S5: E5: Qwynn - Nothing But Time

Qwynn Mixdown Masterwav

Sun, Aug 27, 2023 9:34AM • 1:20:05

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

music, cool, nashville, working, song, quinn, connor, people, artists, piano, performing, love, cleveland, growing, write, talk, feel, years, backstage pass, songwriting, Qwynn, QwynnMusic, Nashville, Tennessee, Avery Kern, Dalton Elliott, Brett Axelson, Connor, Heavyweight, mental health, mental awareness, Time, piano, piano player, autism, spectrum, JFSA, Cleveland Ohio, Nashville, Franklin Tennessee, Connors Hope, Backlight productions 

SPEAKERS

Adam Gordon, Qwynn, Randy Hulsey

Randy Hulsey  00:00

Today I am excited to sit down with an artist who I have had in the crosshairs for a couple of years now. It's Randy Hulsey with backstage pass radio. And I'm glad you guys have tuned in today. My guest comes to us by way of Cleveland, Ohio, but she has taken up residency right here in Nashville, Tennessee. Stick around and I will introduce you to talented singer-songwriter, and my friend Quinn when we return.

Adam Gordon  00:24

This is backstage pass radio, the podcast that's designed for the music junkie with a thirst for musical knowledge. Hi, this is Adam Gordon. And I want to thank you all for joining us today. Make sure you like subscribe and turn the alerts on for this and all upcoming podcasts. And now here's your host of backstage pass radio, Randy Halsey.

Randy Hulsey  00:53

Quinn Hello, again again. Well, it's the second day in a row. I guess I've had the pleasure of being in your presence. So how lucky am I right? How cool. First of all, well, thanks for supporting me by buying the drinks last night. That was cool. It was cool hanging out with you. And so you're working at AJs or Alan Jackson's place on Broadway here in Nashville. And I was listening on the second level where you were working to a couple of artists that were in there. And I think a Rickard was the the first artists that we listened to. And then Dalton Elliot came in after that, and I really enjoyed them both. Yeah, great. Yeah. And it was interesting, because I was talking to Dalton, and he's a native nashvillian. Right. Like, it's which is weird, because most everybody, including yourself, you're like transplant. Yeah, right, coming in to do your thing. So it was interesting to hear from a guy that actually was raised here in Tennessee,

Qwynn  01:56

totally, totally. And both of them are so talented. And let me just say, I have so much respect for all of the artists that are grinding, performing on Broadway and just performing your own talent that is like, so awesome. And it takes so much out of you physically, mentally, and emotionally. Just putting yourself out there doing covers, and also throw new original stuff in there as well. It's it's a grind, I mean, just like bartending, but it's really cool. And it's cool to watch them interact with the crowd and do their thing.

Randy Hulsey  02:25

It's cool to see the versatility of a lot of these artists, even though they you know, you're looking at a guy like I was watching a guy play at cerveza, Jags before I came to see you. And, you know, he has this look, right, and you're like, oh, country to the bone. But he was doing stuff by tool and sublime. And, and just mixing it up and people would throw random, you know, hey, do you do this? Do that? Yeah, I'll get around to that. It's like, wow, you're pretty diverse, you know, because me like you like them are a playing artists in Cypress, Texas, and I rarely don't take request, it's, it's what I'm feeling at the time. So you have to be a totally diverse artists to be able to pull those things,

Qwynn  03:12

you have to keep fresh and keep your repertoire like, you know, keep updating that and learning new songs. And I have complete respect for that. Because, you know, when I was a teenager, I used to play with my piano and do piano vocal sets around Cleveland. And that's partially like how I paid for my car. And it was so fun. And I had, you know, anywhere from an hour long set of covers to three and I feel like you know, just my personal choices, I'm at a place in my career where I just want to focus on my own artistry and, and my own songwriting and performing those songs rather than covers but and also to I'm not a country artist and Nashville, so many of these places require you to play just country music. And that's just not what I'm what I'm here to do. But it's all the power to you for doing that. That's awesome. Well, when

Randy Hulsey  04:03

I told you last night when we were yelling at each other over the loud music, which I never complained, never I'm never the guy that says hey, it's too loud. Turn it down, right I'll never be that guy. But you know, I said it was cool that you you kind of stuck to what you came here to do and you weren't going to sell out to go well, it's easier the comfort zone is to just go play covers and to make the money right but you're you're choosing not to do that. And it reminds me of an artist who was on my show by the name of Brett Axelsson. He was a longtime player in Houston and a very prominent and a really well known cover, man. But when he split from them that he said, You know, I'm gonna go do my own thing, and it's been a grind for him, but he's never, he's never reversed and said, You know what, nevermind, this is too hard. I'm gonna go back to doing what has paid the bills all of the years, right? So there's a lot of admiration. And, you know, good for you for sticking through that, yeah,

Qwynn  05:04

that I think that one of the things that really kind of keeps me focused and centered on like, my vision and my goal is, I love the human connection and exploring the human experience and empathy and emotions and, and really understanding what people are going through and making it into a song that's relatable, and it makes you feel something, you know, and I think that even too, I'm also an actor, that's what I would always try to do when I, you know, get into character and work on a script or a specific project that's like, a specific emotion and exploring that and, and finding that I think that's translated over into making me a good songwriter, because, you know, you, I don't like to judge, I let things just kind of happen and let people and experiences just show me what they are correct. And kind of go from there. And I think that's kind of the main thing that's kept me grounded as far as just like, you know, I love exploring the human condition and relating to people and storytelling. And that's just been what I've loved my whole entire life.

Randy Hulsey  06:15

Well, I think there's an organic compound to being a true songwriter, and true to your art. You're writing what you feel, and that emotion comes through you. And if you're not doing that, and doing it for yourself, probably that same emotion or that same same story doesn't come out of the back end of what you're writing. Right. So, yeah, it's so again, yeah, it's great that you're staying true to why you even came to Nashville in the first place. But walking back real quick to AJs. How long have you been at AJs.

Qwynn  06:52

I'm still new there. I've been bartending for almost two years. But I just started working there a couple months ago. And I work at a couple other places just around Nashville, I work over at the office, couple of my really good friends on that place. It's house music, electronic music, EDM, deep bass. And it's so interesting, because it's a complete 180 from the Broadway Honky Tonk scene, but I think it's so cool. And I really, through that, you know, I've immersed myself into all the different types of music and the different culture that Nashville has to offer when it comes to music. And it's really not just country anymore, it's become a hub for all kinds of music. And it always kind of has been that but of course, country being the most prominent genre in this town, but it's cool to see and watch grow with the growing music scene and like electronic music and, and pop. And it's, it's awesome, just tapping into like, relationships with different creative people that are doing all these different kinds of things. It's just really, really dope to,

Randy Hulsey  07:49

well, I think keeping your mind open to new genres and new types of music is very important. And I have always been the Rock and Roll guy, right, you know, back in the 80s, hair down, you know, to the middle of the back kind of thing, and you would never know it now. But so there was that. And then, you know, all of my young adult life and even to now I'm a rock pig, at the end of the day, I just love rock and roll. And I remember going back to around 2015 When I started playing solo professionally, I said, you know, I'm gonna have to really start learning some country stuff, because not everybody just wants to hear rock, you have to open that portfolio up a little bit. But the cool thing about the show is I've had rap artists on the show, I've had pop artists, I've had country artists, I've had Hall of Fame, rock and roll people. And it really makes me listen to music differently, and to be open to new music, because not every person that I'm going to have on the show is going to be a long haired rock and roll guy, right? It's just not gonna happen. Right? It's great. So and you're very, you're, you're probably off the beaten path a little bit from kind of the genre perspective when we talk about genres. So it's cool to hear your music and to hear, you know, kind of what makes your mind tick a little bit. Yeah,

Qwynn  09:11

and I feel like genres are such like, you know, they used to be so specific, and I feel like now they kind of put you in a box a little bit. And I don't I don't feel like that's necessary because there's because of the accessibility that people have to create music nowadays. I mean, tick tock and YouTube, I call it YouTube University, sometimes learning how to use and produce your own music at home or in your in a studio of a friend's or whatever. It's so accessible nowadays, which I think is really cool. And it's inspiring a lot of different influence into independent music, just music in general.

