Welcome to Overeducated and Underemployed. Y
'all know who it is. This week we've got my dear
friend Kelly Goddard, who is a singer -songwriter
and also just like a really fun, hilarious person
to talk to. She was in bands like the New 76ers.
She was in a band called the New 76ers, and she's
currently putting together a new record with
them. They were on hiatus, and we get into that,
but they're back in the studio. She also plays
with Elizabeth Fravel, who was on last week,
and a few months back as well. They play in a
band called the Dolce Trio. with Jillian Canning,
who I hope to have on here soon. She also teaches
at the Spirit of the Suwannee Kids Music Camp
or the Suwannee Spirit Kids Music Camp at Spirit
of the Suwannee Music Park. And so we talk about
her experiences there as well. I had a great
time talking to her. We got off the rails a few
times, so there are some edits here and there,
but she also played us three songs. I'm super
excited for y 'all to hear them. Here's my talk
with Kelly Goddard of the New 76ers and the Dolce
Trio. Check it out. She opens with a song. I
don't think it's right. Just because your skin
is white, you think it's okay to act like that.
Well, we're down to the wire. What's it gonna
be? without it. Because we're down to... How's
it going? It's going good. I'm here with Kelly
Goddard. She's been in a lot of different bands
over the years. A couple of ones that come to
mind are the New 76ers. Her current band that
I've seen quite a few times is the Dolce Trio,
but she also does a lot of solo stuff too. That's
right. Welcome to Overeducated and Underemployed,
Kelly. Thank you. I'm really glad to be here.
Do you want to talk about that song for a minute
before we kind of dive into the rest of it? Yeah.
It's probably self -explanatory, but I'm a public
servant. I've worked for the state for 22 years
or 21 .8 years, something like that. So it was
really bothersome to me whenever Elon Musk was
over Doge and just was like coming in and just
tearing things up, basically just butchering.
What I thought was the civil service. And I have
friends who work for USDA that lost their jobs.
Lots of people affected. So that's where that
song came from. Yeah. It's really interesting
when they cut all of the stuff that actually
works in government and keep the shit that doesn't.
Yeah. Before I get into kind of my... Typical
starting point. I'm wondering how nervous you
are sometimes as a state employee speaking out
like that in your music. Does that ever make
you nervous? I mean, it didn't. It didn't used
to. I don't think it should. I'm still going
to do it. It feels actually more important than
ever to do it. I'm not in a union because...
whatever class I'm in as like a state employee,
like we can't be in a union, but I support it.
I support the hell out of it because we don't,
workers don't get that much choice. And if, I
don't know if anybody's looked at the state job
employment, like posting lately, but it's not
like you're making billions of dollars. We're
talking like they still have salaries for $29
,000 a year. Yeah, that's crazy. That required
degrees. And what are you going to do with that?
That's poverty level. It really is, and it would
qualify for welfare. And one of the first jobs
that I didn't take but was offered was actually
trying to root out welfare fraud, okay? But that
job paid so little that I would have qualified
for welfare. And I'm sitting there thinking,
am I going to investigate myself? Or like your
brother or sister? It was just not a job I was
ever going to do. But I didn't even know what
the job was when I went in for the interview.
But I did help start a labor union in graduate
school. That's cool. That is still running. So
I also am a big union supporter. More into...
Yeah, we just kicked... I just jumped in. He
kicked our ass with that song, so I had to just
see what couple thoughts I had about it. Especially
someone that works for the government. Yeah,
it's a scary time. But I'm going to back up all
the way to the very beginning. And I'm going
to ask you the same question I ask everybody
when I have them on here to begin with. And that's,
what's the first song? That you remember loving
as a kid? I've been working on the railroad.
Okay. All the live long day. All right. Just
to pass the time away. Actually. It's funny.
I've had a few people like give me that type
of answer. And then they're like pop music answer.
But some people like skip over that kind of song
entirely. Which is, to be honest, I think like.
The first time somebody told me their nursery
rhyme type favorite song, I was like, that's
not really what I mean. And then I was like,
actually, that's the perfect answer. But then
several other people have not even considered
that. And I'm like, do you even like nursery
rhymes? They might not have had, but I have this
vivid memory. My grandma, she was a singer. And
this was the 80s, so we had the little portable
tape machines that you could just re -record.
You could get blank tapes and just record whatever
you wanted. And she had a ton of them. And so
there was one of me that I had for years. I have
no idea where it is. But it was me at four singing
that song. And it was amazing. It was on key
and everything? Maybe. You said it was amazing.
It was cool to hear my four -year -old self.
I think I was probably 12 or 13. When you found
it? Yeah, I listened back and I was like, aw,
that was cute. So then the follow -up, what's
the first pop song? And by pop song, I just mean
commercially released song. Do you remember really
attaching to or being inquisitive about? Probably
the whole Thriller album. Yeah. Was like... I
remember, like, being on the back porch of my
house, like, 9, 10 years old or something, and
having that record on and making up dance moves
and stuff with my friends. So, yeah, I think
that was it, probably. One that I really loved.
The whole record, all of it. Yeah, yeah. That
record is great. I got to ask, some people...
Won't listen to Michael Jackson anymore. Do you
still listen to Michael? I do. Hell yeah, me
too. It's like music for me, I don't, I can't.
It's less about the artist and more about the
memory at that point. Sure, yeah. Those are such
treasured memories. I'm just like, I... You mean
I can't do this again? Sorry, I never did that.
