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Rising country artist Macie Rae on music and inspiration · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:00
  Informed descent.
• 0:02
  The intersection of healthcare and politics with Dr.
• 0:05
  Jeff Barkey, board certified primary care physician.
• 0:09
  And Dr.
• 0:10
  Mark McDonald.
• 0:11
  Board certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist.
• 0:15
  All right, Mark, another great episode of Informed Descent.
• 0:18
  Great to be with you.
• 0:19
  Hello.
• 0:22
  Well, we try to bring interesting guests to our audience.
• 0:25
  And uh I think I got a good one today.
• 0:28
  She is in studio with me.
• 0:30
  Her name is Macy Ray.
• 0:32
  She is 15 years old, goes to school here locally.
• 0:36
  In studio along with her is her dad, Bob, who I've known for many, many years as a patient.
• 0:42
  And when he told me about her, I thought it would be fun to have her and share a bit of her story.
• 0:49
  She's a country music artist who is uh trying to make her way as a teenager through all the rough and tumble.
• 0:56
  So Macy Ray, welcome to Informed Descent.
• 1:00
  Hi, I'm AC Ray.
• 1:01
  I just want to say thank you guys for thank you for letting me be here.
• 1:04
  Of course.
• 1:06
  So tell us a little bit about your journey.
• 1:07
  How did you ultimately get to a point where you're writing stars and writing songs and end up in Nashville singing with some famous people?
• 1:17
  Well, first started when I was in fifth grade, just like singing for fun, just singing some like Taylor Swift, you belong with me in my bedroom in the shower.
• 1:27
  And I realized that I want to do that as a passion.
• 1:30
  I started taking it more seriously, had voice lessons with my music teacher at the time.
• 1:36
  She's great.
• 1:37
  I went to Harvard A middle school.
• 1:39
  Yeah.
• 1:39
  Very hard, very academic school, private school.
• 1:42
  I grew up with some of my like best friends still today now.
• 1:46
  And I just kept practicing and being with my singing coach.
• 1:51
  And like the more I progress, the more I realized that like I see a future in it.
• 1:56
  About seventh grade, I wrote my first song called Eyes on the Waves.
• 2:00
  It's on Spotify.
• 2:01
  Really?
• 2:02
  Yeah, it's really fun.
• 2:04
  Um I was really leaning towards more pop when I was like younger, but then like when I started growing older, like listening to new things, going to more concerts, or is that like country?
• 2:16
  Like I brand myself, and like some people, especially my dad brands me as like a California country artist.
• 2:22
  Sure.
• 2:23
  Yeah.
• 2:23
  So that's really my um like direction in music.
• 2:27
  And it's kind of just like if I keep working at it, like there's always a way to go up in music, like you can never just be like the top, like even some of the like star singers today, like Chris Stapleton.
• 2:39
  He has amazing, but he has like everyone has like room to grow, like so many more hits to write, and like I just think that I'm like on that path for just like writing songs.
• 2:50
  I gotta do like six writers' rounds in Nashville.
• 2:54
  I had about I think you wrote seven songs in Nashville, like three-hour co-writing sessions, and yeah, just like keep working at it.
• 3:02
  Like that's my goal.
• 3:04
  Just like keep going.
• 3:05
  Now I know there's a lot of challenges these days with artists.
• 3:08
  Used to be back in the day, you would uh write an album and the album would come out, you'd have an agent and so forth.
• 3:15
  Now music is available everywhere on Spotify, on Pandora, Apple Music, and so forth.
• 3:21
  How do you control the rights to what you're writing and ultimately playing?
• 3:27
  Well, there's like a bunch of processes and like steps.
• 3:30
  First, you have to copyright your lyrics, like make sure no one steals them.
• 3:35
  When you're writing the song, you can't use chat Gutier or anything, you have to do it with your brain and like just like keep working at the song.
• 3:43
  But there's a lot of processes um through like writing it, lots of websites, lots of things you have to sign, and that just like helps with copywriting and everything.
• 3:53
  Do you have an agent?
• 3:54
  No.
• 3:55
  Oh.
• 3:58
  Put your phone down.
• 4:00
  My dad.
• 4:01
  My dad is my agent.
• 4:03
  Okay.
• 4:03
  So your dad's always you're so your dad's always gonna have your best interests.
• 4:07
  Okay, yes.
• 4:08
  So I'm sure it's hard navigating the shark-infested water of trying to be a music artist.
• 4:15
  Yeah, honestly, I would say so.
• 4:17
  My dad would know more.
• 4:18
  He's tested the waters a little more, but um, but he's definitely like been there, been there through like every scenario.
• 4:26
  Like my voice coach now, Carrie Larson, amazing.
• 4:31
  She has taught me so much about like the danger of music, like getting scammed, like getting like, yeah, just getting scammed a lot, and just like if you pay for it and you don't get like a good result, like stuff like that.
• 4:43
  Are you currently making money from your music?
• 4:47
  Um, some could say.
• 4:49
  Um, I've like for my gigs, I make um like the I performed here at the Christmas walk.
• 4:55
  Yeah, um, I make money in tips.
• 4:57
  So they paid you to perform?
• 4:58
  No, no, just money in tips.
• 5:00
  Yeah, I don't get paid.
• 5:01
  I've never gotten paid to perform, but I get paid in tips.
• 5:05
  Like I played at Campus Jacks, and they have a tip drawer, but it's for like a whole riders round, and when people add it, I split it with three different writers.
• 5:14
  Well, you mentioned your song you wrote in fifth grade.
• 5:17
  Did you say your first song?
• 5:18
  Uh seventh grade.
• 5:19
  And it's on Spotify.
• 5:20
  Yes.
• 5:21
  So if I went on Spotify and purchased your song, you make some of that money.
• 5:25
  Um, yes, it's like a download.
• 5:27
  Like if you downloaded my song, I'd make like 10 cents.
• 5:31
  Yeah.
• 5:31
  Yeah, 10 cents, or like yeah, you need like millions and millions of people.
• 5:36
  And if they just stream it, it's like half of a song.
• 5:38
  First song was about surfing.
• 5:40
  Um, just like just like being on the beach, like hanging around with my friends.
