BobbyCast Presents: Unsigned & Independent: S.2 Ep. 8: The Dryes - Balancing Marriage & Music

00:00:10
Speaker 1: Welcome to Unsigned and Independent Season two, Episode eight. We're here with kickoff Kevin and we're talking to a group called the Dryes.

00:00:18
Speaker 2: How many in the group.

00:00:19
Speaker 3: Two?

00:00:20
Speaker 4: They have a full band, but the duo married duo. This is their name, the Dryes. It's Derek's last name, Derek, and Caitlyn his last name is dry d r Ye. So now they go buy the Dryes.

00:00:30
Speaker 2: She also a dry though, because she's now because yeah, married. Were they singing before?

00:00:35
Speaker 1: They were married separately? So they've been married four, well, eleven years. They've been together for about fifteen or so.

00:00:44
Speaker 2: I don't know.

00:00:44
Speaker 1: Were they musically similar before they got together and started singing together.

00:00:48
Speaker 4: No, they talked about it a little bit. They were different, and they came together and performed and realized, hey, we kind of got something here. They were dating months before they ever realized we should do this together.

00:00:58
Speaker 2: They were already dating before they sang together. Yeah, oh day.

00:01:01
Speaker 1: So, and how does someone get in touch with you if they want to be on Unsigned and Independent?

00:01:04
Speaker 4: Mostly it's dms And when they reach out, I'll give them a pre interview questionnaire to find out more about their story. Get into detail. The more interesting, the better and if I like it, if I find it interesting and I want to get them on, then I bring him in.

00:01:16
Speaker 1: But what if the record level reaches out and they want to be on Unsigned and Independent, then no, that's right because they're signed exactly exactly the other trick question. Okay, So the Dries on the Road with Jody Messina is part of our heads Carolina toward the summer.

00:01:28
Speaker 2: You can get tickets at the Dries dot com.

00:01:30
Speaker 1: They just played at cmafes for the first time a few weeks ago, and they like to think of themselves as.

00:01:34
Speaker 4: Who modern day Johnny and Jude Bold, very Bold.

00:01:39
Speaker 2: They were on season twenty two with a Voice.

00:01:41
Speaker 1: Here we go, it's the Dries with Kickoff Kevin, Unsigned and Independent.

00:01:45
Speaker 4: Okay, we got Derek and Caitlin the Drys. How we doing today, guys.

00:01:50
Speaker 3: Good to see you, brother, Good to see you.

00:01:52
Speaker 4: Nice to meet you guys. And we've finally got to sit down and do this. We've rescheduled, I don't know, a few times, look Trapple schedules. Maybe yeah, it's all right. No, we're all busy over here, which is a good thing.

00:02:03
Speaker 5: Yep.

00:02:03
Speaker 4: And you guys are very busy, it seems like we were talking a little bit before this, and so right away, want to get into it. You two are married, yep, he so what and you're a duo, so married duo country duo. And what came first for you guys, the relationship or the career?

00:02:21
Speaker 6: Yeah, we actually started dating first. You had just finished your first EP in Nashville.

00:02:26
Speaker 5: Yes, right, Yeah, my first EP I was nineteen. I was like, I am.

00:02:29
Speaker 6: Both living in North Carolina where we're from, had never moved away before coming to Nashville. I'm already jumping ahead.

00:02:37
Speaker 5: But yeah, I know, I'm like, that's actually a kind of complicated question because, well, you heat, Derek probably has his side and I have my side of how that went. But so well, I'll say my friend who was dating his friend at the time, put us together and had told me about Derek for like three years and was like I could see all doing music together, and honestly, like I thought she was just crazy, but she I was always the kind that was very like career driven and like if I don't get married, that's cool, because literally the career was like just always like my forefront thought. And she would always be like, you need to meet Derek and so she was like, you know, he's dating someone right now. She's like, they aren't meant to be and it's just a matter of time. And I would be like I even met him and the girl at a show. We read a mute math show and met him and that girl there, and I just stood back. I mean, he didn't know anything about me, but I just thought it was like so weird. I was like this, I've been told so much about this guy, like.

00:03:30
Speaker 3: I had no clue.

00:03:30
Speaker 4: Crazy.

00:03:32
Speaker 5: So yeah, when they broke up like she said they would, I mean, it's kind of crazy, it is. I mean, this is the story. It is kind of it's kind of we've told it so.

