Interview with Zoe Zobrist

What is going on?! It is Adam. Welcome back to bringing it backwards. A podcast where both legendary and rising artists tell their own personal stories of how they achieved stardom. On this episode, we had a chance to hang out with Zoe, Zoe arborist, over zoom video. Zoe was born in Arizona, only lived there for six months and was raised the rest of her life in Dallas, Texas. She started playing piano at a very early age. She had this old 1920s, I think baby grand piano at her house. So she started playing that very early. Her dad was always into music, played some awesome records around the house. So she was always surrounded by music. She started playing guitar around 13 writing songs. 4 (1m 53s): Shortly after that, she talked to us about performing at south by Southwest at a very early age. She met somebody there that hooked her up with somebody in Los Angeles for some co-writes. She moved to LA, lived there for handful of years. Talked about selling out the Troubadour and the Viper room in Los Angeles and all about the most recent song. She just put out it's called better. You can watch our interview, Zoe, on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it backwards. It would be rad if you subscribe to our channel like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and tick-tock at bringing back pod. And if you're listening to this on Spotify, apple music, Google podcasts would be rad. If you follow us there as well, and hook us up with a five-star review. 5 (2m 36s): We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts, 4 (2m 42s): We're bringing it backwards with Zoe Zobrist. Hi, Zoe, how are you? 1 (2m 49s): Good. Can you hear me? 4 (2m 50s): I can hear you. Yeah. 1 (2m 51s): Okay, perfect. We are in the middle of a, a move. So my audio set up is not as, as it usually is 4 (3m 5s): All good. Where are you moving? 1 (3m 7s): We just moved to Texas. We moved to Texas from Georgia. We've had quite the year. We've moved eight times this year. 4 (3m 17s): That's wild. Wow. You 1 (3m 19s): Officially our home and I am not moving for at least five years home base where like home base. This is it. 4 (3m 28s): Very cool. So you're originally from Texas. Aren't you? 1 (3m 31s): I am. Yes, I am. So it's cool to be back. It's a, it's a much more exciting place than when I grew up. There's a lot more to do, so it's fun, but 4 (3m 41s): Okay. Very, very cool. Well, I'm Adam, by the way. And then this is about you and your journey and music. So I guess going back to, sorry, go ahead. 1 (3m 50s): And your family runs this podcast, right? 4 (3m 53s): Yes. Yeah. My wife and I, I'm sorry. 1 (3m 57s): You kids 4 (3m 58s): Two kids. Yes. Two kids and my wife and I it's just us. We started it in 2019 and then the pandemic happened and it just kind of, I mean, it's unfortunate the pandemic was, but that meant people were home and we just started doing these over zoom and it really hasn't stopped since it's pretty wild. 1 (4m 18s): This kind of interaction I feel like is what kept people saying 4 (4m 23s): For sure, for sure. 1 (4m 25s): And is as terrible as that, time-wise I feel like the doors that it, this is kind of a weird thing to say, because obviously it was not a good time, but it opened a lot of doors for people to explore avenues that I feel like maybe they wouldn't have otherwise. So, you know, and, and I certainly have a greater appreciation for being able to be around people again. So 4 (4m 46s): We're sure for sure. Yeah. I mean, I, I was doing radio for 17 years and then when this happened, it was like, because we were doing it as a fun thing that we were always trying to pursue, but it was like a weekly thing. And then the pandemic hit and I'm getting so many email requests to do interviews and I'm like, wow, this is really doing way more than I would have ever imagined. And we're like just leaned into it. So, 1 (5m 11s): And into it, I love that. That's like my favorite thing to say. 4 (5m 14s): Okay. Yeah. So that's been, you know, we've been doing it now and instead of doing one a week, we put one out every day. 1 (5m 22s): That's amazing. That's so cool. Congrats to you guys. That's awesome. 4 (5m 26s): Yeah. Yeah, no, we'd love it. But I want to talk about you and your journey. So Dallas, Texas is where you were born and raised. 1 (5m 34s): Yeah, I was, I was born in Arizona, but I moved out here and at six months old. So I'm basically a tech. 4 (5m 41s): I don't remember much, but I would imagine from, from Arizona then 1 (5m 45s): So much that family there. And I, I really like Arizona, honestly, the music scene over there. It's really cool too. A lot of, a lot of art, which is meat, but it's hot. It's a little too hot for me to live there, Texas hot too. But we have our, we have a little more seasons I'd say, but I grew up in like Brighton between Dallas Fort worth and then spent six years or so in, in LA and enjoyed that. But I have a, I'm married and I have a little one now. And 4 (6m 17s): Yeah, congratulations. I saw that. Well, your, your cover of, of your baby, a single as you pregnant. 