Tony Scott: 0:21

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 Francie.

Jay Franze: 0:49

And we are coming at you live. I am Jay Francie and with me tonight the Loretta to my Conway, miss Tiffany Mason.

Tiffany Mason: 0:59

Miss Tiffany, how are you Fantastic? Excited to talk to our guest.

Jay Franze: 1:03

You and me, both my friend, and if you are new to the show, this is your source for the latest news, reviews and interviews. So if you'd like to join in, comment or fire off any questions, please head over to jayfranze. com. All right, miss Tiffany, you said it. We have a guest. We have a very special guest. We have a singer, a songwriter and a recording artist hailing from the great state of Washington. We have Miss Dani Bacon. Miss Dani, how are you?

Dani Bacon: 1:32

Hello.

Jay Franze: 1:32

I'm good, very good. Thanks for having me. It is our pleasure, my friend, it is our pleasure. Let's just jump right in. What's the music scene like in washington?

Dani Bacon: 1:43

well, I am pretty far from any major city. I think a lot of people if they know of any music in washington, it's seattle and I'm like eight hours from seattle. So anywhere I go yeah, anywhere I go I'm traveling over a pass, which which is good. It's beautiful here, but traveling pretty far for anything. We do have a couple really incredible venues in our little small town here, so I love to play at those and then some little festivals, but other than that, I'm traveling pretty far.

Jay Franze: 2:17

Is that the area of the country you're from?

Dani Bacon: 2:19

pretty, far Is that the area of the country you're from? I was born in Wyoming and then I've lived here for most of my life.

Jay Franze: 2:26

All right. Have you lived in that outskirts area for the majority of your life?

Dani Bacon: 2:31

Mm-hmm. Yeah, very rural area for most of my life.

Jay Franze: 2:35

That's pretty cool. I would love to do that. Miss Tiffany, would you like to live out in the middle of nowhere?

Tiffany Mason: 2:41

I think it's like our conversation that we had, like when my redneck's trying to come out, like sometimes I feel like I want that earthy lifestyle and other times I just like everything being really convenient. But I do need to ask Dani, I'm not familiar with this a pass? Is this like normal speak for the Washington folk? If you're going a long distance, you're going over a pass.

Dani Bacon: 3:04

No, I guess I didn't think much about that when I said it. So we go over like a mountain pass. Anywhere we go, it's over a major mountain pass Got it Okay.

Tiffany Mason: 3:16

I would do that just for the scenery. I would live in the rural area just for the scenery. We lived in upstate for a short amount of time and the mountains you can't beat it.

Jay Franze: 3:26

I would love to live in a cabin on a lake.

Tiffany Mason: 3:30

In a country house.

Jay Franze: 3:31

Cabin, cabin.

Dani Bacon: 3:33

An actual cabin, though, because there's people who live here on the lake and they call it their cabin, but it's more like a mansion cabin.

Jay Franze: 3:41

No, I want logs. I want something that I'm not afraid to dent, Like my house. Now I've got three kids. I'm afraid every time they touch anything.

Jay Franze: 3:51

Don't scuff the wall, don't ride the bike in the house or don't do this or that. So no, I want a cabin. I want to drive a truck, something that I'm not afraid to ding up. I so no, I want a cabin. I want to drive a truck, something that I'm not afraid to ding up. You know, I want that life, but unfortunately, I have two boys, so I hear you. How old are they?

Dani Bacon: 4:11

My oldest just turned 12, and then my youngest is going to be 10.

Jay Franze: 4:16

I have a 10-year-old. It's a girl, but I have a 10-year-old. Do you want her?

Dani Bacon: 4:23

I mean, I'm barely surviving the boys.

Tiffany Mason: 4:24

So I don't know.

Dani Bacon: 4:30

You're getting ready for some rough years there, Dani.

Tiffany Mason: 4:34

I hope it doesn't get any more rough than it's already been. It is fun and some stinky years yeah.

Jay Franze: 4:39

Yeah.

Dani Bacon: 4:43

She's out in the middle of nowhere.

Jay Franze: 4:44

How bad could it be?

