Hollye B on Dolly Parton's Influence, Mike Campbell, and Her Debut Music

Fresh off years of performing alongside legendary artists including Mike Campbell, Ringo Starr, Ryan Bingham, Lucinda Williams, Jamey Johnson, and Blackberry Smoke, Hollye B joins That Nashville Girl for a special conversation recorded inside the iconic Nashville Symphony.

Recorded on opening day of Dolly Parton's Threads: My Songs in Symphony, Hollye reflects on Dolly's influence not only as a songwriter and performer, but as a fearless woman who proved artists don't have to fit into a single box to build a remarkable career.

Born in Nashville, raised in East Tennessee, and shaped by more than a decade living and creating in New York City, Hollye shares the unlikely journey that led her from dance to touring with Mike Campbell and eventually to launching her long-awaited solo career.

Amanda and Hollye discuss:

• Growing up with Dolly Parton's influence in East Tennessee
• Why Dolly remains one of music's most important female artists
• Touring with Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs
• Working alongside legendary musicians
• The story behind her debut single, "Ain't Got Nothing"
• Finding her own artistic voice
• Why she's "a little bit country, a little bit insane"
• What's next as she prepares to release her debut album

The episode closes with a beautiful live performance of Dolly Parton's iconic song "Jolene," recorded inside the Nashville Symphony.

If you love discovering emerging artists, hearing the stories behind the music, and celebrating the legacy of Dolly Parton, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

Learn more about Dolly Parton's Threads: My Songs in Symphony at the Nashville Symphony and experience the music that continues to inspire generations of artists.

Follow Hollye B for updates on new music, including her debut single "Ain't Got Nothing."

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_03 0:00

Holly B, welcome to that Nashville girl. And we are not in our normal studio setting at all. This is so cool, isn't it? I know. I'm very, very excited to be here. Thank you for having me. So glad you're here. I mean, this is pretty iconic. The Nashville Symphony is so beautiful, and here, of course, celebrating Dolly Parton threads. And you were just a perfect artist for this conversation. You're like, wait, what? No pressure. But I mean it'd be crazy, right? When you're thought of for Dolly Parton, I think that says a lot about your sound.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

So I want to talk about your sound. We're gonna start. We have so much to talk about such a short time, but like you were born in Nashville. Yes. But then kind of raised in East Tennessee. Yes. Tell me.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

Yeah, I was born. Um I grew up in Bellevue until I was seven years old. And then my parents uh were like, we're moving for your dad's job. So we went up to Knoxville. I went to elementary through high school there, and then went to MTSU. Like I've been like back and forth my whole life.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

Yeah I like what you said earlier. You're like bicoastal. The Tennessee bicoastal. Tennessee bicoastal, if you will. Yes, exactly. Um I love Knoxville, it's beautiful. But I was curious about that part of your life just because I wonder, I I spent so much time in Knoxville for work that I feel like Dolly is literally in everything in East Tennessee. So did that inspire your music in any way?

