Dirt Bikes, Busking, & Leonardo DiCaprio...This Australian Artist is Taking Nashville By Storm

An Australian artist moves to Nashville after years of dirt bike racing in Tasmania and busking on the streets of Scotland… and somehow the conversation ends with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Zoee joins Amanda Adams to talk about the long road from Tasmania to Nashville, the reality of chasing a music career, songwriting, street performing, Taylor Swift, country music, social media burnout, and why modern music lost some of its mystery.

Somewhere in the middle, they also discuss:

• Australian people trying to say “y’all”
• Busking in Glasgow
• Nashville’s famous billboard
• Live music culture
• and Zoee’s very unexpected Leonardo DiCaprio song

Zoee feels like the kind of artist Nashville was built for — talented, funny, wildly determined, and impossible to neatly categorize.

If you love Nashville stories, country music, emerging artists, music industry conversations, and discovering artists before everyone else catches on, this episode is for you!

Follow Zoee: @zoeemusic

Don't forget: new episodes drop every Tuesday with bonus episodes on Thursdays! Like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts to make sure you never miss a minute!

Connect with Amanda on That Nashville Girl Instagram, Amanda's Instagram, and YouTube.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I'm so happy that you're here. You are our most international guest to date. I am? Yep. Even though you're a Nashville local now.

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Officially, Nashville local.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Official. Since what year? What did you do with you?

SPEAKER_02 0:11

I got here in 2022.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

So it's been four years this year. And it's gone so fast.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

It goes so fast.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

I've started saying American words though, and I think I'm doing it wrong. Like, give me an example. Like I say things like y'all. I think that's an amazing word. I think it's you all, and it's like good day, and a get A becomes one word, and y'all is one word. But I say it with an Australian accent and I get in lots of trouble because it's not y'all, it's y'all. They're still like, what? They're like, what'd she say? It's like use it in. I'll get me a water. And they're like, oh my God, just stop. You're gonna hurt yourself, please. So that's been the story of my life for the last four years. I don't think I've ever heard an Australian say y'all. This is a good thing. Oh really? Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah, y'all, y'all better get ready because we're gonna say it a lot. I like that word. I think it's so good. Everyone should use that word.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

It's a good word.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

It just makes sense. It works for a lot of people. It's all inclusive. Yeah. It's easy.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

It's also a good like exclamation word. Y'all. Y'all. I'm being serious.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Yeah, there it is. There it is. That's it. Yeah. I um I have struggled with other words like water. I still have a really tough time just getting a glass of water in a restaurant. It was like, what do you want to drink? And I'm like, yeah, I'll take a water. And I'm like, what? I'm like, a water, please. Can I have a water?

SPEAKER_00 1:29

That was a pretty good American accent.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Thank you. Thank you. I have started to like figure it out slowly, but like whenever I talk to my family on the phone or whatever, my accent just like comes way back, really harsh. But I hear it like my words get a little softer as I'm trying to like mediate between everybody understanding what I'm saying. So it's kind of an interesting thing. But plus I sing in an American accent, which is also well that's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

You you don't have any accent when you're singing, which is always fascinating to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

It's so strange. So I I originally um started out dabbling in both accents to sing in because you can sing in an Australian accent. You can. It just sounds really not very mainstream.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Like I'm imagining centric. Hint me downs in an Australian accent.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

We are, we are the hit me downs. No, it just wouldn't, it doesn't really so what happens is there is a rhyme scheme issue. Yeah because we pronounce words differently. So I originally had a song I years ago I wrote and I wrote it in an Australian accent. And after I wrote it, I thought, oh, I'll just convert it to an American accent because that makes it like more available for people's ears, you know, it's a bit more tolerable. And um, it wouldn't work. Nothing, it was called Break My Heart, and it was like, break my heart, and it was just it just none of the rhyme schemes worked, and so it ruined the song. And I'm like, well, damn, now this song is in an Australian accent forever. Yeah, and you don't really think about it in that way, but yeah, so now I have to really be conscious of that whenever I'm writing in a session or something. I have to be like really zoned in. Like, is that how I would sing that word? Is it break or is it like or heart, or is it like heart? Because it pronounced you know every land. Because we say the R you say the R's once, yes, and we're pretty busy in how we talk, so yeah, it's kind of an interesting thing, though. It's just little things you would never think of. No, yeah, but you no, no, I heard it. I was at a search the other day. Oh my god, my co-writers are just giving me so much crap for that word. I was like, no, stop, and they're like, ah! And we really just talk.

unknown 3:27

That's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Anyway, um, no, it's just funny because you we don't hear it when you sing. We don't hear it, you know, when Keith Urban sings. Oh, by the way, enjoying our drinks from Ophelia. Cheers.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

This is incredible.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Yes, our hibiscus aguas frescus.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

They're so lovely, especially this time of weather.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

I really love it. Ooh, yummy. I also think it would be good with a little tequila, but maybe not today.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

That's for the weekend.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

That's for the weekend, but right now. Delish. Um, so thanks, Ophelia and Mac. Um, Max, his name is Max, not Max. He'd probably say Max and like Ophelia the song. Like, this is cute, actually. We'll tell this and then we'll go back to you. But it's about um a woman who worked with his family for like 30 years. I think she still does. And he named his restaurant after her.

