Speaker 1: 0:46

My guest this evening is an accomplished singer-songwriter from up in the Boston area. Hey everyone, it's Randy Hulsey with Backstage Pass Radio. I stumbled upon my guest this evening while listening to a playlist that was named after another amazing New England singer-songwriter that I had on my show last year. She has a new single out called Losing Hand, and I will introduce you to my friend, liz Spencer, right after this.

Speaker 3: 1:09

This is Backstage Pass Radio. Backstage Pass Radio A podcast by an artist for the artist. Each week, we take you behind the scenes of some of your favorite musicians and the music they created From chart-topping hits to underground gems. We explore the sounds that move us and the people who make it all happen. Remember to please subscribe, rate and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. So, whether you're a casual listener or a diehard music fan, tune in and discover the magic behind the melodies. Here is your host of Backstage Pass Radio, Randy Halsey.

Speaker 1: 1:50

Liz, welcome to the show, friend. It's great to see you and finally get to visit with you. We've been after each other for quite some time now, right? So here we are.

Speaker 2: 2:00

Yes, nice to finally say hello and get to chat with you. I feel like we've been wanting to do this forever, so it's good to be here.

Speaker 1: 2:07

Thank you, yeah and I think we both kind of went through the whole illness spell where we were dying there for a minute and we're back to life again right, yes, one right after the other.

Speaker 2: 2:17

First you and then me. Yeah, that was awful.

Speaker 1: 2:20

Yeah, mine lasted for way, way too long. That whole bronchitis thing went on for months and it was not a fun thing at all.

Speaker 2: 2:30

Yeah, similar, similar. I had something for weeks. I still, you know, I still continued gigging, which was is kind of torture, but uh it, you can't, you have to just keep going. So it's the worst. Getting sick now is the worst. I mean, it's the worst anyway, but yeah, that's exactly it.

Speaker 1: 2:45

You know you could be a drummer or guitarist and maybe not feel well, but you could still pull off the gig. But man, when the voice starts acting up, it's hard to mask that not being well Right. And you're lucky because you know it sounded like you could kind of carry on and work through your shows, which is great, but I wound up canceling shows for four months, like I let my voice went away, like it was. Yeah, so it was. I think that the only, maybe the second time in my entire life that I've had some kind of bout with the voice. But yeah, it wasn't fun, but anyway, well, I guess you and I have known each other or of each other, I should say, for a while through a mutual friend, nick Bossy, up in the Connecticut area, right?

Speaker 2: 3:32

Yes, I heard about you a while back from Nick. Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 3:35

And I guess what? I guess you guys are? Well, you're not neighbors, but you're essentially neighbors up in the new England area, right?

Speaker 2: 3:42

Yeah, anybody in, I mean Rhode Island. You drive an hour and you're in the next state, so anybody within an hour or so is a neighbor. But yeah, and Nick and I met, I guess, a few years back, but we've done a lot of shows together and we've been kind of following the same circles. And one of my favorite people definitely my favorite male vocalist, but one of my favorite people too- so I was trying to remember I must have stumbled across Nick.

Speaker 1: 4:06

What was the video? I guess I was YouTubing one day and it was. What was the video? I guess I was YouTubing one day, and it was.

Speaker 3: 4:11

what was the country? Yes, what happened to?

Speaker 1: 4:12

country. I'm drawing a blank and it's like, oh my God, I got to have this guy. I mean, it was just a pure voice, you know, and I'm like I got to have Nick on the show and then we wound up doing that. But I believe he's in what? Stonington right, stonington, connecticut.

Speaker 2: 4:25

Yeah, he's out. He's out in the farmland up there in Connecticut. I heard him the first time. I was actually at a bar where he was playing and I couldn't get into the room that he was in because it was sold out. So I was just outside of that, in another area of the bar, and I heard his voice through the wall and I actually had to go and watch the entire show from the doorway because they wouldn't let me in, but I couldn't stop listening. I mean, he was just amazing. So yeah, and I actually ended up writing a song and as soon as I wrote it I said I want that guy to sing this song.

Speaker 3: 4:57

I want Nick for this song.

Speaker 2: 4:59

That was kind of how we made the introduction.

Speaker 1: 5:01

Yeah, yeah, and that's a great segue and we won't get into it just yet, but I do want to share with the listeners a song that you and Nick did do together. But for the listeners where do you call home? You know we talked about the New England area, but where, in what area, do you call home?

Speaker 2: 5:22

Right now I am half in Rhode Island and half in Boston. I spend about three and a half days in Rhode Island and then I go to Boston for the other three and a half and I perform there on like Thursdays, fridays, saturdays. So right now I'm back and forth, but I am in the process of selling my home. I will be moving to Boston full time. I just have to sell my house before I can get there, but that's going to make things so much easier.

Speaker 1: 5:41

Yeah, I guess. So yeah, yeah. Well, I wanted to go back a little bit um in time with you, share with the listeners kind of, where you fell in love with music. Like, was it at an early age? Did music come later for you? Give us your thoughts around the music thing.

Speaker 2: 5:58

Yeah, I started actually with piano. I had a toy piano, one of those little kind of little miniature upright pianos when I was a kid. I was very I was probably four or five years old and I started like listening to songs and just playing them back, playing the melody back on the piano, which I thought you know everybody can do, and it caught the attention of my parents, which I think I really enjoyed. I've said this before, but I'm a middle child and I'm between two identical twins who are the older sisters, and then the youngest is the only boy in the family. So I'm just, like you know, the middle child, the third girl, and I think that I discovered very early on that my ability in music kind of made me stand out from them, which I think sort of fueled that wanting to continue to, to learn and to play. From there I started. I played a lot of piano growing up, but then I switched to guitar and my father taught me my first couple of chords on guitar when I was 15. And once I knew how to play songs on the guitar I could also play that by ear. So once I knew the chords I could start playing songs by ear and from there it's just sort of segued into songwriting.

Speaker 2: 7:09

As a teenager I wrote a lot of like teen angst songs. It was just a way of getting emotions out, getting things out that I had, you know, been feeling and going through. Um, so I've really been writing songs since I was about 15 years old. It was kind of just um, it's always always been a part of me. It's always been something that um has just kind of been how I identify as as a person. You know, I'm a musician first and foremost. So, um, I wouldn't say that I really I think it's just kind of developed into it. I just had this ability to to hear songs and play them back and and from there I just kind of fell in love with the whole songwriting process. And then once I discovered performing, then, and then it was all over. I mean, performing is for me, it's, it's everything, it's yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:00

Totally Well on the balance scale of justice. If you put the guitar on one side of the scale and the piano on the other side of the scale, how does the scale tip for you? Are you, do you consider yourself more of a guitarist than you do a pianist?

Speaker 2: 8:14

Yeah, guitar is a lot easier for me. Piano, you know the two hands, the one playing something. It takes a lot of concentration for me. I can't read or write music either, so everything is just listening and memorization, which is a lot more complex. On the piano, I mean, I play rhythm guitar, so rhythm you're, you're playing. Just you know basic chords and um it's. It's much easier for me to forget what I'm playing and sing. If I'm playing piano, I'm really focusing on. You know where my fingers are and what they're doing, um, so yeah, guitar definitely.

Speaker 2: 8:48

And, and I think too, it was just a lot easier for me to write once I once I picked up a guitar, once I learned the guitar. Yeah, it's kind of closer to the sound, but I wanted to Of course, yeah, and I was kind of poured out of that same mold.