I just, I feel like when somebody contributes
something to our culture that... has such an
impact and is so important and musically like
great, like thriller. Right. And first of all,
like nothing's ever been proved about Michael
Jackson anyway. But what I will say is that let's
assume that all of our worst fears are true.
Are we really going to let him also take the
only good thing, like the good things that he
contributed to society? Yeah. It's a weird thing
for me to be like, and then there's also like,
harry schiffer who's not my favorite comic but
this joke i love because he's just every great
artist and we're talking like genius level we're
just fucking crazy just like bat shit insane
and i'm not even going to get into the bit but
it's funny because it's so true yeah i think
so i mean van gogh cut off his ear and shit i
mean it's like artistic genius has typically
not come with the most stable personality right
there's they usually have some sort of vice that
is like What the fuck, dude? And I don't know.
I think it's weird. I think it's weird to want
to go see someone live who's had a bunch of allegations
or something like that. I think that's where
I draw the line. But to stop listening to their
music or to burn their records or throw them
away, I feel like that's... yeah wasteful and
i guess it depends too on the artist and yeah
what that artist meant to me meatloaf i'm good
like i don't it's okay so you're saying like
the allegations can be really bad if the record
was really good no i'm saying if if i didn't
like the artist or have like memories that were
attached to the that music then it wouldn't matter
to me. It's really easy for people like me to
boycott the NFL because I don't care about football
at all. Same. When did you realize that you just
really loved music as a kid? Because I think
that comes pretty early for most people. Yeah,
I was probably three or four. Definitely. I loved
the nursery rhymes. I read them to my kids when
they were growing up. I love folk songs. We used
to have a little... I was a plastic record player.
Like the Fisher -Price thing? Yeah, exactly.
With 45s, the little ones. And we had a bunch
of Disney records. And there's this one guy who
was always the male voice of the Disney record.
But it'd be all these great songs like Yankee
Doodle Dandy and I've Been Working on the Railroad.
What else? Yeah, so I think I listened to music
a lot when I was younger. When did you realize
that you didn't want to just listen to it and
you wanted to start making it? Was there like
a moment? Yeah. When I saw the Barbara Mandrell
show when I was little, like I'm dating myself
big time, but I was like... Your band name does
that. It was the three, it was like the three
sisters and one was a guitar player and singer
and she had the best 80s flyback hair. And then
her two sisters played like fiddle and something
else, maybe saxophone. And then the other was,
they were killer. They were so cool. And I was
like, I want to do that. That looks fun. But
never, I never wanted to like maybe get. To that
level. When was the first time you picked up
an instrument? As opposed to just banging on
pots and pans. Well, I played piano a little
bit when I was in high school. And never really
clicked with my teacher. So I gave that up. I've
never met a normal piano teacher. I'm just kidding.
One of our mutual friends is a piano teacher,
so I'm just talking shit. She ain't normal. I'm
just kidding. To be fair, she's been on the podcast,
and our listeners know she ain't that normal.
She's my energy twin. We're talking about Therese
Wichello. We love her. Who has previously been
on the podcast, so y 'all have been exposed to
her wonderful quirkiness. Yes. But yeah, she's
actually the one that got me back into playing
piano. Therese. Yeah. We're skipping way ahead
there, but I want to get there. But yeah, I was
25 when I started, or maybe my first gig was
on my 25th birthday. So I think I made like $10.
If you started loving music at such a young age,
what do you attribute to the gap there? Self
-confidence, for sure. I was also really shy.
to put myself out there I was always very chatty
don't get me wrong like I'll talk your ear off
but to put myself out there as a kid I was like
I don't want to do that so I think that was the
main thing yeah so were you ever into were you
ever on like debate club or you ever do any kind
of public speaking or anything like that but
now you even do that as like part of your Day
job quite a bit. Yeah, sometimes not as much
with my position now, but I've had jobs where
I worked at Mission San Luis and I was one of
the interpreters and educators. So I got to talk
to a lot of people and that definitely helped
like me just open up and be like, oh, cool. I
can meet lovely people if I just say hi. So you're
25. Yeah. And. What was the turning point for
you? You're like, I'm going to pick up. Yeah,
so I went to FSU, of course, because I'm Tallahassee
Lassie. And I studied art history, and my time
period was Italian Renaissance. I was really
fortunate and took out a student loan to go study
in Florence. Oh, cool. I did some study abroad
in Rome for just 10 days, but it was great. It's
so cool. It's so cool. When I was over there,
I would go see live music. I don't know. I was
away from this place that I had been my whole
life. I'm discovering new things. I was talking
in a new language. And I think I was like, I
could do that if I went home. I also had friends
that were getting married and I was going to
write them a song and perform it at their wedding.
I don't really know how that all came about,
but it was around that time. And I was like,
okay, that song, the song is, it was sweet, but.
A little cringy, maybe. So cringe. So cringe.
I only said that because you were literally cringing
when thinking about it. It was the thought. I
think one thing that's been talked about on this
podcast quite a bit is you just got to do the
thing. Yeah. Because the more you do the thing.
like the better it's going to get. And like the
first time you do the thing, it's probably not
going to be great. That's true. But you're only
going to get better by doing the thing. That's
right. That's right. Yeah, that's the truth.
So you're in Italy. Were you like there for a
semester? Did you start learning an instrument
there or did you decide when you came back? Yeah,
I came back, graduated. I started going up to
the warehouse for open mic nights, and I was
like, what? This is so cool. Sorry. For some
reason, I thought your mic was off. Is my mic
on? No, it's on. Okay. Yeah, so I just started
going up to open mic nights and seeing the music
that was happening there. Was this at the warehouse?
