The Ben Maynard Program
"Tell Your Story". Everyone has a story. Not just the famous. This is a guest driven program but when we are "guest free", It's just YOU and ME! I love music and we will talk a lot about it. Enjoy the ride!
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The Ben Maynard Program
EP. 113 ASHLEY FELTON! Blending 90s Heart With Today’s Country
Country music hits different when you hear the story behind the song. We welcome Southern California’s own Ashley Felton, a powerhouse vocalist who blends the heart of 90s country with a bold, modern edge—and a schedule packed with 150-plus shows a year. We talk about the real work of building a career today: how to win over a room with covers, invite them into your originals, and make the numbers add up when recording a single costs thousands and streaming pays in pennies.
Ashley opens up about her writing process—lyrics and melody arriving together in voice memos, car rides becoming mobile studios, and the moment a song proves it should be recorded only after it survives weeks of live testing. We get into the art and pressure of co-writes, why taking someone else’s song requires care, and how a playful track like Two Step became a dive-bar music video with a storyline fans love. There’s plenty of scene-building too: writers rounds with Nashville on the Coast, a supportive circle of independent artists sharing the playbook instead of gatekeeping, and the practical steps that led to bookings at the House of Blues, the OC Fair, and ticketed showcases like the Tiki Bar.
What stands out is Ashley’s grounded life and grit. She’s a mom and a special education teacher who still finds time to craft, record, and perform, bringing honesty to songs like From the Start—a tender, heart-forward single about learning to be loved through old scars. If you care about live music, original songwriting, and the truth about how artists actually make it work, this conversation will meet you right where you listen.
If you enjoyed this, tap follow, share it with a friend who loves country, and leave a quick review—your words help more listeners find the show.
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Hey there. It's been a minute, hasn't it? Welcome into the Ben Maynard program. Thanks for being here. Before we get started, look at this right here.
unknown:All right.
SPEAKER_00:Before we get started, uh, a little bit of housekeeping to take care of. As you guys know, this program is available wherever you get your podcast, wherever you're streaming your podcast, just search the Ben Maynor program. Boom, it's right there. Go with it. Do me a favor though, subscribe to it, okay? Subscribe to it. That way, when uh new episodes drop, you get notification, okay? You can also leave me a five-star rating if you'd like, because I deserve it. Um, but if you can't resist some of this right here, and today, a little bit of that too, and you're watching on YouTube, then thank you very much. But you have to do a few things for me. Of course, you have to subscribe to the channel, you have to hit the notification bell. Why? Because you get notifications every time new episodes drop. Uh, then you have to give me a thumbs up and you got to leave a comment. I love your comments and I reply to all your comments. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram, simply Ben Maynard program, all one word. Or you can also follow me on the TikTok. Yes, I said the TikTok, okay? It's see when you're old like me, people used to say like the Google and that type of stuff. So it's kind of an inside joke. So for you youngsters out there, you don't get it. You just think I'm old. But you can follow me on the TikTok at the Ben Maynard program, okay? All one word. So, with that, there are plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And with that, my guest today is a Southern California country singer, songwriter, blending the heart of 90s country with a bold modern edge. And it it really is a great pleasure to welcome into the studio, into the studio, Ashley Felton. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, no, I greatly appreciate it. And when I say busy schedule, people, like 150 plus shows a year busy. So, yeah, so thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01:It's been a very blessed year.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, that's great. So, um, okay. I think we're probably gonna cover quite a bit. So let's start right here. Uh your shows blend a mix of modern country and uh like 90s throwback as well, and some of your original material as well, right? So um let's talk about um talk about that, talk about that kind of that blend there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I grew up on 90s country, like my heart, soul, everything. Um, with a mix with modern country now. And so when I am writing songs or, you know, I've got some big influences between, you know, uh Tina Carter, which is 90s country, you know, uh Sarah Evans, and a mix of like Kelsey Ballerini and Laney Wilson, I would say, somewhere in between there. Um, but then yeah, when we play live shows, I not only love to play what I love to play, but I love to play what they want to hear. So I know you guys came to a show and we love taking requests and doing, you know, kind of like the Nashville style thing here, because we don't really have that and we've never really seen other artists really do that. You know, everybody's got a set list that they'll go off of and they'll just do their thing, but um, to kind of play to uh, you know, the crowd and the people and give them what they want, like that that fills me up more than anything else.
SPEAKER_00:Well, just to bring the audience into it a little bit, this is uh let me get this off the screen. You guys can't see it, but I can. Okay, there we go. And then I'm gonna do this too, and you guys can't tell either, but I'm making the screen much larger so that Ashley and I can get a real good look at ourselves. That's exactly what we mean. Yeah. So, well, it's okay for you. I don't mind looking at you, nobody wants to see me. Um, so just to bring you guys into this a little bit, this is how Ashley came onto my radar. Um, Catherine had gone to see a show over the summer, and and then she comes home and tells me about this great female vocalist, and she's wonderful, great voice, all this good stuff. And uh a couple three weeks ago, she's uh she's following Ashley on Instagram, and she gets her phone and she shows me the Instagram post. She says, Oh no, no, this is the girl I was telling you about. This girl I was telling you about. She's gonna be at such and such uh tonight. And I said, Okay, let's go. So it's a little place here, local place called uh Happy Hour Saloon. And when I say a little place, I mean it's little, it's it's not a not much bigger than this studio. And and most of you have not been in the studio, but if you have, you know. But uh, but it was it was uh it's a great little place. I love the I love the I hate to use the word because it's like so um gen Z, the vibe. The vibe.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think I'm gonna use that word.
SPEAKER_00:But it has a mate, let's change that.
SPEAKER_01:But it does, it does, it's got a great atmosphere. It has a great atmosphere, it does, it really does. Our local neighborhood bar, and it's so cute, and it's all decorated perfectly for Christmas right now. It's like you walk in and it's like a Hallmark movie has thrown up.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes, I was just gonna say that. Yeah, no, it's great. And and so Catherine and I went to go see the show, and we got lucky and sat right up front. I mean, so close that I could scare Ashley. I think she was getting a little scared because I wouldn't take my eyes off of her. No, and she's probably like, who's this freaky old guy just looking at me? But but um I love live music, and uh what I appreciate is the pouring out of an artist when they're on stage. I'll I'll I'll I'll take it this direction. I was kind of saving this for later, but for me, uh because I'm I mean I'm so much older than you, Ashley, and and in this uh in today's world when it comes to consuming music people are they have such short attention spans. You go on whatever streaming platform, people don't most people don't own physical music anymore. Now I have some of my vinyl right here behind us, only some, but um I have a huge CD collection as well because I like physical music, even though I don't have a CD player in my truck. But um so that's how I I was brought up listening to music. You put on your 12-inch record and you sit there for the next 35 minutes or 40 minutes, however long it is, and you look at the cover, you read the liner notes, and you you listen from song one to song 10.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:And now people go on whatever streaming service they use and they click on a song and they listen to about 20 seconds of it. Oh, but next one, or if they do listen to the whole song, they skip and go to a different song, or they'll just put a playlist together of multiple artists. And so I don't know where I was going with this, but but for me, when I would go see a live show, I'd go see my favorite artists. They have a new record, they're touring. I want to hear the new stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Sure.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, I want to hear the new stuff. Nobody wants to hear new stuff anymore.
SPEAKER_01:Anyone wants to hear new stuff?
