Ally Venable - Battle Cry Anthem
Power changes everything.
Ally Venable knows this all too well, and on our latest episode, she reveals how "Money and Power" isn't just an album title, but a battle cry for...
The music industry is notoriously challenging, especially for women trying to break through. Imagine facing a world where your voice is constantly drowned out, your talent questioned, and your dreams dismissed.
This isn't just a hypothetical scenario; it's a reality for countless female artists striving to make their mark. What happens when someone decides they've had enough and chooses to fight back? How can one person's journey ignite a movement of empowerment and change? We're on the brink of a major shift, but will it be enough?
Here's what else you'll discover in this can't-miss episode:
- From Church Pews to Blues Powerhouse: The Untold Story
- How Grief Fuels a Musical Revolution
- Buddy Guy, a Stage, and a Moment That Changed Everything
- The Secret Language of Blues Rock
- A New Anthem for the Underdog
What's the biggest barrier you've faced in your career, and how did you overcome it? Let's get a conversation started below!
Check out Ally's Music here: https://allyvenableband.com/
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Transcript
I might die from hunger, I might die from thirst those feels ain't any better.
Speaker A:I don't know what's worse.
Ali Venable:But that.
Speaker A:Old brown liquor does not kill me.
Speaker A:First.
Ali Venable:Play the songs you want to play, write the songs you want to write and don't take any shit from anybody.
Ali Venable:Just keep going.
Ali Venable:I'm starting to see more and more of that and more women online.
Ali Venable:Playing guitar.
Ali Venable:If I can inspire or impact a young girl that is interested in playing guitar or even seeing someone that looks like you on stage in a male dominated world is very impactful and influential.
Ali Venable:Even if they don't want to play music.
Ali Venable:Just seeing another woman doing what she wants to do regardless of what her outside circumstances are, that's a powerful message within itself.
Ben Fanning:Americana music transforms the world and unfortunately too many are unaware of its profound impact.
Ben Fanning:Americana musicians are the unsung heroes and here you'll join us in exploring these passionate artists and how they offer inspiration and hope for the future.
Ben Fanning:This show makes it happen in a fun and entertaining way.
Ben Fanning:You'll discover new music that you'll love, Hard Earned Lessons from the Road, the story behind favorite songs, a big dose of inspiration for you and your friends, and a good laugh along the way.
Ben Fanning:I'm Ben Fanning and my co host is Zach Schultz.
Ben Fanning:It's time to get Americana curious.
Ben Fanning:Hey there Americana Curious nation.
Ben Fanning:We've got a real treat coming your way today with Texas blues rock powerhouse Ali Venable.
Ben Fanning:She's a singer, a songwriter and guitarist extraordinaire who's been setting stages on fire with her electrifying performances and soulful sound.
Ben Fanning:Hailing from Texas, Ali started singing in Church at 4 years old, picked up a guitar at 12, and formed her first band at the old age of 13, channeling the passion of Stevie Ray Vaughan to capture the heart of blues music.
Ben Fanning: ly releases no glass shoes in: Ben Fanning:And now.
Ben Fanning:She said several albums since events, including the Blazing Real Gone album and a new album coming your way this spring that we're going to get into.
Ben Fanning:She blends classic blues influences with a bold contemporary edge and she's carved out her own space in the modern blue scene alley then.
Ben Fanning:Well, welcome to Americana Curious.
Ali Venable:Thank you for that amazing introduction.
Ali Venable:Oh my goodness, thank you for having me.
Ali Venable:I'm excited to be here.
Zach Schultz:So let's get right into it.
Zach Schultz:We were talking before about this new album coming out.
Zach Schultz:The title track, Money and Power.
Zach Schultz:Tell me a little bit about what that means to you.
Ali Venable:Yeah, I, yeah, as as you mentioned, it's going to come out in the spring.
Ali Venable:I believe It'll come out April 18, but yeah, sometime in the spring.
Ali Venable:And yeah, Money and Power is a really special song that I wrote for the album and I wanted it to be the title track.
Ali Venable:It's a bold, uncompromisable message empowering women and kind breaking the glass ceiling and portraying the message of having the perspective of women holding the money and the power and this day and age in a male dominated scene and world.
Ali Venable:So I'm really excited to flip the script and put this album out with that message.
Ben Fanning:It seems so authentic to who you are on the blues scene.
