Tony Scott: 0:13

Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a behind-the-curtain look at the entertainment industry, with insights you can't pay for and stories you've never heard. Now here's your host, Jay Franze.

Jay Franze: 0:42

Well, hello and welcome to the show. I am Jay Franze and this is your backstage pass to the entertainment industry. This week we get to talk with an up-and-coming recording artist. We get to talk with Makenzie Phipps. We'll talk to her about how her early days in Virginia have shaped her career to this point, what her production process is like, and we'll discuss those who have influenced her as well as those she would like to collaborate with Now. Makenzie is not only an amazing talent, she is an amazing person, and I can't wait to talk with her tonight. So if you would like to join in, comment or fire off any questions, please head over to jfranzycom. Now let's get started. Mackenzie, my friend, how are you?

Makenzie Phipps: 1:29

I'm doing good. Thank you so much for speaking with me today.

Jay Franze: 1:32

It is my absolute pleasure. I cannot thank you enough for being here. I am truly looking forward to this, so let's just get started. Can you tell me how the early days growing up in Virginia has shaped your career to this point?

Makenzie Phipps: 1:45

Yes, so, like you said I, was born and raised in.

Makenzie Phipps: 1:48

Virginia. I was born in a small town called Bluefield. It said that we had around 5,000 people. I don't know if that's still true because that was a Google search from 2021. But I was born right on the Virginia-West Virginia line. For those that do not know, there's actually a Bluefield-West Virginia and a Bluefield-Virginia. I really need to look up why there's two, but it is a very big deal where I'm from that there is a Blue Fork Virginia and a West Virginia. But I was born and raised there my entire life up until last year where I moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and it has definitely been a lot different being in Nashville the big city, compared to a small little town like I was in. But I got started singing at a very young age. My parents always talk about the Lord, always knew I was going to sing.

Makenzie Phipps: 2:35

the Lord put me on the earth to sing and that was just one of the very first things I ever did growing up. I started singing when I was four. My mama she's actually the one that got me into singing at church when I was younger so I just got started singing in a little church down in Abbey Valley, which is a town outside of Blofield, and from that moment on it was history. I just I've always been in music.

Jay Franze: 3:00

Well, let me ask you you talk about starting when you were four years old. Did you actually understand the talent that you had when you were four years old?

Makenzie Phipps: 3:09

You know, that's always a good question because of course, there's people out there that are born with perfect pitch. I have a couple of friends that were born with it. I have relative pitch. I didn't know that was a thing until, like I got older.

Tony Scott: 3:21

And when I was younger.

Makenzie Phipps: 3:22

I just would always listen to a song and remember how it sounded whether it was on the Barney theme song, I used to sing that when I was a little girl, or my mama would show me different gospel songs that I listened to Like.

Makenzie Phipps: 3:36

I especially listened to the Kraft family when I was younger and I would listen to how they sang and I would sing it. So I would say I did, for the most part, know how to sing. I never had a lesson to learn how to sing. I just always knew how to sing and I guess I was blessed in that way. But music always came natural to me. It's like second nature and it's always going to be that way.

Jay Franze: 4:02

Well, I only ask because I've worked in the music industry for just about 35 years at this point and I couldn't sing a note for the life of me. There has to be some sort of natural ability when you go through this.

Makenzie Phipps: 4:15

Yeah, that sounds a lot like my mom. My mom always jokes all the time. I got my gift of singing. I guess from her side of the family All of her uncles were very musically oriented my late uncle, ronnie. He'd actually written a couple songs for Johnny Cash's brother, alison Krauss, crystal Gale, everything like that. She always says it skipped her, it skipped a generation, because my mom can hold a note fairly well, but she's definitely not a singer. I'm sorry, mom, if you're watching this, but she will definitely agree. And I don't know. You know, that's always been one thing that's been difficult to explain, because I guess at the end of the day it is a God-given talent and in some aspects people are able to be taught how to sing. But when I was younger I was just singing whatever came out of my mouth and hoping it sounded good.

Jay Franze: 5:07

I would think you have to have some sort of natural ability, or at least the ability to hear Right.

Jay Franze: 5:11

Think you have to have some sort of natural ability, or at least the ability to hear right, and not everybody has the ability to hear pitch or to be able to hear it and then replicate it. So pretty cool, all right. Well, let's jump into your music, because you've got some tunes out and some things going on that I want to get into that for somebody and forgive me for saying, but for somebody who's so young to be doing so much, it's pretty impressive. But let's start with 18 wheels. Can we discuss how that came about?

