# Inspiring Artist Interviews :Classic Replay with Country Music Singer Songwriter Cyndi Thomson :Country Music History

An episode of [Music Saved Me Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1703080557), 19 Oct 2025, 34 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/038eec94-1ba4-451d-8945-b08f00e9f877/f2ab3f48-93d2-4bdb-a724-b377014b14fe/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=dfceda02-3624-42c7-b522-b25700f0584c

October 19th marks the birthday of the amazing singer-songwriter Cyndi Thomson and we are thrilled to share this past episode of our music history podcast. Happy Birthday Cyndi! Takin’ A Walk: In-depth music interviews exploring the stories and music history behind the songs. Support the show: https://musicsavedme.net/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.
[0:01] Speaker 2: So many things influence me and songwriters in general. I
[0:05] Speaker 2: think just moments we might see in real life, happening
[0:08] Speaker 2: in front of us, or you know, I just know
[0:11] Speaker 2: myself pretty well, and I know if I'm singing a
[0:16] Speaker 2: song to you or writing a song, I want you
[0:18] Speaker 2: to believe me.
[0:19] Speaker 1: Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast, hosted by Buzznight.
[0:23] Speaker 1: Buzz speaks with musicians and songwriters of all genres about
[0:27] Speaker 1: their passion for their work and their newest projects. Today,
[0:30] Speaker 1: we step into a new chapter with country singer songwriter
[0:34] Speaker 1: Cindy Thompson as she returns to the Spotlight, bringing her
[0:37] Speaker 1: signature heartfelt storytelling and soulful vocals to a brand new project.
[0:42] Speaker 1: On this episode with Cindy, she opens up about her
[0:45] Speaker 1: journey and gives us an exclusive look at her highly
[0:48] Speaker 1: anticipated EP Acres of Diamonds.
[0:51] Speaker 3: Joined Buzznight now.
[0:53] Speaker 1: For an intimate conversation with Cindy Thompson rediscovering old treasures,
[0:57] Speaker 1: embracing new beginnings, and celebrating the Acres of Diamonds right
[1:01] Speaker 1: now on the Taking a Walk Podcast.
[1:05] Speaker 4: Cindy Thompson, thanks for being on the Taken a Walk Podcast.
[1:08] Speaker 2: Thanks for having me so since.
[1:11] Speaker 4: We call this this little podcast taking a Walk, I
[1:15] Speaker 4: want to ask you first, if you could take a
[1:19] Speaker 4: walk with somebody. I'll make it very suspenseful. If you
[1:22] Speaker 4: could take a walk with somebody living, you're dead. They
[1:27] Speaker 4: could be involved with music, they don't have to be.
[1:30] Speaker 4: Who would you take a walk with and where would
[1:32] Speaker 4: you take a walk with them?
[1:35] Speaker 3: That wasn't that suspenseful, was it?
[1:37] Speaker 2: It sounded kind of cool? I felt it. Wow, Okay,
[1:44] Speaker 2: you know, I might take a walk with my great grandfather.
[1:50] Speaker 2: I never got to meet him, but we have this
[1:53] Speaker 2: amazing photograph in our house, and he's so handsome, and
[1:58] Speaker 2: he came from Scotland. He was a pastor and he
[2:03] Speaker 2: came from Scotland to become a preacher here. And he
[2:07] Speaker 2: just looks really cool and I just love to pick
[2:09] Speaker 2: his brain.
[2:10] Speaker 3: Ah, that's so special.
[2:12] Speaker 4: I could I could visualize the cool look you know
[2:15] Speaker 4: the picture.
[2:16] Speaker 2: Yes, he's so good looking, and I'm like, you know,
[2:20] Speaker 2: he just I don't know. I don't know what we
[2:22] Speaker 2: would talk about. I'm sure all kinds of things that
[2:24] Speaker 2: he's so intriguing to me. Every time I see that picture,
[2:27] Speaker 2: I'm like, I just want to know him. But I don't, sir.
[2:30] Speaker 4: That's nice. It's amazing the array of answers that we
[2:34] Speaker 4: get with the question. We get everybody from Johann Sebastian
[2:40] Speaker 4: Bach to fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers.