Ben Fanning:Why blues?
Ali Venable:When you first think of blues, of course the majority of people don't really initially picture someone like me when you think of blues music.
Ali Venable:And I'm.
Ali Venable:But as you mentioned, Buddy, I'm very grateful and honored to be able to get to work with him and have his full support in what I'm doing.
Ali Venable:And that means a lot because he's literally like one of the.
Ali Venable:Of blues music and what we think of when we.
Ali Venable:When we listen to blues or think, think blues music.
Ali Venable:And he has cultivated and established the genre and moved it forward in, in so many different ways and impacted so many people throughout his lifetime with his music and is a testament to what blues music is today.
Ali Venable:And so yeah, I'm very grateful to get to work with Buddy and tour and toured with him and have a song with him.
Ali Venable:It's.
Ali Venable:It's pretty incredible and surreal to think about sometimes but also to make your point or to, to talk women in blues.
Ali Venable:And I, I am starting to see a lot of young girls like their parent, their parents will bring them to the shows and I'm starting to see more and more of that and more women online playing guitar.
Ali Venable:And if I can inspire or impact influence a young girl that is interested in playing guitar or even seeing someone that looks like you on stage in a male dominated world at a young age, seeing that is very impactful and influential.
Ali Venable:Even if they don't want to play music.
Ali Venable:Just seeing another woman doing what she wants to do regardless of what her outside circumstances are, that's a powerful message within itself too.
Speaker A:Handshakes, the deal's made the green paper cuts dry like a razor blade Steam pockets, heavy wallets big bills on my mind I can rock with it Imagine what a woman could do Ain't gotta take it from you don't you doubt her she got that money and power.
Ben Fanning:What response you get from the crowd when you, when you're up there performing and you see the, the young women out there and even the men, like, what's the response that they, they give when you're.
Ali Venable:Well, it's, it's, it's always a good feeling after the show.
Ali Venable:I, I like to meet with people and say hi and thank them for coming to see me in my band.
Ali Venable:And just to feel that connection and feel the emotion, especially while I'm playing too, on stage.
Ali Venable:And also to answer your question, why blues?
Ali Venable:Why I connect with it so well, is that it's so emotional and it's so, it's the heart of everything.
Ali Venable:And I just love the guitar.
Ali Venable:And that's a way that I can express myself emotionally and connect with people in an intimate way through playing how I play in blues music.
Zach Schultz:Let me tag on that because you said you love playing the guitar and.
Zach Schultz:Yeah, I would say you love it because, I mean, you are a phenom at the age of 14 playing guitar.
Zach Schultz:What was it like the first time you picked up that thing and knew this is.
Zach Schultz:I'm going to be really good at this.
Zach Schultz:Tell me about that.
Ali Venable:Thank you.
Ali Venable:I, I.
Ali Venable:And I'm still working on it at 14.
Ali Venable:When I first started picking up the guitar, what I really loved about it, to touch that on that again, is that I just felt comfortable.
Ali Venable:I felt it's something, it's a place where I can go to when I don't, when the outside world makes me feel uncomfortable.
Ali Venable:And I can just go to the guitar and express myself and, and connect with it.
Ali Venable:And connect with myself and connect with other people through that vessel.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:Because I would say me and my wife were listening to some of your music last night and we were kind of comparing it to a Bonnie Raitt type situation with the voice and the guitar playing was what was like an influence of a female influence that maybe you had growing up where you said, oh, she can do it.
Zach Schultz:I can do this too.
Ali Venable:Well, yeah, definitely Bonnie Raitt.
Ali Venable:Definitely Susan Tedeschi.
Ali Venable:I love Susan Tedeschi.
Ali Venable:Even to go as far back to Bessie Smith and Sister Rosetta Tharp and Memphis Minnie and some of, some of those women.
Ali Venable:And I know I'm, I know I'm leaving some out that I'm Beth.
Ali Venable:I love Beth Hart.
Ben Fanning:Ooh, yeah.
Ali Venable:And this, this to touch on a few women in blues music and oh, Big Mama Th.
Ali Venable:Which buddy actually played with her, which is crazy to think about too.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Ali Venable:But just.
Ben Fanning:It was probably flip then, right?
Ben Fanning:He was probably the young one and she got on stage with her.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ali Venable:It's really cool to do a deep dive and just to see anything that was on film at that time to look back on, it's really cool.
