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S9: E11: Kendall Beard (Love & Chaos) - When Grit Meets Grace
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Date: December 17, 2025
Name of Podcast: Backstage Pass Radio
S9: E11: Kendall Beard (Love & Chaos) - When Grit Meets Grace
SHOW SUMMARY:
The story starts on Texas backroads and winds through Opry houses, a teen pop deal, and a reality TV spotlight before landing in an Austin room where sparks fly. Kendall Beard joins us to share how that winding path led to Love & Chaos, her electrifying duo with AJ Vallejo, and why the most interesting music often lives between labels.
We dig into the early hustle—weekend shows, VHS audition tapes, and a family that said yes when the dream demanded long drives. Kendall opens up about the label collapse around the Napster era, stepping back for college, and a detour into the business side that confirmed she needed to be on the creative front lines. You’ll hear a candid look at American Idol’s true timeline, the contract strings that stall momentum, and the unexpected upside: a loyal Texas fan base and new doors for songwriting and production.
Then the chemistry kicks in. A one-off duet with AJ turns into Love & Chaos, a project where country storytelling collides with rock muscle and a hint of Latin rhythm. We trace their four-year Saxon Pub residency, the craft behind their live duo setup with a suitcase kick drum, and the evolution of Rather Be Alone from sprawling art piece to tight radio edit without losing its pulse. Kendall breaks down their writing process—sometimes 50–50, sometimes whoever has the spark—and why inspiration shows up on runs, in dreams, and in those moments when life refuses to sit still. She also talks about balancing motherhood with touring, choosing fewer but more meaningful shows, and what’s next: a Texas radio tour, new singles, sessions at AJ’s new studio in Gruene, and fresh solo writing.
If you love Americana’s open borders, Texas grit, and songs built to breathe on stage, this conversation delivers. Follow Love & Chaos, spin the new single, and tell us which track caught you by surprise. If you enjoy the show, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review to help more music fans find us.
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Your Host,
Randy Hulsey
On the show, we are joined by an artist whose voice carries both grit and grace. She's one half of the acclaimed duo Love and Chaos, a project known for its dynamic blend of Americana, country, and rock and fuse storytelling. Hey everyone, it's Randy Holsey with Backstage Pass Radio. My guest today first caught national attention with her powerhouse vocals and magnetic stage presence, but it's her evolution as a songwriter and the emotionally charged partnership she shares with AJ Vallejo in Love and Chaos that has truly defined her as an artist. You guys settle in because it's going to be a great conversation filled with heart, humor, and truth. We will talk with my mega talented friend Kendall Beard of the band Love and Chaos when we return.
SPEAKER_01:This is Backstage Pass Radio. Backstage Pass Radio, a podcast by an artist for the artist. Each week we take you behind the scenes of some of your favorite musicians and the music they created. From chart-topping hits to underground gems, we explore the sounds that move us and the people who make it all happen. Remember to please subscribe, rate, and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. So whether you're a casual listener or a die hard music fan, tune in and discover the magic behind the melodies. Here is your host of Backstage Pass Radio, Randy Holsey.
SPEAKER_00:Hi Kendall, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00:Merry Christmas to you. You know, it's it's so weird because it's Christmas is what, two weeks two weeks away? And it's like 70, 70 degrees here in Houston, and it it it feels like Christmas one day and then the next day it doesn't. I know, I know Christmas anymore.
SPEAKER_02:So I'm I'm I'm trying to get it together and it's uh how's that going for you? It's uh not going to have to actually have everything done by tomorrow, believe it or not.
SPEAKER_00:Oh wow.
SPEAKER_02:Um yeah, I we are traveling as a family and we're gonna be gone, but we come back home on Christmas Eve. So literally everything has to be ready for everything, Santa and Renew by tomorrow. So yay.
SPEAKER_00:Well then I guess I'll just tell you I'll tell you you better you better get you better get it together then because you're running out of time.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, exactly. It's been crazy.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's great to see you, and we've we've gone back and forth a little bit here and there, and I'm I'm glad you're taking the opportunity to jump on and talk all uh about the things you and Love and Chaos and AJ and all the cool things that you have going on. So thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I'm excited. Yeah, thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00:Sure, it's my pleasure. So so tell me where you're calling home these days.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so um I'm in Austin, Texas. You know, I'm originally from I'm an East Texas girl. I'm from uh Lufkin, Texas, originally. And for listeners that yeah, don't know where that is, I know you know where it is. Uh it's like um kind of northeast, about 100 miles northeast of Houston. So deep east Texas, and uh I grew up there and um basically I I went to college at the University of Texas in Austin and basically never left. I kind of did a couple of restints with music out in LA and definitely decided that wasn't my favorite spot.
SPEAKER_00:I mean LA's just one of those places, right? LA is one of those places.
SPEAKER_02:It served its purpose for what it was there for, but I was like, yeah, I'm going back to Austin.
SPEAKER_00:You know, it's so it's so funny how the music industry, I think, has evolved over the years. You know, LA used, well, and I'm not saying that it's not anymore, but you but I'm gonna date myself a little bit by saying, you know, back in the Sunset Strip days, LA was where it was at. The Sunset Strip, the you know, the hair metal, blah, blah, blah, probably way before your time. But it was a big thing, right? And LA was the place to go. New York had a big scene, you know, up on long Long Island. And then now it seems like a lot of a lot of the people that were out on the two different coasts are are kind of flocking to Nashville, right? Nashville a lot. You hear people come into Austin, so people are going all over the place. But I don't think LA is what it once was back in the day.
SPEAKER_02:I definitely, you know, don't think so. I mean, I think it's still like, you know, a great hub for you know acting and stuff like that. But as far as music, I feel like it's really shifted from there.
SPEAKER_00:Sure, sure. Well, before the world got to know you as part of Love and Chaos, who who were you musically? Because I know you date back to a solo career pre-Love and Chaos, but kind of walk the listeners through Kendall Beard, like the young girl growing up in Lufkin. What were you listening to as that that kid growing up in Lufkin? What formed you as a musician, right?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I would go ahead and say that, you know, my first two CDs that I bought when I moved from cassette tapes to CDs, my first my my taste in music is really all over the place, which I think is actually a good thing because I get influences from everywhere. But the first two CDs I bought at the same time, I remember going into the the store, it was Reba McIntyre and Green Day.
SPEAKER_00:That's a little eclectic, right?
SPEAKER_02:So I always say like that is a perfect example of like my taste in music is all over the place. I did one of those Spotify review things recently, and it said that my my I guess my my uh second most spent genre music is that I favorite music is yacht rock, which I was like, really? I just didn't know I listen to so much yacht rock.
