Addie Levy – Bluegrass Mandolin Virtuoso

when you L [Applause] andar Crash and [Music] Burn Hearts get broke tables turn you lose your Le this is the rugged Revival podcast the home of the UK's country Americana and Roots Music Community I'm TJ uh your host today and rugged Ronnie is back uh with face like an angry Hedgehog as hold on hold on I'm not giving I'm not giving that I'm not giv anyway go carry on anyway I'll carry on so we're honored to be joined on the show today by Addy Levy uh singer songwriter multi-instrumentalist solo artist and a recent addition to the Brothers comos Band um we call her the queen of Appalachia Addie is someone that's keeping the spirit of the oldtime music and Bluegrass Alive and Kicking and well uh so it's great to have another female uh guest on the show it's been a while since we've had one it's been a bit of a dude Fest shall we say on the rugged Revival since Anna Scott was on last year so we're really pleased to have uh Addie on so welcome to the show how are you I'm so good thank you guys so much for having me be a part of this I'm very honored by my my queen status that was feeling very kind today the official queen of our Appalachia shall we say so uh so yeah do you want to introduce yourself hopefully I did uh some justice in kind of describing who you are but uh from your own perspective do you want to tell the listeners uh yeah who who you are yeah my name's Addie I'm from Southwest Virginia uh and I base out of Nashville right now and I tour with the brothers comos and I do some my own stuff as well but I'm a primary mandolin player that's my baby and yeah that's about as exciting as it gets man awesome over to you then Ry thank you very much Addie or your majesty should I uh refer to as your majesty my 's gonna be too high after this y'all can't do that honestly it's gonna be great um so thank you for joining us it's lovely to meet you um I'm going to go to my very first favorite question that I ask everybody where did baby Addie come from what is your background where did you take your first steps tell us tell us all about you so I'm from a little County in Virginia called palaski County and I grew up singing in church with my dad I was in musical theater growing up uh my dad played guitar and he tried to teach me guitar when I was younger of course when it's dad's idea it's not I don't want to do it of course when you're like 10 it's not cool if your parents suggest it but um yeah I met Dolly Parton's old band leader Gary biscuit Davis uh and he was the one that encouraged me to play music and and here I am still to this day wow awesome so you started at 10 and you said that um what did you first start off with again did you say guitar was my first instrument and then I switched to mandolin shortly after amazing but you've got Mel talents so you can play many instruments do you want to give us a list of instruments you can play I can play fiddle um a little bit upright bass and then I can play two songs on the banjo that I learned just to annoy my husband so that's about I got on that instrument and then I play I just started playing my first show with electric guitar for the brothers com to so I did a song on there W but that's a that's a doozy of an instrument to play there's no hiding behind an electric instrument that's awesome and and very talented awesome very talented so thank you for sharing that with us um and you said uh around your you know with with your dad um when you started playing the guitar when you 10 um do you come from a musical family is it a musical background is it you know where how did you how did you get into it my dad grew up in music so I was always around it um I'm Appalachia is pretty rich in that culture and that music so I grew up going to f and banjo clubs around here and dancing I grew up at the Floy Country Store going on Fridays and dancing and listening to the music and always being around it so I don't know if I would say my besides my dad my family isn't super musical but my childhood was very Musical and is there anything in particular in childhood that inspired you to continue is there anybody that you listen to that inspired you well Dolly Parton one of course that my girl she was the one that inspired me and I worked at Dollywood her theme park in Tennessee for a long time um she was a big inspiration as a child and then um just some local people like Martha Spencer she's a local musician that plays oldtime music in Appalachia and she had these she always wore this pretty red dress and she had this long brown hair and I was like I'm going to be her one day and uh now we're friends and that was just a big inspiration as little Addie to watch her go up there because she would play and then she would dance so she would flat foot or buck dance afterwards and I was like I want to do that and so here we are brilliant that's epic and I know you mentioned when you said that about Dolly Parton I know the TJ uh will be going into it a bit later but you know you've played at Dollywood and I've I've seen some of the videos coming out there which has just been awesome um but we we'll come on to that in a bit I won't I won't ruin it for for TJ um and so on on the last couple of shows I I've asked some of the artists uh around Christmas time and we've done some specialist shows like around Valentine's Valentine's was our last one actually was our last show um I think but um I'm just being nosy now so there's no special reason I just wanted to see would you share uh one memory that sticks out to you in your mind uh growing up one poignant memory trying to think of a good one growing up in music is just like I mean everything is so important it feels like Monumental uh I would say one of my biggest ones so there's a festival called merlefest in North Carolina and they have a program called anti- ma acoustic kids and so there was a a youth stage and you would submit your music and you would get chosen to come in and play and then like the top of the top kids would go in and play the like there's like the main stage and there's the side stage that's like right decided so they play music in between the main acts switching off and it's in front of like a billion people it felt like at 13 um getting the opportunity to do that was just amazing and a lot of the peers that I got to do that with um it was my childhood youth band and then a couple others I mean we all work together now so I have known my co-workers since I was 10 years old and they've seen every bad uh set of eyebrows that I've ever had which is mortifying