S3: E4: Sarah Faith - Perfect Hair, Horses, & Harmonies

Sarah Faith Master Mixdown

Sun, 8/14 8:50AM • 1:22:47

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

song, people, wrote, nashville, play, sarah, backstage pass, life, listeners, hear, music, guitar, artist, shit, sports, called, tennessee, friend, bit, years, Orlinda, Tennessee, Nashville, Sarah Faith, Sarah Faith Music, horses, Backstage Pass Radio, Best Music Podcast, Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, Randy Hulsey, Randy Hulsey Music, Randy Hulsey Podcast

SPEAKERS

Randy Hulsey, Sarah Faith, Adam Gordon

Randy Hulsey  00:00

Today we're going from the soccer fields to the studio. Hey, everyone, it's Randy Hulsey here with backstage pass radio. I have tracked today's guests down to Orlando, Tennessee, she has performed the national anthem at NASCAR events, and was a collegiate soccer player that now makes songwriting and performing her livelihood. Keep the volume turned up as we'll chat with Sara faith when we come back.

Adam Gordon  00:22

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  00:51

Hi, Sarah, it's great to see you. Finally, I know we've exchanged some messages back and forth, but glad you're here.

Sarah Faith  00:59

Yeah. Thanks so much for having me. And I really appreciate your patience. It's harder than I would like. But I'm glad we finally made it work.

Randy Hulsey  01:06

It happens. I mean, it seems like the musicians have the craziest schedules going here and there. It's not the typical, you know, eight to five routine thing like corporate America that I've worked in forever. So being a musician myself, I understand the the trials and tribulations of being pulled in many directions all the time.

Sarah Faith  01:28

Yeah. And sometimes it's like, you know, you're sitting around on Thursday at four o'clock, and someone's like, Yo, you want to shift at eight? And I'm like, I mean, I don't know. You. I know.

Randy Hulsey  01:38

That was kind of like your Sunday offering. Right? They wanted you to play Sunday. And you you weren't feeling

Sarah Faith  01:44

Yeah, I was like, I mean, no, no, nobody's gonna be at a restaurant and nine VM. So like, Thanks, but I'm gonna have to catch the next one. Like,

Randy Hulsey  01:52

I don't know. Exactly. Yeah, I can't see too many people being you know, hanging out nine, nine o'clock on a Sunday night, you know, and I mean, I mean, like,

Sarah Faith  01:59

and sometimes it's so unpredictable. Like, sometimes I'll do like a, like a Wednesday at three and make like, 100 bucks an hour. And I'm like, dang, you know, but then, you know, sometimes the person that books is like, I'm gonna give you the primetime slot. I'm like, Oh, thanks. That means a lot to me and walk with his five dogs. About that, I just wasted the whole damn time.

Randy Hulsey  02:21

There's no There's no rhyme. And you will agree with this. There is no rhyme or reason to the freakin tips. You know, right when you think you're gonna make a killing that night and tips. You look in the bucket at the end of the night. And you're like, wait a minute, I thought I saw some people paperclip. Like, and somebody wrote something on a napkin like Don't

Sarah Faith  02:45

quit your day job, guys. Exactly.

Randy Hulsey  02:49

Yeah. And then when you and then when you're not expecting it, you look in the bucket. You're like, wait, I never even saw anybody come up. And there's a lot of money in there tonight. So

Sarah Faith  02:58

yeah, I feel like there's times when I feel like I just like playing the shit out of a song. And I'm just like, oh, man, like, that's bound making like 20 bucks. Cricket. And then I like, play this song that played 6000 times screwed up six weeks Sunday and

Randy Hulsey  03:14

play it again.

Sarah Faith  03:16

Don't make any sense. I

Randy Hulsey  03:17

know. That's crazy. That's crazy. Well, the one the songs that you think you murder, like on stage, and then like two people clap just like really? There's like 400 people in this room and you get to two and

Sarah Faith  03:31

that was more more important than dreams for Rihanna and Byfleet

Randy Hulsey  03:35

like, don't get me started on that. It's kind of sad, but it's people are a lot of times in their own worlds there for sure. But God loves them. How's things in Tennessee we talked a little bit about the weather it's hot hot in Tennessee. What else is shaking in Tennessee for you these days? You're staying busy, I'm assuming?

Sarah Faith  03:59

Yeah, so this month of June has kind of like come out of nowhere and really surprised me. I mean, I've seen like I've had like three or four shows a week this whole month covered the bills, which is always a good thing to be able to say I have made a couple of relationships with a couple new places that I'm hoping to kind of get on their books regularly. really been doing a lot of like duo stuff like I'll bring a drummer and he and I'll just go and like kind of like put some cool stuff together and I don't I just honestly like sometimes it's not sometimes all the times being a musician is it's weird and different and the schedule is always messed up and like it's exhausting like carting all this crap in out of the car and in and out of the restaurant, blah blah. But every single time I'm done with the show, I know that there's nothing else I'd rather do you know, I mean, it's just like, I wouldn't go back to Michigan. I wouldn't leave Tennessee like I'm just I love it here.

Randy Hulsey  04:55

Well, I thought for sure like you hit you are like big time like you have this big road crew you didn't even load your own gear anymore. Right?

Sarah Faith  05:03

Please, please. Yeah, I mean if you silly me silly me my car for me like, but before I played, he's like baby, let me load that up for him like you know what that would be amazing I feel it is a superstar when you load up my Ford Fusion with all of my gear and it's packed to the gills. I love that. It's amazing.

Randy Hulsey  05:23

That's amazing in and of itself that you even letting touch your gear because if you were to ask my wife right now, have you ever loaded Randy's gear in or out? And she would say he doesn't even let me look at the gear. Okay. I don't want you touching anything.

Sarah Faith  05:38

I mean, that helps. He does play guitar. He understands. He gets he's bought guitars his own he knows that like this is this right here? is the equivalent of a small child like, Yeah, I mean, just put it in this case, it's fuzzy. It's nice like doll, you know, like he gets it?

Randy Hulsey  05:55

Well, that's always a nice prerequisite to have somebody that's helping you out that knows the drill, right? It's kind

Sarah Faith  06:04

of like a unwritten resume at this point, like, Do you know what a guitar is? Do you know?

Randy Hulsey  06:11

Well, it's not so much that, you know, I don't mind people carrying the stuff once it's packed. But I never let anybody pack my stuff. Like I rolled the cables. You know, like, I have to do that. Because everybody is so gracious about asking. And it's like, if I let you do that one time, and you leave one cable out, it could jeopardize a whole show. The next show that I go to,

Sarah Faith  06:34

like, if you're someone that doesn't know me, or like, I mean, I don't let anybody roll my cables. That's for real. But like if someone doesn't know like, like, Matt knows how the car gets packed. He knows what goes first. He knows where the cubicles are. And what this it's adult musician. Tetris is very specific. But like, if I'm at a gig and someone's like, Oh, can we help you tear down like tanks? Yeah. Oh, can we help you load? Let me know if you need me to help you take me in your car. I'm like, You know what? I really just, I have to set a boundary. I'm like, I just got a system. I'm just gonna rip it down. I'm just gonna It's no big deal. You know, thank you so much, but you're gonna make my life literally a living hell if you touch my stuff.

Randy Hulsey  07:14

Let's step back a little bit in time to Lake Orion, Michigan. Yeah, so Lake Orion north of Detroit. This is where you grew up, right?

Sarah Faith  07:27

Yeah, born and raised. When did you dragons? Yeah.

Randy Hulsey  07:31

When did you leave? When did you leave like Orion? Do you remember?

Sarah Faith  07:36

I lost like Orient. To go to college. I mean, I went to school a couple hours north of there. And once I moved out for college, I never moved back in. Okay.

Randy Hulsey  07:48

So you've never gone for college? I

Sarah Faith  07:50

was out. Okay.

Randy Hulsey  07:51

Now you went to Alma College. Right? I did. Talk to the listeners a little bit about study there. What were you What were you majoring in? And what did you What did you finish with kind of thing?

Sarah Faith  08:03

Well, it's got nothing to do with what I do right now at all. Of course,

Randy Hulsey  08:07

it doesn't know, of course, who goes to college to do what they're going to actually do? Right? Nobody does that.

