Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:00:15] Speaker A: This is Outside the Round with Matt Burrill for Rage Rowdy podcast.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of Outside the Round. Me, Map Brill. Today, a very special guest. We got our girl Cece hanging out. It's the morning after awards night. How you feeling, girl?
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Tired. Tired. If I sound a little hoarse, I was screaming over people for, you know, two solid hours last night, so I apologize.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Yeah, you were out on the red carpet. You got to go to the awards. I'm sure partied a little bit afterwards.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: A little bit. A little bit.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: What'd you think of the awards show last night? You have a good time?
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Great. Yeah, it was so much fun. And we did. I did the.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: The.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: The carpet, and then we did. I'm over at Empire, and so they had Boozy's party afterwards.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: So that's the Empire Folks know how to get down. Like, that is just.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: They do. They really do. And we had a great time. Where was the party at Pushing Daisies.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, it was a good spot.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: That's a good. That's a good vibe.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: It was. And it was like, last year, I performed at their party, and it was a much bigger thing. It was, like, at a bigger place or whatever. This was, like, more chill and, like, intimate, I guess, and I really, really liked it.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I like the after parties that are more the hangs than the performance part of it.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: Yeah, me too. I didn't get to, like, last year. I don't even remember, because I was just, like, focused on this one performance, and that was, you know, my whole. Everything went into that. This year, I actually got to kick back and have a good time and just hang out.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: How long have you been with the Empire folks?
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Just over a year now. Yeah, just over a year. We put out the first album this September. And, yeah, now I'm working on round two.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: That's awesome. Well, I'm sure a year ago, like, you just. You just signed, and then you're out here for awards week, and then you're kind of thrown into it, then you're. You're stressing about performing at it, and you don't get to actually hang, but now I'm sure it feels like your crew, your family.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: Yeah, totally. Like a reunion. Seeing all the peeps. It was good shit.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Yeah. So you're from. You're from southern Illinois originally?
[00:02:18] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm from a town of. Well, as my dad Sundays, I'm from four miles outside of a town of 300 in southern Illinois. Yeah, my dad Was a farmer whenever I was growing up. And. Yeah. So about. I guess it's like three hours from here.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: That's awesome. Yeah, I like Illinois a lot. We help out with the Tailgates and Tall Boys Festival every year up in Bloomington, so.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: Oh, my God. That's. So my family lives in Decatur now.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: That's like 45 minutes outside of Bloomington. I'll fly out of there, actually.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Because I'm gonna drive home after this and speak, spend a few days with the family.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: Fly out of Bloomington.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Yeah. Illinois, for me. I know people are. People think about, like, Chicago and places like that. It is very, very country. It is very, very rural. I enjoy going to Bloomington, and I enjoy crossing the state border and being able to buy legal weed, you know? Exactly.
I'm a California, sober guy myself, bro.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Me, too. I'm pumped to give. Get back. I'm like, we got to get to Illinois.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:16] Speaker B: No, but it's so funny, just exactly like what you say. Like, sometimes people will meet me or see me on social media or whatever and be like, why do you talk? Why do you have an accent? Sort of like, it's. I don't have very much of one, but, like, I. The farmers that I grew up with, you used to hardly, like, almost not even be able to understand them. Like, they just. It's. There's something about those. It's really just those rural parts of the country. Like, there's just.
There's a dialect, and you're right.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: And you're right. And you're right next to Kentucky, too.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: So. We used to go to Paducah for school field trips.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:03:52] Speaker B: Like, we went to the. Have you ever been to, like, the little pioneer town that they have in Paducah? That's like one of my.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: I've stopped there in a tour stop before. Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: That's what we. We used to do that in high school. So it's just funny. People see, they're like, you're from Illinois. You are. What are you doing making country music? I'm like, also, even Decatur, Illinois, is where Allison Krause is from.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: So people just don't understand geography very much. I mean, I don't either, but I at least know the Midwest and the.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: South a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. I love. I love going up there. I love hanging out in Illinois. And it's always. It's always good. Good folks and good people. And I didn't know Allison Krause was from up there. So, I mean, it's there's so much music and when you have nothing you don't really have to do, you learn. You learn how to write songs and.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: Have fun all flat like that. I mean, that is the kind of the thing about when I got out west to California and then I visited Wyoming and I've been to a couple of really cool places out west now where all the mountains are and things like that. God, it just blows my mind because I spend so much of my life on just flat cornfields hiding.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: Hiding from tornadoes and shit. You guys get hit. People don't realize how much Illinois gets hit with storms. Like, yeah, you guys are as much of a storm spot as anywhere.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: I remember vivid childhood memories of like a tornado coming in and being like.
And just the energy of the whole house of like watching for the tornado. When do we go to the basement? There was a. There's this bait shop in Decatur that had an old. It's an old vintage bait shop and had this giant fish up on a post that was like. It's that. It was like. It's grand. Like whatever. It just had been there for years and years and years. And when this tornado came through town, it shot like a two by four from a house through the lip of it. And they have left it there to this day because it was such an epic.
Like that tornado was devastating through. Through that part of Illinois at that time. But they left it as like a mark of when it came through town.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: That's wild. So how long have you been out in LA now?
