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From Breakups to Breakthroughs :Bella Lam Shares Her Music Journey on Takin A Walk Nashville · Takin’ A Walk Nashville

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.
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  Speaker 2: Hi everyone, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking a
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Walk Nashville and joining me today is Asian American rising
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  Speaker 2: country artist Bella Lamb. Bella is a true Tennesseean that
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  Speaker 2: was born in Nashville, and she just released her new
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  Speaker 2: single Take It Out on My Guitar. Join us for
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  Speaker 2: our conversation today. Welcome to Taking a Walk Nashville with
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  Speaker 2: your hosts singer songwriter Sarah Harrelson.
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  Speaker 3: Bella. Thank you so much for joining me today on
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  Speaker 3: Taking a Walk Nashville. So you are a true Tennesseean.
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  Speaker 3: You were born in Nashville, You've lived in the Memphis area,
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  Speaker 3: and now you spend a lot of time in Chattanooga.
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  Speaker 3: Do you have a favorite place or a favorite city
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  Speaker 3: in Tennessee since you've been all over?
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  Speaker 1: I like different parts. I like different parts, So I
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  Speaker 1: would say the best part of being in Memphis is
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  Speaker 1: the food. I will say I love Chattanooga to death.
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  Speaker 1: Their barbecue cannot top West Tennessee barbecue. It's always better
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  Speaker 1: in West Tennessee. But I just love the how different
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  Speaker 1: Chattanooga is and how like city it is. But also
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  Speaker 1: like there's so much walking and nature and it's like city,
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  Speaker 1: but also there's there's Tennessee. You know.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah that's so true.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I live in Nashville now, but I'm originally from Knoxville, Tennessee.
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  Speaker 3: So I love how each part of Tennessee has its
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  Speaker 3: own flavor. Like you said, if you want good barbecue,
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  Speaker 3: you go to Memphis. If you want good hiking, you
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  Speaker 3: go to East Tennessee. So I love that you're at
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  Speaker 3: Tennessee in and your latest single, Take It Out on
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  Speaker 3: My Guitar, was released on February thirteenth. You co wrote
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  Speaker 3: it with Lauren mclamb and she's written songs for Derek s.
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  Speaker 3: Bentley and Dylan Marlow and also co wrote it with
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  Speaker 3: Chris Ruffetto and he's written for Eddie Montgomery and Emmy Russell.
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  Speaker 3: This is just such a fun song and it lets
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  Speaker 3: people know that during a breakup, you know, sometimes revenge
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  Speaker 3: isn't the best course of action. Sometimes it's just a
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  Speaker 3: song they can't escape, and you definitely can't escape this melody.
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  Speaker 3: So in support of this new single, you launched a
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  Speaker 3: write it, Don't Text It campaign. It's interactive based breakup
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  Speaker 3: hotline design for fans who still have something to say,
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  Speaker 3: so fans can call a number that's listed on your
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  Speaker 3: socials to vent and share exactly what they would tell
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  Speaker 3: their acts. And I've been watching some of these messages
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  Speaker 3: on your TikTok that fans have sent you, and some
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  Speaker 3: of the stories are insane. Are you surprised by what
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  Speaker 3: you've been getting? Absolutely?
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  Speaker 1: The first one, I feel like was a good way
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  Speaker 1: to jump in because it was like, it's a breakup story.
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  Speaker 1: It's just like it was a breakup story. The rest
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  Speaker 1: of them, however, they have progressively gotten crazier and crazier
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  Speaker 1: and crazier. I just posted probably the saddest one that
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  Speaker 1: I've gotten so far yesterday, and I just love that
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  Speaker 1: it's a mix of oh, I'm never going to call
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  Speaker 1: this guy again to I don't really care about the breakup,
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  Speaker 1: but let me tell you how weent now, because it's
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  Speaker 1: just like, genuinely, how did that happen to me? To
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  Speaker 1: like just like very sad and makes your heart go out?