Makenzie Phipps: 5:40

Yes, first off, thank you for saying that I'm young. I do not feel young in the slightest bit. I turned 22 back in February and I literally feel like I'm 99 years old.

Makenzie Phipps: 5:52

My back hurts, I go to bed, usually at like 8 30. I rarely ever go out unless it's for a show or an event. But yeah, 18 Wheels was actually written by my backup singer and guitarist, shane Begley. I did not write that song, and how that song came about was I was actually asked to come and perform at the 50th Mid-America Trucking Show anniversary that was held in Louisville, kentucky, back in 2022. And I was trying to think of songs about truck drivers and everything like that, and my PR had actually mentioned well, what if y'all came up with a song in honor of all truck drivers in the world? So Shane got on it. That man can write a song about anything and everything. I cannot. I was not blessed with that ability.

Makenzie Phipps: 6:41

I write whenever it comes to me. But when he wrote that song he not only wrote it just for truckers in general, but the whole storyline of the song is just a tear jerking just to the heart song. I mean, it's about a girl that had a father that was a trucker and he was on the road a lot, making sacrifices with his family just to be able to provide not only for his family but everybody else in the world, and she basically reminisces on the times that her dad was on the road and was a truck driver and he unfortunately passes. So that has her getting in his truck and remembering all the memories that he spent on the road. And I think Shane did a very good job at just captivating that story. And I hope all the truckers out there very much appreciate the song because it is in honor of all their hard work and we just very much appreciate it.

Makenzie Phipps: 7:38

And you know I do relate to it in some way because I actually had a couple of uncles that were truckers as well. They were always out on the road and especially where we lived in Virginia we were in a cold town, especially where they were, they were outside of Bluefield and the smaller towns around it and they were on the road a lot, having to provide for their family because back then it was definitely a job that was. Everybody needed a trucker at that point and they just were away from their family and friends for long periods of time just to be able to provide for everybody and for their family. And I mean it is a very sacrificing job and I feel like a lot of people out there really do not put that into perspective enough.

Jay Franze: 8:16

I used to want to do that when I was a kid. To this day, I still love to drive. I mean, I drive everywhere. But your partner Shane, did he also have a chance to play the song in the studio?

Makenzie Phipps: 8:28

So on the recording he did not. So Shane is a man of many talents. He can play all different kinds of things. He plays drums, bass, guitar, piano, a little bit of mandolin, a little bit of banjo. He can play a whole bunch of different things. His name was Nate Duggar and he actually had him kind of replicate what he does, because of course when we do it at our shows it sounds a little bit different compared to how it is on the track. It's overall the same feel, but when you have two guitars and not a whole band behind you it can sound a little different. But that was one thing we definitely wanted to keep into the song was how Shane did the intro. So the intro is played the exact same way that Shane plays it. It was just played by Nate.

Jay Franze: 9:16

Where did you record the song?

Makenzie Phipps: 9:20

Yes, so I recorded this song with Mr Sal Oliveri. I recorded it when I came down to Nashville in oh gosh, I think it was 2022. Everything is just running together at this point, but when I had gotten introduced to Sal, I was actually introduced to him by Shane, and he remembers Sal from his previous time that he used to be in a band in his younger days and he'd reached out to him and sent him a couple of our material and was like hey, if you'd be interested in recording these, we would love the chance to work with you. And thankfully he was interested. So I went to the studio with him and I recorded three songs that Shane wrote and I had co-written on one of them, and then the other three he had actually pitched to me. So I had, in return, let out six singles over the course of a couple of months, leading into a year and such. But I think he did a very good job at producing this song and really bringing out the emotion in it.

Jay Franze: 10:18

Let's take a step further on that. What producing style did he have?

Makenzie Phipps: 10:23

So, sal, he is a very hands-on guy and he has such a intricate ear I mean you could be doing something that could be like so minute and he will tweak it just a hair and it makes all the difference and he's very hands on. Of course, he has an amazing group of musicians that come in. They're insanely talented. One that I've grown very close with. His name is Gordon Mote. Some people may know him from being in the gospel Christian genre because he is just an insanely talented pianist in that realm. He also plays for a bunch of different people, has played for everybody and anybody. But he brings in all of these amazing musicians and he brings all of us in together and we just go over how we want the song to go and then they just go with it and run, and I think that they did a fantastic job on all of these songs.

Jay Franze: 11:15

Well, that's cool. Now, I've worked with Gordon in the past myself, so I'm aware of his talents. What studio did you record this in?

