ASHLAND CRAFT: Country’s Bold New Voice with Old-School Soul

From the backroads of South Carolina to the neon lights of Broadway, Ashland Craft is redefining country with a raw, authentic sound. Her voice—a powerful, gritty blend of heart and soul—echoes legends like Janis Joplin, cutting through the noise with a timeless, unforgettable presence. Raised on the spirit of her Paw Paw and inspired by strong women like Grandma Lynn, Ashland’s music is a fearless mix of classic country grit and soul-stirring storytelling. Tracks like “Morning Person,” “Right Damn Now,” and viral anthem “I Smoke Weed” capture her journey from honky-tonk bars to unforgettable tours with icons like Marcus King, Cody Johnson, and Ian Munsick.

Her latest album Traveling Kind celebrates life on the road, the people who shape her, and the unforgettable moments along the way. With a crew of powerhouse women like Lainey Wilson, Megan Patrick, and Caroline Munsick, Ashland is proving that country music isn’t just a sound; it’s a way of life, and she’s here to make sure it’s louder than ever.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Adam a.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Carry line. She's a queen and talking. So she's getting
really not afraid to fail this episode, so just let
it flow. No one can do we quiet cary Line
is sounding.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Caroline, Well, I am so thrilled to be here with
the one and only Ashlyn Kraft.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Thank you for having me. Did you like being greeted
by Kirby my bearded dragon? One hundred percent? That was
a first for me. So I now think I need
a bearded dragon.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
And you're publicist or manager or label head, label partner, you.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Know, we're Senna run through the gam in here. I'm like,
don't ask me.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Someone very important on your team is with you. Her
name is Meg, and turns out he's awesome. Her sister
has a bearded dragon as well.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
She was more educated, she knew all about him. We
showed up.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
The thing with bearded dragons is it's like, once you're
in the bearded dragon community, you realize it's actually quite large.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
I've heard I've heard a lot more people have bearded
dragons than we expected.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
So it's very it's very funny, but it's such an
interesting thing because I have never been a reptile person
in my life. I used to catch lizards and stuff, right,
but like I've never like had a pet, but now
that I have this pet lizard because it's all because
my five year old daughter, Yep, naturally, but Sonny, my daughter,
she like put her in her Barbie car and cruiser around.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
She like puts her in these bathshubs dressed up and clothes.
It's like a real life Barbie doll. Yeah. So yeah,
that has to be on every kid's Christmas list for now.
It's pretty of it. I love that. I want to
join this community. Yeah, get involved with the bearded dragon babysit.
I thought you rock a bearded dragon. Honestly, after holding
that one, I feel like I need to incorporate into

(02:02):
my into your like routine, into your.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Like image because yeah, okay, because we're kind of talking
about intuitive dressing. Because you to me, when I was
like listening to your music and like obviously stalking you
hard and deep diving into your whole existence, I was like,
you are just you feel like you belong in a
previous generation a little bit like that classic music, Like

(02:28):
I guess would it be like the Whalen and the
Willies and the Jesse Coulters and all that like you
just have that, like you're and you.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Kind of run with that crew.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
There's a crew of y'all because like I was, like,
you run with like Laney Wilson and you run. I
just had Meg Patrick on and she's amazing. She's kind
of in that same thing and Carolyn Munsick and Ian
Munsick and.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Like it's like this, there's this whole.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Group and like you and specifically like it's like you're
just so you know, like uh, Bob the wait no,
who sings bob y mcgie?

Speaker 2 (02:58):
I should know this?

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Like yeah, like Jo, that's who it really is. That's
who I feel like you kind of have that just
that grit. And it's just like the music you write lyrics,
I can tell you're not chasing Nashville, Like obviously you
write songs that can.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Be played in Nashville and could on country radio.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
But like your lyrics are like your song Hooker, Like
you're writing s that is just so real and you're
writing it as someone would think it, like the truth,
like I'm not your what is I'm not your I'm not.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Not your hooker, your nanny or your maid. I was
like yes, And what's so funny? Is like even though
I feel like that was Nashville like in the nineties,
it was so comical and so almost like just straight
at how people would say it in the country. So yeah,
it's it's funny how it's kind of changed back from

(03:49):
that now. But I've I love like the nineties and
even the eighties country in the early two thousands so
very much feel like I would have loved like being
in the times in the music industry back then as
well for the music like that, you know.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
And your style too, like the way you are dressed today,
it's like this is such a this is such a artwork,
Like it is like your whole style, like from your
earrings to all of your cool jewelry to this awesome
vintage jacket piece that you found, Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
How do you dress? Do you just go in your
closet and like feel your way through? I mean, honestly,
there's never a method to the madness. It's almost it's
genuinely wake up, like what vibe am I feeling today?
Almost And I kind of just kind of like pick
a bass piece, which today was the overalls. Okay, so
you start with like a bass piece, yes, and usually
I try to do like a one piece situation like

(04:41):
a jumpsuit romper, which it doesn't always happen, but you're
why one piece, Oh it's easy. It's like that's one
less item of clothing I have to think about putting on.
So true. Yeah, so like today was overalls and oh,
I'm sorry, I'm such a sideways Michael listen. I love it.
It's like a it's like, you know, it's part of
your I know i'm acxilation I'm singing right now. But

(05:04):
then yeah, and then I love patterns in mixed match,
so that's kind of something I'm always trying to incorporate.
So gotta have a lot of different things going on
to look at and then layer necklaces until you just
feel right.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
And then do you finally like get your your last
piece sign You're like, okay, yes.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
It changes sometimes, but again, it's like one of those
feelings you know, whenever you're finished, pretty much like all right,
this works, let's go.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
I see it starts day like I've tried to do
that sometimes, but sometimes I horribly miss Like get off.
Do you not worry about You're not worried about You're
just worried about it.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Feeling right for you. I about to say it's got
to be what like you like, I'm like, I don't
care if somebody else thinks I look like I just
walked out of a thrift store and put on everything
in there, Like I want to love what I'm wearing
that day, and that makes me have a good day.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
So that really does, doesn't it? Like feeling good in
your clothes?

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yes, that's a big thing for me. And that's why
I love thrifting, I think because there's so many options
and there's so many different combinations that you can throw
together in a way that hasn't been done before. So
it's fun. It's like a fun little puzzle game. Do
you feel the energies of the people that wore the
clothes before? I think so. I kind of think about

(06:17):
that whenever I see something on the rack. I'm like,
I wonder, I wonder when why they got rid of this,
because it's a thank you, and I'm like, dang, they
must have lived a good life in this because they've
gotten their use out of it and passed it on.
So now it's my turn to make memories in it.
That's sake pictures.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
So yeah, and I feel like kind of like these
kind of clothes that you find in thrift stores, like
from a previous error. People used to just value their
clothes so much too, and like when they would have
like beautiful pieces, like they treasured them and took care
of them. And now we're in like fast fashion, fast fashion,
and everybody's all just like so quick.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
But like it used to be such a moment in
a statement, you know, I agree, and I think that's
coming back. I feel like there's a lot of people
that are getting back into the thrift in because I
feel like there was a whole stigma around like thrift
and not buying new or brand name. And I've always
been the person that's like everybody has that Nike jacket,
like I want something that looks completely different. So I

(07:14):
feel like everybody's starting to really show their personality through
thrifting and curating their own style through that. So I
love I love seeing it. Have you always known you
were beaten to your own drum? I would say so.
My my parents raised me, well, they didn't raise me,
but they unknowingly made me really hard headed, So you know,

(07:37):
I mean just I think they've always taught me to
like follow my own path and just like nobody else
is going to do anything for you, Like you're you're
your own person and so if you want to, you know,
be that, then be that. So it's been nice to
always be supported and who I am. And I think
it's done nothing but encourage me to like trust in

(07:59):
my fit choices and like it just song choices and
everyday choices, I think. And that all comes through personality.
So being the biggest version of yourself or the big
of your fullest version of yourself. But that takes confidence,
it does, and sometimes it's hard.

