BOWEN YOUNG: Getting Real About Love, Autism, and the Nashville Reunion Tour

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
A Carril Lone.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
She's a queen and talking solemn.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
She's getting really not afraid to feel this episode soul.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Just let it flow.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
No one can do.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
We quiet cary Lone. Its sounding carolne.

Speaker 4 (00:29):
Okay, we're gonna kick this off because y'all amazing. We
have bowen young hair, combination of two beautiful souls. Look
at you, guys, y'all are like meant to be. Y'all
were like just for like observing your love story. I
feel like there's a lot of people who are like
great matches, they're totally great partnerships. They're like, you know,
a great pairing. But y'all are like you can feel

(00:52):
the air twinedeness of y'all. I feel like y'all are
like all wrapped up in like gold magic dust together.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
I would. I don't know about the magic. Well, she's magic.
There's a lot of litter in our house. Claire likes
to wear glitter on stage, so there's a lot of
glitter in you know, like the bottom of a shower
in a hotel room, or like.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
You literally leave a little gold dusk glitter.

Speaker 5 (01:17):
Everywhere you go.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
She does. We were actually on the road one time.
I don't remember where we were, but we were doing
shows with Charles Aston, one of our friends from the.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
Show Nashville, which Claire, you're on Nashville. I thought you
were on Nashville too. Where did you make guest appearances?

Speaker 5 (01:33):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:33):
I made one one appearance, of course you did.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Where y'all did You'll have a Romantic Affair? I didn't
catch every episode it was.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
My appearance was very short, but Scarlett Claire's character.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
On the show saw you across the room.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
No, we had just gotten engaged. I was on the
final episode.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
So y'all got married in the show.

Speaker 5 (01:53):
Yeah, we So the producer called me one night and
he was like, I got an idea and I'm like,
oh god, what are they going to make me do now?
And he's like, no, no, no, chill. Especially when they tell
you to.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
Chill, You're like, oh, are some of the ideas going
to be nuclear? Or some of the ideas not so fun?

Speaker 5 (02:09):
That's a nice way to put it. Also lots and
lots of fun. But yeah, there are things that go
on behind the scenes that you're like. So he calls
me and he's like, so what if what if? Because
we're not sure how to end scarlet storyline for all
of the fans and make them happy because she's been
through so much and I'm thinking, like, oh, what's going
to happen to her now? She's just gonna get hit
by a tour of bus and he goes, so what

(02:32):
if she know? She's her dreams have all come true,
and she's on stage, she's playing music, she's happy, she's
with her family, and she just happens to have fallen
in love with someone in her band whose name is Brandon.
And the producer had seen us perform live together because
we've been doing that since gosh we started in first time.

(02:53):
It was twenty thirteen at the bridge Stone. Yes, when
you filled in.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
That, we're not gonna skip over that story because that's
like an insane story. You're playing the bridge Stone Arena, Claire,
and you're we're not gonna sidetrack yet your duet partner
doesn't show up, and Brandon just hops in there and
performs in front of everyone at Bridgetone with y'all never practicing,
and that's how y'all met and fell in love and
became this magical golden duo. Okay, we're gonna get back

(03:19):
to that, so that's a big moment.

Speaker 5 (03:20):
We're very lucky.

Speaker 4 (03:21):
Well, but see, y'all started off like that. Y'all started
off and it was like cosmic, it very Nashville. It's
like a huge explosion the way. This is not a gentle,
subtle meaning. This is quite the meaning.

Speaker 5 (03:33):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I mean that is not
like that is a very big start to a romance.

Speaker 5 (03:40):
It's a it was. We had no idea. I knew
when he walked into my dressing room to practice this
song with me about twenty minutes before we walked into
the Bridgestone Arena onto that stage.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
No big deal.

Speaker 5 (03:53):
Yeah right, I'm like, no pressure and he's lent the
song like a few hours before.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
It was probably like twenty four to forty eight hours before.
I had gotten a text and it just said it
was from Claire's former team, like her you know, management,
and said stop what you're doing, download this song and
call me just three lines. And I was on tour
with John Hyde at the time, getting ready to leave
that Friday night at midnight for bus call. We're going

(04:20):
to go for a three month run.

Speaker 4 (04:22):
You play guitar.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
I was a background singer percussionist, and so I stopped
what I was doing and I listened to the song,
listened to the song, made the phone call and her
former manager said hey. I said, hey, said, can you
sing that song? I was like yeah, just like can

(04:48):
you kill it? I was like yeah, it's like great.
I need you to the Bridgeln Arena in forty eight
hours to sing with my client. And I said, what
are you talking about bridget an arena? Your client? She said,
what is my client? She has to sing this duet
from the television show and we need you to sing
it with her. And I said, I'm leaving at midnight

(05:12):
that night on the tour bus with a hyatt, I said,
this is going to be I got high rehearsals this week.
It's gonna be tight. She said, tell me you can
make it work.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
And I said, did you know the manager separately is
how did she find I.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Mean, it's Nashville, so you sort of know every you know,
you sort of know everybody.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
And for her to like call you and be like,
this is your job, you need to do this.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
She come out she'd seen me play shows, she knew
my voice, and you know, it was one of those
songs that was like, it was sort of in my range.
It was a song that John Paul White had written,
and so I said, you know, all right, I'll make
it happen. So I finished higher rehearsals on that Friday,

(05:52):
I think it was a Friday, ran home, changed my clothes,
went to the Bridgetone. You know, I'm in the bowels
of the bill, and they walked me into her dressing
room and meet her for the first time.

Speaker 4 (06:03):
What was meeting like, what was the magical moment when
y'all met?

Speaker 3 (06:06):
Well, I mean it was. It was pretty high pressure,
just because you know, A, it's the bridge Stone and
I've never played there before, and B you know it's
this golden haired, gorgeous girl who's about to, you know,
go play in front of a sold out crowd, and
you know, I'm showing up wanting to be a professional.

Speaker 4 (06:27):
And high pressure, I mean high pressure.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah, it was. It was high pressure and and we
we ran through the song twice with her acoustic guitar player.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
I'm freaking, are not I'm like having sweats, I'm feeling
sweating in my armpits.

Speaker 5 (06:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
Andy Andy Childs from the vand six Wire, Yeah, Andy
Childs from the band six Wire was her was her
acoustic player, and Andy and Claire and I ran the
song twice in her dressing room, not in my stomach.

Speaker 4 (06:54):
I feel very nervous. This is soner wrecking.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
It was.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
I mean, we both of y'all though. I mean, that's
what I'm saying. You'll start off like this. So you're like,
just here, I am got the song, run it twice.
You're about to go on stage.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (07:07):
So I'm sitting there and I'm being reassured, like, this
guy is wonderful. We wanted you to write together for
a while. He could be here soon. He soon twenty
minutes before I walk on stage.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
Oh my god.

Speaker 5 (07:18):
Yeah, and I'm this is nuts. I was terrified.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
Okay, so the person was supposed to be there or
what the heck? But glad it happened. Everything always works out.

Speaker 5 (07:29):
It's fine. Yeah, it worked out.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
I mean it's okay, Thank goodness.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
I mean, we got married.

Speaker 4 (07:34):
I mean it's as good as it could be.

Speaker 5 (07:35):
And the story is really grateful. Yes, right, Sometimes when
somebody like stiffsy or something happens that you really really
didn't want to have happened, or something something negative happens
and you'll find out later on that Oh I was
being protected. Yes, I was being like blessed. Yeah, this
is a blessing. Yeah, because look at this. I mean,
just because it's a miracle doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
Sometimes most of the time it really crushes, it sucks. Yeah,
it usually takes down. So I was like, okay, so
here he comes walking in. He walked, and you're sure
he's going to be great, and you're just trusting your manager.

Speaker 5 (08:06):
Yes, And as soon as he I remember having this
image in my mind of him walking in and this
is gonna sound funny, Please.

Speaker 4 (08:15):
Make it very detailed. I need to picture this moment.

Speaker 5 (08:17):
Sometimes I see lights around people, okay, and not everyone
shows them. There's a word for it, I can't remember.
And all the colors, yeah, I guess. So there's like
this weird sort of there is a scientific word for it,
the name of which escapes me. It has like eight syllables.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (08:34):
Okay, And I swore he was a blonde because it
was gold. And he walked in and he introduced himself.
He was so cordial and polite and very much unlike
a lot of the people I had come across in
Nashville being on a television show called Nashville who were
kind of this, like what can I get from you?

(08:54):
And he was just him and I immediately thought. I
remember thinking, I want to be friend, and I want
to know your stories, and I want to know where
he grew up, and I want to like, clear, don't
be weird, don't be weird.

Speaker 4 (09:05):
They can I'll just splash through your brain. Yeah, if
you want to know everything all of a sudden, yeah.

