Interview with Bailey James

What's 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 achieve stardom. On this episode, we had a chance to hang out with Bailey James over zoom video Bailey was born in Philly, but pretty much raised in the Nashville area. She moved to Nashville, I think at 12 or 13 years old, she started to coming down to Nashville, to pitcher demo and meet with people around 11. She got into music and singing at a very early age, always a fan of country music, but she is classically trained as an opera singer as well. We hear about her going around 11, 12 years old, giving her demos to different record labels, their response to her, trying out for American idol. 1 (1m 58s): Her song finally free. All the work she's doing with mental health and all about her brand new song, which is called the Crow. You can watch our interview with Bailey James on our Facebook page and YouTube channel at bringing it backwards. It would be awesome if you subscribe to our channel like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik TOK at bringing back pod. And if you are listening to this on Spotify, apple music or Google podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, it'd be awesome. If you follow us there as well and hook us up with a five-star review, 4 (2m 29s): We'd appreciate your support. If you follow and subscribe to our podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts, 1 (2m 35s): We're bringing it backwards with Bailey James. Oh, hi. How are you? I'm 5 (2m 43s): Good. How are 1 (2m 43s): You? I'm doing well. I appreciate you doing this. Of course. My name is Adam, and this is about you, your journey and music. And we'll talk about the new song and the Crow. 5 (2m 56s): Okay, cool. 1 (2m 57s): Sweet. Are you born and raised in Nashville? So what I saw 6 (3m 2s): I'm originally from Philly. Yeah. So I'm a true northerner. Moved about five years ago. So now I'm like a southerner. 1 (3m 12s): Okay. So you're a natural now. 6 (3m 15s): Yeah. I'm an Australian now, 1 (3m 17s): Right on I'm I recent Nashvillian ish. I moved here about a little over a year ago as well. 6 (3m 24s): So it's still new to you. 1 (3m 25s): Very new. Exactly. I'm from Southern California from San Diego. So totally different world. 6 (3m 31s): I've never, I've been to California once and it was for like a day for American idol. So I didn't really get to experience it, but I've heard it's very different. You can't be talking during the interview. That's my pit bull. 1 (3m 46s): Oh, that's cool. I thought you were yelling at some kid. That's awesome. 6 (3m 50s): No, no, no. He's a big baby. I don't know here. 1 (3m 56s): Oh, I see him. You can bring him in the interview. It doesn't matter to me. 6 (4m 0s): Oh gosh. No loud. 1 (4m 3s): Okay. Right on. Well, okay, so I'm originally from, you said Philly. 6 (4m 8s): Yes. Yeah. The slit, well, it's not Philly, but you know, people don't really know much of Pennsylvania outside of Philly. So it's like an hour from Philly. It's this little town called Levittown, Pennsylvania. 1 (4m 22s): What's it like growing up there 6 (4m 24s): Super blue collar and very, just like the biggest things happening were like baseball games and fares. That was like the biggest things that would come through our town. So 1 (4m 38s): Baseball and fairs. Was that how far like the Phillies games, is that pretty close or is that far? 6 (4m 43s): Philly's like an hour away and most of us didn't like want to drive there. It was very small town and I kind of, I kind of miss only knowing that lifestyle. 1 (4m 57s): Right, right. So how did you get in the music growing up in a small, small town? 6 (5m 2s): Yeah. So my dad's from Texas and he grew up watching like all the grades go to Texas and play in these little bars. He got to watch TV, Ray Vaughn live and just like all these legendary people. So he had this really cool music taste. I remember I would be like six years old. He would be driving me to like ballet lessons and singing Johnny Cash to me. And so I started to learn each song and that's kind of where my love for country music started. And I listened to Patsy Cline crazy. And I was like, this is what I wanna do. I wanna make people feel the way she does. And she's the reason I started where I did. And so I made this little EAP and it had blue valley and rhymes crazy by Patsy Cline and an opera song. 6 (5m 49s): Cause I'm, operatically trained 1 (5m 51s): Really? 6 (5m 52s): Yeah. That's where I started. And most people are like, well, now that you say that I can hear it. 1 (5m 57s): Right. 