SPEAKER_00:They don't, they don't want to hear new stuff anymore. And even people of my age group, my my my demographic now, they've gotten so turned away from how they grew up consuming music that they don't want to hear the new stuff either. All they want to hear is, oh yeah, when I was 17 years old, this is my favorite song from this band. And that's it, that's all they want to hear. And I noticed when we saw you, and yeah, you and you're doing covers and you're doing some um uh you're taking requests and that kind of thing. And I I completely understand that. And I remember you said something to the crowd, it's like, hey, so what do you guys want to hear next? And uh, because I know you're trying to bring the crowd into it. Yeah, you gotta bring them and make them feel a part of it too. And and I just I looked at you and I said, Well, I want to hear some Ashley Felton. And you're like, What? You want to hear my stuff?
SPEAKER_01:I you it's so funny because I'll get like, you know, a couple people each show that are like, no, I want to hear this specific song from you, or I want to hear something new, or I want to hear something unreleased, right? Yeah, and it's like it's so nice, you know, because it's like that's my point. Like, nobody wants to hear somebody's original stuff. There's a lot of people that don't, right? They want to hear the songs that they are familiar with, and so um, but I've but I've been very blessed the last couple years to have people that pay me to play my songs, and that part is um still a little bit um, you know, unreal sometimes, you know. Like when you said that, you know, I'm like, really? Wait, you want to hear my okay, yeah. I'd love to.
SPEAKER_00:Of course I do, yeah. So so okay, before we move on, so then you have some original material out. Tell people where they can find your music.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, Apple Music, Spotify, um, all Pandora, all the streaming things. I don't know. When when we put it out for our distributor, there's so many things that I've I'm not even familiar with ever listening to before, but it's out on everywhere. YouTube, um you can snag my music anywhere. Um, and then we've we've done a music video most recently this year. Um that's also on YouTube and Apple Music.
SPEAKER_00:Um I didn't get to watch it, but I noticed it on your website. It's not that you had that yet. That was a really I'm like, no, I gotta prep for the show.
SPEAKER_01:And very unexpected to do that. But um, yeah, I had a friend that was like, this song needs a video and we're gonna shoot it. And I'm like, what do you mean we're gonna shoot it? And so, you know, he comes back to me with this whole, this whole uh storyline all mapped out. And he's like, Okay, we need a really awesome dive bar and we need a really cute young couple. So make those two things happen and we'll do it. And don't worry about the pay, don't worry about anything like that. We're just gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's great.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so I did. We got Mavericks and Norco.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:The best diving bar ever. And then um, yeah, this really adorable couple um that stuck through all day long with us. And yeah, you'll have to go watch it because they the things that they did, like they're they're so cute. They're so perfect. No, I've got an engaged couple and they just got married. Yeah, I love them.
SPEAKER_00:No, I will, I will, I will go see it. And uh especially so I could see Mavericks, because it is true. It's such a dive bar. The parking lot is still dirt.
SPEAKER_01:The best.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, but it's great. Yeah, it's great.
SPEAKER_01:It's my favorite, you know, my yeah, it's my that's great.
SPEAKER_00:My favorite um okay, so no, now you now you you you mentioned something. So when you distribute your music, do you do you send it to one service and then they service it to all the okay? That's very similar to the way actually not similar, it's exactly the way I do my podcast is that I have a service for the audio Buzz Sprout, and I just upload it to them and then they just send it everyone. Okay, yeah, okay. That's interesting. Okay, which is actually it's great because then it's all done for you.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, it hits all all the pieces that you don't even think of.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly, because there are so many different there are so many different streaming services for podcasts. There's oh I I there's countless. And when I first started this, I would have a list. I'd have a I'd have a dry easel board right there, and I have a list. I'd like I'd go through like 10 of them like, why am I doing that? Yeah, you know, just wherever.
SPEAKER_01:It's great. Yeah, they just push it all out.
SPEAKER_00:That's good. That's great. That's great. So you covered you covered some of your um some of your influences. Um any other influences that you have or you get your your inspiration either for performing, for singing, for songwriting, whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_01:Um, yeah, you know, there's uh there's a when when you're in this, and I feel like I I've been doing this for uh two and a half, a little over two and a half years. So not too long. Happy hour saloon was actually the first place that ever gave me an opportunity to play live, and I was sick to my stomach and so nervous. I don't think I ate all day because I was so nervous about it. Um, but um once once you're kind of plugged into the scene, um, the the scene is pretty small, right? There's a solid um group of us independent artists um that have now grown together, watched each other, learned from each other, you know. Um, and so I feel like they're a huge part of um an influence for me too, because we're all trying to, you know, have the same goal with supporting each other.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:And um, you know, you work with a lot of people and it's it's kind of a funny industry because nobody really wants to tell you how to do it, right? They don't want to tell you any of like their things that they've figured out or, you know, how to uh get band members, right? Or the pay aspect and budgeting or merch stuff or you know, all the things that somebody has already done. They want to gatekeep that for some reason. So, and I'm the total opposite. I'm like, oh, you want to do this too? Everybody should be doing this. Like, let me tell you all about it. Um, we actually, there's been a couple artists that have come through and they've wanted to do the same thing. And I was like, absolutely you should. And so my guitarist actually, Mirko, he um, he has now been helping and and supporting some other artists too, because of that. So I'm all about sharing the wealth. And um, and so I've been really grateful with this group of independent artists. Actually, the majority of them are on the bill for the um House of Blues show at um at uh yeah, the House of Blues, the California.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, if you're in Southern California, House of Blues Anaheim, go right ahead.
SPEAKER_01:December 17th, a California Country Christmas event. And so there's um 15 plus of us um independent artists that are coming together to support Spark of Love um as well as Cost of Youth Shelter. Um, they're the two charities that are being focused on this um this year that they're doing this. This is the 10th annual one. And so I've been really grateful to be asked to be a part of it. And so yeah, we're really excited about it. But a bunch of us independent artists are gonna be a part of this. And um, you know, everybody's got their strengths in this. And so actually uh an artist named Chris Merle, um, he is local, um, Redlands. Um, and he actually reached out to us a few weeks back um to have a uh a writer's um like camp, a writer's like uh getaway. And so um songwriters, you guys.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, songwriters getaway.
SPEAKER_01:And so this is like the third one that they've done that I unfortunately I wasn't able to go to it, but um, but they sit around and they write these songs and they have this little showcase the very last day, and everybody's welcome to come up and they've got a photographer and a band and all this kind of stuff, and they just make it happen and they write really great hits out of it. And so um, just playing, playing and learning from everybody. I I would say that that's really one of the biggest influences for me.
SPEAKER_00:That's great.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, very cool.
SPEAKER_00:So is that like um is that like uh uh it's all country music, right? Yes, so it's like a country music fantasy camp.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, sure, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That's great. Yeah, it's people can just kind of come together, collaborate a little bit. I was gonna ask you, um, like your writing process, does it did, you know, and I said this before, so forgive me people, okay? But you know, like some of the greatest songs uh ever written were written on the back of a bar napkin in 15 minutes, and then but and then other ones were labored over for sometimes years. Um, so does it come easy to you? Or do you do you kind of focus on real life situations, or do you just say, Oh yeah, this all sounds good? And I just throw a bunch of words that sound good together.
SPEAKER_01:Um, you a little bit of all of that. Um, I would say most of my songwriting is like done in the car by myself, right? Or there's like, I'm like messing with something and I write, I write the lyrics and the melody at the same time.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:I cannot play music very well at all, but um, but I have the melody in mind. And so um, so I'll usually write that simultaneously, either a verse or a chorus, and then I'll kind of just put it in my notes and do a voice memo so I remember the melody. I was gonna bring up the voice memo. Oh, the amount of voice memos that I have. Um but um and then some of them let you know, some of them sit there and other ones I'll finish and think like, okay, if I like it long enough, that my that's my thing, right? Like if I if I love this song for a long period of time, this is one that I'm gonna consider recording and putting out. Um, I also always like will take the song and I will always play the unreleased stuff at shows first to kind of see like their reaction. Yeah. And I think I shared that at Happy Hour Saloon, like, you know, it's it's like, okay, do you guys like this song? What do you guys think? Because recording a song is a lot of money, a lot of money, a lot of time. I mean, you're talking like anywhere from like two to three grand a song, right? Wow. So it's like you gotta really, you gotta really love what you know what you're doing.
