Gundog Nation
A show to bring together gundog enthusiasts, trainers, and handlers with discussion focused on all breeds and styles of gundogs.
Gundog Nation
Anna Blanton - When Authentic Music Beats The Machine: The Creekers’ Raw Ascent
#58 A fiddle on fire, a crowd roaring back, and a band sprinting from small-town stages to New Year’s Eve at the Ryman—this conversation with Anna Blanton of the Creekers pulls back the curtain on a rise that feels as electric as it looks. We start with roots: classical violin and Irish tunes, the discipline that builds precise hands, and the guts to throw out the page and play by ear. Anna explains how years backing singer-songwriters taught minimalism, then how the Creekers unlocked her as a full-fledged entertainer—part arranger, part sparkplug, all-in on making the live show the main event.
What sets the Creekers apart? Raw, live-first recording and performance chemistry you can’t fake. No studio ringers. No Auto-Tune. Their full-length was cut in two days, and the edges are intentional: the same band you see on stage is the band on the record. We talk Barberville’s drone-shot sea of fans, sold-out runs, and why big festival lineups are opening back up to bands with distinct voices. Anna shares her favorite moments—from a three-hour dance floor that never emptied to the thrill of stepping onto the Ryman stage with Old Crow Medicine Show—and the wild stagecraft that somehow always serves the song: flaming bows, horseback fiddling, zip lines, and crowd-surf-level energy.
Underneath the spectacle is a quieter truth: teamwork beats virtuosity in isolation. Anna is candid about being “the hired help” for years and what it means to finally feel a community at her back. In a world overflowing with gloss and AI polish, the Creekers’ authenticity is the point—and it’s why fans sing along even when they can’t see the stage. Ready to feel that spark? Hit play, share this with a friend who loves real live music, and if it moves you, subscribe and leave a review so more folks can find the show.
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I'm Kenneth Witt and welcome to Gun Dog Nation. Gun Dog Nation is much more than a podcast. It's a movement to build a community of people around the world that like to watch a well-trained dog do what it's bred to do. Also, we want to get our youth involved into the sport of gun dogs, whether it be hunting, sport, or competition. We want to build a community of people united to preserve our gun dog heritage and to be better gun dog owners. Tune in to each weekly episode and learn about training, dog health, wellness, and nutrition. We will also offer tips for hunting with dogs and for competition hunt tests, field trials, and other dog sports that involve gun dogs. Please go to our website, gundognation.com, and subscribe to our email list. We will keep you informed weekly with podcasts that are coming out. We also will be providing newsletters with training tips and health tips for your dog. You can also go to patreon.com forward slash gundognation and become a member. There's different levels of membership on there. Just go check that out. Also, I'd like to thank Sean Brock for providing the music for this show. The introduction and the outro is Sean Brock. He played everything on there except the Banjoe by Scott Vest on the Dobro by Jerry Douglas. Sean is a neighbor of mine from over in Harlan, Kentucky. I'm just across the mountain in Hyden, Kentucky, and he's a super talented guy. But most of all, I want you guys to check out the Creakers. They are also from Hyden, Kentucky. This is an up-and-coming bluegrass and country band, and these guys are hot. They're all over TikTok and YouTube. You will hear these guys because in a year or so that they will be on the radio. They are very talented. Their videos are going viral on the net. These boys are family. Two of the lead singers, one drew up with my daughters, and the other one is my cousin's son. So he's family. But check them out. Check out the creakers. Also, last but not least, if you want to buy a hat, koozie, t-shirt, or even gun dog supplies, go to shopgundognation.com and you can purchase any of those items. Thank you so much for listening. It's a privilege to have people that want to put up with me talking about dogs all the time. I actually enjoy what I do, and I'm so glad to have this opportunity. Thank you. Hey, it's Kenneth Witt with the Gundog Nation Podcast. Welcome back. I am uh in a different place today. I've been on a hunting excursion for the last six weeks, and I'm in Red Lodge, Montana, and it was there was snow on the ground. It's finally melted off. And it snowed for two days here lightly, which was crazy because I was hunting in northern Montana last week and it was 80 degrees. This morning it was 23. But uh I I'm really excited and privileged to have this guest on today. And I someone on TikTok mentioned to me that I didn't mention a certain band member when I was on another podcast of the Creekers, and I said, you know what? I'm a step ahead of you because I'm getting ready to have her on my podcast. And I explained why to you before we started that I knew the other band members because they were from my hometown, basically. And uh, but when I go to watch a show, you're the show for sure. Uh and we're gonna talk about this. Anna, please introduce yourself, tell them where you're from, what you do, and and then we'll just get into it.
SPEAKER_02:Sure. So I'm Anna Blanton, and I'm the fiddle player for the Creekers. Been playing with the Creakers on coming up on two years in February.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'll tell you this. Uh I had seen your band members play individually, uh and adding you to the band was definitely uh a huge, huge addition. I I don't want to say an improvement. I don't want to discredit anyone, right? But you're definitely an entertainer. I mean Tanner and Alan and Jagger. And I I don't really know uh the drummer so much. I talked to Jagger more, but but what's his name? I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_02:Ashton.
SPEAKER_00:Ashton, Ashton. So I don't know Ashton. I've actually never had a conversation with Ashton, but I know the other guys real well. But man, I finally got to go watch the whole band in person. I've seen Tanner play since he could pick up a guitar. And Alan, uh, because he sang in church with my daughter. But I had never seen you guys live. Shane, Alan's stepdad kept telling me about y'all, you know, and he kept telling me about you. And I grew up with Shane. I'm a little older. Shane's actually my brother's age. Uh and yeah, I'm 57, so I'm not there's no news high in my age. So I'm way older than even Shane. And when I went and seen y'all in in Lexington, you know, we came out there, and he kept Shane kept telling me, man, she gets around, she she does all this stuff and and uh just gets the crowd into it. And we me and my wife went and saw y'all, and we were like, oh God, wow, you know, now I get it. Now I see it. So Anna, what makes you're an entertainer? I mean, it's it's just it just rolls out your pores. How did have you always been that way? Is that just your personality? Is it a redhead thing? So I can say that because I've got a redheaded daughter, so I'm not being prejudiced or politically incorrect.
