Noah Cyrus on Her Family, Her Songwriting, and More

Hello, everybody.

We are back with The What Podcast.

We're in the middle of September.

Kind of a tweener season, maybe.

We're in the fall festival season, so there's definitely things going on.

We just finished Tamington River here in Chattanooga last week.

We're going to talk about that some more, but there are other festivals.

So we kind of touched on it last week, Russ.

Are we at the end of one season or the beginning of another?

Or what's it feel like?

We're definitely in the end of this season.

Right.

You know, it won't be long.

We're in the middle of September.

You know, January, we're going to get a lineup for Bonnarooo.

Yeah, we'll probably start.

Yeah, we'll start all over fresh.

We'll start speculating here in a little bit.

And we have some guests lined up.

I know we're going to talk to Corey and Brad from C3 about what went well,

what didn't go well, what changes they have for Bonnarooo next year.

I can't wait for that.

That will happen in a little bit.

And again, it's sort of in that, are we at the end of one or the beginning of the other?

But we'll figure it out.

Appreciate everybody listening.

I don't know if we say that enough.

Thank you guys for listening.

Yeah, thank you.

I keep thinking about it and I keep harping on it.

And you're a perfect example.

I mean, what, we started this in 2018 and Brad probably grabbed you by the earlobe and said,

hey, guess what?

You're going to build us a web page.

Pretty much.

Yeah.

He bought me a beer and convinced me to make a website.

And look where we are.

All of a sudden we're doing this.

Yeah.

I love it.

And I keep thinking about the community.

I mean, and I'm going to talk about you a little bit because seriously, that's what happened.

He knew you were good at design and online stuff and said, hey, we're going to put together this podcast for a minute.

And here we are six years later almost.

Yeah. And, you know, at the time I'd never even been to Bonnarooo, which you remember, you know, which is a lot of people were kind of surprised because, you know, having the bus for so long and being so close to Manchester, you know, I would hear all the time.

Oh, that's so cool.

I bet you take it to Bonnarooo.

And, you know, eventually I started saying, why haven't I been to Bonnarooo?

That was kind of the deal we made was, hey, I'll help out with this podcast, which I think at the time you were talking about just doing like a Facebook live.

Yep.

Something about it, which evolved into, yeah, which evolved into the show.

And then I ended up getting tickets and going and then, you know, next year or so I ended up joining your camp.

Right.

And now you're really good friends with a lot of people.

That's where I was born.

Yeah, it really opened the door to a whole different community of people I wouldn't have met otherwise.

Right. Including Lindsay.

We mentioned Lindsay, a great friend, right, of this show and you.

I mean, you hang out with a couple times a year and he's been at my house.

He's been at your house.

Yeah.

By the way, he rated your house much better than my house, his accommodations with you were way better than what I provided for him.

So challenge on.

Sorry about that.

I hope to keep him next year or the year after.

Well, yeah, speaking of Lindsay, he's coming through today and we're going to go have a beer later this afternoon.

So that's what I mean.

I'll let you know the details.

Yeah, that's what I mean.

This is, I mean, this is all because of festivals.

Chloe, who lives somewhere way out west, right?

Who is consider a friend.

I want to say, yeah, Iowa.

I think Liesel, who is Pacific Rim.

Right.

I mean, yeah, yeah.

It that's that's the beauty of all of this.

And we mentioned Emma, who we met last week from Canada.

I hope she reaches out.

I mean, that's that's the best part of all this, right?

Yeah.

And it's, you know, kind of an unexpected outcome when you, you know, when somebody bends your ear and says, hey, can you help us make this thing?

And, you know, six years later, almost seven, I guess.

Yeah.

What?

Twenty eighteen to.

Yeah.

We're still doing it and we're still talking about it.

And we're talking about it because of that.

Things like that.

We've met so many great people.

It's.

I can't stop thinking about it and talking about.

I mean, the fact that we do this around the year, fifty two weeks, basically.

I mean, yeah, that's how important this these festivals are to not just us, but a lot of people.

And I think that's what's so so cool about it.

All right.

So agree.

Our guest, our interview from this past Moon River, which was in Chattanooga mid early September 9th and 10th.

We have Noah Cyrus and.

I was thinking about this, Russ.

I did my job with the paper for almost 37 years, basically 40 years if you go back before.

