even had people being like, Hey, it's awesome that you're like trying to make career moves and trying to, to further yourself in your career, but just so you know, if you continue to work with this person, nobody else is gonna wanna work with you on music grow. Whether that's publishers, labels, management, pr. Like it's, and it's, and it's because of the way that Ryan puts himself out there, I think, on social media because he is so real and he refuses to put a, a filter on,
Speaker 1 00:14:47 He carries a flag of of being the independent artist. Like he, he loved Absolutely. Absolutely. And he, and he, he and I, I've always been a fan of that. Like back up north, um, the local scene very big on independent artists. And when I was doing college radio independent acts, which at the time Luke was independent at the time, Brett Young was all these names that we got the, the the went and blew up. They were independent musician. Like, everybody kind of starts somewhere and, and there's something about having rights to your own music and just doing it yourself, you know, like, which is why I love like my own lane and like songs that Ryan, other songs that Ryan's put out about
Speaker 3 00:15:19 Well, yeah. Independent stuff. Well, and, but the reason that that happened was because Ryan has an image of, look, I don't care what anybody thinks, I'm gonna be who I wanna be. And that's a little bit rougher around the edges. It's a little bit more vocal, it's a little bit less reserved, and it's a little bit less concerned about making friends and, and shaking hands. And it's more about doing what you wanna do and what makes you happy. And and I think that both sides encompass that. But the other side and the music row side and the industry side is more willing to be friends with people even if they don't wanna be, or, or to shake hands with people in order to do something that like they wanna do. But it's not, you know, it's just, it's that whole, the whole business mentality as opposed to just being a really good, like just doing it off of just starting your own business as opposed to being in a corporate business.
Speaker 3 00:16:05 You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. And, and I think that with Ryan, um, the independent music thing, he had to do it himself because nobody else was going to do that for him. He wasn't gonna get signed or picked up by label. And if he was, it was gonna be a terrible deal where Ryan was gonna be super mega famous and have all these followers and play these awesome shows, but he wasn't gonna make his money. And you wanna know what Ryan said, whatever. And there's another guy in the, like the hip hop and rap, Atlanta, New York music scene named Russ. And Russ did the same thing. Russ put out 11 mixtapes, 12 songs, each 10 songs, each all mix mastered, produced, wrote, sang and wrapped by him, harmonies by him, and just put it out there on SoundCloud. And, and he had the same mentality that Ryan did, where it's like, and they're both about the same age, 26, and they both had the mentality of like, I'm gonna put this out, it's gonna be a smash.
Speaker 3 00:16:56 And then it wasn't. Well it was like, okay, well then the next one's gonna be a smash. Well, it wasn't. Okay, well then the next one's gonna be a smash and just did it and did it and did it. And I think that that's much harder and that's a harder way to do it. But if nobody else is gonna help you do it, if nobody else is gonna be like, Hey, here's my hand, like I'm just gonna launch you up, then you have to climb up, you know, and yeah, some people get the launch and some people have to climb. And I think that, you know, I think that that's, that's just the side of the industry and, and the two separate sides, I'm not gonna name any names, but I legitimately had a whole group of friends who worked in the industry on music row management label, um, PR and publishing that all worked together that were like, well, you made that decision, now you're gonna, you made that bed, you're gonna have to lie in it because the two don't get along.
Speaker 1 00:17:45 But the side, you've got a huge following. I don't wanna say you're very talented. Thank you. You're very, you're a fucking great songwriter, you're an awesome person. You're funny as shit on Instagram and Snapchat and all that stuff. Like, you're just, you're, you've got a great personality and everything. And that's something that the, that the side of the country rap community, they love that. They love that you're real. Yeah. And that you're, you're just very similar to what Ryan's doing and what all those guys and girls in that scene are doing and whatnot. Now, another co-writer that I've loved that you've, that you've collaborated, I had no idea until, I think you actually played it at Whiskey Row. You were hanging out at whiskey or you were playing with Ryan Nelson. Yes. That was the first time I heard you mentioned that you had written a song with Brian Davis.