Randy Hulsey  09:44

It's amazing what you can do in a home studio now compared to 30 years ago, and I had a I had a really well known heavy metal act that's been around since you know, the 70s, a band called Saxon, and they've toured the world. sold millions of records. And I think the last record, you know, when I was talking to nibs, Carter, the bass player, he said, basically it was, you know, four or five guys in five different parts of the world, send them files back and forth to one another. And that's how the Carpe Diem record was written. And, you know, back in the day, everybody had to go to the studio, everybody, you either went in as a band, or you went in and tracked everything out or whatever. But it's so cool that even like us, you know, we're recording in a portable studio right now. So it's cool the technology and how it's progressed over the years. will take us back real quick to Mayfield Heights, Ohio, just for a minute, who was Quinn growing up,

Qwynn  10:44

I have always been a performer. I grew up doing competitive figure skating. And that was my life. That was my childhood. I basically lived and breathed being at the rink. And I loved dance, I would train conditioning off ice and train ballet and dance stuff. And then when I was about 1011 years old, I started to develop a knee injury that took me off the ice. And I was unable to skate, and compete really at the level that I was was doing it at. So my mom, she's my number one fan, both of my parents might I'm really close with my family, my mom and my dad and my brothers and just everyone my family, we're all really close. But she was always knew that I had interest in singing, and I was the kid in the car that would be singing, you know, the Vanessa Carlton album, full on glass like belting. And I had always wanted to try theater and perform on a stage that way, but I never had time to because I was always on the go always at the rink on the ice. So my mom signed me up for a theater summer camp that summer. And I just completely fell in love with performing in that way. And musical theater is really how I got my start. And then fast forward a few years I started doing TV, film acting, and some modeling stuff. And that was something that I found to fall in love with even more I still did, you know, theater and stuff through high school. But at 1415, I really took a took a big step into expanding my career as a TV film actress. And then simultaneously with that music kind of separated a little bit from that as well. And I loved playing piano and singing and accompanying myself and working on my voice. And I had always wanted to song right. And I'd started a lot of songs, but I didn't have the confidence to finish them. I never thought that they were going to be good enough or I couldn't complete my thoughts and to what I knew that I was capable of. So I kind of you know, in the meantime, during that just focused on playing covers and doing gigs because I loved performing that way. And then I would travel a lot to work on independent film projects and shorts and stuff around the country. And I worked with a vocal coach Alan Licht, and he's awesome. He's honestly one of the main reasons why I got into doing TV, film acting as well. And then through that, I ended up doing a showcase in Chicago, where I met my music producer and CO writer just a great friend Matt Wilder, who I've been working with for about six years since 2017. A little over six years, which is insane. And through him that's kind of how I got started in Nashville I came down to Nashville and worked on recording some songs that he had found. And we've gone through together from some songwriters in Nashville some pop stuff, before I was truly truly writing and after I graduated high school, I moved to Los Angeles to focus on acting kind of full time and then in the meantime, I'd travel to Nashville and work on music as well. And my mom would always go with me to set before I turned 18 And she would travel to Nashville with me and we were the dynamic duo. She was always with me and so supportive, so awesome. And she was a singer as well growing up so it's cool that kind of came full circle. And about 2018 is when 2017 20 No 2018 is when I really started writing songs and collaborating with other songwriters in Nashville and through that, you know, you meet with so many different people and try to write and create and you find the people on the team that you work really well with and that it's natural and I've found that truly in the the trio between me Matt Wilder and Brian Mayer who is incredible songwriter. His dad Brent Mayer produced the drugs and is also an incredible producer and Brian's written number one hits for some some big country cuts and he wrote with Taylor Swift back in the day and Abra Levine and he is just so awesome. He's such a stream of conscious kind of writer so I always have my phone out recording either like on voice memos or video of just whatever comes out of his mouth. Yeah, and, and vice versa. Because when I'm in the moment just writing in creating it's I don't know, I just I don't, I like to take the pressure off of myself and just, you know, record it. And you know, you don't always remember what you're saying or what the melody you're singing is coming out of your mouth is. So just content and recording is, is definitely key. So, yeah, just growing as a songwriter, through everything with them and trying out, riding with different people has been really cool. But I think that the defining moment for me was, I had been living in LA, about eight, nine months after I moved to there COVID hit so that was just a crazy kind of two year period. During that time. I had gone back home to Cleveland for a little bit and stayed with my family and then went back out to LA because I booked a project, which is a nice excuse to be like, mom, dad, brothers love you guys. I need to buy delay. It's just been I've been stuck in this house for way too long, but worked for as much as I could during that time period on different projects. And my lease was up on my place in LA. And I was going to move into a house with a few of my girlfriends and life kind of happened, some of that fell through. And then my backup plan to move in with another one of my friends that life just kind of happened. And that changed. So I was like, You know what universe, I feel like you're telling me to go try something. And I feel like I need to go to Nashville and work on a record. So I threw all of my stuff in a storage unit and had expected to come to Nashville only for a couple of months to write an album and work on some music. And the world was just so weird. During that time. stuff was open, but it wasn't and people were still getting sick. And then it just it was crazy. So I was like, You know what, it's a great time to just go and write some music. So

Randy Hulsey  16:37

you landed and expanded right here in Nashville and right, going back to you know, you talked a little bit about figure skating up until I think you said the age of 10 or 11. And then you kind of be started to fall in love with music. Do you remember when that love for music really came for you? Did it come at a much earlier age than 1011? Or was it kind of after? After you'd kind of hung the skates up and moved on? Do you remember actually,

Qwynn  17:04

when I was eight years old, I competed in a singing competition in Finley lake in New York, we used to have a cottage up there we go up on the weekends. And that was the first time that I truly perform live. And I was eight years old. And I was so nervous. And I think I sang a Taylor Swift song and I ended up winning the competition. Out of all the kids that competed there was a kid competition and an adult singing competition. And the prize was $300. And I took that $300 And I bought my first iPod touch because I wanted to be able to download my music and listen to what I wanted to listen to. And of course play games. You know what kid doesn't want to do that I've always loved to sing. And I mean, like I said before, like, my mom and I would be driving in the car. And I just remember singing Vanessa Carlton at the top of my lungs, or, you know, whatever songs I was listening to at the time, I just have such a strong memory of Vanessa Carlton, her album that had 1000 miles on it. And between 1000 miles and white houses, those were like my two favorites. I just sing them. And I loved it. And I remember whenever we'd be driving, and taking long car rides actually up differently. Like I remember being in the backseat just singing and my parents and my brothers would be like, well, you just shut up. But well, look where we are now right now.

