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Celebrating Nashville Music: Helene Cronin on Songwriting, Perseverance, and Emerging Artists in the Scene · Takin’ A Walk Nashville

0:00
Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville.
0:02
Speaker 2: Hey, listeners, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host of Taking a
0:05
Speaker 2: Walk Nashville. Can you believe it's almost been one year
0:10
Speaker 2: since we started Taking a Walk Nashville? I hope you
0:13
Speaker 2: have been enjoying us on the journey, all of our conversations.
0:19
Speaker 2: Please give us a review wherever you listen to your
0:22
Speaker 2: podcast and follow us at Taking a Walk Nashville on
0:26
Speaker 2: Instagram and social media. Today I have with me singer-songwriter
0:33
Speaker 2: Helene Cronin. She has released a lot of her own music,
0:37
Speaker 2: including her latest record, Maybe New Mexico, but you've probably
0:42
Speaker 2: also heard songs that she's penned, such as Speaking Terms
0:47
Speaker 2: by Ella Langley. We talk about the story behind the
0:51
Speaker 2: song she's written, her own journey from Texas to Nashville,
0:57
Speaker 2: and all of her own music as well.
1:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to Takin' a Walk Nashville with your host, singer-songwriter
1:08
Speaker 1: Sarah Harrelson.
1:10
Speaker 2: Today I have with me a very special guest, songwriter
1:14
Speaker 2: Helene Cronin. You may know her if you've listened to
1:18
Speaker 2: the song Speaking Terms on Ella Langley's new album, Dandelion.
1:23
Speaker 2: She also has her own record out called Maybe New Mexico.
1:27
Speaker 2: We're going to talk all about it. Helene, how are you?
1:30
Speaker 2: Thank you for joining me today.
1:31
Speaker 3: I'm great. So happy to be here and back in Nashville.
1:35
Speaker 3: And thank you for having me on the program.
1:37
Speaker 2: Of course. And you're based in Texas, but you make
1:40
Speaker 2: a lot of trips up here to Nashville. So starting
1:43
Speaker 2: from the beginning, what was the point in your music
1:46
Speaker 2: career where you said, I'm going to start taking trips
1:49
Speaker 2: to Nashville to do rights up in Nashville instead of Texas.
1:53
Speaker 3: Well, not to give away too much about the whole
1:56
Speaker 3: how long this has taken. I used to come like 97, 98,
1:59
Speaker 3: 99 and come to NSAI events and network and get
2:04
Speaker 3: to know people. And that's where I met a couple
2:06
Speaker 3: of my mentors like Hugh Prestwood and pat pattison and
2:10
Speaker 3: um and then i quit coming my kids were little
2:13
Speaker 3: i have um two girls and i needed to get
2:16
Speaker 3: them raised up a little further so i stopped coming
2:19
Speaker 3: until 2004 and i just felt this nudge like you
2:23
Speaker 3: went to nashville but you didn't really finish the job
2:26
Speaker 3: you didn't really explore it to the extent you could
2:29
Speaker 3: have and uh you know i was doing the best
2:31
Speaker 3: i could at that season in my life but i
2:33
Speaker 3: started coming back again to some nsai events and then
2:37
Speaker 3: um I guess I came back and forth about three
2:40
Speaker 3: or four, five times a year, gradually worked up to
2:44
Speaker 3: six times a year. And then in 2012, at the
2:46
Speaker 3: end of the year, I had been doing real estate
2:49
Speaker 3: for about four years. And I told my husband, I
2:52
Speaker 3: don't ever have to stop songwriting. But if I want
2:55
Speaker 3: to pursue the Nashville piece, I got to be there
2:57
Speaker 3: every month for at least a week out of every month.
3:01
Speaker 3: And I don't feel like I'm supposed to quit that.
3:04
Speaker 3: So with his blessing and complete support. I began doing
3:09
Speaker 3: that in 2013. It's been pretty much every month since then.
