Speaker 1: It's called set us Fore. Another great track from Nancy Manette,
who is here with us online via teams. I think, hey, Nancy,
are you there?
Speaker 2: Hey I am, can you hear me?
Speaker 1: Excellent? Yeah, no, you sound great. Welcome to the program,
welcome back, Thank you absolutely so tell us about so.
At the top of the hour, we played Hey Little Brother,
and and it looks like that's been pretty successful for
you as a single.
Speaker 2: It has. Yeah, And you know, I know you you
talk with so many amazing artists and we're always surprised, right,
you know, we have our personal favorites are the ones
that you know, we think will land, you know, very
strongly with people, and then one that just takes off
and you kind of like wow, you know, and and
yeah it did, it did, and I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 1: So wow, you sound surprised, though, I mean, is there
is there something about the song that you didn't think
it was maybe as commercially viable as as it turned
out to be, or really.
Speaker 2: Really good question. No. I think I was just super
playful about about the song, and you know, it was
for It was for a very good friend of mine
who is ten years younger, and I call him my
little brother, and he always calls me sis, and I
just I just wrote this fun, playful song really kind
of you know, as a tribute to him. And and
you know, I mean because a lot of the other
songs that we, you know, that I write, that we've
even talked about, are heavily thematic in the sense of
like I've got something very strong and and this was
just just love and encouragement for my little bro. And uh, yeah,
I'm excited because it is for all the little brothers
out there. Yeah, you know, yeah for sure. So that's
the reason, you know, because it just was one of those,
you know, the people that that I love in my life,
I'll write songs for them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's very cool. Is this is this the most
successful single you've had thus.
Speaker 2: Far in commercial radio? Yes?
Speaker 1: Excellent?
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that and this is from the album is Paths?
And when did this come out? This is this is
your newest release, obviously.
Speaker 2: My newest release. It came out in May, okay, yeah,
and so h hey, little Brother hit the airwaves in
May and it's just been going ever since.
Speaker 1: Okay, So okay, yeah, and you've you've recorded quite a
few right now, how many albums have you recorded now?
Because it seems like a you've recorded a lot in
a relatively short span of time.
Speaker 2: You really want to know the number, like the actual
album number we're working on. I can't see your face,
so I'm getting it like yeah, nodding your head.
Speaker 1: Yes, oh, yes.
Speaker 2: We are and high gen by the way, we are
working on album number five.
Speaker 1: This is you're working on number five right now?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Oh wow?
Speaker 2: Been completed in what a span of what?
Speaker 1: Two years? Yes, that's that's great.
Speaker 2: The first the first. The first album took longer to
write because I was in the process of should I
write an album?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Should What? What would I want to Well, not even
what would I want to write about. I've pretty much
knew what I wanted to write about. But it was
more of the can I right, It was the can question?
Can I do it?
Speaker 3: Not?
Speaker 2: Can I do it? From a skill set? Can I
do it? Because I you know, can I do it?
Because I was always told I couldn't. Right, So in
twenty twenty I had to start kind of you know,
doing my own healing process of like wait, yeah, of
course I can, of course I can do that, you know,
Like wait, I was told I couldn't, and then I
listened to it, you know, So there was a lot
of that I had to get through to get that
first album written. But then which really would be probably
the first one and two and then three, four and
five have been in the last year.
Speaker 1: Okay, wow, Yeah, that's that's a lot of output in
a short time. Do you think putting out so much
music is what has led to your current chart success
with a Hey Little Brother?
Speaker 2: Oh you know, yeah, yeah, I mean, I guess I've
never thought about it that way.
Speaker 3: But.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well I will say this, just the churning of
music maybe is not the complete answer, because you know,
first of all, writing music, the more you write anything right,
the more you do anything, the better we become at it. Right.
So plenty of songs, Matt, that I've written and I've
gone you know, or or they've started one way and
I've shelfed them and I've pulled off and I've either
completely you know, cut and pasted and just moved around,
or just scrapped tons of the lyrics and I took
the theme, or sometimes I just completely start over with
a new melody. But the ideas are there, right, And
so there's that component. Then there's I have a great producer,
I really do, and he challenges me. And the one
that we're in the process right now, the number five.
