Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Bree Taylor: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1744

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

In this 1744th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with country musician Bree Taylor about her career in music, her landmark Nashville debut at the CMA Fest Spotlight Stage, and her hearing disability. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball, the Waterfront BIA, Blue Sky Agency and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail].

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Do not miss Leif's playoff action at Christy Pitts. I'll be there. Recyclemyelectronics.c.c.mitting to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past, and Redley Funeral Home, Pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making her Toronto mic debut, it's Bree, Taylor. How are you, Bree? I'm good, thanks. How are you?

Bree, okay, is this a common first name? I feel like you might be the first Bree I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I don't feel like I've met too many Breeze myself, so I wouldn't say it's that comment. No, so Bree, again, Bree, it's not like the cheese, okay? This is B-R-E-E, like tree. Oh, I like that. You know, I usually tell people, Bree, like the cheese because it's memorable, but it's not spelt like the cheese. The cheese is B-R-I-E or whatever.

I'm going to steal that. You know what? As long as after you say it to somebody, you say trademark, Toronto Mike. Okay. You just have to say that really quickly, like a lawyer or whatever like that. What a pleasure it is to meet you. I'm leaving my comfort zone for this episode, and I'm doing it for the great listener, Dan Jay. Dan loves his country music.

And I, again, I'm going to play some of your music. We're going to get to know you better. And it sounds great. But it is a bit of a blind spot to me, country music. Like, I don't actually consume a lot of, like, newer country music. So I feel like, I said to Dan, I sent him some of your stuff. And I said, Dan, is this good? And he's like, Mike, it's very good.

And I was excited to book you. So, Bree, thank you for making the track. Thank you so much. I mean, it is a little alternative country, so you might like it in that way. it's not going to be your traditional kind of honky tonk country. Well, you had me at alternative. So I'm going to just read something. This is from your official bio, okay?

So this is something obviously curated by, I don't know if it was you or if it was your team of PR people. I have no idea, Bree, but can I read what's in your bio and then we'll get to know you better and play some stuff? Okay, I'm going to try to read this in my best voiceover voice here. Okay. Brie Taylor has quietly but steadily built a reputation. is one of country music's most compelling new voices, an artist whose work cuts through the genre's conventions with a blend of grit,

honesty, and rock-infused energy. Did you write that, Bree? I didn't personally write that. I'm trying to think of who wrote that, but... Does it sound accurate? Very accurate. You are a Brie Taylor.

Yes, that's very accurate. That's very great. I like that. I want to do it. So, because if you're not a country music person, and maybe we all should be. This whole idea that you are cutting through the genre's conventions with a blend of grit, honesty, and rock-infused energy,

now I'm interested. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a blend of different genres. A little bit of like pop punk on a couple of tracks. Definitely alternative country is kind of where I feel it sits. I feel like the blend of rock and a little bit of touch of pop, a little touch of punk, and then the country roots that I have, definitely pulls it all together. So I've always been told by people

that they don't typically, if they're not like fans of country music, they like my stuff because it kind of pulls you into a different world a little bit. So yeah. So during this conversation, we're going to hear at least two songs

from you that I've pulled and put into the soundboard here. But I've got to say right at the top, like when I hear the name Bree Taylor, I think, oh, that has to be a country musician. Like, I can't map the name Breed Taylor to another genre. Okay.

Do you agree? So let's get your origin story. Like, where are you from and when did you realize you wanted to be a musician? Well, we've moved a lot growing up. So I've been around the GTA, but for the most part, just outside of Toronto, for the most part of my life, outside the East End, West End. I was in Peterborough for a chunk of my life. My grandparents are from out there. My grandpa was actually in sports radio broadcast. So that's kind of... Can you name him? John Battom. Because somebody's going to be like, I used to listen to John. all the time. So is he a Peterborough radio guy? He actually was the voice of the Saskatchewan Rough Riders and then the Argos and he did all the play-by-plays back in the day. Like we're way back. That sounds big to me. Yes. Yeah, yeah. He knew like Don Cherry. He knew all the sports guys. Yeah. Say his name again? John Batam. John Baddam. See, I'm thinking there's somebody like maybe

10 years older than me is going to be like, of course I know John Baddam. Maybe I just missed the John era. But that sounds like a like a big deal. So, yeah. So wait. So he's from Saskatchewan or? Originally, yeah. Him and my grandma met in Saskatchewan out in Regina and then they had their family, brought them out here when he got hired to do the play-by-plays with the Argos. Then my dad met my mom out here and we've been out in the Ontario End ever since. And my grandpa ended up kind of doing more of a retirement era in Peterborough Radio.

He was the voice of the wolf back in the day. So if anyone's heard that. I know the wolf. There you go. Then you'll know them. The go-to station. So even for a fun fact for listeners is for a couple of years. years, the program director for the wolf was Fred Patterson from Humble and Fred.

People call him Freddie P. But he actually, he was, and this is a chorus on station, and he thought being PD for the wolf would be like a stepping stone because his dream job was to be program director for 102.1, the edge. And he felt like, so, so yeah, I do know the wolf because whenever I was at a trailer or a cottage or something nearby, that would be the station you flip on because you'd hear like you're tragically hip and all that. Yeah, yeah. So he was like, he did that like the, the, the voiceover of the intro and everything for a long time.

Imaging, they call that. Okay. I think they called imaging. You know. I got it. I don't know. I have as much radio experience as you do. Okay. Probably less. But I think they call that like imaging. Okay. Yeah. So he did all that. And yeah, he was great. So we lived in Peterborough for a bit. We also had a cottage out there for a while. And my parents moved around for my dad's job and kind of moved to like Tobico for a bit. And I was out in the Tobico. part of the Topico. Near Kipling station area. Oh, yeah. You know what they're calling that? The real estate agents are calling that the Kip District. Okay. Good to know.

It's like, hey, because they really are beefing up like as a transit hub that Kippling station is being kind of beefed up. So it's like go and of course TTC and it's kind of a hub. So you got to live in the Kip district. So shout out to Apache Burgers. I love Apache burgers. Oh my gosh. Grew up on that for sure.

Yeah. I loved it. I've done some throw. back going there and I'm like, it's still the same. I love this. Love it. Yeah. Yeah. So that and then we were like in Oakville. I've been in Mississauga though for probably the last 12 years. So been there for quite a while and yeah, just, you know, I travel around. You've been everywhere, man. You've been everywhere. You could re-record that and talk about Peterborough, Elkville. Yeah. Atobico, Mississauga. Got to travel the city. Got to know your areas around the GTA for sure. Okay. So

when and how? Because it sounds like there's some broadcasting in the bloodlines there. But where exactly do you say, hey, I'm Bree Taylor and I want to sing? I grew up listening to a lot of music. My dad is a huge music fan. My mom's a huge music fan. No one's really musical, though. Everyone always asked that question, and I'm always saying, like, no one's really musically talented.

My grandpa in radio was as close as it gets to, like, any kind of interest in the entertainment industry. Big sports family, though, but yeah, no one's really gotten into music. But, yeah, I was born to music in the delivery room. My dad made a mixtape for me, and I was born to some James Taylor, which is how I got my middle name. Good night, my moonlight ladies, rock by sweet baby James. I don't know which songs I have the tape at home.