Makenzie Phipps: 11:27

So his, when we had done them, five of the songs were recorded in the sound engineer's studio, which was Randy Poole, and then the last song that we had added to our repertoire, because I originally was going in and doing five songs, but the last song that we had added, which was you Bring the Beer, I'll Bring the Noise was actually done at Blackbird Studio.

Jay Franze: 11:49

Martina McBride Studio. It's, you know, one of the biggest studios in Nashville.

Makenzie Phipps: 11:54

That was a very last minute change of events. But yeah, we had done all of the band portion of the songs at Randy Poole's studio, which was awesome, and then we had cut all of the vocals at Sal's studio.

Jay Franze: 12:08

Randy, I remember him too. So you go in the studio, you record it in a traditional Nashville way, where the musicians come in the room, they get directive by a leader and then they go in the control room and just a few minutes later you have a song. So you track that down. You probably do a few overdubs, maybe guitar solos, that type of stuff. And then when do you go in to sing? Do you go in that same day or is it on a different day?

Makenzie Phipps: 12:34

It's usually about the day or two afterwards, and then I would go in and I would sing for a couple of hours, depending on how long the song would be to work on. But you do it in bits and pieces. I feel like a lot of people don't know that. So when you go in and you record, especially with vocals, so they do like for you to do kind of like a run through of the song, to kind of get used to it, especially if it's been tweaked a little bit of how you originally had it made and then after that they kind of cut it up into pieces.

Makenzie Phipps: 13:06

So they'll ask you, you know, sing this first verse and then we're going to do that a couple of times, then do the chorus, do the last part of the verse going into the chorus. So there's a whole lot involved with being in the recording studio, but at the end of the day it is definitely worth it. The method to their madness is needed and trust your producer, because there's been certain times where they've had me do things and I'm like I don't know what they're thinking and then I let the end it at the end and I'm like okay, they were right.

Jay Franze: 13:38

So was this your first time in a studio like that.

Makenzie Phipps: 13:41

That was my first time in a Nashville recording studio. Before that I had done a little bit of production in Knoxville at Promotion LLC, their studio. They had helped me a lot at the time with booking shows. They helped with some media content as well as doing production for music videos and just songs to be put out, songs to be put out. So I had done that. But as far as being in a Nashville studio, he was the first one that I had ever been with and I was pretty fortunate because, I will say, not a lot of people in this world get to say that they got to work with Sal Oliveri, and I mean he's worked with some pretty incredible people. I mean he's produced for Chris Stapleton and Pink and so many other amazing artists out there. So I'm just very fortunate and blessed for all of the opportunities that I've been given.

Jay Franze: 14:29

You're 100% right when you talk about the opportunity to go into a studio and record like that. It's absolutely amazing. But the band does go in at one time and they go in the room literally without ever hearing the song before they hear it. For about 30 seconds they read over a piece of paper and then they go into the room and record it and that song's recorded in about three and a half minutes later. So the the meat of the song is recorded that way and then usually the singer goes in a day or two later to go ahead and record their vocal parts, typically in a smaller studio and when they're without that full band. But that's pretty impressive that you got to do that.

Makenzie Phipps: 15:08

Yes.

Jay Franze: 15:08

What was your biggest memory from that?

Makenzie Phipps: 15:12

Oh gosh, I mean just getting to see how everything was done, because when I had recorded with Promotion back in Knoxville, actually the majority of the instrumentation that was done on those songs which was on the song maybe Christmas snow, I did do a recording of a song called life's game which is currently unreleased, but with those songs, believe it or not, majority of that instrumentation was done by Shane that's awesome you had the drums done by Shane.

Makenzie Phipps: 15:45

You had the bass, the acoustic lead stuff going on. I would play rhythm, but a lot of that was done by Shane. Well then, shane has too much talent. Yes, yes, he does. And I was very new to how Nashville musicians work, because Nashville musicians are a different breed of musicians.

Jay Franze: 16:07

They really are.

Makenzie Phipps: 16:07

Because, like you said, I mean it amazed me that we had cut five songs and they all would just listen to the song, how it was done, and they had their charts. So in Nashville they do these. They have a charting system where they line up like all of the chords for verse one, chorus, verse two, bridge, pre chorus, intro break, however you want to put it, and they have the key, the tempo, everything like that, and they just look at everything and, like you said, they'll just go in, they'll do a couple of takes of it and be like, alright, let's go get sushi, or something like. It is incredible, I cannot do that. My mind is not processed like that. I have been getting better at reading charts. I will say that is a personal accomplishment for myself because I have had a lot of people out there in the industry talking about there is actually a lot of singers in Nashville that do not know anything about the charting system and I did definitely take to heart trying to learn it and become semi-familiar with it.

