Joni Mitchell Worship, Voice Show Regrets & Finding Her True Sound | Maelyn Jarmon | 272

Nobody would have thought that I would be the one. Rhyner, sports talk. Baseball.

Baseball. Baseball. Baseball.

Baseball. With the big mic. Oh, okay.

Alright. Yeah. Okay.

Now I get it. We got a lightning strike, boys. What happened over there, Grego?

We had a little lightning strike right outside the window. Alright. Alright.

Here's a tip for all these Americano League teams. Don't... What?

You said tip. Yeah. Tip.

Okay. With a p. Keep jamming.

The the ticket colon. Nothing but a big X jerk off set. Is this a cool night or what?

I wish somebody would hear that and go, bullshit. I'm back. You you didn't didn't even give me time to get my head right for this.

Feel like I let you know that we're going on. That was five. Well, yeah.

But I didn't think it was gonna be this soon, but okay. That two minutes went by so fast. Yeah.

Yeah. We'll adjust. Hello, one and all.

Hello. This is Your Dark Companion once again here inside the nurturing biosphere of the mothership, which which seems low on the dark side today. Not more than it normally is.

Not more than normal? Alright. Well, screw me then.

It's a little cloudy and it's getting dark early. That's what it is. Daylight saving.

Yeah. Maybe that's it. Uh-huh.

That's I bring up how much I hate daylight savings? Do we have to recognize it? Do we have to recognize it anymore?

Like, what? I thought I thought that was over. Yeah.

No. They No. Couldn't It's not over.

It... And it is not optional. They couldn't agree on anything.

So that's why. You can you can make it optional as long as you want, but sooner or later, you're gonna have to be somewhere at a certain time, and daylight savings time is gonna get it tangled up. That's true.

And you won't be there when you're supposed to. It's the worst. It's the worst.

Now I know you gotta be places at certain times, don't you, May Lynn? I sure do. I do.

By the way, this is May Lynn with us today. Yay. Hello.

Now we had her on a few weeks ago. A month? No.

Months. Oh my gosh. Oh, a couple couple of...

God. Really? It's May.

It's a long May. But you just saw her perform, so you feel like it was just weeks ago. Yeah.

But, I mean, it just seems like she was on, like, a couple weeks ago. It flies by. Flies by.

It does fly by. And I must tell you, I told her the other night that I wanted to get her back on because I thought I did her a disservice. Because, you know, she comes on here and she want America's Got Talent or whatever it is.

The voice. The one... I'm sorry.

A lot of America's Got Talent to my resume, though. Just Okay. Sure.

You want it, you got it. I'll take it. She won The Voice and everything like that.

Okay. That's cool story. She won The Voice, and let...

Now let's see what happens. Mhmm. Well, in the interim, I heard her perform.

And I must say, this is one of the best female vocalists I have ever heard. Anytime, any place. Wow.

And I've been in this game for a damn long time because I'm a damn old guy, and I've heard some damn good ones. And she stands up next to any of them. And I gotta tell you, I was not prepared for what I heard that night.

I just wanna comment. Mike doesn't usually cuss that much in a row. Well, I'm honored.

I'm honored that I inspired all the cussing for that. But, yeah, I heard her the other night, and I was just blown away. You were...

You are truly an extraordinary singer and a pretty good piano player too, I must say. I appreciate that. I mean, you you got talent, girl.

You've got... You got skill, but I was not ready for you to be that good a singer, and I was not ready for you to affect me in the way that you did. And it just it just blew me away.

And so I wanted to get you back on here and make this right with you and tell everybody that for whatever I painted her up like last time, she's way, way, way better and somebody that you need to make it a point to go see. Now for those here in our Fairburg, I don't know when that's gonna be because, she is not here. In fact, she's not here right now because you may notice that we are coming to you today via the miracle of Riverside.

And you are in New York, you tell us. I'm Brooklyn, New York. That's where I'm at.

Is this generally your base? Yeah. It is.

This is where I live. Is it where you go when you're not, you know, gigging or out on the road or something like that? Yeah.