Speaker 1 00:18:23 Yes. Brian's another guy that we had back in the college radio days. No, no. That we had on. And he actually called us when he was in a writing room with Bri, with Ben Gallagher. Yeah. And he said that they were in a room for about eight hours, but he was still gonna call. Anyway, they finished a, a bottle of Jack Daniels and they, they came in, they called it and did the interview. And then we got to see him on the, on the tour with, uh, Brantley. Yeah. And Luke and Tucker Behar and stuff. How'd you get hooked up with Brian Davis? Like, cuz he's another, it's such
Speaker 3 00:18:47 A crazy
Speaker 1 00:18:47 Story. <laugh> another, another super cool guy, which that's what's cool. You have a good eye of like, who's just like, you just associate with really nice people, thank you. Like with like super nice cool people that are also talented. Well, it's
Speaker 3 00:18:59 Not even I the word associate, like, and a guy that
Speaker 1 00:19:02 Craig you, your friendship. Well, but
Speaker 3 00:19:04 The, the, the cool thing is, is that it's, it's not even like, so both are super random. So like Taylor brought me to Ryan, literally just walked me over to him. Brian hit me up on, so it's just such a weird story. Okay. So I'm gonna start from the beginning. So I get this little, like, I have a really hard time staying in one place for too long. Like,
Speaker 1 00:19:23 I feel you
Speaker 3 00:19:24 And it, and it's because of the fact that like, I've gotten used to being gone every weekend when I am home for more than a weekend or two at a time. I'm like going stir crazy. Like I've done everything that I can possibly think of. I don't need to do anything else. I need to just go somewhere. And I've always been that way. We grew up traveling a lot. And so it's just always like between sports and just traveling and vacations and BMX racing and stuff like that. So, you know, we just traveled so much. And so I get a little tick. Well I had had like three weeks in a row off. So the second weekend I made a plan and I was like, I'm just taking off. I'm not telling anybody. Um, my parents have a a a, a place in Florida that they use as a vacation home.
Speaker 3 00:20:02 Um, and so I just kind of texted my mom and I was like, Hey, I'm gonna drive down to Florida. I know you guys are home in Vermont, but I'm, I'm gonna go down to Florida. I just need a weekend with the dog just to like my own little rider's retreat, basically. Yeah. Is what it is. You know, and it's getting far enough. I mean, it's very far from Nashville obviously, but it's far enough from like anybody, any place that I already like, know of anything. And, and it also kind of feels like home at the same time. So went down there and the first night I got there, I just sat around the house, drank a few, not a few, a bunch of beers and, uh, eventually switched over and, and was drinking, was drinking some whiskey. And uh, I was listening to music and one hell of an Amen came on
Speaker 1 00:20:42 Phenomenal song and absolutely ABR a Brian Davis, Brantley Gilbert Classic.
Speaker 3 00:20:46 Yes, absolutely. I mean, it's, it's a great, great tune. And so I was like, you know what, we'll screw it. Like I'm gonna cover this song. And so I set my phone up, I like tried to find a place in the house, a good spot, set my phone up and I'm hammered, like hammered to the point where I thought this was a good idea to take a video of me singing, you know, the saying like, best friends don't let best friends sing drunk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well I wish I had had a best friend or I wish Willie could talk to me at that point. I think he tried. I sat down on the floor and started playing and he came up and it took me so long to take this video because Willie wouldn't leave me alone. And Willie was probably saying like, Hey, don't post this. You sound horrible.
Speaker 1 00:21:22 Willie was being your best friend,
Speaker 3 00:21:24 <laugh>. He was trying, but I wasn't listening.
Speaker 1 00:21:26 Willie the road dog following on
Speaker 3 00:21:27 Instagram, a typical woman, I was misconstruing him like advising me not to do something as him supporting me doing something <laugh>. So anyway, I, uh, was post or I was making the video or whatever, I posted it on Instagram. I didn't even listen to it. I just was like, one take, it's fine. Posting it. Great song didn't sound very good the next morning. But I woke up to a message from, uh, from Brian on Instagram saying, Hey, uh, saw your cover. Cause I always tag the songwriters. Yeah. Like, songwriters, listen to me if you ever post a cover video, I don't know why I'm looking at the microphone as if they're like, they can hear me in there, but you can do it. Yeah. But no, but like, listen, like if you ever make a cover video tag the songwriter and I tagged Brian, I tagged Brantley and Brian messaged me and was like, Hey girl, like loved your cover.