Yep, exactly. And I got up my friend Jeff Callahan.
Jeff with a G. He was hosting it at the time.
This was before Doc, but just before. And he
and I had started playing, like I was singing
and he would play guitar. And so I went up there
with him and that's how it all started. I just
got up my nerve one night to like sing. But I
didn't play at the time. I was still learning.
And so like meeting Jeff, he played bluegrass.
And he would like on his porch on Thursdays,
he and two buddies would get together and just
drink natural lights and play a bunch of songs.
And that's literally how I learned to play guitar.
I would just go hang with them on Thursdays.
Nice. Drink way too many shitty beers. Yeah.
That's the thing about Natty Light is like you
can drink way too many of them, but it's not
because you get like too drunk. That's because
you're trying to. Exactly. Like, how many more
of these crappy things? Yeah. When did you form
your first band? Let's see. Probably sometime
around 2001. Okay. Yeah. I think it was probably,
it was Blue Moon. Was it before 9 -11 or after
9 -11? It was... Good question. Don't know. I
think before. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Probably started
playing. I just feel like that's such a good
turning point. Yeah. That everybody remembers
where they were or whatever. So it's like that
kind of. Yeah. But I think maybe 2000, 2001 approximately.
It was called Blue Moon. Blue Moon. And we played
really only one place except for all the benefits
in town. And that was Posey's. Okay, yeah, yeah.
And it's gone. That was fun. We would play there.
Were you playing covers mostly at that point?
Yeah, mostly covers. A few originals. I had a
few. We put out a CD, and it was, I think, mostly
originals. For our younger listeners, CDs are
compact discs. Like a circular piece of plastic
that's shiny on one side. They're going to come
back. Don't worry. Because at some point, the
streaming platforms are going to be like, oh.
It's already starting to happen. So just go ahead
and get those CDs, kids. CD sales are coming
back, actually, right now as we speak. I called
it. Yeah. Like right this second. Physical media
in general is coming back. Just I think, like.
house concerts and things where people can be
like more communal that stuff's coming back too
because people are just like they're too alone
they don't want to be alone anymore yeah but
then you go out for an hour and then you're like
maybe alone isn't so bad As a teenager, what
did you, what were you listening to? What were
you, what was, like, what was, what were your...
Oh, my God. I was so, like, basically all the,
like, 80s, 90s R &B. Okay. Like, I was really
into, even before that, I was really into, like,
oldies. Because that's what my parents on Saturday,
they would have, like, friends over. Yeah. Temptations.
The Commodores. Four Tops. The Beatles, but the
Beach Boys. Yeah. My dad was like, more Beach
Boys versus Beatles. That was like a real rivalry
for a while there. He never was like, fuck the
Beatles, but he was just like, he didn't have
a lot of their music. And I don't know if it
was so much with their fans, but they were in
competition. Brian Wilson and the Beatles, they
were in competition with each other. I think
Beach Boys heard Sgt. Pepper, and that's what
inspired Smile. There's a really great movie.
Or Pet Sounds, I think is what they were. Yeah.
There's a really great movie. I think it's called
Into the Canyon. Maybe. I'm not sure. But it's
about that whole scene in Laurel Canyon in California.
Oh, cool. I'll check that out. I love the John.
They referenced that, actually. And it wasn't
as much as a rival that I remember it being more
like, holy shit, Brian Wilson wrote a song based
on this song. And they were amazed by it. But
I don't know. I think it was a friendly rivalry.
But they were definitely trying to outdo each
other. Yeah, because they were both pushing the
limits. Yeah. I love that biopic about the Beach
Boys with Paul Dono and John Cusack, where Paul
Dono plays young Brian Wilson and John Cusack
plays older Brian Wilson. I know the one, but
I haven't seen it. I know which one you're talking
about. Oh, it's so good. We should watch it sometime.
It's one of my... I get really snobby. We should
watch it and podcast it, and then we can do that
thing. MST3K it? Yeah, I don't know. It's so
good. It would be really hard. It would just
be us being mean to Brian Wilson for two hours.
Rest in peace. Yeah, but I did get to see the
Beach Boys with Brian Wilson. Whoa, that's pretty
cool. It was cool. I never saw the Beach Boys.
They had some younger guys backing them up to
fill in the gaps. What year was that? 2010 2011
it was like it was around it was like after smile
got completed and released and he got like freed
of his conservatorship and yeah yeah so it was
pretty late but not like the last few years of
his life either it was it was like after he got
Saved and rescued from his crazy manager. And
that's what that movie is all about. Wow. I'll
have to watch it. It's really good. Elizabeth
Banks is fantastic in it. Is Cusack, is he the
manager? No, Cusack is Brian Wilson, but old
Brian Wilson. And Paul Dono is young Brian Wilson.
Gotcha. And it cuts between the 60s and the 2000s.
Wow. It's so good. And I get really snobby about
music biopics sometimes, but I love that one.
That one's really good. I'm trying to remember
the name of it. I'll look it up. Yeah, it's whatever.
We're going to watch it and podcast it. Great.
It's great. And what did you say? MTXL? MST3.
Mystery Science Theater 3000. MST3K. I don't
know about the... We'll definitely watch it.