6 (5m 58s): Cause there's just a lot of vibrato in my voice. But yeah. So that's where I started. I took this little CD down the Nashville as an 11 year old and I went to everyone I could possibly go up to and I forced the CD in their face. 1 (6m 12s): So 6 (6m 13s): It's like, hi, I'm Bailey James. Here's my music. If you like me, call me back. Yeah. But that's where I started. And I even went to the record labels and they were like, that's not how it works anymore, but thank you. 1 (6m 25s): Did they take the CD? 6 (6m 27s): They didn't think the 1 (6m 28s): Savings, but they should have just appeased an 11 year old. Right. This shouldn't be like, oh cool. I'll I'll take a listen or whatever. Right. 6 (6m 39s): They slammed the door in my face. 1 (6m 41s): Oh, wow. Okay. Well I'm sorry about that. It's all right. 6 (6m 45s): You know, they were, they were nice enough. I just had to do it. They had to do, but then I built a team and I started from about 11 to 16 coming back and forth to Nashville and just like making music, meeting with people, kind of making those connections. And that's where I really started. 1 (7m 4s): Okay. Well to back up quite a bit here. So when, like you said, you're trained opera singer. When did, when did you start singing? Like what were you put in chorus or choir really young. 6 (7m 14s): I, I wasn't, I wasn't putting like chorus or choir. I put myself in and then I didn't like it because we sang too quiet is what I said. I wanted to be able to be real loud. Yeah. And so I just loved music and I would come home from school and listened to music and sing music till the time I had to go to sleep. And I remember I tried out for my school's talent show and I got in and I was like, oh my gosh. But I had such bad stage fright. It was, it was really funny. If I look back at the video now I'm like up there shaking. 1 (7m 48s): Oh, you have the video. That's awesome. 6 (7m 50s): I do. Yeah. 1 (7m 52s): What did you sing? Do you remember? 6 (7m 54s): I remember for my first talent show, I sang skinny love by, it was a birdie version of skinny love. If you've ever heard that song, it's like a pop 1 (8m 5s): I'd have to look. Maybe I've heard it, but I just can't think of the I'm bad with time. 6 (8m 9s): It's pretty old. And then I did blue valley and rhymes and that's how I learned the noodle. But I, my parents, I guess they just 7 (8m 21s): Stevenson university online is a leader in forensic education for law enforcement, legal cyber investigations. 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And did you sing like in like an opera in your, in your hometown or anything? Oh wow. 6 (10m 29s): I would do a Italian opera is my favorite. So whenever anybody asks, I just like felt that out, but it's not easy. And people don't realize like opera singers are the most technically trained singers, 1 (10m 45s): Right? Yeah. I mean, if you listen to it, it's insane. 6 (10m 49s): And so that's, that's where my, my music roots are 1 (10m 54s): And the opera. But you always grew up on country. Did you pick up an instrument at an early age or was it always just voice? 6 (11m 1s): My parents tried to get me to play guitar and I just like dropped out it lessons like two weeks in and then I didn't pick up the guitar again until I wanted to. 1 (11m 13s): I 6 (11m 13s): Think I was like 16 when I started taking it seriously. And what helped me was I would play songs I wanted to play. So it wasn't like me just in a guitar lesson and then teaching me like random things. I, 1 (11m 26s): Yeah, I got 6 (11m 27s): To decide. I got to decide. And I'm not a good guitar player by any means, but I can get through a song and that's all that really matters. 1 (11m 35s): Yeah. I've watched you on your Instagram so you can play guitar. 6 (11m 38s): Thank you. But the basic chords. Yeah. 1 (11m 43s): Okay. So at 11 you moved to L a Nashville or you came down to Nashville for the first time. And this was when you had that 6 (11m 51s): Nashville for the first 1 (11m 52s): Time. Tell me about recording CD. Was that done in your hometown? 6 (11m 57s): So the demo CD, which no one will ever hear, because I won't let them that was done in my hometown and this guy's like shed in his backyard, but you know what it was, it sounded good enough. I do have like an EAP called where it all begins. If anyone wants to go research that it's like just a bunch of country schoolyard tunes. And I recorded that in Nashville, released that when I was 12, 1 (12m 29s): I think, oh my gosh, 6 (12m 30s): I know. I can't even remember. And yeah, it was, I think the single that we released after that was called run girl, and we took that to music row. 1 (12m 43s): And you were 12 years old and you're doing this. 6 (12m 45s): Yeah. 1 (12m 46s): Wow. So what, that must've been difficult just to even be there, let alone be 12 years old and have people take you seriously. Was that hard to do? 6 (12m 56s): Well, I don't think they took me seriously. I wanted them to right? No, they didn't take me