Sarah Faith  08:13

You know, and it's stupid. Like I was listening to a podcast earlier today. And it was like someone was talking about, like, how much pressure they put on kids to fail they want to do when they grow up. And I'm like, dude, when I'm 60 I'm still not gonna know what the hell I want to do when I grow up. So like, why would I bother knowing that I was 18 years old anyway. So I go to this teeny tiny school that probably nobody listened to this as ever frickin heard of Alma College, the student enrollment, there was half the size of my high school. Teeny tiny like, but I wanted to play soccer really bad. And I wanted to study graphic design really bad. And I only ended up playing soccer for the entire four years. I get graphic design as soon as I walked through the door, and I got something super generic, like a degree in business administration. I minored in Spanish, with probably enough credits to be a Spanish major, but I just didn't study abroad long enough. So it had to be a Spanish minor. Okay. Yeah. So do you. I don't do and I don't write songs in Spanish. I mean, I guess the business knowledge comes in handy a little bit here and there. Sure. But really, so it's such a jacked up world anyway. And I like you can't plan for it. What's the point of learning about

Randy Hulsey  09:21

it? You went to Alma you played a little soccer at ALMA college then I think you went on and to was it Oakland University and got it got your master's degree?

Sarah Faith  09:32

Yeah, I'm a complete educational masochist like complete bring on the pain as much school as I could not useless schools like I possibly get no. So the deal with that was when I was at ALMA, I was doing a little career called sports information, which is basically just like a career for sports nerds. I'm a huge jock like love sports love stats love the just the nuts and bolts of what why people do what they do on a sports field always have probably always well, sure. So I was working in the athletic department and I worked there two years post grad doing all the things they had, like 49 sports team just think really ridiculous at all. Just like really liberal artsy, like, if you have an interest in it, we will make it happen. Like you want to be a chess player, okay, like, underwater basket weaving all we have Matt like, whatever. So I was doing stats for all that stuff. And I was like, man, you know, I really love this. I would like to do stats forever. Yeah. So I was like, Okay, well, I learned and I want to do it on a larger scale. Because like, you know, d3 is great, no, but it's, you know, if you want to, I wanted to do bigger sports and better sports and better athletes or whatever. So, I went to Oakland, because they were offering me a graduate assistantship. So I can go there, I can do sports info. And while I'm doing that, I get a master's degree for free in two years, I was like, Okay, that's pretty good deal. So I did graphic design when I was in there, too. And you know, did all kinds of sports information stuff with softball and volleyball and cross country and track you know, all this stupid stuff. And, and then at the end, I decided that I really wanted out because it was driving me crazy. So I got the degree and now I don't do anything related to sports at all.

Randy Hulsey  11:20

Well, I was gonna ask you, you. You talked about doing stats, and there was underwater basket weaving I have to, and maybe I'm dumb. But what stats do you track with underwater basket weaving? Like, please be

Sarah Faith  11:35

facetious. I know. Like, how long does it take you to weave this basket? Basket? You know,

Randy Hulsey  11:43

I like to learn. That's why I started a podcast. Right. You know, I've never heard of underwater basket weaving. But yeah, I mean, I'm sure it's happened at some point in time,

Sarah Faith  11:51

you know, and I just, I mean, really, there was any interest group that you want, it was in that 1400 kids at that school, you could probably find it. It was insane. I was like, what? They didn't even have that kind of stuff at Oakland, and they had 20,000 kids at that school.

Randy Hulsey  12:07

I wouldn't say I'm too much of a sports nut anymore. But I spent 17 years in professional hockey as an official and stepped out of that game back in 2012. So I'm sure from being up around the Detroit area. You might you might have watched a Red Wings game or something along along the line.

Sarah Faith  12:27

Yeah, no, um, there are a bunch of things that my dad instilled in me from young age and Red Wings is one of them. Yeah, I'm just like, I know they suck right now. But that's okay. Because it's really hard to be a sports fan of any time, Detroit. So why should hockey be any different?

Randy Hulsey  12:42

So you speak in a sport, you mentioned soccer? Had you played soccer from a very young age? Or did you kind of start playing soccer in your teen years talk, talk to the listeners a little bit about the upcoming with soccer, right?

Sarah Faith  12:56

I'll say I didn't start as young as everyone else did. And when I started and I was like, seven, everyone's starting to work for you know, and they're playing beehive soccer, or they're chasing the ball around the swarm. You know, I started when I was seven. And I started like, indoor, on like a gym floor. And I was the biggest baby on the whole team. Because like, I would fall down and like, put a hole in my pants and get like a basketball court raspberry on my knees and my coach would sit me because I'd be just trying like a stupid baby. It was awful. But then I convinced my mom to sign me up for just like rec league or whatever, which was, you know, at the time, probably all we could afford my mom just was like, in and out of jobs and just like really hard up financially. But then when I moved to live with my dad, I started playing like travel soccer and really started kind of getting into it. So I guess like, you know, most kids when they if they're gonna play travel soccer, they start that really young too. But I didn't start travel until I was like 12 or 13. I was a little bit of a late bloomer. I guess that

Randy Hulsey  13:49

was Yeah. I'm gonna take the listeners on a quick add Sara sit by and I'll be right back and we'll continue our discussion. Have you been thinking that you may need a little exercise in your daily routine while having a little fun doing it? I may have the solution. Hey, it's Randy Hulsey here with backstage pass radio. And about six months ago, I purchased an electric bike from pico trick and just thought about using it as a way to kind of get the blood flow and few days a week. And to my surprise, I find myself on the bike just about every day. Not only am I getting a little exercise each day, but I'm also having a fun time seeing the neighborhood and maybe some areas that I probably would never have seen before I got the bike. Today. My family owns four of these eco trick bikes and we're looking to add a few more soon. Make sure to check out the link in the description below for more details. Thank you guys for sticking around. We're back with Sarah face here out of border Linda, Tennessee, sir. Yeah, about that. So I'd like for you to all the listeners a little bit about a contest that you had entered last year, Ben actually wound up winning that contest. Can you talk to us about that? Yeah,

Sarah Faith  15:13

I'm at the risk of sounding too much like I'm being self deprecating, like, I'll just say, oops, like, Okay, so here's how it went. I was like, I was literally and this is not a joke, like I was, I was literally like scrolling Facebook, and I'm not a social media scroller. It's bad for my mental health. I think social media is awful. Like, and I have no problem saying that, like, if I didn't need it for my job, I freaking wouldn't have it. I'd still be like out, playing on the streets and like going door to door and like sending pigeons and all that crap. Like I wouldn't. I wouldn't spend an ounce of my time on Instagram. I think it's just makes stuff easier. In some regards. It's a blessing in some regards, but also it's like, kind of difficult. It makes life difficult

Randy Hulsey  16:00

with you. It's a necessary evil, right? It's the way that

Sarah Faith  16:03

people act on it. They get like keyboard warrior, and they just feel like they have like, No, I it's just I don't know, manners are a thing. It just gets really hard. But anyway, so I'm scrolling Facebook, and I got this ad on the side of the thing that says, you know, good year from Grace, glory, you could win $10,000 I'm like, Where's the catch? Like, what do you mean, I owe in 10,000. And it was described as, like, a contest designed for musicians, you can't be signed, you must be independent, you must not have a deal, blah, blah. I'm like, Well, good thing. I have no deal. I am assigned. No one's even offered me a deal. And no one's even offered, you know, I get the chips in the bucket. And and that's about it. So I sign up and I, like answer the questions. There's like, you know, some, you know, they answer those those like, are they asked you those, like, heart wrenching was like, what made you get into music and why? Where are you from? And tell us your backstory, blah, blah, blah. Okay. So I hit send on the thing brought, it took me I don't know, 20 minutes to fill out whatever it was. And I'm like, well, signed, sealed, delivered. There goes that if you don't throw the poop, it can't stick. Yeah. But I just I guess I didn't assume that anything was coming of it. And that was I think in maybe like, April of last year. I'm not sure it was more than a year ago. And I'm like, Okay, that's cool. And by the time I had forgotten about it, and email shows up to me, and it was like, Hey, you're a top three finalists mistake. And I was like, You mean that thing I signed up for that seemed like it was completely illegitimate and like no chance in hell, right. So I'm a female artist in Nashville, solo artists and good years, a company in Cleveland, obviously. And I'm up against two bands, full bands that are all male. And they're both from Cleveland. I'm like, Thanks for the top three. That's probably as far as train rolls. And so it went to a fan vote for the month of June, I believe. Well, half of June, half July, it was announced, I believe, July 16, or something. And they're like, Hey, Sarah, we want to set up a, like a zoom call with you. Because we want to get a clip from you that like, Thanks, good year for running the contest. And like talks about how excited you were to have been a part of it and blah, blah, and like, okay, it's my consolation prize. Thanks so much, guys. And so then they surprise me, Tony, that I won this dang thing. And I was like, totally beside myself completely in tears. Like, just could not believe it. biggest blessing. I mean, like, for me for like, everybody that like helped me with a song that I even submitted. Like my whole team. Everybody behind me, like, is a major win for like, all of us. I was just stoked.