Speaker 5 (09:08):
And I didn't. I was not really a person who
had a person who had crushes on people or anything
like that. It wasn't like that. It was just I
want to be in your circle, Please be my friend.
Just the most beautiful creature and like extraordinary. It was
really weird. I was like, all right, pull it together.
You got to go down on stage. And he came
out on stage with me and was, oh, that's right.

(09:31):
We were sitting standing at the bottom of the stairs
and sorry, if my voice is clicking, I needed they
think i'd probably need a drink of water. Sorry, it's
been it's been a morning.

Speaker 4 (09:42):
I know you've really been gone through it. Just got
back from Australia. I mean, you like the family stuff.

Speaker 5 (09:49):
Thanks baby. Yeah, my mum is in hospital at the moment,
so I just I literally just got off the phone
with her to make sure she was okay. And as like,
as we walked in the door, as your beautiful dog
Sugar greeted us in the driveway, and was not sure
because we smell like wolfhound.

Speaker 4 (10:04):
Because you have a one hundred and seventy five thousand
pound dog.

Speaker 5 (10:08):
He's two hundred and ten pounds.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
It's a big boy.

Speaker 5 (10:11):
He's a big lad. And the cat's the more dangerous one.
But you know, a sugar gliter.

Speaker 4 (10:14):
I had a sugar gliter, did you I want to
talk about it later, yeah, okay, but I don't want
to sidetrack where we are because this is great. So
here comes the Golden.

Speaker 5 (10:21):
Aura, I know, Brandon and his golden aur.

Speaker 4 (10:24):
Oh you're about to say something because you're walking on stage.
But before you walk on stage, all.

Speaker 5 (10:27):
Right, somebody said it's time to go into the big room,
and I was like, all the swear words in my head,
like don't say them out, don't say the met lad.
You're in the south standing by the side of the stage,
at the bottom of the stairs that you walk up
onto the stage.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Too.

Speaker 5 (10:41):
It's like a little just very humble looking, little set
of like scaffolding stairs, and I'm like white knuckling this
microphone because I had never performed in front of a
creit well maybe once when it was like Fanfare and
Nashville first started. But it's a sold out bridge Stone arena.
And I've come from a town of seven hundred and
fifty people. It's not even a town, it's a village,
like seven hundred and fifty people. That's my whole village.

(11:04):
So the bridge Stone was a lot and I feel
someone sort of my team had gone off to do
team things, whatever they do. They're probably trying to sell
me to somebody. And we have feelings, good feelings. And
the other feeling I had was somebody standing like just
beside me came up but just behind me, and I

(11:29):
turned around and it was Brandon and he said, Hey,
I know we just met, and I don't want to
be forward or assume anything, but I know, I know
you're a little bit scared. And I know because I've
been scared, and I know what it feels like, and
I just I just want you to know it. Like
I know, today hasn't gone exactly the way you thought

(11:51):
it was going to go, and when that happens, it
can throw you through a loop. So just you're not
alone up there, everything's going to be okay. They're going
to love you. It's going to be all right. And
it was so kind, and I was I really didn't
know too many people in Nashville at all, apart from
people who were around me sort of orchestrating the things.

(12:11):
And I was just this little, very shy. I didn't
know that I was autistic yet, I had a feeling
that I was, but just completely overwhelmed and terrified of people.
And this beautiful person was like, all right, I'll see
you up there. So I went up, called him up.
He sang and was I mean, I love that you

(12:34):
and John Paul White are friends now, because you got
like you have, you have a really similar range, you
have a really similar just sort of like just you know,
the feeling you get about a person, just like just lovely, kind, good,
beautiful hearts. And he was brilliant to the point where

(12:55):
I I got you left the stage before I did
because you were out for one song, and I ran down, Oh, Sugar, Sugar,
is there somebody else.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
In your drive? The dogs are very excited about this part. Hey,
dog squad. Okay, okay, thank you girls, Hey, thank you.
They take their job very seriously.

Speaker 5 (13:23):
She needs to come on.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
Hey, Sugar, it's okay. I'm sure there's a FedEx guy
because like Sugar is on the fed Ex pupil.

Speaker 5 (13:30):
Did you just say I had sticks in my hair? Okay? Oh,
thank you?

Speaker 4 (13:34):
Thank you for doing your job. Okay, okay, so hey Sugar, Sugar,
thank you, thank you so much. You're a great girl.

Speaker 5 (13:43):
You do your job so well.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
Anytime a package comes. She's like, but I'm not done.
They're still here. She's like, they have a lift, chi,
it's my job. Ruby just doesn't know what she's barking at.
She's just along to the right.

Speaker 5 (13:58):
You want to come than? Oh hello, Oh you love
your mama.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
So he walks off stage. Dogs the world, Oh my god, literally.

Speaker 5 (14:07):
So much better than people. I agree.

Speaker 4 (14:09):
I totally agree. Dogs enhance my personal life like one hundredfold.

Speaker 5 (14:17):
Dogs enhance my personality when I'm around them.

Speaker 4 (14:19):
I'm just at it's so true. So he walks off early. Yeause,
you're still he was just.

Speaker 5 (14:27):
He was on for one song. So I I did
the thing and legged it off the stage. I had
to one of my friends, Steve Buchanan, who works at
the Opry, had to have a conversation with me about
standing there while people clap, because I would run away
before they'd finished.

Speaker 4 (14:45):
It's just too overwhelming.

Speaker 5 (14:46):
He was like, can you just stand there for like
ten more seconds? I was like, what do I do?
He's like, put your hand on your heart, like you
literally told me what to do, because I'm like, I
used to have to I practice facial expressions in the
mirror when I was as a kid because there were
things that didn't happen naturally because because autism, so.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
You didn't know your whole childhood.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
I knew that I was different, but I really thought
because it had so much chemotherapy pumped through my system
and so many different kinds just cancer. Yeah, I want
four to about seven or eight.

Speaker 4 (15:22):
What kind of cancer?

Speaker 5 (15:23):
It was called nephroblostoma. It's a kidney cancer. I was
born with it, and so I thought that when I
came in, Sorry, this is very disjointed.

Speaker 4 (15:34):
It's okay, I'm gonna remember all the pieces entitle back together.
We have to coover all this. It's so good.

Speaker 5 (15:39):
When I was first taken to well. I was taken
to doctors. They didn't believe my mother that there was
anything wrong with me, which I we don't have any
children and we won't. I just sympathized so much with
parents who know that there's something wrong with their baby
and people are not listening. And this doctor was like
several times, several different doctors said, she's you need more sleep,

(16:02):
She's fine, she's your first baby. You're paranoid. And it
was one doctor in particular who really drove home that
mum was nuts, which she's not. She's amazing.

Speaker 4 (16:12):
She's an advocate and she trust her intuition exactly.

Speaker 5 (16:15):
So eventually Mum and dad were like, this is ridiculous.
Dad came home from a trip he used to work
with Quantus came home from Singapore and so he'd been
away for a couple of days, looked at me and
was like, you know, when you haven't seen someone in
a second, there's been such a change. It was like, okay, no,
like emergency room right now. So I was diagnosed with

(16:36):
end stage nephroblastoma in the emergency room and was told
that I had about two weeks to live.

Speaker 4 (16:42):
What yeah, after this whole time they were saying, there's
nothing wrong. Had they finally figure it out?

Speaker 5 (16:48):
They ran a test and did a scan and listened
to my parents, and they were so unprepared, like they
just couldn't believe that the doctor that she had seen
with me before I hadn't picked it up. That they
literally took them into like the equivalent of a broom
closet to tell them so that they could have some
privacy to give them this news that I was dying.

(17:10):
And Mom said she she had to walk back into
the room to make sure that there weren't She said,
every word that the doctor said felt like a bullet
going through her. And she said, I actually had to
walk back in there and checked to see if there
were bullet marks in the war, because that's how much
it felt like I was just being blown to pieces.

(17:33):
And you know, they signed away reform. The doctors were like,
there's nothing we can do, take her home, pain management,
all that kind of stuff, and Mom and dad begged,
and this wonderful doctor, Margaret Burgess, said there is something
maybe we can try, but we need you to sign
some forms just because this treatment may very well kill

(17:55):
her outright, because she's so fragile, and my body hides
illness very very well, like I've had a very high
pain tolerance. It wasn't my parents' fault. They had taken
me to doctor after doctor and they started it and
it nearly did knock me off, but I lived through it.

(18:15):
Just the poor doctor I feel, I do feel bad
for him, and he'll never do it again. I suppose
I hope that he never did it again throughout his career,
that you know, not listening to a parent who is really,
really concerned. I remember him walking into my room after
my biopsy, and like the first biopsy had been opened

(18:37):
up a few times, and he came in and said
he literally had his hat in his hands, and I
was in the bed and he came in the doorway
from there, and my whole family is sitting on this
side of the room looking at him like how dare you?
And he said, I just I need to apologize. I
made a mistake, And I thought I commended him for that,

(19:00):
but being my four year old self, who was very
protective of my family, understanding what was going on, and
having just asked my mother other heat is in heaven
because the hospital is very cold, and I knew that
I was dying.