[2:47] Speaker 3: It goes all over the place, it really does.
[2:50] Speaker 2: Well, if I had a lot of time to think
[2:51] Speaker 2: about it, I'd probably pick not pick my great grandfather.
[2:54] Speaker 2: But you know, there are so many people that I'm
[2:57] Speaker 2: intrigued by and stories, and so it's a good question.
[3:01] Speaker 4: Well, thank you, thank you for that answer, and we're
[3:05] Speaker 4: going to talk about the brand new music. Certainly get
[3:10] Speaker 4: into that acres of diamonds and a pretty amazing sound
[3:16] Speaker 4: and cast of collaborators. So we'll get in the midst
[3:20] Speaker 4: of that conversation. But I do want to start at
[3:24] Speaker 4: the beginning with you and talk about some of your
[3:30] Speaker 4: earliest memories of music that certainly have shaped you.
[3:34] Speaker 3: To this day.
[3:36] Speaker 2: You know, my favorite memories are always getting in the
[3:39] Speaker 2: car with my dad and he would always have the
[3:41] Speaker 2: oldies station playing. He was a big You know, my
[3:47] Speaker 2: parents weren't musical that they loved music. My mom played
[3:51] Speaker 2: the piano a little bit from time to time, like
[3:54] Speaker 2: hymns and things. My dad listened to oldies and we
[3:57] Speaker 2: just I don't know so much great music. And it
[4:00] Speaker 2: was just constantly on in his car, even if we
[4:02] Speaker 2: were talking or whatever. It was just kind of playing
[4:05] Speaker 2: in the background. But then we'd turn it up and listen.
[4:07] Speaker 2: And so and then my sisters were older than me.
[4:13] Speaker 2: I was kind of the baby of four and kind
[4:15] Speaker 2: of an afterthought, although my mom said she was done
[4:19] Speaker 2: having kids and my dad was like, I just want
[4:20] Speaker 2: one more. And it wasn't to have a boy, they swear.
[4:23] Speaker 2: But anyway, my sisters had their own, uh, you know,
[4:30] Speaker 2: loves of music. One loved jazz, like Manhattan transfer was
[4:33] Speaker 2: always playing. One liked urban music, and one just like
[4:38] Speaker 2: popular music. And so I really had a you know,
[4:42] Speaker 2: amazing you know intro to music. It was always kind
[4:46] Speaker 2: of playing somewhere in the house, all different kinds.
[4:50] Speaker 3: So, and that was in the Nashville area.
[4:54] Speaker 2: No, I'm originally from South Georgia, So I grew up
[4:58] Speaker 2: in Tifton, Georgia. And yeah, so it was just a
[5:01] Speaker 2: small town and that's where I'm from.
[5:04] Speaker 3: Probably knew everybody's name there.
[5:06] Speaker 2: I'm thinking, yes, yeah, you do, you do. It's gotten
[5:10] Speaker 2: bigger now, but yeah.
[5:12] Speaker 4: And was there a moment, you know, being impacted by
[5:15] Speaker 4: that music that you just described that you know you
[5:19] Speaker 4: first knew that you were going to make a career around.
[5:24] Speaker 2: Music, you know, I didn't until I was around twelve years.
[5:29] Speaker 3: Old, So that old cheese, yeah, so old.
[5:35] Speaker 2: Well, you know, you know, some you'll hear these stories
[5:37] Speaker 2: of kids that sung their whole lives, and mine is
[5:40] Speaker 2: a little bit different in that I came out of
[5:43] Speaker 2: middle school out of this really bad bullying situation and
[5:46] Speaker 2: so it really I think created this part of me
[5:50] Speaker 2: that just wanted to be quiet, kind of disappear and
[5:52] Speaker 2: not be seen. So it was kind of solidified in
[5:54] Speaker 2: a way, and I got into marching band and junior
[5:58] Speaker 2: high school, my sister had a clarinet. I thought she
[6:00] Speaker 2: was really cool, and I was a terrible clarinet player
[6:03] Speaker 2: and I was the last chair and that was just
[6:05] Speaker 2: so bad. But I got into marching band thinking I
[6:10] Speaker 2: could be a part of something really big, so that
[6:12] Speaker 2: it wasn't just me right, but because of music, I
[6:16] Speaker 2: wanted to do something. And one afternoon, the choir teacher
[6:21] Speaker 2: came in and said, is Cindy Thompson in here? And
[6:27] Speaker 2: I didn't want to raise my hand right away because
[6:28] Speaker 2: I didn't want to be seen or heard or noticed.