You probably have fire and rain on that. There's so many. There's like, there's a lot of other artists, but there's like several James Taylor songs. And my dad vividly remembers James Taylor was one of the songs playing. And my doctor was Dr. Taylor. So my parents just felt like it needed to be my middle name. Dr. Taylor. Is this Dr. Ron Taylor?

Oh, I don't know. He was, he was an OB. Okay, no, B. Okay, listen. He delivered me. A lot of Taylor is going on here. By the way, do you watch The Simpsons? I have in the past. I don't have time for TV these days.

No time for TV. Listen, you're doing more important work as far as I can tell here, and we're going to get into it. But there's that great line, because you mentioned your grandfather and CFL football. Yes. And there's that line about, I think it's a star quarterback for like, they're called the Springfield Adams or something like that.

It's the local Springfield team. And Ned Flanders tells Homer, his name is, what was it, Stan the boy Taylor. Okay, so they just throw the joke. But it always made me laugh because, of course, if your name is Stan, your nickname would be the man. It would be Stan the Man Taylor. But on The Simpsons, he says, Stan the boy, Taylor.

And I just thought that was kind of funny. All right. So there you go. I think I've missed that episode. It's a good one, actually, because it's an episode where Ned and Homer are like best friends for the episode. And it's because normally their adversaries, well, not.

Well, Ned likes everybody, but Homer, not a big Ned fan. But in that episode, they're best friends. It's a pretty damn good episode. By the way, really quickly, before I leave this point here, Ned Flanders famously opened a store in the Springfield Mall called the Leftorium, which would be tailored, pun intended, tailored for left-handed people. And FOTM great Rob Pruse from Spoons and Honeymoon Sweet Fame told me today that today is left-handed day.

Oh, no way. Are you left-handed, Breed Taylor? I am not. Get out of my basement. I'm right-handed. I'm sorry. I wanted to book a left-handed person for left-handed day. This has been a huge mistake. I'm so sorry. No, don't apologize. But anyway, there's a, and also a fun fact, I learned this on, we have a WhatsApp group, and I think it was Brian Dunn, but I can't remember. Maybe Canada Kev, I'll give him credit. But basically, there's all this evidence prior to the lectorium opening up. All the evidence is that Ned Flanders is right-handed. Like he bowls with his right hand. He plays guitar with his right hand. I think he's signing something of his right hand. Like all evidence is Ned Flander's right handed person until the episode where he opens a leftorium in which suddenly magically he's been left handed his whole life. Weird. Okay. So we got to get the facts right here. Yeah. So you got these mixtapes. Yeah. There's James Taylor on there. Great artist. Love that guy. Yeah. So I just grew up listening to a lot of music and I was very musical in terms of my interests in wanting to kind of be in choir and take music lessons. So I took piano. I took a little bit of guitar. But really singing and performing was what I really loved

doing. But I didn't really start pursuing any of it until I was later in my, my early 20s after university. My dad kind of was like, go to school, get an education. What school did you go to? Guelphumber University. Yes. Yeah. And you didn't become a veterinarian. No. I would have actually weirdly, I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was a little kid. But Guelphumber, They had a, they, they partnered with Humper College and they made a new school, like a baby school, hybrid school. And I took communications and media studies. So I learned how to do all my own things like, you know, graphic design.

Like, you know, I can write my own bio. Not that I like to do that, because that's a little self-indulgent. Not that you wrote this one I read. No, I did know. But, like, if you write, it just seems so self-indulgent to like write all these things about yourself. But early days, I did stuff like that. But no one knows you better than you know you.

That's true. That's true. That's a good point. It's a good point. I would never outsource that. Like, I'd be like, no, I write my bio around here because I know myself. I definitely will approve it and like tweak it if I have to. But yeah, I've had people write my bios and stuff for me.

And then I just kind of like edited or splice things together. But yeah, I just, I decided to start writing. So I was always songwriting, writing stories and poems. And then, yeah, I started working. My dad put me in the studio when I was a teenager. And I just did cover songs. So I loved being in the recording studio and I loved writing music. And yeah, then it's just this kind of transpired from there and just evolved.

Now, even though we've established already, Bree Taylor, can I guess call you Bree Taylor? I feel like those names, I can't just tell you Bree. Cool, I love it. Okay, so we've already established that you are one of country music's most compelling new voices. Okay, you're an artist whose work cuts through the genres, conventions of a blend of grit, honesty, and rock-infused energy.

So I wonder, in terms of genres, like, what radio station are you listening to as, like, a teenager and into your early 20s, and what genre are you listening to, and then that you'd out, it would pop be a country musician. I literally listened to everything. So my dad's like my classical music influence of turn. It was like classic rock stuff and like classic pop like Elton John and Billy Idol, the Eagles is probably as close as my dad got to country.

My dad wasn't a huge country fan. Actually, I kind of converted him by doing country music. My mom was the country music fan, though. She was into Shanaya and Faith Hill and Garth Brooks. No one in my family was into Garth Brooks, obviously much. respect for Garth Brooks. But yeah, my mom, like, was more into, like, she really gave that female empowered kind of, well, she loved, you know, Tim McGraw and all the, those Keith Urban and Faith Hill. Faith Hill for sure. Yeah, I love Faith Hill. She's great. I cover a couple of her songs

in our set sometimes. And she's amazing. Yeah. So just like that's, that kind of just listened to everything. And then obviously I grew up, I'm a millennial. So grew up listening to like all the girl, the girl groups and stuff, Spice Girls and Britney Spears, Christina Aguil. But I really loved Amanda Marshall. My mom was somebody who loved Amanda Marshall. and I loved her big, powerful voice. So she influenced me for sure. Okay, a moment on Amanda Marshall because I was at this Toronto Maple Leafs game

at Christy Pitts on Saturday night. By the way, Bree, there you go, I'm not calling you Bree Taylor there. I have a book here on the history of Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball that I think you will thoroughly enjoy or maybe somebody in your sports loving family would enjoy reading about the history

of Toronto Maple Leafs baseball. So that's going home with you. But I'm at this Leafs game. Having a great time. You know, no ticket required. This is the best value in the city. And Rob Delmundo, who writes, he covers sports. He shows up and we start chatting.

And our conversation was quite a bit of our conversation was about Amanda Marshall. Because my memory, so the breakthrough debut album of Amanda Marshall was stacked. Like, I remember, A, a great voice, but great songs. Like, I just remember it was so huge. And I know that she had like some interference. I want to say interference, but the first album I think is made like here in Canada. I think. I think so, yeah.

And then I think the second album, the follow-up, is made in the States. And I think there's a lot of cooks in the kitchen and stuff. And I can only remember one song from that second one now, which is like, I woke up with a bad, of a tattoo. Do you know this? Yes, I know exactly. Snake tattoo. Snake tattoo.

