AmericanaMusic.com
Interviews with Americana "Artists You Should Know" hosted by Sarah Popejoy.
AmericanaMusic.com
The Young Fables Interview: The Songwriting Process and the Stories Behind Them
Here’s AmericanaMusic.com's podcast interview with the Americana band, The Young Fables. With Laurel’s powerhouse vocals, Wes’s smooth electric guitar lines, and the band’s amazing songwriting chops you’ll be hooked instantly. Laurel Wright and Wes Lunsford live in Nashville, but are originally from Maryville, TN. With 3 full length albums under their belt, their sound is a blend of Classic Country and Americana. With praises sung from the likes of Sheryl Crow, Shania Twain, and Travis Tritt, it is evident after listening to songs like “Drive”, “She Was Mine”,”Daddy’s Girl”, and their latest release “Fighter”, what the “buzz” is all about. You can also read the additional written interview with The Young Fables. Since this interview was recorded the two have signed with BMG Nashville and have released their documentary, The Fable of a Song. Listen as we go deep into the process of songwriting and the stories behind them.
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Sarah Popejoy:
Today we have with us the Young Fables, Laurel Wright and Wes Lunsford. You're the first in hopefully, a really long series of interviews of Americana artists for americana music.com. They are an amazing, amazing duo. I got to see them for the first time at Kansas City at the Folk Alliance conference. You guys really, really stood out to me, really genuine thing that I really love about your music and your website says it really well. Like the crossroads of classic country and Americana had praises from people like Sheryl Crow, Shania Twain, and Travis trt and accolades from Rolling Stone and their 10 Best Country and Americana songs of the week. That's pretty cool of all. I want to kind just start from the beginning where you guys are from Merrillville, Tennessee. Did you guys meet in Nashville or Merrillville? I know you're in Nashville
Wes Lunsford:
Now, but we played together for about a year in East Tennessee, and then we came to Nashville right after Laurel's 19th birthday.
Laurel Wright:
So we met there, but Wes and I were 10 years apart, so we didn't grow up together or anything.
Wes Lunsford:
We didn't even know each other. We just knew each other. A friend of mine called me and was like, Hey, play in this band. I need a last minute guitar player to come play. And that's how we met.
Sarah Popejoy:
Tell me a little bit about Merrillville and what it's like.
Laurel Wright:
I thought Maryville was a really great place to grow up. I mean, small town, there wasn't too much to do at the time, I feel like in Maryville, but cool music scene being really close to Knoxville with a city that everyone is more familiar with than Maryville. I feel like there was a lot of good music that's come out of just east Tennessee in general. So I thought it was a really great place to grow up, especially for that.
Wes Lunsford:
And there's so much music there and differing kinds of music. I grew up not even really knowing anything about country music, so much other things in Knoxville, Marival, there's a great blues scene. There's a great jazz scene. Even classic music like art, music and stuff like that. Awesome.
Sarah Popejoy:
You think some of that has to do with the college there or,
Wes Lunsford:
Yeah.
Sarah Popejoy:
I'm sure Maryville is about 23 minutes from Knoxville, and I saw that it was only about an hour from C'S Cove. So you could see the Smoky Mountains from your house from where you guys are. I mean in Maryville was,
Laurel Wright:
Yeah, I grew up in a neighborhood subdivision type thing, and we had a porch that you could see them in the distance and it was gorgeous views. But Wes, you lived a little,
Wes Lunsford:
Yeah, it's funny. My mom lived, actually lived in Seymour. My dad lived in Ulai, Tennessee, so Maryville's the middle, but both of those places are pretty rural in the mountains. I could not only see it, it was surrounding me at all times.
Sarah Popejoy:
That's cool. And so I saw that Sam Houston's historical schoolhouse is there
Laurel Wright:
That I took my cousin there not too long ago.
Sarah Popejoy:
Oh, really? Fun. I was like, that'll be one that the Texans are like. Laurel. Tell me about, I know you talk a lot about, because I did see the documentary about your front porch view and your dad. Tell me a little bit about that.