Dani Bacon: 4:44

Yeah, I send them outside. If they're going to build something or destroy something, just send them.

Jay Franze: 4:49

They play in the creek. It's no big deal.

Dani Bacon: 4:51

Yeah.

Jay Franze: 4:55

All right.

Dani Bacon: 4:58

Who are some of your biggest influences Right now?

Tiffany Mason: 5:05

Oh man, what about if we go back a little bit? What were your musical influences as a kid, or how did you get started?

Dani Bacon: 5:10

so I was raised pretty religious and so we sang together as a family in church. So there was that my dad and mom wrote songs when they were together and then we listened to a lot of country off and on of what we were allowed to listen to. I remember I was probably like nine my mom brought home a Dixie Chicks album and I just remember listening to it and loving it and I asked my parents if I could sing one of the songs and I'm pretty sure it was like a divorce song. I can't remember the title of it and they're like you do not get to sing that song. So that's like probably my earliest memory of like a country artist that I really loved a lot, and then whatever my dad was listening to on the radio. But now my favorites are pretty vast. I love Brent Cobb he's an incredible writer. Chris Stapleton but I think everybody loves Chris Stapleton. Meg McCree she's a really great writer. Yeah, I don't know. I think that list could probably go on forever.

Jay Franze: 6:18

Can you tell us how you think your music fits into the multiple genres?

Dani Bacon: 6:26

I feel like genres are kind of a complicated thing right now because everybody wants to put a title on something but there's so many things that vary or kind of are outliers. I don't even know if mine sounds like traditional country, but I don't think it sounds like the mainstream country right now either.

Tiffany Mason: 6:48

Agreed.

Dani Bacon: 6:48

But I guess my songs are about real life and that's what makes it similar, if you could even say that, to the country genre world. When people ask me what genre, I usually say country or americana, because I don't really know where it sits. But yeah, something like that, I guess that's what I'm wondering.

Jay Franze: 7:10

If you're in washington state and you're off the beaten path, do you think that influences, influences your style of music?

Dani Bacon: 7:19

I think so for sure, especially the writers that write about not just the beer and trucks, you know, of course there's that no matter where you go, but the people that are writing about, I don't know, heartbreak or a love song, or family, or the outdoors, or anything like that. I think that my music is very connected to all of that.

Jay Franze: 7:47

When I think of Washington State, I don't typically think of country music, but I would think of Americana music. So I think, taking pieces from all of the different genres and coming up with something a little bit more unique than what we would typically hear on country radio.

Dani Bacon: 8:02

Yeah, I would agree with that for sure.

Tiffany Mason: 8:05

Well, I think that's what makes it interesting to listen to right Is because you almost can't put your finger on it, Cause I was too trying to be like okay, bluegrass country, I don't know Like I was having a hard time too. So that makes me feel good that even you're like well, I don't know, I was having a hard time too, so that makes me feel good that even you're like well, I don't know, maybe it's a compilation of a couple of different genres and good on you that you're like. I don't know if I want to put a title on it, it's Danny style.

Dani Bacon: 8:30

Well, and when I went into the studio, I worked with Kyler at Den Studios. When I first started working with him, he had only worked on one country album, and so I think there's some of that as well, coming from a producer who works in a lot of genres, not just country.

Jay Franze: 8:49

So what kind of music was he producing?

Dani Bacon: 8:52

So the one that I know best is he worked with Colby Acuff. He's out of Idaho and his biggest song I believe his biggest song right now is called If I Were the Devil. I actually met Kyler at one of Colby's concerts there. Other than that album, I think that he works in a lot of pop, or I think he had more of like a pop what would you even call it? Pop punk kind of Maybe some rock in there as well that he works on as well.

Jay Franze: 9:29

So where's he located? Where's the studio?

Dani Bacon: 9:32

So that's in Boise, Idaho.

Jay Franze: 9:33

Okay, so you traveled to do your recording then.

Dani Bacon: 9:38

Yes, I did, yeah, All right, what's the studio like?