Speaker 1 (08:16):
It is because like when you walk into a room,
like people are gonna see you and notice you, which
is amazing, and that's how we all should feel so
confident to walk in to be seen. But like it
is hard to be seen sometimes, where did that confidence
come from?

Speaker 2 (08:29):
It's still coming, it's still coming. I think I've really
gained my footing in the confidence department over the past year.
Do tell I mean details. There's no magic answer, I
know that much. But I really think it comes down
to social media. Oh tell me about that, because I
struggle with that. It's at the same here. I'm still

(08:52):
getting my footing there. But I'm a comment reader. I
like to go through and scroll through comments, and you
just kind of come to the realization one day that
everybody's always gonna have an opinion true, always, always, and
it's never it's not always gonna line up with what
you think. And that's so clear through like random videos
and stuff on social media. It's like it could be

(09:13):
a cute picture of a dog and somebody's still gonna
have something to say about it. You know, it's safe.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Oh so you like read other comments of other stuff
to kind I'm bored.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
You know what though, I get that.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Too, because I feel like I do that sometimes too,
Like if someone will put a post up that maybe
I think is like a bold, awesome post, yeah, but
then you go look at it and you're like, oh,
haters are gonna hate.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, And either even if it's a post like you
don't really care about or is, you just click on
the comments and you still see that there's gonna be
back and forth no matter what. And I think that
just tells me. I'm like, well, again, people are always
gonna have stuff to say no matter who you are,
what you wear, what you look like, what you do,
So screw it. I'm just gonna do what I like.

(09:52):
Ay men to that. So I am forty one and
I feel like I just mind blowing to me you
were not forty one.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
Well, I mean I don't feel it in my head
one bit, but I feel like I'm just now coming
into the spot where I feel confident to just know that, like,
this is who I am, this is what I love. Yep,
this is what I'm here to do. And you don't
have to like it or agree with it, right, But
that's a hard place to.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Get to, it is. And I came, I mean she
as an artist. Yeah, And we all come from different
backgrounds and different ways of thinking in life, and sometimes
you kind of have to like unlearn things. What have
you had to unlearn? I mean definitely the thought that
like everybody's not gonna like you.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Did you grow up in a pretty good environ like
a pretty loved environment, Like.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, I mean my parents were great. We definitely had
our qualms, and I think it definitely took a lot
for us to start seeing eye to eye. But you
and your purpose of that, yeah, and never it's always
just teenage things And where were you bucking the system
with your parents? Well? I think it didn't help that
I always know I wanted to do music, so I
didn't really like love school and I never I was

(11:03):
never a school skipper or anything. I still very much
was a real follower. And I think that's where a
lot of the head button came in, is like I
felt like I was a good kid, and so I'm like,
just give me a chance, let me do some fun stuff.
But I respect the way my parents raised me. I'm thankful.
I think it made me appreciate a lot of things
in life as an adult. If they want you to
like discipline and like yes, and it was like discipline,

(11:25):
treating others how you would want to be treated, like
just the true things that I felt like everybody should
be raised with. And again we butted heads like as
when I was a teenager, as most people do with
their parents. But now we have like the best relationship ever.
And they've always been supportive of music and they're like,

(11:47):
if you want it, go get it. You know, like,
no matter what happens, you got to be all in.
So I'm very thankful for their constant support all this
time growing up.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
When did you get to Nashville, Cause you're from soth Carolina,
South Carolina where my husband's.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
From South Carolina. No way, what's from Newberry, South Carolina?
Newberry Opera House? You know it. I've been when I
was in high school. I did some theater. I was
in musical theaters. Okay, and we did some shows there. Okay,
that was a while back, But I do know Newberry.
Where are you from in South Ronin? I'm from Piedmont.
So if y'all know where green Bulle is, yeah, it's

(12:22):
like ten minutes south of Green Bull Okay, it's a
little small town, kind of in the in between the
tri state areas what they call like Easley, Greenville, Spartanburgame Orson,
all those bigger places. We're right in the middle there.
But yeah, I know you had Briley on and they're
North Carolina. And then Marcus is South Carolina too. R Street.
You toured with Marcus for I did two years, No,

(12:45):
two years. I got to do a two month two
month and it was the most fun I've ever had
in my life.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Tell me why, because Briley is a riot. She is
she's starting a podcast, which thank god.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Oh I saw a clip of her not long ago.
I'm just like, you're my spirit animal. I mean, I
just can't get enough, like let us have unleash it
on us. Yes, and she reminds me so much a
home or just you know, people from at least around
that area. Both of them do. But that tour with them,
what was it like? I mean, I was so curious
going into it because Marcus I'd always heard his name

(13:18):
in the music community in South Carolina. So I was
always curious and he were around the same age, and
then he asked me to go on tour.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Oh man, So how did so were you kinda how
did you? How'd you get your rumbling going? Were you
get did you get going? In South Carolina?

Speaker 2 (13:33):
I did? I mean I had a band, okay, and
I also played acoustic gigs in anywhere that would let
me pretty much. So were you kind of getting a reputation?
I was trying to a good one obviously a good one.
But yeah, So I started out gigging. I want to
say I started. I got my first gig when I
was about sixteen, Okay, And they didn't want to be

(13:56):
but they knew deep down that like this was the
path for me, but again, always supportive. There was never
a moment where it was like absolutely not like there
was one little moment, but we got past that.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
They were like they would have preferred maybe if you
just like when school became a nurse or something settled
down and like.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
You know, you know, did the deal. They definitely knew
my my hunger for music, but I think they were
always curious about how like it was gonna pan out
and how serious I was gonna take it because I
had waitress. I worked to McDonald's my first job. How's
that it's great on McDonald's, those fries are. But after
that I didn't even eat McDonald's for a while because

(14:36):
it was just so sick of because not because you
saw how it was made, but because eventually, yes, that also,
but I can't line say I don't still go to McDonald's.
Well apparently those like never decay or anything, I know,
some sketch stuff. We literally were just talking about that
all the way here. I like, you can leave a
fry out and it won't grow mold. I know. But hey,
for a first job, it was good. They paid me

(14:57):
and I got some some extra money, and then I
moved to waitress, saying OK, and then I moved to
Academy Sports and outdoors. Yeah, it was cashier there for
a little while. And then while I was there, I
got an email randomly from a bar called Wendels Dipping
Branch and around this time, I was about eighteen, and
they were like, hey, we're looking for a new singer

(15:18):
in our house band. Oh, so they pursued you. Yeah,
And there was like a website back at the time
where you could have like a profile and they could
search people in the area that were in bands. I
guess I couldn't remember what it's called now, but anyways,
got the call for that, and that was the moment
I was like, hey, mom and dad, I know I'm

(15:40):
only eighteen, but I got this offer to go work
in a house band. And I've been gigging this whole time.
I don't want to work at a sporting goods store
for the rest of my life. And they let me
go audition and got the I got the job, and
then after that they were just like, no, like, it's

(16:00):
a forty five minute drive away. You're gonna be there
Friday and Saturday later and you're by yourself. Fair. I mean,
I get I get there because I get it. I
get it. But I think that was the one moment
I had to finally be like, I love y'all and
I've always respected y'all, but I need to do this. Okay,
I need to do this. That's a moment. It was.