to think that they have seen that and we we'll work together for the rest of our lives but it's also really great because it feels like family yeah that's incredible and I I can't believe you know you're still as you're saying that that connection you've had all along um up until now that's that's incredible so um yeah thank you so much for Shar that with me um I'm gonna hand over to TJ thank you very much thank you so much now it's really interesting to hear everyone's backg around when they come on the show just to kind of see you know how your journey has taken you to where we are now but uh you know we we've seen a lot of your socials and this is kind of how you came onto our radar so to speak and you know if anyone's out there make sure you're subscribing to Annie add's um YouTube channel uh and Instagram and everything even Tik Tok um we love watching the videos and you know there I think there's a few videos that you put out where you playing the mandolin and I thought some of these were sped up it just uh it's incredible I was like that can't be right you know someone can't play that fast but uh it's incredible I personally love the sound of the mandolin and you know you you've got people like Sierra Hull who's Sturgill's mandolinist is that the right term mandolinist I yeah yeah she played on the uh cutting grass albums that's right that's one of my favorite albums and uh she was fantastic on that and then you've got people like Andrew Marlin and watch house so you know a couple of my favorite uh artists uh that plays such beautiful kind of mandolin and and you're up there um so yeah it's um so you said you're based out of Nashville at the moment how did you get to Nashville um so when I was working I've been at Dollywood as a full-time musician I did that for nine years and so I when I got out of high school I went straight into working at Dollywood and then I got an offer for a contract gig in Nashville so it was a residency at City Winery uh playing for another artist and so that's what moved me to Nashville it was the month after my wedding uh that contract did not fulfill and so I moved to Nashville and then got there I was like oh my job's gone cool time to make friends really fast and so got there I have like the best community of people that I could ever hope for they're my closest friends I was in Nashville this weekend I'm back home in Virginia my husband goes to school there so I'm back and forth a little bit and I got home and we just like I went out with all my people every night because it's a national there's always something to do somebody's music to go catch we're like oh so and so's playing it this or so and so's playing here like we have to go see our friends and just being surrounded by that Community is just like amazing I love Nashville no we we've had a few people on uh who who are playing Nashville currently and we've got Leon M I always say his name wrong Leon M my that was right he did correct us on that and other fantastic people and a Scott even uh from Nashville and it's uh it's an interesting scene it's something that me and Ronnie would love to to go out and experience ourself uh oh it's definitely worth it there you go there you go there you go so we definitely have to go but um so what was it like playing Nashville as an Appalachian artist that that that intrigues me that part yeah so there's a really good Bluegrass scene there and it's a lot of Appalachians that have moved to Nashville because it's so much easier to base out of there for touring major airport any bus routes usually go out of there um and a lot of Blu grass kids end up being utility gigs for uh country artists because we grew up in a genre that's you learn every instrument when you're a kid so it's a really quick take on to being a utility player so a lot of my friends are utility players um in the country World classification and so I've met some of my best friends like they're from Tennessee or Kentucky or South Carolina and we all just ended up moving here for work and now I just have my little circle of Appalachia there like all my childhood friends that I was talking about at mest like they all live 15 minutes from me now in Nashville and it's it's so funny we all grew up four to five hours away and appalachi and would see each other like once or twice a month maybe and now it's hey want to go play pool or like hey let's go to Janes Hiway and catch the band they're like okay because we're all off on Mondays nobody's out on a Monday you're making us jealous now you're doing so many things you know oh it's the best I hate to be that person but you got to go you got to experience you experience Real Nashville Broadway's fun broad I've played my share of Broadway uh to it's great money but uh East Nashville and even into Madison and West the the scene is amazing with different genres and just the musicians that you see on the road if they're not on the road they still got to make money most of us aren't on salary gigs so we're all playing around town I went to D's one night and it was West Corbett who plays for Sam bush and bronwin who plays for Molly and then Molly tutle showed up and then Justin Moses was playing and Sierra was hole was hanging out there like we're in this like little Rinky Dink bar these cocktail lounge is like the spot and like all these Heavy Hitters are just we all just hanging out like this is awesome that was when I first moved like this is the best thing ever just casually chilling out in a bar that be we just stop this and get on a plane let's go yeah I was going to say we come see a bit that's about time isn't it so when me and Ron do come out to to Nashville and we will um what what where should we head you mentioned a few places there any specific bars that you would recommend that we we go and visit oh yes de always has some of the best music in town Jane's Hideway I play there quite a bit we're playing Sunday uh always killer musicians um best cocktails in town if you ask me they're they're pretty high up there on that list uh Honky Tonk Tuesday is always a fun one to go see Western swing bands and twep in um and there's I mean there's so many dance nights too I love to swing dance in twep so there's all those um where's some of my others the tiger bar is just a normal cocktail bar they don't do like live music or any bands but they're also that's one of my favorites I've got a uh I don't have my keys I've got a lifetime membership pass there so I get 20% off because I go there kind of B because they have they have cool stuff they cool things to try but