00:03:41
Speaker 6: With your close friends, you know, you kind of know.

00:03:43
Speaker 5: Yeah, totally.

00:03:44
Speaker 6: But yeah, once once we connected over the old face Facebook now dating myself but.

00:03:52
Speaker 4: Better than my Space.

00:03:55
Speaker 6: Facebook dms like no weather.

00:03:58
Speaker 5: Yep, I said, saw a video of me playing, and he's like, you like guitar, Let's talk about that over dinner. And he was like that's so cute. I actually thought it was very cheesy, and I was like, I don't know about this guy, like this is I don't know.

00:04:08
Speaker 6: It worked when you got the mutual friend that's the thing with the dating apps.

00:04:11
Speaker 3: I cannot.

00:04:12
Speaker 6: I mean, I've never done that because we've been together for that long. But if I were to imagine myself doing that, it's just like, what do you do without some kind of mutual friend or something like that, accountability or whatever. So that'd be my first Like I don't know if you call it advice, but like that kept us going amidst the cheese, is my point.

00:04:30
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:04:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, we had friends who like had practiced about each other, so we met for Mexican food. So I went in to answer your question, long story short, I went in knowing that he did music and I did music. We both had done music since high school and like wanted to do music for a living. And so I went into meeting him at a Mexican restaurant kind of like with that thought in my brain. But then when we actually like started hanging out, we didn't talk about music for like three months, and then one day he came over and I was like, Hey, you should bring your guitar, and we just like started singing together. And then like so like for the first three months we were just kind of like dating in like in the Lovey Dovey phase of just like hanging out and he was playing in a band at the time and I was doing my Caitlyn Marks band thing back in the day. Then finally we we actually got to sing at a service for it was a funeral. It's so crazy. We talked about this on the voice too, but yeah, it was. It was a family member on his side and they're like, hey, your girlfriend sings, like Derek, we want you to do some of the music. Why don't you ask if Caitlin wants to sing with you?

00:05:35
Speaker 6: And so I think that was probably the first time at least publicly we sang together or whatever. Big cathedral hall, beautiful spot, and you know that being the first time made it an experience because you know, you have family there, plus it's this beautiful spot, so that really sticks out in my mind. It's like, wow, that's like there's something here.

00:05:53
Speaker 5: You know. Yeah, it was a moment where like we both were like because we didn't really rehearse much for that time, and when we sang together in the moment, it's just like both of us knew where each other was going and the song without really rehearsing, And I was like, hey, we kind of have a thing, and then we just continued it. And it's been fifteen years now.

00:06:11
Speaker 4: You said it was a year side of the family, Derek yep Oka.

00:06:13
Speaker 3: Sure.

00:06:13
Speaker 4: What was that moment like for you? Then? Individually for her to get up there and sing with you, where you kind of like, I mean, you don't have this. You probably told her this before, but that had to be something for you be like, wow, okay, yeah, this girl is pretty awesome.

00:06:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was great.

00:06:26
Speaker 6: I mean there's a sense of security there with someone you know right off the bat, but then to share that creatively right off the bat.

00:06:33
Speaker 3: Was just another level.

00:06:34
Speaker 6: So I just knew we had, you know, there was something there that we couldn't really tap on. You know, I grew up on Pearl jam and Lannis Moore said, and Tim McGraw and she she liked some screamo music and some country music. So we had a lot to talk about up to that point. But as far as musically creating together, you know, it came out with the twang for sure. Yeah, and we're just like, well, this kind of makes sense, you know, why don't we just buy a fifteen passenger van and tour the East coast. Essentially, there's there's a couple of steps in between.

00:07:08
Speaker 4: You just jumped straight to it.

00:07:10
Speaker 5: You're like, you know what, Yeah, it wouldn't for fun, It wasn't. I mean, we made goals together, like because he was already doing music. I was already doing music, so he kind of joined the band that I had started. And then it was like it just we were like, why are we not a duo? Like, you know, it kind of evolved that way. But we would just make goals. We'd be like, all right, let's play in our hometown and just in the Triad area like Thursday, Friday, Saturdays, and now let's branch out and do like festivals. So we had this guy named Ricky who's still a good friend who would help us as a booking agent back in the day. Ricky, I know, he's the best. And uh so we just built it and just kind of went with it and made goals and then we were like, then then we would reach those goals. And so that's how we bought our van, was paying for our own you know, getting paid for shows, which wasn't much back in the time, you know, back in the day. But yeah, it's been it's been a journey and just started playing out and then made started opening up for some people and our hometown, like we opened up for a little big town way back in twenty eleven, and they they've always been one of our favorite bands. And yeah, we just kind of built a name for ourselves in our hometown and then that kind of branched out to like moving to Nashville.