Ali Venable:But just what I love about all those women that I just mentioned is the feeling that comes out when they sing.
Ali Venable:They're not just singing to.
Ali Venable:It's.
Ali Venable:It's a part of them.
Ali Venable:It's.
Ali Venable:It's all of their emotions fueling out when they sing.
Ali Venable:And that's why I love it so much, and that's why I look to those women as inspiration for my own music.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:And when you're a young child learning to play the guitar, what role is your are your folks playing in supporting this or people around you?
Zach Schultz:I mean, they must have.
Zach Schultz:If I told my parents at 14, I'm going to play the guitar, they would have said, no, you're not.
Zach Schultz:But I imagine yours were very supportive.
Ali Venable:Yes, I'm very grateful to have two amazing, supportive parents and family and friends.
Ali Venable:And that has made a great difference in where I'm at today, not just as a musician, but as a person.
Ali Venable:And I'm very grateful.
Ali Venable:And I love my family and yeah, they're super supportive.
Ben Fanning:Well, so thinking about.
Ben Fanning:You were saying earlier, Ali, that music's been a real help for you in your life, especially when times are tough.
Ben Fanning:And one of the interviews that you've done, you use the term, it lifts you up or you find it something that lifts you up.
Ben Fanning:When's the time when you had a difficult moment in life or a big challenge?
Ben Fanning:And how did going to the music help you?
Ali Venable:Well, especially with this album, I'm 25 now, and so I'm kind of in.
Ali Venable:I'm in the exact middle of my 20s era, so I'm not really a 21 year old anymore and I'm 30, 40 years old, yet I'm kind of in the.
Ali Venable:In the middle.
Ali Venable:I'm in my 20s.
Ali Venable:Midlife crisis.
Ben Fanning:Is that quarter life crisis?
Ali Venable:Quarter life crisis?
Ali Venable:Yes, I'm in my quarter life crisis.
Ali Venable:But to touch on, on that is all the, the songs that I wrote for this album is how I.
Ali Venable:I can connect with all those emotions that I'm.
Ali Venable:I'm experiencing now in my quarter life crisis.
Ali Venable:And to really look within myself and face all the things that I'm going through at one time.
Ali Venable:And an example of that is the single that I just Released called Do youo Cry is kind of a letter or is a letter to all of my grievances that I've gone through in my life.
Ali Venable:Whenever we think of grief, we initially think of the loved one or someone close to you has passed away.
Ali Venable:And that is definitely, you know, a big.
Ali Venable:A big part of.
Ali Venable:Of grieving.
Ali Venable:But there's also some other things that you can touch on when that whenever you go through losing a friendship that you thought that you would be.
Ali Venable:That would be in your life for forever, a sisterhood that you thought would be for.
Ali Venable:For your whole life or a lost love that you had to learn how.
Ali Venable:That you outgrew.
Ali Venable:A lost love that you outgrew, that you had to learn how to let go and.
Ali Venable:And move on from.
Ali Venable:There's so many different grievances that.
Ali Venable:That people don't realize are a grievance, if that makes sense.
Ali Venable:And so I really looked at when I wrote this song, some of the grievances that really impacted me.
Ali Venable:And I just wrote a literal letter in song form to the grievances that really struck me the most.
Ali Venable:And that was a real therapeutic way to kind of move on and look power through those grievances and come out stronger on the end of it and grow and evolve and become a better version of myself.
Ali Venable:After I created the song and I just wanna know.
Speaker A:Do you cry?
Speaker A:Do you cry?
Speaker A:Do you cry?
Speaker A:Or is it just me?
Speaker A:Is it just me?
Speaker A:Is it just me?
Zach Schultz:Do you cry?
Ali Venable:Is.
Zach Schultz:That's a great song.
Zach Schultz:The one that caught my.
Zach Schultz:I mean I had to listen to it three times back is Keep Me in Mind.
Zach Schultz:I mean it really touched me and obviously we're in different spots in our life.
Zach Schultz:I'm for.
Zach Schultz:I'm in my 44 year life crisis.
Zach Schultz:But I would just tell our listeners not only can Ali shred on the guitar and have a great voice, but you can write songs and that one tell.
Zach Schultz:If you wouldn't mind just share a little bit about that song.
Ali Venable:Yeah, it's.
Ali Venable:Well, I'm glad that you connected with it and it's.