SPEAKER_00:Interesting.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and that my musical age is 79. That like I was like, oh, okay, well that's not a bad thing.
SPEAKER_00:That's a compliment.
SPEAKER_02:This is means I have a good taste in music, right?
SPEAKER_00:You know what's funny is my wife, so mine was 62, and I'll go on record. I'm 59, right? And so, so I'm I'm kind of like on par with my age, but my wife Terry, hers was like her age was like 28. She listens to all the Billy Eilish and all like I'm like, who are these people? I don't even know who these people or what they do. But if you like them, that's all that's all that matters, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, totally. So yeah, you know, my music influences, you know, like that kind of started young. I've always just loved music. And um, you know, my mom had a really beautiful voice. She never did it professionally, and but I feel like you know, she was always singing around the house. And uh both my parents grew up in um Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and so they were all about Irma Thomas and Otis Redding, and so they had a lot of these like soulful southern influences that I listened to all the time as a kid, and I think that's kind of where my just love of music started. Um, but whenever I, you know, I begged my dad for some like vocal lessons because I wanted to get into singing, and I was actually on a, you know, on a dance like performance team, and we were actually performing at the Houston Livestock Show in rodeo, and they had a back-to-back costume change and they needed some kind of form of entertainment in between. I was like, I'll sing, we let me sing. And so my parents were at the um at the show and they were kind of blown away by my performance, and they're like, like, kind of like, whoa. Where did that come from? Yeah, like I didn't know that there was that. Um, and so on our drive home, I remember telling my dad, I was like, This is what I want to do, dad. I want to do this. And he's like, Well, if you want to do this, I'll I'll help you do it. But I, you know, it's it's hard work and you're gonna be missing, you know, it's a lot of weekend work and night work, and you're gonna be missing out on a lot of things that kids your age are doing. And and I was like, I don't care, I want to do it. So he kind of acted as my manager, and at the time we were like literally, there was no like people weren't sending emails or sending Dropbox links. Like people, if you wanted to get books someplace, like you had to send like a VHS tape.
SPEAKER_00:Or you got or you got in the car and went to the venue.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, or you just showed up, right? Yeah, so he, you know, got me some local performances and kind of made a little audition tape for me that he just started sending out to all the venues. And at the time in Texas, like especially in those small towns, the Texas, the country Opry Houses were a really big deal. And they have, you know, they put on these variety shows every weekend, and uh they have a built-in band and they ask different people to come sing each week. So that's kind of what I hit hard was the Opry Houses. So Opry houses and rodeos. So my dad started kind of booking me there, and literally like on a starting Thursday evening, we would get in the car and we would drive all around Texas from town to town to town, playing my little shows and rodeos and get back in the car and home in time for school on Monday. So um I just, you know, I loved it from a young age. I just kind of had a passion for it. And it started out singing country music, and um that's kind of I think where my heart has always been. I think it just, you know, comes naturally. But um, yeah, that's kind of, you know, that's that's how I I got my start. And um I ended up actually getting signed to a developmental duel, like a three-girl pop group. This is back around the time that they were doing NSYNC and Dusty's Child, and they were these developed pop groups were a big thing where you know you had a producer and people come and invest in you, put the whole group together and basically sell the package to a record label, and the record label you know takes it from there. And um, so I signed to one of those uh developmental deals when I was 15 and moved to Philadelphia. Um, because at the time, Boys to Men was behind it at the time when we were working out of their studio. Um and it was great. I mean, it was it was a great experience. We had some amazing songs that we did the whole thing, the dancing, the writing. It was kind of thrown into like a music boot camp type of type of thing. And uh, you know, being so young and it it was it was crazy, you know, it was it was eye-opening, but you know, I was also a big shift in the music industry. We had meetings with Jive and Sony, and it it seems like it was gonna happen. We were really, really close, but then kind of Napster happened. This is the first, the very beginning of digital music, and all Napster 9-11 happened, um, and all of the major labels started collapsing. You know, they used to sign people to these mega million dollar deals, and just ever they were just closing down left and right, and it just it's like a whole collapse. No one knew what was going on and how to shift from into this like digital music thing, especially at the time, there was no way for them to make money off of it. Um, and it just kind of snowballed and kind of started falling apart. And at that time, I always said, like, when it was time for me to go to college, like if this thing was didn't feel secure to me, I was gonna go to college. And so the time came around and I kind of just made the decision. And uh, so I came back home.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you know, I had a guy named Tony Carey on my show, and and Tony is a very prolific songwriter. He was the keyboard player in a rock band called Rainbow back in the day. And you know, they were were huge. There was guys that came in and out of the band Deep Purple into you know, into Rainbow. And I've had Tony on my show a couple of times, and I said, Tony, how has the music business changed? Now we're talking to a guy that and his bands have sold millions of records, right? And he's like, the the music, the music business is so different now because back in the day we sold records to make money. Now we've become glorified t-shirt salesmen and we're pushing merch everywhere we go just to put gas in the gas in the tank, right? And the the record sales are a small part of the income that gets made. So it's it's interesting how uh you know everything comes back to square one sometimes.
SPEAKER_02:It's yeah, I mean it's it is it is crazy. Yeah, you're just you are kind of you have to find a different it's not from it's not from downloads and and and music sales that people are making money anymore.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, for sure. And it's it's cool to hear your your taste in music because it's it's I guess you could call it eclectic, or you could just say, I have a mutt, right? Of a of a of a of a like because it's so all over the place because I'll listen to Barry Manilo and then I'll listen to something heavy, then I'll listen to you know Rod Stewart, and then I'm down with the Motown sound, right? I love the Motown stuff. So it's like it's being a musician myself, it's just all over the place. I'll listen to rap, um, you know, but I I think at heart, you know, you say you're kind of the country girl at heart. That's your love. I'm a rock pig. I I love rock and roll, like straight on rock and roll, but I've really come as as being uh an acoustic artist playing in a duo here in um in Cyprus, I've really had to open my mind to the different genres because when you go and play these places, I'm not writing my own music right now, so it's cover stuff, but you want to cater to all the people, right? So I really got into the Americana genre, and there's so many great artists, and it's like, gosh, where was this all along? Like, this is this is like my second love, but it's it's quickly caught up with rock and roll, and maybe it's an age thing, I really don't know. But I like you, our our taste, it's like you wake up one day and it's the bee gees, and the next day it's you know Metallica, right? You never know, you never know what you're gonna get. But I wanted to ask you, you spoke a little bit about mom and dad uh singing here and there, but would you say you do or you don't come from a musical family?
