-[ Singing ]
Good morning, sun, hey, hey
00:00
Do you need another mule skin
00:05
-[ Singing ]
Take a sip from your soul
00:14
On a metaphysical milkshake
00:17
-I'm a huge fan of your music,
00:21
and I'm a huge fan
of your Sirius "Apron Strings"
00:24
Outlaw Country radio show.
-Yes.
00:28
-Now, you've played the
Grand Ole Opry how many times?
00:30
-Like, 400 or something?
00:33
How does --
how does that happen?
00:37
-Uh, I was in town
a lot when people canceled.
00:38
-[ Southern accent ]
You talk funny.
00:42
-If you could go anywhere,
where would you want to go?
00:46
-I think I would like
to go to Cuba.
00:48
I'd really like to go to Cuba.
00:50
That's magic, Rainn.
You are magic.
00:56
-Your story, I read
about a little bit
00:59
and seen in some interviews.
01:01
You grew up
with crazy backwoods parents.
01:02
-Yes, yes.
-Take us through that.
01:06
-My dad ran moonshine
with the mafia,
01:08
and my mother
was a hillbilly singer.
01:10
Now, she was a serious singer
and musician,
01:12
and she played quite a bit
when she was young.
01:14
-What did she sound like
when she was singing?
01:16
-She sounded like the pain
01:18
of Appalachian women
all coming through your voice.
01:19
Like Hazel Dickens.
-What would she sing?
01:22
-[ Singing ]
You were mine for just a while
01:25
Now you're putting on a style
01:29
[ Normal voice ]
Like, real country.
01:31
-Wow, that's gorgeous.
01:32
-[ Singing ]
And you never once looked back
01:33
At your home across the track
01:35
That's so good.
I got goose pimples.
01:40
How do you write a song?
-A line pops in my head.
01:42
Like "El Camino."
Like, I just immediately was,
01:45
"I know this guy,
he's all wrong for me,"
01:47
and I wrote the first line
was the first line.
01:51
And the second line
was the second line.
01:54
So, I wrote it exactly
in that order.
01:55
Yeah, that's when it's easy.
But it's not always that easy.
01:57
Sometimes it's a lot harder.
-I know this guy,
01:59
he's all wrong for me.
02:02
Country music
seems to be often
02:03
about people, especially
women, overcoming obstacles.
02:05
-Yes.
-What are some obstacles
02:10
you've had to get over
in your life?
02:11
-Big, hairy, in-my-way men.
02:13
No, I would just say, probably,
02:17
what a lot of women go through,
02:19
and then maybe
a Southern blonde woman,
02:20
which is just
being underestimated.
02:23
-Mm.
-And being perceived
02:26
that you don't have
anything going on in the cortex.
02:29
-So, but in a way,
it can be an advantage,
02:34
because you sneak
in from behind.
02:37
-Now, you've said that you had
a crazy religious upbringing.
02:38
-Yeah, sort of accidentally.
02:42
I don't think
my parents really intended it.
02:44
I think they just thought
it was a really cheap babysitter
02:46
to send me to the church
to hang out.
02:49
-Like, for the weekends,
you would hang out
02:51
at the Pentecostal church,
or all day Sunday?
02:53
Because they had
a big country gospel band
02:56
that would play for,
like, two or three hours.
02:58
That was the best part
was just rocking out,
03:00
country gospel band.
03:02
Like, Southern gospel
for like two or three hours.
03:03
And so, I always say there was
like a fried cloud
03:06
of chicken smoke
hanging over the neighborhood,
03:08
and then they'd like,
say some scripture real fast,
03:10
and people would freak out.
03:12
And speaking in tongues.
-Speak in tongues?
03:14
And so, you had parents
that were actively breaking
03:16
the law and they
were kind of musicians
03:19
and hanging out
in the honky-tonk bars,
03:21
but then you were
spending Sundays
03:23
in a Pentecostal church.
-Right.
03:25
Learning that
they were going to hell,
03:27
and boy, I sure
was gonna miss 'em
03:29
when they weren't around.
03:31
-And what is
your spiritual life today,
03:33
or your religious life?
03:35
-I'm in
an information-gathering phase.
03:37
I don't know what I think yet.
-I think we should all be
03:40
in kind of
an information-gathering phase.
03:42
-Yeah, always
and forever, right?
03:44
-And what have you done
as you've gone on this path
03:45
of kind of spiritual,
personal discovery,
03:49
looking for some spiritual
connection in your life?
03:52
-I think I've just tried
to read and gather information
03:55
and learn about
"What is Buddhism?
03:58
Like, what does
that really mean?
04:00
What are the core
principles of that?"
04:02
And how -- how is Islam
different from Judaism?
04:03
Obviously it's very different.
Like, how and why?
04:07
I mean, I think people
are vastly undereducated
04:09
about it when we know
there's contention there,
04:11
but I don't know --
completely understand
04:13
And I think a whole lot
of people don't understand,
04:16
even the people
in the throes of it
04:18
don't understand
the depth of why.
04:19
-Do you believe in a God
or a higher power?
04:20
-There's a lot of random things
going on, obviously,
04:23
but there also seems to be
a bit of a symphony
04:26
at the same time, with nature,
and can that really be random?
04:29
-Life's big questions.
Lightning round.
04:33
Would you want to know
the exact moment
04:36
when you're going to die?
-Yes.
04:38
-If you could be fluent
in any language right now,
04:40
which one would you choose?
04:42
-Because they're saying stuff.
I'd like to know what it is.
04:44
-Can men and women
really just be friends?
04:50
-Yes.
-What do you fear most in life?
04:52
-Not knowing
what's gonna happen.
04:55
-Is your accent real?
-Yes.
04:57
-Wrong answer. It's put on.
04:58
You're actually from Ohio.
05:01
Define success
in 10 words or less.
05:02
-Happiness. Good clothes.
05:04
-That's three altogether.
Happiness, good clothes?
05:08
-Happiness, good clothes,
saline swimming pool,
05:10
exotic cat, cactus.
05:13
-That's like
you wrote a poem just then.
05:16
That's like a haiku.
05:18
-It all means something,
you know?
05:18
-What's one thing that
people don't know about you?
05:20
-That I'm a math nerd.
05:22
I went through four calculuses
in college, like, for fun.
05:25
Because it was
a good elective for me
05:29
because I made
good grades in it.
05:31
-So, YouTube, Elizabeth Cook
here, Grand Ole Opry star,
05:35
is also a calculus geek
and a math nerd.
05:38
Who would have possibly
thunk it?
05:41
What is something
about you
05:43
that is surprising
that people don't know?
05:45
Some secret part of yourself.
Share it with us.
05:48
Write it in
the comment section below.
05:51
Ticka-ticka-tick.
Or better yet,
05:52
upload a video
and tell us about it.
05:55
And Elizabeth
and I will watch
05:57
every single video
that gets uploaded.
05:59