SPEAKER_02:Sure.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and and love it enough to where you think that other people will love it. Because, you know, as much as this is like, you know, uh my passion, you know, you're spending that money, it better be somebody else that likes to do.
SPEAKER_00:Well, here's something that you that you bring up, and and we're gonna kind of steer it back to the business side of of of music. And and and remember, people, it's there's two words, it's there's music and business, and and they're both very different. And the business side really makes the music side difficult. So you just mentioned the cost in recording just like one song, two to three thousand dollars. Well, in today's in in today's climate, you know, back when I was your age, but back when I was a lot younger, an art let's just say an artist did spend two to three thousand dollars to to record a song, and actually they probably used to spend a lot more back then. Record companies would front the money, artists would record, then they would recoup their investment through the sales of the record. The thing is, is nobody buys anything anymore. Right. So If the artist has to go out and spend two to three thousand dollars to record a song and and there's no way to sell it, yes, you can still buy stuff on the streaming services, but no one does. They always listen to it for free. Uh or they pay their you know$10 a month or whatever and get to listen to how whatever it is they want to listen to. So you're getting literally pennies, pennies, and that is that is no joke. Pennies, and to get some of these pennies, it takes a lot of streams on on each song. So you know, I I know this the stuff that you have um out now, and uh it's been out for a couple of years. Well, you've had you have one track that's been out for a couple of years now, actually going probably like two and a half years, and and another track for about a year and a half, and then you released one back in I think May of of this year, and then one just at the end of September. So I guarantee you still haven't recouped your money on on your investment on those.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, of course not. And you know, it sadly, nobody is in the music industry for the money. There's no way because that's not that's not a thing, right? But um, the stuff that fills our cup is is you know, people wanting to listen to it, people coming to the shows. Yeah. Um, I know a lot of artists that just record and don't play shows, right? So like I recoup in in that way, yeah, you know, um, quite a bit. Um, we have our merch sales, which we're very grateful for, and um it's been it's been a great year for that. Um so that that helps a lot. Um and honestly, it just goes from I I save up the money before I put it out there, right? So, you know, it there's a there's a fund going at the same time with all of that. So um, so yeah, that's been, I mean it yeah, we I mean we definitely don't do it for the money. Well the thing is is but but very grateful, yeah, but very, very grateful for the the amount of of people that do listen to it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and you yeah, of course. And and now artists were they used to tour to support the record. Now an artist uh has to tour and play live just to make a living.
SPEAKER_02:Sure.
SPEAKER_00:You know, and and it's at it's at all levels, all levels in this business, again, business. Uh doesn't matter if you're playing a club, if you're playing a theater, if you're playing an arena or even stadium level, you are touring to make a living. You make your money off of your live shows, you make a living off of your merch sales, that type of stuff. You don't make any money off of your physical product anymore, which is which is a a shame because that's where that's where the love goes. You know, the love goes into how we do it. Yeah, the love goes into the songwriting and the recording and the putting out of the material. And then you can just share it with everybody when you play live. And that's but see, that's what I like. I want to hear what the artist has to share. And so, so even going to see any kind of classic artist there is that you know, um, and there's still some of my favorite bands out there that will put out music uh 40 and 50 years later because they say that's what I do. I'm a songwriter, I'm a musician. This is just this is what I do. But but when you go see them live and then they go, hey, we're gonna play a new song from our latest album, and like, you know, 20 20, 25% of the crowd goes to the hot dog stand or the bathroom or whatever, get a beer, that kind of thing. And I'm and I'm there the whole time. I don't get up for anything other than to stand on my feet. That's it. I don't, I don't, I don't get up and leave a show. I when I'm in when the show starts, I'm there from the beginning to the end. And I don't know, maybe I'm just an oddball in that.
SPEAKER_01:But I mean, I'm the same way, but yeah, music lovers, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's what that's exactly what it is.
SPEAKER_01:Like authentic.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So did you um we try to get out of the music business for a little bit? Sorry, I won't I won't try not to be preachy and you know. Um you said you but you play a little bit, right? Well, you're like, I don't really play very well.
SPEAKER_01:I do not play very well, and anybody that follows me knows my journey in not playing very well, okay? But um, yeah, I can I can play a little bit of acoustic guitar. Okay, but um, just enough, usually to be able to write a song. Yeah, and so then I'll have this idea, I'll have the chords idea for the most part. There's a few songs that like we just finished up um that I'm like, I've got the melody, but I have no idea how to play this at all. So um I'm yeah, I work with um one of my guitarists, Taylor Jascott. He's so amazing, he's so talented. And so um, we um we'll get together every once in a while and be like, okay, can we bust this out? And literally within an hour, we've got two or three songs that are like finally and done. So yeah, he's amazing. But um uh where was I going with this? We were talking about instruments. No, I cannot play. I would love to, I would love to, and I tell myself every year, 10 minutes a day, that's what they say, you know. Um, I've got a keyboard and I've got an acoustic guitar, and so it's you know, I'll mess around with it. Um, I know there was a post just recently to where I was on like my Leanne Rhymes kick um for the day. And so it started with like me doing in the dishes, you know, in the in the kitchen. And I'm like, this is such a jam. And then I'm like, okay, this is how my brain works. So then I go and I'll pull it up and I'll try to play it on my acoustic guitar. And I'm like, okay, this is okay. Now let's see if we can do it on the keyboard. And I'm like, okay, this sounds good. And so it's just like my brain totally like because I want to so bad. I wish that I could just bust it out. But no, I'm very uh I I know enough to write a song. I know enough to be able to grab some chords, maybe and bust through something. But um, yeah, most recently, one of my guitarists was like, Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom. So, like, you're gonna have to take over. And I'm like, Okay, sure. Like, I've got this, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I go on and I'm like, nope, nope, I don't got this. I'm like strumming through. I think I think a little kid had just requested like a bar song, right? By Shabuzi. I'm like, oh, I know that one. Like, I've played it at home before, you know. I start doing it and singing and doing that in front of somebody live that requested the song. I'm like, oh no, I'm so sorry. I couldn't wait anymore. So he came back from the bathroom. He's like watching me die, and I'm like, no, you need to come back and be back up here. Yeah, no, uh But I try, I try. Well, you know, I my kids want to start taking lessons at the rock stars of tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm like, okay, maybe I'll jump in on that and we'll all three go do it together.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there's the one in there's the one in Corona.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, one in Corona, one in Chino. Yeah, there's quite a few, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so I can run up in the attic and grab my acoustic guitar.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, no, we don't. We'll save everybody. Yeah, feel free to watch my like pre-recorded by the 17th time is like when I'll probably post something that I can play ador.
SPEAKER_00:So did you um did you grow up in a in a like in a musical household? I mean, was your family musical? Did they like music, play instruments, anything like that?