Laurel Wright:
Yeah, I don't think anyone's ever asked me that question before. Just kind of taking my mind back there to that front porch and being able to sit there with my mom and my dad and my sister and just having those memories. It's pretty overwhelming to even think about today.
Sarah Popejoy:
Yeah, sorry.
Laurel Wright:
But yeah, I mean, that was just really special. And I think my mom moved out of that house just a few years ago. It was just time for her to get a new start, and that was really hard for both of us to let that go. But there is a new family in there now and they want that to be their forever home. So I think that's something that's really special that I've been carrying with me as well.
Sarah Popejoy:
Yeah, yeah
Laurel Wright:
Yeah. I'm super jealous of the people that live there now, and I just on the door and be like, can I sit for a while?
Right. They might let you, who knows?
Yeah, totally. Yeah. The house that built me, that Miranda song has a totally different meaning.Meaning after getting rid of that house. So
Sarah Popejoy:
Yeah, when I first heard that song on the radio, I was like, oh, this is a hit. Tell me, I kind of want to know about the beginnings of your guys' music musical journey, each one Laurel with singing and writing and what just really inspired you to start doing that? Or was it just always there?
Laurel Wright:
I think it was always there. I always said that, I don't know. I don't think there's another path for me. I think this is it. Just speaking of that front porch, sitting out there and just having the Smokies around me growing up and just being in that kind of environment really. What's the word?
Wes Lunsford:
Persuaded.
Laurel Wright:
Persuaded my riding. No, that's the wrong. Influenced!
Wes Lunsford:
Writing.
Laurel Wright:
Writing. No really influence my songwriting, but I grew up classic country music. Thank you. Wes. Classic country music, and I loved Patsy Klein and all that kind of stuff. I also love Shania Twain, Dixie Chicks, things like that. And now I really like Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Maddie Diaz. And I feel like my things that I are kind of all over the place and they kind of switched a lot.
Wes Lunsford:
I think That's cool.
Laurel Wright:
Yeah,
Sarah Popejoy:
It
Wes Lunsford:
Gives you a directions that you have
Sarah Popejoy:
And Wes, what about you?
Wes Lunsford:
I grew up, I've always been behind the curve. I always loved older music, and so The Beatles and Bob Dylan were the things that really opened my mind musically. And my mom bought me a guitar. I think I was 13, and I became obsessed and would play for hours and hours a day and stay up all night and play guitar. And
Laurel Wright:
He still does that
Wes Lunsford:
Because to me, when I was a kid and I was just by myself and I had a hard time learning people's songs at first, and so I would just write songs and just be like, okay. But then I got really into playing jazz and stuff like that. And so I really just focused on playing guitar and I didn't write songs for years and years until really me and Laurel started playing together and she for some reason just brought a song into me and was like, Hey, can you help me with this? Or whatever. And so we just started writing together. So I really think that I want to be writing at all if it wasn't for Laurel for sure.
Laurel Wright:
And I don't think I'd be writing as much if it weren't for Wes, because before we ever started co-writing in Nashville, that's kind of what you do here. We didn't even realize it, but it's not like we were against co-writing. We just didn't do it with anybody but ourselves. But we were still co-writing.
Wes Lunsford:
Yeah. And I was so focused on trying to be the best guitar player I could be, and it's still one of my goals is to be the best guitar player I can be. But I was really trying to do that and traveling around with different people and learning different artist music. And I went to China for a while to play guitar, and while I was over there, that's when I got into country music. Somebody sent me a video of Glen Campbell playing and I heard his solo at the end of the song, I was like, I need to do this. So then I met Laurel almost immediately when I came back to the us
Sarah Popejoy:
Weird. That's really cool. I'd like to talk about your song Drive. First off. I love that song, by the way. It's a great song. There's a few, and I feel like every songwriter, when you start writing something, whether or not whatever it may be about you tell a little bit about yourself, whether or not you intend to do that or not.