3:13
Speaker 3: And it's an inner fire that keeps me coming back
3:16
Speaker 3: and forth. It's not because anybody asked me to come
3:19
Speaker 3: to town. It's just where I was finding my place
3:23
Speaker 3: and my crew. And I write with so many amazing people.
3:27
Speaker 3: And all of that just kind of grew organically and
3:30
Speaker 3: just hard work and trips back and forth.
3:33
Speaker 2: And when you record your own music, do you usually
3:35
Speaker 2: record that in Texas or here in Nashville?
3:38
Speaker 3: I don't ever record in Texas anymore. I did three
3:41
Speaker 3: albums of contemporary Christian music back kind of before I
3:45
Speaker 3: started making these trips and then stopped that and began
3:48
Speaker 3: just writing about life. So in 2014, I had this
3:51
Speaker 3: little handful of songs and I put out an EP
3:54
Speaker 3: that I recorded here. And then in 2015, I did
3:58
Speaker 3: another EP of seven songs and then Just stopped for
4:02
Speaker 3: a while, and then my publisher at the time, about 2018,
4:06
Speaker 3: she said, I think you need to do a full-length record,
4:08
Speaker 3: and it needs to be you as the artist. Because
4:10
Speaker 3: I was here writing for other people and hoping to
4:12
Speaker 3: get cuts and hoping to be featured on bigger artists
4:16
Speaker 3: than me on their albums, and that wasn't exactly happening.
4:20
Speaker 3: But she saw something in me, and to this day
4:23
Speaker 3: I just appreciate that she pushed me to do that.
4:25
Speaker 3: And so I recorded two albums with Matt King. who
4:29
Speaker 3: was an artist in the late 90s, 2000. He's just
4:32
Speaker 3: a musical genius. And he really helped develop me and
4:35
Speaker 3: helped me develop a sound and encouraged me with my
4:38
Speaker 3: voice because I didn't come to this thinking I could
4:41
Speaker 3: sing that great. I mean, I just sing. I'm not trained.
4:46
Speaker 3: But both he and my publisher were like, you can
4:49
Speaker 3: sing and when you sing, you deliver the song. You
4:51
Speaker 3: need to do this.
4:52
Speaker 2: So, I'm sure it's a lot different from being in
4:55
Speaker 2: the writing room, writing the song, to now you're the
4:58
Speaker 2: artist singing the song and performing it, releasing it.
5:01
Speaker 3: Yes, and I write so much that not every song
5:04
Speaker 3: is what I call a me song. There's a lot
5:06
Speaker 3: that are commercial. I have a Cody Johnson cut from 2024,
5:10
Speaker 3: and I have a couple of songs with Brian Martin
5:12
Speaker 3: that he and I have written with other people. Those
5:17
Speaker 3: are their songs, you know, but to write a body
5:20
Speaker 3: of work that represents me and the messages I want
5:22
Speaker 3: to put out into the world has been really kind
5:24
Speaker 3: of a beautiful and unexpected thing to have happen in
5:27
Speaker 3: my career. So I'm grateful.
5:29
Speaker 2: How do the me songs come about? Because you know,
5:32
Speaker 2: you're going into the right wanting to write a song
5:35
Speaker 2: specifically about one of your experiences, or sometimes it's just
5:39
Speaker 2: the song that comes out that day and you feel
5:41
Speaker 2: really drawn to it.
5:42
Speaker 3: Once in a while, I will have an idea that
5:44
Speaker 3: I know is for me and for my project. Most
5:47
Speaker 3: of the time in Nashville, I come into the writing
5:49
Speaker 3: room to write whatever's there that day for whoever, whether
5:52
Speaker 3: it's going to be a commercial song that one of
5:54
Speaker 3: the other writers has a publisher who will pitch or
5:58
Speaker 3: they have inroads. All of my cuts have come about
6:00
Speaker 3: because of relationships with my co-writers. So I'm always open
6:04
Speaker 3: to that. And then once in a while, one lands
6:06
Speaker 3: and I just go, oh, I really want to record this.