uh those are definitely my tops Janes is Janes and D's are that's where we're at most nights of the week uh you should do a a YouTube uh video of you just going around to the bars tasting the cocktails and giving like the guided tour I think loads of people have watch that what's your favorite coil oh I'm I've turned into a gen girl so I love a French 75 I I'm learning not to order a PBR everywhere I go because that's kind of my uh when you play for the brothers Kos like you you learn to like beer very quickly and so usually I'm like I'll just take beer it's fine and I'm like no I'm sophisticated now I've got a stem on my glass and I'm going to drink this little cocktail um the tiger bar has one of my favorites and it's called the split face girl and it's an espresso martini with a lemon drop foam on top oh wow which you don't think would go together but do because I'm a little coffee nerd but the Citrus notes bring out like the Citrus taste in coffee undertones especially in like a lighter roast they have more of a citric I'm so sorry this is so n but um but that's that's one of my favorite cocktails of all time it's so good yeah these are Posh cocktails compared to what we normally have it's normally just straight whiskey or maybe a bit of coke it that's the cocktail that we have TJ I've got to say I'm partial to a porn star Martini I do like a porn star Martin one of my favorite cocktails anyway moving on I love J yeah but like I said beforehand 92% of the time it's like I'll just take a beer yeah I'll have a be there you go I'm Selter water it's too early for me to drink a beer right now it is yeah that's the time zone issue so apologies for that we're not it's not 2 o' here that would be weird actually it's 10 o' in the morning there's no difference we're we're good we we can still operate anyway um brilliant no that's that's really interesting to kind of hear about Nashville because that's one of our our bucket list places to go um let's talk about your music uh Addie and going through your bio and everything that we can find online basically this is we do as much research as we can and I can see you started at a band called gate 10 um and there was some really young pictures there when I went on to Spotify and things you look good it's fine my very first band was called gravel road so that was when I was in Middle School and so that's where I met some of my still best friends now so when that band ended when they were going into high school and we were all like just kind of going different directions of life in high school I started gate 10 with another group of amazing people who I love very dearly uh yeah and so the further it's really bad you can just Google my name and I'm 11 in those pictures I'm like I don't know who to ask to take them down internet's forever unfortunately I know like it was cute at the time and it was great but now I look back and I'm like I Google my name every once in a while just to make sure I didn't like miss anything but like got posted like somebody else's and I'm like ooh that side ponytail is a lot Addie like sure those are my childh oh yeah I was rocking a side ponytail with a big Rose in it thank to my thank you mother for uh being the one on the train there but those were my childhood bands and then gate 10 ended shortly after Co because that was when I graduated high school class of 2020 super fun um and then I started my current band so we just play every once in a while together but it's Addie leaving the Avalanche that started last year fantastic and that's where your self-titled album was released last year as wasn't it under the same name so tell us how that came about what what what um yeah talk talk us through that so I had that opportunity to work at hat Creek Studios um Bobby stars who owns it uh him and I had started co-writing and so then I ended up recording ing a couple songs and I was just going to do like a single and put it out and then it was like oh might as well order or uh record an EP and it was like oh okay well I have why I might as well just do more so just kind of kept going back and recording and I had a lot of my good friends on that album and it was music that I kind of wrote as we went the first couple songs were when I was first getting into being out of high school and being a full-time musician then there was I wrote about being burnt out in in music when I was kind of Indie where I was working at Dollywood full-time and then there was me um moving out of Dollywood and going into Nashville and my contract falling through so there was just like it was a lot of emotions and so it's really just a detailed at least for me um description of like where my life went the three years getting out of high school and where my music was going and so I can hear a big difference and some of the writing and I hope that it's not too disjointed because the album was recorded over a year and a half uh and I don't know it was just like a really healthy way for me to deal with a lot of change very quickly some of it not great change so that was kind of my my therapy was that album and then put it out into the world I'm like here's my child hope everybody likes it a lot of people say that when we we speak to them you know their first album is quite cathartic it's just getting everything off their chest and I think rich Henderson said that you know he said uh you know he he he went through a lot of pain a lot of issues a lot of stress and it was just kind of dumping into that record what that was and his next record he said would probably sound a lot differently to to that's where I am now we're started started looking at recording another EP and just some different stuff and it's it's a lot different musicality to it and I was like oh that sounds so different are people going to hate it and then I realized that nobody's really going to care so that was a very free it was a very free feeling of like nobody's really G to care that it sounds different like nobody it's just in my head so might as well just do it just just on a side note I I I know you mentioned the studio but um I watched one of the videos um which was lies um and uh what studio what an incredible Studio oh I need to be there that's my friend Mark studio and he he has some cool stuff so that was all Live recorded the videos with lies um and downfall so those were live cut at his place with those old big vintage microphones he has got some killer gear in that room really um he's just a great guy killer guitar player that's awesome thank you sorry no I love it no I'm nerd out