Makenzie Phipps: 17:14

I am not a musician by any means.

Jay Franze: 17:16

Oh, come on, I've seen you play the guitar.

Makenzie Phipps: 17:19

I can play the guitar a little bit, but I can't do like the lead stuff, all the fancy work. I'm just there to keep the rhythm so that Shane and anybody else that's playing guitar for me can do all the rest of the work. But yeah, it is incredible seeing that. So that's definitely one of the most memorable things was just seeing how they worked and just seeing how their minds worked, without even seeing their mind. It's just incredible. Well, just for clarity, you mentioned the seeing their mind.

Jay Franze: 17:46

It's just incredible. Well, just for clarity, you mentioned the charting system. It's the Nashville number system and it's based on the scale of a song. But for the outsider, who's never seen it before, it could almost look like chicken scratch. I mean, it's just a bunch of lines and numbers on a piece of paper.

Makenzie Phipps: 18:00

One whole piece.

Jay Franze: 18:01

Right, you don't really understand it until you dig in and kind of learn the layout of it. But it's not hard once you learn it. Matter of fact, it's much easier than reading traditional music and it allows you to not only pick up a song very quickly, but it also allows you to change the key if necessary. Just makes life a lot easier as a musician. But it is something that you need to learn if you're going to record a song in Nashville, for sure. Yeah, it is something that you need to learn if you're going to record a song in Nashville, for sure. Yep, very cool. Well, you mentioned another song in there that I want to talk about, and that's you Bring the Beer, I'll Bring the Noise, and the reason I want to talk about that one that, to me, is more like an anthem. So do you feel like that song is an anthem for you?

Makenzie Phipps: 18:42

I do in some aspects. So it's quite funny how that song came about. So that was the last song added to the lineup of songs that I had for sound, because initially we had five songs going in and we were like, you know, we should really try to round it out with an upbeat song you know just to have one more in our pocket.

Makenzie Phipps: 19:03

So I again turned to Shane. I was like to have one more in our pocket. So I again turned to Shane. I was like we are limited on time. I can't do this. I need your mind to work. So I told him. I said write a song about me. I don't care what you're writing about. Pray to God, it's good. So he decided to write about my upbringing in Virginia, and he added the element of beer into the mix, in case people out there have never been to Virginia. I do not like beer, I do not drink beer, I don't drink anything carbonated. So that's what I find hilarious about this song.

Jay Franze: 19:35

I don't drink anything that's not carbonated.

Makenzie Phipps: 19:38

The overall message is you bring the beer, I'll bring the beer, I ain't bring the beer.

Jay Franze: 19:43

That's pretty cool, I swear to you, I don't drink anything that's not carbonated.

Makenzie Phipps: 19:47

Oh God, I can't do it. I was never one of those kids that drank pop, anything like that. I don't drink pop. I don't drink anything bubbly, anything like that. Soda no, not pop Soda. But yeah, that song. I do think he did a very good job at writing and it actually is now my most streamed song on spotify. It recently just surpassed over a quarter of a million streams and that was just incredible to me in general, because I mean, it's hard for individuals out there to get their streaming numbers up it. It is a difficult task. We live in a world that is technological and all about social media and streaming, and that's a blessing and a curse.

Jay Franze: 20:34

So let's talk about technology for a minute. You know, technology changes every day and it's definitely changed from when I was your age till now. But from when you've started till now, what have you seen change in technology, and is it working for you?

Makenzie Phipps: 20:55

Well, there's a whole lot of things, like you said, that's been added to technology. One of the biggest things now is AI.

Makenzie Phipps: 20:57

And that was a blessing and a curse, because I mean, for those that did not know, randy Travis just released a new song that was AI generated and that was incredible and I mean it is a blessing in a stance of you know, this is a man that's been in the music industry for longer than I've been alive and, you know, unfortunately he does have the health issues that he does have and it's difficult for him to be able to go into a studio and record, but he still has the passion and drive to still put out new material for all of his fans out there to listen to, and I think that that's incredible, that we do live in a world where we are able to access AI and do those kind of things. It's a little scary because it's very advanced, but I think that's pretty cool. But as far as with it changing, especially when I was younger I mean I was born in 2002 and a very big thing when I was younger was, of course, youtube. People would just post whatever on YouTube and hope that they get a couple of views and in today's world, I mean, that's, that's all anybody wants right now is like you know, how many followers do you have? How many streaming numbers do you have? How many views on this Facebook video or this reel do you have?