1 (6m 25s): Yeah, yeah. Such a cool journey. I mean, I always knew that I wanted to be a mom, but like it's, it's my favorite chapter so far. And I think it's really cool. You know, like you and your wife, you're still making art, you're doing it. You're you, you juggle it all. And like, that is so cool. Especially like seeing how it's opened up my writing to, to have, or, you know, happy things to write about 4 (6m 52s): That new experiences. For sure. 1 (6m 54s): Absolutely. So it's, it's been really, really cool, challenging course. 4 (6m 58s): And you say, yeah, it's not, definitely not easy, especially now with summer. I mean, your, your, your child is obviously very young, but I have kids in school and it's like, now they're in summer. And it's like, okay, my wife and I worked from home and it's like juggling them in the other room. And 1 (7m 16s): How old are your kids? 4 (7m 18s): Six and 14. 1 (7m 20s): Six and 14. So you guys had to do the distance stuff with COVID as well. 4 (7m 23s): Oh yeah. That was a nightmare. Especially my younger son. He was in pre pre kindergarten or preschool. I can't remember. He was like, basically like a preschool and they were still having them go on zoom. I'm like, you realize that he's four, he's not going to sit on this computer for much longer than like three minutes, unless you're like, have a video up or a game going on. 1 (7m 45s): Totally. I get ya. My nephew is be about to, but yeah. Yeah. He's young. So summer wise, I mean, we're just, we're he likes the pool. He's he's like in his kind of easy stage right now. He's just him, but yeah. 4 (8m 2s): Cool. So what you, I mean, Dallas Fort worth is massive. So you grew up in that area and when you started playing piano at a very early age, is that the first instrument 1 (8m 13s): Growing up and the piano that I grew up playing is actually going to be at my house by the end of the month. So I'm really excited about this. Oh my God. I'm so excited. It's a 1920s baby grant and it's like, wow, it's beautiful. It's, it's this gorgeous black baby grand. That just like, I mean, the sound you get out of a, like a piano is just insane. So I really miss that. And, and my, my dad got it for my sisters and I growing up, which was so cool. Like he just, he played in the band growing up and I was hoping that someone would get the music bug. I think. So he, he had a piano in our house and I, I learned to play and I loved it, but 4 (8m 56s): He bought the 1920s, baby grand piano for you girls to play. 1 (9m 1s): He just he's, he's a music guy. And he, I guess he like came across something for sale and was like, okay, like somebody is going to learn to play it. It was a really special thing to have because just, I think seeing that sparked so much interest for me, like it was just, it was always in our living room. So I would probably play it in the most annoying way possible, you know, but, but it, it, it was inspiring, you know, it gave me something to be interested in. I started with classical training and I hated it. Like, I, I appreciate it now, but as a kid, I didn't connect with it. 1 (9m 46s): Oh yeah. I think some kids do all that, but I'm so engaged. Like I CA focus as hard for me. I'm sure I still noticed this conversation. I could go on like, it's my job. So for a lot of creative people, that can be a good thing because your brain can think in ways that, you know, you have all this imaginative capability. That's great. But that was a little bit too intense for me, especially at a young age. So I'm glad that I stuck with music because I just ended up kind of trying to learn by ear, you know, some of my favorite artists and that sort of thing. So I stuck with it, but at first I was kind of intimidated. 4 (10m 26s): Sure. So it was, you learned piano then, like, were you playing classical piano and then just got sick of it and moved on? Or 1 (10m 34s): I basically, because my, so we had like a record collection in my house too. So I listening to a lot of classic rock. Like we had, you know, of course the Beatles Zeppelin, the who, all those, and, you know, I just, I would hear things like, well, that's cool. I like music. So maybe I can try to learn some of those things. And, and then I, I wrote my first song on the piano when I was seven. And it was, yeah. Well, the cool thing about the classical music thing is it taught me how to write, like, how does like understand sheet music? So I have it still, it's like this notebook paper that had a few pages that I, it was like, you know, the sheet music notebooks, where you can write the, so I have those. 