I love that song. Yeah, that was like the biggest hit on that album. You're right. You're not wrong. But as far as an album, it was just disappointing follow-up, considering how monster that first album is. I think that was the third album, though. Is that the third album? Yeah, because her first one, I think, is just Amanda Marshall.

And then she had a Tuesday's child. Yes. I'm glad you're here. Okay. So there is a lot. I do know that she kind of gets her breakthrough with the Jeff Healy band. Yes. Like she's doing backup of Jeff Healy and she's appearing on some Jeff Healy stuff and touring with Jeff Healy. And I believe she's managed by, I think it's the drummer who's no longer with us. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home.

His name is Tom Steven. He's actually been in this basement for a long chat. I think she has a bad experience with management. She shuts it down for 20 years. I know. So I have heard, I know some people that have worked with her. I have heard that it was a management thing that owned all her masters or some kind of bad deal. And so because of that, she only could make, she can only make money on her live shows.

So that's why she's touring and you'll see her in casino sets and stuff and she's been doing shows. But I heard she got screwed when it came to her master's. I think you might be right. I've tried multiple times to get Amanda Marshall on Toronto Mike to talk to her about this. I'm glad she's back. Like I'm glad that this 20 year hiatus has ended. But it's wild to think about the height she was at with those songs. like dark horse and Birmingham.

Oh, yeah. And after the rain, the rain song was all from grace. Yeah. Yeah. These were such big songs. What a great presence, great voice. And then before you know it, hey, I'm taking 20 years off. Yeah, I don't know.

It was a sad, sad time when she disappeared there for a bit. But we, you know, as artists, we all go through so much on an emotional level in our personal day-to-day lives that we don't know necessarily what her story was, right? And that's, you know, something that she's obviously kept to herself and decided to take a journey. and I'm just glad that she's coming back and doing some stuff now and touring and that's awesome. Like she's a powerhouse vocalist and songwriter.

So, you know, it's, it is unfortunate, but she definitely had some influence on me in my musical interests, for sure. Well, that's a great mentor to have there. Absolutely. And Amanda, if you're listening, I would love to chat with you on Toronto mic. You know, I just want to chat about everything.

It's a unique situation to have that height and that length of disappearance and then a comeback. And the timing of the comeback, was not lost on me, where Tom Stephen had a heart attack, like in his early 30s. No, 30, did I say that? His early 60s, I'm thinking of the number 60, and I'm saying 30. In his early 60s, I believe, Tom Stephen has a heart attack, and then it was seemingly the next day, I have to check the archives, but it was seemingly the next day there

was this announcement from Amanda Marshall that she's coming back. It was just so fascinating, knowing that history, I just want to have a chat with Amanda about it all. So if you can broker that deal, Bree. I wish. I would love to meet her one day. That would be a dream. Her and Shania Twain were two big influences on me. So if I could ever meet them, that would be awesome. Oh my goodness. We'll co-host that together. Yeah. Let's do it. It's worth the drive to South Atopico. So what I'm going to do now, because

now that we've got you interested in music, I'm going to play a song from you. Okay. Not the newest single, but like an older song. Okay. And then we can talk more about your process where you've been. And then I'll play the new single and give you more gifts. And we're going to know everything there is to know about Breed Taylor, but we're afraid to ask, so here we go. down dolled up no doubt we can make this city sand i can give you one look words unspoken it's like i got you over there all know it just what i want just what i need and that's all right with me i want that laughing in the rain leave it on the edge love until the end champagne sipping wish it

So life would slow down Because, babe, when you're around My heart is beating snowed down fast Like that First kiss, first touch Dancing on the ceiling Easy love falls fast Hooked on a feel it

Give me that endless Spinning in the madness Caught up getting chasing the thrill Standing still So Brie I'm no expert in this genre but in my headphones, this song standing still sounds excellent. Thank you.

So, how old is this song? This just came out last year, so not too old. It's going to be on my upcoming album, so it's definitely something that is more recent. But yeah, it's one of my favorites. I know you're not supposed to have favorite songs, but it is. Who said that? These aren't children.

You can have favorites. No, but your songs are like your children, right? As a songwriter, it's kind of like a songwriter thing. It's like it's hard to pick your favorites a lot of the times, But then you do have those songs that stand out, and this is definitely one for me. Did you write this song? I did. Yeah, I'm always involved in the songwriting process.

Okay, cool. Yeah. Very cool. I don't think Amanda Marshall was involved in the songwriting process. Was she not? I don't think so. No. I think she was just the singer.

Please, Robert Lawson, don't come at me if I'm wrong. I think he's hiding in the bushes right now to fact check me. But I think I don't think she was writing her songs. Like I think these songs like Birmingham and Dark Horse and stuff. We're given to her. We're given her. I think even maybe possibly. Some of them, written by Christopher Ward possibly, who wrote Black Velvet with Atlanta Miles.

Okay. All right. That's some good music. That's a big hit. That's a number one Billboard Hot 100 hit. Yeah. That's where you're going, Bree. Sticker, you're going to be there.

Okay. So, standing still, like, would you consider this sort of a breakthrough for your career, where it's now you're getting some media attention? Definitely. I did some great things for me. Got me some nominations. Definitely got me the award, the Mississauga Arts Council. They have the Marty Awards in Mississauga.

I won the Established Voclist Award the year this came out. And it got some songwriting nominations. It was in like the CBC Searchlight contest, top 50 songs. Yeah, some songwriting contest stuff. Like it's done some cool things for me. So it's definitely helped. I kind of knew though. Like we wrote and recorded this within 48 hours.

And I just knew that this was a special song. I just knew it needed to be written. We had planned to actually talking about songwriting. we'd had a songwriting cut from Sony that it wasn't written by me that I was going to record and I ended up throwing that out the window and deciding to record this that we wrote the day before. So who plays with you on that song? I have some studio musicians from Nashville that play on the tracks. Nathan Ketterli did all my guitars. He's phenomenal guitar player. He plays a lot of great stuff. So he's on my entire like everything that from Dauntless, the single forward,

all that new music that I've been working on in Nashville, he's all my guitars. Okay, so this was recorded in Nashville. It was. If you're a country music star, that's where you got to go, right? I feel like, yeah, that's what they say. I mean, that's what you did. That's what I did. Okay, so help me with that.

So you're in Mississauga. Okay. You're writing songs, you're learning, you know, music and piano, and you've got the passion in the belly, clearly. So what, like, how do you take that step where it's like, I'm going to Nashville? Like, like, I just want to understand, like, where does Mississauga breathe? realize, oh, if I want to be a country star, I got to go record in Nashville. It kind of just happened more organically than that.

Like, I did work with my earlier days with people here in Canada. And I just felt like I was given feedback that was I need a more commercial sound and that I needed to kind of elevate my production. And I was referred to Grady Saxman, who's actually my live drummer on all my tracks as well because he's a phenomenal drummer. So he drums on everything and he produced everything from don't list to my current stuff that's going to be out on the album. And yeah, when we connected, he just got what I was trying to do. He's kind of done some punk, punk and rock stuff. And yeah,

he's, he's amazing. And my mixing engineer, Jonathan Roach is phenomenal too. So I just, I love my team down there. That's a cool name. Yeah, it is. Yeah, he's actually a producer for Royal Lynn in Lakeview. And those are some more like heavier rock sounding country artists that I've really admired what he's done with them and their careers. So he's really put in a magical, touch on my music, I think. All right, well, while we've got you in Nashville here, can you please help me understand the significance of making your landmark Nashville debut at the CMA Fest Spotlight Stage?