unknown 4:13

Oh, I love that.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

That's because I feel like she's a really good cook.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

That is so sweet.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

I know. So cool. Um, okay, so you're but you're originally from Tasmania. Like the devil.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Yeah, like the devil.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

I don't spin like the devil when I get angry. Like that's not usually anyway. Sometimes depends on how angry I get. Yeah, it's just in our minds. Yeah, I am from Tasmania. Um, born and raised, lived there, raced dirt bikes for a long time. Thought I was gonna be a professional dirt bike racer before music.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Rewind, rewind. Yeah. You were a professional dirt bike racer.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

I was becoming one. That was what I thought my trajectory was going to be. So I did race quite a lot. I loved it, but I ended up having a really big accident, and like all the good, you know, stories of change and growth, the accident kind of changed everything. And while I was sort of recovering, I ended up picking up my dad's guitar um and started turning all of my poems and lyrics that I sort of just did for fun into songs. And next thing I know, I was like, this is incredible. So that kind of took the turn for me. But yeah, I had a pretty decent accident. I got like still scars on the back of my head and stuff for a second. What happened? I T-boned into another. It's pretty rough riding, like it's endurance racing. It wasn't really like uh it was dirt bike endurance racing, so it was about a two-hour lap. You'd go for about eight hours. Um, so it was pretty, yeah, it was pretty intense. So you'd stop, you'd get a quick drink, you'd have a backpack on with your your your camel back. Shout out to camel back. Uh freeze felt no. Um, and they, you know, you'd you'd just drink on the go. If you had to stop for a party, that was kind of tough because you got all the bike gear and stuff on it. It's an eight-hour run, so you kind of at some point have to make that stuff. Hours. Yeah. So it's pretty intense. But I loved it. And it was just, I realize now too that like almost that um endurance and drive, that mindset that you had for doing that, it kind of very easily converts over to the same drive and determination and everything you have to have in this crazy business that we're in now, which is kind of fitting. So it eventually found its its course and and I'd always loved music, but as a kid, like I wasn't, I wasn't the like the kid that could sing like crazy, you know what I mean? I wasn't like the Bruno Mars out there just being like it. I I had to work at it, you know. So eventually when I kind of stumbled over it and realized, oh, this is something I love. It didn't take long for yeah, me to kind of fall into it, and somewhere along the line I found myself in Nashville.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

I mean, how old were you when you had this accident?

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Oh, I was probably 13 or 14, somewhere in there.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

And then so, okay, so then you start writing.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Then I start writing, um, convinced my parents after about a year or so that I wanted to do it full-time. And they were like, Oh, how can we help? And so my dad, my mom, we built this studio at our house because we lived really isolated in Tasmania, where we where we were was about six hours from like a proper city. So I grew up without TV, um, mobile phone reception, just radio, there was no internet. So we did listen to a lot of like the top 40 radio, and my parents had this huge shipping container just filled with all these records that they'd collected over the course of their relationship, and so like everything from 60s to present day, and it was just like a you walk in there and you just pull out all these different things, and I'd I remember pulled out like Alan Parsons' project. I'm like, Oh my god, mom, have you heard of this? This is incredible, you gotta check this out. She's like, honey, how do you think it got in there? I'm like, oh never mind. But um, so that was kind of like a real open door into my music education. Um, and then from there I started writing more and and recording and eventually put together an album, which I put out on the internet, which discovered was a terrible, terrible idea because the internet's forever and that took forever to get back down. And when we this is like I want to say 2013, 2014 sort of sort of range. And it took forever to get it down. Because people bought copies too, and I was like, well, damn. And that was before streaming was a real thing at that point. So people could still like download her. So whoever's got any copies out there, just text me or email me or something. We're gonna just like burn them.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Destroy any of that evidence. Yeah, exactly. Kim Kardashian and her pictures, you're like, give them back.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Give them back. Look, yeah, you gotta start somewhere. So I'm grateful I had to, you know, a good launch pad. But from there, it was like um my family and I we came to America to do a vacation, a holiday, as I'd normally say. Um, and came to Nashville. I bought my ukulele and three songs that I'd written. Um managed to talk my way into Bobby's Idol Hour. And this was back at the original Bobby's before they moved to the new location. So it was like cigarette smoke and like sticky floors and the money along the walls. It was just like I I remember just walking into there and thinking this is like walking into a Chris Christofferson song. I'm just in heaven. And I at 50 or whatever loved it. Yeah. So it was just poetic. And I walk in and I sang my god-awful three songs, and I don't think anyone in the bar paid any attention at all and probably didn't even know I existed. But I had the best time and I fell in love with it. So I went back to Australia, and then um one thing to another, my folks were like, Well, this is something you clearly want to do. Like, what can we do to help? I'm like, Well, I want to play for real people, like I we live so isolated, I want to be around people that I can play for. And at that point, they had had like I think the realization that they were ready for something else in their life too, and a change. And so we packed up myself, my two little brothers, my two parents, our five huskies, bought a one-way ticket and moved to the UK.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

What in the world?