Dani Bacon: 9:43

Well, it's like in a garage that he's remodeled, which is really cool. It's got multiple rooms for your vocals and then the actual studio area, and then he has the drums in another area. So it's tiny, but it was so much fun. It was definitely a good introduction, I think, for never doing anything like that before Stepping into a studio is very laid back. Lots of pictures online that he's showed, and when I first was looking into recording, I didn't know where to go. You can Google studios to record in, but the one that stuck out for me was not that I had just met Kyler, but when I looked up his website, he had a whole playlist of music that he had produced, and so I was actually able to hear the work that he's put out in the world, and I think that's what really sold me on it.

Jay Franze: 10:41

All right. Does he play instruments? Is he a hands-on producer?

Dani Bacon: 10:52

Yeah, he probably played almost every single instrument. On my songs that are in there, I play a little bit guitar, a little bit of guitar, but he plays like everything else, and if he doesn't know how to play it, he learns how to play it and can play incredibly well does that include drums? Yes, yeah, wow, yeah, he learned how to play the lap, still to be in colby, because, yeah, who just learns how to do that?

Tiffany Mason: 11:19

I'm doing that this weekend, so hit me up next week. I got you, yeah.

Jay Franze: 11:30

So are you writing songs and then sending them to him in advance?

Dani Bacon: 11:33

Yeah, so I will pick like three to five songs, depending on how many we want to tackle, and I'll send them his way and we kind of go over what we want him to sound like. But yeah, we'll kind of go over what we want him to sound like if we want specific instruments or harmonies and kind of go from there all right.

Jay Franze: 11:55

So when you send the songs to him, are you sending like just lyrics? Are you playing guitar and singing a little bit of a melody? I mean, what's your process like before it makes it to him?

Dani Bacon: 12:09

So I usually just do like a really rough, cut audio off of my phone, then send it his way. So it's very raw. There's not really anything to it other than just a little bit of rhythm guitar and my vocals, and then, if we need to go over lyrics, I send those as well.

Jay Franze: 12:27

Does he then build the track before you get there?

Dani Bacon: 12:34

then build the track before you get there, nope. So I kind of give him an idea of what we're going to be working with, and that's usually about a week or so. He listens to them and then, when we get in there, we just start building them, putting them together. So you participate in the building process, then yeah, and I don't know if most studios are like that.

Jay Franze: 13:12

Mm-hmm, yeah, and I don. You go in. All of the musicians perform at one time and your song is done in three and a half minutes. So it's a very impressive process, but it's a very different process. It's not quite as personal as something like this.

Tiffany Mason: 13:27

Which do you prefer to produce, Jay?

Jay Franze: 13:31

I like the idea of doing a blend. I like to go into the studio and record all of the A-list players and then I like taking those recordings back to my personal studio and then, having the singer come in and sing in my studio when it's a more comfortable environment and they're not being rushed. So it's kind of like a little bit of a hybrid approach and they're not being rushed, so it's kind of like a little bit of a hybrid approach.

Tiffany Mason: 13:54

Got it, dani? How many times have you done this? So I don't know if you can tell, but I'm not from the production world, so curious how many times have you done it?

Dani Bacon: 14:09

Are you building a record? Is this just EP? What does it mean? Well, so the first time I went in, I believe, I had had five songs, and then I went in a second time and recorded six songs and this isn't how people usually do it by any means, but I felt kind of rushed because I wanted music out in the world. I was kind of done waiting, and so I released part one, and now I'm slowly releasing the singles for part two, and by this fall everything will be released as part one and two, as in one album. Got it.

Jay Franze: 14:44

In today's world of releasing singles on streaming services, it really doesn't matter as much as it used to, because the process you're describing is if you went ahead and recorded, say, half of your album, and then you release it as an ep and then you go back and assemble the full album later on down the road. So today you don't have to do that, so let's take it to your vocals. What was that process like? Can you walk us through the environment?

Dani Bacon: 15:12

Yeah, so it's a separate room, there's three rooms sectioned off, but there's these giant windows and so you're able to see the producer, which I believe is similar, you know, to other studios, so we can kind of communicate through the window and then also through the headphones. And it was a lot of fun, a learning experience, which I think that's just life for sure. You got to start somewhere right. And then, how you were mentioning earlier how most studios work, next year I'll be going to Austin, texas, and working with Jason Eadie in a studio that will be much more like what you were explaining, where we bring in all of the musicians and it won't just be one person playing everything.