What does that sentence even mean, Bree? So CMA Fest is one of like the biggest festivals that they do for country music, and there's several stages down in downtown Nashville. They shut down multiple streets. There was over 95,000 people that traveled across the, actually, There were people from Canada even down there, but wherever the people are coming from all over to see all these artists and you get like your festival pass and the artists get to see all these different artists on different stages. And the spotlight stage is for like new up and coming artists. Oh, it's a smaller stage, but it's very intimate and you get that fan interaction and they get to discover new music and new artists coming up. And it was an honor to be selected and asked to perform. And I was actually ironically going to be down there writing. So it worked out really nicely that they asked me to play. And when so this is earlier this summer? It was early, June. Yeah, first week of June, I went down. Yeah. Okay. Okay. That's, uh, that's great. Like, you're, uh, you're, you're, you're, you're debuting at the CMA Fest spotlight stage in Nashville. Like,

that's a, that's a big stepping stone here. It definitely is. It's a, it's a big stage in terms of, like, being able to be selected because it's super competitive. So, especially with what I'm doing with alternative country music. It's very different. I'm not doing a lot of what all the other females are doing in country. I'm just kind of being myself and blending all those interests and backgrounds of different things I've listened to that we've just talked about and pulling it all together to create some some new stuff and it's you know hopefully I think it's going well that sounds like it to be picked on to beyond that but in such a strange political environment too like to be a young Canadian breaking through in Nashville because I mean Nash I mean country music

my understanding is the the fan base is pretty conservative yes and no yes I mean I feel like definitely the majority and is a conservative crowd but I think that there's a lot of, you know, more progressive influences in country music these days. They're out there, right? Yeah, they're out there. Okay. And the only reason I'm curious, again, not to get too political on you here. But, like, I always wonder, like, are the, if, if there is a large contingent of the country music fan base in the United States, big fans of the president down there. And the president is saying things like,

oh, you know, we're going to, like, devastate Canada economically until Canada becomes the 51 state or whatnot. you don't get any like that doesn't there's no blowback on you as a Canadian artist down there about you know 50 first date and all that I don't think so no one's ever brought it up to me no no no no all the Americans that I know are lovely amazing people and really friendly and don't really even get into any of that negative talk so because I want to know if anybody yells 51st state at you you let me know no definitely send me an email no no okay well good that's I'm glad to hear that I'm very glad to hear that don't hate on the Americans they're good people.

Wait, I'm going to just quote, I'll quote the drummer for Sloan. I'm wearing a Sloan shirt right now. That's actually a coincidence, but his name's Andrew Scott. His quote is, there are great Americans, okay, lovely Americans, you know, progressive Americans, as you would say. And he's not going to visit their house until they control their dogs. This is how he puts it, which is basically, so he's made a choice. And again, this is an established Canada band, much easier for him. You're a up-and-coming country music star.

I can understand why you would need to go to Nashville. That's like a professional requirement almost. But I totally like the way that Andrew Scott puts it, which is that it was not that we don't like all Americans and we don't like Americans. It's that I'm not visiting their house until they control their dogs. Just an interesting phrase from Andrew Scott of Sloan. And then he canceled the Sloan tour

because they're quite big in Buffalo. And this visit was kiboshed. Okay. So politics, you can't escape it, right? Like, where this is not, I just did an episode with a gentleman named Shai Klein. This was on Monday. And Shai was at the Nova Festival, the music festival in South Israel that took place on October 7, 2023.

And very close to Gaza and Hamas invaded and murdered hundreds and hundreds of people at this festival and elsewhere in Israel. So October 7th, 2020, he was. was there. Obviously, he survived. And I got the whole story. And then at the end, I was asking him some questions, like, about Netanyahu's response. Like, political questions, I suppose. And he had very thoughtful, thoughtful answers. But it reminded me that, like, you can't really, it's difficult, I would think, to remain apolitical in 2025. And I, do you struggle with that at all? I definitely feel like there's a lot of that, yeah, to stay in, like, I've always been very in the

middle of a lot of things. So I definitely try to steer clear of that. I feel like as an artist, it's just, I feel like it's such a controversial topic and you're never going to please everybody. And so, especially when you're an artist, especially up and coming, like, you know, the Dixie chicks got canceled back in the day. Like, I sing not ready to make nice. Like, it's my own song. It's a great song. My godfather the other day heard us playing it. And he turns to my dad. He goes, this is her song, right? I'm like, no, no, it's a big political song by the Dixie Chicks or the chicks as they've renamed themselves now. But like, yeah, look at what that.

People were burning their CDs and T-shirts and merch in the streets and, and canceling them. So I feel like you've got to be pretty careful about the things you talk about these days. And, you know, I definitely have my opinions that I don't always speak on. And you just got to just kind of stay in the middle of as much as you can. So that's a good point. So, again, I'm not going to make you share your, your, but do you make a conscious decision that I will bite my lip on, uh,

how I feel about certain things happening in the world, because I feel, if I put that in the public realm, it'll hurt my career as an aspiring country musician? Certain things, for sure. Also, some things I try to not even get involved in just because, one, I don't have the time. And two, if I did, it would consume so much of what I would be doing. I get very passionate about a lot of things,

especially social injustice. So I'm always someone who stands up for the underdog. That's a big part of, like, my life story as well. I've always felt like an underdog. So for me, I really love to get really behind any kind of social cause that I believe in. So I will go till the ends of the earth for what I believe in at the end of the day, for sure. What an age we live in. They say, what's the proverb or whatever?

May you live in interesting times? Like, and it's like, this is like a curse and a blessing, right? For sure. May you live in interesting times, it's like you think about it. Oh, yeah, that sounds great. But really, is it? Like, it's one of those great riddles, I suppose. But I was reading just yesterday, you know, and I'm just a happy Canadian here living my life in Toronto, okay?

But I was reading about the Supreme Court may look at rescinding same-sex marriages in the United States of America. Wow. And then I check my calendar, even though the calendar on the Walbury is from 1986. Oh, no way. That's a 1986 shoppers drug mart Toronto Blue Jays calendar. And that's George Bell, who was my favorite player. So, you know, when I say I check my calendar, it probably is accurate. But I feel like we're going further back.

But this is the age we live in. There's armed forces, the National Guard on the streets of like Washington, D.C. right now. Like, it's just an interesting time to be, you know, sparking a career in Nashville, I would think, as a Canadian woman. I mean, yeah, I'm still, I still, I'm Canadian. I still live here where I haven't moved down to Nashville. I know a lot of other artist friends of mine that have moved down there. I feel like until it makes sense for me to have to be there, I'm happy traveling down when I need to.