Randy Hulsey  18:20

Well, you made reference a minute ago to something I've never heard of an iPod touch because I'm not that old. I don't know. I don't date back that far. Quinn. So tell everybody, what does an iPod sound like? I'm being facetious. Like, I know what one is. But it's funny, too. I was gonna say, are you even old enough to know what an iPad touch or iPod Touch is? Because those things like they came in and were hot. And then I think I found one in a drawer the other day now, like I mentioned any. And I think the iOS on it was so old. I wouldn't even update or whatever. But I'm like, how cool would that be to just load some songs on there? And like, I mean, who has an iPod anymore? That's pretty cool.

Qwynn  18:59

Well, it was so funny, because whenever we actually go up to the cottage, my dad would take one of like the iPod Nano where we had like the little iPod I don't remember what it was called. But it was I remember it was turquoise and it had the little screen on it with a circle. And you had to like use your finger to go in a circle to like remember a skip the songs are gonna go wherever you're going. And he had downloaded a bunch of like a Khan and Maroon Five and pop stuff that kind of had been, you know, popular during that time, but also like songs by Green Day. So we'd be listening to all of that music kind of on shuffle. And we would put on shows in our basement. And whenever we'd have like friends up at the cottage, we do dance performances, or we'd sing or I remember in basement at our house back in Cleveland. I would tape a flashlight that was support beam in the basement and like have it point down on us and then spotlight the spotlight. Yes. And I remember my brother Connor would always want to do the chicken dance and I Love to talk about him a little bit more. But basically Connor is on the autism spectrum. And he's my favorite human being in the wide world. I love him so much both my brothers are but Connor just has such a special place in my heart. But he loves music and loves to dance. So we would always have Connor go first and do the chicken dance so we could get it out of his system. And then I would sing or dance or something. And then I remember my little brother Brennan was really into gymnastics at the time. So he would do like flips and somersaults. And that would be like our show. So we're just a family full of talent show. And show.

Randy Hulsey  20:30

Well, you mentioned earlier, your mom was a singer. Do you come from a musically inclined family? I guess everybody probably has sung at some point in time to the radio, but we're either parent or performer, a musician or anything, or did you just come by that on your own?

Qwynn  20:47

Well, my mom in high school was a part of this club called singers and they would actually go on tour around the country and perform and do show choir. And she had been doing that I think Middle School in high school and she wanted to go to school for a little while as well. So she is just a singer and performer and she's told me so many stories about in high school, how she would get up and sing and she was in the musicals and in school, we I definitely feel like I got my beauty from my mother. Of course, she's she's gorgeous. You

Randy Hulsey  21:19

hear that Bill? Bill? She doesn't look like you.

Qwynn  21:23

Absolutely. We joke about this, I have the less pirogues nose, I have the same nose as my dad, just smaller and cuter. Thank God. Yeah, Gosh, I really came from the two best human beings I possibly could have come from my mom's grace and beauty, just genuinely and the caretaker she is and my dad's zero fear, confidence sales guy persona is so friendly. So open, my parents are such a team. And I'm just so grateful that I got to come from them,

Randy Hulsey  21:51

I'm assuming, based on that recollection of them, that they were always supportive of music and always involved in encouraging

Qwynn  22:00

Oh, and we would pull them down to the basement and make them sit and watch our whole entire show, and especially to whenever they'd have people over, like our friends over for dinner or whatever, we would make everybody come and watch our talent show until we were finished with it. And they had to clap after every single day. So it was just they did it.

Randy Hulsey  22:17

It's really funny that you say that, because I literally just flashed back in time probably see, how old am I? I'm gonna guess somewhere around 50 years ago, and I grew up in a neighborhood that was all girls, there were like, four on the See 123 There was like three or four families on our street. And there were three girls in each family. So my brother and I had no choice but to play with girls growing up. And when the families would get together for you know, dinners, or just drinks or whatever. We were all singers. And we would always perform and create these groups Tracy and Kim, if you're listening to this, I'm still pissed. Because you never let me be the lead singer. You guys always had to hog the microphone. So yeah, so now I'm just throwing this as my show. I'm throwing it all out there now. Because they would have beat me up if I would have said something about it when I was like eight or nine. So I'm using this time in this platform to No, we had to you know, we did that to you know, it was always? What kind of show could we go out and perform for the adults, that was always the thing for us. So I guess after you know, you talked about kind of the knee injury, you needed that new hobby, something that wasn't as physically demanding. So you had taken up the acting bit? Why do you think it was acting and not sports? Or not poetry reading? Or why do you think you gravitated to acting?

Qwynn  23:55

I love performing. I love you know, being on a stage being on camera, I feel very comfortable in front of an audience. And I love the connection that comes from that, you know, because I mean, think about it. When you go to the movies, and you're everyone's sitting in a movie theater, you're experiencing that the story being told together and nothing else matters. When you're watching a Broadway musical, you're following the story. It's triggers emotion and triggers thoughts. And same thing when you go to a concert to see one of your favorite artists like you are all there for that common love of the message that they have their voice. They're the community of people, they've created their fan base, you're a part of something too, when you're going to a live performance or a show or seeing a movie. And also the camaraderie that you get from putting on a performance and a show and working with a team. You know, even now that I'm doing I'm an independent artist and I'm doing a solo career, you know, a team and having a strong group of people that you know, you trust and love working with is so important. And that's true for everything in life, not just for the entertainment industry, I'm sure you could attest from a business background, how important having a strong team in places for success, right. And I think that that's one of the things that my parents instilled in me from a very young age as well was just creating your circle and having a good group of people around you that are loving and supportive. And people that you can bounce ideas off of and relate to. And they've done such a great job building a community for my brother Connor, and putting people in his corner that just love him so much. And they allow him to be his true authentic self and comfortable, and my parents feel comfortable because growing up with a sibling with disabilities, or special needs, or someone that society deems different, which I like to call unique, that can be difficult, you know, the stares from people in public, the people that don't understand the people that just dismiss him so quickly, because of they're uncomfortable by it, they don't know what to do with it, or they just are blatantly mean because it's not something that we're used to educate on educated and some people really, really cruel. And that was never something that I also like, because of doing what I did, I was bullied a lot. And I felt like I always had something to prove, you know, performing was a way that was an escape, or not only was something that I love, but it was an escape to just be me. Even being on a stage in front of an audience of however many people it was like, I felt so at home there. And I still do, and I love it, I crave it. And it used to be for me, but now that I've grown and being where I'm at now in life and learning, everything that I have thus far, being onstage and performing for me is all about the connection with the audience and taking you on a ride and experiencing, you know, the songs, the words, the feelings, the emotions, and having something that we can all relate to through it. I think that because of the way that I grew up and wanting everyone to just get along and understand and be open and empathetic, because of how I would see people treat my brother and my family. It's just very important for me to promote, you know, openness and understanding and a safe space to ask questions if you're uncomfortable. And I think that it's the reason why I'm the person that I am today. And I'm so grateful for it.

Randy Hulsey  27:35

Be an actress and spending time as an actress. Do you feel like or would you classify yourself as dramatic as a young kid? Were you a dramatic kid growing up? Like, like an attention seeking? And well, of course, well, if you're a performer, you're of course you're an attention seeker. But I think you know what I'm asking. Yeah,

Qwynn  28:02

I think that I, you know, I just loved being on stage. And I think that I spent a lot of time seeking approval, because of it, because I got so much hate for doing what I was doing.

Randy Hulsey  28:15

You know, I paused you there, but and I thought about this five minutes ago, literally. And I think we as musicians are always seeking approval, like, you know what I'm saying, like some kind of validation from our audience, as far as we want to deliver the message. And we want it to be conveyed, where it touches people, because that's what we do. And we need that validation. So it's interesting that you use the word, you know, validation of people, right? I think that musicians are like that.

