We sit down with producer Tyler Cain along with singer/songwriter Meghan Linsey to find out what it really means to be involved in the music industry here in Nashville.
Today’s Guests - Meghan Linsey & Tyler Cain
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Happy Saturday and Nashville. Oh, hope you guys are having an incredible start to your weekend. I hope this makes it even better. Welcome to the third installment of the Nashville story where we talk about Nashville's people history, music and culture and, and just about everything else but through interviews and through some of Nashville's most iconic people. Today's interview is an interview we did a few months ago with Megan Lindsey and Tyler Kane by good. Lindsey is an incredible artist. You may know her from the voice and Tyler Kane is just an amazing producer. Megan and Tyler have been longtime friends with explore and we sat down just to have a fun chat with them and just learn a little bit more about them and, and help share what they do to the rest of the world. So here is our interview with Megan and Tyler. All right, welcome to the interview guys. We are with Tyler Kane and Megan Lindsey. We are happy to be here in bold studio and yeah,
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Barry Hill. This is the brand new music row. This place is fantastic. You know how we know the music row, we found this out today is there's a guitar center right next to it. It's not a, it's not in Midtown. It's here. It's a very busy guitar center compared to like the one in cool Springs. Yeah. Well you got,
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You know, in this area you got, you know, 40 to 50 recording studios and the guitar center is kind of like the, it's like the high school
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Cafeteria of Nashville, right? Everybody's guitar center all day here is all your friends. Hey Greg, coming to buy another amp. The only thing is is that they had food like that would be amazing. Yeah. They need a dire in their meatballs at Ikea or my favorite meatballs. Like I always buy like five bucks. Memphis doers. Like can you pack them? The Balsam peoples. I've never been to an Ikea right now. Wow. Wow. Only went to one in Memphis. There's one in Atlanta. I've never had them there. They're great. And they're, they're really good. A European Ikea is compared to American IKEAs are way different and they're multi-story in Europe. It's a big deal in Europe. Is it better? Way better thousand times, better experience, better a Z. I go to Italy. It just go to the Ikea, just go to Italy for that reason before
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Like I do formal introductions. I, I'm actually curious about how you guys do formal introductions because you guys are involved in so much. If you're talking to somebody and they ask what you do, what are your all's typical responses? Yeah, well, you know, that's an interesting question cause I think over the last, you know, we've been in, I've been in town what, 17 or 18 years Meg's been here, you know, long time. We been here for a long time.
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Right? So I think what that intro would be is like kind of morphed along the way. But you know, I think where we start out with, I just rescue beagles. What'd you guys have? What three now? Two, three dogs, two beagles and a Morkie and we feed a lot of things. Like I have cats. I feed, I feed a possum feed possums. Do you just like throw it from outside or cat food? I named him blossom and George, that's awesome. There you go. Nice. Can you distinguish the sex of a possum? By looking at it? They get so close to the window that I can see that George has balls decided the female ones where the little dresses.
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I wish I would say, let me try and pause and pause. And you get to the gender reveal party forum. Yeah. Oh my God. So how would you guys introduce yourself now with the audiences that you have because you have different audience audiences and different realities is absolutely. So I think in the new music industry, which is kind of where we exist, you know, there's a lot more emphasis on being an entrepreneur and creating your own path. And that's what Megan, I really set out to do. So, you know, first and foremost we're musicians and recording artists. That's, you know, that's kind of the, our main passion and that's our main purpose. And we got into business and kind of being entrepreneurs to facilitate that. So that's kind of how our studio inexperienced business came about, you know, cause you know, the music industry has changed and in order to like create your own path, you kind of have to learn business nowadays. And so I think like entrepreneurs, like a big part of our title now,
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I think that would be like the first thing.
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Yeah. But you're an entrepreneur. Entrepreneur. Yeah. And I think being an entrepreneur in and of itself you know, I, I mean we're, we're musicians first, you know, like entrepreneur is just a title that it's a fun phase to say. Yeah. But it's just a way to, to everything though. Yeah.
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We are. I mean, as far as like our music and putting that out, we're independent artists, we're songwriters, but we do everything, you know, so it's like, it's everything we do is with an entrepreneurial spirit, you know?
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Yeah. So how would you say, like, what does your business model look like? You may, you just had a blank wall and you just threw paint on it type situation. Or is it very planned out and strategic with this business model is pretty planned out. But you know, we're, we're not afraid to take risks and try new things. I mean, honestly, our current situation came about through a series of risks. You know, like we signed a lease on the studio we're in now that had like a couple of extra zeros weren't used to seeing and that, that was not, that was a pretty scary feeling. Right. And when we signed the lease here, we kind of had the vision for this experience this experience that we're doing now. But I've always, you know, I've always produced music and been kind of a studio rat.
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You know, I love being in the studio. Meg's always been, you know, she's been a successful artists for a long time, so we just kind of are constantly sort of recreating ourselves. But that's always at the root of it, you know? Yeah. So, so what are the, some of the things that, cause I really liked the word that you said, experience business. What types of of things does that encompass? Well you want, do you want to know? You're doing good. I like so well they experienced business. We basically, we basically realized that in Nashville, you know, there's this big community of like record producers, engineers, all of us behind the scenes of what happens in the music business that most people are unaware of. They don't know how it works and but they know it exists. And when people come to Nashville, they are always saying the same thing.
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Like we want to experience like the real Nashville. So we just started roadway, right? Yeah. And they go to Broadway, right. Which is like Groundhog day. It's like the same 10 songs on repeat. Right? So you do Broadway on day one and then on day two, you know, you're on vacation in Nashville and day two, I'm not doing Broadway again. Yeah, exactly. So that's where we come in $100 last night on alcohol. Yeah. Yeah. But we just started bringing people into the studio and just showing them how a recording session works. What goes in behind the scenes for recording artists when they record music. And it just really started taking off, you know, we've really enjoyed it. And then you guys also are doing private concerts here as private concerts that you have. Are you just selling tickets on Airbnb? Where are you guys selling tickets?
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We sell tickets on a lot of platforms. Okay. You know, on a lot of different platforms. It took a long time actually close to a year to really start getting traction. But now I think we've developed enough of a reputation doing it, not even in the music industry, more in the travel industry, which is a new industry for us. So it's an industry that's gonna make you guys a lot of money. Well yeah it's basically our, our goal was just to bridge the gap between tourism and the music and the real music industry. You know, cause we saw, we saw an opportunity there cause I feel like we have the credibility in the music industry that we can bring to the travel industry if we took the time to really make the relationships, cause no one else in the music industry was taking that time. So how long did you get from the idea to conception? How long did that take for opening up the studio space to show people visiting Nashville behind the scenes? We've had the studio so,
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Well yeah, we were already in the space. I think when we came up with the idea we probably launched at like six months you think about, and then we've been doing it now for about three years.
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Okay. So how many people have you had in the studio to experience all of it? Oh man. I know. I've, I know I've brought a couple of them. Yeah. Yeah, we've had a lot of people come through now and when we started, I don't think it was, it wasn't even necessarily crafting the experience or creating the space. Those are things that were actually very natural and pretty easy and fun cause they are creative. What took a while to get momentum with it was really just making the relationships in a new industry. You know, cause we had all these relationships in the music industry, but it took the better part of a year to establish like a relationship that was built on trust to where like people in the travel industry knew they could bring their, their clients over here and it would be a consistent experience every time. What was that? Maybe either that aha moment that you were like this is ag, we're onto something really good here with an experience like this. Did you guys have a moment like that?