Jay Franze: 16:01

It's just a personal preference. When I had my studio in New York, it was more like what he has here. I mean, it was a small production studio, had multiple rooms and it was a nice facility, but it was small. So it's just a matter of whichever you prefer. So when you were in the studio with him singing and you're in your ISO booth, was there anything specific you did to that ISO booth to make it more comfortable for you?

Dani Bacon: 16:31

you, Depending on the song. Some I stood while singing, others I would sit down. You know, depending on, I guess, how relaxed I wanted to sound or how personal or deep the song was. But other than that, I don't know if I personalized it more than that. Did you keep the lights on or off? Oh, I guess on, I didn't even think about turning them off. I don't like the dark, so I probably wouldn't turn the lights off.

Jay Franze: 17:00

A lot of singers, especially when it's their first time in a studio, will keep the lights off because they feel like people are going to stare at them and they get a little self-conscious when they're singing.

Dani Bacon: 17:08

Oh.

Jay Franze: 17:08

So it's usually seasoned pros who keep the lights on.

Dani Bacon: 17:12

Interesting.

Jay Franze: 17:13

The fact that you did that out of the gate say that you're one step ahead of everybody.

Dani Bacon: 17:18

Well, I think when you don't know what you're doing, you know and you're just kind of jumping into it. I guess I just went into it how I thought it would be comfortable, and maybe that makes me look like a pro or not, it could go either way, I guess.

Jay Franze: 17:38

Well, it's just a matter of whatever makes you comfortable, because if you're comfortable, then you're going to be able to sing the best you can sing. But the type of things I'm thinking of when I think of the atmosphere is like you're in an isobooth, which is typically pretty small. I mean it can be anywhere from the size of a small closet up to a spare bedroom. So I mean, when you're in an isobooth, depending on the studio you're in. So I'm assuming, if this is especially built out of his garage, that it's a small, like a small closet. You're usually in there with a dampened room. But my thoughts are like are the lights off? Did you have maybe a blanket hanging? Did you have a candle? Was there anything that you did to make that room personal?

Tiffany Mason: 18:23

Did you set the mood for yourself, Annie? Did you set the?

Jay Franze: 18:26

mood. That's what we want to know I didn't so much.

Tiffany Mason: 18:30

Or were you just so excited to get started? You're like, let's do this yeah, pretty much that.

Dani Bacon: 18:37

I think it has a really incredible feel to it already very homey, like there's a couch in there and there's stuff hanging on the walls and it's actually a larger room, but the sound that comes out of it is very incredible so it does have a vibe to it it does, yeah, so I, so he set the mood for you yeah, I think I was just already as comfortable as I could be going in there and recording, so it was a really incredible first experience.

Dani Bacon: 19:10

while we were talking about musicians, though, the the second time I went in, I brought in Chelsea Parker. Chelsea Parker, yeah, I believe you've worked with her before.

Jay Franze: 19:21

Yes, ma'am, she was on the show.

Dani Bacon: 19:23

And I found her through social media. That's one thing. Living where I do live in the middle of nowhere, social media has been a really incredible tool for me because she was playing on another musician's song and she's obviously just so talented and I commented on there. I was like who is this fiddle player? And someone tagged her and so I shot her a message and you never know like you can reach out to tons of people. It doesn't mean they're going to answer you. You get a lot of either no or just no response and she emailed me back and was willing to jump on a plane and come to Boise and work with people that she didn't know and it was so fun. I don't know if I've ever met somebody that was just like immediately I was like, oh, I could be friends with her. She's so sweet, she's so talented.

Jay Franze: 20:25

Miss Tiffany. She is one of the people who actually came here in this room to do their interview. Oh cool.

Tiffany Mason: 20:37

I mean, she has no problem traveling to do the interviews, so this girl's just right. She's just looking for opportunities to travel. Yeah, Well, to be fair.

