Texas Roots And Big Dreams

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Texas Roots, a little grit, and a voice that gets your attention. My guest today in the Crystal Vision studio is a native Texan who is making a splash in Nashville. Hey everyone, it's Randy Halsey with Backstage Pass Radio. Today we're getting into the stories behind the songs, the miles behind the music, and what keeps her chasing the dream and the next stage. If I'm lucky, I'll get her to pick a few songs for us today, so settle in and we'll welcome my friend Sierra Gant to the show right after this.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

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 heart-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 die hard music fan, tune in and discover the magic behind the melody. Here is your host of Backstage Past Radio, Randy Holsey.

Life Between Texas And Nashville

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Sierra, hello and welcome to the show. It's great to see you.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

Hi, it's nice to meet you.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

I'm glad you're here. And I guess you came in on a late flight last night, right?

SPEAKER_04 2:04

I did. I did. I got home at like 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

I got your message at like 1 30. I said she's either a night owl or or coming from like I don't know what's going on.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

Yeah, I was like in my Uber and I was like, I should probably check and make sure I have the address because I know I'm not gonna wake up early.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Yeah, exactly. Well, it all worked out, and I'm glad that you're here. I think we no, I was trying to remember. We actually had this scheduled originally for Saturday. Yeah. And I moved it on you to Friday because I'm flying out, like I mentioned, to Denver in the morning. So I'm glad that you came in last night. Yeah, and that we get to chat. So I I'm gonna assume, and I don't like to assume, that Nashville is where you call home today. Is that correct? Or are you just going back and forth?

SPEAKER_04 2:48

I really go back and forth. Like I even have a song um that's called uh Texas and Tennessee, and it's like literally about how I'm literally back and forth every two months. I'm I play most of my shows in Texas. Okay, and I'm really a Nashville to write. Um, I have gotten some really great opportunities there, so I definitely love being able to call both places home, and that's like a unique experience for not everybody gets to have that.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

No, not not at all. And I've had a few artists on the show, and and I'm trying to remember. I know Peyton Howie was going back and forth for a while, and I think Peyton Riley was going back and forth for a while, and you're yeah uh well, and then faithfully, so there's been like four or five of you guys that have been on my show that call Nashville their second home.

SPEAKER_04 3:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. No, literally my high school alone, I think four girls ended up in Nashville. Like it's so crazy people don't think about like how saturated even one high school is of people trying to pursue country music and it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Well, do you get to see them while you're in Nashville or do you guys kind of just do your own thing?

SPEAKER_04 3:58

For the most part, we do our own thing. But some, you know, some obviously are we're all in different positions in our careers.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

So yeah. Well, I think you were you educate me, right? I think you were born here in Texas. Maybe spring is am I close?

SPEAKER_04 4:17

Um so I t technically I grew up in spring, but I was born in Waco.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Waco, okay.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

But I don't remember like uh I remember life in Waco, just like visiting because we were there every weekend, but I didn't like remember growing up there. Of course, yeah, of course. So spring is definitely what I would say.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

More more home in Waco, yeah. Totally get

Why Nashville Shapes Songwriters

SPEAKER_02 4:36

that. What do you think it is about uh Nashville that's appealing to a songwriter? And you can just speak from your own reason why you go out there. Why do you think Nashville is so important to songwriters?

SPEAKER_04 4:52

Well, to be honest with you, like when I was in high school, that's kind of really when I started taking it seriously, like the writing portion. And as much as like I say there was people in my high school pursuing it, there was no songwriting um group here. Uh there is NSAI, of course, which is national, but like the group that was going to the Houston chapter was very much like an older crowd still trying to write and pitch for Martina McBride, Leanne Rhymes.

SPEAKER_05 5:22

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 5:22

That era of people. And so, you know, I just felt very out of place with the type of music I was trying to write, and it wasn't me. And I was getting critiqued as if I was going for Martina or Leanne. So I, you know, started writing here initially with my mom and my dad, who are not anything in music, have no experience, don't sing themselves.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

I've never heard that before.

SPEAKER_04 5:47

Which is crazy. Um, I kind of got it in it in a really weird way. But anyways, yeah, they started writing with me. And once I graduated high school, I was like, okay, if I'm gonna do this, like I need to go to Nashville because that's where I can find a community and really learn how to write. Because I didn't at the time.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Yeah, you know, and what you're saying, I would, you know, I'm what, a hundred and I'm gonna guess 150 episodes in on my show since 2021 when it started. And I think there's probably more than not who come who are musicians now that come from no musical background. Like no parent played anything. It was just the love, the the love of music hit him and it stuck and you know, it never went away. But a lot a lot of the artists that have been on the show have not come from deep musical backgrounds, which is interesting, right?

SPEAKER_04 6:42

Yeah, I will say my dad like grew up wanting to do music, um, more like a guitar player. He just wanted to be in a band. He grew up in uh, you know, around a lot of people who were in garage bands, but he never had the means or the money to like get a guitar until um they had kids, and my mom got him a pawn chalk guitar that I still sometimes play here and there. It's a Turry Red electric guitar. So that's cool. But I know that that was a dream of his that he never got to really do. So I'm hoping I can bring him up for some type of show. I know he says he won't, but yeah, I'll make it happen.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Well, do you think that he's further down the path with music now than he ever was? Is he playing now at all? Like, or not really? No. Never he just never latched onto it then, right?

SPEAKER_04 7:27

Yeah, I mean, so he's had to work really hard his whole life and doesn't really have like I don't think he really allows himself to have the time to like learn and sit down. He still has that guitar and he definitely, you know, can um play a little bit here and there, definitely more rock and roll. Yeah, he's always trying to get me to be more rock and roll, which I love. Um but yeah, he was kind of I won't say the reason why I went into music, but a huge part of the route that I ended up going in because he introduced me to a lot of the country I listened to on the way to school.

SPEAKER_05 7:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

And I didn't know, of course, what I was listening to or what I was singing. I was just that's just what I grew up on and and I loved singing it, and so kind of turned into something more.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

Absolutely. I think that I had read something somewhere about um riding to school in your dad's car and the country music bug

Influences And Finding Her Voice

SPEAKER_02 8:21

hit you. What what was coming out of the speakers that you remember? Do you can you recollect that?

SPEAKER_04 8:26

Yeah, so the one that like really sticks in my head, it was Travis Tritt's Great Day to be alive. I mean, even now, like I'll sing that at karaoke sometimes, pull it out. It's just what was the other one? I got a Bob Q stand on my Y T shirt, right? Yeah, so a lot of 90s country for sure was coming through the speakers, but he also introduced me to Sugarland, and I have been such a huge Sugarland fan ever since. Um so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

So Sugarland, okay. What else, what else are you listening to and vibing with today versus you know, a youngster growing up and getting bit by the musical bug and hearing the songs on the radio in your dad's car. Like, what what do you love today? You have a couple that are just like, oh my gosh, I love for sure.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

I mean, I'm a definite definitely an Ella girl. Ella Langley is so talented. Um I feel like uh since Miranda, she's kind of the first one to come in with that singing type of style, very alto. I feel like not to say that country music is only you know the carry underwoods of the world, but it does with all the TV shows, it really tries to push range versus versatility. And um, it was really nice as someone who is also an alto uh who can sing high, but you know, has like the deeper um tones.

SPEAKER_05 9:54

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 9:54

And you know, Ella came out with that and really embraced it. And I love that. On the guy, of course, I still love Miranda Lambert, she's my all-time. Um and then Karen Marlowe is the guy I would say I love, I love everything he's ever put out. And you know, I've covered his songs quite a few times and he's like reposted or liked a few. Um, but he just can sing the phone book and I would listen.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Where's he from? I haven't heard that name before.

SPEAKER_04 10:22

I don't know where he's from, actually, but you've got to listen to him.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

So repeat his name one more time for Cameron Marlowe. Cameron Marlowe. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 10:30

Not related to Dylan Marlowe, but everyone thinks that they are.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Yeah, I'll I love the recommendations because this show has really opened up my eyes so much to genres that I never dreamed that. And even being a musician like you, right? Um when you're a solo artist or you're playing solo shows, as you well know, you can't be a one-trick pony. It just can't be Miranda Lambert's songs. It has to be there, has to be, I guess, uh a plethora of things that you play. So I was always the rock guy like your dad, right?

SPEAKER_05 11:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

And when I started playing out solo back in 2016, I said, man, I've gotta I've gotta learn some country stuff too. I've gotta learn some Americana. And I think between the playing out and this podcast, it has just opened my eyes to so many different genres to like to peel the walls away, so to speak, um, and not get so hung up in one genre. But yeah, I think that um, you know, you can't be a one-trick pony as a person that plays out at these live venues, as you as you well know, but my gosh, like the Americana genre I've fallen in love with. And if you would have told me 20 years ago that I'd be like this Americana geek, like loving this stuff, I would have said, no way, because I'm a rock and roll pig. Like that's all I love is rock and roll, right?