There were some songs when we sat down, I've submitted everything.
We sat down and I said, okay, I'm want to
bring my thoughts and he's bringing his thoughts, and you know,
a couple of our thoughts actually aligned and.
Speaker 3: Meaning.
Speaker 2: Like one of the songs, I said, I think this
one needs to be revisited, and it was on his list, right.
And he's always pushing and always challenging and always reminding
me to do something different and expand my my, my,
even my skill set. Just keep growing, keep growing as
a musician, Nancy, keep growing as a singer, and show
growth every single thing you do and write, push yourself
further and further and further. And it's been it's yeah.
So that's a longer version probably the answer to that
question for now, for hey, little brother, because because of
all of that, and I listen, you know, I think
having the right collaboration and then being willing to listen
to what the feedback is and push and stretch and grow,
and you know, even musically, I'll do things that I've
never even tried before.
Speaker 1: And you know, yeah, well, have you worked with the
same has it been the same producer for each project?
Speaker 2: It has been?
Speaker 1: It has been Okay. Yeah, so you definitely found somebody
who you can work with who brings out the best
in you and has a lot of ideas. And that's
great too, because you know, a lot of artists they
don't want to hear a lot of artists don't want
to hear ideas necessarily, you know what I mean. They
want to go in and they know what they want
to do, and and you know, the producer doesn't always
know best necessarily. But it sounds like the person you're
working with. Who are they, by the way, what what's
their name? We should give them credit?
Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely, David Percifal with Yellow Dog Studios. Okay, and yeah,
so he's been He's been in the industry for forty
plus years. Right, He's a great, ammy winning producer, has
some very notable bands and experience under felt. And the
thing about David Percival is that he never stops pushing himself. So,
you know, the older that we get, we get we
tend to get stuck right in our style or our ways.
Or this is the way we do something, and he's
constantly experimenting. So if I you know, I mean, I'm
working with somebody who that is what he holds himself to,
of course I'm I'm going to hold myself to that.
I also, you know, I'm that's also kind of who
I am. Never in my twenties, man, I coined well,
I think it was already coined, but I heard it
somewhere and then I made it mine right, never stop
being teachable, Always be teachable. And that just meant a
lifetime of curiosity and learning and listening. And you know,
we have an agreement that that if he feels super
strongly about something, he's really just I mean, he is
going to tell me. And I don't like something that
comes across in production, I'm I'm going to tell him.
Like on the past album and people may have loved it,
I could not. I couldn't do it. In the song
that was in we had a Glockenspiel and I'm like, Dave,
it's got to come out, that's all I hear. And
he was like, Nancy, it's so fun. I'm like, it's
gonna drive me nuts. And now post production and post mastering. Right,
I'm like, now I only hear it, but nobody else
knew what was there?
Speaker 1: Oh? Interesting?
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, yeah it's funny.
Speaker 1: So now did you go onna? I saw something about
a radio tour? Did you Did you go on a
big radio tour for uh?
Speaker 2: I did? Just yes, and we're now we just spent
so much time in the studio. I had to decide, Okay,
what are what are the priorities? What what do we
need to finish? What do we are? Because you can
only go be so many places at once, right, yeah, that.
Speaker 1: Would be one exactly.
Speaker 2: I can only be in one place at one time.
And so yes, so now we're so. Yes, we did
the big radio tour, we did shows. Then we've just
been hunkered down either in my home writing or doing
things locally, doing private events and in the studio. So
now we're gearing up to get back out, you know,
to be on the road again.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And then so what's the plan long term
as far as is that us Free going to be
the next single? That I understand that correctly?
Speaker 2: Yes, it is okay thank you, which which is very anthemic, right.
So I wrote it with really specific intent and we
did drop it first in January. But I will tell you, Matt,
I dropped it on January sixth. Yeah, and I was
and I'm just going to be as raw and as
vulnerable and we're just going to let it land where
it landed. And you know, plus I talked with my therapist.