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I think it was after the first one we did, we brought in our very first one. We had a group of 12 it was like 12 to 15 executives of Hilton hotels, like 30. Oh my God. Wow. Okay. But anyways, they were from, everybody was from a different like country, like they were from all over the world. And I'm one of the head guy, I mean he's really high up at Hilton, but he pulled us aside, we were done and he was like, Hey a, you guys aren't charging enough. He was like, and B, he was like, everybody here like had a great time and where we come from, like all different worlds, you know, and it's like, like literally everybody's from somewhere different. So we were like, Oh, like it really, it really worked. You know, you're kinda like sweating and then you're like, okay, they liked it. They like us.
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Yeah. And the cool thing about it is that music is this one sort of universal language. Like we've had people from all different countries and all walks of life and everything. And it blows my mind. Like one day we might have 20, like 14 year old girls with a gymnastics group and then like four hours later we might have 35 investment bankers. Yeah. We actually had a day like that. We had a day like that. And it's like, the one thing that they all have in common is that like music kind of speaks to everybody, you know? And if you're passionate about the music you're making, that translates to people. So I think we've learned a lot from doing it. And it's a cool way to test out new songs and show people like the creative process of like where the songs come from.
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Yeah. Now when you guys are introducing like a new song to somebody in the audience that comes to the studio, are you more looking for like their reaction to it? Like how are they experiencing the song and then are you guys going to say, okay, now this needs to go music, video, YouTube? Like what's that?
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Yeah, it's definitely a good gauge. I mean, I think we did like 28, 29 30, I dunno, something ish shows the summer in the studio. So we had like, like 50 people each time. And you can tell which of the songs are connecting pretty quickly. Yeah. And especially the ones that keep connecting over and over and over again, you're like, okay, yeah, we should probably record this pretty quickly and get it out. It's a good gauge for that.
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Yeah. And you guys have had some new releases this year
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Are in, you know, we've had what lover Mardi Gras and rhinestone just an amazing music video. I love it. You guys did if that music visit was incredible. Yeah. So basically we threw like a flash mob Mardi Gras parade in new Orleans. Yeah. And then when we filmed it, yeah. Cause a mutual friend of ours, you know, Marcos, he shot, he shot the, he was one of the videographers that shot it. He captured some really cool shots, but it was one of those things where like it was a harebrained scheme cause like we had a whole like Mardi Gras band, you know, like a horn band and then they come in from new Orleans or were they in here? No, they were, we brought one guy,
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John Jackson and it's funny, he's from Louisiana originally and was a really good friend of Tyler's. And then coincidentally we figured out that we knew each other from when we were kids, like 10, like we had been in like a talent show together. So like we kind of were from the same area, but he's an amazing horse. He plays with like Macy gray and a lot of [inaudible].
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Does he go, does he go Justin Timberlake? A couple of times too. I know he probably did, I don't know, probably. Yeah. And then the other, the trombone player, Glenn's, I would like a Kelly Clarkson. So it was a really, and then a manual that trumpet player plays with Lauren Daigle. It was just, yeah. So it was like an incredible band. Right. And it, and it was all like no rehearsal because you know, that style of new Orleans music, you don't rehearse it, you just, you just slow. It's like the pure, you know, expression and it's like everyone gets together and just something happens. So we did it as a flash mob and we you know, a lot of the country fans were in town, so we invited them to come parade with us and we basically like crashed CMA Fest. From a logistical standpoint, did you have to deal with police and permits and you know, logistically we were supposed to, but we didn't and we just did it, you know, was kind of the fun of it because we could've gotten arrested.
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If the band sucks, we probably would've gotten arrested. But I think they thought the city hired us cause they were like high five and five dresses. We went by and we were like, that was like a sigh of relief because when the first cop came up I was like, Oh man, I hope we didn't like organize this whole thing for a month and then now we're done. You know, it's always the worst one. The cops show up and turn. Yeah, they were cool. Cops started dancing. We were like, yes, I think they assumed we were supposed to be there to CMA Fest. So confident to, yeah, we belong here. Yeah. I love that music video. And then you guys have someone you love and then also he hot, which he ha he talking about that song for a second. Super unique. That's a mate. That's a Megan Lindsay. That's a Megan Lindsey inspiration, right?
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Oh yeah. Yeah. I, you know, it's funny as I ordered a pair of boots online and so they came in the mail and I do this a lot. Tyler always says you can be your own secret Santa if you just have [inaudible].
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I mean just Ambien and Amazon,
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But, but yeah, so it's kind of one of those things. I like woke up and I'm like, Oh, these boots are here. These are cool. I don't remember ordering these. But but there were these like solid gold boots and the style number on them said ye hot like H JWT. And then we were riding that day and I came and I was like, dude, we gotta write this as a song. Cause they own the copyright to that word. Hope not, I don't know. I didn't call an ask.
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Actually. They will own the copyright for shoes, not for music. So you guys are good. You guys are great. Yeah. Let's talk about jihad a little bit more. Yeah. Talk about, yeah. To talk about that, that song and, and you know, the writing it and, and how it's gone.
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I mean, we kind of just came in and started on it. I don't really, I mean it was so easy. Like I think we [inaudible]
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It was just kind of a fun, like summer jam. It was kind of in the summer when we wrote it. And we wanted to put something out. It just sort of a feel good kind of. And plus like when we do live shows, you know when you sit down to write, a lot of times you feel like you got to write some like, you know, heavy masterpiece master masterpiece. Yeah. And then, and then when you play live, this goes back to like the studio shows we were doing, you know, where we realized, okay, we have all these like you know, songs that are like these deeper songs. But when you get, you know, people in the room here and you're just playing music, sometimes they just want something that feels good, that's like they don't have to think about too much. And that's kind of why I was, yeah.
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That's cool. Yeah. So with, with these releases, you know, the one thing I noticed if I go to your all's Spotify page, is there not albums on there? They're singles. Yeah. We're just doing singles for the time being. But you know, that's what people are doing nowadays. They're releasing singles and code play every, everybody. Yeah. Why, why put out a onetime thing when you can be releasing all times of the year and you can, you know, be engaging with people all times of the year about different things. So that's cool. Is that something that you guys are probably continuing to do? Yeah, we may do any EAP, you know, maybe five or six songs. You know at the top of the year we've been talking about possibly doing that before we started doing this duo project we made make solo record and we put that out and it was a 12 song albums hold like a lion yet we're real proud of that record.
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But we spent what about a year making that a year. So after that we were like, okay, let's just do singles because at least for a while because you know, just get it out so much quicker. Yeah, for sure. Do you always have something new coming out? Do you see the music industry as a whole making those kinds of moves? A lot of people. Yeah, for sure. It seems like it, unless you're like Beyonce and then you can do anything. If [inaudible] is an event, I'm music videos and event and albums and event. They're all events, you know, and like, yeah, the pace of everything is so fast and there's so much stimulus online that I feel, I think a lot of artists feel like when they do singles, they're creating more events more frequently so they're stand in the public eye a little more, more chances to have interaction and be there for the further fans and everything.
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Totally. When you write a song and record it, you're excited about it and you're like, let's drop it. Yeah, for sure. You sit on it for six months, you start doubting yourself. Nighttime, you release it, you're like, this is terrible, terrible, terrible. There's this a circle that I've seen and it's so true for like artists of any kind. Like you create something, you're like, this is pretty good. And then you know, five minutes later you're like, yeah, this is great. And then five minutes later you're like, Hmm, I don't know about it. And you're like, this is complete crap and I'm miserable and I hate myself. And you come back around and like it's pretty good. And then you're like, I love it. That's like the cycle we all do over and over and you release it and people are like, that's great. And you're like, Oh thank God, thank God our people tell you it's great.
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The more you start to believe it too. Sometimes it's just, you know, when it's your own thing. Yeah, for sure. Talking about going back home, you guys are both not from Nashville, correct? Correct. Yeah. What are the journeys that brought you guys to this city? I'm, well I moved to Nashville as soon as I turned 18 so there you go. Bam. I was just here. I don't know, I just wanted to get your eye on Nashville the whole time. Yeah. I just wanted to do music and it was a good city to do it in and it wasn't so far from like, I'm from new Orleans so it's not so far from home. Right. Yeah. But but yeah, I mean I started coming to Nashville and I was like 14 okay. To write songs cause I was really into songwriting and my parents were super cool and supportive and that was awesome.