1 (11m 23s): And I think at the time it was like about God or something. I don't know. It's like, I was just writing whatever I was probably paying attention to at the time at seven. And yeah, it was interesting. So I don't know what made me want to write music. I think I was just like, well, I could make my own song or something. And then, yeah, I just started, started doing that. I mean, it was funny at 10 and I was like writing songs about like being cheated on or something. My mom's like, what do you know about this? You're watching too much TV. You're watching too much TV. Kids are funny. But, but yeah, so I just started writing cause it made sense to me for some reason, and then did musical theater, which got me out of being very shy. 1 (12m 12s): I was a really shy kid. And so that kind of like forced me onto the stage and like fears that I had. And I think, you know, having had that avenue where the teacher had was trained in an opera environment, like she helped me with my pitch and my tone. And then around 13 I picked up a guitar. So just kind of kept like finding new things to get into. 4 (12m 41s): And did you start, like when you got the guitar, was that, I mean, obviously the whole new instrument to write music on and then did that become like songs that you had eventually started a bandwidth or were those songs that were more singer songwriter that you could play out in about? Because I mean, lugging a piano around would probably be a difficult task. 1 (13m 1s): Yeah. Well I think at first I was intimidated by the guitar because it just didn't make sense to me. Like it was, it was like, I was used to seeing everything laid out here and front of you and then having something that, that I had to, it just was such a foreign thing. Like it really is learning another language and any instrument that you pick up. And I think the more that you pick up the better your brain gets at adapting maybe, but there was, there was that learning curve. And I, I see why like a lot of people quit when they started to learn the instrument because there's that time period where you're like, I feel like this is never going to happen and it's, it's so hard. 1 (13m 45s): And then you like the light bulb happens. And then I was like, okay, I like this. Especially trying to learn to sing and play. That was really hard at first. But once I, once I got more comfortable with it, I, I, I think that I started my first like band at like 13, you know, it's with some, like kids around there was like a little music school that, that we all kind of got together and had a band that we played in. And we played some like little, you know, the local like, like seasonal festival type things that are like in your town. We, we did stuff like that. And then, and then I started pursuing like my own actual, like I wrote this music when I was 14, so. 4 (14m 32s): Okay. So at 14 is when it was that's when it kind of changed for you? I mean, like at 14, are you playing different shows in the area? I mean, you talked about playing, you know, the, whatever festivals that were going on and, and the town, but like when do you start really pursuing this knowing like, was there a moment that you're like, okay, is what I've definitely know, this is what I'm going to do forever or a validating moment for you with your song writing. 1 (14m 57s): That's a cool question. Yeah. I think that like, I'm looking back, I think it's really neat how, how this builds over. You're like over someone's young life, like deciding what maybe they want to do. Cause when I was five, I saw a girl singing at like some event and I was like, mom, I want to do that. I was like three or five or something. So I always knew that I wanted to do music or pursue something that was artistic. Cause my sisters, I was danced their whole life. So I was like, oh, we have such an artsy. Gail it's is fun. I was exposed to that, which is great. I'm lucky that my, my parents were like, you know, willing to let you chase that dream because it was, it was a lot, I mean, having to take your kids to lessons and things can become daunting. 1 (15m 44s): I'm sure. But I think that by the time that I was 14 and started kind of seeing that like, oh, this is a, this is a real thing. Like people are starting to talk about what they want to do, where they might want to go to college maybe, or like that sort of thing. I was just like, oh, you know what? I think I really want to try to try to try to do this. And I think that, especially for me being a kid that I did not fit in very well, it was, there was, there were a lot of things that I, I was trying to figure out emotionally and music was my safe Haven in that way. So I think that, you know, finding a place that I felt safe and that I could express myself was really impactful for me. 1 (16m 26s): So yeah. Started playing my own music for other people and sort of doing like little recordings and what have you. 4 (16m 34s): Okay. And did you, when you ended up finishing high school, do you go to college for music? Like when are you talking about moving to LA for awhile? Like, was that the next big move for you? Or what, what, what happened via, like after you graduated high school? Like, okay, now you graduate. I want to play, I wanna, you know, be a songwriter now, what do I do? 1 (16m 55s): So my learning years were a bit random. I, I got my Geb because I was quote unquote homeschool. Like I didn't really, you know, pay attention or do a lot of schools together. 