SPEAKER_02:So I have an interesting background. Short answer, no. Um, I like to say I'm a fiddle mutt. Like I went to college for classical violin, and then I grew up playing a lot of Irish music. And um along the way, um, I got a job playing for um Coulter Wall, and I toured with him for over a year. And um ever since then, I got I don't want to say pigeonholed, but um my career took a path to where I was playing with a lot of singer-songwriters. And when you play with singer-songwriters, you know, you are very much accompanying, you are in the background, you do not stand out, don't um don't do a lot of stuff, you just play to the music, and a lot of it's very minimalistic um fiddle playing. Um, unless you get a solo, then you get to show off a little bit. But um, I don't know, there was something about the energy of the creakers and um the personalities. Um and I don't even remember when the first creaker show it was where I did something off the wall, and um yeah, I can't remember what that was, but all of a sudden it was it be it was like the next show, and then the next show, and then like people were like, What are you gonna do today? What are you gonna do today? So it just became this like snowball effect where like that's just what I do with the creakers. So um, yeah, no, that is not normally a thing I do when I'm performing, but it it is with the creakers, we'll put it that way.
SPEAKER_00:Well, what's neat? So I feel like maybe is the way I interpret what you said is your hands were kind of tied, you were kind of canned and held back and pushed down, and you cut loose.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, the creakers let me off my leash.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I love it. And you know, and I won't bore you too much of this stuff, but when I was early on in elementary school, we moved to Lakeston for all my father was a musician professional his whole life. And I started playing fiddle, which is violin, in school, classical, trained, and for a year or so, and we moved back to Leslie County to hide in my hometown, and um, there was no one to teach me. And I I I'm one of these people, I need structure to learn, but anyway, so I never really picked it up again, and you know, now I finally later in life learned to play banjo and stuff. But uh so you know I think I think being classically trained is an asset, don't you? Yeah, not that I was, but I started out kind of.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's definitely an asset. Um it's uh there's pros and cons growing up in a classical world if you want to play fiddle music on you have to get your brain off a a page of music. Um you have to be able to play by ear. Um and for classical being classical musicians, that can be a struggle. Um so yes, like technique-wise, and you know, I do a lot of weird stuff sometimes during solos that you don't really hear class uh your traditional fiddle players do, but um sometimes I'll do some quirky stuff and people are like, what was that? That was cool, and I was like, it was literally just a weird sound effect with the bow. But um, yeah, so you know, it's it's been a good thing for me.
SPEAKER_00:Now, do you play other instruments?
SPEAKER_02:Um, I do play a little bit of mandolin. Um and uh I can strum some chords on a guitar and play a little bit of chords on a piano, but I don't advertise those two.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's not your day job, right?
SPEAKER_02:No, no, piano and guitar are not my day job. I'm I I can get by on a mandolin, but yeah, the other two.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and you see that a lot, right?
SPEAKER_02:I learned just enough to accompany students, and then that was that was it.
SPEAKER_00:I get and you know, I see that a lot when I play Bluegrass, a lot of you know, a lot of fiddle players and mandolin players you know play both instruments. And I guess it's the tuning.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, tuning tuning is identical. So um, yeah, you're the left hand is pretty much the same. Um going from a bow to picking that's quite a bit different, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Uh and you don't have frets.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, and you don't have frets.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, uh uh I always thought that looked difficult, you know. Like I I play bass a little and an upright bass, you know, you gotta you can't really be off too much there, it's gonna be out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, fiddle, fiddle, yeah. It's you're micro-tuning the entire time you're playing sometimes because it's all muscle memory. And if you can't hear what's happening, you're you're in trouble because if you just land like a little millimeter off, then you're going to hear it.
SPEAKER_00:I think the only thing learning than learning than being around somebody learning to play banjo is being around somebody learning to play fiddle.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like my my buddy Johnny Lewis, a famous banjo player from Sandy Hill, Kentucky, always said you it you sound like you're running the wolves out of the hills, you know.
SPEAKER_04:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Uh but no, well, hey, um, so let's let's talk about this. And you've been with the Creekers band, how did that happen? How did you get with those guys?
SPEAKER_02:So it was actually our manager, Tim Parks. Um, so I know Tim from playing his Manchester Music Festival and a whole number of other events through that I played with other artists at. And um, yeah, like he texted me out of the blue, and it's not like I talked to Tim often. So I was like, you have a text message from Tim Parts. And I was like, huh, that's odd. And um he's like, hey, you want to record or do you have any interest recording for uh bluegrass band? And I was like, well, yeah, I'm not really a bluegrass fiddle player, but uh who is it? What what's the the deal? And um he's like a band called the Creakers, and I was like, who the heck are the Creakers? And then uh he's like they're recording at um Fat Sam's Cave, who I played in Tim Gooden's band with Sam Rogers, who owns that studio in Red River Gorge. So he's like, they're recording there, and I was like, Well, I love Red River Gorge because I do repelling and hiking and all this stuff. I was like, worst case scenario, I show up and do this recording studio. It's not real great, but I get a hiking weekend out of it. So I was like, Yeah, I'll do it. So um originally I think the Creekers wanted Don Rogers to record on the album, but he just wasn't available. And um we all love Don Rogers. Don Rogers is like the goat, and um everyone's like, well, we're glad it didn't work out because then we never would have met. Anna and Anna wouldn't be in the band, and da da da. So um, yeah, so I showed up, I recorded on a few songs off the uh Pour Me in the Creek album, and um, I didn't even record on all the songs, just a handful that they specifically wanted fiddle on. And while I was there, um, I guess Tim messaged them and was like, You all want to open for Ronda Vincent at Rimfro Valley, and I'm standing there and they're like, You want to come play Rimfro Valley opening for Rhonda Vincent? I tried not to look too excited. I was like, Yeah, that would be great. And then um I just kept playing with them after that show, and then I guess at one point they updated the uh social media band photos, and I was in the photos. I was like, Well, I guess I'm in the band.