So I've met a lot of people, met a lot of famous people, been in the room with a lot of very famous people.

And one thing I've always, always tried to remember is they are just people.

Right.

Yes, they're just people.

Noah, because of her family, she's Billy Ray's daughter.

She's Miley's sister.

It's a little different when you sit down with them.

Right.

There's a little bit ahead of time.

There's a little bit.

I don't know about you, but for me, even there's a little bit of what's this going to be like.

You know what I mean?

Because they're definitely used to dealing with media.

They're definitely used to being asked the same tired question over and over and over and over.

And I get that and I try not to do that.

And she definitely had star quality.

Right.

I don't know if you felt it.

Oh, yeah, I definitely noticed it.

Yeah.

There's a there's a little bit of a difference, but she was so sweet.

And when I listened back to the interview and she started talking about her dad and what you guys will hear in a little bit, she's just a she's just a kid.

Right.

She's just a daughter who thinks her dad is really cool.

And that was so much fun to hear.

Yeah, the way she talked about her dad, she was, you know, she made it clear she's just as much a fan as anyone else.

Exactly.

I thought that was so neat.

And, you know, when you're when you're sitting there and you're trying to think of your next question and you're trying to listen and you're surrounded by all these people who are staring at, you know, an interview situation going on, you don't really pick it up.

But when I listened back, she just sounds like a kid who just likes her dad, you know, I thought that was so great.

Yeah, yeah.

And yeah, kind of unexpected going in because you, you know, like you said, it comes from a very famous family and has a lot of musical background.

And yeah, and just you should be used to all this.

And that was sort of the point of my question, because I was thinking that morning, you know, what must it have been like her whole family is talented.

Right.

Yeah, I think the point of my question was, did you come home and it's like, hey, kids, let's put on a play, you know, like the old little rascals or something like they were constantly putting on plays or singing or right.

Which, you know, from what I've read and seen in documentaries was kind of how the Zappa household was with Frank, you know, he was constantly in the studio and, you know, the famous story, he goes and wakes up moon, his daughter, moon unit at what, two or three in the morning and said, I need a vocal for this song.

You know, Valley Girl and she nailed Valley Girl.

Yeah.

So that's kind of what I was thinking, but that was the reason for the question. And Noah's like, you know, I mean, it was kind of like that, but not really, you know.

Yeah, it was an interesting answer. And, you know, yeah, she comes from a talented musical family, but she herself is also talented.

It's a great show.

Yeah. Yeah. The show was great. And, you know, it's obvious she's she's making it on her own talents. That's the other thing.

Yeah, that's a great point. And that's, that's another thing that I'm thinking in the back of my head is, you know, I don't want to focus on her family because she's the reason we're there.

And that's a great point. So, and that's, you know, hey, tell me about your family kind of, you know, right. And we, I don't think we did that. And I don't think she answered that way.

But no, I think she was the one that kind of brought up her family first.

But yeah, she, she's definitely not writing coattails or trying to, you know, pass by on her name or anything like that. I think she's actually making it just, I thought it was a great set.

It was surprising. Her recording work is a little slower.

It's very personal.

Slower is not the word. It's just a little more introverted and very, very personal. And we talk about that again.

The mental health thing, as we talked about last week with Judah, it continues to come up. And I meant to say last week, and I think we kind of talked about it a little bit.

It's so great that people are willing and able to talk about mental health right now. And if you're having problems, please reach out to somebody.

Please. There's lots of help out there. And there's absolutely no reason. There's no reason to be embarrassed or shamed or whatever.

But if you're, if you're feeling it, reach out to somebody. But we talk about that a little bit with her again.

But it was a lot of fun to visit with her. And then her set was great. That's where I was kind of going with it. She had one of the live band behind her.

It was pretty great, right? Yeah, I was impressed because I wasn't sure what to expect. And honestly, when they put her on the lineup, you know, it kind of sticks out.

Like, does she really fit this festival? But she absolutely does. And I think the crowd was very much into it. And by the way, her dad was there. We never saw him, but he was there.

Yeah, I kept looking around for, you know, somebody with a mullet. And I saw a few, but I didn't see it wasn't him.

He'll never live that down. But it was so cool to hear her talk about, you know, her dad, because my daughter, my daughter was there with us and she was actually running camera.