Speaker 1: 9:00

I kind of spent the first 13 years as a classically trained pianist and then I guess I got to that age where, um, as a late teenager, you, you could no longer, it was not cool to play the piano, because you couldn't go to a party and pick up girls because there was no piano at the party. You had to take a guitar with you, right. So I had to learn to play the guitar and that was kind of my introduction to the guitar and from from there I just I probably put the piano on the back burner, so it's all guitar for me these days. But yeah, you know, like you I think, I think all kids probably start out on the piano.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Because that just it's kind of like, when you think of martial arts, everybody puts their kid in taekwondo, even though there's nine million other martial arts that a kid could study there. For some reason that's the de facto standard, if you will, right, and I think that's kind of along the the same sentiment as the piano. It's like, oh, we'll just put you in piano lessons and see if it sticks right.

Speaker 2: 10:00

I wouldn't take lessons. My parents wanted me to have lessons. I just I refuse like no, I can already. I can play.

Speaker 2: 10:05

I was very stubborn yeah you know, I don't want someone to teach me how to play, I just want to to play. I just I never wanted to learn um, like music theory, for instance. I always felt like I learned music theory. It would take away some of the natural feeling of writing and all if I was, you know, focusing too much. Now I wish I had taken it. Now that I'm where I am career wise, it would really have helped to have learned some music theory.

Speaker 1: 10:26

Sure, I think you're right, though I mean, a lot of the greatest players are, are not. They don't read, they don't know theory, they're by ear and they're amazing at what they do. But I did have that, that training, the theory part. I wish I knew more about it now, like I did back in the day, but I could read music, and I don't find that I need to do that these days. Now it's more of a curiosity thing for me, like what? Why does this make sense? So it's trying to make sense of the puzzle, whereas before I didn't care. So was there a time, though, when you, um, when you knew that music would be your life? When did that really sink into you? Was it after the song right, or the first time you performed that you thought it would be a living?

Speaker 2: 11:18

As a teenager I had those dreams of I'm going to be a musician when I grow up and that was I always felt that was my passion and that was my purpose. Then, you know, you become an adult sometimes that it's a lot harder to see that that road, it's a lot harder to see how that's possible. And then I have a daughter. So I was, you know, when she was younger I was very just. I was very much just focused on what I needed to do to make money. That became, you know, the primary. So, honestly, wasn't until about three years ago that I said this is what I need to do, because I had stopped playing altogether for about 10 years. Yeah, I was diagnosed with cancer and then the year after that my best friend, who I was very, very close with, passed away, and the kind of just emotional shutdown that happened after that it just prevented me from being able to write, being able to go, you know, even just get those feelings out, which is what I normally did. Then, during COVID actually it was a little bit at the tail end of COVID I connected with C Thomas Howell. I have the strangest story. But C Thomas Howell, he was in like the Outsiders and at the time he was filming down in Georgia and I went down to hang out with him for a week and he actually he, we had started songwriting together. I was just my sort of little foray back into writing a little bit. And that whole trip down there is really what got me back into to writing and playing and he was giving me acting lessons on how to reconnect and how to, how to feel the lyrics of your song and how it was actually all. Acting lessons. That kind of brought that back. And once the floodgates opened for that, um, that kind of brought that back. And once the floodgates opened for that and I was able to write again and able to put everything out and get it out of me and and sing, um, I realized that I can't ever not do this. I mean, it was just that realization that the 10 years that I wasn't doing it were really kind of like the dark ages for me and and I need to do this and I want to do this. And from that point forward I didn't. I wasn't paying so much attention to what other people were going to think about it anymore. That always prevented me from performing. I was kind of a perfectionist I was. You know I'm not perfect. It's not perfect yet.

Speaker 2: 13:47

I decided at that point, like this is for me and this is what I want to do, and I know that this is who I am and I just came out swinging, like I just started up, like I said about three years ago, and I just hit the ground running and I just had this feeling like this is what I want to do right now. And I just recently, this year, decided that I'm going to do this full time. So I'm now a full time musician. I was working full time at the airport and let that go in January and this is now. This is now the full time career.

Speaker 2: 14:22

So it's it's kind of been more recent that I've had the I guess, the guts to really go after this and do this and um, and really decide that I'm I'm not an office manager, like, I'm a musician and I need to follow this. And this is where my heart is. And it's so important to follow your passions and to do what you feel like you're meant to do. It's scary, it's very scary, especially as a parent. Um, you know, you have to make sure that you you can do do this. But yeah, I've always known that it's in me to do this, but I was too much of a perfectionist. I didn't have the confidence until I decided that I was just going to do it for myself and nobody else.

Speaker 1: 15:02

Well, everything's a risk in life, like whether you're not a musician and you're going to be a musician for a living. That's a risk. If you're an engineer and you want to move into sales, that's a risk. Like you can look at anything. Life is just a risk in general, right, but if you're of the mindset that failure is not an option, you'll succeed in your own ways, right, and you even have your own definition of what success is too.

Speaker 2: 15:29

You know it doesn't. I mean, for everybody it's different. It doesn't necessarily need to be a huge stage For me, like if I'm able to just live my life and support myself and my daughter and do what I love, I mean I'll be on stage and I just keep having this thought like this is my office now and it's just incredible. It's amazing. It's like this is where I report to work. Um, to me, that's already a success. I try not to set a definite goal of like pass or fail, you know, because I don't want to pass or fail. I just want to kind of keep taking the next step and what's the next step after this? And kind of yeah, of course.

Speaker 1: 16:08

Well, you're I mean for all practical purposes you're. You're still a baby in the industry, right, you are a baby, like three years, like I would have never guessed. Like, just listening to your recordings and whatnot, I said, oh, she's been around forever, right, and and it's, and it's funny because so many have. But you know at the end of the day, who's to know, right, that's why I love the show, because you listen to music that resonates with you and you get to know about that person and you get to know how they think and where the songs come from. And that's what I love about the show.

Speaker 1: 16:44

And being that singer, songwriter myself, that's that. That was the draw for me. This was never a monetary thing for me. I I said I could care less, I just want to know more about you, know the stories behind the songs. And that's where it all started. And I happened to be fortunate enough to get some hall of fame artists on my show along the way, and it kind of kind of took, you know, grew legs and heard in 90 countries now, which I'm so proud of, but it's, I mean, the locals, the regionals, those artists like yourself are just as important as, you know, the big name artists, you know, because they tell cool stories just like, just like the household names do, like that's what's really cool about this. So, but yeah, you're?

Speaker 2: 17:30

Yeah, it's great to be. I saw that you had America, that you guys from America on there, and that was. That was big for me. I was, I was just in awe of that, so yeah.

Speaker 1: 17:38

You know it kind of it. You know I've I've had a lot of those shows where you know big names, guns and roses, blah, blah, blah. I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole. But you know, you mentioned America and it's like, uh, I remember having an interview and I'm never I'm never really starstruck, you know, but we're all people at the end of the day.

Speaker 1: 18:02

But I was having an interview with a guy named Russ Ballard and not a lot of people have not heard of Russ Ballard, but he wrote, um, you can do magic by America. He wrote, uh, so many hit, many hit songs. And when I was interviewing him he was in his home in England and I kind of just put my I remember putting my hands you know my face in my hands and I looked up at him and I said, russ, I'm just like, I'm like this little giddy school girl right now. I said I just I'm realizing that I'm speaking to the person, or one of the people that wrote the storyboard to my life. You're the one that shaped who I am as a musician. And it just kind of hit me like this is a powerful moment, right, and it's so cool to not so much I was starstruck by him, but I've been singing him his songs for 35, 40 years.