00:08:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, and the hometown was where you said, North Carolina, Winston Salem, Winston Salem. Okay, did you guys have a talk before because you were a couple before and then you played together, So did you ever have that talk where you're like, I don't know if I want to do this because I don't want this to get in the way of us.

00:08:26
Speaker 3: I don't know.

00:08:27
Speaker 6: It happened pretty quick because we both had bigger dreams than where we were at physically, so we were going to do it together no matter what.

00:08:35
Speaker 5: Like, I don't know. I mean, we've definitely had moments in our journey together where we've sat down and had moments to work through as a couple who you know, is dating and living together and also like being married and all that, and.

00:08:50
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's hard to consider all of that, you know, I know what you're saying, because it's like, have you considered, you know that you're dating someone that you're also going to be essentially owning a business with making van payments, and that's you know, you're not even married or a lot. You haven't done this this, you haven't compromised on this level. But I mean, we just felt it innately, and I'm glad we did. You know, in hindsight, it was hard as heck in some ways, but it still can be. But I mean it's we know what compromises, and it's it's made our marriage really strong. And like you know, f I'm being real honest, we had a pretty bad tip earlier today, but then we you know, we're talking about what we're going to have for dinner, and.

00:09:29
Speaker 5: Yeah, that kind of thing. And well, when you when you work together and you're married and you live and learn and all the things together for fifteen years now we've been married eleven, you just kind of get to a point where when things happen, you're easy, You're able to easily just like brush it off and just like all right, like we don't stay we don't get like mad or like stay mad on things for longer than like a day and we just like talk about it. We've learned to be very honest with each other and just like throw it out there and be vulnerable and like our thoughts and our feelings and then we just move on.

00:09:57
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's it's hard to catch it every time, but we try to stay ahead of a lot of things and long story short, give each other you know, space or whatever to just like, Okay, there's something you're having a tiff inside, or you're having a you know whatever inside, can you tell me about that or whatever, And it ends up coming out a little earlier rather than you know, resentment on the back end hopefully.

00:10:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, is there one that's harder than the other as far as music together or marriage or do they kind of go hand in hand at this point because you've been together for so long.

00:10:23
Speaker 6: Well, because I'm right, what used to be hard is figuring out the fact that someone sees the world completely different, yes, which is now at least an opportunity for a strength. So it's like, you know, I'm not always right, I'm at least needing to consider what she says and she I mean, she's pretty on it with anything detail or business oriented. So I mean we kind of have our roles. During twenty twenty, some of those roles shifted as like the industry shifted.

00:10:53
Speaker 3: We talk about that, but like at.

00:10:54
Speaker 6: The same time, it's like to switch roles in different periods of our life is like, yeah, said than done. But I'm just so glad that we can challenge each other and kind of have fun doing it.

00:11:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, totally. I mean, you really said everything I was gonna say. But what I take you it's I mean, it's just, you know, I think we both knew what we wanted. We wanted to do music for a living. We both did from the time we were old enough to understand what that was, what that meant. So I think when we met, we just knew it was a good thing and we just kind of like went with it. I don't know how it's kind of it's it's like we don't know if we've been asked that in a long time, actually, but we just kind of went with it. And it's been a journey, and you know, we've learned to like work with each other, and it has its ups and downs. I think for me, like I have a really hard time turning my brain off because I'm so I have ideas for I'll wake up thinking about things that we could be doing to further our career and like just ideas on all the things. And so when it comes to like the end of the day, he's the kind of person where when work is done, you know it's done. And for me, I'll be still thinking about things. So he's like, well, let's just like sit down and like watch a movie, and I'm like, well, I can't because I've got all these list things on my list that i haven't accomplished. And I think that's personality wise too.

00:12:07
Speaker 6: I think it helps to get the sweet lady out of the house sometimes.