(16:22):
It was a big moment for us, and they said, okay,
they and then we're not happy about it. But I
ended up getting dressed and I went to the gig,
and you know, I ended up being the best like
two years that I needed. How great though, to have

(16:45):
parents that love you so much?

Speaker 1 (16:47):
Yet I'll get all terry because I have a daughter
and I'm like, wherever she goes, I'm just gonna follow
her because I don't ever want her to leave because
I know because you just worry.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
And I can't imagine, because I can't imagine being a
parent like I can a test to like watch my
parents raise us. And you have only I have two brothers.
I have an older brother he's six years older than me,
and then I have a younger brother who is seventeen
months younger than me. So you are almost like twins.
Oh but we felt like katsus but we're finally tight.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Is that the one that you're in a little bumblebee
teapot with like little flower pot with when you were
a baby.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
That was my little brother. Pretty dan cute he is.
He's a tird but I love him. No, he's the best.
But but yeah, so that that all kind of transformed
I think a lot of our relationship.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
And then it it then they started trusting you probably
once it started going as you said, yes, it would
like you really committed to it and he surely had
the hunger and it really was what you wanted to do,
like absolutely, it wasn't a hobby.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah, And then through that that's exactly how I found
out about Marcus and I you know, like heard talkings
of this guy who was like a legend on guitar
and he's young and he's like channeling some great spirit
of the past too. Him and his dad both are
like amazing musicians. And I met like his parents while
on tour and it's just like family to me, and

(18:06):
like we've known each other our whole lives. There's no
there's no question I feel it somehow. But uh, going
on tour with him was genuinely like going back in time.
It was so cool. I'm like, this is how they
used to do? What was it?

Speaker 1 (18:18):
Like?

Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, how does he tour two months straight on a
tour bus. Were you on his tour bus? I was so.
I was with his band and crew, which was so
much fun, just like gosh, the most fun bunch of people,
all of them, Marcus, Briley, everybody, yes, And watching her
get up on stage.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
Girl can wail, I was like, I don't know, you
could thing not just seeing she can freaking weal?

Speaker 2 (18:42):
I know, and so it just makes they make perfect
sense together. And she was such a big cheerleader for
me on tour. Marcus two was such a big cheerleader
for me, And I'm just so eternally grateful to them,
and I'm so happy we finally made the connection as
Carolinians as a as a whole. But that tour, Yeah,
how did he find out about you? I think so

(19:05):
it was We actually did our song on my record
Highway like Me. Yeah, and I actually wrote that song.
It was myself, Jesse, Alexander, and reed Is Bull. Okay,
it was the three of us on that song. But
we wanted to find a really cool, like powerful vocal,
and Marcus came up in conversation. I'm like, do y'all

(19:29):
really think I didn't know him? At the time, I
was like, do y'all really think you could get him
on this track? Sure enough, he came in and the
high harmony, like the highest part that you hear in
the song is Marcus. Wow, It's insane. And then the
guitar solo just ripping it. And so through that we
got to tour together. And usually country music isn't like

(19:51):
two months straight of touring. It's like kind of you
do it for a little bit, take a little break,
and then go back out again, take a little break
some people. Everybody does it differently, but for him, it
was like rock and roll tour style. And that was
so fun for me because I had that was my
first experience on a bus and I'm just like, I'm
just happy to be here. Y'all tell me to move

(20:11):
my stuff wherever, like pretend I'm not here. But they
were so welcoming and it was everything I hoped it
would be in a tour and as people like so
refreshing to be around people that just love live and
breathe music. Yeah, that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
It's because like no offense to some of these great
national artists who are doing awesome, but they are they
just feel like they're just.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Kind of it's not like they're a plug and play.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
But like some people, it's like, Okay, that's a great artist,
but like it doesn't you can't really tell the difference
between that artist and another artist.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Sometimes business maybe there a little more business like fun, right,
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
But then there's people like you, and there's the people
like Marcus and like Laney and Meg Patrick and all
who are like, okay, y'all all see the fire, yes,
and Ian munsick And I guess that's why y'all hang
out together, because it's like your motivation, y'all all are due,
because like you have to do this, and like Marcus,
like he has to do this, and it's like there's

(21:05):
not an option, like this is who you are. But
you can tell there's a difference. To me, there's a
big difference to artists. And I think there's a spot
for both of them. I don't think. I don't think
it's like it's not like one is better. I prefer
the true authentic artists because you can feel the music
absolutely seeping from your soul for sure, and it's like
you have to get this out and you have to

(21:27):
perform it and you have to be on stage and
you have to connect Like it's like you have to.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Do it, you have no other option. Yeah, that's what's
so funny is again, like you said, being around them
is such a big inspiration, all those artists, and it's
a good It just keeps you going. I don't know,
because we're all real people with real feelings and this
is a real business which comes with real struggles and

(21:52):
real wins. Right, the business part is the hardest part.
The music parts the best. And that's the thing is
like you take people that are just born creatives, have
no real clue about the business. I was like, I'm
not a business woman. I just want to sing, Like
I just want to sing.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
But the singing is like the easiest part of the
business part is the is the tricky part, just figuring.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Out how to get that out there in a way
that you feel best represents you and and figuring out
the highs and the lows of it all. But again,
it's like even on the days you're like I cannot
deal with this anymore, you still wake up the next
day and it's it doesn't matter because you're just like
I who am I kids? Like there's no other scenario
that I could think of right now that'd rather be

(22:35):
in Like, I'd rather be having my worst day doing
this than my best day somewhere else. You know, it's
just to me, that is what keeps you going, is
if you have that mentality. You know, So there's I
went to hair school like I thought maybe hair school
was going to be a backup plan. I truly didn't

(22:56):
cut in color. Yeah, cutting color hair, I wish.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
It's hard to save me so much, tell me about it.
I'm here is no joke.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yeah. And I also, I like know how important hair
is to people, so I enjoyed it. But I also
didn't want to give myself the chance to be like, oh, well,
you have this other option. I did finish hair school,
and I got my license and all that stuff, so
it was there. It literally drove it in even more
how bad I wanted to do music, So it was nice.

(23:25):
It was a nice thought for a while. What was
hair school Like? Hair school? Were you like, I'm not
supposed to be here. The entire time, all I could
think about was, dang it, I could be doing music
right now. But I made a lot of great friends
through hair school, and and some of them are still
talk to to this very day. And yeah. But still
it was like just one of those things that solidified,

(23:47):
like this, ain't it. Yeah, well that's good. You tried,
you tested it, you know, do something else. Yeah, I
love like trying out different stuff. So I didn't really
see it as a negative. No, But it's not bad
to know how to do hair. Yeah, I definitely didn't
want to risk messing up somebody's hair. That was not

(24:08):
in the cards for me. So how did you get
to Nashville.

Speaker 1 (24:13):
So you were in South Carolina, you had the big
moment with your parents, You're like, I'm doing this. Then
Marcus Keem comes in. So he's like a first big
player in your story.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
I would say so, yeah, because we toured like right
in the first year. I believe that I moved to Nashville.
It was like first or second year. And so again
I didn't even meet him till after I moved here.
But so I did hair school and then I that's
let's see, I hair school windles. I could have my

(24:43):
timeline all wrong. And then I did the voice. You
did the voice I did. I auditioned three different times
stop and on try number three, right after I graduated
from hair school. I got an email saying like, oh
your video submission, like, you got a call back? And
this was my third callback that i'd gotten, so I'd
gotten one each time, but never any further than that.

