Maddie & Tae: Harmonies, Motherhood, and Broken Toilets

Transcript

Maddie & Tay at the Wolf Broadcast Booth

Speaker 1 0:00

Check two Rolling . Are we rolling ? We are rolling . Maddie and Tay , everybody , woo . Thanks for coming by the 92.1 the Wolf broadcast booth . My name is Skip Clark and of course tonight at 6 pm over there on Chevy Court , these two beautiful and there goes my interview questions , oh no , but my , you know , beautiful and there goes my interview questions . But my , you know , on that stage my interview questions are blown all over the place . Thank you so much , I know , isn't that cool , yes , but anyways , let's talk a little bit about Maddie and Tay . Have you , have you ever been like to central New York ? You've done shows here , right ?

Speaker 2 0:41

Oh yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah . We've been touring for 12 years now , so we've probably been here a handful of times , at least once or twice a year , so I'm excited that we get to come back . Oh , just like it , right .

Speaker 1 0:54

I know I'm going to wing it . Oh , it'll be fun . You guys must know about winging it . Those are the best shows , right ?

Speaker 3 1:00

That's what we do all day . I feel like every day is like winging it , baking it , so you make it every day , and then , being moms , you wing it even better .

Speaker 2 1:07

It's like you get a new skill of how to wing it when you're a mama .

Speaker 1 1:12

So you know you've been together for over a decade . What's the biggest thing that's changed about your partnership between you two ? Now you're friends , you've always been friends , and now you're married . You both have the kids . Yes , right , yes . Now what has changed over this , like more than a decade of being Maddie and

A Decade of Growth and Friendship

Speaker 1 1:27

Tay ?

Speaker 3 1:28

Gosh , I think just the obvious seasons of life . Yeah , Like I mean , our worlds have changed , Our environments have changed and we've only just grown closer and our love for each other has just grown stronger . I mean truly it's like a marriage . Yeah , stronger , I mean truly it's like a marriage . Um , and now between the two of us , we have three beautiful children . I have two kids , Maddie has a son , and we um just have very rich lives back home and I feel like they just continue to get better every year . So that changes the most .

Speaker 1 1:56

Where is home Tell everybody .

Speaker 2 1:58

Well , nashville , that's where we live now . Yeah , nashville Tennessee , nashville Tennessee yes .

Speaker 1 2:03

Exactly Um . So your harmonies . How did all that ? It's just like like none other . How did all that come about ?

Speaker 3 2:10

I mean just I wish I could tell you . I mean I just , Maddie and I are best friends and I think a lot of people say that our harmonies sound like we're DNA related sisters and I think it's just because our chemistry is . I mean , we pretty much are related , so I can kind of read . I can read when Maddie's going to go for a run or a trill , or she's going to end a note earlier , go longer for a note , so it's just , you know each other that well you'll notice on stage , like there's times where I'm looking at her Cause I'm , she catches it , and she catches it every time .

Speaker 2 2:41

I cannot stump her Like I try to do something different and it's so fun , we're just like together .

Speaker 1 2:48

I mean that's , that's perfect .

Speaker 2 2:49

Yeah , but I think that's like 15 years of singing together . We actually one of our friends . We were writing a song the other day and he was like you guys have stood the test of time .

Speaker 1 3:02

Like most bands and duos , break up after what , what , like you know , five years or something , there's been no breakups . No , nothing , no , nothing , no , no , nothing like that y'all get along great .

Speaker 2 3:08

I know everyone thinks we're boring cuz we don't fight . But it's like maybe just have a weird best friend if you're fighting

Harmonies, Husbands, and New Music

Speaker 2 3:15

you know , that is awesome .

Speaker 1 3:17

Do you like live near each other ? Yeah , like maybe 23 minutes yeah , if you want to do like a playdate with the kids , oh , sure for sure .

Speaker 3 3:24

We meet up at the park .

Speaker 2 3:25

Yeah , when we're like we're about to celebrate my son's second birthday and we're already planning our little thing already .

Speaker 1 3:31

I think I was just reading here . I felt like he was just born .

Speaker 2 3:34

Oh I know it's so depressing . It's like , oh , my baby started school this week and today was the first day I didn't get to pick him up . So I was like I'm the worst mom ever , but I'm not but mama's , you feel me ?

Speaker 1 3:46

You know , nashville is full of collaborations . I'm sure you've been asked this many times . But who ? If you could collaborate with anybody right now , who would that be If you guys could get together and bring somebody else on board and do a collaboration ?