[6:31] Speaker 2: But I went with her outside the classroom and she said, listen,
[6:34] Speaker 2: I heard that you could sing. And I was like,
[6:37] Speaker 2: I don't know if I can sing. She had heard
[6:40] Speaker 2: about me, I think through a couple of solos i'd
[6:41] Speaker 2: done at church in our youth group, you know, but
[6:44] Speaker 2: my bully went to my church. So I didn't ever
[6:46] Speaker 2: want to sing, you know, because she was a good singer.
[6:49] Speaker 2: I mean, it was just this whole thing. So she
[6:52] Speaker 2: took me in her choir class, put me in front
[6:54] Speaker 2: of the piano. All the students were sitting there, and
[6:56] Speaker 2: she began to play scales. They were really easy, they
[6:59] Speaker 2: got really hard, and I just sang them all back
[7:01] Speaker 2: to her and she said, I don't care what you
[7:03] Speaker 2: do with that clarinet. This is your classroom. This is
[7:05] Speaker 2: where you're going to be. So she was the first
[7:07] Speaker 2: person to ever say to my parents, she's a star.
[7:11] Speaker 2: There's really something special about her. And I find it
[7:14] Speaker 2: ironic because I was so withdrawn and so sha and quiet,
[7:18] Speaker 2: but she heard something in my voice. And I'm so
[7:22] Speaker 2: grateful to her for that because it was really what
[7:27] Speaker 2: that was the catalyst in turning this whole thing around,
[7:30] Speaker 2: and after that, it was really seeing you asked me
[7:33] Speaker 2: if there was a moment one Saturday morning around this
[7:36] Speaker 2: season of My Life. I saw Trisha Eyarwood singing She's
[7:39] Speaker 2: in Love with the Boy on TV and it stopped
[7:43] Speaker 2: me in my tracks. I was like, I don't know
[7:44] Speaker 2: what that is, but that's what I want to do
[7:46] Speaker 2: and I want to be her friend. And you know,
[7:49] Speaker 2: she was from Georgia. It was just perfect timing on
[7:53] Speaker 2: that Saturday morning.
[7:55] Speaker 3: Were you looking ahead at some of the questions I prepared.
[7:58] Speaker 4: Because no, I'm teasing you because because the reality is
[8:02] Speaker 4: that I was next going to ask you about your
[8:05] Speaker 4: musical heroes. So you mentioned Tricia, who's a great one.
[8:10] Speaker 4: Were there others that really had a profound impact just
[8:14] Speaker 4: on you know, kind of giving you that further creative spark.
[8:19] Speaker 2: Yes, there were. I mean because of all the music
[8:21] Speaker 2: that was in my house, you know, and I was
[8:24] Speaker 2: also a young teenager, so you know, your friends kind
[8:28] Speaker 2: of influenced your musical taste, and you know, listen to
[8:31] Speaker 2: popular radio and at the time it was Whitney Houston.
[8:35] Speaker 2: Debbie Gibson was huge because she was so young and
[8:40] Speaker 2: it made it feel like I can do that too.
[8:42] Speaker 2: If that, if someone that young can sing, I have
[8:45] Speaker 2: that chance. Because back then there was no the Voice
[8:49] Speaker 2: or American idol. It was truly just a dream, you know,
[8:54] Speaker 2: to to be in a tiny little town wishing to
[8:57] Speaker 2: be this country singer. But yeah, I would say what
[9:00] Speaker 2: Houston the most? I just loved so much of what
[9:03] Speaker 2: she did, and I don't know, she was a big influence.
[9:08] Speaker 4: So your songs really have this incredible emotional honesty. Where
[9:15] Speaker 4: do you find that inspiration over your career? In still
[9:19] Speaker 4: for your lyrics?