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Since 2015.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: 10 years.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: Yeah. So I. But it. That's why it just feels kind of like, I don't know, 10, 10 years always marks a change for me. Like there has been. When we lived in southern Illinois, my dad was farming. We did that for like 10 years. And then for whatever reason, my dad was like, I'm gonna do some trucking and go work for Caterpillar up in Decatur. And so that's.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Caterpillar is as Illinois as it gets.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: As Illinois as it gets. As working man as it gets. So that my dad went and worked for them. And so 10 years. And then we moved to Decatur, you know, and then I was there for about 10 years. And then it. My move to LA just kind of naturally happened. It was. It's so weird that. Just the way it kind of works out like that.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: Now it's been about 10 years I've been in LA and I'm just like, it might be time to.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Now was it music that Led you out there or what?
[00:06:56] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was on a TV show back in 2012.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: Oh, really?
[00:07:01] Speaker B: Do you remember that? The X Factor.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:07:04] Speaker B: Simon Cowell, all those crazy. Yeah, well, I was on that show.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: Oh, no shit. I had no idea, honestly.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I looked very different. I had very long hair, I had leopard print painted on my face. I was just a different brand of crazy than I am than I am now.
But I was on that show back then and I ended up getting like sixth place on the show. So it just, I made a lot of really great friends and people that I could potentially work with. So it just was, was the most natural move. I just knew more people there at that time than I knew in Nashville. So I was like, well, if I'm going to make this thing happen, I better get out where I can start working on this.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So I've, I've been to San Diego and then I was out at that live in the Vineyard this year. You were at your theater show was freaking awesome, by the way. You crushed it.
But I've never been to la. Like, what's really, what's the vibe like out there? Because I hear so many different things.
[00:08:01] Speaker B: Listen, when I first moved to la, it was like, oh my God, I can't believe that I'm here. Like, it was just, well, it was such a culture shock just in general.
But to be honest, it's not what it used to be. And it's just because LA got hit very hard during COVID and then, I mean, God, all the wildfires and stuff that just happened have been absolutely devastating there. We're going to be rebuilding LA for the next 20 years. Like, it's, it's rough. So I just think that it has gotten so expensive. It's really forcing people out. And ultimately LA is made up of creators.
[00:08:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: People that are out there. Like, yeah, there's celebrities out there, there's the rich, the famous, whatever.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: But the celebrities are out there because they started as creators.
[00:08:47] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: They're actors, they're doing art and they're.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: Grinding and working so hard. And so, so there's so much like blue collar, hard working people in LA that damn near can't afford to live there.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: So it makes it tough to be at that stage of your career and living in a city like that, it's really.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, you're going from a place that has more people in a bar or a restaurant than your hometown.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: Yeah. It's crazy. And that's why I don't Go, go out. Because I also just am not like that big on like all that. Like, as crazy as it may seem, I like them. I like a smaller crowd, a more intimate sort of setup, you know?
[00:09:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And I feel like the hangs out there are different. It's a very late night town, right?
[00:09:32] Speaker B: Oh yeah. I love coming to Nashville because people be like, we're going to go to this event. It starts at seven. I'm like.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: La, it's what. It's like more of an after party town where it's like 10 or 11 or probably even midnight getting to the club.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: Yeah, dude, it's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. That's why I just don't go. Like, I don't even. I'm not even utilizing LA for what it's.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: What it's for.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: But, but like you said, like every 10 years is kind of like a chapter of a book of a person's life.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: It is.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: And it seems like it's been that for you to where LA is a chapter that led you to putting out Westward. I mean, I feel like Westward. Like it kind of speaks for itself where you talk about growing up in small town southern Illinois and then you go westward and you're singing about what you know from your hometown, but then your chap of your 10 years being out there.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: Yeah, totally westbound.
[00:10:22] Speaker A: Totally westbound. Excuse me.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: No, it's all good. It, it definitely was that. For me, it was telling that story. I mean, I'm from a town of 300 people. Like, I used to lay in bed at night and like stare at the ceiling as like a kid. And I don't know why, like, kids feel passion this way, but sometimes they do. And if you, if you're out there and you got a kid and they are super passionate about something, like, all I can say is just like feed that the way that my parents fed it into me. Like I used to lay in bed and just cry and be like, how am I gonna do this from here? I grew up on a gravel road, rocks in front of like a gravel road, surrounded by cornfields on all four sides of our house. And I was like, there's no shot.
And so that Westbound is definitely about doing that. And so the next project is really.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: It'S about the arrival. It's about being there then and being thrust into this place where you, in la, you really are sort of required to be a main character if that's what you're. If you're out there to be an artist, if you're out there to do that and build a brand or whatever, you're required to be the main character. And so it sort of threw me into that thunderdome of, like, creativity. You're around a lot of different types of creatives in la. Nashville is amazing because it's so music centric.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: But la, you're surrounded with filmmakers, photographers.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: Every kind of comedians are out there.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Yeah, dude. Like, and those are some of my favorite.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: Oh, they're the best. The comedians are the best. Those are the best hangs.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: They're the best hangs. I also, like, I am just so such a goof. Like, I. I really am. And so I always tease my manager and stuff when I finish a show that they'll be like, oh, it was great. That one song was great. I was like, cool. But was I funny?
[00:12:22] Speaker A: Yes. Were the people laughing?
[00:12:24] Speaker B: Was it funny? And they're like, that's not your job. I'm like, yes, it is. You don't get it. I'm, like, trying to get a type 5 down for my set, you know? Yeah. It's a big part. Big. Big for me, but yeah, that's awesome. Cool. That way.
[00:12:38] Speaker A: Yeah. How did the creative process of. Of getting Westbound going like you and kind of tell me the story of how you ended up with Empire and just how every. Like, it seems like the last year has just been a wild journey, like. And it flies by, doesn't it?