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So they kind of helped me get here and I, I, you know, I was always in turn these lack Colgate country showdown and like stuff like that. I did that thing. I think I won. I don't remember. I, I got pretty far if I didn't win, but I would get, yeah, I would get like these ads, you know, the grand prize, he gets to sing at the blue bird, you know, and I'd go sing at the Bluebird and then, you know, so I kinda like started in it or really young and then kind of just decided to move. Yeah. Tyler, what's your story? How did you get here? Yeah, you know, a lot of things about my journey similar to Meg's, like I moved here when I was 18 also. You know, I think the thing Megan I have in common is like music is, if it's not the only job we both had is pretty close to it.
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I mean, we haven't had any other job that we held for very long, but we both started when we were kids, you know, and started playing professionally when we were really young. So, you know, once you turn 18, you know, the cities that have music industries are like LA, New York and Nashville are the main ones, you know, in New York. Super expensive LA far away. Yeah, exactly. And it's kind of intimidating. And then LA is, feels really far away. You know, I grew up on the East coast and then Nashville is just got the highest concentrations of songwriters in the world and some of my favorite songs came out of Nashville. So it's like people here like extra talented too. Yeah, there's just like a lot of talent in Nashville. I remember Jake Owen said he was he was about to do like a five, a five concert tour in a week, you know, Canada and coming back to the U S he's like, I'm nervous about Nashville cause it's at the end of his at Rogers market.
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Yeah. He's like, you know, being at the end and you know, possibly not having a voice at the end of the week and then play it. I think it was blowing up about to play at Bridgestone. He's like, yeah, I'm nervous about that one. Yeah, everybody. I mean it's weird when you hear guys like Jake's like a huge artist and you know even he gets nervous cause like nobody owns Nashville. You know what I mean? Any other town you come from where you're like a big fish in a small pond, you know, you, you know you have like an artist that owns that town, you know, like the black keys, like own, you know, Akron, Ohio or wherever. You know what I mean? Like [inaudible] with Seattle, Nirvana and Seattle. Yeah. And there's really no one artist that's like the big artists in Nashville. It's, you know, it's everyone's kind of just peers here.
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Yeah, that's definitely a good way to put it. So you both ended up in Nashville. You guys are engaged now. Congratulations. Rats. That was cool. I love seeing as you're also Alaskan cruise was, so man land, adventure wasn't a cruise like private cabin and stuff. And then Alaska, right. We love Alaska kinds of stuff in Alaska. We go there and tour. So we felt like we, that was like our third or fourth trip up there. I think that was our third run toward ACE over there. We just love it up there. So Tyler, how did you propose? Okay, so yeah, so basically we had the run of shows in Alaska and then we had a couple days off, right?
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And then we, we were in Homer, Alaska. So if you're not familiar with Homer, it's got this little thing called land's end, which is basically like this like little slip a land with water on either side and you can drive out a couple of miles to the very end of it. So you're making yeah, water on all sides and it's beautiful. It's like the mountains, balding rules and all this stuff. Whales like dope. It's really beautiful. So, and that's a place that had sentimental value for us anyways because, you know, just from touring out there, that was a place we love to go because just really beautiful. It is. Yeah, it's cool, you know. And we just went out there and we're going to shoot a music video and then I had a videographer lined up cause I knew Magleby in hair and makeup and I knew if she wasn't, she would never show the engagement video to anybody.
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And I know she's not like a makeup artist for that or no, I just did it. I was like in the car doing my hair and makeup. He's like, I'm going to go check out the spot and make sure everything's cool. And I was like, cool. You know, we had this guy, this poor videographer man, he did an amazing job, but I'm like, I'm like, ah. It was one of those, I call these kinds of moments like take my hand, follow me like harebrained schemes that you get people into. I called this guy and I was like, okay, so like I need you to like have your drone ready to fly up. He didn't have any help.
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So like if you can hold a DSLR camera on the drone with this thing, so I'll get two shots, but he wasn't there. And then, and then when I cue you that we're coming up, I need you to go hide under the pier. It was like this poor guy, but he nailed it. Right. So he did it.
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Great job. Awesome. And yeah. And then we just went out of their lands in, I don't know if you've ever proposed anybody, but that shit is horrifying.
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The nice thing about what I proposed to Amanda is she already knew it was happening. I said, yeah, but
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Feeling about it. But I did not that day particularly. I kind of forgot. So you are, you were totally caught off guard by it. Yeah, it's boy. He started walking down there and the drone started circling my head. I was like, Oh, this is weird.
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[Inaudible] Music video.
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Yeah. It was like, man, this guy's eager
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Drone.
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Well that's cool. So how did you guys end up meeting? So you got to Nashville, you guys are engaged now. Where's that middle part? How did you guys end up meeting? We met in the studio, which is funny cause now we have [inaudible]
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No, you guys have a studio together. Yeah.
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Yeah, we well Tyler was doing production and I was obviously singing. I had just finished the Rebbe tour. Kinda like got out of my duo I was in and I had done that, the hold Rebbe tour by myself. But I had brought out James Otto, who's an artist in town to sing, you know, some of the songs with me on tour. Okay. So we kind of, we, we got to be really good friends. And then he invited me to sing on his record and Tyler was producing his record. Oh, that's fun. So I went in and I was trying to sing and that day I was like, I had been touring like 200 dates a year for three years. And I had hemorrhaged a vocal chord, which I didn't like, you know, no until I kind of slowed down enough to let go. Oh, that's really not good doctor for that and everything. Yeah. Yeah. I just really needed to rest cause I hadn't slept in like three. So I went in to sing on this record and I just like was having a bad day and I'm like, I don't know if I can do this part today. And Tyler was like, it's cool. Just come back to my studio next week and you can sing it. And I was like, okay,
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This guy.
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Yeah. So I went back to his studio like a couple of weeks later and finished it and yeah, that's how long ago was this? I was seven and a half years ago. Wow. Yeah, that's all together a long time. It's been a minute. And that's fantastic. So
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You guys be in musicians. How would you define success as a musician? That's a good question. It's changed. Yeah. What success is, is a, and what you said, how would you define success? Like taking a step back from that? I think if you want to be happy as a musician, you have to define success. You know you need to force yourself to define success cause otherwise, you know, you're always, as a musician you, you're naturally always filled with doubt and all of this. I think for us, you know, being able to sustain a living, being able to continue releasing new the music we want to release, having creative control of what we're doing and you know, and, and be successfully incorporating this entrepreneurial element. I think all of those things are like how we define success. Probably, you know, wouldn't mind winning some Grammys along.
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Yeah, definitely. We'll get there. It'll be nice.
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So, you know, w are there new things on the horizon for you guys to help the fund the success? Are you guys kind of, you know, sitting on that path and, and, and kind of continuing with what you're saying is what success is? I mean, it's like being able to continue to sustain like a career in the music industry and create and maintain creative control of our project. Like those are the, in the broadest sense, that's kind of what success is, I think. Right. In the broadest sense. Like with that said, like w you know, what would we like to, you know, like to me like there's a bucket list and I know for you to, there's like bucket list things that we would love to do for sure. And you know, continuing to release music and one day like winning Grammys or you know, awards, all that would be nice. Although some of those are kind of vanity things, you know, but I don't know, like the Grammys are one thing that's always been on the bucket lists. Yeah.