00:12:10
Speaker 3: Yes, take to a die bar and let a Friday be a Friday.

00:12:13
Speaker 5: Just have a little party and let loose sometimes is good for me. Like that.

00:12:17
Speaker 4: All right, one more marriage question.

00:12:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, what you got brother?

00:12:19
Speaker 4: Then we'll get it into your guys' music a little bit more. And I'll ask you first, Caitlyn, do you look at other couples you know, like the Ryan Hurds and Marion Morris and then Caitlyn and Kam Brown, And do you look at those couples and be like, that's who I want to be or do you look up to them? Like that or are you kind of just like, we know what we're going to find our own way and that's really cool what they're doing. Maybe we can do that one day.

00:12:39
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean we definitely do. We actually did a Maren and Ryan's song on the Voice, and I love what they do individually, and then what they've done together is amazing. And then I think, you know, actually the song thing God by Caitlyn and kin we kind of have like covered that just for fun in the kitchen and like post it on TikTok. But I mean, I love We're big people on celebrating what everybody does and like their journey and what they do in their lane. And I think what Derek and I have to offer is different than what each of those couples that you mentioned offer. We definitely look up to them and I'm sure their journey is way more than we even know. And I think they're just amazing couples, and you know, I hope to just when I see couples like that, I think, you know, what are ways that we can like be a part of that too, you know, like and so I love, actually love seeing Kaitlyn and Caitlyn and Kaine's marriage online and I follow both of their accounts and I think it's really awesome.

00:13:38
Speaker 6: Yeah, so same just real quick. Same with Thomas rhtt and his wife, and obviously Tim and Faith. I feel like there's some obvious autonomy like separateness from those people, like they have separate careers as far as Ryan and Marin and I really respect that as a couple too, even though we are under you know, one name. I mean, we have some Derek songs, have some Caitlin songs, We have some songs that are duets, and I like not just giving people something to argue about, but that is kind of fun to just kind of not just have one lane, you know. So it's been fun for us to explore that, like our different personalities within it.

00:14:15
Speaker 4: You know, do you guys have a favorite do what to cover? Not your own, but to cover whether it's Tim and Faith or that's a hard all.

00:14:24
Speaker 6: We kind of lean into the real old stuff as far as that goes, Like Conway and Loretta and or Johnny and June. We love Jackson. We used to end every single of one of our shows with a rowdy version of Jackson.

00:14:36
Speaker 5: Really we still do it in all of our sets. That song. I mean, we have done it. I want to say for all of our shows we have, we.

00:14:42
Speaker 6: Still do it a lot. We double the tempo at the end, just.

00:14:44
Speaker 5: Like like Jackson by Johnny and June. That's definitely I'd say that's probably our favorite song to cover. And then of course like Loretta and Conway, their music is just great. Like we love all the old honky tonk like country. We did the country.

00:14:57
Speaker 3: We did play this out of fame or union.

00:14:59
Speaker 5: It's you're the reason our kids.

00:15:00
Speaker 6: You're the reason our kids are ugly. It didn't go over well. I was like, we were like.

00:15:04
Speaker 5: We should do it. Everybody's gonna laugh, and I think it's fun. And we did it and.

00:15:07
Speaker 6: Everybody was like my side of the family really got it.

00:15:10
Speaker 3: They laughed, Yeah, they're gonna cut up.

00:15:12
Speaker 5: It was like so hilarious. But yeah, I would say Jackson by Johnny and June. We we you know, I like to think and I like to like put it out there that Derek and I are the modern Johnny and June.

00:15:24
Speaker 3: You know, that's bold.

00:15:25
Speaker 5: It is bold. I hope we can live up to that, you know. But yeah, Johnny and June, that's like one of our favorite husband and wine.

00:15:36
Speaker 4: And now you mentioned the Voice a little bit. I want to get into that. You were on season twenty two, I believe, Team Blake. Yeah, and the last person I had on this podcast actually last week Emily and she was on Team Blake as well.

00:15:46
Speaker 3: That's right, Yeah, she was.

00:15:47
Speaker 4: On with me last week and I want to hear I talked about with her about a little bit. So what was your guys experience like with the Voice because hers was very she was young, you know, she'd finished and she was a finalist, and she thought her world was going to change and then it's just, you know, it's not that easy, she found out. So what was your experience like going through that whole process.