4 (17m 7s): Yeah. My son is, or he was homeschooled as well. Now he goes to basically school a couple of days a week, my older one. So 1 (17m 14s): Yeah. Like I just, it was always really hard for me to be in a, in a school environment. You feel? I don't know. I, it always kind of like made me really feel hard on myself cause I, I wasn't able to keep up. And when it came to like testing and evaluations, like I, I was like, okay, like I can do this. I guess I just don't want to, like, I don't know. My brain just wouldn't, there's so many different styles of learning. And I think that we're becoming a lot more attuned to that nowadays. But in, you know, when I was in school some 26 now, so when I was in school, you know, it was, if you are in like AP math, like they could see I was creative. 1 (17m 55s): They didn't know what to do with that. So there's, wasn't a lot of options for kids that wanted to do art things when I was really young. And then by the time I was a little bit older, I was just like, I think I'm going to wait on college because I didn't know what I wanted to go for. I didn't want to, you know, end up in debt 4 (18m 16s): Smart idea. 1 (18m 17s): Yeah. And I was just like, you know what, I'm just gonna, I got my GED. At least I have that. If I want to go to college, eventually I'm just going to play shows and pursue music and writing. And when I was 19, I went to write with someone and let's see, I was 20. I went to write with someone in California and they had a room open and it was like for $500, which in California, a room being available for that cheap was like, okay, I'm not, 4 (18m 47s): I've heard of, yeah. I'm from San Diego. I know all about that. 1 (18m 51s): Yeah. And I guess I was just about 20, I don't know. And I was like, Hey, I'm just going to do it. So I just moved. I stayed and I loved it. I was, that was a big, big fan of the beach life that it offered. And like all these people that I got, I mean, you throw a rock and you're like, you're some talented guitarist or 4 (19m 13s): Whatever. 1 (19m 14s): So many creative people there. And it was, it was really cool. It was hard though. You know, there was a lot of growing up for me to do, but it was a good experience. Let's see. How long was I there? I moved there when I, it was in 2016, I guess. 4 (19m 31s): Okay. Well, I mean, coming from Dallas to then moving to Los Angeles, I must've been quite a culture shock to 1 (19m 38s): Oh yeah. Yeah. And I had, like I said, a lot of growing up to do in the sense that like, there were a couple situations where I lived, I was in band nice where I had to learn very quickly, like, okay, I don't leave my house past this time because we were not in, there were like, we have some like, like a lot of just stories where I'm like, okay, I'm glad I'm good. 4 (20m 5s): Right. Right. 1 (20m 8s): Literally felt like the ceiling fell in at one point. And there were like, let's see, at one point there were like, I had my own room, but there were like five people and there's like two bedroom. 4 (20m 22s): Oh my goodness. Yeah. That sounds about right. 1 (20m 26s): That's the lifestyle over there. And it was really fun though. Like figuring it out, making, making friends, figuring out how to collaborate with people. And, and all that was, was really good for me learning how to like, okay, I guess I have to work three jobs right now. That kind of mentality of just like, you just have to do a check to do was really good for me. So it was hard. There were a lot of times where I was like, hi, you don't know how much longer I can do this, 4 (20m 56s): But 1 (20m 57s): Yeah. Which now which now that's why I'm like, okay, Texas is cool because I can go to California. I can go to work. But you know, you just, this a little more comfortable here for family purposes. I think if you're trying to like figure it all out. 4 (21m 15s): Yeah. Yeah. We moved to Nashville like a year and a little bit over a year ago and we absolutely love it here, but we're originally from I'm from San Diego. So, or my wife, my whole family's from San Diego. So us moving here was such a change coming from, from, you know, the California environment to now here. 1 (21m 35s): I love Nashville though. What a, what? A fun spot. 4 (21m 38s): Yeah. We love it here. It's amazing. 1 (21m 40s): And that's the same thing there as far as like there's so many creatives full environment to be in. I do. I like it. I think that at least at this point in my life, I like, like if I had to move to one of them, I would definitely pick Nashville just because I, I, I like that. It has that kind of combination of like, if you want to kind of get out of the Nashville area, you have like, I love Tennessee, Tennessee is great. 4 (22m 5s): Yeah. It's a beautiful, yeah. We're not in the city, we're in the burbs, but which I love too. Cause it's like, I can go to the city, but I mean, we, yeah, with our family and everything, it's so much more calm and the pace of life is a lot slower and yeah, we'd dig it here, but yeah, it's been amazing. But UK, so you are in LA and was there like a, like what was the, a big moment that happened there? Or did you know, what was the kind of that got to your career going? 