SPEAKER_00:Hello, this is Kenneth Whipp with Gun Dog Nation. Many people quickly become frustrated and confused when training the retriever. Cornerstone Gun Dog Academy's online courses eliminate all the guesswork by giving you a proven training system that will help you train a dog that anyone will be proud to have in their blind. Learn where to start, what to do next, and what to do when problems arise. Visit Cornerstone Gun Dog Academy.com to learn how you can train your retriever. I have used this method myself. I've been through it a couple times with different dogs. I refer back to it lots of times when I'm trying to get dogs freshen back up for hunt test season. I highly recommend them. I have actually been a subscribed member of Cornerstone Gun Dog Academy since 2016, and I would suggest anyone use it. I highly recommend it. They have an app that you can get to on your phone. You can do it from your phone, your laptop. You can't get any more convenient than that. I I've used it, it's proven and tried, and I know literally hundreds of people that have done the same thing that I've talked to. Visit Cornerstone Gun Dog Academy.com and learn how to train your own retriever. Hello, this is Kenneth Witt, and Gun Dog Nation is proud to have one of their sponsors as Retriever Training Supply based in Alabama. Retriever Training Supply offers fast shipping on quality gear. Your dog will love it. Visit Retriever Training Supply.com to purchase gear to help you train your retriever. Listen, they have some of the best leashes I've ever found. It's stuff's made in America. Their leases are and they source them locally. They have anything you want. Fast friendly service, fast shipping, just good people. Retriever Training Supply. Nice. Well, I think it was a great addition. You know, I uh I've never been at your level of music, but I come from a several generations of musicians. I'm the only member of my family that has a real job, Anna. Like my family, my they're all musicians. So uh I think you're an excellent addition to the band. And it's you know, to me, what makes a successful band, and we're gonna get into this with you about how successful you guys have become, it's it's insane. But I think what makes it is it's it's every ingredient, right? And and it y'all, each one of y'all are the perfect, just like baking a cake, right? You leave out one major ingredient and and it tastes horrible. Those all y'all are talented, and it's so nice, it's such a good combination. And I'm gonna say this and I'm gonna set up and let you talk. But me growing up around music, you know, my brothers have been in Nashville for years, and and Billy Carrington lived there with them for a while, Tyler Farr also, and I've seen these guys rise from nobody, Tyler Farr and Billy Carrington to major stars. But I've never seen anyone rise as fast as you guys, except people that maybe wins American Idol or the Voice, right? You it's insane. Like I mean, and it's all organic. You guys have grown organically. You've not had a major promoter. Uh Tim, uh, you know, his you know, he he he'll Tim will be the first to say, you know, he was doing Sunday Best and some other guys, but uh, you know, Tim is not like you know the producer for George Strait or something. And look what he's done. I mean, you guys just he got you out there. Tim got you out there in front of the folks, the fans, and it grew organically without any special marketing, any gimmicks, and I don't know anyone else that's done it that fast ever. Uh and I I'm 57 years old and I grew up in music. My father never done anything but play music his whole life. So how does that feel? I mean, you guys are signed with Warner Brother Records. You've really not been together that long. You've really not been playing the circuit that long as most have. How does it feel?
SPEAKER_02:Um Yeah, it uh it's hit me. Like it's weird. It's super weird. Um I've been around the block a time or two in the music industry. Um like I said, I played with Coulter Wall and watched him rise up um when I was touring with him. Um I've played some backup orchestra gigs with Michael Boobley to Evanescence to Disturbed. Like I've done a lot of like I have a very eclectic resume. And like I've seen artists come, I've seen artists go. Um, I've always been the hired help. I've never been like a part of like the team. Um and this is different, much different in that regard. Uh one thing I'll say that's super interesting to me is like for if you asked me a year ago if I thought a band could make it um like big leagues, I would have said no, it's a solo artist's world. Like if you look at everyone who's playing stadiums or big shows, headlining big festivals, they're almost all solo artists. Tyler Childers, Margot Price, um, you know, um Zach Top. Like the top of the bills are almost have for a very, very long time always been solo artists. But I think that's starting to shift and change. I started noticing it with like 49 Winchester, and then the big one that I noticed recently was um Red Clay Strays. They're the first ones that really caught my eye, and I was like, hey, a band can make it to the big leagues nowadays. That's I don't think that was true even like five or six years ago. You never heard of bands um playing stadiums or headlining major music festivals. So just to see the creakers take off like this, it's like it's it's very surprising to me that it took off as fast as it did. Um, but when you have a great sound, a gr a good product, a great energy, our live shows I think are ten times better than our recordings.
SPEAKER_00:And yes, oh I I I I believe that. And like your recordings, and here's and I'll say something on that note too. You all have made it to where you are, which is we're gonna we we've not even got to scratch the surface of who you all opening for in the upcoming year, which is insane. But you all made it without a produced Nashville produced sound. You all there's no studio musicians. No, it's you and the band recorded that album that we are hearing on TikTok. It's not canned musicians, you don't have Brett Mason playing guitar, you know, the best guitarist in Nashville, and that's what I've never seen before.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, that's that's a huge part. Being a studio artist and a live performer are very different things. I do not like I don't consider myself a recording artist whatsoever. Like there's I'm I won't get into the nitty-gritty, but there's so many like aspects of being a recording artist in a studio and a live performer. Some stuff inter overlaps, but they're very different. They are very different. And having like these like see having a seasoned studio artist record on your album, it's going it's it's going to sound like a finely polished, clean studio album. And we are not that. We are a rowdy, we are, you know, live.
SPEAKER_00:It's wrong. Hello, this is Kenneth Witt with Gundog Nation, and I've got to tell you guys about something that I've gotten hooked on lately. It's faux licious. These are gourmet instant faux and ramen bowls that actually taste like the real deal. When I'm out in the field all day, and the last thing I want is to sell for bland camp food. Folicious is what I go to. It's authentic, the flavor, it's real ingredients, it's ready in just minutes. It's perfect for hunters, fishmen, or anyone on the go. And you can get them over 1900 Walmarts nationwide, your local ATB here in Texas. Or you can just go online at folicious.com. Trust me, once you try it, you'll keep a few stock in in your bag, in your pack pack, or for your next adventure. I just want to say this, I want to add this to this commercial because I know the owners of this company. They've hunted on my ranch. Joseph, uh, he and I were actually met in Colorado on a hunting trip uh that was a real adventure. They are true hunters. They've hunted the ranch, you know, and I've I've hunted with them. And Anna, she is just amazing. She's the one that came up with this idea. They were both on Shark Tank. They are amazing people. So I love seeing people like this have a business. And I just had to say that in addition to the commercial because I really believe in the product and I believe in the people that made the product. Be sure and go to folicious.com or go to Walmart or H E B and try their product. I promise you you will like it. We were talking, and you were talking about it's it my word for that is raw.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, we are raw.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, and uh it's unproduced. Yeah, totally, yes, very unproduced. We did that that first album, full-length album in two days. Um that's incredible. Yeah, and all live recorded, like there's very little, like I guess, isolation. A lot of it, both, both of them were very live cut. Um the EP we did in two days. Uh so yeah, so it's just like we go in there and we play these things mostly live. I think we overlap fiddle on a few things, um, just microphone use, but like and some of the vocals, but yeah, it's it's raw, and that's creakers, and yeah, you come to a live show, you'll even be more blown away because it's even better.
SPEAKER_00:It is. You know, I just saw being up here hunting and stuff. I I'm just now getting to follow y'all through social media right now. I can't go see your live shows, which I will be at some this next year, but I was watching that show, and uh y'all I seen clips of on social media in Barberville, Kentucky.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, that was a good one.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, it was in I've never seen anything like it. The crowd. I just saw videos of the crowd, and it was I I I I know Barberville, I'm you know, I'm from Leslie County, I know Barberville, Kentucky. It's not very far, and yeah, y'all had that place. Uh how many people were there? Do you do you have any idea?