(25:05):
So then who were the judges in? It was? Uh, Adam, Levine,
Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Hudson, and Blake Shelton. Okay, so did
you go on the voice? I did that third time.
I finally made it. What happened? How was that? It
was wild? It was definitely new for me because I
think I've already done the Marcus tour. Uh no, this

(25:26):
was right out of the hat before. So you've done Wendells. Yes,
I had done Wendells Hair School, Wendles Voice, then Marcus
the timeline. Okay, okay for me, I'm here for it.
But all that happened? Did the voice? What was that? Like?
It was? So I ended up getting three chair turns? No,
who turned? Blake, Adam and Miley? So many details. I'm like,

(25:49):
what happened back?

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Oh my gosh, how do you even make that choice?

Speaker 2 (25:53):
Well? It's so funny and I will never lift this down.
I will never lift this down.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
Let me if I was you with your voice in
talent I would take to get you would be stuck
between Miley and Blake.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
Okay, ding ding is that right? Because Miley is kind
of back and forth. Could you country? She's got that rasp,
she could totally see your voice, and he's like.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
Closer to my aide, uh huh, you know, and you
can be more than just country for sure.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
But then Blake is Blake.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
I mean, Adam's great, but I don't like I feel
like Adam with those two two would probably be the least.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Adam was like, please don't pick Blake. That's all I'm
asking you, Please don't pick Blake. And it was so
funny because you know, the beef they have on the
voice and all that, the bromance. Yeah, and I love it,
but it was that was such a tense moment for
all three turn and you have had you thought ahead
of time who you would want. I thought I did
this whole time. I was like, I'm picking Blake, picking Blake,

(26:46):
picking Blake, and that literally they saved me for the
very last blond audition of the show. I guess because
I was like the biggest blot twist. Why were you
the biggest plot twist, well, because they have me on
camp this whole time, being like I'm picking Blake if
I get a chair turn and then chair turns, and
after fifteen minutes of them going back and forth and

(27:07):
me being like fifteen minutes telling them why, telling you
why that they you should go with them? Yeah, well
that's insane. That feels good to be that courted. It was.
It was exciting, but also like, dang, what did I
just get myself into? So what was Miley saying? Because
I'm guessing you on with Miley, she really like tapped
into the personal side of things, and I think that

(27:27):
was it was. It was such a weird moment because again,
I knew this whole time that I was gonna pick Blake,
and Miley gave me her like I had called a spiel,
but like, you know, her pitch, her pitch, and in
that moment, I'm very big on trust in my gut.
I think that's something I was also raced to do,
is like, no matter what, trust your gut because majority

(27:49):
of the time, your gut will not lead you wrong.
And even if if it's not the situation that you
thought it's, it's for a better reason. And that's on
God baby. But I closed my eyes and I was like,
whatever name I blurred out first, that's the that's the one.
I didn't know the moment. I didn't know. You didn't
even know who was going to come out. I had

(28:10):
stop it. I didn't, But it was just one of
those things I said. I knew I didn't want to
be just the blonde haired country girl like that. I
that is no shade because we have to country girls
and I am one. I am yeah yeah girl, yeah,
But I think for me and the show, I just
wanted to be known for like a little bit more

(28:31):
than that, all the depth that you have. And I
wasn't like a dress and boots girl, even though that's
what I wore the whole time, but it's fine. And
I just wanted a fair shot at being able to
show my full range of like influences and even though
I am southern and country like, I wanted to have
a shot to be like this is everything that I
can do. So close my eyes, stop it. And then

(28:54):
I probably waited about three seconds and it felt like
one hundred hours.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Oh yeah, I was just like Miley, No, you did
not did you shock yourself?

Speaker 2 (29:04):
I did I did. I think I shocked everybody, my parents,
like what happened next? It was a great journey. Did
you love being on Miley Stay? It was so good?
I the top ten? I want to say, we all, Yeah,
it was very much worth the trust in your guts.
What was that experience? Like, do you feel like it
prepared you? Well? How did it prepare you in ways

(29:25):
that it was a crash course? Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
You can't get that kind of education anywhere else. No,
it's and you're doing it on live TV.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, and you only see like we would only watch
the Voice or like American Idol and see the blind
auditions or first auditions, And I really didn't hadn't watched
past that, to be completely honest. I just love the
blind auditions. M h and uh yeah, it just it
was definitely a crash course on how the business goes,
how production goes, how like it was just a lot,

(29:55):
but in the best way, because I feel like I
would have never been ready for nash if I hadn't
have done that, Like it would have eaten me alive.
I think if I would have moved to Nashville without that.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
Knowledge and then also just having to get up on
live TV and seeing in front of the whole world
every time.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
And see being on stage isn't where I'm where I
struggle like that, that is where I feel the most myself.
So you weren't even though you're on live TV. Oh,
I was scared. I mean because that's I'm scared, But
I was more nervous just to have the judges sitting
there watching me. That was really where the nerves came in.

(30:32):
It's like, because you have a studio audience, which is
what I thrive off of. Is like just having an audience,
but it's a different scene and really just having them
in their chairs they're watching you, That's where I think
the nerves were. Yeah, to try to impress these people
that you've grown up knowing your entire life, you know,
through music. But I made some of the best friends
I still have to this day through that show that

(30:54):
some of them live here and I can still stay
in touch with. And it was again just like a
learning process for me. And I was twenty twenty one
at the time, still didn't even know if I wanted
to move to Nashville, but I was like, I have
to make a step because there's not a ton of
I don't want to say resources, but there wasn't a
huge music scene in upstate South Carolina, so I just

(31:18):
knew I had to do something. I was like, if
I want to make this a career, I have to
take the next step, whatever that is. And and through
that and building that confidence and knowing that that was
like attainable, that whole thing, it finally gave me the
push to move to Nashville, which is where I'm at
Marcus and so many other amazing people. What was Miley like?
Miley was cool, like exactly what you would think. She's

(31:39):
just so cool.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
She feels like she'd be chill, super chill, even though
she's like a megastar. I feel like she's lived so
much life that she's not like she's like still relatable.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
She just likes to be normal, is yeah, what I
what I feel like. I don't know her super personally,
but I did get to text her, you know, during
that time, so chit chat just Texas. It's like, what
the heck? Like this is not normal? But she was
super cool, like and we had an all female team,
which was like a first I think for the show,

(32:11):
and it was girl power and she was just really
good about listening to what we like, what our goals are,
but then also figured out how to push push the
envelope just a little bit. And for me that was
like pushing my range.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
Okay, yeah, how did she push you vocally? Cause like
you came in more country, but obviously you have a
lot of depth to explore. Where did she want you
to go musically or where did y'all collaborate to go musically.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
I think we clicked really well because we both loved
I come from country, but also like eighties rock Christian music,
like my parents had a very eclectic taste, and then
country was just always what spoke to me and how
I spoke, So it was always a mixture, and I
felt like she had the same influences, like as the

(33:00):
same type of approach with music. It's not just one category.
It's totally agmensed by everything. But yeah, I mean they're
like I think back to when I think about cheating.
It's one of the songs I did on there. It's
by Gretcham Wilson and Gretcham Wilson a Kin saying you know,
she's got that high range, and so there was like

(33:20):
the one high part that I was just dreading having
to sing on stage. He was just out of my range.
And she worked with me to like find the middle ground.
It's like, even if you don't hit that note, we're
gonna find something that's still like shows off your voice
and push it pushes you just a little bit.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
So when you when you hit a high note though
your rass comes out though, but you're you're you can
feel like it's like a waterfall of like depth of sound.
You can it's so textured, like you have such a
texture in your voice.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Thank you so much. It's gorgeous. And she really helped
with that, I think, and she helped entertain like different
styles of songs and I did I Hate Myself for
Loving You by Jon Jet like that was another song
that was in the mixture, the Chicken Fried by Zach Brownband.
So she really helped I believe highlight and helped me

(34:13):
pick the songs that highlighted my overall musical influence range.
I love that. So it was a great experience for you,
I would say so. And it was fun to like
get to play dress up and there was an outfit
like she designed for me in the Chicken Fried performance.
You can go and see on YouTube it's like red,
white and blue fringe cool on like a all denim outfit.