• 5:45
  Like, yeah.
• 5:46
  Do you remember it?
• 5:48
  Remember writing the song?
• 5:50
  No, do you remember like can you still perform it?
• 5:52
  Oh, yeah.
• 5:53
  Yeah.
• 5:53
  Well, grab your guitar and show us what you got.
• 5:55
  Oh, goodness.
• 5:56
  Okay.
• 5:57
  We're gonna see.
• 5:58
  I mean my capo.
• 5:59
  So this is Macy Ray.
• 6:01
  This was her first song written in eighth grade.
• 6:04
  Seventh.
• 6:05
  Seventh grade.
• 6:06
  About the beach.
• 6:08
  We're gonna get to hear it, right?
• 6:10
  This is gonna be funny right here.
• 6:11
  So I have it now.
• 6:13
  I have not performed this in like about three months.
• 6:16
  All right.
• 6:17
  This is good.
• 6:17
  And then you have a brand new one that was just released, like within the last couple days, huh?
• 6:21
  Yes, it was released on Valentine's Day.
• 6:24
  Awesome.
• 6:24
  All right, we'll hear that one a little bit in a little while.
• 6:26
  Yeah, maybe maybe we should pull up the lyrics for safety measure.
• 6:29
  There you go.
• 6:30
  Maybe.
• 6:31
  Have you ever done like the national anthem at events?
• 6:33
  Yes.
• 6:34
  I uh my uh one of my first national anthems was at Big Canyon Country Club.
• 6:39
  Sure.
• 6:40
  Love the Canyon.
• 6:41
  I sang there, I think it was three times for the Fourth of July.
• 6:45
  Uh huh.
• 6:45
  And then I performed at a bunch of like senior centers, which I love doing.
• 6:49
  It makes me like so happy.
• 6:50
  And yeah, and I have um I've sang at a senior senior center in CDM before.
• 6:58
  Oh, Laguna Nigel.
• 6:59
  I sang there before.
• 7:00
  Very cool.
• 7:01
  Yeah, which is fun.
• 7:02
  Cool.
• 7:03
  You will now be the official artist of Informed Descent Podcast.
• 7:07
  You know, when I was growing up learning music, we had something called sheet music, which was paper.
• 7:14
  And music was actually written on the paper, and you had to hold the paper on a stand, which was made out of metal.
• 7:19
  Sure, sure.
• 7:20
  And now I go out to concerts like last night.
• 7:23
  I was at an in-home concert with a classically trained, meaning Chinese classical instrument trained and western classical trained violinist and old Chinese instrument lute player, as well as a classically trained acoustic guitarist.
• 7:42
  And they both played music and they didn't have any paper with them at all.
• 7:47
  They had a couple of electronics that they were clipping onto a poll, and they used foot pedals to push through the music and the notes and the lyrics.
• 7:57
  And I was like, this is amazing.
• 7:58
  It's like an iPad.
• 8:00
  It's like an iPad, and they upload the purchase, they purchase the music and then they upload the music into an advice that they gotta read music.
• 8:09
  Oh, yeah.
• 8:10
  Um it depends like what it is.
• 8:13
  Like for piano, like I can sight read it, like in my choir at CDM.
• 8:19
  I've been able to like pick out the notes and like soul fed it, like know the pitch of it, but I'm on it, I'm not that good at like if it's like a whole sheet of paper of complex music, like singing it.
• 8:31
  Like that's very hard to do.
• 8:32
  How about writing music?
• 8:33
  Can you do that?
• 8:34
  Yeah, like the notes on a yeah, like a treble clef.
• 8:37
  Like, yeah, I could do that.
• 8:38
  When I was a kid, my parents made me take just about every instrument, guitar, piano, drums.
• 8:45
  And I remember I had to learn, I don't remember anymore, but I had to learn how to read music, and it's it's difficult.
• 8:52
  Yeah, it's it's definitely a skill that uh that you can learn for sure.
• 8:58
  Yeah, it's fun.
• 8:58
  All right, so what's this called Eyes on the Waves?
• 9:01
  Eyes on the waves, and this is about uh me spending time on the beach, like with my friends and my family.
• 9:07
  Awesome.
• 9:08
  But this is gonna be fun.
• 9:16
  Um see salt and summer time.
• 9:29
  I can see my chew is colors up in the sky.
• 9:36
  I can hear the waves, sun shine on my face.
• 9:45
  Everything's gonna be okay.
• 9:53
  Anything is possible to do.
• 10:01
  My hair is blowing in the break.
• 10:08
  There's nothing standing in my way.
• 10:16
  When I've got eyes on the way.
• 10:24
  Yeah, it's a little snippet, but I haven't played that in a long time.
• 10:28
  There you go.
• 10:29
  I'd say that that genre music is like nothing I would like perform or my nothing like the original I just released.
• 10:38
  So I didn't do this to start, but I will now.
• 10:41
  Um you sent me or dad sent me a little bio.
• 10:46
  Uh Macy Ray is a 15-year-old country recording artist hailing from California.
• 10:52
  She blends raw emotion with a unique sound that fuses elements of country pop rock influences.
• 10:59
  Some call it California country.
• 11:01
  Her music is influenced by artists like Megan Moroni, Carrie Underwood, Olivia Rodrigo, Morgan Whalen, and Ella Langley.
• 11:12
  In addition to her powerful vote voic vocals, Macy Ray is also multi-instrumental artist that plays both guitar and piano and writes her own music.
• 11:22
  Any other instruments?
• 11:23
  No, unfortunately not.
• 11:25
  Macy Ray has performed in a band as a duo as a solo artist.
• 11:29
  Locally, she's performed at the San Diego Fair, Orange County Fair, Campus Jack's El Mercado Market, and Orange International Street Fair.
• 11:39
  And additionally, she's performed in a number of venues in Nashville.
• 11:42
  Have you performed at the Grand Old Opera yet?
• 11:45
  No, it's on my list though.
• 11:47
  You ever been there?
• 11:48
  Uh have I think I went there for a show.
• 11:51
  Yeah.
• 11:51
  Yeah.
• 11:52
  I went there.
• 11:53
  It's actually pretty far outside of Nashville.
