Speaker 1: 0:46

Hey everyone, it's Randy Holsey and you're listening to Backstage Pass Radio, the place where stories and songs collide, and today you're in for something truly special. My guest today is a powerhouse singer-songwriter, blending heartfelt country roots with pop hooks, from viral anthems to Nashville sessions. She's carving her path with boldness and grace, and I can't wait to dive into her journey, her music and what's coming next. Stick around, and I will chat with the one and only Mary Cutter right after this.

Speaker 2: 1:16

Thank you for tuning into this episode of 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.

Speaker 1: 1:57

I am joined by the one and only Mary Cutter.

Speaker 3: 2:00

Hi Mary. Hey, Randy, I'm so excited. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: 2:05

So cool to see you in person. Good to see you.

Speaker 3: 2:08

Ditto man, I'll tell you what you really have built a very cool thing, an entire world, and I just appreciate you having me on and I'm excited just to hang out with you.

Speaker 1: 2:17

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Well, let's jump into it. I know that you were raised a Kentucky girl, but is Bardstown? Is this where you were born and raised? Was it in Bardstown? Is this where you were born?

Speaker 3: 2:33

and raised. Was it in Bardstown or was it somewhere else in Kentucky? I was raised just outside of Bardstown. Now I will say a little town called Springfield, kentucky, and our claim to fame in Springfield is Abraham Lincoln's parents got married in Springfield and of course obviously years and years ago. But of course I kind of feel like Kentucky most counties like to claim something, lincoln you know. But Bardstown was kind of one of the nearest you know hubs for civilization growing up. You know we drive out to Walmart there. Of course If someone hasn't been to Bardstown that is where the Bourbon Trail is. So you throw a rock where I'm from, you will probably hit a distillery. Just about everything is in my neck of the woods where I grew up.

Speaker 1: 3:17

That's interesting because I think the nickname is the Bourbon Capital of the World, right.

Speaker 3: 3:22

That is right. You have done your research. Have you been up there yet? Have you been to the Bourbon Capital?

Speaker 1: 3:28

So I have not the only time that I've ever spent in Kentucky. So this, of course and music is not a full-time job. I have another gig that pays the mortgage, but with the mortgage paying gig I spent quite a bit of time in Lexington doing work, so that's really my first and only introduction to Kentucky I haven't had a chance to, so that's really my first and only introduction to Kentucky.

Speaker 3: 3:53

I haven't had a chance to peruse the state. Well, lexington is a classy place. I feel like that's probably one of the classiest parts of Kentucky Now, where I grew up. It is about an hour away from Lexington. So wow you were in horse country then.

Speaker 1: 4:07

Yeah, big time. And when you say an hour from Lexington, that's like a drive across Houston, texas, right, houston is so big it takes an hour and 20 minutes just to get from one side to the other.

Speaker 3: 4:16

It's just the craziest thing you know. I always forget about that. With Texas it's just another space and mileage is a different thing out there.

Speaker 1: 4:24

You know it's. There's an old saying that everything's big in Texas, and there's really a lot of truth to that. I mean, every city, even the small towns, seem like big compared to most places, and I know that Bardstown is really what I think 15,000 people. So it's not small, but it's not big by any stretch of the imagination, right?

Speaker 3: 4:45

Right, and whenever I was growing up, you know Springfield had 2,600 people just to plan. I don't know where it's sitting at now. You know I live in Nashville now but you know you do meet people that you know they come from a town that has 200 people in it and that kind of thing and I definitely came from a small town but you know it wasn't that small. We do have stoplights but anyway it's kind of wild, you know it's kind of wild.

Speaker 1: 5:07

You know it's funny. I had an amazing artist on my show from gosh. I can't remember the small town now, but he's from New Mexico. His name is Will Bannister. You might cross paths with him on social media. He's a big one out there on Instagram and whatnot. Look him up. But it was funny just talking to him because he comes from a town of just a couple, a handful of people and was yes sir, yes sir.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Yes, sir, it's like you know, and it's, and it's just like it's instilled in the small town America, just respect and and everything. And how do you tell somebody to quit calling me sir? Like it's a respect thing. But it's so cool, you know, and there's so many artists that I've had on the show that I've been blessed with having and get to spend time with you guys, and you just come from all different walks of civilization. It's not big town, it's big town, small town, middle town, it's all over. And it's just so cool to learn different things about different people and where they're from.

Speaker 3: 6:09

Oh, absolutely, and I bet that's one of the joys of you hosting your show and it is something that's beautiful about, I guess, music is. Every background is going to help shape your music right, and I'm sure the same goes for you. You know, being a Texan, you know that's really neat.

Speaker 1: 6:24

Yeah, it is cool. Well, you left the Bluegrass State for Music City sometime back. I don't know when that was, but when did the move take place for you to Nashville?

Speaker 3: 6:35

Well, you know, randy, I don't know if we had gotten well we didn't talk about before we went on air. I don't know if you knew this about me or not. So I was growing up in Kentucky and I started playing different fairs and festivals I'll see him in church started playing different fairs and festivals. I was singing in church and I met a feller in Bardstown who he had a couple of radio stations and a TV station and we met at a festival I was singing at and we kept on running into each other at different events that he would be there hosting. You know, the events are just covering it.

Speaker 3: 7:05

I would be there singing and, long story short, he wanted to start a live music variety show and so he asked me to start hosting that and I had zero radio experience, you know. But I said yes and that job offer changed my life. It was right outside Louisville, kentucky, where we were stationed out of, but we would have different artists come on radio tour and be on my show and I would interview them and they play some songs, I would close and open the show.

Speaker 3: 7:37

But long story short, I found pretty quickly because I was booking the talent, much like I guess you do as well and there's so many pieces that go into it. That's why I have another level of respect for what you do. There's so many pieces that go into. It's why I have another level of respect for what you do. There's so many pieces that go into it. Of course you know you are passionate. I was passionate, you know, doing it as well, as much smaller scale than what you felt with your podcast. But I saw pretty quickly that you know, I would have great artists come on the show. But I could also sometimes get massive hit songwriters from nashville that were so excited to come on the show. And so I found myself having different hit writers from especially the 90s and early 2K that were coming on the show.

Speaker 3: 8:18

And there was a fellow who he's passed away now. He passed away literally right before I moved to Nashville. His name was Kim Williams and he was, I mean, one of the biggest songwriters in country music. Williams, and he was, I mean, one of the biggest songwriters in country music. I mean, if you were, if you were anybody in you know the 90s, 2000s and the teens you had recorded a song by Kim Williams and I mean he he was, I mean he probably had half of Garth Brooks's hits Reba, george, strait, george, all the folks, anyway well, he kind of took me under his wing and he had been on the show and after we got off air we just started yakking and he was like, well, what made you want to go into the radio business?

Speaker 3: 8:57

I was like, well, you know, it was kind of happenstance. You know, I'm actually a singer and I, you know, sing at different, you know, clubs and jamborees and festivals. And he was like, well, do you write songs? And and he was like, well, do you write songs? And I was like, well, kind of, I've written by myself. And he was like, play me something.

Speaker 2: 9:13

And I'm sure it was so not good. I'm sure it was not good.

Speaker 3: 9:16

I hadn't had any co-writing experience or anything, but I played him what I had and for whatever reason, he pulled out his. He had his computer with him that had all his contacts in there and he pulled it out. He had his computer with him that had all his contacts in there. He pulled it out and he wrote down nine different riders and their phone numbers.

Speaker 3: 9:35

And all people at his tier and they were all nationally. He said you call them up and you say that Kim Williams says that they should either ride with you, get coffee with you or at least be on your show. And looking back, I am just I'm so grateful to Kim, because that was just. The door got kicked open a little bit in Nashville and I definitely didn't know anything about anything, but that was how I started meeting more and more folks and in Nashville and just like I guess everything in music, if you write with Billy Bob and the write goes good, then Billy Bob's like oh, you've got to meet Sally. So then you write with Sally. Then you write with Sally and Bob's like, oh, you got to meet Sally.

Speaker 1: 10:10

So then you write with Sally.

Speaker 3: 10:12

Then you write with Sally and she's like oh, have you written with Becky? She would love you. And before I knew it, uh, although it's very close, it's just two and a half hours away from where I grew up, to Nashville, and that's if you're driving a speed limit, that's how you meet if you're heavy, heavy foot like I am before I knew it, I was down here all the time and that's that's how I made the jump.