But anyways, but there was just a few songs that just really stuck out me in that song and that getting up each morning and feeling nothing. And I think that anybody who's been through, what do you say, a great loss, a lot of loss, I don't know. I think they can relate to that line quite a bit. And I know it's just that one line and it's not even necessarily what the whole song is about, but I just wanted to point out that line to the audience. I mean, I just think it's a great line and something you can, knowing your story, it tells there's something there.
But anyways, I just lost my father about a year, a little over a year ago. So anyways, yeah. And then the next line that I want to talk about, there's a few lines I want to talk about in the song. Sorry, I'm a songwriter, so it just like, Ooh, I like this stuff. I just want to drive, leave it all behind. As long as I got four wheels in a radio. And as simple as that line is, which simple is hard in Nashville, you learn after writing for a while, is there's something about music and driving that can aid in the healing process, I think. And do you want to talk about that or just a little bit, or have you ever thought about that?
Wes Lunsford:
So with Drive is one of those songs that is different for us because usually I feel like every song's different, but usually Laurel has the initial idea and we write from that. But this one I had written all the lyrics
Sarah Popejoy:
Really?
Wes Lunsford:
And she made all the music
Sarah Popejoy:
Wow.
Wes Lunsford:
About it. And Laurel talks about that sometimes too, of where she feels,
Laurel Wright:
I feel like I wrote the song
Wes Lunsford:
Well, the Lyric, I mean, you did write the song,
Laurel Wright:
But I felt like the lyrics were my own, I guess was what,
Wes Lunsford:
But what you're talking about coming from that great loss, I wrote those words and it was like, I don't know, it was almost like I just wrote it to exercise that ability, but came from a place of when my dad passed away and I would just drive every night. I would just get in the car and drive around. That's talking about, and it does come from that spot. And even though I know Laurel can, that's a big part of her story too,
Laurel Wright:
But it's a big part of everybody's
Wes Lunsford:
Story, right? Everybody,
Laurel Wright:
Right. I mean, even that line, getting up each morning and feeling nothing, that's a line that stands out to me as well. Every time I sing that I'm like, oh, dagger to the Heart because everyone, if you haven't felt that way, you probably will feel that way at some point.
Sarah Popejoy:
Yeah,
Wes Lunsford:
I'm
Laurel Wright:
Very strong. And yeah,
Sarah Popejoy:
You were
Wes Lunsford:
Able
Laurel Wright:
To
Wes Lunsford:
Get something like that.
Laurel Wright:
Wow.
Sarah Popejoy:
That's cool.
Wes Lunsford:
For me, just, I am not even a car person or anything like that, but that's just what I did. And I talked to our friend Amy a lot. She likes that song too, and that's what she does is she just drives around and she was like, where did you come up in that? I was like, I don't know, that's just what I did. And that's a space you can just feel nothing, talk to no one and just go. And always, I feel like maybe, hopefully this is not just me, but always have these, ever since a little kid, since I could drive, I'd have these visions of what if I just went and went away? How far could I go on the money that I have in the bank or whatever. So I think it is a cool idea.
Laurel Wright:
I think everybody's thought about running away from somebody
Sarah Popejoy:
Or something,
Wes Lunsford:
And it might just be yourself.
Sarah Popejoy:
Another great line from that song is Can't see what I've been through because I've ripped off the rear view. I really love that line. That's a great, great. Yeah. Yeah.
Laurel Wright:
And I think even following that line, it's like I ripped off the rear view. I finally feel a alive. I feel like that really
Sarah Popejoy:
Hits. Yeah. Yeah. They finally feel alive. Yeah.
Laurel Wright:
But it's like you do have to let some of the things go in your past, at least from my experiences, it's been really hard, but it's made it my healing process a lot healthier. I guess just letting go of things that I probably should be letting go of. So that line's really powerful to me too.