SPEAKER_04 11:51

Yes. And I will say, I think that's what's also great about Nashville is everyone thinks, oh, it's country music only, but it is like such a wide variety of the definition of country, and that includes Americana. I mean, they have Americana Fest, they have um a whole blues and like jam band type things happening all over town. And now, you know, uh pop pop wasn't really in the room a little bit, but now you know, now they're coming out and having their own presence, and I think that's great because it really influences everything. And and like you said, I never would have listened to Americana if it wasn't on my radio, and now I'm you know, all kinds of different music fans.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

Yeah, and you you're right. There are so many rock and roll people that live out in Nashville now. I mean, I can think of Kip Winger from you know the band Winger back in the in the 80s, and I think one of the guys from Motley Crue live like I mean, yeah, it you don't have to just wear boots and a cowboy hat to like that's stereotype in Nashville, I think.

SPEAKER_04 12:55

But I mean it's definitely still the majority, but absolutely if you really like look outside of that, you can find so much more.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Totally. And I think I think people really gravitate there because there's always been a scene in LA, there's always been a scene in New York, but both of those places are so expensive, right? And I think that that Nashville happens to be the middle ground, and it's probably less expensive there, and it's just a a conglomeration of so many talented musicians. Like I mean, even your Taco Bell, you know, cashier is probably a fantastic musician, right? Probably. Which is crazy, yeah. Totally. Um, you spoke of Ella and I love her alto voice. That I think for a woman that that lower register, there's something really uh attractive about that lower register, and I'm probably more of the baritone vocalist versus that high tenor. And I always the the high male tenor voice fits in the pocket of an acoustic guitar so much better, but I've always said, God, I would love to have that super high tenor voice like a Jimmy Fortune or whatever, but I wasn't blessed with that, unfortunately. So I make the lower register work for sure, and it and it sounds like you're on the lower register of your voice as well.

SPEAKER_04 14:18

Yeah, I mean, I grew up singing like Martina and and Faith Hill and Leon Ryan's, which are all very high vocalists. But as I got older, I was like, you know, the one thing I always get complimented on is the tone and like um, you know, how shocking that is coming out of this body, and especially as a kid. And so I really leaned into that when I started learning, uh, I taught myself guitar from YouTube. So when I started doing that, I naturally gravitated towards the lower, um, just because it's not easy to play and sing to start with in general. So like then you you definitely don't want to sing high songs that are hard for you and hit chords at the same time. So it's more of a natural progression. And as I'm, you know, um matured and my vocals really came into their own, it just kind of sat like in a middle ground of low and high. So I can do uh definitely quite a bit of both, but I don't try to be something that I'm not, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

You stay in your lane, right? Yeah, yeah. I think that's great. Everybody has them. Yeah, I think it's more appealing too if you're not trying to re-key every song just to get it to fit your voice. And that's okay if you do that, but you just stay true to your voice, right? And the songs work in in that range. Um is there is there like one artist that people would be surprised to hear that you really like? Like, can you think of one where people would say, no way, she there's no way she likes that artist, right?

SPEAKER_04 15:50

Like country.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

I mean, I'm talking about any like any genre or whatever. Like a lot of people would say, like, Randy, do you really like uh Barry Manilo? And it's like, absolutely I do. And people would probably, knowing my background in music, would never think that I would listen to such a thing, like that soft elevator type of whatever, however you classify as music. But is there one that comes to mind for you?

SPEAKER_04 16:15

Like people would say, holy cow, I think I don't know if they're shocking, but I I'm a big lover of all music, so like I listen to like Ben Rector, I listen to a lot of pop too, like AJR, John Bellion. So I don't know if those are shocking. Um but I guess I would say those.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

Just kind of very, very versatile.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

Yeah. Well, I've had people on that, you know, I I guess you judge a book by its cover and you can look at somebody and say, Oh, I betcha they listen to X, and then you find out, wait, you l you're a thrash metal fan? Like I would have never guessed. I would have never

Live Song Better Bad Habits

SPEAKER_02 16:52

guessed. So um well, I thought before maybe we get too much deeper, um, you you brought a guitar, which is awesome. And uh I was wondering if you could maybe treat the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio to a song.

SPEAKER_04 17:07

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Awesome.

SPEAKER_04 17:09

Well, this is my song, my newest single, Better Bad Habits.

SPEAKER_03 17:22

I don't smoke cigarettes, but all I wanna tonight, just something in my hand. That ain't true in my life. If I had a pick of poison, I'd take a less or two. If I wanna breathe in something, toxic shores, he won't be you. Cause you think you're so hard, then I'm eating the flicks like something dreams to get on the tone. But I don't fall in love to let you take it back, working on the books. I don't so is keep saying, Now they don't miss the things I tell you how chicks, I don't do all that things, but I'm afraid they move I'm always good for grit something they want to use You think you smart, they don't use some teacher to get out of the day, take it back, work in the whole telling snake, do it bad because that happens in bad happens like that happens Now that you think I got my soul controlling the window There's a twelve-step program that's for me Cause you think you sparkled it on the fix like so many dreams looking all in Who I'm so falling off the leg you back in the alien thing to rap pick up, big bad habits, big bad habits in you like black back, take it how many feelings.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Great job on the song Um Better Bad Habits. That was a song that was released this year, right? That's a new one for you. Great job.

SPEAKER_04 19:56

Thank you. It just came out in June, and it's kind of actually blowing up right now. Like it was like a slow-going song, which is you know, always kind of disheartening sometimes when it's just like not out of the gate, all these big numbers.

SPEAKER_05 20:10

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

Um, when you've had that before in the past. Um, but recently, like the past week, it's been just like really popping off. And I like took a second and I was excited at first, and I was like, you know what? This is just like how another call went, which is um another song that did my best song it's ever um been put out. And I was like, if this is trending the same way, this is good.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Yeah, yeah. I guess you never know like when when things are gonna kind of get popular or go viral or what and and who knows what causes it sometimes. I've I've had like videos that I've posted of past guests that would get 500 views, and then I the next time it might be 75,000 views. Like you know, you never know what you're gonna get. And I think it's a lot, a lot of that for social media is just the algorithm that you're fighting against, whereas Spotify, like your music is a little bit different

Turning Real Life Into Lyrics

SPEAKER_02 21:07

uh getting out to the people. But love the song. How did it come about? Like, talk to the listeners a little bit about where the idea came from.

SPEAKER_04 21:15

So about a year ago, um a little over a year ago, last summer, I was in Texas um teaching these summer camps that I teach every year. And I I'd had this title, Better Bad Habits, and um anyone who knows me knows I have like a bad track record with like exes, like keeping them around as like friends. Um and so I'd had this idea of you know, how I'm not good with confrontation, and I wanted to be able to say it in song without like hurting someone's feelings of being like, just so you know, there's no chance of me getting back together with you. But like, let me say it in I mean, it's kind of a harsh way to be honest. But yeah, it's passive aggressive, it's fun, yeah, and it kind of uh lessens the burn, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Well, how cool is it that you have you have the talent and that outlet to do that? Like out of a hundred people, Sierra, like you're you're probably one of a hundred that can actually sit down and write a song, play the guitar, and then record it, right?

SPEAKER_04 22:24

Yeah, it is crazy, honestly. Like when I think about my life, like I was a really shy kid, and I never would have thought that this is what I would be doing with my life. Like, even to this day, I'm very much like an extroverted introvert, if you've ever heard of that.

SPEAKER_05 22:38

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 22:38

Um, and like music is where I have my confidence. Like I know what I'm doing in that regard, but everything else. Else I don't. And I also was really bad in school. So I definitely didn't have any confidence in myself with being a songwriter, but I knew that I had to be one if I wanted to make it. And once I started, I was like, oh, this is nothing like school. Like, this is way better.

SPEAKER_02 23:03

Do you feel like if somebody said, Sierra, I want you to come to this whatever, to this auditorium and give a 30-minute speech? Do you think you would like be scared to death to do that? Or because I know there's this calming thing for the music, you could just like you did with me, you jump on the stool and you start playing, no big deal. Yeah. But sometimes people, if you ask them to speak in front of a crowd, they're like, I don't know what to say. I don't like they freak out, right? Is that you?

SPEAKER_04 23:34

I would say at one point it was. Now it depends on what I'm talking about. If you had me going up there talking about medical stuff, yeah, I would be like, oh, no, thank you. But if I could talk, if I'm talking about music or if I'm giving a lecture on like how I started, or you know, somebody's gonna have to shut you up, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:48

For sure.

SPEAKER_04 23:49

I mean, I've gone on dates where guys are just looking at me like, and like usually it's a good thing. They're like, you know, your eyes like literally light up when you talk about music. Like it's crazy. And I was like, I didn't even know that.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Well, they say that the uh the eyes are the window to the soul, right? And if you're there's a lot of truth probably to that, that if you and I are sitting here talking about a passion that we have together as in music, like it's easy to talk about those things and just you know, be all giddy about talking about guitars and songwriting and stuff like that, right? Yeah, yeah. But but yeah, if you say go talk about, you know, quantum physics, like you're gonna like hell no, I'm not gonna do that. I'm not standing in front of anybody and talking about because you don't know the subject matter, right?