Randy Hulsey  18:46

Wow. Yeah. And this was an original song that you had. Okay.

Sarah Faith  18:51

Yeah. So one of the first songs I wrote when I came to Nashville, and I got it produced by, you know, someone's friend and doubt, you know, that got a buddy that does, okay, cool. I didn't know any better. And then when it came out, I was like, Ah, I just don't love it. So then we redid it. And so when I released the album last year, in June, the redone version is what I had submitted to the contest.

Randy Hulsey  19:15

Okay. And it was my understanding that there might have been a couple of 1000 people that entered into that contest,

Sarah Faith  19:23

correct? Yeah, I think if you read one article, the stat says one thing if you read another article assesses or anything, I believe, I believe the correct numbers are 2000 applicants, and then by the time went to a fan vote. Over 80,000 votes. Oh, wow. So I snagged majority of 80,000 votes and if there's anybody listening to this and voted for me, like thank you, because I don't know that many people. I don't know 80,000 People like I got 8000 9000 followers on Instagram and that's not 80,000 sales.

Randy Hulsey  19:56

Yeah, the math is not adding up, right. No,

Sarah Faith  19:58

no, no and I did not have that. Many followers when the time is right have like 3002 slides does not compute in my mind, but I'm so grateful.

Randy Hulsey  20:06

So maybe you had a lot of money and you paid a bunch of people off like, you know, Oh, yeah.

Sarah Faith  20:13

Population 950 With my horse in the backyard just didn't we talk about tip jars?

Randy Hulsey  20:22

And we did we did cover tip jars earlier? Yes, we did. Yes, we did. Part of that part of that. When didn't you get to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Did I get that piece right in my, in my discoveries of Sara faith?

Sarah Faith  20:40

Yeah, part of the grand prize it was here, we're going to give you $10,000. And you can also perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Oh, by the way, you're going to perform as part of induction week and we're going to let you go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the end of the week, which was pretty badass, because the Foo Fighters are being inducted and I'm a huge 90s alternative gal. So like, that was a big deal for me.

Randy Hulsey  21:04

Yeah, that's cool. And not a lot of people get to do that. I've been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one time, but I wasn't asked to play there. Or do anything of the sorts. I just paid my money when I follow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So yeah,

Sarah Faith  21:17

I mean, it's, uh, I got to go through it and what and whatever I got, like this school, they sent me on the school tour to as part of it, um, and they took me into like the vaults like underneath the place. And I got to, I don't know how they, I assume you're a huge like music junkie, and you're gonna really enjoy some of these things. I hope that other people get it too, like Steve Perry's microphone and Neil Peart, snailed, snare drum and like, outfits that prints war and all this other just like stuff that they just don't. People just don't get to see I was like, this is pretty lit.

Randy Hulsey  21:49

It is. It is, I think, when I went there, I went there on business, and I took the time to go see the, the shrine, and I think I spent like six hours in the place, like, like, literally, and I did that. When I played out in Nashville, October of, I think it was 2020. I did the same thing with the Country Music Hall of Fame, you know, where I wanted to go by myself because I didn't want anybody tugging me in this direction, or that direction. Or, let's go I'm tired of this, you know, that kind of thing. So I just, but it was pretty much an almost all day affair for me. Because I'm a sponge when it comes to the music stuff, probably like you are as well, right? Yeah. Or we wouldn't.

Sarah Faith  22:34

I mean, there's some stuff in there that I was like, I mean, whatever. But like, if you're gonna tell me that there's an entire floor dedicated to Eddie Van Halen. I'm gonna just sit there. Anywhere. I don't want anybody to ask me where I'm going next. Because I don't know.

Randy Hulsey  22:51

Going with the flow, right, wherever, wherever my legs. Take me. That's where I'm going next. Well, you've mentioned and we've mentioned several times during the course of the interview so far that we mentioned or Linda, and for the listeners, you know, I'm trying to paint this picture in the mind's eye that or Linda is and you can correct my geography if I'm wrong, but this is a small town. I think it's what a about an hour north of Nashville right on the Kentucky border. Is it not? Am I Am I correct? Yeah.

Sarah Faith  23:23

Yeah, I do this thing where I totally scam and I go shopping in Kentucky. Because it the sales tax is 3% lower than in Tennessee. Three. I'm three miles from Kentucky. So like Sylvie?

Randy Hulsey  23:37

Last I heard there's not a law against doing that. Right. So Border Patrol is exactly 3% or 3%. Right.

Sarah Faith  23:47

So what I'm saying teeny tiny town, literally population 938 or something ridiculous. I mean, we have a four way stop. I've got a general store. It's about it.

Randy Hulsey  23:57

But But Orion was not a small town, right? Oh, Ligurian.

Sarah Faith  24:01

No, not a small town at all. Like, the my high school attendance was larger than the population where I live right now.

Randy Hulsey  24:09

So or Linda is a small town and how do you find Orlando like you move to Tennessee? Like what was the drawl to Orland versus Nashville? Right or for a bigger or a bigger city right?

Sarah Faith  24:26

Yeah, well and I'll I'll say to like for anyone that ends up like if you're already a fan of mine, or if you end up following me on social media, I'm pretty much an open book like you're gonna learn pretty quick that like last year was interesting for me. I went through a divorce and all kinds of stuff. So like when we first moved to Tennessee, I did not move to Orlando I moved to Dixon which still was 45 minutes outside of Nashville, because I have no interest living downtown Nashville. totally honest. Like I'd rather it's more affordable if you live outside of Nashville plus, you know, we wanted land and blah, blah, blah. So you know, then that didn't end up working out. And it's all good. So but I mean, I still have a horse and two goats and I need land. And I need affordable land now because I'm paying for it on my own. So I got a realtor and we went to work finding someplace that would work for me and that I told her 360 degrees around this city in Nashville. And so that was the best location. I mean, I've got I've got great land. I got a nice house, and I'm happy.

Randy Hulsey  25:27

Awesome. Now, you mentioned it a little bit, but you also have the side project of running a small animal farm. Correct. Right. Talk to right talk to the listeners about Old MacDonald's Farm that you have going on up in Tennessee?

Sarah Faith  25:42

Yeah. Okay. So I've always had dogs. I mean, like, I had Cooper, my dog that passed away in August. I had him for nine years. And I got in when I was living by myself when I was going to Oakland and blah, blah, blah. And my family was like, Oh, it's so great that you have a dog you live by yourself as like, you don't know this guy. So I you know, I have like a small obsession with animals. I got my mom's dogs and then now we've got this new guy, Luca. But when we lived in Dixon and I had an acre of land, I was like, you know, what would be amazing for this land is like goats. So I figured that I could probably find someone that would sell me some goats. I was in the middle of the country. And, sure, shit, I'd found someone that could sell me two goats real cheap. Turns out I've never had goats before. But they're easier than dogs are cheaper than dogs are funnier. In some instances. And dogs. I was like, this is cool. So we built a little structure in the backyard, blah, blah. And then I got on this thing I want to call me, you know, like, I mean, this is this is great. No, I love goats. I love when they start fighting when the sun goes down, and blah, blah. And I was like, I really want a pony. And I kept asking for one and asking for one. And my ex husband was like, no, not getting your pony. Like, that sounds crazy. Like I don't even know what you think this is like. But then one showed up for my birthday. And I was like, right on, right on. I was like living every five year olds dream. I had a petting zoo in my backyard. So I brought you know, when that fell through, I took the whole dog and pony show literally.

Randy Hulsey  27:20

How funny so you still have the dog and pony show them?

Sarah Faith  27:23

Oh, yeah. Plus two goes.

Randy Hulsey  27:26

Well, it's my understanding and educate me if I'm wrong, but I always have heard that horses are really well, you have a pony? I don't know. Is it a horse now is is it just a pony?

Sarah Faith  27:38

She said her half and so like some, like some ponies look kind of fat and stocky. Like she's got the body of a horse. She's just a mini horse. She's like, skinny and like sit and really pretty. Because she's just like, not huge.

Randy Hulsey  27:50

Yeah. So I guess my question there was I hear they're expensive to take care of. Is there any Oh, can you validate that? Or is that are debunked that myth?

