So, let me explain a little bit, my name is Katy Hurt

Rench – Katy Hurt’s in the house, Everyone – ayeee

Hahah thank you. I’m also a Country Artist, and a singer, based here in the UK. Today I’m kinda losing my voice so bare with me! I was asked to fill in for Building Our Own Nashville, so thats why I’m here talking to you guys today and I’m very excited about it.

So how’s Long Road treating you guys so far? And that’s a very big question cause there are a lot of you!!

Everyone – Good

Rissi – Great, UK fans are probably my favourite fans I’m not gonna lie. Y’all listen to songs

Everyone – Agreement – Yeah’s all round

Rissi – It’s very polite, and I know thats a stereotype but its kinda true.

Brian Farrow – You know I gotta say we just got to Long Road and it’s been excellent so far, we had a great huge crowd but its a very different crowd from the festival which we did yesterday, which was Shambala, and you said polite thats not a word to describe

Everyone – Laughter

Rench – Very different

Dan – They were polite for a bunch of hippies I guess, in their own way

Everyone – Right, right right

Brian – A Bunch of hippies, but look at the way you look right now man they’ve obviously rubbed off on you.

Katy – You look fantastic

Everyone – Laughter
(Dan happens to be wearing an open red velvet vest with a hood, no shirt and shades and looks like he’s stepped off the set of a rap music video)

Dan – This has happened in the last 24 hours I’ll admit that, I don’t normally dress like this!!

Rissi – Oh wow

Katy – Colour me Country premiered in 2020, how did covid affect that with everybody working from home and what’s it been like since?

Rissi – I’ll be honest I think it made it possible, because everybody was home. So I didn’t have to worry about schedules, I didn’t have to talk to PR people, like I literally just inboxed people, got in their DM’s, and was like “Do you wanna be on my show” and I think that that made it possible because everybody was home.

Oh my god, I mean it’s grown way bigger than I thought it would, it’s kinda like when you stick dishwashing detergent in the dishwasher, like the actual liquid, and all the bubbles come out. That’s what this has been like. Like it was just supposed to be me talking to my friends, documenting bits of history and that kinda thing, but its turned into a fund, I now have non-profit status, I’m gonna start doing some things for independent artists, like recording (that’s incredible) and that kinda thing, I just want it to be like a resource and so yeah its grown legs.

Katy – That’s incredible – How about you guys, how did you find being apart during Lockdown?

Rench – Oh man, that was tough, and we missed performing for crowds so much, so we are getting back to it with a vengeance right now and making up for lost time.

Katy – Well that crowd in there was just… I mean the tent nearly flew away.

Rench – Yeah that was fun!!

Brian – I think also, the way that we develop our music is live, so it’s great to get back to it, it’s fun to see what we were doing off the stage too, but this is how our last album started and its how we wanna start the next album.

Dan – In a similar way though, it was made possible, like it wouldn’t have been the album it is now without the isolation, like we recorded the majority of it in our own homes, we sent all the tracks in, we even wrote one of the songs, like kicking the can, tossing parts back and forth on a livestream, which we started doing for the pandemic. So a lot of this stuff, we would never have had conversations that we had…

Dolio – We even got the title of the album from the livestreams

Katy – Oh that’s very cool

Dan – One of the songs that was world premiered yesterday was from the livestream – So a lot of good things came out of it

Rench – And big props to Colour Me Country (Claps all round), that was great! We’re Linda Martell fans from quite a while

Brian – I’ve been telling people about Linda Martell for a while

Rissi – Oh yeah, no Linda like I said, she’s the patron saint of the show, and like I have a big record of hers in my office that someone gave me years ago, and then it finally all came full circle. I love that, I love that you guys know who she was thats dope.

Katy – So since all of you guys are working in a space where you’re basically opening up conversations, have you found a big difference between the way that people react to both/ all of you guys in the UK vs the US? What’s the difference?

The UK is the first place I’ve been where I have not been asked “Why Country Music” it just is. And I think it’s a small thing but I think I could say this for all of us, we don’t ever want to feel as artists that we have to explain why we’re doing the art that we do. We do it cause it moves through us (Collective – Yes/Yeah’s) I do country music cause I’m from the South, thats the end of it, and I thank everybody in the uk for just being cool with us being ourselves and being authentic.

Katy – And you guys the same?

Gangstagrass – Yes/Yeah

Brian – Somebody actually saw me and guessed I was a fiddle player today, which was like… this never happens!!

Everyone – Laughter

Brian – It was like “You play fiddle” and I was like “What, do you know me?” He said no you just got a vibe. It was crazy. So first time that’s happened

RSon – Yeah, that’s why I’m tired of people asking me why I rap, like what else am I gonna do Jesus Christ, look at me!!

I mean its just fascinating, that when you hit the UK, folks are just there to hear the music, you know what I’m saying, I know a lot of hip-hop cats that came oversees and were just doing their thing, living their lives because just on this side of the pond everybody is just a little bit more accepting of the idea of music as opposed to your musical genre.

Dolio – Well yeah cause like here they’re not really caught up on that, so when they see or hear any of us all they see is American music

Dan – That’s right, and then they come up to us and they’re like “Oh that’s wonderful, is all American Music like this?”

Collective Laughter – Yes

Katy – It’s funny cause from my perspective the questions I get most, as a UK Country Artist, is “Why Country” because I’m doing it from here.

(Rissi – Oh that’s so interesting)

So it’s really interesting to see that difference. But the main thing I’ve found of course is that the crowds here they do just wanna hear the songs, they want to sit and listen, so I’m so glad that that comes across to you guys as well.

Okay final question I guess cause we’re running out of time, but what are you guys doing for the rest of the festival? Are you sticking around to see all the rest of the acts today?

Rissi – Well know we have to stay and see

Gangstagrass! Everyone – Laughter & Cheers!!

Rench – Well then you have to get on stage with us

Rissi – Ok we can do that

Katy – Are you guys staying in the UK any longer than this or are you all headed back home?

Rissi – We have a London excursion (she sings it – the group laughs/loves it)

Gangstagrass – That was nice, thats a song right there.

Everybody mimics and sings “excursion”!!

Rissi – We’re gonna be headed down to London tomorrow, to just have a day of sight seeing, and my band who aren’t here right now they are already in London, so they’ve already started the party.

Katy – (To Gangstagrass)- You guys sticking around?

Brian – I wish! Goodness. We’ve got a Colorado show, I was gonna stick around here for a little bit, maybe check out Ireland too but, we’ve gotta get back to the states.

Dan – We get out here fairly regularly these days, we were just out here in June, we had a pretty good run, got to Glastonbury a little bit!

Katy – Ah amazing

Dan – But we’ll definitely be back

Katy – Well I think I speak on behalf of all UK country fans when I say that I really do hope you guys can all come back very very soon.

Everyone – Thanks/ Thank you

Katy – Thank you all for chatting with me today and I hope you have fun Brian – We hope you can make it over to the states sometime soon Katy – I will, yeah I’ll be there!!