Noah Jackson Podcast

I sat down with my friend Joy Owings for a Halloween special: horror movies, Halloween trivia, and the time she walked into a cadaver lab and found nothing but a head on a table.

Joy is a nurse practitioner who teaches nursing at Belmont, and she's my best friend's girl and my girl's best friend. She's also the biggest horror fan I know. We get into her top picks of the season (Obsession, Backrooms, Hokum), why horror is having a moment, why a nurse who isn't squeamish about blood and guts is scared to death of mold, and why she doesn't like candy (it makes her face go numb). Plus multiple-choice trivia, Halloween jokes that did not land, a jump scare from Adam, and an appearance by Polly the poodle in her Elphaba costume.

Recorded at Treehouse HQ, Nashville.

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0:00 – Welcome, Joy Owings

1:30 – Best & Worst Halloween Costumes (Polly the K9)

3:35 – Can You Get Arrested in a Cop Costume?

5:12 – Halloween Plans: New York & Lord Farquaad

7:00 – The 15-Foot Skeleton Question

7:43 – Halloween Trivia, Round 1

11:53 – The Severed Head: A Cadaver Lab Story

18:31 – Back to Trivia: Before Candy Was Candy

21:10 – The Poisoned Candy Myth & the 1974 "Candy Man" Case

23:49 – Should We Scare Kids? Haunted Houses

26:50 – Watching Horror Alone: Obsession & Backrooms

29:49 – Joy's Top Horror Movies of the Season

33:37 – Joy's Backrooms Theory

36:42 – Why Horror Works: Suspiria, Black Swan, A Quiet Place & Get Out

43:11 – Midterms, Three Days After Halloween

44:00 – Is Being Scared of Halloween Really a Phobia?

45:34 – Polly Joins + What We're Spending This Year

48:02 – Candy Trivia (From Someone Who Doesn't Like Candy)

51:07 – Ranking the Worst Halloween Candy

52:28 – Why Chocolate Costs So Much This Year

54:43 – Not Squeamish About Blood & Guts… But Afraid of Mold

58:27 – Why Joy Doesn't Eat Candy

1:02:00 – Halloween Jokes (Tough Crowd)

1:04:16 – Adam's Jump Scare

1:06:53 – Hot Take: New Horror Beats Old Horror

1:07:57 – Joy's Horror Movie Recommendations

1:12:17 – Wrap Up

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Joy's picks: The Silence of the Lambs, Parasite, Late Night with the Devil, Fresh, Hereditary, Get Out, Us, A Quiet Place, Black Swan

Follow Joy Owings:

📸 Instagram: @almonddjoyyy

🎬 Letterboxd: 

Subscribe to The Noah Jackson Podcast for weekly conversations with working artists, music industry professionals, and friends.

📺 YouTube: @noahjacksonlive

📸 Instagram: @noahjacksonlive

Caroline Kid is an Americana singer-songwriter that everybody, including every Nashville musician, needs to know. She writes heart-wrenching songs and stories, she has an angelic soprano voice, and her acoustic album, Country Underneath, was recorded entirely live in Nicholas Kenton's kitchen. It's raw, honest and gorgeous, and you should go listen to it right now. She's toured all over the country, racked up hundreds of thousands of streams, and just landed a song in a Hallmark Christmas movie.

She's also one of the funniest people I know, which is why she came to our first-ever Halloween episode dressed as a banana. I came as Lord Farquaad. There are costume changes, a traffic cone hat, a gummy ear, and me eating candy through basically the entire conversation. We could not stop laughing. (And yes, there's another Halloween episode next week.)

In between the candy wrappers, we talk about spending 10 years in a "10-year town," quitting a job of nine years after having a baby, what being Miss Oregon 2011 really taught her, and her four archetypes of musicians: the entertainer, the businessman, the artist and the craftsman. Plus, she walks me through Country Underneath track by track, and we revisit the question she asked me years ago that changed my life: "Do you struggle with happiness?"

Caroline is one of my most constant collaborators and a true friend. I'm so lucky to have played countless show with Caroline, and be featured on the album as a writer on "Tumbleweed" and duet singer on "I Hate How We Met"

Recorded at Treehouse HQ, Nashville.

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00:00 – Cold Open
00:38 – Intro: Lord Farquaad Meets a Banana
02:00 – Halloween Candy (No Brand Names Allowed)
04:32 – Recording Country Underneath in Nick's Kitchen
08:26 – A Meaningful Life vs. a Songwriting Degree
09:52 – Halloween Costumes Through the Years
14:53 – The Legendary Nativity Scene Costume
17:39 – Group Costumes & "Founding Daddies"
20:38 – "Do You Struggle with Happiness?"
22:19 – Why We All Come to Nashville
23:45 – Artist as a Calling vs. a Career
25:15 – Road Stories: Muscle Shoals & Colorado
26:10 – Quitting Her Job & Having It All
28:17 – Playing The Late Great at 8 Months Pregnant
29:42 – 10 Years in a 10-Year Town
34:03 – The Fear of Getting Famous for Art You Hate
34:37 – "Founding Daddies" Around the Bonfire
38:41 – A Song in a Hallmark Christmas Movie
39:56 – The Nashville Social Scene
40:34 – Nashville Tour Stop & the Sorting Hat
42:42 – "I Liked Me Better When I Smoked"
44:31 – Does Partying Help Your Career?
46:32 – Industry Folks Are in Bed by 10 (Except in Key West)
48:07 – Miss Oregon 2011
50:42 – Pageantry Is an Art Form, Not a Place for Artists
55:30 – Social Media & Brain Rot
58:20 – Her Most Viral Video
59:44 – Should Artists Post 4 Times a Day?
1:00:40 – The Four Archetypes: Entertainer, Businessman, Artist & Craftsman
1:06:43 – Are You Being Ruthless Enough?
1:10:23 – Halloween Plans & a Traffic Cone
1:12:50 – Dancing with the Stars & Ballroom Dreams
1:19:13 – What's Next: Healing & New Music
1:20:56 – Country Underneath, Track by Track
1:28:40 – Outro

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Follow Caroline Kid:
📸 Instagram: @CarolineOnTheGo
🎵 TikTok: @CarolineKid_
🎵 Spotify & Apple Music: search "Caroline Kid"

Subscribe to The Noah Jackson Podcast for weekly conversations with working artists and music industry professionals.
📺 YouTube: @noahjacksonlive
📸 Instagram: @noahjacksonlive