Speaker 3: 10:32

So you know, I guess everybody has a little bit of a spaghetti noodle of how they, you know, start their journey in music. You know, I started singing in church, seeing at different local events, fairs and festivals, jamborees, but what really got the light switch turned on for me was this weird out of the blue radio show opportunity where I ended up, was this weird out of the blue uh radio show opportunity where I ended up meeting someone that, out of the goodness of their heart, saw something you know and uh went out on a limb.

Speaker 1: 11:01

That's such a cool story and it in my mind just like it bounced. I mean I was still in the conversation with you but my mind immediately went to how my show started and to piggyback off your thought there. You know you had made a couple of nice gestures to me about the show before we hit the record button, but it's about having that right person or being in the right camp. That kickstarts everything for you. And I had a very dear friend that was on my show, joey C Jones. He passed a few years back with cancer but Joey was this sunset strip rock God like back in the hair metal days and he worked with everybody in the business was produced by Robin Zander and Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick. And I asked Joe right when I first started my show. I said, joe, I've got to kick my show off. Can you help me? Just get one cool person on my show? And he's like you know what. You have to talk to my buddy, adam Hamilton. He played drums with me in CeCe DeBille's band and then he went on and played with LA Guns. So fast forward.

Speaker 1: 12:14

I did the interview with Adam and I asked Adam the same thing. And now Adam's an A-list producer in Hollywood. He said you know, randy, you've got to do an interview with my buddy, michael Sweet from Striper, and then, from Striper, michael Sweet was sweet enough to say hey, you got to talk to my buddy Joel Hoekstra from Night Ranger and Whitesnake and this thing kind of like the Kim story that you were just telling me about. It's like it was one person that opens the door and from there you build on that door, opening everything and every person that you've ever met, mary, is not just because of him, but you bring value to the table too much, like.

Speaker 1: 13:01

I feel like I have a good show, I think that I do right and yes, um, but would I have ever got to this level without that kickstart from joey? I? I don't know, maybe, maybe not, but it would have ever got to this level without that kickstart from Joey? I don't know, maybe, maybe not, but it would have taken me a lot longer. And would you have gotten there? Probably so, but it might've just been a longer journey, who knows? Right.

Speaker 3: 13:20

That's such a cool way of looking at it and you know, I guess when you're talking about all that, I think to myself I hope that one day that you know, I can be someone's Kim you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 1: 13:31

It's all about paying it forward, right? I mean at the end of the day.

Speaker 3: 13:35

And ain't it crazy that just a small thing. You know, although it was a very big deal of what he did in my world. You know to give especially people's phone numbers.

Speaker 3: 13:43

You know people are very protective of their phone numbers, but you know, but him doing that, you know that ended up changing, you know, my life and you know, of course I guess it's kind of like not to go into hippy dippy land, but you know you think about then, you know, once I moved down here all of you know my friends and my crew and the songs have been written. Maybe those songs still would have been written, you know, if I hadn't been in those rooms.

Speaker 2: 14:07

I mean, I don't know but maybe not I hadn't been in those rooms.

Speaker 3: 14:09

I mean I don't know, but maybe not. I don't know. It's really interesting how one decision can change so many different things. That's just crazy.

Speaker 1: 14:15

Sure, that's exactly right. So you made the jump from Kentucky to Nashville. Again, it wasn't a far journey for you, but you did leave home. Do you feel like that you had kind of maxed out growth-wise where you were in Kentucky and you felt like at that point in time you needed to be in Nashville to grow as an artist? Or was there something else that ultimately took you to Nashville and music was a byproduct of that move? Can you speak to the listeners?

Speaker 3: 14:44

about that? That's such a good question. Well, you know, and I that. So I moved to town at the very end of 2017. And I'll tell you what what Nashville was pre-COVID versus what it is now two different ways of breaking into the country music industry Back then. I say back then like it was that long ago, but truly just, it's truly like BC and AD, you know, um, before COVID, hey, anyway, uh, that being said, uh, you know kind of the game plan to get anywhere, any traction in the music business in Nashville you ride all day. Then, every single night, you were at the bars meeting people, networking every single night. And, uh, I remember I'd heard someone you know talking out right after I moved to town. I was at a coffee shop one day waiting for a meeting and I heard in the booth next to me there was a publisher that's very respected in town in another meeting and I heard him say if you're ever home before seven or eight o'clock, you didn't work you ain't working.

Speaker 3: 15:50

Yes, I was like whoa and truly what my world was. Whenever I moved to nashville. Every single night, I was out till midnight and then I would write all day and I would do always two writes a day. Well, I found I did three roads a day whenever I first moved to town and it was because I knew, uh, you know, I didn't know a lot and, uh, whenever I first moved to town, uh, I needed to, you know, get my feet wet and everything.

Speaker 3: 16:16

And I had this show experience of, you know, hosting, you know, the radio show. But I started hosting different writers nights in nashville. So I had a couple different shows that I hosted where, basically, if someone isn't familiar with the riders rounds in Nashville, just to give you an idea, the second show that I hosted right up until COVID we ended it right before COVID shut everything down I was that one for 10 months and I would have 12 different guests on every single week and what they would do is they'd have four people per round, it'd be an hour slot and they would play usually three or four songs each and it was acoustic.

Speaker 3: 16:55

And I'll tell you what that was such that was a PhD crash course in songwriting, because truly, in 10 months, we had just under 500 different people play the show, and I can list off, on one hand, people that shouldn't have been up on that stage. Everyone was great, truly, everyone was great. I remember looking around one night at the bar and I thought to myself I look, it looks like I'm on the set of a hollywood movie. Everyone's beautiful and people were singing great songs. Everyone had great voices you, you know, and, and but I also could say, on the other hand, count the folks that stood out out of that 500. Yeah, and the reason for that? Of course, I would book the talent, that I would watch them, you know, and introduce everybody, that I'd get off the stage and watch the music. You would hear the same title, the same melodies, the same concepts, the same vocal. You know fancy stuff they would do, and it was a really great crash course that I don't think, to answer your question, I would have gotten if I hadn't moved to Nashville.

Speaker 3: 18:03

And now, that being said, though, when the world shut down in 2020, it shut down in the music business, and I remember I talked to my dad and it was right when they shut down the basketball tournament. That's when I was like, oh, this thing must be real. My Kentucky side came out like, okay, this must be something. And I remember my dad was like, hey, you've got to figure out what you can do during this time because everything's going to shut down. And my dad, he works in the manufacturing business where he places people and mainly automotive jobs, like everyone from like mechanic all the way up to vice president, so you know engineers and he was like they're shutting down automotive companies. You know they're not going to be placing nobody. And he was like so I, I either can be in the food industry or the medical world. I don't know anything about the medical world, so I think I'll dabble in the food business. He's like you got to figure out what's that equivalent for you in the music business? And I thought to myself well, all the shows are gone. You know there's no more networking. Yep, uh, I guess I can write on zoom.

Speaker 3: 19:08

And so when I tell you and I'm not exaggerated, I wrote seven days a week, two to three sessions a day, the entire lockdown, all of 2020, all of 2021. I mean, truly, I did not take days off and it's because I was so hungry and I didn't know what to do. But I knew that the only thing in my control was me getting up every day, of course in different sessions, and it was during that time, randy, that I wrote some songs that started to change my world. Uh, different songwriting sessions that were literally on zoom I wasn't even in the room with these people. I started writing some songs that got placed in movies and commercials. My first gold record was written that way. Several of my first major label cuts as a songwriter truly got written that way. But I think, right before the pandemic having that crash course of all the talent in Nashville and really realizing okay, mary, you ain't in no small pond, no more.

Speaker 3: 20:09

You know what I'm saying. And then, whenever the lockdown happened, I was like, oh my gosh, okay, I got to work. And then it really was a crazy era of some people sank, some people floated, some people rose to the top. And it's really crazy and inspiring seeing how, you know, we were all dealt a horrible hand in one way or another during that era. But, um, you know, I have a handful of friends. That that's how they broke was during that era. They got on social media, they grew their platforms and I was lucky enough to be writing the songs with them, because that was where my focus was at during that time.

Speaker 1: 20:48

Um, was getting songwriting cuts, but it is really, really crazy that's a cool story and it's so admirable, and I've always known this. But I think I have a far better understanding since diving into the world of podcasting and talking to great artists and writers like yourself, like you, I think, so many people that ingest music in general, and I'm just talking about your average everyday person that listens to music, you know, they get in the car, they turn on the radio, they're listening to the music, but they're not hearing the music. And when I say that, being this connoisseur of music, I like to get inside of the song and hear the three and a half minute story. There's a story in there to be told, and what a lot of people don't see, you know, is like they see the faces, like Garth Brooks and the you know the maybe not Taylor Swift, but Garth Brooks and George Strait and all of these hit songs that were written.