I was actually scared, really like we just did what
We just dropped what song on January sixth. That's basically
saying we don't want It's not basically it's flat out
saying we don't want what our grandparents built, and we
don't want what our parents thought they could do without
getting caught. Yeah, I'm calling my our parents' generation, not everyone, right,
not everyone very specifically. I'm making some statements and I'm
making them based upon what I've I've listened to, you know,
always remain teachable. I'm listening to what the younger generations
are saying, and they're saying, we don't want that, we
don't want we don't even want what all of you
guys went out to scrap and build and work so
hard and all the stuff you've accumulated. We don't want it.
We don't want that, we don't want war.
Speaker 1: Right, we want to get wrong. And yeah, did you
say this, because we've talked about the song before too.
Was there something too about a conversation, a specific conversation
that you had with your daughter. Am I remembering that correctly?
Speaker 2: That's what started the whole thing, was that she sat
me down and just you know, said, there's a better
way to do business, mom, There's a better way to
do life where you're not so exhausted, because right, I mean,
we were taught to do it all and we hadn't
to do it all, and we had to do it
all with energy and never sleep. And it's the work ethic.
And there's nothing wrong with the work ethic. Or my
daughter's got a fantastic work ethic. Yeah, she's an amazing
life where she actually builds in respite and she isn't
driving herself into the ground by thirty nine years old, right, Yeah,
So that's what I was doing. I was driving myself
into the ground at thirty nine, It's true. Yeah, yeah, laughy, Yeah,
I made it mad. I made it past forty. But
they said I wouldn't, right, right, I didn't shift. And
I think it's also the amount of stress and the
amount of anger and the amount of hate and she's like, Mom,
it's just we we don't want it. We don't want
a world like that anymore.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're yeah, you you write about a lot of
I mean obviously, like you said, hey, little brother is playful,
but you you write a lot about a lot of
heavy stuff. I do.
Speaker 2: I do. I'm kind of laughing because there's some things
I've not I've not to put music to. But I
just I'm rite, you know. And as soon as I
got off the phone with my daughter, I sat down
and I wrote, I actually, yeah, I wrote those lyrics.
I wrote those specifically after that conversation because I was
so moved by what she had to say. Yeah, so
came to January. I was actually pretty afraid of how
that could land. Yeah, I was. Actually I think nobody
understood what was going to happen in come January. I
don't think we still do. And we're trying to navigate.
And there was there was, you know, I mean, Matt,
you know some of my backstory. There was there was
some old patriarchal and there's nothing wrong with men, right
that this is not an anti men thing. For me,
that old model was very much what really kept me silent.
Why I had to ask myself, can I do this right?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: That's actually why, because I came from that old model
that that really held or holds a lot of people down,
a lot of people down. And so yes, of course
when that came out, it's like, oh, oh, but we're
leading off with it next month. So yeah, for long,
I was just quiet about it for a few months.
Speaker 1: Has that changed it all, by the way over the
course of because you know, like we talked about, you've
been creating a lot of music. Has your as your
approach or your priorities in terms of what you're singing about?
Has that changed it all over the course of that,
because obviously in the beginning, you know, you had a
lot to get out. At this point, are you still
trying to work all that out through the songs or
or or has as yours as your your priorities in
terms of what you sing about changed at all?
Speaker 2: So what you're saying that is, am I still singing
about loss and trauma?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well I suppose I am.
Speaker 2: Yes, Well, because that first work was really what I
what I had done is I had weaved a story
of my life. Yeah, and so that was a lot
of a lot of that was I would say every
song that was on that first work or the first two, right,
because we've got a longer work that we did not
release yet, and I would say that I had already
gone through and processed that stuff. But now I'm putting
it to music in a way that may and the
hope is that it would resonate with others that are
going through that. Right. But yes, the trauma and things
like that. So the answer to that question is I
still write from life, and I write from happy life,
and I write from difficult life, and I write from
painful life, and that that part is not going to change.
I Oh, gosh, how do I want to say that?
There are just different styles of writers?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And and sure do I want my music to be
toe tapping? I want it to be you know, drawing
in or a lot of ballads. I'm a ballad writer too, right,
And so I want those to draw people, you know.
My hope is that it draws people. But then but
then eventually the lyrics hit right, like on the the
number four I've written a song about, and they're not
coming out in that order, just so that's clear, right, Yeah,
we're not putting them so the technically the first album
has not been released, and that won't be that'll be
actually hanging out there for a while. The long one
that you and I originally talked about, Okay, the seventeen
song you know, rock Opera is right, it's a lot
to digest. And my advisors really said, they're like, just
let's let's write write albums for right now. Let's wait
to bring that out. And that's that was the best advice.