Speaker 3 00:22:15 I was like, really? And he, uh, but he goes, I'd love to write with you sometime. Um, which I thought was kind of strange cuz I, at the time I only had like 6,000 followers, which wasn't a lot as compared to what I've got now. Yeah. And um, so I was a little taken aback, but I was like, oh, like is this real or what? Like, so I texted my buddy JD Groover and was like, Hey, like Brian Davis just messaged me like, I know that you work with him and your buddies with him, whatever. And he was like, yeah, actually he texted me last night and was like, Hey, what's up with this Carly Rogers chick? Like, you know her And he put in a good word for me. So Brian hit me up and, and we wrote, and we wrote this one song the first day called Drunk Side of Drinking. And then he brought me into a right with him and Thomas Archer and
Speaker 1 00:22:59 Wow. Yeah. Damn, that escalated quickly. That's awesome.
Speaker 3 00:23:03 Yeah. So like, sorry, I tell stories like, no, no, no, no, no hours.
Speaker 1 00:23:07 No, no, no. That, that's just awesome how it can lead to that. And
Speaker 3 00:23:11 I even deleted the video cause I thought it was so awful. Like I thought it was trash. So I deleted the video, but he, yeah. And it was, and it was weird. We got in the room that day and, uh, we tossed around a couple ideas and he was like, well, I got this one. And he goes, based off your Instagram looks like you like to drink a little bit like I do. And he, uh, he was like, I had this idea, he's called Drunk Sided drinking. And I was like, Ooh, that's really cool. When we started swapping stories or whatever. But I have this tendency to have an interest in, in men or, well, guys, uh, I wouldn't necessarily say men so far, but, uh, that no, but they are just like, they're not, you know, they're covered tattoos, which isn't a bad thing.
Speaker 3 00:23:49 I like tattoos, but like they, you know, the not the great ones. Like they're the ones that are kind of like, oh, I should have never gotten that tattoo kind of thing. But, uh, but like scarred knuckles, like they like to fight drinking, smoking, like just always had an interest in guys like that and it's always done me wrong. And, uh, so I'm working on that. But we started talking about it and he was like, dude, like let's have a conversation with ourselves at the bar with a bartender about this type of person that obviously like you're interested in, but is not good for you and why it's not good for you anymore. So that's where that, that song came from. And, um, then we went into the room with, with Thomas Archer. So the three of us wrote this song and it's kind of Anthony, um, but it's called My Last Call <laugh>. And, uh, it's called My Last Call and it's just about like living every li every minute to the fullest and right up until last call. So
Speaker 1 00:24:44 That's <laugh>. That's awesome, man. Those guys are no slouches like to get in a room with those guys, that's hard to do. Yeah. Like, those are two very talented songwriters. Like, and when did, so how long ago was that?
Speaker 3 00:24:56 Uh, Brian and I wrote that right before Thanksgiving, um, drunk decided Drinking, and then we'd gotten in two rights at the end, like right after Thanksgiving and then, um, right before Christmas with, with Thomas. So, and it was really cool. Um, we've got a couple more rights set up, but it was, uh, it was really cool and the fact that it just was based off of somebody else's recommendation and that's how small Nashville is. Like, I could be like, Hey Tyler, what do you think of this Matt guy? Matt could be like, oh, or Tyler could be like, oh, don't talk to him, he's awful. Or whatever. Or he could be like, oh, he is great. Like you should absolutely like hang out or whatever, or, or, or work with him or what have you. And so, but it's, it's that easy to, to have somebody flip that switch.