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That was just came out. They say Grammys. Yeah. I don't know. I feel like too with like was still mad cause I was, I had a duo called steel Magnolia. We were on big machine and like I w I was nominated for CMA as an ACO and I had a hit a few hit songs, you know, and did a bunch of stuff that I wanted to do. Like I had a whole list and I checked it off in a year, played, played the frickin Stipe, Titan stadium played the Opry, like did all the things. I was still really miserable. Wow. Cause I feel like if you're like in a situation with someone you're not and you're not happy, it doesn't matter. You know? So it's like, it's kind of puts things into perspective. You're like, yeah, I want all those things. But I also just want to like be happy and be in a situation where I feel like I have creative control and like being able to put out the music I wanna put out and represent myself the way I want. I want to represent myself, you know? So that's important. But it's, there's like, it's, you know, there's pros and cons to everything for sure.
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Back to like defining success in like broader terms, you know what I mean? And if you don't define what success is for you in like broader terms like that, how would you ever be happy? Cause you know, it's like sometimes you have to take a step back and be like, okay, like we're doing well. Like this is great, you know,
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So much of it can be hard on yourself I think is like just finding lanes. Like it's, it's almost fun to try to figure it out. Like it's like finding these different creative that you're like, Oh, how am I going to do this? Like what are we going to do next? It's like that's almost like a fun creative aspect in itself, you know? Yeah.
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Oh absolutely.
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Well kind of reinventing yourself. Yeah. And honestly business and art are very closely related. I feel like people always think of like business as being like, you know, this T total or like
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Bye bye
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People associate it with business and they associate art with these like hippy, you know, like, you know, free thinker thinkers. Yeah. But in reality to be, to be like effective, you know, there's a lot of artistry that goes into business and there's a lot of business that goes into making a living with art. You know, they're there to, I think they really are more seamless and integrated and people tend to realize, you know,
(00:30:23):
Yeah, we had a guest on last week, Clint often he's, he's kind of making his way successfully in the folk charts. Cool. But some of the questions we asked him I think would be good questions for you guys as well. You know, because a lot of people, and I've seen this with, you know, being at SAE, a lot of people who are into music and, and this was probably your case as well. You come out of high school and you're ready to just like kick butt and go out there and play it all the venues and everything and then, you know, later now you'd probably give yourself some advice for, for your 17, 18 year old self. What kind of advice do you think people who are, you know, wanting to make it big now? What kind of advice would you give to them? For their start in the music industry?
(00:31:09):
I don't know. What do you think? Like, I mean, not quitting is the first thing, you know, not quitting. And then also setting like setting like realistic, short term and longterm goals, you know, and sticking to them. Yeah. You know, because a lot of times like you got to know if you know where you want to go, it's way easier to get there if you don't know where you want to go or if you haven't defined what success is, you're going to get frustrated, you know? So I don't know. Setting real longterm and real short term goals. And then
(00:31:37):
I think that most young artists who don't have Blake a grasp for like branding and like figuring out like, okay, what makes like, what makes you unique, you know, like what makes you stand out? Like, and then how do you capitalize on that? Cause it's like everybody in Nashville can sing. Like everybody's is really good. Like everybody's good. Every brothers, a lot of really attractive people. There's a lot of people that are, you know, have, you know, so it's like, what is the thing that you bring to the table that is like maybe a little different and how do you like, you know, showcase that? I guess, I don't know. I think that's important.
(00:32:10):
Like I get asked all the time, like, especially once I bring people here to visit you guys, they're like, is there anything else like this and Nashville? And I say, no, like you guys have taken a creative outlet and turned it into an experience like you mentioned earlier. And so so applaud to you guys for doing that. Like, I love taking clients here because you guys are one of the most unique things here in Nashville. Thanks man. So who has been your inspiration to get you guys into
(00:32:40):
Music individually? Hmm, I don't know muse as far as getting into music. I mean, there's a million people, like every artist that we love and every, you know, musician that we love. I mean, there was, you know, I came here as a guitar player initially. Okay. And I wrote, I wrote songs and, and all. But my main thing when I moved to Nashville, even before I got into production, and before I got really serious about songwriting, I was primarily a guitar player. And my initial dream was to get on the road in a famous band and tour and a tour bus. That was my goal when I was 18. And I ended up doing that, you know, and toured a bunch of country bands and stuff. But for me back home, I mean all the artists I would see on TV and on the radio, I loved Brad Paisley came out and you know, like Brent Mason and guitar player, country guitar player, his guitar playing always blew my mind.
(00:33:35):
Honestly. Even Jimmy from diamond Rio's is as random as that is like his guitar playing, I would watch him and diamond real, I'd be like I'd be like, damn, it's like insane the things the guy was doing on a guitar, you know? And it was like a sound that was identifiable, you know, like there are very few people that have that distinctive of a sound just playing the guitar, you know? And that guy's like a friend of mine now. It's crazy. You know what I mean? So like, I don't know, there's all kinds of people. But I think for me personally like beyond like just the music, like in a business sense, I toured a bigger rich for like four or five years and seeing how those guys run their business and created a brand with what they do was eye opening to me man.
(00:34:16):
Like both of them outside of their outside investors, like big investors, restaurants, hotels and stuff that's going on outside of music. I would sit on the tour bus with like John Rich and with Anne would big Kenny. I would sit on eat. They each had separate tour buses when I was out with them. But I'll sit on the bus. Well they were like, you know, formulating ideas and like coming up with business ideas and I would watch them come up with an idea, figure out like an angle that was unique and then just go 150% in that direction. I know, I know like little big town, they have a winery, two of them have a winery. That one has like a hotel somewhere now. So like everyone has to diversify their pro Prolia. Now of course all the major country artists have a bar here in Nashville. That's a very common thing. Are you guys going to open a bar in Nashville?
(00:35:03):
It's funny though. You don't see any like, I don't think there's like a female, there is not a female bar. Yeah. I think a Dolly Parton bar would kill it. Yeah. Open up. Yeah. That would be amazing. That would be so cute. But I mean once you build like that's the thing I realize, you know, as an artist you're also a brand, right? And then once you have a successful identifiable brand, the next step is like all these like you know, partnerships and relationships and ways to like use that brand in other areas of business. You know, I mean people was like one of one of the, in my mind pitbulls one of the most successful people at that like doing brand deals with different liquor companies and yeah. You know, his whole brand was like six of them now. Yeah, exactly. And he's a mogul as a mogul because of it, you know. And it has nothing to do with music. It only has to do with branding. Same thing with Jay Z. Like he, yeah, he owns clothing brands, like a billionaire because of her clothing company. Yeah. And people talk about, Oh, the music industry is like suffering and it isn't making any money. Well like if you, if you're entrepreneurial spirited, it's still making money cause those are the ways that have to yeah, exactly. Yeah. So Stuart and I were talking earlier today about the star Wars franchise. He had watched a documentary,
(00:36:22):
A documentary called toys that made us, and it's actually pretty good. Like if you're learning, wanting to learn about business, like this is a great like documentary of watch. And so basically, yeah. So basically what happened is, I think the star Wars movies have made maybe like seven to $9 billion, just like being out in the theaters. But the toy industry has made 14 to $20 billion off of the star Wars horror toys. And so they had to diversify that portfolio. And now it's, there's literally star Wars toys today that are worth over $50,000. And it's just a little action figure that's three inches tall. So they made an industry and these toy makers, that's what they did. And so that's why artists have to diversify their portfolio. Megan, who has been somebody that's [inaudible]
(00:37:13):
To be honest, you know, it's been pretty inspiring. Like a couple of our, sorry, I keep telling you it's okay. I was going to talk about Doug, the pug like Oh yeah, no, no, no. But I mean lesbian Rob, like they've, they created like an Instagram famous dog. It has like 6 million followers now. The way they create a products and all this kind of stuff. The pug even has a national day here or a day here in Nashville dedicated to it. And he just won the people's choice award. Animal star of the year. Oh my gosh. From a Nickelodeon, it was on a Nickelodeon show called [inaudible].