SPEAKER_02:I don't I would say don't come from a musical family, um definitely not from my dad's side because he can't he's gotten like he was like tone deaf. But my mom had a really beautiful voice, and she did sing in a little folk group growing up for a little bit, but um like for his instruments and like have saying it you you know it wasn't a musical family by any means.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well when did when do you think that you discovered that that music was not gonna be just a hobby to Kendallbeard? Was that early or was that in your teens? Was it later on?
SPEAKER_02:I was definitely in my teens. I mean, I would just you know, I mean, honestly, I do uh again, I've been through a few few different stages in my life, and I think definitely, you know, when I decided to, you know, move from home and move to Pennsylvania at 15 years old, and I dropped, I say dropped out of high school, I decided to homeschool myself through high school because the other two girls had already graduated high school. Um, so I mean that was a huge commitment, you know, and I think that was my first kind of like, okay, this is this is it, this is kind of what I'm gonna do. But after that, you know, I'm I'm it wouldn't be wrong of me to say that when I decided I wanted to go to college, that you know, like, and I I really I just stopped doing music altogether. And I I think there was a part of me that because I had done it starting at such a young age, and um and I went hard and fast. Like even before I signed to that, you know, just 12 and 13 years old, going, going, going, singing, you know, every every weekend, I think I kind of got burnt out. And going to college was my first, like I had worked so hard as a teenager, right? Like I had fun. Sure, I had times where I got to hang with my friends, but probably not like most kids of that age, where it's just like full high school experience, the party on the weekend. And so when I got to college, I was like, whoa, this is so much fun. Like, I'm gonna have the time of my life. And I did. I had so much fun, and and I met so many new people and had like a whole new friend group. And I don't think that half of them even knew that I had come from a music background for the first couple for the first year. Yeah, right, of course, you know, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to to do music again. So it wasn't until after college that I ended up back in the saddle, but you know, I in college I thought I wasn't sure what I was gonna do. I was just kind of like any other college student.
SPEAKER_00:Of course. Do you feel like you had to fall back in love with music, or do you think that love never never went away? But you know, it was kind of suppressed there in the four years of college, right? Do you do you was it hard to get back into it, or was it like riding the bike where you just jump right back in? It's like, oh, I really did miss this, right? How how was it for you?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, I feel like I I just jumped right back in.
SPEAKER_00:Of course.
SPEAKER_02:I just no, I think I definitely missed it. Uh like I think it started sneaking back up on me, kind of feeling like I I kind of didn't miss it being gone for the first couple of years as I was having so much fun and friends and studying. And and then as m college started coming to an end and I started having to like think about what I was gonna do for a job and career path, um, that's when I started like, you know, trying to starting to feel like it was it was there. And I actually went out to LA and and took um did a music business program and I worked in publicity for Sony at the time. And I thought, well, maybe this would fill my music cup if I go and work on the business side, you know? And I got to go and I did like listening sessions for Alicia Keys and all these really cool artists, but I I hated it. I mean, that that kind of stuff was fun, but I hated like a desk job. I hated being on that side of music. I was like, I need to be on the creative side, I need to get back into music. And so that is one good thing that came out of LA is that that's what made me realize that I wanted to get back into songwriting and creating again. And that That's also where I actually met, you know, the first producers as an adult that helped me do that, you know. Um, and that's uh I created like an EP out there with a with um a producer and did some songwriting, and then um that's what sparked me to go on American Idol. I went on American Idol in um 2009 and people had tried to get me to do it, and I was like, no way, no way. And then something in me was just like, ah, you know what? I'm gonna give it a go. Like, what's the worst that could happen? You know, I think being a musician, I'd known so many incredibly talented people that had auditioned for that show and never made it past the first round of auditions, and it just kind of felt like it kind of just left a bad taste in my mouth because I was like, you know, these there's people that can sing circles on me that aren't getting on the show. So what does that say for it? You know, but I just thought, you know, I'll give it a go. It could be fun. And I just really went into it with a grain of salt and you know, just kept making it round after round after round, and I was like, before I knew it, I was on the show, and I was like, I can't believe this. Yeah, wow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, do you do you do you feel like you really had to be talked into auditioning for American Idol? Were you resistant of that? Yeah, really?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I was. I just you know, I it came from a time like there was kind of a weird time for me, and especially as like a lot of musician friends, and I don't know if it's because so many musicians I had talked to had never made it in the audition rounds, like I never made it on the show. And I'm like, how is it possible with all the talent that you have that you did not get on the show? And I'm watching the show and you sing circles around these people, so it kind of made me feel like this is a TV show, like there's no way that you know, this is all scripted, it's and so and I was like, well, and it also kind of is like, you know, if they couldn't get on, what's me makes me think I could get on? And so there was also this stigma about it, like, uh you're taking the reality show route, you know, like you're doing a cop out, you know. And um, you know, my dad had wanted me to do it for what? And I was like, no way, no way. Um, and the guy I'd started dating, uh, who's actually now my husband, um, I had just started dating him, and he was a big American Idol fan, and he like printed out all the paperwork and was like, you need to go audition. And I was like, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00:So it was his fault, it was his fault. It was his fault.
SPEAKER_02:And maybe maybe there was part of me that was trying to impress just him. I don't know. Yeah, but whatever it was, it worked.
SPEAKER_00:Well, when you know he pushed you, right? He gave you that extra push and you wound up going to Puerto Rico of all places. Was there nothing local or close by? Close, really, Puerto Rico was.