Speaker 2: 18:49

It's just crazy, you know and those people have become a part of your part of your life and they don't even know it.

Speaker 1: 18:55

Yeah, exactly, and like you, you have Dewey and Jerry from America on and. And who has not sang sister golden hair, right, I mean, who has literally just played that.

Speaker 2: 19:05

We played it. Yeah, we just played at Foxwoods at the casino and we that was one of the songs that we played we just played at Foxwoods at the casino and we that was one of the songs that we played yes, yes, yeah and yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:12

That's the kind of stuff to me that never gets old. But you know, we we spoke of some, some artists from way back who inspired you as a young girl. Like what, what artist inspired you back when you were the little Liz, right?

Speaker 2: 19:25

Hands down. It was Janice Joplin.

Speaker 1: 19:27

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 19:28

Janis Joplin was because I was, you know, growing up I was, I wouldn't say I was shy, but when it came to music I was very kind of withdrawn with it and I would only play for like my best friend and I wouldn't you know, but Janis Joplin I had. I fell in love with her music first of all, but behind the scenes she was very quiet Behind the scenes. She was very quiet behind the scenes. She was a little bit more reserved. She would get on stage and she was just a powerhouse on stage.

Speaker 2: 19:56

And that's what I loved is that she, she was a different person on stage. It was like she just connected with that raw inside part of her and you felt that when you heard her sing and she could be up there with the guys you know in the 60s it was was still a very, very male-dominated industry, rock and roll especially and she was just up there with Hendrix, with all of the guys that had been running the show for forever. So she has been a major inspiration for me Every single gig I have played from day one. I have played Bobby McGee several times. You know I'll play like piece of my heart, but she's just, she has always been somebody that I have looked to for like stage presence.

Speaker 1: 20:38

Yeah, sure she just commanded the stage. Yeah, I was. I was going to say you're a, I guess, an old soul by by nature, because you're way too young to even know who the hell Janis Joplin is. You old goats like me know who Janis Joplin is. You're too young to know who Janis Joplin is.

Speaker 2: 21:00

I grew up on all of my parents' vinyl albums Of course.

Speaker 2: 21:04

One of my favorite things was my record collection, and so a lot of it was 50s and 60s, like a lot of what I listened to. Even when I was a teenager I was listening to 50s and 60s more so than even what was out at the time. So it's a huge part. I've always loved classic rock, especially love classic rock. I think it's heavily influenced a lot of my writing and just I. I mean I like the music now. I don't like music now, but I think that in terms of like rock and roll, like the soul of it, that was really 1960s for me.

Speaker 1: 21:41

Sure, and who would you say, who sticks out in your mind as somebody that inspires you a little bit now from an artist perspective, at the age you're at now in your life.

Speaker 2: 21:53

Oh, that's a tough one. I don't spend too much time on the artist now.

Speaker 1: 21:58

Besides me, of course, but never mind me.

Speaker 2: 22:00

Yes, I would say Randy Posse.

Speaker 1: 22:02

I'm kidding.

Speaker 2: 22:04

Major influence. Who do I like now? I mean, the thing is like a lot of the people that I consider like. Tom Petty for me is more of a modern artist and unfortunately he's gone now, but Fleetwood Mac also. I mean, I know these are not current current, but they're my lifetime. So I consider them people who have been kind of in my lifetime, who have influenced me.

Speaker 1: 22:30

Well, it could have been. You know, you may not have been drawn to them at a younger age, but you may be drawn to them more now. And I'll say for me, I was never a big Stones fan until five years ago and now I love a lot of this stuff that you know. I think, like food and music, your, your taste changes over time. Right, I was never a big country guy. Growing up, I had hair down to the middle of my back. I was the rock and roll pig, like heavy metal, like all of that. Right, and country. You know it was okay, but I never went out and bought country records. I never went out and bought cassette tapes. And when I started playing out in 2016, I said I've got to change that. I've got to. I can't be a one trick pony as a solo artist. Right, I've got to learn some country. I've got to learn some Americana and I fell in love with it and I probably listened to that more than I do that. I do rock now.

Speaker 2: 23:24

Right, it's just crazy how the taste changes over the years, a lot of what I listened to, like the things that I like, like JD McPherson, for instance, or like Leon Bridges, like they they're newer artists but they're sort of bringing back that older sound. So they they're newer artists but they're sort of bringing back that older sound. So I don't know if that also counts, but those artists that can, that can make older music relevant today to me.

Speaker 1: 23:44

I also admire Of course JD McPherson's a big one, yeah, yeah like Rockabilly Sound, all of that. I'll have to look that up. I'm not familiar with either of those names, but there's so many, as you know, there's so many artists out there that we haven't been, you know, introduced to yet, and that's another. Another amazing thing about this podcast it's turned me on and opened my eyes to music that I may have never even given a second thought to listening to.

Speaker 2: 24:12

Yeah, and look up Larkin Poe, it's a sister group. They're amazing too. That's another, I'd say, new artists. That inspires me to Larkin Poe. Okay, it's a sister group. They're amazing too. That's another, I'd say new artist that inspires me too.

Speaker 1: 24:21

Larkin Poe for sure. Yeah, noted, noted. Well, you released a single, I believe. You correct me if I'm wrong anywhere. Right, I think you released Losing Hand earlier this year, right it was? Was it 25, 2020?

Speaker 2: 24:34

It was 2024, 2000. It was 20, it was 2024. Yeah 24.

Speaker 1: 24:38

Okay, okay, and so I'd like to play just a short clip of that. I'd share that with the listeners and then we'll come back and chat about the song. Cool.

Speaker 3: 24:45

Okay, great, and you've always been on the wrong side of the set had me caught in the crossfire.

Speaker 2: 25:02

Cause you can't take a step, but I'm never gonna be sorry that you played that, losing.

Speaker 1: 25:25

That was a single called Losing Hand. Great stuff, Liz. I love the song.

Speaker 2: 25:29

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 25:31

Where was the song recorded?

Speaker 2: 25:34

That was the first one that I recorded on my own in Rhode Island. Previous to that I'd been going down to Nashville, but for this song I actually decided to use my own band, produce it myself and record it up here in Rhode Island. So that was kind of my first production experience.

Speaker 1: 25:51

And on a scale of one to five, five being the best. How pleased were you with the outcome of it? Was it what you expected? Did it exceed your expectations? The outcome of it Was it what you expected? Did it exceed your expectations versus that of Nashville?

Speaker 2: 26:03

It was exactly my expectation, and I think that's the difference. Working with a producer, I always have an idea in my mind of what it's going to sound like, and the producer has their own idea, and then you kind of find something in the middle. It's really hard to convey to someone else what you're hearing in your head, but when you're doing it on your own, you get it exactly where you want it to be. So Losing Hand it was. Losing Hand was really exactly how I heard it in my head.

Speaker 1: 26:28

And where did the song idea come from? Share with the listeners a little bit about the. Maybe, if you will, and you know what. It's funny. I should preface. What I'm going to say is I think a lot of artists and you can tell me if I'm right or wrong here, but a lot of artists don't necessarily want people to know the background or the thought process behind the song, because they want them to use the song how they want to use the song.