SPEAKER_02:Uh there were, I'm gonna say 3,000. My daughter Lily.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_02:Um, so yeah, and it was it was wild. A couple thousand for sure. And the craziest thing to me was like I was looking at some of the drone footage, and there were people literally behind like on the other side of buildings that couldn't even see us, just hanging out listening. And I'm like, you can't even see the show, and you're like listening and singing, and it was pretty amazing.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and I won't put that in comparison to something, okay? I just watched that some clips that people posted of you guys in Barville, I guess this weekend, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_04:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:And I saw the crowd, and it was unbelievable. In 2004, I was a county judge for Leslie County.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I hired a band my brother was playing keyboard for, a guy named Jason Aldean.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Jason had signed with Kerb, he had signed with not Kerb, whoever he's with. Shoot, he's still with him, right? It's not Kirb Records. No, it was uh it'll come to you in a second. Anyway, he had just signed, like, months before. And he came to Leicester County. There might have been 400 people there. And he was a he was a record signer. Matter of fact, that was in July of 2004. And in December 2004, or roughly thereabouts, Hicktown came out and it was number one. But I'm just make I'm just comparing you all. This is Jason Al Dean, who is a recording artist, signed with a record label, is hired. I think we paid him a small amount of money. Of course, the next year you couldn't have paid, you could have paid him, you know, way more than that. But and he was good. Don't get me wrong, man. He put on a heck of a show. My brother Brandon was playing keyboard. He actually went up to my dad's house and we jammed all night until the sun came up the next morning. It's pretty cool, right? But you guys have just signed and you're playing in front of crowds that looks like Woodstock. I mean, at least on video. So it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. I'm so excited for y'all, and it couldn't happen to better people. Uh, I'm your one of your big I'm you've got several biggest fans, but I'm one of your biggest fans. I talk about y'all everywhere I can. But so now, now let's brag a little bit, okay? That's just the that's just the opener. Anna, you guys have played some or got are scheduled to play some shows next year. They're like most artists dream about. Most artists wait their lifetime to play. Let's let's let's start with what's the one, the two-step in Texas?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, the two-step uh yeah, two. I think it's uh let me look two-step something uh two-step. I want to say it's a two-step in, but I don't know if that's right.
SPEAKER_00:Two-step in, I think that's right. Now, let's just go over some of the folks on that list that these listeners may or may not may probably know who they who we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So who's let's let's who's the who's some of the big hits on there?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, uh Brooks and Dunn, Goo Goo Dolls, Chris Stapleton, Red Clay Strays, uh Randy Travis, Muscadine Bloodline, Shannon Dowla, Tedesky Drucks Band. There's a bunch. There's a bunch.
SPEAKER_00:And the Creakers.
SPEAKER_02:And the Kreakers. Yep, we're on that.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, it's crazy. Y'all went from playing playing a few months ago, y'all were playing small festivals, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and then you're playing in so in several months, you're playing with probably one of the biggest shows of the year, with some of the biggest acts in the business.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Um, so are we talking about New Year's Eve? Or which one are we talking about?
SPEAKER_00:Okay, let's talk. Let's talk about New Year's Eve. Where are you playing New Year's Eve?
SPEAKER_02:We're playing the Ryman opening for Old Crow Medicine show.
SPEAKER_00:That's right. Heidi told me that.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. So that's the one I'm most excited for.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, you all just signed a record deal a week or so ago, and you're you're scheduled for these events already. The Ryman Auditorum, the Grando Offrey original.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:I'm playing that show with you on New Year's Eve.
SPEAKER_02:Uh, that is a three-ban bill. It'll be Oak Crow Medicine Shows the Headliner, um, then Shovels and Rope and the Creakers.
SPEAKER_00:Right. And now I'm I'm prejudiced, and the Creakers should be the headliner, but hey, that's all right. They'll get it later.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, well, that's so cool.
SPEAKER_00:But y'all have to go around the corner. My my brother Jason plays at the Redneck Riviera from 10 till 2.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, no way.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it went Wednesday through Saturday, I think.
SPEAKER_01:Nice.
SPEAKER_00:Anyway, so yeah, no, that is I'm actually gonna be on a sea duck hunt in Alaska.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, wow. That sounds Alaska's on my bucket list, never been.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I went for the first time this year in August. Actually, not long after, right after I saw y'all down at Lexington. And well, I'm not a huge fisherman, I'm a hunter, but uh we fished and it was really cool.
SPEAKER_04:Nice.
SPEAKER_00:But uh this this will be a duck hunt in the Bering Sea anyway. What that'll be another story, but but yeah, uh but uh you all will pack that place out. Heck, half Kentucky would be down there watching y'all.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think it's already almost sold out.
SPEAKER_00:So that's what I figured. And that's what's neat is all the stuff that I'm seeing online and I'm trying to book to go see, it's all this stuff's almost sold out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we had four sold-out shows last week. So that's great. You snooze, you lose on our show.
SPEAKER_00:That's right. Uh I'll probably be paid scout prizes now. Uh that's all right. It'd be worth it. It's going to a good cause.
SPEAKER_04:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so uh let's let's talk a little bit about your background. How'd you grow up? City girl, farm girl?
SPEAKER_02:Uh farm girl. I grew up on a horse farm in Indiana.
SPEAKER_04:Oh wow. So uh what kind of horse?
SPEAKER_02:We had thoroughbreds, so I grew up doing eventing, so like the jumping and I grew up didn't know.
SPEAKER_00:Steeple chase stuff, huh? Like steeplechase kind of events.
SPEAKER_02:Not steeplechasing, but um, it was like a three-day event. So you do dressage, which you do like a pattern, it's like English raining, and then um stadium jumping, which you jump in arena, then you go out and do cross country, which is a rustic course where you go jump logs and brush stuff.
SPEAKER_00:And you did that?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I was I did that for a long time until I was in college. I wrote on University of Louisville's equestrian team, and I was a music major. I had one really bad fall, and I like was lucky I didn't lose my arm, so I kind of uh, you know, that's not real conducive to a music career. So uh I backed off now. It's just trail writing on occasion, but yeah. Um, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Did you graduate from U of L?
