Latest / Kustom Conversations / Childhood Dreams, The Voice, And The Country Girl From Kansas City | Casi Joy Interview | EP. 08

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Childhood Dreams, The Voice, And The Country Girl From Kansas City | Casi Joy Interview | EP. 08 · Kustom Conversations

• 0:00
  Byran Lankford: So how did you die at the Hollywood sign?
• 0:03
  Byran Lankford: What am I supposed to do?
• 0:04
  Byran Lankford: So I'm about ready to call the police or just you know, somebody locate the short little redhead.
• 0:08
  Byran Lankford: She's in LA.
• 0:09
  Byran Lankford: This is this should be a Netflix documentary because this is the stupidest thing you could have done.
• 0:15
  Casi Joy: I was like, I can't answer because I don't want them to get mad at me, like if they were gonna kill me.
• 0:20
  Casi Joy: And they're like, oh, okay, we know where that is.
• 0:23
  Casi Joy: You can turn off your GPS.
• 0:25
  Byran Lankford: I'm sorry, what?
• 0:28
  Casi Joy: Every story is different.
• 0:30
  Casi Joy: Every episode is custom.
• 0:32
  Casi Joy: Get ready to pull back the curtain on your favorite artists, athletes, and entertainers.
• 0:36
  Casi Joy: I'm your host, Cassie Joy, and this is Custom Conversations.
• 0:44
  Byran Lankford: So is it three, two, one, and clap?
• 0:46
  Casi Joy: Three, two, one, clap.
• 0:48
  Byran Lankford: Okay.
• 0:48
  Byran Lankford: Okay.
• 0:49
  Casi Joy: Three, two.
• 0:53
  Byran Lankford: Three, two, one.
• 0:55
  Byran Lankford: Wow.
• 0:57
  Byran Lankford: Welcome back to another episode of Custom Conversations.
• 0:59
  Byran Lankford: I'm Brian Langford, but you can call me Bri.
• 1:02
  Byran Lankford: I'm filling in today on a very special episode because our guest today is a familiar voice or face to the podcast, depending on where you get it.
• 1:10
  Byran Lankford: She's been singing since the age of five, professionally since the age of ten.
• 1:15
  Byran Lankford: She's performed in every genre of music until she found her home in country music, which led to her being a four-chair turn finalist on NBC's The Voice, where Rolling Stone magazine singled her out as one of the top ten blind auditions of all time.
• 1:32
  Byran Lankford: Since her time on TV, she stayed busy touring the country, releasing multiple albums that charted across iTunes and Billboards.
• 1:40
  Byran Lankford: She became a mother and a whole lot in between, and we'll get to that.
• 1:44
  Byran Lankford: But you know her most recently as the host of this podcast, please welcome Cassie Joy.
• 1:51
  Casi Joy: Well, I didn't know you were doing a real intro.
• 1:55
  Byran Lankford: Well, I thought I'd try, and then you know, as you get into it, it's easy to get into your head and try to figure out like what do you say?
• 2:01
  Byran Lankford: Or, you know, as many people may or may not know, we're married.
• 2:05
  Byran Lankford: So I know a lot of this about you, but trying to create an open platform where everybody can learn about you.
• 2:11
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 2:11
  Byran Lankford: You know, all the things that I know.
• 2:13
  Casi Joy: With stuff that, yeah, you already know.
• 2:16
  Byran Lankford: So let's get like right down to it.
• 2:18
  Byran Lankford: Let's knock the easy ones out of the way.
• 2:20
  Casi Joy: Okay.
• 2:21
  Byran Lankford: How would you leverage AI to stabilize the Middle East while making mortgage rates affordable for American home buyers?
• 2:29
  Casi Joy: Listen, I would I would paste that into Chat GPT and I would believe it a hundred percent.
• 2:35
  Byran Lankford: Okay, okay, excellent, excellent.
• 2:37
  Byran Lankford: That's what I was thinking.
• 2:37
  Byran Lankford: Okay, so Cassie Joy 2028, is that Absolutely?
• 2:42
  Casi Joy: Okay.
• 2:42
  Casi Joy: I don't have enough going on.
• 2:45
  Byran Lankford: Well, you you've had quite a bit going on.
• 2:48
  Byran Lankford: Um I can speak from some experience on that.
• 2:50
  Byran Lankford: We'll get to that in a little bit.
• 2:52
  Byran Lankford: But like let's start at the beginning.
• 2:53
  Byran Lankford: For a lot of viewers that do or don't know what you're up to, what you've been up to, what led you down this walk of life.
• 2:59
  Byran Lankford: In in the intro, I said you started singing around five.
• 3:02
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 3:03
  Byran Lankford: At five, was it just a a passion project?
• 3:08
  Byran Lankford: Or what what's the deal?
• 3:10
  Casi Joy: Um, I think it I I had found this cassette tape of my parents.
• 3:17
  Casi Joy: This is now great, this is aging me.
• 3:19
  Casi Joy: What's a cassette?
• 3:20
  Casi Joy: Um, and it was Alabama's like greatest hits or something, and on the other side there were instrumental tracks, and I didn't know that such a thing existed, where it was like, I can be the voice of this.
• 3:32
  Casi Joy: And so I learned one of the songs, which was Angels Among Us, that had like this really dramatic opening monologue spoken word part, and I just became obsessed with it, and then I found out that my hometown was doing a talent show, and I begged my parents to let me do it, and they're like, Why?
• 3:50
  Casi Joy: You don't sing?
• 3:51
  Casi Joy: What are you talking about?
• 3:52
  Casi Joy: Is that what you've been doing up in your room this whole time?
• 3:55
  Casi Joy: And um, they let me do it.
• 3:57
  Casi Joy: It was not good.
• 3:58
  Casi Joy: There is a video out there somewhere, and so I wasn't born with the gift of like singing.
• 4:04
  Casi Joy: I had pitch, but I was just this tiny little not great, not confident, but I just wanted to do it for some reason.
• 4:14
  Byran Lankford: Well, so as you know, I'm not a musical guy.
• 4:16
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 4:23
  Casi Joy: I was hitting all the right notes.
• 4:24
  Casi Joy: Well, yeah, okay.
• 4:24
  Casi Joy: They just weren't with gusto.
• 4:27
  Byran Lankford: Um I am dumb, but not that dumb.
• 4:29
  Byran Lankford: But I mean, is that something that you have to be born with, or did you fall into that too, or is it just you listen to a bunch of Disney movies and kind of just found your way?
• 4:37
  Casi Joy: I think it's you could sing if you're not born with pitch, but I don't think you're gonna make a career of it if you're tone-deaf.
• 4:47
  Casi Joy: I think there's maybe work to be done, but I don't think you're gonna be like skyrocketing if you're not born.
• 4:54
  Casi Joy: Well, and you hear people.
• 4:55
  Casi Joy: I think you need a little bit of a natural.
• 4:57
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, and you hear people like, oh, she was born with it, or this or that.
• 5:01
  Byran Lankford: I certainly was not, and that's why I figure, you know.
• 5:05
  Casi Joy: Listen though, little peel behind the curtain, you kind of are, you've got a little bit going on in the vocal area.
• 5:10
  Casi Joy: Hello.
• 5:13
  Casi Joy: No, it's down here.
• 5:15
  Byran Lankford: Oh.
• 5:20
  Byran Lankford: Okay, so you started singing at five.
• 5:21
  Byran Lankford: You did the talent contest, and then was it something about shining or sparkling on stage, or was it what was it the actual performing and singing that really like drew you to it?
• 5:31
  Casi Joy: I think it was the like being on stage and kind of being out of myself.
• 5:36
  Casi Joy: Like I was a very whimsy kid.
• 5:39
  Casi Joy: Like everything was like movies and show business and like nothing was real.
• 5:45
  Byran Lankford: And so me getting that's a Disney thing, like from Disney and what you know the fantasy they portray?
• 5:52
  Casi Joy: Yes.
• 5:53
  Casi Joy: Like I was just living in a movie all the time.
• 5:57
  Byran Lankford: And so it just Which is probably where a five-year-old should, you know, be living.
• 6:02
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 6:02
  Byran Lankford: Right.
• 6:03
  Casi Joy: But with less screen time.
• 6:04
  Byran Lankford: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 6:05
  Casi Joy: I'm a mom.
• 6:08
  Byran Lankford: Okay, and so you did a the the you did that contest, and then fast forward a couple years, had you done contests in between, or what led to now you're singing professionally at 10?
• 6:17
  Casi Joy: Yeah, at 10, yeah.
• 6:19
  Casi Joy: My so my parents quickly figured out that like I was serious about this.
• 6:23
  Casi Joy: Like I did sports as well, but this was what I was super, super passionate about.