• 11:55
  It's not like right in Nashville.
• 11:56
  It's like, I don't know, like a half hour away or something, but it's a pretty cool uh venue.
• 12:01
  Uh you've already established a strong following on social media with their music artistry available on your Link Tree, um, Instagram, TikTok, and all streaming sources.
• 12:12
  She currently has millions of views on social media, and her music is listened to in over 50 countries.
• 12:18
  Macy Ray has just released her fourth original song, This Town plans to release her first EP this summer.
• 12:25
  Her dream is to inspire others through her music and connect with people who find comfort and strength in her songs.
• 12:32
  As her journey continues, she looks forward to playing more of her original music at venues and festivals locally and in Nashville, Tennessee.
• 12:41
  Awesome.
• 12:41
  Anything to add to that?
• 12:43
  No, I'm pretty summed up my whole music career in there.
• 12:46
  But yeah.
• 12:47
  So how do you balance what you're doing with your music with going to school?
• 12:50
  Because you're you're what high school are you at?
• 12:52
  Chronical Mar.
• 12:53
  Yeah.
• 12:53
  Yeah, right here.
• 12:54
  And Cron Domar High School is um they have a reputation for a lot of things, they're good academically, but they also are very challenging with mean girls and social media and not such great influences and drugs and alcohol and wealthy parents that don't always um uh allow their kids to be kids.
• 13:16
  Um how do you how do you handle all those kind of stresses?
• 13:20
  Well, it's really music.
• 13:22
  I'd say music ties in a lot to it.
• 13:24
  Like average day for me, I like wake up too early, go to school, like I have to deal with our class schedule to like two or three classes a day, and then play lacrosse and do homework.
• 13:38
  Like I'd say that's like a pretty stressful day, even just like for any teenager, like even just having one class a day and having to wake up that early and have like extra things to do.
• 13:49
  How early do you wake up?
• 13:50
  Um, I look up at seven.
• 13:52
  Okay.
• 13:53
  Like seven fifteen.
• 13:54
  Uh-huh.
• 13:54
  And what about your music?
• 13:56
  Do you practice?
• 13:57
  Do you work with your voice coach daily?
• 13:59
  Um, not daily.
• 14:01
  I'd say um like every other day in high school, I have choir, and that's an hour and a half of like singing.
• 14:10
  And then I'd say once a week I have um a vocal coach, and then on Saturdays or Sundays, I have another vocal coach.
• 14:20
  But I'm like practicing guitar, singing, another very stressful thing that like not many people have to do with, but like I do, like is content creating.
• 14:30
  Like it takes like a lot of like brain power, like time of your day, like I have to I'll get ready, like let's say I'm gonna dinner with my family.
• 14:40
  Like, since I have my hair done, my makeup done, I'll get ready like two hours early and I'll spend like two hours making content, get like 10 videos, and I'll only post like one or two because they're good.
• 14:51
  And it's very like stressful, like the process of that.
• 14:54
  Like, is this like did I hit the right no?
• 14:56
  Is my guitar good?
• 14:57
  Like that's something that's very stressful.
• 15:00
  But I cope with it through um sometimes just like if I'm by myself, like in my room, I'll like pick up my guitar, I'll like learn a new riff that like makes me happy.
• 15:10
  Like as a guitarist, if I hear a song and I can actually play it and it sounds good, like that will make me happy.
• 15:15
  And that's just like a way to deal with stress, also, especially my like friends, like teenagers, like in their parents' eyes, like they think like, oh, they fool around at school, they get to see their like friends, but like on the weekend is really like a nice time to release stress, especially like let's say I'm going here to Fashion Island and just like hanging out with my friends that like helps me so much because we can all relate to each other and we can all like talk about it.
• 15:42
  So you'd like better the guitar or the piano.
• 15:45
  Guitar for sure.
• 15:46
  Um, I grew up playing piano.
• 15:49
  I could like I could like barely even reach the piano.
• 15:51
  I think I was like five years old, four years old.
• 15:54
  Your currents force you to play.
• 15:55
  When I was little, yeah.
• 15:57
  I mean, uh when I was four, I didn't have much of a like brain power to know like this is what I want to do.
• 16:03
  But are there any other musicians in your family?
• 16:07
  Um, there's not.
• 16:09
  My twin, she plays piano.
• 16:11
  She's she's a better pianist than me, I'd say.
• 16:14
  She's very good at piano.
• 16:15
  And does she want to have a recording uh career as well?
• 16:19
  No, her path is dance.
• 16:21
  She's a competitive dancer.
• 16:23
  She and what does she think about what you're doing?
• 16:27
  Um, she thinks it's cool.
• 16:29
  Like it's, I mean, she's my sister, it's not she pumps me up like time to time.
• 16:34
  Yeah, she likes what I'm doing.
• 16:35
  Uh-huh.
• 16:36
  Mark, you've dealt with this before in your practice as a psychiatrist.
• 16:40
  Teenagers that are struggling, balancing whatever their hobby and career is with uh school and peer groups and so forth.
• 16:49
  What have you seen?
• 16:50
  And what advice could you give Macy Ray at a young age of 15 as she try as she's trying to navigate all this?
• 16:58
  Well, you know, you made an excellent observation when you said content creation is something that you find stressful.
• 17:06
  There was no such thing as content creation 20 years ago.
• 17:09
  It was about creating something that lasted.
• 17:13
  If you were writing music or you're playing music, it stayed, it stuck around.
• 17:17
  Maybe you would record, but the recording would persist, or you would write and your writing would persist, your poem, your diary, or you were just outside doing things.
• 17:26
  You were playing, you were exploring this idea that in order to stay relevant, you have to produce something all the time, feeding this endless bottomless pit of content creation monster.
• 17:40
  I think it does create a tremendous degree of stress because no matter how many views you get, how many likes you get, how many new fans you get from what you create, someone else is creating at the same time and competing with you.
• 17:53
  And the next day, your story disappears from Instagram anyway.
• 17:56
  So you have to start all over again.
• 17:57
  And after 10 or 12 posts, it just gets buried below the top screen of the grid.
• 18:02
  So if you don't keep producing, you just fall behind.