SPEAKER_02:Yep, yeah, um music and marketing.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. So you're perfect for this business, business of music.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, you could say that. Uh but yeah, I grew up, I I did yeah, country girl. Did 4H for 10 years, Pony Club. I was an FFA member, so yeah, I did all that fun stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm a University of Kentucky grad, but I I won't hold your U of L grad studies.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Sorry. No, that's I didn't realize that. So uh did before when did you decide to become a professional musician? Meaning that you no longer had a day job. Music was your day job. Hey, it's Kenneth Whipp, the Gundog Nation podcast, and I'm very proud to have as a new sponsor of Cable Games. That's spelled G-A-N-G-Z. Brandon Landry at Cable Gaines has developed, in my opinion, and I have, and I'm a customer, the best tie-out systems on the market. They're easy to pack, easy to store. They can call up just like an extension cord. They use premium galvanized steel cable coated with durable, UV resistant PBC coating. The branding can make custom products, anything you want that's related to a dog tie-out system or a cable system or a way to safe and secure your dog. They've even made a system that works with a bicycle so you can go and exercise your bicycles and have your dog running along with you. It's it would be impossible for me to describe to you all the different custom applications they have, so just go to their website at cablegangs.com and check it out. They make dog tie outs a way to safe and secure your dog. If you're at a field trial, a hunt test, coon hound competition, whatever that might be, these guys make the best product on the market. Check it out for yourself, cablegangs.com.
SPEAKER_02:Um, so I started doing that. Um well, when I got out of college, I started working at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, like Arts Administration. And I did that for four years, and I decided I didn't like a desk job. So I did music full-time. And from 2014 until we'll just say COVID, because once COVID hit, my job went down the gutter. So um, yeah, so 2014 until about 2020, I did music full-time. And then um I didn't want to teach music once COVID kind of lent by and I wasn't there, I wasn't really getting into and I had Lily, my daughter, during COVID. So there's just a lot of like life changes. So I actually took a day job as a database administrator at Bernheim Forest in Claremont, Kentucky, um, in 2023. So from 2023 until exactly tomorrow is my last day, um, I've been working at Bernheim Forest um full time. But other than that, yeah, I've done music full time pretty much my entire adult life. So, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So when I see you riding on a video playing a fiddle on a horse, that's not a big deal for you because you grew up being equestrian.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that that that's probably one of the more normal things I've done at a show.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe the only normal thing for you, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So let's just let's go let's cover some of your extravaganzas with the fiddle during the show.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I've seen I've witnessed you play with it lit on fire in Lexington.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:What else have you done?
SPEAKER_02:So um some weird Anna. Uh I've ridden a horse while fiddling. Um, this past weekend I rode on the back of a side-by-side and then played on top of a round bale. Um I actually went zip lining at a show in Indiana while playing. Um let's see.
SPEAKER_00:I've caught my husband packing you around on his shoulders.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. My husband packed me around on his shoulders a time or two. Um, I've taken shots while fiddling twice.
SPEAKER_00:That takes that's that's multitasking.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, it is. Uh I've lit I've lit my bow aflame. I put sparklers on the end of my bow. Um, I've gone I rode a pink flamingo around a pond once. Um and then there was one time I got into a water fountain. Um I think that covers most of it.
SPEAKER_00:So all things that you didn't do while being a classical musician, I assume.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, that that wouldn't go over. That doesn't work well with that stuff.
SPEAKER_00:You got to come out of your shell. Is this the are we seeing the true Anna now? Is that what's happened?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. That's alright. I'll tell you what.
SPEAKER_01:It's free.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you're free and freedom, and and you've been unchained. The people love it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. It seems like it. If they didn't love it, then it would be I don't know why I would do it.
SPEAKER_00:Do you do you songwrite?
SPEAKER_02:No, I'm I'm more of an arranger slash instrumentalist. Like I I don't really know. We'll just say no. Um I'm more of a melody writer, harmony writer. Um I arrange instrumentation for songs.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And that's part of it. That's a very important piece, right? Um of all the shows y'all have done so far together, and I don't want to put you on the spot. What's been your favorite show?
SPEAKER_02:So I'll I'll give you two. So Barberville is definitely way up. That was insane. I love that. That was a fun show. Um just seeing that many people there. Um other one was a smaller private show. Um I'm a caver. I go spielunking a lot. Um we played a caving festival in Bonneyville, Kentucky. Um, and uh we went non-stop, balls to the wall, for three hours straight, and no one left the dance floor. It was just a massive party. The energy was just completely electric from people dancing and hollering. It was one of the best parties I've ever played. And it was just like it was there's maybe like 200 people there, but it was just this like intimate, like rowdy private performance with the Creekers that um I thought was pretty special.
SPEAKER_00:Now, since you guys have signed with Warner Brother Records and you're seeing your schedule for next year, which is insane, and I mean these aren't petty jobs. You all went from unsigned to playing with headliners. Yeah, it major shows. What are you looking forward to the most this coming year?
SPEAKER_02:Well, there's a lot I can't talk about.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02:But um I'm looking forward to playing some bucket list venues and festivals.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, like the rhyming, right? I'm sure that's a bucket list. Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So uh there's some real cool stuff coming down next year that um I'm just a tickled pink about.
SPEAKER_00:Nice. Who are you looking forward to meeting the most in the music industry?
SPEAKER_02:Coming up at the Rhyman again, catch the core, which I've met him before in Old Crow Medicine show. But that was someone as a performer I really looked up to. So if you ever watch his energy on stage, you'll see where I pick up a lot of my like like he's got like that performer, entertainer energy. So um, it'll be cool to meet him, like where we're on the same bill together and we're like on the same state. It's gonna be really neat.
SPEAKER_00:That will be, you know, and Anna, this is I didn't realize you were as old as you were, and you're still way, way, way, way younger than me. But so you may remember this, but you know, my bluegrass years probably ended about 20, 21 years ago when I was real heavy in. But you know, back then, some of the big fiddle players at that time was like Aubrey Haney. Uh is he still in the business? Does he do anything anymore? Stuart Duncan, those guys were out there.
SPEAKER_02:Stuart Duncan I know um follow very well. Um he's a huge studio musician too. You see him playing on everything. Um I think the the big ones I'm seeing nowadays um are Bronwyn Keith Hines. She plays with um, or she did play with Molly Tuttle for a number of years, and she is she's a beast. She I would put her at the top of the list right now. Um Michael Cleveland from Scottsburg, Indiana. Um he's he's out there, him and Jason Carter are out there doing their duo stuff together right now, which is incredible. Two of the best of the best.
SPEAKER_00:Um those guys were out playing back when I played. Yeah. So that's yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So those those three are all, and then you got catch from O'Crow doing his thing. Like they're all out there, like absolutely killing it right now. So they're the ones I'm seeing like showing up time to time, and I am blanking. Billy Strings has a phenomenal fiddle player now, too.