Speaker 2: 26:53

But if you'll answer that question or you can plead the fifth on it, I don't care, but either way, no, I've always hated when people won't tell you what the song is about honestly, because you're going to get your own interpretation of it. You're going to feel your own thing when you hear it, and it doesn't mean that you can't know the backstory behind it. Losing Hand was really. It was just me saying things to somebody that I didn't really have the guts to say out loud. I think it was somebody that I had, uh, I had been in a relationship with and was not the person that, uh, that I thought he was and was very dishonest about a lot of things and, um, that was just.

Speaker 2: 27:32

I took the high road. I never really, you know, confronted any of the idea. I just didn't want to do the back and forth. I just kind of like, okay, I'm good, I'm done, but then everything that I wanted to say, I just poured into that song. You know it was you. You played your cards and you played them wrong and you know it's it's sort of and I've heard I've had people that have that have written me Instagram messages and stuff and said that they they broke up with their boyfriend and they played that song and they turn it up loud and I think it's just, sometimes it's good to have those kind of angry songs you can just kind of get that stuff out um yeah but it was really just the same thing that I've been doing since I was 15.

Speaker 2: 28:09

I was in my room strumming the guitar, just getting out these emotions that maybe I wouldn't say out loud. But I'm going to sing them because, you know, in that way it's more relatable to to everybody as opposed to me just complaining you know, do you care?

Speaker 1: 28:23

do you care to share his name?

Speaker 2: 28:25

no, I'm kidding I would love to, but I am going to take the high road.

Speaker 3: 28:30

He figured it out, though he knows it's about him.

Speaker 2: 28:32

He can figure it out, don't?

Speaker 1: 28:33

let me lure you into my traps, right? I'm kidding, I don't, I. I honestly, to be honest, I don't even like the dirt, like I don't.

Speaker 2: 28:41

That's not what my show's about, I just I'm, yeah, I'm trying to like like dish dirt without without actually dishing dirt, you know that's. That's the beauty of like 100 100 you can say it and you're not really throwing anybody under the bus. You're just expressing your feelings when it's a song, you know.

Speaker 1: 28:58

You know it's cool. And I believe that if you know where the artist is coming from, from the writer's seat, I believe that you listen to the song differently, which is what I love about knowing the story behind the song. And I'll give the listeners kind of an example. I had a great singer, songwriter from right here in Houston on my show, a guy named Kyle Hutton, and he wrote a song. I think he I could be wrong, it's been a long time since I did the interview but I think that he wrote it with Radney Foster and the song is called three more bottles and she's gone.

Speaker 1: 29:39

And of course everybody thinks oh, it's country, it's about whiskey or drinking. You know, it's like that's how we, you know. But the story behind the song is that he and his wife were foster parents and that day the mother was coming to pick the baby up and they had three bottles made in the refrigerator for the baby. So they said, after she has her three bottles, she'll be gone. Right, so three more bottles and she's gone. You could have interpreted that anyway. Right, yeah, alcohol, or and nobody really thought about it from a foster parent point of view Right, so, yeah, you never. You never know. That's why I love the stories behind the song right yeah, it gives a different spin on the song entirely surely it does.

Speaker 1: 30:26

Yeah, talk to me a little bit about the liz spencer band. Who are the players? Do you have a? Do you have a working band or do you pick up artists as you go along? Talk to the listeners a little bit about the band.

Speaker 2: 30:44

I had an amazing, a really great band when I first formed a band and we took off. Within nine months we were playing like the Washington County Fair. We had, you know, just big things coming our way. It was a really talented group of people. Then my life sort of moved towards Boston. I know that's where I'm going to be moving. I actually I'm married now and, like my direction, just started moving towards Boston. And when that happened my band was Rhode Island based and they were not willing to play and it was just starting to get kind of complicated.

Speaker 2: 31:17

We actually disbanded last September and I've been playing almost entirely in Boston, connecticut, and I've been in the process of assembling a new band. So I definitely have my lead guitarist. I've just put together a drummer. I've been kind of trying out different drummers and bassists. I think I found the two that I really like. I'm going to see how this you know how it all works out.

Speaker 2: 31:43

It's so hard to find people logistically who are able to, for instance, like tour able to. You know, I've been having offers to play in different places in the country. The problem is finding people who don't have day jobs, who are able to go travel, who are committed enough to to say, yes, I'm going to be at practice all the time. I'm going to travel with you. That's the challenge. There's always people who are willing to play, but finding the right people to fit with sound and everything. So it's been a process.

Speaker 2: 32:13

I've been, like I said, since last September. I've been working on getting a different band together, so what I've done is I'm now a solo act, so it's just Liz Spencer, okay, and the band player that you know, they, they can rotate. My goal is to have like a, is to have the permanent band again, cause I just I love the, the familial aspect of that. I love that you're in there with people. You have a similar goal.

Speaker 2: 32:38

And even when I play now as liz spencer just the solo with spencer I I still like, if anybody in the band wants to sing a song, for instance, you know, and usually like a bassist won't really get a chance to sing lead on a song, but that's in their heart, they want to do it I look yeah, sure, sing a song, take a song, and I think in a band situation that makes a lot more sense than you're here to see Liz Spencer and now the bassist is singing. So I like the idea of a band a lot more and I did have really the greatest band, but it's just life changes and we were all kind of in different places and even physically in different places after I started going up to Boston.

Speaker 1: 33:17

Well, speaking of kind of up in that new England area, and I don't know why I just thought about this, but I was wondering if I had a past guest on my show and I was wondering if you ever crossed paths up in new England with Stephanie Ryan. Does that name sound familiar to you? I think she might be more main based, but but anyway, nevertheless, no, I no, I don't, and it's.

Speaker 2: 33:40

It's unusual because I mean, if she was from rhode island, I chances are I would know her, because of course is it so small here. But uh, no, but I'll look her up though, stephanie ryan, stephanie ryan.

Speaker 1: 33:49

Yeah, uh. So we spoke a little bit of our mutual friend, uh, nick bossy, earlier and I know you and nick recorded a song called annie and I would like to play a clip of that for the listeners and then we'll come back and chat a little bit about that song. Fair enough, sure, are you staying?

Speaker 3: 34:10

just because, we were living for us Tethered hearts want to roam, don't make a home.

Speaker 1: 34:50

love that song too, liz, and you know we talked a little bit about nick's voice earlier and it doesn't get old, but yours, let's. Let's not discount the fact that yours is super angelic in that song too. So great, great, I love it.

Speaker 2: 35:03

Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, I had actually written that originally just for a male voice. It was my first um, my first time writing. I just wanted to write a song for someone else to sing and then I liked the song so much that I said I need to sing on this one. So I I I just kind of changed the lyrics around and made it into a duet. But yeah, I knew from the beginning that I really wanted Nick to sing that song and he's very country, so it's more of a country vibe to it. It's, you know, the storytelling is a little bit more country. It was really geared towards Nick, so I was so happy that he agreed to do that. He doesn't agree to do very many collabs, so he he graciously agreed to do that one and and I just feel like he made that song really what it is.

Speaker 2: 35:46

It was exactly the way I wanted it to sound, with his voice in it.

Speaker 1: 35:49

Well, shout out to Nick super, super cool guy. Uh, bonnie and Mark great people, right. Bonnie and Mark great people, right. They came to the house when they were down here. I booked a show or two for Nick here in Houston and they came and spent part of the day. We grilled some steaks and I got to know them and my wife Terry and I hung out with them Super, super great people. Talk about Annie Mind. For the listeners that just heard the clip and they've not listened to the whole context of the song who is what is Annie Mind?

