From Viral Covers to Heartfelt Harmonies: Juna and Joey's Nashville Journey of Music and Healing

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Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.

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Speaker 2: Hey, listeners at Sarah Harrelson, your host of the Taking a Walk Nashville podcast. Today, I have Sister brother Duo, Juna and Joey on today's episode. I hope you'll listen to our conversation today. They have some great music out. I caught them at Country Radio Seminar, talked with them, and then I caught them again at nash House Downtown. It's a restaurant and live music venue. They always have great shows there, so check it out. So tune in today you can hear my two conversations with them, one at CRS and one at nash House, So listen in check out their story.

00:00:51
Speaker 1: Welcome to Taking a Walk Nashville with your hosts singer songwriter Sarah Harrelson.

00:00:57
Speaker 3: Hello, everyone, this is Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking a Walk Nashville. We are here at Country Radio Seminar and I'm joined by rising country brother Sister Duo Juna and Joey.

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Speaker 4: So.

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Speaker 2: After racking up millions of views online with their harmonies and viral covers, they've taken that momentum to Nashville stages and tours with artists like Morgan Wallin and Jason al Dean, and now they're back with brand.

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Speaker 5: New music and their latest single, Stop Thinking.

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Speaker 2: It's out now, so we'll talk about the story behind the song, their journey from viral videos to national tours, and.

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Speaker 5: What it's really like making music as siblings. June and Joey, thank you so much for being on Taking a Walk Nashville Today. Is this your first country radio seminar? No, this is actually our fits six.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. I made around the East Hallsburg a couple of years.

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Speaker 5: Are you both from Tennessee originally?

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Speaker 6: No, we're both from South Florida originally.

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Speaker 2: Okay, Well, welcome and I'm loving your latest single, stopped thinking?

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Speaker 5: What inspired this song? Well, I wrote this song.

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Speaker 6: We wrote the song with Bradley Collins.

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Speaker 4: He's in a meeting New York timespresselling author and he has Away with Words, And we.

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Speaker 5: Wrote this song about my best friend at the time.

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Speaker 4: She was going through a breakup with this she totally hung over heels for and they you know, things didn't work out, and she's like, I don't know what to do something on him, Like every time I pulled through a red light and I see the same kind of model truck he's gonna I think it's him.

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Speaker 5: I freak out.

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Speaker 4: Or every time we try around this town and I see all have a place that we did or place that we went to, things that we did, and she's kind of torn apart by this. So I were a song about it, and it's just kind of about the things you gotta do to move on.

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Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 7: It's got a very jazzy kind of country vibe to it. The violin the guitar part was it was originally a guitar part and I had came up with it, but then it was turned into a violin part.

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Speaker 8: So cool.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it had to be so much fun working on the studio together and being a brother.

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Speaker 5: Sister duo is unique.

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Speaker 2: What's the best part of being siblings and making music together.

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Speaker 4: I think we kind of are like on the same page, like just metally, like you kind of finished each other's sentence, like in riots.

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Speaker 5: Well, I have the same idea.

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Speaker 4: We're able to build off each other's ideas, and what's great is that we both bring them.

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Speaker 5: With things on the table.

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Speaker 4: If like Joey is very strong like with guitar and melodies and coming up with full riffs and things like that in the song, like in the beginning and like I'm very strong's lyrically also with the melodies. So we can go come together with like our strengths and build something like that's really awesome and that's cool and different.

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Speaker 8: Sean, Yeah, just.

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Speaker 7: Say, like create memories, Like tour is like my favorite aspect of doing music.

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Speaker 8: And like I said, creating memories and.

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Speaker 6: Just always beat a right each other.

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Speaker 7: You know, nine percent of the time we're good. We had that one percent while we're on like you know, but we're pretty good.

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Speaker 5: Did you always grow up playing music together?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, pretty much. Since we first started. I was around four years old and I was obsessed with the movie goll To Rascals and I would watch that over and over all my way to school and every morning, and the Talent show scene with Darla and Alfalvau when they sing the song out by Frank Sinatra. I learned it and never formed it for yeah, on our coffee table. I was like four, and that's what they started getting into music lessons.

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Speaker 5: And then Joey joined me after being.