Speaker 4 (19:12):
Wow do you remember this?

Speaker 5 (19:14):
Yeah, long memory? Wow, I said to him, I said,
you can go now, Wow, And he left. My grandmother's
four years old. It was very direct.

Speaker 4 (19:26):
Yeah, starting your life off though with such life and
death situation, you know, like, do you feel like that
gave you a depth of wisdom and like it puts

(19:48):
you on a different China trajectory?

Speaker 5 (19:51):
I think, Oh, Brandon and I were talking about it
this morning. I don't know any different. I've been in
the medical system and had a medical team. Like not
everyone has a medical team, right. I am full of
a medical anomalies. I was born with internal deformities of like,
lots and lots of things are different about me, and

(20:12):
not everyone is sympathetic to that. Some people are kind
of like, oh, wow, what a great way to get attention.
It's like, no, it'd actually really like to not have
attention for that. But if the attention that it draws
brings awareness to other people who might be going through
the same thing, then we'll bug it. It's my story
and I'll do with it what I want, and I
want to help people with it. We were talking this

(20:35):
morning about the things that really matter and you know,
we work in an industry where it's not a meritocracy.
You don't get brownie points for being a good person, unfortunately,
in this industry or in the acting industry, which is,
you know, just as fraught with creatures of all different thoughts,
with teeth and claws and all that kind of stuff.

(20:57):
And we were like, well, what really matters? And I
suppose that's the thing that both of us were raised
with that if I could, I could give up music,
I could give up acting, but I couldn't give up Brandon,
and I couldn't give up on my family. But the
bright lights and the things like that, Like, it's wonderful.

(21:19):
I love telling stories that we both do, but ultimately
this is it.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
Yeah, and you have to figure that out or else
the industry will eat you alive.

Speaker 5 (21:30):
Yeah, And I think it's potentially given me a I've
definitely I know that I've puzzled some people in the
industry for asking why about certain things or saying no
to certain things that other people would be like, oh, absolutely,
because you don't. I don't. My childhood wasn't any better

(21:55):
or worse than anybody else's. It was just different. But
there is this groundedness that I feel and it doesn't
make me any smarter. I'm definitely not wise. But there's
just a what at the end of my life, which
could be at any moment, and you know has been

(22:16):
I've been very close to that. Am I going to
look back and be proud?

Speaker 2 (22:23):
You know?

Speaker 5 (22:24):
And I don't know. It's just not hard to be kind.
It's not hard to be good to people. It's you
don't even have to be nice to be kind. Though
it's different. Good and kind are different than nice.

Speaker 4 (22:35):
It's very true. What is the difference?

Speaker 5 (22:38):
Nice can just be a shell and there are lots
of nice people in this industry. So true, and then
you look a little deeper and it's like, oh, will
you missed the good bit? Stop bad? You know? So
I don't know, Maybe I've got just to Really.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
When did you though realize? So you were saying with
all the treatment and the chemo, is when you realize
you had an artist? You think it kind of like
lended itself to activating it or.

Speaker 5 (23:06):
No, I was born with it. No, there have been
there were theories that things like vaccines and cancer treatments
and all that kind of stuff, like there are absolutely
vaccine injuries that happen, but it's been completely disproven that
anything like that causes autism.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
So do you always know you kind of had it?

Speaker 5 (23:26):
I didn't always know because I didn't know what it was.
I thought I had so much chemo that it had
just changed my brain. I got called the R word
a lot, I like, not really at school. It was
more at university, which is sad, but it was this
interesting journey of realizing that, okay, well and accepting like,

(23:47):
I'm just different. I had a different upbringing. I am
I am the only one of me in the whole world,
which was a very lonely feeling because most of the
children who went through my rounds of treatment did and survive.
But I've managed to turn that I am the only
one of me in the whole world into something that

(24:07):
I can say to other people, like each and everyone,
like everyone in this room, everyone out there listening. You
are the only one of you in the whole world.
And that is beautiful and magical. That's a miracle. That's
that's amazing, that's what makes you special. Hold on to
it and you don't have to be like anyone else.
It's all right, And I think that's part of the reason,

(24:28):
Like there isn't anyone else that I've ever met who
is like Brandon, and I don't know, maybe that's what
pulled us together. I don't I don't know. I don't
know what it was, but I'm grateful for it.

Speaker 4 (24:40):
What do you think you guys have like that locked in?
Like that made y'all realize, oh my gosh, this is
And I still want to get back to the moment
when he left the stage and you're realizing, oh my gosh,
you're a hollering ass off stage and you're having thoughts
about Brandon and his performance and who this person was.
We will come back to that. But what is it
about you guys that locks in? Like why do you
because you always thought you're the only one and tell

(25:01):
you met him, And I feel like y'all really have
like locked It's like a treasure that was meant to
be like connected and it's like, oh the door opens
and there's the gold behind it.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah. I mean, I think you can't orchestrate that stuff.
You can't script it out. You know, we're writers, Like
that's what we do. We write stories and songs and
things like that, and you can't you can't force stuff
like that, you can't script it, but when it happens,
you also can't deny it. And so I always remember

(25:32):
looking at my sister and her husband, my brother in law,
and going, wow, they really found it, Like it's it's
the realist of the real and when you're confronted with it,
you and you recognize it, you remember it. And for me,

(25:58):
that had never happened. And so I know that I
was sort of resigned to being okay with just being
on my own, and I know Claire was resigned to
just being okay with being on her own. And that
doesn't mean that, you know, I don't know that it
meant that we had sort of given up, but we
were just sort of in a place where, you know what,

(26:19):
love and worked out. We'd had our heartbroken a fair
number of times, and we were okay with just kind
of you know, writing and telling stories on our own.
And then when we met each other, you know, it
was we met in a professional environment, and so when
I showed up, it was my job to show up
and be a professional, and that's what I intended to do.

(26:42):
Sing the song, do it well. And then when there
was the follow up, which was Claire's going to make
a record. We want you to write some songs together.
And we started writing songs together. As you know, songwriting
is an incredibly intimate, artful oh yeah. And so in
a very short period of time, we got to know

(27:03):
each other really really well, and we became friends very
very quickly. And we also realized very quickly, like I'm
gonna have to try really hard not to fall in
love with this person. You know, I'm gonna have to
try really hard to keep this thing on the rails.

Speaker 4 (27:21):
And were you thinking you were alone?

Speaker 3 (27:23):
And these are like, I mean, I just felt like
it was. I wasn't making assumptions that she was falling
in love with me, but I knew. I knew how
I was feeling. And that was one of those things
where I was I was trying really hard to be
to be a professional and to do my job, and

(27:44):
I started like playing guitar for her, like acoustic shows
and things like that.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
And it was a long time of like knowing each
other without dating.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
Yeah, I mean, we knew each other for probably nine
months of being friends. But moving towards going like this
is undeniable.

Speaker 4 (28:01):
But y'all didn't go straight to it like, let's just
like make out and see if this is there, y'all.
Like we're keeping it professional writing, really getting to know
each other. Yeah, I thought, is kind of epic. Well
this I know, right?

Speaker 2 (28:13):
What I thought?

Speaker 5 (28:14):
Well, when I when I like legged it off the
stage to try, I wanted to thank him because he
was so wonderful and he had taken the time to
learn that song. And he had already left because he
had to go get on the bus with Hyatt, so
I didn't see him for two months. So we messaged
back and forth and we decided to write.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
What an exit too, Go have this magical epic moment,
then leave and like just a cloud of smoke.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
You know.

Speaker 5 (28:35):
And I was just like, want a mic drop?

Speaker 3 (28:37):
Jeez?

Speaker 5 (28:37):
I truly amazing.

Speaker 4 (28:39):
Telling you this is one of the best love stories ever.

Speaker 5 (28:41):
He's actually so considered. He's like, this is not my microphone.
I'm not going to drop it. I went on the
ground gently, very gently, handed to somebody and leave. So
we started writing together, and I it's funny, I kind
of Oh.

Speaker 4 (28:54):
Here's Michael, babe. Where did you know you're here? Hi? Honey, Michael,
how we get it? Barry, why don't you come say hi.
This is Claire and you know obviously Brandon I haven't
seen each other in one hundred years. Guys, this is
a little reunion we're having here. I mean, Claire, we're
hearing about their epic love story right now.

Speaker 5 (29:17):
Oh, stay on here.

Speaker 6 (29:20):
We probably know each other twenty years.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
I was saying, I went, I was going and seeing
you play at twelve and Porter talk. Yeah, twelve and
Porter back in the day ages ago. I mean it
would have been two thousand and.