6:10
Speaker 3: And that was the case with like maybe New Mexico,
6:12
Speaker 3: the song. It was partly true story and partly made
6:17
Speaker 3: up and partly from traveling through New Mexico and partly
6:20
Speaker 3: because I was writing to a song prompt, which was Hemingway.
6:24
Speaker 3: So I was trying to think of how to put
6:25
Speaker 3: Hemingway in a song. So it's all, it's just organic
6:30
Speaker 3: and it comes about, the songs fall out. And I
6:33
Speaker 3: try to write with people who I know will, if
6:35
Speaker 3: I bring an idea that they will really dig that
6:39
Speaker 3: idea or we'll move on to something else or if
6:41
Speaker 3: they bring an idea that they will trust me to
6:43
Speaker 3: help them write it. It's very much a trust process.
6:47
Speaker 2: And your latest record that you mentioned, maybe New Mexico.
6:50
Speaker 2: You have a copy of it here today. That was
6:53
Speaker 2: your last record. I love the title track. And my
6:57
Speaker 2: parents lived in Las Cruces for a short amount of time.
6:59
Speaker 2: So I heard that lyric and it made me smile.
7:01
Speaker 2: And yeah, I love all the lyrics in that song.
7:04
Speaker 2: And it's a beautiful album. Where in Nashville did you
7:07
Speaker 2: record that album?
7:09
Speaker 3: Well, everything since 2019. The record I put out, Old
7:14
Speaker 3: Ghosts and Lost Causes. Landmarks was next in 2023, and
7:18
Speaker 3: then I put out a Christmas album at the end
7:21
Speaker 3: of 23, and then I put out Landmarks in 24. No,
7:25
Speaker 3: Landmarks was 23. I'm getting the dates all mixed up,
7:29
Speaker 3: but they've all been done at Sputnik Sound in Berry Hill,
7:32
Speaker 3: and big shout out to Mitch Dane. Matt King produced
7:36
Speaker 3: Old Ghosts and Lost Causes and Landmarks, and then moved
7:39
Speaker 3: to North Carolina, so I pivoted to using Mitch, who
7:42
Speaker 3: had engineered both of those records, and he's just... He's
7:45
Speaker 3: another brilliant guy with a great set of ears and
7:47
Speaker 3: further developed what Matt and I had started. So everything
7:51
Speaker 3: since then, beautiful December. And then maybe New Mexico I
7:55
Speaker 3: did with Mitch at the helm.
7:57
Speaker 2: It's a beautiful album, beautiful production. In addition to your
8:02
Speaker 2: own music, as you mentioned, you've written a lot of
8:04
Speaker 2: songs for a lot of artists. And you co-wrote the
8:07
Speaker 2: song Speaking Terms with Joy Beth Taylor. That was cut
8:11
Speaker 2: by Ella Langley and is on her new album, Dandelion.
8:15
Speaker 2: Tell me about the process of writing that song and
8:18
Speaker 2: the trajectory.
8:19
Speaker 3: Of how it got to Ella. It's, you know, I've
8:22
Speaker 3: learned that... Songwriting is a long game and it's not
8:27
Speaker 3: for the faint of heart. So COVID had just started
8:30
Speaker 3: in March of 2020 and Joy Beth, I was coming
8:35
Speaker 3: back and forth still to write with whoever would write
8:37
Speaker 3: with me because not living here, I needed to continue
8:40
Speaker 3: to make opportunities happen. So I was doing a lot
8:42
Speaker 3: of writing, a lot of coming back and forth, driving.
8:45
Speaker 3: And I met Joy Beth, we did a writer's round
8:48
Speaker 3: together or something and I'd been hearing her name and
8:50
Speaker 3: I knew that she had written with a friend of
8:53
Speaker 3: mine So one day at a show, I think I
8:55
Speaker 3: just said, or she said, we should write together. So
8:58
Speaker 3: she came over in July of 2020 to my little
9:01
Speaker 3: house here in Nashville. And I had this title, Speaking Terms.