Ali Venable:It's really like a love song and it.
Ali Venable:And it captures the essence of just letting the person that you.
Ali Venable:That you're close with let them know that you care for them in a deep way and that it's.
Ali Venable:It's always nice to be.
Ali Venable:To feel and know for sure that you're somebody.
Ali Venable:And I.
Ali Venable:I haven't written too many love songs and I.
Ali Venable:But here coming in, coming into my own, I want to write more of them because it's it's just nice to have that feeling what you were just.
Ali Venable:LA's warm and sunny I bet you got a 10.
Speaker A:You're probably working way too hard since you left you in the sand it's cold as hell in London the sky is not as blue There's a red eye leaving Heathrow and if you want me to I'll be there.
Ali Venable:To save.
Speaker A:You from the trenches of your lonely heart yeah, be there no matter how far away you are the next time you need someone to stand by your side Just keep me.
Ben Fanning:What's a misconception some people may have about your music?
Ali Venable:A lot of misconceptions when I are really playing live that I.
Ali Venable:I'm not like a.
Ali Venable:A good musician maybe or that I'm not.
Ali Venable:Which Music is subjective too.
Ali Venable:So I mean, I mean you could say my music is bad.
Ali Venable:I don't know.
Ali Venable:But.
Ali Venable:And then after the fact that they, that people listen if they have mis.
Ali Venable:Misconceptions about the music and then after the show they're like, oh my God, I didn't realize your guitar playing was how it is.
Ali Venable:You know.
Zach Schultz:Right.
Ali Venable:Maybe that.
Ali Venable:Maybe a little bit of that just because of the, like we were talking about before.
Ali Venable:Being a woman, being young.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Ali Venable:There's a misconception or young people play the blues.
Ben Fanning:Do you think, do you think young people can really play?
Ali Venable:I really do.
Ali Venable:I think there are a lot of young, young, young individuals that have a lot of emotion that they want to get out and, and they definitely can articulate that and connect with other people and if they're so.
Zach Schultz:I mean I watched a bunch of your YouTube videos of performing live and I imagine that can.
Zach Schultz:If somebody doesn't know of you or.
Zach Schultz:And they see you at a festival, I can imagine it turns some heads with.
Zach Schultz:When you get on that guitar and start shredding.
Zach Schultz:But do you remember your first performance when you're a young child?
Zach Schultz:And how did that give you confidence to have the stage presence that you do?
Zach Schultz:Have this stage presence?
Ali Venable:Oh, well, thank you.
Ali Venable:I.
Ali Venable:I was.
Ali Venable:I look back at home videos that my, my mom would take VCR or VHS tape videos of me from ally to age since I was born up until whenever.
Ali Venable:But I, whenever we have looked back at those home videos, it's really funny to see how outgoing I was as a kid and how ornery I was as a kid too.
Ali Venable:And my.
Ali Venable:How my personality kind of shines through also when I'm.
Ali Venable:When I was a kid.
Ali Venable:And I think trying to find that or, or looking into your inner Child can really help elevate your stage presence in a way.
Ali Venable:It's just a different version of myself when I'm on stage.
Ali Venable:You know, we call it my alter ego, and we call her Amy.
Ben Fanning:Oh, yeah.
Ali Venable:Don't miss the baby.
Ali Venable:She's also gone.
Ali Venable:No.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ben Fanning:So walk us through that.
Ben Fanning:What's the difference between.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Ben Fanning:What's Ally versus Amy like?
Ben Fanning:Ally on stage versus Amy on stage.
Ali Venable:The reason why we say that is because sometimes people will.
Ali Venable:For some reason, they'll.
Ali Venable:If I'm getting announced or something, it's always Amy.
Ali Venable:People are always like Amy Venable or Amy.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ali Venable:And I'm.
Ali Venable:How do you get Amy?
Ali Venable:My name is.
Ali Venable:It has two Ls in it, but maybe it's the A and the E, you know, but that's.
Ali Venable:That's why we joke around, me and my band, and we'll be like, amy's coming.
Ali Venable:But there is definitely a.
Ali Venable:It's just a different version of myself that I step into when I'm performing.
Ali Venable:And I feel it's my highest self when I'm playing music.
Ali Venable:And because the world.
Ali Venable:Light beings, and we all have this inner light within us and music and can connect with so many people at one time.