And if any artists are listening, listen to the advisors
that have been in this world forever. Yeah, just listen
to what they're saying. And so in next year a
song's going to come out. That's about one of my
best friends who lost her husband after thirty eight years
of marriage, and it's her journey over the last four
years of what she had to do to move on
and just her thought processes in song format. Right. So
when I first wrote it, it was probably eight minutes long. Yeah.
I kept writing and writing and writing. I'm like, okay,
now I have to trim, trim, trim, trim, Yeah, and
then it was still very long. It was still five minutes,
and I'm like, nope, got a trim trim trim trim trim. So,
uh yeah, I do. I write from life. I write
for my own life. I believe in therapy, I believe
in healing, and and things always come up. They always
come up. But I will say thematically I wouldn't necessarily
from my own maybe because my life is settled a
little bit. No, maybe from my own personal trauma. It's
not so heavy. But I'm still writing thematically about things
that I think about. Yeah right, yeah, things that I
see happening in the world, things that are happening to
people I know, see things that are just happening. Another
one that's coming out addresses it addresses loss that's sudden,
but it addresses It's specifically written about school shootings because
I have a nephew that was in a school that
in December had had a student shoot up a classroom.
Oh my god, it is yes, and when that touches
that close to home, my nephew is fine. But I
know staff at that school. It was where my kids
grew up, where I raised them, and it hit home
very strongly. It was, you know, the school's three doors
away from where my kids grew up, and so friends
and teachers and community members in Madison, Wisconsin. All were affected, right,
everybody has been rocked and turned upside down, and that's
just that's not it. There's not even a great way
to say it, right, it's just horrible, horrible and horrible.
But then there's lighter songs, right of course for all
the generation exers. We have one that's coming out too.
So yeah, yeah, all right, answered your question.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely, And I know too, you know,
you're right. You write a lot about, you know, advocacy
for LGBTQ plus and I think that's important too, especially
in the you know, the times we're living in.
Speaker 2: Yes, so on the one we're in the middle of
right now, I have one that very much specifically deals
with their freedoms and are Hispanic friends Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, Okay, I don't.
Speaker 2: Even know what to say. You know, I'm born and
raised in a suburb of LA and I live in Houston.
Speaker 1: And yeah, yeah, you no doubt no people or have
known people who are affected. You no doubt no ah
of people who have been affected by what's happening, or
or are worried about being affected by what's happening. Yes, yeh,
scary scary stuff, but but you know, certainly worth making
music about. You know. That's that's I mean, you know,
that's one of the best delivery systems for for for putting,
you know, trying to put a message out there and
expressing your concern about what's going on, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, Man, in my writing, I I hope
to be a bridge. So the last name Manet actually
you know it's it's the artist who bridge to generations
of art, right. I take his example from realism to Impressionism.
He taught money, and I thought about my life and
just where I've been throughout my life and the opportunities
I've been given, and where I tend to settle or
not settle as far as like I'm settling, but where
I land right, Yeah, and Pendaland is in a space
of bridging, right, bridging two schools of thought, bridging two generations.
You know, we've got the younger generation and the older generation.
Speaker 1: And it's.
Speaker 2: Hopefully like if you could see me, my hands are
all stretched out, why, bridging thoughts and ideas and helping
to cross this divide. And if anything that I write
can can even just cause pause and for people to
think even things lighter. You know, hey, little brother right.
It is a light and fun song. But if we listen,
you know, you aren't afraid to lead the way into
the unknown. That means you're daring, as a little brother
to the world, right to like venture out side of
what you were told even as a child you had
to be like, right, you're not afraid to do it,
and you're leading the way on it, and and and
so those have certain themes in it of encouragement and
stepping out of who you know, what always has been
and asking why And we're not all going to agree,
and we were never supposed to all agree, right, I
just don't think we were supposed to be positioned with,
you know, war heads at each other all the time.
I just don't think that that was the plan either, right, right.