SPEAKER_01:90s country was always on. Country Radio was always on, K Frog since I was a kid. Gotcha. Go country, yeah, since I was a kid, yeah, all the time. My mom um is a songwriter. Um, she's kind of uh backed away from it, you know, for a while now. But when I was a kid, she would fly back and forth to Nashville. Oh, her and one of her friends, Kimberly, um Moses. She actually um they they had written some songs together, and actually on one of her demos is Gretchen Wilson singing. Um singing on her demo. So that's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, well, wait, you just name check Kimberly. So let's I want to let's get your mom's name out here too. She's just oh my mom.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, Stacey Moakwins. There we go. There you go. She um, yeah, she and she still does, you know, that's like her therapy. She'll songwrite or she'll send me something and be like, hey, what do you think about this? And we definitely have very different songwriting styles on what um what's something that I would perform, but I'll take a little piece of it and try to like do something with it. But for me, with songwriting, like it needs to it needs to feel and it needs to hit. I've co-wrote a song. Um, actually, that's a lie. Um, Craig Reader um is uh a just I am totally Craig Reader, he's amazing songwriter. Um I met him at Happy Hour Saloon. This place, man. This is a place. You guys gotta go to Happy Hour Saloon. Um he um he had sent me a song uh uh a little over a year ago called Two Step.
SPEAKER_00:Two Step. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And so um Jinx, you owe me a soda, by the way. Okay, so um so he and and I I get a lot of messages about songs that they've written and they think that I would be really great on.
SPEAKER_02:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01:Um, which is very interesting. I don't know if other artists get this or not, but I I probably have like 15 plus songs in my DMs right now of other people that have written songs and think that like they would be a good fit for me. And I think that's amazing and I'm so grateful. Like, please send me whatever you want. But but um there it has to, it has to be really, it has to hit me, right? It does um to to really do something with it. Plus, I really love to write my own stuff, right? So unless it kind of falls in that same, you know, space, um, then it's really hard to give my time to. And I I know you mentioned before, like busyness, I'm very busy. Yeah. Um, I'm a mom of two boys. I'm a special education teacher for Chrono Norco. And so, like the amount of time, and then doing this, you know, as a full second time, full-time job, yeah, um, is a lot. So uh, so yeah, it it definitely has to like tug at me pretty solid. But Craig's song, and he was so persistent about it, and I was like, okay, you know what? I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna get my guitar that I don't know how to play, um, and I'm gonna bust this out. And I was like, okay, within probably 20 minutes, I had this song written and made some tweaks to it. And because it's somebody else's song, and I think that's the hardest part for me about also accepting somebody's song, is like doing it the way that they envision it happening is kind of a lot of pressure. And so um, you know, we have our own expectations of our own songs and things like that, you know, always not always the easiest to articulate, but we can present it the way that we would, you know, would like to with him, is like, okay, I hope I'm doing this well. Like, am I making you proud? This is your baby that you've written, right? So um, yeah, he came over one afternoon and I was like, okay, this is what I've got. What do you think? And he was just like, it's perfect. Oh my gosh. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:But it is it is a really good song.
SPEAKER_01:It's so fun.
SPEAKER_00:It's yeah, it is. It's a fun song. And um let me try to remember like one one line from is like uh let's two step to the bed. I'm like, oh my gosh, cover my ears.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, let's go. You know, like that's so fun. It's so cute. It's a cute song. That's the one that we did the music video for at Maverick. Right. So um, yeah, so I was really, really grateful to have him um keep pushing me on this one.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, no, but I can understand too, if you know, for for an artist, especially one that wants to uh you know present their own material, you want to be the one writing you know the lyric. You want to be writing the music and and that kind of stuff, and because you feel like it has to come from me. But um, you know song collaboration is is really good. Um there go your country fantasy camp, you know. But yeah, but but also but but I I can see too where an artist is like, well, you know, somebody presents you with uh with a song idea, not just an idea, because sometimes it is just hey, I got this title or I got this line.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:I think that would be easier to accept right instead of somebody giving you a whole fully written song, you know, three, you know, two verses, a chorus, and a you know, a bridge and another verse and a ending chorus and whatever, and then they got the melody out and everything else. It's like here, boom, do it. Well, I don't know about that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. I'm I mean, look, I'm I when I have the time to sit down and like look at them, I mean, the peop the people that are sending me these things are so so nice. Yeah, and their stuff's really good. You know, it's it's just it's just trying to take it and then like and they're always so nice, right? They're like, here's this idea, here's the whole song, but make it your own. And it's like, okay, okay, well then no pressure, no pressure.
SPEAKER_00:And then you don't make it your own, you change this word, change this line, change the course completely. The melody is totally different, and they're like, wait a minute, I don't know, I don't recognize that song.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I never want to do that. So it's like, you know, I'm totally um to a fault, like a people pleaser. And so I okay, I um I feel like that's a lot of pressure to take something that somebody else has created.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, I I I I hear you on that one. Um let's go back to the beginning. All right. Where did it all begin for you besides hearing K-Frog in the house when you were growing up and all the 90s country and all that? It's so funny. 90s country, it sounds that this sounds like yesterday to me.
SPEAKER_01:Sounds like my today in my car right now.
SPEAKER_00:But uh because uh I had mentioned to you at the show, it's it's funny. So so I you know, Ashley's, you know, she's got a kind of a basic set list that she's gonna play during her show, and and then she's gonna open it up to the crowd as well, uh, you know, for requests, that kind of stuff, which comes with some cash. Okay, you gotta bring the cash for those requests, all right? You gotta feed the musician, come on. So um, so uh uh so Ashley says, Oh, well, so like what do you guys want to hear? And so this I think this was after I said, Well, I want to hear some Ashley Felton. Um then later on I said, Well, can you play some like Ronnie Milsap? Or and she's like, What? It was almost like it it wasn't. You didn't do it, but it but it was like, Who's Ronnie Milsap, old guy? And uh, you know, what about you?
SPEAKER_02:What about you?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, what was this some Kenny Rogers or something else? What about some Dolly Parton? You know, she's well, I okay, I could do something. Dolly Parton. I and and actually I wanted her and and and and Mirko, her her guitar player, I wanted to do Islands in the Stream, but they didn't.
SPEAKER_01:I love that song.
SPEAKER_00:That's a great song.
SPEAKER_01:I love that song.
SPEAKER_00:It's a sweet song.
SPEAKER_01:Myself and uh another um local independent artist, Matt Kerner. He actually opened up at Booth in the Park this last um this year. Okay, and and the Smoke Fest. Um, him and I will sing that song and it's fun. That one and uh uh there's another one by Johnny Cash in June. What's uh wait blinking?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, me too. It'll come back. Jackson. There you go.
SPEAKER_01:My son's name. How can I forget?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you do that one really funny. We got married in the fever.
SPEAKER_01:Sprout.
SPEAKER_00:I'm not singing anymore.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, why why would we could do that right now? You want to do Islands in the stream together? That's what we should be doing.
SPEAKER_00:Holy Yeah, see, we could. It would be so fun.
SPEAKER_01:I'm here for it when you're ready.
SPEAKER_00:All right, cool. Excellent. All right, so so besides the 90, I mean, besides hearing the music around the house, where did it begin from you? Like when when I mean, is is there a moment you can look back on and you and you can say that was the moment when the music got me right here? And it just I felt it and that was it. I was done.