Sarah Faith  28:02

I think I'll put my foot down on that one and squish it a little bit. I mean, I you know, we rescued her. So she wasn't I didn't pay 10 grand for this horse or anything like that. I don't know. I think she might have been like 1500 to rescue or something. And someone brought her to us. I mean, she eats grass. She eats hay. She eats

Randy Hulsey  28:24

oats? Yeah, maybe they meant from a from a vet bill like, you know, maybe they've had horses, where I've heard this before. Maybe they're expensive to take to the vet. Right? They can

Sarah Faith  28:35

be like, but I'll say with my animals. As I hope I don't catch flack for this, but I don't know I kind of treat health with myself and animals is more of like a natural thing. So like, I don't probably do a lot of the stuff that a lot of people do because I just don't inject chemicals in my animals. I don't know. And do you? Do you ride her?

Randy Hulsey  29:02

Let me rephrase that question. Do you write Do you ride the horse?

Sarah Faith  29:06

Yeah, well, I can I can show let me get on her from like the other side of the yard to the shed and then she just stopped so Archie. Jenny, get off right. So you said ready for my cookies now lady.

Randy Hulsey  29:20

She's a show horse then she's not our writing.

Sarah Faith  29:23

No, she's she's like, just pretty and just hangs out. She used to be a petting zoo pony. So she did give pony rides. That was her job. I got her cool. She's retired now and she's like, Bitch, I'm trying to work.

Randy Hulsey  29:36

Better get off my back. You better get off my goddamn back. Right. So show so shifting gears on you a little bit. I wanted to get to maybe some more of the important stuff like your music. Talk to me a little bit about when that kind of music hit you like When did you get into music? Have you always been into music? Or did that start late or Tell me a little bit about

Sarah Faith  30:00

that. So I was a seven year old bedroom hairbrush singer, okay? And I've been an only child my whole life. I entertained the crap out of myself my whole just just a lot of solo entertainment. And it came in the form of like singing and like dancing in front of my mirror like a complete moron. And just like all that dumb stuff, got into choir at like, seventh grade started reading music, always, like just ate music up. You know, I was that annoying kid that like, never stopped playing her recorder. Okay, anyone that has kids already hates recorders even

Randy Hulsey  30:38

before they even hear. Right now I get it already hated. Like, right up there. It's right up there with a kazoo.

Sarah Faith  30:47

I was squawking that thing, right parents are pissed off. Oops. I mean, I just I really loved like, the chapel has been like a maths brain. I love reading music. And like, there's always there's only one right answer and music, you know, like, it's, it's art, but it's maths, you know? So I was in choir forever and ever. When I was in high school, I started getting opportunities to do like honors choirs and that kind of stuff. And I was like, oh, cool, we can do choir, but we can do it in competition, which my soccer brain really liked. Um, it was fun, really fun aspect, I got to do a lot of cool stuff with that. And then I ended up having the opportunity to audition in college for a vocal scholarship. So I did that. And that was really cool. And then all the while. I mean, I was writing poetry as versions of coping with like my childhood and like, all that crap. So poetry was kind of like on the side burner and music. And I was doing like all these different stuff. But then I think like, I picked up a guitar when I was 13. And I was like, Oh, I kind of like this. And then I put it down for a while and then play it that much. And, you know, it was one of those things like a Baghdad for guitar, and he bought one for me. And I was like, Cool. This is great. Played for two months. Kind of got tired of it. And I sat there and collected dust. But then like, you know, really fast forward, I joined a band and Michigan. I was singing karaoke one night just so random. I was like, out for a girls night now seeing karaoke with my neighbors. And this lady was standing in the back of the thing. And she was like, hey, like, I have a friend who's looking for a backup singer for his band, like, Would you be interested? I was like, I mean, I don't know if you're serious or not. So I guess I'll say yes, I don't know, like, what's going on here. So I did some research and found out like, it was kind of a cool band, and they kind of had a cool thing going on a little shit and whatever. So I auditioned. And, you know, as soon as I got done with the audition, that guy was like, I mean, I have two other auditions, but I'm gonna take them for formality. Like this job is yours if you want it was like, okay, so I started playing like rhythm guitar and background vocals for that band and Michigan. And then like, I kept getting this little like, tip tap on my, like, brain window and my heart window from God that was like, hey, like, you know, like, you're gonna have to do this more seriously. Like, it's like, shit, you know? Now I gotta actually take this seriously, when I was just kind of doing it as a joke. I mean, not like a joke. I don't want to play it off. Like, I wasn't serious. I was very serious. I wanted really good to be really good. And but I just didn't think it was like a career thing. I was a side chick saying, you know, like, not, you know, forget it. But then like, we went to Nashville once and I crossed over the border of Tennessee, and my heart felt different. It felt like, you're gonna live here. And I was like, you crazy. Whatever is talking to me right now. Like, I don't know. But I went back home and my ex husband and I talked about it. And I was like, I think I need to move to Nashville. She was like, okay, so we just moved, and I told my band, I had to leave. And that went, how it went. And I came down here and became a solo artist. I mean, it's just like, I just did the damn thing, you know, and I'm not, you know, obviously rolling in dough or anything, but like, I am blessed to be able to write songs and play them for a living. Sure. Well, money.

Randy Hulsey  34:06

Money is not the most important thing in the world. It's I mean, it's important. Don't get me wrong, but it doesn't. It doesn't necessarily buy happiness either.

Sarah Faith  34:16

No, I mean, I said all the time. Like, I don't think that money has really ever been my chosen currency. If it was, I would have saved up my graphic design job, I would have stayed in sports information, I would have stayed at places that I try to climb ladders and overachieved my way up, and for sure figured out a way to stay in sports as a female just frickin hard. You know, I could have made the salaries and done those things and whatever, but it just wasn't worth my time. And the money wasn't my currency. So I just had to leave.

Randy Hulsey  34:47

Yeah, I totally get it. So you talked about the guitar 13 you get your first guitar. Are you are you a self taught guitarist or was there some formality in learning of the guitar for you. In the

Sarah Faith  35:02

beginning, I was self taught. Yeah, I was like reading guitar books and like trying to pick up tablature and that kind of thing, which probably goes along with like my maths saying, like, I just can look at something and be like, Okay, I mean, I guess I can kind of figure this out, you know. But then I got to a point about five, six years ago where I was like, You know what, I'm gonna have to get someone better than me that can teach me how to do stuff. So. So I'm this amazing guitar teacher in Michigan. Her name's Judy. She's fantastic. She started teaching me Okay, she's very bulky and very Americana. So she was like, teaching me a lot of like, cool finger picking stuff. And we were really digging deep into like theory and reading notes and that kind of thing. And I had an also a really amazing guitar teacher. When I got to Nashville. His name was Todd. And he started teaching me more, you know, like, putting me in the direction of leading me to be like, more of an electric guitar like lead player. It's kind of the road that I'm on right now. Okay.

Randy Hulsey  36:01

How do you like the lead play and versus the rhythm play? And do you have a preference of one or the other because I'm more. I play in a duo here in Cyprus, and I'm the rhythm guitarist, and the primary vocalist, even though Chris sings, too, but he's a phenomenal player, right? So I know my lane. So I didn't know if you and your man, when you're playing, do you share in the lead responsibility? Or do you just kind of stay in your lane of um, the rhythm guitarist and the vocalist. And that's how that works.

Sarah Faith  36:35

So I think right now, I'm just going to call myself out. I think right now I'm playing a little bit small. And I'm putting all the levers most majority of the lead responsibilities on my guitar player. I know in my heart, I don't want to do that. I want to share them. So I'm working my way up to that. Like when I play solo, now, I've been working really hard on getting my Looper in so that I can play leads. Because I think, for a long time, I was dealing with this thought that like, Oh, I'm in Nashville, and lead guitar players are a dime a dozen, you can go out right now. And you can find someone that can play you Stairway to Heaven, and Freebird and blah, blah, blah. And they can play just like the record. And it's perfect. And like, I put myself in this box of like, oh, well, I can't do that. So that must mean I can't do that, you know. Um, and I think lately, I've kind of taken on this attitude of like, you know, what, how I play guitar is how I play guitar. And if I want to play some leads, cool. I've written currently the way that the leads are on, like, the demos that are going on the record, like I wrote all of those who like, I know how to play those who don't really have an excuse not to play. Um, and you know, just like really getting a lot more comfortable with hearing songs that I really love. And then just sitting here for a couple hours and just learning it. Yeah. I think I've gotten myself to a point where I understand the fretboard well enough to sort of be able to figure out where the shapes are, and where people are getting most of their licks. And it's just cool to be able to hear that, I guess, you know, once you reach a certain point, it's cool to kind of hear like, Okay, well, if I wanted to play that interval, I think that would be here, I can kind of get pretty close. So you know, it's just like a work in progress. And a lot of just being like, I stay in my lane, in some instances, because I want my lead player to have a job. Yep. But also, I mean, I think there's something to be said for like, you know, guitar battles and like sharing that, you know, just like, I get a lot of life and a lot of joy from playing guitar. So I'd like to do more of it.