The rest is to be determined. You can't even
say it. We're not doing it. You mentioned briefly
just a few minutes ago, it sounds like you never
really wanted to be a famous musician. You were
like, I didn't want to be that. Yeah, not on
television. I really like the camaraderie of
playing music with other people. And I've done
meditation and been in the same room. with other
people also meditating and it felt like just
a little bit more. Like the whole experience
gets lifted because everybody is like working
towards like. So do you like playing live or
recording more? Live. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And
yeah, for sure. And I love playing for kids.
It's so fun. Let's talk about the kids music
camp for a minute. Yeah. Because we just had
an episode about that. Awesome. That's right.
And I think I'm actually going to put this one
out immediately after that. Cool. Just because
you've been an instructor there as well, but
I knew we were going to be sitting down for a
long talk, so we didn't talk there. But little
did you know, Kelly was off camera the whole
time. And right there. Those are my rabbit ears.
I'm just kidding. How did you get involved with
that? Through Elizabeth Fravel. Yeah, she invited...
Jillian and I, Jillian Canning, to go. We all
play in a trio, the Dolce Trio, together, and
she has been an instructor there for, I think,
16 years. 16 years is what she said, yeah. I
was just editing the episode last night, so it's
fresh. And we, I say we, the New 76ers, which
is my other trio, had played there probably 15
years ago. It was a long time ago. And we just
never went back. I think my daughter was probably
five at the time. She's awesome, but she was
a lot to wrangle as a five -year -old. No, we
started talking about Israel, so we just had
to skip right over that. So your daughter was
a lot to wrangle. Yeah, so we just never got
really involved when she was young, but she's
older now, and so is my son. He's going to be
13 in January. He doesn't like to go with me
either to kids camp. It's hot. It's hot. Yeah,
it is hot. I've been, and I love it, but it's
also, they give you all the weekends. No one
really wants. Yeah. Let's be real. I was going
to put it a little bit more diplomatically, but
that's fine. I was going to put it at the most
cost -effective weekend. They put you all on
the most cost -effective weekends. Yep. But they
give us three a year, which is awesome. Yeah,
yeah. And I've been there when it's super cold,
too. It's not always super hot. Yeah. I've had
to put a space heater in my tent before. I've
been lucky, and I get to stay as an instructor
in one of the houses. And the cabins are also
super available during the camp. That's right.
It's great. If anybody out there listening has
kids ages like 4 to, I don't know, 17, that is
just to play. 6 to 16, but close enough. Okay,
yeah. So you don't have to have any experience,
really. They can just come, and it's so fun.
And you've been teaching there for? Like a year
and a half. This will be my second full year.
Yeah. And everybody else I talk to has been doing
it a super long time. So just as somebody who's
coming into it new, what's your experience been
like? Like family. Like just going to family.
And you knew a lot of the people involved already.
Yeah, I did. And like some of my friends who...
we're going just every once in a while are like
now they're like we're committed we're gonna
go every time so that's really cool but some
of the people I didn't know and I've made great
friends that are now like in Valdosta or Jacksonville
and to me it's like we can all just be kind and
play music together it doesn't matter where we
live or work or what we think or whatever Yeah.
Yeah. It's just about the music and the kids.
And then at the end of the weekend, we have this
concert and they get to perform and they feel
like awesome. Yeah. Yeah. We talked a lot about
that, too. Yeah. So I want to go back to the
New 76ers for a minute because that band has
been around off and on for 20 years. Yeah. But
the first question I got to ask you, Kelly, why
do you hate drummers so much? Actually, that's
so funny that you say that. Because we used to
have a rule that we would not play after a band
with a drummer. It was like, sorry, we can't.
The vibe is going to just sink. It's going to
go. It's not worth it. I don't know. I don't
know why. We've played with Rio a couple times.
He's played with us. I don't know. I think it's
just easy as a three -piece. What I'm commenting
on is the fact that none of her bands that I'm
aware of have a drummer. Yeah, I didn't think
about that. I did have one band that had a drummer,
and that was awesome. It was called The Windfall,
and it was me and Danny and Scott Campbell and
Coleman Mackey on bass, and then... Shit. Dave
Kelsey on drums. Oh, Dave. I've known Dave a
long time. Yeah. Yeah, his dad was one of my
professors. Oh, sweet. And then his band, God,
what was this? There was this band that I absolutely
loved of his. Was it like the punk grass, like
bluegrass? Yeah, what was the name of that? It
was like Send Demons or? Me and the Devil. Me
and the Devil. Yeah, that band fucking ruled.
They were cool. That band fucking ruled. And
I remember Dave broke his arm one time. And played
in a cast, one -armed. It was fucking awesome.
I'm sure I remember. Dave is a badass. He's so
cool. I miss Dave. So I feel like we figured
it out. Once you worked with Dave Kelsey, you
were just like, I've peaked on drummers. There's
nowhere to go but down. But also... You play
primarily acoustic music. Yeah, and a lot of
vocal -driven. And so just using, I guess...
that to drive the song rather than the beat and
sometimes too i don't want to be like it's one
more person but it's one more person we have
this microphone that we use and it's great for
acoustics but if we added a drummer in there
it'd be like what the fuck and to be fair it
only works great like in certain like situations
sure and for all the folks out there who love
drums next week i'll be talking to exclusively
drummers I'll be at a drumming competition. We'll
make up for all the drum trash talking that we
do. I'm not against drummers. I'm pro drums.
I love drums. I don't know. I'm starting to rumor
that you hate drummers. No, I'm learning how
to play the Irish drum right now. The modern.
Yeah. All right. Sweet. Who's teaching you how
to do that? YouTube. Oh, okay. I ask because
it sounded like something Seep would teach. Oh,
maybe. Patty. Patty League. Do you know him?