Speaker 6 (29:33):
I mean five is when we moved here, so you
have five six we all met because you know the Canabies.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
Yeah, and uh, now you're right with Justin Halpin, who
is like family.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (29:43):
Justin's great, He's amazing. We writing now on him for
a long time and I just saw him last week.
We all went to dinner where Corey Crowder was in town.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
Oh that's right. He told me you guys were out
with Cale and Yang. Yeah, Cale in the gang.

Speaker 4 (29:54):
But you can record this and had it's good.

Speaker 5 (29:57):
That's incredible.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
Oh yeah, well Justin feel complete now, Justin.

Speaker 6 (30:01):
I was missing a piece of my past, you know.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
But yeah, man, it's good to scene man.

Speaker 5 (30:08):
Yeah, Justin Justin helping and Kale Duds wrote the title
track of our record, Oh Killer.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
Yeah, they're great legends monsters. Yeah, well this is awesome.

Speaker 6 (30:17):
I'm gonna let you'all get back at it, but we'll
catch up after this.

Speaker 5 (30:20):
Let's see again.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
Twelfth and order stories per days. You can just kind
of crack it. The dogs are going in and out. Okay.

Speaker 5 (30:33):
So then he you had.

Speaker 4 (30:34):
That was fun.

Speaker 3 (30:35):
I'm glad Jo got your sweetheart. I know that man.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
He's pretty great. So you leave in a cloud of dust,
and Claire is like, oh my gosh, this is an
incredible experience. You're probably feeling the same way. But then
you're just gone. You don't even get to like recap,
so that's even more amazing. So then you're like, okay,
I'm writing a record. I've got to call Brandon.

Speaker 5 (30:54):
Well, yeah, we decided to. I wasn't even brave enough
to call him, but we started writing together. And I
remember sitting in that little off that you had in
German Town and we wrote this song and we're singing
it through as you do to you know, show your
managers that you put your pants on and went to
work that day, and I started to feel kind of

(31:15):
my knees felt funny. It's like weird thing to say,
but BUS like, why my knees felt like weird. I'm like,
maybe I'm getting a cold or something, or maybe my
blood pressure is really low. Oh hello, and thought kept
singing and he's singing to me with me. I thought,
my face is very hot right now. Maybe I'm getting
a Oh no, I'm going to give I'm going to

(31:35):
give this gorgeous angel face, beautiful, incredible person the flute.
Oh god, I like him? Okay, oh no, and finished
managed to like keep myself together until you know, i'sweety.
There we go until we finished the song, and then
I started gathering my things up as fast as I
possibly could. Poor panted, I'm so sorry. And he was,

(31:59):
you know, putting things in my satchel and grabbing my
book and he was like, did you want to grab
some of dat? I was like, no, no, I've really really
really really got to go. I can't. I can't because
I never had butterflies before, like weak in the knees,
literally yeah. And he's like, did you want to would
you like a glass of wine? I was like absolutely not,
and like literally ran out of his apartment down the

(32:21):
stairs across the road through traffic, jumped in the truck
and burst into tears because I'd never had butterflies.

Speaker 4 (32:29):
I mean, that's a big before reaction. That's a big
physical reaction.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
Yeah. I don't tend to do things by halves. It was.
I'm glad no one saw except for Paul Brandon is
sitting up at the apartment.

Speaker 4 (32:40):
He's like, did things just go terribly wrong here?

Speaker 2 (32:43):
I know?

Speaker 5 (32:43):
I was like, what did I do? I smelled wrong?
I'm so sorry.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
You never know.

Speaker 5 (32:48):
And then I pulled myself together. Later on, I was like,
I'm an adult. I can write with this person without
falling in love with him. I can do whatever I want.
I'm grown. It didn't work, and it wasn't long.

Speaker 4 (32:59):
I mean, but nine months of this before y'all like, yes,
how did you find okay? So there's a lot of
tension built up here. I'm feeling the tension for you guys.
I'm like, how we y'all not kissed already? How did
the actual kiss happen? Because y'are dying obviously this one.
Y'all are totally in love. I mean, there's no denying it.

Speaker 5 (33:16):
It was. It was a long time later he never
even flooded with me.

Speaker 4 (33:20):
Just you're just like straight faced.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
I mean I was trying, wait.

Speaker 4 (33:25):
To hold it together. Okay, So then how did I
got to know how the first kiss happened? I'm sorry,
I need details.

Speaker 5 (33:30):
Well, we were at I had just done the CMA
Christmas Yeah, she had done special, a Christmas special for CMA.
We met at a little bar downtown that we that
we loved. It was called The Spot, which I'm sure
you went to and.

Speaker 4 (33:44):
You're already doing wee things that we loved, little bar
that we loved to go the Spot. Okay, So y'all
already like we ended up hard wore.

Speaker 3 (33:51):
Yeah, okay, And Claire had her her jeep wrangler that
she drove down my car. So she drove me back
to Germantown from Broadway. I pulled over on Rosa Parks.

Speaker 4 (34:05):
Wait.

Speaker 5 (34:05):
First, I was so excited to see you that I
turned up. I left the bridge Stone after doing that thing,
and I was wearing a very very very expensive dress
that was covered in crystals. It was like it was
a twenty pound dress and I left it. Normally you
would change, but.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
That's what they dressed you in for the gig.

Speaker 5 (34:26):
Yeah, it was not mine, and it's worth like more
than our truck. And I was so excited to get
to him. I left in it, and they knew that
i'd bring it back, but I know legged it to
the spot where I knew that he was and was like,
hang on a second, I have to change. And I
was so excited to go and sit next to him
that I left it sitting on the bathroom sink. The dress, yep,

(34:50):
it changed in my like this little vintage thing that
I had that I still have. I should put it
on tomorrow. And so that's how did you recover the dress?

Speaker 4 (34:59):
I did, okay, worth more than you're worth, more than all.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
The was returned to its owner.

Speaker 5 (35:05):
I was that excited to see.

Speaker 4 (35:07):
So then you're at the spot you've had this show,
and we.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
Just sat and watched Broadway go by and had a
nice evening. And then she drove me back to down
Rose of Parks and pulled off on the side in
front of my little loft apartment, and that's where the
first kiss happened.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
And was it amazing?

Speaker 3 (35:33):
As I recall, it was very amazing.

Speaker 5 (35:35):
Well, I don't actually I leant over to hug you goodbye,
and I don't actually know who kissed. I genuinely have
no idea who kissed who. First. It just happened.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
It was the timing was right, finally, yes, and then
after that where we all like inseparable, where you're like
a couple.

Speaker 5 (35:49):
Yeah, we had to like we well, he kissed me
so hot that he bit my lip.

Speaker 4 (35:56):
He's like, I've been waiting for this for nine months,
but I think we just could have sort of crashed together.

Speaker 5 (36:03):
And uh, then we it was like, okay, hang on,
this is really We've ended up having the conversation about
not wanting to hurt each other because we've both been
through so much already.

Speaker 3 (36:14):
And yeah, and I there was a my dad had had,
you know, a medical situation, and so I went home
and when I came back, it was just one of
those things where when I was away, the only person
I really wanted to like talk to about it and

(36:36):
confide and was Claire. And so when I came back,
you know, it was back at the spot and we're
sitting watching Broadway Go By, and that was that was
the night. I was just like, that's it. I'm calling
it like you're the one, the one.

Speaker 4 (36:54):
It's like the one.

Speaker 5 (36:55):
Yeah, and that was it.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
From then on, it.

Speaker 4 (36:58):
Was that's it.

Speaker 5 (36:59):
That was it, and that was that's what to the
Bone is about. It was that night I forgot. I
had forgotten that it was that night. I remember sitting
there with you at the bar, looking at each other,
and he was so tired. He'd been, you know, up
for hours and hours and hours with his dad. Was
a heart like a cardiac event that he had and
some surgery which was you know, quite stressful, and poor

(37:21):
Brandon was just a heap when he came back. I
came and found him again at the spot, and yeah,
that's we talked about what we wanted, and he was like,
I want what my parents have. They love each other
so much, and I said, that's my parents too. They
adore each and we're very lucky. We both come from
homes where we got to keep both of our parents

(37:42):
and they stayed together. And not everybody is that lucky.
And it doesn't mean that you can't love properly, even
if that hasn't happened for you, you know. But yeah,
that's we sat there and we're just kind of staring
at each other at the bar, and but he said,
that's it. I can't do without you. I don't want

(38:04):
to do without you, I know. And then years later
we wrote the song with Mikiyeka called to the Bone,
and it was about that night.

Speaker 4 (38:21):
Guys. But this is what I feel. I feel y'all's
love story to the bone like, and that's what it's
so magical because it's just really beautiful and I feel
it in your music. Your title track US is so good.
The lyrics, like the verses are like you always I'm
not gonna say it right, but like basically it's like
you always think it can happen, but like you never
knew it could happen to us or something. It's pretty
much how goes? And then it did, and y'all are like,

(38:43):
oh my god, how does the chorus go? Putting on
the spot real fast?

Speaker 3 (38:48):
I was like, where's the guitar?