Jay Franze: 20:42

She lived about 10 minutes down the road. Okay, now she has moved since then. She now lives about 20 minutes down the road, but you know, hey, she is one of the most amazing musicians I've ever seen. She is super, super talented, and her brother's talented and her dad's talented. Her brother plays drums, her dad plays steel. Too much talent in one family. Stop it, yeah.

Tiffany Mason: 21:09

I have a couple of questions. So first of all, Jay, I want to ask you about the larger recording studios or the larger recording rooms shutting down. Is that because technology can duplicate what those large rooms used to do for the sound? Why do you think that that is changing?

Jay Franze: 21:25

Well, I think there's a few things. I don't think they're all shutting down, but I do think a lot of them are, and part of the reason for that is that they're expensive. They are super expensive. This is Ocean Way in Nashville.

Jay Franze: 21:39

It was built out of a church right there on Music Row Now what's happened on Music Row is that people have come in and they're buying property and they're building condos and apartment complexes. So all of the big studios have the choice now to either sell out to these companies or try to stick it out.

Jay Franze: 22:02

This one's not going to leave. This studio will always be there because it's a church. No one's going to tear down this beautiful church. But there's others like. There was one called the Tracking Room which was right down the road from here, right off of Dumumbrian, and that studio was massive in size but it was super expensive and they just couldn't keep it open. And then a lot of them have now moved over to Berry Hill, which is the what we call maybe the new music row in Nashville, like John McBride, martina McBride's husband, that's where his Blackbird studio is, and there's a few others, but in LA there's still a handful of these studios left.

Jay Franze: 22:42

But to your point, yes, you know you can do a lot in a home studio these days, and what makes that worth doing is the fact, like what Dani was able to do is go and have an intimate recording and work with somebody who is focused on her and Dani.

Dani Bacon: 23:05

How long did you spend in the studio that first trip to do those first five songs? I?

Jay Franze: 23:11

think it was three days maybe. So you had three days of undivided attention where if you were in Nashville to do five songs, you would have done that in probably three hours and then you would have been shuffled out quickly for the next Danny to come in right after you and record their three to five songs, and then the next one would come in and record theirs and then you'd have to come back on a different day to to sing you just wouldn't have that same personal touch.

Jay Franze: 23:39

So it really is just preference. Do you want that personal touch or do you want to be part of the big machine?

Tiffany Mason: 23:46

well that that leads beautifully into my next question which was why did you decide to go from the smaller studio with Kyler? And then this other kind of concept, I suppose if you will, in Austin Texas.

Dani Bacon: 24:02

Well, I'm going to continue to work with Kyler. I think I'm going back there sometime this winter and we'll probably always do music, I hope. Hopefully, if Kyler watches this, he he'll hear that too. But I also just want to continue to keep moving forward with more connections. Yeah, jason Eady, who I'll be working with in Texas, he is very well connected and he's very talented, very great songwriter, and so, moving forward, the more connections and friendships I can build, I'm just going to keep doing that and, like I mentioned earlier, I'm just learning as I go too, and so I would like to experience all of it and just keep learning and just keep moving forward, I guess, with all of it.

Tiffany Mason: 24:53

It seems like good choices. Now, does your family go with you?

Dani Bacon: 24:57

Well, it ended up being perfect. The first time I went to Boise because I had a sister who was in the Air Force there, and so we stayed with her. I took the whole family, we all got in the truck and headed that way, and then I have my brother-in-law that also lived there. So, yeah, we just all went and Travis that's my husband he hung out with the kids while I went and hung out in the studio for days on end.

Tiffany Mason: 25:23

Now are you going to expose them to Austin Texas?

Dani Bacon: 25:27

I don't know. We'll see if they want to go. Right now, the boys are pretty convinced that mom is not very cool and what she does is not very cool. And oh my goodness, we'll see if they want to go or not. Well, hey, if they're not going to be fans, I wouldn't bring them, yeah yeah, if you're not there in my corner cheering me on, mm-mm, right, but Travis does. He likes to go. He's pretty quiet compared to me.

Tony Scott: 25:56

I have one of those.

Dani Bacon: 25:57

Yeah, goes and listens, goes to my shows as many as he can, and, yeah, it's a lot of fun. I'm the only one that plays or sings or writes music, though, so it is very different than what everyone else in our household likes to do.