• 18:06
  And I think that's a unique stress that was never around one generation ago.
• 18:13
  So my advice would be all things being equal to just ditch all the social media and the phones and just live your life.
• 18:21
  The problem though is that if you want to be not just keeping up with your friends in the social media world just for that sake, but you actually want to be involved in something like music.
• 18:33
  If you ignore social media and you don't create the content and you don't put yourself out there, then you do become irrelevant and you can never actually get ahead.
• 18:44
  So you're in a like a kind of an impossible position, unfortunately.
• 18:48
  Because if you were just doing it like posting pictures of what you're eating at the restaurant so that you can show off, I would say, well, just stop doing that.
• 18:55
  That's just dumb.
• 18:56
  And then you would be fine.
• 18:58
  But if you actually are trying to do something real, like write music and perform and become known and relevant, and then go and actually perhaps get a job in it.
• 19:08
  You have to play these games.
• 19:10
  So it's a really, really tough place to be.
• 19:13
  And I don't know what the solution is for people who are trying to get ahead in a real way, not just with posting pictures of their food and their cat.
• 19:22
  Um, I think Jeff does that a lot.
• 19:24
  But hey, leave my cats out of this.
• 19:28
  Usually they walk across the desk uh when he's recording at home.
• 19:32
  But but if you're doing something real, then how do you how do you stay relevant and get ahead without driving yourself crazy with the social media stress?
• 19:40
  And the only solution that I know ultimately is to pay somebody to do it.
• 19:44
  But it's a chicken in the egg problem because you have to make money doing what you love in order to hire somebody to do what you what you hate, which is the social media.
• 19:53
  Well, I would I would hope that the prime motivation of what you're doing is the
• 20:00
  Love of music and that you enjoy playing, and that that's what motivates you, independent of whether you're posting every day or you're actually able to record a song, or that your tune gets picked up or heard by somebody famous that wants to collaborate with you.
• 20:16
  Um, if you're doing it out of just the joy and the love, it's like professional athletes.
• 20:21
  You know, the Olympics are on right now, and I still don't understand curling.
• 20:26
  I can't figure out how you score, and that there's controversy right now with the Canadian curlers that they touch the rock twice or something.
• 20:34
  Like, are you kidding?
• 20:36
  I don't think anybody actually cares, but they were throwing expletives at each other and so forth.
• 20:41
  But curling aside, the sacrifice that these professional athletes go through to make it to the Olympics or to a professional team for every player that makes it to pick your sport, football, baseball, tennis, hockey, whatever it is, there are thousands and thousands of others that are skilled athletes but never make it to that level.
• 21:05
  And so at the end of the day, if you're performing because it brings incredible joy to you, that's one thing.
• 21:13
  If you're performing because you want to make a living doing that, then the pressure I can only imagine would be overwhelming and almost unbearable.
• 21:24
  So I I'm, I mean, for example, I love what I do, and I post and all the silly things and morning messages and whatever I do, but I do it for the sake of the joy of doing it, and the extent that I can influence some people with what my message is that you know, maybe I'm delusional that I think is important.
• 21:44
  That my following is growing and that I might be able to monetize it is secondary.
• 21:49
  I would still do it even if that wasn't the case.
• 21:52
  Um, and to get the order of things right, I think is what's important.
• 21:58
  Um, speaking of the order of things, you also are faith-based.
• 22:06
  So you attend Mariners Church.
• 22:08
  Yes.
• 22:09
  How is that influenced the work that you do or the work that you're trying to do?
• 22:14
  In music.
• 22:15
  In music and in life, really.
• 22:17
  Well, when I go to Mariners, it kind of just like opens like a new door.
• 22:22
  Like if I'm struggling with something and I go and their message like connects to me or like it relates to me.
• 22:29
  Like it really helps me.
• 22:30
  Like after I leave, I feel like happy, I feel like in my and like it helps me a lot.
• 22:36
  It brings me a lot of joy, and even sometimes it'll spark a new idea for music.
• 22:40
  Like it will, if I'm struggling with something, and like um the only way I can think about it is a negative way, and I go to church and they like find a way to make it positive.
• 22:51
  I could like write a song about that, or I can like deal with that problem in a positive way.
• 22:56
  But it just helped me be like more open-minded, and like, yeah.
• 23:00
  Have you ever written worship music?
• 23:03
  No, I haven't, but that's something I really want to get into.
• 23:06
  You know, it's interesting.
• 23:07
  I love country music.
• 23:09
  I like classic rock because I grew up with that, and I do love country music.
• 23:13
  Uh, in particular because country music usually tells a story.
• 23:19
  Often a sad story, often somebody who's broken.
• 23:23
  You listen to jelly roll, for example.
• 23:25
  Yeah.
• 23:26
  And the way I juxtapose the two country music and worship music is country music tells the story, and worship music gives you the solution.
• 23:38
  Uh, and that's always, I've always looked at it that way.
• 23:40
  So I love listening to worship music.
• 23:43
  And Mariners happen to happens to have a huge worship band.
• 23:47
  I don't know, there's like 15 people out there playing all kinds of instruments.
• 23:51
  So I do enjoy that.
• 23:52
  Um, and you're navigating waters that are very difficult.
• 23:58
  And when I talked about the order of things, what I meant by that, at least in Christianity, and I imagine in a lot of things in life, is that the order of how you get things and how you bring things together is important.
• 24:12
  So, for example, in Christianity, and I'm learning, I'm kind of new to this.
• 24:16
  Uh, there's this idea that uh that first there's grace.
• 24:20
  You're forgiven for all the crappy things that we do in our life.
• 24:26
  Then we're supposed to have faith and trust that God's got our back, he's got a path for us.
• 24:31
  We're not just supposed to manufacture things and make things happen that we're so supposed to sort of give things up.
• 24:37
  Then later on, ideally, because of our belief in grace and faith, that we that it it allows us to act better, to be more Christ-like, if you will.
• 24:50
  And so I can only imagine whether it's you're a professional athlete or an artist, that the order of things is important, and you can really get caught up in the celebritiness, the glitz, uh, the hypersexuality of many of the artists.