SPEAKER_04 24:35

Exactly, exactly. But also, like I will say, when I was first playing shows in Astralic writers rounds, I I was like so afraid of my own shadow, like I wasn't confident in my songs, I was confident in my singing. Um, but like introducing a song, I didn't want to speak before I played. I just wanted to sit there and play. Yeah, and it took a lot of a lot of rounds and doing it to realize it's really not that big of a deal. Like if you say something dumb, who cares?

SPEAKER_02 25:02

Yeah. Do you feel like um you're more nervous playing to one or two people or 200 people?

SPEAKER_04 25:13

You know, um, I don't know. I think that I get the same butterflies no matter what show it is. I think it's like excitement, um, happy nerves, um, but also just like, you know, the moment I get on stage, I'm fine.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

Those go away really quick. Yeah. Like post the first song, like you're you're in a groove probably by then after the first song, right?

SPEAKER_04 25:36

Oh, 100%. And I really think the thing that I fear the most is like because the types of shows we're playing, it's like, you know, sometimes cover gig, sometimes a mix, and you never know if you're the background music or if you know people are actually gonna listen and be engaged. And so it's like that, I think that's where my nerves come from more than anything, is knowing do I have confidence in reading this room and like knowing how to speak. Yeah. Because obviously the venue is you know, expecting one thing, and you're like, what is that?

SPEAKER_02 26:05

Yeah, totally. Yeah, I I totally get it. Um it's I've always said, and I've said this in multiple interviews, I think I'm more nervous to play for one or two people. Yeah, I think that's than I am going to a stage with capacity of 300, like a restaurant, and it's packed, right? That it I don't even think about that. But if you said play me a song, I'd probably be like, I mean, I could play it, of course, but I'm gonna be more nervous about that playing for you than I am a whole room. That's true.

SPEAKER_04 26:38

I guess yeah, if like I was at a bonfire and someone handed me a guitar and said play a song, right? Then I would be definitely like feel put on the spot. So yeah, I guess one or two.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Sure, sure. Well, are you a writer that bases songs on actual events and people, or do you sometimes write in second, third person uh you know, things that you just conjured up in your head, or do you try to stick to one way of writing or another?

SPEAKER_04 27:09

Yeah, I mean, I think in my current experience, it's all been what's going on, whether it's me personally, um, or if it's a friend um that's going through something that like introspectively made me think of this because of what they're going through. It still always somehow relates back to me for sure. Um, but yeah, I definitely have fun with it and and lean a little um either way sometimes, just for the fun of it.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Yeah. And as a songwriter, do you prefer the co-writes or or are you more of a let me just uh put my pajamas on, sit by myself and write

Co-Writing And Building Community

SPEAKER_02 27:48

alone? What kind of writer is Sierra?

SPEAKER_04 27:51

I think for a while I was the let me write on my own um because I was afraid of speaking out in a write. But once I really got into it and I started writing with just strictly songwriters, I think that really changed the game for me is they're in a room, they want to write for me, you know. So I don't feel this pressure of sounding stupid because obviously my feelings are valid if I have them. And uh now I appreciate the co-writing way more, but post like pre-COVID, I was a loner.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

Yeah. What kind of advice do you think you would give to a new songwriter uh that said, you know, I think I want to make songwriting my living or start out doing some songwriting? Is can you think of any advice that you would give them right off the right off the bat?

SPEAKER_04 28:38

Yeah, I would say get in the community. Like I wish I'd done that sooner. Um if nothing for nothing else but experience. Like there's lots of resources, and you know, people will say Facebook's outdated, but in Nashville, it's not. Like it is the prime like communication for musicians, whether you're looking for people to play with. Um, but there's a page called Yep, and YEP stands for young entertainment professionals. And it is a game changer. That's how I started writing with people. I made a post and I said, Hey, I'm new to town, I'm new to Nashville, I'm new to co-writing. I have written, this is my genre, but I'm willing to write anything, you know, just to get that experience. And I now granted were the first people I wrote with ones I stuck with. No. Yeah. But that's how you learn, you know, there's many people that I haven't ever written with again. Um, you just gotta find your people.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Absolutely. And and I'm sure there's some nerves going in as a new songwriter going into a room full of probably people that have been writing and doing writers' rounds for forever, right? But would you agree that it kind of makes you step your game up as a songwriter? Like, and they always say if you want to be a better basketball player, don't go to the playground and dominate little kids. Play against people that are bigger than you, taller, faster, and you will elevate to them, right? Otherwise, you're just gonna regress to a lower level. So, would you feel like that's the same in songwriting as well?

SPEAKER_04 30:16

For sure. They always say never be the best songwriter in the room, you know. Yeah. Um and obviously someone has to be. So it's like if you can't always get that, that's you know, it's just a goal to try to always aim for higher. Um, because you do, you learn whether it's something like a melody or chord progression that you've never done before, sure. Gets you out of like what you constantly are going back to. Um, that's probably the hardest thing for me is when I'm having to be the melody person in the room. I'm like, I'm not a guitar player. Yeah, you know, I'm doing my best and I'm gonna hit the same progressions.

SPEAKER_05 30:51

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 30:51

And it's just more work on us to try to make it sound different.

SPEAKER_05 30:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:55

And um, so I love getting like a track guy in there or, you know, guys that can play the heck out of a guitar that will throw me into a whole nother world of melody.

SPEAKER_05 31:05

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 31:06

Um, and of course, it's still a collaboration, but it's like it pushes me to be different instead of staying in that little bubble.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Absolutely. How long have you been playing the guitar? Because I always pick up on things of people that come in and start to play, and there's been some really, really great players, and then there's been some people that are just kind of starting out, even though they've got a big name, they're kind of starting out on as a guitarist, right? Yeah. How long have you been playing?

SPEAKER_04 31:36

Um, I think I got my first guitar in middle school, but I won't say I really started learning it or playing it until high school. Um, and even then, really post-high school, I definitely had a very normal childhood. Um, well, normal-ish. Um, I still performed a lot and got really cool opportunities. But, you know, outside of those, I was running around with the neighborhood kids. Um, and my mom really focused on making sure everything I did was something I wanted to do. Absolutely. Pushing me to do it.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Yeah. Um and not living vicariously through you, yeah, like a lot of parents do with their kids. Go and Johnny, you're gonna play baseball because I was never a pro baseball player, so I'm gonna force that down your throat, right? And it sounds like your parents didn't do not live vicariously through you.

SPEAKER_04 32:26

For sure. No, like honestly, I think they're just as shocked as I am that I ended up in this world. Like, they've always been super supportive of all of us kids. I'm the middle child. Um, and what even got me into it was theater. Like, my sister wanted to be a movie star. Okay, and my mom was like, we can't afford that. So she looked up community theaters and found one that we're still a part of to this day. And because my sister did it, I went and watched, and I was like, I want to do that. Started doing it, then the brother started doing it, and we've become a big happy theater family.

SPEAKER_05 33:01

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 33:02

Um, and my mom has found a love through that and purpose.

SPEAKER_05 33:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 33:08

Um, so I think that you know, it is crazy that I ended up in the country music world in a real way, not just singing it as a kid, you know, it's a whole commitment to as a grown adult to keep doing it. A lot of people don't last.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

You're right about that. Um I lost my track of thought on what I was gonna ask you about that specifically, but oh, I was gonna ask you if um, like in high school, were you a theater person in high school too, or really did you not get into the like band or choir or theater? Like, were you none of that, or were you some of that?

SPEAKER_04 33:45

So in middle school, I definitely um started choir. And in high school, I ended up being choir vice president my senior year. So I was very involved with that, but that's again not the same thing. Um, but everyone knew me around my high school and in general area as the country singer.

SPEAKER_05 34:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

Um, I played the Texas Opry a lot and just I was a part of the Texas showcase singer. So we'd go around and sing our covers at different, you know, craft festivals in Galveston and and here and there. Um but um oh, theater, you were asked about theater. Yeah, I didn't do theater in high school, I did it outside of school. Um, and I actually ended up uh originating a musical theater character who was kind of written in inspiration of me as like a country girl. Uh and I got to go to New York and live there for a couple months and live that character for a couple uh a couple months in New York. Yeah, it was super cool. It was so so cool in the city, huh?

SPEAKER_02 34:45

In Mahon, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:46

During the school year, my whole school had to like, you know, find all my work and send it to me so I didn't have to make it up, and it was a big thing for Houston.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

I would guess so. Um yeah, I didn't know if if the theater carried over into school or not, but like all of the things that you're telling me is pretty impressive because I I dug into you a little bit. Um, but sometimes I like to be a little more organic, like and get just get to know you or the artist through the conversation. But I I didn't know that you were that entwined in a lot of the stuff, right? Um, so that's cool to learn that about you.

SPEAKER_04 35:24

Yeah, I like I said, I met some girls that were in the theater world, and that's kind of what pushed me to go into the country commercial route. Makes sense. People said you don't have a musical theater voice. I was like, You're right. And they're like, Do you want one? Because you can choose now, you but you have to choose, and you have to either learn this way or you know, do it as a hobby and keep your commercial sound. I was like, I think I'm gonna keep my commercial sound.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 35:48

And uh don't know what that didn't know what that meant at the time, but I was like, I'll do that.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

Yeah, there you go. Is there a lyric, you know, going back to songwriting a little bit? Is there a lyric that you've written that you're particularly proud of? I know that's kind of a an odd question. Um or even a lyric that really just really resonates with you, right? That you've written. Like oh, I remember that song. Like I pieced together this verse that was just like yeah, I thinkow for me as a writer, right?