[9:21] Speaker 2: Oh don't I don't know. You know, sometimes I'm driving
[9:24] Speaker 2: down the road and I'll think of something and think, well,
[9:27] Speaker 2: that would be a really good title, or you know,
[9:31] Speaker 2: I think so many things influence me and songwriters in general.
[9:36] Speaker 2: I think just moments we might see in real life
[9:39] Speaker 2: happening in front of us. Or you know, I just
[9:42] Speaker 2: know myself pretty well, and I know if I'm singing
[9:46] Speaker 2: a song to you or writing a song, I want
[9:49] Speaker 2: you to believe me. You know, I don't want to
[9:53] Speaker 2: sing something that's just it's just really important. And so
[9:57] Speaker 2: you know, I'm just inspired sometimes through reading, sometimes movies,
[10:01] Speaker 2: and just sometimes just a phrase that I hear, and
[10:03] Speaker 2: then you know, you get together with a collaborator and
[10:06] Speaker 2: they bring what they have to the table and it
[10:08] Speaker 2: just becomes a story. I like to tell stories and
[10:11] Speaker 2: I like to you know, one thing that I do
[10:13] Speaker 2: when I write a lot is I can actually see
[10:15] Speaker 2: the like music video sometimes playing out or as if
[10:18] Speaker 2: it's a movie, like what would be the thing that
[10:21] Speaker 2: we would say? What would the next thing be that
[10:24] Speaker 2: would happen that would make sense? And so inspiration for
[10:27] Speaker 2: me though, just comes from all over the place.
[10:32] Speaker 3: Do you dream in technicolor?
[10:35] Speaker 2: Sometimes? I do dream a lot. There are seasons I'll
[10:39] Speaker 2: dream every night, and yes, they're very vivid, they're very
[10:42] Speaker 2: movie like and very very detailed and long. I'm surprised
[10:47] Speaker 2: I'm not tired the next morning. It's not all the time,
[10:51] Speaker 2: but fairly often sometimes.
[10:53] Speaker 4: Yeah, is there a place or a routine that you
[10:57] Speaker 4: feel sparks your creativity?
[11:00] Speaker 2: I wish I could say yes. I think back when
[11:02] Speaker 2: I was a younger writer without a family, you know,
[11:05] Speaker 2: just kind of that first go around. You know, I
[11:09] Speaker 2: was writing every day, five days a week, sometimes you know,
[11:14] Speaker 2: two different rights a day, and it was just being
[11:19] Speaker 2: at the publishing company. You know, being in the in
[11:22] Speaker 2: the space where writers were in rooms, you could hear
[11:24] Speaker 2: the music coming out of them, and just that world
[11:27] Speaker 2: of Nashville at that time was so great. And now
[11:32] Speaker 2: it's so interesting because I have two children, I'm you know, married,
[11:36] Speaker 2: and I have a jewelry company. Things that I really
[11:40] Speaker 2: am pulled in so many different directions, and so now
[11:42] Speaker 2: it's just you know, making sure I planned to write
[11:46] Speaker 2: with someone, like getting it on the books, and then
[11:48] Speaker 2: you know, preparing in some sort of way before I go.
[11:52] Speaker 2: But no, I don't have a routine because my life
[11:56] Speaker 2: is so busy that it's not the same as it
[11:58] Speaker 2: was back then, you know. So I've had to really
[12:00] Speaker 2: learned to pull into the parking lot, walk into the
[12:03] Speaker 2: writer's room and focus. And you know, obviously I keep notes,
[12:06] Speaker 2: I keep ideas in my phone for those moments that
[12:11] Speaker 2: I get inspired, But no, I really don't have like
[12:14] Speaker 2: this routine that I do.
[12:16] Speaker 4: Just keep it that way then if it's working right, right,
[12:20] Speaker 4: we don't want to disrupt it. Your debut single, What
[12:24] Speaker 4: I really meant to say, it was a big, big hit.
[12:28] Speaker 3: Tell us about that.
[12:29] Speaker 4: Time in your life and about that moment with that
[12:32] Speaker 4: great song.