Speaker 2: 36:28

So it's. It's was kind of it started out as a song about a woman who just wasn't satisfied with the settled down life. She thought she wanted it, and it's a little bit, maybe a little bit autobiographical in a sense now that I'm really thinking about it. But you know, you think that you want the guy to settle down and you want him to. You know you want to be in this family and then once you get that, you kind of miss maybe some of the excitement. You miss some of it.

Speaker 2: 37:02

So she sort of went out on her own and she kind of went after that life. After she had, you know, he said, I gave you everything you asked me for. And then she wasn't happy with that, she wasn't satisfied. When she got everything that she wanted, she realized that's not what she wanted and she took off to do her own thing. So yeah, I guess it's a song about getting everything you think you want and it turns out to not be what you want. Or even the feeling from the guy's perspective of I did everything for you, I gave you everything you told me you wanted and you took off. Now you're the outlaw, you know, and now you're the one living that life.

Speaker 1: 37:42

So but isn't that? That's, that's just everyday life. We experience that every day in life. There's there's an old adage, liz, and you I'm sure that you heard it all your life is we always want what we can't have, right? You've heard that. And how much more truth is there to that. Like you know you, you know, I've always wanted a Corvette, right, and I just bought a new Corvette. And now it's like I, when I get in it and drive it, I love it, but I don't think about, I don't yearn for it Like I did, you know all my life, right, because I have it now. So it's interesting how the the human psyche works. I don't know how else to put it.

Speaker 1: 38:24

You're just kind of chasing that feeling and then you get there and it's like yeah, this isn't really you know, like that's honestly.

Speaker 2: 38:30

I spent my whole life wanting to get married, settle down, buy the house, have the, have the kid, and and it was wonderful that I, I, I got to do that honestly. But then I was like now what? Sure.

Speaker 2: 38:42

And and that might've been. That was around the time I started feeling that. So that probably is where Annie my, now that we're thinking about it. Um, it's just that feeling of you get everything you want in life and then, and then what? Though you know your choices are all made, so, um, I mean, for me, my life changed entirely after that. But, um, for some people that are just it's you know, you think you know exactly what you want, but then you get there and it's okay, like it's lackluster right. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 39:16

Well, I'm sorry that I beat the truth out of you there on a global podcast, but anyway, we can always strike that out. If you want to, you just have to let me know, text me later and let me know. No, it's truth, I mean truth in songwriting.

Speaker 2: 39:31

So it's just I hadn't really thought. I mean, I knew it was a story, I just wanted to tell a story and have a guy sing a story.

Speaker 3: 39:36

but then I'm like, yeah, that was around the time I started going wait a minute. What now?

Speaker 2: 39:39

You know, and, and maybe it was a, little bit of a fantasy of like I'm just gonna just get out and and do my own thing and yeah it, it. You never know. Subconscious songwriting, I guess.

Speaker 1: 39:50

Well, and I think that is the beauty of a guitar and uh and vulnerability, right, you let emotions out and I think just seeing the raw, vulnerable side of people and what they write is just there's nothing like having cameras set up in the studio and having a guest come in and I say, will you play two or three of your songs? Like, I have to do with you. I have to queue up clips because if I said, play a song on the guitar, it doesn't sound good on a zoom session, right, but here in the studio it's just like it's a treat for me to listen to people come in and play their songs and tell their stories behind the songs. It's just an amazing thing, right.

Speaker 2: 40:35

Yeah, and it's still. I still struggle with vulnerability in songwriting. I still kind of cloak a lot of things in symbolism and it's something that I'm trying to get better. I think down was the biggest example of of even saying, you know, even like describing shadows or even just just being a little bit vulnerable. Um, that song I was. It was the only one I was actually a little bit nervous to put out, because it's it.

Speaker 2: 41:01

I'm not good with vulnerability. I think that's why songwriting is so important to me, because it's it's how I can express things that I normally wouldn't. But it's important as a songwriter. It's important If you're really going to put yourself out there. I think honesty is the is the biggest gift you can give people, and I think honesty is the biggest gift you can give people. And I think honesty other people can connect with it too, and if you're not willing to do that, you're not giving them that opportunity to connect with it too. So that's the biggest challenge for me so far in songwriting is really I was talking to Nick about this, actually, because he's wonderful at it.

Speaker 2: 41:31

He is great at putting his feelings right out there and he'll show me a song and be like my god, I wish I could do that, I wish I could write like that, um, so that's kind of. My next focus is to I mean, I have the angry songs and I have the storytelling songs. Um, I want to start really talking about my life, because I I have had a lot of things that have led me to the point that I'm at now that I want to talk about that. I, I want to, I want to get out there, I want to share with people, and that's that's.

Speaker 2: 42:01

The next challenge for me is just becoming more vulnerable and and allowing myself to do that Well, you know come on your show and we can talk about it, and you can air out all my dirty laundry to the hell, yeah, hell yeah.

Speaker 1: 42:11

I'm going to dig man, I'm going to dig it all out of you. But you know what? I say this with all due respect. You know I made a comment about you earlier. You're just a baby and you agree, right, it's not an insult. But you're new to the game and I believe right, I believe that over time, that vulnerability side of you is going to show more and more easy as time goes on, right, it's going to become more natural to you.

Speaker 1: 42:37

I believe, right, you're still trying to figure it out. I mean, even like, I played in the bands back in the eighties, but it was so long ago. But now, when I came out to be a um, a solo artist, right, I'm in a duo. Now, that's what Chris and I are in a duo, which I love better than solo. But even in 2016, when I first came out, like, it was like, are these songs resonating? Like, am I touching anybody? And I think that I like to think that I've gotten better about delivering the songs over the since 2016. Right, but I think it's one of those things as you go through that journey, you become more and more familiar and it just looks natural or feels natural, and you give that off more naturally as time goes on. I believe Right, and I I mean, who am I to say? But that's just my personal belief.

Speaker 2: 43:31

I hope so. There are a lot of things that have gotten easier. I mean, when I first started posting music, um, that was very nerve wracking, and now I'm just you know, I just put it out there. It doesn't a lot of performing. I've always loved performing, but I feel so much more. I am so much more at home now on a stage than I am off of it. I feel so much more confident, so much more like myself, and that just came from just doing it over and over and over again. I'm just getting up there there, so hopefully all these things are just going to come with time. I wish I had started earlier.

Speaker 2: 44:05

I feel like I lost so much time, not only in that 10-year gap but then before that, worrying so much about how I sounded, worrying so much about what people are going to think of the songs. Um, I feel like I'm trying. I'm kind of making up for lost time. I do lose a lot of time on these things, but I'm in a crash course now. I'm just diving headfirst and I'm learning fast. I look back to three years ago and I've learned a hell of a lot in three years. Sure, so the next three years, who knows? You know, but I just want to keep improving. I want to just get better at this whole, at the entire craft, at the performing part, at the writing part. You know, and it's, it's. I feel like I'm, I'm finally um, I have the courage to do it. So I think that as long as I, um, I continue on the path that I'm on and with the people that I'm surrounded with, I think it's only going to get easier, hopefully.