SPEAKER_01:Um, okay. I've always loved music, always. Um karaoke was my jam, you know. Um doing this live, um, I I it never, you know, you always dream when you're a kid, like, oh yeah, when I grow up, I'm gonna be a singer, right? But putting all those things into play was definitely not in the cards for me. Yeah. Um, I got I got married and um had babies pretty young. I busted through school, got my masters, wanted to do something um working with students with special needs. And so I was like, okay, being a special ed teacher would put me on the same schedule as my kids eventually when they're school aged, all the things. So I really focused on busting that out so I could just have a really good foundation and be financially like supporting my family.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, we went to uh a wedding uh in Nashville a few years back. Um, and so it was my first time going, and it was good for you because I haven't easy. You have to go. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Catherine, Catherine went back in I think like September. She was a girl's trip to Nashville and she absolutely loved it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you'll cry on the plane ride home like I did because I'm like, I never want to leave here. Um, but we went there and we went into a bar, and um, my uh one of one of our friends had said, Hey, I'm gonna go tip this guy 20 bucks and see if if he'll let you sing picture with him by Cheryl Crohn Kid Rock.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm like, yeah, that sounds great, right? A couple drinks in I'm like, yes, that sounds awesome. Um, the guy says, absolutely not. And so he's like, sorry, like we can't have people up here and stuff. Like, that's like a rule in Nashville, which I and I I get it and I understand. Um, and so he's like, Come on, man, how about like 20 bucks and like two whiskey shots? And the guy's like, All right. So we get up and I have a video to this day of us singing uh at a little bar called Famous, um, that's like right off of Broadway there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And um, I came home, we posted it. This same friend kept bugging Happy Hour Saloon, and they finally said, Okay, sure, like we'll give her a chance to play. And so that's really where it started. And like I said, I was like so nervous. I think for like the probably the first four months of doing this, I was I was so nervous. Um, but we played one show and then we played another show, and then a place in Anaheim Hills reached out, and then a place, you know, it just like was this snowball. And I think, I think once once I did it and like how much I loved it, um, I think I reached out to places for about four months before they started reaching out. And so now it's just been like now it's 150 plus shows. No, I just count as 178 this year so far. And we're not this month, and so um, yeah, reflecting back on that is pretty wild.
SPEAKER_00:And I mean, come on to have a full time job as well. So, like you had said, you have two full time jobs, banana like the best full time job.
SPEAKER_01:Like people ask me all the Time, like, will you ever leave teaching? And I'm like, the offer would have to be really good for me to leave teaching, right? There's my retirement there, my schedule. Like, I can't be. I'm done by 215 every single day. I've got all this time off for summers, and and you know, we've got three weeks of winter break coming up, thank the Lord, and just a couple weeks. And so, um, yeah, it's I don't know, God had his hand in all of this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it no, and and to to to leave that profession. Like you said, you I mean, you've got a pension and all that stuff too. So it's just and and because the music business is what it is, and um I mean, you also have what you know, depending on the type of show that you play, you have band members members that have to be paid as well. You have all that stuff to do, and and um, you know, unless you're playing, you know, to uh a lot of people every night, and I mean thousands of people every night, it yeah, come on, it's gonna be difficult. And there obviously there are a lot of artists out there that are playing to thousands of people that are and they still struggle. Yeah, so yeah, uh you know, if you can if you can do two things that you love for a little bit anyway. Oh really, I'll you're still young.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm I'm all for the ride, you know, whatever this wherever this journey is taking me, I'm I'm here for it.
SPEAKER_00:No, it's great, it's great. Um I I I know you talked about, you know envisioning yourself like you know, playing in front of people, and I remember I'm not gonna tell the story, people. I remember I I've told my like my my moment when music just grabbed a hold and that was it, because I am just a tremendous music lover. But um, but I I do shortly after that moment, my parents had bought my brother and I acoustic guitars for Christmas. They were plastic bodied, but they had real strings. They had real steel strings on them. There, there was uh that I do remember. And uh I would stand in our family room and I would put on, I used to have this uh what was it, this uh Johnny Whitaker, who was a uh who was a child actor, and he had done some television shows and all that, and he released an album, all kitty songs and stuff, but I put this album on in my family room and I would I would strum the guitar, of course, not knowing what I was doing, but I but then I also pretended all my little girlfriends from elementary school, like second and third graders, are out there watching. So that's what I it just yeah, for the for the longest time. Or I would grab my mom's hairbrush and I would sing into the hairbrush and that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah. My when I was like my dad built a stage in my room as a kid, and so my my bed was actually a trundle that would come out from under and pop up at night and put down. So this was like my performance space. Nice, and my best friend Desiree, she lived across the street. We would put on the best concerts and we make the flyers and put them on everybody's mailbox, and we have all of our stuffed animals lined up, and then some of the neighborhood kids come in and we had our little Britney Spears headsets on, right? I had every instrument there, I've got my drum set over here, but we had it all. Like my dad went all out. Then even on the stage, I had like the LED strips that are like this, right? Like at the time, it was rope lights. He like literally built rope lights into the front of the stage. You just flick them on. It was the coolest room. I need to find a picture of that because that is like yeah, yeah, that that was me as a kid.
SPEAKER_00:Like, put that one on your website.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah. I I will totally find a picture of that. There you go. Yeah, the best.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you know, growing up, I was in uh I was in three bands. Of course, we never had one performance, we barely had any rehearsals. I was in the listen, I was in the very first, I'll say right here. I was in the very first ever kiss tribute band.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, in the 70s, before a tribute band was ever a thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we're seeing uh the content of that one.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, uh my my proof is in my my my Paul Stanley boots and my costume and stuff upstairs up in the up in the attic. But uh I can put on some mean makeup. I can really do it. But um I remember in the I think it was in the sixth or seventh grade, I had a friend of mine, John, who uh uh he was a multi-instrumentalist. He was I I loved I was so envious. I'm I'm envious of anyone who can play anything. I'm envious of you. I don't care if you play three chords and that's it. Not that cool because that's not cool, then I am like way less than cool. Um, but I'm so envious of people who play instruments because I don't, and and I loved John because he played the keyboards, he played the trumpet, he was in in the marching band in high school, and he always wanted to play drums, so it was like sixth or seventh grade. His parents bought him this beautiful lacquered black premier drum set. Oh, it's beautiful, gorgeous. I mean, you could like do your hair in the drums, you just the shine, and and so so you know, being the the everything's gotta be big, you know, go big or go home type thing. I uh we grab cinder blocks out of his backyard and and uh sheet or two of plywood, and in his family room, I built a drum riser for him. And so he had the drum riser in his family room, and and I used to just love to watch him play. And uh, of course, he was my drummer too. I say my, he was our drummer, you know, but he was like there was like only two guys that actually could play music, you know, but just stuff like that. But uh yeah, you see, you know, you go bigger, you go home, you know. So I I love it. Your dad was just, you know, but he was making it happen for you way back.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they have always like really believed and been like the biggest supporters. It's just you know, life kind of took some tolls here and there. And so um, you know, we're here like I guess doing it now. Again, something that I I just never I never anticipated this. And to look at where I was like a couple years ago, my best friend always reminds me of this. She's she's like one of my biggest fans, and and um amazing. Um, she's actually my inspiration for my song Girl Time. And so um she she's definitely she always just helps me like reflect on that, you know, when I'm like, but I want to do this, but I want to do this. And she's like, Don't you understand you're already doing it? Like you're literally already doing it. Yeah, she sends me last night, she went to um uh the Christmas country something with K Frog that had like Tucker Whatmore. Oh yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It was in her vine.
SPEAKER_01:And literally her text message I can show you, she's like, I can't wait to see you on here on the stage next year. Like, she's always that person for me that's just like you're not done here. You're your your time is not done, and you are you are so much more than what you're doing right now, and it's just it's it's so like nice.
SPEAKER_00:But see, now doesn't stuff like that. It's we all need somebody who is like our biggest fan who is never gonna let us be down when or when you're down, it's like nope, nope, nope, you got this girl, you got this boy, whatever. And and you know, don't sweat this. And just like she said, you're gonna be here next year, you're gonna be doing this, you're whatever it is.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's really it's so cool. And I and I it and it's not even just my best friend who I feel like you know to a fault kind of has to tell me. Yeah, but but um, but also uh like people that have seen me at shows before that are now followers. Like, I just got a text message last week from a couple that comes and comes dances up my shows all the time. They're the sweetest couple ever, so supportive. And she's wearing my Ashley Felton hat in Nashville. She's like, hey, I'm spreading the word out here for you, and you're gonna be here. You deserve to be here, you know, all the things. And so it's it's just so nice. And I love Nashville, but Nashville is very um, it's very saturated, right? Everybody's there trying to do the exact same thing. So um, so I've been I've been really grateful at how things have progressed with being in California. And um, there is a uh an organization called Nashville on the Coast that has been a really big supporter of of us out here too, us Californians that are you know really pushing to be a part of this country music industry. And um yeah, so that's really fun. We do writers rounds with them, yeah. Um, and so that's always fun because they appreciate all the original stuff, right? They want us to be able to showcase that. And so those are really fun that they put.