He teaches at FSU. He would, he knows how to
play. I could probably get some lessons from
him. He'd probably tell me, he'd say, well, you
just go on YouTube. Yeah. Yeah. Don't waste my
time. Exactly. I have a lot to do. So when did
you, you start, I want to back up a little bit
actually, because I realized I missed a gap here.
Okay. You go to Italy. You decide, I'm going
to come back and start going to these open mics.
And then all of a sudden, you're in a band and
you're writing original songs. When did you first
start writing songs? Was it because you were
in a band? Or did you start writing songs before
you started performing? Yes. I mean, it was the
worst song ever. I'm not even going to try and
replicate it. But when I was in fifth grade,
me and my best friend came up with this song.
Everybody's first song is the worst song ever.
You don't have to qualify. Because my dad had
a guitar, and I was like, oh, look, I can play.
And she was like, let's make a song. And it was
like. I thought you said you weren't going to
try. I did say that. I lied. But we played it
for the whole music class because I had a great
music teacher. And that was, I think, probably
why I stopped writing. So you wrote that one
song and then you stopped writing? Yeah, I really
didn't write much after that. And when did you
start writing songs on a regular basis? Like
23, 24. So you were writing songs but too scared
to play them out and then you went to Italy.
No, I went to Italy first. You went to Italy
first. Okay, I'm sorry. For some reason, I thought
you said you were 25 when you went to Italy.
I think you said you were 25 when you formed
your... Played my first gig. First gig, okay.
At Clyde's and Costello's. So you had been writing
songs, though, before you played your first gig.
Did you play any of those songs your first gig,
or did you only play covers? I don't remember.
The reason I'm asking is like... It should be
memorable. I do remember that Danny was there,
and I was like, aw. He likes me. No, he doesn't.
Because he had a girlfriend, but I was like,
oh, he's... Anyway, sorry. No, I think that's
important because he's been a big part of your
musical life. Yeah, sure. And your creative life,
as well as your life. I think it's... Do you
remember... Did you and Danny just first connect
over music? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. I met him
at the warehouse, also open mic. And he had a
band, at the time it was called Tanglewood, and
they later changed it to Stillwood because they
got sued by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. They're
like, you can't use the name Tanglewood anywhere.
So they were like, okay, fine, but we're Stillwood.
Oh. I remember Stillwood. Yeah. That's a funny
origin to the name. I just recently had a band.
Two members of a band called The Arcs on who
Dan Auerbach's latest group is now called The
Arcs. And they like worked it all out and everything
was cool. So fuck the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Yeah. I'm just saying. There's ways to work it
out and everybody's okay. There really is. Just
don't come play in Boston. Come on. They won't
even serve two beers at a time. How many Mel's
Diners have there been? How many Mel's have opened
diners? All over the place. Monks got sued. There
was this place called Monks and they got sued.
What? Yeah, and they had to change to Wells Brothers
because there's a Monks in Chicago. Yeah, anyway.
We're getting off track. No, here's the thing,
though. The common theme on this podcast. Today,
I was diagnosed. I was told after I'd taken the
test, I was confirmed that I have ADHD. And I
was like, thank fuck I do. But now I know. Well,
welcome to the club, Kelly. Hell yeah. Try to
keep me on track. We all find each other, whether
we've been diagnosed or not. It's true. And I
believe fully that we are all on some spectrum.
Whether you're over here or... I just think we
all are. Humanity is a spectrum. Yeah, exactly.
So don't be a dick. We just went off for 10 minutes.
No, but I think it's actually important because
a common theme among almost every interview that
I've had on here is that corporate greed is usually...
the thing to blame for all of the bullshit. Yeah.
And you, especially the bullshit when it comes
to arts, but like all of it really pretty much
every industry that you can think of has been
created so that somebody can get rich literally.
And that's capitalism, but like late stage capitalism
is a bitch. Yeah. But I, I, I wonder I, this
is not like a politics podcast, but When I speak
to somebody whose music is very political, we're
going to talk about it a little bit, right? It's
not like I try to hide my views, and I certainly
wouldn't be platforming people that are hateful
or anything like that. My question is, how over
the last 20 years from when you started in the
scene of music, how important is having shared
views become? when it comes to collaborating
with musicians because I imagine 20 years ago
it was probably a lot easier to collaborate with
people that that didn't agree with you on politically
yeah even if you were doing political music right
yeah I don't know I think just like in general
personally I try to avoid people that I'm just
like there's just a level where I'm like I can't
Excuse that. I'm sorry. I won't be a jerk about
it. It's cool. I probably wouldn't work with
them either way. I've never been put in that
situation. Actually, that's not true. In my job.
In my day job. That's a little different. It's
not a creative endeavor. I think it's important
to be able to work with people you don't. see
eye to eye with in those types of situations.
And you might work at a club where the owner
is not whatever, but when it comes to collaborating
musically, maybe not. I don't know what club
you're talking about. There's a specific one.
I don't play there. Name names. I don't give
a fuck. The Jam. Or the House of Music. Oh, House
of Music? Yeah, I don't agree with the politics.
It's a beautiful room. It could be more, but...
Yeah, no, I mean, it's... I've never seen a memorable
show there. Yeah. I'll leave it at that. I can
think of one, but it was Catherine's memorial.
Or, like, her last show. That was the only one.
Sure, yeah. Her memorial was at the Legion, but...
