In The Middle Of It
We’re all living stories that aren’t finished yet, and this podcast picks up right in the middle of some really interesting journeys. Whether it’s navigating adulthood, the Christian life, marriage, a music career, grief, healing, or parenting, this podcast hosts conversations for everyone to find themselves a part of. Tune in every other week to find new episodes full of great conversation, laughter, vulnerability, and more!
In The Middle Of It
Natalie Layne (Losing Her Voice and Finding True Joy)
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Natalie Layne joins Hannah for this witty, fun, conversation about trusting God and finding joy. Natalie shares what happened when her joy got tested in real time: health problems, a scary season of losing her voice, hospital visits, months of vocal rehab and the new album that came out of that. We also dig into growing up around iconic worship leaders in Colorado, learning how to produce on GarageBand, and what it’s like being on the road, the schedule chaos of touring, and the leap into her first headline tour. Make sure to download this episode and leave a comment and rating if you enjoyed it!
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Grateful For Good From Bad
SPEAKER_00It's weird to say I'm grateful for it, but I am. Yeah. You know.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think you can be grateful for it and still be like, This is hard. Yeah, I wish it didn't happen for sure. Totally. It's like I wouldn't choose it, but like I know that God weaves goodness out of bad things. Yeah. You know, and it's not to take away from the things and say, like, oh, it was good because God did that. It's like, no, it was still bad. It was still a bad thing. But God is so good that he somehow like brings goodness out of those bad things.
SPEAKER_00It's just like God, right? It's like he, I don't think he causes all these things, you know, but he makes something so beautiful out of it. And only he could.
Sponsor And Discount Code
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Meet Natalie Lane In Nashville
SPEAKER_01Hey everyone, welcome back to in the middle of it. I'm your host, Hannah Kerr. My guest today is Natalie Lane. Natalie is a singer, songwriter, and producer, and she's truly one of the best artist musicians out there. She actually has her master's in commercial piano, which I think means that she's a master at the piano. It sounds like she is, okay? You've probably heard her from her viral TikTok videos, or maybe you've heard her amazing, joyful songs on the radio. But I want to get to know the Natalie behind the music. So let's have her on the podcast. Please welcome Natalie Lane. Natalie Lane. Welcome to In the Middle of It. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for joining us at 5 p.m. on a Tuesday. Well, thank you for the time. Wait, is it Tuesday? Yeah. Yeah. I had to think about it too. Yeah. So you get national traffic like all the way in and then all the way home. For sure. That's my gift to you.
SPEAKER_00For sure. And thank you for it. No, I'm happy to do it. I would come see you any day.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, girl. I'm so happy to see you because like it's been so long. And I feel like when you see like your artist friends at like industry events or whatever, it's just like so brief. And you just don't get to really chat. So we're gonna get into it. So we're gonna chat in front of all of our family friends that are gonna listen and in front of three cameras is great.
SPEAKER_00But it's like it's really just us talking. Well, I feel like a little known fact about us too is that we went to college together. We did. So it's been a long time.
SPEAKER_01It's just the best. Go Bruins. Yeah, we love Belmont. Um, we're actually really close to Belmont right now, which is so funny. Like when you were driving here, did you feel like you were just going back to right at home?
SPEAKER_00Right at home. It's weird, it transports me back. It feels like another life of so long ago. But yeah, it's crazy. What was your major at Belmont? It was piano and songwriting. Okay. Was the like I kind of created my own situation, but it ended up being all the things I love. But you're also a master at the piano. That like you have a master's degree in commercial piano. When people say that, I feel like they're joking me because I never meant to do that. I never meant to get a master's and that's just what it's called. Okay. Right. I'm like, that's just what the certificate says, I guess. But God just opened the doors and the timing was right, and it was crazy.
SPEAKER_01And you use your, you know, pianoing every day. I did. In in your music, which is great.
SPEAKER_00So grateful to use it.
Love It Hate It Quickfire
SPEAKER_00I love it.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So the way that we open this podcast a lot is playing a game called Love It, Hate It, in the Middle of It. Perfect. Okay. So you're going to tell me, I have five things. You're going to tell me if you love the thing, hate the thing, or feel in the middle of it, like kind of neutral about a thing. Okay. Okay. Perfect. Okay. I don't know how these are going to hit you. So we're just going to go. Okay. Number one, jazz music.
SPEAKER_00I love jazz. You picked that so special. I did just for you. I love jazz. I grew up on listening to jazz. Yeah. I still I played it a lot in college. Okay. And I use less of it now, but I feel like it's informed some of the music that I make.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Which I appreciate so much because I do feel like sometimes we get in like our one chord, four chord, six chord, five chord, and I feel like you're bringing some like funk back in. Just add like a five minor. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like what would happen? What a concept. It's just great. It's just one note different. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But it's like a little, a little flavor flavor. Yeah. I encourage it. I appreciate that from you. Okay, number two, jump five. Are you familiar? Yes. Probably not as much as I should be. Okay.