[00:12:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Dude, I can't believe it's been a year. It's insane. No, I. I mean, I started making country music. I mean, I grew up in a small town. That's really all there. All you knew that there was. So we. I started making country music and then, like I said, I got on that. That show or whatever, and that was my first real intro into the scene and just kind of how it all mapped out with the producers and the songs they were having me sing and whatever. I ended up more in this, like, pop sort of.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: You're in LA genre. I feel like if you've got. I feel like if you've. If you've got a voice and you're something that people feel like they can market, they're gonna steer you to what's big in that area, which is. Which is pop, which is hip hop. I mean, you were ahead of your time for country music coming out of la.
[00:13:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I was just. I mean, I. I tried to start my. My audition with Leanne Rimes version of what is that?
Oh, my. Oh, yeah. Unchained Melody. Yeah. So I tried to sing that they like, like, no, no, no, we need something else. And I'm like, okay. So I just sang Christina Aguilera and that's when they're. Oh, you know. So I got all. All four yeses, whatever. And so that's how the whole journey was. And people really got to know me in that genre. They dyed my hair blonde. It was. I had long dark hair when I went on.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Really?
[00:14:15] Speaker B: Never like, no shit. Very long. I'd. My mom cut my hair in our bathroom. Yeah, I'd never.
[00:14:21] Speaker A: There's no hair salon right there.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: I don't go to a hair salon, you know. So they sat me in a chair and they're like, you're going platinum blonde today. I was like, what are you out of your mind? My mom's gonna kill me, you know, But I'm like, whatever. Like, I'll do, you know, I'm just kind of down to give it my all.
[00:14:39] Speaker A: And how old were you at this time?
[00:14:40] Speaker B: 20.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: You were 20? Yeah. So you're so. I'm like, sure, you're college age, trying to make it, thinking, growing up, thinking, there's no way in hell I'm gonna get out of this cornfield.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: Exactly. So I'm like, sure, I'll do it, whatever. So I did the thing and. And then when I came off the show, people really knew me for that genre. So I was in la, I made some pop records, whatever.
Put. Put some out. But I wasn't.
TikTok had not happened. People were still really navigating how to break as an artist in, you know.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: Before COVID there was only so many. So much you could say in a.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: 7 second vine, exact 1000% or on Instagram or whatever. And so there was no reels, whatever.
So I then Covid hit and my partner Chase and I, who is from Tennessee, he was like, well, we got nothing to do. If you could make any kind of project, any kind of music, what would it be?
And this is what's really funny is I said, well, I guess I would put on a mask and I would hide my face and I would make an anonymous experimental country project.
And he was like, oh. And I was like, and I have a different name. Nobody would know it was me.
And I. I would like just be a faceless, anonymous experimental country artist. And he was like, okay, what would that sound like? And I'm like, let's make a couple records like that. So we made. I mean, that's when we made Pretty Red Lights was one of the first ones.
[00:16:08] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:16:09] Speaker B: And he. I We finished it, and I was like, maybe this could be my song. And he was like, there it is.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: Proud of you, babe.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: Maybe it could be your song. And I'm like, all right, cool. I was like, maybe I could just do this as me. Maybe I don't need to cover my face. I could just be me and do this. But it's weird. Sometimes as an artist, you have to, like, take yourself out of it in order to put yourself back in it. It's weird. You have to take away this version of yourself that you thought existed, especially.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: When you had been doing it as long as you had been doing it.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:41] Speaker A: You know, you were kind of programmed to be this pop. Be steered to this pop star.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: Yeah. And it was weird because Covid, too, The hair came off during COVID I was just like, look it. I've always wanted to have short hair. Let's see what this is like. So I buzzed my head, and I was like, damn. Feel very much like myself for some reason. I don't know why. I just feel very much like me. And we made those songs, and I was like, all right, well, I'll put them on the Internet. So I put up pretty red lights, and it. It took off and went a little bit. Went a little bit nuts on the Internet. And that's when.
Right about then, is when Empire reached out and was like, hey, we really like what you're doing, and put out a couple more records. And I signed over there, and you know that Shibuzi had hadn't even released Tipsy yet whenever they found me. And I was. But I had known of him and was very, very much like this. If this is starting to be acceptable, what I'm trying to do could be next in line. This could really kick open the door for me doing what I'm trying to do.
And they thought the exact same thing. And so that's when I signed over there and we put out this record. All Boots Happened Short right after.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: Which isn't it crazy that just a little hook from a song can do something like that and in a way, change your life?
[00:18:06] Speaker B: Yeah, totally. And that's what's beautiful about the Internet. And I just never had that. Never really knew how to utilize that resource before. And I think artists sometimes, too, are like, I write songs. I don't want to get on there.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: I want to write. I want to. I want to write songs. I want to put them out, and then I want to go play them for people.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: Yeah. And I get that. I want that, too, desperately, you know, But I also want this so bad and believe. Have believed since I was a child that this is what I'm meant to do. So I'm kind of like, I'll just do whatever the fuck I gotta do. Yeah, you want me to dance on the Internet? I'll dance on the Internet, you know? So I just. I just started doing that. And. But for me, I really think that it's more when you step into your authenticity. That's what really, I think clicked is that I.
Hell one of my first producers, when I was, like, still in illinois, driving into St. Louis, trying to do sessions or whatever, I would go into that session. This was right after the X Factor. I was trying to make my first single or whatever, and he was recording my vocals, and he was like, if you want to be a pop singer, you're gonna have to figure out how to take the twang out of your voice.