Qwynn  28:48

But I think that even you know, back then as a kid like, it's just people kids are so mean, girls in middle school were so mean to me. And

Randy Hulsey  28:58

I rules are the worst sometimes.

Qwynn  29:02

But I think that as I got older, and was traveling more and working on projects, and working with being in a ton of rooms with adults, and just like working on projects that had very big messages and deep meanings to them. I've always been a mature kid. I mean, a kid, I'm 22 I've always been a mature person. I was always told that I was mature for my age. And I just loved being around adults. Even as a kid I could always hang with the adults and have adult conversations. And so that's I think it served me really well for when I was working on projects with adults and growing up as a teenager, and my senior year of high school. I ended up spending my second semester living in LA, working auditioning, doing commercials and TV stuff and films and taking that time away. And finishing school online, and being away from peers. And being in an environment where my friends from that I'd met through acting class and different products that I'd worked on had been in my shoes, and we got each other and we understood each other. And it was like, wow, I have a community, I have people that are not just gonna bring me down for doing what I genuinely love to do, because I found out what that was, and I'm pursuing it professionally at such a young age. And they're doing the same thing. And we love each other, and we're supporting each other through it. And that's so cool. Like, why should I care what they think about me when I'm truly happy doing what I love to do. And from that, once I realized that I just seriously stopped caring about what other people thought. And it opened up a whole new door to be creative and unapologetic about it and truly doing what I love, without the fear of judgment for others, and validation. And I think that, you know, after I graduated high school and moved to LA and was living on my own at 18, like, I grew up very fast. And it just served me so much to be unapologetically I guess myself and not afraid of, of that judgment. And I'm so grateful that I learned that lesson when I did, because it served me so much in my adult library as far.

Randy Hulsey  31:22

I agree. Well, I know that acting and music are kinda not one in the same, and they're very different. But on the balance scale of justice. How does the scale tip on which Quinn? What do you prefer to do? Are you the actor? Like is it a 5149? thing in favor of acting? Or is it does the skill tip the other way? You prefer the music over the acting kind of how does that tip for you?

Qwynn  31:51

Well, gosh, I never, I always would tell people, I never wanted to have to choose between either doing acting, or music, because they were so interchangeable and one in the same. And one thing that I always come back to about the two is like, it's exploring the human condition just in different creative ways. You know, like, one thing for me when I am working on a character I substitution is my biggest form of preparation for a character and experience. And I love, you know, really exploring emotions. You know, and being open to using what I've experienced to get myself into place for that character. I think that's, I mean, so important. And so many actors have different methods for how they get into character. And whether it is method when you go on task, and you live as a character for as long as you, you know, need to to get to be that person. Or for auditions, like you have to think fast. And you have to, you know, you may have like a 12 hour 48 hour turnaround time where you have to film your audition and get it into casting, like submit it to your agent, have them give you feedback, maybe retake but again, like, you have to be able to access that very, very quickly, that emotion bank. And that's true for songwriting, too, because you could be sitting down on a session and you only have like three hours to write a song. And I think that that is something that I do well with. And I enjoy the challenge. And I don't think that there's one that I you know, love more than the other. I think that right now music is definitely my focus. And I'm very grateful that I have the team in place to, to be doing this in Nashville and focusing primarily on music, but I also just signed with an agent in Atlanta, and I'm trying to get back into acting as well, again. But the past two years, for me have definitely been music heavy. And my focus has gone into that primarily, but

Randy Hulsey  33:52

it still sounds like a 5050 thing.

Qwynn  33:54

It really is I think that music right now has more momentum behind it for me. And that's what is most exciting for me right now. But it doesn't mean that I don't love acting any less.

Randy Hulsey  34:05

Well, they always say to diversify your portfolio, right? And that's good that you have that to fall back on. Because I've had friends that have been singers all their lives. And one in particular that I'm thinking about one day, woke up and the voice was just gone and couldn't sing anymore. could still talk. But singing was labored and had an amazing voice. So it's almost like taking the hammer away from the carpenter. Right. But with you, you have something else that you could fall back on. So that's great that you're not putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak. Yeah, I

Qwynn  34:42

don't necessarily feel like it's something to fall back on. I think it's just like, you know,

Randy Hulsey  34:46

you can do them in tandem or conjunction with one another. Yeah. Well, I wanted to jump real quick to, let's say, 20 2015. I know there was an LP that you were Release called fearless. And talk to me talk to me about this release. And I'd also like to understand why it's not up on streaming sites like Spotify.

Qwynn  35:14

You know what I, what I will say about that is, in 2015, I released a cover album with one original song on it called fearless. And because of that experience of being in the studio, and learning how to record a song, definitely set me up to have success in what I'm doing now and gave me a lot of great experience for making music in Nashville. So I'm very grateful for that. And it just, I feel like it really was a great learning experience to be able to do that. And how cool at 1415 years old, like you get to hear yourself singing. And it's also cool just to have that because oh my god, it was such a baby. I sound like a little Disney.

Randy Hulsey  35:55

That's that's I know, but that that is who that defines you. Right? I mean, that. Those are the formidable years where you're learning, you're growing. Totally. And that's what makes you the artists that you are today. And it's so is it. Is it safe to say that that's kind of maybe why it was pulled like you You no longer wanted to identify with that.

Qwynn  36:15

Yeah, I mean, okay, I feel like just as an artist, you're always evolving. And you're right. And I even feel like back in 20 Whatever. I released my three singles under my 2022. Net 2020 I think 2020 Yes. Okay, so 2018 2019 I had done a lot of songwriting, nothing compared to what happened when I moved to Nashville officially two years ago. But 2019 was a big year for me getting ready to release music that was my own, I released heavyweight in January of 2020, actually, on my birthday, and that song I did not write but the two songs that I released after were original songs that I had co written with some awesome songwriters in Nashville. And even that I feel like it's still like, I classify it as my baby Quinn era. Yeah, you know, I was very, it was very pop princess, I like to kind of call it but it was great. And it was good for what it was. But when I moved to Nashville two years ago, accidentally. I had gone through, I was going through a lot of big changes in my life changes that really defined the person that I am today. And just to be completely candid with you, I had COVID I, when I was driving down to Nashville, I started to get a sore throat and to not feel good. This isn't 2020 2021 131 I had COVID I was really sick really fatigued, but the fatigue lingered and the sickness lingered for about six months after that. And it was very hard for me I was it really affected my mental health and my spirit. And I was I had gained some weight. Because my cortisol levels were so high in my body and I couldn't, I was full of anxiety and I was I didn't know if I was gonna move back to LA or stay in Nashville, I was living in different places, I didn't have any of my stuff with me, it was all in my storage unit in LA Like, I literally had what was in my suitcase with me. And, you know, I'm really grateful that I was able to go through and experience that. And, you know, figuring out like navigating a love life and relationships and the dating scene and being in my early 20s. And, you know, being so used to always being on the go was was nothing new to me and trying new things mean different places. But just the whole buildup of that was very difficult for me. And through that though it unlocked a whole emotional rollercoaster of accessing things to use for songwriting. Sure. And I've never been prouder of more proud progress on word of what has come of that part time and I wouldn't change it for the world. It was horrible while it was happening and I was so sick, physically and mentally. You know, I I have no and this is just a PSA to anybody out there who's struggling with mental health and depression and anxiety. There's no shame in talking to somebody and getting help. Even if you need to get on a little bit of medication to help regulate you and get you back to you know, the place where you feel like yourself again, there is nothing wrong with that. You know, Connor, for example, my brother, he has epilepsy and developmental delays and of course, you know, some behavioral issues from his disabilities. So we've gone through his life trying to regulate medication to keep him at an even keel level. Prevent from seizures, help with his mood, help him wind down at the end of the day because Anxiety and it's, it's just so much and his brain is always on and always going. So there is no shame in being open and having a conversation if you are struggling with something and trying to find help no matter what avenue that that may be,