SPEAKER_00So I'm gonna say in the middle of it.
SPEAKER_01Spin it around, I've got this funny feeling. That's their song. Okay. Are you gonna sing some of it for me? Spin it around, I got this funny feeling. Okay, anyways. Um, if you don't know jump five, what were some of your favorite artists growing up? Like what was your jump five?
SPEAKER_00What was my jump five? Because okay. And that's a good question. I was really just watching the Disney Channel all the time. Oh, you're like Miley Sirens was my jump five. Kind of high school musical, you know? Like Troy Bolton is my jump five.
SPEAKER_01Yes. I respect that.
SPEAKER_00That feels so true of me.
SPEAKER_01No, that's great. Yeah. Was that your thing, high school musical? Loved high school musical, loved camp rock. Can you do the all in this together dance? Of course I can. Of course you can. Do you know it? I'll teach you some kind. No, I do know it. Perfect. Yeah, this is why we're friends. What about the holdown throw down? Of course.
SPEAKER_00Of course. Yeah. Of course. Great. I was also a dancer growing up. So it was really the like pinnacle of all the things I loved.
SPEAKER_01Like merging your two worlds. Yeah. Wow. Incredible. Okay. Number three. Wow. I didn't even plan this. Musicals. Musicals? Okay. This is interesting. It's a hot take.
SPEAKER_00I'm in the middle of the middle of the high school musical is one thing. That's a super specific kind of musical. It is. I'm just not as far in as you might expect. You know? Not a showtoons girl. Maybe I'll have like a showtunes era later down the line. I just haven't gotten as far in as I should. One of the reasons maybe is my school growing up did not have a theater program at all. So there was no opportunity.
SPEAKER_01You couldn't become a theater girl unless you really sought it out. Right. Okay. I feel like you have the voice though that could crush like a wicked showtune.
SPEAKER_00I do feel like someday maybe I'll write a musical.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You should.
SPEAKER_00And maybe that's my intro into showtoons.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Yeah. Like your own musical. Yeah. Like I'm in the middle of it on other people's, but if I did one, maybe I'd love it.
SPEAKER_00I think it'd be fun. It would. Think about like Sarah Borellis. Yeah. She's one of my favorites. She has written musicals.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Can translate, I feel like. Yeah, for sure. Okay, I love it. Number four, random, the mountains.
SPEAKER_00Love the mountains.
SPEAKER_01Grew up in the mountains. You did.
SPEAKER_00I grew up in the mountains of Colorado and it's my favorite place. I love that. Yeah. Do you does your family still live there? My whole family still lives there. Okay. Yeah. I'm like the only one. I moved out here to Nashville and then my brother did too. Okay. So he and I are here. Everybody else is back in Colorado. But it's the best place to visit. Yeah. We go back to the city. I yes, agree.
SPEAKER_01The fact that you're from there is so cool. I feel like the mountains are the best place to be from. It's just fun. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And yeah, going back, you can go back in the winter and you can ski and have snow. You can go back in the summer and it's like 70 degrees and perfect. Yeah, that's nice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. That's really nice. I love that. Okay, last but not least, TikTok.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I love TikTok. I love that you love TikTok. Personally. I used to hate TikTok. Yeah. So that's been a journey.
SPEAKER_01What's changed your mind?
SPEAKER_00Oh this might be what you're talking about, what Mike Donahue was talking about. Because he and I have talked a lot about this, Mike from 10th Avenue North. Um I I just felt like it was stealing a lot of time from me at the beginning of it. And then I saw God use it. Yeah. And I'm like, wow, like it's he actually doesn't fit into any of our boxes. He works however he wants. And he's been working through TikTok, and it's been really cool to see. It is really cool.
SPEAKER_01I feel like watching your videos on there and just seeing how God is reaching people with these videos that you're making. And what I love so much, Natalie, is like it's not this overproduced, auto-tuned, perfect, like shiny. It's like you sitting at a piano and just being like, this is the song in its purest form. And it's working. Like that makes me so hopeful for the future of music.
SPEAKER_00Like actually makes me emotional. Yeah. So I'm like, people want something real, you know, and you can feel that. And yeah, I'm just so happy to be doing it.
SPEAKER_01It's so cool. Okay, you did great. It love it, hate it in the middle of it. I like that game. Thank you. I created it myself.
SPEAKER_00It makes so much sense for the podcast.
SPEAKER_01I love that.
Living In The Middle
SPEAKER_01Okay, so the question and the meat of this podcast is really the fact that as believers and really just as people, we are always in the middle of something. Like we're living journeys that are not finished yet. And what does it look like to really testify about what God is doing and just what he's teaching you about himself, about yourself, um, in the middle of life, you know? Um, sometimes I feel like this pressure as like a Christian artist to like have it all together or like act like I figured it all out or like testify about something when it's over and I've, you know, whatever, which have we ever figured it out? No. But I just have been so encouraged by the conversations that I've had on this podcast because I feel like people are being willing to go there and be like, yeah, I don't know what's next for me, or whatever it might be. Um, it's just been amazing. So, anyways, the question for you is what are you in the middle of right now? I mean, we we're gonna talk about all the things career, life, music, everything, but you you tell me where you want to go first.