SPEAKER_04:Um gosh, yeah. I'm fine.
SPEAKER_02:But yes, um, yeah, lots of fantastic fiddlers out there.
SPEAKER_00:And you know, one of the guys I listen to a lot, uh this this Trey Hensley uh man. I mean, uh, that guy's phenomenal. I remember when he was a little kid playing.
SPEAKER_02:He's one of the best guitarists out there right now, if not the best. I'd put him up, I would put him up against Billy Strings. I think that would be insane to watch.
SPEAKER_00:Do you imagine? Yeah, that would be a you know, there's a movie out when I was a little kid before your time called Crossroads. It had the guy with Karate Kid in it.
SPEAKER_01:I I've I've watched that, yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so that'd be like we could see those two guys, that'd be like Crossroads, right? You know, the playoffs.
SPEAKER_01:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:I would love to see you've seen that movie. Yes, you know, and it's so crazy. You know, we see all these old movies come back on Netflix or whatever. Why don't we see Crossroads? We need a petition for that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's a great I had to borrow someone's DVD to even watch it. Um, like I could I don't think it was even like on streaming at that point.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it it's uh uh it was I can't think that Ingve Momstein or no Stevie Vi, Stevie Vi. That was the guitar player that played against him in the movie.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Anyway, so uh I uh there's so much I I want to ask you about. I I just I don't even know I've just scratched the surface. What has changed in your life so far since the day you all signed this deal? I mean in a year from now, I probably won't be able to talk to you. I know that. That's why we've got you now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_00:And and so what is in the last six months, and I mean, you uh y'all's lives have been a whirlwind, and I've got to kind of witness it, and it's exciting for me to witness knowing y'all, knowing the families and stuff. What's been the biggest change for you that's different than than Anna Blanton was a year ago? Hey, it's Kenneth Witt with the Gun Dog Nation podcast, and we are so proud to be partnered with the National Shoot to Retrieve Association, also known as NASTA. NASTA has a common love for producing the best bird dogs possible. It's a great community that builds and bonds everlasting friendships. I've actually got to meet a lot of the NASA members who's taking me hunting and some other crowds hunting and stuff in different places. So I can honestly say I'm a member and I'm proud to be partnered with them. NASTRA hosts national and regional field trials that emphasize the working ability of bird dogs. They have been around for over 50 years. There's a reason that NASTRA has been around that long. Please check them out at www.nstra.org and belong and support your local NASTAR club. They do have national and regional events, and it's a good place to help learn to be a better dog trainer, a better dog owner, and to compete with your bird dog. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Um I don't know. I I I think the biggest part is just actually feeling like support. Like, I don't know. I've done a lot of music things, but like I never really felt like I had a whole lot of people like cheering me on or really behind me. Um, you know, you have your handful of people, my parents, my friends, like some close friends, but I never felt like it was like regardless of what it was, like I didn't ever feel like I had like a cheering section or people like wishing me to do well, you know. So um it's been really cool to like just see people like rooting yawn. Like, I don't know, the music industry can like chew you up and spit you out, and people can be um nasty and um it can be stupid competitive where people just they don't under like musicians can be like they can get jealous, they can be like uh not lifting one another up necessarily. And if we like all support each other, then we can all rise together, but for some reason in the music industry, that seems to be um a rare, a rare thing. So just to see support and not like this like weird negative competitive attitude. It's like everyone's like, Yes, someone's making it, someone's like out there doing it, and um that's refreshing because man, it'll get me being an outsider looking in Anna, you're not it's not just oh, she's the fiddle player, it's she's Anna Blanton, and she kicks butt that she puts on snow. That that definitely has, you know, that is definitely probably a huge change. Like, like I said earlier in the interview, like always the hired help. I'm always back an artist. I'm like the free uh you know, the freelancer, the hired gun, come in, play music behind an artist. Um, no one really knows knows your name. You're lucky if you even get introduced on stage. Um, most of the people I play with recently are good about that. But um it's yeah, it's definitely weird to just be like what was it, Manchester Music Festival, like we were playing, and then all of a sudden I hear, eh no, and uh off the side of the stage, and I'm like, what on earth is that? So yeah, it is kind of cool to like be known as a band member, and not just like um I don't know, but however you said it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think you are, and I've seen that the only show I've got to see live, you guys, because we live so far apart. But that was that's what I saw. It's like she's not this ain't just the the girl fiddle player. This she's a band member, and they all know her name, and they all want to see her take off and do what she does. Yeah, and I really thought that was so neat, you know. It it's all y'all are are just equally talented and contributors to the greater good of the band. It's it's it's it's it's so nice. Like I said, uh I I I'll be corny, but I grew up dreaming to be what you guys are doing, you know, but I was never that good. And and and few people are, right? It's like how many people grow up playing high school football are gonna be in the NFL? Small percentage. How many people grow up picking up a guitar or an instrument are gonna be sign a record deal with Warner Brothers or some major record company? Very, very little, you know. So you guys have just really accomplished something that that so many people uh dream about, and but it's so nice because all of y'all are humble, nice, genuine people. And I hope you never lose that element, you know. Um, and I don't think you will. I I mean knowing like I said, I know everybody pretty well there except Ashton. I've never got to talk to directly, but all y'all seem so nice and humble and down to earth, and I hope you stay that way because I think that's what makes you so great. Yeah, in addition to your talent.
SPEAKER_02:I think it is that group dynamic, and yeah, I mean you have to stay home, you gotta stay grounded, you know.
SPEAKER_00:But you you said the magic word too, group dynamic. You guys have some kind of dynamic, you have some kind of energy that I don't know how to explain, and maybe you can.
SPEAKER_02:I think it's like we're we're a team, we are 100% a team. And if you if you take the group out of it and you look at us all individually, individually, I don't care which one of us you're looking at, there are musicians and artists out there that are a heck of a lot better than us individually. There's a I just gave you a whole list of fiddle players I would put over me. Um, there's a million singers, there's a million Trey Hensley, a million guitar players that, you know, if we are one-on-one, probably wouldn't stand a chance. But the collective team and the dynamic and the way we work together and the sound, the unique sound that we all evolve into, I think is why we are so successful.
SPEAKER_00:I I 100% agree with you. I think that's your magic sauce. Uh, I'm not that musically talented, even though I play music, but I'm not in that level. But I've been around it my whole life. And my grandmother was even a musician. And so she played organ and piano at every church and wedding in Leslie County, you know, and funeral. So you got you said it. I think you said it best. I think you just explained the magic. I mean, you guys together are just it's it's unstoppable. I think the sky's the limit for y'all, and I can't wait to watch it evolve and happen, and I'm just so feel privileged that I've got to to witness the early stages of it.