Speaker 1: 21:52

And without the Paul Overstreets, the Don Schlitz, the Dean Dylans, like George Strait said it a long time ago without Dean Dillon there would be no George Strait, because he was the songwriter behind just about every hit song, like Marina Del Rey, the Chair, all that was written by Dean Dillon, right, and they're the unsung heroes behind the scenes. Like you, I know you've written songs that other people have recorded and gone to a much higher level up the charts, right. But if you look at those songs, they associate that person with the song. They don't know who's. Mary Cutter, right, and that's a shame because you're the mastermind behind that art and it's such a cool thing when you really you guys are just unsung heroes because you're so amazing in your craft.

Speaker 3: 22:42

is what I'm trying to say without saying it, I love how passionate you are with music that is so beautiful.

Speaker 2: 22:48

And you know it is really crazy.

Speaker 3: 22:51

You know, I think about like one of the songs that is a platinum song that I wrote for another artist. It was with Nate Smith and it's special because I think about we wrote that song. It was everyone's last songwriting session before Christmas.

Speaker 2: 23:06

Everyone is shut down.

Speaker 3: 23:07

Okay, they shut the laptops. They were at the airports going home or driving home for christmas and uh, I remember the four of us riders. We were, uh, all in my buddy's home studio that was just a converted bedroom and we started writing that song and at that point nate didn't even have a record deal yet. I mean, I remember I would tell people he's gonna be huge, he's gonna be huge and everyone will say, okay, that's cool. You know he's going to be huge, he's going to be huge, and everyone would say, okay, that's cool. You know, yeah, he has a good voice, but he didn't have anything going yet. But neither do we.

Speaker 3: 23:34

And it's crazy. You think about how every single song and you know this, randy, because you're a musician, you know every single song has a backstory and you never know what that song, while you're creating it, is going to do, to do. Now I do feel like certain sessions, like when I wrote Devil's Money, I said to the boys that day I was like y'all, I think we're writing something really big, something very special. And of course you know that story ain't even done for that song. But you know, sometimes you have a gut feeling, but I think we just love the creation so much that that's really the biggest reward you know.

Speaker 1: 24:08

Yeah, you know the. I've met so many amazing songwriters through the show and I was in Nashville a couple of years back and I was doing an interview with a guy named Dave Rowe. He was the bass player for Johnny Cash for 11 years and I think he spent time with Dwight Yoakam and the list kind of you know it goes on and on and on. When you get to that level, you've played with everybody in the business that has a name. But I can remember going over and meeting a buddy of mine. I said Johnny, where do you want to go eat? Meet me somewhere for a burger.

Speaker 1: 24:40

He's like dude, let's go over to the Nashville Palace, right? So we go over to Nashville Palace and there's a kid on stage named Sam Banks, right, and Sam Banks is a songwriter there in Nashville. If you don't know Sam, you got to look him up, mary, because he's amazing. And then I met another guy named Dan Smalley and he's been on my show as well, and both of those guys are in the whole circles. If you've never heard of them, but have become friends through the show and just admire the work that these guys do, much like you, right? Or you wouldn't be on my show if something didn't register with me.

Speaker 3: 25:14

Well, thank you, and both of those fellows are very talented. I don't know if I've met Sam, but I know Dan, but I know the name, I know Sam's name, but I don't know if we've met in person. Maybe in the neon glow, though, if we're being honest, that's always possible.

Speaker 1: 25:29

But it is really crazy. Yeah, sam actually played guitar for Craig Morgan for a number of years.

Speaker 3: 25:35

Okay, wow, Isn't that so wild how I feel. Like you know creatives, some people do one role and they just crush it, but then there's some people that they wear so many different hats in this industry and they reach the highest heights with the each lane, which is very cool. You know you're not wrong on any of that, though that's really neat yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:54

Well, if you weren't writing and performing, what do you think you'd be doing for a living?

Speaker 3: 26:01

That is such a good question, and don't lie. So music's off the table.

Speaker 1: 26:07

Music's off the table. No music business industry, no publishing, no writing, no performing just out of the music business period. What would Mary Cutter be doing with her life right now?

Speaker 3: 26:18

Well, this is still the creative world, but I could see myself being an author. But that might be kind of cheating a little bit, you know, because I do storytelling songs be kind of cheating a little bit.

Speaker 1: 26:26

You know I do storytelling. You're cheating a little bit. Pick another one, pick another one. You got to pick another one, let me sit here.

Speaker 3: 26:31

You know, I will say I have always been absolutely mesmerized by Robin Roberts and just literally, you think about the talk show host. I mean, you know Oprah, you know the whole shebang. I think there is something about the shows where they have different guests on, you get to hear their stories, which once again I'm going back to Storyland, I guess. But you know, there's a lot of different things that you think about. Even, you know, you think about being someone that can really make a difference. You know, for some people, I think that's you know, mission people think that's you know, mission work. Some people as politicians, you know some people that's being a teacher, you know, I think. I think I would definitely want to do something where you feel like it's not to get heavy, but I, all of our lives, even we live to be 100. It's over pretty quick, you know. But but to do something that lasts beyond us is that would be really cool I agree, I totally agree.

Speaker 1: 27:25

Well, let's walk back for just a minute, because you know you you spoke of a hit song you know you're a decorated songwriter, you've written songs, uh, for many artists and you know they. I guess one of them, at least, has climbed way up the billboard charts and I guess just talk a little bit about your songwriting accolades and I and this is not an effort for you to be bashful like oh gosh, I don't, you know, like I don't want to talk about myself, like that right, but that these are, these are accolades that are very impressive in the industry. You know billboard is a huge chart, but talk just high level, about some of the accolades that you're the most proud of and what accolades in general mean to you as an artist.

Speaker 3: 28:13

That's such a good question. That's really cool. Well, I'll tell you what I'm most proud of is the songs that have done the biggest thing so far in my career. They were created during a time when the only thing I had control over was writing songs. I didn't have a publishing deal, I did not have anything going on business-wise. I had a whole lot of nothing with a side of nothing. People did not care who I was in town. I couldn't get a meeting to save my life, but I put my blinders on, I put the pedal down and I had been told when I first moved to Nashville by a very important business person that it was very hard for women to break in the country music world as an artist.

Speaker 3: 28:57

And I was told, if I wanted to have even a shot, I better break as a writer first. Now I don't know if that's true or not, whatever, that's another conversation, but that was why I really buckled down. I thought, okay, if I gotta do this, I gotta learn how to write songs. And, uh, you know, I think about the songs. You know, yeah, I've had songs on the billboard charts. You know they've been the top 20. I've had platinum and gold records. I've I've had songs that have been on TV shows, commercials, movies, and that's so cool. When I say that out loud, it's just crazy.

Speaker 3: 29:32

But what is so cool to me is that, you know, when I moved to town, you know, obviously Kim had introduced me to folks and he passed away literally right before I moved and all the folks that I met in town.

Speaker 3: 29:45

You know I didn't have any money coming to town. Now, I'd never seen the level of wealth that I saw until I moved to Nashville. But I just I would wake up every morning and try to write a song and I've always had this mentality and maybe it's naive, but I always think today I can write a song that changes my life and I truly, every single session. I would go in with that mentality and obviously most of the time I was wrong. But the thing is, it is really cool to see what a song can do that starts as a title or a guitar riff or just a feeling, and that's really what, you know, I feel proud about, is, you know, um, you know, nothing was handed to me whenever I'm in town and I guess it isn't for anybody, but, um, it was really just a matter of just buckling down and, you know, rotten and trying to think of something that maybe people will care about listening to.

Speaker 1: 30:47

Yeah Well, it certainly sounds just based on our conversation so far is you went out, you got your hustle on. I mean that's really, that's really what it amounts to. I mean you can you can be a lazy ass and sleep till noon every day, or you can get up and put your hustle pants on and go make a name for yourself. And even though I didn't choose to do that in the music world, I've been successful in corporate America Right and it's it's not because I was lazy, right.

Speaker 1: 31:14

It's because I networked and I did all the things that you mentioned the networking, the meetings, the putting in the work and doing, doing the time right that get us paid, or get us to that next rung on the ladder, so to speak, and it doesn't sound like you took any shortcuts along the way.