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Yeah, incredible that your parents did this. I know, they're incredible, they're so supportive, and I'm so grateful. Um and the five huskies. And the five huskies. We each had a dog. And so they came with us and didn't know a single soul when we got there.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

And where did you end up in the UK?

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Well, I would have come to the US if I could have had a visa at that point, but it was tough to get one. So, and had family and stuff from the UK. So we ended up starting in London, realized how expensive that was, and then moved further north and ended up in Scotland and just lived, I lived there for like seven years. So it was incredible. And I I, of course, when I got there, I thought people were gonna be like, Yeah, come play our stadium. That never happened. Um stadium. Yeah, you know, like you're gonna have ambitions, I guess. I love ambitions. Start somewhere. Um, and that didn't happen, obviously. So I ended up, I started playing on the streets and I just busked and worked my way up from there to getting a gig down the road and then being like, come see me play tonight at King Tuts, and then you know, doing the whole work your way up thing. Um, started playing festivals and then headlining, and then one thing to another, COVID, which was kind of a blessing in disguise, actually, because everyone here in Nashville started writing online, and so I got to connect with all these incredible songwriters over Zoom. Um, and by that point I had done enough to get my visa to come. So it was like, well, do I come or do I not? You know, it was just for me. And so I came and the family were like, we love you, we're here for you, and we'll always be here for you. And I'm so grateful because I couldn't do it without them. Are they still in Scotland? They're still in Scotland, yeah. So, and I moved here and it was kind of crazy and kind of scary and all the things, but I love it. And this is home now, and everyone's been so incredibly welcoming. I really I can't thank everybody enough because you come to a town where it's just so full of talent, you know, and to like be accepted or even welcomed in any way is incredible. So I'm very grateful, been very lucky.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

I mean, you're easy to like. So there's that. I think that's so much and also the work ethic, because you have been pretty open about um the time that you were busking, which is such a funny, funny word. So for people who don't know what this is, you're literally out there playing on the streets.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Streets, yeah. You set up, you kind of it's almost a bit of a rival with the other street performers, too, because they find corners and things that are really like the hot spots. There's always a rival going on. Back up in Glasgow, we used to always fight over Buchanan Street because there was like the train station and the bank, and it was always a very busy. So you'd find your spots, and if you lose it and you like had to go to the restroom or something, you'd lose it, and you'd you know, you'd have to like find another spot. So it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

And you would haul yourself out there, like what time of day? Did you kind of go the same time every day?

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Uh, I'd usually start in the mornings, try and catch the morning commute if possible, or the afternoon commute for like getting everybody going home. So yeah, from like eight to like 11, sort of in that space, and then try and do another round of like one till about four, sort of in that space. I'm trying to catch it.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

And you're trying to catch people's attention while they're not interested in having their attention caught.

unknown 13:05

Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Well, that's the thing, is it's such a wide demographic of people, so you don't really like have just one space of people, different tastes, different genres, and you hope that one they like a female and that they like a female who does country music, and like have the time of day to even stop and give half a damn, you know. Um, and if they do, it's incredible, and I'm very grateful. But um, we did get a lot of amazing moments where you just get these flash crowds out of nowhere. A couple hundred people would just show up and you'd be like, wow, this is amazing. I remember one afternoon was in Glasgow, this flash mob just came, and like there's a bride's party that's happening, and like there's just a there's about two or three hundred people, there's footage somewhere, and I swear, without a word of exaggeration, this guy just comes stumbling in through this this circle of people that has formed around me and we're performing. And at this point, my dad and my two brothers were playing with me because they were my band. I couldn't like they were my band, and my mum was filming everything, and I'm so grateful. And so this guy just kind of stumbles in through the crowd and kind of parts the crowd, and the crowd just kind of looks and then just goes back to me. This guy's just covered in blood, he's like his shirt's ripped open, like he's just left a boxer, you know, like that he's just had a punch up with someone in the pub. And he's just kind of stumbled and kind of dragged himself in front of me and the audience through, and then I just see them open up on the side and he just passes through, and nobody questioned anything. And I'm like, do I stop? What's going on? You okay? Nobody questioned it. It was like, yeah, just another Friday in Glasgow. I'm like, wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

What a life. So, I mean, I think that prepared you for coming to Nashville, and because this is a grind. And it gives you, I mean, that has to give you a lot of mental prep for how fast can you grab someone's attention? Surgery on a stranger. Yes. Do I do I need to perform surgery, call the police, any of these things? Yeah. I mean, hopefully you don't have to deal with that here, but hopefully not.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

No, that was pretty, pretty preparing you for pretty much anything at that point. But yeah, it definitely did because like equipment broke down all the time and like stuff happens that I had one guy run up and he grabbed the mic off me and he's like, F the police, and then just took off. And I'm like, oh my god, you know, like what do you so you just kind of like you learn really quickly how to dance on your feet to control situations that are so unpredictable. Yeah. Especially in Glasgow. I love you guys, but you're fun on a Friday night. That's that's all I'm gonna say.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Okay, so Glasgow on a Friday night compared to Broadway on a Friday night. Give us a comparison.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