(34:34):
It was so fun to know that, like she had
a hand and had design that. So it's just little
things like that that you look back on and you're like,
I would have never had the chance to do that
anywhere else. So just the experience as a whole, it
was a lot all at one time. But it was
the best crash course into music. How did you mentally
stay sane? My friends that I made their really Yeah,

(34:56):
because they keep you like kind of secluded from the
outside world. I don't know how much I can actually
say about this. I'm assuming my NDA is expired by now.
It's been almost ten years. That's weird. Yeah, but but yeah,
like they keep you pretty secluded throughout the entire time,
like you're in a hotel. That was my first time

(35:16):
ever living by myself, being without my parents. Oh my gosh,
but it was like freedom, Oh my goodness.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
It was so good, the most fun way to be
without your parents on an awesome reality show, singing yeah,
incredible celebrities that you love.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
It's like the first real step into adulthood, but a
step it was. It was the time to figure out,
like how serious do you take this? Like how do
you not let it like slip by? Like how do
you get to take full advantage of this opportunity? I
guess is what I'm trying to s Yeah, so yeah,
it was one of the best times in my life.

(36:00):
There was one night we snuck out in la Oh.
It was great. I say that finally say. We were
not allowed to go anywhere, would you do? It was
like a night that a lot of our friends had
gotten eliminated from the show. And they usually have like
people that are walking around making sure you're like knocking,
checking to see if you're in your room, like they

(36:20):
don't walk in, but they you rebel child, And I'd
never done it before. So it was so fun. And
we all snuck down at this little bar down the
street and had the best time. And then how they
not catch you? I don't know. We got lucky. We
got lucky. So it was just great. I finally felt
like I got to that isn't fred into adulthood and

(36:43):
figure out what I wanted out of life.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
But what a fun time to be in your early
twenties on a hit show of singing with some of
the best singers in the world. It sounds like you
clicked with some great people. Yes, for sure, you're finding yourself.
You're finding your voice literally, you're finding your free them.
You're navigating adulthood. Yeah, you're in La probably at like
a prime time, Like I feel like that's when LA

(37:06):
was shining. It was and God, I know, God bless
La right now with fires. It is tragic.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
It is so sad, but LA has some of the
most beautiful like memories attached to it for me and
still some friends that I have that live there. So yeah,
I'm hoping. I'm really hoping all everybody in LA is
good right now. But it is so sad. LA talk
about it knowing how it is right now, I know
it is.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
I feel like the same way like when I was
in my twenties, I just had some of my best
memories in LA, and so many dreamers and so many
people feel that way. LA is just one of the
most special places and it made it happen for us.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
Yeah, it gave us that like push we needed to
be like we're in La, baby, Like it was like
it was like you have a arrived yes, yeah, and
it was fun.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Sending all the love and healing to La for sure,
oh man, but gosh, Okay, So then you are moving
on and you're like, okay, time for Nashville, Time for Nashville.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
You made it to top ten, made it to top ten,
and then So basically it's kind of like having a
job while you're there, Like you get paid to be
there since you're they're asking you to be there for
months at a time. So I mean collectively, I want
to say I was there from like February until September.

(38:23):
I want to say what So February was kind of
the start of like blind auditions off camera, so like
that's even before anybody sees anything. It's a long reality shows,
but I mean it's in and out. You go for
a couple of weeks, come back home, go back for
two weeks, come back home for three weeks, go back
for four weeks. It was a lot and my first
time ever on a plane also, so a lot of
first well I lied about that I've been on a

(38:44):
plane before, but by myself. Okay, okay, okay, okay. So
it did all that made top ten and then I
actually like took a year off in between the voice
and moving to Nashville, because I was just like, I've
heard so many scary stories about Nashville and the music
industry and like the business and how that can just

(39:06):
kind of change your mindset on things and knowing those
things and being aware of those things. It was just
kind of up in the air for me at that point.
But I knew after that show. I was like, it's
either go back to Piedmont, South Carolina. Which I love Piedmont.
It is home for me, and I love going back
every time I do. But I just knew that, like

(39:26):
my soul could not rest without at least seeing what
I could make of music. And I just loved it.
I was like, it drives me every day. It's the
reason I'm convinced that I'm still like pushing on, you know.
So I owed it to myself. I felt like to
at least move to Nashville and see what it could

(39:48):
be like it went back home for a year. I
went back home for about a year.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
And when you're there, you're like, Okay, this is great.
I recharged, I feel like. So I did the Amazing
Race a couple of times, and it was a wild journey.
Tell me about that, well, I won't go into all
the details here, but I mean it was, but it
took me months to come off like re just yes,
like and I don't know if you feel again it
was only a month long process, but like it was

(40:13):
so intense, like and like being in such an alternate universe. Yeah,
that it took me like to come down off of
that was it took me like a very long time
to Readjust did.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
You feel that way? I think so.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
Do you feel like that's maybe why you needed to
go home to kind of recalibrate integrate what just happened
into your system?

Speaker 2 (40:30):
I would say so because it was weird because like
now I was already gigging back home before I did
the voice, and then you do it. Then you come
back and it's like, oh, people are going to come
to shows now? So would people come? Oh yeah? And
it was so funny, you know, the whole like Famous
in a Small Town by Miranda Lambert. It was like

(40:52):
that moment for me. But it again, it wasn't really downtime.
It was like coming back full force, put a band together,
started playing shows and gig him wherever my drummer could
get us booked. Shout out, Jason go Jason, you're the
bomb all back in South Caro. Well, my bass players
actually still are My bass player ever, first bass player

(41:14):
ever words is still in Nashville now, but they're back
in South Carolina. But he, my drummer, worked his butt
off getting us booked everywhere. And then after that, I
was like, all right, we played all the venues. I
think that we can exhaust here and I think the
voice helped me in a way that I probably need
to take advantage of. So I was just like, screw it,

(41:36):
moving to Nashville. We're doing this and it's turned out
to be the best decision. So how'd you get here?
And then how did you get hooked up with this crew?

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Because I mean you run with the crew like we've
been talking about, like is Landy Wilson crazy.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
Yeah, though, so I met all of them when I
first I would say, when I first moved to town.
It feels like it's been so long. Now I've only
been here about six years, but it feels like ages lifetimes,
I know. And so when I first moved here, I
met far and Rachel's. She was the first one out
of the bunch. I was at Red Door, the infamous
Oh Red doors where everything happens. And it was my

(42:12):
first experience, and I'd known about all these girls, these
badass girls. Is there like a group of young singers
that were coming up, and it was it was Laney,
Casey far and Rachel's Megan Patrick, like all those gals
like Casey, Casey, Tyndall. Okay, so she and she's one
of Lanie's best friends. And so there's like a crew

(42:32):
that get in the bus like these are the girls
like the It seemed that way, and I had like
seen some of their stuff on social media, and you know,
you have that thought like we would be we could
be friends, like I want to be friends with y'all.
And it's just so funny because like we never interacted,
but once I moved to town, I just organically happened
to meet all of them. And I think we were tested. Yeah,

(42:54):
I think we all come from very similar backgrounds, just
in the sense of like small Town were driven by music.
It was never like a light switch moment being like
I want to do music. It's just you've always molment.
So yeah, it was just like this natural link that

(43:15):
I think we all found. And it's been such a
great support system and it's been awesome to watch their
success through all ladies crushing it right now, Like it's
so well deserved and I think it's such a win
to see every single one of them like hit these milestones,
you know, and they support me so much, so thankful

(43:36):
for that. That's awesome, right, And we haven't gotten right
together a ton recently, but I got right with like
Megan and Farren recently. I wrote an amazing song and yeah,
it's just like even when life gets busy, you know
that you still have friends to come back to that
they get that it's busy. They're like you'd say less,
say no more, like let's just have some wine and chill.