SPEAKER_00What are you in the middle of? I love it all. I feel like I'm in the middle of everything. Yeah, is that like, are we ever really at the end? I know you're saying, like, and yeah, there is, I feel that pressure too as a Christian artist to like have my testimony be finished, you know, or like if I'm sharing something about a song or sharing about whatever part of my journey for it to be like, but God did this and now it's all fine. Yeah. And that's just not life. Like, I feel like I, you know, I really one of my things is I really want to be relatable to people and genuine and real. And so I love that you're talking about this because it's like nobody's at the end. We're all just in the middle and trying to figure out how to be content in the middle. Yeah. Which is so hard. How do you be at peace with something that's not like at peace in the natural world yet? Right. Yep. Um, and so I man, I'm just writing a lot of songs about that lately too. So yeah, I'm in the middle of making a record. Yeah. I'm in the middle of figuring out what this career looks like. And um, yeah, I'm in the middle of praying for a lot of things. I'm in the middle of, you know, other dreams, even on like a personal note. Like I'm I would love to have a family someday. I'm waiting on that. Like there are just it feels like everything.
SPEAKER_01I'm in the middle of it. Totally. And you're in your 20s too. I feel like our 20s are such an interesting time. I'm 29, so I'm still in my 20s. You are, girl. So we're close to the end, you know. But I just feel like our 20s are such an interesting time of life because we have friends that are married with three kids, and then we have friends that are single, and then we have everything in between. Um, we have friends that are so career focused doing the thing, just doing music, and then we have friends that are like just at home, stay-at-home mom. Like, it's just everything in between, and I think everybody feels a little lost. I don't know. I think that's okay. Yes. Um, and even people that might seem like they have it all together still feel a little bit lost. They don't too. Yeah. Um, like I remember before getting married and like having my son. I remember looking at people that were married and had kids and being like, oh, they like have it figured out. Totally. Like they have a house, they have the things, and like once I get to that point, I'm gonna be like a real adult. And now that I'm it's not real in that place, I'm like, oh, I don't think anyone knows what they're doing. Yeah, and I think that's okay.
SPEAKER_00You still feel that, like I do after your literal wife and mother and Christian artists and all these things that you probably prayed for when you were totally, you know, a teenager or whatever. And desired and wanted. I know.
SPEAKER_01But there's still more, you know. I know. Like, I look at my son every day, and I'm like, I have to like be your mom. And like sometimes I'm like, who's gonna make dinner? Like, I wish mom would make dinner, and then like I'm the mom. You're the mom. I'm making dinner. No, yeah, yeah. So which is amazing. But yeah, I do think like what you're saying, we've we do forget that we prayed for something so often. It's like, oh, I actually asked God for this, and now I have it, and like I'm forgetting that. Totally. You know, I mean, when you were a little girl, like, did you dream about doing what you're doing now? Like being in this place, living in Nashville, yeah, making music.
SPEAKER_00I would be freaking out that I am here right now. Yeah. You know? If you would tell me when I was I mean, I knew when I was five that I wanted to do this or that I dreamed about doing it. I never thought it would actually happen. Yeah. And so it's like, yeah, I think we forget to celebrate the victories too, and we go straight to like evaluating what's not there yet, you know? Yeah. I have a friend that always says to celebrate and evaluate, don't just do one. Okay. I love that. I'm like, yeah. Celebrate and evaluate. I think we tend toward one or the other. Some people are really good at celebrating and not as good at working on what they need to or whatever. Yeah. And there are some of us at me who like evaluate everything, and I forget to celebrate the wins. Like, that's good. This is literally what I prayed for and dreamed about. And and yeah, I'm still in the middle, but there's so much that God has done that it's just it's good for us to look back.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's so good.
Colorado Roots And Story Threads
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Growing up in Colorado, Corey Asbury was your worship pastor. That's the truth. That's so crazy. That's real. I remembered that from when we got coffee in college. I remember you saying that, and then I had to Google it to make sure I was remembering correctly. And sure enough, it's true. It's in your bio. So have you connected with Corey since you've been in Nashville? Or like crazy.