SPEAKER_02:It wasn't. And I I had decided pretty late in the process. There was only two cities left, uh, Puerto Rico. Um, God, I can't, I want to say maybe ne, maybe New York or something. But, you know, I was talking to my dad about it. It was something that we were gonna do to like he was gonna take me to, you know, just him being so hands-on. And he's like, let's let's do Puerto Rico. We'll make it a dad-daughter vacation. And we'll go and we'll have fun. And, you know, if the worst that happens, you know, if you don't get at least we had fun together and we did a special trip and it'll be a great memory. So that's what that's what we did. And um, you know, we went out there and it, you know, it was crazy at the time, you know, it was just like you like a cattle call. Of course. And and now I know, like, you know, I don't know how they do it now, but at the time you're auditioning in front of like the lowest level cameramen are telling you yes or no, you get to go on to the, you know, you're there's there's six rounds of auditions before you even see the judges, you know. So, but I got through that day and they were like, Okay, you can go home now. I was like, Go home. I came all the way out here, and they're like, We'll see you in like three months. You're gonna come back. I was like, I'm gonna come come back out here and finish filming, you know. There's so many parts that I just didn't know about. And so uh, you know, luckily when I came back out, they've it was on their dime, not mine. But um, yeah, so I went back out there and um, you know, made it through, made it through the celebrity judge round, and then did the Hollywood week, and then went home, waited some more, the few more months, then went to Hollywood. So, you know, the whole process is like a full year. Yeah um and kept making it through that and that and then went home again, waited it out, and then we went back for the taping, which was the to like all it was was basically to tell you if you've made the show or not. Um and then they they told me I did, and so then it was back home again, and then it was coming back to LA and wait for like a month before you go live.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. Yeah, so that's that's what you know that's something that the public doesn't really see. Um I had a I've had several uh American Idol alumni on my show, but one of them who she turned out to be a really special friend to me. Her name is Jesse Roach, and she's out of uh uh Huntsville, Huntsville, Texas, right? North of Houston. And you know, when she was on my show, she basically said, Yeah, man, there was like 10, 10 or 12 auditions before you even see what's on TV, right? And I'm like, wow, I wouldn't, I would have never known that because it's such a facade that that's what they want you to see. Like you just go in and you're in front of Blake Shelton. Like that the reality is you're not just in front of Blake Shelton right away, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:You have to you either have to be uh horrible to make the blooper real, or you have to be really, really or above average to get to that point, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, what's it wasn't season eight? So you can jog my memory. I'm I'm getting old, but was this the season that Adam Lambert was on? Or do I have my seasons mixed up?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's that's right. Okay, season eight is Adam Lambert. Chris Allen actually won that season, but um Adam Lambert was basically everyone who everyone remembers the most.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I mean, gosh dang, he went to went on to play with one of the biggest rock bands on the planet, right?
SPEAKER_02:Like, I mean, I mean, he is incredible.
SPEAKER_00:How cool is that?
SPEAKER_02:I remember, you know, before we would go on live, before we got to like actually pick what we were to sing on live TV, they would we had to go individually sing in front of the producers, and we would line up in a hallway and one would go in and sing so everyone could hear what was going on behind the closed doors. And I never forget he went in there and and started started singing, and we were all like, oh my god, we're screwed. Like, we're so screwed.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Like uh I'm not I'm not in Kansas anymore, right? Yeah, yeah, that would that would be a little overwhelming, I I would think. Well, would you say that the um So would you say that the American Idol experience was a good experience for you? Or if you had to go back and do it all over again, would you would you do it all again?
SPEAKER_02:I think I would, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, of course there were things about it that I I didn't like. I didn't like, and I think they've I think they've changed the contracts and rules um you know since my the original show. Um I didn't like that once you've once you've made it on the show, you became a an official contestant and you are basically signed to their record label until your release date, which is a year after your contract is signed.
SPEAKER_00:So it was basically like a non-compete then, right? Essentially. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So you that entire year, even though you have a fan base because they've seen you on the show, you can't put out music, you can't perform live, you can't, you know, you can't do anything to really capitalize on the success the show is just, you know, giving you. And by the time you release, they're already the show from the the show for the next season's already on TV. So it's kind of like there's already a focus on a whole new new group. And yes, it is an I can pete because I I guess they also want people, you know, that have made it third place or what I they want first right to be able to do anything they want with you, but they also want to keep anybody else from coming and scooping you up. But um, and back then there was not Instagram yet, but there was Facebook and websites, but you know, they they took total control over both of those. Now they let contestants keep their social media and build off of that. So that's that is at least a one good thing that the show has now because people can get their numbers and their followings up on their own social media accounts. Back back then, when you typed in my name or any contestant's name, it just said like go to americanidol.com. Like you could, you know, so they had control over everything, which really sucked. Um, but you know, it still did give me a fan base and a following, especially in Texas, to be able to build upon. I think that had I think people would be more successful without the contract situation, but um, but it did, you know, people in Texas, they're very loyal followers of their they're they're Texas musicians. So I do think it gave me a fan base to build upon and a little bit of name recognition to start booking shows and stuff like that. And also it gave me some name recognition to like for producers or writers, to like someone to to write me. So that's what I spent that whole year after, you know, that time after kind of writing and recording, you know, a new album.
SPEAKER_00:Well, at the end of the day, American Idol is a business, right? And they're business and they're business people, like and and I've always believed that either a musician has business acumen or they don't have any at all. There's rarely any like in between, right? You you either get the bit like your intellectual property of American Idol, once you go, once you cut once you sign your name and blood, right? Right, you're you're their property. And it makes sense because if if they're gonna promote you and boost you, they're gonna want some ROI on that. It's just business one on 101 at the end of the day, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, if we if we fast forward out of 2009 and we forward to 2025, uh there's a single that was released on Spotify, and it's a song called Rather Be Alone Radio Edit. And if my memory serves me correctly, that that song came out on your was it the 2024 LP? Is that is that correct? And then and it was released this year as a single? Is that right? Yeah. Okay. I just want to make sure my my facts are correct there. Um if you don't mind, I'd like to treat the listeners to a quick clip, and then we can come back and chat about the song in all things love and chaos. Does that sound okay with you? All right. So that was the latest single off of the 2024 LP, Bless Your Idiot Heart. Uh and Kendall, great song. I love the song. Uh good job, man. That's so awesome. Um, what can you share with the listeners a little bit about maybe what what inspired the song? Was there an inspiration about the song?
SPEAKER_02:Um gosh, this song, you know, as you said, it came out on our um our full-length album back in 2024. Um gosh, was it 24?
SPEAKER_03:I think we're gonna be.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and this song, I will say, has taken so many shapes and forms. Um, it's always been a song that we have loved, and we really wrote it with like a lot of passion. And we had kind of a mission when we were writing it. We want it to have a very when it began the kind of like we wanted it to have like a little bit of a Fleetwood Mac feel, and we want it to really ebb and flow and be more of like a an artistic piece than necessarily a radio single. Um, and we've recorded probably re re-recorded that song three or four different times and has three or four different versions. Uh it's a really long one, one that didn't make the album. We have the album version, and then we have the radio version, which is the one we've decided to release to radio. And we had to make a radio version because it's radio these days won't play anything more than like three three three minutes and 20 seconds, you know, at the most. Um, and we that song ended up becoming a radio single because of became so popular during our live shows. And it's just one of those songs that, you know, it's it sounds great on the record, but there's this new, there's this very incredible energy that comes when we play it. And we don't necessarily play, we play the you'll hear the the radio edit live, but there is it's like the extended version. So uh it has some really, you know, kind of haunting sounds to it. And and it's just it's just it's a really fun song to play. Our audience loves it. Um I you know, I just I I can't even, we wrote it so long ago that I almost can't even tell you how or why. I just remember us sitting down and we came up with this kind of melody, and it was like, oh gosh, that's good. We need to do something with that. And, you know, we you know, it was kind of like around COVID, and it was like, you know, it's like kind of like if you can't be with the person, you love this person so much that like you would rather spend the rest of your life completely alone than ever be with somebody else or um, but yeah, that's just been like a crowd favorite, a fan favorite, and so we created this radio edit. So basically, people that don't get out to our shows or don't know name, you know, basically would have a way to tap into it and hopefully be another way to bring them to the full-length album, the full-length version, and you know, come see the show.