This is our little haven. Although I'm in... I'm...

This is our studio that is not completely set up right now. But, yes, we... This is where I reside.

But... Oh. What happened?

Oh, there it is. Okay, great. But yes, but I do find myself in Texas often because that's where my family is.

So I grew up in Texas and I love coming back and especially performing. That's where my roots are, that's where I started performing. So every time I come back and do a show, it's a great way for me to connect with what inspired me in the first place and where I really found myself as an artist and as a singer, I fell in love with music and I've been on a journey for the past, I mean, I can't remember everything that we talked about last time I was on, but it's certainly not been the easiest journey for me.

And after that show, I touched on it a little bit, but there's no star making with these kinds of shows anymore. Think you have Kelly Clarkson, have Carrie Underwood and a select few but it's not what it is anymore, it's definitely more of a platform, however there's also sort of the stigma around doing it and like kind of something that you sort of touched on just in this one which is, yeah it's a cool story. It's not something that's really taken as seriously and it was something that I didn't want to do for a very long time because I have worked for really hard for a very long time I didn't want it to be questioned, I didn't want the kind of artist or singer that I am, but I also, this is a hard industry and sometimes you see opportunities and they kept approaching me and it was hard to pass up at the time because I was working multiple jobs in New York and I was, I had residencies, was playing every Wednesday night, three hours every Wednesday night and doing shows on the weekends and was working at a hotel and a restaurant and had a kids music business.

And so I was like in the thick of it and you get an opportunity sent to you where they're like we want you and I had said no a couple of times and it was at the time I was like you know why not, let me let me just go try this out. And you know what, there's a lot that I took from it and a lot I'm grateful for. I know that I may not be sitting here with you if had I not you know done that but there are definitely things that I question and I'm like, know, wonder what would have happened had I not, but I don't regret it in the sense that I've had incredible opportunities, I've had connections made from doing that show, I've had big artists that I've performed with, and gotten to be a part of a lot of amazing things.

Go and sing. I'm a big football girl and I get to go and do NFL anthems and I, you know, it's so fun for me. I have a fantasy league and all that, so it's for me that's really exciting.

I get to go do a bunch of NFL anthems and so and a lot of charity work. There's a lot of things that are really really great. However, I also have collaborated with people that you know I haven't been able to sort of like break a ceiling with and finding the right collaborators in this industry is really difficult and it's a relationship and I've just ended up trusting the wrong people along the way and I haven't done as much as I would like to.

But over the past year, and even just really in the last few months, I have been falling in love with music again, and coming into I wanna get back into your collaborations and all that and all and just how you make your way when you wind up in New York, and, you know, you're kind of trying to to just make your way around. Yeah. But, before we do that, let's talk a little bit more about your scene when you were here.

Mhmm. When you were... Were were you out there, like, playing gigs and stuff like that?

When I was younger? And trying... Yeah.

When when you were in here here in Dallas No. Or in this area? No.

I actually started... I competed classically, and I did musical theater when I was in Texas. And so I've had a very wide range of musical training.

I started doing musical theater and I went into opera and I was like, even though classical wasn't really my passion, think that there was a foundation there that would definitely help build my voice and I ended up continuing to do it because I would go and do competitions and my voice coach there, George Variomas, who's an incredible voice teacher, He was part of this Texas Music Teachers Association and so me going to compete, know, it was good for him as well and we kept winning and so I kept doing that, I ended up being able to, I went and sang in Carnegie Hall when I was 16, I won a Golden Voices competition, and I went to Carnegie Hall and sang Foray and Samuel Barber. And then But as far as, like, going to going to the to the Keyes Lounge on a Saturday night, we're probably not gonna see you there or anything. Yeah.

No. I would perform with my dad's bands. He was always in cover bands and so Oh he was.

Performing I did with my dad was like contemporary rock. I would go out and I'd do, you know, heart and pat Benatar and you know, we would do all the like classic rock. So I was singing a lot of different styles and so I would go and perform whenever his band was going out to do a gig, would come and be their featured female vocalist.