SPEAKER_04 1:24

Oh, for sure. I mean, just yeah, no matter if I lived in Nashville or Knoxville, what age that I was growing up, she was such an icon in my life in Knoxville, in Tennessee in general. I mean, if you meet anyone from outside of the state, they're like, oh, country music and Dolly Parton and and whiskey. Yes, right? Not bad things to be known for. I know. So I'm like, I love that. Um, but she was huge to me because I was obsessed with country music growing up. I was obsessed with female singers and performers, and she is like the ultimate version of that. And not only that, she's an incredible songwriter, she's an incredible businesswoman, and she's like beautiful and fully a woman. And I was like, oh, you can do it all. I loved that, and I mean she she really like codified the like all of the things. She was not just one-dimensional, two-dimensional, she was fully a human, and all of her songs. I mean, it covers so much of an emotional range that I was like, when I sat down to write my own stuff, I was like, okay, there's no off limits. I don't need to stick to one thing to be a successful female musician. I can do whatever the hell I want.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Oh, which I think is her vibe. Yes, and I love that so much because actually that to me defines you. Because this is what's interesting. I think there are people who are gonna watch this and go, Who is Holly B? They might not know you because your debut, yeah, your debut album isn't out yet, right? It's like, I'm dying for this because I had a little sneak peek of the single, which we're about to talk about. But you have really woven your own path in exactly what you just said. Like, you've been like, no limits, I'm gonna do it all. Ringo Starr, Ryan Beamham, Mike Campbell. What in the world? How does a girl do this? Tell me how this path became your path.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Yeah. Um, that's so that's so funny. I I lived in New York for the past 13 years and I moved there to work in dance. I had this like crazy head injury. I'm just gonna like blur through this. I know we're covering lots of topics. Um, whoa. After that, I needed to like pump the brakes on dance and movement, so I was like, I'm gonna come back to my first love music. But at the time I was very like anti-establishment, and like I had this like shitty dude boss, and I was like, he can't tell me what to do. So I like fully started a punk band and played in that. We we grew up a little bit, so it turned more like alternative rock. But then ultimately I got a job touring with Mike Campbell um in 2023, I think. And no big deal.

SPEAKER_03 4:06

And and let's just pause there because anyone in the music business knows who that is. But for people who are listening to this that are kind of like um, you know, like like semi-fans of music, they just like to listen to it for normal purposes, not like we do. Yes, um obsessively. You know, exactly. So Mike Campbell is iconic.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

Yeah, so he is the guitarist and co-songwriter of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He grew up with Tom Petty and Ben Montinch and Stan Lynch, all of these guys in Florida, and he really came up from childhood to being the man he is now just fully immersed in the music industry writing. He wrote Boys of Summer for Don Henley. He's done a ton of things. He's worked a lot with I mean Stevie Nick's um Stop Dragging My Heart Around, which is one of my favorite songs of all time. Every single I would like to hear you sing that. I would like to sing that. Can we manifest that?

SPEAKER_03 4:55

Yes, yes, we love manifesting around here. Um, so yeah, I wanted to just pause on that because I think that's just crazy that you're you're just very casual and I love your vibe. You're like, so yeah, then I got this job with Mike Campbell. And so you went out on the road with him.

SPEAKER_04 5:08

Yes. I started touring with him just as a production assistant. What? Yeah. So, like, I remember the first day I met him, he's like, Tell me a little bit more about yourself. And I was like, Well, I'm in this all-female rock band, and he was like, Oh, what's this all about, you know? And then he was like, You're a musician. And then it just seemed like every tour I started like, I was always working production, but then I started like I sang with him in the last show of that tour. Like, we all came up on stage and we did a Bob Dylan song. I sang harmony, and then he was like, Wait a second. So then the next tour I started doing Instagram videos, the next tour I started doing background harmonies, and then the next tour I'm singing, you know, ways to be wicked alone on stage. What is this like? This is the I mean, it was truly wild, and he has been so loving and supportive of me, obviously, and it really taught me that I can do things on my own, and that like there's something to this thing, I think. So he's he's a huge, you know, mentor and huge supporter in my life.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

Do you feel like that happened because I mean I've I've known you now, you know, I don't know, 20 minutes or something like this. A long time, a long time. We go way back. But I do you feel like this is a little bit because you have this attitude of like you can't tell me no. I will say yes.

SPEAKER_04 6:29

I was gonna be like, how do I no? Yes. Yes. I mean, there's one thing that I I don't take note. If I want something, I'm gonna do whatever I can to get it. But also, like in general, I think that there's a lot of like pressures in life, and you feel like you need to make a decision because of these like external things. I that do not even pay attention to that for better or worse. I'm just like, I want to do this thing, I'm gonna do it even if I have to pay a little bit of the consequences later on. But ultimately, yeah, that attitude, I mean, I really like took to Dolly when I was younger. She was like everything. I just like as I don't just like performers for their music. I'm like, what is the energy? What's the vibe there? What's their like how do they move through life? That's important to me. Yeah, so yes, I do. The long-winded answer is yes.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

Yeah, you picked that up, and so it just has served you so well. And now you have a single coming out, July 28th. Yes. Gosh, I'm so excited. I like I said, when I heard it, I was like, yes, yes, I will. And I don't know how many times I played it, I can't tell you, but I did over and over. I was like, this is so good. Oh my gosh, thank you. And so tell me about this song because Mike Campbell's on this song with you.