SPEAKER_04 36:26

Yeah, I have moments like that pretty often. Um, I will say recently I wrote a song. Um, I was in Canada and I met this girl who was going through a breakup, but it was a unique breakup. It was like there was still love there, but it was just like going so fast that it scared, you know, him to want to take a step back and not be in a relationship. And I've never had that experience. I've only ever been like cheated on. So I walked into the room and I had this title for the longest time. Pretty generic title. It was called Could Have Been Worse. And I brought it into many rights, and you know, it never got picked up to be written that day, which is fine. Um, and I sat in a room with this girl I just started writing with, second right with her, and I was like, you know, I now understand why this what this title means. And it means like, are both bad, both breakups bad being cheated on, and and one still walking away with love. Yes, but I honestly feel like it's worse for the person who's walking away with love because then you're constantly like, Do I wait? Is it gonna come back around? Like there's no clue. If someone cheats on you, you know, you know, it's the line in the sand, right? Yeah, and so

Theater Roots And Choosing A Lane

SPEAKER_04 37:43

it's like the the hook of the song is either way you roll the dice, it's gonna hurt, but it could have been worse. Like I could have been thinking you still love me. Yeah, and it just wasn't the right time.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

And that is worse, right? Than just having the umbilical the umbilical chord cut, yeah. You you're just done, right? Yeah, you're not strung along, the stringing along in the relationship is not a good thing.

SPEAKER_05 38:07

No.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

Um so for you, you you said that you're back and forth to and from Nashville. Do you feel like prior to ever going out to Nashville for the first time? I'm sure you you had conjured up this thought process around what Nashville is, right? Did has Nashville turned out to be everything that you expected it to be? Or is it missing in some areas for you?

SPEAKER_04 38:35

Honestly, yeah. I mean, I've been visiting Nashville since I was in middle school. I would go to CMA Fest every summer with my family. And then when I first moved there, I will say the lack of community, if you don't have it, it makes all of a difference. And I've heard, you know, some Texas artists here that I'm friends with, and they're like, Do you really like Nashville? Because I've been and I don't really feel that community. And I'm like, well, you have to, you have to like put immersive and effort in because a lot of those people are like, you know, they're not gonna give you anything until you're round over and over and over again. And then you become good friends with them, and then they're your ride or dies, you know, they're at every show for you. Um, and I think that is what I always thought it would be is this community of people where really they're just like your friends. And of course, we're all chasing the same dream. But once you've knocked out the ones that aren't gonna last or are hometown famous and go and think it's gonna be all sunshine and it's not, and they leave, you end up in this like calm, peaceful pool of people that truly want the best for you and know that they are not competing with you because everyone has their own way. Yeah, and everyone has their own sound. There's no X amount of altos that are gonna make it, you know. It's really about whose attention you get and if you can get the listeners to engage and feel like they're connected.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

I remember it was probably within the last five or six days. I don't remember the name of the documentary, but it was uh a documentary on the songwriters of Nashville, and uh it it talked about a lot of the ones that have written like 20 hit songs for Garth Brooks, right? And like these these people are most of them are just faceless people, right? Nobody knows who they are. A lot of people think the song Marina Del Rey by George Straight, oh George, that's a great song by George. Well, George didn't write that, right? That's Dean Dillon, right? And but Dean never, of course, he gets the credit, but no, a lot of people don't know who the hell Dean Dillon is.

SPEAKER_05 40:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

Now, maybe people like you and I do because we're we're into the whole singer-songwriter thing. Yeah. And and and into that um that profession, but a lot of people don't realize that they're the unsung heroes of of music, the songwriter.

SPEAKER_04 41:04

You're right. And honestly, like when I made that decision of I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna have to be a songwriter, I my whole mindset changed. I think I was more of a fan of songwriters than I was of the artists.

SPEAKER_05 41:17

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 41:18

And, you know, of course, it's a little bit better now these days where people know that the artist isn't always the writer. But um yeah, it's it's like a whole different experience to hear the songwriter sing the song the way it was written.

SPEAKER_02 41:33

And some of them are fantastic musicians.

SPEAKER_04 41:36

The stories, and that's like what I love about listening rooms, like like the Dosy Do, Big Barn. Like you go in there and you get to hear the store, the actual stories behind the songs. And I love that. And uh, there's a place in Nashville, like if anyone ever visits, I'm always like, you have to go to the listening room. Like it is maybe a $15 ticket, but you're gonna walk in and you're probably gonna know most of the songs that they're playing because they've written everything.

SPEAKER_02 42:00

Yeah, you're gonna sit there and say, And you're gonna wait a minute, you wrote that one? And they can sing.

SPEAKER_04 42:04

Of course, you have the ones that like, you know, obviously, like you can tell they're not as much of a vocalist as they are a songwriter, but a lot of them can sing. And they bring so much raw emotion to the song because they lived it.

SPEAKER_02 42:18

I almost, you know, I almost rather see the writers do the song than the people that made them famous. You know what I mean? For sure.

SPEAKER_04 42:28

It's it's like I said, it's a whole different experience.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

It really is.

SPEAKER_04 42:30

And that's why I've always said I have to be the writer. If I'm gonna do it, I have to be the writer.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

Well, I think ultimately that's where you're gonna make the money anyway, right? The writer's gonna get paid the royalties on the songs, right?

SPEAKER_04 42:41

Yeah, but honestly, you get paid more as the performer, which is crazy. Like my checks are primarily being the person who recorded it, which needs to change. Like it and that's been an ongoing conversation for a long time that songwriters don't get enough um credit. And I mean, I agree. I'm lucky enough to be able to have a cut of both, you know, have the performance rights in the a part of the writer's cut, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

Yeah. Well, you mentioned CMA Fest. Um how have you been involved with CMA Fest um in with your time in Nashville? Are you are you performing? Do you attend? Is it a combination of both?

SPEAKER_04 43:24

It depends. Um, a lot of times, so it's really, really hard to play CMA Fest. It's kind of like a who you know, and there's a submission, um, but I couldn't name one person that has been approved from that submission in my very large pool of people that I know. Um, and and I've been told that it really is, you know, it's a lot of there's so many artists, right? But they're all in some kind of deal, pretty much. Yeah. Um, or know someone that has been able to get them into that position, which I mean, no, hey, you have to work hard to get those relationships too. But it is unfortunate that there's not more of an independent artist presence because they could do so much for these artists. Um, even if it was just, you know, a tiny, tiny stage in a park, like just give them that opportunity for someone walking by and be like, I want to hear that person, you know.

SPEAKER_05 44:15

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 44:16

Um, so I haven't played it in that way, but I have been super lucky. I don't know if you've heard of the playlisted podcast. It's kind of like a Kill Tony vibe if you haven't um checked it out. And I was lucky enough to like get on it um right when it started, which was last CMA fest. And then it was a bucket pull this year, and I was able to get on it both times. And they always have um really cool opportunities. So, like Cole Swindell heard my song Better Bad Habits and and said that it was his favorite song of the night. And you know, those types of things can really help one, give people that are in town that listen to your music something to go and watch and see that has no affiliation, um, but is in town whenever they are.

SPEAKER_05 44:58

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 44:59

And is a cool experience, not just like a songwriter's round. Um, so I've been able to do things like that, different appearances, but nothing on an official CMA.

SPEAKER_02 45:09

I gotcha. Um I just became a member of the CMA. Um you know, I filled out all the paperwork, and you got to go through the scrutiny of them, you know, saying, okay, this is from my show, not as a songwriter, not a musician, but more for media than anything. But so I was super stoked about that. And then the plan is to go out to CMA Fest in I think they June, is that right? June.

SPEAKER_05 45:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:36

Um in 2027, and hopes to do a lot of interviews out there with a lot of up and comers. So maybe I'm I'm assuming maybe I'll see you out there.

SPEAKER_04 45:47

Yeah, I mean, I definitely participate and I'm out there, you know. I'm always trying to check out the newer, smaller artists because you know that's how I that's how I saw Chris Davleton well before he was famous. Yeah. He was playing Riverfront, or not Riverfront, Bridge the Bridgestone stage. And I mean, so many times no one was there. Yeah. And I watched him year after year, and then look at him now.