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  Speaker 1: What did I just witness? And I think my favorite
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  Speaker 1: part of it is that, you know, country music is
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  Speaker 1: all about like storytelling, and I wanted to find a
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  Speaker 1: way to kind of involve the fans in this release
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  Speaker 1: and give them, give them a way to interact with me.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that this was a really fun way
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  Speaker 1: to do it because, like I said, storytelling and just
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  Speaker 1: being able to share their stories with me like I
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  Speaker 1: share my stories with them, was a really really fun
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  Speaker 1: way to do it. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's a great way for people to get
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  Speaker 3: their feelings about these crazy stories out and you know,
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  Speaker 3: some of the sad things they went through breakups, and
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  Speaker 3: you know, have people kind of share similar stories that
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  Speaker 3: they went through. That's very relatable. And I think it's
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  Speaker 3: just in general, you know, the song is so catchy
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  Speaker 3: and fun, but it's also like a good reminder that
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  Speaker 3: there can be therapeutic ways to get over breakups instead
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  Speaker 3: of you know, going with revenge or anger.
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  Speaker 1: You don't got a trash's car, I'm sorry, Kerrie. Sorry,
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  Speaker 1: you can write a song about it. Radja Jural make
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  Speaker 1: you feel better? Probably?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, And you're releasing a music video for the
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  Speaker 3: song soon, correct.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm very excited.
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  Speaker 1: We're doing a watch party over my TikTok page and
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  Speaker 1: it's gonna be a lot of fun. I think it
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  Speaker 1: was a very good way to embody take it out
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  Speaker 1: on my guitar, especially when you when you watch.
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  Speaker 4: The music video, you're gonna get it. It's very exciting, very cool.
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  Speaker 4: We'll look out for that.
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  Speaker 3: Where did you shoot the music video?
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  Speaker 4: South forty and Franklin.
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  Speaker 1: It was like this big farmland and I a lot
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  Speaker 1: of them, all of them video. Actually I was standing
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  Speaker 1: on my director's car just so they could get like
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  Speaker 1: the shot of making it look like I was standing
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  Speaker 1: on a guitar. So I spent a good probably two
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  Speaker 1: days stating on a on a car.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it looks really cool because it really looks like
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  Speaker 3: you're sitting on a giant guitar.
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  Speaker 1: Oh. Absolutely, It's so much fun. And towards the end
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  Speaker 1: of the music video it gets a little hot in there.
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  Speaker 4: So headed very excited.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we will definitely check out the music video for
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  Speaker 3: Take It Out on my Guitar.
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  Speaker 4: So Vella.
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  Speaker 3: I read that when you were growing up you had
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  Speaker 3: to overcome a speech impediment to become a singer. What
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  Speaker 3: was that journey like for you, because we see a
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  Speaker 3: lot of cases where you know, someone with a speech
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  Speaker 3: impediment when they sing sometimes it goes away. Was that
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  Speaker 3: kind of a similar case for you or was it
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  Speaker 3: more of a difficult learning challenge.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so all throughout elementary school, middle school, and like
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  Speaker 1: halfway through high school, I had a really heavy lisp.
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  Speaker 1: You can still kind of hear, but I've worked on
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  Speaker 1: it so much that it kind of just like people
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  Speaker 1: don't notice it until I pointed out anymore.
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  Speaker 4: But yeah, it was when I was singing. You could
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  Speaker 4: hear it too.
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  Speaker 1: There's clips of me in high school and middle school
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  Speaker 1: in musical theater and you could hear it like so heavy.
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  Speaker 4: It took a lot.
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  Speaker 1: It took a lot of speech therapy. I also had
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  Speaker 1: very bad and motor skills, so even playing the guitar
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  Speaker 1: was difficult because for the longest time I had like
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  Speaker 1: really bad tremors and I still can't hold a pen correctly.
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  Speaker 4: I hold it real funny.
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  Speaker 1: But it was a lot of speech therapy, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of occupational therapy, and now I can play the guitar
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  Speaker 1: without shaking, and I can sing without people having to go,
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  Speaker 1: what in the world does she saying? So I like
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  Speaker 1: to say that if you're dreaming of something that kind
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  Speaker 1: of feels impossible, if you work hard enough.