Speaker 2 00:25:40 And that's to me like why in Nashville, like you never burn a bridge because you never know who that person's gonna go ask about you mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And if it happened to me a couple months ago where somebody, so I'm a sound engineer and somebody asked a guy about me for a big job and the guy was like, no. He's like, I had a bad gig with him one night and he was like, mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And that was like my gatekeeper for that gig. Yeah. So, and it
Speaker 3 00:26:10 Is, yeah. But I've also, and I've been that gatekeeper too for people. Yeah. And I'm so <laugh>, I'm so petty and not necessarily petty, but I hold a grudge really bad and I've had a couple people that have really done me dirty and they'll come up now and be like, oh, hey, like saw you doing this. Like, do you think you could do this for me? It's like, no. Or hey, like, do you know this person? Uh, what have you? Like I've, you know, heard about 'em or they shot me a message on Instagram wanting to write, and it looks like the same thing that Brian did to jd. I've had like, people ask me and about other people, I'm like, Uhuh, like, don't do it because either this or this or that or whatever. So,
Speaker 1 00:26:50 So basically just don't burn any bridges <laugh> Yeah, exactly. In Nashville, because people will call upon mutual friends and whatnot. So talk about Nashville. What brought you from, so you're originally from Vermont. Yeah. You're a New England girl. Yeah. How'd you get into playing music? Did you play the circuit up there at all as like a young kid? How'd you get into this whole music thing?
Speaker 3 00:27:09 Yeah, so I, uh, I started singing, um, my first ever like, performance in front of anybody was at, uh, a BMX race. I used to race BMX when I was younger. And we learned the national anthem in the first grade and, and we learned how to sing it. Well, the school year started once, like when we were in the process of doing state call, state qualifiers. So the BMX season would basically be year round, but it'd be mostly like from, um, besides Christmas, it'd be like March all the way up until like October, November we'd travel and, um, the end of the year we'd be down in Louisville, Kentucky or whatever. But so basically, long story short, uh, we had state qualifiers. They were the biggest races in, uh, my hometown. And in the area of the year, well, we just learned how to sing the national anthem.
Speaker 3 00:27:52 So I went up to the track director and I was five, went up to the track director and was like, Hey, Mr. Buck, can I sing the national anthem? And he was like, well, do you, do you know how to sing the national anthem? And I was like, well, yeah. Like, I just learned it in school. And he was like, well, all right, well come on. And uh, and so I was, I was the third lap of the day and my parents see Mr. Buck like walking me up to the announcer's tower, which is in the middle of the track. And my parents are like, what are you doing? Like, you should be in staging, like, what are you doing?
Speaker 1 00:28:20 You got a race to do? What are you doing here?
Speaker 3 00:28:22 <laugh>? And I'm just like, hi guys. And I'm just running up there, whatever. And the announcer's tower, it's all the way, like, I'm not sure if you're familiar with motocross or BMX or whatever, but the track or the tower goes above the track so the announcer can like commentate on what's going on and, but when you get up there, there's barriers and stuff so you don't fall out of it. And I couldn't see over him, so I couldn't see how many people, it just looked like I was singing just to Mr. Buck. And turns out there was like 1500 people there that day. Wow. Yeah. And, uh, but I didn't know. And I like had my helmet on and everything, like ready to go cuz I had to sprint right up to the track, like so I, or up to the gate so I can get in staging.
Speaker 3 00:28:56 And, um, my parents, like, after I got to staging, they were like, what were you doing? Like, what are you thinking? I was like, I don't know, I just asked <laugh>. And, uh, but that was my first performance. They continued to have me do it throughout the years and that was in my hometown. So, um, other people would hear me or, or would hear about it. And, and I got some newspaper coverage. So I started doing, um, like the local parades, baseball, basketball, like high school and middle school sporting events and stuff. Did that all the way up through high school. Never really played in bars except for like karaoke at different restaurants and stuff. If we traveled.
Speaker 1 00:29:28 What's your go-to karaoke song?
Speaker 3 00:29:30 Uh, it's changed over the years. Like what's my current,
Speaker 1 00:29:33 You're you're drunk off your ass, you're at Santa's Pub
Speaker 3 00:29:36 And I'm making a fool of myself and
Speaker 1 00:29:38 Like, don't care. You're, you want you Yeah. You're, you wanna, you're like, I'm gonna sing this right now. Dammit. These people are gonna listen.