So you know, Matt, you know how when you tune
a guitar, it takes tension, right, It takes tension to
tune a string, Yeah, to bring it into the right frequency,
to bring it into harmony. And the only way to
do that is we have to have tension. But if
we have too much tension, it snaps right enough tens
you can't even tell what it is, right.
Speaker 1: Exactly. Oh, Nancy, just froze. Whoops, Oh what her screen
is her screen is frozen? Oh no, uh yeah, well
she did mention she was having internet issues.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that has been a bit of an issue for
her today.
Speaker 1: Okay, I wonder if she's like, is she in the
city or out in the I don't know, I don't know.
It is late in the show. Oh, it's probably her
on the phone. Good good, Hey Nancy, is that you?
Speaker 3: It is power again?
Speaker 1: Oh okay, yeah. All of a sudden, it froze the screen.
I noticed the screen was frozen. I said, oh, that's
why she's not talking.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, right, Well, so I hope this is okay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, okay, Yeah, no, that's fine. Uh yeah, We're
we're getting We're gonna have to wrap up soon anyway.
But I'm glad. I'm glad you were able to call
because I do want to ask you about to finish
out the segment, we're going to play this track. Oh,
Son of Mine. This is another one of the songs
that you sent us that that I really like, and
I wanted you to tell us about this, you know,
any anything we should know about this track?
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you. Well, it was a toss up for
which one was going to radio next this one or
set us Free.
Speaker 2: So we did.
Speaker 3: We did a test market, and not because it isn't
a great track. We just had some people feedback like
the time was now right, yeah, set us Free. But
here is what well, well, it's a very personal song
to me because it was written for my son. And
my son is thirty years old now. But you know,
he at twenty two bought a house and when COVID hit,
he sold that house and moved to the Houston region
and ended up having to live off the propheeds of
what he's sold his house for. And he was really
bummed and he felt, you know, he felt like a failure.
He had trouble getting back on his feet, he had
trouble getting work again, and it's taken him a while
to dig back out. And in his discouragement, I wrote
this song and sent it to him and I said,
anytime you're feeling low, I want you to hear this.
And even some other friends of mine that were talking
about their sons and the discouragements that they were feeling,
and I said, so this is for our sons out there,
no matter no matter who you are or where they are.
Everybody that I've ever talked to their sons have gone
through you know, down cycle and they've had to pull
back up. And I my bigger and broader hope for
this song is that young sons, you know, in that
twenty somethings, you know, that teenage years, that they may
find encouragement and hope that they can keep going and
they can start again, and they can they can always rebuild,
and they can always always remember that they are loved.
Speaker 1: Excellent. No, I think that's fantastic and certainly very relatable.
So we're going to play that in a moment. One
more thing, Nancy, where should people go online to keep
up with everything that you're doing and find your music
and everything you got going on. Where's the best place
to go?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 3: Primary? Nancy, Mine m A N E T dot com. Okay,
and find me on Facebook. I am on Instagram, but
I am on Facebook more. Okay, I would say that.
So I'm on Facebook, and really follow and send me
a direct message because I respond personally and I love
to act with people. So send me a message to
my website. Send a message on Facebook. I'd love to
hear from you, absolutely, and watch the website for the
updates of a tour coming near you, guys.
Speaker 1: Oh fantastic. Oh hopefully we can see you personally. That
would be great. That would be awesome.
Speaker 3: That would be that would be I would be honored
to have you there.
Speaker 1: Thank you, definitely wonderful. All right, So we're going to
hit that track, Nancy, we will let you go. I
hope the rest of your day in terms of the
Internet is better. But technology will fail us at times.
I know the pain.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you for being flexible and gracious and as
always you two. I'm just really I'm really grateful to
be a part of your show and have you guys
on this journey with me. So thank you. Oh well,
we're being who you two you are.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you, Nancy. We appreciate that very much, and
we appreciate you and and we wish you continued success
and we'll talk soon again. And I'm sure.
Speaker 3: Absolutely I would love it. Okay, thank you guys, and
thanks again for rolling with today's internet.
Speaker 2: Oh you guys have the best, no.
Speaker 1: Worries, healthy internet, healthy Internet. That's right, all right, Nancy Manet,
thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Next time in person. There you go, guys, have a
good one
Speaker 1: YouTube, bye bye bye.