1 (22m 35s): So I was in LA because I had, I had been working with, so basically rewinding, I had played south west in man 2015, no. Oh, 4 (22m 49s): That's huge. 1 (22m 50s): Not 2015. Maybe it was like 2013. I am the worst with timelines and dates. 4 (22m 54s): Don't worry about it. 1 (22m 55s): But at some point back in the day I played up west, so I played the actual festival, but then I had a bunch of shows that I had set up just like, like side festivals, like a lot of times around that time, like the bars on 4 (23m 9s): Yeah. They'll have shows going on for sure. 1 (23m 13s): Totally. So I had played, we were like dragging our equipment up and down sixth street on like a car, like it was so just like, it was intense. And we were just like, if we're going to be here, I'm working to like, you know, pay what it costs to like, just like survive here for the whole weekend. We're going to play, we're going to pack like three shows into a day. Fuck. Yeah. So we get to this at the time was called the amphitheater bar. I'm sure it's still there, but it was really cool. It was, you know, kind of this cool outdoor thing. And someone had walked into get a drink and just was watching the show and he ended up being kind of a really cool connection that ended up bringing me out for this writing session that I had. 1 (24m 3s): And now I'm, I'm on a I'm on the label that I'm working with is, is, had been, you know, consecutively through. So it's the string effect, right? You meet one person and it snowballs into all these other happenings that further your career. So I think that that was the biggest learning experience for me is when, if you want, you know, you can't hide in your house and wait for somebody to come knock on the door and be like, Hey, talented musician. 4 (24m 31s): Sure. We'd like to offer you a record deal and here's some money. 1 (24m 36s): And now the world's so different anyways, you know, it doesn't all boil down to getting a deal. We have so much, so much at our fingertips, especially with online. So I guess now that is a lot, you can sit in your house, 4 (24m 49s): Right? Yeah. Now, now you can just have a big moment on Tik TOK and somebody will come DM-ing you and being like, Hey, 1 (24m 56s): Offer 4 (24m 56s): You a record deal. 1 (24m 58s): If you post that, maybe you weren't really feeling that in the mood for it that day or whatever, but that one video could be everything for you. So that's, what's so important is like, whether you're dragging your crop down the street to play a show that you're tired and don't feel like playing, or whether you're in your house being like, how do I make this much content? It's just, you just have to like grind because every little thing leads to the next. And it's so, so important to just play as much music as you can. But I think that, you know what, I was in California, the, I guess the, you know, there, there were, I was there for so long, but there were little things that I think felt like stepping stones for me and setbacks, of course. 1 (25m 39s): But I think the, the most exciting point for me was right before COVID I think a lot of people felt that way, you know, where it was like, oh man, things were really starting to pick up, but it was, it was cool. Cause I went to a writing session and I met a friend of mine that actually we, we ended up writing a bunch of music together and, and, and playing a bunch of shows and we got to, we sold out the Viper room. It was so cool. That was here. It was so neat. And we, we got to play the Troubadour, which was like insane. Like you, you grew up, you grew up seeing like all these things about these legendary venues and the moment you get to play that as an artist is like mind blowing. 1 (26m 29s): I mean, it's probably like for someone that grows up getting to go see their favorite sports team play at an arena and you find it to play it like to meet out or because it was like, even though, I mean, is it like a giant place? No, but it was, it was like, wow. The people that I admire the most have liked stood on this stage. Freaking cool. That was probably one of my favorite, favorite moments of 4 (26m 53s): Being, 1 (26m 54s): It was so cool. And we just had these few months of like, back-to-back cool things, whether it was the Viper room, the Troubadour, and you were kind of getting ready to like put this record out, which, which got postponed. So now, now that I've moved in, like the room that I'm in right now, I'm setting up as my studio here. And I, I just plan to go out to California quarterly and sorta just get done what I need to and, and get stuff moving again. But, but yeah, you know, things, things were awesome. And then, then COVID hit. And like I said, it was just a regrouping for everyone, you know, what am I, what am I doing? And for me personally, I ended up meeting my husband 4 (27m 39s): During COVID. 1 (27m 41s): We met like check talk, funny as can be. 4 (27m 44s): That's awesome. 