Speaker 3: 31:32

And ditto. And you know, this is the thing too. I don't know about you, but I feel like it's kind of exciting. I kind of personally love the challenge, but everyone's talented, everyone's beautiful, I mean, you know what I'm saying. So you've got gotta work hard, you know. But I think that, honestly, is part of the excitement is having a little at the sleeves, you know. But anyway, uh, I like the idea of some hustle pants. I would love some pants to say hustle across the leg.

Speaker 1: 31:56

You know hustle come on, don't, don't make me start a trend today. Don't make me start a trend day. Uh, if you were to never get another accolade in your life, would it matter to you? Or or are the accolades motivating to you? Because if you ask a hundred artists, there's probably some that say I don't give a damn about the accolade. But I think deep down inside they'd be lying. Mary cutter, what does Mary Cutter think about the accolades in general?

Speaker 3: 32:31

I think that the accolades I guess it would depend on what accolade we talk about, because this is my point. I mean I feel like it's been such a whistleblower last couple years with the award shows. Of course, there's a lot of different things that make someone you know win an award and there's a lot of politics around that versus there's accolades of you know selling out a show, selling a hard ticket, there's the accolade of going viral. Well, the commonality, in my humble opinion, is that you had to have done something right that resonated with someone for any one of those three things to even happen. So I guess I feel like you know, I mean even like saying, oh, the sum of gold or platinum, that's cool. I mean it definitely helped the bank account, it helped. I mean it really did, um, but I'm not like rolling in it, but it did help with the bills. But I will say that you know, at least with like those cuts, for example, it showed that like rolling in it, but it did help with the bills. But I will say that you know, at least with like those cuts, for example, it showed that somebody believed in it and then that did touch folks. And I think you know with like virality.

Speaker 3: 33:34

Of course, I guess you can, you know, spend money to promote a video, but if we're talking organic virality, something had to go right for folks to want to watch and share and comment. And then you know, you think about the award shows and stuff. I mean, something had to go right for the folks to get behind it. So I guess where my noggin's at is, you know. I would hope that you know as I continue in my career, cause I think I'm still pretty early on. I feel like, um, I hope I have anyway.

Speaker 1: 34:03

Well, you're only 20, what 22, 23. Well, um, I hope I have any way. Well, you're only 20. What 22, 23 is that?

Speaker 2: 34:10

what well, I will take that every day of the week man brandy, you are good.

Speaker 3: 34:11

See, you know, you say corporate america. I was like you know what this feller might have the tattoo. But he has a smooth feller.

Speaker 1: 34:16

I'll tell you what don't let the tattoos fool you.

Speaker 3: 34:19

Don't let the tattoos fool you well, this is the thing, though, like truly, um, I think I think you know, there is something beautiful. I think that some artists and some writers and musicians, they make art just for themselves, and that's beautiful. There ain't nothing wrong with that. I do make music. Every time I sit down to write truly, even if I'm solo writing, I like to write something that someone I don't even know yet would feel connected to, and so I feel like it's not so much of the accolades, but I think it's kind of like you know what this is. It's kind of like would you be sad, mary, if you went to the gym every day and you never got abs? Well, I guess it's not about the abs, but something's going really wrong. If you're running five miles a day, which I do, and you never get the body you're hoping for, you must be doing something wrong in the kitchen or you're doing something wrong in the gym.

Speaker 1: 35:10

Right, you know what I'm saying, of course. No, that makes sense. It makes perfect sense, it is all really interesting though. Yeah, I agree. So you've released a handful of singles already this year. I wanted to talk about a few of them. If that's okay with you, I'm sure that it is right.

Speaker 1: 35:29

So I'd like to mention the songs and then maybe you can share a little bit of the background or the story behind the song, maybe where it was recorded, whatever you want to share with the listeners. So I'll give you the song title and then you just give us the background. Right, the 411. I love that. I love the stories behind the song. So devil wore a lab coat oh, okay.

Speaker 3: 35:54

Well, I will say that I was told by a couple of people that I should have write this song, uh, and I had the idea for a while. Uh, and I brought it to a couple writing sessions and you're like what else? You got Something about Big Pharma, let's write something else. But I grew up in Kentucky, like we said earlier, and I mean, unfortunately, I saw the effects of what happened where I was from. I mean, it seems like there isn't a family where I'm from that has not been affected somehow or known someone who was affected, and it was just on my heart to write and I had no idea how it would be received. But I was in the room with two buddies. I told them the idea and I said, hey, y'all, I don't know where this would ever live. And they were like, oh, let's write it. It fell out in 45 minutes. It was one of those stories.

Speaker 3: 36:46

I posted a little clip of it on social media and it ended up getting over 24 million views, which is insane, and so I just kept on raising his hand you need to release this song. You need to release this song. And it's so crazy to me how I mean it. Definitely don't check the boxes of, you know, conceptually of a commercial country song, but we wanted to write the story but in a way that it was still an up-tempo song that you could run to. And it's really been special seeing how you know just different people's stories, how they've been sharing them and I hope that I don't know, I hope honestly if it empowers people a little bit. You know that have been touched by it. Sure, you know my job is done.

Speaker 1: 37:38

Yeah, the song truck around.

Speaker 3: 37:45

Oh, my goodness. Okay. So I wrote that song on Halloween and I was with my friends John and Jesse and Lauren, and we had never had a combo with all of us together. And anyway, I remember it was a late session, it was my third ride of the day, actually, and I was tired. I'm not going to gonna lie, I've been up since 5 am. I had two sessions and then we had this combo I'd never written with before and, uh, I can't take credit for that title. That was my friend john's title he's so good with titles and song ideas and he walked in like what, if we do this? And it was another song that it was such a beautiful writing chemistry where j Jessie pulled out the guitar, she started singing melodies. I started singing melodies, lauren. John, it was almost like ping pong. You know what I'm saying and of course, you know it's not always like that in the writing room. A lot of times it's one person doing the melody and one person's doing more of the lyrics.

Speaker 1: 38:51

But in that session it felt like, especially with the melody, uh, it was just a really cool collaborative situation. Awesome, that's awesome. Are you? Are you structured in the writing? I know you said you do multiple writes a day, but are you the type of writer that says, okay, it's 10 am, I have to go sit down and write now. Or do you just write whenever organically, whenever you feel like writing during the day? How does it work for you?

Speaker 3: 39:09

for me. Um, in a lot of ways I am very structured, maybe not naturally, but over time I have learned that is the way I work best. I get up at 5 am every morning and I have a pretty rigid, uh strict, schedule. I attend to I freestyle journal three pages, then I read, I drink a cup of coffee and then I solo write and then I run my five miles and I get ready, then I go to my writing session and normally that would be co -writing. So every morning I do do a little bit of solo writing, but it's not so much of you better finish a song in this A lot of times, because it's usually about 630 in the morning whenever I'm doing that.

Speaker 3: 39:50

Maybe 6 am Sometimes depends on how long I read. Anyway, a lot of times it's just coming up with the ideas for what will be the session later, or a song start or whatever. But typically, you know, I kind of have it on the books. I just get up. I'm blessed that I get to do this, you know, without having a day job anymore. You know what I'm saying. So, uh, I, I treat it like a job and, uh, I walk in and I have a session every single day, unless there's a specific reason why I'm not riding.

Speaker 3: 40:20

You know I am riding every day but uh, I don't know, everyone's different though I do think some writers they would just see that as too robotic, you know, and too manufactured. And I think probably the reason it doesn't feel that way for me is because, you know, when I first moved to town I was writing for other artists. I got so used to just boom, boom, boom, boom. We keep going, we write a bunch Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, that energy, and then now that I've transferred it over to just writing for myself, it don't feel like a big deal. You know, getting up every day and you know, I think some folks, you know, maybe they got to fill the well a little bit more. I fill the well every chance I get.

Speaker 1: 41:11

Where's some ice cream we can go get, let's go watch another movie, but what is right in time, it's right in time?

Speaker 2: 41:15

yeah, exactly are you, is that true? You really eat ice cream. You run five miles. Oh, that's one of my biggest, biggest vices, so let me tell you oh, randy, have you had the fluffernutter blizzard?

Speaker 3: 41:24

it's where, do you?

Speaker 1: 41:26

get. Where do you get that from?

Speaker 3: 41:28

You get it from Dairy Queen. It is phenomenal, no, truly Randy. It is like so good.