Because every take is so twangy. It sounds like a country song. And I'm like, fuck. So I had to, like, try to figure out how to do that. And now it's so funny. When I go back and listen to those records, I'm like, oh, my God, it sounds like Mushmouth. It sounds like some. Like, it doesn't even sound like me. And it's just so. I think a really amazing thing, that when you step into your most authentic self, people can feel that. And I think that's what's really happened with this music. It's just. It's awesome.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's like you. If you go back and you did have the twang on those songs, it'd be ahead of its time. Yeah, it would listen to you. Listen to Z100 or any of the big pop radio stations or any of the big pop playlists nowadays. And Wallen's on there, and he's got as big of a twang as anyone. He's from where your partner's from.
[00:20:02] Speaker B: Absolutely. Absolutely. And that was when we started recording these records. Like Chase.
That's his name. And he writes a lot.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: Yeah, Chase. Yeah.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Writes and produces a lot of the songs with me. And so he's tracking my vocals, and he's like, just sing it like you talk. Just sing like you talk. Sing like me like you talk to me, you know? And I'm like, okay. And I just started doing that. He was like, you've never sounded more like you on a record. And then when we show friends or whatever, or family, and they're like this. I've never heard you sound more like yourself on a song. That's when you know, you're like, yeah, I'm on, I'm on the right. I'm on the right track, you know? So.
[00:20:43] Speaker A: Yeah. You talk about buzzing your head back during COVID I feel like that, that break, obviously Covid sucked. It was a very tough time. It's gonna be a spot that, that, that the generations after us read about in, in books forever. But I feel like it was a time where everybody kind of hit the pause button and really found themselves.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. You were forced to dive, dive very deep inward.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: I think it seems like you found yourself. Yeah, I did like you pre Covid. I call it BC before COVID That's what I like to say on stage. Everybody laughs at me with that.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: No, that's true.
[00:21:14] Speaker A: And then where you. How you came out on the other side? Like you came out as more auth than you ever were as an artist.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: Yeah, well, because that. There was so much fear during that time, especially during the early years of it, which is hysterical. That I'm like, during the early years of COVID like. Yeah, but it really was.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: You were also in la.
[00:21:32] Speaker B: Yeah. And that in la, it was terrifying because you're, you're around so many people that are scared and people get crazy and when they're packed that tight, it was not a great place to be. But. But I was working still all through Covid and.
But there was a fear that everybody had. So I think it made you just go, what is really important? Who. What would the 12 year old version of me, what would she have thought was cool? That's what I was like going into. What would, what would that little girl that was running around barefoot in southern Illinois, what would she thought was cool? Well, she hung out with all the boys in her class. They rode their four wheelers over to her house on the weekend so they could go mudding in the creek in the back.
And she asked her mom to cut her hair off.
My first haircut, my mom always had me grow it out. And then I'd cut it and donate it. And every time I'd want her to get it shorter and shorter because I told her that it got tangled at recess when I was playing kickball.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: And I wanted short hair. And she was like, no, no, no. So I was like, well, she probably would have thought it was pretty cool to have a buzz cut.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, she would. She would look at you as the biggest badass that the world has ever seen right now, girl.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Yeah, dude. So I'm just Like, I. I don't know. I think during that time, we all really tapped into. Into what was the most important.
[00:23:01] Speaker A: Yeah, you talk about boosie and being part of the Empire fam and the genre blending that's going on right now, and just you guys having an open highway as creators to do whatever the fuck you want to do, which has to be so freeing. Talk about, like, coming up right now in the time of, like, 2024, 2025, and really being able to do whatever you want.
[00:23:21] Speaker B: Totally. I think that the. Everybody has.
Is still liking to put people in these. These genre boxes, and I think that that's fine. We'll always have a degree of that.
But ultimately, what people are discovering is that good music is good music, and you're allowed to like different things and not one thing, not one genre needs to represent your entire identity. And that's the same for fans and creatives, I think. And creatives now are like, oh, I don't need to be confined to this one thing that I've always done or that people always know works. And. And I was just talking about this with someone. I think that this generation of creators was raised on playlists where Kendrick Lamar could be right next to Morgan Wallen, could be right next to Britney Spears, could be right next. You know, all of these different genres. And it's created.
[00:24:22] Speaker B: Creators that have a broader palette of things that they like, things that they listen to, things that they're absorbing for inspiration.
[00:24:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:31] Speaker B: And that's the coolest thing ever. You know, I just think that that's gonna. That is going to help us really make music that hasn't been done before. And that's what I'm. That's kind of what I'm always looking for.
[00:24:44] Speaker A: We all listen to everything.
[00:24:45] Speaker B: Yeah, we all listen to everything.
[00:24:46] Speaker A: Like if you were born. If you were born in the. In the early 90s or late 80s on, you listened to. To everything.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And especially everybody used to be fed.
It changed with streaming, but that you used to have a radio station, and if you had your station in your town that you like to listen to, that's what you listen to every day. So you were only fed that collection of songs that they were. That they decided that you were going to listen to. You know, and now we just have access to so much, and I don't think it's something that we should fear. I don't think it's something that we should like, you know, sort of put our hand up there. That doesn't mean there's not Room for the incredible like traditional country artists that they're all.
[00:25:33] Speaker A: Country music is storytelling.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: It is.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: You tell stories, Shaboozi tells stories. Sam Hunt, when he was getting all of his flack with body like a background. That's a story.
Those are feel good stories. But he also, he also put out like the make you miss me where it was the sad shit.