But I love Canada and I love being here and I love the opportunities that I've had in my home country. And there's a lot to be said about you can still have success and not have to move there. I don't think that it's something that you have to necessarily uproot your life. I think some artists do it too early in their careers where they don't even know who they are as an artist yet. And then they're wasting time and money. It's expensive. to do a move like that. I can imagine,

especially of the dollar as it is, right? Oh, for sure. For sure. For sure. That's a big one. Okay, so I have another song from you, but let me, because you,

you know, we're so kind to me with my hot, you know, political questions I threw at you there, but I'm going to give you a couple of gifts if that's cool. Okay.

Will you accept my gifts, Bree? Okay. Okay. Do you, and I know we had this chat about what time a day will you drink a beer?

I think it was before I pressed record. And we're recording at noon, so still too early to take down a Great Lakes bear. But I will tell you, the Troy Birch from Great Lakes was actually here for a 10 a.m. recording today. And it's for his, well, for the Great Lakes podcast, which is called Between Two Fermenters. And it's a great podcast. People should subscribe. But Troy took down a couple of beers at 10 a.m. And I was thinking, okay, you know, different strokes for different folks.

But may I send you home with some fresh craft beer that you can consume with loved ones when the time? is right. For sure. I would love that. Thank you. And I will tell you though, because I'm sending you home, this is your, your, your, your, your, your part of beer. But this short one is actually non-alcoholic and it's not a beer at all. It is a hop-pop. I see that. So that's a hop-op. Cool. No alcohol in there. And, uh, you got yourself a nice summer ale. You got yourself a logger. You got yourself the Canuck Pale Ale and, uh, awesome. We love great lakes on this show. So there you go. Cool. I have to share that with the band. Oh, gosh. They're going to be asking you to come on this show every week. They'll be like, uh, hey, Bree, can you go back on

Toronto Mike. Yeah, no kidding. They'll love it. Well, let me give you another, it pairs nicely, and the band might enjoy this as well. But I have in my freezer upstairs, Bree, a large lasagna from Palma Pasta. Oh, wow. And you live in Mississauga. I do.

You are within striking distance of, they have four locations, but three are in Mississauga, one's in Oakville. The Palma's Kitchen location, which is kind of like Mavis and Burnham Thorpe area, And that's the place to go. This retail store, the hot table, pick up some Palma pasta. I urge all listeners to check it out. And everybody I've introduced to Palma Pasta has come back and said, Mike, I love this place.

And you're going to get a lasagna. Amazing. I got some Italians in the band. They'll definitely love some pasta. Oh, okay. You know what? The late great Palma Petrucci is up in heaven. She's going to be looking down at those Italians,

people of Italian descent, enjoying her lasagna. Yeah. Would you take a vegetarian lasagna or a meat lasagna? Definitely meat. Love me some meat. I'm wired that way too, but I did decide that, hey, once in a while somebody needs a vegetarian and I never had it in supply. So I actually have one in the freezer right now.

But it looks like that's going to Damien Cox tomorrow. Damien, sorry, buddy. I mean, I say sorry, but you know, not everyone eats meat. Yeah, that's true. That's true. I definitely, I'm not a vegetarian. I'm a carnivore for sure. You're a carnivore.

Absolutely. Me too. Me too. Love some protein. I want to shout out Ridley Funeral Home later today at 5 p.m. to be specific, Brad Jones from Ridley Funeral Home, is going to drop by to record an episode of Life's Undertaking. Life's Undertaking is this sweet AF, I'll call it Sweet A.F. I record with Brad every two weeks. You can subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast, Life's Undertaking from Ridley Funeral Home.

Brad's a great guy. He owns, and his family lives on the residence of Ridley Funeral Home, which is 14th in Lakeshore. and we love Ridley Funeral Home on this show. So no pressure, but, you know, I was going to say, when you die in 100 years, Ridley Funeral Home, maybe not Brad himself, but maybe one of Brad's kids will be there to take care of you. So thank you, Ridley Funeral Home. And I do want to introduce a new sponsor right now.

I think he likes, I'm pretty sure Doug Mills will be digging some Breed Taylor. And I think a lot of non-country singers are going to hear this next song, and that song I just played and say, I got to catch me some live dates from Breed Taylor. Taylor. So Doug Mills, he owns a company called Blue Sky Agency and the latest, newest sponsor, and Blue Sky has forged partnerships with established office furniture brands like Silent and Green

Furniture Concept and Ruleyard. And Doug Mills is very eager to chat with any and all Toronto Mike listeners who are looking for dynamic and creative work environments. His address is Doug at Blue Sky Agency.C. Write them. Thank them for helping to fuel the real talk and let them know you're an FOTM and start the conversation with Doug from Blue Sky Agency.

And one event I just want to tell you really quickly about. This is happening on the waterfront. So I don't know how often you get yourself to the waterfront here in Toronto. Lots of action there. August 22 to 24, it is Taiwan Fest. It's actually the 20th anniversary of Taiwan

Fest. This year's festival is actually a dialogue with Portugal, and it explores the unique connections between the two cultures, discover how artistic traditions connect through Portuguese tiles, experience the rich flavors of haka culinary traditions, and enjoy the live musical performances. The shared histories of Taiwan and Portugal, who would have thought you can see that August 22 to 24? And then before you know it, it'll be time for the air show. Another reason to check out the waterfront. And last but not least, Bree, and then I'm going to play another song from you, and I got more questions for you. Okay. All right, last but not least, if you have old electronics, old devices, old cables, maybe you have a drawer or a closet or even a room. If you're

Elvis, my buddy Elvis, you probably have a room full of this stuff. Don't throw it in the garbage because those chemicals end up in our landfill. Go to recyclemyelectronics.c.a. Stick that in your browser and put in your postal code and find out where you can drop all of that off to be properly recycled so those chemicals do not end up in our landfill. Got it, Brie? Yeah, I'm a big recycler, so I love that. So you're going to memorize, recycle my electronics.ca. For sure. The next episode of Toast with Rob Pruse and Bob Willett from Indy 88, Rob, of course, from Spoons and Honeymoon Sweet, and then Bob is from Indy 88. The theme is morning jams, like songs, that make you think of the morning.

And I feel like this song, wake up would be appropriate. For sure. I don't know what's right in front of you all wrapped up and you know who wake up you're sleeping on a good thing straight up you can't admit your feelings space up to all your petty games to all the time you waste when you're going to see it wake up wake up wake up Forget Bree Taylor. You're now,

Brie Taylor Swift, okay? This is a breakup anthem. Kind of. I don't know why my publicists seem to think it's a breakup anthem. It's more just about guys who fumbled

potentially dating me. Okay, but you saw, I saw you kiss her on a Tuesday, but you call me on the daily. Yeah. You must be seeing this guy, or at least like this guy. I mean, yeah,

there were some feelings involved. It's kind of a song about multiple men that I've pulled into one song. I see you consolidated these are these men. So maybe this opens up a new avenue of discussion here. Much more fun than the political talk. Which is, so you're digging a dude? Yeah. Is it a dude?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's 2025. What do I know? I'm a Gen Xer. We forget these things. Okay. So there's a guy you're digging and do you go out with this guy or what? You just see that he's digging another woman?