about different Studios too I'm like whoa that's so pretty yeah that is amazing yeah and I do like the old is it the ribbon mics they call them you know the Vintage stuff they look so cool and uh they look very expensive if you were to break one so yes I didn't touch I was like still play Blue Grass I don't want to touch [Laughter] that and then moving on uh it was October or the end of October last year you announced online uh that you were joining the brothers Kos who are another really big successful Bluegrass and Roots influence band uh and it was great it's quite funny it was the sign saying the brothers have a sister I think the rugged Revival needs a sister because it's just been me and Ronnie so far and quite a lot of dude guests so uh maybe we'll put a a vacancy out there and see how many applications we don't receive I don't know but tell to sell it so much you want to sell it I'm telling you yeah I do a little bit I'm just speaking the truth to be quite honest with you but so that that was really interesting that you you you joined the brothers comos and yeah tell us about that new venture so uh back in 2023 they had called me about starting to sub uh for their mandum player at the time who could make some of the shows and so they sent me a YouTube video of the live show and they were like learn this I said okay uh and learned the show flew out to Idaho uh about that time I'm landing in Idaho I'm like I don't know who these people are what am I doing in the middle of the mountains and Idaho um and then I met them and they're just the best people on this Earth and we had rehearsal and went up there and headlined the festival and I was shaken in my boots I was so scared cuz I'd never headlined a festival before I just turned 21 I was so scared um and they're just amazing people they just make such an amazing show the music's great they put on a great performance the crowd always loves them um and it was just it was just the best experience so I subbed in with them for about a year doing some here and there dates and then I took over full-time last year uh fantastic and what's it like touring and traveling with four other dudes is it is it easygoing you mentioned you know they make you drink beer and stuff but uh it you know it's going to be difficult as the only kind of female within the group what what's your experience like with that so there's actually six guys and two girls on the road so our tour manager is a female her name is Elanor and she is the baddest girl ever I love Eleanor she lives in Nashville with me so we're the only two Nashville girls the rest of them are West Coast and then we have our killer lighting Tech Sean and our uh sound tech Chase so we've got an eight-person crew on most of our stuff so uh even more than four they're six but uh Ian they're just the greatest like it's so fun they're so kind they're like the best people that I could have been paired up with um they're all dads too so it's just it's great energy in the van and there's so much fun uh I really just could not be more excited about the group that I'm with ah see I I was hoping for some like insights and some dirt to be dished in terms of touring and stuff um trying to think of anything funny I don't know I feel like we're the first time I ever played with them was two of their's birthday um so Ben and Steve our guitar player and our bass player of the same birthday so it was it was a very fun night in uh Sawtooth uh that was my first show I ever drank a beer on stage cuz I I just turned 21 and I was like I can't be seen drinking beer like from my little Appalachian town and I was like it's okay I just need a water like I'm going to get on stage we were supposed to headline outside and then we got moved inside and it was hot cuz the sawtooths are known as one of the coldest places in the states in even in July which is when we were there it was like 30° I was dying um and so we get inside this hot building I'm in like velvet top and I'm like okay I need a water Open Stage cooler just beer just PBR there like 40 pbrs in the cooler I'm like oh cool um so that was my first PBR and first one on stage and I was so nervous I hit it at the back of the stage and I would like walk back and sip it and put it back down and come back up and now that doesn't matter but it was just there it was just a lot of like funny there's a lot of funny first for me cuz I'm I'm the least seasoned tour out of all of them I've been traveling for blue girlass my whole life but within like a three-state radius of my home um was my first time ever going west of Nashville seeing the Rockies going to Colorado like it was awesome being on the west coast for the first time I'm like staring at the ocean I'm like I am so far away right now it is insane uh yeah but we don't have a lot of dirt because we're also like just really chill we just go to bed at night someone was talking to me um about my husband they were like is he going to travel with you when when he graduates college no no nobody really wants to do that like we're in a Sprinter van for six hours and then we get to the venue and we unload our stuff and then we eat dinner and then we play the show and then we get back in Sprinter van and we go to the hotel it's now when we have four buses and you know we get to party all night then maybe somebody might want to come hang out with us but not not by ourselves in the van it's not not as glamorous as uh some people think is that what you're saying yes it's it's a pretty chill it's a weird job but it's it's just just a job there you go but um you're playing some good festivals this year I was looking online and you've got one in July in Virginia uh for floydfest and that looks an interesting Festival you got some really cool names on the lineup you got government mu I'm a big fan of them an older older band uh Lin Po and I've recently been listening to the California honey drops they're they're a funky little band they are I do like them so what is that your first time playing that particular Festival floydfest is my home Festival actually so I've been playing at floydfest since I was 15 um in my youth band and then I've worked in their VIP Hospitality uh as part of their staff since I got out of high school and so last year I got to be on the lineup under my name and I was so stoked and just had a really great Community already so we have like a fluid Fest family group uh Facebook group um and so when it was announced and I joined the broos everybody was like oh my gosh we saw her last year and it was just super great and so