Makenzie Phipps: 22:18

And I am NOT the biggest fan of it. I always tell people that I felt I was born in the wrong era, because I would have loved nothing more than to have been born in like Loretta's era, where you could just waltz into a radio station and be like. Here's my record. I want you to play it and I'm gonna talk to you, whether you like it or not. Like I love talking to people. It doesn't bother me the slightest, and I wish I had been born in that time, but I'm sure a lot of them may have been like.

Makenzie Phipps: 22:47

I wish I had been born in this time, Cause now everybody can access your music from all around the world. So it's definitely got its pros and cons.

Jay Franze: 22:55

Yeah, I always say I wish I was born in the fifties or grew up in the fifties. I think that would have been the best time. I love technology, don't get me wrong, but I do think the simplicity of growing up in the 50s probably would have been pretty cool. Yes, so you mentioned YouTube and you mentioned Spotify. With the streams, it's almost how an artist gets judged or it is how an artist gets judged these days and you're very successful at it, you're. You're getting the plays, you're getting the views and it's working for you. Do you notice? Now, because of that, you're getting the views and it's working for you. Do you notice now, because of that, you're getting more attention from the industry itself?

Makenzie Phipps: 23:33

Not necessarily, because, at the end of the day, the music business is a very tricky business and at the end of the day, it is a lot of times about who you know, and this is definitely an industry where connections are a big deal, networking is a big deal, and that was exactly why I moved to Nashville, so that I can go out there and be able to meet all these new songwriters and musicians and be able to work with all these different producers and just get to know everybody, because at the end end of the day, it's just like a big spider web. Like you meet this person, they'll let you meet this person and they know this person, and it's all a big, just like 360, just a never-ending circle, and it just honestly varies because at the end of the day, it's all in the lord's hands and whatever he wants to happen to you is gonna happen and you just got to accept it and not question it and just hope for the best.

Jay Franze: 24:31

I mentioned, I grew up in Boston and I also, so I worked in Boston when I first started, but then moved to New York and worked there for about 10 years before moving to Nashville. And when I moved to Nashville, that's when the spider web, as you, happened and that's when I started meeting people and start things really started taking off. So you really do have to be in the the area for things to happen. There might be an outlier or an exception here or there, but for the most part, if you want to make it in the industry, you have to be where that industry is.

Makenzie Phipps: 25:00

Yes, 100%.

Jay Franze: 25:03

So let's take a step back. Who inspired you to get into country music and get you into Nashville in the first place?

Makenzie Phipps: 25:12

Hmm, so who inspired me to get into country? So I always, as a child, listened to everything I would on my iPod. I would be listening to Miranda Lambert, I would be listening to Pink, I'd be listening to. My brother would show me different bands like Hailstorm and Evanescence. All of these different bands. I listened to everything. And then I got into middle school and I was learning all about Broadway and everything like that. So I've always had a very diverse taste. The artists that really influenced me in the country music were definitely you know Miranda Lambert, carrie Underwood.

Makenzie Phipps: 25:55

I liked Luke Bryan, jason Aldean. I liked all of them growing up as a child but I never really decided to market myself into country music until I got basically in my later teens, because when I was younger I always was like I don't need to put myself in a genre I can just do whatever I want, and that was not the case, especially when I started my shows when I was 14,.

Makenzie Phipps: 26:18

I had not yet learned the guitar, I was only playing the keyboard. That was a pain to carry around everywhere in my shows. But I mean I would go from song to song. I would play You're Looking at Country by Loretta Lynn to go into when You're Gone, by Avril Lavigne playing Demi Lovato. I mean I did a whole bunch of everything, but my family are actually the ones that helped me figure out what genre career path I wanted to go down, because I would sing all of these things and the one genre that I sounded the most natural with was country. That was the genre that I was the most comfortable with singing.

Makenzie Phipps: 26:58

although I loved singing evanescence, my voice was not meant for it but, they were really the ones that helped push me into country music, and I'm glad they did, because I mean it is very natural to me, it's very comfortable for me to sing and I just love singing it. I love listening to all the different kinds of artists especially in today's world singing it. So that's really what got me motivated into just doing country music was just continuing and seeing what I liked, and this is what it was.

Jay Franze: 27:31

Well, it's kind of cool that you say it like that, because you have to have a whole wide range of influences in order to develop who you are and what's going to eventually make you different than anybody else.