00:16:04
Speaker 6: Well, we had talked about it quite a bit and just decided together that we were going to do it because we already had music out, We already had a world to invite people into. And whether you do or not, I feel like it's a great positive show. And they really honor about any age that they have, like people that were older than us and down to the thirteen year olds, and that was yeah, really surprised me at how open they were even with interviews and all that stuff. So they just really honored us well, and I'm glad we did it. Yeah.

00:16:31
Speaker 5: I mean I think if you're an artist going into something like that and you know who you are and you already have music out, it's it can really like it's honestly changed our life in a lot of ways as far as like the fans, Like every show we've done recently, it's like we have people coming up saying they saw us on the show and they loved us, and that always blows my mind. I'm like, that's crazy, like you. I mean, it's like all over like and you know, the just to see the numbers increase just on like streams and also just like socials. But it was an amazing experience. I mean from the moment we went in, we both just like felt peace about it and we were like, we're just going to be ourselves and they'll it will go as far as we need to go because we trust that the right plan will happen. And it was an amazing journey. I mean there's definitely parts where it's stressful because it's television in front of millions of people. It was a really great experience for us and I mean Derek, he actually for the first time ever on the show. For the actually our Knockout Round did a song without the guitar in his hands for the first time, and that was like a big step and we had never done it. And actually the bandleader, Paul was like, well, he was like, no better time to do it than in front of ten million people or however many watched the show, And so that was like a really big milestone for us. And I feel like that that was something we hadn't done. And Blake actually like gave him so many compliments on it, and we even went out, I feel like on a good note. So it was it was a great journey for us, and it's just brought so many good things into our life as far as shows, and we just signed a booking and just a lot of good cool things.

00:17:58
Speaker 4: So do you feel like having each each other through that process really helped instead of being like an individual artist and going through I mean, you have the support of the family, of course, but having each other had to help a lot through that. Yeah, I mean that's a little surreal, right, Yeah, I'm sure I want to get on the stage. It might hit you, but I don't even know if it still hits you. Till this point.

00:18:15
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean we were also in a hotel room for a number of months.

00:18:20
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, so it was just.

00:18:22
Speaker 3: Twenty twenty all over again.

00:18:24
Speaker 6: Yeah, I have to make light of that at all, but it was we were it was so I was such a privilege to do that with her.

00:18:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I think we were the one of two duos on our season. Oh yeah, and so it is. I mean, I think with what we do together, like people always say, you know, like Derek, you could do music by yourself, Caitlyn, you could do music by yourself. So why do y'all choose each other? And I just think there's plenty of amazing female artists, plenty of amazing like male and I think what Derek and I have is special, and I'm so thankful that we have each other in crazy things like that, Like so many times we look at each other just randomly and we'll be like, our life is so crazy, Like we do the craziest things, like many people like, our life is just crazy. You never know what each month will bring it, but like we always are so thankful that we can do it together. And I'm like, thank God that I've got like your brain as well, like, so it's not all on me, you know, And so I have major likes to artists who do everything themselves. I mean that it's a lot of work, and so I'm thankful I have Derek and that we did that together.

00:19:28
Speaker 4: Like that, Where do you guys, are you playing anywhere on National locally? Do you ever play on Broadway or any riders around anything like that?

00:19:33
Speaker 6: We don't play Broadway much, but we we like visiting Roberts for sure. Roberts that's our Friday night unless we hop over, you know, to the East Side for Honky Talk Tuesday.

00:19:44
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, we've definitely done like writers' rounds. We just did a big show in February at the Basement East, like a big showcase, and so, you know, we we did CMA Fest and we want to do shows, but we try not to like oversaturate the area because we're on tour right now and and lots of dates like outside of Nashville, But we definitely I think we have a show coming up in August at Kletus. It's our friend's burger bar. And Paul McDonald is another artist and he puts on these one big love festivals. So I think that's August tenth, and that's gonna be a lot of fun. But we do little, you know, events here and there.

00:20:18
Speaker 4: And how was this first CMA Fest for you guys?

00:20:20
Speaker 5: Oh?

00:20:21
Speaker 4: It was a blast, correctly, yeah, amazing.