seriously. They probably didn't take me seriously. They said, you know, you gotta be, you gotta be older, you gotta be at least 18. And so I just kept waiting and waiting and I'm like, well, I'm still gonna keep making music and building my social media. And they probably didn't take me seriously until I put out finally free last year. 1 (13m 23s): And that was the first time people were like, oh, okay. 6 (13m 27s): That's the first time I started getting some real, just like recognition and publicity. And I was like, okay, okay. I'm an adult now they're going to, they're going to treat me like one. 1 (13m 39s): So did you turn 18? And then people and then is exactly as they predicted it. 6 (13m 44s): Yeah. I turned the page and I released finally free and they named the Opry circle song of the week and went like, I went 40 billboard country billboard. And I was like, I know. And I was like, all right, all right, I get it. Now I get it. I had to turn 18. 1 (14m 4s): Wow. So that's crazy that they said, when you're 18, come back and you, you know, then we'll take you seriously. And literally when you turn 18, you put the song out and then it goes on billboard chart. It does, you know, it, it, it does all these things. 6 (14m 19s): I also think, you know, I grew into myself as an artist and found my sound at that time, when you're 11, you don't know what you want to be like, worrying about what's happening in middle school. 1 (14m 32s): Right. 6 (14m 33s): Not worried. So I had to find myself as an artist and like really figure out what music meant to me and I did. And I think they realized that. 1 (14m 42s): And you said you moved to Nashville at five years ago. Are you sad? 6 (14m 46s): Yeah, I was 1516. I can't remember. 1 (14m 51s): So your took you down to Nashville to, because this is what is your dream? They moved you down here. 6 (14m 56s): Yeah. They moved with me. 1 (14m 57s): Oh, wow. That's pretty impressive. 6 (15m 1s): It was impressive. And I don't give them enough credit cause my mom just bought a house back in PA for the first time in forever. And she's so excited. Cause she's like a true Philly girl and Tennessee doesn't feel like home to her. So I'm really lucky to have parents that supported me. 1 (15m 19s): Yeah. I mean to move you down from Philly to Nashville to relocate just because you wanted to do this. That's so crazy. 6 (15m 28s): Yeah, it really is. 1 (15m 29s): Wow. Okay. So you get down here. I was going to ask you another question, but I can't call off the top of my head, but so you get down here. You're you finally land this one song with finally free. Like you had years of working on songs down here though, right? 6 (15m 46s): Yeah, no, I was, I was grinding for at least eight and a half years before finally free. And honestly I am thankful for all of it because I learned so much. Now I can go on stage and I can do a show easily and I can do radio interviews easily because I have so much media trading from when I was 11 to now. And I don't know, I just feel like it was meant to be like, I was meant to be down here and start writing and country kind of changed my musical style. As I started listening to more artists, I got into Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain and just like a lot of rock, a lot of blues influence in my music style and writing really started to change. 6 (16m 38s): So it was a journey for sure. 1 (16m 41s): Yeah. Well, you said American idol. You had been to California. What year was that? 6 (16m 46s): I was 16 when I went to American idol and it was my first time on a plane first. I had never been on a plane in my life. 1 (16m 53s): Wow. And did you fly real quick? Did you fly out to LA to audition or did you audition here and then get the past? 6 (17m 1s): What people don't realize that I guess what American idol doesn't show is that there's like seven auditions before you ever get to see the judge. 1 (17m 11s): Right? 6 (17m 12s): And so I did a cattle call in West Virginia 8 (17m 17s): Planning on traveling this summer, make saving at the pump part of your plans with two times the fuel points from Harris Teeter, it's easy. Download your EBIT coupon. And for every dollar you spend with your VIT card, you'll get two Yule points. That's up to $1 per gallon on quality fuel at participating BP and Harris Teeter fuel centers. Download your EBIT coupon today and save money at the pump all summer long with Evoque and Harris Teeter fuel points, 1 (17m 46s): We redeemed 9 (17m 47s): A $50,000 cash prize playing Chumba casino. One line 10 (17m 51s): Suddenly playing for fun. So winning was a dream come true. 9 (17m 55s): Chumba casino was America's favorite three online social casino. You two could have a chance to win life changing cash prices. Absolutely. Anybody could be like Mary B, like Mary log-on to Chumba casino.com and play for free. Now no purchase necessary void where prohibited by law 18 plus terms and conditions apply. See website for details. The voice of the preceded condition was not the actual voice of the winner. 