Episode 11: ACMs in Texas, Cowboys & Yellowstone unite, Cowboys Draft Party and more

In this week's episode of the It's A Lot Y'all podcast, we dive into the ACMs in Texas, a country music award ceremony full of star power, and Producer Nicole's involvement in the festivities. We also discuss the fun-filled Cowboys draft party at the Star. Plus the Cowboy's schedule has been released, which means their annual schedule release video hit the social media airwaves as well, and it involves the hottest show in the country right now, Yellowstone. 

Transcript

0:08

Hello everybody. Welcome to the, it's a lot y'all podcast. I'm Allie d, this is producer Nicole. And we're back. We've had a little hiatus, if you'll may or if you'll, we've both been pretty busy doing our thing away from the Mavs and Cowboys, which are in their off season, but we have a lot to discuss this episode because like I said, you've been busy. I've been busy. We're gonna get into all of that. Hello, Nicole. Hello. We're gonna catch up and I'm so excited. I know this is like our time to catch up and find out what we've been doing. And I've been wanting to ask you a million things about all the events you've been working, because I see you're still like doing it, busy stage, managing all these great, amazing events. So I wanna ask you about all those. your hair looks super cute, by the way. Love it. Thanks. A bunch of dry shampoo in here, but. Products, new shampoo. What's going on? I have, I have, I've been using Divvy by Danny Austin. yes, she's a big influencer out in Dallas and she first started off with her hair serum, scalp serum to help people with really thin hair Anyway, she developed a new shampoo, which is supposed to be like chemical free, all the things. Deep cleanse in the scalp, hair growth. so, so far, I mean, it's only been like maybe week three, but I love it. It looks longer for sure. I feel like I haven't seen you in ages cause we only talk on the phone. It's true. I'm little lucky enough to catch you to talk on the phone I texted Nicole. I'm like, hello. Remember me? Your old friend? No, no. You're just as busy as I am. No, you just dumped me as soon as Max home is over. No, absolutely not. You know that's not true. I don't know if you can tell, but I've been using a new shampoo as well. Tell us about it. Well, mine unfortunately is just the dove shampoo that you get from Dollar General. But I will say that it smells really good and you can't be my friend. It's like, do shampoo, Lord. I know. Well, I ran outta my good stuff, so I had to just, I was desperate for something and I actually, I don't mind We'll let you slide. Well how many chemicals are in this thing though. My hair smells good for like two days, so it's just probably strictly perfume that I'm washing my hair with and nothing else. Good for you. So, but I have been trying to find some more natural, you know, shampoo and conditioner and like deodorant and all that stuff. Just cause I'm reading about him. I know, I know. You start to pay attention to the ingredients. it's called fragrance or like perfume that are in, whether it's your deodorant, your shampoo, and you try to get the fragrance free types, but you should try divvy. I'm telling you, next time you make it into Dallas and there's Alta around, give it a shot. It's about 30 bucks. Oh, books. There's an Alta in Grandberry, which is Mary, so, okay. I didn't know they had it there. Well, they might not have it there, but, oh, come on. But you could order it online. Okay. Well I'm gonna go check Grandberry Olta and see if they have it. So you're giving a great little plug for your influencer. I know Danny Austin. Send me free divvy. They'll sponsor the show. So cool. Okay, so you've been working so many great events. You've been all over the place, been watching you traveling. but one really cool one that you worked that I wanna get into all the gossip about was the ACMs. Oh yes. Okay. So it was so much fun. The scoop on that is, it was at the Star, right? At Ford Center. So, Ford Center got to host the acm. So it was on a Thursday evening and to kick off the event and celebrating that ACMs made it to Frisco. They did this awesome, ACMs. Kickoff at the Star and basically it was a two day free event to the public. you can come out, and you got to listen to live music from a ton of up and coming artists. so it was a really, really cool event. And everyone that I worked with at the event, I was telling them, I'm like, this has been by far one of my favorite events. and I don't know. I just think, I think what it is is country artists and country music is so laid back and so chill that there's not a lot of pressure I get it. Yeah, because I remember when I worked Final Four, we worked, we had those big concerts, always had huge acts, like I remember, maroon five and it's just like so stressful because you have Adam Levine and all that like that comes with it. His model girlfriend and like the entourage. There's just so much like stress and pressure backstage that everything goes well. But whenever there's country acts, Like, yeah, the vibe is just totally different. It's so easy, laid back, easy goings. I don't know if it's like a pop versus country thing or what if, or you know, it has to be, because I've definitely recognized the same thing. Yes. Things like that. Yeah. Yeah. And previously, when I was in