SPEAKER_00:So of course, well, that I guess that question can be and you know, I don't know if all artists like even answering that question about tell me what the song's about. Yeah, because they want they want the listener to paint their own canvas or to have their own idea, use the song how you want to use it. If you want to interpret it that way, then by God, you interpret it that way. I meant something different, but you can interpret it however you want to. 100%.
SPEAKER_02:I think that's the beautiful thing about music, you know. And we in and it's funny, we we filmed our music video for this last week, and um we kind of revisited that topic because, like I said, this is a song that we wrote a really long time ago, and it's the subject was written a long time ago, and but the song has taken taken so many different shapes and forms that it we have more have like focused on the the creation of the song as a whole and the and the music, um and like the composure of it compared to what the song is about. And when we were filming this video, we were like, Well, what are we gonna film? Like, what's gonna be the concept? What is the song about? And we started talking about it, and it was funny just hearing our band and me and AJ, like everyone hearing kind of their thoughts on the direction this video should go and kind of what the song was about. And it was kind of a a different feeling for everybody.
SPEAKER_00:So interesting.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Um, so yeah, I think that is the the beauty of music is that is that it's open to interpretation now.
SPEAKER_00:100%.
SPEAKER_02:That's and uh definitely the song is is uh as well.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, share with the listeners when love and chaos what when did this group kick off? How long has it been in existence? Um share that with the listeners, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So AJ um AJ Vallejo is my partner in Love and Chaos, and um, especially here in Austin and mostly all over over Texas, a lot of people um know his band called Vallejo with his brothers that have been, you know, they're very successful in the late 90s, early 2000s, and um they've had an incredible career. And um, though they still create you know music as as Vallejo, but you know, over the years they've all branched off and started doing their own cre you know creative things. And AJ really has tapped into producing and songwriting. And um, so actually after American Idol, um somebody introduced me to AJ um when I was looking for someone to help me produce my first full-length album. And so AJ actually produced, he produced all my solo albums, but he was the one who kind of helped me get off the grounds after American Idol. And so, you know, we kind of wrote together and um we loved it. I loved working with him, he was so much fun, he was so creative, we really vibed well, and um we and he himself was in the process of kind of not, you know, is creating a solo career for himself, uh separate than his brothers. So he was writing for his solo career and kind of going a new direction all the time. He was helping me produce my album. And he asked if um I wanted to do a song on one of his album for like a just a one-off duet. Um and we I was like, yeah, I would love to. And um so we did, and we wrote and recorded a song and did a video for it in like four days. Like we just it just it was kind of like magic. It just like really went off good. And um, we're like, wow. And so AJ was playing in my band. Um, because he was, I was like, I'm gonna have my band. He's like, Well, who's in your who's gonna play in your band? I was like, you are. And he's like, Okay, I'll play temporarily in your band until I find you another guitar player, and then that never happens. So
SPEAKER_00:And here we are today, right?
SPEAKER_02:Uh yeah. So he um so since he was in my band, we we started performing that song live and it's just kind of caught on like wildfire. You know, people loved it and people wanted to hear it, and it started becoming more requested than you know, so I'm like, okay, well, and then um we did a couple of more couple more songs that uh kind of duet-ish. Um and believe it, I had um I did a show in Austin the night before Thanksgiving, um, and I can't remember what year it was, maybe 2015, 2016, someplace around there. And um I had some big label execs come out to to see it and um from Nashville. And um after the show, they kind of came up and they were like, We love your songs, we love what you're doing. Um, but let me tell you, there's something really special about what you and AJ are doing together. They're like, it's you know, it really, it really stuck out and is really, you know, unique. Um at the time, and hopefully, I like to think it's a little better these days, but women and solo artists and country music, I mean, we've always kind of struggled compared to to men, but at the time, it was really they were like, it's really, really difficult as a female artist, a solo female artist right now. Like, they're just not getting signed, you know. But, you know, I just they anyways, they kind of pushed us to like continue exploring that together. So we're like, okay, well, and then the holidays came up, so we had some time and we um kind of spent a couple months in the studio just writing and recording to see what happens, and we just started spitting out songs and they were they were great. And so we're like, well, let's let's try something. So we put on EP and then um and then right right about the time we started getting going with Love and Chaos, I I got pregnant um with my first son. And that gave me some time to write, but we hadn't like really performed a lot. Um and right after my son was like about five months old, I was like, AJ's like, I need to like find a way to like get back on my feet, like get back into performing because like I don't I don't want to lose this, but you know, um, you know, I can't travel, I can't be on the road as much, you know, right now with the baby. And um Joe Abels, who owns Saxon Pub here in Austin, um gave us an opportunity to play um a Thursday night show. And he started off as like it was gonna be like a three-month uh residency every Thursday night, and then um it ended up becoming a four-year, a four-year residency. So Love and Chaos really became a household name in Austin because of that opportunity, because everybody knew on Thursday nights, right after work, because it was an early show, you could come and see Love and Chaos followed by Patrice Pike. And it was always just a great lineup of of music. And um, so I really credit that to what got us Love and Chaos off the ground doing that.
SPEAKER_00:So when you when you mentioned the Saxon pub, I it made me think if you've ever uh bumped into my friend Robin Shane and Yeah, I know Robin.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, she's so great.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, she was on my show really early on, maybe even first season, I think. Yeah, it's been a long time, but that's awesome. Robin and Jack are are great. Um I think artists don't like to be put in a box, and in a box I mean like you're this genre or the you're that genre.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_00:But if I put you on the spot and said, how would you classify love and chaos? Not that it even matters, but just for the sake of conversation, what box would you put you guys in?
SPEAKER_02:Oh definitely, I would say Americana country alternative.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. You just made that genre up, didn't you? I know, I mean that's what I because there's only 750,000 genres now, right? Like there's one for everything.