• 6:29
  Casi Joy: And like they couldn't send me to my room as a punishment because I would just go up and would be singing in my mirror and just getting down to it.
• 6:37
  Casi Joy: Yeah, how do you it's like go to your room and it's I'm like, yes, it's my stage.
• 6:41
  Casi Joy: Um and so yeah, at 10, my mom kind of became my manager, and um she had this cat folder that was our briefcase of song lyrics and keys, and because we would have to like go and hunt down what the keys of songs were because we didn't understand what any of that meant.
• 6:58
  Casi Joy: And she started booking me at Opry Shows in the Midwest, which were these old-timey country shows um the ages six, seventy-five plus.
• 7:11
  Casi Joy: And so that's where my love of old classic country music came from because my mom would just give me the songs to learn, like Harper Valley PTA and Crazy by Patsy Klein, and just like these old Yodel tunes.
• 7:26
  Casi Joy: And I had no idea what I was learning, but she said these were hits, don't worry, you're gonna love it.
• 7:32
  Byran Lankford: Well, and it seems like it it it had a lasting effect if you could make money from doing it.
• 7:37
  Byran Lankford: What's it yeah like being 10 years old and being like paid to sing?
• 7:42
  Casi Joy: I made like $25.
• 7:45
  Byran Lankford: Oh, okay, all right.
• 7:46
  Casi Joy: Which did not cover the hotel and gas for my parents traveling around the country taking me to these shows.
• 7:54
  Byran Lankford: Sure, but you think of how many people, especially like you know, our experience in Nashville, how many people are willing to play for free, let alone make anything.
• 8:02
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 8:03
  Byran Lankford: So that's got to be some kind of a motivator.
• 8:05
  Casi Joy: Yeah, it was so cool to like this was my job at that time.
• 8:09
  Casi Joy: And I took it really seriously.
• 8:11
  Casi Joy: Like I would my mom and I would go down to our studio, which was just a basement room where I had taped CDs to the wall.
• 8:18
  Casi Joy: It was very professional and beautiful.
• 8:19
  Casi Joy: And I would sing on my karaoke machine until my eyes were gonna pop out of my head because I was singing stuff way too high for me.
• 8:26
  Casi Joy: I'm not Celine Dion.
• 8:27
  Byran Lankford: Sure.
• 8:28
  Casi Joy: Um, and we would just practice all the time, and yeah, I took it very seriously.
• 8:33
  Byran Lankford: Wow.
• 8:33
  Byran Lankford: And then, okay, so now you're making money, you're singing songs.
• 8:37
  Byran Lankford: Um you ended up being approached by like I I brought up Disney, you were approached by Radio Disney.
• 8:45
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 8:45
  Byran Lankford: So now you're now gosh, think about a young girl's fantasy of just being associated with Disney or getting to sing, being a like.
• 8:53
  Casi Joy: Oh, I didn't even think of that.
• 8:56
  Byran Lankford: Well, yeah, how cool is that yeah.
• 8:58
  Casi Joy: My checks were literally coming from Walt Disney.
• 9:01
  Byran Lankford: Wow.
• 9:01
  Byran Lankford: I mean, I don't think the man like Mickey Mickey himself signed.
• 9:06
  Casi Joy: Ow, Casatrum!
• 9:11
  Byran Lankford: So Radio Disney needs a young lady to sing for them.
• 9:16
  Casi Joy: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:16
  Casi Joy: This guy that was the head of Radio Disney at the time was putting together a girl pop group and was gonna call it the Commotions, and I had won a karaoke contest at the mall.
• 9:30
  Casi Joy: Whoa.
• 9:31
  Casi Joy: Again, dating myself.
• 9:32
  Casi Joy: Wow, Metro North.
• 9:33
  Casi Joy: Shout out Metro North.
• 9:35
  Byran Lankford: No, rest in peace.
• 9:36
  Casi Joy: We'll never forget.
• 9:36
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 9:37
  Casi Joy: Um, won that, won this baller karaoke machine, and then this guy, Mark Ballard, um, comes out and is like, I'm actually starting this group.
• 9:47
  Casi Joy: And so I joined the commotions, we got to wear headsets, we had a choreographer, we had matching outfits, I mean, we got to open for the Baja Men.
• 9:57
  Casi Joy: Oh, who's that?
• 9:58
  Casi Joy: And Stevie Brock, and that was also my first time doing the plaza lighting for Kansas City.
• 10:04
  Casi Joy: Oh yeah, and singing the Anthem for the Royals was with the commotions, yeah.
• 10:10
  Byran Lankford: So I I just can't imagine, you know, for somebody that wants to be an entertainer to be thrown into choreography or like remembering dance moves.
• 10:23
  Casi Joy: It was everything.
• 10:24
  Byran Lankford: So that it was there a lot of pressure with that, or was it it was uh absolutely everything I ever wanted.
• 10:30
  Casi Joy: Like to get a choreographer, and I had already like I had been in, you know, dance and stuff.
• 10:36
  Casi Joy: So I mean to get to like live out my Britney Spears fantasy was like Who were your inspirations at that time?
• 10:42
  Casi Joy: Brittany, I mean Britney Spears, definitely Britney Spears, yeah.
• 10:46
  Casi Joy: I had the I had the single um of like it only had like two songs on it.
• 10:51
  Casi Joy: Um, you know, Christina Aguilera.
• 10:52
  Casi Joy: Um my voice coach in fourth grade got me the Backstreet Boys album, and so that was on repeat.
• 10:59
  Byran Lankford: I feel like that's a that's m majority of the Mount Rushmore of That's it, like our growing up pop groups.
• 11:06
  Casi Joy: Totally.
• 11:07
  Casi Joy: So and then all the country, the classic country music and 90s, of course, but so I would really just bounce around genres of listening for pleasure and listening for working.
• 11:19
  Byran Lankford: So how long did that last?
• 11:20
  Byran Lankford: Now you're part of Radio Disney, playing shows all over, doing that, making money.
• 11:23
  Byran Lankford: Where next?
• 11:25
  Casi Joy: Um, I think I was in that s from like age 13 to like 15, I think.
• 11:33
  Casi Joy: And then I went to the school of rock.
• 11:37
  Byran Lankford: Oh, okay.
• 11:38
  Casi Joy: So then I move over to rock music, which was super fun because I have a lot of influence of rock music from my dad.
• 11:46
  Casi Joy: Um, and so it was really cool to get to like sing Pink Floyd, and now he like really wanted to hear me practicing.
• 11:52
  Casi Joy: Like, what's that?
• 11:53
  Casi Joy: That's from the wall.
• 11:54
  Casi Joy: Wow.
• 11:54
  Byran Lankford: Oh, yeah, I'm sure he probably wasn't a fan of, you know, I couldn't even see.
• 11:59
  Casi Joy: He's he's not a huge country fan.
• 12:01
  Byran Lankford: Sure, let alone, you know, kind of some pop tunes and all of that.
• 12:05
  Byran Lankford: So you're perform you're working at the School of Rock or you're performing at the School of Rock or a student?
• 12:10
  Casi Joy: Um, I was a student for a long time.
• 12:13
  Casi Joy: And then I think when I was like 17, I did start working there, um, just as a vocal coach, which I still didn't really know what I was doing as vocals.
• 12:24
  Casi Joy: I call myself like a a vocal chameleon.
• 12:26
  Casi Joy: Like I just I think that I know what I'm trying to achieve in my ears, and I just have learned to figure that out in my voice, but I don't really know what's going on or if I'm doing it right.
• 12:37
  Casi Joy: Sound off in the comments.
• 12:39
  Byran Lankford: Fake it if you make it fake it till you make it.
• 12:40
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:41
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 12:42
  Byran Lankford: W after the commotions ended and you started doing the school of rock full time, um did that lead to new opportunities down that path?
• 12:50
  Byran Lankford: Or how did you how did you find your way after the commotions?
• 12:54
  Casi Joy: Yeah, I like forget about this part of my life because I haven't talked about it in so long.
• 12:58
  Casi Joy: But like, yeah, so I'm still doing the country opery shows at that time.
• 13:01
  Casi Joy: Those like never stopped.
• 13:03
  Casi Joy: Um, but in that the rock era at the School of Rock was when um I made really great friends with uh two of my classmates at the School of Rock, Alec Nicholas and Carly Atwood on bass and drums.
• 13:19
  Casi Joy: And we formed with a guy that we found on Craigslist, because again, dating myself.
• 13:24
  Casi Joy: Wow.
• 13:25
  Casi Joy: What a nostalgic episode this is.
• 13:27
  Casi Joy: Um, so we formed a band rock band called In Like, and I mean we got to open for Arcade Fire and Um Chaka Khan and do some really cool stuff.
• 13:44
  Byran Lankford: So And so you at this point you're familiar with the stage.