SPEAKER_00:And look, like I said, that that's me. That's me. I just I want to hear an artist's I I want to hear what comes from their heart.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, it's great to play, um, it's great to do covers um because there's always some great standards out there and just crowd favorites, that type of stuff.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, well, Nashville on the coast, you'll have to follow them. You guys will have to follow them too. Um, in March is when they do their week-long Nashville on the coast writers round. And so um, there's a bunch of us that they have set up in a lineup, um, they use a bunch of different uh venues all over um Orange County mostly. Um, and so yeah, I'll be playing at Westwood Coast OC um in March, and we'll be doing another writer's round for some new original music.
SPEAKER_00:What was that West Westwood Coast?
SPEAKER_01:Westwood Coast OC. OC. Yeah, that's in Coast de Mesa and um yeah, with Nashville on the coast.
SPEAKER_00:Good. I gotta keep my eyes open for that one because I know we're going to next week's show, you know. Yeah, and I say she we want to we want to go see you at uh at the House of Blues.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, we'll be at the House of Blues. She also mentioned she grabbed tickets to um the Tiki Bar that is in uh Newport, Costa Mesa area, and I'll be opening up for um Daniel Bonte. And so this is like this is very exciting for me because this is like our first real like ticketed event. You know, I've opened um last year for Joe Nichols, okay, and I've also opened for Clay Walker um just a few months back. And so very grateful for that, which is also a ticketed event. Um, but this one's a little different because we're gonna get to focus on mostly our original stuff and playing all of that and seeing how that takes. Um and then of course throwing, you know, in a few covers and a few hits that you know the whole crowd loves.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you gotta fill out the set list.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So so um you have some new material though, right? Is are are you are you working on getting that put out?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so um this year um I was able to go to um I I work with um a my producer named uh Jesse Schirts. He's in South Carolina. Okay. So I went back this year and we did all three songs um that we busted out. We started a little bit last year to be able to get the track going and everything. And then I went out there and recorded vocals and we had those all mastered and mixed, and so we've just been kind of like a staggered um push out. Um, my new the my newest one, the last one that we'll be releasing this year, will be on December 15th.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:Um so yeah, right around the corner is called From the Start. And this is probably one of my favorite songs that I've ever written. I came home from Stagecoach and I sat down and our house was being remodeled, and so it was completely like empty, and the acoustics in there were so cool. So I just like sat down on my floor. I think I have a video of it. I should like do a comparison between like where it came from and like where it's at now. Um, because that's always fun to like look back and reflect on too. But um, yeah, from the start is my newest uh single that'll be released on December uh 15th. And um yeah, it's it's probably one of the most uh heart pulling for me to be, you know, relating to people that um, you know, maybe grew up in maybe not the best household, okay, or maybe not had the most love given to them. And so when they go into a relationship, um their heart is a little blocked and already hardened. And so um the song called From the Start, it's the one of the lines is should have warned you from the start. Like you're um, you're easy to love. I'm I'm harder to love. Oh, okay. So I should have warned you from the start, is like, you know, it's gonna, it's gonna take a lot more patience with somebody like me that has had some scars, you know, to kind of sift through um and love on the way that we feel like we would hope, you know. But um, yeah, so that'll be December 15th.
SPEAKER_00:December 15th. That's next next week, I think, isn't it? Yeah, that's great. Oh, wait, well, now wait almost.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, almost.
SPEAKER_00:It's about 10 days or so, something like that. Uh oh, good, good. I gotta keep my eyes out for that one and add it to my Ashley Felton playlist.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, please do.
SPEAKER_00:I do, I have my Ashley Felton playlist. I do. Well, look, you know, uh if I'm gonna support somebody, I'm gonna support them. And and and first off, I I look honestly, and I'm I'm not just trying to stroke you because you're here and you did me a big favor by coming on the podcast and then coming in studio too. But uh you've got a wonderful voice. I told you when I told you the night we saw you, and I I said it wrong the first time because I said you have a really sweet voice, and and and I stopped and I said, No, no, no, no, no, no. It's not sweet. It you have just just it's fantastic. It really truly is.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Because I think sometimes you say sweet and it it's kind of it might it might be taken as like uh kind of like light or dainty or something like that. And I don't I don't want it to come off like that at all. No, it's it's it it's a just wonderful. You said something a few minutes ago, uh, and you said the word that, and the way you said that word that reminded me of uh probably my favorite song of yours, and that's gimme that, give me that and I love in the chorus the way you say that, and uh you're gonna have to go listen to the song yourself. Gimme that was so fun, but it's the way you say it, the way you enunciate, and I just I I I I really, really like that. You have such a wonderful voice, though. So you have a lot to offer and a lot to give people, a lot to uh you're just very uh you you're really interactive with everybody too. And I know that you have to be at this level, and probably most artists are at this level, and then as they get bigger and bigger, they get less and less of that. I don't see that coming from Ash. I I don't see that coming from Ash.
SPEAKER_01:You guys asked me when I came in, like, do you have a writer? Do you have like somebody that's gonna like give us some feedback on like what kind of water you like? Or like what what do you what do you not want in betrayal mix? And it's like, no, I could never, and you're not getting me water, I will get my water myself. And I'm very much so like that. Like, no, I I I cannot.
SPEAKER_00:But you handle all your own business yourself, right? You don't I mean, you don't have a booking agent, you don't have a manager, you don't have any of that stuff. You handle it all yourself. Yes, it's all like in-house.
SPEAKER_01:It's like everything, it's all in-house, and um hence why it's a full-time second job. Yeah, um, yeah, but yeah, you know, I've got I've had a lot of um you know, booking agents reach out and things like that, but um, it needs to make sense, you know. It there's there's so many pieces of it that needs to make sense and going with the right person and you know, if they can get you to that next level that you you know are aspiring. And so, you know, before before all of this, I'm like, man, it would be so cool to play a happy hour saloon, and then I did it. Right? And then man, it would be so cool to like open up for a national act, and I did it. Yeah, it'd be so cool to play the Orange County Fair. We just got signed for five days all next year again. Really? I did it, and we're doing it again. And better let me know about that. Yeah, it's better. It's it'd be so cool to play the House of Blues. We're doing it in a couple weeks. Like, I um I'm it's been very fun journey.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and we talked about it a little bit too, you know. Yeah, there can be a benefit to having a manager, a booking agent, uh, those types of things. Um, but to what you said, you're already doing some of this stuff that a booking agent is it that's what they're supposed to be doing, and it's not costing you anything. And of course, anybody that works for you does something for you, it's gonna take some money.
SPEAKER_01:And yeah, and yeah, I don't even have a problem with you know with the money part. It's just like I'm paying somebody though, then to check my schedule. Right. Like I'm not really sure if that makes sense at this point in time. Right. I would love, you know, social media is like such a big thing. The bane of my existence, but um so um, so necessary nowadays to to have that and to feel like you're doing like the right thing.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:So um, if if there was anything that I probably invest in, it would be like some type of social media content, something.
SPEAKER_00:I I say the same thing. I say the same thing about you know, about doing what I do. You know, I don't this is a this is uh I don't want to say a one man show. This is Catherine and I, we we do everything uh in regards to this podcast. One because I don't make any money on it, and and that's okay. I'm I'm okay with that. Look, I I I I'm pushing to to gain to get it because we love it. I do because I do love it. Uh and it's not because I like the sound of my own voice, I just like to hear myself talk.
