Latest / Happy Hour with Deb / Allie Colleen on her Country Music Journey, Empowerment and Staying True to Yourself Ep131

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Allie Colleen on her Country Music Journey, Empowerment and Staying True to Yourself Ep131 · Happy Hour with Deb

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I've got I've had at least eight people this morning being mean to me for no reason.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Growth their ass back here.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from Philadelphia.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, no one gets attention for being mean.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: No, no.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: You don't get any attention for being mean.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care about you.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, it's Deb.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's Happy Hour with Deb.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: We are on day one of the country radio seminar.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Crazy.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Ali Colleen is with me today.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Happy Hour.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Day one in the morning.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Day one in the morning.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: My first interview.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Have you had a couple already?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: I only had one today, so but I'm gonna consider you my first.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm gonna be in the top two.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: I promise you that so far.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: It is so nice to meet you.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: You look amazing.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: And this is your third time doing this.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: This is my third time doing this, and I love it.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: I really do.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's my favorite week of the year.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like we shot in studio yesterday, but the energy here is so infectious.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like it is such a cool place to be.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I've learned in my three years, day one's the day to do it.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think my first year I did day one, and my second year I think I did the last day.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: And you could tell everybody was so tired.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Totally fried.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I know.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Why we are.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I rested for like a month to get here.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me about your music.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we are doing our best.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: We um I grew up on country music and absolutely love country music.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I I'm from Oklahoma.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I've been here for 12 years.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this will be my 12th year.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: I moved here when I was 17 to go to college.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: So did you go to Belmont?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I got a degree in songwriting, whatever that means.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it was.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: I know, right?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I have a master's, I don't know what that means either, but here I am interviewing you.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of work though.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of work.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we've been putting out music since 2019, uh, and it's evolved a lot sonically, but we just we're just trying to be like the little pop punk cowgirl of country music.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: We uh we we love to sing about horses, but it sounds a little more alternative probably than most country music guys.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I did.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: You did?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: I did.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: I listen to everybody's music that comes on this show.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, what has changed in the last couple years?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like you've been here 12 years, like now it's a whole different industry.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's a whole different industry.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um the social media is bigger than it's ever been as far as the it's not a damn full-time.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I film everything, I edit everything.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I just recently took on someone to help me film sometimes, but we're still just doing maybe once a month with that, and I do all the other content.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, but it's that's kind of been I think the biggest shift over the time I've been here is the expectations of the artist in the creative world of content.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it's really, you know, I've shot a lot, I've I've interviewed a lot of artists, and the ones everybody, even the like biggest names, do their own social media, and yeah, it's a full-time job.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and the I I hope anyone working on on the side that I'm about to talk about, I hope you are just racking in that money because the cost of a videographer and an editor is insane.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: For uh for something that like is really hard to monetize.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's kind of been a trick.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: At all, I know.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: But I think I don't handle my own.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: I the team does it, but um I think you shouldn't have to be good at everything.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't have to be at everything.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I say.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: You shouldn't have to do that.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: I want to love this aspect of it so I can really get to know these artists and we can help promote them in any way we can.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't want to check my TikTok.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't blame you.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't want to.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then even once you post for the next 15 minutes, you have to interact with comments on the post.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you're not even done.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: I have an assistant that does all of that.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I flat out tell people like when they say nice things, I'm like, that's great.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't really, but what's the nicest compliment you've ever received on social media?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I really love it when women tell me that I'm something that they would like their daughters to be a fan of.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Women are kicking ass right now.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Women are absolutely kicking.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: We are kicking ass ruthless right now.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it's amazing.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I don't know.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, sometimes we wear certain things and I've got a lot of tattoos, and sometimes we will wear less things than other things.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have gotten, you know, a lot of crap about being a female role model or something.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: So when when mothers come in and they're like, me and my daughter go to your shows, or like, I want my daughter loves your stuff, I'm like, that's the coolest thing.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's like the coolest compliment ever.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_01: Do you ever have a like a hater on social media?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody called me a Karen a few weeks ago.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm saying I'm the hospital, I'm not over it.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Deb, I've got I've had at least eight people this morning being mean to me for no reason.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Bring their ass back here.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from Philadelphia.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, no one gets attention for being mean.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, you don't get any attention for being mean.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care about you.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right, exactly.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I always like somebody called me a Karen like a couple months back, and thought if you knew me better, you'd be like, this woman is the anti-Karen, right?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: You don't strike me as Karen at all.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: No, I go, I'm sorry you're living in your parents' basement and you're 48.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I just like that.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: My husband's like, I'm gonna duck tape all the mix on your hands so that you can't-cause you really just gotta let it roll.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Where's your favorite place to play?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Man, you're only as good as your audience, you know what I mean?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And your team.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And there's been so many, there's been so many venues where just the audience shows up for us, you know, kind of thing.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like we do really like in Illinois is just one of those states for me where anytime we have a show in Illinois, I'm like, they're gonna show up for us.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know why or where that came from because I'm not from there.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: I credit my drummer and my and my beautiful sound girl because they're from there, so I think maybe you guys are hella promoting.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, but they're really kind to me.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the dream?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you want to play?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um I mean the dream is to just have a place where you haven't played.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: To just not have a place you haven't, you know, and just get to go and travel and see people.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think the Ryman would probably be a big one for me.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Mine would be like the where I grew up seeing music.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: So Kane's ballroom in Tulsa is like my dream.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I've gotten to open there, but I have yet to have like an Ali Colline show there.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're getting it after this interview.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Who do I gotta call?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a matter of getting the show, it's the matter of knowing I can sell the tickets.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: They've offered me the show several times, and I'm like, I just don't know that we're there yet.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: You'll totally be there.