Jay Franze: 26:14

I can understand that my family has no desire to be part of any of the stuff I do. I mean, I tell Tiffany all the time I get tickets to shows, I get to go to studios, I get to do all this stuff. And I asked my daughter if you want to go. She's like no, no, I don't.

Tiffany Mason: 26:30

I asked Jay if I could be one of his kids. I mean, I want to go, yeah, I'll go.

Jay Franze: 26:36

Cindy Lauper tomorrow night. Thank you, rocky Rose. Cindy Lauper tomorrow night. Thank you.

Dani Bacon: 26:39

Rocky Rose Fun.

Jay Franze: 26:42

So you mentioned your family being in Boise. Did that play part in?

Dani Bacon: 26:49

your decision to choose that location. No, it didn't. Actually, I would have gone either way. I would have jumped on a plane and I would have gone either way. So what was it that made you choose him in that studio? I think, first off, that I met him in person and also that I heard a lot of the stuff that he had already worked on. He was affordable and the studio looked incredible and, for whatever reason, it felt right, I guess. Yeah, you can probably go to any studio, right, if you pay them, they'll let you record there, absolutely. But I don't know if it's my personality or where I'm from, but personal connection, I think, is really important to me, and I think for that reason and I guess, a couple others it just seemed right and it turned out good. So I prayed on the way there, though, because I was like I don't know how this is going to turn out. It could go really bad or it could go really good.

Jay Franze: 27:52

Positive all the time.

Tiffany Mason: 27:53

Yeah, you're 100% right.

Jay Franze: 27:55

The connection is really what matters the most. If you don't have that connection, the recording will not work out well. Connection is really what matters the most. If you don't have that connection, the recording will not work out well. And I always have an example that when I was in a studio in Nashville with one of the best producers in Nashville and we were recording this young singer-songwriter, a young woman, and that producer made this girl cry after every session to the point where she decided to leave and we went and recorded the record somewhere else and she was as happy as can be and that that record went to number one on the charts when she recorded the happy version. So you just never know.

Tiffany Mason: 28:32

Wow.

Jay Franze: 28:34

So I do believe it's all about being comfortable.

Tiffany Mason: 28:37

Well, thinking about that studio and having the aesthetics be so nice, I'm thinking like maybe part of your decision is like great social media pictures which then made me think I wonder has somebody reached out to you saying you know who's your fiddle player or what studio are you in, or whatever you know, like you did finding your fiddle player? Has that happened to you in reverse, where someone's reached out to you inquiring some of those things?

Dani Bacon: 29:05

oh no, not yet. Hopefully that happens too.

Jay Franze: 29:08

I'll sing backup vocals, I'll, I'll do the things well, let me ask you on that note are you good at harmony singing?

Dani Bacon: 29:17

I think I'm good at it yes, yes.

Jay Franze: 29:19

Answer is yes, yes.

Dani Bacon: 29:21

I am yeah. Well, the reason I say that kind of in a I'm not sure way, I guess, is it's something that I'm new to. But I have been working on this year Because before I started putting myself and my music out there more, I was just playing music by myself and singing by myself.

Tiffany Mason: 29:43

Cause you're out in the middle of nowhere and your family doesn't partake in the music scene. So who are you going to sing with, danny?

Dani Bacon: 29:49

Yeah, and so and then usually if I'm singing, I do have some musicians here locally that I play music with and they're very talented, but then I'm the lead singer and then my friend Alicia is the um, the backup vocals in the harmonies. Um and then I have another friend. His name's Clarence Gallagher, and he's actually playing with Matt Heckler right now. He's very talented, and so if we sing together, I sing harmonies for him.

Jay Franze: 30:18

We were talking about Chelsea. That's one thing. That's impressive about her is not only can she play the fiddle and and other instruments, but she can play the fiddle and sing at the same time.

Tiffany Mason: 30:28

So she plays and sings harmony and does all of the things you would want her to do I love that your first connection was to dixie chick's album and now fiddle playing is part of your music.