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Speaker 8: In the sports Yeah that was a big sports game.

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Speaker 4: And then we just we did a classic rock band. We were like ten to thirteen. Then we moved on to country music and we'd started writing and it just kind.

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Speaker 5: Of grew from there.

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Speaker 7: And we're still doing school because school is important and our mom and I are like, yeah, I'm the school.

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Speaker 8: So we actually are doing We're going to Berkeley.

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Speaker 7: Online in Boston, so taking songwriting and music theory classes and all sorts of things like that.

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Speaker 5: Yes, very cool.

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Speaker 2: And what's the biggest challenge of working with your sibling?

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Speaker 4: I would I mean, you know, just being siblings, like sound Sime, you' siblings.

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Speaker 5: We brought each other all the time using gems.

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Speaker 6: You didn't need to break right, you make any me time like yeah.

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Speaker 4: Like if you know when it happens and you just take time pop singing, you ever and then rejoin coming.

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Speaker 8: You know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 6: Geez, kind of take a day day by day.

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Speaker 5: Do you write a lot of your songs together or apart?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: I would say you write most of them together.

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Speaker 4: Sometimes we'll write individually or of the artists separately, but I think mostly it's also.

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Speaker 5: Over Yeah, very cool.

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Speaker 2: And you both first started getting attention with your YouTube covers.

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Speaker 5: Did you expect your videos to take off? The way they did on YouTube. Band and TikTok definitely not like.

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Speaker 6: When we first started.

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Speaker 4: We would pick a song that was like top ten, something that was really trendy at the time. Then we would you know, put our little twists on it and go to the studio of a chord.

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Speaker 6: Master it and then film it and edit it.

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Speaker 4: Like it would take a long time, which is so funny now the way that content has changed, like from then screen now like did TikTok and everything, it would take us like a week or two two, like get a video down between like the recording and the editing, and it just like exploded on YouTube. Our covers and people really enjoyed them, and we would respond to comments and do YouTube premieres and things like that. And now it's like thirty seconds you get on the camera go you thought, people want, let's short constant.

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Speaker 8: Then when we engaged, you know.

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Speaker 6: You know, so it's so different.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, it definitely has changed.

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Speaker 2: And we talked about Joey said, you love touring together.

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Speaker 5: You both opened for artists like.

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Speaker 2: Morgan Wallen, Bailey Zimmerman, Jason Aldan.

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Speaker 5: What's the biggest thing you both.

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Speaker 2: Have learned from watching these artists perform.

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Speaker 8: Just how passionate they are.

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Speaker 7: And it's like very inspiring to watch artists grow because they did this, they were in the same you know, kind of shoes. We were doing CRS and doing a bunch of interviews and growing, you know, progressively, And we actually met Bailey Zimmerman.

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Speaker 8: He's like, he's such a cool guy.

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Speaker 7: He's the way that he acts on stage is the same way when we first met him.

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Speaker 8: Like, everybody has their own, you know, their own kind of niche.

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Speaker 7: So it's just cool to see different artists and how they you know, go on with their with their music career.

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Speaker 2: Very cool. Yeah, I can't wait to see what stages you guys take next. So you open up for next and I'm excited to see you guys perform at nash House later.

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Speaker 5: I'll have some more questions for you then.

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Speaker 2: But my last question for now, we're on taking a walk Nashville. So for each of you, if you could take a walk with anyone in Nashville, who would it be with?

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Speaker 5: Oh, wow, that's great question.

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Speaker 6: I would probably say I'd probably say Hardy.

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Speaker 4: I think he's like a great writer, agen so much jour energy, like and he's such a cool guy. He's just cooick like, he's a cool guy, and I want to like learn more about his writing and how we you know, he is his person in his career and his journey that you might not hear from him in an interview or something.

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Speaker 6: When you hear the deep stuff.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, it's say, uh.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, maybe Ernest any any really good songwriter or actually go oh.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, actually girl would be a great versions a wat story.

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Speaker 4: So we jogging a mild Yeah, we'd be writing a song lies walking.

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Speaker 1: Right, we'll be right back with more of the Taking a Walk Nashville podcast. Welcome back to Taking a Walk Nashville.