[00:25:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:49] Speaker A: Country music, good songs tell stories and create vibes.
[00:25:52] Speaker B: Yes. A good song is a good song, is a good song. And that's. That's just all there is.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: Yeah. And it, and it's vibes. It makes you feel happy, it makes you feel sad, it makes you really think. There's so many different flavors out there that you can have. And I feel like with. With your stuff, you have moments where you're singing about real and you're sad but then like, oh, boots is just. It's a fun.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: That has to be so fun to play live it.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: It is so much fun. And I've got a lot more bangers like that coming on the next project because it is, it is so fun. And I think for me. What.
Yeah, I.
I like. I guess I like to make people feel sad or if that's what you need to feel or whatever. But more than anything, I like to make people feel like the baddest version of themselves, you know? Like, I want you to turn off my music and be like, I can fucking do anything. Like, I want that. I want that to be. I want all of the things that made me scared along the way.
I hope that it helped me make music that will now make other people be brave.
[00:26:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:59] Speaker B: You know, like that's really my, my mission.
[00:27:02] Speaker A: Yeah. What have been some of the messages that you've gotten from all. From putting out all Boots? Like, because it is such like. I think of it as like a bad bitch song.
[00:27:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: Like, it is. It's an empowering like, like, like, like you're telling this, you're telling this guy off.
[00:27:17] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, well, my friends out in Wyoming, whenever they heard it, they were like, because my sister in law is out there and she was just like, this is so real. Like, this is so real. We see this guy walk into Wyoming bars all the time. Like we just know this guy. But I think for me, like the messages just that I've gotten of.
It's.
It's, it's. It's always. Not always. There are men too that reach out to me, you know, for other things other than to, you know.
[00:27:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: Be weird.
But there's a Lot of women that are so happy to have someone that makes them feel like they can do anything. And I do think that when you watch someone else do hard shit, it makes you feel like you can also do hard shit.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: And I. Listen, I didn't think that it was brave necessarily to buzz my head, but I still get the, like, you being so brave to do that. Like, I. I get so many messages of people being like, I just shaved all my hair off and I love it. I just. I just cut all my hair off. I just did, you know, whatever. And I'm like, sick. Let's go.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: I jumped off the high dive and said, fuck it. I don't care what anybody thinks. I'm gonna do what I want to do.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. I think that's all. If you cannot stand behind the things that you're doing 110%, it's gonna. People feel that. They can feel it, and it really. It shows in anything that you're trying to do.
[00:28:46] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I think you're. You're definitely preaching a great story right there.
That's what. That's what. That's what it's all about. And you were talking about, like, having bangers in the tank. I feel like what we're missing because I. I came up in the world of the 2010s country, and it's referred to as, like, the bro country, but it was just good vibes.
[00:29:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:03] Speaker A: Like, when country music, when going to a show was like, you're vibing and having fun.
[00:29:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: You know, and I think it made sense that we got all the sad songs that we did coming out of COVID Yeah. Like, you think about the kids that are younger than us.
[00:29:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: They didn't get to experience going to a house party or a college frat party or going out to the bars when they turned 21. Like, could you imagine turning 21 in.
[00:29:26] Speaker B: The world shut down and they're not doing it still.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: Yeah. That's actually taking them a while to come out. Like, bar sales are down.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: It's bad. Like, I mean, Gen Z is not doing anything. They are. They are still like. But it. I also feel for them so much. If you're in your formative years and you have to go into isolation.
[00:29:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: No wonder everybody has social anxiety and doesn't want to leave the house.
[00:29:48] Speaker A: And we're singing about sad, depressing. Like, it makes. It makes sense. But I want to get back to the. The Arab. Just like, you're at a concert, you're having a cold drink, you're you're having a surfside, you're smoking a something and you're just vibing out.
[00:30:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: And hip hop had that country, had.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: That kick drum in my chest.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: I want to be in the pit in that club and just feeling good.
[00:30:09] Speaker B: Yeah, dude. Even if I'm in the car, like, even if I'm going to work doing something I don't want to do, I want that 10, 15 minute, 30 minute drive that I'm driving to work to be the, the moment of reprieve before I have to go to my stupid job. And I want to listen to songs that make me, you know, like when Gretchen Wilson was out there being like, I'm a redneck.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: I'm sure you grew up covering that.
[00:30:34] Speaker B: Redneck woman here for the party. All jacked up, all of those, you know, big and rich. Remember the rowdy big and rich.
Like I'm trying to bring that back, you know, Like, I want, I want people to party.
[00:30:47] Speaker A: We need, we need that. And I always like to like to say, I mean, I, I joke about it with like friends that are not in the country world. I say that we're, we're always a little behind, you know, like what goes on in pop it. Like, even you look at it with like streaming and this and that and we just, we adopt a little bit later.
[00:31:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:04] Speaker A: And I feel like it's starting to come back and pop when you see like the, the up tempo fun songs that are coming out of the, the girls and the guys in the pop world.
[00:31:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:13] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm like, I think it's coming back. I. I feel us, I feel the energy. I think summer of 26 is gonna be lit. I think summer of 26 into 27. We're gonna get some happy.
[00:31:25] Speaker B: Yeah, we're going to get, we're ready for it.
[00:31:26] Speaker A: People are going to be partying again. Yeah, I crave it, you know, Like, I don't even drink, I'm 10 years sober. But it's like I just, I miss the days of just, just getting after it and just having fun with your people.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: Yeah, totally. I agree, I agree. Just listening to songs that make made you feel good, you know? Yeah, I agree.