Randy Hulsey  38:47

Absolutely. You would talk a little earlier about poetry and writing and that lent itself to you know, becoming a songwriter. Do you remember how old you are when you wrote your first song? And do you remember the song?

Sarah Faith  39:03

Oh, God, I mean, like, my neighbor friend and I would be the Spice Girls. And we would just like, bitch and moan over who got to be sporty sighs like to free. But I mean, like, I was writing like shitty songs like playing keyboard in the garage with her. Just like really dumb stuff, not about anything. And I'll say that my first like, Song Song was probably after I joined the band in Michigan, because the guy that led that band wrote original stuff, and I was like, Oh, shit, like, I forgot about that, you know, like, oh, I can maybe try that because I have feelings for days and trauma for days. So I mean, I could probably write something. So I just kind of started. I kind of dove headfirst into it at that point, I think for real. Yeah.

Randy Hulsey  39:54

Let's chat about discography a little bit and if I and off based on songs or timelines. You correct me, but you had a single call before you that I think you released in 2020. Right? Yeah. So far, so good. Okay. And then you had released, honest and rock bottom and 2021 is singles, right?

Sarah Faith  40:23

I did and I released before you Volume Two as a single as well before I dropped the whole album.

Randy Hulsey  40:29

Okay. And then you also released an LP and 2021 called Lessons from the archives. Right? Correct.

Sarah Faith  40:39

So I released a few singles off of it as just kind of like little teasers and like, something's coming and like it's a big project. And because I'm not like a single release are by nature, I don't, I just don't feel like I relate to that kind of model. As an artist, I prefer bodies of work and thought processes. And I think, you know, if I have a lot to say about a topic, I might as well just say it all, you know, it's hard to end lessons from the archives. Like is cramming the first 30 years of my life into seven songs, I probably got 39 More that maybe I'll release at some point, but um, you know, those were the ones that I felt needed to come out at that point.

Randy Hulsey  41:30

Okay. And I would like to feature a couple of songs from that LP. The first one is a song called Honest, I'll share the clip and then we'll come back and chat about the song. Baron. Okay, I love that yeah the same thing

Sarah Faith  41:54

I can't look you in the eyes and tell you things okay you in the loops ease in my head. I'm not saying the snake has his arm hurt.

Randy Hulsey  42:57

That was a song called honest from the 2021 LP title lessons from the archives. I hear another Well, I have to say that I saw I've listened to that song probably 20 times or so. And he said that Yeah. Yeah, I gave you a tiny streams. That's not why I listen to it. But you're welcome all the same. I think it's more of just trying to get inside the song and understand the song. That's kind of me I'm inside the song kind of, of person. I hear another big artist in that I won't call out her name. But that's it's a great thing. I love this. I love the song. And I think the more I listened to the song, the more I like it. share with the listeners. Inspiration. What inspired that song for you?

Sarah Faith  43:53

So I wrote that song in 2020 I believe is that accurate? No. Are you asking me? Are you thinking 19 2019 I'm totally thinking out loud here. I'm just like, Go Sarah. Come on. I know that you know the answer to this that you're asking yourself. So answer it dammit. So I wrote it in 2019. Okay. I had just recently moved to Nashville. Ah, vulnerability cool on your podcast, Randy. Yes,

Randy Hulsey  44:27

absolutely. I'm here. This is this is your platform. You can talk about anything you want to talk about.

Sarah Faith  44:35

Flying pigs. Okay, so inspiration for the song honest I had. My mom had passed away in 2017. I got married in 2018. We moved to Nashville in 2019. I had a photography career that I put in the dumpster and lit it on fire because I want to be a songwriter, you know. And I think on the surface I was holding it together, okay. But then ultimately also, I guess part of the story once my mom passed away, then my grandma passed away, and then my uncle passed away. And I was the executor of all their estates. So, I mean, I was just, I was in a shitstorm to put it lightly. And I didn't know honestly, mentally, I really felt like I didn't know which direction was up. And I've been through shit my life like I've been through the wringer. You know, my childhood was racking, there's all kinds of stuff going on and whatever. But like that was like, you know, 20 years later, just another bulldozer comes and just like frickin wipes me out. And so when I wrote that song, I had taken myself out of my house, where I was living, I was living with my ex at the time, and I was like, I need to, I need to go someplace, like by myself, like, I'm gonna take the dog, and we're gonna go to a cabin, I'm gonna get an Airbnb. And I'm just gonna go for a couple days and try to sort my brain out because right now I'm not, I'm not doing this, right, I'm not doing this well. And I really need to just go do something else and get out of here. So I was laying in the middle of the floor of this, Airbnb, and this melody came to me and these words came to me about like, I mean, I felt like I wanted out of everything at that point. Because like I say, I just had so much going on in my head that I just couldn't, I wasn't doing it right. And it was just time for me to stop lying to myself and keep trying to wear the happy face and be so much joy and sulk and go, I'm gonna go to church, and I'm so good. Everything's great. And I'm in Nashville, and I'm writing songs. And it's okay Dad, I've battled together, you know, like I was falling apart. And it was just time for me to come clean about all that.

Randy Hulsey  46:42

That's interesting that you say all that, because I've done some digging on you, which I'm supposed to do. Right. That's what the interviewer does. Right? And I don't want to talk about the subject at all. But But I want to touch on it. I think, correct me if I'm wrong, there were your mom had challenges in her life. Right? Yeah. So you know, you have that, you know, you talk about fall into pieces, you go through a divorce. It's interesting that you say all that because we never know what people are going through in their life, the facade looks one way. But it's so different. Sometimes. Like, I look at you and say, what a beautiful gal, she's a songwriter in Nashville, I teased you earlier about having the greatest hair on the internet, you know, you, you're the All American girl looking, you know, through the screen. My point being is, we all have challenges, we, we all have things that are going on behind the scenes that the world doesn't know about, right? It doesn't matter how nice we look how pretty our hair is how, you know, great our tattoos look or anything like that we all have. We're all humans, right? We're all you know, we all have the daily challenges, right? Yeah. And nobody's really exempt to, to those. So thanks for sharing the inspiration behind the song. Hear that?

Sarah Faith  48:08

I think that for me as a songwriter, that's kind of been my MO the entire time, is like if I have to, if I had to go through all that stuff, I might as well use it for something. So it doesn't do me any good to write a song and not tell the story behind it. You know, there's, there's kind of, there's something to writing it just generic enough and not specific enough to my own exact scenario, so that someone else going through something similar can still relate to it and use it for themselves. But ultimately, the vast majority of stuff that I write is stuff that all truly did happen to me, which I believe is kind of the reason I do this. I love the

Randy Hulsey  48:50

vulnerability, right i i appreciate that I respected I made the comment earlier about I hear another artist in your voice and because we're talking about vulnerability right now I'll I'll share the name because there's a reason why I'll share the name. Her name is Morgan, Wade. Okay. And if you're Yeah, yeah, totally love her stuff. And she's also one of these artists that wears her feelings and her story on her sleeve. There's no There's no hiding there's no sugarcoating. She's just Oh, absolutely. And so that that's the only reason why I brought her name up because you know, you have a vulnerable side to just like I do, and you put it out there you don't hide behind. Oh, my life's glamorous. I have no problems kind of thing. And I think I think there's healing in that. And I think that from a fan perspective, they find your real and that's that's something that I dig in an artists like, Sarah is vulnerable. She's a human just like I am. She wears her heart on her sleeve. I respect that 10 times more than somebody that puts up a facade that they don't have shit going on in their life, right? So yeah, kudos to you for that.