Dani Bacon: 30:43

Yes, yeah, we were actually going to have Chelsea try to do some harmonies and she ended up running out of time. Originally, we were going to have her play, I think, on like three songs, and then we ended up loving it all so much she played on all six, yeah, and so we didn't have enough time for her to also sing any harmonies or backup vocals.

Jay Franze: 31:06

That's all right. The fiddle's probably the more important piece there.

Dani Bacon: 31:10

Yeah, I think it really made the songs, for sure, yeah.

Jay Franze: 31:13

I'm telling you, Miss Tiffany, that's going to be another one you're going to have to go back and listen to now, because she is amazing and I never would have thought that you would have found her through the internet, reached out to her and have her fly out to you like that.

Dani Bacon: 31:27

That's very, very cool. I have made connections with a lot of people. That's how I try to connect with a lot of people. I don't know if everybody checks their DMs.

Jay Franze: 31:41

but I'm in there If you want to open her or anything else? Yeah, there you go For those listening. Please check your DMs, maybe you could be the lucky one. All right, I have a question for you. I know you're still fairly new to this career, but what kind of challenges have you faced along the way so far?

Dani Bacon: 32:05

have you faced along the way so far? I think there's a lot of unknowns, and so I think a lot of the time I don't know if I'm making the right decisions. And then another thing that seems like a big hurdle is I do all my own booking right now, and that's very time consuming. And also, since I don't have a manager or anything like that, I'm having to find these people and reach out. Some people reach back and they communicate well and it works out great, but even those, they still take months, you know, to get details of a show locked in, and so I think that that is a challenge for sure, and the travel, and just right now I'm not very connected yet, but I'm working on it.

Jay Franze: 32:54

Do you think your location plays a part in that?

Dani Bacon: 32:58

I think some of it. I mean, I have friends that just moved to nashville, the carlisles um, they're the carlisle family band and that's you know why they moved there. They have a house here, a cabin, yeah multi-million dollar cabin yeah um, just so that quote cabin. Yeah, just be able to go to more shows, make more connections and more on a regular basis, rather than, like I flew to Nashville in January and went to some shows and met some people, but it's definitely not, you know, very frequent because I do live so far away.

Tiffany Mason: 33:42

Does it feel defeating that you're so far away from Nashville?

Dani Bacon: 33:48

It can, if I look at it that way, but then I also know that I probably wouldn't fit in the box of Nashville anyways. And so in that way it doesn't feel defeating.

Tiffany Mason: 34:07

Fair.

Dani Bacon: 34:08

I mean I would love to be a part of the bigger scene, for sure, but I know if I would have moved there really young, I think I probably would have been put in that box and then not been able to write the songs that I have been able to write and be who I am. I think I try to look at it in more of a perspective of being grateful, because it would be very different if I had lived there for the last 10 years.

Jay Franze: 34:37

I think, if you take a look at it this way, where you're off in, say, your own area, you're probably one of the only musicians, like you said, in your family and probably in your friend group and out in that area where you're writing and coming up with a style of music that, although might be country or has an Americana feel to it.

Jay Franze: 34:56

So you're coming up with your own little vibe and your own little piece of that, that puzzle. But I think what what's helping you is these days, social media gives you the reach, like you were able to reach out to Chelsea Parker, and you can reach out to Kyler and anybody else that you want to work with and you can probably get in touch with them. You can arrange session time, you can bring musicians in, so you still have access to all of the same people and all of the same things. You might not be able to do some of the networking that you could do in person if you were in Nashville, but you can do all of this stuff online. If we take that a step further, if you're building your career right now and social media is a major puzzle piece to that what are you doing to grow your social media accounts?

Dani Bacon: 35:47

that is okay if we're talking about hurdles or struggles or challenges. That is social media for me just trying to make enough content or content that people would want to watch. I think social media is so incredible.

Dani Bacon: 36:04

Like you're saying, there's tons of opportunities, for sure, and you can reach literally anyone if they read the message and reply obviously, but I haven't blown up on social media either, though, so it's kind of like a weird juggling act of staying true to who I am, you know, and not trying to do everything that someone else is doing, trying to make more content that's attached to my songs, whether it be videos or talking about it, talking about my songs, so I'm learning in that area as well.