[12:34] Speaker 2: Sure, sure, I was in love with this boy who
[12:39] Speaker 2: played baseball, and I met him in Georgia, and you know,
[12:44] Speaker 2: just I think we dated so long seven years. We
[12:47] Speaker 2: broke upon an awful lot throughou seven years, but it
[12:50] Speaker 2: was really that first whole record is really written around
[12:54] Speaker 2: that relationship because that was the one that meant the most,
[12:57] Speaker 2: and then being young and growing up in Georgia. But
[13:00] Speaker 2: that particular song, what I really needed to say, I
[13:03] Speaker 2: wrote because we had broken up. It was final, it
[13:07] Speaker 2: was done where we're not playing the games anymore. And
[13:10] Speaker 2: his dream was always to be the sculpture artist. He's
[13:14] Speaker 2: a baseball player, but he came from artists and he
[13:18] Speaker 2: really had this idea that was different. No one had
[13:20] Speaker 2: done it, and I just really believed in him and
[13:23] Speaker 2: I wanted that for him, just like he wanted for
[13:25] Speaker 2: me to be a singer. So that didn't happen within
[13:30] Speaker 2: the span of our relationship. He did start making art,
[13:33] Speaker 2: but not the big gallery opening, like to have a
[13:36] Speaker 2: real place where you could hang your art. And so
[13:40] Speaker 2: we broke up, and I found out not too long
[13:43] Speaker 2: after that that he got his first gallery opening. So
[13:48] Speaker 2: I was struggling with what to do, and I just
[13:50] Speaker 2: decided who cares. I drove down to Georgia and went
[13:56] Speaker 2: to see this art opening, and he didn't know I was,
[14:02] Speaker 2: you know, coming in at that time, Like he didn't
[14:04] Speaker 2: know I was coming in the room. I think he
[14:05] Speaker 2: knew I was going to be there. But I came
[14:07] Speaker 2: in and I saw him just walking around the room
[14:10] Speaker 2: talking about his art. Everything he had dreamed about, everything
[14:13] Speaker 2: that I had dreamed for him was happening. And I
[14:15] Speaker 2: was so proud of him because we were really good friends too,
[14:19] Speaker 2: and I remember seeing it. We made eye contact and
[14:23] Speaker 2: I just told him, I'm proud of you. This is amazing.
[14:26] Speaker 2: And I ended up leaving not too long after that.
[14:30] Speaker 2: I walked out the door. It was very busy that
[14:32] Speaker 2: night for him, and out in the street it was
[14:35] Speaker 2: like a movie. The street lights were shining down perfectly
[14:39] Speaker 2: lit street Atlanta, in this particular area Atlanta, and I
[14:44] Speaker 2: hear him calling my name in the street. Wow, he's
[14:47] Speaker 2: left his gallery opening. He's out in the street and
[14:50] Speaker 2: he's like, don't leave, and I'm like, I have to go,
[14:54] Speaker 2: and I'm really proud of you. And so I left,
[14:58] Speaker 2: and you know, the next day, went back to Nashville
[15:03] Speaker 2: and I got a notebook like a notepad out and
[15:08] Speaker 2: I wrote what I really meant to say at the
[15:11] Speaker 2: top of the paper, because what I really wanted to
[15:14] Speaker 2: say was I still love you. I still feel all
[15:17] Speaker 2: these feelings. But the right thing to do was for
[15:19] Speaker 2: me to go because we weren't meant to be together.
[15:23] Speaker 2: And I took that into my co write and we
[15:27] Speaker 2: wrote what I really meant to say.
[15:28] Speaker 3: Wow, what a great story.
[15:30] Speaker 4: There you go, dreaming and visualizing in technicolor again.
[15:34] Speaker 2: I know it's so great.
[15:36] Speaker 3: Would you ever consider scoring a movie or or being
[15:42] Speaker 3: in the movie itself?
[15:45] Speaker 2: Oh? Yes, we've talked about that, you know, I've never
[15:50] Speaker 2: I've had some people recently talk to me about would
[15:52] Speaker 2: you want to do some acting or and yes, if
[15:56] Speaker 2: it made sense. You know, I don't want to be terrible,
[15:59] Speaker 2: and you know, so who knows. I mean, it's it's
[16:03] Speaker 2: on the bucket list.
[16:04] Speaker 3: Maybe Cindy be terrible.
[16:06] Speaker 4: I don't think those two words exist for you.