SPEAKER_02:Fingers crossed, it's going good so far.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, it is. These these shelves are. I mean, Heidi, my wife, you know, every time I turn around, she's like, I'm not so pardon me, but I'm so busy posting crap on social media because I'm trying to build my podcast.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm I'm like constantly doing it. I don't really watch social media that much. And I know it sounds horrible. So she's like, Do you see where they're playing? Do you see this? I'm like, so she's trying to get tickets at all this stuff, and then she's like, Oh, you won't believe they sold out. So it's so exciting to watch. And uh I'll keep, you know, I've got a permanent when you listen to this podcast, I have a permanent commercial that's attached to every podcast, and one of the part of that is I promote you guys.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome.
SPEAKER_00:I'm going it's I have a commercial for y'all on here that's permanently ingrained in my podcast. But the only bad thing is I'm gonna have to upgrade it because I I tell everybody, you'll hear it when you hear this. In the commercial I make for you guys, I tell everybody in a year from now, you're gonna everybody's gonna know these guys, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And uh, but now, you know, it's it's it's already happening. So I'll have to update that later, but I will. Um, you know, I I've only had one recording artist, sign recording artist. You're the first signed, no, you're the second signed recording artist I've had on my podcast. The first was Mo Pitney.
SPEAKER_01:Nice.
SPEAKER_00:You know, who's a great musician at Curb Records, uh, Bluegrass and Country traditionalists, which I'm a big fan of his, but he's also a so also in that vein, he's the first recording artist I had on my podcast. And he's but he's a bird hunter. Yeah, so you're the first person I've ever had on here ever that I've not spoken about hunting dogs. If you do that, we'll talk about it. If you don't, I don't care. So, you know, I want to have a variety on here, and I I just think it's a special uh privilege to have you speak on here. Because I know you're and honestly, Anna, I know you all are gonna get so busy just being, you know, I watched my brother two of the Dixie Chicks, you know, and I I didn't see him for a year.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Uh '98 when they were, you know, when they hit it big, and I didn't see him for a year. Like the only time I saw him is I went to Six Flags and saw him perform and went somewhere else and saw him perform with them, and that was it. So that's how you're gonna be. I know that, but that's all right.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:So what's the plans with the family? So they're gonna try to travel with you to the shows and stuff because it's gonna get crazy.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, so when they can, um working on getting my husband's uh day job either gone or um where he's not having to work weekends, so they can travel. And he plays with um Bill Taylor, uh, upright base. So um so yeah, we're we're navigating new waters.
SPEAKER_00:I didn't realize that, but I don't know, I didn't know his background.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Uh yeah, so if the dream would be he gets to play full time with Bill Taylor, and I play full time with the creakers, and Lily just goes along with us.
SPEAKER_00:So that would be nice. Well, hopefully that happens.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, fingers crossed. It it's looking pretty good right now.
SPEAKER_00:So good, good. Uh so yeah, that's that's pretty neat. You know, um, I was trying to think. I used to know a couple married, there's a few married couples I used to know in the bluegrass world that I'm I'm drawing a blank. Well, I didn't know personally, but I know that oh gosh, he played Manlin for for a third time out forever. And his wife's a banjo player. She's played through Reed. Oh gosh. Anyway, well, come back to me. Uh I I talk to too many people a day. So uh between the hunters and my my land job of talking to landowners all day. So yeah, I have a big list. So what's your goal a year from now? Where do you want to be? Purina Pro Plan. Here at Gundog Nation, we use Purina ProPlan for our dogs. We actually use the Sport Performance Edition, which is 30% protein and 20% fat, beef and bison. It contains glucosamine, omega-3s for their joints. It also contains uh amino acids for muscles and antioxidants. It also has probiotics that's guaranteed to have live probiotics that need certain. There's no artificial colors or flavors. We see the difference in our dogs, we see the difference in their coat, their performance, their endurance, and also in recovery. Be sure to use Purian ProPlan Dog Food. The reputation speaks for itself. There's a reason that Purian has been around for such a long time. We suggest that you use it, and we are so proud to be sponsored by Puriana Dog Food. When you're getting ready to go on your next hunting trip, make sure you pack the most efficient and reliable ammunition on the market. Myra Ammunition brings you the most diverse loads on the market. Myra's patented stacked load technology is the epitome of efficiency. Two shot sizes stack together to create the most diverse and efficient line of shot shells in the industry. It doesn't matter what flyaway, what state, or what the weather, the standard remains the same. At Myra, reliable loads that perform in any condition every single time. We're proud to have Myra Ammunition as a sponsor for Gun Dog Nation.
SPEAKER_02:There's been lots of talk about creakers playing stadiums. Um I don't know how I feel about that. Um my happy place tends to be large theaters. So if we can play, you know, some large 3,000 capacity, 3,000, 4,000 capacity uh stadiums on the regular, I'd be super happy if we're doing that a year from now. Um I would really like to play Red Rocks. So hopefully that is a next year. Well, I don't know about next year, but maybe the year after. Sometime in the near future, I would really like to play Red Rocks.
SPEAKER_00:So Well, you know, I think see what y'all did in Barville. And I know the stadium probably makes you feel like it's you don't get to connect to the crowd as well because it's so big.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But the way I look at it, I think it's going to take a place that big to hold your crowd.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I think that energy will still, you know, be conveyed out to your fans. I don't know, but I I I've got a strong feeling that it that y'all have such a following, and you'll probably feel just as energized and connected, even in a huge place.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I was joking with our record label last time we had a meeting with them that you know when we start playing stadiums, um, I had two requirements, and one was uh I wanted a catwalk, and then two, um Melba got all access pass, and they asked me, Well, who's Melba? And I was like, it's going to be my stage mule that I can ride down the catwalk during shows. And they just kind of stared at me, and they're like, That could probably happen. And I think they were dead serious.
SPEAKER_04:So we'll see what's genius.
SPEAKER_02:And then uh, yeah, and anyone who knows Tanner knows Tanner has a thing for mules anyway. So I was like, all right, Tanner, you're gonna take me mule shopping when I get to go shopping for my stage mule. So uh yeah, we'll see. We'll see what uh debauchery the creakers can get into when we start playing stadiums.
SPEAKER_00:I think you gotta do it. Hey, you know something? My favorite thing about y'all, and I tell people I was telling somebody about you today, where was I at? Oh, I was on I was doing a podcast with a guy from Arkansas, and uh I was like, you know, and I said, I asked him if he knew y'all. He said, Oh, yeah. And I everybody tell Anna's like, those guys are real.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And he and I got in a deep discussion about social influencers and hunters on social media that they're not real. And I said, Let me tell you something every band member there, that's not fake, their accents aren't put on.