SPEAKER_02 46:09

It's amazing how people, you know, what was Garth Brooks' story? You know, he was from Oklahoma. How many trips did he make to Nashville? And they all said, Go home, dude. Go back to Oklahoma. You'll you'll never make it in Nashville. And he's one of the biggest country artists that's ever come out of Nashville, right? So you just you keep grinding, I think, at the end of the day. Yeah, for sure. You uh mentioned a little bit about listening rooms earlier, and I love I love Dosy Doe. I bought um the books called Raising a Hand, um, which I bought at Dosy Doe. I think my friend Peyton Howie and Bree Bagwell were playing there, and it's cool because it's got all of the artists that have pretty much ever played there. But I love the listening room vibe because everybody's listening to a three and a half minute story from the storyteller themselves. But you've got a history and a little bit of background with um one of the famous uh listening rooms at Nashville, the Bluebird Cafe, right? Talk to the listeners a little bit about your experience with the Bluebird, and then I'll tell you what mine was when I first saw the Bluebird Cafe. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:21

So I mean, I grew up, like I said, going and visiting. And back then it it wasn't as big of a deal. I mean, it was still huge, but it was easier to kind of get tickets in. You didn't have to like, you know, guess and buy months in advance the way that it is now. I feel like the show Nashville really um blew it up in a in a great way. Um, but it does make it difficult for people to get in there. Um, yeah, I uh I got to play it and it was like it was like I don't know if it what they call it. Um I think it was on a Monday. So it's like this um kind of audition thing. Yep. Um and I don't really know what the selection process is. It was quite a bit ago. Um before Nashville became a thing. Yep. Probably right before Nashville hit. And um I got to play.

SPEAKER_02 48:08

They knew they go ahead. I was about to sneeze. But they they do a call, like you audition and then they do a callback, right? Where they say, Okay, you you made the audition, you get to play on this night. Is that kind of how it works?

SPEAKER_04 48:22

Or not really back then it was different, so I can't even remember um honestly how I got into it. I just remember being so excited when I got the call. It was I got the call the morning of. Okay. And I was like, oh crap, I gotta play like tonight. And um, and so I went and I like brought a friend to like film it and everything. And it was funny because I posted about it, but of course, so it must have been during the Nashville time, like early on, because I remember it was a sold-out show. And even though I found out that night, no one could come. I could bring one person. Oh wow, yeah, because it's a really, really tiny venue, yeah, like so tiny. I don't think people realize. And um, it was funny because I had had I had met these um these older older guys um through like a mutual friend who was doing movies at the time and he was in one of their shows, one of their movies, and they did the soundtrack for it. And they just so happened to live in Nashville. I'd never met them in person, but they become a fan of my music um and followed me on Facebook, and I posted I was playing the bluebird, and they showed up. And I remember like the front hostess coming up to me. This is like when while people are playing, and I haven't played yet. He was like, Hey, so we don't usually do this, but these people said they came for you, and so we're gonna let them like stand in the doorway for your performance, but then they'll they'll have to leave. So, do you want to say hi? And I was like, I don't know who that is, right? So I go outside and like shake hands, and I was like, Oh my gosh, like nice to meet you. Thank you so much for coming out. Like, it was the most crazy experience of like, I didn't even have music out at the time, but I played a lot on YouTube, I posted a lot. Um, and they were just like so supportive to come like it within hours' notice to show up and try to get in. And they came in the doorway, they watched, and then they had to leave. And I was like, wow, that's commitment.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

That's pretty impressive because you said you didn't even have any music published. You had just written songs that you posted on social media, which is yeah, at the time I was only really playing songs that I'd written solo.

unknown 50:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 50:27

So they weren't even co-writes yet. I was co-writing at the time, but I was only playing out stuff that I had written.

SPEAKER_02 50:35

It's interesting. The the blue bird, I remember the first time I ever decided, okay, let me go let me go check out some music at the bluebird. And I think I think the blue bird now, I I I kind of call it the the Alamo of Nashville because all of our lives is, and you'll you can relate to this because you're a Texan, right? We've heard about the Alamo all of our lives, right? Texas history. And you you think it's this place of grandeur, like it's this huge place, and you show up there and you're like, that's it, like that's all there is to it. And for me, the the bluebird was so I'll just use the word anticlimactic, because in my mind, this place is the holy grail of listening rooms, and you walk up and it's like this tattered blue awning, and this little strip center is like this is it.

SPEAKER_04 51:31

It's a sketch area, to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 51:34

Yeah, so uh did you kind of have the same thought process the first time you ever saw it?

SPEAKER_04 51:38

Like, wow, so I had gone before I played it, so I kind of knew already, but I did know that the show I was actually on the show Nashville quite a bit as a featured character here and there just to make money when I first moved there. And so I got to like go to the fake bluebird set, and like it was so interesting to see the portrayal of it and then you know the exterior of it. The the inside is gorgeous and it looks exactly like you would expect, but yeah, the outside is definitely underwhelming for sure.

SPEAKER_02 52:10

Well, I think a lot of people don't realize that I I think maximum capacity is like 98 people. Like you can't, I don't even think you can fit a hundred in there by fire code. I don't think you can fit over a hundred in there, so it's like very intimate, like you're literally sitting on top of the artists that are playing in the round, right? So it it's really cool. Like for listeners that ever are that in tune with just hearing the stories behind the songs. I highly recommend going to any listening room for that matter, but especially the blue bird in Nashville because it's historic, right?

SPEAKER_04 52:44

Yeah, oh absolutely. I it's definitely a trip.

SPEAKER_02 52:48

Well, there's a song, and correct me, Sierra, where I'm if if my date's off, but there's a song that I think you released back in uh 2024, and it was a song called Another Call.

SPEAKER_04 53:05

Is that is that sound does the date sounds like a couple of years ago or whatever? Yeah, they all blend together at this point, but yeah, it was a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_02 53:14

Well, I was wondering if you might play that one for the listeners. That would be a treat. Yeah, yeah, of course. Great.

Live Song Another Call

SPEAKER_04 53:23

And this is my song, Another Call.

SPEAKER_03 53:37

I was just planning on staying in another night, always tryna get you off my mind. Tell your name went on my phone, and your memory comes back home, and you're rolling through my head, and here we go again with another ring, another call. And now I'm wondering if you're worth it all. I shouldn't pick it up, it's not y'all. I'm telling I'm a truth when I know what to do, but I'm afraid to follow if it ain't me. So it only takes two rings, and I'm answering another call. I'm leaning wide awake in the sheets where you go still seems Wishin' it was you here next to me. And I wonder it off you feel the same, but you're the one who ain't walked away. Cause I can do what I was thinking. Now you're blowing up my phone again with another ring, another call. And I'm wondering if you're worth it all. Shouldn't pick it up, and it's not child. I'm dancing around the truth when I know what to do. I'm free to fill you on to if it ain't me. So it only takes two rings, and I'm answering another car. Kicking myself, turn my phone up Cause it hurts like hell when I know when you're gone. So another recount I know wondering if you're worth it all. I shouldn't pick it up. This much I know I'm dancing round the truth and I know what to do, but I'm afraid to fool you around too. If it ain't me, or if it ain't me. So I'm answering another call.

SPEAKER_02 56:26

So that was a song called Another Call that you released a little while back. Um I love that. Like I could listen to that, that kind of almost the melancholy stuff, like um like for hours on end. I love that great job. Thank you. Yeah, there's so much there's so much rawness and vulnerability sitting behind an acoustic guitar. And I love that more than anything. Like I have a lot of electric guitars in here, but I'm an I'm not an electric player. There's something about the acoustic guitar that just I love. I just the singer and the guitar. Like no, nothing fancy, no effects, just raw. I love that.

SPEAKER_04 57:09

I know for sure. Like I like some acoustic songs, like acoustic versions of songs way better than I like in production. Production speeds everything up and condenses everything, so you don't really get to hear the raw vocal or the emotion. It doesn't always get to come through.

SPEAKER_02 57:24

I I agree. Tell

Vulnerability That Connects With Fans

SPEAKER_02 57:26

me about the song. Um how how did that one come about? And do you find that a lot of these songs come to you pretty quick or some are they are they labored sometimes as well?

SPEAKER_04 57:39

Um, yeah, I mean, I've definitely had songs that are really labored. I've I've gotten into the Nashville way of like, you know, being very disciplined to try to write in that two and a half hour time frame. Um so it's less of that, but when I write by myself, definitely it's a labor of love. Um and I will go back and change it a hundred times. Um I'm also prone to like changing things the night before the studio and just like calling my producer, like, hey, you're gonna hate me, but um, or like writing a tag like that didn't exist. Um but yeah, so this song, um, this was kind of me putting my toes back into co-writing. I'd kind of been burned um before COVID, um, where there was a lot of jealousy um with some people that I knew that I was friends with, that I was co-writers with, and it was like a really toxic environment. And um it was just it really turned me off to the idea of co-writing. And then COVID hit, and I took, you know, some time away, uh came back to Texas and took care of my family. Um, and then when I went back shortly after, I uh had known a girl for a while, but we didn't really write that much. And she brought me into this right because I'd written with the guy before, but I'd only written for him, so I had no idea what I was going into. Um, and I ended up writing with them in our first right ever we wrote Raised Right, which is my first single, and then the second right, may not have been the second, but you know, we wrote quite a bit with each other, and I just remember I went through this really, really horrible breakup during COVID. It was like everything bad that could happen to you in a relationship happened to me, and um that's what this song ended up being about. I I stepped out to take a call for a show with a promoter, and they were in my kitchen, and um, they had obviously heard all about this breakup and I walked back in, they said, We know what we want to write. We want to write about your what's going on with you. And I was like, Okay, let's do it. So, in that sense, this one kind of poured out um to my recollection, like pretty easy. Um, the title alone, another call, I was broken up with, cheated on, broken up with, um, and then still getting calls from the person, from the person, even when they had moved on. And I, you know, that song was actually really hard for me to put out. Like it was it was great for me to write, it was very therapeutic. But and whenever it came down to putting it out, and everyone was like, This is the song, like this is such a great song, you have to put it out. I was like, I don't know, like that really puts me in a bad light, you know. Like I I was that girl answering the call every time he called because I was like, if if I don't answer, I know he's gonna call someone else, and I don't want him to go to anyone but me. And it was very, very bad. Um but in the moment I couldn't see the bad in it. I was like, Well, I'm not calling him, he's calling me.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:48