1 (27m 45s): And like, people ask how you bet. And I love telling that story because it's like, it sounds so dumb, but he was, he was stationed in Germany at the time. I didn't really have like an algorithm on my app yet. I was just like downloading it to start putting music on it. Cause I'm like, well, I'm really behind the game on this. I shouldn't do this. And I saw a video. He posted, I followed him and DMD me and now we have an eight month old son. Yup. It's funny how that works, but yeah, he's super cool. So now we live in Texas and I'm just like, I guess I'm going to travel where we need to and, and all that. 1 (28m 26s): So yeah, we're in, we're in regrouping period. Cause it was, I was doing a lot and then COVID hit and then I had, you know, I was pregnant and had a baby. 4 (28m 34s): Yeah. That probably took up a lot of your time. I would imagine 1 (28m 38s): I played a show with him while I was nine months pregnant though. That guitar was like propped up. 4 (28m 43s): Oh wow. 1 (28m 45s): Yeah. 4 (28m 47s): It 1 (28m 48s): Was like a little coffee shop thing by the army base that we were, we were at in Georgia, but it was fun. 4 (28m 54s): That's really cool. That is really cool. And you're endorsed by a company out of San Diego, aren't you? Well, yeah, it's just north of San Diego. Those guitars they make are not only like they're insane, but like tell me how that relationship for him. They're called Zoe guitar. Right? 1 (29m 14s): You guitars. And so both you Sean, the guy who makes them his granddaughter's name is Zoe. So it just happened to be that he started this company with her name on his wife, Sally, who kind of helps them like get all this out online and everything. She was doing some research and found my name and it's spelled the same, which is so cool. And so she, we just started talking on like Facebook and whatever. And she was like, I think it'd be really cool to just see what we could kind of do together. And so when I was in California, a handful of months ago, I went down to their shop and played their different models and guitars. 1 (29m 54s): And I was just like blown away by how much, I didn't know about the instruments that I played. Like, like there's so much every little detail that goes into a guitar is just incredible. So I got to learn a lot from that experience. And then I actually just had a custom belt and it's right next to me. I can show it, but yeah. 4 (30m 19s): Yeah. I've just, I was on their Instagram and I was like, whoa, like these are crazy. And then I re and I saw it, I was like ocean side. And then I re, and then he was like, the guy was in a picture and yet a San Diego Padres hat on I'm like, oh, okay. So he's Oceanside, California. 1 (30m 34s): And it's so, cause I've, I've gotten to go to a factory before, like of like, you know, I never guitar building process incredible, but I didn't realize the scale of like one person doing it takes so much like it's, it's really such a detailed, like 4 (30m 51s): So much. 1 (30m 52s): Oh yeah. So much goes into it. And when we we're picking out, you know, everything from the wood on each part of the guitar to the tuners to every little, every little bit is like so much care goes into it. And if Sean watches this, he's gonna ha he's gonna be like, are you kidding? Because a string broke. Isn't this Dunning. 4 (31m 16s): Oh yeah. Oh, I love the end. Lays. Those are cool. 1 (31m 19s): Okay. That's my favorite part. And he literally does all of this by hand. So he ordered and literally cuts it all. Does it all by hand. It's so gorgeous. So like, I don't know how well you can see that in this lighting, but 4 (31m 34s): No, I could see it. I just didn't want to talk so everyone else can see it. 1 (31m 37s): Like every little piece is so insane. So yeah, I mean, and all of the guitars that I played were so different too. So like trying something, you know, the different one that you have sounds a certain way. So like, based on what you, what you tend to play is, is totally relevant. And it just was a really cool experience. So I'm obsessed. This is like, like my guitar that I played for a long time, I was my first guitar when I was 13. And I, it, it becomes like an extension of your body. 1 (32m 20s): So when I got this, I was like, this is my soulmate. Like literally it's you pour so much love and like, you know, songwriting and time into your instrument. So I'm really excited that we today, but 4 (32m 36s): That's so cool. That is so cool. Yeah. I was looking at on his website. I was like, whoa, like, these are insane. But yeah, I, it looks like he just does custom stuff. I mean, based off of 1 (32m 47s): I some stuff, he also has like an inventory. So like on his site, he has a handful that are just like ready to go that he's made. But, but yeah, he has jumbos. So I was, I played a jumbo and a few of my videos on Instagram that are just like these gorgeous, bigger, beautiful sounding guitars. This is a Dreadnought style, which from what I've been underrated on is like the, the main, typical kind people tend to buy. It's like the most popular, just because pretty versatile. And then he has parlors, which are like these really cool kind of like, I dunno if you'd say travel sized, but like smaller guitars that are really rad. 1 (33m 28s): So, 4 (33m 29s): So cool. That is awesome. Well, I want to hear about your new song. You just released a song called better. 