Ali Venable:And just exuding that light is.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ali Venable:My highest.
Ali Venable:My highest self when I'm playing music.
Ali Venable:And then I'm just.
Ali Venable:Just a different, calmer version when I'm off stage, when I'm talking and I'm.
Ali Venable:I know I'm the most comfortable when I'm on stage with my guitar, holding my guitar and playing and singing and performing versus just talking.
Ali Venable:I'm so bad at talking.
Ali Venable:I'm so bad at communicating when I don't have my guitar.
Zach Schultz:That guitar is almost a partner to you.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ali Venable:No.
Ali Venable:Yeah, Yeah.
Ali Venable:A partner or even a part of an extension of me.
Zach Schultz:Yes.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Ali Venable:An extension.
Zach Schultz:Yeah, I can see that.
Zach Schultz:Definitely.
Ben Fanning:Yeah.
Ben Fanning:That's.
Ben Fanning:It's so cool to think about this idea.
Ben Fanning:Almost like a superhero taking the stage.
Ali Venable:It almost is like superpower.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Ben Fanning:So when was it?
Ben Fanning:Like, what.
Ben Fanning:When's a memorable moment from the road where you were Ally and then you hit the stage as Amy and you notice the crowd, notice the change.
Ben Fanning:It almost sounds like the way you described it earlier.
Ben Fanning:Maybe a moment where you just.
Ben Fanning:They're like, wow, that girl or that woman just played the blues like I've never seen before.
Ben Fanning:But maybe you had a hard time getting their attention or.
Ben Fanning:Initially.
Ben Fanning:And then Amy transformed them.
Ali Venable:Yeah, I.
Ali Venable:Oh, I hope people don't start calling me Amy.
Ben Fanning:All right, y'all.
Ben Fanning:No, One's allowed to call her that except Zach.
Ben Fanning:And I'm the bad.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Ali Venable:Well, I just think that, like I said, it's just.
Ali Venable:I'm.
Ali Venable:It's just a different self that I'm stepping into and just to kind of lead with.
Ali Venable:To lead with love.
Ali Venable:When you're playing music and when the intention.
Ali Venable:With the intention to connect.
Ali Venable:Connect with your bandmates, connect with the people on stage, connect with yourself.
Ali Venable:That's what here lately that I've been trying to step into.
Ali Venable:Not really performing to get the applause, but performing to connect.
Ben Fanning:And what happens through that difference?
Ali Venable:Just the whole vibration changes.
Ali Venable:The whole.
Ali Venable:The feeling changes.
Ali Venable:It's.
Ali Venable:It's just.
Ali Venable:It's almost a spiritual feeling, you know?
Zach Schultz:Oh, that's great.
Ben Fanning:That's the way the blues should be experienced.
Zach Schultz:Yeah, Well, I mean.
Ali Venable:I mean, people go out to.
Ali Venable:Just to connect to something.
Ali Venable:We're all.
Ali Venable:We all go through our everyday just trying to survive, trying to make sure our family's okay, make sure that we're going to work, going.
Ali Venable:Trying to make money, trying to take care of what we need to take care of.
Ali Venable:And sometimes it can be really stressful or a lot of times it can be really stressful and to just keep up with everything and just exist sometimes.
Ali Venable:And people are longing for some sort of connection to release that stress, release those problems, struggles, and to find.
Ali Venable:Find happiness within that.
Ali Venable:And.
Ali Venable:Yeah, connect with.
Ali Venable:Connect with something.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:That's beautiful.
Zach Schultz:Let me ask a question about working with Joe Bonamassa.
Zach Schultz:I mean, if anybody out there listening thinks that you're not getting noticed, I mean, if you're having.
Zach Schultz:I mean, he's legendary, and he's on a song called Broken and Blue with you, where you're not just letting him play the guitar.
Zach Schultz:This is like dueling shredding.
Zach Schultz:And it is just a great song.
Zach Schultz:But how did.
Zach Schultz:I mean, for Joe, that must be very special to have him play with you on your solo record.
Ali Venable:Yes, it is really special that Joe.
Ali Venable:I was able to work with Joe in that way for my.
Ali Venable:My Real Gone record on a song, Broken and Blue.
Ali Venable:I was originally talking to Joe about potentially producing that record, but then Buddy.
Ali Venable:I was playing a show with our opening for Buddy, and I was just talking to him, hanging out with him before he went on back in his green room with a few other people.