(00:37:51):
I always, I always get them confused. Yeah. But yeah, they just got back from LA and they won that and they're just killing. I mean, but they've also got, you know, products in Walmart and like so many like, you know, things in the works, I forget the things that have been announced and what hasn't. But it's a, it's a lot of, you know, need to be friends with people. That is to be really close friends with people that have built something like that, you know? Oh yeah. And to watch, you know, to watch how it's changed their lives and to watch them like turn it from something that was just a fun thing online to something that's been like become an empire, multifaceted business. Yeah, exactly. On to watch them do that and to watch it transform into this like huge, you know, multinational,
(00:38:36):
You know what I mean? That's been exciting. Aspen inspiring cause it's, you know, shows you what's possible. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Megan, back to you now, who is somebody that has inspired you musically or business wise?
(00:38:48):
You know, I don't know. I grew up in the 90s, so I was really into like big voices, like, like Whitney and saline and Mariah Carey, like that kind of stuff was like always intriguing to me cause I was like, Oh, it's really hard to sing these songs and I just want to nail them. So I just sit in my room and try to sing those songs for, I drive my parents crazy trying to hit these big old notes, you know? But, so that was like kind of what I first got into. And then when I started to like really get into music, I was always like listening to like, Dolly was a big one. And then Tanya Tucker was huge to me when I was a kid. Like I was just,
(00:39:23):
What do you think of the CMS last week or two weeks ago? In the whole introduction they had for CMS?
(00:39:29):
I thought it was dope. You know, I think it's cool to see that they're showcasing women and trying to, you know, create avenues for women to be seen because it hasn't really been, you know, it's just been kind of an interesting last decade with women in country music, you know, so I dunno, I think it's really cool. I'm all about women empowerment and seeing women up there singing and you know, stuff like that. And it's cool to see Tanya, you know, she's the most nominated country singer at the Grammy's this year. So she's, she got four nominations this morning and they're so like, it's like super deserved. You know, like I listened to that album and it's really freaking good, but she's always, she's always been that good, but she's having a moment now where people are like going back and realizing how great she is. See, I was, I was a no G fan. I was, I was into her when I was a kid, you know, so but yeah, I don't know. I, I, and I kinda, I kinda always gravitated towards strong women women with you know, Reba, I, I toured with her and she's such a business woman, you know, that's super inspiring to see, you know, females that run their own ship. And
(00:40:32):
Yeah, it was, I think Reavis touched so many people in that Avenue, you know, especially cause of her [inaudible] show.
(00:40:41):
It was huge. Huge. I actually had a roommate, it's funny when I was like, I dunno 20, I had this roommate named named Claude this and he was from Latvia and I remember we were talking about Reba cause you so obsessed with rebound. Like what's your favorite song? He says he didn't know, she sang, he was just obsessed with the TV show. These are laughy as we just got the show and he, I had to like explain to him though, she's a singer and these are her songs, you know? That's amazing. So I mean she's definitely international,
(00:41:12):
You know. Yeah. But that's funny. Well, I just thought of this question a few minutes ago when you're talking about Doug, the pug in Instagram and everything like that. I know before we were, before we started recording, we were talking about social media and everything, you know, recently if, if anybody has paid attention to Instagram, they've, they took out likes and you're starting to, yeah, they're
(00:41:33):
Rolling out like taken away likes as somebody who builds, you know, a brand constantly. Do you think that's something that, you know, what does that say to you guys about the way that they're trying to Instagram or whoever might be trying to portray social media? And do you think that has an effect as to what you guys do at all? Hmm. Why are they doing it?
(00:41:58):
Because of the psychological reasons approved for something he has. So a bunch of likes to be cool or something. It's also, yeah, like there's also a lot of psychology behind it. Well, if like the sense of I need to post this at this time to get this thing because it's gotten, they feel it's gotten too calculated and calculated. But also people are comparing themselves constantly on social media. So like they're seeing some of their friends on vacation and Thailand and they're in small town America. And not doing anything with their life. So yeah. So there's a lot of competition that social media has developed.
(00:42:38):
Yeah. Interesting. I don't know, the whole likes thing doesn't bother me cause I feel like if you have, like if you have a good product yeah. And I have a good following and engagement is good on my page, so I don't, I mean it's, likes are cool, but yeah. It's not something that everything on there to me. Yeah. Cause the engagements where it really happens and I, yeah, I think that's what Instagram is trying to do, you know, in order to now have a successful Instagram, you know, you post and it's a, it's about engagement now. It's about the profile. It's about engagement, about getting rid of that. And you can still pull your analytics, you know? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh absolutely. Yeah. No, the engagement was on the post. Yeah. It feels like it's a good thing to me. Like, yeah. Overall probably.
(00:43:25):
Yeah. It feels like it's a good thing. And it's also like they show every post only get shown to such a small percentage of your followers anyways. Yeah. You know, so that's like, that's the one thing that's a little tricky. I guess you kind of have to like boost and like run ads for a lot of, if you really are trying to, if you have a business, that's what they do. I don't think any like marketing person really relies on organic reach that much anymore. I think every marketing plan is like, Hey, buy for 10,000 of this. Yeah, exactly. Like paid ads to get whatever point across but right. I mean, Oh, I'm like kicking our chocolate, eat off my chocolates. All the Russian chocolate. Yeah. You guys came in here with these rods. This is like some really good chocolate. I like three of these. Before we started,
(00:44:15):
We have found this, we found this super unique place on Thompson lane on near like the Hugh babies and it's this literally Russian market. Everything is in Russian. The music, the conversations, everything's in Russian and I told Aaron twice, I'm like, I think this is a front for the mob like this, like a black market kidney in the [inaudible], whatever you need man. But you have to speak Russian. They get the land in the chest of we got you. They probably do. I don't know, guys talk is good, but yeah.
(00:44:47):
What are some of your roles favorite moments in the music industry, you know, from now, from, you know, you know, pretty much conception of your start in the music industry until now. What are, what are some of the moments that you guys really remember the most?
(00:45:02):
I don't, you know, there's, I've had a lot, I don't know, I think going on, on tour with some of the acts I've gone on tour with has been pretty cool. I did my first tour as a big machine artist was with Brad Paisley, so I did, that was like my first major tour and Derrius Rucker was on that tour. So that was a lot of fun. I don't know that that was like, that's probably the most, the most fun I had during those years was touring, you know, just being with other artists and just the comradery and just, you know, it's cool. And the catering was really good on the Brad Paisley tour. That's nice. But yeah, so that was fun. You know, doing the RIBA tour, I did a tour with Bob Seger. That was super dope cause you kind of forget like with him, he was funny cause he has had so many hit songs, but you like asked me to name them one and I'm like, Whoa, no, you know Bob, you know, it's like, and then you sit there and watch a show.
(00:45:56):
You're like, that's a hit. That's it. That's a hit. And he's just such a great singer. But he also has sweat bands laid out on a table on on the stage and he switches them out between songs cause he's sweating that much. You know, it's an image thing. But but yeah, so I, I don't know the touring stuff, for me it was really special. Obviously playing the Opry is, you know, you know, that's a huge thing. The first time you do that and you step into the circle is like crazy. But it really, every time you do it feel like it's like a magical thing, you know? That's really cool. Yeah.
(00:46:36):
Did when I was there last time at the Opry I think somebody had, it was a big moment. Somebody had asked somebody to make their Opry debut. Was it the Luke Combs one? No. Do those moments happen for every artist? Every artist kind of has a special moment where they're asked to make their Opry debut.