11 (18m 18s): This is your summer. That means six flags in the taste of an ice cold Coca-Cola we're talking thrilling coasters, delicious burgers, real moments together. And this Coke is summer refreshment when you need it most so you can hop on another ride or race down a slide at the water park. This is your summer. Six flags and Coca Cola. Come make it yours. Visit six flags.com/coke to save up to $20 on passes. 6 (18m 48s): Thousands of people, they called me back. 1 (18m 51s): What was that? What was that experience like? You just show up there. What? At like four in the morning and just wait and wait. 6 (18m 58s): We're in the morning. Full face of makeup. You wait in line for like three hours. Get to the place you have 30 seconds to sing and there's five other people in your row. And so you got to make those 30 seconds count. 1 (19m 13s): Okay. So there's you and four other people. And then they go, they point at you and then one person goes and then the next and next, next, next, next. And then they just went okay. Next. 6 (19m 23s): Well, they'll say I want to keep you and I want to keep you thank you to everyone else who showed up. 1 (19m 28s): Oh, that's rough. 6 (19m 30s): I know. I know. 1 (19m 33s): And how many people in your line of five made it? 6 (19m 36s): I think too. 1 (19m 37s): So you and one other person. 6 (19m 38s): Yeah, it was just pretty good. Cause sometimes those lines of five there's no one 1 (19m 42s): Zero. 6 (19m 45s): So then I went to Kentucky to do the executive producer audition. 1 (19m 53s): So you go, you go from what you said west, west, Virginia, West Virginia. And then you go to Kentucky. Yeah. So this is the next stage. And what is the cattle is like w dwindle down quite a bit. So how many people are in this one? 6 (20m 9s): So in this one, there's about like three, 1 (20m 13s): That's it? 6 (20m 14s): There's about three people and, well, no, there's more people, but there's about 1 (20m 19s): Three in a row. 6 (20m 20s): Yeah. Three 1 (20m 20s): In a row. 6 (20m 22s): And then it gets smaller and smaller and smaller. So it's only you in a room and in this one you had two rounds. So it was like the three people. If you got through that one, then you went to the other room where it was just you and they were asking you questions and you saying like two songs and they would let you know, if you got through and once you got through, it was still a waiting game because they were figuring out who they wanted to bring to meet the judges. So I waited, I think, like a month. And then we got the call and they wanted me to meet the judges. And that was, that was long too. You sit there for like eight hours at most waiting to go see the judges. And in between those, you know, like they're shooting scenes footage. 6 (21m 3s): And at that time I just lost my brother. So obviously they were going to use that story. 1 (21m 10s): Oh 6 (21m 11s): Yeah. It was really rough. So we were like, they're making us redo scenes talking about it. 1 (21m 16s): Oh my gosh. That is rough. 6 (21m 20s): I know. But I did get to meet Katie and lanolin Luke, Katie and Lionel gave me yes. And they gave me, you know, of course the only country artist there, he gives me a no, but 1 (21m 32s): I think it's you though. Then that means you make it through, right? 6 (21m 35s): Yes. I made it through well, 1 (21m 37s): Real, real quick. So from Kentucky, where are you meeting the judges out there? Are they in Kentucky? 6 (21m 44s): Where did they meet the judges? Yeah, they were in Kentucky. They were in Louisville. 1 (21m 50s): Okay. So you go through the, the line of three, then you make it through there, then you're in a room and they're interviewing it. And then is this sort of, they're prodding for like, you know, information about your family and everything and that's where they kind of grabbed their storyline. 6 (22m 6s): Well, they ask you from the beginning, like, do you have a story? Yeah. So 1 (22m 18s): They, 6 (22m 18s): Yeah. It's reality TV. And after the judges, I think my dad there's footage of him picking up Ryan Seacrest's cause he's a big man. My dad's like 300 pounds. It's too. 1 (22m 31s): Oh man. 6 (22m 33s): It's like there's there's footage of him picking up rise crest that they put on American idol on that season. But after that, we about in December, it was December early December. I remember. Cause they had like a Christmas tree in the hotel and Hollywood, we went to Hollywood. I was there for one day or two days. I did the first round of Hollywood week. Didn't get through, got flown right back. And that, that was it. 1 (23m 7s): Oh, wow. Okay. Well you, you said you got it on a plane for the first time ever. 6 (23m 11s): Yeah. It was my 1 (23m 12s): Sad experience. 