Love, Music, And A Town That Shows Up

Two lives intersect over paint cans, songs, and a mountain skyline—and suddenly a vacation town becomes the place you can’t imagine leaving. We sit down with Jeanie Grindstaff to follow a winding road from Tuscaloosa to Belmont, through Nashville studios and the TV set of Nashville, into the bright, real world of Black Mountain where love, worship, and neighbors turn ordinary days into a lifeline.

Jeanie opens up about the highs of singing on CMA stages, the craft she learned behind the curtain, and the humility of building a makeshift studio during Covid to keep creating. Then the story turns intimate: a long journey with endometriosis leads to a miracle pregnancy, and her son arrives with salt-wasting congenital adrenal hyperplasia, a rare adrenal insufficiency that reshapes the family’s routines and priorities. What sounds clinical becomes tangible—meds on ice, careful timing, and a new alertness to risk. That’s when community steps forward. During Helene, neighbors share generators and freezer space, haul water, and run groceries without being asked, revealing a town that treats care like a verb.

There’s laughter here, too: thirty Dollies and thirty Kennys marching in the Black Mountain Christmas parade, a previous year’s hula skirts defiantly off-theme, and the daily ritual of stopping on a downtown corner to spin in place and say, we get to live here. Between church volunteers coordinating beds for families and quiet creatives editing films next door, the mountains become more than scenery—they’re an invitation to show up for each other. Jeanie’s full-circle homecoming reminds us that place matters, that art is a practice, and that neighbors can carry you farther than you think.

If this story moved you, tap follow, share it with a friend who loves small-town magic, and leave a review to help more listeners find our mountain community.

Transcript

Meeting Genie And Shared Roots

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Genie Grindstaff. I am so glad you're here today. Thank you for having. Thank you for coming. You and I have a history that we didn't really know about until we met. Which is kind of weird, but gave me a candle. A certain kind of candle.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

But I know about. You gave me a special candle for my birthday. Actually, that was really sweet of you because you didn't know. You didn't have to give me a gift. Well, you invited me to a party. Your mom invited me to a party. Your mom did. Who is this awesome person that's here? That lives downstairs in the basement. Hit it off. Yeah. I know that lives downstairs in the basement. That's right. Are you there still?

SPEAKER_01 0:35

I moved upstairs. Oh, okay. You can no longer rent upstairs because I do.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

That's kind of awesome, actually. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

It's very awesome. It has windows. I'm really excited about it. That's amazing. You can see outside. I can see outside. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Yeah. You're downstairs with your dog. How many dogs?

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Just one.

unknown 0:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Just one. All right. So my first question is what's your story? Where are you from?

SPEAKER_00 0:55

I am from Tuscaloose, Alabama.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Oh my.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

I know. Roll tide. Roll tide, y'all. I went to Belmont for school, which was a lot of fun. Makes sense. It was a lot of fun. Studied music and writing and then ended up working in Nashville, off and on as sort of a session musician, doing that kind of thing. But I was always in Montreat. Like every single summer of my life, we were here. I was coming because my great-grandmother had a house in Montreat that was passed down to my grandparents, that was passed down to my parents. And so we would, you know, come stay for a month, then I'd go to a different camp. And it was just heaven. Like I have so many memories just growing up, walking through, you know, on these streets, looking through the trees and the sun's coming down and just praying and having these moments with God and going, so grateful for this. And then going back to Alabama and missing it. And so my parents are here half the year now. But what's weird is this was vacation. So I never expected to be here going, all right, home, sweet home. So what happened was I met a guy.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Yeah. Boys. Boys. It's always the boys.