Wes Lunsford:
Songwriting. It too, we talk about this a lot and we talk about it in the documentary of how sometimes you write a song and you don't realize where it came from in your life. You're just like, oh, I was just writing. I remember as a kid, I had a lot of problems socially and stuff like that, and I had to go to therapy. I didn't show a lot of emotion and things like this. And I think music helped me get out of that. And so that's where that I finally feel I'm not looking in the past kind of thing and waking up and feeling nothing. So it comes from these past experiences you don't think about as you're writing. Then you're like, where does that come from? That's
Laurel Wright:
It. It's in you. Yeah. That's very
Sarah Popejoy:
Cool. Very cool. Yeah, we are getting seen. I'm like, bam. So let's talk about your documentary, which was really moving the fable of a song and is it going to be open to the public, I mean, released to the public here soon?
Laurel Wright:
It is. We actually just signed a deal with a network in, so that will be first and then we'll just see where it goes from there.
Wes Lunsford:
We have somebody trying to work on where to put it here in the US in Europe, so it should be out. We are
Laurel Wright:
Hoping. Yeah, soonish, I'm sure this
Wes Lunsford:
We are removed from the film world. We don't know
Sarah Popejoy:
Anything. Yeah, I know. I totally understand. But I do know that that's what I do know in the documentary you talk about or you talk about your sister and just talk a little bit about your relationship with your sister when you were a young girl.
Laurel Wright:
Yeah, me and my sister were always really close, but we kind of had different paths, I think. And especially whenever she kind of became a teenager, I more, I had an outlet. I've always had music. It's always been my thing. If I ever needed to get something off my chest or if I felt a certain way and couldn't
Sarah Popejoy:
Express it,
Laurel Wright:
Yeah, express it. It's like for me, I had music to help me get that out. And my sister, she really tried to find her thing. I mean, she did every sport you could imagine. She could sing as well, loved music, but she could never find her thing. And my sister, she was addicted to drugs at a young age, and that kind of steered her in a direction of just kind of going down a bad path and just picking the wrong people to hang out with. But even through all of that, my sister would go in and out of just being sober and things like that, rehab. And we even stayed close during all of that. She would write me when she was sober. It's kind of like I had my Lindy back, but it was a tough relationship. It really was. And it took a lot of work, but I think we both wanted it, but just I think that the creator had different plans for both of our lives. Yeah.
Sarah Popejoy:
After seeing the documentary listening to your song, she was Mine, just hit 10 times harder. I mean, it's a great song in and of itself, and I think most people can relate to it, especially anyone who's been through a loss. But I'd like to go over some of the lines in that song as well. In the song She Was Mine. What I love about that song, what I didn't notice, because the first time I heard it was in Kansas City, it, it's just the kind of song you don't forget. And it starts out with a prayer, which I mean, I knew in the course that you were talking to God, but it starts out with a prayer. And I just thought, wow, how powerful.
And I thought it was interesting because right off the bat you were apologizing to God for not praying enough. I don't know why that hit me so hard, because of the fact that it's like, here, you're going through this really horrible thing and this unimaginable thing, and I don't know. I don't think that, I don't know how to, well, I just don't think that God would be upset that even if you haven't prayed in a while. But I mean, I don't know why. It just was so profound to me. You know what I mean? Psalm is, it's okay. I don't know. But it really painted that picture to me anyways. And then the next line, you said, I've been busy comforting everyone, but I'm tired of faking smiles. And I think there's always, in those situations, there's always the people who are the comforters and trying to make sure everybody else is okay.
Laurel Wright:
And I definitely had those people in my journey too. I think that was coming from a place of maybe just seeing my parents lose a kid, I lost a sister, and that was really, really, really hard and very unique I think for a 22-year-old to have a younger one sibling at such a young age. But yeah, trying to be there for my parents I think is kind where that line came from for me. Just not that I couldn't feel what I was supposed to be feeling, but just, I don't know. I wanted to stay strong for them. And I think the prayer at the beginning, Hey, it's me. I know it's been a while apologizing to God. I think that the whole first verse is painting this picture of me just kind of questioning and maybe the whole song, I'm kind of questioning my faith or his existence or why would a God that can do anything, do this? Just things like that. And I think that those are tough questions to ask, especially if you're a spiritual or religious person. But I think that everyone kind of has those thoughts when they go through some tough stuff that was important to touch on.