Randy Hulsey  40:14

I love your PSA. And it's not the first time that PSA has come up on my show. It's, you know, myself, like many people on the planet Earth struggle with some form of anxiety or depression and I have fought with that over the years, it's certainly in control now, but as a young adult, you know, getting married and starting to have kids are you there was a lot of anxiety and, and whatnot. And it's it can be very, very trifling times. And I've had multiple artists on my show, I had a guy named Andrew chest stain. From the East Coast, I've had Nick bossy on my show from the East Coast, both fabulous artists. And you know, like, like, Andrew said, you know, he went through a lot of that. And then he wrote a song about a friend that had taken his own life because of that, and we kind of, you know, we talked about that on the show this, this is a platform where, and I would, I would come over the top of you on that PSA and say, if there's anybody listening had ever needs to talk about anxiety or depression, or, you know, what did you do for it? Or, you know, whatever, you need to have those conversations because you don't have to fight that battle alone. And certainly I'll preface saying all this that Quinn and I are not healthcare professionals, but we are carrying humans, right. And we and we've all even though like you and I, we we met for the first time yesterday face to face we have known probably who each other are for some time, but we all fight kind of the same battles from time to time, right? No,

Qwynn  41:48

it's human.

Randy Hulsey  41:50

And there's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's absolutely not.

Qwynn  41:55

And there's always somebody that you can talk to, and go to for help.

Randy Hulsey  41:59

Well, we had talked a little bit I had taken you back to a point in time and your fairy princess days when you recorded fearless that you didn't want to talk about but I like pulling some things out of people that maybe they don't want to talk about anymore, but you know, there was that and now we fast forward to 2023 and you just released a song a single called time and I would really like to treat the listeners to a short clip of that song and then we'll come back and chat about the song okay

Qwynn  42:40

leftist press Single?

Randy Hulsey  43:49

That was a single call time that was just recently released this year, like was it a month or so ago? Or was it a little bit further back in July? So yeah, I was really new just about two weeks ago. Tell the listeners about the song. Great job. By the way, it sounds great. And like I mentioned earlier, like that type of music has never been in my wheelhouse, but it's cool to open up the mind and listen to that music because you're like, oh, actually like that, you know, you find you find things you like when you give things a chance. Right? And so share with the listeners a little bit about the song how it came about.

Qwynn  44:23

Yeah, so actually, the song was so special to me for a number of reasons. But back just to preface a little bit to I was releasing music under my name my full name, which is Quinn Lesperance. And then after songwriting and working and growing as a as an artist and songwriter for the time that I was here in Nashville, after I made the move. I felt like the music that I had been making needed a bit of a differentiation from the music that I had been releasing in the past and it wasn't as commercial pop it was more indiepop singer songwriter he and I felt like a rebrand was needed to help start this new chapter and also just help separate a little bit, you know of remove myself from it a little bit. And that's kind of helped me mentally as well. But I wrote this song, actually, this not the way that the song came together was insane. We had actually had a panic attack earlier in the day, because a lot of things were up in the air and I had had a conversation with somebody that I had been working with. And that just really triggered me and it took me a while to calm down and I went over, I was living in a one bedroom house next to where the music producer and his wife own, that's right next to their property, and Franklin and I went up to their house and it was having a glass of wine with Matt's wife Kirsten and was just kind of talking to her. And she was really there for me and just kind of processing what I was going through. And whenever I am going through something, sitting down at the piano and just slamming on the keys, always brings me peace, it makes me feel better. And I decided to go up into the studio because I wanted my keyboards over there man studios in his house. And it's it's beautiful. It's awesome. And art, an audio engineer that we work with art web, he's incredible. So genius, so talented, had come up about a half an hour after I had been playing on the keys, I was like, You know what, I'm gonna write a song I need to, I need to let this out. So I had started sitting down at the piano and wrote all the verses for time. And then art comes in, kind of sneakily, and sits down and brings out his laptop and opens Ableton and starts making a beat kind of, along with what I've, what I was playing, and we'd come up with something really, really cool. And art was like, Alright, when you know what we need to put this down right now go in the studio, get on the mic, sing the verses. And what the final audio, the final takes that we got, were actually from the night that I wrote the lyrics, the verse, The verses are from the night song was written, I got those. And you know, sometimes when you're just really in the moment, that's when the vocals are going to be the strongest, right? When you're really feeling that emotion as its as it's coming through. Like that's when it's going to be the strongest. And that was really cool. So then, Matt was so excited. The next day, he came into the studio and him and art, were just creating the rest of the format for the song. And we're like, Well, okay, great. Now we've got these verses, but we need a chorus. So then Matt and I got together and we wrote the chorus, we kind of talked through the rest of the concept of the song and did that. And literally within 48 hours, we had a rough mix time, which was crazy because sometimes the songwriting process is like, also at the piano or like my quarters or bring the guitars and we'll write something acoustically or Matt and I will work on a track and build a track and have a couple of those going and then bring in Brian, Brian there to you know, write melody and lyrics on top of that. It really just kind of depends, but that was just one that came together so strangely, beautifully organically the way that it did and it was such a relief to be able to write that song and it really felt like it was a healing a healing thing for me to let it all out. Well, I

Randy Hulsey  48:12

know you're super proud of the song and I think there's a video that is accompany the song as well. Where can the listeners find the video?

Qwynn  48:21

You can find it on my YouTube channel if all my socials are at Quinn music que Wynn music, you can find me everywhere tik, Tok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, all that. So you can go on the YouTube channel and watch it or go to my Instagram and click link in the bio, all the things and it'll take you to all things going.

Randy Hulsey  48:42

Well, it's interesting because most artists that come to Nashville, I think, maybe maybe not. But I think a large budget, let me just say a large majority. I'll rephrase what I'm gonna say and and say it this way. I think a large majority of the people that come to Nashville to record try to do something with music are generally of the country music genre. I think that's fair to say. It's very first, but you are more of a pop artist. In my eyes. Now I'm gonna let you educate me. But if you had to plug yourself into a genre, and I know musicians hate genres, they hate holes, they hate closets. I hate all these things. But if you were to plug yourself in to a genre, where would Quinn fit? How would you classify your music? Yeah, it's popped too broad.

Qwynn  49:41

I think it definitely fits under the pop umbrella. I feel like it leans you know, more indie pop sounding, but also singer songwriter, because the I feel like there's a lot of depth to the songwriting. And it's not just I'm not trying to be a commercial pop artist anymore. I do have songs that I feel Like are very commercial and would do really well. In the sink world, as you know, like a pop hit. I think that, and I'm still exploring, and I'm still finding what it is that I do best. I feel like this next collection of music that I'm releasing, and I've just started to release from time. I'm actually going to be releasing an EP and releasing singles through November and then wrap it up with the

Randy Hulsey  50:24

EP. Yeah, and we'll talk we'll talk more about that in just a minute. But I also wanted to call attention to multiple singles that were released last year. You were busy last year with songs like a beautiful back in between only one so yeah, it was 2020 was pretty busy year for you. 2022 was was a busy here. Yeah,

Qwynn  50:45

it was. And I'm so grateful for that time. That was really when I started performing live in Nashville. And I was doing live shows each time I released a single, which was really cool, because I got to bring in some friends to play as well. And we were playing live on top of the tracks. And really, I hope getting the audience to see the full picture of like, what it is that we're we're doing, which is really cool. And we did those shows actually over at the office that my good friends elements your own, and they were so kind to let us use this space for those. And yeah, so it really gave me an awesome place to start learning how to play my set, and just see how people were doing to it.