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  Speaker 4: And if you love it enough, you can you can
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  Speaker 4: do it.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. I think that's beautiful and definitely anything you set
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  Speaker 3: your mind to, I think you can overcome it. I agree. Story, So,
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  Speaker 3: you have a ton of shows coming up in East Tennessee, Chattanooga,
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  Speaker 3: and Georgia. People can find your shows on your website,
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  Speaker 3: bellaalam music dot com. What are you most looking forward
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  Speaker 3: to this year?
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  Speaker 1: Oh?
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  Speaker 4: Well, I will say the release show was a lot
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  Speaker 4: of fun.
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  Speaker 1: We did that at Songbirds here in Chattanooga, and that's
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  Speaker 1: such an iconic venue.
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  Speaker 4: Already, I was already so excited about it.
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  Speaker 1: This weekend we're doing doc Hollidays and Chattanooga and then
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  Speaker 1: Peachee's Pub in Rome, which Luke Colms played at Peachee's
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  Speaker 1: Pub before he got fixed. So I'm like losing my
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  Speaker 1: mind over that one. And just so many I played
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  Speaker 1: the hard rock I play, I'm gonna play at the
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  Speaker 1: Ringold Opry, and there's.
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  Speaker 4: Just so many fun things that are coming up.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you have a lot of shows on the lineup
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  Speaker 3: this year, so people can definitely come and see you. So,
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  Speaker 3: speaking of shows, musicians often talk about their most memorable gigs,
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  Speaker 3: and your most memorable.
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  Speaker 4: Show was not really memorable in a good way.
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  Speaker 3: So you said that you performed at a dev Hunt
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  Speaker 3: had to play in a pig pen and all of
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  Speaker 3: your band members got shot by the dove Hunters during
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  Speaker 3: the performance.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 3: That sounds awful and sounds like it's still in a
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  Speaker 3: lawsuit somehow.
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  Speaker 4: I was the only one that did not get hit. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, So we were in this pig pen and it
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  Speaker 1: was towards the house. I don't think they were supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be shooting towards us, but you know, you g
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  Speaker 1: have young boys guns and they see a dove fly
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  Speaker 1: over somewhere, They're just going to shoot wherever they see
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  Speaker 1: a dove. And my mom, she likes she comes to
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  Speaker 1: all of my shows. She sits to the side because
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  Speaker 1: my dad plays lead guitar for me. And she was
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  Speaker 1: just sitting off to the side next to our sound guy,
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  Speaker 1: talking to him and making sure the sound sounded right.
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  Speaker 1: And she got hit with buckshot and her leg so
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  Speaker 1: bad that it was like embedded in her leg. And yeah,
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  Speaker 1: definitely a crazy show. We had to put like pieces
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  Speaker 1: of wood in the pig pen because the ground was
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  Speaker 1: so uneven and if we wanted to like make the
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  Speaker 1: drum kits sit even and make sure I didn't fall
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  Speaker 1: on my face while I was dancing around. We had
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  Speaker 1: to like make sure it was a little more even,
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  Speaker 1: but it was genuinely the most memorable and I still
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  Speaker 1: talk about it with since then. We've had a lot
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  Speaker 1: of changes in our band, so we have people in
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  Speaker 1: our band who did not experience that, and every time
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  Speaker 1: I bring it up, I'm like, they're like.
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  Speaker 4: How did you how did you do that?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what And if someone is if people are hunting,
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  Speaker 3: it seems like they weren't be able to hear the
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  Speaker 3: live music anyway.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think what it was was they the men
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  Speaker 1: and the boys were going out into the fields and hunting,
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  Speaker 1: and they had food, and like we were near the
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  Speaker 1: food and they had like cornhole and stuff like that
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  Speaker 1: set up too, So it was it was it looked
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  Speaker 1: like it was fun for them, but.
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  Speaker 4: Wow as an experience for us.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely stay away from any sort of hunting.
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  Speaker 1: They were. They were like like trying to give away
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  Speaker 1: the food to their guest. And I went in there
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  Speaker 1: to throw some of our trash away so we wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: leave like trash everywhere.
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  Speaker 4: And one of the ladies that.
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  Speaker 1: Was just in there was like, do you want some
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: mac and cheese? And I was like, sure, and she
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  Speaker 1: just hands me a zip lock bag full of cheese.