(43:59):
So it's it's nice. It's nice to have support group
in this town. I think everybody needs to have a
group of friends that you can be yourself with vent
to just have like I don't know, just supports system.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
There And it's awesome because you are all artists and
it's so great to see like, yes, y'all are all
chasing the stream, but y'all really are building each other
up at the same time.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
That is the goal. That is the goal. I mean,
the fellas do it all the time. M Hm. They
like Megan. I like her and I are going to
go on a couple of dates for touring this year. Yeah,
And I just feel like a lot of and I
think Ella kind of really helped with that with her
touring and taking female artists. But I just want to
see more of that, you know, girls and girls. Yeah,

(44:44):
but the guys are doing the Buddy system, so why
should we amen? And I just think there's so much
good music out there, so much that is not being
discovered yet, and I'm excited to hopefully get people excited
about that. Okay, So Traveling Kind, that's you put that
album out? I did man first album ever? Okay, how

(45:04):
did that feel?

Speaker 1 (45:05):
It?

Speaker 2 (45:05):
Also is wait is morning Person on Traveling Kind? Morning
Person is my latest kind of transition into a new face. Okay,
so let's talk about both.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
Because you wrote that O training Anderson, who was from Waco, Texas,
where I'm from.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
I've known her before whole life. Okay, Well that's cold.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
Yeah, she's and she's having her moment too, Like when
she moved to town, she was like, I think I
want to do this songwriting thing, and she always knew
it was like what God put on her heart.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
And she just freaking followed it. She hustled her ass
off and she's.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
So great, and I feel like it's just like the
same kind of vibe is like you and all your
this crew. It's like, man, these women are awesome, and
it was like put on your soul to do this
and to see everyone coming together and making music and
living their dreams, killing it and killing it training.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
Like you said, she is such a phenomenal like musician, writer, everything,
And I actually have written a couple of songs with
her for this next project, morning Person being one a
morning Person. Love that song. And then we also wrote
a song recently it was training myself and Marla Goodman,
Marla Cannon Goodman, I believe is what she goes by.

(46:10):
It's called Wasn't the Chevy, And it's just Tranny has
such a way and Marla of tapping into emotions and
saying the right things at the right times, and so
writing with her is always such a treat. And I'm
so again just like happy to see every single one
of their successes finally coming to light like it's so

(46:31):
well deserved. It's so cool. Okay, So tell me about
traveling Kin first, Yes, traveling kin was my first stamp,
I like to say on country music. It was the
first record I ever put out scot I believe eleven
songs on there, and it was It kind of came
about without even really trying. I feel like I really

(46:53):
like shooting to release a record necessarily. It just wanted
to be released. It wanted to be made, and I
knew I had to find some way to like brand myself,
and I'm like, well, this is me. I am the
traveling kind. She is me. All you do is travel,
You're never on and I love it. I mean, I
definitely miss my dog all the time and sleeping in

(47:16):
my bed sometimes, but it's just one of those things.
Without it, you wouldn't get to meet the people you
do and make the connections that you do with these songs,
which is exactly what I wanted to do. So it
only felt right that Traveling cond was the name of
the album, and I think all the other songs just
kind of fell in line after that, because it's it's

(47:37):
so weird. After the day that I rot Root, the
day that I wrote Traveling Con, I was like, this
is the album title. This makes sense for me. So
it all just came together after that, and it was
that's how you know it's right. It was. I wouldn't
change single thing about it. It was like perfect.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
It's like how you when you get your outfit on,
when you finally put the last thing, you're like complete.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
That's like the perfect example. Yeah, perfect ex.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
Like it is complete. Yes, this is how it's. This
is how this project is supposed to be.

Speaker 2 (48:04):
This is how I want to be summarized, you know,
like I'm okay with this. I love it. And so
that was my first real attempt at putting out a project.
I guess like I'd released singles before, Traveling Kind, but
I was still just finding my sound. And I guess
when I say finding my sound like just trying to
find the right way to communicate that sound, you know.

(48:27):
And I was very new and still meeting people and
trying to figure out how this worked. But again, it
ended up lining up exactly how I would have ever
hoped for it to line up. And I've had so
much great response from that first record. You know, it
didn't get any radio play, which is completely fine, but
I think it was just like so special to know

(48:50):
that so many people, aside from hearing it on radio,
like it was just they found that music and they
connected and that was the thing I needed to be like, Okay,
we can do this. Okay, this is I'm doing stuff.
So we just got to keep it going. But yeah,
and so now it's been just a matter of figuring
out how to bridge the chapters, like bridge that chapter,

(49:14):
which I have not changed one bit since Traveling Kind.
I am still Traveling Kind, but I'm just thinking about,
you know, what's the stuff I want to say next?
So that's kind of where we're at right now.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
Come on, okay.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
Girl, are you in love? Is that what Morning Persons
came from? Or were we in love? Wish? Is this
to a future lover, to a future future man out there?
So we're ready for love? You're ready for love? I
think question mark this morning and Kind was like you
never were the kind of like just like on the go,

(49:52):
it's fine, not settling down, And I'm still fine that way,
but I think it's like after you kind of settle
into what you're doing with music, and you're like, oh,
maybe I don't want to entertain this stuff again. So
would you want to date?

Speaker 1 (50:05):
Does someone need to be a creative or would you
like date like a lawyer.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
I'm in like, I'm very impartial. Okay, I've dated a
lot of different like person guys with personalities like they
just need to have it, just needs to be the right,
gotta be funny, that's like my one. I feel like
that's every girl's like top to your need. But life
is too hard not to have some humor, right exactly. Yeah,
I'm like, we gotta have some comic comedic relief. Yeah,

(50:31):
and like throughout the day. So yeah, I'm I'm dating
question Mark. How does one date out there when you're
all question what is it?

Speaker 1 (50:43):
Like?

Speaker 2 (50:43):
I mean, I am so out of the dating scene.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
I I checked out of the dating scene right when
apps are coming around, you know, So that's how long
I haven't off the scene.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
I tried hinge for a little while. What is that like?
It sucks? It does? I'm such like an in person
experienced type of girl, like I have to feel you,
like I have to feel your vibing person. Yeah yeah, yeah,
anybody can be anybody online? Oh yeah for my opinion.
So yeah, like I know, I tried it out for

(51:12):
like the first couple of years that I was here,
and then I've just found joy and like meeting people
in real life, and that's how you really truly know
if it clicks or not. I think so, I've like
dated here and there, but I haven't found the lucky
fella yet, right, That's why I put the song out.
I'm like, you're putting it out there. This is what
I'm looking for. So if anybody feels like the thing

(51:37):
dated a lot of cowboys, I feel like you.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
Could do well with a cow because you just went
on tour like Cody Johnson and Wade Bowen, which also
I grew up with Wade Bowen or his sister's the
best friend from Waco, Texas.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
No way, yes, I'm telling you the friends. Yeah, but
you love a good cowboy. I think cowboys are a weakness.
Met a cowboy. Cowboys are a weakness. But like I said,
I'm I've never really had like a visual type. I've
always just really been attracted to cool personalities and somebody

(52:09):
who has a passion for something. Yeah anything. Yeah, I'm like,
I don't care what it is. Well, I do care
what it is to an extent, I guess, m hm,
but it's got to be you know, g rated passions.
But yeah, yeah, you know what like.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
Apparently if someone could teach me how to make money
on feet Finder, I would sign up.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
For Apparently that's where the cash is. Can you find
out and let's put our feet up. I will do
some scouting for us. I'm like, I mean, that's the key.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
I think if that's if that's what it takes, I'll
do that kind of.