SPEAKER_00Tell me about that. Crazy. So I grew up at a church in Colorado called New Life Church, and a lot of music was coming out of there when I was a kid. But I just knew these people as like my friends, yeah. My worship pastors. So it was like Corey Asbury, this guy, John Egan, J Jared Anderson. Yeah. Um, and there was this band called Desperation Band that was releasing a lot of songs that people probably know. And I had zero idea that this was like going anywhere. I thought we were just singing these songs at our church. And so, but I would, I was growing up like watching these people lead worship, write songs, and then they would invite me in to lead with them, write songs with them. So cool. Yeah, just really that church is really good about raising up the next generation as they're doing what they're doing. So um, yeah, so I grew up doing all that, and then I didn't realize till I got to Nashville, oh, like people know who they are, yeah. And like kind of like their songs. Yeah. And there's this like reckless love song that's like now doing kind of good. Yeah. Doing kind of good, yeah. Kind of good. So yeah, Corey was there when I was there, and then he moved to a different church, and then we both moved to Nashville. And I since then I've like gotten to open for him and that's good. Year round, it's super cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I don't see him very often, but even like our bands are super close friends. That's awesome. It's just cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what a crazy, like full circle thing. I don't know. It's just and I think too, like when we look back at our life and realize the things that God was already doing before we even knew it, that's amazing too. Like the the act of remembering and looking back, because we're so quick to forget. Like, oh, it's like not casual that those like pillars of worship music were your like influences growing up and now you're doing what you're doing. Like, that's so intentional and purposeful.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01Um, and just like thank you, God, for the ways that you weave our stories together so perfectly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because I forget that too. We are professional forgetters, really. Yes, that's that's good. I need a shirt that says that professional forgetter. Not good at remembering, yeah. Um, but it's true, like there when we say that like God wastes nothing, that is really so true. Like, and we don't get to see all of it till later, you know. But I look back, I'm like, oh yeah, these these people that influenced me, like I see their influence now, or like random things that God did. Like he put me in this jazz band in high school, and I was like, I don't like I don't play jazz. Like, and now I needed that. Like it's just yeah, random stuff like that that I thought was random that wasn't to him. Totally. Um that and I can't wait to see what random things he's doing right now that I won't know about till later.
SPEAKER_01That's so good. I was like just living with eyes wide open, being like, I don't know what how these pieces are gonna connect, but I know that they will. Yeah, that's exciting to me. Like waking up every day and being like, huh, there's things, there's threads that are unfinished that are getting tied together like as we speak, which is pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00I love a picture like that. Like I love to think of it as a puzzle.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_00And be like, all the pieces are here, but I don't know where they go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Are you a puzzler? Do you like puzzles?
SPEAKER_00I'm such a puzzler. I love a puzzle as well.
SPEAKER_01Love a puzzle.
SPEAKER_00Did you do any puzzles during the snowstorm?
SPEAKER_01Of course. Okay, great. My parents always have a puzzle on their table, and we live in a house where for some reason we always lose power. Every single storm, every time there's like winds above 40 miles per hour, no power. So we just decided we're gonna go to my parents' house. They live like 15 minutes from us, and they always have a puzzle on rotation just at their house. They have a table that like it's like a puzzle table basically, to where like you can put the pieces like inside drawers. And those are the serious are the serious puzzlers. Yes. And like then you can like spin the puzzle, like the table, like spin the puzzle, and then you can like move the whole table. Yes. Do the drawers come out? Of course they do. And you can like do a section at a time. That's a serious puzzle. But I love that. Are you a serious puzzler? I'm serious.
SPEAKER_00I don't have a puzzle table yet, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01I know what I'm sending to you for Christmas.
SPEAKER_00The girl, literally, give me like a puzzle of your face or something, and I'll put it together.
SPEAKER_01That's horrible. What a terrible gift that would be. Just like every pore, like each piece is one pour. That's so funny. That's hilarious. Yeah.
Joy Tested By Voice Loss
SPEAKER_01Um, okay, I'm excited for your new music. I feel like you are so gifted. You have so many amazing melodies, your chords, like everything that you're putting together to make like one sound. Tell me about the music that you're working on. What does it sound like? What are the themes? As much as you can say. Because I know sometimes you gotta be a little secret.
SPEAKER_00Totally. Yeah. Well, we are at the very beginning of the whole release process. So you know, but I'll say everything that I can. Yeah. Um, so last year I released a record called All Joy. Yes. So good. And it is just like it sounds, it is all about joy. It is about um what joy actually means. I used to think that joy was something way different than I do now, and the Lord's really brought me through a whole season of that. Um, and I just I really just spent a year before that like researching and looking into scripture of like what is joy actually.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and so I made this record with like so much uh joy in it, and just the whole process was like so joyful, like incredible. And I just signed my record deal and like was just starting, and it just was like a dream season. It was so amazing. And so then wouldn't you know it? I released this record about joy, and the Lord begins to test my joy in basically every way possible.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I couldn't see that at the time either. And now I'm looking back and seeing all the pieces. I'm like, oh Lord, like yeah. And things like this are hard to say because I don't, you know, I don't know if what of that came from him, what of it might have come from the enemy, what of it might have just been like the world that we live in. Yeah. Yeah. But like truly in so in every area of my life, it just felt like I was having to fight for my joy. Um and one of those things that I've I've experienced a lot of like health problems over the last year. And um in that, like I lost my voice completely for the first time. Like kind of randomly was in the hospital for that. No, the doctors were like, I have no idea what's gonna be like you're singing no perfectly, like fine, but like I just had no voice, and then it hurt to sing for a long time. So it just was stuff like that. That was like one thing after the other after the other after the other, it was just like weird.