Speaker 1: 41:32

So you're going to make me make a run to Dairy Queen tonight, aren't you?

Speaker 3: 41:36

Oh, I get it typically every Friday night. I get me a Fluffernutter Blizzard and it was kind of wild, so I used to get the mini size. Then I moved up to the smalls. Well, a couple Fridays ago I went through the drive-thru and, for whatever reason, they were like, nope, tonight you're getting a large. And I was like, oh no, I ate it all every bite.

Speaker 1: 41:56

That's funny. You should get them to rename it to something like the Fluffer Nutter Cutter or something like that.

Speaker 2: 42:06

I love it.

Speaker 3: 42:08

I think nutter cutter or something like that. I love that. I think they should. All right, yeah, I would be in all the commercials. You know, it's a reese's blizzard with marshmallow cream. It is just, it's unreal, it's one of my favorite things.

Speaker 1: 42:15

That's awesome. I'll have to look it up. Um so I love this song. I love this song.

Speaker 3: 42:20

Sad for me okay, this one has a really interesting story. So this song had been sitting collecting digital dust for four years. So I started writing for my artistry you know, really full time summer other artists. So I wrote this song in 2021 with a couple of friends and it just never made sense for that artist to release the song. It was beautiful, they sounded great on it, but it just didn't make sense for them to release, and so it sat for four years and at the top of this year I thought, man, this song, I think it's so different than anything I've released as an artist and it doesn't, you know, it doesn't look like they're going to be releasing it, and so it's really interesting though, randy, their recording of it you know that we wrote that day versus what it just goes to show.

Speaker 3: 43:21

You know, different artists do different things with the songs and that's really beautiful too. Of course, I guess the world hasn't heard the other version, but maybe they will one day, and I hope they do, you know, and uh, but anyway, that's how sad for me, was written, and uh, I still remember us writing that song that day and uh, I thought it was a special and beautiful song back then, but it was just sitting on the hard drive but I I'm so grateful I got to release it.

Speaker 1: 43:44

I, I loved it. It's like I listened to a lot of your stuff and I I really gravitated to that one and I just thought of something, and I don't know where this thought came from. Um, we talked about devil wore a lab coat. Has anybody ever said, you know, if, if that song reminds me of someone else doing it and compared your music or that song to any other artists, do you, do you recall anybody ever doing that?

Speaker 3: 44:13

because, and I'll tell you why, I ask after you answer the question well, you know it's interesting that you say that, because, of course, so you know, whenever you get that many views that we did on you know that song across videos you do get comments like that and so it was interesting I had gotten comments about, um, the guitar part sounding similar to an old miranda lambert song and so I remember thinking uh-oh. So like instantly rider brain like goes uh-oh. But it wasn't a different thing, but I think it was the uh kind of the dark whatever with that. Where is your noggin at?

Speaker 1: 44:49

no. So yeah, I, I hear where you're coming from. That's not where it could be easily misconstrued. That that's where I was going with that and and I know that every song it you know there's nine trillion songs written in the kia e that could be any other song, right? We all, we already we've all covered this at nauseam. But for me, when I listened to that song for the first time, I said this could be a five finger death punch song Like and if you've never listened to five finger death punch.

Speaker 1: 45:22

It's kind of like that it it's heavy but yet it's melodic, but it's. It has that rap blend kind. It has a rap feel to it. Right, you should. If you don't, if you've never listened to five finger death punch, you gotta listen. But I was like this is the kind of stuff that I get in my corvette in the morning and just like blow the speakers up, right.

Speaker 2: 45:43

So when I heard it.

Speaker 1: 45:44

I was like I can see mary like doing some five finger death punch stuff for whatever reason. Maybe it's a randy thing I don't know.

Speaker 3: 45:52

That is the biggest compliment. Thank you, I appreciate that. I hope I'm as cool as them. I don't know, but I really do appreciate that it's good stuff.

Speaker 1: 46:01

Uh, how about, um, how about god made a farmer?

Speaker 3: 46:05

oh, my goodness. So I have been wanting to write this idea for a very long time. So I come from a long line of farmers growing up in Kentucky and I just really do believe that farmers are the backbone of this country and they're like we were talking about unsung heroes, you know earlier. I mean they're a prime example of that. Unsung heroes, you know earlier, I mean they're a prime example of that. And I was writing at the apple music studios in nashville, which is kind of random. They had invited me to do a riding camp um last summer and I was with two buddies of mine and I told them about this idea and I said, but I want it to be like an anthem that farmers would be like, yeah, they'd be riding their John Deere listening to.

Speaker 3: 46:45

And so we wrote the song and, fast forward, I posted a little snippet of it on social media and I don't know if you know who Project Pat is or not, the rapper. He reposted the song and I was like, well, that's cool, you know, and he's just kind of, in my opinion, one of those rappers that he will go down in history, as I mean, he's an icon in the rap world and anyway, I thanked him, you know, and I went about my business Fast forward, maybe a couple weeks. I posted a snippet of the song again. He reposted it again and I messaged him and I said Project Pat, that means so much to me that you would even share my music, thank you. And he replied to me and he said hey, I would love to do a collab with you at some point. Send me anything you got and I'll write a second verse.

Speaker 3: 47:40

And you know, you hear stories like that. But whenever I got that message I was like whoa, is this real? And hear stories like that. But whenever I got that message I was like whoa, is this real? And so I thought, okay, I will send you something tonight. So I start going through my songs and I'm like, what should I send him? What should I send him? And I send two other songs starts. Then I thought, you know what? There's no way he's gonna want to hop on. God made a farmer okay, sure so random.

Speaker 3: 48:01

Yeah, but he didn't repost it twice and the song's not out, so maybe I should send it. So I send it to him and he texts me back right away and he's like hey, I want to hop on. God Made a Farmer, Can you give me the night I'm going to write the second verse? I said okay. So literally late that night he sends me his second verse. He had written and recorded a second verse on it and then we were like, oh my gosh, we've got to put this thing out. And it's just wild. You know, back in June, whenever I had been at the Apple Music Studios, we did not write that song, thinking we were going to have a rapper on the second verse.

Speaker 3: 48:39

You know, we wrote a second verse that we took off for Project Pat. But it is really neat how you know it just shows that all of our walks of life because I want to say that I mean he grew up in the Memphis area and I don't think he grew up on a farm that I know of but you know it just shows that you know music connects us all and that's very cool.

Speaker 1: 49:00

Yeah, and I'm. You know I like rap. I don't, you know, it's not the genre of choice, of course, but I respect the art and the ability to be able to do that. If my memory serves me correctly, project Pat, he had a, wasn't his brother, juicy J?

Speaker 2: 49:19

right.

Speaker 3: 49:19

Yes, you're right, From Three Six Mafia right Three Six.

Speaker 2: 49:22

Mafia right, yeah.

Speaker 1: 49:23

That's right. Yeah, that's interesting.

Speaker 3: 49:25

Wow, it's so crazy and that I feel like that whole entire crew. They've just um, really done a lot of cool things and you know I was, you know, um, not totally. My parents were pretty strict when I was growing up. I wasn't listening to the 360. You know, I wasn't listening to them growing up. Of course, I knew who they were, you know, and uh, you know, uh, several of the folks from that crew have been very kind to me and my music and I haven't. I wasn't listening to them growing up, but of course I knew who they were. Several of the folks from that crew have been very kind to me and my music and I haven't met any of them in real life at this point, even Project PAP, but I feel like we're friends, which is really cool.

Speaker 1: 49:58

Well, I think that if you're probably a Bible person or a person in the church and you kind of know where the name three six mafia came from, you probably discourage people from listening to it.

Speaker 3: 50:11

I don't know if you know the backstory of well, no, I didn't, I didn't know that backstory, but that makes sense, that makes sense.

Speaker 1: 50:16

Yeah, the three six, three six mafia. The three six is like early thematic, like focus on, like the occult and dark imagery right. Three six is like six, six six the number of the beast right. That's where that came from Allegedly, so it's interesting yeah.

Speaker 3: 50:35

Well, you know it is wild. I know that now project Pat, and of course you know times change people. You know grow or whatever. I know now, like primarily what he does now and I don't know about the rest of the crew, but he goes into the prisons. He's an administrator now, which is really you know, but you know you go into. You know we were talking about the spaghetti noodle of life how things loop and change and all that, but in that wild that's really crazy.

Speaker 1: 51:01

And you know what I thought of something just now, and my memory may be way off, but didn't his son just get murdered just recently too? Like wasn't that in the news.