Speaker 2 4:03

I would love to do a song with Cody Johnson .

Speaker 3 4:04

Cody Johnson is exactly what I was love to do a song with Cody Johnson one day .

Speaker 2 4:05

Cody Johnson is exactly who I was going to say too yeah , he's been , we've been a fan of his forever , and he's a good friend of ours too , is he ? Yeah , we love him .

Speaker 1 4:14

Last night I did the Carly Pierce show over on the other end of the fair and backstage . I asked her the very same question and she said Cody Johnson .

Speaker 2 4:24

Oh , I asked her the very same question and she said Cody Johnson . Oh my gosh , yeah , he's , he , cause I'm from Texas and so I've just like listened to his music for so long . Um , so I feel like that would be such a cool one to do .

Speaker 1 4:33

How ? How are the husbands handling all this ?

Speaker 3 4:36

Oh , they're just rock troopers . I mean , they're holding down the fort right now . Well , I got the kids right . Yes , yes , your mother will be home soon . Yeah , they're on dad .

Speaker 2 4:44

Oh the boys , my boys wild out . They're watching Pirates of the Caribbean and my son's not even two . And I get home and he's like shanking me with a sword , and I'm like , okay , this is weird .

Speaker 1 4:54

You know how does your husband feel about like the breakup songs that you do .

Speaker 2 4:58

Well , I , they both husbands know where the breakup songs originated from , but then also we get song ideas , you know , because we are married and moms and like in this different phase of life . But we still pull inspiration from other people , other situations , movies , books , and we've been writing a lot of breakup songs lately , which is kind of weird and my husband helps us write a lot of our breakup songs . Yeah , he wrote sad girl summer with us . He wrote bathroom floor with us Like he is down for the sassy girl anthem .

Speaker 3 5:24

Who better to write a song about your life than someone who's in it ? Oh my God , I love that .

Speaker 2 5:29

Yeah , there's a song tonight that we'll play , called girl in Alabama , and it's like a spicy , like cheating song , and he helped us write that one too . It's yeah , you'll hear it does that worry you ?

Speaker 1 5:38

no , I'm just kidding .

Speaker 2 5:40

Yeah , I think when you're like rock solid , you can you can .

Speaker 1 5:44

So I mean your husbands , are they songwriters ? I mean , because they sit down , yours is yes , he's a songwriter and a producer .

Speaker 3 5:53

Yep . He produced half of this record basically .

Speaker 1 5:56

Yeah , nice .

Speaker 3 5:56

Tell us about Love and Light . Yeah .

Speaker 2 5:59

We put out Love and Light in May , so she's still a new , fresh little baby and she's our fourth album and we're just so proud of it . I think we're most just proud of like making it this far this long . In this business We've had a lot of ups and downs and a lot of moments where our career didn't look like we were going to be able to keep going and we did . And I think this album you hear a lot of that relentless just work , ethic and like just refusal to give up and refuse to get defeated in this wild industry .

Speaker 3 6:32

And it's a really fun album .

Speaker 2 6:34

Like we've got our classic heartbreak songs , like , if you like more of the die from broken heart vibe of ours , like there's that on there , but there's also more of that fun side . Um , and we just this was an album that we just like , didn't we wrote for us and for y'all . Like every time we get in the writing room we think like what are our fans gonna want to hear on their way to work , on their way to this , on their way to this ? If they're going through this , you're going through that and we try to write that .

Speaker 1 6:58

Do you write about real life experiences ?

Speaker 2 7:01

Oh , for sure , I mean , you got the kids now .

Speaker 1 7:03

You got a lot going on .

Speaker 2 7:04

Yeah , we're going to play a song tonight called Chasing Babies , Raising Dreams , and that oh your reaction just made my day , and that is exactly where we're at in life right now it is like every lyric is perfectly true . Yeah , I love it .

Speaker 1 7:18

What is the ? You have made it . You have worked hard to get where you are today . What is the most unglamorous part of being on tour and being on the road

Tour Life: Unglamorous Realities

Speaker 1 7:30

?

Speaker 2 7:30

right now Our toilet on the bus won't flush . Yeah , so everyone's either just having to pray or our toilet on the bus won't flush . Yeah , so everyone's either just having to pray or hold it or go in the port-a-potty and that's like a daily occurrence .

Speaker 3 7:41

I mean , if you put one little dilly-dally of toilet paper in there , you're screwed .