Ali Venable:And Buddy was like, hey, we need to.
Ali Venable:We need to do a record with Ali.
Ali Venable:And so I was like, oh, my gosh, this.
Ali Venable:That.
Ali Venable:That would be amazing.
Ali Venable:And I was like, but I'm.
Ali Venable:I'm Talking to Joe right now about maybe producing my album.
Ali Venable:And so I called Joe and I told him.
Ali Venable:I was like, hey, this just happened.
Ali Venable:Buddy just said he wanted him and Tom wanted to produce the album.
Ali Venable:And.
Ali Venable:And Joe and Tom worked together also on many different collaborations.
Ali Venable:And.
Ali Venable:And Joe was like, it's Buddy Guy.
Ali Venable:Ali.
Ali Venable:You need to work with Buddy.
Ali Venable:And I was like, well, I still want.
Ali Venable:I still want to.
Ali Venable:What do I do?
Ali Venable:And he was like, well, there's.
Ali Venable:And then we.
Ali Venable:We actually worked on.
Ali Venable:I think we worked on the idea of this song or maybe wrote.
Ali Venable:Look.
Ali Venable:Looked at the song, the broken in blue.
Ali Venable:And so I was like, would you play.
Ali Venable:Would you want to play on this?
Ali Venable:And he's like, yeah, have Tom send it to me, and I'll.
Ali Venable:I'll definitely listen to it and play a play on it.
Ali Venable:So that's how that came about.
Zach Schultz:It is.
Ali Venable:Thank you.
Zach Schultz:Dueling guitars.
Zach Schultz:No doubt.
Zach Schultz:That version of dueling bands.
Zach Schultz:I mean, you guys are going back and forth.
Ali Venable:It's a really great.
Ali Venable:It's a really fun song.
Ali Venable:And the words are really beautiful, too.
Ali Venable:It's.
Ali Venable:I really love writing blues ballads like that.
Ali Venable:Broken in blue, Comfort of my sorrows, and then now do you cry.
Ali Venable:I just.
Ali Venable:I just.
Ali Venable:That's my.
Ali Venable:That's my favorite type of song to write, is the nice emotive blues ballad.
Ali Venable:So.
Ben Fanning:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:And you have that song with the Buddy guy.
Zach Schultz:Texas, Louisiana.
Zach Schultz:It's so funny, the lyrics.
Zach Schultz:You're saying, I'm just coming out, and he's saying, I'm going on forever.
Ben Fanning:Yeah.
Ali Venable:At the end, the way he ends the song, sings it.
Ali Venable:It's so good.
Ali Venable:And, yeah, just being around him is just.
Ali Venable:It's so fun.
Ali Venable:He's such a.
Ali Venable:I tell people.
Ali Venable:He's such a firecracker.
Ali Venable:You know, even at the 88, he's still incredible.
Ben Fanning:What's your favorite Buddy Guy moment?
Ali Venable:Oh, my goodness.
Ali Venable:There was one time where we were playing on stage together, and Buddy.
Ali Venable:We were in the middle of a song, and we were, like, trading back and forth, jamming, and his string broke.
Ali Venable:His string broke.
Ali Venable:And then so his tech came out to get.
Ali Venable:Give him a new guitar.
Ali Venable:And then as his tech was coming out, my string broke and the crowd went crazy.
Ali Venable:They're.
Ali Venable:Oh, my God, they're bringing strings.
Ali Venable:That's my favorite.
Zach Schultz:That's a great story.
Ali Venable:He thought that was.
Ali Venable:Buddy thought that was hilarious.
Ali Venable:That's great.
Ali Venable:And then another moment is when I had cognac with him for the first time.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ben Fanning:Is that where we.
Zach Schultz:Is that where Brown liquor.
Ali Venable:Yeah, that's the brown liquor I'm talking about.
Ali Venable:Except.
Zach Schultz:Oh, yes, it is.
Ali Venable:That's the brown liquor.
Ali Venable:Yep.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ali Venable:Because there's no such thing as brown liquor.
Ali Venable:But for our listeners, our brown liquor.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Zach Schultz:Brown liquor is the title.
Zach Schultz:I mean, it's not the title track, but it's.
Zach Schultz:It's the way we got it.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ben Fanning:It's the first track on.
Ben Fanning:On Money and Power, right?