Speaker 3: 51:12

Um, it was actually the week before god made a farmer came out.

Speaker 3: 51:15

Wow, okay, okay, so that was okay and I literally live under a rock half the time because I just wake up and I'm doing songs and and my co-writer on God Made a Farmer, brian, who's a writer on the Devil, wore a lap coat as well. He saw a headline for it and he sent me a message. He said, hey, you need to reach out to Project Pat and see if they even want to release the song. I was like, oh my gosh. So I reached out to Project Pat it was early that morning. I said, hey, I'm so sorry about your. Should we pause the release? Obviously. And he's like, nope, let's, let's keep it going.

Speaker 3: 51:53

And you know I I can't imagine you know what he has gone through this year, you know, and it says it says so much about him that you know, obviously nobody knows what people you know are dealing with, but it says so much for him that even since that because that song came out end of january, okay but even since then project pat I mean he has just been, you know, peddled down, just you know, with his ministries and you know, just trying to make a difference, and that really says a lot, especially when you know all the stuff he's been going through this year that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 52:24

Well, it says a lot about his character right at the end of the day.

Speaker 2: 52:27

Yes, agreed.

Speaker 1: 52:29

Now I don't know if this is a current song or if it's not been released. You educate myself and the listeners, but Burnt Apple Pie.

Speaker 3: 52:39

You know it's crazy. I just wrote that song. So that's very exciting, randy, that we're talking about this one. You know it's so crazy. It's one of those things that has a to-be-continued dot dot dot with it yeah, of course, but I'll tell you what's really cool about that song.

Speaker 3: 52:56

So that was a one-on-one session with my friend Tom, who he's a writer on a handful of songs that maybe the folks have heard. I'm trying to think he wrote A Whole Town Knows With Me Bad Apple. There's other ones too. But anyway, we decided we were going to sit down and have a handful of days where it was just one-on-one, where we would just chisel songs, and when I say chisel, not just lyrics like you hear about in Nashville. But we would be like, oh, I love that melody, but what if we change the key like three whole steps up? What would it sound like that? Oh, that's too high, that's kind of weird. What if we bring it down a half a step where you have to go into the falsetto? But just crazy stuff all day long and, uh, burnt apple pie.

Speaker 3: 53:38

We wrote and we were so excited for that song and it took us a couple days to write it and we recorded the demo. I got it back and called up tom. I said, tom, I love this song, I feel too attached to it, I love it so much. Uh, but I feel like currently, where it's sitting, it sounds like a punk rock song. Okay, what would happen if we bring it way lower, we slow down the tempo and, uh, would it potentially make it sound a little bit more in the vein of what I do? And he was like, oh, I love that idea, which says a lot for him because I know he had worked hard on that demo. But we got back in the sandbox and we re-recorded that puppy and it's just a song I'm really excited about.

Speaker 3: 54:23

I'll just have to see how the folks feel about it, because you know that's what's so exciting, randy, about social media. You know we have our little focus groups and also, and you know we were talking about that song earlier. Sad for me, it sat on the digital hard drive for four years. No way I've ever heard the song. I decided when I started leaning into my artistry I don't want to do that. I want, and there's nothing wrong with doing that. I get why some people don't post their songs before they're out, obviously, but I've always been a very cannonball in the swimming pool kind of personality. When I write a song, if I think it's cool, if I think there's any legs with it, I post it, because this is the thing you don't know.

Speaker 3: 55:00

You don't know you might have a lap coat song where it blows up have a lab coat song where it blows up, or at the bare minimum, you get to entertain folks, you know, and you get to. You know, you get to see. Okay, they like the lyrics. I don't know if they love the song, though, or whoa, people are really resonating with this story.

Speaker 2: 55:16

That's crazy you know, it's just really interesting oh, I gotta tell you a story, randy.

Speaker 3: 55:21

So okay, this is wild, okay. So a couple weeks ago I had a show in ohio. I was playing the Hamler Country Fest. And so I get up on stage and I'm with the band and I'm singing and I have my in-ears in, you know, so we don't have to have speakers on the stage and I'm in maybe like the third, fourth song, and I'm thinking to myself, uh-oh, we got feedback, because I'm hearing all the lyrics of these songs after I'm singing them and what's going on. And I look out and of course I can't see everybody in the audience, just the front with the lighting, and I realize I'm not hearing feedback. I'm hearing the folks singing along to the songs in real time. Well then, but this is the weird part, randy, I think to myself, most of these songs in the 75-minute set are not released yet. They are just songs that I have been posting the verses and choruses online on social media.

Speaker 1: 56:16

Not even the whole song, right, it's just the clips. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 56:19

So I started realizing, while I'm singing the show in real time, every song people sing along to the first verse in the chorus.

Speaker 3: 56:28

They stop singing in the second verse they never, heard it before, then they start singing in the chorus and I thought, oh my gosh. Like you know, this is the thing with social media we post and we either look at our screens like ah, how's it doing, or you move on. I try to move on, you know, and try to write the next song, but it had never registered in my brain completely how obviously folks were liking some of those songs enough to learn them. It was really encouraging.

Speaker 1: 56:57

It was really cool. That's a great story, because you thought you were having mechanical or technical difficulties in your in-ears right, and it was literally the feedback or the people singing to you.

Speaker 3: 57:07

That's awesome it is so cool.

Speaker 1: 57:09

I felt very grateful yeah, that is super cool. Um in, I think it was correct me on the dates. I'm horrible with dates, but in 2024 you had an ep called bootleggers bible and there was a song on there called devil's Money. Share the story behind that song for the listeners.

Speaker 3: 57:28

Absolutely so. Growing up in Kentucky, I used to hear stories about my great granddaddy who. He was a bootlegger in Bardstown and he was also a religious man and he ended up using his bootlegging money. He was a bootlegger during the 1920s with Prohibition, but he used some of that money that he made from selling whiskey to build a church in central Kentucky. And so I grew up hearing these stories about him crazy stories and the rest of that EP is about my great granddaddy's story how he started off. He was an orphan and he built his empire with bootlegging and other things as well, with real estate and stuff. It was mainly the bootlegging land and he ended up building a church with that bootlegging money.

Speaker 3: 58:18

He had a run-in with the mafia at his home in Wickland, which we wrote a song about on the EP and he ended up losing one of his kids in a horrible accident and then he ended up losing his whole literally his whole fortune. Whenever the stock market crashed he lost it. You know one of those overnight situations where he lost it all. And so I grew up hearing these stories and of course, I never met him. But I was on a run one day and I thought to myself gosh, why have I never written a song about my great granddaddy? And uh, this was at the very end of 2023. Uh, it was right before the holidays and I was on my run and I thought about that. And later that day, I was uh, right with two buddies of mine and I told them about the the story and said I don't know what I know about the whole story everything I just told you.

Speaker 3: 59:09

I said I don't know what anyone will even care about or if they would care about it, and they're like, hey, we need to write about him building the church. And so we started out with Devils of Money. We wrote that song and that Christmas I was back in Kentucky visiting family and I thought to myself, you know, because I didn't have any social media stuff going on at that point, I was still writing full-time, uh, for other artists and my own artistry rights. They were at night, weekends, that kind of thing, um. But I was up in Kentucky and I thought, you know, it'd be kind of cool to film a TikTok just in front of the church of me lip-syncing, you know, and what's the worst that could happen? You, you know, maybe the church won't like it, I don't know, but I posted it and I woke up in the middle of the night and it was starting to go kind of crazy bigger numbers I'd ever seen.

Speaker 3: 59:56

And, um, that song ended up going real viral, uh, ended up doing over 30 million views and uh. So I was like, oh, my goodness, goodness, walking into 2024, I thought to myself I need more songs for me as an artist because, like I said, everything was right for other artists. And so I called up my buddies and I was like y'all, number one, we gotta get this song out, and number two, I gotta have more songs, you know. And so I started writing, you know, more nights and weekends, and I started posting just little clips that we were talking about, of songs, and that was really what got the train moving with my artistry, and it's very special that that first song was a true story about my family.

Speaker 1: 1:00:42

Was that the actual church that he built it?

Speaker 3: 1:00:45

was so.

Speaker 1: 1:00:46

I think you did an acoustic version of Devil's Money. Was that in that church or was that just in a church in general?

Speaker 3: 1:00:53

That was actually are you ready for this? This is crazy. Okay, so in Nashville, right off of Music Row, there's this place called the Warren Paint Factory and what they have done I mean Morgan Wallen has done stuff there. I mean I'm blanking out every other artist in the genre, but literally he did all of his stuff for the Dangerous album there. It's literally what they have done.

