Word Nerd Day, Country Climb with Gemma Brice & Whiskey Weekend Plans

It’s a Friday edition of The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett & Best Friends, and this one has a little bit of everything—fun facts, fresh country music, and weekend vibes.

We kick off the show by checking in with our best friend Jineane Ford from our sister stations Majik 101.7 and iTalk 106.7, finding out what she’s covering on Voice of the Mountain airing weekdays from 5–6 p.m. on iTalk 106.7. Since it’s National Word Nerd Day, we roll into Fun Fact Friday, sharing quirky word facts and discovering that Jineane’s least favorite word—moist—might be everyone else’s too.

Then it’s time for our Country Climb Star of the Week, featuring our youngest artist yet. We welcome Gemma Brice, a 14-year-old country singer-songwriter whose music was sent our way through Austin Burke’s Playlisted podcast. Gemma talks about starting to write songs at age seven, finding her voice early, and we play her song "before" for the very first time on country radio.

We wrap things up with everyone’s favorite redneck, Paul from Beaumont, who’s gearing up for the Southeast Texas Whiskey Festival—sampling whiskey and getting a little frisky along the way.

Words, music, laughs, and a big debut—just the way a Friday Morning Brew should sound.

Transcript

Friday Banter And Weekend Plans

SPEAKER_01 0:00

From the Horn Auto Center Studios, Chris Bennett and the Morning Brew. Janine, you there? Yes, I am.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hello, hello.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hello, happy Friday. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

It's made it to Friday.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

What do you got planned this weekend?

SPEAKER_00 0:15

This weekend, uh, taking down the remainder of the Christmas stuff and putting it all away. We've got almost everything done. We just have a few things outside, and it got so cold yesterday. I'm like, eh, I'm not going out there. It was one of those days where I'm like, I'm waiting for Clint to get home so he can feed everybody. It was just so blowy and snowy, but so good to see the great moisture out there. You know, we need it.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

We need it. We need more.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

We need more.

Local Windmill Projects Concerns

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Um, Janine, I'm so excited. On my show today, I have a country climb artist people could catch on the podcast, the morning brew with Chris Bennett, best friends, Gemma Bryce. She's 14 years old. 14? Yeah, our youngest country climb star of the week. Started writing songs at 7. We're gonna be playing her song before on the radio, so I'm excited about that. What uh what do you got going on on your show, Voice of the Mountain, on iTalk uh tonight from 5 to 6?

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Well, tonight at 5 o'clock, that's right, on Voice of the Mountain, 106.7 FM. Um, I have, we are gonna be taking on the windmills again. You've heard us do this a lot. Um, there's so many people up here upset about the zillions and zillions of projects and windmills that are proposed to come in. And and they're just they just no matter what everybody says and what everybody does, they're just rolling right over. And you know, people can look off and you can see those windmills out in Snowflake. If you don't think this is important, picture them all over your heads, all over the top of you, everywhere. Because we our transmission lines are wide open, and this is a huge threat to all of our property values, to everything. It's really scary. So we're gonna be we have a couple of the experts in and we're gonna be talking to them tonight.

Fun Fact Friday And Word Nerd Day

SPEAKER_01 1:50

All right, awesome. Check out the voice of the mountain on iTalk 1067 tonight from five to six. Yeah. All right, Janine, it is Friday, so that means it's fun fact Friday. All right, and uh, I looked to see uh what days were today so we could uh talk about some fun facts about those days. Do you know what one of the days is today?

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yeah, it's National Quitter's Day. I don't like it. January 9th.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Like people are already giving up on their resolutions.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

I know. What the heck? I'm like, what? And and some people are like, well, I did it all week, I made it. Two percent of them are just yeah, they throw the towel in, but this is like a very common, it's always the second Friday in January. Because a lot of people just kind of say, Okay, that was long enough.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Right. That's funny. I haven't even started yet.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Yeah, there you go. You're starting slow. Maybe, hey, maybe it's you know like the turtle thing, you know, you start slow and you keep going. Exactly. But yeah, so there you go.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Uh it's also uh uh let's see, it is also word nerd day.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Word nerd day.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Word nerd day, and it's also uh National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Oh, that's a good one. And I love the Word Nerd Day, by the way. I get that daily word of the day that you learn. I I get that, learn to pronounce it and all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

What is today's word of the day?

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Today I already w was looking at it. It's um about murmuring. It's murmurandum. Murmur Oh, murmurandum. It's a it's a it's a form of if you just murmur and go on and on and on and on. I do that all the time. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But I I I read those every day and learn to pronounce them and just for the heck of it. Oh sorry, go ahead. So many of them are way out there, you know. You never use them.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Well, there's so many words in the English uh language. Do you know how many words we have? We have over a million.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Over a million. So you'll be the concern I have is the use of the words. And up here, there's a very common thing, and all of you people that hear this will know this. Um if you say, you know, I s the song goes, you know, I saw the light, I saw the light, I was baptized by, you know, I saw. Uh-huh. Everybody a lot of people up here say, I seen.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Oh my god. It drives you nuts.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

It makes me insane. Every time they say I seen, I seen. You no, no. No, you have not. I saw.

unknown 4:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Well, that brings me to my next question. What do you think is the most disliked word in the English language?