A lot more blood and a lot more um buckfast. Buckfast is the Glaswegian drink you don't want to touch. You just smell that and you're like on the floor, just like giggling. You don't need much. Okay, good to know. Yeah, Broadway's very pleasant compared.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Compared. Yeah. So, see, for all the people saying they skip Broadway these days, it's fine. It's not bad. No, no, no. It's pretty good, it's much more tourists, I think.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Uh, which is kind of makes it a little easier. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Yeah. So when you moved to Nashville, you had been doing some online writing. So you kind of knew uh some people, but you didn't really know anyone.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

No, I didn't really know anybody. We'd written and I I'd connected with a bunch of amazing songwriters here. Shout out to Jeff Cohen and so many amazing Phil Barton, James House, like incredible songwriters who was willing to work with me, having never met me before. Um, and something beautiful happened, is is word of mouth started to get out on me as an artist or writer. And next thing I know, I'm getting DMs from other writers that I've admired for years, like, hey, like I heard your new stuff. I'd love to write one sometime. I'm like, oh my goodness, like, what? You know? And so that progressively like led me to just falling more and more in love with Nashville. I'd always wanted to come, but it was too tough without you know visas and stuff. So I put in the application and got approved. And um, yeah, fast forward four years and put out an album, been on tour, we're back in the studio, working on another one. It's kind of it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

It's so great. It's so amazing. I love your album. Okay, so butterfly effect. Yes, ma'am. That song is fire.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

I love it. It's such a good, I mean, first of all, it's like I listened to it and thought, yeah, this is life. This is how it works. But it goes so fast. And the song or life. No, I mean both. Well, but the the song is so cool. I like the it's it's a lot of words. I I'm like, it's got Taylor Swift vibes in this way, you know? Tortured poets society, kind of like, okay, now my challenge is to memorize this thing. But I love it. I think it's that's so cool. Such a good one. And so that was the album, the EP that you put out.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Full, yeah, there was a full album. Okay, first album. First full album. Yeah, I worked on that a lot with Bonnie Diamond, actually. She's incredible. Anybody that wants to hear her stuff, you should check it out. She's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

But yeah, it's an incredible album. Thank you. And then you've been touring.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Uh yeah, so late last year I went out on the road with Jenna Davis and we we did some shows, and she's just the sweetest. And oh my god, she has the most adorable fans in the world. Like, I I signed for the first show we did, I signed for at least like two, two and a half hours just meeting everybody. And by the time I met everybody, I saw a few of them had resort like rejoined the line. Oh, hadn't, and they're like little kids, and they're just like, Oh, I got so many hugs, or so that's so. I could have I just could have stayed there all day. It was so much fun. They're so sweet, and they've already learned all the words, and they're saying, I'm like, oh my god, my heart. This is what we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Oh, that has to be what does that feel like when you're singing your songs and you see people singing with you?

SPEAKER_02 18:47

That's it's so strange because songs have such a personal space in your soul, especially, you know, for me, I'm um, I write everything I sing, so it's always kind of connected somewhere. And I I never go into a songwriting session without some kind of an idea of what it is that I want to say, or maybe it's a title or a concept or something. And so when you do see the audience singing the words back to you, it's like, oh my god, you're like, this is a thing. We have a thing going on here. You're feeling what I'm feeling. That's kind of because you do, you feel sense, you tend to feel quite isolated in your feelings and your emotions sometimes. And I think that's the way the power of music comes in to remind you that we're all connected and music heals us in ways that you just you can't explain.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

No, you can't. And I think I I say this a lot, but I feel like the power of songwriting is it's so magical. I mean, the first thing I do in the morning is turn music on. It's the last thing I turn off at night. And I think what you are able to do with your lyrics and the way you put them together with music, and then it becomes the soundtrack of our lives.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_00 19:52

It's wild.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

And nine times out of ten, you're doing it just to get yourself through something. And the fact that it, and I know everybody says that, but it's so true. You know, you never think that anyone else is going on that journey emotionally with you until you put it out into the world. And it's like, it's a daunting time when you put out music too, because it's so scary. Yeah, it's like you can imagine like going to a therapy session and then being like, let's just take all of these files that they've written about me here in this session and just pop it out into the world for everybody to listen to and judge and talk about. And like that's kind of the same thing as songwriting because it's so it's all your inner thoughts and all your inner feelings and all those, you know, and you just like put it out there for everyone to talk about and judge and have an opinion on, and it can be very weird.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

That's such a good way to say that. Yeah, and yeah, and you're putting it out there, but what I think is really cool, like you said, that you then find the people that connect to a song. And you're like, oh my gosh, wait, I'm not the only one who felt that way.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

Exactly. And that's it, and that's the whole point of it. I mean, music is about healing your soul, and I think that's if you can do that, then you've done your job as an artist and as a songwriter, and that's all I want to do, really, is just help heal the world.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

So tell me about hand me downs. This is the newest song. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Yeah. So um, where do I start with that song? Well, it's called Hand Me Downs. Um, it's about my generation, sort of the zelennial kind of crossover. I think that's where we're labeled as.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Um I'm really terrible at knowing these labels.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

