CMA Award winning singer/songwriter Brandy Clark is here to talk about her third album, Your Life Is a Record. The new songs, which are partly inspired by the break-up of a 15-year relationship, are Brandy's most vulnerable and personal to date. She says, “I've written a lot of songs about characters. But this time I wrote a lot of songs about my heart.” 

We talk about how she grew creatively on this album, which includes collaborations with Oscar-winner Randy Newman and Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne. We also celebrate Brandy’s love of Designing Women and her newly-formed book club, in addition to discussing how we each deal with negative self-talk and what we’ve learned from our failures. We also explore what it was like for Brandy to embark on a country music career after first coming out of the closet with a little inspiration from friend and collaborator Shane McAnally.

NOTE: This episode was taped a few days prior to Pete Buttigieg suspending his Presidential campaign.

We’re kicking off season four with Ashley’s dear friend and the Founder, Face and CEO of the influential fashion blog “Happily Grey” - Mary Lawless Lee.  We talk about Mary’s relationship with her husband, Madison, and her life as a new mom to daughter, Navy James. We also cover how “Happily Grey” evolved from a passion project into a well-respected brand with a combined social presence of over 2.6 million, an e-commerce site and a brick-and-mortar retail store in Nashville, where we recorded this episode. Mary shares the biggest lessons she’s learned while building a business, creating a strong team culture, chasing creativity, and dealing with naysayers. Hunter also gives his thoughts on potential T-shirt slogans for Mary’s future private label clothing line and draws parallels to The Devil Wears Prada and Sex & The City. Ashley and Mary share tips they’ve learned from throwing several New Year’s Eve parties together.

Since Dave Barnes is an expert on ALL classic pop and adult contemporary music, we wanted to break down one of the most singular holiday AC songs of ALL TIME — Dan Fogelberg’s “Same Old Lang Syne.” From the highly specific details in the lyric (“I stole behind in the frozen foods”) to the story of the woman who inspired the song, we’re breaking down what makes “Same Old Lang Syne” a melancholy Christmas classic.

If you don’t know this song, go look it up on YouTube or any other streaming service and then join us for this breakdown. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfAxWtcfDUk

Caroline Hobby is here to talk about her life as a host, wife and new mom to her daughter, Sunny. Caroline’s “Get Real” podcast focuses on “Honest Women, Honest Talk” and features in-depth conversations with guests like Lauren Akins, Caroline Bryan, Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson and our very own Ashley Eicher! While we laugh A TON in this episode, things get REAL quick. Caroline shares what she learned about herself while on "The Amazing Race,” how becoming parents has changed her and husband Michael (lead singer of A Thousand Horses) and inspired her new podcast series “Mom Chats.” Also, Hunter shares why he’s hesitant to become a parent, and we all open up about our fears and hopes for the future.

Our friend Dave Barnes (aka "Mr. Christmas") is back for a holiday extravaganza for the ages! We’re talking favorite Christmas memories, movies, and, of course, music. Over the last decade, Dave has created some of our favorite original Christmas songs on his two holiday albums, Very Merry Christmas and A December to Remember, which led to him launching his annual Christmas tour. Dave tells us the secret to writing a great Christmas song, why he’s still got big dreams for his Hillary Scott duet, “Christmas Tonight,” and reveals how Tim McGraw came to record his holiday tune, “Mary and Joseph.” Dave also has a message for his buddy Thomas Rhett and tells us about writing standout tracks on the latest projects from Lady Antebellum and Carrie Underwood.

Chord Overstreet is best known for his role as Sam Evans on the hit show GLEE, but it’s his band OVERSTREET and their new alt-pop single “My Ex” that has us really excited about this conversation. Their latest EP, Man on the Moon, is out now. Now based in Los Angeles, Chord grew up in rural Kingston Springs, Tennessee and began writing songs as a teenager with his dad, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Paul Overstreet  (“When You Say Nothing At All”, “Forever and Ever, Amen”). Chord tells us about the process of finding his own musical voice, learning about comedy and performance on the set of GLEE from Jane Lynch and Kristin Chenoweth, and picking up some great career advice from Jimmy Buffett. And get ready for plenty of laughs, too. Between being a master of impersonations (Wait until you hear his impressions of Matthew McConaughey and Christopher Walken!) and his hilarious story about helping deliver goats all by himself on the family farm, Chord is full of surprises.

Rising country star Jimmie Allen is quickly becoming a favorite talk show guest for the likes of Hoda Kotb and Steve Harvey, and you’ll see why after listening to this episode. The man has humor and personality to spare, but it’s his wisdom and heart that make him really stand out from the crowd. Jimmie recently lost his father, James. He tells us how he’s passing on what his father taught him in his relationship with his son, Aadyn. Jimmie also tells us how he deals with internet trolls, why he refuses to settle for mediocrity and explains why he’s patterning his career after his musical influences Matchbox 20 frontman Rob Thomas and Darius Rucker. And don’t miss Jimmie breaking into song with one of his favorite Disney Musical numbers!

Author William Dameron’s new book, “The Lie: A Memoir of Two Marriages, Catfishing & Coming Out,” tells the story of what happened when he came to terms with being gay, ended his 22-year-marriage to the mother of his two daughters and set off on a journey to self-acceptance. It’s a story of the power of honesty and forgiveness. Now, William is happily married to his husband, Paul, and has a good relationship with his ex-wife. The road to this point in his life wasn’t easy, and William has heard from men and women around the world telling him his story has helped them start living authentically. Also, William is currently featured in the “New York Times” Modern Love essay collection.