6 (23m 14s): Well my 1 (23m 15s): Three terrifying. 6 (23m 16s): No, I love planes. My mom's definitely afraid of planes. So she was like trying to pass her fears onto me. And I was like, no, thank you. Ma'am I'm 1 (23m 26s): Fine. I was scared right now. 6 (23m 31s): Yeah. So that was great. And the food there was great, but just the whole process, like I don't even remember that much. Cause it was so go, go, go. Like they call Hollywood week, hell, week. And they mean that it was so rough and afterwards when I hadn't made it through, they were like, well, you know, at that time my dad wasn't working just cause like he had just lost my brother. And so it was traumatic for him and we're like, we know the dad just lost his job and you didn't make it through this round. So how do you feel? And I'm like 16 and they're asking me this, but I, you know, I'm from Philly. So I don't cry like that. 6 (24m 13s): I was like, get outta my face. But other than that, it was a good experience. I think I don't like, I don't like the reality TV aspect of it, but I loved meeting the judges and they were the, they gave me the advice to, you know, do more blues. They were like, your voice is more bluesy and more so, and you need to do more of that. And I was like, okay, 1 (24m 37s): That's cool. As you see, got some insight there from that, obviously 6 (24m 41s): It was a chaotic experience to say that they believe, 1 (24m 45s): Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry to hear about your brother. I did read that. And you are a big advocate, right? For mental health. 6 (24m 51s): Yeah. I am actually I just saw, oh my gosh. One of the judges passed away from mental illness yesterday and I thought that was just 1 (25m 0s): Yeah. The, the mom the, yeah, 6 (25m 4s): Insane that somebody, a country legend who was like loved by so many people didn't couldn't get the help and the support that she needed. It's insane to me. But yeah, I'm a huge mental health advocate lost my brother to suicide when he was 18. I struggled with my own mental health all the time. And I'm very transparent about it. I, from a young age was told by everyone in the music business, like, don't talk about that. They don't want to hear about that. You need to be on all the time. And eventually I was like, can I curse? 6 (25m 44s): I was like, fuck that. Like, I, I feel like being transparent and being able to let other people know that you're not okay. It makes you more human and people be able to relate to you more. And this mental health movement that was going on just, I mean last year I was really going through it with my own mental health and kind of having my own issues while the finally free thing was going on. So everyone was like, you must be so happy and inside. I was like die. I was so, so depressed and being able to start the finally free movement, which is a movement. I started it's for mental health. I have a little podcast that I do occasionally. 6 (26m 27s): Not, not as busy as yours, but 1 (26m 33s): So there you go. 6 (26m 34s): Well, there you go. But it's really helped me and people reach out to me all the time telling me how I've helped them and how me being transparent. Because I think social media is like a highlight reel of your life that we all struggle. And we all have days where we're like, I don't want to do this. 1 (26m 57s): Wow. That's that's has to be, so I mean to lose your brother and then you said right, almost around the same time is when you went and did American idol. 6 (27m 5s): Yeah, actually I lost my brother the week after we moved to Tennessee. And I know it was actually like a couple of days after 1 (27m 16s): Did your whole family moved down to Tennessee? 6 (27m 19s): My dad was already in Nashville because he was living with my brother at that time. My brother, he was, I mean, throughout his entire life was bouncing in and out of like mental health facilities. So he wanted to live with my brother. My brother called him one day and was like, I just want to live a real life. I don't have a girlfriend I'm on the job. I don't have a car. I just want to be able to experience life. And so my dad took him out and they lived together for almost two years and yeah. And a couple of days after my dad had moved out, that's when he, and it was so rough that entire year, it was like, we never stopped working throughout any of it. 6 (28m 7s): My dad had developed alcoholism during that year. So it was like, I'm on American idol and I'm smiling. But like my dad is alcoholism and my brother just passed. 1 (28m 16s): Right. I mean, that's so much, that's so heavy. 