(00:46:57):
I don't remember being asked to make our opera. I think we were just told we were doing it, but I do remember like going there and you know, just being there the first time rehearsing with the opera van and walking on stage, that was, it was just super special. You know,
(00:47:14):
You're probably thinking of when they introduce somebody as a member of the opera. It may be, yeah, that's a big celebration. So like they'll have like Carrie Underwood or somebody come up and say, Hey, would you like to be like, I remember Carrie Underwood. Randy Travis.
(00:47:31):
Okay. Okay. And then like Luke Combs, like somebody asks Luke Combs, it'd be a member and membership is very, very hard to get into on the Opry. So it's more the hardest thing is in these big deal. Yeah, it's a big deal. Yes, I don't, I mean, I don't know. Those are, those are all like things that I think about that I'm like, Oh yeah, like I can't believe it. Oh. And late night we'll doing late night shows stuff like I'd ever been in like Jimmy Fallon. I was on Jimmy Kimmel and I did I did David Letterman still on the air. Letterman would be cool. It was cool cause like he found us so, and I guess he hit up our, our people and, and asked us to do it, which I thought was really cool. You know, apparently he's really into music and really like likes to choose his artists for that show.
(00:48:19):
So that was a really cool thing. And you know, Aaron Rogers was on that night. He had, they had just won the super bowl. Oh, that's awesome. So yeah, I was just like, you know, you have surreal moments like that were like, how did I get here? How does the, the, the voice ranks up with, with all of these? Oh yeah. And then there's the voice. And then my little side project. Other things. No, the voice is cool man. You know, I wasn't expecting the voice that kind of just fell in my lap, which was really tell a story. It's worth the story. Yeah. You know, I, so I was, I was trying to do my solo thing cause I was in this band for a long time. Nobody really, everybody kind of knew me as like the girl from steel Magnolia and I was trying to get out there with my, my name and get people to know who I am.
(00:49:05):
And so had been working on that. And then when was that? I was in line at the Panera bread on 21st. And I got a call from a producer from the voice while I was in line. She was like, Hey, we found some, you know, we saw some video of you performing on YouTube there. She was like, would you be interested in auditioning for the show? It's cool. I was like, I don't know, let me call you back. I got to check out. So I was like, sigh checked out. And my my total and I checked out was 1111, which I have tattooed on my neck cause it's like such a thing for me before then. Yeah. It's always been a, it's always been a sign for me that I'm on the right track. And so as soon as I checked out, my total was 11, 11.
(00:49:52):
I was like, okay, I'll call her back. And I was like, Hey I'll, I'll, I'll come do it. So that was on a Friday and they flew me out on a Tuesday. Wow. How long was the interview process for it? I mean, really it was just that phone interview and then I was in LA, so it was like, basically, I think I did one, one trip where we didn't do before. We did the the blind audition where they just kind of put you through like psych evaluations. There's a lot, there's a lot of process to get on the show. And then and then the next time I went I did the blind audition. Gotcha. So, wow. And then, and then from there, it was like nine months of, do you have a most memorable moment from that show experience? Yeah, I mean I have a couple.
(00:50:40):
So like I think working with Lionel Richie was super cool because I started out on team furrow, so, and luckily I stayed on team for Al long enough to get through the mentoring session when he brought Lionel Richie on. So I was like in a room with the band and then Lionel Richie and Ferrel working on a song and you know, I know Richie's coming behind me and he's like, here, let's work on it. You know, he's like moving my hands around, like teaching me stage presence stuff, you know? And I'm like, it was just such a weird, surreal. Yeah, yeah. Cause they're just like, they're both like the type of person that just is very like the like stare at you through like they look like they're like staring through your soul. Like, there's this, so there's so sweet, but they're so intense and they're so purposeful and you're like, okay, you know, kind of makes you a little nervous.
(00:51:29):
But that and then I think singing, singing with Kelly Clarkson for sure. That's another big moment. Did you take anything away from that experience? Like after you were done with the voice, did you have like a, okay, after that experience I really am going to do X, Y, andZ ? Or did you continue on the same path that you were hoping to do before you got on the voice? I think it just kind of accelerated the path, you know, cause it was like this big huge platform and opportunity and just like having our whole thing was to just have things ready to go. So like, let's have a single ready, let's have a record ready, let's have, you know, things, a plan, you know, I performed on the Capitol fourth in DC like four weeks after I was off the show, you know.
(00:52:16):
And so that was like a that was a pretty cool, like performance to kind of launch the EEP. And so we kind of had a marketing wise, we had a plan right after the show was over. And a lot of people don't take that opportunity. Right? No. A lot of people don't do anything. They just kind of wait or they, you know, there are, they don't have music ready, you know, so they're trying to get it together. So we just kinda like, we were recording in between my trips to LA so we would have it ready to go. Yeah. Yeah.
(00:52:43):
Or did you help at all? With Megan on the voice? They, when they, when you on a voice, I guess they kind of like what is not quarantine, what do they call it? Sequester, sequester them. Yeah. They sequester them. So I was just like a grown man sneaking in my girlfriend's window every night that was sitting in the same hotel. Why in I would they, I was somewhere else, but I would like have to sneak into the room because that's just kind of had they keep them kinda isolated but hurry in the rooms, like outside of the rooms, water performance, I've never heard that. Yeah, exactly. I'm like, dude, they're crazy to leave. I'm like, I'm 29 it was crazy though to see the, the scenes of how that show
(00:53:26):
Operates is like a well oiled machine. Like everything down to like it's NBC isn't it? Yeah. See, but like the real like MVPs on that show too are like the stage hands. Like cause you watch like they filmed the show in real time. So like when you're watching it on TV, you don't think about the fact that during the commercial break they're tearing down the set and putting up a new slate. Superbowl type stuff. Well oiled machine. Like you watch it happen in real time and it, by the time they come back from commercial, it looks like you're in there in a completely different setting. Yeah. You know, it's just the way that show they do two seasons a year. Right? Yeah. It's insane. It's pretty brilliant. Yeah. But I mean you helped me with like, Oh did I, Oh do the charts and stuff with charts on songs and then like you, you helped me.
(00:54:14):
I ended up releasing through the show in the finale. I got to perform an original song, which I a test and had never done before that point. Oh wow. Wow. I'm going to re released it. I was so hung. And the record, they bought the master recording, which Tyler produced for which we had to record it. So we came into the, the person that really made that happen was Blake Sheldon. Cause he, Meg told Blake that she's like, well I have my own recordings and my own songs. I would like to release that because usually the house band just records the song and that's what they put out. Right. And they'll just pitch you a song and you cut that. So, and Blake went to bat for Meg and made it happen for her, which was really cool for sure. Awesome. I just had a question coming to my mind with you guys.
(00:54:55):
Being in the music industry, have you ever had a lonely moment? Hmm. I mean yesterday, yeah. Yeah, all the time. Especially when you're touring like a lot, like when I was doing 200 days a year, I'm like, I don't have any friends like my friends or the band, you know? And that's cool, but you come off the road and you're like, everybody's like living their life, you know, like, and then you're missing holidays and you're missing. Like, you know, you feel like you don't really have any friends. I mean, it's dynamic when you do a bigger tour. Like if you do like an arena tour, it's a strange dynamic because like 23 hours out of your day, you're pretty isolated. You're either in a bus or you're like in a weird like locker room or something, you know? Or you're, and you're around the people in your band all day long.
(00:55:43):
So you kind of learn when to give each other space and not smother each other. You know? So you spend, you're around people all the time, but you're also kind of alone a lot. And then for that one, you know, little window of however many minutes or an hour a day, you're like on stage in front of a lot of people. And so it's like kind of both. It's a big dynamic. It's a big, yeah, it's both extremes. You know, it's like, it's both extremes. I think that's why a lot of musicians are alcoholics and like a lot of creatives end up having substance abuse problems. It's, it's kind of a really strange way to live. You know, we'll talk about, you know, having, you know, being in a space like 23, how did the 24 a day, you know, both studio is definitely a home for you guys.