And I performed with my dad since I was a baby. We would perform for our family all the time, but then Texas, that's what we would do. We would perform in like the rail yard.

Okay. So when did you decide, alright. If I'm gonna get serious about this, I'm gonna get serious about it, and I can't get serious about it here.

I'm gonna have to go somewhere else. When when did you decide that, and what was what was breaking that news to your dad like? Oh, well, I have an interesting story, which is that I had had met up, I didn't know what I wanted to do, and as far as like where I wanted to go, I knew music for sure.

I've... I like music no question, but I had all these different avenues to explore, and I'd gone out and looked at schools in New York and I was looking at Juilliard for classical, I was looking at NYU, I was looking at you know doing some sort of like musical theater program or something like that and I met with this very renowned classical teacher and she was very rigid and I was so scared going into the lesson with her and I was like going to she was like do you have an aria for me and I was like I don't have an aria, I'm sorry and she's like you need to have one ready yesterday and I started singing for her. She was like what do you do other than classical and I was like I do have some musical theater and I sang a song for her and she like immediately softened.

She was like I know exactly where you what you should be doing. She made all these contacts for me and I ended up meeting with a musical supervisor who did Spring Awakening on Broadway and Spider Man on Broadway and she said come out to New York and make New York your school. Don't go to school for musical theater.

You know, was 17 at the time and I moved out, I was cast in a Broadway reading and I moved out to New York when I was 17. And I had been doing musical theater, I had, every single, I mean, year round I was doing multiple shows throughout the years. And Yeah.

I was in consistent shows. I was doing musical theater since I was probably five years old. Okay.

Now what does that mean from a work standpoint? Were you you doing these shows like six nights a week or something like that, or how did I that would do weekend shows, so I would do... I think it was...

We would do Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, Sunday afternoon. And then I also would do a touring show where I did... Like, I would do educational shows at school.

So I would in the daytime, I would go and perform Schoolhouse Rock and Tom Sawyer and shows like that. So I would go and do those during the week at schools and then come back and I'd have night shows. And then I would sometimes perform with my dad and I'd also be competing classically.

So I I don't think I was ever not singing. Yeah. And I was always at home and exploring my own voice, you know, I'm deaf in one ear, so I always felt like I would learn differently, like I had to really be internal about how I approached my voice and I would sit and I would play with different...

Because for me it's a lot about vibrations, it's a lot about feeling and so I would sit and I would and some people have you know different ideas about placement and saying certain things, this is how I phrase it because I did a lot of you know learning by myself which was just exploring my own voice and I would find some sort of resonant place and I was like oh that and it would feel like like nothing like it was like, oh like you hit you you find places in your voice where it doesn't, there's no effort. And it was like, And you unlock it to where it's like, you could have as much volume as possible without any tension. And I would find a way to sort of float through that and play with tensions.

And I'm such a, I need a why before I can sing really with my true voice. I need to know what I'm singing about, I need to believe what I'm singing about, I need it to be a story, I need it to be something that feels like I have to say this and that's why you know we talked about Joni Mitchell, a lot of her music means so much to me and the words mean so much to me. And that's really when I can play with my voice fully.

I have a hard time when I get asked to do specific songs because I'm like well I don't have a personal connection to it and you know like well there people are like you just you know sing it but I'm like I, me to be fulfilled or to get to that place that feels somewhat transcendent in music, I have to have a personal connection to it. So I was playing a lot with that by myself growing up. And then But now you can't have a you can't have a personal connection with everything you do.

You know? So you have to... Do you find yourself having to reach a point to where you can, even though you know you don't have a real personal connection with this song, you can do it well enough to make people think that you do?

I mean, absolutely, I've had to do that many times, and it still works, and I find my, if it's something that I'm like, I really feel like I have to do, or like I'm being hired to do something, I will find my connection to it. But it's just a personal fulfillment and a different personal experience when I can, and that's the best thing about you know I'm working on writing more and doing you know, some more of my own music because you know, that's gonna be what you connect with the most and there's a catharsis that happens. There's like a, and really getting into that transcendent space, that's what you chase.