Speaker 1: 45:03

Yeah, I believe that it will. And look at the end of the day, I believe that any artist starting out in the beginning is always going to be concerned about what do people think of this? What do they think of my voice? What do they think of the guitar playing? And we nitpick, nitpick, nitpick that all like till. It drives us crazy. And if they said that that doesn't cross their mind, I would call them a damn liar Right, because that is our humanness. Liar right, because that is our humanness.

Speaker 1: 45:44

And you, but I believe that over time too, you it. That just kind of goes away and you just do what you do, right? You just overthink every. I mean that's just what we do as humans. We overthink everything. And I've always told my son, brandon, my oldest son, who is 20 times the guitarist that I am. I've said Brandon, come play a show with Chris and I and he's played a few here and there, but he refuses to get on stage like it's, like he just likes being a, a closet player and he's amazing at that. And, and I try to explain like you get on stage in front of 200, 300 people or whatever's in the room. There might be only two people in the whole room that can even come close to doing what you do on a guitar. So don't overthink that, because most people don't even play the guitar Right. So what difference does it make what their opinion is of how you play Right? So there's that too, but it's hard to overcome. I get it totally.

Speaker 2: 46:42

Yeah, and that's where I was up until a few years ago. I would get up, you know, if I had an opportunity to get up and sing with somebody. I was concerned about what the audience is thinking.

Speaker 2: 46:52

And that was actually one of the acting lessons from Tommy was don't be the camera. That was one of the acting lessons from Tommy was don't be the camera. That was one of the most important things he taught me. Don't be the camera. You are here, you are projecting outwards. You are not taking an input, it's all output. So, and you know, when I get up there now, like I said, I'm more at home on a stage now because I feel like that's really the only place where I'm not concerned, I'm. It's about me and what I want to give and what I, the energy I want to share, and I I try to keep my focus there, like going outward and that was a huge.

Speaker 1: 47:24

That's good advice, yeah. Yeah, I never thought about it like that Well, what's what's exciting that's coming up? Uh, for you maybe, as, let's say, it relates to to upcoming shows, right? Is there anything to speak of for Liz Spencer?

Speaker 2: 47:41

Yeah, I have a couple of.

Speaker 2: 47:42

I mean right now some of the private events are huge for me. We have a golf tournament that we're playing for. I'll be playing in New Bedford this weekend. It's like it's a fun. I have to look at my calendar Honestly, like my calendar is a little crazy between going back and forth between Rhode Island and and Boston, but what I'm trying to do.

Speaker 2: 48:02

I spent so much time gigging last year that I didn't have time for songwriting and for recording. I didn't record anything. Um, last year. I had over 80 gigs just last summer, so I'm trying to slow that down a bit. I'm trying to focus more on the songwriting aspect. I just wrote a song yesterday that it's going to be the next one that I go in and record. I'm going to be getting in touch with my producer and the gigging is wonderful and it's what's paying the bills also and the experiences are fun. But I want to start taking that on the road also, which is why I need this band.

Speaker 2: 48:39

I've had offers to play in different places and I want to get out there and start playing those places. Boston is it's home. It's wonderful. It's a crazy. People in Boston go out to hear the music. They definitely do. I want to start branching out from that area and start getting into, you know, colorado. I've had even Spain. I've had offers in Spain. I had offers in Italy. There's a radio station out in in Spain now that's. That's playing some of my music I heard. So I want to get out and start getting in touch with those people also and just kind of move this, move this along. But I'm trying right now to do a little bit more, focusing on the songwriting and the recording. I need more of a library and more of a catalog of songs out there and it's so important. I did so much gigging last year that I didn't have time for the artistry part of it what makes it an art.

Speaker 2: 49:38

Well, you have to for the artistry part of it. You know what makes it an art, so yeah, Well, you have to find the balance, Liz. Yeah, the balance is tough. It's a little easier now that I don't have the 40-hour-a-week day job. I get it.

Speaker 1: 49:49

You know, what's crazy is I work full-time for a living. I'm in a leadership role for a consulting firm here in Houston. That's what pays the mortgage. But at the height, chris and I were playing upwards to 130 shows a year, working full time and the podcast. So people would say, do you sleep? I'm like, yeah, about four hours a night.

Speaker 2: 50:10

That's about it, that's exactly right, I had to kind of discipline myself. I mean, I flew from LA into Boston on an overnight. I didn't get any sleep on the plane. I had to drive from there to Connecticut to play at Foxwoods with a four hour gig until one in the morning, then drive back to Boston, and it just got to the point where I was like what am I doing? I'm supposed to, I wouldn't have time to eat, I wouldn't have time to sleep. Um, my health was literally suffering. I, I, I don't know. You know, I was just having dizzy spells and just not taking care of myself, and that has to be a priority too. You can't go out and gig if you're not taking care of yourself.

Speaker 1: 50:45

you have to sleep, yeah, you you have to take care of yourself, because your voice won't tolerate that, your body won't tolerate it, your mind, you're not going to be creative Like it's. There's a lot of dependencies to being well and being rested right and I'm just stubborn.

Speaker 2: 51:05

I was like I can do it all. I can do that I could fly the overnight.

Speaker 1: 51:09

That's me, yeah, because you want to do it all and you think you can do it all.

Speaker 2: 51:13

And then your body goes. Nope, you can't do it all, Sorry.

Speaker 1: 51:17

Yeah, it's a disease actually when you think like that. But that's why I believe that's why I'm a successful person, because a friend of mine kind of coined this adage of average is the enemy. Like I don't want to be average. If I wanted to be average, I would do a shitty podcast, I would play shitty songs, I would go to work and be media Like I don't. I want to be the best. And when, like with the podcast, I bought all the best equipment and worked my ass off and it's like that was important, because anybody can do a podcast or say I have a podcast, but who listens to it? Right, I want my show to be better than average. So that's just the way I'm, I guess, wired if you will. That's my DNA. I don't know how to say no, randy, slow down, because you can't do it all. And it sounds like you're. We're kind of poured from the same mold right.

Speaker 2: 52:12

Yes, we are Kindred spirit. That's right, I just want to go, go, go. And and literally my body had to tell me that, because my brain was just like no, I got this. I can do you know, six gigs in two days in three different States. I mean, that was literally yeah.

Speaker 1: 52:28

If you want to die, of course you can.

Speaker 2: 52:29

Yeah, I mean of course, but you have to have limits. You have to, like, say no to I, was I was. The hardest thing for me was saying no to some things because it just got a little too crazy, and to say no I always feel like I'm missing an opportunity or what if there's somebody at this place or you know?

Speaker 1: 52:50

but you have to learn to say no. For sure there was. There was an old song written by a guy named Nick Lowe, l-o-w-e, and he had a. It was a hit song for him and it was called Cruel to be Kind. And he's, and that was one of the lyrics. You have to be. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind, right? Sometimes you have to tell people no, and it doesn't mean that I don't like you or whatever. It just means that it's not in my best interest to do that and you just people have to be accepting of no or being a little cruel to not receive what they want to hear, right, you know, and it can be interpreted, too, as being ungrateful.

Speaker 2: 53:23

I did have to turn down a couple of gigs in Connecticut because to get from where I was in Boston to Connecticut and back to Boston there was just so little time in between and I was already running back and forth. And it was a great opportunity and I would have loved to have taken it but it just would have been too much and I think that person that was hired got the impression that you know, don't you know what this is like and you're turning it down. And it was like I don't want to, I just kind of have to. You know, it's nothing personal, um, I just I need to eat and sleep.

Speaker 1: 53:56

What a concept right, I think people can.