Speaker 2 (52:39):
Yeah, But I've just been like going with the flow.
I don't know, like I'm not I would say actively
trying to date, but I always love and stuff just
kind of falls in, falls into place, or organically happens.
So my main priority has always been music. I love music,
and I know it's a hard thing to kind of

(52:59):
uh do and date at the same time because it's
a lot of long distance and not seeing each other.
So I know it will happen at the right time,
and I'll be so thankful when I finally when I
wait for the person that I know is out there
for me. So I'm really excited. I really hope that
the good vibes and the song start dropping some hints

(53:21):
for me. It is the vibrations out, yes, so we'll see,
we'll see. Are you a pretty faithful person?

Speaker 1 (53:38):
Yes, you'd have a lot of faith that altely God
and that it's all gonna line.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
I can't not Like there's just been too many things
in life for me too, Like too many instances where
I'm like, thank you God, I see you, like I
see you in this What any in particular that you
can come to mind?

Speaker 1 (53:54):
Because I feel the same way I when I look
back on my life, I'm like, it all is God
every day.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
Like it's not even really specific instances I can point out,
but I just think it's Again, it goes back to that,
like when I think of trusting your good I truly
think that's trusting God for me. That is my guiding lights.
And I feel like every time that I have, you know, trusted,
I try to trust all the time. It's hard. You

(54:21):
got to have a lot of patience and you question
it a lot of times obviously, Like sometimes there's like
waiting periods.

Speaker 1 (54:28):
Yeah, especially when you're creative like yourself, Like sometimes there's
like long waiting periods You're like, God.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
What, yeah, I supposed to be doing. I've never I'll
put it this way, I've never had something removed from
my life that I wasn't grateful for in the long run,
or you know, vice versa. So I just feel like
there's a sense of faith there. I grew up in faith,
but it's just it's one of those things as an adult.
It's just been shown to me, like I just see

(54:54):
it in everyday instances and short term and long term
to not have faith that God's got my life.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
So do you think it it kind of takes their
pressure off though, because it does.

Speaker 2 (55:07):
How does God feel to you?

Speaker 1 (55:08):
Because I finally have realized I can feel it in
my I feel it in my stomach.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
God is love. God is love.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
But when I'm on track, it's like I feel very calm,
I feel aligned, I feel it's a piece he almost
When I'm not, I can feel out of balance, like
feel like I'm not do I can feel like I'm
not on the right right course.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
Yeah, it's almost like just fighting your natural instinct sense
or like a sense of being on edge or uneasiness.
And that's just I mean that can come with anything
and anxiety in general, which I do struggle a lot
with and we all have our bouts of or moments.
But I don't know, it's just like a faith that

(55:50):
is steady and true all the time and again like
I said, there's never been anything that I feel like
didn't work for my favorite in the law run in
God's eyes, you know, like for my life specifically, I
feel like everything that has happened in my life has
led me exactly where I need to be good or bad,
Like not even not making top four on the Voice,

(56:13):
Like I could have easily seen that as like a
I suck moment or like, you know, I'm not meant
to do this, but I just I see so many
paths and opportunities waiting to be taken if you just
like listen and pray about it, if you're you know,
if you're a person of faith. So, how do you
feel God speaking to you? Like, how do you know
when God's telling you which way to go? I think

(56:34):
it's like you said, like that sense of peace, and
it's not always it's not I mean, it's not always
like a voice saying this or that or voice. I
mean I think when I hear the voice, it's it's
my own it's through God, like God speaking through your thoughts. Yeah,
I would say so. I think it's more of just

(56:55):
like you you just kind of feel which way you're
being pulled, which direction you're being pulled in. So yeah,
there's never like a surefire answer. I feel like for
how you feel God, because I feel like everybody feels
God it a different way, you know, But for me
that is it's the sense of peace I get in
the middle of all the angst and anxiety and what

(57:16):
gives you anxiety, struggle, oh, everything in life cirl life
in general. I think I'm just an anxious person. I
feel things really heavily and really deeply, and I want
to see people happy. I want to I want to
be happy. So yeah, I don't know. I think just
feeling things super deep like it. It creates some emotional challenges,

(57:41):
but yeah, I don't know. I wouldn't have it any
other way because I think that's what makes musicians and
creatives like great at what they do is feeling things
to the core.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
What when you think about your music, like what is
music to you? Like when you're writing and singing, Like
what is happening in you?

Speaker 2 (58:00):
Like? What are you? What is coming through you when
you're putting it out there?

Speaker 1 (58:05):
How do you feel about it if you're going to
describe it in three words or not even three words,
if you're just going to describe the experience for you,
and like, what's happening when you're making music and singing?

Speaker 2 (58:15):
What are you? What's happening what's the experience? Well, with
making music, I think with writing, I'm still so new
to it. I consider myself new to it, like I've
been doing it for six years officially, I guess, But
I think it's just like I hate to keep relating
back to the closed thing. But it's like everybody has

(58:35):
their own way of writing, and you know how you
would or wouldn't say things in real life, and so
when you go in a room to write, it's like
you know the feelings you want to convey, you know,
like semi the message you want to convey, And I
think when you're writing, it's just kind of like saying
stuff until it feels right, until it fits the moment.

(58:56):
So I wish it was like this next level experience
for me, but it's literally like doing homework when I'm writing.
But when I'm singing, like I it just feels so
I feel more like a normal person and a human
being being on stage and singing than I do in

(59:16):
like everyday life. There's just such a natural comfortability that
comes for me. When being on stage that doesn't happen
for me.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
That's wild, because that's a big it's scary to be
on stage, it is.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
But it's like the one place where I guess I've
always felt like fully accepted, maybe is what it is.
And so in everyday life, you're just kind of floating around,
like meeting new people and new experiences and new things,
and there's such an uncertainty. So it's just it's so
funny to me that the most I feel myself is
when I'm in front of a bunch of people. That's amazing,

(59:54):
But I think it's just for the sake of knowing
that I'm there to connect with people and hopefully find
a moment between me and somebody else that will allow
us to continue to be each other's support. And like,
I don't know what to call it, like therapy. I
guess I love that. That's about all. We're all in

(01:00:16):
this together. Yeah, we all got stuff we're struggling with
every day. And my goal was like if I can
at least make you forget about it for the time being,
make you dance, or make you sit in the feeling
for a second, make you really feel it, to know
that it's okay to feel that, Like, no matter what
the feeling is, I just want to as long as
it connects, that's all I care about.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Okay, and you have a new song right am now
I'll do and then also lie a little yes.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
Okay, coming out soon. Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
These are freaking awesome. So this is all part of
the new project. Tell us about the new project, coming
new project.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
I'm so pumped about this. We have been over the
past like almost a year, I don't even know a
year now, maybe been working on some new songs. And
again it's been about like bridging that those chapters of
traveling kind in this next chapter. And so rite Damn
Now that was my latest single. And that's one of

(01:01:11):
those songs where I'm like, I want to make people dance.
I love line dancing. I worked out I Love that
Die bar for two years and I would line dance
in between our sets. So it's so fun. It's great
exercise too. Ashally, you just enjoy your life. Try I
try that. I love that about you. Dancing is so fun.
And so I'm like, I always knew I wanted to