Ali Venable:Yes.
Ben Fanning:Yeah.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ben Fanning:So in that moment, that must have been surreal, having cognac with Buddy Guy.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ben Fanning:What in the world was the conversation when you're having cognac with Buddy Guy?
Ben Fanning:In case I ever get that chance.
Ali Venable:If you ever get that chance.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ali Venable:It'll be.
Ali Venable:You'll.
Ali Venable:You'll remember it forever.
Ali Venable:But we had these wine glasses, and he poured the cognac in there.
Ali Venable:Tom was there, too, and he clinked my glass, and he was telling me.
Ali Venable:Before he clicked my glass, he was telling me about this story about basically how he would play these clubs for just booze and a good time with women.
Ali Venable:And I was like, well, I'll drink to that with you, Buddy.
Ali Venable:And he was.
Ali Venable:You've been initiated, and that's great.
Ali Venable:And.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ali Venable:Took a sip together.
Ali Venable:And there was one time where I had a.
Ali Venable:I had a little bit too much, and I went up there and jam with him one night, and my band was.
Ali Venable:That's the best you've ever played with him.
Ali Venable:That's the best you've ever played with him.
Ali Venable:I'm not doing that again.
Ali Venable:I'm just having a little Buddy Guy.
Ben Fanning:Cognac effect on the stage.
Ben Fanning:All right, now, Zach and I know what we need to set before interviews.
Zach Schultz:Next time we have you on, we'll have a.
Zach Schultz:We'll have to do it live with.
Ben Fanning:Is there a cognac brand that you or Buddy recommend?
Ali Venable:Well, you know, that's more Buddies.
Ali Venable:I don't really know too much about it.
Ben Fanning:Let him make that selection.
Zach Schultz:What advice would you give to young people?
Zach Schultz:I mean, you're young yourself, but younger.
Zach Schultz:That especially young females want to carve a path in music.
Ali Venable:Well, I.
Ali Venable:What I would tell young women is to play the songs you want to play, write the songs you want to write, and don't take any shit from it.
Ali Venable:But also.
Ali Venable:Also lead with love and most, and just keep going.
Ali Venable:But that's what I would tell just.
Ali Venable:And there will be people within your circle and without your in, outside of your circle that will be there to support you and help guide you to where.
Ali Venable:Where you want to go.
Zach Schultz:You go get that money and power yeah.
Ali Venable:To go get that money and power.
Ali Venable:Yes.
Ali Venable:That's what I would tell them.
Zach Schultz:Yeah.
Ben Fanning:So.
Ben Fanning:So good.
Ben Fanning:Well, we're starting to wind up here.
Ben Fanning:It's been a lot of fun.
Ben Fanning:Ally.
Ben Fanning:I had listened to really.
Ben Fanning:We really didn't get into, but was Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Ben Fanning:And I'd love to hear the story of how you discovered that.
Ben Fanning:I discovered him.
Ben Fanning:The album that really changed it and inspired you and how it all's kind of shown up for you.
Ali Venable:Yeah, I.
Ali Venable:Well, I would ride to school with my dad.
Ali Venable:My dad would take me to school every morning and we would listen to music.
Ali Venable:That was our thing is we would just listen to different radio stations.
Ali Venable:And he.
Ali Venable:He exposed me to so many different types of music.
Ali Venable:My parents aren't musicians, but they're music lovers.
Ali Venable:And so that's how they.
Ali Venable:They met is they would go to rack concerts and like 80s hair band stuff.
Ali Venable:They would.
Ali Venable:That was.
Ali Venable:Their favorite band was Rat.
Ali Venable:So we would.
Ali Venable:I would listen to mainly that stuff, that sort of genre whenever I was growing up.
Ali Venable:And then my dad, I would always be surprised, I would always be shocked that my dad would know every single.
Ali Venable:To him.
Ali Venable:Like, how do you know all these songs?
Ali Venable:He had a Texas Flood CD in the car and I.
Ali Venable:I would just open his console to get stuff or whatever out of the truck.
Ali Venable:And I saw that and I pulled it out and I was like, what is this?
Ali Venable:I was like, can we listen to this?
Ali Venable:And so we did.
Ali Venable:And at the time that I was listening to this, I didn't play guitar like I play it now.
Ali Venable:I wasn't.
Ali Venable:My mind didn't really connect with the guitar at that time that I had discovered this music.