00:20:23
Speaker 6: It was on the hard rock stage, so I mean, when you're looking at the hard rock you're obviously looking out towards the river, but if you're on stage looking towards Broadway, it's almost as if whenever they crank us up, like all of Broadway kind of turns in, Like even people across the street were like kind of all turning their necks and it was it was a blast. So we had this crowd in front of us, but they were all kind of coming across during Cmafest, so we just started playing out to the other side of the street.

00:20:52
Speaker 3: And it was really surprising.

00:20:54
Speaker 5: It was our first one, and honestly, we didn't know if we'd even get in this year, and I think it was the first time that CMA fester, first or second year that they've taken over that stage, and so we somehow got in on the lineup, and I was just amazed that there was people there. And you know, because every show you're like I hope people come see us like they come. And so it was a fun crowd and we just had a blast. We did a thirty minute set and we just did all of our songs that we're going to release this year and and so, yeah, it was a lot of fun. Definitely feel honored.

00:21:25
Speaker 4: How big is that for you know, a duo like you or any artist really, because for me living here, I'm like, holy crap, that's a lot. It's just a lot of people. And yeah there's a lot going on you go downtown for a couple hours. But for you guys, somebody that's not, you know, playing Nissan on the main stage every night, how big is that for you guys? To get those people from out of town just to be walking by and just see you. So for you to have that stage, is that something that you just don't take for granted?

00:21:49
Speaker 5: Oh totally.

00:21:49
Speaker 3: Oh yeah.

00:21:50
Speaker 6: I mean, whether we're opening for Jody like we have been this year, and we have a merch line that we didn't expect and we're just like, we're gonna eat this up, not just because it's about us, but because these fans are hungry to discover new artists, and that's that's the big thing with fanfare at CMA Fest and all that like it, it really is not about us as it as is as it is about the fans where they really do like want to.

00:22:17
Speaker 5: It's like all about that, Yeah they shelter, it's going to be the new artist and people who maybe aren't on the radio yet. And and I think for.

00:22:25
Speaker 3: Us, like it's that wouldn't you say?

00:22:27
Speaker 6: It's that same like sense of discovery totally as some shows that are out there.

00:22:30
Speaker 5: I mean, well that's what I grew up going to CMA Fest, and that's what I thought was so amazing, was walking around and seeing people that like back then now are huge. I mean, I'm you know, even other shows like I just think about like what it takes to get there, and CMA Fest is honestly like has been on our bucket list of like when are we going to get to play CMA Fest? Man, that'd be a dream. And so the fact that it happened this year was incredible. And then I think back on like what CMA Fest is and all the past years of life. You know, CMA was doing like recaps of different like Porter and Dolly and Faith and Tim and it's just like years of like country music legends. I mean, that's everybody's a part of it, and for us to be included in that definitely don't take it for granted. And and we wanted to like give our best, and I feel like we did and left a good impression. So hopefully we'll be back next year.

00:23:22
Speaker 3: That's right.

00:23:23
Speaker 4: That's right, And hopefully if you're listening to this and you haven't been, I highly recommend it. It's amazing something you can't get anywhere else. Nashville is probably the only place you can walk any corner just hear amazing music. How did you end up getting that?

00:23:33
Speaker 1: Then?

00:23:33
Speaker 4: Are you with a management company? Is that what you said?

00:23:35
Speaker 5: Or yeah? So in March we actually signed with Wasserman Booking, and so our booking agents got us on that, and I think it was like the timing just worked out and they said there was openings and so they pitched us and then it and then we got chosen to do it. So it's kind of a last minute thing, but I think timing is everything, and it happened, so we're.

00:23:55
Speaker 3: Excited to agree more.

00:23:56
Speaker 4: That's awesome. Another exciting thing and you talked about a little bit was be on tour with Joe. You've seen that right now, Yes, the Heads Carolina Tales California tour. How did that come about and how has that been so far?

00:24:06
Speaker 6: Honestly, Jody is quite the anomaly. Like she's on our first show with her, she came out to introduce us. She talked for like five minutes about us, and I was She said she didn't know she was going to do that show. She is very like not fly by the sea of her pants, but has like really just a big heart love.

00:24:24
Speaker 5: I thought she was coming out just to like watch our set. Like I thought she was just like following us out and I was like, oh, I guess she's gonna watch. She just makes me nervous. And then she like went on stage and I was like, what is happening? And then so she like introduced us, but like it came about we. So we a friend of ours, Angela, sings background vocals for her. So I think Angela had kind of like mentioned who we were Jody, maybe like two years ago. But we did our show in February at the Basement East and the very next morning, my friend Angela texted me and said, Hey, do you have a message from Jody, and I was like, Jody Messina.