SPEAKER_02:Um, I mean, I definitely gosh, and then I think that's you know, I mean, my genre as a solo artist is definitely country. Um, but what's been interesting with Love and Chaos, and I think that's kind of it's why people like it, I think, but I I think is that what has created created our unique sound is that my background coming from such a country background and AJ coming from such a rock Latin background, even um, has created a really unique sound when we've merged the two together. And um and I think it honestly was kind of confusing, not only for us, but probably for other people too for a while, trying to figure out where to put us because you know we've we've had two number ones on Texas Country radio, but we're not necessarily Texas Country, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Uh but we have those songs, you know, and so depending on where you are in the album and what song you listen to is kind of where it swings. But I feel like when you listen to the album or the EP or whatever one as the the work as a whole, it really flows in a very interesting way. Yep, you know, and you know, I think it's when people are hearing songs as one-off that it might confuse them, you know. It's kind of like, you know, especially people that are true Texas Country radio fans and they only they listen to Tri and Chew what's on Texas Country, and then they come to one of our shows and they're like, oh man, this is kind of more of a rock show, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Sure.
SPEAKER_02:And it's I mean, not that anyone's disappointed because I'd like to think we put on a great show. I it's it's surprising, probably.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and you guys are, you know, you you could classify yourself as fusion too, right? I mean, you're like you you're fusing a bunch of different, you know, the Latin thing, the country thing, the rock thing, like um, you know, you you're and that's kind of the Americana genre anyway. It's like throw it all in the pot and mix it. We go back to the whole mutt conversation. It's just a mix of everything. And and I think that that's kind of what makes it great in its own right, is that it's it's just not by the book, right? It it kind of it kind of weaves in and out uh of different categories or genres, whatever you want to, whatever you want to call them.
SPEAKER_02:I feel like that's also why it appeals to so many different people and so many different age groups.
SPEAKER_00:100%.
SPEAKER_02:Um, we have so our age range of fans is like it's crazy, you know. And you know, and I will say that like when you do pop country, you know, they those people that that love that kind of music, but not everybody loves it. And I, you know, so I just feel like it's our music kind of has a little bit for everybody.
SPEAKER_00:Um and like I said, I I still don't know if it's a good or or bad thing that we don't fit into a box, but well, if you think about it though, we talked about business acumen, and if you think about it, it's all about rel, you know, it's all about being relative, right? Right. And if you're if you're in the box, right, you're you're you're you're probably strong inside the box, but you're not reaching anybody outside the box. Think about how many country artists, uh, you know, when when Robert Plant did the stuff with Alison Krause, right? Like how many how many doors did that open for both of their careers, right? Exactly. That she was associated with a rock legend, and and and vice versa, you could call it, right? And so now Robert Plant has a bunch of country listeners that love him, and rock people are loving Alison Krause just because of the association. So I I think there's nothing wrong at all. In fact, it's probably great business to be, you know, a little versatile. You can't be so, you know, like you know, I'm I'm so proper, I'm in, you know, this space and I can't get out of this space. But I I wanted to shift real quick, you know, we talked about, you know, you talked about you and AJ, Saxon Pub. I I don't I don't know if that was full band or you two guys, but I'm curious about how much of your your live performance you guys do as a duo versus band, or do you do any duo or is it all band? Share with the listeners how you guys work, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, we we do it all. Um we actually, I mean it it ebbs and flows, but we do. We have a full band, and we actually play as a full band probably more than we play as a duo. Um you know, people really like the full band and the energy it brings, but of course there's a time and a place for that. And um AJ and I have created kind of a really um are you're familiar with Shaky Graves?
SPEAKER_03:Sure.
SPEAKER_02:Um, you know, he does the suitcase kick drum.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:Um so AJ and I built one of those. And um, so we we have our duo is is a fun thing because we have our guitars and uh tambourine and he has the kick drum that's made out of the suitcase. Okay so people are very impressed, like when they when they they're like, oh my gosh, they'll come around the corner and think a whole band is playing.
SPEAKER_00:Sure. There's only two of you. There's only two of you, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so you know, it's so we can put off a lot of noise, just the two of that's great.
SPEAKER_00:The versatility is everything. Yeah, well, when it comes to the songwriting portion of love and chaos, is it a is it a democracy? Does one write more than the other? Is it 70, 30, 50, 50, 90, 10? Can you speak to that about you guys?
SPEAKER_02:You know, it it depends. Um we have done everything from I mean, I the best way to say is it's kind of is 50-50. I mean, there's so many, so many times that we we do it all kinds of ways. There's been tons of times where I've brought I've brought songs in that I'm like, I mean, AJ's a much stronger guitar player than I am. So a lot of times I will bring in lyrics and melody, and then he will, you know, put the guitar to it and kind of help me figure out the chords and where it's going. And then, you know, we'll write the bridge together, or he'll tweak what, you know, something that I've said. We've also had times where he has an idea and I like will come in and I'll be like, you know, either, you know, rewrite a section, or we'll he'd be like, I just this is all I have. Can you help me finish it? Um, and then we've also had times where we're like, we need a song like this. This we're missing a song, we don't have this type of song. Like, let's do a writing day and set out to start from scratch together on something with no ideas whatsoever and see what comes out of it. And that's that's really fun. Um, so it's really is kind of a a little, you know, all over the place, um, far as how the writing can go. And um, but a lot of times it will come in with one of us having an idea and then um, you know, building, and then there's a few songs that either, you know, I wrote the majority of and then or a few songs he's written the majority of. Um, and because uh with us both having our solo careers, when we bring a song in, you know, we have uh have to decide, like, am I gonna, you know, a lot of times I have to decide like am I gonna is this gonna be a Kendall Beard song or is this a love and chaos song? Like where does this you know, does this fit for love and chaos? I don't know. And so there's a lot of a lot of that too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that makes sense. Mm-hmm. Well, do you do you feel like your songs and and maybe you can just speak for yourself and and not AJ, but do you feel like the songs that you write come from personal experiences or are they more imagined stories or are they a combination of the two?