Ali Venable:And I really.
Ali Venable:What I really loved about Stevie was his voice and how you could really hear, like I said, his emotion in his voice.
Ali Venable:And it was almost like a.
Ali Venable:A strong whisper.
Ali Venable:And I just really loved how he's.
Ali Venable:How his voice sounded.
Ali Venable:And then later I looked him up on YouTube and I was like, oh, he's known for his guitar playing.
Ali Venable:That's cool.
Ali Venable:And I was like, I wonder if I do that, you know, I wonder if I could learn how to play guitar like Stevie.
Ali Venable:And of course I'll never play guitar like Stevie.
Ali Venable:Obviously I could have the same setup that he has and play the same licks, you know, but your tone really just comes from you and your fingers comes from.
Ali Venable:I forgot who.
Ali Venable:Maybe it was Stevie that said this, but from your head to your heart to your.
Ali Venable:And.
Ali Venable:But that's what the catalyst was in to me discovering what blues Music was and who Buddy Guy was, who Sister Rosetta tharp was, who B.B.
Ali Venable:king was.
Ali Venable:Albert King.
Ali Venable:Stevie really loved Albert King and who Jimmy Vaughn was and Kenny Wayne shepherd and just so many great blues guitar players.
Ali Venable:And so, yeah, that was just how I discovered Stevie and how I just fell into the genre.
Ali Venable:And I hope that my music can do the same for people and young.
Ali Venable:Young artists and musicians like Stevie did for me.
Ben Fanning:I think that's.
Ben Fanning:That's a great place to land the plane here, because the circle of blues continues.
Ben Fanning:Ally is taking the torch, and she's running far.
Ben Fanning:You grab the torch at a very young age, and you've been prolific with your.
Ben Fanning:With your music and the amount of albums.
Ben Fanning:Or you're taking this and we can't wait to interview you when you're 80 or 86 years old again.
Ben Fanning:Hopefully, Zach and I'll be around.
Ali Venable:Will you be here when I'm 86?
Zach Schultz:I will be 20 best.
Ben Fanning:Let's not rub it.
Ben Fanning:Or maybe we're interviewing her when she's like, five years from now.
Ali Venable:Yeah, well, maybe we'll live.
Ali Venable:Maybe we'll live in.
Ali Venable:In 90s and.
Ali Venable:And above a Mr.
Ali Venable:Bobby Rush.
Ben Fanning:Yeah, Bobby Rush.
Ben Fanning:Yeah.
Ben Fanning:So she'll be.
Ben Fanning:I mean, imagine Ally, 86, giving her cognac to the next generation of blues performers.
Ali Venable:Yeah.
Ali Venable:In the words of Bobby Rush, to.
Ali Venable:Just before we sign off here, I met Bobby several times.
Ali Venable:I met him first in Memphis, and then I met him doing a festival with Kenny.
Ali Venable:Kenny Wayne shepherd in California.
Ali Venable:And before he was gonna go on, I was talking to him, and he sound real good, Ali.
Ali Venable:You sound real good.
Ali Venable:And I was like, thank you.
Ali Venable:And he's like, you know what you got?
Ali Venable:You just keep going.
Ali Venable:You'll be just fine.
Ali Venable:I was like, well, thank you.
Ali Venable:And he's like, you got the three Ls.
Ali Venable:And I was like, what?
Ali Venable:What are the three Ls?
Ali Venable:And he's like, the Licks, the looks and the love.
Ben Fanning:The Licks, the looks and the love.
Ben Fanning:Yes.
Ben Fanning:Zach and I do not check those boxes, but we're gold.
Ben Fanning:But we admire the musicians that do check all the L's.
Ben Fanning:Awesome, Ally.
Ben Fanning:Thank you.
Ben Fanning:Y'all check out Ally.
Ben Fanning:She's coming your way.
Ali Venable:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:There's a book buzz in the air A buzz in the night A toxic elixir making me blind A bit of sweet pain A leg got so deep A heavy chain I can't break free Feel that steam.
Ben Fanning:Thanks for joining Zach and I for this episode of Americana Curious.
Ben Fanning:Subscribe, where you listen to your podcast so you are notified when a new episode is released.
Ben Fanning:I'm Ben Fanning and it's been great sharing these artists and music with you.
Ben Fanning:Until next time, stay Americana curious.