6 (28m 19s): It was heavy. And I think I grew up really fast during that time period. And I didn't feel like a 16 year old. 1 (28m 28s): Oh yeah, of course not. And was that something that you felt like if keeping busy would have kept your mind off that or is that we're trying to, 6 (28m 37s): I honestly don't know. Sometimes I wish I would've taken the time to like go to therapy and get 9 (28m 48s): Mary redeemed a $50,000 cash prize playing Chumba casino one line. Hi. 10 (28m 53s): It was only playing for fun. So winning was a dream come true. 9 (28m 57s): Chumba casino was America's favorite free online social casino. You two could have a chance to win life changing cash prices. Absolutely. Anybody could be like Mary B, like Mary log-on to Chumba casino.com and play for free. Now, no purchase necessary void where prohibited by law 18 plus terms and conditions apply. See website for details to the voice of the preceding commission was not the actual voice of the winner. 11 (29m 20s): This is your summer. That means six flags in the taste of an ice cold Coca-Cola we're talking thrilling coasters, delicious burgers, real moments together. And this Coke is summer refreshment when you need it most. So you can hop on another ride or race down a slide at the water park. This is your summer six flags, and come make it yours. Visit six flags.com/coke to save up to $20 on passes. 6 (29m 49s): Just get help with all that trauma. Cause last year I realized that while I still had all of it and it was still affecting me. And I was like, if I would've stopped and I would have been like, Hey, you're not okay. And you don't have to do music right now, but I felt like I had to keep going. And in a way it did help me in a way talking about it. I mean, I did a performance like a week after and I had to talk about it. 1 (30m 16s): Oh my gosh. 6 (30m 18s): And I was, it was so hard. It was so, so hard. 1 (30m 21s): And I'm sure it's probably still hard to talk about. 6 (30m 23s): It is, it is still hard to talk about, but I've learned how to kind of, when I'm speaking about it, put my emotions to the side. 1 (30m 34s): Yeah. That, I mean, oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. That's that is so sad. And then to have to be, like you said, if you're going onto a show like that and you gotta put on a smile and, and then of course they're going to dig and pry at that because that's the story they want. 6 (30m 47s): Yeah. And I mean, that's the problem. I think for celebrities, especially, they're always, they always have to be on, they always have to be on you can't stop. You can't just take a break. It's not like that. And that really affects your mental health. And so I don't know me just being transparent and taking care of myself and letting people know that they can take that time and they can go to therapy and it's okay to have these issues is important because there's such a stigma around it. 1 (31m 20s): Yeah. And I feel like, cause people look at like a celebrity or something that, that it's almost, I mean, yeah, they have money or whatever and fame and this and that, but it's like having to always be on because if you're not, then somebody's going to be like, oh, like, can you believe, blah, blah, blah. It's such a horrible person. Like I just wanted to take 50 pictures with them and like, you know, kiss their baby. And it's like, like imagine being bothered like all the time and then how having to pee, you know? Cause then if it comes out that you are mean or whatever, now everyone's got a phone. So they'll just film you being obnoxious. If you were like to tell somebody to go away or whatever, and then just comes back to get you. 6 (31m 59s): I think it's starting to come out more and more the way the media kind of makes a joke of mental health. Cause I look at people like Britney Spears and Kanye west and people who are literally begging for help. And the media is just like, haha, she's a train wreck. And he's out of his mind. And it's like, those things are the reason that people don't want to reach out and get help. 1 (32m 28s): Right. Cause they don't want to be exactly labeled and then there's a stigma and everything else that kind of comes along with it. 6 (32m 34s): Yeah. 1 (32m 34s): Wow. So you started to finally free this movement, it around the time the song came out or is it something you had prior and then you wrote the song 6 (32m 44s): I started after, I think it started like maybe two months after the song had come out. I was struggling so bad when the song came out and my dad brought up the idea and I was like, okay, maybe. And then when I started to get better and I got on new meds, I have OCD and anxiety and depression. So I needed new meds to kind of no matter what was going on. But once I got in a healthier mindset, I was like, okay, let's do this. And so I started to afterwards being able to tell my story and be like, yeah, I'm a lot better now that I got help just meant a lot. I'm also a youth advocate for the Jason foundation and they're a nonprofit organization outside of Hendersonville, Tennessee. 