SPEAKER_02:Um totally won't the same thing at all. Yeah. Totally.
SPEAKER_00:But you know, I mean I am I have reached out trying to get sponsorships and that type of stuff, and you know, something will happen one of these days, and it's fine. But but yeah, if I social media can be very, very, very important. And that's if there's one thing that I wish I could at this point afford an additional expense, would be that.
SPEAKER_01:Here, just yeah, do take my content.
SPEAKER_00:Take my content and make sure a million people see it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_00:I don't care if you know, I just put it in front of a million eyes and ears, and great. So I I wish I could do that, and maybe one of these days I will. Who knows? And maybe one of these days I'll just get smart enough to be able to do it myself. Who knows?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, when I first started out, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna have like my family page, like my personal page, right? And I'm gonna have like a professional music page. And I'm like, no, that's not even me, you know, like that's not even me. Like, me is my family, me is my, you know, first job and my passion for working with special music students. My that is all of me. So I decided to delete the professional page. I'm like, no, this is me. And if they don't like it, they don't like it. Everything just goes right. They don't need to follow me. I'm an open book, and I I think that that's so fun to see from other people. So, you know, it's just a
SPEAKER_00:It's good to be genuine.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. You know, just it and yeah, not gonna put a front on being yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Right, right, right, yeah. Not that I'm any big deal, but this is the same thing. I don't separate anything. No, this is this is it right here. So I I am who I am, and uh, you know, you're gonna like it or not. But uh all right, so tell me a little bit more about uh well, not tell me more, but this show coming up at House of Blues. Um what's cost to get in?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, ten dollars with an unwrapped toy because we're donating to um the Sparks of Love charity. Um yeah, 10 bucks.
SPEAKER_00:10 bucks for a ticket, plus you gotta bring an unwrapped toy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's almost cheaper than a beer. Like, come, it'll be so fun, and it's for all ages.
SPEAKER_00:So really family, yeah. Oh, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01:That's like my favorite part. It's like there's gonna be like so many fun kids there.
SPEAKER_00:Are your kids gonna be there?
SPEAKER_01:My kids are gonna be there. Oh, good, yeah, good. I would be excited.
SPEAKER_00:I'd love to meet him.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they love that. They they were able to come with me to the Clay Walker show too and actually meet him afterwards. And he'd be so cool, just so cool.
SPEAKER_00:Awesome, yeah. Yeah, no, so so it's uh December 14th. Is that what 17th?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I don't know. December 17th.
SPEAKER_00:I should I should have wrote it down.
SPEAKER_01:That's okay. No, December 17th, House of Blues, Anaheim. Go get your ticket.
SPEAKER_00:So if you are here in the Southern California area, let's load that place up. All right. I think House of Blues, they'll usually uh they'll fit anywhere between a thousand to twelve hundred people. Let's just fill it up. Come on. All right, so fun. Yeah, no, that that'll be a that's gonna be a lot of fun. And and we are. We're we'll we'll be there. Yeah, and I knowing me, I'll be front and center right there, yeah, scaring you.
SPEAKER_01:I'll see you.
SPEAKER_00:I'll be like you better bring your you you better bring your hat. You better be wearing your trucker hat.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_00:Now, see I'll you know what?
SPEAKER_01:I'll take a picture backstage with it on. I'll play and I'll throw it on there.
SPEAKER_00:You don't have to do that. You don't have to do it. When when when Catherine and I had seen Ashley that afternoon, we had gone out and it really was, it was that afternoon. We'd gone out and we made some hats, some you know, for for for the podcast, and we didn't just to promote it. And um, so as we're leaving the house, I said, Oh, you know what? I'm gonna take one of these hats with me. Never met Ashley. I don't even know who she is, but I'm gonna take this hat. And I left it in the truck, and you were taking a break, and since I was like two two and a half feet from you, I said, I have something for you. I'm going to gotta go out to my truck, I'll be right back. And so I go out to my truck and I get the hat and I bring it in. Now it worked out great because Ashley's already wearing a trucker hat to start with.
SPEAKER_01:So so it wouldn't have mattered, by the way. It would not have mattered if I was wearing a hat already or not.
SPEAKER_00:But it worked, but but it was grass, so I knew that okay, I'm I'm in. So I go out to the truck and I go get the hat and I bring it back, and I sit here. And she says, What? Oh, is this for me? Yeah, no, yeah, this is for you. And she's looking at it and she sees it's got my podcast on there. Oh, okay, okay. So, of course, you gotta peel off the price tag underneath on the bill of the hat and then leave the sticker on top of the bill of the hat.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because that's a thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I know. I took it off yesterday, I think, on on the gray one. So so uh then and she wore it the rest of the show. It was awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I would. Yeah, she's great. I love that. I love supporting anybody that I can. I love it for bringing that for me.
SPEAKER_00:No, just I I hey and it's a great hat.
SPEAKER_01:So thanks.
SPEAKER_00:I'm just trying to promote my podcast. I'm just trying to get it out there, and you know, if you if you're wearing it when you're at the grocery store and someone's like, For sure, what what's that? And who who's that guy?
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:What does that say? That's all. That's all I want.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, one of my friends, she was in the grocery store a few weeks back and she's like, hey, look, she takes a picture of some random guy that has my t-shirt on. Oh my god, that's so nice.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I didn't see any swag on your uh on your website.
SPEAKER_01:I'm I I'll I'll bring you one. I'll get you some.
SPEAKER_00:You don't have no, no, no. I'll pay for it, okay? I'll pay for it. I don't need you to give me anything. That's a good point, though.
SPEAKER_01:I need to my website. Oh my gosh, you know, doing all this here.
SPEAKER_00:I know it is.
SPEAKER_01:But um, but I just I just updated my website. I I just got asked by a music festival that's in Montana to um make a submission to to play there. And so I'm like, okay, so before I did that, you know, the submission includes like, you know, put your website in your team and all that stuff. And I was like, okay, tonight's the night. I'm sitting down again and I'm updating all of this. My site's gonna look so good after this again. I did like I think it moved on for like six or seven hours, and I'm like, this is free. And I forget, like, you know, there's there's um it's called Intune Blog that was really nice and did a really wonderful article about me um recently. Yeah, and then also um I was featured as the 2025 August edition of the Nashville scene upcoming artists in 2025. I love it. So I'm like, all these things are so nice, right? That are like sitting in my house, but they were not on my website.
SPEAKER_00:So I love it.
SPEAKER_01:Gotta include all that stuff. Yeah, it's so sweet.
SPEAKER_00:You did have a link for the uh for that blog. Yeah, I did I did see that. And it is a good looking website. Yeah, they just didn't have a swag on it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, okay, I'm on it. Okay, add it to my to-do list. I'm gonna leave here and put it in my phone right away.
SPEAKER_00:Shop. I know. Right there.
SPEAKER_01:Shop, I'll do it. I'll do it. I'm on it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's great. Um, you know, I tell everybody where they can find you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_00:Just give out all your socials. Tell everyone where they can find you.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, Ashley Felton Music on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok. My TikTok got hacked earlier this year. What? My TikTok is not as awesome, but um, but it's gonna get there again. I've I've I fought with TikTok for a long time to try to get it back, and there was no hope. So I'm like, okay, whatever, I'm just gonna start anyone.
SPEAKER_02:Wow.
SPEAKER_01:So TikTok as well. There's a few that are uploaded on there now. And um, you can stream all my music on Spotify and Apple Music and all the other streaming platforms literally everywhere. And um, yeah, thank you guys for listening to my stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Hang on a second. I'm opening up, I'm opening up stop that right there. Three words. Stop that. There we go. I'm opening up TikTok and I'm going to uh see, get out of there.