9:05
Speaker 3: And I said, you know, I don't know if it's about,
9:06
Speaker 3: you know, my speaking terms with my own heart or
9:09
Speaker 3: on speaking terms with God. And she said, I like
9:12
Speaker 3: the God angle. And I didn't know that she had
9:15
Speaker 3: prayed before she came into that right, that she was
9:17
Speaker 3: feeling discouraged too. And like, what's the point of writing
9:21
Speaker 3: another song? We just write so many, and what happens
9:24
Speaker 3: to them? And neither of us at the time, I believe,
9:26
Speaker 3: had a publishing deal. So she came in, she liked
9:29
Speaker 3: that God angle, and we just began writing from the
9:32
Speaker 3: top down. It used to be easy to pray when
9:35
Speaker 3: we were little, and faith was easy, and then the
9:38
Speaker 3: world beats you up for a while, and sometimes you
9:41
Speaker 3: lose touch. And in my case, that was very real.
9:43
Speaker 3: I went through a long period where I didn't feel
9:45
Speaker 3: like I was hearing from God, and I was praying
9:48
Speaker 3: to fervently for some really important things, but I felt
9:51
Speaker 3: like the line was quiet. And quiet long enough to
9:55
Speaker 3: help us get that idea going, and Joy Beth had
9:58
Speaker 3: had similar circumstances. But she said she walked out of
10:01
Speaker 3: the right going, yeah, God is listening, because that's the
10:05
Speaker 3: song that we wrote that kind of helped express what
10:09
Speaker 3: both of us were going through. So that happened, and
10:11
Speaker 3: then I didn't know it. Joy Beth, well, I did
10:13
Speaker 3: know Joy Beth was playing it out here in Nashville,
10:16
Speaker 3: and I was getting writer's messaging me and saying, man,
10:20
Speaker 3: if this song doesn't get cut, I'm going to give
10:21
Speaker 3: up and go home. So that was initially really encouraging.
10:25
Speaker 3: And then it was quiet for a long time without
10:27
Speaker 3: me knowing that Joy Beth and Ella, who are now
10:30
Speaker 3: best friends, were singing the song together. Joy Beth was
10:35
Speaker 3: out there playing it and Ella was singing harmonies on it.
10:38
Speaker 3: But now to hear Ella talk about it and say
10:40
Speaker 3: she didn't feel worthy of that song. And so she
10:43
Speaker 3: didn't feel it was right for her to cut. And
10:46
Speaker 3: the two of them were pitching it to all the
10:47
Speaker 3: artists they knew. And we had a couple of close
10:50
Speaker 3: calls with a couple of other people that wanted to
10:53
Speaker 3: cut it. And then at some point, Ella, like a year,
10:57
Speaker 3: year and a half ago, it might be, it's almost
10:59
Speaker 3: two years now because it was September 24 when Joy
11:02
Speaker 3: Beth texted me and said, Ella put the song on hold.
11:04
Speaker 3: And I didn't know that Ella had just gone through a,
11:08
Speaker 3: Kind of a crisis of faith and figuring out her
11:12
Speaker 3: career and all of a sudden going back to her
11:16
Speaker 3: faith and the Bible. And then she felt like, you
11:18
Speaker 3: know what, God has made me worthy and I can
11:21
Speaker 3: sing this song. So for a year and a half,
11:23
Speaker 3: I hardly told anybody that she had it on hold.
11:27
Speaker 3: Because it's not that you don't want to jinx it.
11:29
Speaker 3: It's just that things happen in Nashville and songs get
11:33
Speaker 3: cut and they get axed and then you just don't know.