[00:31:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So what's the, what's the process been like for you with choosing what's coming next after Westbound and all of that? Because that's a, it's a big, it's a big task putting out a record like that. Yeah, that was a huge release for you and the singles that came before it, even the team did a Great frickin job. And it did its thing and now. But in the world that we're living in now, it's like it used to be you'd get a Jason Aldean or Carrie Underwood record once every three or four years.
[00:32:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:08] Speaker A: And you live with those songs. But now it's like you drop an album and it's like, oh. The consumer's like, oh, what's next? What do you got for me now?
[00:32:14] Speaker B: Yeah. And good. It's a good thing that I pretty much only operate in that year. So I'm kind of like, sure, okay, I got it. I got like 30 songs, I think in the can to choose from for the next record.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: It's a good little collection there.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: Good collection. I need, I wanna, I need to add a few more to it before I really like round out some the decisions for it. But I am really excited for, for where it's, where it's at and where it's coming. I definitely think that it's gonna have.
[00:32:46] Speaker B: It's just gonna be a rowdy record to say, you know, to say the least. It's just gonna be a very rowdy, disobedient record.
[00:32:56] Speaker A: That's good. You need that. You need people that shake it up.
[00:32:59] Speaker B: I think so too. And who, who better to do it than a little bald, you know?
[00:33:06] Speaker A: That's awesome. That's great. What's it been like? You've been with WME for a little while, right?
[00:33:11] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: What's it been like getting out there and doing shows? And how is, how is that, how has that been for you?
[00:33:16] Speaker B: God, I like, I love it so much. It's been amazing. I got to go out on a run with Ashley McBride this year.
[00:33:20] Speaker A: Oh, that had to be sick. Her crowd is awesome.
[00:33:23] Speaker B: Her crowd is amazing. They love her so much. And they showered me with that love too, which is amazing. But I honestly just can't say enough good things about her. She is just a divine human being. Like, she's so kind. She really, you know, they tell you don't meet your heroes, but when you do, and they are everything you hope they will be.
[00:33:51] Speaker B: It can be a life changing thing. And I think that that's what we're all in this position to do. So that when people do meet their hero, they take away something from it that they can use.
And when I met her, I got to see how a boss in that position treats the people around her.
[00:34:10] Speaker A: Oh yeah, she's so good.
Her band, her crew, she's so kind.
[00:34:15] Speaker B: Every single person loves her And I. I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna do it like that. I'm gonna do like. I was just. I'm gonna do it like that. When it gets to be my turn to have a team that's this big, we're putting on a show this big, I get to have an opener. I'm gonna do it like this. Before every show, she would come and visit me in my dressing room and be like, you ready? It should be a good crowd out here in Reading. They're always really good for us, so they oughta. They ought to be really good for you all. I'm like, you don't need to be in here doing this stuff, but you're taking the time to, like, hype me up at your show. Yeah, you know, like, it's. It was beautiful, and it really did it.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: And she's somebody, too, where she went through a long period. She had been in town for a while and had been doing it a while until she really got her shot to go out there and be Ashley McBride, you know? So I'm sure that's something that you relate to with your journey of grinding in LA and the show and then finding yourself then having your moment.
[00:35:12] Speaker B: And even before that, growing up in Illinois, I was doing dive bars and stuff just like she was. And so we really connected over that. She's like, if you can get in a dive bar with truckers and bikers and drunks and whoever else that doesn't want to even be there and doesn't even care that you. You're there and you can get that crowd into what you're doing, that is what can really round out a performer. So she and I just really, like, connected over that and got to chat about it. And. Yeah, it just. It would. That part of it was amazing, and I got that opportunity through being with wme.
[00:35:49] Speaker A: That's awesome. Where are some places that you've gotten to go that you really want to go back to? Like, some of your favorite tour stops.
[00:35:56] Speaker B: We were in, we went to this really cool place in Montana. It's called Happy's Inn, and it's this amazing, like, truck stop venue. Right?
[00:36:05] Speaker A: Truck stop venue. That sounds so on brand for you. It's not even funny.
[00:36:09] Speaker B: So amazing. Like, it's like. But it's. It's hard to describe because. So it's in the middle of the mountains in Montana. You drive through the mountains, and then all of a sudden, off to the side of the road, there's Happy's Inn, and it's this restaurant Bar campsite on a lake that then has like this big muse, this big stage in the back and like all of these vendors of like beer trucks and stuff that set up on the side. And so it's obvious that like everybody from like a 30 mile radius just comes to this one.
[00:36:45] Speaker A: Like that watering hole.
[00:36:46] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And so it was. I met this guy, I was like, I don't even have to take a road to get here. I just follow the river down there and I just get, you know, I can just walk here by following the river. And I'm like.
[00:36:59] Speaker B: That'S awesome. You know, But I love Montana so much. Like the mountains, the views, it's just.
[00:37:04] Speaker A: Like that's the one part of the country I haven't really been to is the Montana's, the Wyomings, the Idaho. It's the one spot I haven't been to.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: It is like, seriously, it feels like you, you go there and you're like, yeah, only God could have made this. Like, it's weird. Like you just. The way the light hits the mountains and stuff, the way that it like the, it just breaks through the clouds differently out there. Like around Yellowstone and seeing all those mountains and stuff, the way it like goes off the hills, it's just very weird. The light hits different out there. It's just very.
[00:37:39] Speaker A: It probably makes you feel so small because the mountains and the landscape and the skyline is just so big. Big.