What's the, but maybe. he's still keeping, you know, you've got to keep your options open. So he's still, you know, sliding into your DMs or whatever, maybe, you know what I mean? Like just to keep, you know, soften the LZ. Just think, I don't know, keep your options open. Is this the vibe I'm here and here? It's more about just guys that don't realize what they have in front of them when it's right there. And they are like blind and like with the wrong person or someone that's not necessarily me.

And they have, there's a connection there for sure. and they've, you know, fumbled the ball. And it's like kind of almost like a wake up before you you miss out on what you have in front of you. Speaking on behalf of men everywhere, we're kind of stupid. Yeah, that's how I intro the song on the stage. It took me 50 years to realize I'm stupid.

Yeah. So like you're obviously, I'm guessing, the dudes you're digging are younger than 50 years old. So they haven't yet had that moment of clarity where they realize, oh, I'm stupid. Pretty much. Yeah, it's kind of like, you just want to shake them and wake them up. And I've always just told my friends, I'm like, oh, yeah, they're going to wake up one day and realize what they could have had. And it's kind of like almost wake up before it's too late, this is kind of what we put into the song story behind it. But yeah, I mean, there was actually like the verse two. There's a specific line of you're the one you're, she's the one you're touching, but I'm the one you wish you were. And it's like, because there's a guy who told me from my past that he thought about me when he was intimate with his. girlfriend. So, whoa, whoa, we'll back up the truck here. So basically, he's being physical of someone

else. Yeah. But mentally, he's with you. Yeah. That's what I've been told by him. Can you not me ask you done it? Because again, even though I did realize I'm dumb, I still am dumb. Is that a compliment? Like, is that a, I think so. I mean, I'm not memorable. So I guess. I don't know. But the person who says to you, are you interested in them? No. They're just somebody from my past. Like, he's not somebody that I would ever take seriously like he's not my husband like there's no way we're getting married and he knows that and I've told him but like there's just like a physical connection that he really like likes yeah I guess really obviously he's fantasizing about you pretty much so I kind of that's inspired by so many different men that have fumbled a potential relationship with me that

I pulled into this song and it's it's yeah it's about multiple people am I allowed even maybe it's a personal question what is your current status like are you available to date I just had a stalker situation, so I'd rather not disclose that. Police were involved and he was arrested. Oh my God, you know what? That's shitty. Yeah, I just, I mean, I have, I have a male fan base that is a little too

obsessed with me, I'd say, so. Again, we won't, so, yeah, we won't speak to that specifics after the recording, I'll find out. But that's, like, what is it like? This opens up a whole new stream of what is it like for an, if I may,

an attractive, aspiring singer with these, it's one thing to be stupid. It's another thing to be criminal. Like, dealing with stalkers, like that's some bullshit you don't need in your life. And that's not acceptable. So it's like, yeah, I'm,

I am sorry that I am an attractive musician. And some idiot grasps onto that and has some kind of alternative reality that they're living with here. That sucks. Yeah. It's hard. Honestly, I've, I mean, I was in a really talk

relationship for about three years that I wrote about my single, I regret you, if that tells you how that went down, how that went down. But yeah, I was, he wanted me to give up my music career and just kind of be a housewife and make some babies. And I was like, you know what, I'm not giving up my dreams for anybody. And I left that. And then, yeah, it's just been a kind of a harder navigation to date and fine. And then I just have all these stupid boys who don't realize what they have or, you know, don't know how to treat me or like want someone else that I don't think is right for them, but that's their journey. So, yeah, it's just been, it's been a journey in the dating experience, but it does make it hard when, like, especially fans are in your DMs and they,

they're like, okay, yeah, thank you for telling me I'm attractive, but that's not going to change anything. Like, I, you're attracted to me to get it, but like, like, you're getting in these DMs of like, oh, you're so fucking hot. Yeah, like, all the time. A lot of them. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, uh, I got my, my, I got my, my, I got my boys that protect me. So I have my, they're like my family and they got my back. But yeah, it's, it's a hard world to be a musician that is not married and, you know, in the, in the world out there. It's,

and the dating world in general, not even just for me, but for at least with the women's end. Actually, my dad's single and my dad's having a hard time dating as a 60s. Well, he won't, he'll kill me for telling his real age because he's lying about his age now. But yeah, he's, he's having a hard time. That's the real talk, Bree. How old is this old man of yours? I can't. My dad will kill me. He's,

okay, he's in his early 60s, but he likes to say he's younger than that. So ladies be warned. But that's not cool either, dad. Like,

just be honest, own your age. That's what I told them. It's not like he's just indicative when you were born. Age appropriate women, too, because like when your dad starts

trying to date girls around your age, it's a little disturbing. My daughter would kill me. So, okay, so I had, so for my birthday, um,

my oldest daughter, who's 21. she bought us two Blue Jays tickets. This was the daddy-daughter date for my birthday or whatever. Yeah, she does it every year, actually. And it was yesterday night. So it's like, okay, at 6.45, we meet by the Ted Rogers statue. Okay, this is the deal.

And this was last night, which, by the way, was loony dog night, which I've never been at the dome for a loony dog night. And you're allowed four hot dogs for a dollar each. Wow. This is the, each time you line up, get four, that's your cap or whatever. You can line up 100 times, whatever. Oh, wow.

Yeah. But I got, this is a quick aside before I get back to what you're experiencing, but real quick aside to say that, so it's like four each, okay, we line up, we get there, like, okay, obviously four for her, four for me. Like, we have eight hot dogs going back to our seat. And I'm thinking, okay, I can do, I'm thinking to myself, I can do 12, I can go like, the thinking to myself, right? So we have, and I think, oh, Michelle's good for four hot dogs, right?

So I actually inhale four. like I feel like that is I can inhale four hot dogs I do because that's my four she's got four and I think what she's done we'll go get more she hits her second hot dog and she taps out like I can't do anymore and I'm like well pass over those two dogs I take those down that's my sixth hot dog and I realize oh I'm exactly where she was at at two hot dogs the thought of another bite of a hot dog right now makes me nauseous like I am not doing I'm not like we got our eight we're eight and out six and two we divided it up that was last night this is a long-winded way of saying hey my daughter would i think because uh she would kill me i was at this maple leafs game i told you

about and uh a friend of hers was like working the brewery tent uh for left field and i was like okay and she's like hey mike like she's like mike i'm looking at it do i know you long story short is like if if if i end up dating somebody even close to my daughter's age she would actually murder me But all this is to say, for you, back to you, Bree, because enough of me and my hot dog experience. Everybody needs to know about me and my hot dog experience. But I had a great time with my daughter because she's going back to Montreal on Thursday. So this was like, we needed some time together. We need some daddy-daughter date nights.