Yeah, I think that's the right term. I'm not quite sure. Um, now I sound way old, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

So I'm a millennial, so okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

So we're just gonna brand this as zelennial. I heard that term and I'm like, that's cool. I'll take that. It starts with Z, so I love it. Um so the whole the whole song concept was talking about what this generation is going through and feeling like we've been handed these cards that we really didn't ask for, you know, from like a COVID situation to online burnout and this constant comparison world we're living in, and not being able to afford our own housing and all of these things that we've been, this economy. We've been handed down. Um, and just feeling not the victim of it, but having to pick up the pieces and put it back together and go, How do we do this? You know, because we have to. Someone has to pick up the pieces and we're the ones that have been given the crown and said, Here you go, your turn. And um, I think that's a very it's a very interesting time to be my age and to be kind of coming up right now. Um, and that's not also just like that part of it, also in this business, the music business as well. It can be very challenging sometimes. So just trying to navigate those things. And and I think it was kind of getting to me a little bit. So you as you do, you kind of pull out the pen and the paper and you start writing, and hand me downs fell out. And it just it seemed to have really connected with people in every way that I'd hoped it would so far. So I'm very grateful.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Yes, I mean, people have really connected. I have watched it on social medias, I've seen, you know, your Spotify followers, everything. I mean, people have really latched on. It's like it's honestly an anthem.

SPEAKER_02 23:01

Oh, thank you. I love a good anthem. Yeah, do you feel like it is? Yes, yes. And I I love anthems, so yeah, I I tend to have to pull myself up sometimes because I'm always like writing in that style. I'm like, let's just bounce this back a little bit and maybe a little less like anthem vocals, you know. Yeah, it's it's it's a problem. But I grew up on all that kind of thing. It's a problem. It's great. Oh, thanks. It's been really well received. I'm so grateful. And that was one of the songs that everyone was singing out when I was playing. So um, yeah, it's just to know that people feel that way as well. Again, it's just it makes you feel less alone, like you can get through something, which I'm always grateful for.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

Well, so while Hand Me Downs is starting to get some success, you've had so many cool things happen. So, I mean, one of the things here, we're looking at Music Scene magazine and magazine that just happened to be sitting here on the counter. I don't know how I got there. I can't imagine. But not only do you get featured in it, which is great, right? It got featured with this group of artists because I looked through. I mean, Walker Montgomery is one of the artists in here. You got some incredible artists in good company in this magazine. Did you get the cover?

SPEAKER_02 24:08

I did. I couldn't believe it. It was the first, I think the first cover, especially like of this level magazine that I've been on, and I was like, Mom, Dad, guess what happened? They freaked out. I mean, did they freak out? Have you sent it to them? They I think they bought their own copies. Yeah. I was like, Do you want they're like, no, no, no, we've got some coming. I'm like, oh my goodness, and sending it to all their neighbors, yes. Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's incredible, and I'm so grateful. And the interview that we did for that was just such a joy. And and Ashley and the crew over there is so calm.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

It's a great interview. I mean, it's so good. I enjoyed reading it so much. And then you also recently had what I call the billboard in Nashville.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

Oh, oh, that.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Yes, the billboard. To me, if you were like, hey, Amanda, define success in Nashville. We can define it in lots of ways. Yes. But that billboard is do you agree that that's like check the box?

SPEAKER_02 25:01

It is a like, yes. That and having a Wikipedia page, I feel like you've made it. You've made it.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Yes. Specific to Nashville, though, the billboard. And if you're watching, that's like um, you know that I've done it in quotes. But if you're listening to us, it's an all capitals in quotes the billboard. Esclamation mark. Yes, yes. I'm so grateful. So tell me about that. How did you find out this was happening?

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Um you know what? Even like the magazine, everything has just been really organic. And I have been, I like I've worked with PR agencies and things like that in the past and love it, but I'm doing everything independently right now. So, you know, budgets are not super duper flexible. Um, but like I'm really grateful because people seem to be gravitating towards this music organically, and that is more than I could even ask for because you can pay to get your music pretty much most places if you have a big enough budget for it. Um I don't have that fortunately. Um, so everything is kind of happening progressively as I just go along, and I'm so grateful because you just never know what's gonna come next. And it really is a surprise when you find out you're like, oh my gosh, this is this is happening. Pinch me. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Did you go take pictures? I mean, please tell me you did.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

No, and I'm like, oh my god, yeah, no, it's great.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

You have to take pictures. It's one of my favorite things actually in Nashville. When I drive by that billboard and it's changed over and someone's getting there, especially somebody I know on there. I'm like, yes, it's so fun, isn't it? And you get to see like when I see people taking pictures with their billboard, do you see the artists down there doing it? Oh, yeah. And when you drive by it, it's iconic. To me, that's one of those quintessential Nashville moments that you you feel that creative energy and you just feel so happy for the person that's standing there in front of that billboard.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Every time I see my friends on it, I just like take a photo and send it like I'm so proud of you, I love you. And it's it's such a moment of um just you know how hard everybody in this town has worked, and to be on that really kind of just makes it all worthwhile, you know. Even for just that moment, it's so it's such a yeah, it's so well earned. Yeah, nobody's our time square. It is our time square.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

I like that.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

I'm gonna call it that from now on.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

It is that, right? To me, that's what it is. It's like, yeah, I would take that billboard.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

We just need like the hot dog stands or something now to go.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

You know, I'm actually so chicken. Yeah, as we're sitting here talking about this, I am surprised that it hasn't gone three or four levels high. No kidding. And I'm also surprised that we don't see more accidents there. Oh, yeah. For all of us looking at the bottom, taking pictures. Right on the billboard now. That's a good point. You know, it is kind of funny.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

No, I really hope we haven't jinxed it though.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Oh no, we haven't. We haven't. No, it's magic. It is magic. It's like a staple magical thing.