Cleveland, I would help out sometimes when the concerts came through And I still remember it was Luke Combs, and at the time Morgan Wallen opened up. Forum, which Morgan Wallen wasn't even a big name then, which is just crazy to think about in two years how he's exploded, but crazy. I just remember them being so easy. So it's just funny how different artists are what did you have to do at the ACMs? Because you sent me a picture, you were like side stage. I think Ian Munk was on stage, which he's great from Wyoming. I love him. He sings about rodeo and fucking horses and all things. So of course I love him. But like, what were you doing? so I was a stage manager, so I was really making sure that the artists were ready to go and making sure that we were all set on stage for, you know, the transitions in between artists. There was about like 10 to 15 artists per day that came on. They each played about four or five songs. So you got to hear like either their most popular songs or covers and then at night, once it kind of got darker, we incorporated a band. But basically I was the middle man, so I was working with the ACM production staff to make sure that the artists were there, we're on time, everything sounds good. the stages all set up for the artists and kind of making sure they're micd up, tuned up, ready to go. it was really neat. We had all kinds of artists from Ian Munk to Nate. Smith, Dylan, Scott, Corey, Kent. Um, I will be honest, I didn't know any of these guys when I first got the rundown. Like Parker and McCollum, remember that? Geez, what an embarrassment. Yeah. I did not know anyone, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it's kind of cool listening to them because I kind of had a realization like I'm the age now where like these are gonna be the future upcoming. Maybe Miranda Lamberts, you know, Luke Bryants, that kind of thing. so anyways, it was really, really cool. But everyone I worked with were awesome. Super easy one. Were they all from Nashville, the people you were working with or what? Majority of them. Majority of them, A lot of the artists were either from somewhere but now live in Nashville. So if you're up and come an artist, you're in Nashville. You gotta be in Nashville. I know. okay. I wanna know, was there any artists that were like hard to work with? Or, you don't have to tell us names, but was there anything juicy that went on backstage? Come on, spill You know, honestly, and this is so honest, there wasn't really any issues with any artists. I will say though, so the first night we had Amazon Prime take over for the last sets. So basically took over the video board and they streamed live on Amazon Prime for the last performance with the band. Yes, they So Amazon came in and then all of a sudden it was like their run a show. if I had anything that was difficult, it was that transition because it was like on their time. and they kind of came in with, you know, Ready to go attitude. So yeah, bully attitude, Besides that, it was really good, but all the artists were super, super nice. Every country artist, as soon as they got off the stage, they went say, Hey to fans, sign autographs, take photos. and you could tell that they're all humble and we're just all so thankful to be at the ACMs. Right. so, you know what's funny is like back in the day, like 10 years ago when I was, really heavily pursuing my country music career. Yes. Traveling, like the whole nine yards so, so hardcore. I got invited to go to several of these like award shows, and one of them was in Vegas that I went to, I think it was called the acas. okay. And, I just remember being there, like walking the red carpet, doing the whole thing with the pictures and like the paparazzi's yelling your name. I was on a TV show back then too, so like I had a little bit of like, clout I guess you could say, you know, kind of some recognition. And it was, people were like, Ali D look, there's Ali D. Yeah. And I was never really panned out too much, but, it was really fun and it was cool, just kind of like being a part of that experience and seeing what it's like and seeing what goes on backstage and, Watching all the big acts, win all the awards and sitting there in kind of like the first few rows and you get your little name on your chair and all that stuff. So it was really cool. And it was fun seeing you there cause it kind of brought me back to like those memories. Getting to go there. If you look on my Instagram page, like occasionally, every once in a while I'll post like a throwback photo and there's some yes. Award shows. It was so cool. That is so awesome to experience that. You know what else I wanted to mention though about the ACMs, which is actually really cool, and I think this is the first year they did it. Our first night there we awarded, the up and coming male artist of the year. And female. Yes. Oh my gosh. and Gabby Burett, I think that's how you say her name, so sorry if I got that wrong. But she came to the stage and announced the winners of the year and I actually got to see an alive ACM trophy, which is so cool. I wanted to take a photo of it, but I didn't. But I was like, oh my gosh, how neat is this? Wow. So cool. This is kind of really funny, but, so I've been getting like decent royalty checks every month for my music. I know. It's so fun. That's awesome. I haven't made music or performed