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  Speaker 3: So wow, well at least you got some food out
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  Speaker 3: of it.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, my bandmates were throwing bags in back of cheese
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  Speaker 4: at each other after that.
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  Speaker 3: I was like, great, oh my goodness. Yeah, that's quite
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  Speaker 3: the memorable gig. You said your dad was playing guitar
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  Speaker 3: with you. Does he still play with you?
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  Speaker 4: Yes, he does. He plays all of our gigs currently.
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  Speaker 3: Oh that's that's so exciting. It must be so fun
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  Speaker 3: to be able to perform on stage with your dad.
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  Speaker 1: Oh.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: He taught me how to play the guitar too, and
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  Speaker 1: he's one of He's the big, a big reason why
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to do music in the first place.
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  Speaker 4: I grew up.
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  Speaker 1: You know, my dad, he's probably the smartest person I know.
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  Speaker 1: He went to medical school when he was in pre med.
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  Speaker 1: He also got his music degree, and I'm like, well,
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  Speaker 1: genuinely the smartest person I know. I I am probably
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: seventy five percent of the way done with my degree,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm like, I don't know how you do doctor
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  Speaker 1: and music at the same time.
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  Speaker 4: I can barely do music and music at the same time.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that is wild. Yeah, well, people can definitely look
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  Speaker 3: forward to your upcoming shows and music. Do you have
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: any more upcoming music releases for this year for fans.
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  Speaker 1: We're working on an EP, maybe an album, but I'm
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: gonna keep that a little close to my heart right now.
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  Speaker 3: Awesome, Well, we are looking forward to it, and I
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  Speaker 3: hope everyone will listen to your new single take it
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  Speaker 3: out on my guitar, so Bella. This is a question
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  Speaker 3: I always love to ask my guest on taking a
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: walk in Nashville.
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  Speaker 4: You spend some time in Nashville.
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  Speaker 3: Do you have a favorite place you like to take
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  Speaker 3: a walk in Nashville?
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  Speaker 1: Ooh, I gotta think about this one. I'm usually liking
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  Speaker 1: the more like touristy spots of Nashville while I'm up there,
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  Speaker 1: just because every time i'm up there, I'm up there
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  Speaker 1: with my family and friends.
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  Speaker 4: But I really love Music Row.
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  Speaker 1: I like walking like down Demumbrium because there's just so
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  Speaker 1: many fun things that you can see.
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  Speaker 4: And yeah, i'd probably say there.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I've had a few people answer that, and sometimes they say,
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: you know, they just are, you know, bewildered by the
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: change that has happened on Music Row. How a lot
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: of the studios have been turned into high rises and condos,
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: so it's definitely changed, but there's still a lot of
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: historic buildings and studios that you can walk down. So
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  Speaker 3: I think that's a great place. And Chad and Nuga too.
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  Speaker 3: Chattanouga is such great hiking. I always love going there.
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  Speaker 3: We're hiking.
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  Speaker 1: I always like biking when I need to go somewhere
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  Speaker 1: and walking when I need to go somewhere instead of
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  Speaker 1: like driving there. Just because it's so, it's called the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: scenic city for a reason.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Yeah, rock City, Bella, thank you so much for
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: being on taking a Walk in Nashville today. If people
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  Speaker 3: want to follow you, where can they find you on
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  Speaker 3: social media?
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  Speaker 4: All of my.
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  Speaker 1: Social rules are at It's Bella lamb IDAs b E
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: LA l A M. And then my website would be
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: belllam Music dot com.
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  Speaker 3: Perfect. Yeah, and I'm sure we can look forward to
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: more messages video messages for you on TikTok for the
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: ride at Don't Text It campaign. I've definitely been enjoying those.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you again for being on taking a walk a
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: Nashville today.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me, Thanks for listening to Taking
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: a Walk Nashville with Sarah Harrelson.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Please check out our other shows produced by Buzznight Media Productions,
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: Comedy Save Me and Music Save Me hosted by Lynn Hoffman,
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: and Taking a Walk hosted by Yours Truly Buzznight.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and are
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: part of the iHeart podcast network