From Alabama To Nashville

SPEAKER_00 2:02

It's just unreal what it does. It just changes everything. I met a guy, but it's funny because my parents actually knew him before I did. Oh fuck. They had hired Grindstaff Painting to paint my great-grandmother's house. I still call it my great-grandmother's house, even though that's theirs. Yeah. And so they this house is like over, it's like 1905. So it's super old. And it needed some work. And so they hired this guy and they kept coming to Alabama, you know, saying, We have the sweetest guy working for us. He's just awesome. His name's Daniel. At some point I was like, Mom, like, no, I I was going through a breakup and I was trying to figure my life out. And anyway, finally I go back for a summer and he's like, Do you want to go out? Do you want to? You know, he calls me and he's like, Would you like to go on a date? Harley knows this guy. He's like, Would you like to go on a date? Well, yeah. That he's like a cowboy. I actually called my sister and said, This cowboy with this low voice just called me. What do I do? And I went and we just hit it off. And so we're in Asheville, downtown, going on a date. We went to what was that place? Zombras. And uh anyway, it it was really, really it was easy. And after that, we just got married and had a baby. Well, there you go. That's the short version. Okay. I like it though. So now you live here. So now I live here. And it's actually been really cool. Like, this was always a retirement, retiree community. You know, it was like a lot of people come here and they retire and they live and they do their thing. And it was just, I didn't know a whole lot of people who were having babies and you know, younger families. I say younger, I was an older mom when I had my baby, but I don't know. It was just, it's grown a lot. And so now we've got this whole community that we've prayed for. And Black Mountain has just it's it's amazing. I we have this church group, you know, we're a part of that swan to know a church church. Swan to know a Christian church. Okay. And I we love it. And we've prayed hard for it. So very, very grateful. But I still go to that house in Montreal all the time, like to grab something when my parents are gone or check on the house, or we're over there when they're in town. And it's just so weird. I'm like, I'm gonna go home now, five minutes away down the street, you know. But it's a godsend. So my my grandfather would be so happy that I married a guy from this area and you know, at some point attended the church that George Beverly Shea attended, and now lead worship at a church in Black Mountain. He would be so proud because this was this was his favorite place. But pretty crazy life.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Crazy, crazy.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Crazy.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

So you're part of your church, obviously. Now wait a minute, I gotta go back.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

You said you also went to a different camp in the summertime.

Summers In Montreat

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yeah. I went to Camp DeSoto. Where's that? You might know about it. High atop Lookout Mountain Minton, Alabama. Look out, take me back. I want to go back. It is a hundred-year reunion we just had. Like, it is seriously home, sweet home. I miss it so much. Well, that's cool. I haven't been back in years, except for that reunion, but I still feel like I'm gonna work there again, like go back and ask for another job because you worked there. Yeah. I was a counselor, I was a camper.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Yeah. So I only I went for four summers, so I got the ring. Got the ring, got the ring, still have the ring. Never got the jacket. I don't.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Okay. I needed a replacement ring.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Well, mine was in storage and then Helene took it down the road. Oh, I'm so sorry. It's okay. It's okay. It's just we'll get you a new ring.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

It's just stuff. It is exactly stuff. It doesn't replace the memories.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

That's right. It was pretty awesome. But um yes, no, camped soto. And you were a chick saw, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:33

Yes, which is actually now we have to say chickadee.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Chickadee.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

They've changed them, yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Oh. Is that politically correct? Or just say chick it's very PC. Wow. Okay. Well, there we go. But you and I can say we can say I'm still saying I'm a little chick. Yes. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Way down in Sony Dixie Land.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

That's right.

unknown 5:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

It's none of these people know about Camp Soto. Until that fly, we were in the same tribe at a camp, but it never went together. That's right. We just found this out recently that we have these memories at the same camp in Alabama. And anyway, it's funny. It's it's just funny.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

But yeah, we did not go at the same time because you were like an infant when I was there, pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Anyway. So the reason I met your mom in the first place, do you have any idea why? No.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

I forget. Maybe cheese straws. Of course you did. Cheese straws. Do you know I'm the reason that she is forced to make cheese straws, cheese straws all the time?

SPEAKER_01 6:31

No.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

I suggested her for an auction because I was on this auction committee in Montreal. With my mom. Which was a blast. Yes. Wait, who's your mom? Jacqueline Clark. Of course it is. Of course it is. Which I hear about all the time. My mom is her biggest fan.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

I know. That's how I met your mom, and then how I met you.