Jay Franze: 27:41

That's in the genre that you choose. But growing up again in Boston, spending time in New York, I was into rock music. That was the type of music I enjoyed, and then when I got to Nashville, it was all country music and I spent the majority of my career doing country music. But it wasn't until you narrow that niche down to a specific genre or a specific area where you truly start to shine and take off. So if you're trying to please everybody, you're really pleasing nobody. So you really have to narrow that down, and for you it was narrowing it down to country music, and now you can see how that has helped you and now you're able to truly take off and shine. So you've mentioned a lot of killer names in there, a lot of people that I really like. Is there any one of those that you would like to collaborate with?

Makenzie Phipps: 28:34

Well, you know I always wanted to collaborate with Loretta, but the lower ticker. So that was a very, very heartbreaking day for me because you know I've been very fortunate in this world to have not lost a family member that I'm close to. I have been very, very fortunate because I know I've had some friends and they have had some rough passes in their family and when Loretta died that was very difficult because I just always loved Loretta. She was one of the very first people I ever started listening to. I was in my little trailer park when I was like six years old and I would be listening to her music, getting on top of the counter singing you ain't woman enough to take my man, not even understanding what that song was about, and I just I loved everything about her. And on October 4th, which is literally the day after my mother's birthday, I was just a wreck. My PR was very worried about me, texting me, being like are you okay? Because I loved nothing more than Loretta Lynn and I wanted to meet her so badly and I was so close. But I guess heaven needed more joy. So I always wanted to collaborate with her. But as far as living, I love, love, love, love Ashley McBride.

Makenzie Phipps: 29:54

That woman is incredible. I met her at Walmart and was a complete idiot. I met her at Walmart and was an idiot because I was just too stunned to speak, but I love everything about her. I think she is a phenomenal singer, a killer songwriter. There are verses in her songs and lines that I just cannot even think to write Like. It's incredible to me. And she has just worked her tail off for so long and she has finally, I feel, started to earn the credit that she deserves and I hope one day I get to sing with her. And if I meet her again at Walmart then I'm going to have a better time talking.

Jay Franze: 30:38

It cracks me up. And only in Nashville can you run into people at Walmart.

Tony Scott: 30:42

Yep.

Jay Franze: 30:43

William Lee Golden was on the show last week, and he is performing with the Goldens at Loretta Lynn's Ranch. Oh wow, the one that I think you would be great at collaborating with was Luke Bryan.

Makenzie Phipps: 30:56

Oh really.

Jay Franze: 30:57

Only because I think the voices would compliment each other Well.

Makenzie Phipps: 31:03

I don't really know. I definitely was more of a fan of Luke's music in the later 2000s. I do like some of his music now but definitely, you know, back then with you had, Do I? You had so many different songs of his that I just absolutely adored, so many different songs of his that I just absolutely adored. And you know, as he started to put out more music, I haven't listened to much of them. Of course, me, I know there's a lot of people out there that are album people. I was never an album person, I just liked various songs.

Jay Franze: 31:40

You're killing me.

Makenzie Phipps: 31:41

The only album I will say that I listened to all the way through was Lindyville, and that was Ashley McBride's last, last album, not the one she just recently did, but she had been promoting Lindyville and I was like, okay, I'm very intrigued by this album and I want to listen to it. And it is a concept album and it is incredible Nobody ever does that in country music. But yeah, I was definitely a person where I just like to listen to songs. I just I never really got into the whole album killing.

Jay Franze: 32:15

I know killing me, oh, as a producer and an engineer who grew up putting albums together, it just kills me. It kills me. I understand the whole single concept these days I do, but no, it kills me. The Luke Bryan song that my daughter and I bond over and it's on our playlist when we travel is Play it Again.

Makenzie Phipps: 32:39

That one's a good song. I like to play it again, and I just like to do Y a lot.

Jay Franze: 32:49

All right. So what keeps you motivated right now to keep moving forward when the industry is in such a flux?

Makenzie Phipps: 33:02

What keeps me motivated? I guess just bringing back country, because I feel like Lainey in today's world is a prime example of that.

Makenzie Phipps: 33:16

I feel like that's why a lot of people like Lainey Wilson, because she does have that country vocal to her because, especially in today's world, with country music, you have so many different sub genres. You have rock country, different sub genres, you have rock country, you have blues country, you have pop country, rap country, rock country, soul country, every country you could think of. I don't even. I think the one thing they've left out is operatic country. I don't think that exists.