I should say thank you to Grace. She ran some some of the footage that you guys are seeing from these shows was thanks to Grace. Yeah, huge help.

Yeah, it was great. But so that's what I guess that's why it's so meaningful to me to hear her talk about, you know, her family and her dad.

I get it. Especially that event, because what you guys don't know is, and I don't want to get too personal, but Drew, the founder of this thing, it's a big family thing.

There's a lot going on all weekend with his family. And that's a big part of what's so cool about this thing. It's just a lot of fun. Right.

I mean, everything about it feels like a good time. Yeah, that's what I, you know, when people ask, well, how was it?

Yeah, it's just it was just a lot of fun. It's just a good time. Yeah.

Speaking of family, you know, one of his kids was born that weekend and there's a birthday party going going on back there while we're trying to have interviews and stuff.

Yeah, he's got his whole family there. And that's why if you go and people wonder, you know, we always you and I laugh and I know some of our camp nut butter people say you go to Bonnarooo and you sleep in a tent.

I'm like, yeah, it's not as bad as you. You know, it's not like a muddy sweaty and Moon River is completely different.

There's a lot of families. There's a lot of people there with strollers and kids. My own kids were there with their kids.

I mean, it's a very comfortable family friendly event. Right.

Absolutely. Yeah.

And of course, if you know if you need to have it certified that you indeed have a baby, Taco was there and he can let you know whether that is a baby.

You can tell if something's a baby or not.

Alright, so here's our interview with Noah Cyrus. This was a lot of fun and she was so great to give us some time.

And it just, again, another reason why we like this festival so much. Right.

Yeah, we like we like hearing these stories and we like sharing them and yeah, this is what it's all about.

This is the first time for me. I'm really happy to be here though. I mean, I felt a little we're on tour right now.

I felt a little homesick. So to be in Tennessee feels good. Nice.

So what do you know about the festival?

I'm really excited for the people that are here and performing tonight. I'm such a fan of Hosier.

So I really want to be able to talk to him and kind of meet him just because we've never been able to speak. And I think there's such a great lineup.

But it's so good to just be amongst such talented artists.

That's what I love about festivals is just going and seeing who's performing. And because we're on tour, we get to kind of hang out.

We had a bus call tonight that I begged for. So we're going to be able to go and see some people and it'll be nice.

Hopefully some family of mine is coming today and I haven't been able to see my family here in Tennessee for like a year or so. So it'd be nice.

Yeah, I don't we don't do a lot of rumors, but I heard you had some family coming to watch. I'm excited about that. Yeah, that's very exciting.

And I wanted to ask you about that, if you don't mind, because your family obviously is famous. But it made me wonder, what was it like growing up?

I mean, was it like everybody had a guitar and music was there? I mean, you think that my dad always had a guitar. Yeah.

And he still always has his guitar. So I think it was just, you know, music was a big part of growing up and was in our ears from the time we were born.

And I think that just, you know, made the love for it grow as we grew. And it was just kind of a part of us, whether that's what our chosen profession is or not.

I still think every single one of us really just has a connection to music in one way or the other.

So it wasn't like you came home and there was a play go. Everybody was doing a player was it? You guys are out and about.

I just I would always my dad would always be sat at the kitchen table with his guitar, just rehearsing for everything.

I don't know. He would just always be ready to play a show, I guess. And he'd be at the I loved singing his old songs.

And I have favorites of my dad's and I'm definitely my dad's number one fan. And I'm a super fan.

I think living with me was like living with a super fan. I always had a T-shirt of him on or something and I still do.

So, yeah, I just grew up sitting around the kitchen table with my dad and his guitar, listening to music.

And Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jax was the first I learned to talk to that song. That was the very first song my dad I ever remember hearing.

That's how I learned to sing, how I learned to talk. So music is just kind of the first memory of anything for me.

Wow. Your music is very, very personal. At what point did you start writing and at what point did you consciously sort of say,

I want to write really personal or is that always been that way?

I think it always started that way just because, again, the very first song being I ever heard, Seasons in the Sun,

I think it kind of set a tone and love that I have for really honest music that can also hurt pretty bad to listen to really beautiful,

honest music and storytelling. And so I think that was just from who I am.

I've always connected to music like that and the musicians that I listen to, their storytelling and their songs are very personal

and a bit sad, I guess some would say. And yeah, I kind of, the first song I ever wrote,

I had a friend that was really struggling with mental health when I was about like 12 or 13 and I had a little plug-in keyboard in our house.