Speaker 2: 53:59

People can take it personally and not realize that you have to prioritize yourself.

Speaker 1: 54:04

Well, and you have to remember that that's one show, and where there was one show, there'll be two others down the road. So you have to do what's right for yourself, and you mentioned just a minute ago that you were writing or working on a song. Can you tell the listeners any more about the song, or is that kind of under wraps? And if it's under wraps that's fine, but is there anything else? Music wise you know we talked about shows, but music wise, what can the listeners or the fans of Liz Spencer look forward to like in the next half of 2025, right?

Speaker 2: 54:40

Yeah, well, this one was called 3000 miles, and the reason it's called 3000 miles is because my husband and I grew up 3000 miles away from each other. So it's kind of, you know, um, it's sort of a song about our relationship, but it's also, you know, just being grateful that that our paths did cross. Um, it's I wouldn't call it a love song, exactly. You know. I showed it to him and he was like oh, this is beautiful and I really love it. And I feel the same way.

Speaker 2: 55:08

I'm like this isn't really like a love song. I feel like if I was going to write him a love song, it would be sweet and flowery, and this is kind of more like I just don't want to screw this up, like this is a good thing, of course, and it took 3 000 miles to get to you and I know for me, with with some things that I've I've had in my past, that my past tends to haunt my present sometimes and I just don't want to screw up this good thing that I have. That's kind of what the song is about.

Speaker 1: 55:36

Again, probably not something I would say out loud, unless I'm talking to randy, but yeah, yeah, nobody, I mean sure, yeah, I'm randy after all, right, but yeah, it's kind of just, but I mean, sure, yeah, I'm Randy after all, right, but yeah, it's kind of just one of those like, oh God, this is really a good thing.

Speaker 2: 55:47

I mean he's, it's a, it's a healthy relationship, it's, it's wonderful, I have the best time with him, and it's just one of those things where it's like, oh God, don't screw this up, you know that's awesome. That's awesome, yeah, so that'll be the next one that's coming out, maybe relatable to other people too, I guess.

Speaker 1: 56:06

I'm sure, I'm sure. Well, if you ever come to Houston, let me know. I can help you, maybe fill some spots, or we can even song swap at one of my shows and I'll dump some money on you.

Speaker 2: 56:19

How?

Speaker 1: 56:19

about that? Right, I would look forward to that. If you're ever in the area, I'll dump some money on you. How about that? Right, I would look forward to that if you're ever in the area. But that's what I did for Nick Set him up with a couple of shows while he was I think he was in the Texas Hill country, play in some events there, and it was probably two and a half hours away I said, hey, if you want to come here, you guys have a place to you know stay, you know stay. I think they got an Airbnb or whatever. But I hooked him up with a couple of back-to-back shows and was able to put some more money in his pocket to keep gas in the vehicle, Right? So, yeah, it was a good time, but look me up if you're ever.

Speaker 2: 56:51

I would love to do that. Texas is one of those, one of those States that I've always wanted to go to too, so that'd be that would be fantastic.

Speaker 1: 56:56

Better come on. Yeah, where can the listeners?

Speaker 2: 57:06

find Liz Spencer on social media, almost entirely on Instagram. Um, I, I have a Facebook page Liz Spencer music on Facebook, um, I'm just not a huge fan of Facebook I I just find it, uh, a little more difficult to use on the business pages and just I'm just not a fan. But on Instagram, with Spencer music, that's where I do the majority of of everything is on and that's actually where I've gotten so many connections, and a lot of these stations that are playing my songs have found me on Instagram and it's it's a beautiful thing. I I really try to connect with everybody who's on my page. I've made some great friends there, so it's that's kind of my social media.

Speaker 2: 57:49

Home really is Instagram. I, I know I should do Tik TOK and people have been telling me forever you should do Tik TOK. Um, it's so much just to maintain the Instagram page because of the way that I do it, because I try to respond to like almost everybody that that messages me or I respond to every comment. It the content, it's all. It takes up so much time that to get onto a different platform it's just exhausting to even think about so.

Speaker 1: 58:13

Yeah, you know it's it is. It is tough because there there are so many and you can't be on every one of them, but I think so many are. I think Instagram seems to be where most of the artists land, but at the end of the day, instagram is owned by Facebook and you have the algorithm issues with either one of them, right, and I think that's why people flock more to TikTok, because there's less of the algorithm, and then even to X right or formerly Twitter, because there's there's less of the algorithm, and then even to X right or formerly Twitter, maybe because there's there's less of that scrutiny. Right Facebook has gotten and I promise I'm not going to go down a rabbit hole because it just pisses me right off, but you know you've got well on on Instagram.

Speaker 1: 58:58

For me, I'm going on 13,000 followers less on Facebook, but the funny thing is only a fraction of your people see anything that you post on these, on these platforms, and it's so. It's disheartening and the the beauty for me is I don't do the podcast or music for a living like you do, so I can see where it would take it it's. It's just got to be disruptive to you guys that try to get the word out for new music and you're just scrutinized at every turn, unless you're paying money, and paying money for ads, and all of this has just become, uh, the. The big business is what it is, and anyway, anyway, I'll just leave it at that.

Speaker 2: 59:43

And the reach has gone down so far over the last year. If you look at the views on my posts, I mean it just cut in half cut in half, cut in half.

Speaker 2: 59:52

You know I have a really amazing group of followers. Like my engagement on my page is very high. If you look at, like that'll comment, I will have like a hundred comments on on the posts and stuff like that, which is entirely just that. I just have this amazing group of people. But even with that, even with the high engagement, even if that's supposed to to drive the algorithm right, you're the more people that like comment. It's still the reach is just going and I think what they want is they want you to pay for the ads.

Speaker 3: 1:00:20

They want you to put the money out there and then you know, and they're making it harder and harder to be seen.

Speaker 2: 1:00:26

But what I decided this year was I'm not going to care anymore. I mean, I, if people see it, that's fabulous, and what I was doing before was really focusing on what gets the likes. So I can stay in the algorithm and I'm like you know what. I just want to have a page that is more about me and more about what I want to put out there, and so it's going to go down even further now. Now my views are going to go down.

Speaker 1: 1:00:47

Sure.

Speaker 2: 1:00:47

But it's so much less pressure and I just want to be more honest about what I'm doing and show people a little bit more about my life and a little less of just like photos or the things that typically get more likes. So it'll be interesting, I'm sure. I'm sure the engagement is going to go down even more, but I'm just not going to. I don't want to play the game. I don't want to play the game with no, you can't.

Speaker 1: 1:01:08

You just got to keep doing what you feel is right in your heart. The social media is going to be the social media. You're not going to change that, right? You and Liz Spencer and Randy Holsey can not like Facebook, and it's not going to change a damn thing at the end of the day, right? So you just keep marching forward.

Speaker 2: 1:01:28

That's a little bit of protest too, because it's become so important for musicians to have a strong social media following, and social media is like the opposite of creative energy. It's like what dampens creative energy. So you're supposed to be an artist and create, but you're also supposed to really care about what people think of you and comparing yourself to other people and being like what am I going to put up? So it's just so counterproductive to the creative process that I think I just have decided to kind of just boycott that altogether and just do what I want to do and just see what happens. I mean, people are going to like what they like and there's always going to be someone that likes it and always going to be someone that doesn't. So just do what you want to do.