(00:56:27):
What are some, and it's one of the most, I probably unique looking studios in this city, you know, in this, definitely not on accident. What kind of intention did you guys have behind designing a place like bold studio? Yeah. Well first it was just to be a functional recording studio and then it started morphing into recording studio slash you know, event space, venue, event space. So it's sort of a hybrid of both, you know, and ultimately it's a place where Meg and I are like most of every day. So we wanted it to be a place where we're comfortable. We just want to come every day. Right. So there's a lot of new Orleans influence, you know, and the way it's decorated. And that's all Meg. Yeah. Yeah. Tell a story about the pews. I love this. Yeah, he's good at that. So yeah, so like we wanted to, well, you know, like the Ryman auditorium, they have the church [inaudible] church pews, rice, and that's kind of a real, you know, famous thing about Astro and Bluebird.
(00:57:25):
I don't think they'd be blue birds pews though, is it? Is it? Okay. so we wanted pews in here to be kind of a look, a little mini version of that. So we went on Craigslist and this guy was, we call this guy that had 10 church pews and he was like way out in the sticks, like 45, 50 minutes away, real heavy country accent. And he's like, man, you got to have a flatbed truck to to pick these up. You know? It was like too many of them. I was like, well, we don't have a flatbed truck, so I guess it won't work, you know, but thanks. And he was like, well man, I'll bring them to you. I was like, awesome. So he brought him over here. He's like real country and he's like, drives him over here. And then it was just, I think it was just me, like Megan gone here yet and they were kind of heavy.
(00:58:10):
He saw I couldn't really lift him very well. So he's like, Aw, it's bringing me in for you. He brought him in, he's like, Oh, studio. He's like, ma, these are from my brother's house. And my brother sings too, or whatever. And everyone in Nashville always says like, my brother sings, so yeah, okay, cool. Whatever. So he brings in all the church pews and he's about to leave. And I was like, well, who's your brother? He's like, Billy Ray Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus, his church pews. Wow. Yeah, that's crazy. No, I see what you tell that story. You got a good accent. But yeah, but it's a good view. That's kind of like a, yeah, it was like they were meant to be or something. Yeah. And that's just the nature of Nashville. It's such a small town, the big city that it's becoming like you still can't go many places without running into running into somebody that, you know, always. Sometimes you run into and I feel like LA and and Nashville are kind of becoming like, like so many people from LA are moving here. So I feel like when we go, like we just get back from California. I feel like it's becoming like that there too. You know? It's like you're running to people, you know? And then here we ran on this morning to two people we knew from LA and I'm like, this is so, Oh, that's crazy funny. The music industry in general is I think really small or an entertainment is a lot
(00:59:22):
Of like music industry. People are attracted to the same kind of places. Like when we were in Homer, Alaska and not this time, but the time before we just randomly ran into Zach Brown. Oh my God. I not even like in a city or something. It was like there we went to this restaurant that you have to get on a boat and you like ride the ball several miles out to sea. And he's like the only, like it's like it's an Island. And literally we get off and there is this random little restaurant with nobody in it. And then there's like a horse barn with one human being standing in front of it. Why now? One human being the Zack Brown. That's crazy. And we're like, Zach, what's up? And he was like so disappointed to see us. And he was like, yeah. He's like, he's like, I moved out here to get away from Nashville. I was like, what? What you failed actually like moved. They built a house.
(01:00:13):
Well, yeah, I think he's got a few houses, but I think that he wanted I, that was his purpose in going to home or was it,
(01:00:19):
That's fine. It's got to get away from it. Yeah. That's fine. How did you guys, well we'll talk more about Nashville in a second cause we want to get into to a few things about Nashville. How did you guys end up starting that tour in Alaska? Cause that sounds pretty cool but also pretty unique at the same time. I think every market, if it's not a booking agent and booking it, like there's, Oh there's someone that's like kind of a local promoter that's sort of tied in with the scene there. So we have a friends, she's a friend first and foremost, but she's also like worked in the music industry and like promoted events there and stuff. So she brings us in and kind of puts together these, this tour for us.
(01:00:55):
Yeah, we had an agent that kind of brought us there first and then we kind of got in there and that scene and we loved it and well first time we went I didn't think I was gonna like it.
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We didn't know what to expect. Yeah. Was that your first time seeing a bald Eagle? Like in person?
(01:01:09):
Yeah, I think so. Well and I just, it was so we went in the dead of winter the first time. I mean it was funny though because I loved it so much, even in the middle of winter. So I knew I was going to love it. And that summer are completely different places in the winter and summer. Yeah. But I mean I love it both times to be honest with you. And it's the people are so-called people remind me of people from Louisiana. Cool. Cause that's where I'm from. But it reminds me of like swamp people is they're like the same type of people. Like everybody wants to feed you, everybody wants to take care. Like people are given a snow suits and boots and taken us on some planes to go places and do things and just kind of show you their everything and really have a good experience. And so that's really cool. You know? And then obviously the food, everybody's like feeding us, making food. And I was like these people are so cool man. But that's the same thing in Louisiana. And they're like, the only difference is like Louisiana has alligators and Alaska has bears, you know, the differences. But it's very similar. Yeah.
(01:02:16):
That's amazing. So with Nashville and you guys being having our studio here in Nashville, what's your favorite thing about the city of Nashville? [inaudible] Favorite thing? Probably just the community of like musicians here, you know, that's the thing that probably keeps us here. Yeah. For sure. That the community, and it is an exciting energy with like the tourism and stuff. People come in here, all the growth. It's an exciting time to be a part of it. Just cause so many people are coming here like with wide eyes that are excited and it creates a cool energy. You know, and that's also one of the things that's kinda hard about living here too. That's kinda twofold because sometimes the city's changed so much, you don't even recognize it. But
(01:02:59):
Yeah, I mean I think initially like the community's kind of what drew us here. I think the community has changed too. Yeah. Cause it's just not what it used to. It's not what it used to be. But I do think this little area we're in a very Hill is probably the closest thing to what it was. You know, those markers that really identify that kind of community that's here in Berry Hill. Just, I mean, everybody in this neighborhood is musical, you know, there's like 40 studios. So I feel like everybody's kinda like this in this area. I still see people that were here, you know, 15 years ago when I moved, I'll still run into those coal we're here, which is cool. But yeah, I mean music row used to be just songwriters, you know, and people were writing three songs a day and it was like, take a break for lunch and everybody was at the Longhorn because that was the only restaurant we had, you know?
(01:03:46):
And that ended up turning to pie in the sky. And then, I don't know what it is now, but it's just sitting empty right now. Is it empty? Okay. Yeah. I mean that was the place though. I mean, that was the little place. Like you'd go and you would eat lunch and you'd see, you know, Montgomery Gentry would have their tour bus out front and then, you know, Ashley Monroe, I remember seeing her there, you know, and we were kind of coming up at the same time and it was just like, it was very much a like, you know, a community it at the Longhorn, which is so weird. But nobody, nobody ever talks about that. It's so weird. But but I'm, I feel like that's kind of what like salmon Zoe's is up the road from us, this coffee shop appearance, this small little coffee shop. But you see kind of like everybody there at some point during the day now, which is cool, you know, to be able to see people and yeah, no, we're all doing the music thing. Talking about Nashville restaurants everybody's, Nashville has a great food scene. What are some of the places that you guys really like to hit up? And we love yellow porch, which is old school Nashville,
(01:04:47):
But it's one of those things where it's like great restaurant. It is, and it's not like insanity. Like, it's not so like new and cool that you're like waiting for 45 minutes to get in. Like it's one of those places we can just be working and be like, Hey, let's go like to the yellow portrait, whatever and just like up and go there and get right in and the food's always great. It's a great vibe. Like cool little patio and see that funky rail. Pretty lucky. Griddles pretty cool. Yeah.