SPEAKER_02:Oh man, I I definitely think that they're a combination. I mean, there is plenty in of in there that comes from life experience, especially, you know, as I get older. But I like write about everything, even from experiences that I haven't personally had, but watch somebody else go through. Um I've kind of, you know, it's kind of like, you know, writing like a book or something. You know, it's kind of like, you know, it's fun to kind of play with a character, you know, it's kind of like a lot of times I'll, you know, have seen someone kind of go through it, imagine what it might feel like it, feel like it, but I like don't know, but I might, I might take myself there in the song. Even like, you know, I might be, I might be pissed at my husband. And writing a song gives me the opportunity to just go there and say all the things that I probably would never say or do, you know, like I'm gonna leave, I'm gonna do this, but I would never do that. But you know, in the song, it's that it's that imaginary, just like fun way of of make-believe, but like, you know, just it's it's just like this fun wave of creativity to be, you know, to be able to do stuff like that. And then, you know, like I said, I do write from personal experience, but there has been times when I'm just like, this sounds like a really like cool story, or like I like I will just make up a scenario and just roll with it and see kind of where it takes me. And I think that's what makes songwriting so magical is because it's that fine line between between you know real life and fantasy, and it can be kind of whatever you want it to be, and it's therapeutic in a sense, you know.
SPEAKER_00:It it totally is, and you know, I think that that's why people gravitate to music because you can take an experience that you have and I can listen to your song and I can say, Man, she wrote that song for me. I know she did, because I've had that experience before. Right, we've all been mad at our husband before, or whatever. I mean, not that not that I swing that way, but you you get what you get you get what I'm saying, right? Like, like we and that's and I think that that's the gravity of of music because you feel like the artist writes it for you because we we're all human, we've all experienced all of the things that you write about, we've all experienced in some form or fashion, probably not everything, but 97% of it we have, right? So that and and I just think that that's what makes music so right because it's a relatable communication at the end of the day, right? Absolutely as a songwriter what would you consider the strangest place or moment where a song inspiration struck you? Do you do is there one song that pops out in your head? And if you can't think of one, that's fine. I just didn't know if you ever said, Man, I remember when I wrote that song, and it was the it was the craziest thing because I was in this freaking weird place. Like, is there anyone that jumps out at you?
SPEAKER_02:Um that There's probably been a lot like that. Yeah, I have song inspiration at the weirdest times. Like I mean, yes, there's just times that I sit down like to write, but majority of time it's like I have songs that come to me in dreams. I like try to keep a pen and paper by my bed because I've I've even gotten up like where a full song, like not a full song, but like multiple lines, words, melody have all come in my head from a dream. And I have to get up in the middle of the night and record it, the idea on my phone or it won't be there in the morning. Um, you know, I've had um yeah, like in the middle of just doing something, like it's almost it feels haunting in a way sometimes. It's almost like there's a voice in my head. Of course. Wait, where did that come from? And why is it showing up now? Um, you know, I find myself, you know, a lot of times when I run or go on a walk, you know, I get a lot of, you know, I have I I get I write a lot of songs when I'm running in my head, uh, when I'm running the trail. It's it's very, you know, I think it's maybe because it's almost I'm in a meditative state type of thing.
SPEAKER_00:Um, but uh does your brain ever shut down?
SPEAKER_02:Do I get writer's block? Yeah, but does my brain shut down? Uh I don't know.
unknown:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um and I and I asked that because creative people like I like to think of myself as a creative person, but my brain is always in motion. If I wake up at three o'clock in the morning, it's hard to go back to sleep because it's so weird. It was like my brain was waiting for me to wake up so the 80 thoughts could go through it, right? And then and then it's already so awake just laying in bed. I just get up. It's not uncommon for me to get out of the bed at 3:30 or 4 o'clock in the morning on a Saturday or Sunday morning because the brain doesn't let me. And and I'm wondering from a songwriter's perspective, right? Somebody that has creative juices like yourself to to be a lyricist, if you're if your brain is just in constant motion, thinking of, oh, I could write that. Oh, I could write that. Oh, I remember, you know, like so.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, exactly. You know, uh yeah, it no, it is, it's that's what I'm saying. It is in constant motion. Do I get writer's block where I can't I feel like I've got so much in my head but can't get it out? Yeah, but my my brain is loud a lot.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, that's what Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. I think his memoir was called, Do the Noises in My Head Bother You? Right? That's what the book was called, right? So because I have to think he's creative like that. He's a wordsmith, so I'm sure his brain is constantly in motion. Is there is there a song that you've done over the years that you feel is the most personal to you? I know that's kind of like calling you know, maybe saying my third kid is my most favorite kid. Like, you know, I don't I'm not I'm not putting you on the spot like that, but I think we all have that song. Even I do as an artist of when I cover songs, like there's a couple that just hit different than the rest of them. I love 'em all because I do them all. I wouldn't do them if I didn't love them. But there's a few that I just can't wait to get to because they just I I feel good about doing them. Is there one or two that just stick out for you and all of the writing that you've done over the years that you gravitate to?
SPEAKER_02:I mean there's um there's so many for for different different reasons. Um but there there is a song um that is on the new Love and Chaos album called Sober. Um and when I wrote that song, I was I was running, I was running on the trail here in Austin, and I just heard it. I heard the lyrics, I heard the melody, I heard the lyrics, and I came home and I was like, picked up my guitar and I could not figure out these chords that were in my head. And I called AJ and I was like, you gotta come over right now and this song, and it's driving me crazy because I cannot figure out these chords. And he was like, came over and he's like, Where did you come up with that? Like, how did you even hear that chord? Like, you know, and I was like, I I don't know. Um, but every time I hear that song, I just it feels like from a writer's perspective, a creativity perspective, like something that I'm like super proud of. Because, you know, um, and then um man, there's uh there's there's there's a there's a lot for different reasons. But um, you know, there's a song that I wrote about my son, um, called Both Feet on the Ground. Um that's um it's just it's special because it's kind of my my message, my song for him. And um you know, you know why I ask.