Sarah Popejoy:
Yeah, for sure. For sure. Kind of leads into the line of God, I believe. That doesn't mean I can't ask why. It doesn't mean I can't ask why. I really love that part and because some people I think struggle with that being able that it's okay to question God. So I don't mean to be getting all
Laurel Wright:
No, no, no. It's great. And we're all human, and I think that it's just we're taught not to. So it's weird when we do, but we still do. So I just think we're all human, and I think that that's just part of it.
Sarah Popejoy:
I think any kind of relationship, if you're not able to ask questions and back and forth, it's not really relationship anyways, but
Laurel Wright:
You're right.
Sarah Popejoy:
And then of course, the line of the song that is just, I know she's yours, but it sure felt like she was mine. Oh, I mean, there's so much in that line.
Wes Lunsford:
Do you remember what made you think of that? Trying to think back. That was one of that, you had that from the stock.
Laurel Wright:
Yeah, I think that it kind of comes from God has a plan for your life or we are his children type of thing. And it really feels like when someone is your sister and your family and then they're suddenly taken away by someone that if that's what you believe in, God created her, and that's really his child. So that was kind of hard for me to imagine slash let go of, I guess.
Sarah Popejoy:
There's so many truths to that song that I think it'll touch a lot of people. You know what I mean? I'm sure it already has. Have you had people come up to you already and say, Hey, talk to you about that song? Oh yeah,
Laurel Wright:
Totally. And that's not one we sing at every show, but when we do, I always feel like I'm called to sing it that night or I'm supposed to sing it. And when I do, it's like, ah,
Sarah Popejoy:
That's cool.
Laurel Wright:
So
Sarah Popejoy:
Definitely
Laurel Wright:
Try to do it even when I feel like I can't do it. Sometimes it's hard for me to sing those songs.
Sarah Popejoy:
Yeah, so personal.
Laurel Wright:
Yeah,
Wes Lunsford:
Too. Because sometimes when you're writing a song, especially if you're writing in a group, if it's like the two of us or other people too, I feel like the consensus sometimes is to make it more broad. She was mine. It could just be like they were mine or something like that. But that's so specific, and I think that's what makes it so powerful. It's so specific to your sister and that relationship that I feel like people can get in there and put themselves, they can see the realness in it, and then they can put themselves there instead of trying to broaden it out.
Sarah Popejoy:
Yeah. Yeah, totally. One thing about that, the documentary when I watched it, and it starts out with the co-write of you writing Daddy's Girl.
Laurel Wright:
Well, I think we really did just want to start from the beginning of just being a daddy's girl without even being a little girl and even realizing it. Yet, my dad was such a fast driver and had such a lead foot, and that's where I get it from. But I just remember hearing these stories from my mom and my grandparents saying, well, he was really careful driving that day, and that was just kind of like a ongoing joke. So he get cargo.
Sarah Popejoy:
What a great memory though. You know what I mean? Cool. And then back to the front porch, I can't stand cigarettes and I hate the cold, but I'm freezing on the front porch because that's where daddy smokes. Yeah, that's a great line, great line, great imagery too.
Laurel Wright:
Dean Fields who helped us write this song, I feel like he fights for lines a lot, and it takes sometimes a while to write the song, but it's always just so worth it. And you go back and when you kind of peace all the whole song and you're figuring out what each line means, I'm just reminded of his talent. I feel like that had a lot to do with him.
Wes Lunsford:
We wrestled with that part for a while,
Laurel Wright:
But we finally got there. And I love that line because it couldn't be more true. I don't like being in the cold. There's no reason I'd be sitting out on the front porch in cigarette smoke if it weren't for my dad. So I think that really shows my big love for him since I hate this other thing so much.