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Speaker 2: So what's the dynamic like being together in the studio recording your songs.

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Speaker 6: It's it's fun.

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Speaker 5: It's all a great time.

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Speaker 4: We're just so passionate and excited about these new songs. We can't wait to get in there and just put them out.

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Speaker 7: It's more to add because we have like an extra person, so it's like, oh you should do that, or no, oh we'll add this. Yeah, So there's just more opportunities like adding ad loops. Yeah, just adding things to the song here and there throughout the studio.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's going to make it more fun, and it's got to be so much fun as a brother and sister going on the road together. Do you guys have some upcoming shows this year people can look forward to.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, we have some upcoming shows for the year, but right now, we just actually opened up a songwriting venue in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, and.

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Speaker 6: We're really excited about that. We play there a lot.

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Speaker 4: We have some writers come through and some artists and we hop on stage with them and collaborate and then we get their numbers and work at.

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Speaker 6: Them, which has been a really great way to make connections.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, we're also looking forward to Key Wes songwriters that's who in May. It's gonna be like our fifth or six one and you know, meeting those songwriters down there and them telling their stories about the songs, the songs that we listen to on the radio is just really inspiring and it's just a fun time.

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Speaker 5: So yeah, yeah, it'll be fun.

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Speaker 2: And as you mentioned, in addition to being artists and songwriters, you guys are also restaurant owners, which I don't know how you have time to do that. You just opened a restaurant around here and good let's fill just north of Nashville, and this restaurant has live music, great food, and craft at cocktails. What inspired you guys to get into the restaurant industry, especially at such a young age.

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Speaker 4: Well, our dad is very big into real estate. He just likes looking and shopping around. So my mommy, this is why we moved like one hundred times when we were younger.

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Speaker 6: We never had like a childhood home because we lived in.

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Speaker 8: Like a hundred daybe It was so many tis.

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Speaker 4: So my dad found this little building that he kind of fell in love with and Koltz build and it was actually owned by Stu Phillips and he was an icon at a legend who just recently passed away unfortunately. And we actually named a signature cocktail after him, Old Fashioned, and it's our most popular drink.

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Speaker 2: Oh wow, And Juna, you have a cocktail name that for you too, Right, It's called the Juniah Drop.

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Speaker 7: I was on the menu but they took it off.

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Speaker 6: It was like a pumpkin spice drink. But we thought that was mean.

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Speaker 5: But people can still like order you off menu.

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Speaker 6: Right on the stage ordered him on the scene.

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Speaker 4: So he bought this building and we kind of just started doing it We didn't really have a plan. He just bought it and we thought of some cool ideas for the name and the design of it, and here we are.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm looking forward to you know, just going on tour and then coming back to the restaurant and everybody there is just family to us. So it's good to you know, talk to our coworkers and really have a sort He's good.

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Speaker 8: You could just see that like in the upcoming years.

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Speaker 6: So you need to come home too. Yeah, you just hop up on stage when you get back there. Exactly.

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Speaker 2: Well, you both are also ambassadors do a lot of charity work for One Tree Planted. This plants and restores trees around the world, and you run a food tribe each year. Why is giving back so important for you both?

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Speaker 4: It's so important to us because our dad, he's in the protoce business in Florida, and so it really means a lot to us to give back through that and through him and his business. And the One Tree Planet is also a great organization. You know, we're from Florida, and that's got the everybody's the trees, the palm trees, it's got all sorts of agriculture and nature. There Florida. So that just means a lot to us and where we grew up and where we came from. So it's awesome to be able to work with them.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, we love to keep our world in society, healthy, cleansants, They care about that stuff.

00:12:05
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's beautiful.

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Speaker 2: And you also run an anti bullying campaign every October correct, Yeah, definitely.

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Speaker 4: We actually went to the UK and did a school tour for a couple of months. We talked to students and did a speech on anti bullying and mental health, and then we played them some country music and a lot of them was their first concert, and a lot of them had stories to share with us, and it was so inspiring and it was such an honor to be able to talk to these kids one on one and just see where they're out, meet them where they're at mentally, and just be there for them to talk to them like normal people.

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Speaker 6: Where they look at us on stage you know and they're like.