6 (33m 33s): And they had a blatant in great Charlie Daniels is one of their spokesperson in Nebraska. 1 (33m 39s): Wow. 6 (33m 41s): I got to sing the national Anthem for Charlie Daniels because of that. So that was pretty cool. 1 (33m 45s): That was really cool. 6 (33m 47s): But yeah, they, the founder Clark flat lost two son the same age that sane passed away too. They were both 18. So we had a lot in common with our stories and I had actually joined the foundation prior to my brother passing. So he really helped me and my family throughout that entire time. 1 (34m 7s): Oh wow. That's oh, so you joined. Oh my gosh. So you had joined it before that. 6 (34m 13s): I feel like it was honestly like meant to be just because the stories are so similar. It's it's strange. Really. 1 (34m 23s): Wow. Wow. Well to move on to, I guess, a lighter subject, do you have a new song out? Tell me about this. The Crow. Tell me about your song. 6 (34m 33s): The Crow. Oh my gosh. So I originally wrote the Crow because my brother had this like fixation with crows. He thought they were so cool and so other worldly. And so I just really want him to be like, I want to write a song about a Crow. I think crows are cool, but that's where I went into that. Right. And I wrote it with millennial and my gosh, why can't I remember his name Smith, something Lovie Smith. Sorry, if you see this and as a song, as we started writing the song, it became more about just everything that I've kind of been through and how I've overcome it. 6 (35m 16s): And if I wrote it for, if anyone was listening and they heard it and they were going through something, they would be able to kind of relate to that feeling. And in the song, the Crow is kind of my brother for me because I mean, the lyrics are pretty self-explanatory but yeah, the CRO has done so much and oddly enough, it was in a rolling stone article and CMT just put the video out on their website. 1 (35m 52s): And 6 (35m 53s): I know, I couldn't believe it. It's just mind boggling to me. And I'm really, really grateful and everyone who's reaching out and telling me how the song is affecting them and how they relate to it in their story. That's what means the most. 1 (36m 8s): That's so cool. Congratulations. Like, yeah. I don't know success of the song and 6 (36m 14s): Was saying, it sounds like heart, which I'm really excited about luck. Yeah. 1 (36m 19s): Yeah. Very cool. And I saw some, I think it was on your Instagram, some footage of you singing what? Karaoke at a bar in Franklin area. 6 (36m 30s): Yeah. My bad is a base. Well, not anymore, but they were based in the Franklin area and that's how I met my band. Was that pockets and Libras sport. 1 (36m 40s): Really? 6 (36m 41s): Yes. 1 (36m 42s): That's crazy. Which they're not called. It's not pocket anymore. Right. Didn't it go back to the original name 6 (36m 48s): Box. 1 (36m 49s): Okay. 6 (36m 50s): Yeah. My band was a house fan there for a bit and I just went one night and I remember Adam coming up to me and they're these big, huge guys. And he was like, you know, if you ever need a band, I would walk to play with you. And I was like, 1 (37m 5s): Wow, did you play there or something like, how did you, how did they end up knowing who you are? 6 (37m 11s): Yeah. So this guy I had been working with at the time, he was like, you need to play this. This is such a cool venue. And I did finally free all my guitar. And where'd you sleep last night? It's a Nirvana cover personally violent valley, but, and he played the drums and he came up to me after and I just, I watched him the entire time. He was amazing. They, I mean, they're from Mississippi and they have that natural blues soul just infusion and the way they play. And then we started rehearsing and that was that story. 6 (37m 52s): And I've been playing with them for almost two years now, but we did the pond and Franklin, their anniversary show and I did whole lot alone. 1 (38m 2s): That's awesome. 6 (38m 3s): Yeah. 1 (38m 4s): Very, very cool. Well, I appreciate you doing this Bailey. This is awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time. 6 (38m 10s): Thank you for having me. 1 (38m 12s): Of course. I have one more quick question. I want to know if you have any advice for aspiring artists. 6 (38m 19s): My advice for aspiring artists is find your sound. Find the artists that make you happy and figure out why they make you happy and kind of infuse that into your own music. Don't follow the trends.