1 (33m 36s): Yes, yes. I just put a song out called better and I taken kind of a hiatus while I was pregnant, obviously. And at the end of my pregnancy, I put out a song called old baby, which I wrote for my son. Like the second I found out I was pregnant. I wrote the song. And then after that, you know, I've kind of been sorting through, I'm getting ready to put together like a full EAP, but I wanted to get something out in the meantime. And I picked better because it felt like such a so much has changed for me. And so much changes for everyone. 1 (34m 16s): When you enter into your like parenthood chapter obviously, and, you know, going from, from this very different lifestyle I had, you know, and when I was living in LA, it was like, I was just day to day, like very much so in survival mode, honestly, very stressed out most of the time, you know, there were some things that happened that like, I really had big shifts and like learning experiences from, and, you know, heartbreaks and all the things that come with growing up so better was sort of disliked, cathartic, like Paige Turner for me to sort of put out of like my, my friend group changed my, the way I lived, my life changed. 1 (35m 6s): And there were like, definitely some like obstacles that, and like, you know, I guess emotional bruises that came with that of just learning to grow up and like, but also realizing what that means as far as, you know, still, still keeping that part of yourself, but just looking out for your mental health, looking out for your family, you know, being able to surround yourself with the right, that, that nurture you and vice versa. And so, yeah, it was sort of this song of like this deep breath for me to sort of be like, okay, I'm going to let go of a bunch of this stuff and move into this new space. 4 (35m 51s): I love it. That's so cool. Yeah. Oh, so you said you have a, you are, you were in the midst of recording a record or writing a record and then, or an album or EAP, and then COVID happened and that kind of changed everything. So are currently, are you just re do you have a batch of songs that are done or are you kind of releasing them as you ride them and record them? Like what, what do you have moving forward? 1 (36m 14s): So I have a batch of songs that are done, and then I have a couple more that I'm, I'm going to be adding a hap you know, first, you know, passes of all these things kind of recording, but down, but I'm, I'm literally building out like a, like an in-home studio that I can be very self-sufficient in. And so I'm excited to sort of like rerecord this, get it to where I want it, you know, and, and put all those, all those things into it that I've having been mobile for. As long as I have, like I said, we moved, he's moved eight times. So having a space to really be able to like, put the love into a song that I want to, and, and, and make it the way that I want it is going to be awesome. 1 (36m 54s): And then being able to use my new guitar on, on the, on the tracks and, you know, and all of that. So, so it's, it's written, it's, it's ready to go. It just, as soon as I get this, this room where it needs to be, I'll be able to get into the lab and, and get them all ready to go. 4 (37m 14s): Amazing. Amazing. Well, thank you so much for doing this today. I really appreciate your time. Thank 1 (37m 19s): You. It was a pleasure talking to you, 4 (37m 21s): And this has been great. I have one more quick question. If you have any advice for aspiring artists 1 (37m 27s): Advice for aspiring artists, lots, but a couple things are one. Like I said, I think that if you want to have art become your, you know, success to be helpful. I think that that success means a different word to everybody. But to me, it just means that I can, you know, function. I can be able to sustain myself off of doing something that I really loved. It makes me really happy. And if you want that, I think it really just comes down to making as much as you can and getting off your back as far as like, you know, just get it out there, make it, you know, create, create, create, and, and try not to be too hard on yourself because, you know, at the end of the day, especially nowadays, it's just, you know, quantity and, and consistency. 1 (38m 24s): So, and like I said, that one video that you don't even think maybe is that good could be the one that opens a huge door for you. So that's my biggest bit of advice. And then also just listening to your intuition and trusting yourself, whether that be putting yourself around people that genuinely make you feel good and feel, you know, don't stress you out. Like you should feel good on a day-to-day basis, creating the art that you do and, and surrounding yourself with people that make you feel safe and, and, and good. So those are my two big ones.