Speaker 2 7:44

Yeah , you can't flush like toilet paper down the toilet on there .

Speaker 1 7:47

Well , that's a bus thing . I get that yeah exactly .

Speaker 2 7:49

It's not as glamorous as it looks , but when you love what you do , it's like you just kind of you know the bus pulls into a truck stop and you go .

Speaker 1 7:57

I know , I don't know , you know what ?

Speaker 2 7:59

I'll say one of the things like and I don't want to sound like a complainer because I'm so grateful , but I think , like the shower situations you wouldn't believe some not today , but some of the venues that we played like where there's just like bugs and mold and sometimes bodily things in the shower and it's really it's very gross . So gotta bring your shower shoes on board .

Speaker 1 8:23

How do you know when a song you've written is truly a Maddie and Tay song ?

Speaker 2 8:31

It's like a gut feeling . I can't even describe it yeah .

Speaker 3 8:34

I feel like we always know when it feels authentic to us , like the moment that we're writing it , but it's hard to know when it feels like a hit , until , I mean , until you're kind of performing it live and you're seeing the way that it's resonating with your audience , because that's what makes it successful when y'all tell us what you like that's what we tell the suits , what we're doing Exactly , y'all determine , I get it and we like it that way .

Speaker 1 8:57

On that note , if you don't mind me , I mean , does anybody have a question for these two beautiful ladies ? If you do speak up ? Yes , one person at a time . I like your teddy bear . Yes , no questions .

Speaker 2 9:07

Yeah , Do you have one ? What's your name ? Anna ? Okay , what's your question ? Sister , Animal . Okay , I have a new favorite animal , because we just went on vacation and I went to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico and I saw a desert fox . They are the cutest freaking things in the whole wide world . They're so cute . I've never seen one . And then my other one would be a beluga whale .

Speaker 3 9:30

Those are my two . I just like kitty cats . I like cats Simple .

Speaker 2 9:33

What's yours Bun ? Those are my two . I just like kitty cats . I like cats , simple . What's yours , bunnies ? Oh , I love bunnies .

Speaker 1 9:39

Do you have

Fan Questions and Personal Insights

Speaker 1 9:40

a bunny at home ?

Speaker 2 9:42

37 . Oh my gosh .

Speaker 1 9:44

And multiplying , by the way .

Speaker 3 9:46

Yes , and who's counting ? I've got chickens , but maybe I need some bunnies too .

Speaker 1 9:49

No chickens , that's a pretty popular thing nowadays . Yes , and I've spoken to other artists that have said they have chickens . They're raising chickens .

Speaker 2 9:59

Yeah , my husband . He runs like a whole farm situation at our house with like chickens and a garden . Oh yeah , we just like picked all of our pumpkins and squash for the fall . He's awesome and that's what we do in our free time .

Speaker 1 10:13

Wow , I know it's so fun If Maddie and Tay could have their own ice cream . What would it be called ? Oh Ooh , I know I bet you've never been asked that one before definitely not .

Speaker 3 10:25

I don't know , I have no idea .

Speaker 2 10:27

That's a lot of pressure what would we call it ? It'd have to be some type of swirl , you know , because it'd be like two , two totally different flavors , rocky road do we have a question ? Yes , oh yeah for sure , girl , we break the bedtime rules a lot . Yes , there you go and we're grateful that you're letting her stay up for this . Oh my gosh , yeah , oh yeah . When it's special occasions we're like bedtime , schmed time , whatever , we don't care .

Speaker 1 10:57

And speaking of the kids , do you bring them with you at times ? Sometimes Are they on the bus .

Speaker 2 11:01

Sometimes , yeah , sometimes , they're not with us this weekend , okay , yeah , but sometimes it's easier for us to just like pop in and pop out . Um , especially with my little guy starting school now , which is like oh my gosh .

Speaker 1 11:13

But well , hopefully he facetimed you and oh , he did oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , oh I was there for the first day and all that . It was just today yeah , yeah , oh , wow , what , um real quickly . And there's so many great television shows out there netflix , different like Hulu and Paramount have you binge watched any of those shows on the bus ? Well , even on the bus . Well , you're on the road , you're traveling , and you just kind of put them on and yeah , I'm like so sensitive I can't watch like super scary and tea .