00:24:57
Speaker 3: And she was like seven am.

00:24:59
Speaker 5: This is in the like because when neither of us slept, we were so amped from our show. And I was like, well I don't so I like nudge Derek because I think he was still asleep. I was like, do you have a message from Jody on your phone? And he's like Jody was Seena. I'm like yeah, and he's like, I actually do, and he was like she said to call her about some tour dates and I was like.

00:25:15
Speaker 6: What, and so what's odd was And I don't know if Jody, if you're listening, if you know this or not, but she texted or emailed Wasserman about us coming out on some dates, I believe while they were debriefing about.

00:25:31
Speaker 5: Because they had come to our show.

00:25:32
Speaker 6: It's kind of cool, we're seeing us really Yeah, So the timing was nuts. You know, one of their artists was asking us to come on tour as they were, you know, debriefing about maybe working with us or something.

00:25:41
Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:25:41
Speaker 5: It was like, honestly, so weird. And I was like wait because she's also with Wasserman and so I was like, well, did that happen? Like what is happening, and so it was just kind of like a weird timing thing on everybody's like in But we called her around ten that morning, the day after our big showcase that we did, and she was like, I just would love for y'all to like come out on the road with me and do some shows. Like I never picked an opener before, and I didn't know if that's to be something y'all be interested in or you know, don't feel pressure, and we're like, don't feel pressure, Like what do you mean, you're amazing. We tried to like we literally tried to keep it really cool and just be like very like you know, yeah, like sure, but we were just like speaming. We were like my parents were in town and they were sitting in the other room, and I just was like couldn't wait to like run in the room and be like she just has us to go on door. So that with that happened, and then Wasserman killed it and like got us in the right kind of you know, in line with all the details of it, and we started our first show in Texas in April. So it was just kind of like a it just all happened real fast, and we just like went with it, and it's been a journey, the ground running.

00:26:45
Speaker 6: They've been going in some dates in between, and it's been such a blast.

00:26:49
Speaker 5: It's been a dream because every year, at the end of every year, we write down goals for the next YEP, and twenty twenty three, like actually twenty three is our lucky number, which we knew going into the year. We're like, that's going to be pretty like what's going to happen?

00:27:01
Speaker 3: And yeah, it comes up a lot, right, But we.

00:27:03
Speaker 5: Were like, let's like one of our biggest thing was let's play more shows. However, we got to do that, whether it's us booking up or we get signed, but really wanted to get signed, and then that happened, and it's just honestly been a dream come true because we've been here for years and that's been our goal.

00:27:18
Speaker 4: So how long have you lived in Nashville then?

00:27:20
Speaker 5: Nine years?

00:27:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, since twenty fourteen and you moved here together. Yep.

00:27:23
Speaker 6: We sure did packed it up in the jeep and we didn't release music until twenty eighteen, but OK, yeah.

00:27:29
Speaker 5: Wow, yeah, we packed everything in our little jeep. Cherokee stayed with some friends they like opened their house because they believed in us, and we didn't even know what we were going to do. We didn't even have jobs when we moved. We were like we just brought like what we could in our little cherokey and our cat, and we just like headed here. We were like all right, like hope we get a job soon. And so I started babysitting as soon as we moved here. I started nanning for different families, and he worked at Apple. And we had our jobs for like four or five years, like random jobs, and just like dug our feet in and I wrote songs and started to release some music the first time in twenty eighteen.

00:28:04
Speaker 4: So was there some dark days in those four to five years where you were saying, I don't know if this was the right move or not?

00:28:10
Speaker 3: Totally? Yeah, how do I expound on that?

00:28:12
Speaker 5: Like, well, I remember driving here, Like when we were actually driving here to like move here, I think I cried the whole way because I was like I felt in my spirit that it was the right thing, but I also was like, what if we're making the biggest mistake.

00:28:24
Speaker 6: Sure, and you're probably grieving, you know.