SPEAKER_01Did you go to the Vanderbilt voice clinic? I did. Yeah, yes, they're good, they know what they're doing there. They do know what they're doing. Putting that scope down and watching your vocal cords like just do their thing. It's crazy, wild.
SPEAKER_00It's actually kind of cool to see what's happening inside when we're singing all this.
SPEAKER_01I can't believe that you lost your voice. I feel like as a singer, that is absolutely devastating. Yeah, like I I lost my voice at one point a few years ago, and I remember God just really using that to tear down the fact that I had built my identity on my voice. Like, yeah, I actually was grappling with the question of like, do people love me if I can't sing? Yeah, whoa, scary. And then realizing, like, yeah, like my voice is a part of who I am for sure. God gave it to me. Um, but like, if if that was taken away from me, I would still be his daughter and he'd still love me. Like that's beautiful. Big questions to ask in a moment of crisis. Big questions, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It was all of that, and it was also like Lord, I feel like you just asked me to sing about this thing and to speak on it to people. And now you've taken away my capability to even do that. So like What does that mean? Like, how can you use it? And even in that, like I had hoped it would be like, oh, I could go on vocal rest for a little bit and then I'd be fine. And it wasn't that. It was like months. It was like probably six or seven months. Wow. That's a long time. But it was a long time. And we're still not like fully there, but I've rehabbed so much and wow, you know, been able to get a lot of it back. So it was crazy and like unexplainable, and that was hard. Yeah. Um and so I st I still don't have all the answers for that. I'm very much in the middle of what is going on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, so this new record is about that, and it's about what um what is the foundation that we stand on and what are the roots that we can pull on when like these things happen and we don't know why. Yeah. And there's no answering the question of why, and it just is we're in it, yeah, and it is what it is, and how do we trust in the God that we know even in the middle of that?
SPEAKER_01So I'm excited. That sounds really that sounds really important. I feel like it's really tempting to wrap up the songs, you know, just be like, Yeah, this was hard, but man, it's better now. Totally, you know, and that's just not always real. So I'm excited to hear that. Yeah, it's gonna be it.
SPEAKER_00It's not like and then he brought me out and now I'm fine. Yeah, you know, it's like no, but like who is God in the process? Like how what new parts of God do you get to experience in this? Like when he says he's near to the brokenhearted, like that's true.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um and you don't know that until you're brokenhearted. Like you can hear that and be like, Oh, that sounds really nice. But when you are on the floor brokenhearted, yeah, deep in grief, like that's when you know the Lord and you know that his word is true. Totally. Like, I remember my first big crisis in life, like my first just massive experience with grief. I was like, Whoa, I like need Christian music now. Like I grew up listening to Christian music and I loved it, but I remember saying, like, when people come up to me at shows and say this song was my lifeline, yeah. I get that now. Totally.
SPEAKER_00I did not get that before as much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and now like you have to live through it to be like, oh, okay, I get it now. And there's a gift in that, but also it's really hard.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yeah, yeah. I feel like in it too, like the Lord has given me a lot more like empathy for all for people in all sorts of situations, for people with chronic pain. Like I was experiencing that for people, like people facing grief, people like it's just all these like very layered things that like I know so many people have experienced so much more than what I've experienced, and like just so much compassion for that, yeah, that I feel like yeah, get you get to see the heart of the father and his compassion for us, like yeah. So it's weird to say I'm grateful for it, but I am, yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, well, I think you can be grateful for it and still be like, this is hard. Yeah, I wish it didn't happen for sure. Totally. It's like I wouldn't choose it, but like I know that God weaves goodness out of bad things. Yeah, you know, and it's not to take away from the things and say, like, oh, it was good because God did that. It's like, no, it was still bad. It was still a bad thing. Yeah, but God is so good that he somehow like brings goodness out of those bad things.
SPEAKER_00It's just like God, right? It's like he I don't think he causes all these things, you know, but he m makes something so beautiful out of it.
SPEAKER_01And only he could. Yeah, that's so good. I'm so excited to hear it.
Co-Producing And Writing Through Pain
SPEAKER_01Are you like producing on some of your things?
SPEAKER_00That's I'm co-producing the whole record.
SPEAKER_01Natalie, that's amazing. I'm so excited. That's incredible. I'm so excited. So is that something that you've always done, or is this a new thing for you?