SPEAKER_02 27:45

It's a billboard.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Yeah. So congratulations on that. That was such a moment.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

You're so kind. I'm really grateful.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

So, what is what's next for you for summer 2026?

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Hopefully, lots more shows, lots more music. I'm back in the studio right now working on the next record. So I'm very excited about that. I have been, I promise myself over the Christmas holidays Christmas window vacation. I don't know if you call it holidays. Do you call it holidays?

SPEAKER_00 28:08

I mean, I do. I don't know. Do you all call it Christmas? We're asking the studio. We're asking the studio. Christmas vacation or Christmas holidays?

SPEAKER_02 28:18

Holidays? I'm so confused. Well, the Christmas window when you're supposed to do nothing.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

That period. When I was supposed to do nothing, I promised myself I was gonna be like two weeks of just doing nothing because I'd worked so hard last year and I was like, I need a mental break, and I'm not going home, I'm not gonna get to see the family. And so I was like, that's it. Two weeks of just nothing. Well, two weeks began, and I just got really idle thumbs, and then I wrote like 30 songs in two weeks. It was ridiculous. It was great. And so that kind of set me on this tangent of like, well, now I'm making another record. So here I am back in the studio working. A double record. It could be, it might very well be. There are a lot of songs I have to like. It's so hard when you're writing a lot because you fall in love with the songs, and they all have a little piece of you in them. So you have to like be really it's hard to like cut and choose.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

How do you cut and choose? Like, if you're saying I'm gonna get this down to one traditional album, which you know is not this case anymore. But a traditional album is what 12 songs?

SPEAKER_02 29:19

Yeah, but I think I'd say between 10 and 13. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

So how do you cut that down?

SPEAKER_02 29:23

Painfully, slowly, sending it to a lot of people that you trust and going, like, what do you think? And and you like my mum's really great. She'll just give me honest feedback always, and I love it a bits for that. But you have to have, I think, people in your corner that just like genuinely aren't there just hyping you up because they think you're great, which is awfully nice, and I love it, don't get me wrong. But when you're like at that point, you're so in the music and you're so like you've written it, you've sung it, it's a part of your story and it's so connected to you. You almost have to take a step back and be like, all right, give it a couple weeks, don't listen to it, don't look at it, come back with fresh ears, and then go, all right, now how do we feel about it? Um, and then if that doesn't work and you're still torn, then you're like, hey, can I send you some songs and tell me to think? And then that usually kind of smooths out the rest.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

But do you play new music on social media? Like, do you introduce it to your fans and get feedback?

SPEAKER_02 30:14

Um, I have a little bit in the past. I've always kind of loved just dropping music out of the nowhere though, and not like letting anybody know what's going on until it's happening. Uh, there's something I think about the magic from behind the curtains of not knowing what's happening, and then the big reveal. I think that's kind of fun. But I have done that in the past. Um, and it's it's usually always really good feedback. My fans are super kind, and I'm very, very grateful. I've got a great uh great fan base that keeps going.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

It is funny though, I like what you said because that took me back to a little nostalgic place of the the reveal.

unknown 30:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

I miss that. I miss it too. I mean, I remember when we'd get an album and we had no idea. Yeah, we no lists had been leaked, nope, no songs had been dropped. Nope.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

I mean, there were demos. Nothing. Nothing.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

No, hey, I was working on this in the studio. It was nothing. Like, who was your favorite artist growing up? Did you have one favorite that you couldn't wait to buy their stuff? In Tasmania, did you know new artists?

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Rod Stewart.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

And we're back to where we started. Rod Stewart.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

I love it. I mean, that voice though. Yeah, I mean, I listened to a lot of stuff. Brian Adams, Rod Stewart, the Rattle Lynn. Like, there was so much amazing music. Bruce Springsteen. I grew up on a lot of the older generation music. So I think that's kind of where I gravitate towards, is like when I'm releasing, I kind of like want it to have that mysterious, like, well, what's coming? We don't know what's happening. It's just exciting. Because there was something about that, like, even with a show, a performance, there were curtains. And then the curtains would come up, and then there was like wow, and then the curtains would close, and it was like, oh my goodness, there was magic. And I feel like in many ways, those curtains have metaphorically and physically kind of been taken away. And that's cool. I love the authenticity and really like getting to know what's going on behind the scenes and all that kind of thing. But I do think that we have lost a little bit of that spicy magic that you could just imagine. Like there was you, your, your imagination went off because you had the chance to let it. And I don't think you have the chance as much to let it anymore. And I think that that's something I personally miss in in music.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Me too. I think you're right because there is something. I mean, I just you really did make me think of it in a way I haven't thought about in a while. To think about set lists as an example, right? On a tour, yeah, the first show is the only surprise.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