SPEAKER_04 7:43

Yes, yes, so I it's been a minute, you know, I've been working on this song for so long. I kind of forgot where it came from. And it came from so on tour with Mike, the guitarist Chris Holt, who plays in the Mike Campbell, the dirty knobs, he plays with the Eagles, Don Henley. He and I have become really close, and like we just like connected on a musical level. So, you know, there's a lot of time to kill when you're on tour, and you know, you do sound check and then you're waiting around. So, one particular show we were opening for Willie Nelson on one of his like outlaw tours, and um we had-and I say casual, and it was like blowing my mind. I mean, I'm like I'm casual now, it's because I already went like mom or like Janie, my best friend. Yeah, yeah. Um but yeah, we so we had some time. So I was like, Chris, do you want to like grab your guitar and we'll like go run through some stuff? Now, those tours, they're like packed with openers. Like that particular tour was like Avid Brothers, um, one of Willie Nelson's kids. There was like uh somebody else I can't remember, but the back uh backstage was packed. So we went into the laundry room and we have this recording of me being like, Well, I've been playing with this like chorus melody, something that I find really catchy. Like, do you want to play around with it? And so we played around with it, and we have this like amazing little iPhone recording of Chris and I together with the dryer going boom-boom boom, you know, like tumbling in the background, and we're just like, uh, and it like was birthed from that like super special creative moment in my life.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

Do you even know what town you were in?

SPEAKER_04 9:28

Um, so I thought we were outside of Memphis, and then Chris corrected me very recently that we were in, oh, Mississippi, I think. We were Jackson, I think.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

Okay, you were still kind of outside Memphis. Yeah, yeah. In a way. In a way, you were. Um, wow, that's an amazing story. I love it. And it's such a cool song because I think what I also love about again, I'm excited to hear more of your writing because it's like you have this way of taking something that feels so um it's like I couldn't tell if it was a sad song or not. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And I think that that's very cool. Like, that's maybe also why I was like instantly loved it. Now I need to like dissect all the words as the swifty that I am. You know that's what we do. But I was like, I need to dissect this because there's a lot going on here that you can take it from a lot of different places. So when you wrote it, when you started with that chorus, that you were like, hey, I've got some ideas here. What kind of space were you in?

SPEAKER_04 10:26

It's really funny because the chorus ain't got I ain't got nothing if I don't have you, is like, I'm in love with you. Like, I I just won't be able to live without you kind of vibes. But I like was not with anyone at the time, like that just came to me. I just was like, I liked the words, I liked the vibe of it. And we actually wrote verses to it that I completely gutted and changed before we recorded it. And it became a like kind of the surface level vibe is I was reading a lot of romance novels. I was reading a lot of smut. Like my life, uh the last couple years in New York, like I just was like doing well in my career, but like personal life was just like this is kind of a bummer. I'm gonna read these books about like dragons and shit, and like just like bliss out, and it was great. And I just wanted to write like a true blue love song, but I'm also a human and a woman, and things are complicated, and life is complicated, so it's not all like if we're being real, it's not like I love you, and that's it. And yeah, it's like I love you, and I know what it's like to be without you, and I don't want to do that. And I was afraid, and that's real, and um, but I gotta tell you how hot you are, and I love you.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

This is so wild though, because like I this is what I love hearing the backstory because I'm like, yes, all of that. I felt it because that's why I was like, wait, am I sad? Am I not sad? I didn't know, but now it makes so much more sense.

SPEAKER_04 11:56

I love it. I'm the same way. Am I sad? Am I not sad?