It is like when you can do that, I'm sure as a musician you've felt this where there's something that locks in in a performance and you somehow leave your body and it doesn't, it just feels like floating or flying in some way. And that's like, it's almost like a high, it's like a drug and that's the feeling that musicians chase. You get in this flow state and that's really what we're chasing.

It doesn't always happen, but it's like, you're always in pursuit of it. And when it does happen, there's nothing like it. There is nothing like it.

There's nothing like it. And that's the best, and that's why I love live music so much. I love recording and things like that, but something about sharing a space with people and you like in that room on when I did that show and you feel like you created experience with everyone there.

Music is the ultimate connector and it's really, it's such a privilege to be able to do it and to be vulnerable and share your heart and then for people to come to you and say, I was so moved by this or I had this kind of day and when you sang this, it like really hit me somewhere to be able to have that experience for myself and offer it to others and to share it is really... It's truly the best feeling ever. It's a privilege.

Who was the first singer that you ever really connected with? When you started listening to music and you know, your dad was a player or he is a player, and you've been around this all your life, I would assume, who was the first female singer that you really connected with and said, I wanna be like her? There were so many.

That is a hard question, but I will say that ones that really stood out to me when I was younger had to have been Eva Cassidy. There was something about her voice that was transcendent to me. I fell in love with Joni Mitchell's voice but I fell in love with her later years one when her voice deepened.

I've just loved the conversational aspect to it and then I would say you know I listened to a lot of jazz with my poppy and I always listened to Natalie Cole's Unforgettable album, I loved that and I listened to Barbara Streisand a lot when I was younger. And I think I you know how she could float through everything and it was just seamless. But there are so I couldn't even name, I listened to so much music growing up so much and it's hard to pinpoint one because I think I took things from so many different incredible singers.

I mean, I loved Pat Benatar, I loved Ann Wilson, and yeah, there's so many. Those are some greats that you name there. Yeah.

Do people say... Do people send you stuff? If they've got songs, do they send it to you because they think that it might be something that you could do something with?

I haven't actually experienced that quite yet. There have been... It's been more of like, you know, I'll do like writing sessions with people and I've done like...

I I went out to Las Vegas last year and I did a whole like writing camp and it was cool because they put producers with engineers and or rather producers with writers and a singer. And so I was a singer coming into the group and it was very cool to like meet people for the first time and it wasn't precious because it wasn't for me and it was cool to be able to explore different genres. I did a country song, I did a like a very like kind of pop song and then I ended up doing this sort of folky indie song and it was yeah, really cool.

And it was kind of interesting what you're talking about is I didn't necessarily fully connect with the content of these songs, but because I was a part of creating the melodic choices and was putting my voice on it. It was cool to be in this Warner Chappell music is this big thing. And there's all these different singers there and a lot of producers that I worked with and writers that I worked with like, we don't get to work with singers like you very often.

And it was cool. Like now we get to like do these things. And so that's, yeah, that's really fun to when I can kind of explore that part of it.

Do you like Las Vegas? Do I like Las Vegas? I do.

I do. I sang, you know I mean, from the standpoint of it being a a musical place. That was the first time that I'd experienced any kind of musical part of Las Vegas, honestly.

The only time I'd been there before was when I sang for the Raiders. And I will say that the Raiders really roll out the red carpet, and we had a blast going and singing for the Raiders. But that was my first time experiencing like music in Las Vegas, and I enjoyed that.

I enjoyed the whole writing camp process, and just like days committed to being in these studios with all these different collaborators and artists. And you're there for hours and you have this much time to create a song and it's really cool what you can come out with. So you sang the national anthem for the Raiders?

Is that what you're I did. You're telling us? I've done the Raiders and the 49ers, the Chiefs.

I did a halftime show for the Chargers. I did the hall of fame game. Yeah.

I've done a lot. Well, you have. You've made the rounds in that.