Now it is, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

Nowadays, the first show, if you are if you are on social media at all.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

You know everything.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

You know everything. So if you want to be surprised with your favorite artist, you have to go to show one.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Or just don't get on social media until you've gone to your show and then it's been a surprise.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

It will be a spoiler.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

But even it's released as a playlist on Spotify or whatever. You know, it's really interesting that we can. And there is a part of that that's fun. I like that we have access in a way.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

I do too. I feel like there's got to be some kind of a dance. We have to like, there's got to be a dance we've got to figure out. Yeah. And it's it's I don't know if it's been figured out yet. I'm still trying to figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

I know. Because I do. You took me way back.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Yeah, that's so fun to go to a show and have no clue. And it'd be more amazing and and grandiose than you ever could have imagined. Like, can you imagine going to the Airers Tour of Taylor Swift, having never seen anything about it yet?

SPEAKER_00 33:27

And then just show up and then it's like No, I actually think people would have died in serious similarity. I think just bad friends. Like passing out heart attacks.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Like that would have happened.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

And I talked it's so funny because I was talking to a friend about this recently, and she and I, we went to the errors tour together, and amazing experience. 2024 was just what what was that life, you know? Yeah. Um, watching live streams that were so grainy and we were all into it. But the night one, you know, in Arizona, yeah, people talked about like how stressful that was because you're so anxious and like you don't know what's coming. Right. Because we're so unaccustomed to it. And so then when she dropped the Tortured Poets set, and the majority of us are watching it on live stream. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's so weird that that's the world that we live in that we were all still there. So that part to me is cool.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

That there was a collective in that moment.

SPEAKER_02 34:26

You know, there is some magic to it in this new world that we're living in too. There is certainly that element, but mostly heart attack.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Mostly heart attack.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Bring a stretcher if you're coming to the show.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Yeah, it's mostly, I don't think I could just be surprised in that way. I'm not, but I'm one of those people that I I like to Google the end of the movie.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

Oh no, no, no. Why?

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Why are you watching it? Now, what's the what is I have to know. Yeah. There are two kinds of people in this world, I feel. There's ones that Google the end of the movie, and there's ones that just ride it out to see what happens and stuff like that. And you just write it out. I do. Does that scare you?

SPEAKER_00 35:03

Yeah. I'm a little anxious right now.

SPEAKER_02 35:06

Really? Wait, what kind of films are we talking about? What kind of jokes? Any of them. Anything. Okay. See, like if it was horror, I could probably understand Googling the End because you don't want to be that scared. But like if it's a comedy, do you still Google the end?

SPEAKER_00 35:17

Um, gosh, it's been a long time since I've seen a good comedy. That's a good question. Any series.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

I'm I'm Googling the end of the episodes because I don't need to be stressed. That's fair. I don't need new things in my life. I need to know what's happening. This is why I rewatch the West Wing and Gilmore Girls. Like, I just re-watch.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

It's I just I watched Friends for the first time ever. Just like this got this year gone. That was my binge show all year. And it took me a year to get through the whole show.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

You've watched all of it in a year. That has to be incredible, though.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

Well, it's like 10 years of episodes. I was dedicated. That was my evening thing. I would just sit down and watch an episode. And it's so nice.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

So if anyone wonders where Zoe was last year.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

That's what I was doing. Sorry to everybody that invited me to your shows. I love you. And I will come to the next one, I promise. Friends is over, so I'm free. Friends is over. But did you love it? I loved it. There's so it's such a sweet show. And even now it still holds up, you know. When you when you when you make something and kind of takes you back to songwriting in a way, like when you make something that is so brilliant, it just truly stands the test of time. And I always like revert that back to my music. Like, can I make this better? And how can I make this so that it lasts the test of time? Because that's you want your work to live on beyond you. That's kind of the goal.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Yeah. What's a song that you wish you'd written?

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Oh my godness, that's you know. I'm gonna just I'm just gonna say forever young Bobby.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

I was I was afraid Bobby. I was afraid.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

Well, I mean, Rod Stewart kind of did the rewrite version, but I the original is fantastic, which is Bob. So yeah, we're gonna say Bob.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

It is an exceptionally good song. The words are beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

It is, yeah. I mean, it's hanging on to like that part of you, like, I hope that you're always forever young.

SPEAKER_00 36:57

Have you ever recorded it?

SPEAKER_02 36:58

I haven't. I've sung it a lot though.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

You have?

SPEAKER_02 37:00

I basked that song a lot.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

I want to hear that someday. That one I need to hear. I think you might need to record that one. That could be fun. That could be really fun. I could hear you doing that.