• 25:09
  Taylor Swift, we talked a little bit about this before we recorded.
• 25:12
  She was this very innocent woman who has is very gifted musically.
• 25:19
  And then she sort of went over the deep end, meaning if you listen to the lyrics of her current songs, it's quite raunchy and trashy and very unchristian-like.
• 25:27
  Now, I guess there's a role for that.
• 25:30
  I personally don't like it because she captured the attention of all these young people.
• 25:35
  She brought them all along with her as this innocent, sweet person swimming upstream in this cesspool of artists and glitz and celebritiness.
• 25:47
  And now she's kind of given into that.
• 25:49
  So she's kind of gotten the order.
• 25:51
  She's kind of gotten things out of order.
• 25:53
  Now she's following the limelight and not following the direction that she started in.
• 25:59
  I don't I don't know if that makes any sense, but I I've seen it in Hollywood.
• 26:04
  We've we see it all the time about just the vapid moral uh situation that occurs.
• 26:12
  And I I can't imagine I should take my microphone and give it to dad.
• 26:16
  Uh, because I would be terrified if my daughter was going down this path and trying to keep her morally grounded.
• 26:24
  What do you think?
• 26:26
  Yeah, I agree with that.
• 26:27
  I would not, me personally, I would not go down that path.
• 26:30
  But um, with Taylor Swift, you're saying, yeah, I fully agree with you.
• 26:34
  She just um it's kind of it's bad because she's bringing those like, let's say, like eight-year-olds are listening to music.
• 26:41
  Now they're like screaming the lyrics of her new song, they don't even know what it means.
• 26:45
  Yeah.
• 26:45
  Like that's being trained into their brains.
• 26:47
  So we're gonna take a break real quick.
• 26:49
  Okay.
• 26:50
  And then we come back.
• 26:51
  Um, I actually want to ask Bob, her dad, who who's here about what it's like watching his beautiful daughter evolve and grow up in this world that can be very challenging and lead down pass.
• 27:05
  We've all seen it uh in Hollywood and in the music industry, lead down past that are not so innocent and pure.
• 27:15
  So we'll be back right after this break.
• 27:17
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• 30:00
  Right, we are back with uh country music, California country music star Macy Ray, who's 15 years old, just released a song, is heading down this path of wanting to be a recording artist and uh presumably making a living doing that while she's 15 and a high school student.
• 30:22
  Uh and we're talking about some of the challenges of her faith and getting involved in the music industry, and her dad is here hanging out with us as well.
• 30:31
  And uh, Bob, you want to come over here?
• 30:33
  You can share the microphone with Macy Ray.
• 30:35
  Uh, and I'd I'd love to hear, you can just kind of pass it back and forth.
• 30:41
  I'd love to hear about your perspective of what it's like of watching your daughter uh get involved in this industry that can lead many down a very interesting and not healthy path.
• 30:54
  Well, thank thank you for giving me a moment.
• 30:57
  Um first I'm a father of three girls, so whatever applies to Macy applies three times.
• 31:05
  Sure.
• 31:06
  So uh yes, that that crosses my mind daily.
• 31:12
  Um it's really yeah, yes, music is an unusual profession.
• 31:21
  People are uh in the industry for the most part are a lot different than who I am and how we raise our family.
• 31:30
  Um not that they're all that way, but you have a whole kind of um very diverse thoughts and values, which is which is okay.
• 31:43
  Um, but sometimes uh it gets a little bit radical, and uh a little far off kind of the the beaten path and what we would kind of a normal normalcy role.
• 32:02
  We get a little bit of that in in really all professions, so I'm a business person, I see it in business in business.
• 32:10
  Um women struggle with uh male-dominated business, so some women um are at a disadvantage and they get taken advantage of the business world.
• 32:24
  I think that happens in politics too.
• 32:27
  Definitely happens in music.
• 32:29
  Uh, when you get when you're in a situation where you have a lot of money, and a lot of uh people uh are looked up to as celebrities and role models.
• 32:41
  Uh there's a tendency for people to do women and men to do things that they wouldn't normally do.
• 32:50
  So dad does not leave his daughter or daughters out of sight, is a lot of times that she performs and does uh songwriting camps, but I'm either typically I'm in the room with somebody.
• 33:05
  I before if I have to leave the room, I walk the room.
• 33:09
  If there's a door, I open the door to see where it goes.
• 33:12
  Hopefully, there's not a door.
• 33:14
  If there's a door, I request a door to be locked, and I always check in.
• 33:18
  And a lot a lot of the songwriters don't like that because they want to be free to write the songs they want, and and they don't want to have any disturbance, but I continue to pop my head in, and I know they don't like it, but you know, here's dad again.
• 33:31
  So it's a fine line between being an overburdening father, allowing your daughter and allowing your daughter to have the freedom to be an artist.
• 33:40
  That's right.
• 33:42
  Yes, yeah, that's right.
• 33:43
  And you know, she's she's young, she's 15, and so we're just starting to embark on it.
• 33:49
  Yeah.
• 33:50
  Because there will be a time where she wants to be left alone and and be with the songwriters and the producers and develop her creative thoughts with that without daddy in the room.
• 34:03
  And they're all a bunch of sharks.
• 34:05
  Not all of them, but again, when there's when there's money involved, they care about using her to make money.
• 34:11
  Yes, not necessarily supporting her creative talents.
• 34:16
  Yes.
• 34:16
  And in everybody in you can you can ask anybody, somebody knows someone in the music business, and when they're trying to get your business, that's the card they pull.
• 34:26
  Well, I know Taylor Swift, well, I know Morgan Wong, or I know this, or I know that.
• 34:31
  Have they ever done any work with them?
• 34:33
  Probably not, but they might have ran into ran into one of those people at a party, and that's what they lead with, and then that's the carrot that they use to drag you in to sign a contract with them.
• 34:44
  So you guys should hear Jeff.
• 34:46
  Jeff is always going on about I know RFK Jr.
• 34:48
  and he's my friend.
• 34:50
  He's all full of it.
• 34:51
  We all know it.
• 34:52
  He still hasn't come on our show, huh?
• 34:54
  That's true.
• 34:58
  So uh having a chaperone is important.