Speaker 1: 1:02:08

At the end of the day, liz, you're a musician, right? I'm sure there's never anywhere along the way that you said. I'm a digital creator, influencer I'm sure you've never coined yourself as that, but it leaves you having to do that to get out to more people on social media, and for the longest time. You would see and I'll pick on the girls for just a minute but you see a lot of the musician girls that go out and they post like seven pictures of themselves sitting on a fence Right, and I understand why they're doing it, but it leaves people, the people that don't understand why they're doing it. But it leaves people, the people that don't understand why they're doing it. They say, are you a model or are you a musician like?

Speaker 2: 1:02:49

play music and quit posing and, and I would say, the same thing to guys, but the likes, yes, and you know, honestly, do you know how many times I have heard you should show more skin? You know how many times I have heard that I'm a musician and I'm putting things out and they're like, oh no, you should, you should wear dresses, you should show more skin. I got a lot of like, you know, from well-meaning people, I think most of the time, but it's like are you saying that to men too? Or I mean, I don't want to be up there. It definitely helps to have a certain look if you're trying to get social media. You know, engagement if engagement, but I don't want that to be what I'm about.

Speaker 1: 1:03:24

You can't sell out either, right? Yeah, you can't sell out.

Speaker 2: 1:03:27

I don't want. I'm not going to show more skin so that I can get more people. You know, I think, and I think too since I started focusing more on things besides, I started kind of giving more, a little bit about my life and I kind of let people in to more of my personal things rather than just photos. I'm getting a lot more DMs about my music now. It used to be like hey, are you single? Hey, and um, yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:03:55

Now it's more like hey, I just listened to your song, so it even the the whole, uh, the vibe of the page is starting to shift, which is great, because if I have fewer people on my page but more who are interested in what I'm doing, then like those are the quality people you want on there.

Speaker 2: 1:04:16

And there's so many of them. I mean, I've made so many good friends and they're amazing. They they show me pictures of somebody showing pictures of Ireland. He just he lives out in Ireland and he's just giving me like a tour of Italy. Yeah, you know, it's such a cool opportunity and there's so many really great people on Instagram Like it's. It's. It's actually fun for me. I just have to keep it in the right perspective and I have to keep it about what I'm actually there for.

Speaker 2: 1:04:41

And that's the trick with any musician. I think any artist is not not getting your head in the game of you know, just trying to get likes and trying to get into the algorithm and trying to just just keep being creative. Just you know.

Speaker 1: 1:04:54

Yeah, well, there are good people out there that are that will DM you and and say all the right things because they truly love your music, but at the end of the day, there's wolves and sheep's clothing out there. Right, that are like it's like my wife is forever saying I got this cringy friend request and she's not even a musician right, and I'm like yeah oh, I'm sure.

Speaker 1: 1:05:19

Yeah, yeah, that's a whole nother podcast. We'll do a. We'll do a part two about all the cringy douchebags on social media, right yeah, yeah, but I I've definitely.

Speaker 2: 1:05:29

That's why I've really kept like I never post my daughter, for instance, like most people don't even know I have a daughter. Um, I mean, there are reasons for all of that. I've definitely had some scary encounters with people who thought that I was like the one for them. I've had people come out to shows who have told me that that it was like a destiny it was meant to be. They really connected with me and they don't. They don't know me other than like Instagram. So they can get scary when I bump into people who know me from Instagram and they just kind of have that very, very intense. I came out from Texas to see you and you know it's. I guess that's what you want, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:06:11

But you know what here's? Here's the difference. I believe, if I because I've done that there there was an artist up in um Tyler and um I was on business up in Tyler and I showed up at one of her shows and it was not cringy at all, I mean, I think. I think it depends on the purpose, but if they can, people can make things really cringy, though you know, if you go up there and you say you're going to be my wife that's cringy.

Speaker 2: 1:06:39

I literally, yes, you're going to be my wife. It was like um, already engaged to this guy right here, like, yeah, um, and he actually didn't even care. He didn't even care that my fiance was right there. So, um, yeah, it can get, it can get over the top. People do think that they know you yeah, exactly from, from pictures and videos and and there are some people that do feel like they know you from that um, and that's where that's where I have to definitely keep my private life private in a lot of ways.

Speaker 1: 1:07:06

But is it? Is it also cringy that you just told me that you have a daughter? And that's another thing, truthful thing that you told me on the show. Do you realize you're telling me a lot more than you really want to?

Speaker 2: 1:07:16

tell me yeah, no, I mean I've mentioned before, I've done I've done radio interviews and I've mentioned that I have a daughter, but I don't mention her age, I don't mention anything really identifying about her at all. My main goal is to just make sure that she's out of this and she's not 100%. Yeah, because there are some creepy people. I've had to hire security for certain gigs because of that which kind of sucks, because I had to spend all the money I got for that gig paying for the security for the gig. But it was necessary at the time because there was somebody who really had the wrong idea and was, you know, was going to be coming out to the show. So I try to keep her out of it as much as possible.

Speaker 1: 1:07:59

You know there's that, there's that weird weirdness, um, from from a guy's point of view too. Right, I had somebody come up, a female come up to me at a show this past weekend and it wasn't anything cringy like that. But she said, um, can you play? Um, will you play sevens, will you play something by Willie? And I said, well, I know one that was written by Townes Van Zandt that Willie kind of made you know popular or famous, and I said I can do that. And she said, well, do seven Spanish angels? And I said I don't, I don't do that song. She's like, yeah, you do. And I said, no, I've never played. In the eight years I've been playing out in a duo, I've never once played that song ever. She's like I follow you, I've heard you play it and I'm like I'm like honey, you, it must be my doppelganger because I've never played that song. So it's like people think that they kind of know you or maybe they mix people up.

Speaker 2: 1:08:59

I don't know. I mean, you never know yeah, exactly so.

Speaker 1: 1:09:01

I'm like, so I told Chris I'm like that that was odd, like I mean, we've never played that song, never even, never even attempted to play that song, but whatever, whatever, yeah, so anyway yeah well, listen. It's been super cool, liz, getting to chat with you. Thank you so much for for dropping in and sharing your story with me and allowing myself and the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio to get to know you.

Speaker 2: 1:09:30

Well, thank you for having me. This has been really fun and I'm glad that we finally got the chance to connect and to chat, and I'm glad that Nick Bossy went down there to talk to you, because I know that's how you and I connected.

Speaker 1: 1:09:41

Great guy. Love you, nick. I'm if I'm sure he will listen to this episode, he, if he doesn't, he's not a very good friend. Let's just go on the record and say that. Anyway, I wish you a much success and I look forward to hearing the new music you know coming out of the Boston area. So we'll myself and the listeners will look forward to that in the very near future. You Listeners will look forward to that in the very near future. You guys make sure to follow Liz on all of her social media handles. I also ask the listeners to like, share and subscribe to the podcast on Facebook at Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, on Instagram at Backstage Pass Radio and on the website at BackstagePassRadiocom. You guys remember to take care of yourselves and each other and we'll see you right back here on the next episode of Backstage Pass Radio.

Speaker 3: 1:10:30

Thank you for tuning into this episode of Backstage Pass Radio. Backstage Pass Radio. We hope you enjoyed this episode and gained some new insights into the world of music. Backstage Pass Radio is heard in over 80 countries and the streams continue to grow each week. If you loved what you heard, don't forget to subscribe, rate and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us and helps us bring you even more amazing content. So join us next time for another deep dive into the stories and sounds that shape our musical landscape. Until then, keep listening, keep exploring and keep the passion of music alive.