Speaker 3 00:29:43 I'm doing in the Club by 50 cent. Oh,
Speaker 1 00:29:45 Awesome. Oh, there you go, G Unit. No, that's awesome.
Speaker 3 00:29:48 You found me in the club bought full above. Look by me. I got that. Didn't it take drugs? Yeah, but I know, I know. Like I know the whole song and uh, I grew up listening to a lot of 50 cent actually, believe it or not.
Speaker 1 00:30:00 So you, so you go from singing hometown shows and doing that. How'd you So
Speaker 3 00:30:04 I applied to school. Yeah. So I was doing music and stuff still. And uh, my grandmother told me when I was 13, you gotta move to Nashville. Like if you're gonna be playing music, you gotta move to Nashville. I played piano and I got like vocal lessons and stuff as a kid. Um, and then I was in band and chorus and stuff in, in middle school. And then in high school I didn't really do band. I did chorus a little bit, but my grandmother was like, you have to move to Nashville. That's like where you gotta be. I went to Nashville one time in the eighties or the nineties or something, and it was just, that's where, that's the place to be now. And so I was like, all right. So I applied to one college. It was originally gonna be Vanderbilt, but uh, somebody told me about Belmont and I was like, that is much more affordable. It's much more reasonable. Like, I'm smart, but I really don't wanna have to like, it sounds horribly lazy. My parents are gonna be so disappointed, but I really didn't wanna have to work that hard for my grades when I was really trying to pursue a music career. Yeah. Um, like that was the deal my parents had.
Speaker 2 00:30:55 I think it's sad that you're saying that Belmont is like, you know, more affordable and all because I mean,
Speaker 1 00:31:00 Compared to
Speaker 2 00:31:00 Vanderbilt. Yeah. I mean, compared to
Speaker 1 00:31:01 Vanderbilt, compared to Vandy and compared to a lot of the schools in the northeast, true northeast that's true. Gets very expensive. But so, so
Speaker 3 00:31:08 It's like, and it was outta state tuition. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:31:10 And still a lot more affordable than the schools back home.
Speaker 2 00:31:13 I mean, I it's crazy. Yeah. I went to a college here in town that nobody will know, but, uh, it was like, I think 30 grand a year. Yeah. And my parents were like, how are you gonna pay for this? Like, how are you ever gonna pay for this? So
Speaker 3 00:31:28 Yeah, well, Belmont's four, but Vandy or Belmont's 40, but, and this is without any financial aid? Yeah. Anything like that. Um, but they priced it at four or 40 and, and Vanderbilt 60. Yeah. So it's a third, it's two thirds of the price. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:31:42 Look at you doing math and stuff.
Speaker 3 00:31:43 I stuff think that was right. Math <laugh>. But so yeah. But I, uh, I got, I got accepted right into Belmont and so I was like, all right, well I'm moving to Nashville and came down for orientation, didn't leave, got a job down on Broadway. Um,
Speaker 1 00:31:54 What, what were you doing on Broadway?
Speaker 3 00:31:56 I was singing at Tootsie's.
Speaker 1 00:31:57 You were singing at Tootsie. So you're,
Speaker 3 00:31:59 I that was like, my grandmother was like my nana. She goes, you gotta sing at Tootsie's. If you sing at Tootsie's, you've made it <laugh>. Like that's the spot. I've seen it on all the TV shows. And I used to watch this reality show my senior year called Crazy Hearts Nashville with, uh, Anthony Billups and there's like five other people. It was like a, it was a reality TV show like Jersey Shore, except it was Nashville musicians. Yeah. And I can't remember the other guys on it, but I just played a show with one of 'em. Um, it's gotta Kill Me now that I can't remember his name, but Bill is a buddy of mine now and stuff. But I used to watch him when I was like 16 and was like, I'm gonna be there. Like that's what I wanna do. Yeah. And so it was really cool. But yeah, then moved down here and started playing at Tootsie's. Played there for about a year. Solid. That's why it sounds like I smoked cigarettes. I've never smoked a cigarette, but it was so hard to play there. And, um, and then I stopped and then I started again. And here we are.