Makenzie Phipps: 33:44

Oh, it's coming, it's coming, but I just miss the country. Country, that's what I miss. I miss the world of you know, when you had Brooks and Dunn and you had George Strait and Garth Brooks and Miranda Lambert, you had country. Country Not to be confused with traditional country like Tammy and Loretta and George, but just country. And that is one thing that a lot of the individuals on my social media pages have said about me. I hate calling them followers. I hate calling them that.

Jay Franze: 34:17

Friends.

Makenzie Phipps: 34:17

I call them friends. I hate followers because I just feel like that's just so monotone, and I am very fortunate to have all the friends on my page. I've had people on there that have been following my journey since I was 15 years old and I would not be anywhere without them, and that I do go through and read every single comment. I've had people on there. You know they comment and they're like do you really react to all of our comments? Do you really comment to certain ones? And I'm like, yes, that is me, I don't have bots or anything like that that go through each comment and heart them. That's me doing all of it, and I am definitely my worst critic because some of the comments may not be the best and you know what. That's okay at the end of the day. I'm not going to be everybody's cup of tea, but the biggest thing that I do appreciate people saying is that I have that country sound and that I am bringing back the sound of country music. So that's what keeps me going.

Jay Franze: 35:16

You really do, and even in the names you mentioned there I mean, they're iconic names. My wife loves Miranda. That's probably her favorite. But I just had a chance. I took my nine-year-old daughter to see Brooks and Dunn and it was awesome. I mean she had the time of her life.

Jay Franze: 35:31

It was just an amazing time. I notice you've been playing quite a bit lately and you've had a chance. As a matter of fact, you have a show coming up in the area where I was married and that's Jackson, tennessee. My wife's family is from the Jackson area. Wow, with playing all these shows, you have to have some stories of things that not only went well, but maybe some things that did not go so well on the road.

Makenzie Phipps: 35:58

Oh my gosh. So things that did not go well. So I have been fortunate that my shows are pretty much, for the most part, smooth sailing. When I was 14, yes, I had entered the West Virginia State Fair singing competition and it's a big deal. The West Virginia State Fair is a huge deal in West Virginia. I mean they have a big event every year. I mean there are hundreds and hundreds of people that show up and they have a big lineup. This year I know that they have Oliver Anthony coming in and his tickets, I believe, are sold out and they got a bunch of different people coming.

Makenzie Phipps: 36:45

I know they sometimes have some interesting acts. I think they've had Usher, they've had Nelly. It's interesting to have them come to West Virginia State Fair.

Jay Franze: 36:53

Just who I would expect at the West Virginia State Fair. They have a hoot.

Makenzie Phipps: 36:56

But I had entered the West Virginia State Fair singing competition and I was like 14. And this is again during a time where I did not pick country as my genre. I just sang songs that made me happy. And I picked two songs because they were saying that you had the first round and then there'd be a cut and then you'd be in the last round and then that was the final round to see who made it through and then who was going to be the winner. So I had two songs prepared. I had Because of you by Kelly Clarkson, and then I had Call Me when You're Sober by Evanescence. Those were the two songs I had and I don't even think I was 14 at this time. I think I honestly may have been 12. I don't even know. It's between 12 and 14.

Makenzie Phipps: 37:42

This was a terrible, terrible time. But I had went and I performed Because of you first and I made it through the final round and I could have chose to have sang the Kelly Clarkson one for the last round. But my parents were like you worked so hard on this last song, you should go up there and just do your best. So I went up there and I have no idea what happened. I do not.

Makenzie Phipps: 38:11

I just remember I looked at one of the judges which happened to be a pageant winner. I don't know if it was for the state of West Virginia, if it was for the county, I don't know, but I looked at her with that big crown on her head and I was like it's game over. I'm so terrified. So I sang, Call Me when You're Sober, and I like to say I sang it as like the goat remix. I was so terrified, I shook so bad, I sounded like a goat and I got off stage, ran to the bathroom, sobbed my eyes out. It was a terrible time, but that was probably the worst performance of my entire life and that taught me so many different things at a very young age and at that point I was like nothing's gonna beat that, nothing's gonna be as worse than that could be.

Jay Franze: 38:58

So from that point on it was just an uphill climb what are the biggest takeaways that you hope people get from listening to your music?

Makenzie Phipps: 39:12

I guess what you see is what you get. I mean, I don't really know. I mean, one thing that I've been definitely working on for especially the year 2024 is putting out my own music. I am in the process of doing so now. Next month is actually when I'm going to be releasing my new single, and this will be one of the very first songs that I have ever released that I have written myself, and that is a little bit scary and exciting at the same time.