11:36
Speaker 3: So I kept that pretty close to the vest. And
11:38
Speaker 3: then they sent me the recording, I don't know, a
11:42
Speaker 3: month before it came out. And that's when I finally
11:44
Speaker 3: relaxed and started telling people about it and posting it
11:47
Speaker 3: on socials. And then when it came out, it just... Initially,
11:52
Speaker 3: the recording that I got to hear privately at home,
11:55
Speaker 3: it just blew my mind because she did the song
11:57
Speaker 3: justice and she sang it. She sings it a lot
12:00
Speaker 3: like Joy Beth does. And she honored our lyrics. She
12:03
Speaker 3: has never once... And even when she put it on hold,
12:07
Speaker 3: never asked to have any writer credit on it. She's
12:10
Speaker 3: been very vocal about this is the only song she's
12:12
Speaker 3: ever recorded that she's not a writer on other than
12:15
Speaker 3: cover songs. So the full circle moment is that Saturday
12:20
Speaker 3: night I got to go to her concert in Fort
12:21
Speaker 3: Worth and bring my whole family, and she used it
12:24
Speaker 3: as her encore after doing a phenomenal show. Her mom
12:29
Speaker 3: and I have become friends. And her mom texted me
12:32
Speaker 3: and said, be sure you stay for the encore. So
12:34
Speaker 3: then I went, okay, I think I know what's going
12:36
Speaker 3: to happen. And it was the most insane moment of
12:40
Speaker 3: just sitting there and going, God has had his hands
12:42
Speaker 3: on this song since the day we wrote it. And again,
12:46
Speaker 3: it came about because of relationships. Mine with Joy Beth,
12:48
Speaker 3: Joy Beth's with Ella.
12:50
Speaker 2: That's so special. And as you mentioned, the song is
12:53
Speaker 2: about faith, but it can be very hard to have
12:56
Speaker 2: faith in these songs when they go quiet or they
12:58
Speaker 2: can't find a home for a while. So a lot
13:01
Speaker 2: of it is just a waiting game until it finds
13:04
Speaker 2: the right home.
13:05
Speaker 3: It is. And the real gift is when the right
13:10
Speaker 3: song at the right time finds the right artist. And
13:13
Speaker 3: that's what I feel like happened because I never would
13:14
Speaker 3: have I never would have dreamed that I'd have a
13:17
Speaker 3: song on an Ella Langley record. And I didn't, even
13:20
Speaker 3: when they told me about it, it's like Ella's trajectory
13:24
Speaker 3: has just exploded in the last six months. And it's
13:27
Speaker 3: been such an honor to be part of that. And
13:29
Speaker 3: I got to give her a hug the other night
13:31
Speaker 3: and tell her thank you and get a picture with
13:33
Speaker 3: her and a picture with her mom and chat with
13:35
Speaker 3: her mom for about 20 minutes and just really feel
13:38
Speaker 3: like there's been divine purpose behind not only the song,
13:44
Speaker 3: but my career. And that's been the most amazing thing.
13:49
Speaker 3: That's beautiful.
13:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a beautiful song. You also had another song
13:53
Speaker 2: that was cut by Cody Johnson called Over Missing You.
13:56
Speaker 2: It's on his Leather Deluxe Edition album. Tell me the
13:59
Speaker 2: story behind that song and what it meant to get
14:02
Speaker 2: a song cut by a Texas artist.
14:04
Speaker 3: Well, it was pretty insane. And again, it was because
14:07
Speaker 3: of relationships. I have a dear friend, Scott Sean White,
14:09
Speaker 3: who is one of my main co-writers. And he and...
14:14
Speaker 3: the guy who happens to be Cody Johnson's best friend,
14:17
Speaker 3: Jesse Robb Jr., were putting together a songwriting retreat down
14:21
Speaker 3: in Texas at Run and Gun Adventures in Matagorda Bay.
14:24
Speaker 3: So I think I was the only girl that got
14:26
Speaker 3: invited down. But they texted me earlier that day and
14:30
Speaker 3: they said, hey, we're going fishing and try to get
14:32
Speaker 3: down here because the four pro writers, it was Scott
14:34
Speaker 3: Sean White, Jesse Robb Jr., and Patrick Savage, were there
14:38
Speaker 3: writing with some young Texas guys that would come in
14:40
Speaker 3: and then they'd leave and the next one would come
14:42
Speaker 3: in and then They said, well, we're in between artists,
14:45
Speaker 3: so why don't you get down here and we're going
14:46
Speaker 3: to try to write a song, the four of us, tonight.