Speaker 1 00:32:52 So playing the So you're how old playing playing on Broadway?
Speaker 3 00:32:54 I was 17. So
Speaker 1 00:32:55 You're 17. So we have some friends that are, that are younger. Especially
Speaker 3 00:32:58 Younger. I'm not 17 now.
Speaker 1 00:32:59 I know you're not. I know, I know you're not. I know, I'm well aware. But, um, we have some, some friends here in town that are, that are actually students at Belmont, young ladies that are, that are getting their start playing at like, places like this stage and playing at like AJ's and playing that circuit. What's it like doing that? What's it like playing the Broadway? Like you come down from your small town in Vermont. Yeah. Your hometown. And you end up and you're playing in Fra you're playing the Broadway circuit. Yeah. Like that's, that's where there's just so much going on. That's the home of the, the musicians that are trying to make it here in town. What was, um, what was that like, that jump?
Speaker 3 00:33:33 I thought that I was famous. Like I thought that I was guaranteed like this is better than American Idol and I thought American Idol was the shit. Yeah. Like I thought American Idol was like, it, like if you are on American Idol, you make it. And I never put two and two together. I was like, you don't really hear of many people off of American Idol anymore. Yeah. But, um, but yeah, I thought I'd made it and, and it was, but it was tough. I was playing 5, 6, 7 nights a week down there. Wow. Sometimes doubles. Just, and I always had a lost voice. I always sounded like, like I almost completely damaged my
Speaker 1 00:34:04 Now were you, now, were you, so were you the front, the front man and the band? Or were you, or were you one of, so, so you do you, so you were just playing, like how did you get involved in doing that? Did you go in there and ask or did you find musicians that were looking for a girl to sing? Or like how does that all come?
Speaker 3 00:34:19 Yeah, so tsys, they have a, um, they have an open mic every Saturday from noon to two and you go in, sign up or whatever. And I just was kind of walking around down there with a fake ID and somebody told me, like, I just asked like, how do I get starting to play in here? Like, I sing or whatever. I just moved to town. They're like, come to our open mic. What?
Speaker 1 00:34:36 No, just the fact that you had the, that you're going in there with you. You got the fake id. Yeah. And you're using that and that's what gets you started singing.
Speaker 3 00:34:43 My parents helped me pay for it. <laugh>. That's awesome. Yeah. They're like, well she's got, because my parents had never been in Nashville. They're like, well it only makes sense because when she played, I played a couple bars back home, like twice in my hometown. But when I did, they were very adamant, like, your parents have to like, cuz it's a small of town. Like they knew who I was. Yeah. They're like, you can't come in here at 15 years old with like no parents. Like you can't just be playing in here. Even if you're not gonna drink. Like, I just don't know. And that's a liability. I can't have you in here. Yeah. So my parents would have to be there. And so they're like, well we'll just get her a fake id. It's not like she hasn't been hanging out in bars her whole life. Cuz my parents like to drink too. So, uh, we used to go and like eat dinner and stuff and at the bars and I'd get up and sink karaoke or whatever and
Speaker 1 00:35:26 Yeah, that's that. No, but that's just such a, that's such a, such a Nashville thing. Like the college kid at Belmont who's got the fake ID goes in, sings the open mic at Tootsie's, gets the gig. And then how long were you gigging on there For about
Speaker 3 00:35:37 A year. And then I, uh, I started dating this guy didn't work out, but I was really focused on that and like moved in together and stuff and just was super focused on it. Um, and, and started focusing on school and him instead of school and music, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like my attention started focusing elsewhere and uh, and we were together for a couple years and stuff and I like pretty much stopped. Like I wasn't writing, I wasn't playing, uh, writers' rounds. I'd started playing writers' rounds with Taylor Phillips and Luke and guys like that. And like stopped doing that. Completely stopped writing, stopped playing shows on Broadway. Um, started bartending for Oh, <laugh>
Speaker 1 00:36:17 We Good Tyler. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry you guys about Tyler's got that blank look on his face and he is playing with our little fancy red box that controls the microphone. Inputs over there. Little scary. So you were playing writers' rounds on like the Ian and music, the music Row area? Well,