[16:09] Speaker 2: You are very kind. You never know when you know,
[16:12] Speaker 2: I've never done I did some acting in high school
[16:15] Speaker 2: on the school play. So we'll see.
[16:17] Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
[16:19] Speaker 1: Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
[16:29] Speaker 4: So you did step away from the spotlight at one point,
[16:33] Speaker 4: and what motivated that decision was that really a life
[16:38] Speaker 4: sort of you know, balance and kind of reassessing moment.
[16:43] Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely. You know, artists don't really know what that
[16:49] Speaker 2: life is like until they just jump into it, right.
[16:52] Speaker 2: You don't get like a crash course or boot camp.
[16:56] Speaker 2: And for me, it happened really fast, you know, just
[17:00] Speaker 2: the life. It turned into a dream come true. I
[17:05] Speaker 2: don't want to paint this picture that I had a
[17:08] Speaker 2: bad experience at the label or you know, that I
[17:12] Speaker 2: was mistreated or anything like that. Truly everything was beautiful.
[17:17] Speaker 2: It was like from the outside looking in especially, it's
[17:20] Speaker 2: like this is exactly what you would want to happen
[17:23] Speaker 2: as an artist, Like you want your song to go
[17:25] Speaker 2: number one that you wrote, you want to be able
[17:28] Speaker 2: to open fur trash yard, which I did, you know,
[17:30] Speaker 2: Alan Jackson. All of it was lining up perfectly, and
[17:36] Speaker 2: I would say a year in two it I started
[17:38] Speaker 2: having major panic attacks and I didn't know what they were,
[17:42] Speaker 2: and so it scared me because I thought, what is this.
[17:47] Speaker 2: I'm a very peaceful person. I have a great face
[17:51] Speaker 2: that I rely on, and I pray a lot and
[17:54] Speaker 2: for whatever reason, I felt very lonely and I felt
[17:59] Speaker 2: I can't describe it to you, but I was having
[18:01] Speaker 2: panic attacks and night terrors and a lot of anxiety,
[18:05] Speaker 2: and you know, back then, nobody was talking about those things.
[18:11] Speaker 2: And I felt like if I brought it up, I
[18:13] Speaker 2: kept it a secret for a while, that it would
[18:16] Speaker 2: look as if I didn't want to work hard or
[18:18] Speaker 2: that I didn't appreciate my opportunity. So I just kept
[18:24] Speaker 2: kind of trucking along. I had a doctor that would
[18:27] Speaker 2: kind of monitor my heart weakly because it was like
[18:31] Speaker 2: crazy beating out of control. And I kept doing the work,
[18:34] Speaker 2: you know, And I loved singing. I loved the fans.
[18:38] Speaker 2: I loved just getting to meet people and hear you know,
[18:43] Speaker 2: there are stories about how my song had affected their life,
[18:46] Speaker 2: and there was so much beauty in that. But there's
[18:49] Speaker 2: also this other side to fame, and it's really unnatural
[18:54] Speaker 2: to be famous, first of all, but you can do
[18:57] Speaker 2: that well. And for me at the time, I just
[18:59] Speaker 2: couldn't find the balance, and I felt like the best
[19:02] Speaker 2: answer was to like self preservation. You know, I couldn't
[19:08] Speaker 2: really look at the meetings that we were having with
[19:12] Speaker 2: businesses or companies to partner with them, like this projected
[19:16] Speaker 2: career that was on the table we were having meetings about,
[19:18] Speaker 2: and I couldn't look at that and make this decision.
[19:21] Speaker 2: I really had to say, if you are doing something
[19:25] Speaker 2: that you love to do and you're meant to do it,
[19:28] Speaker 2: you're gifted in that area, and you feel like you
[19:32] Speaker 2: are falling apart at the seams doing that job, right
[19:36] Speaker 2: at that second, I think it's okay to step back
[19:40] Speaker 2: and go what's going on, you know? And so that's
[19:44] Speaker 2: what I did. I just laid it down. I always
[19:48] Speaker 2: knew I would sing again. I didn't know what that
[19:51] Speaker 2: would look like, but I just felt like for me,
[19:58] Speaker 2: it was just saving something that really mattered.