That's right. Yeah, but she was still... There
was, like, a fundraiser for her. Oh, I see. Before
she passed. I somehow did not... And that was
the last... Was not aware of that. Anyway. And
we've talked about Catherine a lot on this podcast
before, too. So Elizabeth has talked about her
and the folk opera and everything that's come
in. But she was a big part of your musical life.
I'm going to try and reconstruct where we are
so far and get back on track. Because we do keep,
we are, this is squirrels chasing squirrels here.
And it's not just you. Don't worry. Okay, cool.
Yeah, I know. I'm like, what? I'm just kidding.
So you're writing songs, but you're not playing
them. And then you play your first show at 25.
And Danny's there. He comes to support. When
do y 'all form a band? Do y 'all start dating
before you form a band? Or do you form a band
before you start dating? Yes, we started dating.
Okay. And then he joined the band, basically.
And he joined? He joined Blue Moon. Okay, okay.
Yeah. We were all friends, though. Like, we all
hung out at the warehouse on the open mic night
and knew each other and would pick on the porch,
that kind of thing. But that was, yeah, when
we started dating, that's when he joined. Gotcha.
Yep. And then my brother joined after that. And
then you kicked everybody else out? No, actually,
what happened was... Because New 76ers, as it
stands now, is your brother, you, and Danny.
Yep, and it was from that, like when Blue Moon
basically lost our gig at Posey's because it
got washed away. You had like a residency type
thing there? It was like once a month or something.
Like we didn't, we really didn't play out. We
just play on the porch and we play at Posey's.
That's it. They fed us and they let us drink
for free. For four hours. We have a four -hour
time slot. Can I get one of those, too? Oh, thank
you. Yeah, so Blue Moon, we stopped playing at
Posey's because of Hurricane Dennis came through,
and it took out a lot. It took out that whole
restaurant. That was a long time ago. It was,
yeah. And so Blue Moon stops playing. You formed
the New 76ers. Yeah. And how many records has
the New 76ers put out over the years? So we have...
Two full length and then two or three EPs. And
then we've been on some other compilations and
supported Grant Peoples on some of his stuff.
So do you remember some of the songs that you
were playing back in that time period? Do you
want to play one? Yeah, I still play them still.
Not all the time, but yeah. Let's hear one. Okay.
Do you want to talk about it first a little bit?
Sure. I'll talk about it. It's called To Be Young.
And I wrote it in an elevator. And then I was
like, I better write this down before it's gone.
It's called To Be Young. And it's just at the
time, I didn't feel very young. I had young children.
And I was like always, I'm still always tired.
But I was really tired then. And so it was just
kind of like daydreaming about. You know, youth
well spent, I think. So here it goes. To be young.
Oh, to be young. There's too much going on. I'm
just breezing by. Time's never cut short. I can't
watch it fly. Oh, watch it fly. Then I'll say
goodbye. to be Hell yeah. So, first question
I have about that song. It seems like it might
mean more to you now than when you wrote it.
Maybe you relate to it more now. Yeah, maybe.
I don't know. I sing it different this time.
It was a little bit slower. A little bit slower,
so whenever I play slower or sing a little slower,
I can get into the notes more. I got you. But
that's one of my favorite songs I've ever written,
for sure. It captures just that period in time
that is really sweet and special. But also, it's
life. It's just, yeah. And if it's going to fuck
you up, I'm not going to let it bring me down
forever. You've got to get back up. I think overall,
that is an overarching... Theme in my songs is
hope and love. What keeps you hopeful? The kids.
All the kids. Even when you see their noses buried
in their phones. Are you worried? Yeah. What
they might see? There's some crazy shit out there.
I feel like our youth has been hijacked by billionaires.
They're all slaves to their devices. Yeah. And
we are too, but they always have been. They don't
know. They don't know any different. A life without
an iPhone. My son does not know a life without
an iPhone. And we're both in this age period
where we remember before the internet, but we
also are young enough to where the internet wasn't
this new fandangled thing that we didn't understand.
We were very online too. That's true. What have
you seen change in the music industry online
other than like the obvious stuff that we've
all seen? What have you seen like as an artist,
as an artist that's more on the local level,
right? And I'm thinking about things like when
back in the day, Facebook, it was like free advertising
for people like you and me. Yes, still is. But
like less users. They hide it. They hide that
stuff unless you pay for ads. Yeah. So, like,
I'm sure you've probably noticed, like, a large
dip in response to things like events. Yep, that's
true. Over the last five years. Yeah. And the
days of, like, free advertising on Facebook are
really over. We remember a time without the internet.
Yeah. Like, we used to go out and play. All damn
day. Yeah, even, like, when we weren't kids.
I would ride my bike as an adult, even. And it's
like slowly, it's like I can look back and it's
like slowly chipped away at all of these things
and they've commodified everything, right? You
can't just do any, even hobbies are commodified
now, right? It's true. Everything. And it's,
this all started with. I asked you what keeps
you hopeful, and then you're like the kids, and
I'm like, no! They're not okay! There's nothing
to be hopeful there! No, but that's not true,
though. No, I agree. But it's not their fault.
No, I'm not saying that the kids don't have a
lot of... Listen, we all got a lot of work to
do to try and make things right. Yeah. Because
I think there's that quote. I love it so much.
It's not Toni Morrison. Oh, my God. I don't know
if it's her name. I know why I cage bird things.
You know what I'm talking about? Fuck. Anyway,
the quote is, do the best you can until you know
better. And when you know better, do better.
And I have that quote on my desk and I love it
because it's like, you can't, you're not really
responsible for the shit you get taught. But
once you are taught or shown a way that is okay,
like we don't hate, everybody can agree on that.