Sarah Faith  50:03

Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, in my like, friend circle, I've got some really close girlfriends. And, you know, we all kind of have a similar opinion about Instagram and it's other evil twins. And it's like, that's just the highlight reel, like you're going through that people are like, Oh, look how happy I am today. Three minutes later, their coffee spills in my lap, they burn their lives to death. Their kid tells him they hate them, or they get in a crash, even when there's like, there's shit going on all the time. Yeah. And I just think that, you know, those things. They're not worth hiding. Because, like, I, I can appreciate and respect the low points in my life for what they are. But also because like, without them, like, how do I appreciate the high points? Like, how do I appreciate this situation that I'm in right now where I feel like, I hit the damn lottery, honestly, you know, I've got just like, so many blessings in my life right now. And it didn't come without a little blood and instant tears. But I mean, I really feel like I'm, I'm kind of sitting pretty, it's not perfect. I'm not, I'm not trying to paint that picture. But I will say that, like, I learn every day that like there's some beautiful ship Hidin on the other side of your fears, and all the stuff you don't want to go through, you kind of have to I agree

Randy Hulsey  51:18

and Steve Miller wrote a song called jet airliner a lot of years ago. And you know, there's a

Sarah Faith  51:23

big old jet in a lineup

Randy Hulsey  51:26

and, and there was a there was a phrase in the song that says you got to go through hell before you get to heaven. And that there's there's nothing more true to that. Yeah. To. Yeah, was the was the song honest. A quick write for you. Did it take some time?

Sarah Faith  51:45

I was so emotional. When I wrote that song. It kind of came out in about two or three hours. I tweaked it. I mean, it wasn't like perfect when I got it done. But like I had the words and I knew the chords. The night I wrote it. I mean, I was like, I was in a space. I mean, like I was in a just bawl your eyes out, say shit, you would normally say, just put it out there, you know, like, I'm, here I am, like, I'm falling in and out of love. And I'm a hot mess. And I don't even know which way is up or like, I'm staying honest. You know, I mean, I got nothing for you at this point. Besides just pure honesty, it's all I got left. I everything else has been taken from me.

Randy Hulsey  52:22

Yeah. And that's a great trade. I mean, that's, you know, you could seal the deal on that trade alone, you know, the, you know, a new boyfriend comes along, and that, you know, he sees the vulnerability and honesty is a lot. It's kind of, I mean, that's all some people want is just a partner that is honest right now. Everything else is just gravy. But you have

Sarah Faith  52:45

to have honesty. I mean, not that I have lived my life as a dishonest human. Maybe one that wanted to pretend that everything wasn't crashing down from a young age like yeah, I'll admit to that for sure. As a seven year old, I didn't want to come to school. Yeah, you know, I'm not trying to come to school and make friends by being like, hey, my home life is a mess. Let's be friendly. like nobody's doing that. No. But I will say that, like a core value for me right now. It's just like, I mean, communication, dude. Like, real stripped down real honest. Like, this is how it is and like, this is what I got. And like, what we're doing Yeah, this is gonna be this because I don't know how to do anything else, you know?

Randy Hulsey  53:29

Well, and all the hardships that we face in life, whether it's bad home life, bad family life, a divorce, whatever the case may be, right? I think it it builds us into the person that we are and it makes us stronger. You know, like, you know, the there's another old adage, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right. So there's a lot of truth in that as well. I want to share another clip from the LP and this is a song called I can't, we'll let the listeners Take a listen to that and we'll come back and chat about that one as well Fair enough. I can stay seated at these tables. That's a song called I can't that that's a beautifully crafted song, sir. Good, good job on that. I did. Absolutely. Dare I ask what that one was inspired from?

Sarah Faith  55:31

Sure. It's sort of similar in nature, I guess. So all that stuff was falling down. And I had some friends that had been in my life for about a decade. And kind of when they found out, I mean, they kind of, for just, you know, shortness purposes and lack of a better term, they kind of turn their backs and said, you know, what, we don't really agree with the way that you're doing all this. We can't, we can't get down on this. And I was like, you know, thinking to myself, like, I haven't had an easy ride up until this point. Hard times don't really surprise me anymore. You know, like, especially then, like, I was like, I mean, I'm not surprised. You know, I wasn't surprised my mom passed away. I wasn't surprised. I knew it was gonna happen. I wasn't surprised that a bunch of shit fell on me at the same time. I'm not surprised by that. Because, you know, not that I expect it to happen. But when it does, I'm not gonna, you know, keel over and die. I mean, like, it's not easy. Excuse me, it's not easy. It wasn't easy on my brain at all. That I didn't feel like it was any different than me opening up to them. Yeah, earlier points and being like, hey, like, I've gotten mental illness stuff from this and my childhood and blah, blah, you know, so they're like, well, we didn't know this, and you didn't tell us and blah, blah. And, you know, we, we can't be friends with you. And I'm like, I mean, okay. So, I started thinking about, like, you know, I guess I saw that after this long of friendship, like, you would know me by now you would know my character. And you would know that, like, when I'm acting out as a human, it's not my real character. I'm acting out because I'm hurting. I'm acting out and doing things against my character, because I don't know which direction I'm supposed to be going right now. Like, I'm, I'm like, in a freaking, like, chamber, and I've been like, tossed around, and I forgot, which direction is like, you know, humans doing human things. And I thought about, like, you know, like, if my friends are in trouble, you know, that's what this is where the table turn line comes from, like, if my friends are in trouble. Like, I'm not walking out. Yeah, you know, I'm not there's come hell or high water, you know, you can do anything, I don't care what you do. You can, it can be credit worthy, they can be whatever, I'm not walking out. Like, I like to think that I know, the character of the people that I spend my time with. And when they do something out of character, I've done all kinds of shit that's out of my character. You know, like, I've got what I believe is really good character. Yeah. And for, to feel like, their whole idea of me was ruined over some out of character. Things that I did, like, it just wasn't, it didn't sit right with me. So I wrote about it and kind of came up with like, I just can't, I can't explain myself to you, if you don't want to understand, you know, it's after. If after seeing all these things that you've seen of me in my life, if you don't get it by now, I can't explain it to you. Sure. It's about as honest as I can deal

Randy Hulsey  58:52

with that when you talk. You know, you touched on mental things right in the owners I'm going back to that is because I think like you if I'm not mistaken, I like you have had the bouts with anxiety and depression over the years. They're very real things. Hopefully yours is at bay and under control. I don't know and we don't need to divulge that here. But I have

Sarah Faith  59:22

a lot of tools in the toolbox does figure it out it does. And

Randy Hulsey  59:25

the only reason why I bring that up because it's it's something that's very near and dear to me and I I always challenge the listeners. If they're going through the anxiety and depressions that there's there's help out there for them. It can be it can be squashed. It can it can be fixed to a degree and there's always a support system and me. I'm not a hard guy to find on the internet and I had an interview with Andrew chest stayin out of Murphy, North Carolina, and he wrote a song about a friend that had taken his own life because of you know, various reasons. But you know, Anxiety and depression being in there. And, and I told him on the show that, you know, I challenge the listeners to call myself or Andrew, if there's anybody that ever has a problem with that and get so low that they need to talk. I mean, I've been in those dark places myself, right. And they, they absolutely suck. So that's the only reason why I was I was bringing that up.

Sarah Faith  1:00:21

Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think that a big part of my music as well, is that subject matter it is saying like, I mean, just because I'm the one singing it doesn't mean I'm the only one sealing it. Oh, absolutely. You know, I'm trying to say things that I know a bunch of people are going through,

Randy Hulsey  1:00:42

you're the voice for a lot of people. Yeah,

Sarah Faith  1:00:44

you know, I'm trying to sit here and say like, I'm not the only one that's going through that went through a divorce. I'm not the only one that's got to move on. I'm not the only one that had childhood problems are the only one who dealt with multiple family desks and just like a shit campaign. Like, I'm not the only one. So I don't have a problem. If this is the way that God wants me to talk about it. And this is this the platform that God wants me to use? I don't have a problem doing that. Yeah, no, I agree with that. I like go by the motto of like, whenever I walk into a room, like sometimes it should, it's hard to talk about. Sometimes it's hard to say. But like, I don't get to decide that. Because like my life went the way that it went. And I was told that this is my responsibility. And like I never know who needs to hear what I have to say. Absolutely. So I just have to do it. This is what I have to do. It's kind of

Randy Hulsey  1:01:37

interesting that we're on the subject because in I'll ask you if you agree or disagree and it doesn't matter one way or another because we all have our you know, our thought process but I sometimes will create a setlist plan for a show, you know, maybe I'm feeling a certain way during the day or whatever. And a lot of the songs that I might have in my setlist are melancholy type of songs, probably that teeter on more sad or depressing topics, right? And my wife Terry will say, you know, it's Friday night everybody's, you know, ready for the weekend? Are you gonna play some upbeat stuff? And I'm like, yeah, not feeling it today, man. You know, I felt like doing this, this morbid shit, you know? And, and, as an artist, I have to go out and deliver what I feel. And if people get on that bandwagon, get on if not get off. I don't really, I don't really care. But I'm the artist, and I'm going out and play and what I feel. And if you're down, you're down. I don't know if you share that same sentiment. Or if you're like, I'm really feeling melancholy, but I know that I need to go play some happy songs today. Like, can you talk a little bit about that?