then it got announced that we're playing it this year and I freaked out like I I love that Festival it's 40 minutes from my house so I get to sleep in my own bed yes and so I love that Festival it's one of the most beautiful locations it's in the heart of the Blue Ridge out here in Floyd Virginia which I just love Floyd and like Mount Joy is on the lineup I'm a big Mount Joy fan um and a lot of like really good friends that play music Caitlyn Chrisco in the broadcast she's amazing Jared Stout band he's from here they're awesome like friends of mine are on the lineup and I'm so stoked about it it's amazing it's it's going to be tough touring nonstop and so we we talked to a lot of artists from all over and funny enough the last few have been from um Virginia so we've had well we met up with Kobe T Helms when he was playing UK recently lovely guy such an awesome dude so when I think of Virginia I just have a tiny place in mind but it's a huge State that's probably bigger than the whole of UK so when when I go oh do you know these guys and they're probably pretty so spread out I don't know Cody personally but we have a lot of mutual friends through music because he's like got that appalachin like Bluegrass and oldtime background as well so a lot of the band a lot of the members that he plays with in his band are friends of mine from childhood oh that's cool yeah so you've got him Brenan Edwards is on his show um and Kindred Valley will at last episode that we had on fantastic folk band from from Virginia I forget which part but uh yeah so it's like that state is kicking kicking ass at the minute uh so many great artists coming out right now and it's one of my favorite places on my again on my bucket list bucket list is growing it's like the mag Carter at the minute of places that me and Ronnie need to visit hey we're five and a half hours from Nashville it's an easy drive you go see I I don't visit Ronnie too much because I think it's too far and you're what see down the road just cuz he doesn't like me my poite way he's like no it's driving it's the car I promise yeah definitely yeah it's definitely the car my car doesn't go that far oh I drive I have a a drive to Nashville so I'm driving down Sunday morning to play Sunday night and I'm driving back Monday night just because I'm trying to get back here and hack before because all my stuff is here I have a place in Nashville while my stuff is in Virginia so I have to come back and pack for winter wondergrass which is in Colorado which is one of my dream festivals that we're playing next weekend and I have been stoked and I have been shopping for this outfit for months and I am ready to put it in a suitcase and wear it ah so not only are you the queen of Appalachia you're the most stylish person there as well because I've seen lots of different outfits and some retro things going on super cool where'd you get your stuff uh all over too much uh a lot I Thrift a lot um and it's I try to like not order as much as I can but I have a weird job and it requires like weird clothes um so I've got I like I ordered my snowsuit so I got that from like fashion Nova just because we did our New Year's show and I needed a gold long dress and you know apparently gold is not cool anymore because every store I went to had no gold dresses zero not even like an ugly one just none so I had to like order six of them and try and make them work but uh I do try to Thrift lot of my clothes um Nashville thrifting top tier so I really don't have a problem with it there it's awesome I just I go in there and I spend like $50 a week usually just like digging through the racks it's like gambling for me like I never know what I'm going to get it might be like a $30 pair of jeans for six bucks like you never know yeah a treasure Trove I think it's not so much prevalent in the UK thrifting I think if we went into one of these thrift stores or charity shops we call them here we' come out looking like a 90-year-old man pretty much most of the time uh which wouldn't be much of a Improvement in what we we at the minute um I'll speak for myself on that Ronnie you can find some cool stuff probably I think so I think we we should do that as a mission we we'll go out at the weekend and buy s Quest yeah we do have um we've got TK Max I don't know what it's to called over I it might be TJ Maxx over over in America um and that is like you've got to be going through the rails just TJ girl yeah love it absolutely love it I get my little latte and I put my headphones on I'm in there for hours it's like you know little kids yes you know the kids like dancing fruit videos you put FR of babies and it like distracts them just put me in the TK Maxx I won't even buy anything but I am G to look at every single item in that store I'm just a girl like I have to look what if there's something there tell you what when we come over we'll go to TJ Maxx or TK Max whatever it is over there so oh yeah one beside my house got a HomeGoods attached to it I'll make sure you get the credit card to the to the max there you go well perhaps we should do a side quest for our Channel Ronnie in in that I will buy an entire outfit for you and vice versa and see how cool we look at the end of it you know we've done that we all draw a name out of the hat and we went to we went to a like a Fiddlers convention to a Bluegrass competition so we all chose the other person and then we split up in the big Goodwill and you pick out everybody's outfit for competition and we looked crazy it was so fun so let's do that then let's do it let's let's let's think about episodes yeah and we'll do it I've always wanted to wear dong properly so maybe that's uh something you could buy me Ronnie interesting I don't think anyone wants to see me a pair of D to beon it goes with the scene doesn't it blueg grass dungar you know I'm look a gold dress that's what I'm going to look for see if you find one let me know I will do I'll send it over it's going to be an enormous one if it's for you mate but well there you go but uh no that's that's been really interesting to kind of figure out what what you've been up to and where you're going where else are you you playing this year Addie uh so we've got Colorado next weekend then the next weekend is North Carolina show so that'll be fun uh being close to home and then the next weekend we're playing in Mexico and I am stoked because it is gross and cold outside my house and I'm ready to go to Mexico he was like yeah it might be kind of cold I mean it's it's not going to be any higher than 80 I was like it's 