[00:37:45] Speaker B: Yeah, it does. It's. It's just stunning. It's just like. It'll take your breath away.
[00:37:49] Speaker A: That's awesome. So what do we have geared up for next year?
[00:37:53] Speaker B: Hopefully releasing this new, this new album if I can get it all tightened up. But that's really what I, what I love this time of the year for. Everything gets kind of slowed down a little.
[00:38:02] Speaker A: Yeah. Award season's kind of the close out of the calendar year and then there's like a few like holiday parties mixed in there and stuff. But that's.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: So I'm going to be hanging out more and really when I. I don't know, I can't write songs whenever I'm too stressed. Like got too much going on. I need to have my nervous system be nice and like relaxed to get into that like creative sort of mood. And so that's what this time of the year is about. So I'm hoping to round out the album during these couple winter months and then hit the ground running in January and start dropping some bangers.
[00:38:36] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:38:37] Speaker B: I'm so excited.
[00:38:37] Speaker A: I've got some fun Songs. Talking about your partner, your fiance, Chase.
[00:38:42] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:38:43] Speaker A: What's it like being with another creative and kind of tell the stories from East Tennessee? I love east Tennessee. By the way, where east Tennessee is he from?
[00:38:50] Speaker B: Well, actually, he's.
Hang on. So he.
Where's White House High School at?
[00:38:56] Speaker A: Isn't it White House?
[00:38:57] Speaker B: Close.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: White House. White House is like here, right? House. White House here. Oh, so he's from.
[00:39:02] Speaker B: He's from here.
[00:39:03] Speaker A: Oh, he's from here.
[00:39:03] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I might have said east Tennessee earlier.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: I was thinking east Tennessee. I'm thinking like Bristol or Knoxville.
[00:39:09] Speaker B: His mother is from. Is from East Tennessee.
[00:39:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:39:12] Speaker B: But he grew up around this area, and they moved around quite a bit around Tennessee, and then they went to Virginia, North Carolina.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Oh, nice. Okay, cool.
[00:39:19] Speaker B: So he spent a lot of time in the south and, you know, and.
[00:39:23] Speaker A: So he's familiar with the Middle Tennessee area. But how'd you guys get. Oh, Hender. Okay.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: I love Henderson.
[00:39:29] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:39:29] Speaker A: Me and my girlfriend spend a lot of time in Hendersonville.
[00:39:32] Speaker B: Yeah, it's beautiful.
[00:39:33] Speaker A: It's a great spot on the lake and all that. It's beautiful. But how long have you guys been together?
[00:39:39] Speaker B: It's eight and a half years.
[00:39:40] Speaker A: Oh, no shit.
[00:39:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. It's been a long. Been a long time. Yeah. Being with another creative is. It can be great or it can be horrible.
[00:39:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:50] Speaker B: I've done it both ways. I've had. I've been with another artist, and it was. Oh, my God, I swore I would never.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: Artist. Artist dynamic is different than the artist. Producer or writer isn't.
[00:40:02] Speaker B: Like, he started as an artist as well.
[00:40:04] Speaker A: Oh, he did.
[00:40:04] Speaker B: I really just think it's about.
[00:40:07] Speaker B: It's really about a person, you know? Like, he. He is just not.
Like, he's an artist at heart. He is, like, so.
I don't know how to. God, he's just, like, so indescribable. You sort of have to meet him, but he. He's just like the perfect person to go into any situation with. I don't know how to.
[00:40:28] Speaker A: He's a ride or die.
[00:40:29] Speaker B: He's like. He's just so. Such the light of any room that he walks into the life of any party. The funniest guy you will ever meet in your life. And as somebody that, like, I do. It's so weird. I do this career and I like to be on stage and make this music or whatever, but I actually don't like to be the center of attention. It actually really stresses me out. So to be able to go into a Room with Chase and just kind of like, he let him put on the show right now because he's just like, he's so entertaining. Like, he. I mean, he needs to be. Honestly, like, he's a comedian. He needs to be in movies. He should be on snl. Like, he should be doing that.
But when you get a chance to work with your significant other as in depth as we have over the last. We met in a songwriting session, a blind session out in la.
[00:41:25] Speaker A: No shit. That's basically like a blind date.
[00:41:27] Speaker B: It was like a blind date for sure.
And we are. The managers that we had at the time just like, randomly knew each other and. And set us up to write for a different artist. I think we were writing for, like, Rita Ora or something.
[00:41:39] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah.
[00:41:40] Speaker B: And we went in and instantly this guy has me cracking the up.
[00:41:45] Speaker A: I'm just like, first key to a woman's heart. Any guys out there, if you can make a girl laugh, at least for.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: Me, that is my kryptonite.
[00:41:52] Speaker A: Same. Same thing with my girlfriend. She's big into the funny.
[00:41:55] Speaker B: I am just out, like, I will like, funny to me is the. The quality that's hotter than, like, any physical attribute. It doesn't hurt that he's also incredibly handsome as well.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:42:09] Speaker B: But he. We bonded immediately just writing because we just worked very well together.
And through doing this, it. Of course, it's presented a lot of challenges with us, you know, being together and also working together and stuff. But those challenges have actually then improved our romantic relationship as well, because you learn how to navigate those as a team. And that's really all life is. All doing a relationship is. I don't believe in soulmates. I don't believe in, like, some special sauce that somebody is just like, you're meant to be person. And when you find them, it's just gonna all work out and you're gonna have the most beautiful, beautiful, happy life. Like, no, you have to wake up every day and choose that person over and over and over again and choose every day to get through the shit. And trying to do music is hard.