Yeah, you're doing what your heart says you're supposed to do, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:51

Right. And but in the process, I was hurting other people, you know. And so I when I finally put this song out, um, I was shocked by the response. And especially with male listeners, like of course you have the women that will message me, but I've had so many men reach out and say that, you know, whether I'm playing a show here and they come to it, that they have to brace themselves, like they they know kind of my setup for it. Um, obviously it's always very just in the moment, but I you end up saying the same things when it's a true story. And they're always like, I have to brace myself, like for when you're I know you're about to sing it. Yeah. And that has always been shocking to me because I don't I don't you think of men, you think, oh, they're just tough, and yeah, they don't they're the ones tough, they're the ones breaking up with me always, you know, because that's just my experience. But to hear these stories and like DMs, and and really the ultimate reason why that song blew up was because it was being requested and I didn't know it. Um, a lot of Canadians actually, and I'd gotten on a radio station and they asked me to be their featured artist and do an interview, and that's when I found out that I was even like being played. Actually, I think I found out like a it was like the end of the year, you know, like the rapped. I was tagged in a post from that radio station saying this was the top whatever requested, and and that song was there. And and when I did the interview with them, they were like, Yeah, you have some really dedicated listeners in Canada that like really like they called and requested this song over and over again. And they're like, We had no idea who you were. And look, look at you now you're our featured artists and you're doing a takeover, and yeah, and it was just like I was afraid of what other people would think of me in the moment they saw themselves. Of course, and that was that moment, honestly, was the first time I was like, okay, if I feel uncomfortable, I have to put it out because that's gonna be the ones that make the difference.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:00

You know, the fun songs are fun, oh yeah, and people still relate, you know. Um, but it's the deep cuts that people I think they relate more to those, the melancholy, yeah, the ones that cut you deep, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:13

Because we've all been through this before. You're not the only person that's ever been cheated on, right? I've had that happen. My wife, I'm sure, has had that. Like we're all we've all experienced those deep cuts in life, right? So we can all relate guys and girls alike, I believe. Um do you ever like finish a song and say, like, okay, people are gonna know exactly who I'm talking about in the song, or do you sometimes never let the cat out of the bag and just let them paint their own canvas with the song?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:47

I mean, I'm kind of an open book, so like all my friends know exactly who these songs are involved. They're like, they're looking at me and they're like, Oh, gotta video this one. It's actually hysterical because you know, sometimes those people will be in the audience and they're just staring right and I'm like, oh god, this is so awkward.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:06

Yeah. Don't do dumb things and don't that's what I'm saying. You asked for it. Well, I think there was an accolade that I heard, and I think it's for this song, Another Call. Is this the one that just turned like 300,000?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:24

No, that's worth waiting. This one actually is over half a million.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

Okay, wow. Okay, well, congratulations on that. I was reading something, and I don't know if it correlated that that accolade of streams back to a particular song.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:37

Maybe it did, and my old brain just forgot, but my so my single right before Better Bad Habits, um, that was uh came out quite a bit ago. That one has hit recently um within the last year over 300,000. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:51

That's so cool. Yeah, so that's been in 300, half a million, yeah, God only knows how many ears. That's so cool, right? When I look at my stats for the podcast, it's like, wow, you mean there's people in 143 countries that actually listen to this? I know, and and I'm sure you

Imposter Syndrome And Celebrating Wins

SPEAKER_02 1:05:08

feel the same way about your music, right? Like, while it's good, I mean, who would have thought that that many people would ever pay any attention to something that you wrote, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:18

For sure. And like I I was I'm not a big social media person. I had maybe 2,000 followers on Instagram before I put out my first song. And just from putting out music, I I think I'm at like 13,000 or something or close to it. And if you go and look at my Instagram, I maybe post once a month. Like I'm so bad about it. I try I'm like really trying hard. I I will do stories a lot.

unknown 1:05:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:46

Like more, but I get I think for me, it's like I have major imposter syndrome. I don't know if you've dealt with that, but like I think that comes from the introverted part of me where I feel like I don't want anyone to think that I think I'm something. Um and I'm constantly trying to downplay everything on my own. But I've also been like, you know, like I said, I grew up singing all over Texas and I did mini contests at the racetrack where it's like best best country singer in Texas or best whatever in Colgate Country Countdown, like all these different contests, and I never won. Never. It was always my friends, and you know, I think that that actually like made me who I am because I've never won an award, like ever in my life. And like I've done really cool things, but I've never been the winner. But I've always been the one that the judges will come up to and say, Don't stop what you're doing. Yeah, you have something, and just you gotta let it grow. And that's what kept me going.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:46

I think I know what you're talking about because I think maybe I shouldn't say everybody feels this way because I I think there are some people that are probably just full of themselves. But I I sometimes catch myself saying, Man, should I post this? Because does anybody really care? Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:05

Yeah, and so it sounds braggy. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:08

And but you have a do like, let's be fair, right? While I go through some of that, the the back and forth, the tug of war with myself, much like you do. I think we have to, as artists or podcasters or media, we have a due diligence to put that out there, right? And if you don't like it, or the fan base or whoever that sees it doesn't like it, move on. Don't worry about it. But you you have to appeal to your fan base and not worry about the haters. I always say I love my haters because it just means they're thinking about me at the end of the day, right? But yeah, we we are not gonna please everybody, yeah, right, whether you want to or not. That's just a fact of life.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:53

Yeah, for sure. And I think I just like because it's just little me, like I have no team behind me, I have no one really saying this is a big deal, you should celebrate this. Now, obviously, when I hit 100,000 streams for the first time, that was like, oh my god, this is never happening again. Like, let's do it up, you know. Totally. But like, and that's an obvious accolade, but like things like getting on New Music Friday Spotify playlist as the first song you ever release, and you know, um, next from Nashville, like those are top playlists that I didn't even know. I didn't know anything about it. So when I got on it, I'm like, is this a good, is this a big deal? Should I celebrate this? And no one around me knew because they never, you know, it's my family, like and you know, so I I have missed out on some really cool opportunities that I should have celebrated and I should have put out there and made a bigger deal than what I did, but I just didn't know. And I I feel like so, especially since the last year of different things happening and coming to me when I didn't go for it, you know, it came to letting it come to me, I guess. I have realized that I have to I need to celebrate everything. Yeah. For me, yeah, you know, because everything that I'm doing, whether it's even putting on another saw, it's a stepping stone to a bigger picture. I thought I would ever put out a saw. Yeah, like I wanted to, yeah. But the idea of actually doing it never felt like I could be real.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:17

And you know, in the last year I've left my full-time job and I'm pretty much just living off of music right now. And it's scary sometimes, but like I'd done it for over a year now, and it's only gonna go up from here, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:32

I think I think you're doing or you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't do it, right? So that's that's just my advice back to you. Not that my advice is worth anything, but it's it's better, it's better to do it than not to do it, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:09:48

Yeah, and that's what I feel like with anyone. Like if I was to tell anyone they wanted to do anything, even be a doctor, but they were like afraid they couldn't make it into school, do it. Yeah, just try. Yeah, because you literally like you're not gonna get told no unless you ask.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:03

That's right. That's right. Well, and there's no rewind button on life, so you can't look back when you're old and say, Man, I should have done X, Y, and Z. You need to do it when you need to do it because you you can't rewind and say, Oh, well, let me go back and do it. Well, it's too late now. Yeah, no, for sure. As a as a person, what's something people assume about you that is completely wrong?