22 degrees at my house right now I will take 80 I'm not worried about that um so we're headlining a festival down there we're one of the Bands there uh we're playing in Montana at Under The Big Sky super stoked about that one um and then we're crossing one place off my bucket list this year but that's not announced yet so I can't necessarily say that it's very exciting not exclusive for the rugged Revival we can't squeeze it out of you and yeah never I've been there for six months I can't lose my job yet yeah we'll let you off we'll let you off with that one well over to you Ronnie I've been talking for a long time uh yeah over to you mate well I have been enjoying myself so much I've lost my place where I am so thank you anyway um there is a couple of things I know we mentioned some of your songs but I just want to say it before we go on to the next couple of questions if that's right um I watched a video with uh one of my alltime favorite songs I've watched different Renditions of it um but Harvest Moon when you're at Dollywood is it Cole R and Bailey Johnstone Johnstone yes um awesome just great I love to listen to it thank you I've heard some of it but yours spot on really good thank you the brothers Kos have a killer version of that with AJ Lee and every once in a while if we get it requested and AJ's not on tour with us because she will sometimes do like a co-headlining tour uh I have to sing it so I have to practice because she kills that song every time and it makes me really nervous to sing it uh when people are used to hearing AJ's version so I practice in other places amazing no incredible I'll listen look out really really good um now I could go on because I've got a number of songs SE oh and the other song that I really liked is uh rabbit in the log um which I was amazing it's like you know when TJ was saying oh it's definitely sped up or the videos are sped up no it's just awesome so incredible thank you um so uh I was going to ask you um I've asked the artist before that we've we've interviewed um but uh what's the best album or single you've listened to in the last 10 years I know it's a long time but 10 years and what makes it stand out to you I have to say the circles around me well I don't know what the release date was for that but it was it was within the last 10 years that I discovered it because I've been well I don't know it's close to 10 years but this is the most one of the most influential albums for me is the circles around me album by Sam Bush I mean just it's amazing oh there's so many albums now now that I'm thinking about it but um that was one of the biggest influences for me I love new grass I love new grass Revival and so to hear Sam Bush doing all this like Progressive Bluegrass because I grew up in a very traditional setting of Bluegrass um and so hearing all these there's drums on it and they're doing so many different things that was the first time I think I really heard new grass or like Progressive blue grass and I just I latched on to that album Sam Bush is my favorite mandolin player to this day he's amazing it I just love the the freedom in his playe very like heavy right-handed double stops um and it's just I mean he's insane to watch like it's phenomenal so I would say that that's definitely up there um it that was definitely probably the biggest instrumentally for me uh oh my gosh there's so many other options so I I'll leave it at that one because I can go on for like 30 minutes here I'm like well this one has this song and this one does this but definitely that one that one's always going to be in my top albums of all time I'll definitely have to have a look on uh some of the videos not actually seen it on videos but I'll definitely try and have a look at some on videos and and see it um because you've just described it amazingly so thank you uh thank you for sharing that um and the next question I want to ask you is around uh any emerging musicians or bands that you've been following and would recommend to anybody that's listening to us broken Compass blueg grass uh their killer I mean I wouldn't they're we're playing with them in May I don't know they're just awesome I got to meet them very briefly for the first time in Raleigh recently um and i' never gotten to meet any of them in person I just follow them on Instagram I'm like they're so killer such great musicians they have great Arrangements of stuff and so I'm I've been like super stoked to play with them they're one of my favorites Pythagoras is another killer bluegrass band out of uh ETSU which is East Tennesse State uh college and they have a Bluegrass program so they're all students out of that and so they're just killer and then another one Cole Ritter who you mentioned he's one of my best friends but he's working on his next solo album and just like one of my favorite he's like one of the people that you listen to and can play everything and it makes you really kind of angry because they're just really really good and I love him so dearly but it makes me angry sometimes I'm like how did you do that um he's one of those people so he's working on a project so definitely follow him because that's I mean that's just gonna be awesome that's that's great thank you so much and a shout out to all of them um I know of you know I mentioned Co breit earlier um around the the harvest Moon side so um yeah and I think you know when when you listen to people getting angry it's what TJ and I do all the time so TJ pretends to play the guitar and I pretend to sing um and um and it just makes us really angry because it's so easy for um That's Got Talent obviously that's Got Talent Only The Talented ones can sing properly so yeah we'll we'll carry on getting angry with ourselves but there we go um and uh it's a bit of a strange question but I'm gonna ask it anyway um so if you could choose any song ever um that you could have written what would it be ever oh no um I do have to say one of my favorite songs and one that's like specifically struck home when I just first moved in Nashville I was living downtown I do not live downtown anymore thank the Lord but um cuz I grew up on a farm and so this was my first time living in a city city uh and so tall buildings by John Hartford is just like one that gets me every time and it's just it's just talking about the the way our society has moved into like the chus is goodbye to the sunshine goodbye to the Dew goodbye to the flowers and goodbye to you I'm off to the subway I must not be late cuz I'm going to work in tall buildings like oh it's just crazy hard