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be ridiculous.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, do you love this shift that the women are taking over country music?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, I love it.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And there's just a little something about it that also makes you mad because it's like, yeah, about time.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like common sense.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: I totally get that.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: If I was to whine about anything, they could be a little different.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I do feel like we have a uh we're kind of seeing the same kind of thing, and I want to see 12 completely different women.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because there are.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I can think of 20 right now that are good friends of mine that deserve it.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: So exactly.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it's a good time for women in country music because really the the power shift has focused on women.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's such a cool thing.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: I just think we add more to country music than we ever have.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like our narratives are cool, you know what I mean?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And and we were survivors.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: We keep the race going.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's what country music is.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Country music came from struggle, you know what I mean?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at like the blues traditions of all of the, you know, kind of, you know, the like the slave culture of music that country music came from that we never credit.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like came from poverty and hardness and like tough times, and no one knows struggle more than women.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't all about drinking beer on a beach.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was about surviving.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love that.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: We do love it.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you get to earn that, but that's not all your thing.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I think women just have more to bring to the table, honestly.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's great.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: I love seeing them step into the power role.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: I really do.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Who inspires you in music?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be Ashley McBride so bad.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you can't tell.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you grow up, we want to be all.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be Ashley McBride's so bad.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: We're reaching out to her this afternoon.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, listen, we're buddies now.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I I love her, she's been so kind to me.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: If I ever did my job right, people would think Amy Lee and Ashley McBride had a baby, and that would be me.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Aw, I love that.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about your family.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: How important are they in this struggle?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I just again, you're you're you're nothing without your audience, you're nothing without your team, like you said, and I wouldn't be anything without the grounding that I had as a kid.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And my my family's always supported me.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: My siblings hated it for so long because we shared a room and they were so over me learning how to play guitar.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: But they're so proud of me.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: They're so kind.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Did you come from a music background in your family?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have people in my family that have done music, but we've never done music as a family.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're a sports family.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we all work.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: I got a sports sports.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we're a sports family.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, sports are very big.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm from Texas originally.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we're I live in Philadelphia now.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um don't hold that against me.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I would love to see you come play in Philly.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to play in Philly.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's one of the places we haven't hit yet.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's really funny.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of artists haven't made it.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me about the tattoo that is so cool on your neck.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: The butterfly.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I don't know if you're a Disney person or not, but I'm a Disney person.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: I just became a grandmom.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you and I got two more on the wall.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to show your little babies Princess and the Frog.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's my favorite one.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so, Princess and the Frog, there's this firefly who's in love with the North Star because he thinks she's like the brightest firefly.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And he calls her Evangeline.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so mine's a firefly, and it's named after my first little hospice dog that I had.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: I took care of hospice dogs for a little while.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: You're kidding me.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and her name was Evangeline.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're an independent artist, you just like have to have a record label.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: So ever since we've been putting out music, we've been Evangeline Records.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I own Evangeline Records, and so everything's the firefly.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you want a throat tat, you gotta find something symmetric, and nothing's more symmetric than that.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta find something, you gotta trust the you gotta trust the hand that's on there, too.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me about these hospice dogs, that's such an amazing.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: So my mom uh does wildlife rehabilitation.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: We we had that's what we do back in Oklahoma, is we take care of wildlife, and and um there we have an organization called Wild Hot Ranch that my aunt Annette runs and we run it, and so it's all we've always done.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So when I came to Nashville, I instantly played Broadway and like all the things and like started playing for a job, but I also worked at the Goodlitzville Animal Hospital.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And just every now and then people will bring in these dogs that'll have these terminal illnesses or whatever, and all of a sudden they're just like, Well, maybe we can just euthanize.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, the dog has a couple years left, it's just gonna be a little expensive.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: I have a king shark that has congestive heart failure.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: But let me tell you, I I'd sell everything for this.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: She's my girl.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know, these people brought in this dog, and I said, if you will surrender her to me, I will cover all of her betvilles forever and I will take care of her.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that just kind of sparked a thing, and I just started taking in dogs that way.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: I spent three hours this morning trying to get ointment in my horse's eye, so it's been a long day already.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a day.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Next time we'll do a full hour, you'll come back and do a full hour.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: I would be so honored anytime.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll get make sure you get coffee.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's so beautiful.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: What a caring.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: You give off such great energy.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: You have incredible energy.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Are you excited for this week?
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: For this interview week?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited for this week today.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, damn, I'm not telling that same story.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: No, because I don't think the interviewers get enough credit.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think you guys get enough credit for hyping us up.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's like, this is the first time I've ever told the story about Eve, and it's not.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've talked about Eve a hundred times, and it's like I get to share her with you now.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I love it, man.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great attitude.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: I love this week.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like this week, they because I mean, when you're a little tiny cog in this massive wheel, the people that you that you get to meet are just amazing.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's such a privilege.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, you are a dear.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: You really are.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: You'll come back, give me a full hour, interview.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: Anytime.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And you'll keep us updated on your career.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I would love for you to come and do a full hour interview.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm in.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're gonna be a big star.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna be like, I remember we were in the little booth together.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was an honor.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe one day you'll have a little girl sitting here talking about how she wants to be me when she grows up, but I will lose my mind.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'd love that everybody that comes up.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: I have a 14-year-old niece in Dallas, and everybody that comes on my show and we air them, she's an Insta fan.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: So she'll be singing your music.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: I hope I get I hope I record it for you that one.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll send it to you.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it was an honor.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Mr.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: so much.