• 13:49
  Byran Lankford: It's not even really a learning thing, it's just you know that this is what you were gonna do no matter what.
• 13:55
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, I just work how did that like play into like your just your high school life?
• 14:00
  Byran Lankford: How do you navigate that?
• 14:02
  Casi Joy: I I didn't get to go to a lot of the like parties or which is maybe a blessing in disguise.
• 14:08
  Casi Joy: Um shame.
• 14:10
  Casi Joy: My I know my we probably would have met sooner.
• 14:13
  Casi Joy: Um we um my my parents and I, we were gone every weekend.
• 14:21
  Casi Joy: They were taking me to to shows with the Opry and Um, but I would get to bring a friend every weekend.
• 14:27
  Casi Joy: So like I wasn't going to the the parties or anything.
• 14:30
  Casi Joy: Um and then like within like, you know, we were playing every weekend.
• 14:34
  Casi Joy: So it um and like even in college, like I was never in my dorm room because I was always at band practice or there was a show or I was just hanging out with the band at Taco Bell or you know, so it's music has always just I mean kind of taken over my life.
• 14:51
  Byran Lankford: I mean The wrong question would be like, do you reg do you are you sad that you missed out on some of those traditional social experiences, or was it all for the greater good of getting to follow your passion and do what you want?
• 15:03
  Casi Joy: I definitely think the latter.
• 15:05
  Casi Joy: Um because I feel like I got to live my like college years once I moved to Nashville.
• 15:12
  Casi Joy: And oh we'll get to that.
• 15:14
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 15:15
  Casi Joy: Um yeah, I mean, it all it all comes in good time and you kind of have to make sacrifices of, you know, do I want to party as a 20-year-old or do I want to be on stage and make money and hone my craft and write songs?
• 15:26
  Casi Joy: And that's what I did.
• 15:28
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, and you know, though w what is it that um success is just somebody who failed and got up one more time, you're or you know, something inspirational about just staying staying on the beaten path, follow your passion, and then until it's a reality.
• 15:43
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 15:44
  Byran Lankford: So okay, you're doing the rock band for a few years.
• 15:46
  Byran Lankford: What happened then?
• 15:48
  Casi Joy: Um Craigslist and I broke up.
• 15:51
  Byran Lankford: Okay, okay.
• 15:54
  Casi Joy: And um, yeah, so my my band fell apart, and probably hard to navigate that while you're dating somebody in the band.
• 16:02
  Casi Joy: Yeah, a little bit, yeah.
• 16:03
  Casi Joy: I mean, it worked for Fleetwood Mac, but it doesn't work for everybody.
• 16:06
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:07
  Casi Joy: Um, yeah, so that that fizzled out, and that was really sad because that was a project that I loved so much, and I was like, we just released this album, what are we gonna do?
• 16:15
  Casi Joy: Like what happens to these songs, yeah.
• 16:17
  Casi Joy: Um and the and the friendships.
• 16:21
  Casi Joy: Um but I the at that point I think I kind of focused on college for maybe six months.
• 16:30
  Byran Lankford: What did you study?
• 16:31
  Casi Joy: Um early childhood education.
• 16:33
  Casi Joy: So have a degree in education.
• 16:35
  Casi Joy: Um, and I was also um I went to Park University for on a track scholarship.
• 16:40
  Casi Joy: So I was running track, so there was a lot going on, at least to keep me distracted.
• 16:45
  Casi Joy: Um, but I think I um then after that that was when I met you.
• 16:50
  Byran Lankford: Yep, yep.
• 16:51
  Byran Lankford: And behind the curtain, this is where I can now have a little more commentary into what took place during this period of time.
• 16:57
  Casi Joy: And I think at that point I had taken like a year off of music.
• 17:03
  Byran Lankford: Probably to write.
• 17:04
  Casi Joy: You know, and we were Well, it was I just didn't know where to go.
• 17:07
  Casi Joy: I was like, what's going on?
• 17:08
  Casi Joy: I've been in a band now, you know, the commotions in School of Rock and then in like I hadn't been solo in so long.
• 17:14
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 17:14
  Casi Joy: And I just didn't know what to do.
• 17:16
  Casi Joy: And it was really sad.
• 17:18
  Casi Joy: And I think you were the one that kind of brought that up of like, you've got to get back out on stage.
• 17:23
  Casi Joy: And we were going to karaoke like two times a week.
• 17:27
  Casi Joy: Yeah, it's so embarrassing.
• 17:28
  Casi Joy: I was such a karaoke superstar.
• 17:31
  Byran Lankford: Never give up, baby.
• 17:32
  Casi Joy: No, and we were shutting down them bars.
• 17:34
  Casi Joy: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:35
  Byran Lankford: We had some long nights.
• 17:36
  Casi Joy: We did.
• 17:37
  Casi Joy: Yeah, you were the one that then suggested like you have to go solo, and why don't you go back to country?
• 17:44
  Casi Joy: And I was like, uh Oh yeah.
• 17:48
  Byran Lankford: Let me see this old six string here.
• 17:49
  Byran Lankford: See if I can play some of them country chords.
• 17:53
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 17:53
  Casi Joy: And I think I remember I was sitting in my parents' basement when like we made my Facebook page for just Cassie Joy.
• 18:01
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 18:01
  Byran Lankford: The name that lasted.
• 18:03
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 18:04
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, you started doing that.
• 18:05
  Byran Lankford: I was working full time, some boring corporate job.
• 18:07
  Casi Joy: Yeah, you were like profesh.
• 18:09
  Casi Joy: And I was like, hey, but you should come over here and work in the music industry.
• 18:12
  Casi Joy: It's gonna be great and really easy.
• 18:14
  Byran Lankford: Instead of this corporate nine to five benefits, all of that.
• 18:21
  Byran Lankford: Hey, let's let's go on an adventure.
• 18:24
  Casi Joy: It's an adventure.
• 18:25
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:26
  Casi Joy: Bilbo Baggins approves.
• 18:29
  Byran Lankford: So uh yeah, it would that would have been probably around 2012.
• 18:33
  Byran Lankford: You know, 20 2012, 2013.
• 18:36
  Byran Lankford: We've been together a thousand years.
• 18:37
  Byran Lankford: We were we were together a couple years, and then we things were going well enough between us.
• 18:41
  Byran Lankford: Oh yeah, now it's been a book of ages.
• 18:45
  Casi Joy: 15 in January?
• 18:46
  Byran Lankford: 15 years.
• 18:47
  Byran Lankford: Um things were going well enough between us that we got a house together, and that was 2013, and um that was going pretty well, and somewhere along the lines I had a premonition, okay?
• 19:03
  Casi Joy: New Year's Day.
• 19:04
  Byran Lankford: Somewhere along the lines, it became, you know, clear that that music was your passion.
• 19:10
  Byran Lankford: Music was where this was headed, there was no outcome that really existed where you weren't going to perform music.
• 19:16
  Byran Lankford: So then, spoiler, you get the notion I need to get to Nashville if I'm really gonna pursue this.
• 19:25
  Byran Lankford: And we had to we had to do the long distance relationship thing.
• 19:31
  Byran Lankford: We did that for like almost two years.
• 19:33
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, at least 18 months.
• 19:34
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 19:35
  Byran Lankford: Um but I had my little every couple weeks.
• 19:38
  Casi Joy: I'd come back in my little Hyundai Elantra and Danny Boy.
• 19:41
  Byran Lankford: Yep.
• 19:42
  Byran Lankford: You would you would come back every couple weeks and I would head down to Nashville, those every other weeks in between, and somehow we made it work, and honestly, kind of cheers on that because I don't know a lot of people that would do that for like two years and then end up marrying that gal.
• 19:57
  Casi Joy: Remember when so this is also when like FaceTime was like getting big.
• 20:01
  Casi Joy: So like we had more access to like see each other.
• 20:03
  Casi Joy: And remember when we would like watch, I won't say the show, but pretty little lockers.
• 20:09
  Byran Lankford: Oh god.
• 20:10
  Casi Joy: We would hit we would go one, two, three, play so that we could like watch TV together.
• 20:17
  Byran Lankford: You know, there's some things as a man, I'm just not gonna admit, especially when it's being recorded, but I love my wife.
• 20:23
  Casi Joy: This is how you make it last.
• 20:24
  Byran Lankford: Okay, so we but now you move to Nashville, and we were kind of talking about you got these college years given back to you.
• 20:31
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 20:31
  Byran Lankford: Walk us through that.
• 20:33
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 20:33
  Casi Joy: I didn't know that's what Nashville was like.
• 20:35
  Casi Joy: But, you know, so I move into this house with um two other women, and you know, we all just became besties.
• 20:42
  Casi Joy: And the way that you get around in Nashville is networking, and to network you gotta be out and about it and around it.