SPEAKER_00So, yeah. So when I was probably 10 years old, uh my dad downloaded Garage Bands onto our um a producer origin story. Oh my gosh. I didn't even know it was happening. But we would like produce little songs together. And so I just always would demo my own songs, and that's still kind of what I do. I'll just like demo things and that's so cool. I never really took it further than a demo, but then this last year or a couple years, I've been like in the studio and I'm like, I'm I'm producing right now. Like I didn't even mean to do that, but I'm Natalie, I'm like a lot of times I'm like sitting at the desk, like recording myself, you know? That's on production, and that's production, like so yeah. So I feel like I've always kind of produced, but I didn't call it that until now where I feel like okay, I can like that is what it is.
SPEAKER_01It is what it is, and it's okay to say that is what it is, you know? Be confident. That's so cool. Yeah, I'm so proud of you for doing that. I feel like girls who produce are rare, yeah. Like it just it feels like something that uh the ladies don't do very much.
SPEAKER_00And it's so much fun. Ladies, if you're listening, please produce some things because start with Groudeband, it's free.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but then you know, make your way to Logic or Pro Tools. You can get there. What do you think? Gradgeband to Logic is perfect. I still use Logic. That's great. Yeah. I love that. I don't know how to use Logic too much, but it's just the record button. Yeah. Just hit the just record enabled. There you go. I love that so much. Okay, I'm so excited about that. And you just released The Long Way Live, which is so beautiful. Is this the first song off of the new stuff?
SPEAKER_00This is the last one off the old project. So we're in transition mode right now. Okay. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Um I feel like it's a good song to bridge the gap between the two areas.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Because I wrote that song a long time ago. Um, and at the time I was like, oh, like this is this is something the Lord does with me too. I I I hear a lot of artists talk about how they're writing songs about what they are going through right now or what they've been through. And with me, I feel like I write songs and then I go through that thing. Yeah. And I don't know, I'm like, God, I don't know why you do that. But I wrote the long way and I was like, shoot, am I gonna have to go through some really hard things? And yeah, yeah, I I did have to to believe what I was singing.
SPEAKER_01It's amazing to me how God brings songs back around, and then you're like, wow, I needed this. And that's how God works. It's like I didn't even know. Like songs have met me that I wrote years ago, and then they come back, and I'm like, oh, I really needed that. Has that happened to you? Like, do you feel with certain songs that you like get it now? Oh, totally. And like I'll like, I don't know. It just I feel like I'm writing it for someone else sometimes. Like, I'm like, oh, this is really gonna minister to someone else. And then a song will hit me in a different moment, and I'll be like, Oh, this is wrecking me right now. And it's yeah, it's not me, though, is the thing. Like, I it that just speaks to the character of God that he uses our gifts, but it's like it's not us really doing it. Um, we're just kind of receiving something, and then he uses it to minister to us, which is so cool.
SPEAKER_00Songwriting totally feels like that. It feels like just catching what is in the air or like what God is already singing, or like it's it's more like discovery than like trying to make something up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, and I love that. That's why sometimes it seems like there's themes that are coming out of Christian music, like all at the same time. It's like, wow, there's a lot of songs right now about like I can't even think of an example, but like there's a lot about joy, right? Yeah, yeah. Like and why is that? Oh, because the spirit's actually speaking and doing something around that. And so good for you for listening to that and actually like catching that and releasing it. Because I think that's what we need to be doing as artists is listening to the spirit. There's nothing scarier to me than an artist who doesn't walk with God but is singing about God.
SPEAKER_00Imagine I I would I couldn't do it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, so, anyways, I'm yeah, I'm that's cool to say like that like Christian music is like catch and release.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that is what it is. We're just trying to do that. We're fishers. We're fishers of men. Okay. Wow, click that.
SPEAKER_01We are fishers of men. We're vision and release. Amen. Oh, I love it.
Touring Life And Loneliness
SPEAKER_01Okay, you've been on the road a lot over the last couple of years. How do you like tell me about your experience with the road? Do you love it? Is it something that's tough for you, but you do it anyway? Like, tell me about Love It Hate It. In the middle of it, yeah. We're playing Love It Hate It in the middle of playing just like 2.0.
SPEAKER_00Um Yeah. I still feel like I'm so new on the road. It's been maybe it's been two years-ish. But um, my first tour was with an artist named Danny Goki. So good. And it was a blast.
SPEAKER_01That was your first tour with Austin Friends? Yes. Wow.
SPEAKER_00Can you imagine? I it was great. Incredible people. It was the best. Yeah. It was great. Yeah. Them and their whole teams, they're just amazing. Yes. Um, so yeah, we did a bunch of shows with them, and then um we were on the road with Brandon Heath and then 10th Avenue North. So yeah, I still feel like I'm new at it. That was a lot of shows, but it yeah, I just I haven't done a ton of tours. So I feel like I'm getting my bearings, but I love to travel, so it's like kind of a dream. Yeah. Um, but I'm still learning like how to be on a bus and you know, live out a s a suitcase. And what does that look like when you are never home? And then you try to be home and then you're gone again. Like, yeah, all of it, yeah. It's I would say that's one of the hardest parts, probably, of what we do is just the schedule, like the fact that there is no schedule, actually.