Speaker 3 00:36:30 Well actually Valentine had started doing writer's rounds. So Taylor Phillips had had me playing with him there
Speaker 1 00:36:34 Valentine at Valentine. Really? Wow. That
Speaker 3 00:36:37 Was before he got married too. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Wow. And, um, so yeah, and then I just stopped and stopped for a couple years and was bartending and was kind of like, I just got, I, I just got burnt out too at the same time. So that was why it was such an easy, it wasn't like I was necessarily like boy crazy or anything like that. I just was like, well, I'm really happy with this and I'm happy that with this and I'm so young and maybe I just need to take a break for music. Because playing on Broadway was rough. Like Yeah. I'd been drugged down there and like, it was, it was just more than I was biting off more than I could chew. Being so young and being down there and I just had to step back and be like, okay, wait, like this is very rigorous. This is too much. Like I just need to take a step back. So I don't really plan on Broadway much anymore. And if, and I do, or if I do, it's, it's acoustic because the full band shows, they're just, they're brutal for four hours singing by yourself. They're just insane. Yeah,
Speaker 1 00:37:30 Yeah. And singing covers you have to know. That's what I get so impressed by. I got, I've said this before, I have no musical ability whatsoever. I, I can, I can talk and I can bullshit and do all that stuff, but like the fact that the, you can just know any song. You got these people playing asking for request. Yeah. And you have to just know so much and you're going through school, you're in a new place learning all these songs Yeah. And trying to please all these people dealing with assholes at the bar and drinking Yeah. And, and dealing with assholes at the bar. Yeah. Which I know is a big thing for especially young girls on Broadway, that that happens quite a bit. Yeah. And, and all that stuff. But I mean, look at where you're at now, like fast forward to you got the big following, you're playing shows, you're, you're organizing great charity events, like what you did this past weekend, which, how did that go by the way? I'm so sorry. We couldn't freaking make it. She hit me up and was like, you better be there. And I was like, I kind of don't wanna respond cause I don't wanna disappoint her. But at the same time, ghosting is not the right way to go about it either. <laugh>. But you had a great show out in Dixon. Yeah. Uh, talk about that real quick.
Speaker 3 00:38:28 Yeah, it was really cool. So, um, total Plug Operation Finally Home is an organization that works for veterans who, um, they're wounded overseas when they're, when they're serving our country and when they come back, they're either unable to support themselves and their family, or they're unable to be able to financially, um, basically live in a home that's suitable for them and their families after the fact due to, um, lack of ability to get a job or, or because of mental, you know, mental, not illness that's the wrong word, but the, the impact that overseas had them and serving in, in war and the trauma. So, um, this past weekend we had organized an event for this veteran, his name's Josh Ferguson and he was a, he's a retired Army veteran. He was blown up overseas, I believe he's Army. I really hoped that I didn't just misspeak, but I may have, but I'm pretty sure he was Army.
Speaker 3 00:39:22 But he got, um, he was affected overseas. He lost his leg. He's an amputee and he has three beautiful children and a wife. They live in Dixon, Tennessee. And, um, so Operation finally Home partnered with a construction company that, um, builds homes. And so they're going to build Josh a home. Awesome. And so that's what this fundraiser was for, which actually we raised a money to completely cover all of the, the, um, cost for the roof. Wow. Like built a whole roof. And this is a beautiful home. It's not just like a, like a, a normal home. Like this is a, a home with donated products and stuff like that to give this person the room and the space and the home that they deserve. Mortgage free. Cost free. Wow. Yeah. All they have to do is just start paying on it once they move in. So like, taxes and, and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 00:40:06 So That's awesome. And you got a good crew that played that show with you. Yeah, so I was, I was like, this lineup, how the hell did this, did this girl and this group put that together? That was, that was a killer lineup that you had too.