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Seen. I'm just kidding. No, um, disliked word. Oh, okay. I have a I have weird things about the sounds of certain words. I hate the word moist. That's like. And then if you combine it with a leotard, moist, leotard. Leotard is a hideous word.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

That is the number one most disliking word. Is it moist? It is. It is moist.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

See?

unknown 4:46

Of course.

Law Enforcement Appreciation And Coffee With A Cop

SPEAKER_00 4:47

I mean, when they go, Duncan Hines, moist, moist mix. I would just sit there and go, oh my god, I'd start gagging. Yeah, just nasty.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Those are some fun facts on this fun fact Friday. And uh, we especially want to give a big shout out to our law enforcement on this National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

I love that. And remember, uh, they're gonna be doing that coffee with a cop. They're starting that up. I love that that Sholo's doing this. It's so cool. I know. Yeah. On the on the 14th, and there's and uh yeah, coffee with a cop. Just sit down there and discuss all your heart's desires.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Perfect, yeah. And you'll get to meet the new police chief. That's gonna be 9 a.m. on the 14th at Sholo Cafe.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

I know. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Sweet. Well, thank you so much, Janine. Have a great weekend. We'll talk to you Monday.

SPEAKER_00 5:33

You too, Chris. Thank you, thank you. Bye-bye.

Introducing Country Climb: Gemma Bryce

Gemma’s Influences And Songwriting Beginnings

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Bye-bye. Chris Bennett's Country Climb, Star of the Week. This week's Country Climb Star of the Week is proof that talent does not have an age limit. She's just 14 years old from Okaloosa, Iowa, and she's been writing songs since the age of seven. She's already recorded music in Nashville, caught the attention of industry insiders, and was A-listed on Austin Burke's playlisted podcast, Who Sent Her Our Way. She's the youngest Country Climb Star of the Week we've ever had. But don't let that fool ya. Her songwriting is thoughtful, emotional, and well beyond her years. We're spotlighting her song today, before, and you're about to hear why so many people are excited about what's next for her. Please welcome today's Country Climb Star of the Week, Gemma Bryce. Welcome aboard, Gemma. Hi. Let's start with the little fun game I like to call Icebreaker Questions. Here we go. What was the first song that you remember or artist that caught your attention and made you want to write your own songs?

SPEAKER_03 6:41

Um, I listened to a lot of Taylor Swift. Probably you've along with me. That was probably the first song that really inspired me.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Do you prefer to write songs or perform them?

SPEAKER_03 6:52

Honestly, I think I like writing songs better. It's just really exhilarating and it's like a diary for me.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Do you prefer writing alone or do you like writing with others?

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Oh, I think I like writing by myself better. I think for me to express my feelings when nobody else is trying to word them differently.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

And last question: if you could request one country song to hear for the rest of your life, one country song, what is it gonna be and why?

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Probably there's a song called 865 by Morgan Wallen. Um my dad loves Morgan Wallen, so I think I would play that one.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

We want to find out a little bit more about Gemma Bryce and your country climb. You started writing songs at seven. How does that happen?

SPEAKER_03 7:39

I don't know. I think my mom was always really passionate about piano lessons or guitar lessons, and I was always like, no, no, I don't want to do that. But one day I wrote the song and I just kind of went from there.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

And then when did you realize that songwriting was more than just a hobby for you?

SPEAKER_03 7:58

Probably after I put on my first show performing my own music, it brought to my attention how much people resonated with my songs.

First Shows And Industry Moments

SPEAKER_01 8:06

And how old were you when you performed your songs in front of people for the first time?

SPEAKER_03 8:10

I was probably eight or nine years old.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Wow. Uh, what was it like being on Austin Burke's playlisted podcast? You're playing your songs in front of basically, you know, there's like two or three artists on stage with you. What is that feeling like?

SPEAKER_03 8:26

I think it was really cool when I was the bucket pull the first time. Um, that was awesome just getting your feedback. Um, I think it was really helpful for the direction that I went with my music.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

And what has been your biggest pinch me moment so far uh during your uh musical journey?

SPEAKER_03 8:44

Probably um either being on that podcast or just having like more like popular, like famous musicians and producers follow me on like Instagram and TikTok. That's just always crazy because I see like the people that I follow, they're like following bigger names and it kind of reminds me of myself.