Speaker 4 (38:50):
I know, it's so hard to just like say your lyrics.

Speaker 5 (38:53):
I know every word you said.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
Oh yeah, the night we met, I saw you.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
No one now didn't that. I was pray. I was
praying that you might be pray for what. Didn't know
what to su.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
I was waiting and you waiting. I was thinking it
would happen. Open it does it?

Speaker 4 (39:23):
Never thinking it would happen until it does. But you're
praying and you're it's like you're praying for it, you're
waiting for it, but like you don't think it's actually
gonna happen, and then it happened. I'm like, you guys,
y'all know a little super nova.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
Thank you. I we just heard a song called super Nova.

Speaker 4 (39:37):
Okay, there you.

Speaker 5 (39:37):
Go, funny thanks, It's really sweet. That's my I was
just crying on the phone earlier with my mother because
she's in hospital voice. Sorry everybody, Oh my gosh.

Speaker 4 (39:47):
And then it's like but it's like real life. So
it's in the middle of like y'all putting together this album,
doing this, making yourself. We'rey'all always a doer or how
did y'all know you're gonna come to do? You're also
doing a family tragedy. You're dealing with your dad's your
mom's stuff, your dad's stuff. It's like probably leaving Nashville.
That's a transition. There's so many things that y'all are
doing all at the same time.

Speaker 5 (40:08):
Well it's okay because we get to do it together.
And I mean, I don't think it's a Thankfully we're
not dealing with tragedy. We have we have all of
our parents. Everyone's going to be okay. It was just
a rather stressful morning. But I don't, you know, Nashville
is I could have left and gone back to LA,

(40:29):
but it just I never really lived in LA. And
you know, my heart goes out to everybody out there
who's been dealing with the fires, and gosh, my team
have just been there. You know, my team out there
are like family to me, and I just feel so
much for everyone out there. But Nashville is where I
found my home, and home has never really been a place.

(40:52):
It's always people, and that's where he was. So and
uh so.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
We bounced back and forth from here to Australia.

Speaker 5 (41:00):
Yeah, I like that.

Speaker 4 (41:02):
So you're on the finale of Nashville and branded your husband.

Speaker 3 (41:07):
I'm the the new the Yeah, the new fiance.

Speaker 5 (41:12):
But it was just a quick popping It's wonderful because
they had seen us perform live and the producers were like,
he's he's wonderful, Like just can brand do you think
Brandon would come on the show? I'm like, hang on,
I'll ask him.

Speaker 4 (41:29):
You like read what I want? All right?

Speaker 3 (41:34):
I said as long as I can wear black.

Speaker 5 (41:36):
Yeah, And I was like, as long as we get
to kiss, and they were sure, do whatever you want.
They were love they were lovely about it, and he'd
already been adopted into the Nashville band.

Speaker 4 (41:46):
Fun it was fun.

Speaker 5 (41:47):
We still tour live, We have the right now right.

Speaker 4 (41:49):
Like Charles Aston or did you just do it?

Speaker 5 (41:51):
Yeah? We we just we played the rhyme and was
at the end of so fun time is weird for me? Okay? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (42:00):
So he played Ryman in November and.

Speaker 4 (42:02):
You're in the band.

Speaker 5 (42:05):
He's been in the band since like two thousand and fourteen.

Speaker 4 (42:08):
Who's in the Nashville Band. Who are the main singers?

Speaker 3 (42:12):
Well, the main main cast members are Claire, Charles Weston,
Sam Polladio, Jonathan Jackson, so it's four of them are
the and in the past Chris Carmack would tour with
us as well. And then the band is headed up
by Colin Lindon who lives here, and then Johnny Diamond

(42:34):
and Gary Gary Craig who are from the Toronto area.

Speaker 4 (42:40):
And I love about you guys though, is that you'll
figure out how to your life's just go together, Like
it just all goes together. I just think it's really cool.
I really think you'll have a really special love story.
Thank you, because y'all all, everything you'll do, it's like
it's like a y'all are like a one thing. I
can just feel your energy. It all goes together, everything
works together.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
Yeah, And it's sort of one of those things where,
at least for us, when you have waited a long
time to find your person, then you're like, well, now
I just want to do everything with my person. So
you know, when I used to be a touring musician,
I was single and I didn't care if I was

(43:18):
gone nine months ten months out of the year. But
now I could never imagine doing that without Claire. So
it really truly is a dream come true that we
get to tour and write songs and make records together.
And then if she's shooting a movie or a TV show,

(43:38):
you know, I'll go out and be on location with
her and I'll write songs in the hotel room while
she's shooting, and then she comes back and we have dinner,
and it's fun because we get to sort of go
on all these adventures together. But to sort of answer
your question about how we became a duo, it was
during the pandemic when everything was shut down, and we

(43:59):
sort of just looked at each other like if if,
because it's something we had toyed with the idea of
because we were solo artists for a long time.

Speaker 5 (44:07):
I had want to party to do it for a
long time.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
But it was one of those things whe were like,
you know, if we're going to chase this thing and
make it reality, we need to do it now because
we know tomorrow's not promised to us. So so we
just made the choice and we started. We started writing songs,
and we got on a Zoom call because that's what
you did during the pandemic with a guy named Sean
McConnell who lives here in Nashville, incredibly talented singer, songwriter, producer, oh.

Speaker 5 (44:34):
Who was introduced to us by Tracy Goshan right, who
was like.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
You guys need to know Sean.

Speaker 5 (44:41):
We were like all the time, Yes, definitely, can we
we should do.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
Let's do that, and so we just we got on
the Zoom call with Sean and wrote and actually finished
a song over zoom because zoom is tough. It's tough
to write songs. Yeah, and we actually finished it and
we were really happy with the way it turned out,
and Sean said, you know, when things calm down a
little bit, come out to the studio and let's bang

(45:05):
around and see if we can, you know, make a
recording of it. And so we did. And the night
that we were leaving the studio, I mean, we weren't
in the car five minutes, Claire said, he's the one.
He's the one. We need to make the record with him.
And so we went and wrote a bunch of songs,
chased it down and that was the first record and

(45:27):
that's us time. It's great. He's so fun. Sean's Jean's
an incredible producer because he's very sensitive, he's very tuned in. Obviously,
he's very talented. And when you make a record with Sean,
you sort of it's full immersion. You just move into
the studio and you don't leave the full experience. Yeah,

(45:49):
so you can record till two in the morning and
then wake up and have coffee together.

Speaker 4 (45:52):
Oh that's great, do it all over you you're in
the world. You're creating your own world.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
Really special. So he's become a dear friend and and
really brilliant collaborator.

Speaker 5 (46:03):
Yeah, that's amazing, And I will say that there are
a lot of touring things that I mean. I was
out on the road when we were filming Nashville. I
was out every weekend that well, every weekend, so we
would film all the way through during the week to
the point where like after the weekend, I would tour
with Charles Heston and Brandon started coming out with us

(46:26):
as well, which was wonderful, and six Wire, who are
a fantastic band. But we would be pulling onto the
lot of where we were filming in a real tour bus,
getting off there, going into hair and makeup, and then
getting onto the stunt tour bus like the you know.

Speaker 4 (46:45):
The you were living a reality actually.

Speaker 5 (46:47):
Yeah, And I was absolutely exhausted, Like you know, your
body is not the same after you've had cancer, you know, people,
especially at such a young developmental age, there are lots
of gifts that it gives you that continue to give
and being also very so like just social interactions sometimes
are a little bit difficult for me. They're much easier now.

(47:09):
But there's so much that I wouldn't have been able
to do without Brandon. There. The world got so much more.
I was able to see so much more kindness in
the world and just the world got softer and.

Speaker 4 (47:25):
You were protected, you could just drop your guard.

Speaker 5 (47:27):
Yeah, when I met Brandon, and there's there's there's always
like the things that happen in life that they happened,
but just being able to interact with people and for
me to be able to turn to him and say,
I'm not sure if someone. People tend to say things
that they they say one thing and they meet another
and I don't understand that, and to say to him, like,
I don't understand what that meant? What did they and

(47:50):
he can tell me, and it's it's weird. It's like,
you know, you just feel like an alien kind of thing.
But everything about the world got better, including my own
health and safety when Brandon showed up.

Speaker 4 (48:04):
Guys, how so having autism as a kid an adult,
I guess, but realizing it, when did you realize it?
And then how did you get into acting if being
around a bunch of people in those kind of situations,
like how did you navigate that and like go into
that field when you were kind of like when people

(48:25):
were kind of nerve wracking to the new room guessing
how did you find it and what did your autism.
What does it present as for you? Like, how do
you work with it?

Speaker 5 (48:33):
For me, it's just it's like I don't even say
that I have I'm not correcting you in any way,
shape or form, because there are so many different ways
people talk about this. I am autistic, it's part of me.
I had cancer. Some people have cancer. I don't. I
don't consider myself to have autism. It's just a difference
between like the my autism is like I am autistic.