14:48
Speaker 3: So I did. I hightailed it down there. And we
14:52
Speaker 3: started probably at 9 o'clock that night on this back
14:55
Speaker 3: porch that was, you know, you could hear the bullfrogs
14:58
Speaker 3: croaking and the crickets. And in between games of cornhole,
15:02
Speaker 3: we began working on this idea that Jesse had that
15:05
Speaker 3: traveling for this career is really hard and we leave
15:09
Speaker 3: behind the people that we love a lot. And that
15:12
Speaker 3: asks a lot of the people that we love when
15:14
Speaker 3: they have to hold the fort down at home. So
15:17
Speaker 3: he had this title, I'm over packing. I'm done packing bags.
15:19
Speaker 3: I'm over this and I'm over that. And then Trick
15:22
Speaker 3: Savage is quiet for a minute and he comes out with,
15:25
Speaker 3: I'm over packing bags. I'm over being done.
15:27
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Taking a Walk Nashville.
15:30
Speaker 3: I'm over Tucson now. And it just went, I'm over
15:34
Speaker 3: being 500 miles from home. I'm nervous, so I'm not
15:37
Speaker 3: thinking of the lyrics in the correct order. But it
15:39
Speaker 3: was so true to our lives, and we wrote it truthfully.
15:42
Speaker 3: This is what it's like. And then Jesse is on
15:45
Speaker 3: the beach with Cody's family. Jesse and his family are
15:47
Speaker 3: on vacation with Cody's family. And he just gets out
15:50
Speaker 3: his guitar and plays it for him. And Cody goes,
15:52
Speaker 3: y'all just wrote my life. I want to cut that song. So, again,
15:56
Speaker 3: it took a little while for it to come out,
15:58
Speaker 3: but that was my first major label cut, and it's
16:00
Speaker 3: been pretty exciting to be part of that.
16:03
Speaker 2: That's very exciting, especially when you look back with how
16:06
Speaker 2: your career started. You were taking trips up here. You
16:10
Speaker 2: joined NSAI. You took a break from real estate to
16:14
Speaker 2: be down here and focus on music. And when a
16:17
Speaker 2: songwriter gets their first major cut, especially as an independent,
16:21
Speaker 2: they'll get offers from different publishers. What has been your
16:27
Speaker 2: advice and experience along the way? If some songwriters are
16:32
Speaker 2: on the fence of signing with the publisher, making the
16:34
Speaker 2: wrong choice? What has your experience been like with that?
16:38
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, to sign with a publisher, it
16:40
Speaker 3: needs to be somebody who really believes in you and
16:42
Speaker 3: really gets what you do. And that's what my first
16:44
Speaker 3: publisher did for me and encouraged me. And I felt
16:47
Speaker 3: like she plucked me out of this sea of writers
16:49
Speaker 3: and people coming to Nashville and made something special happen.
16:54
Speaker 3: And then once that deal was over, I didn't want
16:58
Speaker 3: to sign a deal personally I don't need the draw.
17:02
Speaker 3: There are a lot of people that have to have
17:03
Speaker 3: the draw. So that would figure into their decision. I
17:07
Speaker 3: like the fact that right now I own all my publishing,
17:10
Speaker 3: every bit of it. And the fact that I don't
17:14
Speaker 3: need a draw doesn't lock me into signing a bad deal.
17:18
Speaker 3: But I think, first of all, it's got to be
17:19
Speaker 3: somebody who really gets you and really believes in you
17:22
Speaker 3: because that's the main thing. the thing of the most
17:27
Speaker 3: that will be the most value to you and just
17:29
Speaker 3: even if it's just ends up being something that where
17:33
Speaker 3: you get developed as a writer or you get put
17:35
Speaker 3: in rooms that you that's what my publisher did for
17:37
Speaker 3: me is she put me in rooms that i could
17:39
Speaker 3: not have gotten in by myself yeah and then just
17:41
Speaker 3: my own reputation has has developed that track uh even
17:46
Speaker 3: further is just people know The way I write, the
17:49
Speaker 3: quality that I strive for, we don't hit it on
17:53
Speaker 3: every single song, but just there's a bar, and knowing
17:56
Speaker 3: where that bar is helps. But I don't know. I
18:00
Speaker 3: think it would depend on a lot of things and
18:01
Speaker 3: what your goals are. For me, the goal was I
18:04
Speaker 3: need to get in better rooms, and I need somebody
18:06
Speaker 3: in town that digs me and wants to help me
18:10
Speaker 3: become a hit writer.
18:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's so important, especially for them to have your support.
18:15
Speaker 2: And when you're releasing your own music, it's great because
18:18
Speaker 2: you have a complete control in what you're putting out
18:21
Speaker 2: and recording.
18:22
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely. So I don't know. I think it's a
18:26
Speaker 3: very individual thing for people. I know some girls in
18:29
Speaker 3: town that are really trying to find one and they're
18:32
Speaker 3: worthy of one. And then it becomes really hard sometimes
18:34
Speaker 3: when you're a woman in town, there aren't the same
18:37
Speaker 3: deals that there are for some of the guys that
18:39
Speaker 3: are up and coming. And That's a frustration, but I'm
18:42
Speaker 3: seeing that changes from the top down with people like
18:45
Speaker 3: Ella and Megan and Lainey and Ashley McBride. They're all
18:49
Speaker 3: opening the door for all the rest of us underneath them,
18:52
Speaker 3: and that's just been an amazing thing to see.
18:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so important, and you've definitely been creating your
18:58
Speaker 2: own opportunity as well. With the release of your latest record,
19:03
Speaker 2: maybe New Mexico, you've been doing some shows throughout the year.
19:07
Speaker 2: What are the rest of your upcoming shows this year?
19:10
Speaker 2: Where can people find you?
19:11
Speaker 3: I play some in Dallas. I just played a show
19:15
Speaker 3: at Love and War in Plano. My husband and I
19:18
Speaker 3: live in the Dallas area. So I try to book
19:21
Speaker 3: there as much as I can, Poor David's Pub. But
19:23
Speaker 3: I've got some things coming up. Blast on the Bay.
19:27
Speaker 3: This is going to be my first time to play
19:28
Speaker 3: down in Port St. Joe. And I can't even think
19:32
Speaker 3: my calendar is so full with new things. And that's
19:37
Speaker 3: been pretty cool. I've got a lot in November that's
19:41
Speaker 3: in the Dallas area and all of it is on
19:43
Speaker 3: my website. So I just usually tell people go.
19:46
Speaker 2: What's the website so people can find you?
19:48
Speaker 3: Well, I have a weird name. So it's helene cronin.com
19:52
Speaker 3: it's h-e-l-e-n-e helen with an e on the end and
19:56
Speaker 3: then cronin is c-r-o-n-i-n and there's a gigs and events
20:00
Speaker 3: page where they can find that or they can find
20:02
Speaker 3: little blogs that i've written about my career and my
20:05
Speaker 3: um just career path and what i've chosen to do
20:09
Speaker 3: with my life Music, photos, I try to keep it
20:14
Speaker 3: as updated as possible.
20:15
Speaker 2: That's great. And so when you're here in Nashville, if
20:19
Speaker 2: you're not in the writing room, are you playing out
20:21
Speaker 2: at all in Nashville?
20:23
Speaker 3: Yes, I do here and there. I often play the local.
20:27
Speaker 3: It's like you come up with a class of people.
20:29
Speaker 3: And my group of people, I mean, we started way
20:33
Speaker 3: back at Rusty Nail out in Hermitage. And then we
20:36
Speaker 3: moved to Blue Bar right on, I don't know, right
20:39
Speaker 3: across the street from Winters and Losers. And then we
20:41
Speaker 3: moved to Winters for a while.
20:43
Speaker 2: Blue Bar's gone now.
20:44
Speaker 3: It is gone. It's a taco place, which I'm fine
20:47
Speaker 3: with now. But I miss Blue Bar. And now we
20:50
Speaker 3: are at The Local in Nashville, just near the Pantheon.