• 20:51
  Casi Joy: And yeah, I kind of got to get a little bit of the partying out of my system.
• 20:56
  Byran Lankford: At like brought down on Broadway or just at Riders Roads?
• 21:00
  Casi Joy: Both both, because a lot of the Broadway musicians are, you know, who will become gigantic musicians.
• 21:08
  Casi Joy: You know, everybody, not everybody, but like so many, yeah, get their start on Broadway.
• 21:15
  Casi Joy: Right.
• 21:15
  Casi Joy: And it's just how you can make money and be able to stay in Nashville because you don't make money from writers' rounds.
• 21:22
  Casi Joy: If you're gonna do a waitressing job or something, like takes time away.
• 21:25
  Casi Joy: Yeah, and you're not around it, you're tired after work.
• 21:28
  Casi Joy: But if you can just play on Broadway, you're in it 24-7 and you're meeting writers every day.
• 21:33
  Casi Joy: There's tourists coming in who are like, Hey, I want you to play my private party in Wisconsin or whatever.
• 21:38
  Casi Joy: And so it's just a uh win win win.
• 21:43
  Byran Lankford: And so when they tip you, sometimes they don't tip you the 10 minutes.
• 21:45
  Casi Joy: Sometimes it is a terra of fireball shots.
• 21:50
  Byran Lankford: Do you have any funny stories about just times where you were uh social down in Nashville trying to make your way in this world?
• 21:56
  Casi Joy: My God.
• 21:57
  Casi Joy: If I did, I'd probably well, God, my grandma.
• 21:59
  Casi Joy: Watches this.
• 22:01
  Casi Joy: Um, one time I sang my church, and I had never even heard the song before, and I just made it up the entire time.
• 22:09
  Casi Joy: But you know, 20 bucks is 20 bucks.
• 22:11
  Casi Joy: And then I end up singing that song on national TV.
• 22:14
  Casi Joy: So I've seen special place.
• 22:17
  Byran Lankford: So is the version you sang on national TV, how you sang it in the bar?
• 22:21
  Casi Joy: I couldn't tell you.
• 22:24
  Byran Lankford: I can think of one time where I was on one of my visits to visit you and you had a buddy playing on the roof of Ripys down in Broadway.
• 22:33
  Casi Joy: Don't tell that.
• 22:35
  Byran Lankford: Oh, and somebody on this podcast who's not me uh was what some would call overserved.
• 22:42
  Casi Joy: Yeah, it wasn't my fault.
• 22:43
  Casi Joy: It was the bushwhackers.
• 22:44
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:45
  Byran Lankford: And so her friend Kenny said, Hey Cassie, why don't you come up on stage?
• 22:48
  Casi Joy: Shout out Kenny P, who was also on the voice with me.
• 22:51
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 22:51
  Byran Lankford: Uh come on, why don't you come up on stage sing a song with us?
• 22:56
  Byran Lankford: And we proceeded to trip off stage because there was some invisible nail there.
• 23:04
  Casi Joy: They come out of nowhere.
• 23:06
  Byran Lankford: Or bushwackers, one way or another.
• 23:08
  Casi Joy: But uh But also I was down there on vacay at that point.
• 23:11
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, and mind you, she's employed by this place.
• 23:13
  Byran Lankford: So she's just spending her day off at work at this place, going up on stage, sings a little song, it goes as well as it could, and we fall off stage to the point that the bouncers are like, hey, it's time to go home.
• 23:26
  Byran Lankford: Oh boy, I'll see it at work on Monday.
• 23:29
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 23:30
  Casi Joy: Listen, we all have to get that out of our system.
• 23:33
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:34
  Byran Lankford: And it was shortly a after that time that um I had wrapped things up here and rented out our house in Kansas City, and we were now together again uh in Nashville.
• 23:45
  Byran Lankford: And that would have been around July of 2016.
• 23:49
  Byran Lankford: Uh, and it wasn't any sooner than I got to Nashville before we went to uh family vacation up in Minnesota where we go every year.
• 23:57
  Byran Lankford: What happened then?
• 23:58
  Casi Joy: Um I got a call while we were on vacation from an executive producer that said we saw your YouTube video of Jolene on your channel, and we're still looking for our country princess of this.
• 24:14
  Byran Lankford: A producer for what?
• 24:15
  Casi Joy: Oh, of the voice.
• 24:16
  Casi Joy: Oh, okay.
• 24:16
  Casi Joy: Yeah, thank you.
• 24:18
  Byran Lankford: Um I knew that, but you know.
• 24:20
  Casi Joy: For the female.
• 24:20
  Casi Joy: Um, yeah, and he said, Yeah, we're still looking for a country princess.
• 24:24
  Casi Joy: If you could be to LA in two days, we'd love for you to do a private audition.
• 24:30
  Casi Joy: And at this point We said no.
• 24:33
  Byran Lankford: Well, but at this point, I had tried out for every show under the sun the voice for the show with her one time because that was the only way I could stand next to her in line.
• 24:44
  Byran Lankford: Most embarrassing moment of my life.
• 24:45
  Casi Joy: Yeah, but you did it.
• 24:46
  Casi Joy: Yes, and it was so great.
• 24:47
  Casi Joy: I can still see your leg going.
• 24:48
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, yeah, okay.
• 24:49
  Byran Lankford: It wasn't that good.
• 24:53
  Byran Lankford: Um, yeah, so you gotta be in LA in 48 hours to try out for this show.
• 25:00
  Casi Joy: And we're thinking do you know how much that plane ticket costs?
• 25:03
  Casi Joy: So we were like, probably not.
• 25:04
  Casi Joy: And also, I didn't want to get my heart broken again.
• 25:06
  Casi Joy: I had tried out for the I'm like, I've been here before.
• 25:08
  Casi Joy: I spent the 16 hours, you know, just for you to say my name wrong and cut my bracelet off and go home.
• 25:14
  Casi Joy: Like, it's so sad for people who have like tried out for shows, like they know exactly what I'm talking about.
• 25:19
  Casi Joy: Like you work, work, work, work, work up, and it's this moment that could change your life, and it's just a bye.
• 25:25
  Byran Lankford: Heartbreak.
• 25:28
  Casi Joy: Um, so yeah, I was like, probably not.
• 25:30
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 25:30
  Byran Lankford: And then they said, no, no, no.
• 25:32
  Byran Lankford: If you can make it to LA in 48 hours, we really want you to come out for the show.
• 25:37
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 25:37
  Byran Lankford: And I So we're on family vacation, reaching into our pockets, like, I got 20 bucks.
• 25:41
  Byran Lankford: You got you got 20, 30 bucks, you got Yeah, who's got points?
• 25:45
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, I we your brother and I went to a thrift store to buy you a luggage bag so you could hop on the plane on the way home.
• 25:51
  Casi Joy: We still have it.
• 25:52
  Casi Joy: And then, yeah, my sister-in-law took me to JCPenney's, which was the closest clothing store in Alexandria.
• 25:59
  Casi Joy: And yeah, we pulled our money together.
• 26:03
  Casi Joy: I flew, we drove to Minneapolis, then I flew from Minneapolis to LA, um, did that audition, and got through.
• 26:14
  Byran Lankford: And they s they they said, Great job, we'll see you next week.
• 26:17
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 26:18
  Byran Lankford: And we're thinking, oh my god.
• 26:20
  Casi Joy: That's right.
• 26:22
  Byran Lankford: And they said, No, no, no, this time here.
• 26:23
  Byran Lankford: We'll be here at this time, we'll fly you out.
• 26:26
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 26:26
  Casi Joy: That was And that was also when I almost died at the Hollywood sign when I was almost kidnapped.
• 26:32
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 26:32
  Casi Joy: Possibly trafficked.
• 26:33
  Byran Lankford: That was as your boyfriend at the time, that was a thrilling adventure to get.
• 26:37
  Casi Joy: My parents still don't even let me tell the story around them because they're still mad.
• 26:42
  Byran Lankford: So how did you die at the Hollywood sign?
• 26:46
  Casi Joy: Well, I decided this is I'm an independent girl now.
• 26:49
  Casi Joy: I had never flown alone before.
• 26:51
  Byran Lankford: And you're in LA for the first time.
• 26:52
  Casi Joy: Yeah, hello, Hollywood.
• 26:54
  Casi Joy: Come on, hands up.
• 26:55
  Casi Joy: Um, yeah.
• 26:57
  Casi Joy: So I touched down at LA's with a dream in my cart again and decide that I'm gonna take myself to the Hollywood sign because I'm a big, big girl and I deserve this, and I'm gonna be on TV.
• 27:07
  Casi Joy: So yeah, I get my Uber.
• 27:10
  Casi Joy: The Uber takes forever to get to the Hollywood sign.