Even Christians, even Christian nationalists.
Wait, no, sorry. Their main leader just said
that they can't hate their enemies. Sorry. Just
kidding. Okay, but most Christians agree you
shouldn't hate other people. I think that any
Christian that's not a socialist isn't a real
Christian, so I'll just leave it at that. That's
the thing, right? It's like taking responsibility,
and I was taught that. I was taught that, and
it's weird now because I have family that reinforce
those ideas, and we see so differently in terms
of how things should go. Or like who's okay to
belong. But most of the time that I find, and
this is why people are like, oh, you should surround
yourself with people that disagree with you and
not isolate yourself. And I agree with that.
But the limit for me is when you have people
making bad faith arguments. And that has become
the norm. They don't have to be idiots. They
can disagree, but they don't have to be like,
cause. And that's the thing is it comes down
to misinformation. Now more, pretty much every
single time. It's just like the misinformation
is what's driving their narrative. Yeah. And
I do worry about that on my side too. Sometimes
I'm like, did I get the whole story? Do I actually
know? The Democrats have been like. Democrats,
they're not just as guilty as the right, because
they will still try to use minorities and struggling
people as pawns by fighting for their rights
instead of trying to take them away. Still just
using them as pawns. They don't actually, because
the only way to actually fix the problems in
America are to disrupt the interests of capital.
And Democrats won't do that. Yeah, but people
can grow food. Even gardening is commodified.
Everything was owned by some corporation at some
point. Don't get me wrong. There's ways to avoid
that. It's a lot of work that most people aren't
willing to put in. And then that's the thing.
So what then? If nobody is willing to put the
work in, then what happens? What happens to the...
Organization. Do we deserve to be saved? My family's
going to love this. The climate that we're in
right now makes it really hard for us to not
talk about some of these things. But I'm also
like, I really want to talk about you and your
experiences. Okay. Let's get back to that, though.
Let's get to that. But I also understand that's
not really separable for you. Yeah. I wish it
was. And that's why I'm like, I'm saying this
to bring it all back together. To be like. Yeah.
As much as you can't not talk about it. What
I do is I go write it. And I think you can too.
Yeah. Because you go write a song. Yeah. I go
write a joke. Yeah. But I think. What I guess
I'm getting at is. The way I see. All of this
has played out is. The corporatization of America
and the kids are the worst victims of it. 100%.
I 100 % agree. And that's where I find it really
hard to be hopeful for them. And not of any fault
of their own. Partially our fault, right? Like
we gave them iPads at whatever age and all that
shit. But here's the thing. Here's the beautiful
thing that I do know about the human brain. It
is always open. It's resilient and it's open
to changing. You can literally train your brain
how to learn guitar at 25. But you have to want
to. You have to want to. You have to want to.
You have to want all those things. It's work.
It's like work. And I think that kind of can
bring us to our exit ramp on the politics. We're
dealing with the most incompetent fascists ever.
And they can get all these little bullshit cultural
victories here and there. And it like gives blood
to their base ever. But they're still not improving
the material conditions of anybody in this country.
No. And so eventually... In fact, they're taking
a lot of it. They're making it worse for everybody,
including their base. Because let's be honest,
who doesn't love a fucking shopping spree? Like,
who doesn't? It's so fun! I love going to the
doctor and it being free. They're not improving
the material conditions of anyone in this country.
No, definitely not. And eventually, like... Someone's
going to be. I don't even mean eventually. It's
already happening. It's coming to a head. When
did you start writing political songs? Probably
as soon as early. It's pretty much right around
the time. I think the most political song or
the earliest one that I wrote was What the Wind
Said. It's off of the new 76ers CD called Super
Highway. It's our first release. I wrote that
while working out at Mission San Luis. And it
was during Bush W., during his term. But each,
like, when there's a line that was like, they
rule by fear, put him back in his chair, like
no one sees and no one really cares. And so that
was a line for... And then when Trump came in
the first time, I rewrote that line to say, they
rule by fear and put a wig in that chair because
of his grandiose toupee. And I haven't rewrote
it this time, but that was the first one that
I wrote. And I love it. It's like one that still
speaks to me. It's very much about just. decimating
the earth. And it's, I had a friend who worked
with me at the time. His name was rabbit. And
he was given that name from a Cherokee chief.
This guy was, this was like in a native American
ceremony was gifted. This name rabbit told me
he was like, listen to the wind. That's like
the birds and the wind and the trees is it will
talk to you. If you like, listen to it, it carries
like messages on the wind. And I always loved
that idea. So what the wind said is what I wrote
about. So the Tennessee River runs through Florence,
Alabama and Muscle Shoals and that whole area.
And the Native Americans there said that the
river would sing. Always writing political songs,
I think. Do you? When you put out a record, do
you have goals of it blowing up or getting popular?
Or are you just putting it out there? Yeah. At
this point in my life, I am. But at one point,
do you think you were? Maybe. I think when I
was younger. Did you tour? No. Never. Only once.
Yeah. We only toured once. Let's talk about that.