Speaker 3 00:40:16 Yeah. So, um, Mitzi Span, who, who runs a construction company that has partnered with Operation finally Home trusted me to, to ask a bunch of my friends. Luckily I have some really awesome and talented friends who were willing to do it. Um, William Michael Morgan, uh, headlined the show. Rob Snyder and Trey Bruce, um, Rob Snyder, his, I mean all their accolades. Yeah. But, um, specifically she got the best Me by Luke Calms Trey Bruce has Kobe as amounts of number one hits for Randy Travis and Faith Hill and Rebecca and Howard and all these different people, Carrie Underwood. Um, and then before them was Matt Wynn from The Voice and Aaron Ashley who wrote, uh, Luke Holmes, only one. Um, James Dupre and Clay Cormier, both Louisiana Boys. James was on The Voice. Clay's just a really awesome singer songwriter guitar player. Um, a Hunter Price, Tyler Rain, and then Ally Coen and myself.
Speaker 1 00:41:05 So that's, that's a, that's like a, that's a hot, a hot ticket. Yeah, that's like a ticket that I see that in New York. I'm like, I'm going like anyone like could go and only for dollars. And it was for such a And it was a donation. Yeah. And it was all donations. So That is awesome. I'm so glad that went. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:41:18 None of that money came back to us, which was awesome. All those ticket sales and bar sales and stuff like the venue was awesome. Bulldogs out there in Dixon, Tennessee, they, uh, they donated part of their bar sales and their door sales after the entire concert. Like we played again, like another cover set, basically like a Broadway band set. And, uh, they continued to charge at the door to be able to still continue to donate. Wow. And so, yeah, so it was really, really awesome. Um, we ended up being at Capacity, I'm pretty sure. And, and my parents surprised me and like people, other people's parents were able to come out and stuff and support and the donations and so cool. So yeah, it was really cool.
Speaker 1 00:41:51 That's so cool. That's, that's the, the power of music that you get, that you can do great things like that and do awesome things like that. So why don't you take a second, get that guitar already. Take a take a little break off right there. Yeah. And, uh, you're gonna be singing us off of what song you wanna sing for us.
Speaker 3 00:42:08 I think I'm gonna do a brand new one. I've been hooked on it recently. I wrote it with, uh, my buddies, Dan, Allie and Sam Banks, and I'm just like, it's not released. I may not even cut it. One of them might cut it or somebody else might, but I just love this song. So, um, it's called Somewhere Else.
Speaker 1 00:42:22 Somewhere Else. All right, cool. Why don't you get that guitar ready real quick, you guys for In the Round. You guys can follow us. We just got the Instagram all set up. Um, shout out to our video coordinator, producer, the Dakota Bear for uh, getting all that together. Uh, you can follow us at In the Round podcast on Instagram. You can also find us in the round on Facebook in the round podcast.com. We bought the domain, me and Tyler were putting some, uh, putting some money into this thing, so we're having a real good time, man. And Tyler, you got anything you want, you wanna leave the people with before we let Ms. Carly Rogers sing here?
Speaker 2 00:42:54 I'm good. You're good.
Speaker 1 00:42:55 Yeah, dude. Also side note real quick, it is February right now. We were recording this and I'm wearing shorts and slippers and it is awesome because back home is like covered in snow and it is fucking cold. And I get to wear a t-shirt and shorts and I love being in the south in the winter.
Speaker 3 00:43:09 It's 75.
Speaker 2 00:43:10 This is winter though, like it's 70, it's winter. Like I'm love it. I'm in South Alabama, you know, like for Christmas it's 85 and we're go to the beach and board shorts and tank tops. You know, this is, this is cold as it gets
Speaker 1 00:43:21 <laugh>. Well, I absolutely love it. Well, thank you guys for listening. Make sure you follow, like, subscribe, let your friends know. Uh, let, um, any songwriters that are out there listening to this, you wanna get involved, you wanna come aboard, hit up, hit us up on Instagram, we'll get back to you and definitely, uh, set you up. We're also gonna have a YouTube channel and all of that kick in real soon. So without further ado, here's a Carly Rogers with somewhere else,
Speaker 4 00:43:45 All this whiskey up. And here's time for everything but a conversation now. Called for another shot. Chase, as far as I can do, I'm just too late. It's just something I, I, yeah.