Sarah Faith  1:02:55

Yeah, so I'll say I'm, I'm really close up. I'm gonna say I'm gonna call it 8020. And I think the 20 the 20% of me that wants to kind of refute it a little bit. Is the Nashville creeping in being like, you ought to be a crowd pleaser, and you got to the entertainer, blah, blah. But if I'm being like, real, super honest, and like, what I do in my solo shows, like when I'm playing by myself, I play whatever the hell I want. I played at a place two nights ago. That's like a burger joint. I played with my friend. No, he's my drummer. And I got my Looper I got my guitar. I got my songs that I wrote that I know I got three hours to play whatever the hell I want. Shit, I'm playing. I'm playing my stuff. You know, like I don't I don't like to play the cover game. Because I can't do those people's songs better than they can. Like I do my songs as well as I can because I wrote it I feel it I know it. So I mean I'll definitely agree from that standpoint like there's that's the reason I can't do like Broadway in Nashville because I can't do four hours somebody else's music and then live to tell the tale and you know I'm so my soul soul to that and I can't do that. Yeah, I do though. Think I'm building a setlist right now for some live shows I have coming up in Illinois for in July and I'm writing that way because I'm being I'm gonna play full band and I can't I've got demos and work tapes of stuff but I can very well teach a full band how to play 15 original songs that I wrote last week from work tapes doesn't work. So I mean, I'm having to take cover stuff. I do get really picky with my cover stuff though because I'm not gonna play whatever everybody else wants to hear. I'm gonna play what I want to play and what I can get on a stage and deliver so yeah, I did just add a Marcus King song to the setlist and no most people probably don't know who the hell Marcus King is you should you damn well should look them up that's on you not be like, you know, and I'm throwing a song in there from a band called Jamestown revival. Another worthwhile look up like because I know it's gonna bring me a lot of joy to play it. I don't think my band's gonna have a hard time learning it. And I think we can deliver some joy even if you know the song or not. I hope that answers your question I kind of dose based on what energy do I think I could bring? Because I believe that's what people are there for. You know, like if you're in a bar, yeah, sometimes you're there to hear like Bob Seger and fricking. Journey and whatever. But like, also, if there's an artist out there killing it. I don't think you really care what song they're playing. I think you're into their energy. If they're brilliant. I think you're into the energy pirates.

Randy Hulsey  1:05:33

I agree. And I also agree with you about Marcus King, if you don't know who he is, you do need to. You need to look up Marcus King on YouTube, standing in the circle at the Grand Ole Opry, right? Yeah, yeah. Great song called Goodbye Carolina. Right. That's a great one. So, so I guess it's safe to say that writing is used as a healing tool for you, right?

Sarah Faith  1:06:00

Yeah. Yeah, it started off that way. It's always been that way. It was what I was told when I was a seven year old going to counseling. Hey, you have feelings, you get pissed off. I was an only child. I didn't have a lot of friends. You need to make friends with your journal, then you need to write them because we can't have you like out bursting in school. That's not going to be okay. I was like, okay. Yeah.

Randy Hulsey  1:06:20

And I didn't really write this into my show. But were you a spoiled brat, too. That's how to have the

Sarah Faith  1:06:29

story on that, you know, my dad pretty much raised me you know, it was kind of stuff with my mom. And so my dad got custody and he raised me and as a single dad, God bless him and, and I got a car and I was in college, and I needed gas money. And I was like, Dad, like, I need 20 bucks to get gas and I need to get back to school. Like I had to go to school in the morning, whatever. He was like, You know what kid? And he meant all the love in the world. But as he goes, You got yourself in this jam. So you yourself out. Like, okay, so if that gives you any insight as to how spoiled I was, or was not like I wasn't handed stuff. I couldn't even squeeze 20 bucks.

Randy Hulsey  1:07:07

Yeah, no, I say that because I think there's this this myth that all only children are spoiled. spoiled brats, right?

Sarah Faith  1:07:16

There's some people out there like you're an only child. I'm like, yeah, they're like that surprises me. I'm like, Why? Because I'm not a dick.

Randy Hulsey  1:07:25

Don't be a dick. I don't know. Right? Exactly. Would you say that you're more How do I ask the question? Would you say that you're more rock influenced or country influenced you seem like kind of a rocker girl to me like for free I mean you do you do kind of country stuff but I don't know that there's there's an undertone right that I could detect that there might be some rocker and you talk to me about that?

Sarah Faith  1:07:56

Yeah, well I grew up in Detroit so and also another quick story about the car same with my dad I got my first car my dad said you know Sarah, if you play country music and this car will break it'll break the speakers so I mean, I grew up with like Germany and sticks in you know, foreigner and all that stuff. I asked for the Russia album as a 14 year old so I was like really into classic rock like sace first and I will say that country undertones I'm not going to say they're by accident but I'm not going to say they're on purpose because I don't I just not the direction I really want to go as an artist I mean, I'm trying to strip it all out as much as I can. Definitely more along the rock lines so thank you for saying that. Definitely. More roots rock Americana blues rock I mean that's like my bread and butter and then I get my kicks on Marcus King Derek trucks you know that's that's kind of where I spend most of my time John Mayer is kind of the the lanes that I let my brain hang out in. And I'm trying to sonically get as close to that as I can. I don't know if you know Katie Pruitt, Grace Potter that kind of like, you know, it's like Bonnie Raitt or Sheryl Crow. We're like a modern day artists. I think I'm really kind of go on to that.

Randy Hulsey  1:09:17

So are you familiar or you Jason is Mo Fan?

Sarah Faith  1:09:21

I love Jason Isbell. Absolutely, yeah.

Randy Hulsey  1:09:26

Yeah, one of my favorites, one of the one of probably one of the greatest songwriters out there, in my opinion. Yeah. Besides Sara, besides her faith, but anyway, what were you What were you gonna say? Yeah,

Sarah Faith  1:09:36

I was gonna say Jason Isbell. He actually Amanda shires is his wife and they, when he writes a song, he gives it to her to edit or look over whatever and you know, a song vampires. Yeah. You know, he gives it to her. And she gives it that edit and he gives to us. I don't know how many times it went back. But like, I mean, it's about like, you know, one of us is going to have to live on this planet alone at some point because we can't die on the same day. I mean, the chances of that are like otherworldly Lily and she finally the final draft she gave back. She just wrote on it fuck you. You have to do you have to go find that somewhere, I think picture somewhere. But like, I just got such a laugh from that because like honestly, I mean, isn't that the thing? I mean, that's, that's what we all want as songwriters, we want someone to hear our songs and be like your thoughts, you. I hate you for writing that right now. I'm so mad at you for writing that. But

Randy Hulsey  1:10:24

what a great and powerful song though, you know, you, you know, it talks about something that's very real. And that's inevitable that will happen. And I think you know, if you think about it from a significant other, or me thinking about it, from my wife's perspective, it's pretty, it's a pretty deep thought to think that one day she's gonna be alone or one day I'm gonna be alone. And that's pretty deep and want to think about that. And we don't but so I would, I would challenge the listeners to listen to the song vampires by Jason is bull. I'm not here to promote Jason as bold but what what a great song right? Great tune. What a no brainer, right? Exactly. Hey, pal, my paper. Yeah. What can you talk about as it relates to upcoming music? Or shows? You've mentioned a little bit about going on a little tour there and Illinois, but what can you talk about with the listeners regarding upcoming music and shows?