• 35:01
  Absolutely.
• 35:01
  It's mandatory.
• 35:02
  It's mandatory.
• 35:03
  It's required.
• 35:03
  Yeah.
• 35:04
  If you have a daughter, even a son, yeah.
• 35:05
  Yeah, yeah.
• 35:06
  Bob, did you put an air tag in your daughter's shoe?
• 35:09
  Honestly, I have life through 60s.
• 35:12
  I mean, that's good though.
• 35:13
  She's not far enough away from me to get an air tag.
• 35:16
  I can always miss reaching distance.
• 35:20
  Do you uh do you have any other performances locally that are coming up?
• 35:25
  Oh, yeah.
• 35:26
  Um I don't know if I'd say the Orange County Fairs locally, but that's around in August.
• 35:32
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 35:32
  And what venue at the Orange County Fair do you perform at?
• 35:35
  I perform at the country meadow stage.
• 35:37
  Okay.
• 35:38
  Yeah, so it's just like I get to perform for 45 minutes.
• 35:41
  Oh wow.
• 35:42
  Yeah, just by myself.
• 35:43
  And do you play cover songs or all your own stuff?
• 35:45
  I try to play all my own songs as possible.
• 35:48
  Like I might leave out eyes on the waves, but I'm gonna play like my new stuff, some of the stuff I haven't released, which is sometimes nice because like I can always say I can play one of my originals, say this one's on Spotify, but also the next thing, next three I'm singing is like stuff I haven't released, and this is my new kind of stuff I'm like going in for.
• 36:08
  What social media platform do you spend the most time on with music or me personally?
• 36:14
  Both.
• 36:14
  Um, I say with music.
• 36:16
  Um Instagram has been like really blowing up, but I have more follow followers on TikTok, which is kind of weird, and me personally, I I haven't really gone into Instagram that much.
• 36:30
  Like um like from a personal account, but I kind of just grew up like um for music.
• 36:38
  I post, try to post every single day.
• 36:40
  Do you have a social media person that helps you?
• 36:44
  Um, yes.
• 36:45
  And it's either through um like a camp or like I work with a guy named Daniel, and he runs Nabuta magazine, and I said an interview with them.
• 36:57
  I was really fun.
• 36:57
  Yeah, cool, very good.
• 36:59
  So you've got a song that came out on Valentine's Day.
• 37:01
  Yes.
• 37:02
  You want to play it for us?
• 37:04
  Love to this song is called This Town, and actually for CDM, I entered a competition, and we had to write a song about like a place of belonging.
• 37:17
  And I was like, oh, this is perfect.
• 37:19
  I tied this town into place of belonging because it's about like Nashville.
• 37:25
  And when I wrote it, my dad, I went to a Belmont camp for a week straight.
• 37:29
  What's up?
• 37:30
  So um Belmont University in Nashville, and I did a week camp like with the choir, taking like classes, and I have like homework and all this stuff.
• 37:41
  It was really fun though.
• 37:42
  My dad stayed in Nashville for a week, just stayed there right near me.
• 37:47
  Um just stalk you.
• 37:49
  Yeah.
• 37:50
  And um, after I finished, we spent some time in Nashville, and I found myself, I was like, I've been in Nashville for two weeks, and I like don't want to leave.
• 37:57
  Like very sad going back home, but I realized that like here's my real home, but I think of Nashville as like a second home, and that's what I wrote the song about.
• 38:06
  What venue in Nashville did you like the most?
• 38:09
  Um did you go to like I mean on the main street, there's like one country music bar after another.
• 38:15
  Yeah.
• 38:16
  Um I wasn't really allowed in the bars, but um for New Year's Eve, like two years ago or a year ago.
• 38:24
  Uh, we went to Laney Wilson's restaurant, and it was really good.
• 38:29
  And yeah, they have like all the food there is really good.
• 38:33
  And I when I do like riders round, I've been to Commodore Girl.
• 38:37
  It's really fun.
• 38:38
  Cool.
• 38:39
  Yeah.
• 38:39
  Let's see what you got.
• 38:41
  Okay.
• 38:43
  Let's do this.
• 39:20
  The room is human.
• 39:22
  I'll feel their eyes on me.
• 39:28
  Feels familiar.
• 39:30
  Settling and just shine.
• 39:37
  Music fill the straight with every step and tell the bee from Broadway to the hills.
• 39:44
  Uh stories are the same.
• 39:46
  Every soul's got a dream of boys today.
• 39:53
  I don't want
• 40:00
  This town's apart of me.
• 40:08
  I see a path it's forgetting from my eyes calculated in the back with every step the world begins to change.
• 40:32
  Even though it's scary.
• 40:42
  With every step I take I can feel the thief.
• 40:46
  Friend brought me to the hills.
• 40:48
  The stories are the same.
• 40:50
  Every soul's got a dream of boys.
• 41:13
  Yeah, that's a little stamped of a song.
• 41:15
  But yeah.
• 41:16
  Available on Spotify.
• 41:18
  Yes, and the all-searing platforms.
• 41:21
  That's perfect.
• 41:22
  So you've got some other songs that you haven't released yet, but will be released at some point.
• 41:27
  Yeah.
• 41:28
  Some haven't even been like recorded yet.
• 41:30
  What's your favorite song that you've written?
• 41:32
  Okay, so this is it's called Four Leaf Clover.
• 41:36
  And um, it has not been recorded yet, and this is like the most recent song I've written.
• 41:42
  Now when you record songs, there's a local studio that you go into to record.
• 41:47
  Um so no, it's not like every time I go to this person, but the first three songs I wrote with um this producer named Tony Guerrero, he's amazing, jazz artist, so cool, and then I went to it was Concordia University, and um through my music teacher, Carrie Larson.
• 42:10
  She had a job there, and our producer was Steve Young, and I recorded Call You Crying in this town, and this is like the song I just released.
• 42:22
  So yeah, and I don't know who I'm gonna like write or record with my other songs, and that's kind of just like popping popping around.
• 42:31
  Maybe I could record one in Nashville, I get a new sound.
• 42:34
  Like and when you record, are there backup uh musicians or other singers that participate with you, or is it just you and a guitar?