Makenzie Phipps: 39:39

But I am very fortunate on the sense of I am glad that my voice can do a couple of different things. Like, although I do love to sing country, I do have kind of a soulful blues element to my voice as well at times, and I do know a lot of people out there. My song selection with recording has kind of been all over the place, because you have songs like drag and life gives you love that are a little bit more pop. Country Life Gives you Love definitely has a lot more soulful blues elements to it, and then you have a little of both, which is kind of on the line of pop, country and country. But you know, as we continue releasing, like you know, 18 Wheels and you Bring the Beer. I feel like we were kind of gravitating more towards a country genre that.

Makenzie Phipps: 40:28

I wanted to be classified in, so I'm very excited to be starting to release my own music that I have written, and that is where you're just going to see that this is me. This is what my vocals are. This is how I sound. If you like it, cool. If you don't, maybe there's something else for you you mentioned releasing the song that you wrote.

Jay Franze: 40:51

Have you recorded it yet?

Makenzie Phipps: 40:52

Yes, I did. I recorded it last month. It was either at the end of March or in April. Like I said, everything is just, it's surprising me that we're even in May, like I felt like new year's just hit, like it's insane to me. But yes, I did just record these two.

Jay Franze: 41:12

It's June.

Makenzie Phipps: 41:14

No, it's not. No, my milk expires in two days. I know it's not June Nice.

Jay Franze: 41:22

So the song that you recorded this upcoming single. Have you had an opportunity to listen to it over 100 times? Yet I have. Does it still give you the same feeling?

Makenzie Phipps: 41:32

Yes, I am very excited about the song. I cannot wait to see what people think. It is definitely out there because people have never really heard how my writing is. People have heard if they've been on my musical journey for a while. I have put out a video of an unreleased song that I wrote which is called Life's Game. It is about my mama. She has Alzheimer's and I decided to write that song subjected around the illness and it is not currently out. Right now I have a big project that I want to be working on with that song, but I'm just excited to see how people take to my writing style, because I am very critical of myself, especially when it comes to songwriting.

Makenzie Phipps: 42:17

Because that was one thing that I did struggle with a lot was you know, you have Shane who can write about anything in one day, like I'll tell him write about a man jumping off a house with an umbrella and going through a portal into the 80s, and he will write it, whereas me I can either write a song immediately that day, as it came to me, or it's like bits and pieces come to me over the course of time and it drives me up the wall because I wish I could just sit down and write a song every single day but, unfortunately, I'm just not that kind of songwriter, but I am proud of this song that is going to be coming out and I just hope that everybody out there enjoys it as much as I do.

Jay Franze: 43:00

Well, I'm excited for it All right. Well, we do this thing here we call Unsung Heroes, where we take a minute to shine the light on somebody who works behind the scenes or somebody who may have supported you along the way. Do you have anybody you'd like to shine a little light on? God? I guess God could be an option, sure, right?

Makenzie Phipps: 43:24

You know I always say my mom in these questions, but I'm going to be different this time because my mom knows how much I appreciate her support.

Makenzie Phipps: 43:34

But one person in my life that I am just beyond thankful for on so many different levels is my PR guy, scott Sexton. I I'm trying so hard not to get emotional, but this guy has been in my corner since I was 19 years old and you know that's kind of a big deal. And when I came into contact with Scott and for him to actually give me a chance in just being a client was just unreal, and he has honestly helped me in so many different ways. He's taught me so many different things. He's had me experience so many incredible opportunities. There have been moments of happiness and joy. There have been moments of downfall and questioning, but that man has never once ever doubted my ability in the music industry and he has always been in my corner, no matter what, and he has stood by me in times where I didn't even know if I needed to be stood by and I just I am so appreciative of him and I love him more than words could ever begin to describe.

Makenzie Phipps: 44:49

He is one of my biggest best friends in entire world. He is, he is basically family.

Jay Franze: 44:54

He's family to me and I just appreciate him and all that he does for me behind the scenes and yeah a big thanks to mckenzie for taking the time to share stories with us and thank you for taking the time to hang with me here. I really do appreciate it. If you know anybody that would enjoy this episode, please be sure to share it. You can do that and find the links to everything mentioned over at jfranzycom episode 73. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next week.

Tony Scott: 45:26

Thanks for listening to The Jay Franze Show. Make sure you visit us at jayfranze. com. Follow, connect and say hello.