(01:05:08):
Yeah. we're the worst people to ask this question to because we're like creatures of habit. There's like, we'll go to the same places we were going 15 years ago all the time. It's like we went to Fido this morning, like that stone in there for a hundred years. Dogs, we didn't say
(01:05:27):
That's one of the only places I like, it's a dog bar. Yeah. Well we have three dogs now, so it's not like we bring like a herd of dogs. Dogs. Yeah, it's dog friendly. I don't know if they mean like bring a herd of dogs and if you bring a dog right now, do you guys still work with the country music hall of fame a lot. Oh yeah. Okay. What are you guys doing there? They do one of our biggest allies actually like when we started doing the studio experience where like the closest thing to like what we would be like maybe like a competitor would be like RCA studio B tour. And in reality it's there, there are separate, yeah. They're separate. And what they do is different. There's a lot of history and what they do when they come. Yeah. But honestly, the people that are the country hall of fame have been like the most supportive of what we're doing, of anyone that has been in the industry. And yeah, we do a program with them that's mostly for student groups where we basically write and record a song with a group of students in a theater there. That's amazing. And it's a blast. Yeah. It's awesome. Inside track, local high school students. I'm going to tell you,
(01:06:34):
We do more high school than college. I think it's mostly high school, but like, yeah, they bring groups, they'll bring in like student groups from all over the country and they'll come in and they do like the hall of fame tour obviously. And then they'll do our program while they, while they're there,
(01:06:47):
It's a lot of fun. Oh, that sounds also bring like a mobile recording rig, like a drum machine. A little keyboard in my laptop and I plug it through the PA system in the theater. And then we have a mic turn towards the audience. So we'll basically, I'll, I'll basically like get one of the kids up and like they'll make a drum beat on the drum machine. We'll play some chord changes over it and then we'll get everybody yell out lyrics and we'll put together a song and then we have the mic and we'll record the song with them. So it takes about an hour and then they leave with like a recorded song. But it's, wow. It's fun. That's really cool. Fun.
(01:07:20):
The occasional rapper. Yeah. Every now and again we'll get a rapper on. It's so fun, man. I love it. I love it. I love being around that energy cause yeah, they are. They, it's giving me like hope for the future. I'm like, actually most of the kids that we've done this with are pretty cool. It's a lot of fun. But,
(01:07:38):
Well, what is one thing, I know you guys have your studio experience, but what's one thing that you would show somebody visiting Nashville in Nashville other than, other than your studio?
(01:07:50):
I'd show them my bagels and I'm skidding dog park that you go to. There's one right here now that's like right at the corner of Bransford and what's that other street? Craig head? Yeah. Yeah. Where the, those tours meet. So it's like it's right between our house and the studio. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Which is nice. What do they call that fair park? Yeah. Cause it's at the fairgrounds. The one thing will, yeah. Yeah. That's
(01:08:16):
The one next to the soccer stadium, which is the worst place for it though, because when I'm driving to the studio, I catch myself, I'm like checking out the dogs and there's a red light there. Oh no. Getting beeped up. But I'm like trying to look at a golden doodle, you know, she is, we always tell people about SANAS pub cause that's like such a unique place because it's gusting. Awesome. Yeah. People are like, Oh we want to go out and have it. I was like how, how hard are you trying to go out? Because if you really want to really go out, you'll probably end up at SANAS pub, you know? And it's like, you know, it's like two, it's like a double wide trailer with like, you know like beers, all cash only you can smoke size karaoke every night of the week. And then you got like this guy that's like a Santa Claus and his name is Sanna.
(01:09:05):
Does he do the same? So you know, his real name is Denzel friends with them on Facebook. Wow. Nice. So just doesn't do that Santa suit like every day. I don't know that he wears a Santa suit, does he? No. No, I don't think he does. I've never seen him go like Santa because of the beard overalls. Yeah, that's true. People come in here and they seem like they're, they want to have a good time and they're kind of wild. We'll send them a SANAS pub cause this is around the corner and is very local. Like it's not like, you know, it's definitely like local. I will say they did just blacktop their driveway and they're wow. That's good. Thank God. Cause I actually had my car stuck there once. Drop the cafe, Uber and Lyft passenger. My car got stuck in their parking lot. We didn't go there. Terrible. Actually they did it yesterday and I, we drove by today and I was like, it's beautiful. But it's like it was much needed for sure. Oh yeah. Amazing. So what's one thing Nashville is missing? Some people have said transit, some people have said a theme park. The beach.
(01:10:08):
The beach. Yeah, we just had a beach. That's the only thing that, that's the only thing we'll leave town for is the beach. Nashville shores guys. Come on bath. Maybe you do. Yeah, the beach for sure. Do you guys have a a beach that you guys really like going to? We just got back. We were in California for like 16 days. We got back like a week or two ago. San Diego, we went to San Diego for a few days. Ocean beach in San Diego. Nice. It's like beautiful big fan of that place. That's one of the only places I've been recently cause like as much as Megan and I both toured, we've toured like all over the world and like always happy to come back to Nashville. Always excited about coming back to Nashville. Ocean beach was one place where I was like, not quite as excited as the nationals came home on the day that it snowed. Yeah. Yeah. Like we literally were flying down from the clouds at midnight when it started to snow. It's actually pretty cool. Were you able to see any snow from like plane or was it too
(01:11:13):
Small?
(01:11:16):
We were just like, wait, it was so, it was like very turbulent though. I was like, Oh I can't. I hate turbulence. I fly all the time and I still hate it. But yeah, Tyler just doesn't act bothered by it.
(01:11:29):
Digging my clock. It's like, what's wrong with you? So Megan, Tyler, thank you so much for joining us here on the Nashville daily podcast. Where can people follow you guys on social media?
(01:11:42):
We have a new Instagram with Meg and Tyler. You know, and then we both have our individual ones, but you can find on there and then Facebook, Twitter, it's all just, I think it's all Megan. Yeah.
(01:11:54):
Yeah. Facebook's Megan Tyler music. Yeah. Okay. And then where can people book this? Airbnb? I know on Airbnb, but like their websites, you can go studio tour.com. Okay. Yeah, so that's kind of like the hub for all things experience that we do as a studio, tour.com. And there's links to all the different experiences. We do all the animation and stuff per conversation earlier. Where can people follow your future? Tick-Tock adventures. Oh yeah. Is it Meg and Tyler music? Cause I think there was another man. I can Tyler tell him, use him as somebody, somebody beats you to getting Megan tied. No, I know, but you know, we don't have much posted on there right now. We're going to keep a [inaudible] and we got to get something figured out with that. We're in that same boat. We'll, we'll post, we'll, we'll, we'll try to make sure our, our posts are happening, sir. It's crazy going Vegas, some of our friends who have kids and be like, what do we need to do? How do we tick tock? Yeah. Yeah. I call your friend. Can I talk to your 12 year old real quick? The business opportunity, your friend's 12 year old for business advice. Calling our friends dog on Doug the pug. Hey and listen a world we live in today. That's exactly awesome these days. Yeah. Well appreciate you guys. Thanks for, thank you guys. Thanks for having us in your or your awesome studio.
(01:13:48):
[Inaudible]
(01:13:52):
Thank you guys for listening to this episode of the Nashville story. Stay tuned for Monday as we talk about all of the things that Nashville has to offer in celebration of Mardi Gras or a fat Tuesday and tons of stuff to do excited for that episode to come out on Monday. Meanwhile, you can follow us at X PLR dot Nash on Instagram and find us on YouTube at X PLR dot Nash, and if you're feeling really anxious, you can tweet at us at X PLR underscore Nash. Until then, I hope you guys have a fantastic rest of the weekend. We will see you on Monday.