in so long, but you know, I have a Spotify, it gets decent amount of streams, I guess. I don't know where it's coming from, but I have different organizations that represent my songwriting. Cause I did a lot of writing and music and so it's fun getting these checks every month. So I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna go ahead and just like, I have a lot of songs that I never released. And so now that, like I'm, I'm at home pretty much all the time with the kids, so I call myself a stay home musician because I'm not s aa s. A h m Not stay at-home mom, but stay at-home musician. Cause like I feel like, okay, I can make a little bit of extra money, you know, promote some songs that I never released. So I'm gonna start releasing some music here in the near future. So if you wanna follow up that whole journey, follow me on TikTok, it's at Ali d Music. and I've got one post up so far and, I like manifested that it was gonna get a thousand views overnight and. That I would get like maybe a hundred followers in the first day, which was like crazy. So this is really crazy because we're, last I checked, I was at 15,000 views and like 380 followers. Oh my gosh. I know in one day from that host. So I think, I dunno why TikTok is just a really great place to get awareness for your music. So anyways, if you wanna follow that journey, I'm gonna dabble in it a little bit on, on my TikTok. That's the only place cause I, that, that is so awesome. Also, shout out to you, let's all go follow and subscribe on Spotify. Start streaming your music. Yeah, you guys, I get like 3 cents a stream so, I would appreciate, know. It does. So funny. well thank you for sharing that about the hc. I'm so cool because I've been wanting to like get all the whole thing about how it was in the event working it and your position being like stage manager with the artist. it's so cool to like meet people. I feel like I met a good amount of people and just even like the tour managers and all the things and hear about their experience. Cuz way back in the day, that's what I envisioned, like maybe one dad go on tour with a big artist. You would be, you would be such a good tour manager if I ever go into that again. You are coming with me. Are you gonna hire me? Forget the bus. Yeah. Heck yeah. we're going on the road. that would be so fun. One way or another. I know. It's like me and the kids and Yeah. We'll have snacks in the whole day. I'll drive the bus. Drive the bus. Yeah, exactly. but, you know, one thing I did wanna ask you about is So we're used to talking to you about working sports mm-hmm. And sports events. Mm-hmm. So how was it different like working in like a music event versus a sports event? Was there a big difference? So it wasn't as crazy of a difference. cuz I feel like a lot of times in sports, you either gotta cue your DJs or get people on and off the stage. And it was same concept and we did have a run a show, but it wasn't as, scripted to where we had to be, so on time. But I will say, and you can ask anyone there, we were on time both days. I've never been so on time, I'm like, this is insane. I think one time we were like five minutes ahead of schedule, which was wild. So we had to make some time up to get back on schedule. yeah. But really it's not a huge difference. It was more relaxed, if anything. And mainly just making sure that the artists. they're on time. Right? That's the biggest thing. Making sure they're ready to go. They have everything they need and they're comfortable. you also worked another, big event recently, the giraffe party, which was up there too. the Cowboys, we had the draft party. They had the a first round, I believe it was a 26 pick. so the Cowboys hosted a draft party and mm-hmm. We were all up there. Rowdy was there. We had DCC in the building. Oh. rhythm and blue. kicking off, you know, the start of football season. It's the beginning. It really is. It's crazy how much the fans are invested in the draft. Like I was watching some stats on that and it's just crazy numbers. The viewers they get for the draft even. Yes. Just how it like supersedes any other sport. It's just incredible. And then that, yeah, like you said, that really kicks off. Now we're going into summer, then we're gonna training camp and we are gonna go into preseason. I mean, it's gonna be here before we know, which I can't wait. Wait. I'm like so ready for cowboy season. I know it's right around the corner. but the draft party was great. Jerry Jones came out and spoke to the crowd. So if you were there, you got to see Jerry up close and personal. Great turnout cowboy fans came out to support and really cool night overall. Did any of the players come out? Yes, yes. We had the players come out. We had two rounds of players that also were inside doing autographs, and I think you had to be there early to sign up to get, a wristband to go get autographs. about 20 guys that came to the stage and oh, just got to say, hey, to Cowboys fans. We did a little small interview and The whole entertainment, I would say. That's so great. I love that. so speaking of Cowboys draft party, like I said, we're getting ramped up for the season. The cowboys schedule just came out, which is so cool because now the teams are doing these videos, to get everybody hyped. Mm-hmm. And it was really fun to see the Cowboys one because it was