• 27:13
  Casi Joy: By the time I get there, it's like this truck, truck up the hill.
• 27:16
  Casi Joy: Um, truck, trench, truck, what word am I saying?
• 27:20
  Casi Joy: Like, like when you chug, I'm chugging up the hill.
• 27:23
  Casi Joy: I don't know.
• 27:23
  Casi Joy: A truck, yeah.
• 27:24
  Casi Joy: Up the hill.
• 27:26
  Casi Joy: I get up there, the sun's going down at this point.
• 27:29
  Casi Joy: So I take my cute little sunset picture and then I'm like, all right, time to start walking back down.
• 27:36
  Casi Joy: And I'm looking for like an Uber, and Ubers can't pick you up up at the top of the hill.
• 27:41
  Casi Joy: So I'm starting to walk down this hill, and then I'm realizing there's nobody else around me anymore, and the sun is down.
• 27:52
  Casi Joy: Makes my heart race a little bit.
• 27:55
  Byran Lankford: In a strange place.
• 27:56
  Casi Joy: Yes.
• 27:56
  Byran Lankford: Did you have cell service?
• 27:58
  Casi Joy: Did you get up there to me.
• 28:03
  Casi Joy: So there is a very long way still down this hill, and I'm in my audition outfit, little crop top, little skirt, and my little heels.
• 28:09
  Casi Joy: Very stupid.
• 28:10
  Byran Lankford: Looking like a lady of the night in the middle of LA.
• 28:14
  Casi Joy: Yeah, in the in the woods of the Hollywood sign.
• 28:17
  Byran Lankford: I'm looking to ride.
• 28:19
  Casi Joy: I'm looking to my left and to my right, and there's just tents in the ditches.
• 28:25
  Casi Joy: So I'm like, now I'm in, you know, the homeless community's territory, and like anything could happen.
• 28:31
  Byran Lankford: Sure.
• 28:31
  Byran Lankford: Um scary.
• 28:33
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 28:33
  Casi Joy: I was texting you and my parents of like, I think my next step might be to call the police because I'm really afraid to take one more step because I'm pretty sure my head's gonna be cut off.
• 28:44
  Byran Lankford: And I'm 2,000 miles away in Nashville at this point in time, and I'm only connected by cell signal to my girlfriend.
• 28:51
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 28:52
  Byran Lankford: And what what am I supposed to do?
• 28:54
  Byran Lankford: So I'm about ready to call the police, or just you know, somebody locate the short little redhead, she's in LA.
• 28:59
  Casi Joy: And the sun is down at this point, and then these two men come out of the woods, and I had this bright idea.
• 29:10
  Casi Joy: Well, first I got a little whiff of uh jazz cabbage.
• 29:17
  Byran Lankford: Mmm, the old jazz cabbage.
• 29:19
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 29:19
  Casi Joy: And I was like, you know what?
• 29:21
  Casi Joy: Potheads don't kill.
• 29:23
  Casi Joy: They chill.
• 29:24
  Casi Joy: And so I decided.
• 29:28
  Byran Lankford: What an astute observation, by the way.
• 29:30
  Byran Lankford: And that's true.
• 29:31
  Byran Lankford: I don't think anybody goes out, smokes a joint, and thinks, you know what, I'm gonna rob a bank.
• 29:35
  Casi Joy: Exactly.
• 29:35
  Casi Joy: Okay.
• 29:36
  Casi Joy: And so I said, Hi.
• 29:39
  Byran Lankford: I'm a complete stranger.
• 29:41
  Casi Joy: Can I get in your car?
• 29:42
  Casi Joy: And I said, Are you do you guys have a car?
• 29:48
  Casi Joy: And they're like, Yeah, totally.
• 29:50
  Casi Joy: And I'm like, Can I come in there?
• 29:53
  Casi Joy: I need a ride.
• 29:54
  Casi Joy: And they're like, totally.
• 29:56
  Casi Joy: And so then I texted you.
• 29:59
  Byran Lankford: This is this should be a Netflix documentary because this is the stupidest thing you could have done.
• 30:04
  Byran Lankford: And then I really can't believe it.
• 30:09
  Casi Joy: I'm thinking, you're in the car with two guys, hey, what in the f and then you started calling me and I kept hitting ignore, ignore.
• 30:15
  Casi Joy: And I was like, I can't answer because I don't want them to get mad at me.
• 30:19
  Casi Joy: Like if they were gonna kill me.
• 30:21
  Casi Joy: It that was so I didn't want to answer the phone.
• 30:24
  Casi Joy: And then they asked, Where are you going?
• 30:26
  Casi Joy: And I was like, Oh, I'm going to this hotel.
• 30:28
  Casi Joy: And they're like, Oh, okay, we know where that is.
• 30:31
  Casi Joy: You can turn off your GPS.
• 30:33
  Byran Lankford: I'm sorry, what?
• 30:36
  Casi Joy: So at that point, I'm getting a little more nervous.
• 30:39
  Casi Joy: I'm a big fan of Dateline.
• 30:41
  Casi Joy: I know how this ends.
• 30:43
  Casi Joy: And so I turn my volume down on my phone and I keep my maps up.
• 30:49
  Casi Joy: And then it comes up that like one of the guys is a painter and one of the guys is a songwriter, and he starts playing his music over the speakers, and I'm like, well, I actually just released an apple myself.
• 30:59
  Casi Joy: And I play mine on the speakers.
• 31:02
  Casi Joy: We're jamming out.
• 31:03
  Casi Joy: They pull into my hotel, we hug, we follow each other on Instagram, and I'm alive.
• 31:08
  Byran Lankford: Oh my gosh.
• 31:09
  Byran Lankford: So you can trust some people, but you shouldn't trust You shouldn't trust strangers, but it worked out in your favor in this point.
• 31:16
  Casi Joy: I am the girl who lived.
• 31:17
  Byran Lankford: So you're out there to perform or to audition for the voice, and now, like, what?
• 31:23
  Byran Lankford: You're about to be on national TV, Dith?
• 31:25
  Byran Lankford: But that's not you like your first song out there wasn't your first song.
• 31:28
  Byran Lankford: A little spoiler behind the curtain, it you you auditioned many times.
• 31:34
  Casi Joy: Yeah, even with the private audition, even skipping the cattle call, like when you show up to like an arena and there's everyone in their hamster is there to audition.
• 31:41
  Casi Joy: Um I got to skip that round, but there's still like two or three.
• 31:46
  Casi Joy: Um, I don't know, it's kind of all a blur at this point.
• 31:49
  Casi Joy: Um where you sing to music, it's not a cappella.
• 31:53
  Casi Joy: So I never did an a cappella audition for when I actually made it onto the voice.
• 31:58
  Casi Joy: Um But yeah, so I I made it through both of those or three of those.
• 32:03
  Casi Joy: Um you sing like three songs.
• 32:05
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 32:08
  Casi Joy: And then you go to this room with all of the contestants.
• 32:14
  Casi Joy: Oh, you have to take a 650 question psych test.
• 32:17
  Casi Joy: Found out, we're good.
• 32:19
  Casi Joy: Still my decision-making questionable.
• 32:24
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, the the on the on the very trip you take the psyche valve, you jump into the car with strangers.
• 32:29
  Byran Lankford: Uh we might need to go back and second guess this test to see the authenticity of it.
• 32:34
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 32:34
  Casi Joy: So And then you find out if you make it to the blind auditions.
• 32:38
  Casi Joy: Right.
• 32:38
  Byran Lankford: And now the now the cameras are on.
• 32:40
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 32:40
  Byran Lankford: And now you're learning about TV.
• 32:43
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 32:43
  Casi Joy: And being prof what it's like to really it's really Which was like back to my Radio Disney thing of like, this is it.
• 32:50
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 32:51
  Casi Joy: This is everything you've been preparing for.
• 32:53
  Casi Joy: Like tricks.
• 32:54
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 32:54
  Casi Joy: So there's some people.
• 32:55
  Casi Joy: It's not a good thing.
• 32:58
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 32:59
  Casi Joy: There's some people who aren't cut out for that.
• 33:02
  Casi Joy: Of like the crazy fast-paced, like you get no sleep on that show because there's interviews at 5 a.m.
• 33:09
  Casi Joy: and four, and then wardrobe and hairs at five, and there's no time for snacks or food.
• 33:15
  Casi Joy: And you know, uh that was when I learned like this is what I want to do.
• 33:21
  Casi Joy: It was it was so cool.
• 33:24
  Byran Lankford: I can't imagine being just so um like you know, something I really observed of you is is again, there's no equation in this world where you don't do music.
• 33:34
  Byran Lankford: Like you knew you were gonna do this.
• 33:36
  Byran Lankford: And if anything, you've just been forged and like further convinced that this is the path to be on.