• 42:42
  No, not just me and a guitar.
• 42:44
  Um it's a bunch of musicians, like a electric guitarist, a drummer, a bassist, and my uh vocal coach sings background for my song.
• 42:53
  Is it expensive to do that?
• 42:54
  I'm looking at dad.
• 42:55
  Yeah, he's shaking his head.
• 42:58
  Yeah, yeah.
• 42:59
  It is I'm sure it is.
• 43:00
  I guess until you're big enough, you've got to pay for studio time and the various musicians and so forth.
• 43:06
  Yes, yeah.
• 43:06
  Well, I hope you thank your mom and dad all the time.
• 43:09
  Yeah, hopefully there'll be some dividends in the future.
• 43:14
  Yeah, I'll retire him.
• 43:15
  Hopefully, for sure.
• 43:16
  You'll you'll thank him at the Grammys uh when you win your first grammar.
• 43:22
  Do you have any concerns about AI intruding onto the creative process and displacing people who can actually play and sing with their own body, their own mouth, their own hands?
• 43:34
  Yeah, I would fully agree.
• 43:36
  That's like a that's something new too.
• 43:39
  AI is kind of new, but it's just like sometimes I'll see there are like videos on social media.
• 43:44
  I'll see like a person with their guitar and singing, and then next one I'll say an AI video.
• 43:49
  I'm like, is that AI?
• 43:50
  And then that one will get like more views, more likes, more followers, and like it's like AI is like taking up your followers, like that.
• 43:58
  You could have had, but um, also AI is a big thing in songwriting, like it could like steal your ideas.
• 44:05
  Like if I write a song, like my favorite song that I've written for with Clover, like if someone types in, write me a song, and it like says the idea I gave and I like sang about, maybe it could like pop up some of the same lyrics, like I feel like that's kind of scary, like, and sometimes the copy writing websites or things you sign, like they don't catch that right away, and it's like um people could get credited, like let's say like a famous artist used AI for a song, but then like a small upcoming artist like me, like really spends time and writes song, like they're gonna get the upper hand on that because they're like they have they're like more famous, but it's like AI, but then like me, I'm like writing it like by myself, so it's like you don't know.
• 44:49
  Do you ever use AI to help you with words or lyrics?
• 44:52
  Um, I've never like I've been like, Can you give me some song ideas?
• 44:56
  I've never like used it.
• 44:58
  Let's say I was like, give me a country song idea to write about, and I'd be like, write about like so it's like going to the beach and surfing.
• 45:08
  I'll write about, and then I'll like take that and I'll like take it to like a different world, and I'll be like, okay, what are ideas that like are about that?
• 45:16
  Like I won't use like a direct thing from AI, but it is like a useful um resource to songwriters.
• 45:26
  What grade are you in right now?
• 45:27
  I'm in ninth grade, so I'm freshman.
• 45:29
  Sure.
• 45:29
  And then what's gonna happen when you graduate and go off to college?
• 45:33
  What's your game plan there?
• 45:34
  What college in Nashville are you gonna go to?
• 45:36
  Oh, um what's in Nashville?
• 45:38
  I can't remember.
• 45:39
  Vanderbell.
• 45:40
  Vanderbilt, sure.
• 45:41
  Belmont.
• 45:42
  Um is that what you want to do?
• 45:44
  I honestly don't know.
• 45:47
  Like, um, I've also been playing lacrosse for six years.
• 45:51
  Yes, and um, I don't think I'm playing I'm not playing a sport in college, so that's like good to rule out because it's a lot of stress, like being a D1 athlete, like that's a lot of stress, and especially right now, like music, content, school, and then like that pressure to like be on recruiting websites, also like trying to find like a like label for music's like very hard.
• 46:17
  So I'm just doing high school across right now, so much fun, like so many friends.
• 46:22
  Um, but I really just want to get like a full around college experience.
• 46:28
  My older sister goes to UT in Texas, and um, she's having so much fun, and like honestly, I love to go to UT.
• 46:36
  Like, I think that um just like having like a social life and like a music life and like majoring, like maybe music business, like if music doesn't work out, like I know how to build connections and like stuff like that, so I'll just have like a well-rounded experience.
• 46:55
  Sure.
• 46:55
  What's the most famous country music star that you've met?
• 47:01
  I actually I don't know.
• 47:04
  I don't know.
• 47:05
  Nobody yet, or when you were in Nashville.
• 47:07
  Uh no, not yet, but like I've heard the more you make connections, like the more like it's just like I've talked to my singing instructor, Carrie Larson, and she said that like in Nashville, everyone's connected.
• 47:22
  So if you meet one person that opens like 20 new doors.
• 47:26
  Sure.
• 47:26
  Yeah, so it's just like I haven't gone to the point where I've like met like stars or anything, but yeah.
• 47:33
  Okay, I'm gonna pretend like your dad's not here.
• 47:35
  Okay.
• 47:36
  Do you have a boyfriend?
• 47:37
  I do.
• 47:38
  You do.
• 47:39
  He he likes, he loves my boyfriend.
• 47:42
  Oh, yeah.
• 47:43
  Oh, that's what the four leaf closer is.
• 47:44
  Yeah, it is, yeah.
• 47:45
  Well, you gotta play that for us then.
• 47:46
  Oh, I will.
• 47:50
  Okay, well, this one, since it's like four leaf clover, it's like um how do I explain this?
• 47:58
  Like, he's like my luck charm.
• 48:01
  He he also, like one of the main things in my life that like helps with stress, like it's just like it's like common sense.
• 48:08
  I feel like for like yeah, any like teenager, like hang out with friends, but it's like when you have someone like that, like it's just like really interesting.
• 48:18
  Yes, he actually, yeah, he goes to the church a lot.
• 48:20
  Cool, yeah.
• 48:21
  Okay, let's hear it.
• 48:22
  Oh yeah.
• 48:44
  We stood in the stance, cheered with the crowd.
• 48:50
  You feel like you would be home.
• 48:56
  I think you win another life, found home in those brown eyes.
• 49:02
  Daddy told me the wise with me.
• 49:06
  Sacrifice with a little chance, get me by the hand, or hearts down the same place, and I post a new fully.