[00:43:05] Speaker A: Yeah. It's not easy.
[00:43:06] Speaker B: It's fucking hard.
And it's hard on him, too. I'm trying to do it as an artist. He's doing it as a writer, as a producer. Equally hard in its own way and. But also us being able to relate.
So without even saying a word, we just get it. We just get what each other is going through.
It's. It's. It's really, really special.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: That's awesome. Well, I'm glad you had, like, you have your. Your guy. Like, that's the best. So he's the best. It's so important to have somebody, like, to have the right person that gets it.
[00:43:39] Speaker B: And he lifts me up so much.
[00:43:40] Speaker A: Like, you need a hype man. And I'm sure you're his hype man, you know?
[00:43:44] Speaker B: Yes. I try to be like, he is infinitely, like, just the best at it. Like, he's everybody's best hype man. He's that guy. That's great, Chase. And he's just like, everybody's hype man. So he is. He. I really am inspired by him and admire him and want to be more like him. And I think that that's really what also you should have in a. In a partner is somebody that inspires you and that makes you want to, like. I don't know. I just.
[00:44:11] Speaker A: It.
[00:44:11] Speaker B: It all is great. I'm very lucky.
[00:44:13] Speaker A: That's awesome. That's great. So what do you hope people have been getting from Westbound? Like, what do you hope it makes people feel like, oh, man, I know I hit you with a heavy one here towards the end.
[00:44:22] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I know. It's fine. I was just. Just trying to think what I really. I just. I hope that.
I hope they just see somebody trying. I hope they really just see somebody trying. I think that they.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: Like, really giving it your all for some reason, over the last few years became, like, this cringy quality. I don't know, like, in Gen Z, like, if they see people trying, they're just like, oh, my God.
[00:44:48] Speaker A: Oh, my God. Effort, effort. Look at that girl. Look at that guy.
[00:44:52] Speaker B: Yeah. And I. I'm like, fuck that noise. I hope you see me trying so hard. I hope you see a girl that had to really, really try to get from where she was to where she is going and beyond. And I hope that it inspires people to whatever it may be. Like, might not be music for everybody, but I guarantee every single person out there has something that they're like, ah. You know, I always, always wanted to start that business or I always wanted to go do this or go back to school or, you know, I don't know, whatever it may be, go do that thing. And even if it doesn't, like, work out the way that you thought it was gonna work out, what you will learn along the way of that challenge will.
It will make you a much deeper person.
[00:45:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:47] Speaker B: Like, I.
[00:45:50] Speaker B: You know that saying, I don't know, suffering deepens you.
Like, I.
I have come to this Theory with my journey in music is, like, there has been so much suffering along the way that at the. At times, you go, why am I still doing this? Like, why? Maybe I should do something else. Maybe this is too hard. And it's too hard because it's not meant to be.
And what I realize is, like, everything in life is gonna make you suffer. Yeah, everything is gonna be hard. No matter what it is. Whether it's the safe job or the risky job or the dream or the comfort, whatever it's gonna be, it's gonna be hard either way. So choose. What? Choose your hard. And I think that.
[00:46:42] Speaker B: This thing that I'm trying to do was presented to me, and it was inspired, instilled in me as, like, this calling.
Because it's been the challenge that I was supposed to pursue in order to deepen me and make me into the person that I'm supposed to be. You know what I mean? So I feel that, yeah, get out there and try. Even if it's hard, even if you fail, it's not. It's not failure. It's. It's just a lesson learned at a cost, you know? That's it.
[00:47:11] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: That's it.
[00:47:13] Speaker A: You're hyping me up. I'm ready to go run through a freaking brick wall. Let's go. I freaking love that. Well, hey, thank you so much for hanging out.
[00:47:20] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: And coming out on this rainy morning after the.
[00:47:25] Speaker B: I love the rain. It's great.
[00:47:26] Speaker A: There you go. That's awesome. Well, safe travels back home to Illinois and send. Safe travels and hope to see you out here in Nashville more, too.
[00:47:33] Speaker B: Oh, hell, yeah. I'll be back. I'll be back. I might be moving back, honestly.
[00:47:37] Speaker A: I mean. Hey, welcome. The city would. The city would be better with. With you and chasing it. Seriously. So love that, and thank you so much. We got a bunch of hats over there. You take. Take one for. Take one for Chase, too, if he's a hat guy. So go through. Go through and grab. Grab some of what we got over there and. And, yeah, send you home with some surfside as well. You guys can bring that up to Illinois with you.
[00:47:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, we'll need it.
[00:47:58] Speaker A: Enjoy some of those iced teas, so that'll be good. Well, y' all be sure to go check out our girl, CC Westbound. It's out right now. And be on the lookout for all the bangers. 2026 gonna be the year of CC bangers. We're bringing back the fun, the party, the rowdy.
[00:48:13] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:48:14] Speaker A: And for more on us, visit Raise your outy dot com. Shout out to our friends from Surfside. No bubbles, no troubles. Sunshine in a can. It's not a seltzer, it's a Surfside. And we will see you all next time. For my girl, Cece, I'm Matt. Bro. This has been outside the room?
[00:48:29] Speaker C: I never been the kind for still one place for too long?
I never been the best at the.
[00:48:39] Speaker C: I love you? To a girl I love? Only got a couple tricks on my sleeve?
They usually just make them leave?
So if you know me? If you really know me? You know I'm just a two trick pony? But maybe the drinking and the lack of money for show? I'm just a two trick pony?
[00:49:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