I have. Yes. I have.

Now the thing that I really connected with you on, the thing that really got my attention was your affinity for Joni Mitchell. Mhmm. And I know we talked a little bit about this when you were on before.

But in the interim, I've gone back and listened to some of her stuff for the first time really in a few years. Mhmm. I...

It's been a while since I put a Joni Mitchell side on and just listened to it start to finish like I used to. And I must say, I was expecting to be a little bit, I don't know, distracted or, okay. Well, that was good back then, but kinda moved on.

Don't know if I'm that into it anymore. No. No.

It hit me exactly like it did back then. She's timeless. Everybody thought it was weird that a guy like me would get into Joni Mitchell, but, man, there is just something about that.

I mean, not... There's there's something about it, but it's also great music too. I mean, she's a she's a fantastic instrumentalist.

She surrounds herself with only the very best. Mhmm. And those records are just incredible.

They're so incredible. And she was... She...

No. She she explored so much with different tunings, and she... I think I'm gonna misquote this but I just recently read something about how she was like there's really no such thing as writer's block it's just so you're not willing to get to know yourself or be vulnerable but there's all these different tunings where you can it's find different voicings and there's just endless ideas and options.

And as long as you're committed to getting to know yourself, you'll always have something to write about. And I just think she's timeless and we're so lucky to be in this time where we have had her music for as long as we have. She is truly, truly extraordinary.

Both sides now, I think, is one of the most brilliant songs I have ever heard. That was one of the ones that really put her on on the map and really, you know, kind of amped her career up a little bit back in the day. I like her When she did it later and her voice had deepened and Yeah.

Yeah. And she did with... I think...

Is it the Chicago Symphony Orchestra? I can't remember, but she did it with an orchestra. And that is probably one of my favorite recordings in the history.

Yeah. So good. Yeah.

I'm a fan of Hira and the hissing of summer lawns and know, which is a little bit later down the road for her, but that's the stuff that really got me then and still gets me now. Yeah. It's just it's just incredible music and incredibly advanced music.

It's stuff that nobody else was doing then. Nobody else is doing it now. No.

She's just out there by herself, her own... In her own realm. Yeah.

And really, really extraordinary. Mhmm. But enough about her.

Let's talk about you. I can talk about joining... I love joining Mitchell.

But Yeah. You know, I was really taken by the fact that when you were up there singing the other night, I saw where you got a lot of stuff. I mean, you you were...

Have been influenced by vast, vast array of women singers, haven't you? Mhmm. I have.

Yeah. And it it came through. I mean, I'd hear a little bit of Joni and then hear a little bit of of Ann Wilson or or any of the rest of them that have come along Mhmm.

You know, since then have had their imprint on you. Mhmm. And I think that's great that that, you know, a young talent like you would be one who say, well, I'm gonna do my own thing.

I'm gonna find my own thing and do it my way, and that's the way it's gonna be. But because there's so much you can get from those people, you know? And you know that, and I know you do.

Absolutely. And I I think that, I mean, really came down to, you know, when I was exploring my voice, what was I would... I think, you know, you start when you're younger, you imitate people.

And then I think what I would take was like, oh, that when I when I sing that, there's something that feels right to me, that feels right. And then I would imitate somebody else, and then you'd be like, going through that, you're like, that that that color or that flare or that emphasis, that feels right. And then eventually, it...

You don't even know what's what anymore. It becomes its own new thing, and you know I, there's a point where you know your voice is a muscle and you have to continually work on it and as you, your you know anatomy changes as you age and everything like that, so it's constantly, your voice being, your instrument being your body is like, it's a very like intimate connection and I think that, you know, people don't know that it takes a lot of effort to like, to really know your instrument and the fact that it changes all the time and that's a beautiful thing. And so I think I'm always keeping myself in shape, I'm also always open to the change.