• 33:42
  Byran Lankford: And I I just can't imagine having that much conviction in something that I was gonna do, let alone being reassured of it by being on national TV and doing a the blind audition on one of the biggest towns.
• 33:54
  Casi Joy: It helps to have that kind of validation.
• 33:56
  Casi Joy: I mean, it'd be it would I would be in a different spot, I think, if I never would have had that, you know, to never get some sort of like legit validation that like and I mean I know this, but others don't, but you've worked your butt off.
• 34:10
  Byran Lankford: I mean, there's you're not you're not a like a stay at home and do nothing type person.
• 34:14
  Byran Lankford: I think you're you're just too much of a busybody, whether and and for a lot of people that don't know, she runs a lot of her own social media and well, all of her social media, and besides the stuff that I help with, filming content, shooting content, um, and and and writing music and performing them and then rehearsing.
• 34:33
  Byran Lankford: You do a lot of that.
• 34:34
  Byran Lankford: And so I can just imagine the kind of um again, yeah, validation that so now you're on national TV, Rolling Stones wrote an article, we'll have to paste the link somewhere, but Rolling Stones said this is one of the top ten blind auditions of all time.
• 34:49
  Byran Lankford: But you're a professional musician at this point in time.
• 34:53
  Byran Lankford: You go on to be uh a live finalist on The Voice.
• 34:58
  Byran Lankford: I think you finished in like the top ten of it.
• 35:00
  Byran Lankford: I just remember that you were on the show the maximum period of time with the least amount of like contract implications.
• 35:05
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 35:05
  Byran Lankford: And this was just after hearing at the time that like Carrie Underwood's first contract had like just expired, like 10 or 15 years later or something like that.
• 35:14
  Byran Lankford: So walk walk me through, I guess, two things.
• 35:19
  Byran Lankford: One, what was it like transitioning off of the show?
• 35:23
  Byran Lankford: And then two, like now what?
• 35:27
  Casi Joy: Yeah, that was a real hurtful time in my life, just like leaving the show.
• 35:33
  Casi Joy: Like I was down in the dumps.
• 35:36
  Byran Lankford: Sure, because you had just been exposed to lots of like the hope of the well not even well, the hope, sure, but you were just exposed to the it being on stage on TV.
• 35:48
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 35:48
  Byran Lankford: You're like your idols and being as close, you know, so much that you can touch your idols.
• 35:52
  Byran Lankford: Actually, touch one of your idols, Blake, Shelton.
• 35:55
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 35:55
  Byran Lankford: And then and and so we this the show takes place and the live voting happens, which I wasn't gonna say something about this, but I'm going to.
• 36:06
  Byran Lankford: I don't know if I we can okay, maybe.
• 36:11
  Byran Lankford: But anyway, the the voting took place on Twitter and cast confirm or deny, but one of the producers had shown some of the live Twitter voting to you, but then it turns out that the voting windows were available on like East Coast and Central Time, and before it even aired on the West Coast, they had closed the voting, and by the time all of the votes could even count, they had decided the outcome of the show.
• 36:40
  Casi Joy: Yeah, something weird seemed like it was.
• 36:42
  Byran Lankford: It had to do with time zones and versus your live episode and when it aired across the country.
• 36:48
  Casi Joy: Anyway, it would have been cool to stay longer, but you know.
• 36:52
  Byran Lankford: You got to you got to be on there the maximum period of time without any kind of negative contract implications.
• 36:58
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 36:58
  Casi Joy: So And then, yeah, so after I'm off the show, I at least had something to fall back on.
• 37:04
  Casi Joy: Like we were prepared for at any moment that I was off the show, we had tour dates ready to go, we had music ready to release, like we were ready to use the springboard that was NBC to go.
• 37:17
  Casi Joy: Like you my biggest piece of advice for people who get to be on that path of like one of the shows is use it.
• 37:28
  Casi Joy: Like the show is not going to do anything for you, but you can use the show.
• 37:33
  Casi Joy: So it's all in how prepared you are to hit the ground sprinting whenever you get off.
• 37:40
  Casi Joy: Just having all those tour dates.
• 37:42
  Casi Joy: I mean, we went on the road immediately that summer.
• 37:44
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 37:44
  Byran Lankford: Um we had a house in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and we were never at it.
• 37:49
  Casi Joy: Never.
• 37:50
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, we just it was like our vacation home because we would like go there to be there for a couple weeks.
• 37:56
  Casi Joy: Just last year when we moved back from Nashville for Quinny was the first time that I've like been back in a dresser and had all of my clothes in one place.
• 38:06
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 38:06
  Casi Joy: Because we've lived out of suitcases for all that time.
• 38:10
  Casi Joy: Because we just toured and toured and yeah, we were in Canada.
• 38:14
  Byran Lankford: Playing shows, solo, full bands, just anywhere the music takes us.
• 38:17
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:17
  Byran Lankford: You had released at that time uh an EP that I think it weighed it to like top ten on iTunes charts.
• 38:24
  Byran Lankford: And that was something we made 19.
• 38:27
  Byran Lankford: 19.
• 38:27
  Byran Lankford: And that was we made that in uh a guest bedroom in that house, yeah, with some time that we had back.
• 38:34
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 38:35
  Casi Joy: Mosaic music group.
• 38:36
  Byran Lankford: And then from there, that becomes about in 2020.
• 38:41
  Byran Lankford: Things are getting pretty serious.
• 38:43
  Byran Lankford: We're playing casinos, yeah, yeah.
• 38:44
  Byran Lankford: You know where I'm going with this.
• 38:46
  Byran Lankford: And there's a looming.
• 38:47
  Byran Lankford: We have we have the busiest year of our life on the calendar for this upcoming 2020.
• 38:53
  Byran Lankford: So much that we buy our own bus.
• 38:56
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 38:56
  Byran Lankford: We bought a 45-foot bus because we were moving to the business.
• 39:01
  Byran Lankford: A lot of people think we're talking about it.
• 39:03
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, not a school bus.
• 39:04
  Byran Lankford: This was we'll post a picture somewhere.
• 39:06
  Byran Lankford: It's a 45-foot bus.
• 39:07
  Byran Lankford: We called her Lucille.
• 39:08
  Byran Lankford: And um, we got rid of all of our belongings and we were all in.
• 39:12
  Byran Lankford: We were gonna be touring uh uh touring the country in our bus, and we were never home anyway, so we thought, well, let's just put wheels on it.
• 39:20
  Byran Lankford: That way we could have like our own bed and stuff.
• 39:22
  Byran Lankford: We had two little dogs at the time.
• 39:23
  Byran Lankford: And um, so we bought this thing in October of 2019 and then March of 2020.
• 39:33
  Casi Joy: On my birthday.
• 39:34
  Byran Lankford: This weird little like virus starts popping up, and now COVID's taking place.
• 39:39
  Byran Lankford: The entire world shuts down.
• 39:40
  Byran Lankford: We have nothing, we have nothing we can do.
• 39:43
  Casi Joy: All of these dates, seriously, the busiest year we've ever had, both financially and just I remember like we would get a call here and there of like this is cancelled, and like, oh dang, and then this is cancelled.
• 39:52
  Casi Joy: Oh dang.
• 39:54
  Byran Lankford: But then when And then you start looking at the spreadsheet and you're thinking, oh, this bus payment's due and we've got 'em.
• 40:00
  Casi Joy: Well, and then like when when hot summer nights got canceled, um, which is my hometown show, yeah.
• 40:06
  Casi Joy: Um, every summer, and like the biggest show, it's so special for me, because that's the first stage I performed Angels Among Us on.
• 40:12
  Casi Joy: So that's why that show means a lot to me.
• 40:14
  Casi Joy: And when that one got canceled, I cried.
• 40:17
  Casi Joy: Yeah, that was a really sad one.
• 40:21
  Casi Joy: And then it was like, damn, this is real.
• 40:23
  Casi Joy: What are we gonna do?
• 40:25
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, so then all of our 2020 shows get wiped out, and we have to get creative, and it's amazing how capable of things that you really are when your back is in a corner.
• 40:35
  Byran Lankford: And so I had this idea of like, well, we just got this damn bus, we gotta pay for it somehow.
• 40:40
  Byran Lankford: Camping was one thing you could do during 2020 that was pretty unaffected, or if anything, the industry was like a lot of us.
• 40:47
  Byran Lankford: So I just started calling campgrounds and saying, Hey, Cassie Joy, you might have seen her on TV.
• 40:53
  Byran Lankford: We're passing through town, cut us a deal, maybe we'll you know, we cut you a deal, and we could put on an outdoor show, safe for everybody, and we have a place to park this 45-foot piece of metal.