Speaker 3: 1:01:16

One of the sons of the folks that own it had went to movie school or whatever and would build sets, and so they built all these different sets on the upstairs and the side place of the factory. It was an old factory, so they have a church scene, they have a hospital room, they have a hotel room. They have all these different sets and different artists throughout Nashville A lot of the sets that you have seen online. Folks have used that factory. So I thought about going into the church the real situation, the outside videos with the church. That is the real church. But I saw that they had this in Nashville. I was like, well, heck, yeah, let's do that. You know, and it was literally right down the street from me. So I grabbed a couple of buddies and we did that acoustic video. It was kind of cool. It's wild, though you would think it was a real church.

Speaker 1: 1:02:06

Well, you should have lied. You should have said yep, that was the actual, real church. Randy, it's a cool story anyway, but it would have been even more cool if you would have done the video inside of your great-grandfather's church.

Speaker 3: 1:02:18

Well, you know, I feel like Randy one day and I haven't made the ask of the church for that uh, you know, not at this point. I feel like at some point it might be cool to do something inside the church. You know, I I've I do realize I've, you know, filmed outside the front of it, but I've tried to be respectful of you know that location. You know, I don't want random people, just well, of course, I shouldn't say I don't want people just showing up to church you know, I've just proven everything.

Speaker 3: 1:02:44

I but you know, at some point that could be really cool to do, though You're not wrong.

Speaker 1: 1:02:50

Yeah. Do you have a preconceived notion or have you come to some conclusion in your head of what you think the? The response would be if you asked the church to do that song in the church.

Speaker 3: 1:03:07

You know, I really don't know, I really don't know. It could go either way. I guess it would depend on if the preacher likes the idea of bourbon. But this is the thing, though. Honestly, randy, where I'm from, so many people were bootleggers back in the day.

Speaker 3: 1:03:22

And you know. But push comes to shove. If we're being honest, I mean, it's great that my great-granddaddy did that, but he was an outlaw. Yeah, he was definitely an imperfect man in a lot of ways. But I think what's always been inspiring to me is that while he maybe did some things that he shouldn't have been doing I mean, you don't have run-ins with the mafia unless you're doing something. You know what I'm saying. And he was bootlegging when it was illegal, but while that was the case, he still was so loyal to his community, to his faith and he wanted to help people. I think that's really cool. But you know, I don't know what the response will be if I ask, but I'm sure at some point I will find out.

Speaker 1: 1:04:02

Well, maybe that's episode two for Mary and Randy. If you ever get that, you'll come back and talk to me about it on the show, because you'll remember me asking. Who inspired you musically when you were a little girl?

Speaker 3: 1:04:12

Well, okay. So whenever I was a little girl every Saturday and looking back I now realize it was just my mother trying to get me out of the house. But you know how I was talking about Bardstown being kind of the closest civilization. So my dad, he would take me in his car and we would go to Walmart together and the whole ride there he would crank up ACDC, steppenwolf, the who, the Guess who, alice Cooper, and I, of course you know, thought my dad was the coolest human on the face of the planet.

Speaker 3: 1:04:41

And I mean this is like me at like three years old, which I was about 12, okay. And I mean this is like me at like three years old, which I was about 12, okay. And I mean I grew up listening to those songs and I just absolutely loved them. And of course, you know, obviously I'm from the sticks, I am country, but I do think that that rock and music definitely did influence and I don't think that even occurred to me until maybe the last year or so how much. But I love classic rock and I saw ACDC just the other night in Nashville. Oh my gosh, it was incredible, it was so cool.

Speaker 1: 1:05:14

Yeah, I think probably the greatest straightforward, hard-driving rock band of all time, acdc Phenomenal. I mean just the following that they've had the success that they've had, and there is nothing extravagant about the music. It's power chords, it's hard rock and roll, right, but it was so melodic. It was heavy, but it was melodic all at the same time.

Speaker 3: 1:05:41

That's so true.

Speaker 1: 1:05:43

And I remember seeing an interview where Sammy Hagar was interviewing Bret Michaels from poison and Sammy said number one rock band, like if, if there was the rock bands rock band, who would it be? And Brett Michaels said you know, has to be ACDC, has to be right now, that's not saying that they're the best. It's just like pound for pound. They're probably one of the best out there.

Speaker 3: 1:06:06

It was so inspiring, truly. I had nosebleed seats, all right the other night I was at the top of the top of the top, you know what I'm saying. But Nissan Stadium, and anyway, it was so cool.

Speaker 3: 1:06:20

Literally a riff would start Everyone around me, we all knew the the song and we'd be singing along and I thought, man, that's powerful, because a lot of those songs were from the 70s and you know, for that being, and I looked around me, they were all ages, they were little kids singing along and of course I was loving it. I had folks that you know were my dad's age, folks that could have been my grandparents age, there, you know, and saying I mean it was all different, ages, all different. You know, we talk about music uniting people. Oh my gosh, you know it is pretty cool, it is kind of funny to think about, you know. Uh, some of the lyrics I don't think anyone thinks about dirty deeds done dirt cheap.

Speaker 1: 1:06:59

I've been singing that since I was five years old yes, yes, you know there's a powerful video like and I'm not here to plug ACDC, but if you on YouTube they had a concert called live at River Plate, and I think I don't know where River Plate is I think it's Argentina maybe but for the listeners, go, go, look that up on YouTube and it's the most amazing thing. There is a sea of people, hundreds of thousands of people, and they're all singing and they're all like, just like. It's like an experience. Even watching it on YouTube I couldn't imagine. I've never seen ACDC live, but these people are fanatics about ACDC and the power of that. It kind of comes right through your computer monitor. It's crazy that you could feel the power of the concert even just watching it on the computer. Anyway, I digress a little bit. The classic rock inspired you as a young girl. Who inspires you today? Are there any artists out there that do it for you today? Just from an artist standpoint.

Speaker 3: 1:08:06

From an artist standpoint dolly parton I know that's the most cliche thing to say as a female artist, but truly that woman, everything starts with her songs, her songwriting, she and honestly I mean we kind of have similar stories of how we first got to town. She and I both moved to town to chase our music and we both got our starts writing for other artists Interesting and, uh, I really love also how I mean gosh, she has used music as a unifier and she's given back to so many people. I think that's just incredible.

Speaker 1: 1:08:39

Well, she's a, she's a stay in in country music. I mean she's been around and and not I'm noting her age, but I mean she's been around since the dawn of time, like, I mean, even as a kid I was hearing Dolly Parton's name, right, and I'm not going to say my age, but I've been around for a couple of days, right, let's just put it that way.

Speaker 3: 1:08:57

It's kind of like different age groups, obviously because she's younger than Betty White, but White, but you know, like Betty White was just like of course. Oh my gosh, like that level of just like you know royalty really and Dolly, and that doesn't just magically happen. You know there's a lot of talented, beautiful people with great songs, but she has done a lot of things right in her career.

Speaker 1: 1:09:17

Of course she has is um. Is Mary Cutter a rebel?

Speaker 3: 1:09:24

I mean probably in more ways than one, I would guess yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:09:29

Okay, you'll just leave that there, huh.

Speaker 3: 1:09:32

Well, I do tend to, you know, kind of do my own thing. I mean, it's been that way since forever I guess. I mean, I remember even back when, ever, I first was just writing for other artists. I remember nobody on Music Row was writing for folks that were TikTok artists. They're like why would you do that? Yeah, why would you not? You know, and then I remember, you know even the mindset of the quantity of writing. I heard over and over again oh, it's either quantity or quality, and maybe that's true, I don't know, but for me I decided I'm going to try to do both.

Speaker 2: 1:10:10

And you know, for me, that was the right thing With artistry.

Speaker 3: 1:10:14

I do know that you know a lot of stuff that I say in my songs. Maybe musically is a little bit different. You know that maybe goes against the grain, but I would rather you know, know, speak the truth about my tongue I, I agree, and look, it wasn't a trick question at all.

Speaker 1: 1:10:31

Um, but I I appreciate your candor, like, and I think it's cool, like I, I teeter, probably I'm a little outspoken too, in a good way, but I'm not much of one to bite my tongue either, right, and I think we all have that side to us but do controversial you know I say controversial, maybe controversial is not a good word to label your song, but I'm going to use it. You tell me another word? Right, I'm open for another word. But do controversial songs like Devil Wore wore a lab coat ever create a negative feedback? Number one, and do you even care?