Sarah Faith  1:11:30

Well, I guess the short answer is pretty much anything because I'm an independent artist, and I get to just

Randy Hulsey  1:11:36

do what you want when you want, right? Yeah, I

Sarah Faith  1:11:38

mean, like this people like the assigned these deals and like the people Sarah, do you want to record deal? I don't know. Because like, I would need to feel like I was doing it with family. And they would let me do what I want the way that I want to do it. Like, I'm not here to try to be anybody else. But myself. So as it relates to upcoming music, I wrote a divorce album. And I truly feel like there's been breakup songs and divorce songs in the past. And with all of my might, I wanted to write songs that had nothing to do with challenging the world how bad of a guy he was, or blah, blah, blah, like, I got no interest in writing that song. I got no interest in singing that song. Don't think he's a bad guy. Think it just didn't work out, like, not gonna sit here and bash the guy. That's not what I'm here to do. I wanted to write songs that talked about, you know, picking up your pieces and finding a way to move on that were letters to my ego that were like, Hey, don't you dare think that you're not going to love again, because that's bullshit. You know, like, if if somebody wants to leave, you can't beg them to stay. Just things like that, that I just, I don't know, I just didn't want to. I mean, obviously, I was distraught. I mean, I think we both were we we cried together. But I didn't want to write songs that were gonna keep opening the wounds. And like, beat dead horses and ask, I wasn't trying to ask God, why it didn't work. I just wanted him to tell me what he had in store for me after the fact. You know,

Randy Hulsey  1:13:16

I will validate and approve of the path that you're on and the thought process, right, I think that I think that you're taking the high road and it's so easy. Because I've been in situations like that in my life where you, you just want to punish that person or you want to bash the shit out of it. That's our humaneness.

Sarah Faith  1:13:36

We probably wanted to punch each other, you know, like, we just couldn't have the same conversations over and over one more freaking time. I was like, Dude, I'm not gonna ask you one more time. Like, are you sure you know? And he was like, Sarah. I mean, like, No, we're just like, in the stick of it right? But like, if it wasn't gonna work, it wasn't gonna work. Yeah.

Randy Hulsey  1:13:53

If you put that much energy into writing an album about bashing versus just you know healing then I think people look at you like this just the the humaneness and people they say you know Sarah's all she does bitch about you know, it's kind of a turn off to people right but but you can use I believe that you can use the the bad situation as a positive and and not only heal from it, but just share your vulnerability and I think that that comes off much more respectful and respected than the other way so again, yeah, I validate not that I'm anybody but I concur and validate what you what you're doing. Yeah.

Sarah Faith  1:14:40

I appreciate it. I'm not gonna sit here and act like like, you know, if and when he ever listens to I don't think he's gonna love it. I'm not gonna do and be like, oh, yeah, I mean that's a really good take. Like she's so brilliant. She's so great for she's so you know, I am not like planting flowers and seeing what rainbows but um You know, I will say that I really don't want to bash the guy. I really don't

Randy Hulsey  1:15:06

know. I think you're doing it the right way. Where can the listeners find you on social media?

Sarah Faith  1:15:13

In this crazy world of interwebs? I spend most of my time on Instagram. Sarah face underscore music. It's a su it's a guitar lesson. It's a scam. It's a shit show. Yeah, I saw most recent ones, you know, but I will say though, I do have like a decent following on Tik Tok, which is really strange. I kind of stumbled into it by accident, but I mean, a lot of people hang out over there. So, I do I do lives on Tik Tok once a week I do lives on Instagram once a week. I try to I try to be fair and try to kind of get around so yeah, that's where most of it

Randy Hulsey  1:15:47

is. How do they find you on Tik Tok?

Sarah Faith  1:15:50

Do you know? Okay, yes, sir. It's Sara faith music if the underscores is missing in the TIC tock thing,

Randy Hulsey  1:15:57

okay. And then you also have Sara faith music.com as a website, which is where your merch is where the listeners can pick up merch and find out about your show schedule and that type of thing, right? Totally. Yeah,

Sarah Faith  1:16:11

there's some stuff on Facebook too. But I'll just say it's Facebook's kind of a carbon copy of Instagram. There's some stuff on there that's kind of unique. But, you know,

Randy Hulsey  1:16:20

I want to ask you a couple of quickfire questions. And I would really like for these to be just simple answers. We don't have to go into a long winded answer. I mean, unless you want to I want to protect your time. I know that we've we've been chatting a long time. And so I appreciate that. But I wanted to I think the quickfire questions show aside to the listeners that as we post the the interview, and new people come to know Sarah have faith and love the music. They also want to know about the artists too, and I think that the quickfire questions are an important part of that. So are you as if you answered this earlier, but I'm asking you again Summer or Winter,

Sarah Faith  1:17:02

summer TV or radio? Okay, neither silence perfect vacation. One or two things depends on how I'm feeling cabin in the mountains of the beach. Okay, Michigan or Tennessee, Tennessee. I'm sorry, dad. I don't like Michigan. I love my family, but I just counted to be there.

Randy Hulsey  1:17:27

Okay, fair enough. There's no wrong answers in this. Do you have a favorite

Sarah Faith  1:17:31

guitar? riff? Yeah, I bought this frickin where she She's over there on the box. I bought a roadhouse strat vintage noiseless picks up vintage noiseless pickups in it. And I can't get enough. Early Bird or night owl. Night Owl for hate mornings. I'm often asked Matt got my boyfriend. We get up in the morning and I'm just like, Well, how do you do this? He's like, ready to doll and like, I'm gonna tackle this day on my shit. But like, maybe drink some water and go back to bed.

Randy Hulsey  1:18:09

Dude, you're such the typical musician too. And I'm the I Am the mirror opposite of you. I'm gonna get into the studio at four in the morning and get going kind of guy right? I can't I can't do I can't do the late night thing. Anyway. Do you have a favorite female artist? Yeah,

Sarah Faith  1:18:29

right now I say my favorite. Well, I have two my two favorites are probably Katie true and Grace Potter.

Randy Hulsey  1:18:35

Okay. And I'll ask the same about a male artists

Sarah Faith  1:18:39

right now. Whew. I'm huge into Marcus King right now.

Randy Hulsey  1:18:43

Okay. Again, we talked about that earlier. Great artists. Yeah. Do you have a favorite song of yours that you'd love to play live?

Sarah Faith  1:18:49

Yeah, it's it's one that's coming up. And I've shared a clip of it on my social media so I got no problem was talking about it. Um, it's one that's called free. And it's probably the, the most like bluesy, like true rock song I've ever written. Which kind of really likes my fire just in and of itself. There's the anatomy of the song and structure of it and like from total nerd status, but I love message. I love the I just love it. It's like sassy and kind of, you know, whatever. I just love it. Yeah, and to go dance and my dad kills it. Okay. Yeah, my band frickin kills it.

Randy Hulsey  1:19:27

Right. Okay. You spoke about the new record early. Earlier when I asked you you know, new things new and exciting. I don't remember you saying like when you were expecting to deliver this for people to hear Do you not really know that right now?

Sarah Faith  1:19:43

Yeah, it's cause it's just a I'm just letting the process take what it takes. And we're just let the universe kind of take care of part of that. I mean, we've got it all tracked and stuff and then we just I just need to make sure the vibe is right. Um, I CO produced my stuffs. I've which is I'm super helicopter money about I'll throw myself under the bus on that, too. You know, my producer swears, like no, you're not annoying me, but I know he's lying. So I'm just say, I know he's lying. I'm just really picky.

Randy Hulsey  1:20:12

That's a good trait, though, because that leads to perfection. I believe I'm OCD to, to a fault. And there's, you know, sometimes I hate it, but most of the time, well, most of the time, I hate it, but sometimes I love it. You know, it's, it's a good thing. I'm very structured, you know, like, you

Sarah Faith  1:20:29

know, it's like, Jimi Hendrix is in a studio, and he will rip the solo and be like, Oh, that's great. Jimmy. And he'd be like, gosh, this doesn't sound right. You know? And he would like, he would like change a cable change his guitar him but oh, that sounds right. And it's like, what are you talking about? Like, you're Jimmy fucking Hendrix. Like, what are you doing? But I mean, we just want it the way we want it.

Randy Hulsey  1:20:49

Absolutely. I don't disagree. Sarah, I mean, thanks so much for being here with me this evening. And for the chat. It's been an absolute treat for me. I appreciate all of the the texting back and forth. I know I've questioned you to death to try to, you know, get get things straight that I needed. No worries.

Sarah Faith  1:21:12

enjoyable for you. I've had a blast. I appreciate your questions. I appreciate you doing your homework.

Randy Hulsey  1:21:17

I love that. Yeah. Yeah. And as always, I ask the listeners to like, share and subscribe to the podcast. Also make sure to follow Sarah on all of her social media outlets that she loves so dearly. And also on Sarah faith. music.com is where you guys can pick up the merch and see what's going on in her world. I asked you to follow the show on backstage pass radio podcast that's on Facebook, on Instagram at backstage pass radio, on Twitter at backstage pass PC and on the website at backstage pass. radio.com Sarah, thanks again for being here with me. And, you know, I encourage all the listeners again to check Sarah stuff out, download and stream the music. And we'll see you guys right back here on the next episode of backstage pass radio.

Adam Gordon  1:22:11

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 radio