• 41:03
  Byran Lankford: And um, and so we ended up finding the the sweetest lemonade out of what lemon that's life had given us.
• 41:11
  Casi Joy: Yeah, I think we played like what 40 something shows together.
• 41:15
  Byran Lankford: Dude, yeah, and and like think of like all the people on Broadway who either had to like give up, had to not I don't want to say give up, but they had to find other ways to make their memes or they had to find uh jobs that pulled them away from music.
• 41:27
  Byran Lankford: It was a really this you know, everybody's climbing a rope, and like somewhere along the line the rope got cut, and everybody under this spot either could continue to make a living on music or had to you know find other means to survive.
• 41:40
  Byran Lankford: And I'll never forget that because we've we managed to make it through at this period of time through some crazy happening.
• 41:48
  Casi Joy: It was so special.
• 41:49
  Casi Joy: Like, think of the people that like like Sharon from Red Bay just commented on Quinny's pumpkin picture today, and we met her in Alabama and then saw them another time at a park, and like the relationships and like super special fans that we made there was really a whole different like way to go about it.
• 42:12
  Byran Lankford: It was a way to actually like connect with fans because frankly, people like gave a shit.
• 42:16
  Casi Joy: Yeah, and like they would buy a custom coffee mug from me, so then I'd go back to the bus, make it, deliver it to their door the next day, and we'd have like morning coffee together at the dog park.
• 42:28
  Byran Lankford: Like it was just so that was a special time, and just being able to we toured the whole South uh Southeast South We had Thanksgiving in Louisiana.
• 42:36
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, and uh and all the while we made a bunch of music videos, you had a few pop up on CMT.
• 42:43
  Casi Joy: Poor Angel, we we shot that ourselves.
• 42:46
  Casi Joy: Um yeah, first video you ever shot and that I ever edited, and that ended up on CMT, and we did that down on on Broadway in Nashville.
• 42:56
  Byran Lankford: You even around this time like secured like something like a uh a label distribution deal.
• 43:01
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 43:01
  Byran Lankford: So now we're we're staying busy during this whole time where it really wasn't feasible uh for a lot of artists, and we we learned a lot from that.
• 43:11
  Byran Lankford: We put out another album that even had like Billboard chart one of your songs.
• 43:15
  Casi Joy: And that was a song about you.
• 43:17
  Casi Joy: Was it Partners in Time?
• 43:19
  Byran Lankford: Oh Did you even know?
• 43:21
  Casi Joy: Do you even follow me?
• 43:22
  Byran Lankford: You know what?
• 43:22
  Byran Lankford: I really do I should take a little more credit.
• 43:25
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 43:25
  Byran Lankford: More than 50%.
• 43:26
  Casi Joy: Well, because you are on uh you sing on Low Brow Lux, which is on that album, Miles and Maybes.
• 43:32
  Byran Lankford: Still exp still expecting my check.
• 43:34
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 43:34
  Byran Lankford: And you so you put you put out you put out a couple albums, uh, and we're just we're moving and grooving.
• 43:42
  Byran Lankford: We get back um we get back to playing shows out, you spend some time on Broadway, which is really cool because you get to kind of keep up on your chops, stay busy, stay out, stay going.
• 43:52
  Byran Lankford: Uh and then in August of twenty twenty-five One of those little things you pee on said that we had a baby on the way.
• 44:05
  Casi Joy: I peed on like ten of 'em just to make sure before I even told you that I thought something was uh dude and I you know ev and you can see the video of uh me telling you on my social media, it's very special.
• 44:19
  Byran Lankford: And at this point in time, we had had we'd been in Nashville ten, twelve years at this point.
• 44:26
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 44:26
  Byran Lankford: Just making a living in music, just us.
• 44:28
  Byran Lankford: No crazy, you know, money benefactor, just no no stupid record label money, just just the two of us.
• 44:38
  Byran Lankford: As long as we had dates on the calendar, we could make a living, we could eat.
• 44:40
  Byran Lankford: And now our whole world's flipped upside down because we've got to move a quarter of the way across the country because there was no way we were gonna raise a baby without the support of our family.
• 44:50
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 44:50
  Byran Lankford: And um and being in our village.
• 44:53
  Byran Lankford: But what's it like to go from touring the country, being a rock star, so to speak, and uh to now like you it's bigger than you.
• 45:05
  Byran Lankford: You have you know, you're and you have a life growing in you.
• 45:09
  Byran Lankford: What what it I just can't imagine going from like shining on stage, doing what you love, to maybe a shift in your paradigm.
• 45:18
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 45:18
  Casi Joy: I mean, yeah, there's definitely a shift.
• 45:20
  Casi Joy: Like my focus is definitely shifts to Quinn more, but like everything is about Quinn.
• 45:27
  Byran Lankford: Quinn is our baby.
• 45:28
  Casi Joy: Yeah, Quinny.
• 45:29
  Casi Joy: Um, but I'm still trying to do it all, and I want to show her, I think it's so important to show her that like mama didn't have to give it all up just to raise this baby, you know, and then like resent her.
• 45:43
  Casi Joy: So like I'm still, you know, touring as much as possible, and I want to show her that women can do it all.
• 45:51
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 45:51
  Byran Lankford: And but oh okay, but I hear you, we'll get to that in a second.
• 45:55
  Byran Lankford: But like, what was it like going from I I guess our our pre-family lifestyle of traveling on the road to all of a sudden, you know, ha having to the world completely stopped and nothing existed outside of Quinn.
• 46:18
  Casi Joy: I mean, I I didn't pick up my computer for a month or two.
• 46:24
  Casi Joy: I think my first show back was two months after she was born, and but before that it was just like I mean, I didn't understand how difficult it was to be a mother.
• 46:36
  Byran Lankford: I can say from a front seat perspective of somebody that's just like observed you just being all music, performing on stage.
• 46:42
  Byran Lankford: That's all you ever wanted.
• 46:44
  Byran Lankford: That is what you bled.
• 46:45
  Byran Lankford: I was mostly surprised on how quickly you were able to kind of pivot or take it in step of just like, okay, and now my job is mom.
• 46:54
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 46:54
  Casi Joy: That was I I was surprised too, actually.
• 46:57
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 46:57
  Casi Joy: I mean, but they just, you know, it And I know that that's instinctual.
• 47:04
  Byran Lankford: That's you know been ingrained in us for several thousand years.
• 47:08
  Byran Lankford: Uh um millions of years, I don't know, but just that that's instinctual.
• 47:14
  Byran Lankford: So we had a beautiful baby girl, her name is Quinn around the time of this filming, she's almost seven months.
• 47:20
  Casi Joy: She's six and a half months.
• 47:21
  Casi Joy: Six and a half months.
• 47:22
  Casi Joy: Don't be pushing time on me.
• 47:26
  Byran Lankford: And um this summer we we had a few shows and it feels like She's already been to like four or five states.
• 47:33
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, yeah.
• 47:33
  Byran Lankford: She's already got a lot of people.
• 47:34
  Casi Joy: She gets to go to Tennessee in a few days.
• 47:36
  Casi Joy: We got some shows out there.
• 47:38
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 47:39
  Byran Lankford: So do you think do you think she's do you think she's gonna be a musical baby?
• 47:46
  Casi Joy: She's gonna be something.
• 47:47
  Casi Joy: Yeah I mean, that girl is a maniac.
• 47:51
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 47:52
  Byran Lankford: I mean Can confirm.
• 47:53
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 47:54
  Casi Joy: She's either gonna be a comedian or like a s a stunt artist or a criminal.
• 48:02
  Casi Joy: I don't know.
• 48:03
  Byran Lankford: Or maybe be the star of a horror movie to send them totally both.
• 48:06
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 48:06
  Casi Joy: We were gonna bring her.
• 48:08
  Casi Joy: I really wanted to bring her, but um, she was disinvited because her new skill is and it's not for the it's it's off brand.
• 48:17
  Casi Joy: So but yeah, I love her so much.
• 48:21
  Casi Joy: And it's so fun to just take her on this journey with us and just see how much we can push it.
• 48:27
  Casi Joy: Of like, we can still like let's let's pretend this that that I can.
• 48:32
  Byran Lankford: And how many how many females in the industry are moms?
• 48:37
  Byran Lankford: And with respect, how many of them maybe had more support than other moms and trying to figure it out?
• 48:45
  Casi Joy: I'd love to find out what kinds of support systems like all the other women in music that have.
• 48:51
  Byran Lankford: We're really lucky to have a huge support system.
• 48:53
  Casi Joy: Yeah, we have not taken Quinn to a show by ourselves yet, have we?
• 48:58
  Casi Joy: No one.
• 48:59
  Casi Joy: And Bob, our sound man, watched her.
• 49:01
  Byran Lankford: Oh, yeah.
• 49:02
  Casi Joy: So that you can take pictures.