The Painter Named Daniel

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Yes. Anyway. Okay. It all makes sense. Cheese straws. This all makes sense. Yeah. So cheese straws. So I suggested Mary Ford for the cheese straws because I'm they're like my advice. They're incredible. And so she had to do this class. And then after that, it was like, you know, people wanted more. It's a thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

My mom now makes her cheese straws. That's amazing. And my mom was in the class. That she was. I remember that. That funny. That anyway. That's how I met your mom. That should be a movie or TV show, TV series. How I met your mom. Let's do it. Cheese straw. It could just be called cheese straws. Yeah. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Sorry, Peter. Someday I'm gonna have a podcast and you're gonna co-host some of it with me. We're gonna we're gonna just go there. And we're gonna we should call it cheese straws. When we say they're cheese straws, like you're not buy cheese straws, you can get cheese straws from different friends and stuff. Christmas. These are like a they're a it's a special experience. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

I don't know how to either they know I don't know how to explain it, but they're amazing.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Well, she's gonna be very happy that we talked about her.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Well good. Maybe she'll share our podcast with others. There we go. That would be great. Anyway, okay, so you have a little man that lives in your house who unfortunately is just so unattractive. He's just a poor thing. He's adorable.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

I love him so much. I'm just kidding. He's he's thank you. Actually, I dropped him off this morning dressed like a little man because it's the 100 100th day of school. And I finally ordered a costume. You dropped your little man off at school.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

That's cute.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

And it was actually really cute. And I'm so glad I finally got to do that because you see friends posting about all their kids dressed as old people when they're toddlers. Yes. And he looked great.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Well, he was like Kenny Rogers this summer. He was.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

We had the parade. Yeah. I still think we should have brought that home, y'all. We we just, I mean, I feel like when you get that many dollies, I know on a and kin's flow. Kenny.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

And Kenny's. Not kin's. Sorry, that's a different thing.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

I mean, no, but uh, it was the Kenny's. It was just so so let's tell everybody there's a Christmas parade. So there's a Christmas parade every year. And it is the Black Mountain Christmas Parade. And I have watched this from the side. Finally, I'm a part of a group that wants to really get in there and and just have that float and decorate and dress up, and they don't mess around, they deliver. And this year we did Kenny Rogers and Deli Pardon. So you had like 30 dollies and 30 kennies or something like that. It was amazing. It was crazy. I was very proud of us.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

And you and you placed.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

And we did place. We placed third, I think, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yes, I think so. But out of 170? Yeah. I get competitive. Out of 91 different people, different groups. Was it what did that? You guys came in third. Yes. That was the largest parade we've ever had. Wow. That's amazing. It was an hour and a half long. Good floats. Like I wonder. Yeah, there were good floats. There were some that I was kind of disappointed they didn't place. Yeah. I'm thinking we're going to do it a little differently next year. But anyway, there were some that didn't place. Roll with that. Because I know that you have helped judge judge in the past, which I'm not holding. That was before I worked for the chamber. As the director, I'm in charge of the events. Like I'm being sure that they happen. I have subcommittees and committees and committees, and it's like a Presbyterian church. I mean, they've got the committee thing covered. But I'm basically I just make sure it happens. Yeah. That's really all there's to it. But if it weren't for the volunteers, then we wouldn't it wouldn't happen, I assure you. I believe that actually. Can't pull things off like that.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

It was, it was very impressive.

Settling In Black Mountain

SPEAKER_01 10:43

I was blown away. It was fun. It was really fun. I can't, I can't wait to actually jump in there next year.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

You know, the best one we did was last year. Not really, it wasn't the best. This year was the best, but last year was special because we did not, as a church body, somehow read the memo that the theme was Winter Wonderland. And we showed up with this incredible float playing, you know, hip hop. And all of us were dressed in hula skirts because our Hawaiian theme. So you've got us like in our Hawaiian gear going through the streets, and everybody else is all winter wonderland out, and you just gotta laugh. You know, like of course, of course. But I was proud. I was still very proud of us. Yeah, yeah. But next year, we'll see, we'll see what happens next year. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Reading is fundamental. You should probably read the directions.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

We should do that.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

But you know, we should doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

You had a good time, and that's really all blast. Yeah. I had my dog in that parade. Carried the dog. There you go. Yeah. Any hill in a hula skirt?

SPEAKER_01 11:45

No. Okay, good. That would have been amazing. It would have been fun. Should have added that. It probably would have won. Yeah. Anyway. All right. So the we skipped a whole bunch. Like you were born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and then you married a boy and moved here. And there's probably some distance, but differ there's some time between those two distances.