And I remember writing a song about that and from this perspective of watching her struggle with her mental health.

And that was kind of the first song I had really sat down to write and that kind of started,

I guess, a lot of songs that kind of had more of an honest and a bit of a more sensitive topic, I guess.

We've done this show now for several years, Brian and Russ and I, we've attended Bonnarooo in particular.

And one of the things we noticed this year that mental health has become such a topic,

not just from songwriters and singers, but those of us in our camp.

Yeah.

So does it feel like, as a performer, and we've talked about this on the show, you know, those things are so personal.

How does it feel when other people, like listeners, say thank you for writing something that connected with me like that?

Is it something you think about when you're writing about it?

And it's a two-parter, I guess. What does it mean then when people say that song connected with me so much?

Yeah, I guess when I'm writing it, it's coming from like my personal place.

And then whenever I experience people on tour or meeting people after the show or things like that,

I think I really get to see how moved people are by the music.

And it's such a...I think it's an honor to be able to sit and have those feelings with these people come up

that you don't meet every day that you wouldn't really meet other than coming to this concert and sharing this moment with each other.

And I think that's what makes concerts so special is the exchange of energy and emotion that's within the concert in that moment.

And so I think that's kind of the most rewarding feeling of tour is actually seeing that happen in person.

Russ, once again, I've hogged everything. I know you have a question.

I do that every week. Yeah. Yesterday was a great lineup, but today, I mean, you've got great female artists.

Caitlin Butts opened the show. You've got Larkin Poe and then First Aid Kit.

And then so how does it feel to just share the stage with so many great female artists as well today?

Yeah, it's so great. And hopefully I'll be able to meet everybody because I haven't had the chance to yet. I just woke up.

Me too. Yeah. So you just did your makeup too? Yes. Yeah. Thanks for noticing. Looks beautiful. Thank you.

So yeah, hopefully I'll get the chance to meet everybody and it'll be a good time. I'm really happy to be here.

Sounds great. Thank you. Thanks.

Thank you so much for your time. Have a great show. I can't wait to see you. And it's so nice to meet you. Thank you for doing this.

Thanks for having me, guys.

All right. So there you go. Noah Cyrus. See what I mean? That was wasn't she great?

I mean, it was just so much fun to hear a daughter talking about her family and her dad and her music and the festival. She gets it right.

I mean, she was talking about being able to see so many people and being back in the state of Tennessee and see her family.

I mean, it was just a great interview. Yeah, I thought that was really neat.

I think she liked being back back at home, you know, home state, at least close enough.

It's fun to see. I mean, and she looks like a rock star. Right. I mean, oh, yeah. And then you hear what she's got that presence.

He has a presence. And then you hear what she has to say was that's why we love doing this sort of thing.

Same with Judah last week and you guys next week or whenever it may not be next week, but we're going to flip turn flip turn.

And those guys were so much fun. And it's kind of fun for us to sort of catch different acts in different parts of their career.

You know, I think flip turn is about to blow up. I agree.

And Emma thought the same thing, otherwise she wouldn't have drove all the way flew all the way from Saskatchewan.

Yeah, exactly. So it's it's so much fun for us. And thanks again to Sue Marcus for making it happen.

And AC Entertainment and all those guys for for providing us the access to this event.

It's it's one of our favorites. So all right. What else do we need to say?

Thanks to consequence. You can check us out. Yeah. Thanks.

Consequence because they've been pretty good partner with us putting out these episodes.

And who else should we think? Well, subscribe. Thank you all. You guys are listening.

Please hit the like everybody. Yeah, it means a lot to us.

Brad is in Chicago as we speak at Riot Fest and we kind of hope to have him maybe call in and give us an update.

We'll see. It's hard to know what Brad will and won't do, but if he does, we'll insert it here.

And if he doesn't, we won't. But he'll definitely be back.

And we're excited about the next year of this show and where it goes.

So thank you all again. Who knew? Right. Six years. Can you believe it?

Yeah. If you'd have told me then that I'd be sitting here still doing this. I don't know.

Yeah, I can't give it up. You have too many fans out there. All right. That's true.

All right, guys. Well, thank you, everybody. Have a great week. Have a great month. Have a great whatever.

And we will see you soon.