I'm always open to something new and to finding something new and it can be a vulnerable space to be in in front of people when you're on stage but it's also the most fun whenever you're in front of someone but in front of people or sharing a space with hundreds of people in front of you and you're up there just sort of playing and painting and you get to find a new color and then and or something that surprises you is it's a cool thing. So I always keep myself in shapes that I'm able to trust that you know, I can play around and let it be different even if it's, you know, in front of a lot of people. Did you have or do you have now, like, a voice coach that you'll get together with every now and then and sing for them, and maybe they're very, very in tune with what you do and when you're at your best, and they can really read you and and coach you up a little bit.

Do you have anybody like that in your I don't. I have had a vocal coach, and we met a few times, but I haven't had that... My most consistent training was probably when from like 13 to...

Or 13, 14 to 17, that was my most consistent and then since then it's a lot of self training and I think it's hard because I think it's useful, I definitely think people should be in vocal coaching, absolutely. I think that I have found sometimes when I've done a couple of, I have done a couple of vocal sessions with like different people and people I haven't worked with before I'll take some things from there but I think what's really important is to know your own voice and know that not everybody's approach is gonna work for you and you have to really know yourself to have that discernment of like what going to, what am I gonna take from this and leave the rest. Because you know, no one's anatomy is the same and the things that feel good to other people may not feel right to me and I certainly am not saying that people shouldn't be in training, they absolutely should and there are absolutely great vocal coaches out there and it really works for a lot of people.

I think I found for myself that I prefer to explore things on my own I tend to have a pretty good idea of what's healthy and if it's feeling good and if I'm feeling like there's you know something where I'm like oh I feel like I need to work on this or like this isn't feeling quite right, I do have contacts that I could reach out to. Like there's a speech pathologist here that she also does vocal coaching and I've found those to be useful sessions. But in general there's not something that I do regularly.

It'll be like for a specific reason. Who are some of the collaborators? You've referenced collaborators earlier in this little wingding that we're doing here today.

Who... Yeah. Tell us about some of your collaborators.

I mean, even if they're not big names or anything like that, tell us about who they are and what you get from them. This is a dicey subject, Mike. I...

So I'm a dicey One guy, be of my favorite collaborators that I've ever had, his name is Emiliano Flowerman. I worked with him before The Voice and he's one of my dear, dear friends. And we would just sit and kind of shoot the shit and play music and that's when we would go out in all the different venues in New York City and play together and it was great.

And I got so much of just like exploring myself as a contemporary artist with him. And then after The Voice I was signed to Republic and that wasn't, you know, I think there's some, there's definitely flaws in winning The Voice, I do think that I could talk to them about some of my thoughts, but I going straight to a big label that you know doesn't really do much artist development anymore and you would really have to come to them fully realized and a lot of people going to the voice, it's like for exposure and so there's still questions up in the air of you know, what their direction is or what they want and what they want their sound to be and so you get put with this big label and there's not really a space for you and there's not really time for you and then you end up getting sat on and then dropped. And I had more of an idea of who I was, but that's not the idea they had for me.

And so that's friction there, and I was like, I'm really, I'm not gonna compromise that, and I don't see myself being like a, you know, Olivia Rodrigo, you know, pop girly, that's not, you know, and they don't really do like indie artists, and so I was like, I don't see myself doing, like that's great as for somebody else, and I don't see myself, like I would not be happy getting up there and being a pop girly, that's just not who I am, and so that's where there's the rub, and that's not, I feel like they, you know, I have ideas of what they could do, but anyways that was one of the things. And then I, you know, I had worked with somebody in New York before The Voice who, I was really young, he came to me and he was like, I had sang at an open mic and he was like, I want to produce you and I'm just this wide eyed. I was like, really?

You want to produce me? You want to record all my music? This is so exciting.

I raised $15,000 to have my album recorded and he took the money and didn't give me a product. And so that was one of my first big Tucktown, that New York. Mhmm, and then I had it happen again after The Voice, I reached out to a producer I really wanted to work with.