• 49:03
  Casi Joy: Shout out Bob Pennington, love ya.
• 49:04
  Casi Joy: Um, but yeah, our my my family um comes to like every show, and Quinn usually falls asleep in the crowd, rude, uh, in Aunt Amber's arms with her little baby headphones on.
• 49:18
  Casi Joy: And I mean, we wouldn't be able to do it without the help of family.
• 49:23
  Byran Lankford: It's been incredible to see you turn into a mom and grow into this role and and then somehow marry what who you were into who you are.
• 49:33
  Byran Lankford: And uh it's just really special to see you grow and still find a way, and like you were saying, to show show Quinn where there's a will, there's a way.
• 49:43
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 49:43
  Byran Lankford: And even though she's the biggest part of our life, you know, being able to still continue in the other biggest parts of our life is is incredible.
• 49:52
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 49:53
  Byran Lankford: What's next for you?
• 49:55
  Casi Joy: Um, well, we go to Nashville here pretty soon for some shows and um getting ready to do some recording and some writing.
• 50:03
  Byran Lankford: And a few more guests on custom conversations.
• 50:05
  Casi Joy: Yeah, absolutely.
• 50:06
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 50:07
  Casi Joy: Um, yeah, just trying to stay busy and keep at it and keep trying to figure out what this new life looks like.
• 50:14
  Casi Joy: But it's never gonna mean no music or slowing down.
• 50:17
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 50:17
  Casi Joy: Um, if I can help it.
• 50:19
  Byran Lankford: Well, and I think that's important.
• 50:20
  Byran Lankford: We gotta stay the path.
• 50:21
  Byran Lankford: Stay stay the path.
• 50:23
  Byran Lankford: Sta the path.
• 50:24
  Byran Lankford: Sta the path, yeah.
• 50:25
  Casi Joy: Do you know that's called a spoonerism?
• 50:26
  Casi Joy: I just learned that the other day.
• 50:28
  Casi Joy: It's from a doctor spooner.
• 50:30
  Casi Joy: It's stupid.
• 50:34
  Byran Lankford: Okay, rapid fire.
• 50:35
  Casi Joy: Oh.
• 50:36
  Byran Lankford: What would your death row meal be?
• 50:38
  Casi Joy: Oh, chipotle.
• 50:40
  Casi Joy: Just Chipotle?
• 50:42
  Casi Joy: I know, that's stupid.
• 50:42
  Casi Joy: Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
• 50:44
  Casi Joy: Japanese steakhouse.
• 50:46
  Casi Joy: The one on Barry Road five years ago.
• 50:50
  Byran Lankford: Oh, okay.
• 50:51
  Casi Joy: Something happened.
• 50:52
  Byran Lankford: Okay.
• 50:52
  Casi Joy: The the yellow sauce is not the same.
• 50:55
  Byran Lankford: Okay.
• 50:55
  Casi Joy: The food is not the same.
• 50:56
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 50:57
  Casi Joy: But if it was five years ago, Japanese steakhouse, that's what I want.
• 51:00
  Casi Joy: And I want the guy to cook it for me on death row.
• 51:04
  Byran Lankford: Sweatpants or mini skirt?
• 51:06
  Casi Joy: Sweatpants.
• 51:07
  Byran Lankford: Or okay, well, I don't know.
• 51:08
  Byran Lankford: That's that's a stupid comparison.
• 51:10
  Byran Lankford: I've been wear You're wearing sweatpants right now?
• 51:12
  Casi Joy: No, but I've been this shirt is not clean, okay?
• 51:16
  Casi Joy: I've been wearing this with sweatpants, and I'm trying my best to thrive and survive as a mother.
• 51:23
  Casi Joy: And so I threw on this fancy jacket, okay, and I curled my hair.
• 51:26
  Byran Lankford: Yeah.
• 51:27
  Casi Joy: I get three hours of sleep a night.
• 51:30
  Byran Lankford: If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?
• 51:33
  Casi Joy: Oh, um a unicorn.
• 51:36
  Casi Joy: Does it have to be a real animal?
• 51:38
  Casi Joy: I think.
• 51:38
  Casi Joy: They're real.
• 51:39
  Casi Joy: So.
• 51:40
  Byran Lankford: Shut up.
• 51:41
  Byran Lankford: Unicorns are not real.
• 51:42
  Casi Joy: Then a monkey.
• 51:43
  Byran Lankford: A monkey?
• 51:44
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 51:44
  Casi Joy: Cause I do thrive in chaos.
• 51:47
  Casi Joy: Okay.
• 51:47
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 51:48
  Casi Joy: But I don't love bananas.
• 51:50
  Casi Joy: Not a fruit girl.
• 51:53
  Byran Lankford: If you walked into a room of all the people you had ever met in this world, who is the first person you would look to reach out to first?
• 52:01
  Casi Joy: Oh man, my first thought was one of my dogs.
• 52:03
  Casi Joy: Uh someone I've met.
• 52:06
  Casi Joy: What that that I would reach out to first?
• 52:09
  Casi Joy: You.
• 52:10
  Casi Joy: I'm serious.
• 52:14
  Byran Lankford: Not me.
• 52:16
  Casi Joy: It has to be someone that's not you.
• 52:19
  Byran Lankford: Yeah, I'm I'm trying to think of what the question was, but it was like if you were in a room with everybody you have ever met, who would be the first person that you'd go up and find?
• 52:32
  Casi Joy: Yeah, you're not going to be able to do that.
• 52:36
  Casi Joy: I don't know how to change my answer.
• 52:38
  Casi Joy: You're my favorite.
• 52:39
  Byran Lankford: Well, I'm very flattered.
• 52:41
  Byran Lankford: Well, this was a lot of fun.
• 52:43
  Byran Lankford: What else did you uh is there anything that you want to mention?
• 52:46
  Byran Lankford: Is there anything you want to tell the cameras?
• 52:48
  Byran Lankford: This is my first time hosting a podcast.
• 52:49
  Byran Lankford: I hope I didn't shit them down.
• 52:51
  Casi Joy: You did so good.
• 52:52
  Byran Lankford: Well, I did good.
• 52:54
  Casi Joy: You had me so freaked out because I like to be so prepared for these interviews.
• 52:59
  Casi Joy: I have at least 12 pages of note cards and options of what I'm gonna say back.
• 53:08
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 53:09
  Casi Joy: I was like, can you at least have one prepared?
• 53:11
  Casi Joy: Can I have one prepared?
• 53:13
  Casi Joy: He's like, no.
• 53:13
  Casi Joy: And yeah, so I was really, really nervous about this because I was just completely out of my control.
• 53:19
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 53:19
  Casi Joy: But yeah, this has been really fun.
• 53:21
  Byran Lankford: Well, where can we find you at?
• 53:23
  Casi Joy: Um, you can find me everywhere is at Cassie Joy Music, C-A-S-I.
• 53:27
  Casi Joy: It's like casino without the no at a joy.
• 53:31
  Byran Lankford: That's not complicated.
• 53:32
  Byran Lankford: It helps people remember.
• 53:33
  Byran Lankford: Oh, okay.
• 53:34
  Casi Joy: Um, and cassiejoy.com is where all my tour dates are that I do need to update.
• 53:38
  Casi Joy: My grandma keeps reminding me.
• 53:39
  Casi Joy: Oh, um, yeah.
• 53:40
  Casi Joy: So you can find all things about uh Quinny's been going viral on her Quinstagram on the Quinternet.
• 53:47
  Byran Lankford: Okay.
• 53:48
  Casi Joy: She is a quinfluencer.
• 53:49
  Casi Joy: Um so you can see what she's been eating lately and uh if we've been surviving.
• 53:54
  Byran Lankford: Famous babies.
• 53:55
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 53:56
  Casi Joy: Yeah.
• 53:56
  Casi Joy: So yeah.
• 53:57
  Casi Joy: Follow me anywhere, and hopefully I'll have some new music coming out soon.
• 54:00
  Casi Joy: Lots of tour dates coming up.
• 54:02
  Casi Joy: We're gonna be busy this hollow holiday season.
• 54:04
  Casi Joy: Ready to get going.
• 54:06
  Byran Lankford: This is a lot of fun.
• 54:07
  Byran Lankford: Be sure to follow Cassie Joy, be sure to follow Custom Conversations, be sure to book all of your concert tickets at ticketsmarter.com.
• 54:16
  Byran Lankford: And don't forget to like, share, and subscribe.
• 54:18
  Byran Lankford: Once again, I'm Brian Langford, but you can call me Bri.
• 54:22
  Byran Lankford: And this has been another episode of Customs Convers Damn.
• 54:26
  Casi Joy: So close.
• 54:28
  Byran Lankford: And this has been another episode of Custom Conversations.