• 49:15
  You're my fully clover, our world turned over.
• 49:26
  Last October, love brought us home.
• 49:34
  Love many as hole.
• 49:36
  You're my four-leaf over.
• 49:56
  Club future in.
• 50:00
  Your arms down and in your eyes underneath the starts feel so alive.
• 50:06
  Ali.
• 50:09
  I think you in another life found home in those brown eyes.
• 50:14
  Daddy told me the Omega Sex with the little chance gave me by the hand or hearts down a safe place to let you for me.
• 50:27
  You're my fully fool.
• 50:32
  A world turned over.
• 50:54
  Yeah.
• 50:55
  That's my new favorite Macy Ray song.
• 50:58
  Yay.
• 50:59
  I'm so excited to get that one.
• 51:00
  How does your boyfriend like he loves it?
• 51:03
  He's very, he's also into music too.
• 51:05
  He plays guitar, which is perfect.
• 51:07
  Like I met him at okay, story time.
• 51:10
  We were like um preschool crushes, and um we went to the same preschool.
• 51:15
  I had a crush on him.
• 51:16
  We have like a photo together, which I cherish it so much, and he tried to get in contact with me for like a month, and he we ended up going to the same high school, and then I'm at a football game, like the first week of school, and he's like texting me, he's like, I he was like, I just want to let you know that like what you do in music is so cool.
• 51:36
  Like, and I was like, Oh, you're joking, because I've never like no one has ever said like what you do in music is like so cool, and I actually like appreciate what you do, like besides your mom and dad.
• 51:46
  Yeah, of course, but like my whole family says the word, but I'm saying, like outside of like family, like I've never felt that like um seen by someone, and like, and I was just like, wow, that's like the nicest thing like someone's ever said to me because like it's like yes, I love what I do so much, but like if I'm on the main street in Broadway, and I'm like, hey guys, Macy Ray here, it's gonna be embarrassing, but like he's like the person that's like always like never gonna think it's embarrassing, like never make fun of me.
• 52:19
  And it's just like he was like, Oh, yeah, I play guitar.
• 52:22
  Um, I'm like, I have a relationship with God, like he goes to life groups a lot, like just really cool, and yeah.
• 52:31
  I love it.
• 52:32
  Yeah.
• 52:32
  So, Dr.
• 52:33
  McDonald, what's your dating advice for a 15-year-old?
• 52:36
  Don't put his name in a clover and tattoo it anywhere on your body.
• 52:39
  Yeah, I would never do that.
• 52:44
  That's that's the first piece of advice I give you, because I see girls in my office all the time who are uh a bit older than you, yeah, and uh have let's just say somewhat mildly regretted having done that in their past.
• 52:58
  Yeah, so Macy Ray, there's a lot of people that listen to this uh podcast.
• 53:03
  What's your advice for a young person who wants to go into music that is uh trying to figure out their path forward?
• 53:10
  Um my thing that I've been sticking with is just like keep going.
• 53:15
  Like you mean like advice you'd give to someone, yeah.
• 53:18
  Um like not to be cliche, but like never give up.
• 53:22
  Like I will forever like stand by that, and so does my dad.
• 53:25
  He's taught me like he's like he he will be a hundred percent in for something that I'm like a thousand percent in, but if I'm like gonna like halfway do it, like he's gonna be like, I'm not gonna waste like this time and do it.
• 53:39
  Like I have to be fully committed, like he will always be, and like my family will be like the backbone of my music, and I just think it's like you need to know where your head space is at, and you need to like know like if you want it, like if you don't want it, don't spend the time like don't spend the time doing it when you know that's like not what you want to do.
• 53:58
  Like that's time wasting, you could be doing something like productive, like setting up for your future.
• 54:03
  Sure.
• 54:04
  But I think it's really just like keep going, and if you just keep going, like there's always a way to go up.
• 54:09
  Awesome.
• 54:10
  Macy Ray, thank you for joining us and informed descent.
• 54:13
  Thank you so much.
• 54:14
  Great to be with you.
• 54:25
  Dad is taking a picture for for those of us who uh don't have the ability to see, but can only hear.
• 54:35
  Oh, yeah.
• 54:38
  Oh, there we go.
• 54:41
  There you go.
• 54:42
  Nice.
• 54:44
  Okay, perfect.
• 54:45
  Awesome.
• 54:46
  Okay, awesome.
• 54:47
  All right, Mark.
• 54:50
  Any closing thoughts.
• 54:53
  I think there'll always be a place for performing artists, particularly when you perform for a small number of people in an intimate setting, like at a bar, a nightclub, an outdoor park for family friends, church.
• 55:07
  I am very concerned that recording may actually be on its way out because of what I have heard recently from friends who did pretty crappy recordings in their teens and 20s of guitar solos, band music, and are now in their 30s, and they run it through um recording apps, and in seven seconds, it can make a mediocre song sound like a million dollar production or about a dollar in tokens on an AI app.
• 55:37
  That's so big.
• 55:38
  I think music production and music recording may be over.
• 55:42
  Sadly, however, however, it's a big however.
• 55:47
  What we can never replace in the creative world is the in-person live in the moment feeling of the vibrations in our body of somebody actually playing and singing, and that will always be valuable, even if you'll never be able to make a million dollars at it like people used to in recording.
• 56:02
  You can still do good for the world, you can still do good for other people and produce a craft and create, and that I think will never go away.
• 56:08
  And in fact, it may become even more valuable as people get completely inundated with all of the artificially produced junk.
• 56:18
  So I think we're gonna see a bifurcation in the creative world, and it's going to really really heighten the importance of in-person, in the moment, live creation in a way that we've never had before.
• 56:30
  Yep, yep, I think you're right.
• 56:31
  Mark, great being with you.
• 56:33
  I think we're just about out of time.
• 56:35
  We are we'll see you next time.
• 56:37
  Thank you.
• 56:38
  You've been listening to Informed Descent with Dr.
• 56:41
  Jeff Barkey, board certified primary care physician, and Dr.
• 56:45
  Mark McDonald.
• 56:47
  Board certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist.
• 56:53
  The intersection of healthcare and politics.