SPEAKER_02:No, they are not.
SPEAKER_00:I said, you can't fake that stuff. And he said, I can tell that, and that's why I like them. And and I think I I think what you're all doing is just so authentic and so real and so organic and so whatever corny word I can think of. Well man, it's it's a world.
SPEAKER_02:It's gonna be great. Yeah, like with AI and like all this craziness in the world today, like there's a people want some authenticity.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. You just said it because of AI. I tried to get AI to edit a video that I'm just gonna post on social media of stuff I'm doing, and it it did it, and it put a picture of a different me. It was a heck of a lot better looking me, and I wish I looked like that, but I'm like, man, I can't put that out there. That's that's almost comical.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, you know? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So you're right. There's so much fake stuff, and AI can do so much that you and you guys aren't there's not auto-tune.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, no, there's nothing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, there's no uh studio trickery, yeah, yeah. It's refreshing.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, there's a few times I'll listen back to our recordings, like our full album or uh the EP. And I don't know, just because I know I played the fiddle parts, I like hone in hardcore to the notes, and I'll I'm like, there's that note. There's that note, like there's like a handful of notes on both albums where I'm like, hmm, well, oh well, it's authentic. Nothing is perfect live, so it is what it is, but yeah, no, no auto-tuning.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm gonna make some predictions, some bold predictions. And when you all get new group of the year, CMA awards, or upcoming artists, whatever that might be, don't forget us little people, because you all will be there, I promise you.
SPEAKER_02:Not gonna happen. That that's something I preach every day. It's like, you know, a lot of people gave us a chance in the beginning. Like a lot of people booked us, a lot of people put us on their festivals in the very beginning. Um, a lot of people came out to our shows. Like those are there was one show we played, and there was like seven people like early on early on. And I'm like, don't you don't want to forget. Those are people who supported you before you made it. So um, you can't you can't you can't forget those those folks.
SPEAKER_00:Anna, you're so right. And I I I know yes, I don't want this to be about me whatsoever, but when I started this podcast one year ago, I had some sponsors that are way bigger than I was, right? Like I'm not I didn't justify their sponsorship. Yeah, I was just getting started. One of them is Purina, and a major sponsor took a chance on me. The other was Migrant Ammunition, took a chance on me. And I was a nobody, I mean, I I hadn't been out two or three months, but I think they saw that I was a hard worker, and and you know, now our pop my podcast has went into a different dimension. Uh something I never dreamed, but I'll never forget the people that that stuck with me when I was nobody. I mean, and I'm still nobody, don't get me wrong, I'm a nobody, but I've come a long way, you know, and so I I won't ever forget that. And I'm glad you you say that, because I I feel the same way.
SPEAKER_02:Even when, you know, obviously with our booking agency and stuff, we don't always get to pick the bills we're on, but when we are able to pick an opener or um an artist to do our posters, or when we have the opportunity to pick, you know, people like that, we're picking openers who we have good relationships with that, you know, we're the there for us. Let us open for them, or you know, or booked us at their venues, or you know, put us on their lineups. You know, we're we're coming back now that we're making it bigger. Um, and um we're like, hey, you were there for us when we first got started, so we're gonna bring you up with us. So I think that's you know, real important to remember the people that did help us and make sure that they're always support, we support them right right in return. We're not gonna be too big for our britches to help you know those those people.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. I I love that you guys are doing that. And I I try to be that way myself, and and I'm not perfect, but but I I try to at least have a loyalty to to those that gave me a chance when I was starting out doing this, and and I'm still trying to build, you know, grow. But um I know it's late for you. Uh and I'm on I'm on mountain time today. I've been in different time zones. Like if you cross the Missouri River here, you're in Central Time and you cross into Montana. You're so I that's why today I was so mixed up on our starting time.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, you're fine. I was just like, oh, I'm still in the car. Um the creakers make fun of me all the time because like I'm the second oldest. And uh I'm always like, it's my bedtime. Like, they'll want to stay up and jam till like two in the one or two in the morning. And I'm like, it's the old ladies' bedtime. Like, this is you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I've been up a while, and yes, but I go to Nashville. I my when my brothers have to do late shows, they're twins, you know, both my brothers. And if they do late shows, if it's past, you know, they're doing, you know, in Nashville works like four hour sets.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:So it's like two to six, six to ten, ten to two. Oh I can't do late. So that's why my brother that plays that early red uh redneck Riviera shift. I'll go watch him play because he's done at two o'clock in the day, you know.
SPEAKER_02:That would be my prime time, like ten to two.
SPEAKER_00:Uh he originally switched that because he he had cuss of his daughter and was raising his daughter, and he he got off the road. And then my brother Brandon he plays just whenever he plays.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, hey, I I'm gonna try to come to some of y'all's shows. Uh, you know, I'll be moving back to Nashville area uh here soon, and uh and and then you know, maybe get to see you guys live. But you know, you and I only got I I don't even know if you remember, I I we just got to meet briefly for a second at at the at the festival in Lexington. And uh so we'd never even really had been able to talk before.
SPEAKER_01:No, I don't think so. I was like, I know your face, but like about it.
SPEAKER_00:I I I met you, my wife and over there, I had a cowboy hat on. And I was over there before y'all played, and uh I won't say what we were you know drinking uh on on here, but uh I was with Shane.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, I that says enough right there.
SPEAKER_00:Uh anyway, well it was I thank you so much for taking time. I know you're busy. I wish y'all the best. I'll be promoting you guys every ounce that I get. I'll share everything every social media piece I get, I share. Uh I'll do my part. I know you don't need my help, but I'm still doing my part.
SPEAKER_02:We appreciate it. We'll take all the help we can get.
SPEAKER_00:Well, thank you, and thank you for being on here. It's a privilege.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you.
SPEAKER_00:All right, and you have a good evening, and I will be seeing you on TV.
SPEAKER_02:Sounds good.
SPEAKER_00:All right, thank you.
SPEAKER_02:You're welcome.
SPEAKER_00:Hello, this is Kenneth Witt with Gundog Nation. I'd like to encourage all you listeners and viewers on our YouTube channel to check out patreon.com forward slash gun dognation. For$10 a month, you can become a member of our community and we'll have access to lots of stuff. Mainly we'll do a monthly forum, an open forum where you can ask me anything gun dog related and we'll learn from each other in the community. Should be a lot of fun each month. We will do that. So check it out patreon.com forward slash gun dognation.