Sarah Popejoy:
Yeah. And the bridge, one of my, I really love the line Daddy's Girl makes him cry every time she sings. That kind of shows his love for you too, which I really loved. And the chorus comes and he gave me the best years of my life. I must have took a few from him because I was not an easy child, so sweet and sentimental. And what I really think I love about your song Daddy's Girl too, is it could have just been a very cliche-ish song, but you made it very personal and very real, which creates the connectability with other people. I think of that this real relationship and not just common country lines or songs. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
Laurel Wright:
And I think that's so amazing about co-writing too, because you have people there to kind of pull things out of you that, so I think writing a personal song is harder than writing a song about something you don't
Wes Lunsford:
Really
Laurel Wright:
Care about, care about. So I'm so grateful to have had Patrick, Wes and Dean there all to kind of help me tell the story in the best way that we could.
Wes Lunsford:
And we talked about that specific thing a lot during the, I'm pretty sure it's in documentary too, where it's the cliche that is a cliched line. And we talked about not using that as the title. It's like, do we want to say that? And then I think it was Dean, it was like, but that's exactly what we're saying. So it has to be that and it does work. And it doesn't feel like it's some cliche thing.
Sarah Popejoy:
Yes, because the personal elements are in there. He did get to hear this song too, I saw in the studio, which that's really awesome. What was it like having him in there in the studio?
Laurel Wright:
It was great. I get chills thinking about it, but just being able to be in the studio that we recorded the song in, and we had filmed this whole process of writing this song randomly, and we were still filming. And then my dad gets to hear the song he drove to Nashville and he sat in the studio that we recorded the song in, and I got to sit on his lap. And we told the story so well that he started singing the words halfway through the song. And so I was just felt very thrilled at that moment. And it was just really special. And it's one I will never forget. And also, my dad passed away not long after we even got the song finished. I mean, all of that happened in such a short time that it's just kind of wild that we have it all on film. And I think that's one of the reasons why talking about my story, sharing my story is so important to me because it doesn't feel like, it feels like I'm supposed to be doing it no matter how hard it is for me sometimes if it feels like this is a big part of my why, and not only music, but in life,
Wes Lunsford:
It's so unreal of a story now that there's been time between it, it's like, how did this happen? It started, we were going to do a series of videos for YouTube five minutes long, just writing songs. Because I mean, as a songwriter, sometimes you write songs and they're back. So it's like you're just rolling the dice. We're just like, well, even if it's not good, it'll be fun for people to see how we write songs or whatever. And that's the only one we did, and we liked it so much. We're like, well, let's keep filming. We'll record. We'll film the recording and all that stuff. Then Laurel's Sister. Wow. And then it's a song about Laurel and her dad, but it's also a song about her sister and her dad's relationship, which was very similar. And so that happened and sort of switched the song around. And then Patrick, our manager, who was filming everything, he was like, Hey, can I keep filming? And Laurel's just like, yeah, whatever. And he goes and interviews her mom and dad, I think two weeks before he dies and we have all this footage. Who wouldn't want that footage of their parents to look back on?
Laurel Wright:
And just to have Patrick. And there was another guy, Andy Stroll, and they both, they did the film. It was just them two, and we had a very small team with the audio and all that stuff. But they just really, they told the story well, and they incorporated so many different things. Like there's therapist in the film I think is just so necessary, and he ties everything together and he makes it so relatable, even though it's such a unique story, it's really not. A lot of people go have these same kind of feelings whether you go through that specifically or something else. So I think it's just important to keep sharing because everyone suffers.
Sarah Popejoy:
Yeah, it was a beautiful documentary. It was wild how everything came together. I don't want to say meant to be seemed so trivial, but I mean,
Laurel Wright:
I know, but I was thinking the same thing though. I mean, maybe it was meant to be, maybe this is how the story was supposed to play out, whether it was or wasn't. It still is. So it's not sad, but use it to go on in a way, I guess that I just said earlier that I needed to let go of the past, but now I'm like, I'm going to carry it with me. I do think it's important though, to remember and to carry the stories with you. I think it'll help me later in life or if I ever go through this, something like that again. God forbid.