(48:57):
I have blonde. I'm like, I'm a blonde. Yeah, I'm
an autistic blonde.

Speaker 4 (49:01):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (49:02):
Yes, it manifests as like I was saying earlier, like
it's very difficult for me to sit in a chair
for a very long time and stay still. Actually I
have ADHD as well, which steered me to be able
to handle like high energy, high sort of like pressure

(49:25):
situations because I had a mission and the people who
diagnosed me said I probably wouldn't have had the capacity
because of the level of the level of autistic that
I am. I'm between a one and a two. It's
like one, two, three, three you need help with absolutely
every element of your life. Two you need some help,

(49:46):
some assistance from somebody. One you might get away with
it on your own, but you definitely still have some
sort of challenges, but you could go undetected, which is
what happened with me. So I sit between a one
and a two. And I've always needed a little bit
of help. And some people have been more understanding of
that and some people haven't. And a lot of that
is just knowing, Like knowledge is power. So once I

(50:09):
was diagnosed, which was three or four years ago now,
and it was it was a really long process, and
it was something that I was able to do during
the pandemic because it was all it's not a fun
process at all.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
Two years.

Speaker 4 (50:24):
What is the process?

Speaker 3 (50:25):
I mean, it's a very.

Speaker 5 (50:27):
In depth, in depth psychiatric medical like your entire medical history,
your psychiatric history, the psychology that you're living with, that
you have lived with, traits that you have as a
child that have stayed, some may have stayed, some may
have gone away. I like I could sing before I

(50:49):
could talk properly. I was more I've always been more
comfortable around animals than people. There are and like fluorescent
lights are they always really bothered me And I just
I really thought I put it all down to my
chemo and that like I was never going to be
I was never going to have normal, regular health. There

(51:12):
is no such thing as normal. But I had no
idea what neurodivergence was. I started suspecting that maybe I
was on the spectrum probably ten years ago, but never
had the time and didn't. There was just so much

(51:33):
going on I didn't. I mean I used to. I
had hyperlexia as a child, which is like, like, I
think I read Silence of the Lambs when I was
about seven. Probably should have done that, but I really
enjoyed it. It was amazing. But for a seven year old
to be able to process that and not be freaked
out by it and understand what the story was about, right,
it's the opposite of dyslexia. But okay, I have dyscalculia,

(51:55):
so I can't read analog clocks. It's very difficult to
tell left from right for me. So any director or
director of photography who works with me is just like
you know, and no one's ever given me any like
heat about it. And I really can't count very well,
like honestly, and people are like, oh cute, No, it's

(52:15):
not cute, it's actually like it at school. I needed
help and I didn't have it because no one knew and.

Speaker 4 (52:23):
So you just kind of had to survive. Yeah, and
is that what made you want to start pursuing a
diagnosis for it?

Speaker 5 (52:30):
It was actually my dear friend Vivian, who has two
gorgeous little autistic boys. They were the catalyst for the
song Aurora, along with Sean McConnell's daughter Aby, and she
has a different set of challenges. But this song, Aurora
is all about being yourself and and like, I know,

(52:52):
I know you're different. I know that you don't feel
like you're being seen for who you are. I know
that I know that you don't understand what's going on.
I know you don't get the world around you. It's okay,
Like you're beautiful, there's nothing wrong with you. That's what
Aurora is all about. And viv who has been a
friend of mine since we were eleven, she's known me
for a long time. Takes a really good friend to

(53:14):
call you and say I've been you know, she said,
I've been doing all this research for the boys to
help protect them. She's such a wonderful parent, just navigating
their journey through life. As to autistic children who have
different sets of needs that have to be met for
them to thrive. And she said, you know, I've discovered

(53:34):
a few things about myself along the way, and it
honestly made me think of our childhood and it made
me think of you, and I think I think you
might be autistic. And it's sort of like a shoe dropped.
I was like, oh, that would explain okay, and it took.

Speaker 4 (53:54):
It's kind of like we were like, oh my gosh,
that explains so much. Like it was kind of like
a light bulb went.

Speaker 5 (53:58):
Off a little yeah. And one of my hyperfixations is
medical science and like the history of medicine. So I
immediately went down an absolute wormhole brand and it's like, babe,
are you still there? And I'm not, Like, you were
incredibly supportive, and I thought, well, I asked Brandon. I
was like, do you think I should just like pursue

(54:19):
a formal diagnosis just because I'm like, it's something that
there are people out there, Like I have met people
who have pretended to have cancer to get close to me.
I've met people who have pretended to be that to
have things happen to them in order to gain garner
attention or you know, knowing that those people are out there,

(54:43):
and that's a different kind of that's a different kind
of sickness that I don't know anything about, and they
don't know anything about having cancer or the things that
they were pretending to, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
I was like, I just.

Speaker 5 (54:56):
I like to be thorough. So I went and got
diagnosed and it was a tough, but really rewarding and
validating and honestly a very kind and compassionate experience. And
it was just what I was talking about before, like
seeing colors around people whatever that thing is called. The

(55:22):
psychiatrist who diagnosed me said, do you feel other people's
feelings sometimes? Like yeah, like if someone's feeling really sad,
you can feel it coming off them, and it's actually
quite it can be quite uncomfortable, and I'm glad that
I have that. But this is they're probably people listening like, oh,
that sounds very woo woo. It's it. That's okay if you.

Speaker 4 (55:43):
Feel that well, just like to an EmPATH to the nth.

Speaker 5 (55:46):
Degree, that's exactly what. Yes, that's that's the word she used,
Like you are an EmPATH. She was like, we do
use like this is medical science, but there is also
a spiritual side to this, and you're they do this
thing called an empathy quotient, which is your because there
is a stigma with autism that that people who are

(56:11):
autistic don't have, that they lack empathy or compassion, and
that is not across the board to at all. In fact,
most most of us are like hyper empathetic. And the
they actually the team that diagnosed me actually had Brandon
take the test as well. Is they were like, do

(56:32):
you think, like, is she just giving us the answers
that she thinks we want to hear And they're like,
so they gave the thing to him and it came
back the same, and so I did it again and
they were like, okay, yeah, and they said, you're you
have a very like your autism is extremely profound. And
they actually said they hadn't seen someone with And this

(56:55):
is not too doing my own horn at all, It's
just what they said. And I'm really proud of I'm
really proud of it, and I think that my family
would be proud of it, are proud of it that
my empathy quotient is something that they haven't seen in
quite that high a number in someone who has the

(57:17):
like like who is as autistic as I am, like
just basically complete. It's difficult to understand people, but I
can feel what they're feeling.

Speaker 4 (57:40):
So you just have such huge feelings happening inside of
you too, and they're real, like you feel like I
wonder if this is why it's hard sometimes too on
just the empathetic side, because I'm super empathetic as well.
Like it's been debilitating for me at some point. I've
had to like learn how to guard it because I
can also feel how people feel and like I it's

(58:00):
like I love it, but then I'm also I hate it.
But I'm wondering, if you are on a stage or
in people you are feeling all that energy on you,
you know, like coming at you at one time, is
that overwhelming?

Speaker 5 (58:15):
It can be, but it's funny on stage. My whole
process for whatever kind of story I'm telling, whether it's
singing or like, if I'm playing a character, everything revolves
around empathy and compassion. You have to have empathy and
compassion for your character, even if they are the worst.

Speaker 4 (58:37):
So true, because there's still a human that's a divinely
made human underneath all that pain and whatever they might
make them that way.

Speaker 5 (58:44):
They might be the worst kind of creature, and like
those ones are fun to play, but you have to
be able to justify why they're doing what they're doing,
and in the moments that you are them, truly be
right on board with them. Otherwise it doesn't look real.

Speaker 4 (59:01):
You actually have to get their brainwag. You have to
understand it.

Speaker 5 (59:04):
Yeah, it's like why would somebody do this? And it's
like they You just have to be completely on board
with what.

Speaker 4 (59:10):
A process though to go in your brain and like
be able to justify the actions. But you can, then
it probably gives you tons of empathy. Yeah, so empathetic
because you're like, this person's horrible, but like you make
it to where it makes sense.

Speaker 5 (59:22):
Yeah, it's like why are they're hurting so much that
they could hurt somebody the way that they are And
it doesn't mean that it's okay. Like I've played some
really nasty characters who've literally killed everybody else in the
film that I was in.

Speaker 4 (59:33):
Is that hard to put it? Is it fun? And
you said it is?

Speaker 5 (59:36):
It's interesting because I find human beings fascinating and just
the psychology behind why people do what they do. Why
they react, the way that they react, how they justify
certain things. It I just I think it's really interesting.
So I think that having that level of empathy, oh,

(01:00:01):
made it easier for me to slip into a character.
So when I'm on stage, I have now come to
the place where I am me and I get to
be me. This is obviously I'm in show mode. But
we have the best fans in the world, and we
have so much fun playing for them, and I love
like whether it is like gosh, whether it's Royal abbit

(01:00:22):
Hole or The Bluebird, which we're playing on the fourteenth,
it's just gonna be.