The Story Behind “Before”

SPEAKER_01 9:03

We are back with today's Country Climb star of the week, Gemma Bryce. Uh, we found out about her country climb. And it's now time to hear some of her music that she wrote herself. We're gonna be playing a song of yours uh called Before. Tell us a little bit about this song, how'd it come about, and what does it mean to you personally?

SPEAKER_03 9:22

I wrote this song um while I was freshly out of a relationship with a guy that I was dating. This song just kind of reminded me that my feelings are valid, no matter how invalid I felt like they were in the.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

And you wrote that, so you're 14 now. You wrote it from a relationship two years ago. So you're 12 years. How in the world are you able to write such impactful lyrics? Are you a big reader? Are you reading all the time?

SPEAKER_03 9:47

I used to read books all the time, but I also think maybe I'm just like a poet at heart and I just know it today.

World Premiere: “Before” By Gemma Bryce

SPEAKER_01 9:56

Well, I absolutely love this song, and you said it has not been played on uh country radio yet. This is today's Country Climb Star of the Week, Gemma Bryce, and then this is her song, B4, for the first time on Q Country 925.

SPEAKER_03 11:16

You've made me my miss. I killed I miss my kill My heart I sleep against the door still fresh, but it's the only thing so you I gave in enough I've got enough feel to prove to there was something in the air that made me think you really cared.

Reactions And What’s Next For Gemma

SPEAKER_04 12:30

I thought Wisperius calling says call me bleeding out here, says like you disappeared I miss fear fear I miss you being here with fear nightness, my cute and love six truths I confess you've made me my nightmare.

Follow Gemma And Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_03 14:21

I can't run and say I missed my QR mess without you here the hearts on the floor on my sleeve against the door anywhere with yours of an eternal war than I ever have before in the midst of an eternal war than I ever have before.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Holy moly, that was Gemma Bryce with her song Before She is Today's Country Climb star of the week. I'm covered in goosebumps, Gemma. Uh that was absolutely uh gorgeous. Thank you so much for letting us play it for the first time. Do you have any new music we should be on the lookout for?

SPEAKER_03 15:25

Hopefully, there I'll be able to release more music because I've been writing a lot recently.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

How how much time do you spend a day writing? Do you try to write every day?

SPEAKER_03 15:35

I do try to write every day. Sometimes I'll spend time in my math class writing on a piece of paper or at 12 a.m. when I should be asleep or writing on my phone. So it really just depends on how I'm feeling that day.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Well, Gemma Bryce, thank you so much for being our guest today. And uh, you now have a home on Country Radio in Arizona. When you have that new music, you let us know. We want to air it here for the Q Country Nation. Uh Gemma, if people want to support you and follow you, how do we follow you on social?

SPEAKER_03 16:11

I am everywhere at Gemma Bryce Music.

Weekend Whiskey Plans And Trivia

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Gemma Bryce Music everywhere. Go ahead, follow her, download her music, and watch her country climb. Thank you so much for being our country climb star of the week. Heck yeah, finally Friday. Here again. Paul's got his motor running for a wild weekend. What do you got planned this weekend?

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Well, me, Jesse, his wife, Rhonda. We're going uh whiskey fest uh tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Ooh, what's whiskey fest? So I I mean I bet I could guess. I bet it's a festival with a a lot of whiskey.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

A bunch of whiskey. Yeah, I think so. I think you go around tasting all kinds of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Oh, really? You're just gonna be sampling whiskey uh all day. I think it starts at like uh something like uh nice, and then any any any music? I'm sure I mean I hope they do. You think they would. You got whiskey, you gotta have music, right? Yeah, that's right. You're gonna be drinking some whiskey and feeling a little frisky.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Oh lord.

Are You Smarter Than A Redneck: Whiskey Edition

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Yeah, yeah. It is now time for Are You Smarter Than a Redneck? And uh Paul is headed to a the Southeast Texas whiskey festival tomorrow. So I thought we would do some whiskey trivia. If you know the answer, say your name, that's your buzzer. Here we go. What is the percentage of alcohol in commercial whiskey? Is it 60%, 40%, 30%, or 25%? 40. You want to say 40? I'm gonna say 60. Correct answer. 40. Congratulations. All right. Uh which of the following is the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in the world? Which of the following is it East Asia, Northern America, Northern Ireland, or South America? Chris, I'm gonna say Northern Ireland. We are tied at one a piece. This last question will determine who the winner is. Pick a number from four to ten.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

Four for forty percent.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

Four for forty percent. All right, here we go. Which of the following country is not well known for making whiskey? Is it England, the USA, Scotland, or Ireland?

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Go over him again.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

England, USA, Scotland, or Ireland. Paul. I'm gonna say Ireland, I mean England. You're gonna say England? It is England. He is smarter than a very handsome radio DJ. Thanks for having fun with this, Paul, and have fun at the uh the whiskey festival. Don't get too frisky.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

Yeah, my call you.