SPEAKER_02 37:09

Thank you. I could I could get into that as well. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. It'd be hard not to go for the haircut though, you know, like the rod hair. I'd have to like get in the carry. Just stick with the color. You've got the color down early rod days.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

Yes. Please don't cut your hair.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

I did have short hair as a kid. My dad wanted a son, and I came along and um had short hair for a very long time.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Well, I posted something last week where it was uh an old picture of me with very long hair. And my the salon I go to in Nashville, Eric Marshall Salon, Eric texted me and said, Oh my gosh, your hair. And I said, Sometimes I think about growing it back out. And you know what he said? Please don't. He said, Please don't. Please don't. So see, we just can't win. I tell you to keep yourself long.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

This looks beautiful on you, though. It takes like the right face to pull off a bob. I don't know if I have that face, but you have it and it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

You do, you do. But maybe not Rod Stewart hair. We'll just leave this one for Rod.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

Okay, we might do that.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

Yes. This might take your fandom a little far. Just a little too far. A little bit.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

Um, okay, so I have two more things I want to chat with you about. Yes. Okay, well, one's a chat. One's a chat. I'll drive your getaway car any day.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

Okay. Oh, you're so one's a chat.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

And one is a I'm so glad you brought your beautiful guitar, which is a beautiful guitar.

SPEAKER_02 38:29

Thank you. My little Martin. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

I love it. But I do want you to play us a song.

SPEAKER_02 38:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 38:34

If you'll do that. Absolutely. But before you do, I want you to tell me one thing. Because you know I love life advice. Yes. And I like life advice in three words-ish because it's it's cliche for a reason, usually, you know. That's great. So from you, a songwriter who is so beautiful with your words. No pressure.

SPEAKER_02 38:53

Jeez. Life advice. That doesn't count as one, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:56

No, that's it. You're down to two.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

So life advice.

SPEAKER_02 38:59

Where's my life advice? No. Um, I would probably say never stop creating. Just keep creating. Because eventually you're gonna you're gonna figure it out. Eventually you're just and and that can be in any kind of form of work. You know, you don't have to be an artist to be creating, but I think creating is really what we were born to do. We were born to create. Um, so yeah, I'd say never stop creating.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

Yeah, I could not agree more with that. I think that's so good. Yeah, and I think you're right, it's not just we forget that creative is for lots of avenues of life.

SPEAKER_02 39:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:31

And and if you stop too early, you miss the blessings and the gifts that come. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:37

And it's a way to express yourself and it's a way to put your feelings and who you are out into the world. And that might be cooking, it might be painting, it might be designing a paper airplane that you think the world needs to have. It doesn't really matter, you know. That's a bad example. But you know what I mean. Like it it's just whatever you feel is your expression and your unique piece of life that you want to put into the world. And I think that's a really important thing. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Thank you for sharing that. That was so good. Can we want a song? So, yeah, since you're the creative in the room, love a song if you're good for it.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

Um, can I how do we do this? Yep, we'll take a little bit. Can we do a little pause?

SPEAKER_00 40:13

What's she gonna play for us?

SPEAKER_02 40:14

So I thought I'd do an unreleased song. Um Love. Yeah, I wrote this one a little bit later last year, and I'm in the studio putting it down. So I thought it'd be fun to give it a try here today.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

And by the way, this is so special because you just said that this is not something you do. So oh made my day. We get an unreleased song. This is exciting. Thank you for this.

SPEAKER_02 40:37

You're so sweet. This is called uh Leo and the Door.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

The movie theater's full of action sex, adrenaline rush, and the radio keeps playing songs that suck. The highways at a standstill, cause the bandwagon junkies have abandoned last week's trends, and the cycle never ends. I hope that you learned how to swim, cause we're all in the same boat going down. Case you make the front page when you drown. Cause Leo and the door can't save us now. This is for our Leonardo DiCaprio fans out there. The poets sell their secrets for artificial hearts. Right about their fuzzy peaches, convincing you it's art. No one's making Mona Lisa, but they're making Lisa Mom. So fruit that's all long hanging. Now waking up a moment how to swim. I can be the baby, I can be the skill library sending up a library scare. Case you make a paint real drive Case Leo and the door can save us.

SPEAKER_00 43:33

Now yes, thank you. I love it. I love it. Thank you. You are incredibly talented.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

That's such a good one. I can't wait for that one. Thank you. And anybody who knows Leonardo DiCaprio, there, just feel free to pick this up sometime.

SPEAKER_00 43:55

For real. I want to play him the song. Uh huh. Yeah. Just put it in one of his music. Maybe have him in the music. I love this. I mean, we do have our abundance candle going today. So abundance in manifesting. There it is. That's right. That's it. Listen, you have a voice like no other. Oh. It's so cool. It's just your own sound and it's pop and it's country and it's now and it's later. It's all of it. I love it so much.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

Thank you. Thank you for being a world. Thank you for having me. This has been so much fun.

SPEAKER_00 44:25

So much fun.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

And thank you to our wonderful sponsors.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

Yes. Cheers with our little Ophelia Aguas Fresca.

SPEAKER_02 44:32

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Cheers.

SPEAKER_00 44:33

You're the best. Um last thing, tell people your Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

Um, so I go by Zoe, Z-O-Dou-E, and you can find me on Instagram at Zoe Music, and Zoe Music.com is my website. You'll find everything there. And I'm back in the studio, so make sure you hit the subscribe button, and I'll see you on the other side.