(01:01:32):
write music that people could line dance to. So Rite
Damn Now is definitely one of those. I always say
it's it's I have a song about like smoking. That's
I Smoke weed. Yep, that went viral. That's my my
signature song as of right now. But people tell people
that they do. It's crazy to me. I was mind
blown by that. But I was like, okay, now I

(01:01:52):
got to get the drinker, the drinkers of their version
of l oh, yeah, we're your parents excited about it?
Do they care? I will say no. They probably were
not excited about what I went viral for, but but
they have been. They have become very understanding about my
stance on the Mary Jane. Which your stance on the

(01:02:14):
Mary Jane. It's nature's medicine. Yeah, so it helps me
a lot. But it's also just like a nice way
to unwind. And that was the whole point of the song.
I was like, I'm not trying to convince anybody to
do anything here. This is what I do. Mm hmm.
If you don't like it, okay, if you like it,
join me. But I wanted to make sure when I

(01:02:34):
put that silly song out it was made clear. I
was like, I am not twisting anybody's arm here, but
this is what I do to get by in life.
But yeah, so and it was just a fun song.
I never imagine releasing it, and but people connected, and
I'm happy because I think it was such a great
personality song. I think I'd always been so focused on

(01:02:54):
trying to write serious stuff and making sure people knew
I was serious and not just like trying to get
a moment, you know, on social media. So I always
said I wasn't gonna release that song, and then I
finally did, and I think it showed people the other
side of my personality that's like not so serious and
it's a little more laid back than maybe what you

(01:03:14):
would think when you hear some of my songs. So
I'm glad that happened, and I think it opened the
door for like this Hooker song. Hooker is so fun.
I think it allowed room for those songs and then
Rot damn. Now it's so not a serious song and
it's about having fun on a Friday, Saturday night, whatever
night it is. But yeah, that's just been my goal

(01:03:38):
is to make people feel good. I think for this
next record, a lot of these songs are feel good.
And the next single was Lie Little and which I love,
Sassy yes, and it cracks me up. That's actually a
song I didn't write on but I loved it so much.
In the day and age of like ghosting, you know,

(01:03:59):
and relations people can't even tell you like sorry, I'm
just too busy right now, it's just like this disappear.
And so I've heard this song and I was like,
you know what, that's actually a really funny way of
being like, dang, give me something like you're gonna dip
out on me, just like give me lie to me,

(01:04:19):
you know, a little, give me make up something that
made me feel better about myself. I just it's another
one of those songs I thought was super funny and
lighthearted but also sassy and very like Shania Twain esque,
like that don't impress me much or I don't know.
It just had a really fun energy to it. So
there are some serious songs on this next record, but

(01:04:41):
I think my main priority was like feeling good, making
people dance. We need that. The world needs that. It does.
We're in a day and age of like high attension.

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
There's so much seriousness everywhere, like to have some released
through music.

Speaker 2 (01:04:57):
Life's too short. So I feel you. I'm hoping there's
a great balance on this next record of serious versus playful,
and I think so I've really enjoyed making these songs.
I've gotten to produce these with like two of my
greatest friends in the whole world. Who are those? Lee Starr,
who's actually I wrote I Smoke Weed with him, nice
and another fella. And then Jess Grammet, who's the other

(01:05:20):
producer another song on the record. I first met him
through writing that song. Well, I spoke Weed has really
been a catapult here, Yeah it is. It's crazily enough,
been a connecting point. I mean, maybe ever get out
of tour with Willi Nelson soon, you know what, love
nothing more. I was listening to Willy Nelson and Lucas
Nelson before you came. They're so They're so good. I

(01:05:41):
love Lucas too. Is like a fresh take on Nelson.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
He's his own thing. You can feel Willy through and through,
but it is like he is his own things.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
Lucas uh huhah. You can most definitely feel that. But
Willie is such an inspiration to have somebody that up
close and personal to him mm hmm. Carry into torch
is nice, that is. But yeah, so I'm just focused
on the good vibes, good energy, and then just touring.
I think I haven't got to do a headlining tour yet,

(01:06:12):
so that is my goal for this year, is to
finally do my first headlining tour. Okay, we're overdue for that.
Heck yeah, I'm gonna be playing some stuff from Traveling
Kind and then obviously all the new stuff from the record.
So with the rerunner to come see when's the record
coming out? Record is coming out May sixteenth, I okay
about when we're projecting to release Okay soon Bangers Crossed.

(01:06:35):
It was all very like hit the ground running with
this record, and I've been so grateful to my label
because it's not have it's not had to be a
guessing game. I think there's been such awesome talks about
music and what we all want to see out of
this project and what our goals are out of this project.
And they're so creative and so good at what they
do and good like so great at amplifying things. And

(01:06:58):
I've just never felt so supported in my career up
until this point. So I'm just all around grateful and
excited to see where this new chapter takes us. I'm pumped,
I'm pumped for you.

Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
You're so cool and awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
They are in your journeys, but your journey is so
divinely inspired from the start, and I just feel like
when you have that conviction in you to chase a
dream like this and the way you've done it, it's
going to keep unfolding in such a beautiful way because
this is your destiny.

Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
One hundred percent. There's no like end goal necessarily nine
it's just to be happy doing what I'm doing. Hopefully
inspire other people to do something that they baby didn't
think was possible. Like nothing is out of reach these
days in my opinion, So it's I just would love
to see people find what makes them tick, what makes
them be happy, and hopefully my music is part of that.

(01:07:52):
But yeah, that's just that's the life I want. You're
such a great restage, such a good heart.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
Hey, I love to cry thank you well.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
I always wrap up with leave your light.

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
Girl. You are You're doing good work though, but it's hard,
but you're doing You're doing good work, and you're doing
hard work, and you're following your soul's path and you're
sharing it with the world and it's awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
That's a lot. It's a lot of Oh there it
is as a beautiful tears. There's a tear and all right,
all right, how are we wrapping? Okay? Good?

Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
I love a good cry session. I always leave with
leave your Light. And it's open ended and it's basically,
what kind of inspiration do you want to leave with people?
What do you want them to know?

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
Oh, you're gonna bring me cry, just let them out,
let him flow. What inspiration do I want to leave
with people? It's really probably a combination of the things
that I've said, like trust you and you're in stinks
in your gut, chase the things that make you happy,

(01:09:06):
and know that like the person that you are is
enough and it like always will be. So here we
go again.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
I've been making my daughter do affirmations at night, and
one of them is I am enough, I am whole,
I am Like.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
It's so true just to know that you are enough.
In this industry and like day and age, I feel
like with social media there's so much doubt and opinions,
but there's also like a beauty and there's a place
for everybody. So and I think people want relatability and
like they that should encourage you to not dim your life.
So that's what I've been learning this past year. Hey,

(01:09:44):
and how to cry more. Apparently it sounds good, doesn't it. Yeah,
it feels good. You don't cry very often. I not
much these days in the best way. Like it's been
so oh that's good. But happy tears they're always good. Yeah,
tears are always good, and it's always good for a
little self affirmation as well. You're doing a great job

(01:10:06):
for me. Well now I'm hugging a pillow. Oh man,
we turned this to do a therapy. Save Ashley Craft.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
You're amazing, Okay, the best so new album coming out
May sixteenth on tour and all the things.

Speaker 2 (01:10:24):
Yeah, and find you at Ashland Craft. Ashland Craft is
me on every single thing. So would love for y'all
to check out and come join the journey. Join the
It's gonna be a fun one. It is a fun one. Hey,
I love it so much. Thank you for coming. You're
the best. Thank you so much for making me crash
my pleasure. I would be the best. Bye.