Camp DeSoto Connections

SPEAKER_00 12:02

There is, there's time between. So I worked in Nashville, did some session musician stuff. I've always been a songwriter, always been a pianist and a singer, and loved that. And um so I would work on other people's projects, you know, and that was a lot of fun. And then Heartbreak, man, I was like, I'm moving to California, I'm getting out of here. And I did not met Daniel. But right before that, I was fortunate because I had great distractions throughout the heartbreak, and I was able to work on the show Nashville with ABC full time, which is crazy because that's kind of rare. I was a stand-in and double for Hayden Panetier and Claire Bowen. And so, and really like a lot of the cast, but those were the main actresses that I worked with. And it was so much fun. It was, I was just a sponge. It was a great distraction. I was there every day. I didn't know what time of the day it was most of the time because we were like, you know, set life's just you're in it. And uh so that was a gift. That incredible people still keep up with a lot of them, and then ended up working through that with the CMAs. So CMA Country Christmas, the CMA Awards, I would get to sing background vocals for Reba and Dolly and not Dolly. We did a Dolly tribute, I should say, but um, you know, Alan Jackson and George Strait and Martina and a bunch of different people carry. It was just a lot of country music. And that really lifted my spirits. I remember the 50th Annual CMA Awards and standing on stage and watching like Reba collect herself behind the curtain. And funny, she's such a per like, she's such a perfect musician, you know, like she doesn't make mistakes in that day. She actually got a little, I don't know if she got distracted or what, and she kind of missed her cue and uh called it out and just like a pro, like just kept going. You can watch it. It's it was really incredible to watch. But CMA Country Christmas was always fun because it's like, you know, you get Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith and all these incredible Christian artists, people I grew up listening to. And I'm like, this is such a godsend, like to be up on the stage, you know, singing. And we would do studio work with the CMAs. So Sherry Gibson and Steve Gibson are incredible, dear people. And I loved them and missed them. And they would just reach out and and we we were fortunate to do that. That's cool. Several years, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

So was that your last thing you did before you moved here?

SPEAKER_00 14:33

So that was around COVID.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Oh, great.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

I was working in my yeah, created like a pseudo studio in my closet and actually like did some engineering for them, which was I was very proud. I had a little few film conversations and somehow managed to work that out. But COVID was crazy, you know, everything just shut down. I got pregnant. I just got pregnant during COVID. Like, surprise, surprise, here we are. Social distancing was not your gift. It, you know, apparently. Well, what's weird is I love people, but I also love, you know, like me time. I love having like my me and my brain, we're okay. Like, I'm so trying to be creative all the time that I don't get bored. I don't, you know, I'm always creative, creating, always thinking about things, always writing music, always, I don't know. It's it's a constant, it's a constant crazy town in there, that brain. So I don't know. I was just busy working with music, trying to teach myself stuff during COVID when it comes to production and things like that. Still learning. I forgot most of it to be honest. I need to take a class, yeah. But um COVID was crazy. So I got pregnant, had a baby. Our child was really a miracle because I didn't think I would be able to have a child that had endometriosis, stage four, and had surgery and medicine, all these things. And so it was a total gift. He's born, he actually has our son, he's four and a half now. You would never know it seeing him, but he has an adrenal insufficiency called classic salt. Well, it's not we say classic, but it's salt wasting congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Okay. Say that a thousand times.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Yeah, exactly. You have probably.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

I actually have. And it, you know, it's funny, you don't hear about these things. And so when they tell you, oh, your child has this, you're like, you're nodding in all your hormones, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it is, it's like one in 15,000 kids. Wow. So it's pretty rare. And uh national, what is it? National Rare Disease Day. When is that? Is at the end of this month. I think it's the 28th or something like that. So I'm gonna have to, you know, post about it, trying to raise awareness for CAH because a lot of kids, you know, there are a lot of kids who have it, and adrenal insufficiencies in general are tough on kids and and and adults, but I've been very grateful. We have a cool community online and through the CARES Foundation and CARES Foundation, Magic Foundation are amazing. So yeah.