Speaker 4 (01:00:26):
Tomorrow, Oh yeah, tomorro Valentine's Day. Everyone it's probably sold out,
so I don't know if they're gonna get a ticket.
But what I lovely, I just love honestly though, you
guys are the Nashville movie because the show The Bluebird
was like a theme of the Nashville Show, and here
you guys are actually like doing the Bluebird. It's really
it really is real life.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
Yeah, life imitating art. Yeah, it's pretty pretty crazy because
Claire's character on the show was a waitress at the Bluebird,
and so you know, it's it's nuts, but it is reality.

Speaker 4 (01:01:00):
So I freaking love it was the National Experience. Good Aro,
would you say it was a positive experience for you?

Speaker 5 (01:01:06):
Letting other show? Uh huh, oh yeah, you love it. It
brought me here. It's amazing. I mean working with Tuban
Burnett and Calli Corey and Gosh, Buddy Buddy Miller and
Colin Linda became two of my they're my musical mentors.
It brought me to Brandon, who understands me in a
way that nobody outside of my family has ever understood me.

(01:01:29):
I mean, gosh, the Stellar sisters, just getting to know them, Like,
there's beautiful, beautiful people and honestly, like I'm most of
the time I'd hang out with the crew and they're
just like it was the most gorgeous, gorgeous group of
people and I missed them all so much. I'm so
glad that we still get to tour with the Chip

(01:01:51):
is a really dear friend. We're at the Public Johno
the other night, and we're family. We're forever family. And
when we did the National Union tour, was it last
year in the UK.

Speaker 3 (01:02:07):
It was a year before last.

Speaker 5 (01:02:09):
Okay, my time is yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:02:11):
I know flye.

Speaker 3 (01:02:12):
It's crazy.

Speaker 5 (01:02:13):
It's crazy wild, and things keep shifting around as well,
because I've got a film schedule that's like jumping around
all over the place.

Speaker 4 (01:02:19):
You're going back out to shoot some movies.

Speaker 5 (01:02:22):
I'm hoping that we get to shoot one here and
then the other one. I think we might be in
New Jersey for but I haven't got a confirmation yet.
So everyone's going through so much out in LA right now.
Hollywood is like I just I am. It's just being
really patient and compassionate and like, you'll just give me

(01:02:45):
a call when you feel like rolling the cameras and
we'll go for it. So it's fine.

Speaker 4 (01:02:50):
But that's exciting to have two movies.

Speaker 5 (01:02:52):
Thank you. I'm really exciting. I'm very very honored. It's
going to be lots and lots of fun and we'll
go out together and be wicked. I lost my train
of thought.

Speaker 4 (01:03:00):
Sorry, okay, Now it was a really good train of that,
and we.

Speaker 5 (01:03:04):
Were oh that's right. Sorry, sorry, I was trying to
get there.

Speaker 4 (01:03:08):
So you got there.

Speaker 5 (01:03:09):
I got it, I got it. It's really hard to
think in straight lines. Oh there it is, okay. So
time the National Union Tour, we were out in the
UK right year before last, and we called out to
the audience like, it's funny. Arab Our wrangler and producer
Steve Buchanan, who was the very first friend I made

(01:03:30):
in Nashville, worked with the opry. He was like, all right, guys,
so we've sold out Manchester. First show's gone, second show's gone.
How do you feel about doing three shows in twenty
four hours? And we were all like, oh my gosh.
We were like the for our fans, bring it and
it was crazy. And we called out to the audience like,

(01:03:51):
is there anybody here who has never been to the
Nashville show before? And eighty five percent of the audience
put the hand up. It was because they'd all discovered
it that they were like, well, we finished Netflix during
the pandemic, right, they found Nashville and they were like,
the music made us feel better. So the fact that
we get to go out and sing all of those

(01:04:13):
songs and make people feel lovely and like give them
a party and they just be That's the thing. You
when people meet you, you've got to be the person
that they like that they've always you hope that you're
the person that they dreamed that you would be or better,
Like when I met Dolly Parton for the first time.
Dolly is everything I thought that she would, like everything

(01:04:36):
I dreamed that she'd be, and more like just the
most gorgeous, gorgeous soul. Its like, just be like, be
like Dolly, be be that person for people.

Speaker 4 (01:04:45):
Always so many life lessons to get to Dolly though,
you know, And that's what you guys, I feel like
have is like you've just lived so many lives. You've
gone through so much like the music industry, the entertainment
industry obviously, like your health journey, your parents' health journey.
It's writing this wave. Life in general is a journey.

(01:05:07):
But to like truly get to like the Dolly Parton
esque where she just is radiating wisdom, think of everything
she's lived through. And that's what you guys are doing.
And I just feel like that's why you have your
naturally your disposition is sweet and kind and amazing in
these beautiful souls. But like that can't get broken down
if you don't preserve it over time in this industry,
and I feel like y'all have just done a incredible

(01:05:29):
job protecting yourselves and then coming together and being like
a force field for each other and radiating this incredible
music and it's really powerful to see.

Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
Thank you. Yeah. I think in the entertainment field, be
acting or music or writing, or you just have to
in some ways you have to be completely vulnerable. In
other ways you have to be completely bulletproof simultaneously.

Speaker 4 (01:05:58):
So true, A little tricky, very true.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
It's very very tricky to navigate. And I think to
develop a perspective that is at all healthy, it's what
you said, it's like Dolly, how did she get there? Well,
the bumps and the bruises, and the ups and the downs,
and this business does not go on a straight line.

(01:06:21):
And to develop a healthy perspective, you have to have
people around you that you protect and protect you. And
I think in our situation we protect each other, our
families protect us. We have a small group of friends
that we trust with our lives. And to have those
types of people around you and in your corner, for us,

(01:06:49):
has made all the difference.

Speaker 4 (01:06:50):
And it allows you to really dream because you know
you can be safe in your dreams, like you said
you could, and honest and honest, because if you do
have to be bulletproof, and you do have to be vulnerable,
but like, you got it. You have to have support,
you have to have a you have to be you
have to feel safe. So you do that to be
that vulnerable. You have to be able to feel safe
or else you'll just be shot down.

Speaker 5 (01:07:11):
Sure, yes, yeah, you kind of got to have a
thick skin, I suppose. But at the same time, like
not allowing it to make you hard or callous. I
think that's something that happens in this industry where people
they I don't know that. Well, maybe it's just the
human race in general.

Speaker 4 (01:07:26):
Humans are very Humans are so strange.

Speaker 5 (01:07:29):
They're very odd. They're like, I was hurt so badly,
so I think I'll hurt some more people.

Speaker 4 (01:07:32):
I know.

Speaker 5 (01:07:34):
That's that's really productive.

Speaker 4 (01:07:35):
You've really missed the point. They really missed the plot
that you're doing it wrong. So you're doing it wrong.

Speaker 3 (01:07:41):
Back to my point, dogs make the world a better
place exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:07:44):
Well, you know Dog's world backward is God, it's just
the way it is. So what is success? Truly to
you guys, We're gonna wrap up. I love chatting with
you guys. You guys are such an incredible story us.
Your album is out now, which is a beautiful tribute
to y'all's love and life, and it's like y'all's voices
and the harmonies when y'all come together, you'll put River
out for Christmas. River by Johnny Mitchell has been one

(01:08:05):
of my all time favorite songs my whole life. Yal's
versions stunning, You're out, y'all are just like meant to
sing together too. That's what I'm saying. Everything about is
a perfect harmony.

Speaker 5 (01:08:15):
Thank you, Gause. We have a lot of fun doing it.

Speaker 4 (01:08:17):
You can tell it feels like it's just flowing out
of you, guys. But what is success? After all that
y'all have seen and done, and the storms you've weathered,
and how close you've been to death, how alive you
felt in all of it? What is success? Knowing what
true love is, knowing what true fame is, knowing what
the adoration of a crowd is, but then also knowing

(01:08:38):
that that really isn't what it's all about, but it's
all but knowing it all you've had all these big experiences.
What is success?

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
I think when we reached the end, wherever the end
of this particular life is, I don't think anybody's gonna say, man,
I wish I had another ten cars, or I wish
I had another three houses, or I wish I had

(01:09:07):
another beach us or a jet or a you know,
I think we're all going to look back and say,
I wish I had more time with the people that
I love. Yeah, And you know, if you are lucky
enough to find the person you know that be rich

(01:09:29):
in love, you know, spend the time and invest in that,
because at the end of the day, the other things
are really nice. And I love writing songs. We love
writing songs. Claire loves shooting movies like we truly enjoy
what we do. But two, you know, be defined by

(01:09:54):
something greater, I think is true success, to be defined
by the way that you love your person, the way
that you love your mom and dad or your sibling,
or you love your friends, or you love your friend's kids.
Like to be defined by something greater is you know,

(01:10:16):
it's for me, it's going to outlast you know, a
gold record on the wall, or a Grammy award, you know,
or an oscar you know, whatever whatever those statues are.
You know, I just think, you know, in so many
ways we have we've already experienced success.