Speaker 2 11:44

This is why we're opposite . She loves horror . I'm just a sensitive little gal . I have nightmares and I'm grown but binge watched this show called Younger . That was super cute , very light hearted like chick flicky . And then now I'm watching the Summer . I Turn Pretty because all the girls are watching it and I read the book , so I had to watch the show .

Speaker 1 12:03

That was in the news today about something I the summer . I turned pretty . Oh really , yeah , there was something going on with it . I'll have to . I'll have to look into that . Anybody else have any questions from eddie and tay ?

Speaker 2 12:13

uh , yes , young lady conrad , baby , I'm a conrad , what was that ? Question yeah , who are you ? What are you , conrad ? Yeah , I know , and did you ?

Speaker 3 12:25

know , no one likes jeremiah oh did you read the books too ?

Speaker 2 12:28

okay , see , I think did you read the books to see ? I think if you read the books , your team one guy , and if you watch the show you're see , I'm more like I want to go see the movie Weapons . Yeah , she's like I want to watch people get chopped up , yeah , and I'm like I just want to watch people fall in love yeah .

Speaker 1 12:43

Who's the prankster between you two ? Both prankster between you , two oh both of us literally all all the time we're due , literally all the time I'm gonna watch your back , girl .

Speaker 2 12:53

We'll be watching you tonight . She scares me all the time , like it's like a daily occurrence , isn't it , marissa ?

Speaker 3 12:57

it's so I mean all the time . Yeah , no , her and my tour manager .

Speaker 2 13:00

They got me so bad the other day . Yeah , it was not nice , yeah it's tyler the tm yeah good guy by the way , I was talking to him on the phone .

Speaker 3 13:08

Yeah , he's a great guy .

Speaker 1 13:09

Yeah , anybody any other questions before we let him go ?

Speaker 3 13:13

Yes , my dream venue is Red Rocks .

Speaker 1 13:19

That's on my bucket list to go there someday .

Speaker 2 13:21

We've played a lot of our dream venues this year . We headlined the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville . You were there . Oh , I'm so happy . That was my dream . So everything else is just icing on the cake , yeah .

Speaker 1 13:34

Anybody else ? Yes , what's your favorite ?

Speaker 2 13:37

football team . Football team Bills , bills , there we go . I'm going to say Bills too . Yeah , I'm going to go Bills , because they love the Bills , yeah .

Speaker 1 13:45

I'm going to go Bills because they love the Bills .

Speaker 2 13:47

I'm a UFC gal . I don't really keep up with football . That's a weird side of me , like I really like UFC , which is very violent . So I don't really keep up with football , but I can tell you all the UFC fighters .

Speaker 1 13:58

You know you can look at the audience here and you know the demographic and all the young ladies that are looking up to you . Maybe some of these young ladies would love to follow in your footsteps . What advice would you give to somebody that's thinking about that ?

Speaker 3 14:21

Oh goodness , I think

Advice for Aspiring Musicians

Speaker 3 14:22

I would just say stay true to yourself and if you have that fire inside of you , just like , keep following that fire . And even when you have those doors slam in front of you , you just got to remember why you started and just follow that passion .

Speaker 2 14:31

Something I heard today that like really stuck with me , that I kind of wish I knew more when we first started , is not allowing the spirit of fear to control your decisions . I think sometimes I held myself back from doing things because I was scared , but sometimes when you just step out in faith , like God will reward that courage and that bravery . And so , like , just be brave , be bold . Like life's too short , go for it , and if it doesn't work out , it's going to work out in another way .

Speaker 1 14:57

There you go .

Speaker 2 14:58

But I'm telling myself that because I'm freaked out all the time .

Speaker 1 15:02

So this is awesome . I know Maddie and Tay , they need to get back over to the stage . We thank you . This microphone keeps moving , but we thank you for taking the time to come over . You have fans here . We have a look at this .

Speaker 2 15:15

Thank you so much .

Speaker 1 15:18

Maddie and Tay , y'all , and I'm going to be up there on stage to bring you up on stage , myself and Zach .

Speaker 2 15:27

And we're pretty excited about doing that he's been .

Speaker 1 15:28

You know , when he heard that you were coming , my son's right there when he heard that you were coming to the fair . He has not stopped talking about this since they made that announcement .

Speaker 2 15:34

Oh , zach , you're so sweet , I'm so happy , you're happy .

Speaker 1 15:38

Aw , well , we love y'all .

Speaker 2 15:38

We're so excited we're gonna have some fun .

Speaker 1 15:40

Yes , Maddie and Tay , everybody .