Cheese Straws Origin Story

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah. So here's here's here's the thing. You've you have a child who has a rare disease. That sounds like a weird thing for me to say that, but that's what it is. That's what it is. That's what it is. And you have a community of people who have reached out for you to you. I know that your neighborhood really helped with. I've heard this. If this isn't true, tell me. Your neighborhood helped out during Helene with keeping his medications cold.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Yes, yes. And that's what I've heard.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

How do you know that? That's things. I know things.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

I know things. Oh my gosh, you know stuff.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Um, but I mean, that's so that's where I'm headed is I want you to talk about your community and why you live here.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Yes, it's Daniel, but no, it's not Daniel. Y'all could live in any other town and he could come here and work.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

That's true. That is true. What we love is exactly what you're talking about because Helene was just a perfect representation of incredible people coming together in the midst of total chaos. And our neighbors, we would trek through our neighbor's yard into another neighbor's backyard, break, like go through their gate, kind of hop their fence, basically, you know. And we're going in their backyard, they're not even home. Their dogs are there that are like the size of horses. And you're just like, hey, hey, I'm just coming in. It's no big deal. Just chill. We're good. They're sweet dogs, but I'm like, you are huge. And we're coming in, and we've got, well, we've got a child who needs at the time medicine on ice, who takes medicine four times a day to survive, you know, and no electricity, no power, no, you know, service and all these things that we are used to having. And we've got a dog at the time who had bladder cancer, who is on this strict diet and all this medicine that we like blend every day and all this stuff. So it was amazing because a friend had a generator before we got ours, and she, she and her husband, they said, Jay and Cassie are incredible. They were like, come on over, put it in our freezer, put it in our fridge, do the thing. And then we had other neighbors buy groceries while they were out of town before they got back into town. Cause I kind of they weren't here during the crazy of it all, but then they got back and brought us stuff. So I mean, it was just amazing. It was truly incredible. And then Daniel going around, like, you know, getting water out of people's basements. And I mean, everybody came together. And I think that is when I realized how precious it is to have neighbors that you can truly count on. And you have to make an effort, you know what I mean? Like you could stay in your house all the time and not really venture out and meet the people around you. But we've made an effort to do that, and everybody else has, and we've gotten to know the people on our street, and they're just they're amazing, they're incredible people, and I've been blown away by how selfless they all are. So yeah, that was a huge gift and very revealing. And I think too, you know, just seeing the whole community come together, like looking at the churches down the street. We were call I'm talking to people from a church I don't go to, working with a group, you know, trying to get beds to families that don't have it and things like that. And they're just it's just word of mouth, and people are just stepping up and they're just spreading the word of who needs help. And I was just, I was truly blown away by all of it.

Mom Life And School Traditions

SPEAKER_01 20:32

But I hope we remember is what that felt like. I think that sometimes we start to forget what that's like and we argue over dumb little tiny nothing things. A hundred percent. And then yeah, I'm like, well, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, back up. Yep. Do you remember? Do you remember what it felt like? And why are we arguing over this, whatever this thing is? So I hope we remember it, but the truth is it was there before the storm and we just didn't realize it.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

It's sad that it takes events like that to reveal that vulnerability in in human nature and to see, I mean, we that is what draws us closer, though, together. But and we need not that we need, you know, Helene was awful, but I'm grateful to see that. But you're right. It's always, it was always there. And sometimes it's just walk over and bring some brownies to your neighbor, you know. Just go talk to your neighbor. You don't even have to bring them anything. Just go talk to them. That's the Alabama I mean. I'm like straws, y'all. Get chased straws. Hey, Mary Ford. I am my mother's daughter. Yes, you are. Yeah. There you go. But uh I, you know, what's what's crazy too is we've got such creative people around us. And they keep it a secret. Nobody talks about their stuff, the stuff they're doing. And I'm like, so you're okay, you're a producer, you're working on this film, and you're down the you're down the street from us, you know, you're working on a show for Hulu. Didn't know that. You know, we've got a soap opera star used to live right behind our house. We've got pastors and incredible writers and, you know, just this incredible creative community that kind of, you know, people stick to themselves until they don't. And then they meet me and I'm like, tell me about your entire life.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Tell me what's your story, where you're from.