Randy Hulsey  51:26

Well, going back just a little bit in time for a second there was a wreath, I say a retooling or rebranding, if you will, of your identity. And I think this fell sometime back around. What was it 2012 2013 timeframe? But who were you before? The rebranding?

Qwynn  51:47

Well, actually, I feel like I love my last name. It's very beautiful, but people sometimes look at it and they're like Quinn, Quinn and you know, I always love the idea of just going by Quinn I feel like it's a very unique name, especially for a woman and I didn't want to be just Quinn Q UI. And and they had already been there was already a Quinn, there's Queen 92 Which love his music, you know, great artists. But I was looking at different spellings of artists that had, you know, went by Quinn, and I thought it was really cool, like QWY and M like, no one else. The why is that, like, that's I don't know, that's, that's kind of cool. And that's gonna make people remember it and think about it and be like, Oh, interesting. Cool.

Randy Hulsey  52:33

I like it. And I was gonna ask you if it had anything to do with the fact that it if if 20 people tried to pronounce your last name, but only two of them might get it right. I didn't know if that was part of it or not.

Qwynn  52:45

And also, just like having a fresh start. Yeah, was important to me too, because I feel like the music was just so much more of who I am and what I wanted to be. It just kind of helps my mental like, all all around, and I don't know, it's cool.

Randy Hulsey  53:02

I like it. I like it to share with the listeners, the instruments that you do play.

Qwynn  53:09

Honestly, like, just piano.

Randy Hulsey  53:13

Don't you play a little guitar? You know,

Qwynn  53:15

I mean, ukulele a little bit. But like, that's just kind of for fun. I really like my long nails. Brandy to be honest with you. So the piano is

Randy Hulsey  53:24

mature. That's your go to that's the baby. I

Qwynn  53:27

love her. And, you know, it's kind of cool, too, because everybody in Nashville, like picks up the guitar and plays the guitar. Sure me, I got my keyboard. And that's kind of cool. Yeah.

Randy Hulsey  53:35

And what are you formally trained on the piano? Or was this something that in your younger years, you just kind of picked it up and started playing by ear. So I actually,

Qwynn  53:46

I started taking piano lessons from the church, choir, teacher, the professional leader at church. And I would go to her house after school, and I'd have half an hour piano lessons. And I learned how to read sheet music and play and I just, I wanted to play piano so bad, but I hated reading sheet music. I hated how specific it was. And I wanted to just kind of play what I wanted to play. That sounded cool. But I didn't want to, I didn't want to be stuck to what the notes were. And all that the timing of why that was. So when I started working with Alan licked by first vocal coach I've ever worked with, he played piano, but he read chords. And he taught me different inversions of chords, and scales and all the things and really helped me develop those skills. So now like what I do is, I'll read chords, and I'll interpret them how I want them to and play different voicings of them and just kind of play around with that. And I think that there's so much more creativity in that. And I think that music theory and reading music is an incredible gift that is just not for me. I'm not good that whatsoever.

Randy Hulsey  54:49

You're just trying to change everything that everybody's done over the years. You want to do it your way, right?

Qwynn  54:55

Geez, no,

Randy Hulsey  54:56

I mean, people spent hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years trying to write me Music, and Quinn wants to come and dissect it and tear it all down.

Qwynn  55:04

Oh my god, I just I just love making stuff my own. I mean, especially to that was one of the biggest things I tried to do when I was playing covers, I wanted to make them my own and make them sound like how I wanted them to sound, just the same as how you'd hear it normally played, you know,

Randy Hulsey  55:20

when you right, you're with the piano when you're right then yeah, sometimes,

Qwynn  55:23

or I think I mentioned this earlier, Matt and I will start a track or I'll work with a producer and create a track to write melody and lyric over. And that's kind of cool too. Because instead of just, you know, starting from scratch with instruments, you have a vibe already. So what you want to do and what you want to say, and it's like, oh, you know, Hey, Matt, I'm feeling like I love this sound, I love this feel like let's create something that's kind of a little bit of the two and then maybe add a little bit of this or a little bit of that and let's make it feel, you know, upbeat, let's be fun. Like, maybe it's a happy sort of love song. Maybe it's like, oh, gosh, you know, I hate the world. F this, like, yeah, you know, just kind of, you know, whatever I'm feeling and we'll go in and we'll create that and then we'll, we'll have a writing session after we kind of have a base for it. And then the cool thing that I love about working with Matt is that we always the time is allowed for the song to evolve. And there's never a set timeframe that we work in to try to have a song done by I mean, of course, you know, from that's, that's, you know, amazing and ideal, at least for my creative process is like just being able to watch something evolve and not have to put a time stamp on it. But I mean, you know, this is the music business, there's a business side to it, too. So you have to kind of be more on the you got to have deadlines. And you have to know when to say no and stop working on some of course you can work to death, and then

Randy Hulsey  56:47

well, it can be over engineered. Keep it simple. Stupid is kind of the old adage or the acronym. I had a guest on my show. Sometime back. I don't think it was season three, maybe. And his name is Russ Ballard. And I'm sure if your dad listens to this podcast, if he's an old rock guy, he'll know who Russ Ballard is. Russ was with a band called Argent and they had a hit song several hit songs, one called hold your head up, which was big back in the 70s. But Russ was a guitarist but always wrote on the piano. And this is where he penned some of the famous hits that he wrote for bands like America and Santana and kiss and the list I mean, it just goes on and on and on. But I didn't know like if that was kind of your instrument to ride on was the piano because that was his instrument even though he was I guess a guitarist maybe just as much if not more than the piano but the the piano was always gravity. That's where he found that's his best writing abilities. I guess it was around the keys. Right?

Qwynn  57:59

You know, that's the thing too it's like you never have to put yourself in a box. That's right for it be for songwriting and for creating and it's so free and you're not you don't have to be bound to a specific way writing correct

Randy Hulsey  58:12

is really cool. That's the beauty of music there's really no boundaries when you think about writing just kind of you can weave in and out of genres. I know so many people that you know they sound country but then they sound rock I mean look at guys like Kid Rock, you know, like rap rock, you know, he's wrapped he's rocked what is the any any place Southern rock? He does everything you know, and it's that diversity is what makes them relevant and what makes them cool. You know, I think a lot of a lot of people like that. Well, you talked a little bit about Connor, earlier. And I wanted you to share with me just high level about your love for special needs. Kids and people in general, and especially ones with autism, because I know that's very near and dear to your heart. And I don't know if I'm being politically correct. When I say special needs. There are so many things that this world has gone kind of to hell in a handbasket with all of this. This political correctness like you say, you call people the wrong pronouns and all that. It's just it's stupid right now. But I don't know if special needs is the right term for people like Connor but educate us because I don't know. I know. Autistic people I know people that are handicapped. I know people that have special needs. But talk to us about that a little boy,