Sarah Popejoy:
When you write songs or you write a song like that, especially the one about your sister, your dad, do you think that songs are part of the process of grieving or they do, they come kind of after the grieving?
Laurel Wright:
I think I've always got a song in me somewhere. I just think it's hard to, during that whole process, it was hard for me to just survive. I think I was just in survival mode and just trying to just make it through the days for many years. And I think that after that is when things started pouring out, but we were still riding during that process. It just wasn't as much. It was really hard for me because I feel like I such a personal writer. So yeah, maybe both. I felt like there's always a song in me. I'm always trying to get it out. I think just sometimes it's more difficult, I think
Wes Lunsford:
With just being in it, but also not being, but we would write songs and stuff together. It seems like with Laurel, when something like that happened in both instances, there is a time that needs to happen. And then we wrote so many songs about it trying, it felt like Laurel was trying to find the right one, the right
Speaker 5:
One
Wes Lunsford:
Way to say it. And when we put out pages of our third record, there's a suite of songs that talk about it. There's one for her dad, one for her sister, and then one for both. And I don't even know how many songs we wrote to get to those three, but it was a lot. I felt like we had to work through a lot of stuff to get to those. Just from an outside perspective.
Laurel Wright:
No, I think you're right. And I do feel like we're very honest songwriters too. So when you're writing about your honest, true feelings, I think sometimes that can be going back to what we were saying earlier, hard.
Wes Lunsford:
Yeah.
Sarah Popejoy:
I mean, I can't write about my dad. I tried. So
Laurel Wright:
Maybe you will though. I mean, a year is really,
Wes Lunsford:
Yeah, that's work.
Laurel Wright:
Yeah. I can't believe you're up and working. Maybe you will though. Maybe you will one day.
Sarah Popejoy:
Yeah, I hope so. I think you'd like that. It was funny because I wasn't planning on sharing this, but when we were getting stuff out of his house, I never knew. I couldn't tell because he would encourage me, but I don't think he liked me being in Nashville because I was too far away from home. But when we were taking stuff out of his house, I found the first song that I'd ever written, and he had it. I didn't even know he had it. So that was kind of cool that he almost like
Laurel Wright:
Your son to write a song for your dad. Yeah,
Laurel Wright:
That's what it seems like to me there usually a little push.
Sarah Popejoy:
Yeah. Yep. Yep. So on your website, it talks about advocacy for community healing. Talk about that.
Laurel Wright:
Yeah, we have just, our online presence is also kind of similar to our songwriting in terms of being honest and vulnerable. And I'm kind of an open book, so I don't mind sharing about my personal life or my mental illnesses. And I feel like the community that we've built through social media has really helped my healing process, and it's made me feel less alone. So I continue to do it, so hopefully other people feel less alone as well. It's kind of like a, we're getting better together type thing. So it's really made a big difference in my life, to be honest. And I know that social media is looked down upon sometimes just because of whether it be drama or, but there can be a lot of good things to come from social media too. So I feel like we try to keep our page along those lines.
Wes Lunsford:
Yeah, it's a great way for people to connect and not feel like they're the only person going through something. I always think of this story whenever we talk about anything like this, we played, sometimes we go back to East Tennessee and we'll play. One time we played at this nursing home and we just played for an hour, played some songs and talked and whatever. And we have a new song at the moment of this recording, new song called Good At Hurting. And Laurel talks about it on the mic. And at the end there's this man who comes up and I see him come up to Laurel and he's talking, and I just go and talking to other people. And he just opened up and he was like 80 probably in his late eighties. And he's like, you know what? I'm good at hurt. And it's like, man, this is something that everybody goes through and it's something that everybody needs to feel like not alone in. So it's crazy.
Sarah Popejoy:
Well, I really love what you guys are doing, and I think there's going to be a lot of people who are really going to be blessed by listening to your stories and through your music. And I think music can be healing. And so thank you so much for being on the show today. And I just want to tell you that I really think you guys are doing a great thing.