Rising Country Stars Nick Wayne and Hannah Ellis Check in to Sip Jack and Barrell Bourbon

In this episode, Fred interviews country music artists Hannah Ellis and Nick Wayne, who recently got engaged. Ellis, a Kentucky native, appeared on Rolling Stone’s “Artists To Watch” list, while CMT named her one of their “Next Women of Country.” The outgoing singer spoke with Fred after a show, and they talked palate preferences, bananas foster and tasting whiskey. Wayne, meanwhile, as a 2019 ‘Listen Up’ Artist by CMT, while Rolling Stone Country touted Nick in late 2018 as its ‘Artist You Need To Know.’ The laid back Nick talks with Fred about the music business and his songwriting process, and of course, whiskey comes into play as well.

Whiskeys tasted:

Jack Daniel’s Barrel Pick (8:18)
Barrell Bourbon 1 (32:59)

EPISODE SUMMARY

Not only did Hannah go to school with one of Fred’s former colleagues, Nick is a bourbon enthusiast who has a song series titled “Bourbon Neat.” Here are a few of the topics Fred landed on with his dual guests:

Hannah revealed her love of pizza and charcuterie – anything and everything savory – so Fred did his best to find bourbons to meet her palate halfway.
She partook of a Jack Daniel’s barrel pick, which satisfied her love of bananas foster and banana-flavored cocktails. I couple of drops of water helped smooth out the whiskey for her.
Along the way, Fred points out that Jack Daniel’s whiskey is actually a bourbon, but JD chooses to call it a Tennessee Whiskey for marketing purposes. They also get into the prevalence of marketing in a broad sense. As Fred notes, “Most of everything in this world is marketing, and most marketing is bullshit.”
Hannah also reveals that her first drink was a margarita, not whiskey, mostly because her dad was a margarita drinker on family vacations.
Fred spoke with Nick about songwriting and why we don’t hear the word “bourbon” in song often.
They also talked about themes in country music, and the prevalence of trucks, tractors and the actual word “country” in today’s current songs.
Nick talks about his songs that were recorded by Keith Urban and Tim McGraw/Faith Hill.
Once the whiskey starts flowing, Nick compares the BCS Bourbon 1 to Stagg Jr., “but without the burn.” On the road, he typically drinks Buffalo Trace on the rocks. Nothing wrong with “budget bourbon.”
He also reveals that Wayne is his middle name and not his last name (his real last name is Richardson), and won’t admit that he wishes his first name was Bruce. Who wouldn’t want to be called “Bruce Wayne”?

QUOTABLES

Hannah, talking about her “breakup” with bourbon a few years ago, blamed it on a single session of overindulgence: “A bottle of Wild Turkey did me in.” Perhaps the quote of the show came from Nick, however, came as he talked about sharing stories over whiskey: “Bourbon is a sharing spirit but also there’s a spirit in it that you start sharing.”

RESOURCES

FOLLOW HANNAH

https://hannahellismusic.com/home

https://www.facebook.com/hannahellismusic/

https://www.instagram.com/HannahGreyEllis/

https://twitter.com/hannahgreyellis

https://www.youtube.com/user/hannahgreyellis

FOLLOW NICK

https://www.nickwaynemusic.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/hannahgreyellis

https://twitter.com/NickWayneMusic

https://www.instagram.com/nickwaynemusic/