SPEAKER_01:It's now I think it says Ashley Felton official.
SPEAKER_00:Come on now. Oh, there's the search. Okay, I'm gonna put in Ashley. Oh, okay. I'll have to do this later. I'm gonna get Ashley Felton. I'm gonna follow. See, I I'm still trying to be big time on TikTok, so like I don't follow anybody. I wait till people follow me. So I have more followers than people I'm following. So I don't know if it's a thing, but you know, I have no idea. Come on, I'm an old guy. I don't know if it's a thing. I just want to have more followers than people I'm following. I I look more big time.
SPEAKER_01:I never even thought about that. I just, you know, if I'm gonna follow him, I'm gonna follow them.
SPEAKER_00:But I'm noted. But yeah, but I'm gonna be following us.
SPEAKER_01:I'm learning things too.
SPEAKER_00:Hopefully, nobody learns anything from me. Trust me. No, no, no, no, not at all. Um Ashley, this has been a this has been a blast.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you so much for having me.
SPEAKER_00:No, it's been so much fun. You were you're so great. Um I love your music for one. I really do. And I'm tough when it comes to country music. I really am, because I'm so um what I consider to be old school. And and I think I didn't even ask you, but like your your modern country. What is like what's modern country to you?
SPEAKER_01:I mean, like just uh like like the artist that I mentioned earlier, you have like Lainey Wilson, you've got Ella Langley, you've got Kelsey Ballerini, you've got Carrie Underwood, you know, all of those modern day all right, you know, so like sounds, I guess.
SPEAKER_00:20 last 20, 25 years or so. Okay, so we're kind of in the same area there. All right. I I I now some of that I I like and I do appreciate. Um, some of the 90s artists I do like and appreciate. We I think we had talked about it at your show too, Brooks and Dunn. Forget about it. Oh, forget about it.
SPEAKER_01:My favorite duo of all time in the whole world.
SPEAKER_00:The guys are just uh they just kill it. And they're they're they're they're band, they're banned. What an outstanding band, absolute tremendous musicianship out of that band, each and every guy. And that's the thing I look, I mean, I when I go to shows, I mean, I'm looking at every single person in the band.
SPEAKER_01:I feel like I'm not looking at the artists very much at all. I but I'm learning from all of them. Yeah, like it's so cool.
SPEAKER_00:Um, but but so I don't I don't lean a lot into the 90s, and maybe it's because my age, but um because uh I'm a I'm a rock and hard rock guy to my core.
SPEAKER_02:Sure.
SPEAKER_00:But I don't lean into a lot of the newer stuff, too. Um the stuff that was coming out in the 90s, especially the early 90s, that all that grunge stuff, forget I throw it in the wastebasket right over there. Forget it. Forget it's just it's terrible. But um, I I stick to my you know, pretty much what I grew up listening to. And um when it comes to country music, I love my and I call my classic artists, you know. I mean Kenny Rogers and and and Dolly Parton and Ronnie Milsap and Eddie Rabbit and uh um um even Johnny Cash and he predates them, you know, but um that kind of stuff. Um that's just that kind of like where I come from. I do like my Dwight Yoakum, you know. You know, the tighter the jeans, the better, you know. The jeans so tight they look like they're painted on, you know. But I love Dwight. I love Dwight. Dwight's great. Um but it's to me like I I'm not a I just I'm not a fan of hip hop with a twang. I'm just not okay.
SPEAKER_01:We played a show, we played a show, and um my guitarist sent me this song called Texas Hold'em by Beyonce and said, Hey, we're playing a show this weekend, it's probably gonna be requested, so you should be ready for this. And I listened to it and was like, there is no way I am playing this song. Wow, we play the show. Sure enough, there's a little kid with a$20 bill that comes up and he's like, Can you play Texas Hold On?
SPEAKER_00:And I'm like, shoot. You probably didn't say shoot.
SPEAKER_01:I did not, I may have said a different word, but I was like, you've gotta be kidding me right now. He's just busting up laughing, right? And I'm like, I don't want to do this so well. But this little kid freaking did the song, and um, yeah, no, I agree with you. I am um there's a lot of things that I think are really cool for this crossover stuff that country music is doing right now. Very cool stuff. Um but but this this hip-hop country stuff is is um, you know, it's interesting for us. I I I I almost feel like the same way about that is like the same way I feel about AI and how there's so many people that are using AI to create these songs now and put them out there and they have more streams than our songs that we put our blood and soul into, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_01:It's almost like this cheating thing, and I it just doesn't sit well with me. So, you know, teach their own. I'm doing me, and um yeah, and but you're genuine in your real. Look at that. Yeah, she is genuine and real. Come and request uh Texas Hold'em button until you know.
SPEAKER_00:But you know what? You probably can't request uh Smoky Mountain Rain by Ronnie Milsap either. I don't know. You have to work on that one.
SPEAKER_01:I know, dang.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe some Alabama.
SPEAKER_01:I could for sure do Alabama.
unknown:Okay, all right. All right.
SPEAKER_01:Come on. Let's like, yeah, it'd be fun.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I you know, I tell you what. So maybe when I met you there with peace unknown, I set out to get you with a fine tooth comb. I was soft inside. Yep. There was something going on.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you've got it. Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00:Not really. That's great. I just try to show off. I love it.
SPEAKER_01:You did great.
SPEAKER_00:Now you're supposed to come in. Oh you do something to me that I can't explain. Pull me closer and I feel no pain. Wait, I can't remember.
SPEAKER_02:I I was gonna look up the lyrics, but we're I think you love that. This is the stuff that I love.
SPEAKER_00:Oh my god. You know what? You know what? Next time, because it it can't happen at House of Blues, it can't happen at uh Tiki Bar, but next time you're at uh Happy Hour Saloon, I'm jumping up and you and I were doing islands in the stream.
SPEAKER_01:December 27th. So you better put it super soon.
SPEAKER_00:December 27th. Oh, coming.
SPEAKER_01:I just yeah, I am.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna come, I'm gonna come and we're doing islands in the stream. Yeah, nice. Oh, I thought we were ending already. I mean, we did it, but you I I I love it. I love it. You are this is so much fun, Ashley. Thank you. It really was. Hey, you are absolutely welcome, and you're welcome to come back anytime you want. I don't care if you have anything to promote or not, you can just come hang. Um, you know, whatever.
SPEAKER_01:Do some karaoke to go.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, why not? Why not? That's right. So, all right, let's we'll let you guys go. How's that? Okay. Uh, as you know, this program is available wherever you get your podcasts, wherever you stream them, just search the Ben Maynard program. Boom, it's right there. Subscribe to it. Uh, and and and give me a five-star rating too, because not only do I deserve it, but she deserves it. She deserves it more than I do. So uh do that. And then uh if you've enjoyed this, if if you've enjoyed her more than me, and I'm sure you have, and you're watching on YouTube, then thank you for doing that. But subscribe to the channel, hit the notification bell, you'll get uh notifications every time. Yeah, that's it. You'll get a notification every time a new episode drops. Then you have to give me a thumbs up and leave a comment. I reply to all your comments. You guys know that. Also, you have to tell a thousand of your family and friends, okay? You tell a thousand of your family and friends about the Ben Maynard program. Uh, last but not least, follow me on Instagram, simply Ben Maynard program, all one word, or on the TikTok, the Ben Maynard program. We're done. That's it. It's over. It's over. It's all over, but the shock. Okay. So again, thank you guys for being here. You guys behave yourselves. I'll see you next time. This is the Ben Maynard program. Tell a friend.