tied in with Yellowstone, which you know, is the biggest show in the. World right now. People are obsessed with Yellowstone. So like what better marriage than a Dallas Cowboys and Yellowstone bringing out the Western, the whole cowboy thing, the guys were wearing the hats. Taylor Sheridan, the creator of Yellowstone, was in the video. Really cool. It was neat cuz it was like tying being a cowboy all together. Right. I think it's so awesome that the digital and social teams get together now and it's a huge thing to see which N F L team creates the best schedule release video. So it's a whole thing. They all drop it at a certain time. During the day. I feel like the Cowboys theirs just keeps getting better and better. Last year's for the Cowboys was awesome, and this year I thought was really cool. Yeah, it was so great seeing all the cowboy western influencing ties they were bringing in. Cause it is the Dallas Cowboys at the end of the day, you know? Mm-hmm. And we're right here next to all the ranches and the rodeo. Yeah. And I love Yellowstone. I wanna be a Dutton. Yeah. And by the way, the creator of of Yellowstone lives kind of near us, or he has a ranch near us. And so there's always like a lot of Yellowstone action. Like they're filming a lot of prequels and Spinoffs and all that stuff. Wow. And it all goes on like right around here. So just the other day I was on Facebook and someone in my town was like, what's going on? On Rock Church Highway, which is a highway just right down the street, there's all these vans and trucks and all these signs, and someone chimes in. They're like, oh, they're filming for Yellowstone. And then they all start chiming in about where they're filming. So cool. Filmings Laman, bass Reeves. I think what the new Spinoff is called, so they're filming that down the street from my house. They film in Grandberry, the next town over, Taylor Sheridan. his place is in Weatherford, his big ranch, and so it's just really cool seeing that all tied into Dallas. So. Awesome. I mean, they're the hottest thing going right now. It's crazy. Oh, I feel like every event I go to, I see someone from Yellowstone there like, The show. It's crazy even at all the rodeos. Yeah. Like I'm sure you've seen they pop up at all the rodeos. You guys having bulls. Y'all need to see if they need bulls. Oh yeah, I know. And get incorporated with Yellowstone. How cool would that be? It's so funny. I actually just. Saw, rip the other day. He was, yeah. Which is so funny. Him. Yeah, I know the PBR finals are going on in Fort Worth at Dickie's Arena, and so Corey has bulls out. So I went up there with the kids and we were just hanging out until the bull riding started, and he pulled up in like this. You know, pick up with a whole entourage thing. I think they're filming something, cuz I think he's really involved with PBR R now is what it sounds like, which just professional bull riding. For those of you that may not know, PBR is bull riding and we raise bulls and bring them to different rodeo events in the PBR and whatnot. But anyways, yeah. He was there like repping the show in the full rip gear and it's like you almost think he's a real person, but he's a character. He's like playing a character. So everyone says he's super great and they love him and he's very kind and super humble. So that's always good to hear. It's not just like some like Cali guy, Kevin. Exactly, exactly. A really good guy. So yeah, it's been really fun seeing all the influence there. So, great job on Dallas Cowboys for tying that in. Love to hear that. Oh, and Jerry Jones, he looked the part with the bolo tie. I know the guys had cowboy hats on. It's so cute. If you haven't seen it, go to the Dallas Cowboys Instagram page. I'm sure it's on their Twitter and Facebook as well. Mm-hmm. But that's where you'll see this crazy schedule announcement, which the pre-season games weren't on there yet. And that's like our first hurrah. So yes, that's like our kickoff. Yeah, that's just like in August. I think the first home game is like mid-September, That'll be like our first regular season game. But yeah, preseasons August and I'm like, gosh, that's just so serious. I know. I forget when preseason games get announced, but it's gotta be coming up in the next couple of months. And like you said, that's our first, like we'll all get together. Hopefully we'll have our crew back together. Yes. and it's kind of like you get the jitters out and you just kick off the season, so excited. okay. Well that's another episode of the, it's a lot y'all podcast. We're just rolling through all these fun things really that you're doing because I'm just. Basically sitting at home. Totally my thumbs, no waiting for you to call me and fill me in on anything cool going on as I'm out here 90 miles away from civilization. So, I look forward to our chat and I'm so glad we got talk today about all the great stuff you're doing. Catch up. Yeah. And catch up. And thank you all to the listeners for hanging in there with us. as we are going through our off season time, we will be doing podcast still. So be sure you have your notifications turned on so you'll know when they are coming out automatically. All right Nicole. Well that's it for this episode. don't forget to follow us on social media at it's a lot y'all for me, Ali, and producer Nicole, we'll see you next time. Bye-bye.