Qwynn  59:30

I think that you have to understand that it is a spectrum. And there is no true definition of where somebody lies on it. You know, I mean, there's there's ways to describe, you know, some more high functioning people or independent I think is the type of independence they have is a good way to go about it. Level of, you know, abilities that they can things that they can do independently on their own. And I guess you know, The way that the way that I kind of describe Connor is he's like My Little Big Brother, you know. And I think that something that's been really cool is watching Connor watching him grow, especially since I've moved away from home. You know, I've I have seen all the things that he's accomplished and done as he's grown up. And, you know, that's a testament to my parents and our family and getting him involved in so many things. Connor needs to be busy. Yes, very routine base. And when something comes in and is messing up that routine, it's a very anxiety ridden thing for him. Not that it's it could be a bad anxiety, but it's just He gets excited and will repeat himself. Okay, that's one of the things that he'll he'll do because he gets so he gets, I guess what it could be described as is tunnel vision about, you know, and so what he does now is he goes to a job program every day. So we'll go from about 815 to 245, or I think in and that says Monday through Friday, and it's through a nonprofit organization in Cleveland, that they're awesome jfsa. And they go and do volunteer work at the food kitchen, the Cleveland Food Bank, and they'll go and they'll garden and work in sort medical supplies and stuff that's, you know, it gives them a purpose, because aren't my goal. I mean, our family goal for Connor is to have independence and to be you know, a functioning contributing member to society. Absolutely. Yeah. And that's something that I mean, for every person that has a disability, physical, mental, however you want to describe it or a special need. There's going to be different goals and different different things that they want to personally accomplish in their own time, you know, absolutely. And that's what we at Connors hope, try to provide is just accessibility and opportunity to support wherever you're at in your journey, especially as an adult, because when you age out of the public school system at 22 years old, you're on your own, you have to go and find your own programs, your own grants, your own things to be doing on a daily basis. And it's kind of a forgotten community. And we saw the need, and you know, we're very grateful and very blessed to live in my family. I mean, I'm talking for like my parents and everything. The reason why we moved to Mayfield Heights was because of the school systems, and they had a great special needs program. So and great, great classes. You know, Connor was always around other kids, and not just the kids in his in his special ed class. And it really, you know, helped the kids as well, just the normal school kids interact and be open to diversity and not have an opinion or a certain view towards the kids that were different than them, you know. And I think that that's so cool. And it's so necessary and yeah, I don't know, I just I love them so much. And he's grown and one thing that Connor and I are so similar in is our love for music. Oh my god, if there's a song on and it's got a good beat to it. Connor is gonna be dancing. He is he's that guy. Like he loves music. He loves seeing bands. He loves live music we brought my parents actually brought him to Nashville, last Memorial Day last year, and we took them to Broadway and did the honky tonk thing and he loved listening to the bands. And they were an all of the people that we were around. Redneck Riviera, specifically, everybody was just like, you know, drinking happy, having a good time. And we're so embracing and accepting and loving towards him, which was so cool. And he was having the time of his life and kind of as a social butterfly, like he's a Leo. I don't know if any listeners out there into Zodiac stuff. I think it's, I just think it's fascinating. I think it's cool. But Connor is very outgoing. He's very extroverted, loves to be the center of attention. And he just, you know, had such a great time. And it's just so cool. And that kind of connects to something that I think we can all relate to is that music is a universal language. And it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, what your background is, where you're at in your life, like music brings people together. Sure. And that is something that I, you know, crave and that I love and that's why I love doing what I do, you know, and the arts just in general do. So it's, it's just really cool to to see how he lights up when, when some music is playing or there's a song that he loves.

Randy Hulsey  1:04:44

That's really cool. Well, I think I think I told you last night, again in Iran are shouting over the music but my wife's niece, her son is autistic, he's nonverbal, and he was in my head. else for for five days. And it's just interesting to watch, the mannerisms and the way they work. And I've had several guests on my show, I was out in LA in February doing an interview with Bethany Heaven's stone, or the bass player for the Graham bonnet ban. And I said, Well, you know, I'm going out here to do this interview and her her son is autistic. So let me let me bone up on my autistic research. Let me let me try to let me try to wrap my head around it. And I was flabbergasted in the amount of information on autism and also how, how many, how there are so many different types of autism like this not like saying you're autistic, and it's everybody's lumped into the same category. It's all.

Qwynn  1:05:57

And I really emphasize it is a spectrum. Yeah, it is a spectrum.

Randy Hulsey  1:06:01

Well, and I think you had told me that Connor is verbal, right? So there's the ease of communicating with him? Well, in some of the Savant type of traits that some on the spectrum have are phenomenal, right? The musical talents or

Qwynn  1:06:22

the memory, the ability to pick up something a skill so quickly, musically inclined people that are on the spectrum, the way that they can, you know, play a piano piece one time and then get out and play here at one time. Yeah, it's just it's, the brain is such a crazy theme. It is.

Randy Hulsey  1:06:42

Just, I don't know if you ever saw this YouTube video, but there's like, this took place in Rome. And it was a guy, they took him up in a helicopter, you know what I'm talking about a hippie guy. So So okay, so this guy, he's, he's, I think they were in the video, they referred to him as an autistic savant. Right. And I don't know if that's right or wrong, but But nevertheless, he was a savant. And they took him up in a helicopter over the city. arome, flew around for 45 minutes in this helicopter, and came back and put him in a room. And in this room was a canvas that was kind of like a flat panel, a curved monitor, on your computer, if you will. But this thing was probably the SOC, it probably spanned from this into the room to that end. And they gave him a pin. And he not only drew the city of Rome, but he drew it to scale. And he drew every window, in every building, every car parked on the street, every traffic light, everything was identical to the snapshot. So imagine that imagine you, you look across at the building out the window right now. And you say how many floors are there? Like, you don't think about it, right. But this, this guy had drone had drawn, every window and every building to scale and the exact number of windows building. And it was like, it was like, literally, like he went up and took a picture in his mind. And came down and replicated it Wow. Which was phenomenal at the end. And I've always been amazed by the musical savant. People that have that it is it really, but that blue that absolutely blew me away. That was really cool. Anyway, talk to the listeners a little bit about upcoming shows, I think you have some upcoming shows, in and around town, and then even out of town as well. So share with the listeners a little bit about what's happening in your world.

Qwynn  1:08:52

So actually, we're having our second annual Congress Hope fundraiser on July 29, in Cleveland, so I'm traveling home for that. And I'm going to be performing probably about an hour set of some stuff, some original songs and covers thrown in there, which is gonna be really cool. And I'm also going to be hosting the event and emceeing it. So that's gonna be really cool and bringing up my team. I'm bringing Matt an art to play along with me. Art's gonna play bass metal play guitar, and I'll play piano in a couple of things as well. And then at the end of August, I'll be back up in Cleveland performing for a fundraiser. It is going to all the proceeds that they raise are going to go to Connors hope, and it's a pub crawl that they do. Oh, cool. And they it's, I'm gonna look up exactly what it is. I'm gonna look at the flyer so I don't mess up exactly what I'm saying. But it's gonna be really fun. So it's a poker run. Okay, and there's going to be I think there's gonna be probably about like 300 400 people. They've got some bands that are going to open and I'm going to headline and all the proceeds are gonna go towards Connors hope so, you know? It's so cool that watching Connor so grow to be what it's become and just I can't wait to be able to help him really provide that, that need that there is for young adults with disabilities to provide them with opportunities. And it's gonna be awesome. It's so cool when you know two passions of yours connect and you get to use them together. Absolutely. It's awesome. So