He also got $15,000 from me and didn't end up giving me my product and then and then I signed with someone who you know was more like a boutique label and you know collaborations are just hard, it's just been, I've learned that you know I trust people very easily and I think that that has definitely changed over the years and I think I wasn't asking the right questions and it's not that people aren't talented and it's not that they're not good at what they do, but you really have to find the people that speak your language and who understand you as an artist. That's not easy. That's not easy and you think it, you don't know that it's not easy until you're in the thick of it and you're like, wow, you really have to find somebody who thinks like you or not even that, there are certain, there are working relationships where there's a yin and a yang that works really well together.

Finding that person that is the right puzzle piece to your vision and or knows where you wanna take your music or is able to like, and I am so open to me not having all the answers and to working with people who I'm like, oh I didn't even think of that and I'd love to bring that in. But you know when you're working with somebody where you're like this is just not quite gelling and it's crazy because you love them as a person. Like, I have come to have best friends out of collaborations that we didn't necessarily make the thing that I wanted to, but I love them as people and I think they're so talented.

So it is a journey finding the right team. So I've had to be like, okay, how do I be more discerning about this? And had like, I had too many cooks in the kitchen at one point and I've come back to the roots of it.

And so that's why it's so fun to come out and do these two hour shows where you just come back to the why of it. Sometimes in the recording booth or in the box, you could get too nitpicky and everything has to be so perfect and live music, it's just a flow and that needed to, needs to practice. You have to have that in your body.

So that's what I'm doing more. I'm doing more live shows right now, and I would... I hope to be booking as many live shows as I can.

You know, I'm very tempted to ask you, like, you know, what do you want to do? What do you think is the ideal idiom or the ideal the ideal style, the ide... Ideal form for you.

Yeah. I'm I am... I I don't want don't want you to answer that because I don't think you can.

I think you're one of these people who... When you come upon it, and maybe you have, maybe you haven't, but when you do, you'll know it. I think that's true, Mike.

And I think that that's what my exploration is right now because I I think my music is the same as as my approach to my voice, which is I have so many different, I have found my voice and it was from taking so many different things from all these different people. And there's something I do have it in my head, and it's hard to articulate to people. And I know when I hear it what it will be.

But I think genres in general these days, it's a very fluid kind of thing. And I don't know that I wanna pinpoint it like that. I'm not gonna say I'm this because I think it's gonna be its own thing when it And I think you're right that it's more of like, I'll know exactly.

And I feel like I'm getting there. And I think that it's gonna be the process of there's gonna be this moment where it's like, that's it, and it's gonna be this combination of things and it's... But it's also gonna make sense.

I heard a lot of influences. I heard a lot of people that you sounded kinda like as I was listening to you the other night. You know?

Yeah. I mean, I really wasn't expecting you to do Joni as well as you did. Mhmm.

But there was a lot of others too in addition to her that you were really, really good. And and and, I mean, you've you've borrowed very liberally from some of these people over there, and then that's great. You know?

I mean, that's that's that's what somebody like you should do is listen to these people and, you know, don't try to copy them or anything like that, but try to isolate in on what it is you like about them, what it is that moves you, what it is that's making you tingle a little bit Mhmm. And seeing if you can take that and do something with it yourself. Mhmm.

Was that a crazy question? Was it a question? Well, I I realized it probably wasn't.

Alright. Is is it... Was that a crazy idea?

What... Was a crazy idea of of me taking from others? Is that what I...

Is that what you mean? Yeah. Just just just the idea or just the idea when you find something that they do that's right for you and that you can use and you can turn it into something of your own.

You know, Mike, I think it's hard because it's not really that intentional when it happens. It's not like I'm like, oh, and this is when I'll do the Joni thing, and this is when I'll do this, and this is when I'll do this. Yeah.

Yeah. Like, it's not really that, you know, Yeah. It's When you're out there doing it, you kind of flow, you know?

It's my... And and I I think, you know, at this point, I've been singing for for so long. I I do think that, you know, while I had all those references and all those influences, it's...

I don't really think about that anymore when I go to sing. It feels very much like the voice that I have now is the one that does what I feel like I have to as far as like when I'm singing, it's like this is what I need to do. This is what feels right.