Building A Parade Of Dollies And Kennys

SPEAKER_00 22:23

That's my line. I use it all the time. I love that. I will say the weather here. One thing that I don't that's been hard. I don't know if you can hear it. My voice is coming and going. It is crazy. I mean, I have asthma and stuff, but like I moved here as a singer. There's a lot happening in these woods. And you just kind of get used to it and you embrace it. I know it's not all about Daniel, but he's pretty great. So I'm going to talk about him a little bit more. He knows all the trees. He's out in the woods all the time. That's his happy place. And so between the two of us, he kind of negates my it's so cold or whatever, and why can I not breathe? I do think though driving downtown, I don't know how many times you've done this. You're driving and you just look up and you see these mountains around you. It is the most beautiful sight. It is just peace, and you've got the town there in front. It's like Dickens. It's like Dickens downtown. It's just incredible.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

That's funny. So every morning I go for a walk in town with my friend. And every morning when we come around the corner at the drip later, we'll come around that corner and we look up and we stop and we do this whole it's every single day. It's not, it's a joke, but it's not. It's how we start our day and we say we get to live here. And then we do a twirl in the middle of the street and look at all the mountains, and we're like, we get to live here. And that's what we that's how we start our that's how we start our day.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

There you go. If I see you guys twirling on the street, it's almost every single morning. And almost every morning.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Wonderful, as you should. But it's true. I mean, I every time I come around that corner, I just go, I get to live here. I get to live here. I mean, it's just beautiful. It's a dream. It really is absolutely beautiful. And I'm not an observant person. I'm the girl who would walk by and not notice giant mountains around me. So sometimes I really think maybe that's what he did for me was made me open my eyes and go look at where you are. And that's absolutely become a thing. But but yes, it is a beautiful place to live. It's a great place just to visit, which is what we did growing up. We were visitors. We weren't, we were definitely those people. I grew up on the weekends, not in the summer. Okay. So all the summer people I didn't know. And then they didn't know me because I was here on the weekends. Did you do clubs? No. It's a really sad thing to say. My dad was in clubs and my children were in clubs. But dad and mom, we they worked on the house all winter so that they could rent it in the summer. So we were never here in the summer. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Yeah. So So you just missed the clubs, but lived by curious.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Did I do that? Someday I'm gonna sign up for clubs and figure out how to get through that. I really want to.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

It's not strange at all. They'll be like, come on, just you can you can be a star in that parade. Sure. Of course I can. The July parade. I was a star when I was six. I was a literal star. Oh, okay. Yeah. There were pictures. It was quite a sight. Wow. All of us in our cutout stars. There you go. We felt cool, but collabs have just made you feel cool. I know.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

I know. My children grew up wanting to be directors of the clubs. I was there like when they grew up, directors, they wanted to be like the counselors. That's what they really wanted to be. And I was like, that's not a real, like permanent lifetime job, but I didn't I didn't crush their spirit. It was kind of their thing.

Music Career And The Show Nashville

SPEAKER_00 25:42

So well, I was doing clubs, but I was also, I wasn't doing clubs as often as some. Right. I was doing the conferences as well, the music conference. Right. So our church from Tuscaloosa would come and I would stay with my parents at or, you know, my grandparents at the time. All of us were there at the house. And so I would bring my friends and we loved our classes and we were all in, all in, you know, the music stuff. But we might have skipped out on lunch to go to our house. That's right. And eat and hang out. And, you know, and there are so many memories of like putting a trash bag over your body and sticking, you know, putting your whole, putting a hole with your face through it in the rain and just like running in trash bags through Montreat. And you see a bear and you're like, oh, it's a bear. Look at that. You know, and it's just so many memories of being a Montreat outlaw with all my friends outlawed in between our Presbyterian classes. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. Very cool. We didn't wreak havoc.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

We we were singing most of the time, but there was there's very little havoc. Rot.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Rot. I think that's a word. Have you done I do this thing where I write down a word of the day? Today's word is rot. Okay. Well, good.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

You don't have to use it. Okay, good. Because I'm not sure you do it again. Anyway.

unknown 26:58

Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

Well, uh, thank you for coming today. Thank you. I'm excited to get to know more about you. There were things I didn't know, so that was fun. But anything you want to add? Anything I forgot to ask you?

SPEAKER_00 27:09

I just think you're awesome. I think this is great. And I think God reveals things to us in his own time. And what a gift to be able to live in a place that was so special to me growing up, but that I now call home. You know, it's just, it's incredible. It's so full circle. That is.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

That's a cool picture. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Yeah. So you never know.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Never know. Never say never either.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Never say never. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

Thank you very much. I appreciate you coming in. Thanks for joining us on Exploring the Valley. Until next time, keep celebrating the pride of our community and discovering the magic of the mountains. In the meantime, you're free to move about the valley.