SPEAKER_01I completely agree. You know, your every day looks different. Like, I feel like so many people will ask me, What does your everyday look like as an artist? I'm like, I don't know. I can't tell you that. I ask me each day, and I'll tell you what my schedule looks like that day, but like it never is the same. Yes. Like sometimes when you're on a tour, you're doing 50 shows in a row. It's like, okay, we leave usually on Wednesdays, we get home on Monday mornings, but like sometimes not. Sometimes you're out for two weeks at a time, sometimes you're home for a month. It just it's always different. So like that is hard.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Or people even be like, what time do you like wake up in the morning? I'm like, it could be uh could be 5 a.m. for a radio show. It could be 10 if I had a show the day before. Like, I I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I know it's it's crazy. And I feel like a lot of tours that I've been on, I'm the only girl. Totally. And that is also hard. Yeah. Um, I feel like the road has been some of my loneliest times. Like when you're not plugged into your community at home as much as you want to be, and then you're out on the road and there is community on the road. Like you get so close with the people that you're touring with. Yeah. But it's also sometimes like, man, I mean, I'm just a girl out here doing my girl thing in in a sea of men, and that's fine, you know. Yeah. Great men. But just yeah. Great men, great men out there. For sure. Like they're awesome. Yeah. Big brothers to me, you know, after all this time. But just funny. It's sometimes it can be hard.
SPEAKER_00I feel, yes, I feel very lucky because my tour manager is a girl. Oh, that's great. And so I've always had that. I'm like, we'll be on the bus together. Yeah. It's great, you know. Um. But yeah, it is. But that's always been true for me though. Like, I've always been the only girl in the band. The only girl on stage. The only like that's always been true. So I feel just like it's just continuing.
SPEAKER_01It's kind of my life, you know. Yeah. Just your life now. Yeah. Uh and opening for for other people's tours is like an interesting thing too because you're kind of jumping into what they're doing. Yes. Um, you are warming up the crowd, as they say, for someone else. Yeah, which is great. Yeah. And it's fun. Um, I feel like you probably get this too. I feel like so many shows, people are like, I've never heard of you before. Like they feel like they have to confess it to you. I don't know. They're always like, I had never heard one thing you've ever done. Did you just start? I'm like, no. No, but it is okay. You're here. Yes. Yes. I always say that. I'm like, I'm happy to meet you. I'm so happy. And I am. Like, that's why I'm here. You know what I mean? I'm literally here to meet you and to introduce you to my music and most importantly to Jesus. But like, anyways, yeah. So they like have to confess it. Like, I'd never heard of you a day in your life. A day in your ever. You were a spec on the ground to me. And now I know who you are. It's like, thank goodness. Thank you so much. I love it. But you're about to be a headliner. Oh my gosh. Okay. You've been an opener for some tours, but now you're about to go on your first headline tour. Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_00I cannot believe it. Those words feel fake. So exciting. Um, yeah, and I truly like I didn't know when this would ever happen either because I love opening. Yeah, I really do. Uh yeah, it's never been like, oh, I'm like tired of opening. Yeah. It's like I love being on the road with other people. Um, but I'm kind of in the phase where it's like, maybe we can do both, you know? Yeah. Maybe I can do some small headline shows and some bigger opening shows. And that's amazing. And so, yeah, so we're playing just like small shows in venues, like in the heart of these cities, like and it's it's so cool. Because that's also been an interesting piece of my music, is like about half of people that listen to my music are believers, and about half aren't. No way. And so that's awesome. I I love it. So we want to play in places where everyone feels comfortable coming. And but we're gonna talk about Jesus like absolutely the whole time. So um, I'm excited. Yeah, just taking a little crew with me, and yeah, it's gonna be fun.
SPEAKER_01Wow. I don't know when this episode will come out, like maybe it's already happened. Sure. If it already happened, I'm sure it was a great success. It's it went so it went swimmingly.
SPEAKER_00It's been great. It's been a crazy at some other shows.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's so exciting. I feel like that's a big jump, a big moment in your career to be like, I'm about to be not opening for someone else. Like, I get to dream about what this looks like, what this night looks like, how it flows. Totally. I'm sure for you, you probably get in the weeds on like transitions between songs and like how are we gonna like get from this key to this key? Like, I'm sure you you probably love that.
SPEAKER_00That part is so fun for me. I'm sure the like building of the show is like it's not work to me. It's like so fun.
SPEAKER_01I love that. It's awesome. I feel like that's rare too, because sometimes you get artists that are like they're all about the people that are coming, like that's their focus. Or like, you know, and you have that too, but like you're an artist who can really hang with the musicians, like you are a musician. I love that music. I respect that a lot. Thanks for sure.