SPEAKER_04 1:10:34

Kind of a loaded question, but I guess that like my whole personality is like just music.

unknown 1:10:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:44

But I'm like I said before, a big musical theater nerd. Um, this is always shocking to people that I am a big like video game girl. Like I I grew up with Tomboy. Um, so I played Halo and Call of Duty, and I still play Fortnite with my sister. Not even my brother. Me and my sister will get on the phone, play Fortnite. She's in New York, I'm here in or in Nashville, and um we just play every night and recap our day. Just like have a good time, and we love shooting things, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:17

That's that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:18

So it's like, and everyone's always like, How do you not have a boyfriend? Like, I'm like, because I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:24

That's interesting. That's interesting. It's funny. I had a customer, and it was a female customer, and I don't know how old you are, and it doesn't even matter, but uh this customer that I'm thinking about was pretty young, I'm guessing late 20s, maybe early 30s, and really attractive girl and was just the gamer from hell, right? And you look at her and you're like, wait a minute, you you don't fit that mold, you know what I'm saying? So when I I see you, you great vocals, attractive young ladies. It's like I would have never guessed Fortnite was in the repertoire there for the city. That's so awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:06

I'm not a sweaty, yeah, but I I can I can hold my own. I do definitely Victoria Royale quite a bit.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:12

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:13

So cool.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:15

Well, you never know what you're gonna get when you just sit down and talk to people, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:18

Yeah. Um I

Fears In Music And Owning Identity

SPEAKER_04 1:12:19

always like forget that that's a shocking thing, and then every time it gets brought up, everyone's like, What?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:24

Well, I think everybody paints a I think everybody, uh me included, we all judge a book by the cover. Like you take one look at somebody and you've already got this preconceived notion in your brain that I bet that girl or I bet that guy does this, this, or this, right? And we've already like put this wrapper around you. And then when you get and sit down with somebody, it's like, wow, that blew me away because I had no idea, right? And it's not like there's nothing wrong with playing games. I just never expected that you would ever that would come out of your mouth. For sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:59

No, I it's good to know that about you.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:02

Yeah, remind me not to play against you because I know my youngest son, um, of course, he's a he's a daddy and a husband now, but he still loves getting on the game and playing with his guys, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:13:13

Um it's funny, I've probably played against people that listen to me. You never know. And like I'm like, you know, screw you.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:21

Everybody talking shit to everybody, right? Yeah. Is there anything that scares you about the music business in general or gives you anxiety about the music business?

SPEAKER_04 1:13:35

Um, I think at one time I was afraid of people trying to change who I was and like push me into a direction because maybe I wasn't super solid in what I was doing. Um I feel like now I definitely don't have that fear because I don't mind walking away from a deal if it's like if you don't understand who I am, bye. Too bad. Um, but I feel like I've really I put this persona on. Well, it's not a persona, it's just who I am. But the in the music like that I write, I have a very firm understanding of this is who I am and this is it all makes sense, it all goes together. So if you try to put me in a corner of that's not that, it's just not gonna work. So you're either behind what I'm doing or you're not. And um, so I think that was like probably my biggest fear when I was like kind of starting and really like I was writing songs and I liked all my songs, but you know, they were some were more singer-songwriter, or some were more this, because I was just at that point kind of imitating what I heard, and I wasn't really original, and now I feel like I know what who I am musically, um, which literally makes the confidence so much higher because it's just like okay, I know who I am, and and anyone who sits in a right with me is gonna know who I am based on what I've put out, even though it's not a lot, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:57

Absolutely. What do you feel like is the most re rewarding part of what you do as a songwriter and performer?

SPEAKER_04 1:15:07

Definitely performing life. I think I got into it for that. Um, I love engaging with people. Like I said, I'm an extroverted introvert, so I I am very extroverted when I'm like in that mode. Um, I love to talk to people, I love to get to know people. It was funny because I was in Canada for this uh showcase or this show, weekend of shows, and I probably hugged like so many people, and they were like almost shocked. They were just like, oh, like you're so nice and so loving right off the bat. But I was just like, I was in my personal heaven of like, oh my god, these people are listening to me for two hours play original music and maybe one cover. And they're coming up to me, or like some of them, I was just out and about at a cafe in the before my show during the day, supporting a friend who was playing, and I'm having someone come up to me, say, Hey, my friend, an hour away, like she listens to your music, and can you sign this? And it was just like this, you know, a lot of times, like you said, we're playing venues that were booked by the venue, and it's there's really no expectation, like you don't know what what they're wanting, and you don't know if it's a restaurant crowd or if they're coming because they know you. There's probably a mix, you know, sometimes. But for the most part, you're just like, you know, that you're there to be background. And sometimes that's a little disheartening after you do it so many times. Um, of course, there are shows that I do, like the RV parks, where it's redeeming because they're so attentive. They're the kinds of people that want they love country music for one, and they love finding artists before they blow up. So they're listening to me intently and they're like, I wish you did more originals, like and inviting me to their campfire and letting me sit with them for hours after my show, you know. Those experiences are redeeming, but majority is you're getting paid to entertain with covers that people know, and you know, that can be hard when you're around people that want to soak it up, want to follow you. I mean, I've never walked away from a show with hundreds of followers.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:13

And it was a small little listening room.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:16

Of course. I think you kind of answered this earlier, but who who is the one or two people that have really believed in you the longest and supported you?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:30

Well, definitely my family. They're the most supportive. And my brother and my sister aren't even country music fans really, but they are front row anytime they're in the area singing my songs, like they, and they're always like, you know, I don't really like country, but I love your music. And I don't know if that's just because they're my sister or my brother. I feel like they're pretty harsh critics and they wouldn't come to my shows, like just to sit there for two, three hours and listen to me sing if they didn't actually believe that. Um, so I feel like that speaks to something, but d definitely my family. I mean, they're they're the ones that are the first one to play my song when it comes out. They they come, my mom and sits at every single show, whether it's a smoky bar and she's you know, hacking her whole way through it. She's not gonna miss it if she can't, like if she doesn't can't help it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:21

Well, I know those are your siblings, but I bet I I bet it's safe to say they're fans of yours as well. Oh, yeah. Without a doubt.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:29

I mean, my sister's like, send me that song. If I'll send like a demo, she's like, I need you to send it to me. And I'm like, I'm not sending it to you, because then you're not gonna listen to it when it comes out. Yeah, and she's like, No, I will. And I'm like, no, because all those streams that you'll listen to are gonna be on the demo and not so there's a constant battle of like, I'll, you know, send them. I I send them every song I write um right after, and I ask for their feedback. Um that's a good way to do it. Yeah, we have a group chat.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:57

Yeah. Well, you're always gonna get straight from the heart feedback, I think. And I think a lot of times um our our families are maybe the worst, our worst critics, but they're probably the most important too because they're never gonna just I don't think they're gonna lie to you, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:14

Yeah, and my thing is always if they don't even like country music and they like this song, then I'm doing something right.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:20

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:21

And I will say, like, I have these boots on, um, and every time I play this show, my mom doesn't like these boots. She she doesn't hate them, but she's like, they're not they're not super flattering. I'm like, you're wrong. And every time I play a show, I I'll wear these boots and I will have moms, like my kid doesn't even like country, but she loves your whole aesthetic and like those boots. Like, can I take a picture of them? And like, uh, you know, I get that a lot. Like, I'll play like I'll throw in a Katy Perry every once in a while, like hot and cold. And and I think being able to play to both sides is huge, especially in like, not to say that I really care about the success part of being this, you know, massive artist, that's great. Um, because it just means that I can keep doing what I want to do. But really, the way I measure my success is if I can get on a stage consistently and play my stuff for people that enjoy it, that is the goal.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:20

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:21

Like it is not, you know, some people are like, I gotta get a publishing deal, I gotta get a record label. If those things don't happen, but I get the goal, that's all that matters.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:29

Yeah, those things will come, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:20:31

Yeah, yeah, and I'm not worried about it. You know, right now I'm keeping all my money.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:34

Yep, exactly, exactly. Let me throw a a few quick fire questions at you, and you can keep the answers vague and short, or you can you can elaborate if you want. But the first one is what what is one song that has that you feel like's changed your life? Is there one that comes to mind?

SPEAKER_04 1:20:55

The House of Billy.

unknown 1:20:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:59

Is there a song that you've heard that you wished you had been the writer of?

SPEAKER_04 1:21:07

Um The House of Bill Me, but I will say a different one just for that purpose. Uh back to Karen Marlowe. He has a song called Running.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:17

So good. I might have to listen to this one now, right? I made my mom listen last night.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:21

All right, you you've twisted my rubber arm.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:24

Like I have a song I wrote recently, it's a duet, and it would be Killer with Karen Marlowe. So I'm speaking it into existence.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:30

There you go. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:32

His manager follows me, so okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:34

Well, there you go. He heard it first on Backstage Pest Radio, right? Um I was gonna ask you something about that. Uh I'll I'll come back to it anyway. But um, how about early bird or night owl?

SPEAKER_04 1:21:47

Night owl. For sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:49

I said when I got the 130 email from you, I'm like, okay, she must be a night owl or something, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:21:55

I just said but if it comes to a show or something, I'm like, I'm I'm definitely a morning person. I can be when it's something happening. Like I'm very excited.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:04

You're not a complete vampire then.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:06

No, like you're a gamer, so of course you stay up late. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:12

Because nobody plays games at eight in the morning, right? It's always like 2 30 in the morning.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:16

Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:17

People are weird.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:17

But honestly, I write my songs, like I come up with ideas in those hours. That's when I get my inspiration.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:24

Yeah. Well, it's quiet in your your brain. Yeah, totally. What person what person would you most desire if you had the pick of the letter? Who would you want to write with? Is there somebody that comes to mind?