love that song it's just one of the most beautiful oh I love it um so I would say probably that one that's pretty high up on that list right there great choice incredible thank you um and is there any advice you would give any emerging talented artists um you were going to hit some rough patches uh even when you even opportunities that look amazing like my contract job that got me to move to Nashville um there is a reason Reon that things happen there's a reason that Things fall through and there is always something the other end is tal if that contract would have never fallen through I never would have started working for brothers Kos and now I'm in the best gig of my life and so take everything with a grain of salt when it comes to failure because that means that opportunity is right around the corner and that's something I have to tell myself a lot that is incredible advice because there there's one thing that I think TJ and I say quite a bit everything happens for a reason you know you could be going through a bit of a rough patch it could be you know things that haven't come through that you really wanted but everything happens for a reason and you've just knocked the nail on the head uh and look where you are now you're in an incredible Place doing some incredible things uh and yeah amazing thank you absolutely so outside of Music what's something that you're passionate about outside of music that others don't know I want the gossip okay I want the gosip I want so my last year's whole new year's resolution was to find some Hobbies um I got really into reading I love a fantasy uh dark Academia like that kind of book I I I love those uh I'm really into swing dancing and two-stepping I love to dance uh and I'm really into fortnite I I play every day when I'm home uh I'm actually kind of mad because I was gone for three weeks and now the battle pass is almost gone and I don't have enough levels to get all the sparkly skins I that's such a nerdy thing for me to say but like it's been an actual uh conversation I've been having with Eric my husband and I'm like I I'm so sorry but I have to play right now because if I don't get all these levels I'm never going to get these sparkly skins uh and so that is that is unfortunately one of my biggest Hobbies outside of that but I get tolder every night about sparkly skins there was some ice spice live event uh I've got an 11-year-old so I I know all about fortnite probably more and I I should but it doesn't fun I think maybe in the evenings I need to unwind I used to make fun of Eric all the time cuz I grew up a Minecraft kid you know some real art of video game of Minecraft um and so he would play fortnite and I'm like that's lame boo let's play Minecraft and then he was like just try it so I downloaded I'm an Xbox girl he's a PC guy um and so we can like game right beside each other and so then I downloaded it I was like wait this is fun because it's such a quick turnaround and everything just moves so fast it keeps my little attention deficit brain like locked into something um yeah and so that's where I am I've been playing I got home definitely need have a look at that uh have you seen they've just they've they're releasing the Minecraft film you seen that I'm so excited I'm gon to be honest I'm real it looks kind of lame it looks weird I'm with it I'm ready to go I am gonna have my diamond sword um and my little helmet and I'm going to be sitting in the movie theater ready to go that's all I'm like I'm a Harry Potter nerd um when I went to Universal Studios I have my cloak and my wand and I'm like let's go awesome awesome I was ready to go yeah my uh my poor husband is like it's so great baby let's go come on well that's an excuse to come over here because I live about 20 minutes from the Harry Potter Studios in leavon uh where all the filming was so you definitely have to come over and uh being and TJ will take you on a tour uh husband and we'll show you all around he'll love it I'm sure don't don't don't temp me cuz I am currently planning a week that I have off in Europe and so might aw you've got to add that and uh a sad fact mine is I used to hang around with James and olle the two twins I haven't seen Harry Potter so I can't remember are they the Weasley twins I'm not sure yesy they just done an advert about the new train at Harry Potter studio this is going on a big tangent by the way um but Harry Potter studio has just done a a brand new advert the two twins so um intered there you go yeah it's just another fun fact it's fake it's fake this is sounding like I know what I'm gonna do on my week off now yes yes come on down um now I've only got a couple more questions I promise um but uh in fact there's only one more question that I want to ask you so I asked the last artist it's one of my favorite questions to ask um I have asked them what their top three goals are so top three goals and times you could say three five years or forever 20 years um but I want to know what is Addy's top three goals um I mean I have top three venues for sure that could take the but like I really would love to play the Opry the Ryman and Red Rocks those are the best one like the big ones yeah um I don't know I think record in another album within the next couple years is something that I would like to do um and then being on a bus gig like I think we're kind of moving that direction anyways but like to be on a bus for a long term just to try it I think that would be super interesting but I've always told a lot of people that don't understand the industry are like wow I hope you make it one day I'm like you do not have to make it to make a living I I have no desire in my heart to be like Carrie Underwood level of whatever like no I don't want to do that I get award award when people recognize me in Walmart like what am I going to do if I'm famous I get awkward at the merch table and so my biggest goal is just to be happy of where I am and I'm I'm so thrilled now and I mean I can just that's my biggest goal is just be happy in the gig that I'm in and I don't see how I couldn't be if I continue working with the people that I do because like good lord it's awesome fantastic thank you and add I have absolutely no doubt uh you're incredibly talented um and I have no doubt you'll be playing all of them very very soon um we've had so many people mention uh Red Rocks and the grand a Prix uh you will have to add a goal onto your list because when we've finally uh TJ and I have finally sorted out the grand old ruggy Revival or the grand old Revival then you have to come