I love those. Yeah, we went swimming on Sunday weeks because I'm going to lose her Thursday and then maybe she'll come back for Thanksgiving. Who knows? But, okay. So enough about the great Michelle. For you, Bree, this whole trying to date in this world and. this objectification by the fan base, do you find yourself able to, like, find the balance between doing what you're doing right now,

which is like, I'm going to go be vulnerable and open and have some conversation with somebody or maybe even bigger press, like, you know, if you could get on the CBC or whatever, breakfast television, who knows. But, and I don't want to, like, feed these unwell people who are going to be creepy and inappropriate in my DMs and have this idea of being with me in an inappropriate manner. Like, how do you strike the balance? Because you want to be out there because that's how you sell tickets. And that's how you sell music or whatever.

But at the same time, some guys are stupid and some guys are creepy a.F. Yeah. I mean, it's just a balance of like knowing my boundaries and setting those boundaries. And then, you know, they have to respect them. And if they don't like the stalker situation, then, you know, I do have to go to a point of reporting it. But, you know, honestly, like, it's so far. it's been mostly innocent with just like I ignore the messages or I just say thank you politely. But when it's excessive, obviously it's too much. But for me, just I can't, I have to live my

life. I've got to do what I got to do and like live and be the artist that I am. And I live authentically. That's the only way I've, I've been able to know how to live my life as an artist. And, you know, I just, it is what it is. And I'm just, you know, I'm busy with what I do. So I definitely invest my time into my career. And I love what I do so much. So that's kind of where I just put my energy and you know when the right person's going to come along they will come along and that's that okay that's a good attitude do you find it cathartic that when you have these experiences with idiot guys or creepy guys or whatever or even that toxic relationship you alluded to earlier but you have this outlet like this cathartic outlet where you can write about it totally like that must be good

for you on like in a spiritual sense oh 100% like when i wrote i regret you it was definitely therapy in and of itself just writing the song and then when i finally got to release the song a year later, which was just this past January, it was a whole new world. But then even my ex when he found out, he's obviously not named publicly, but he knew it was about him. And he started sending me because he's blocked crazy emails. So yeah, he just, well, he, he's a narcissist. So anything that it's about him, he's obsessed with. What was the attraction in the first place? Honestly, I was on online dating pre-COVID. And it was just before all the lockdowns had hit that we'd met and then we just got stuck in a COVID relationship that we I was with him

too long because it was just easy and then you know when the world were in each other's bubble pretty much yeah and bubble relationship and yeah and then when they when I when the world opened up again and Brie Taylor had to go be Brie Taylor he didn't like it all right because he wanted you to be like barefoot and pregnant making him dinner well he wanted me to be a working housewife he wanted me to go work a nine to five job and then also come home and cook and clean for him and make the babies and have a normal life. And I told him I've been the same person since you met me. I've had the same goals and dreams and now you're trying to change me. And of course, but that's a narcissist job is they want to destroy you. So I'm not surprised when I look in hindsight. But when you're

in a toxic relationship like that, it's really, it's detrimental to your mental health. And it's it does things to you and you're not, you don't make smart decisions. So I stayed way longer than I should have but you know I had all those friends being like leave and then I didn't listen but live and learn right like it's as long as you learn from it it's not a wasted experience I definitely would not be the person that I am today or the artist that I am today without having gone through that because I've learned my self-worth and I will never tolerate any BS like that ever again I feel like a Seinfeld were around today there might be a whole running gag about it was a bubble relationship yeah probably yeah I mean there's so many people up there that I probably can relate to that for

sure. But I think a lot, that's why I've been talking a lot about narcissistic abuse and standing still was, I was writing that coming out of the relationship because I wanted to manifest what I do want in a right, like a healthy, right partner that is meant for me. And that's kind of what I'm looking for and what I'm wanting. Because I don't really do love songs often. It's not an easy thing for me to do because I haven't been in a healthy, loving relationship in a very long time. So for me, writing that song was like, you know, what I want to feel. And it gave me the inspiration to be like, you know, I really do deserve this and I don't deserve that and gave me the strength to really walk away. So I hope that I can inspire people that are maybe

settling in relationships or not fully happy or content to know that they deserve better and what they do want and feel they deserve in a partner and not to settle. No, great, great perspective, great advice. Wake up, the song we just played, wake up has an exclamation mark. You can't call it wake up. You have to say wake up. Yes. Or wake up. Wake up, great arcade fire song. Yeah. Tremendous arcade fire song. Okay.

So, speaking of problematic musicians, okay, so I would love to know how it's doing for you. Like, I was reading in your bio about 2 million streams. Like, it's just, that just, it sounds like people are digging, wake up. Wake up. That's collectively, I've got over 2 million streams collectively of my catalog. But the song itself is doing really well. it's been doing getting like a lot of stuff going on in social media people are loving it um getting a lot of new followers which is great a lot of people are really liking that alternative sound that's there um so yeah

it's it's great it's going well and it's uh people really liked i started with skip to the end last summer with this kind of pop punk spin on country and people loved that so we were like we got to do something like that again for summer it's just that fun high energy vibe and i was actually talking to my dad the other day i'm like wake up it's like so fun for like the morning like you were saying a morning show I was like I need to get like an energy drink or coffee endorsement deal and put wake up into a theme song for them because that would be great. I love that. Well, listen, I'll introduce you to Jake Gold. We'll see what we can do. Okay. Okay, cool. Yeah. Hey, I like promoting. I love energy drinks and I love coffee. Oh my goodness. Oh, so I love coffee too and I start every morning. I have, it so happens as we talk. I'm coming off like two weeks of like what I would call, you know, bachelorhood. That doesn't mean I'm on the apps or anything, but it means that my wife's in Alberta. So, So it's like, I'm sort of like, I find in this two-week period, I'm fine, I'm doing a lot of, a lot of, a shitload of biking, kayaking, swimming. I'm just like, just going, you know, and then, you know, spending time, I have two older kids who are in town or whatever. But, so, oh, yeah, so I start every morning with a French press coffee, like every single morning.

This is how I started. And this morning, I was doing, just having my French press coffee, because I knew the guys from Great Lakes were coming over for that episode I mentioned on between, two fermenters. And for the first time in my life, this is just this morning, I think I burned my lip on my coffee. And I was like, it's the same process every day. Like, I'm a ritualistic kind of guy. Same process. And I don't even have a clue. How did I burn my lip? It was, it's the same temperature. It's the same everything. I do it every single day. But today, I burn my lip on my coffee. So just wanted to fuse me. You mentioned coffee and it triggered that, that trauma I wanted to share with you, Bree. Okay, since I'm sharing it. By the way, I want to share the listenership,

because I know how I want to close this episode. But I want to share the listenership that we are recording on August 13th, and it has come to my attention that on August 23rd, 2025, if you're listening in the future, after Bree has won her first, what do you win, Grammy Award, okay?

Oh, love that. Let's manifest a Grammy. So if you're listening to Future after Bree Taylor just won a Grammy Award, we're talking about August 23rd, 2025. The Winona Peach Festival is happening in Winona. Winona, Ontario.

Just outside Tony Creek. Okay, Winona, that feels like a country music name. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. Because of Judd.

Yes. Thank you. There you go. Okay. So you are going to open for Freedom Train on August 23rd. And then the very next day,

this is more hyperlocal for the Toronto listenership, including myself. You, Bree Taylor, are at the C&E country stage. I am. That's exciting. I'm excited.