20:54
Speaker 3: And we play on Wednesday nights and on Friday nights,
20:57
Speaker 3: Terry Jo Bach's... curates that show. And so those are
21:01
Speaker 3: my people. They're the ones that we go out and
21:03
Speaker 3: cheer each other on and support. So that's one of
21:07
Speaker 3: the main places you can find me when I'm here.
21:09
Speaker 2: Okay, great. And they also have a second location of
21:12
Speaker 2: the local now in Hendersonville.
21:14
Speaker 3: Yes, they do. And Bluebird. I'm playing Bluebird Cafe. I'll
21:18
Speaker 3: be in Alabama the night before at Jim Parker's event.
21:21
Speaker 3: And then Bluebird with some friends here in town. That's great.
21:25
Speaker 1: Yeah.
21:25
Speaker 2: If people are getting tickets to Bluebird, you got to
21:27
Speaker 2: go the second it goes on sale if you want
21:30
Speaker 2: a ticket.
21:31
Speaker 3: It's the nine o'clock show and they do sell out
21:35
Speaker 3: within minutes. They do.
21:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that will always be a great time at
21:40
Speaker 2: the Bluebird. Helene, it's been a great time having you on,
21:43
Speaker 2: talking about your story. I have one last question for you.
21:47
Speaker 2: We're on Taking a Walk Nashville, and I want to know,
21:50
Speaker 2: since you've taken so many trips, what's the most memorable
21:53
Speaker 2: trip you've taken to Nashville thus far?
21:57
Speaker 3: I don't know. They all run together, and I just
21:59
Speaker 3: have had a lot of long 10-hour drives getting up here.
22:03
Speaker 3: Now I mostly fly 10 hours back home. I don't know,
22:07
Speaker 3: maybe just keeping the faith and just keeping believing that
22:12
Speaker 3: there's a reason why I keep on doing this and
22:14
Speaker 3: why I have an inner fire that makes me come
22:16
Speaker 3: back and forth. I've written songs on those long drives.
22:21
Speaker 3: I've had a lot of ideas that come when I'm driving,
22:27
Speaker 3: but I don't know that there's necessarily one trip. At
22:30
Speaker 3: least I can't pull it up quick enough for this.
22:32
Speaker 3: I will say, I don't know if you knew this,
22:34
Speaker 3: that Speaking Terms has been nominated for a Dove Award.
22:37
Speaker 3: Did you hear about that?
22:38
Speaker 2: That's amazing.
22:39
Speaker 3: I did not. Congratulations. I think this might be the
22:42
Speaker 3: first year they've done a country roots category. I might
22:45
Speaker 3: be wrong on that, but it's nominated in that category,
22:49
Speaker 3: and I have my ticket to be there.
22:52
Speaker 2: Oh, that'll be so special.
22:55
Speaker 3: I mean, that's the kind of stuff that keeps me
22:57
Speaker 3: looking forward and not looking back and not thinking about, oh,
23:00
Speaker 3: how much time did I waste, and what should I
23:02
Speaker 3: have been doing, and what could I have done better?
23:05
Speaker 3: I don't know. I think I'm just doing the best
23:07
Speaker 3: I can every day.
23:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think every step you make, every time you
23:10
Speaker 2: show up, it's so crucial to the overall journey that
23:13
Speaker 2: you're creating for yourself. Yes, it is.
23:16
Speaker 3: It's beautiful. Thank you.
23:18
Speaker 2: Well, it has been wonderful getting to know you today, Helene.
23:21
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for being on Taking a Walk Nashville.
23:24
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me today.
23:28
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk Nashville with Sarah Harrelson.
23:32
Speaker 1: Please check out our other shows produced by Buzz Night
23:34
Speaker 1: Media Productions. Comedy Saved Me and Music Saved Me, hosted
23:40
Speaker 1: by Lynn Hoffman. And Take It a Walk, hosted by
23:43
Speaker 1: yours truly, Buzz Night. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
23:49
Speaker 1: and are part of the iHeart Podcast Network.