Randy Hulsey  1:10:24

started the foundation, my dad, okay. I figured it was mom and dad or mom or dad or something. Okay, we started

Qwynn  1:10:31

it back in 2018 and got more in COVID kind of hits. So we let the we let it kind of sit there for a second. But the cool thing about Ohio is, you can have pulled out machines that you can use it to benefit a nonprofit 501 C three. So we've got I'm not this is a question that my dad could answer. But we have multiple full time machines in different locations and convenience stores and some bars around Cleveland. And each month that we actually have passive income coming into the Contras hope accounts. So we have funds that were that were growing and we're raising and we there's so many ideas that we have, I don't want to share too too much of it of what we're going to be able to do with the money that we're raising for a greater impact rather than just little grants that we've been providing thus far. And there. I'm excited to share this eventually in the future. But we're gonna do some really cool things. I'm very excited. And I want to bring Connor south to Nashville as well too. And then really quickly, just jumping back to this is kind of just cool and crazy. And I got the university, whatever you believe the way that people with disabilities and special needs have kind of come into my life as I've been here in Nashville has been really organic and beautiful. In October, I'm actually going to be in a performance of Cinderella with backlight productions, which is a production company here in Nashville that gives young adults opportunities to perform and do shows and musicals and script writing and singing. We're putting on Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella and they are picking a different band or artist to do an arrangement of each song in the show. And they picked me to do a song and we're gonna we're gonna perform it and everyone is gonna get to be Cinderella that wants to be Cinderella. We're all gonna be Cinderella on stage for the song and it's gonna be beautiful. Like, not wait, it's gonna be at the beginning of October October 4. And I'm so grateful that I get to be a part of this. And just It's crazy how coincidences happen. I don't think that a coincidence is a coincidence. I think that if you are if you put good things out into the world, good things will come back to you find what it is your purposes and I don't know not to

Randy Hulsey  1:12:48

reap what you sow or reap what you sow.

Adam Gordon  1:12:51

Yeah,

Randy Hulsey  1:12:52

we've been talking about that. Since we were you know, since we were babies, I mean, that's, you get out of things, what you put into them sometimes, right? It's a pretty simple concept. Well, that's exciting, the shows and then the foundation is super cool.

Qwynn  1:13:07

I feel like you always need to have a purpose behind what you're doing. Absolutely, regardless of what it is. And that always brings me back to gratitude and humility. You know, I'm there are so many things in life that you could pout about and and feel like, you know, defeated by, but you got to return to your gratitude, man. You know, hey, I woke up today, I have my health. I have my family. I have my friends. I have a roof over my head. I get to have this gift and ability to create music and, and connect with people. How cool is that? Yeah. And I was just kind of kind of brings me back.

Randy Hulsey  1:13:45

Yeah. Well, and you know what, kudos to your family for starting first starting such a foundation because I think a lot of people talk about that kind of thing. But they never put a plan in motion. And I've always been the put a plan in motion kind of guy, right? You want it you want to do something? Well, and that's why we both been successful in what we do, right? Because we wake up every day and we have to go as salespeople in the industry that we're in, things just don't come into our lap, we go find things and we go make differences or we we move things to get to, you know, the destination. So your dad is wired that way. He's the perfect person to do such a thing because he's gonna It's an idea and then he's gonna see it through. Right so kudos to them for for Connors hope and it sounds successful. And it sounds like some neat things coming you guys way. So congratulations on that. And from a music perspective, you spoke a little earlier about an EP that you're working on and talk to the listeners in a little bit more detail. What you can share about the new EP any details around it that you know if somebody heard time I'm in, they're like, oh my gosh, I love this. I'm looking forward to the new stuff coming out what can you share with them about the new stuff coming out?

Qwynn  1:15:06

This is my favorite music that I've made thus far to date that I'll finally be sharing with you guys. I've been sitting on it for a little for a little while now.

Randy Hulsey  1:15:14

And it doesn't sound like you're a princess, right? Not baby Quinn

Qwynn  1:15:20

anymore. She's a woman. Okay. But I guess the theme of it is kind of like a serial edge is is how I've been describing it. And it's real, it's raw, it's honest, it's relatable for you know, I feel like being in my 20s and navigating life and so many changes, I mean, life and generals things are gonna change. shits gonna hit the fan one way or another, eventually, you gotta pick yourself back up and figure it out, navigate. But this EP is, is a piece of my heart that I cannot wait to share with you guys and hope that you relate to and find, find a piece of yourself within it, and use it to, to help you stay inspired in life. And know that you're not alone in the feelings that you're going through and experiencing and knowing that, you know, it's, it's all going to be okay. And we're all in this together. And there's, there's a place for you and you are loved and you're wanted and the unknowns are good because they get you eventually to where you want to be sure. You have to, you're not supposed to know exactly what you're gonna end up doing and what path you're gonna be on. But that's the beauty of life. And, yeah, the EP kind of just encompasses all of that and navigating hard times and relationships and life and inner battles. And it's a it's a love letter to me, for me to hear guys about, about the human condition.

Randy Hulsey  1:16:49

That's super cool. Well, and I like your, your thought process and your ideas around helping others and you're you come across as a non self centered musician, and they're so thank you. There's so there's so much Yeah, well, no, there's there's so many musicians, but then there's so many construction workers and there's so many what you know me you pick you pick the person. My point being is there's a lot of people in every industry that are self centered and doing things for themselves. And I totally pick up on that you're not that kind of person. And you're you're the giving kind and the caring kind and and for everyone to win. And I truly believe that that comes from an upbringing to from a from a good family upbringing. And some people just aren't blessed with that upbringing. You and I have that upbringing, right. So yeah. You mentioned earlier where the listeners could find you on social media. I reiterate that for the folks that are on listening so they know where to go find you and how to follow you.

Qwynn  1:17:52

So you can find me everywhere at QWYN in music, that's cute. OB GYN and music. Quinn music, you can find them on Instagram, tik, Tok, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, all the things. Thread. That's a new thing. Now the Yeah, so my music is out everywhere on all streaming platforms. And my artists name is Quinn Kwi n.

Randy Hulsey  1:18:20

And with that, Quinn, it's been a blast to talk to you. It's been great hanging out with you having me last night and then spending more time with you today. It's been a honor to finally get in front of you. And I know I can get your data off my back now. And Bill if you're listening. I just had a text from him this morning. So I need to get back in touch with him. But you're super talented with a bright future ahead. And I wish you all the luck and success in the future. Safe travels back to Ohio tomorrow, I believe tomorrow. Yeah. So and thanks for sharing your story with us. Thank you for giving me a platform salutely That's what it's all about musicians giving back to musicians at the end of the day, right? Well, you guys go out and follow Quinn on our socials and make sure to like, share and subscribe. Also, I asked you to like, share and subscribe to the podcast on Facebook at backstage pass radio podcast, Instagram at backstage pass radio, and on the website at backstage pass radio.com You guys make sure to take care of yourselves and each other and we'll see you right back here on the next episode of backstage pass radio.

Adam Gordon  1:19:29

Thanks so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today's episode of backstage pass radio. Make sure to follow Randy on Facebook and Instagram at Randy Halsey music and on Twitter at our Halsey music. Also make sure to like, subscribe and turn on alerts for upcoming podcasts. If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to share the link with a friend and tell them backstage pass radio is the best show on the web for everything music. We'll see you next time right here on backstage pass. As radio