over to UK and play that um and awesome honestly that'll be another goal that you need to add but um you will play it because you're you're incredibly talented so thank you very much to go to the Harry Potter World afterwards oh we'll do that first okay okay yeah yeah I like that we'll do that first don't worry um now it's just a personal thing for me I when I was researching uh a lot of the stuff as as TJ has already said we try and do as much research as possible on the artist background and everything else um but there is a quote that I come across um on online and um I'm I just wanted to mention it because I I think you should be extremely proud to be honest um so it says add's dedication to preserving and innovating um within the blueg gr tradition continues to inspire audiences and fellow musicians alike her passion for the genre and commitment to her craft ensure her outgoing uh sorry her ongoing influence in the world of Bluegrass and Country Music um that for me wow you know that just proves how incredible you are so you should be proud of it um and thank you for talking to me but I'm going to hand over to TJ now so thank you I'm not sure how I can top that now it's uh what am I going to do but um no it's been it's been incredible speaking to you and did did you say you over in Europe um this year or next what what what's the kind of plan or are you able to talk about that that might be my My Little Secret I will I have a week off in Europe so that's all I can say right now but I will be over there I've never been to Europe and I'm really excited about it and my little southern accent is gonna come out real thick over there I have a very sneaky suspicion um but I'm really stoked about that but yeah no it's great be announced it another time so I thought I thought if I asked so many questions and kind have blurred it you might just reveal it by accident oh do almost had me I was real close to I was like wait a minute H know it was supposed to be announced last week and I think the the date got pushed so uh now I'm just like holding on to this I'm like I need to tell everybody um I haven't done it yet very proud of that but yeah International chose heck yeah fantastic yeah me and Ronnie are the worst persons for keeping any kind of secret really so just don't tell us anything value but uh that's fantastic we're seeing loads more people coming over to the UK because we were on a bit of a moan fest last year weren't we like we weren't seeing that many artist bring me into your into your you moaning yeah rightly so and people must have heard me yeah rightly so people have listened and we're getting loads and loads more people coming over to some of the festivals cuz sometimes in the UK it's quite insul so you tend to see the same um homegrown artists and not not many people from from you know the states or or afar so we so it's great to see Colby um doing a UK tour recently for Bluegrass and you know when I was speaking to him he he was intrigued he's like I I don't know if people are interested in this music over here and I said just you know you're selling out shows and the show I went there was so many people interested and you know talking to me afterwards saying what a fantastic gig it was and you know I think we've got a really good crowd over here and you'll be warmly uh welcome and received so yeah if you do come to the UK come and speak to us um we've got some great venues we can hook you up with um yeah speak to us that'd be fantastic I like the sound of that there you go and we'll help you with the merch table we'll even like sit behind that and you know sell hats and vinyl and threaten people people like it so beyond kind of streaming your music how how can we support you how can uh everyone else support you in your endeavors yeah uh social media is such a huge thing I'm a social media hater but it really is part of my job now um so following on that comment share all you know the traditional stuff you can order my CDs or my hats everything's on my website and I have a new song coming out next week on the 28th so go stream that when it comes out awesome oh we we'll go and buy a hat or two we love I need to get some new hats I've been wearing the same ones for ages yeah I have I have a very large uh trucker hat collection it just seems to be the thing that I always buy when I'm gone I'm like oh it's a hat it's usable it's not a t-shirt you know now I have 40 there's three on my table that I haven't even like worn yet I'm like I just got this one isn't it cool my husband's like well when you're done with them send them over there we go because we love we'll send you a rugged Revival one yeah there you go to add your we'll hat Trad these yeah let's do that is there anything else you'd like to to plug while we're here Addy in terms of what's coming out or or in general um just my my song's coming out next week uh be on the lookout for some new brothers Kos music we just got out of the studio for that so uh that's in the uh the final stages there so keep your eyes peeled and yeah I think that's it I'm I'm just hanging out right now I'm not pushing anything I'm I'm very excited to be playing with the broos any opportunity you guys get go see the brothers com toast there's a Vib oh we absolutely will it's um you're very chill that's what I like about you it's uh yeah it's you're in a good place by the sounds of bit um that's it from me and I I think that's all the questions we have so I just want to thank you for coming on it's been so interesting to get to know you uh to put the word out in terms of what you're doing and loads of new music coming out so really excited to listen and you already mentioned coming to the UK to see Harry Potter so you know looking forward to to hanging out with a Jin at Harry Potter World I like it I like it it might be a butterbeer for going to hot uh Harry Potter World oh yeah yeah I'm not sure I like those we'll teach you you have to watch the movies if you're coming but we'll we'll let you in on the secrets yeah yeah yeah I I have my my magic wand and I have my my robe and my time Turner I'm such a goober I'm going to stop talking um one those little glasses like that yeah yeah oh yeah ready to go awesome well we'll end with our traditional kind of goodbye Ronnie would you like to do the honors mate I certainly would what amazing energy you have uh great personality you have all been listening to the absolutely fabulous incredible and talented Addy liy to the grit the grind and to the Rival cheers

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