It's a conversation. So I don't know that and I also have a hard time because I'll have singers and people come up to me and be like, how do you do this and how do you do that? And I'm like, I don't really think about it.

That's not something I really think about. I think, you know, there have been times when I start to get, when I overthink it because I've been asked a question and I'm like, oh gosh, never really thought about it. I just kind of do it.

And so I think that I like sort of sometimes the ignorance of it, where it's like I do what feels good what feels right, and it's not necessarily, there's no intentional, not to say that I haven't, because obviously when you're young, that's all you do is borrow. That's all you do is I didn't mean to send you into overthinking mode or Oh, anything like know you didn't, but I'm just saying that I just don't know that I really think about it anymore. And I just do what feels good, and what feels right and and, yeah, what feels like what I, you know, need to say in the moment and it'll it'll...

That's... I I I do think that the why informs the how a lot of the time. You got any gigs coming up here that we should know about?

I have a gig on December 2 at the Sultan Room in Brooklyn, New York. I am actually... I I made a new friend who she just released an album and she had contacted me and she was like, I don't know if you would do this, but would you come be on my bill?

And I was like, you know what? I'm saying yes, I'm saying yes to a lot of things these days. And as far as I just wanna be in community, I wanna be in music.

I think she's so talented and a great artist. And so I'm gonna go and be on her bill at the Sultan Room in New York. And I'm in talks, would like to come out to Texas again and maybe do an even bigger show.

But as far as what's on the books right now, it would be the December 2 show. But now I'm very much living on the high of doing live music. That's gonna be at the forefront of my plans coming up.

And so I update my Instagram and I'm gonna be doing more things online and I will be updating as far as if I'm what shows I'll be adding, which I hope that I can, I would love to tour, would love to even if it's, I love small venues? I have done stadiums and I've done big venues and things like that, but I love an intimate space. And so I feel like I'd be down to figure out where there's an audience for me across the country and even playing these small rooms.

I think they're really special and I love intimate shows. So hopefully, I'll have more to to announce, but as of now, December 2, and more to come. Well, thank you for doing this today.

Mike, thank we could have you on. I'm glad we could, I mean, like I say, I just felt compelled to make things right for you because after seeing you, I I felt like, man, you didn't take her seriously enough. And I hope I did today.

Well, Mike, I gotta tell you that I didn't feel that way at all. I had a great time talking to you last time I was there, and I had... I think I loved our conversation, and I connected with you, and I appreciate what you're saying, but I really didn't feel like you did a disservice.

But I loved performing there a couple weeks ago, I love talking to you now, and I appreciate you having me back on. Alright. She is May Lynn.

I am. Check her out. He is Mike.

Now now where where can people find out where you're playing? I mean, how do you get how do you get that out there? Instagram, May Lynn music at May Lynn music.

That'll be where there's... I have a link tree that has all the links to everything that I'm doing. I have a song out on Spotify, I have a couple songs on Spotify, but yeah, and I'm gonna be...

I'm in writing mode right now and hopefully I'll be I'll be putting out songs and performing in a city near you. Well, everybody listening in is in Dallas, so hopefully in Dallas. Yeah.

That's the city near me. Alright. Check her out.

She is really, really good, and it's been a delight having you on here again. I feel like we've settled the score up a little bit. Great.

I feel good about it too. Alright. You have a lovely night, and we'll we'll do this again soon.

Thank you. Alright. She is May Lynn.

Everybody check her out. It is it is worth your time. It is very, very worthwhile.

That's it for YDC for today. Now if you like what we're doing here, you know what I'm gonna say. We need you to share us on your social media.

Get us out there amongst your friends. Recruit them. Bring them into our little cult that we have here.

Heck yeah. Yeah. Heck yeah.

Cult leader. That's right. Cult leader.

That's me. Yes. You do that for us, and everything will be cool.

Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, Becca. Until next time.

Bye. Bye. Alright.

I'm gonna go take your pants off. Your Dark Companion is a Stolen Water Media presentation.