SPEAKER_03 12:01

All of it, all of it at the same time. And I think that's what you nailed. It's just like such a cool vibe that I'm just like, I could listen to this over and over. Well, I did. Um, so I'm excited for people to hear it. And then more is coming. Debut album is coming. So do we have a date with a debut album, or like a time frame?

SPEAKER_04 12:18

We we don't. I mean, I think we're gonna, because you know, at this point I'm like establishing who I am and trying to build up an audience and get to know as many people as possible. I think we'll probably trickle out little songs, you know, kind of like the vibe of that. Um, but ultimately, yeah, I think next year is uh, you know, probably a good jumping off point in terms of uh when we're releasing the album.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

Well, I can't wait. And before we get the album, what I'm gonna need you to do, I'm gonna look over at your team here. Um, we're gonna need you to make some t-shirts that say a little bit country, a little bit insane. Is that what you say? Is that how I say it? Yes, I really need a shirt like immediately.

SPEAKER_04 13:02

I I just thought randomly one night, because we were like playing around with these like little social media bios, and I was like, Well, I'm a little bit country, but I'm not all the way in country. And but I but what am I? And then I was like, Oh, I'm nuts. I'm nuts, I'm a little bit country, I'm a little bit insane. And we just threw it up there, and but the like response to it has been amazing because I was like, Me too.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

Yeah, we're a little bit country, a little bit nuts.

SPEAKER_04 13:28

I mean, yes, a little insane.

SPEAKER_03 13:29

I'm here for it, so let's have t-shirts. We'll get you some t-shirts. We need to have these because like I wear that proudly. And I just feel like it was like when you again you said that I was like, You're every girl, you're all of us, and so I think it's gonna be so exciting for people to get to know you and follow totally.

SPEAKER_02 13:49

Dolly agrees. She's in her. I mean, we didn't have to do a question. Listen, it wasn't until you did the change.

SPEAKER_03 14:02

I just wanted to. And she's gone just like that. You've been anointed by Dolly. I find very fun to you. This is amazing. And this is also like we're in here because you know, today's the opening day, and it is pretty cool. Like, we've got the stage behind you and everything going on. And I actually think that was a sign from God or Dolly or both. Whatever you believe in. God and Dolly. I agree. Like, whatever you believe in just happened. Um, because that's weird timing that I was like, everyone, all the girls are gonna love you. And Dolly's like, yes. Dolly said, yeah. Dolly said, Amen, sister. Um, you see, she's with us. So I guess she was telling me to wrap it up. Um, and so on that note, you're gonna sing a song for us. And I was super excited that you chose Jolene. Yeah. Okay, tell me why. Because honestly, as a singer, I've never sung this song because it's it scares me.

SPEAKER_04 14:52

Okay, so okay, I'm glad you were saying that because honestly, it scares me as well. I mean, it's like it's Jolene, it's epic, it's the song. The song. She obviously has an incredible discography, and you know, thinking of what song to do, I was like, I could do this, I could do this, and I could be cool and do some like B-side or something. But I was like, what is my it's the the the prompt was your favorite dolly song? Yeah, my favorite dolly song is Jolene, and it has been ever since I was little, and I can't deny that. I may call me uncool, but I I did Jolene, and it's one of my favorite songs of all time.

SPEAKER_03 15:30

I love it. Well, it's one of the best songs ever, not just the best dolly songs. It's incredible. And I mean, listen, you know it's good when Beyonce says, Yeah, I'd like to cover that, you know? Exactly. That's pretty impressive. So the big deal. I'm excited. I was like, oh my gosh, this will sound so good. So um, let's let's get Travis and get this going. Thank you for being Travis. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Julie, Julie, Julie. Um, they love you. How you could know what he means. There's nothing I can do to keep him crying. When he calls you in Julie Julie and Julie, Julie. Please don't take him just Julie Julie. Please don't take in me that goes. You could have your choice in me. I could never love again. He's the only one for me. Julie I had to have this talk with you. My happiness depends on you, and whatever you decide to do. Julie Julie, Julie, Julie. I'm begging of you, please don't take my name. Julie, Julie, Julie. Please don't take me the guy.