SPEAKER_04 1:22:43

Emily Wise band.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:45

Tell me about that person because I've not heard that name either.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:48

She is a mega hit writer. Um, and like you said, I love the deep cuts. Like, I love Mia Ballad, and I have quite a few that are like you know, my favorite songs. Um, but she is so versatile for one. Like she can write the best like upbeat song, but her deep cuts are deep, and I feel like she's able to access um at least her vocabulary of like the way that she explains or describes emotions, are insane, and I would love to even just be a fly on the wall in her right. Like, she's such an interesting person. She even had a pop career for a while, and I was obsessed with that too. Um, but

Quick Fire Favorites And 2026 Plans

SPEAKER_04 1:23:40

she was like, you know, I'm just a songwriter, and I will love her till the day I die, probably.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:47

That's cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:49

I played um top golf with her once. Did you? Yeah, she would not know, but she like was coming off a breakup and coming off a jet, like a private jet with like Cassidy Pope and Lindsay L, I think. Okay, and she showed up to this birthday party that I was at, and we were in line to get our top golf like cards, and she was like, Are you single? And I was like, Yeah, she goes, Good, stay that way. And she starts going off about her ex, and I was just like, Little do you know I know exactly who you are, and everything about you. And I'm dying right now.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:20

That's funny. How about uh can you call out a favorite guitar brand?

SPEAKER_04 1:24:27

Oh, that's a hard one. So I have a Taylor and I have a Martin. I really love my Martin Unplugged. Like I just love the deep tones of a Martin. Taylors are great, um, and I primarily play my Taylor now. But I can't say that I'm a big guitar player to know like the real nitty-gritty pros and cons, but I love both for different reasons. But definitely the Martin, there's nothing like it that has that deep, beautiful, natural tone unplugged. Yeah, it's definitely a singer-songwriter guitar.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:00

I'm with you. I mean, I think you can see a few Taylors in my studio here, and I've always been a big Taylor player, but I bought the SJ200 there, the Gibson. Yeah, I that's my next one. I want to give it a lot. Really?

SPEAKER_04 1:25:13

Yeah, I've never played a Gibson, but that I really would like to have one of each just so I can like you've never like even played a Gibson? No. What? I know. I stick to the two. Yeah, I've like my brother. So this is actually my brother's guitar, and I play it when I'm in town because I don't want to like travel with my guitar if I don't have to. Sure. Um, but we have the exact same uh Taylor, but I have he has the sunburst, and I have like a more natural wood, like dark wood grain.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:40

Yeah. But well, the Taylor 814 that I have right there, that has the Indian rosewood, so that's a little bit deeper, yeah, or a or or a more um warm tone.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:52

But but I would agree the Taylors are they tend to be a little more tinny or sounded. Yeah, tin or tinnier. But and the the Martin has the but that SJ has a really nice low end to it. I I have an idea for that when we get done here. But anyway, moving right along. Favorite color?

SPEAKER_04 1:26:09

Blue.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:13

Favorite band or artist?

SPEAKER_04 1:26:16

I'm gonna go non-country and say John Bellion.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:19

Okay. What's new for Sierra Gann as it relates to uh, and this is not a quick fire question, by the way, but um what what is new for you in 2026 that you can speak of or that you want to speak of?

SPEAKER_04 1:26:36

Yeah, um, definitely a lot of shows. Um, I'm going to New York City for the first time. Uh I have a show November 1st, and I'm possibly planning like a pop-up with people that already listen to me for more of an intimate experience. I haven't posted about it yet, but that's kind of the goal. Um so yeah, so stoked to be playing in New York City. I gotta ask to do that with um NSAI, which I'm not even a part of, but they're being really gracious and a lot, like, you know, invited me to come in and writing with a bunch of New York songwriters. Um, so I'll be there for like 10 days.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:14

Oh, you'll love that city.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:16

It's gonna be so fun, so fun. And then um, yeah, just kind of playing kind of all over, um like Alabama, obviously Tennessee, Texas. I'll be back um in November and December um to play kind of you know, like the rustics and literally all over, um outside of Houston as well. Um and new music. Yeah. So I'm I'm kind of in the the transition of like I have music recorded, but I'm kind of waiting to put it out um to hear back from some things. Okay. Uh so hopefully even greater news before the end of the year. That would be sick.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:00

Well, call me if you get the good news. Yeah. We'll we'll we'll talk about it, right? Um, where can the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio find you on social media?

SPEAKER_04 1:28:11

Yeah, um, I am on everything TikTok, uh, Instagram, Facebook, even. It's just my name, Sierra Gantt Music. Um, Sierra with an S. Like the pickup truck I've been told is the best way to explain it. Sure. That's right. And uh same with like Spotify, Apple, iTunes, Amazon, anywhere you listen to music, it's just Sierra Gantt. Okay. And and honestly, like a follow on Spotify or anything like that is like the best support you can actually give or Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:42

Okay, that's good to know. Yeah. I think I follow you out there soon. So I'm gonna look for you to reciprocate that. Yes. Oh, you do? But yeah, I think uh but I think I've talked about this at Nauseam Sierra that the likes, the follows, the sharing, the sharing especially is everything for us, right? It's so easy for our friends and our fans and the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio and the lovers of your music to just hit the share button because now you expand your whole network and now you get visibility to all of the people in their network, right? And people don't. I don't think the casual I I think people that are not us that really don't use social media as a tool, they don't understand the impact that they can make by sharing. A lot of people just troll, right? They're like, oh, Sierra's playing here, let me just move past. But that like or that share gets in the hands of so many more people. So I yeah, I always do the PSA here. Like I feel preaching, like I'm preaching a little bit. No, I agree. I think it's a good idea. Follow, follow and like and share all things Sierra Gantt. That's gonna be important to you, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:55

Because even if like you don't think people look at your stuff, people do, you know, like 100% post something. They may not even realize it's you posting it, but like it's getting out there. And and also just the algorithms of these apps that you know just hate share, yeah, makes them think, oh, people like this. Yeah, and push this and organically. Absolutely. Which is huge.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:20

What advice would you give to somebody like yourself that was trying to crack into the music business? Is there is there anything that comes to mind, brand new person, they've been playing and writing a little bit, but they're they've decided to make this their living? Is there any advice that you would give to them?

SPEAKER_04 1:30:37

I think it goes back to the community thing, like just go, go to the rounds, meet the hosts, start playing them. And similar to like being, you know, not the best in the room, same thing with a round, like you gotta start somewhere. And I remember playing at a bowling alley as my first round, like in the back room, uh King's Bowl, I think is what it's called in Franklin, and no one was there, but like I had to gain that experience of being on a stage and hearing someone to the left of me and thinking they're better than me, I how I need to work.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:11

Pick up your pick up your game.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:13

Yeah, and I think that's another thing is like not just doing the rounds, but really taking in what's around you and not thinking, Oh, I'm the best.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:22

Thinking, what can I do to be better always because if you just sit there and you think, oh, everyone loved me, I was the favorite and everyone else wasn't good, which there are people like that, you will never get anywhere in that mindset. Because one people feel that, see that, and they don't want to collaborate with you, they don't want to have you back on their show.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:47

We can always learn something, right? Oh, yeah. Even at my age, I can still learn things. I don't know everything. You think you go through a whole life of being around something, you you know it all, but we don't know it all at the end of the day. So let your brain absorb and be a sponge, like I think is what you're trying to say. What did I miss that we that that we didn't touch on that you need a soapbox for? Any anything?

SPEAKER_04 1:32:15

No, I feel like we kind of hit everything. We kind of talked about everything.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:18

Yeah. Okay, so we're good there. So I'm gonna um you made the mistake of mentioning to me that you'd you'd never played a Gibson. And I I want to pull the SJ off the wall, and I want you to think of uh a cover song, okay, right? And um I'm gonna tune that for you because I tune it a half step down, unless you just want to put a capo on it. So um would you be willing to play a cover for the listeners?

SPEAKER_04 1:32:45

Yeah, absolutely.

Gibson First Time And Tin Man Cover

SPEAKER_04 1:32:47

Well, this is um Tin Man by Miranda Lambert, and it's one of my most requested songs when I play it.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:16

You don't know how lucky you are you should've spent your whole affection for something about fall apart, and every time you'll feel empty, let it think you're looking stars as if you ever feel on breaking, you never want a heart. You don't know how lucky you are I know you all didn't get me very far. Well you ain't missing up now. Take it from me down here. And by the way, there must be my scars You give me a you can have a heart.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:17

That was Ten Man by uh Miranda Lambert, and you sound amazing. I I love that you share that with the listeners. Thank you for playing.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:25

Yeah, of course.

Where To Follow And Final Thanks

SPEAKER_02 1:37:26

And uh I I think that um you're so cool and the live music was certainly a treat, and I want to thank you for coming uh to the Crystal Vision studio and and chatting with the the listeners of the show about all things new and exciting for you, and uh I wish you nothing but the best and uh hopefully our paths cross soon. And when the new music comes out, certainly holler at me and and let me know all about it. Have you back and we'll we'll talk about all the new stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:59

Yeah, sounds good. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:01

Yeah, make sure you guys follow Sierra on all of our social media outlets, and also make sure to book the webpage at Sierra Ganttmusic.com.

unknown 1:38:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:38:12

I also ask the listeners to like, share, and subscribe to the podcast on Facebook at BackstagePassRadio Podcast, on Instagram at BackstagePassRadio, and on the website at BackstagePassradio.com. You guys remember to take care of yourselves and each other, and we'll see you right back here on the next episode of BackstagePass Radio.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:33

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.