SPEAKER_00I just love I've always loved music. Like I've been obsessed with the like music theory and all that stuff. And I'm like, it should be excellent, actually. Yes, you know, like the Lord deserves our excellence and like the best music that we can bring in every area, too. Like, of course, in like ministering to people and talking to them, and how can we you do that, but like also in the musical side of it. I think we can have both, and so I'm excited about that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's super exciting. I can't wait. Um, this has been delightful to me. I really enjoyed it so much. I feel like it's gone by so fast. I'm like, where is the time? I feel like we started 10 minutes ago. I know. No, we did we not? It's been, I don't know how to do math, but it's been about 40 minutes almost. Yeah, that's crazy. I know, Natalie. That's because we're friends. So good to see you. When friends yap and get together, it's just it's so good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I literally haven't even seen you since you've been an actual mother. I know. Which is crazy.
SPEAKER_01To be fair, I don't know if a lot of people have seen me since I've been a mother because I've been at home with my child, you know. As you should be. As I should be. It's been amazing. It's been such a different season of life for me. Like I went from being on the road most of the time, living out of a suitcase, like we've been talking about, living on a bus, to now being kind of a stay-at-home mom that like dabbles in work, you know. Like I That's so good. I occasionally do shows like once a month. I write every Wednesday. You know, we're in like a new rhythm, but it's been so great. It is, yeah. I'm figuring out all the things. It's not without growing pains, but I do feel like it's it's a really joyful season of life, and I'm very thankful for it. Um, and it's it's incredible. Like, I'm so thankful. And I'm thankful for moments like this where I can like sit down and just be Hannah for a minute. Because I'm so mom these days. Like, I'm somebody's mom. I'm so mom. I want that on a channel. M-O-M. Just across my forehead. So like to sit down and be like, oh yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm Hannah. You know. I love this. I love this podcast for you too. Thank you. Because you get to talk about all the things in this.
SPEAKER_01It's been really fun. I feel like God has used it so much, just like the ministry of it is so important to me. That's cool. I don't know. It's been
Oatmeal Fact And Farewell
SPEAKER_01really sweet. But as a fun way to end the podcast, we always do a little fun game. It's it's called the middle moment. I'm workshopping the title because originally my plan. Yeah, my plan was to put it in the middle of the podcast. I see. But what I've realized is like you don't want to go somewhere else. You gotta let the flow go. And then we we it's an ending. Yeah. I like it. Okay. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna have you spin this little wheel that I have down here. Whoa. This is legit.
unknownYeah, it's right here.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Amazon.com. Okay. Prime. Um, you're gonna spin it. There's eight topics on there. It's a little bit putting you on the spot. It's a lot putting me on the spot. Look at that. But you know what? You're gonna spin the wheel, and if you don't like what you get, you can re-spin it. Okay. Okay, I've I'm deciding the rules can change depending on.
SPEAKER_00You're making the rules. Like, by the way.
SPEAKER_01You can make the rules. No, okay, so give it a little, give it a little spin a root. You can hold it, whatever you need to give it a good whirl. And then So what do I do? What is an oatmeal fact? Okay, I love this one. Someone got this the other day and they were like, I don't know what's what does that mean? So, you know a fun fact? Yeah. It's the opposite of that. I want to know the boring thing about you. Cool. Like my husband Jason's oatmeal fact is he doesn't sleep with a pillow. It's not a fun fact. It's that's weird. It's a bland fact. It's Jason. He's not in here anymore. It's like a beige flag. Like it's something that's like like what's your beige flag? Like it's not a it's not a red flag, it's not a green flag. It's just a flag. It's just something about you that we wouldn't know, but it's just kind of part of your rhythm.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, the first thing I thought of is just that, like, you know, people see my life online and that I'm like playing shows or whatever, and the rest of my life, other than that, is like so boring. Like, if I'm not out playing a show, I'm at my house. I love that name so much. Like I'm reading a book. Yes. Or I'm like making dinner. Yes. And that's it. So it's kind of a life is oatmeal, I guess. My life is oatmeal. My life is oatmeal. Sprinkle of toppings. Yeah. And I have the toppings, and that's good. Brown sugar's there. We've got some raisins, but like I, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm at my house. You're like, I'm at my home doing my home. As you should. It's good. You're a home body. I am. That's that's a fantastic oatmeal fact. Thank you for that. That's so good. I feel like it's hard to explain what it means, but I feel like you really understood.
SPEAKER_00I just, yeah. I I feel oatmeal sometimes. So I think I understand. I am oatmeal. Yeah. When people say they're granola, like they like being outside.
SPEAKER_01I'm high. Or like, I'm oatmeal. I love that. Natalie, thank you. Thank you for being here. Being in the middle of it with us. You're the best. Yeah. You're the best. Bye.
unknownBye. Bye.
SPEAKER_01And that's a rep.
SPEAKER_00And that's a rep on that. That was good.