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Speaker 4: Oh, I want to be like yo one day, or they look at us like idols, you know, but then we talked to them like real people, you know, say we're here for you.

00:12:47
Speaker 5: Whenever you need.

00:12:47
Speaker 6: Yeah, we reach out to people on Instagram all the time. They reach out to us about their stories and in need of help or just reassurance. And were we talked to fans personally all on the daily all day.

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Speaker 7: We still get dms from them today and like you changed their lives, so like really it's home.

00:13:02
Speaker 6: It's nice to talk to them just like kid to kid.

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Speaker 4: You know, we did this couple of years ago, so we were the same age as they were, you know, so it's nice to be able to sit down and come to reality and be like, we have been your shoes.

00:13:13
Speaker 5: You know.

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Speaker 4: We have seen people in our school that when we went to school go through the similar things and we have personally.

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Speaker 6: So it's nice to be able to talk to everybody. Yeah, that's so special.

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Speaker 5: It's so important to connect with the fans too.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So I have some fun rabid fire questions for you guys before these These are easy though, And then on taking a walk in Nashville, we've never really done a format where we have our guests play live music after, so you guys will be the first ones to do that and people need to hear your songs on stage. But at first, I have some fun rabid fire sibling questions. So you guys can just let me know what you think. But first one who is more likely to eat all the snacks backstage?

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Speaker 8: No events?

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Speaker 6: Sorry Joey, for sure you guys are protein like bars. You will see him.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, no, it's not snacks. It's more like ground beef.

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Speaker 4: And runs the weird hell thing like.

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Speaker 5: Definitely joining.

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Speaker 2: Well, who is more likely to spend more time on their phone?

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Speaker 8: Her phone is dead like a one hour into the day.

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Speaker 7: I'm like, your phone, She's like, I gotta charge my Phone'm like, it's eight o'clock in the morning.

00:14:25
Speaker 6: Would you can spend how my photo?

00:14:27
Speaker 5: I want to do it.

00:14:27
Speaker 4: It's always dead because I forget to charge it at night, Like I keep forgetting to put an extension cor in my rooms and was like, half, I'm just forgetting.

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Speaker 7: My charger is so small. I have to like, you know, bring it over to bed and he doesn't reach.

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Speaker 4: You're right about to go to sleep and your men you're cozy. The last thing you want to do is like get out of there.

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Speaker 8: I charge your phone.

00:14:45
Speaker 6: So that's that's why it's always dead.

00:14:47
Speaker 5: But well, who is more organized on the road?

00:14:52
Speaker 6: Probably me, I would say, just everything you we always do. You never like too joy because this stuff is just the birth place.

00:14:59
Speaker 4: Every time we keys like Dooey's shirts, or like around or like his.

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Speaker 6: He carries a big jug of water. He drinks out of this gallon water. It's just always in the way.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's a good thing about siblings, Like you've already grew up together, so you know each other's habits before you go off the road together. One last question before I turn it over to you, guys, if you both could take a walk with any one in Nashville. I know I Askedcess earlier by my Mstane Again, who would it be with?

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Speaker 6: I probably say Hardy.

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Speaker 4: He's such an inspiration as a writer, and he's just the coolest guy. Like I know, we'd have so much turn and he probably does a thing, a lot of things that are out of my element. But I'd like to explore that, you know, and just talk to him about solwriting.

00:15:41
Speaker 6: And and kind the stories he has to tell him. Sure, it's a.

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Speaker 7: Lot, Yeah, maybe like George Strait and a little bit of Arnest and.

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Speaker 8: Scotty mcrey, a whole bunch of people, whole group. Yeah, it's a group walking on the beach.

00:15:57
Speaker 5: Thank you again.

00:15:57
Speaker 2: June and Joey for being on Taking a Walk Nashville Today.

00:16:00
Speaker 9: Thank you Corvides, Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville.

00:16:05
Speaker 1: With Sarah Harrelson.

00:16:06
Speaker 9: Please check out our other shows produced by Buzznight Media Productions Comedy Save Me and Music Save Me hosted by Lynn Hoffman, and Taken a Walk hosted by Yours Truly Buzznight. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and are part of the iHeart podcast network