Speaker 3: 1:11:14

You know, I would guess it was some people that does, but some people don't. And the thing is I don't write songs to be liked.

Speaker 1: 1:11:23

That's, that's the answer I thought I would get from you. And and that's no, that's the answer I thought I would get from you. No, that's great, because I would be. This you know, as an artist, you have a blank canvas when you start to write a song, and that's how you see the art right. And it doesn't have to, and it never will resonate with everyone that views it, because if you paint something, 10 people are going to say what the hell is that? And then the other 10 are going to say mary, this is the greatest piece of art I've ever seen in my life. So you're never going to please everyone, whether it's music or if you're a you know, a grass mower, like there's going to be somebody that doesn't like your work, is my point.

Speaker 1: 1:12:05

So yes, that's exactly the answer that I expected to get from you. I just wanted to hear you say it. That's all well, you know it's wild randy.

Speaker 3: 1:12:13

Um, actually I wrote with this feller today, john rich I don't know if you know him or not. He was part of big and rich um, he's written. I don't even know how many number one hits I actually don't know and I tried to bait him today to tell me how many, but he didn't.

Speaker 3: 1:12:26

Any number one hits, I actually don't know. And I tried to bait him today to tell me how many, but he didn't tell me. But he's written hits for Aldine, five or six number ones for him. He wrote Redneck Woman for Gretchen Wilson wrote Save a Horse, ride a Cowboy for Big and Rich. He had a bunch of hits. Anyway, one of the founders of Lone Star. Anyway, he told me we met up for coffee and he had reached out after Lab Coat. The Devil Wore Lab Coat, popped off and asked to meet with me and we had a great hang and we wrote today for the first time. But he said to me something that I don't think I'm ever going to forget. He said Mary, picture a big wall and it's white paint. Everyone else is doing white paint. Then you go up and you do this long splash of a line of red paint. That's what you're doing with your music. Now some people are going to go up to that red line and say who just messed up the wall with this red line across it?

Speaker 3: 1:13:19

but then other people come up like whoa, that's art that's innovation, right, that's innovative and it just, it just kind of depends on people's perception, but I think that's something that I would rather be the red paint than the white paint. Yeah, I totally get it, and so it's interesting.

Speaker 1: 1:13:37

Yeah, you know Ricky Nelson. Ricky Nelson was, of course, a little before mine in your time, for sure, but he wrote a hit song called Garden Party, and one of the lines in that song is you got to say you can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself. Right, and there's no. There's no truer lyric out there, right Like you have to do it for Mary.

Speaker 1: 1:14:00

You write for Mary in hopes that it will resonate with people. Right? If it does, wonderful. If it doesn't, that's okay, because maybe the next one will. If that one didn't, right, that's just kind of the way you got to look at it, but what can you share with the listeners as it relates to upcoming shows for Mary Cutter?

Speaker 3: 1:14:20

All right, so I'm so excited Now. I know you know, with airing times I don't know where we'll be sitting at, but my first headlining show. Last I checked, we are less than 10 tickets away from being sold out All right way to go.

Speaker 3: 1:14:35

And it's in a couple weeks. But then and that's going to be at Eddie's Attic, which so many just greats that I respect Chris Stapleton played there, john Mayer got his start there, and I cannot believe that's my first headline and spot. They reached out for me to play and I got so nervous whenever they reached out I thought, well, I have to say yes. How can I not say yes? But what if we don't sell a single ticket? And so, anyway, I'm so excited about that. And then I'm going to be going out to Sturgis for the bike rally in South Dakota and that's going to be I guess it starts, I want to say August 1st and then I'm going to be doing five shows out there, and there was shows this fall. We have not announced it yet, but I will say it right here. First, on backstage, literally, we're going to be doing a little tour and we're going to be promoting some music that's going to be coming out, and I'm so excited about it.

Speaker 1: 1:15:25

That's awesome. Do you ever make it down to Texas or to Houston area at all?

Speaker 3: 1:15:32

I would like to, and I think we will be very, very, very soon, and so you'll be the first to know, though, randy, because I would love to meet you. I think you're just awesome.

Speaker 1: 1:15:40

Thank you so much. How about? How about new music in general, anything new and exciting from the Mary Cutter camp that listeners of Backstage Pass Radio can look forward to, that you can talk about?

Speaker 3: 1:15:51

Absolutely Well. You know, every day, you know I feel like I'm posting. You know a little clip of something that I'm working on and you know, these next couple weeks I'm probably going to be posting a new song just about every day. I've been writing a bunch and then, whenever Lap Coat blew up, I kind of had to focus on that for a second whenever we were releasing it. So I feel like I'm backed up with new songs I want to share with the folks. But I'm going into the studio these next couple weeks recording some duet versions of some songs, as well as some new music that I have never posted online, because I've decided it needs to be a situation that folks hear when it comes out, and I'm so excited about it and that should be coming out probably around August, september.

Speaker 1: 1:16:34

Okay, Awesome. How active are you in playing solo shows in the Nashville area? Is it all band shows for you? You only take band shows. Are you doing solo stuff as well to you know, as a means to an end?

Speaker 3: 1:16:50

Oh, totally Well. You know now this week is kind of a different week in Nashville because it's CMA Fest, but I'm going to be doing a couple full band shows. But then I do have, you know, some writers rounds that you know I'll do and those are always really cool because you know we get to strip down the songs to how they were you know, usually originally written. You know, so I do a mixture, and I don't know. I love them all, though.

Speaker 1: 1:17:15

Well, I ask you for for a personal reason, because I try to get to Nashville a couple of two or three times a year and I'd love to see a show. See you play somewhere, Right.

Speaker 3: 1:17:25

So we can talk offline about that, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 1:17:29

But yeah, a solo show would be really cool.

Speaker 3: 1:17:31

You need to let me know.

Speaker 1: 1:17:32

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 3: 1:17:33

You need to let me know when you come to town, because I'd love to see you I will.

Speaker 1: 1:17:36

I'll let you know when can the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio find you on social media.

Speaker 3: 1:17:42

Well, everything is my name, Mary M-A-R-Y Cutter. Like you cut paper, but with a K, and I'm on, you know, instagram, tiktok, facebook, and on X I'm Mary underscore Cutter. But anyway, I'm on all the different things.

Speaker 1: 1:18:01

What advice would you give an artist trying to break into the music business? Is there one piece of advice that you would lend?

Speaker 3: 1:18:08

Absolutely. I would say put your blinders on and keep the pedal down.

Speaker 1: 1:18:14

Yeah, I think that's straightened to the heart kind of feedback. Right, you know you got to do it for you. You have to do follow your heart, right. It's the 100% moral of the story, because there's going to be people that don't like your stuff or lead you astray or do all the things, but you, you stay true to yourself at the end of the day and that sounds exactly like what you've done for the run of your, for you, you know your, your early career, you got a lot of years ahead of you for sure that means so much.

Speaker 3: 1:18:45

Thank you. That's very kind of you.

Speaker 1: 1:18:47

Yeah, and it shows too Like you hear the lyrics and it's like they're meaningful. They're not your. You know, maybe you have some of that stuff Like I haven't listened to every single song that you've recorded, but maybe you have the beer drinking songs, right that we say, oh well, that's so cliche or that's so. Everybody writes that in country music. But you know, when you talk about dumping things into the water and and so you know things, problems that we deal with in everyday life, that's cool that you're coming up with that kind of content, right. So kudos to you, hats off to you.

Speaker 3: 1:19:21

Thanks, Randy. That means a lot. It really does. And you know, there ain't nothing wrong with writing about the tropes, but I personally get kind of bored with them. So, I just write you know it makes me excited and hopefully it makes other people excited too, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:19:34

Well, you got to keep it fresh for sure. Well, listen, mary, it's. It's been super cool getting to know you and hearing your stories and the accolades of the music. Thanks so much for sharing this with the awesome listeners of Backstage Pass Radio. I really appreciate you.

Speaker 3: 1:19:48

Well, I really appreciate you too. This was awesome. Thanks, Randy.

Speaker 1: 1:19:51

Thank you Well. I asked the listeners to check out Mary on all of her social media handles and also at marycuttercom if you're out in a web browser, and make sure to follow her on all the social media handles. I asked 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 take care of yourselves and each other and we'll see you right back here on the next episode of Backstage Pass Radio.

Speaker 2: 1:20:23

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.