But I had a two -year -old at home and a ten
-year -old. And my mom was stuck with them for
a week. And she was like, you're never doing
this again. And I was like, you're right. It
sucks, man. We didn't have a fucking tour bus
with a driver or a chef. The tour bus I can get
behind. The chef seems a little... Bougie? I'm
not even sure Jason Isbell has a chef on tour
with him. Dude, maybe not because he has a bus
with probably a full kitchen and shit. Maybe
he can cook on there. I don't know. But it was
just a week and it was like, I had to stay in
the room with my brother and my, he's my husband
now, but he loves when I call him that too. Especially
on podcasts. At what point did you start? branching
out from the new 76ers into other bands and because
because that band has been off and on for a long
time whether you and danny were together or not
yeah yeah so at what point did you start branching
out because that was kind of your main vehicle
for a long time for yeah most of the 20 years
or i would say 17 years that i was like in fully
married in a relationship And we toured. I say
we toured. We did tour. We would go like on little
trips like to St. Augustine or like Panama City
for the weekend or like St. Pete, Tampa, that
area, mostly in Florida. But. I guess it was
around 2020. It was like basically when we separated
and I was like, I don't want to play music with
you right now. We need some time away from each
other. And I know he felt the same way. Is that
when the Dolce Trio formed? Yeah, yeah. Elizabeth
and Jillian and I just got together on the porch
just to hang out. And we had never played music
together, but I had wanted to play music with
somebody. Somebody new. I was like, looking for
new people, new friends, or I'd known them for
a long time. We never, like, connected like that.
And when we sat down on the porch, we would,
after a beer or a glass of wine or something,
and just take turns doing songs. And we just,
it was like, it was therapy. It was, like, comradeship,
sisterhood. We all three have daughters about
the same age. So, yeah, it's been lovely. Do
you all have plans to record, or are you recording
now? We are not recording now, but I'm currently
working on a solo project that I started last
August with Gatorbone Records down in Keystone
Heights. And the new 76ers are going back Tuesday
and Thursday of next week to... cut more vocals
on our third full length record. Cool. Yeah.
Can we talk, and we can wrap things up here,
but can we talk a little bit about what it was
like and how the dynamics have changed from when
you took that hiatus and you took some time off,
you and Danny playing together and how the dynamics
have changed, how, and musically more than anything,
right? Like in the songwriting, I would assume
that they're not the same as they were when y
'all were married. but maybe they are but the
collaboration the yeah and then also just like
how like why was that even like a priority necessarily
i feel like a lot of people what was the priority
getting like getting back together as a band
because i feel like a lot of people would be
like, oh, the marriage is over, so is the band.
Yeah, probably. And so can you just talk a little
bit about what went into all that and the decisions
to put out a new record and everything? Yeah,
okay. Any relationship goes. There's seasons,
right? And so when we made the decision to separate
and definitely divorce, I... It's always been
really important to both of us to remain as amicable
as we can. And there's deep love there and respect,
primarily. And I don't think he wanted to either
do anything to like... Burn bridges. Yes, make
it so we can't be around our kids together. It
was important that... And we had really good
examples, actually. His mom and stepdad split
up, but... remained cohesive and so that was
always like an option for me it was like we could
do that and for a long time I didn't think I
could but recently I'm I like invited his girlfriend
and her kids over and like we were all hanging
out and it was like this beautiful that my kids
were happy with and her kids were happy with.
Is that how the band started to get back together?
No, not really. This is more recent. Sorry, I'll
check. But the band never really wanted it to
go away. That was always something. I guess I
didn't want to get too far down this road of
resentment or anger or whatever that we couldn't
go back to a musical place. Gotcha. Because that,
I don't know what it is, but we all three of
us agree it's something really special and sacred
to the three of us. Yeah, yeah. That I think
we will just always be linked in that way. I
think that is the main thing is like none of
us really want that to go away. At some point
it will. At some point. Yeah, everything does.
Yeah. So now it's just a little bit different.
There's not quite as much collaboration. Like
we would write songs together, Danny and I. Yeah.
But we don't do that as much now. It's more like
you'll come in with an idea and you might add
things to each other's songs. Exactly. But you're
not sitting down and writing a song together.
Yeah. Do you have a song that you're going to
put on the new record you'd like to close us
out with? Yeah, I do. All right, cool. It's been
awesome talking to you, Kelly. Thanks for being
here. Thank you for indulging me in all my neural
pathway diversions. Yeah, that it's natural.
Take us out, Kelly. All right, so this song is,
as I said, like one of the... Some of the biggest
themes I have are hope and love in my music,
and this one is all about love and how I believe
it will, like, help us just see a little bit,
like, tomorrow be a little more rosy. question
you're too scared to ask yourself see i've been
running scared I believe it. Thanks, man. That
was my conversation with Kelly Goddard. I think
we had just an awesome time. I hope you enjoyed
listening to it. I hope you enjoyed her songs.
Next week, I'm going to Pyramid Studios for their
Grooves for Good drumming competition. I'm talking
to... organizers at Pyramid Studios. It's a nonprofit
that helps developmentally disabled people create
art that they can then sell as an alternate to
a traditional line of work. So it's a really
cool organization. They had a drumming competition.
I spoke to several of the contestants, several
of the organizers. It's a really cool episode.
I'm looking forward to y 'all hearing it. In
a couple of weeks, we got... Taylor Hollingsworth
on the show. I spoke to him last night right
before his show at the Blue Tavern. And we had
a great conversation. I've also got Matthew Dudley,
the tattoo artist, visual artist, coming on.
Old friend of mine coming on the show. We had
a great talk as well. I've been recording a lot
of episodes for you guys. So you got a lot coming
your way. And then I've got... Still a lot of
really cool interviews coming later this fall
as well. So hit that subscribe button. Make sure
you check out our YouTube channel. If you're
not watching it this season, you're able to.
That's all I can say. Thanks for tuning in, y
'all.