00:28:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, like being around family and it's just like, you know, a lot of what we do is a big sacrifice constantly, Like we've missed weddings, We've missed like a lot of things. And so I think moving here it was like we knew what the cost was, but we were like ready for whatever that was, and so we just came with like open hands and have just it's been a journey. But I mean there's been plenty of days where we've felt like I always say, like thrown in the towel, but we never would because it just I think it's the days where you just feel like is what we're doing enough? Which I think is the question a lot of artists probably asked, like am I enough? Is my music?

00:29:00
Speaker 1: Enough?

00:29:01
Speaker 5: Is my brand enough? You know, whatever we're doing. But we really believe in what we who we are and what our story is, and you know, I think it's more about people than it is about us. Like we we truly do love people and want people. We've always said like when people come to our shows and just like even come to our house, we want people to like leave a little lighter than when they can't got there. And so we want people to like laugh, cry, party, have fun at our shows or even if they're at our house. Like and so it's about the fans and about people, and so that's always been like our drive.

00:29:36
Speaker 4: Well, let's wrap it up here and talk about some new stuff in the works for you guys coming out later this summer. You got a singing Yeah, yeah, possibly anyp Jody Messina, So go ahead and talk about the new single coming out.

00:29:46
Speaker 3: We're so excited.

00:29:47
Speaker 6: She could tell you more about the details, obviously, because she's a detail queen. But we've proud to say we've produced this at home and really have been testing a lot of these songs out on the road, and we really do that's kind of our litmus test to have the audience, you know, react to what we're playing or just ask, you know, when this song is going to come out. And you know, a lot of artists and we do this a little bit on social platforms and stuff and test the market or whatever. But I'm I'm just so thankful when we can do that in person. So this is a collection of you know, songs that we've really tested out on the road, and I'm pretty proud of it.

00:30:22
Speaker 5: Yeah. The song's called Sawdust and it is about all the honky tonks and diebars we've been to thus far, and it's just a honky tonk like we both love like traditional country, and so it has definitely big flares of that, but it's like mixed with a little bit of rock, which is really fun, and a lot of our music has a lot of that element in it, a lot of gritty yeah, community for sure.

00:30:45
Speaker 6: I love producers like Jay Joyce and Luke Dick, you know, Branda Lambert, Eric Church, those type of gritty tape sounds, and we love old country too, so to push the production forward, we're just that's just what naturally comes out.

00:30:58
Speaker 5: And yeah, yeah will sound a lot like Texas, that's for sure, with.

00:31:04
Speaker 6: Some deep bear tone guitars like rock and roll, you.

00:31:08
Speaker 5: Know, and a lot of it's just what we've been writing the last couple, like last two or three years.

00:31:13
Speaker 4: Did you write every song? Sorry to cut you off there, did you write every song?

00:31:15
Speaker 5: Yes?

00:31:16
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah with.

00:31:17
Speaker 5: Co writers get together and with co writers. But yeah, I feel like it's another chapter of our story that maybe people haven't heard yet, which I'm really excited. Yeah, there's it's just I think it has something for everything. There's like some serious songs on there, and then there's like just fun songs like Sawdust and then we have a song called Bless Your Heart that's going to be coming out in August as well, and it's was based off comment that someone was being mean, but you know, it's all good. But uh yeah, So I'm excited. Lots of new music this year, lots of shows and we're really excited for like what's to come for.

00:31:52
Speaker 3: Us, maybe a Christmas tour, yeah, working on that.

00:31:55
Speaker 5: Yeah, oh yeah, Christmas. More Christmas music as well. So we're really working on cranking some stuff out because last year we couldn't with the voice, we had to wait in a certain time. So this year we're like doing as much as we can.

00:32:08
Speaker 3: Might as well.

00:32:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, go follow them social media. We're going to fund you guys.

00:32:11
Speaker 5: The draws, it's just the draws on everything, so pretty much g r.

00:32:15
Speaker 3: Y e s also spelled like doctor.

00:32:18
Speaker 5: Yes, we always say that. I don't know why. We think we're fun so weird.

00:32:23
Speaker 4: The way that help other it helps. Okay, go follow them on Instagram, Twitter and social media, TikTok whatever you're on stream their music. Supporting you guys. It was a lot of fun. Thank you so much for coming in.

00:32:35
Speaker 5: Thank you so much.

00:32:36
Speaker 3: Gotcha.

00:32:36
Speaker 5: This has been a Bobby cast production.