Tiffany Mason: 36:48

When it comes to staying on social media and being able to kind of be true to who you are and you know, live where you want to live. What have been the songs that have been the most fun to write, or what songs do you feel like are so unique to you?

Dani Bacon: 37:07

Out of the ones I've released so far, the ones that stand out, I guess in that category would be Northern Pines, because I wrote that one about where I live and my family, but chasing dreams and then always coming back to the place and the people that I love. And I started writing that one after a conversation with my husband of wanting to pursue this more and I was going on a little mini tour and so I wrote that about this desire in this pole to want to chase my dreams, but knowing that I'm never going to leave everything that I love and it's so important behind.

Dani Bacon: 37:48

And then, um, I have another song called Buffalo and that's about wide open spaces and the desire to be free and in wide open spaces. And then I have Back to the Dixie Chicks Mm-hmm.

Dani Bacon: 38:02

Yeah, yeah, another one that's called your Lady, I think I guess they're all. Maybe Now, as I'm talking about all of them, they're all kind of attached to it, but I'm always willing, though, to jump on a plane. I love to travel, I love to go places. So, even though this is my home base, I love to go to all the places.

Tiffany Mason: 38:26

When you go on tour, you're going to be just fine with it.

Dani Bacon: 38:30

Yes, yeah, yeah, I love it.

Jay Franze: 38:35

All right, my friend, while we do this thing here, we call Unsung Heroes, where we take a moment to shine the light on somebody who's worked behind the scenes or somebody who may have supported you along the way.

Dani Bacon: 38:47

Do you have anybody you would like to shine a little light on? Oh well, I think my parents probably are the start of all of it. They are incredibly talented themselves. Then I have a music teacher, connie Fletcher, and she was kind of the start of encouraging me to play in school, and I think that was the start of all of it. And without those people I definitely would not be here, and my husband for sure. He's a giant support to me. And Monty Hildebrandt, who I wrote my first song about, which that's the last song I'll be releasing this fall and he's no longer on this earth, but I don't know if I ever would have written a song if I wasn't in such a sad place after he passed, and I wrote that song about that feeling. So I think he was a really big piece too. Before he passed he encouraged me to sing all the time, and so I think all just the beginning. The beginning of all of it is those people.

Jay Franze: 39:58

When you hear that song now, how does it make you feel?

Dani Bacon: 40:02

All of it, it's those people. When you hear that song now, how does it make you feel? Probably sad would be the first word I could think of. I still have a really deep connection to it, for sure. I think, unfortunately, a lot of people can relate to that, because I think throughout our life everyone's going to lose someone that they care a lot about. So probably probably just a lot of pain and sorrow, but faith that there's good that comes after hardship. That's actually what this first tattoo was.

Dani Bacon: 40:38

It was a beauty from ashes is what it represented and that's kind of where that came from. Too similar to that song.

Jay Franze: 40:46

Do you find it hard to sing that song live?

Dani Bacon: 40:52

Yes, I do. I think that there's a fine line, when I'm playing a song live, of trying to be in the emotion enough to portray the feelings, but not so much that you lose it, because that can happen too, and so I try to walk that line with ease.

Jay Franze: 41:18

I'm not going there tonight. I got too many things I could be saying right now. Miss Tiffany, I'm biting my tongue.

Jay Franze: 41:24

As a matter of fact, folks, we have reached the top of the hour, which doesn't mean we have reached the end of the show. If you've enjoyed the show, please tell a friend. And Miss Tiffany, if you have not, tell two, tell two. All right, you can also reach out to all of us all three of us one, two and three over at jayfranze. com, where we will be happy to keep this conversation going. Miss Tiffany, thank you for actually showing up tonight. I do appreciate you doing that. Miss Dani, thank you for joining us. I would like to leave the final words to you words to you.

Dani Bacon: 41:58

Thank you so much for having me. Give me a follow, give me a listen.

Jay Franze: 42:08

And hopefully we'll connect further along the road. All right, folks On that note, have a good night.

Tony Scott: 42:12

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