We had a rain date last year. So we only got to play one of our three sets. So there was that thunderstorm that happened. So they loved our one set. And they were like, we want to have you back for sure next year. And we were really, really glad that they loved our stuff.

And yeah, I'm excited. I hope hopefully good weather this year. Okay. So again, August 23, Winona Peach Festival. You're going to have a peach or two? They're very tasty at this time.

They have a really delicious peach ice cream Sunday type thing that I went, I got last year. It's amazing. So I highly recommend if anyone's coming to grab one of those, fresh peaches, And yeah, it's a great festival, family-friendly, lots to do, see any same thing, lots to do, friends and family can come. And do you have a website?

Is it BrieTaylor.com? It is. Like, where can people go to keep trap out? So no creeps and no stalkers. We just want the real fans. I want the nice, supportive people that can respect boundaries. Well, that's most people, I think. I think that's most people.

Yeah. It can't be easy. I want you to know I appreciate what you have to deal with. Thank you. So, Brie Taylor, see her live. She's a, you know, up-and-coming country music. The way I want to close, though, is because I'm doing my homework. I'm learning about Breed Taylor.

Because, again, a big blind spot for me. I'm like, what is this country music? Like, I know Johnny Cash. I know Willie Nelson. Let's go here. Okay. And then I'm learning. And this, I saw you were talking publicly about your hearing loss journey.

Yeah, I'm hearing impaired. So I wear hearing aids. So they are hidden under these headphones. They are not feedbacking. I put them on strategically. That's why earlier I was like telling you how like adjust them proper. Which is the same thing I have to do in the recording studio is make sure that the headphones are on appropriately so that they're not feedbacking the hearing aids. But yeah, I'm hearing impaired.

So it's something that I've had degeneratively kind of happen just through when I was a little kid. I started having a lot of hearing issues. And then I had like, you know, some doctors do some bad surgeries and and it just made it worse. And then, yeah, I got to a point that I just, I got to refer to my specialist and he's like the best in Canada. he saved everything about what I've been doing in my career because he was like, you know what, I don't want to touch him again and do any more surgeries because the risk of you going completely deaf is so high.

And it's too risky. So he's like, we're going to put you in hearing aids and help improve your hearing and do the best we can and fix all the other technical issues that I had going on with my ears that are medical that are going to bore people. But yeah, and then ever since I've had hearing aids, I've been able to hear myself proper. Yeah, so you're able to hear

because of these aids that you're wearing. and you've only kind of come public with this recently. Is that because you figured people are going to judge you as like a singer-songwriter and judge you as like a hearing-impaired singer-songwriter? Like there's some kind of a disconnect there. Like you just felt like maybe keep that private? Yeah, honestly, I felt like especially on more, not necessarily fan side, but more the industry side would kind of judge me

or kind of give me almost like a handicap or something with the fact that like I'm hearing impaired So I didn't, and honestly, I was a little insecure about it being a musician and a female-fronted singer-songwriter that, you know, wears hearing aids and I was very kind of insecure about it. And then, you know, I just started to embrace that because as I started sharing and opening up, I had fans and people that were at shows saying how it inspired them because, you know, it's the resilience in me because I was literally told by doctors having a career in music would be next to impossible or just very, very difficult and kind of tried to steer me against it. Wow. And I'm basically proving a lot of odds wrong. And I'm like I told you, I'm, I'm an underdog and I vouch for the underdog. I fight for the underdog. So I feel like the people out there, that's kind of what I've created with my like, quote, like rebel country kind of vibe of what I'm doing with my alternative country spin.

It's like the misfits of the world, the underdogs of the world, the people who feel like like they don't belong or they can't do something or they don't have somewhere to fit in. They can fit in here with me. And if you don't like country music, but you kind of like some of this, you might like this. You might like what we're doing. So there's a lot of what I'm trying to kind of build in terms of like a fan-based community now that I think has just kind of organically started to grow on its own through me sharing this story that I'm just proving the odds wrong and I'm not taking no for an answer and I'm going to do it anyways.

So yeah. Well, I'm going to just leave you with the name Jim Abbott, okay? Because Jim Abbott was a major league pitcher. He made the big leagues. He has only one hand. Okay. So this is a pitcher with one hand. And I'm here to tell you that in 1993 against the Cleveland Indians,

when Jim Abbott was with the New York Yankees, he pitched a no-hitter. Wow. And I'm just saying, I think Jim Abbott pitching a no-hitter with one hand, I'd say if he can do that, and I'm sure growing up people were laughing at his dreams of even becoming a professional pitcher, let alone one day pitching a no-hitter for the New Year Yankees. But he did that, and you're doing this. I just listened to two great songs. I wish you nothing but continued success.

would say you're working harder than an able-hearing individual because of this disability of sorts and that it's even harder for you and just what you've achieved is incredible and I hope you never give up. Thank you. I definitely won't. You will have not heard the last of me. Don't let those creepy guys win. Never, never. They will not. Thank you so much. Any plans to get more ink? Definitely. Yeah, I'm almost... It looks like a work in progress. I'm almost finished my half sleeve. I have a small spot left there and then I can shade it in and then I definitely I love I love tattoos so will you do both arms no I don't know why I just don't really want to touch this arm but I might do a whole sleeve people always ask me that I'm kind of on the fence but it might happen we'll see stay tuned

follow along so we're on instagram can we the the ink progress uh Brie taylor official is my Instagram and TikTok handles those are my most common platforms that I'm most active on if people want to tag me or come chat with me in an appropriate way, of course. But yeah, and then my website has my links. You can buy a CD. I have vinyl, CDs, T-shirts on my web store. So, Brie Taylor.com. You can go check out everything on there and on my bio and all the things are on there.

Well, Mississauga, Bree, you're about to take a photo with Toronto Tree. That's what we'll do after I finish his extra. So Bree by the tree, and that'll be the photo that attaches itself to this episode. but thanks for making the trek. I enjoyed hearing your story. Thank you. Now I want a juicy peach. Thank you for having me.

That's Winona's fault, by the way, the juicy peat. You'll have to go now. It's worth the drive to Winona. I just have to Google map that one and I'll be there. All right. And that brings us to the end of our 1,744th show. Go to tronomike.com for all your Toronto mic needs. Much love to all who made this possible.

Again, that's Great Lakes Brewery. You've got your beer and your hop-hop. Palma pasta, your lasagna is in my freezer. Yeah. Toronto's Waterfront BIA. So much happening on the Waterfront this summer. It's been amazing. Even just riding my bike on the Waterfront Trail.

So much going on there. Toronto Maple Leafs Baseball. One more Saturday night game and then playoff action, but I don't have the playoff date yet. But when I have it, I'll share it here, because I will be at Christy Pits for Toronto Maple Leafs baseball playoffs for sure. Recyclemyelectronics.ca.C.A. Blue Sky Agency. Welcome to the team Blue Sky Agency and Doug Mills. And Ridley Funeral Home Brad will see at 5 p.m.

See you all tomorrow when my guest is Damien Cox. See you all then. You know, You know,