SPEAKER_00:I I don't want you to rack your brain. I really don't. That's not the intent. I I think the reason I love asking that question is because I am I am the guy, right, that goes and buys a vinyl and I open it up and I read all of the liner notes before I even listen to the music because I'm that geeky about it. Like, like who who was Kendall recording with? Where did she record? Like all of the things that 99% of the people could not give a shit about, right? I I love that stuff. And I listen to songs, like when songs are explained through the artist's eyes, which is one of the reasons I started this podcast. I love the stories behind the song, is because you listen differently once you know the meaning to the songs. And I remember um having a guy named uh I don't know if you've ever heard of the name Kyle Hutton, but Kyle has a successful podcast here, and he's a he's an artist, he records a lot with Radney Foster and has a lot of big, you know, country artists on his podcast. But he came here in my home studio and we were talking about that, and he wrote a song, and I think he wrote it with Radney, um, called Three More Bottles and She's Gone. And on the surface, you think about this and you're like, oh, Kyle Geez, this is the epitome of a country song. It's always about the bottle or the whiskey or you know, whatever, right? You stereotype that. And when he got to explaining it, he said that he and his wife are foster parents, and there was one baby that they fostered, and they had made three bottles for the baby, and they knew that those three bottles, by the time the third bottle was gone, the the mother was gonna come pick the baby up, and then it was gonna be gone. So you interpret you listen to that song totally different, right? And so that's why I like asking that question, like with your song sober, both feet on the ground, because I'm the guy that'll go back and listen to those songs and listen to them in a completely different way than you know, maybe my wife would if I said, Hey Terry, listen to this, right? She's gonna listen differently than me.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_00:Well, what can you what can you speak of as it relates to shows coming up that you'd like to to speak of or any kind of tour that the band is gonna have? You care to share anything there with the listeners?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Um we we are we're pretty much done for for the year for holidays. Um with, you know, I travel, I you know, really, it's really important to me, especially my kids, my, you know, and it's it's it has been it's been a challenge, you know. I I my my I have two boys, nine and four, and um, you know, the past couple years have been my first like reality with like, oh, I get it. This is this is really hard to do as a mom and be on the road. Like this is I see why so many women kind of pull out, you know. Um, and you know, I thought when they were young it might have been hard, but it's really it's not, it's the older they get because they they're they have more activities, the football, the baseball, they you know, it's like the more they count on you to to be there. And for and you know, they are in school all the time. So when they're out of school, it feels like, oh, I need to be there with them to make these memories. So, you know, I uh have really been uh, you know, choosier about the shows that I take on. And I want them, and it doesn't have to do with the size of the audience or the pay, it's that I need them to be meaningful to me in a sense that you know it feels you know worth leaving my babies behind. And and and and that is important, but it is important for me to play because it's what fills my cup. And when my cup is full, I have extra to give to them. So um, so I have been you know a little bit not taking on in the past year, I haven't taken on near as much as we we were taking on before. Um, but it's it's been great because our shows have been really quality and meaningful. And um I honestly noticed that our shows are fuller because it's not like we're playing as often. So people are coming, coming out, you know. Um, but and we're we're kind of taking holidays off. Um, and then starting um in January and February, we're gonna be doing a radio tour um through Texas. Um, we're gonna be hitting up some of going to the radio stations, um, talking to some people and probably playing some little smaller local shows for them in their towns. And then we have um for the spring, we have um, I think we're playing a big festival someplace right outside of Houston. I'll have to figure out where it is. There's there's some festivals coming up. There's, you know, our spring is is gets really busy with that time of year. So I'll have to go back and look at the calendar. But yeah, if you just we'll we'll keep everybody you know updated on our social media and everything like that.
SPEAKER_00:What is coming up for Love and Chaos that that you can share with the listeners as it relates to new material? And maybe there's stuff coming up that you can't share, but I want to give you the podium if there's any anything that you could um, you know, say we've got something coming up in the summer of next year or whatever for the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Um so after we have our new our single out, um, we're gonna probably release another single after this one. Um, which what that is yet, we're not totally sure. Um AJ just built a new um studio in Green, down in Green, Texas. It's called Green Studios, and it is absolutely beautiful. Um, we like we filmed some of our music video the other day. So we are um really looking forward to getting there and working on some new stuff. And I actually have been working on some of my um been doing a lot of solo writing for maybe some solo stuff that I haven't put out in a while. So I'm I'm excited about that. So we'll see what happens.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it sounds like that new studio is probably right in the backyard of of my uh good friend Bree Bragwell's home. Yeah, uh Paul or down in the real close. So super, super cool. And for the listeners, you guys can always go out on um, you know, the streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple and find Kindle Beard solo stuff, right? And yeah, and I and I want to make sure that we plug uh you know AJ as well. You can find Vallejo stuff out there as well. I know he we wanted to get try to get him lasso'd into this conversation, but um, you know, so I wanted to plug that. Um, is there a website where the listeners can purchase merchandise or either Love and Chaos or you guys individually? What can you say about that?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, um you can find you can go to love and chaosmusic.com and you can find our stuff um uh on there, our some of our merchandise. Um, and you can always reach out to us on social media. We we run our own social media, so um, which is also Love and Chaos Music um on Instagram and Facebook, and um that's a good place to reach out to us, and I'll I'll normally I'll answer there. And and then my my individual Facebook, Instagram, all that is Kindlebeard.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. And then I think AJ's is uh vallehomusic.com, uh if if I'm not mistaken.
SPEAKER_02:So the uh the listeners have another band called Brody Lane as well. It's uh good to know. Plug that one too if you uh if you know the yeah, Brody Lane is AJ's other other guilty pleasure bro band. They're really good. He that's where I think he is really, you know, like I said, after he broke off from his brothers, he did a solo thing, but I think his solo thing has really morphed into Brody Lane, and he has his band, but he he's the one who I think writes all the material for that. So um it has a really great sound as well. So it's a great one to check out. Um, yeah, Brody Lane. I think it's brody lane.com, but I at least you can you can at least go to their Instagram and uh it'll lead you to his website.
SPEAKER_00:Safe to say it's just B-R-O-D-Y-L-A-N-E. Is that correct? Okay, all right. Well, Kendall, it's been an absolute honor to have you on the show. I know we've we've been chipping away behind the scenes of trying to get all of this aligned, but thank you for you know being so gracious with your time. I I lied to you and told you 45 minutes, but I knew that I would talk to you a lot longer than 45 minutes. So it's an hour and 20 minutes of your life that you'll uh you'll never get back. But I wish you uh and and the love and chaos team and all of the things you guys have going on, continued success and good health and a and an awesome holiday season. And and thanks again for being here.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you'll have to come out to a to a show when we're in your area. And we're we're working on setting all that up for the the new year and spring. So we'll be in that area.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I will be in touch with you, and you guys make sure to follow Kendall and AJ on all their social media platforms as well as on the websites at vallehomusic.com, brodylane.com, love and chaosmusic.com. And I ask the listeners to like, share, and subscribe to the podcast at BackstagePass Radio Podcast on Facebook, at BackstagePass Radio on Instagram, and on the website at backstagepassradio.com. You guys remember to take care of yourselves and each other, and we'll see you right back here on the next episode of Backstage Pass Radio.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for tuning into this episode of Backstage Pass Radio. Backstage Pass Radio. We hope you enjoyed this episode and gained some new insights into the world of music. Backstage Pass Radio is heard in over 80 countries, and the streams continue to grow each week. If you loved what you heard, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us and helps us bring you even more amazing content. So join us next time for another deep dive into the stories and sounds that shape our musical landscape. Until then, keep listening, keep exploring, and keep the passion of music alive.