Speaker 5 (01:10:38):
I love that. It's what he said, I love that.
I could do with that if I never got to
make another film again, or if I never got to
like make another album again. And the choice was it's
that or the love of my life. I know exactly
what I pick, and it's him. You guys, It's true.

(01:11:00):
I love that.

Speaker 4 (01:11:02):
That is so special. Okay, So what does everyone have?
One more question? And then before I wrap up though,
what does everyone need to know? Where that can they
find you? The music us is out, It's incredible. Everyone
needs to go listen to that album. What else do
we want to Is there anything that we need to
let people know?

Speaker 5 (01:11:19):
We are deep in the works of album too. Okay,
We're having lots of fun. We've been working with Gosh,
We've been working with some wonderful people, Justin Halpenkale Dodds,
Mickey Echo, Gosh, Tom Douglas, Douglas, Oh cook Siod Burkas,
just all legends, Roger Nichols, just some wonderful people, like

(01:11:43):
so many wonderful people. We were so lucky. We have
incredible people around us, and like this is the success thing.
Like we go to Justin's studio it's at the back
of his house and we're we're sitting in there and
Brandon the boys like we'll finish a song, or we'll
be tracking something, guys will have again, and I'll be
sitting there shipping on something, and then Justin's little boy

(01:12:05):
Rowro comes in, who's like my little buddy and like
curls up on my lap and just wants to be
told a story about dinosaurs. It's like we're living the
absolute dream. Oh it's beautiful. So lots of new music coming.
Brandon was writing his ass off while I was in
in Australia taking care of my mom, and I think
we're going to go back again and do that soon

(01:12:27):
after this morning's phone.

Speaker 4 (01:12:28):
Call sending all the healing labs to your mom.

Speaker 5 (01:12:31):
Thank you. Sure it's gonna be okay. But Brandon is
like he this guy he will never say to himself,
he's such an incredible writer. The stuff that you've been writing,
just particularly recently, has been like I've come home and
he's played it for me, and I'm like, well, i

(01:12:52):
am very jet lagged and I'm just extremely unhinged right now,
but and now I am completely destroyed. It is gorgeous,
So I can't wait to sing it. We're waiting for
our year to come together again. Like my filming schedule
is up in the air right now because of everything
that's been happening in La Bless you, Bless you again.

(01:13:15):
But we have so much more coming. I wish that
I could talk about more right now.

Speaker 3 (01:13:21):
And we will be playing some shows this year in
the States, and so those those sort of bookings are
coming together. So you know, once they're all you know,
locked in stone, they'll be up you know, on our
socials and stuff, so people can come out and see
shows and it's gonna be a good year.

Speaker 5 (01:13:37):
Yeah. Right now, we're in writing mode. We're getting stuff
ready for people to make them feel nice.

Speaker 4 (01:13:43):
So I always wrap up with leave your light, and
it's super open ended. Just drop some inspiration. What do
you want to tell people to inspire them? Just to
drop an inspiration, Bob Oh.

Speaker 5 (01:13:57):
If you were an artist up there right now, who
might be feeling like you can't do it anymore, or
the people that you trusted maybe you found out you
couldn't trust. It feels like nobody cares. And there is
truth in no one cares about your art as much
as you do. This industry is set up to make

(01:14:20):
you feel as though you are nothing without the people
in power. That you're nothing without the suits, all that
kind of stuff. But the industry revolves around the art.
This is something that Brandon said to me this morning.
You are the art. You are the one who can
make the art. The people pulling the puppet strings, they

(01:14:42):
can't do that. They can do other things, and they
can be good at those, they can be bad at those.
But you are the art. And don't ever, ever, ever
forget why you started, where you came from, how far
you've come, and remember that you didn't come this far
just to come this far in your darkest hours, remember
but that you are the embodiment of art and without

(01:15:05):
you it can't exist. So keep going.

Speaker 4 (01:15:09):
I love that, so true, so true. Okay, take us home.

Speaker 3 (01:15:13):
Brandon, never quit. Yeah, you can't quit if you it's
sort of I've lived in Nashville twenty five years now,
and I've played all sorts of shows and all sorts

(01:15:36):
of had all these amazing, magical experiences. And I've also
had times where I didn't have two nickels to rub together,
and I was questioning every decision I've ever made on couches,
sleeping on couches and wondering you know how it was
all going to work out. And I think you know,

(01:15:57):
at this point, twenty five years in, I feel like
I haven't even scratched the surface. But if you quit,
you never get to that next song. And so I
guess for me, I'm either stubborn or stupid, but I'm
just not going to quit. And so that's sort of
been my If I'm given the opportunity to send that message,

(01:16:21):
that's the message I would send. It is just don't quit.

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
I love that.

Speaker 4 (01:16:25):
Claron Brandon, thank you guys so much for joining me.
Y'all story is amazing. I love how y'all came together.
I love how y'allre so interconnected. I love the music
that you're making, the journey that you're on, the support
you provide for each other. It's really an inspiration to
see a couple like you, guys, especially in the entertainment industry,
and it just I just want to give hope to

(01:16:46):
people out there, like your soulmate is out there. Don't quit,
people like your soulmate is waiting for you. Just go
listen to y'all song us and you will feel it
one day too, and just.

Speaker 5 (01:16:55):
Wait for it.

Speaker 4 (01:16:56):
But it's awesome to see you guys, So thank y'all.
Thank you for sharing your hearts and sharing it with
us musically too.

Speaker 3 (01:17:03):
It's appreciator.

Speaker 4 (01:17:05):
And we never talked about sugar gliter. But what is
it like having a sugar glier because I had one too.
I had one, but I don't think I didn't know.
I wasn't a great mom. I had it in college
and yeah, so I ended up passing her off to
my niece who was younger than They had a great experience.
But what is your sugar gliter like?

Speaker 5 (01:17:23):
As a hut? We have just have Ben. Now we've
had three in the they've all been rescues. Ben was
handed over to me in a shoe box by her assistant.
It was like, I hear, you know how to take
care of these, and like he was so so tiny.
He had a twin button who we lost last year.

(01:17:43):
Ben is eleven and he is a curmudgeon. He likes
to remodel his house in the middle of the night.
He demands chicken nuggets with honey on them at all times.
I realized, like sugar glider parents everybody, like that's like,
I know, but it's what he wants to eat. Very
healthy little bit. He gets lots of like lots of

(01:18:05):
nutrients and every all of the other things.

Speaker 4 (01:18:07):
But he really enjoy his life. And the chicken nuggets
with honey.

Speaker 5 (01:18:10):
He just really likes a chicken nugget with honey, So
that's what he gets as a treat every night. But
he gets other things. He has a very well rounded diet,
and he likes cuddles. He does love cuddles. He's actually
I thought about bringing him today, but he's been a
bit cantankerous lately, and he's taken to dragging the chicken
nuggets into his bed and spooning them. So he needs

(01:18:35):
a bath when we get home. Oh my god. Otherwise
I would have brought.

Speaker 2 (01:18:38):
It with me.

Speaker 5 (01:18:39):
But he's usually on one of us. He's a very
They should really be in pairs. But since he's a
rescuer and his twin passed away, I really was worried
about him. But he's apparently secretly always wanted to be
an only child, and he's thriving. Yes, he's in my
armpit most of the time. We're like somewhere on my body.

(01:19:01):
He's a very happy little dude. But I love them.
They're you know, they're they're they're protected back in Australia.
You can't have them as pets. And they're just an
absolute delight, but definitely not not not a not a
familiar to adopt if you're not prepared.

Speaker 4 (01:19:19):
Yeah, you got to know how to take care of one.

Speaker 5 (01:19:21):
That's not a criticism of you at all, because no one,
no one talked about that.

Speaker 4 (01:19:23):
I got it at a fair. That's the thing. Like
they are passing them off there and they're so cute.

Speaker 5 (01:19:27):
You need they call them sugar bears.

Speaker 4 (01:19:29):
Yes, you need to be educated and they need a
specific environment.

Speaker 5 (01:19:34):
They can live up to fifteen years. It's they're not
a mouse. They're not a rat. I love rats. I
love mice. They are not them. They're Yeah, it's like
having a very small cross between a dog and a
cat that occasionally throws it's pooh at you.

Speaker 4 (01:19:46):
If you're so lucky, and we are so long, you
guys are so lucky. Thank you so much for coming on.
This was such a treat and can't wait to follow
along and hear the new music. Claire and Brandon, you
are the best. But and I'm glad you and Michael
had a reunion mid podcast. That was good stuff. Okay,
bye bye

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Host

Caroline Hobby

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