[20:02] Speaker 4: I'm so glad you mentioned you know, there was a
[20:04] Speaker 4: period in the world that you know, wasn't as easy
[20:08] Speaker 4: to talk about those things and be public about it,
[20:12] Speaker 4: or just make that decision. It's now, it's it's it's different,
[20:19] Speaker 4: I think, but it still is something that's often in
[20:22] Speaker 4: the shadows, and the fact that you confronted it and
[20:28] Speaker 4: are still talking about it must now lead you to
[20:33] Speaker 4: a greater appreciation of life. Balance, doesn't it?
[20:37] Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, And and to be able to have another
[20:41] Speaker 2: dream of mine come try, which was to be a
[20:43] Speaker 2: stay at home mom. I wanted to have a family
[20:45] Speaker 2: like my mom did. And I'm so grateful that I
[20:48] Speaker 2: got to do that and it really taught me a lot.
[20:53] Speaker 2: And in coming back and choosing to sing again and
[20:56] Speaker 2: do it this way, I don't know for me, just
[21:01] Speaker 2: there's such a richness to it that I don't think
[21:03] Speaker 2: would have been there had I not walked away.
[21:08] Speaker 3: Behind you.
[21:09] Speaker 4: I see some beautiful jewelry. It must have something to
[21:13] Speaker 4: do with this little venture called the Heybell Company. Tell
[21:19] Speaker 4: us about how that became a reality and how it's
[21:25] Speaker 4: then become this wave of popularity among some really cool people.
[21:32] Speaker 2: Well, I feel like it fell from the sky. Was
[21:35] Speaker 2: very divine. You know. At the time, I wasn't singing yet.
[21:38] Speaker 2: This is about four years ago, and I was like,
[21:42] Speaker 2: I just want to be creative, and I didn't know
[21:44] Speaker 2: what that was. You know. Yes, I had written some
[21:48] Speaker 2: songs and that kind of thing, but I just wanted something.
[21:50] Speaker 2: I don't know. I wanted something for myself. And I
[21:52] Speaker 2: was just trying to process it all and think about,
[21:54] Speaker 2: like what is that? And I was being very peerful
[21:57] Speaker 2: about it, like okay, God, like I want something I
[22:01] Speaker 2: want something to do, you know. So I don't really
[22:04] Speaker 2: have a lot of jewelry. I wasn't a big jewelry
[22:07] Speaker 2: wearer of things, you know. I didn't even as an artist.
[22:09] Speaker 2: I didn't even wear a lot of necklaces.
[22:11] Speaker 1: Like.
[22:11] Speaker 2: I was just really, I don't know, minimal. And I
[22:16] Speaker 2: went to the beach one summer with my family four
[22:19] Speaker 2: years ago, just for a little week, little getaway, and
[22:23] Speaker 2: I see these earrings hanging in the shop and I
[22:25] Speaker 2: was like, I think I'm gonna make jewelry, and my
[22:29] Speaker 2: husband was like, okay. So I got home and I
[22:34] Speaker 2: went to some local antique stores and just kind of
[22:38] Speaker 2: grabbed pieces that were broken and discarded and kind of
[22:42] Speaker 2: just one of like one offs, maybe a pair of bearings,
[22:46] Speaker 2: but they weren't a pair anymore because one was missing.
[22:49] Speaker 2: And I just came home and started creating things at
[22:50] Speaker 2: my dining room table, thinking it was a hobby. And
[22:53] Speaker 2: within two weeks it was on the red carpet at
[22:55] Speaker 2: the CMA Awards, which I think is interesting. And it
[22:59] Speaker 2: didn't come through a music contact. That came through a
[23:02] Speaker 2: friend who knew Hannah Billingsley, you know, Shane Mooney's wife,
[23:10] Speaker 2: and she called me, and I drove to her house
[23:13] Speaker 2: and took the joy that I had and none of
[23:18] Speaker 2: it matched her dresses, and so I said, I can
[23:22] Speaker 2: make you something, And so I went home that night
[23:24] Speaker 2: and dug in this box and made these star earrings
[23:29] Speaker 2: that ended up being at the Red carpet. She was
[23:31] Speaker 2: photographed because they were doing well. They're always doing well,
[23:34] Speaker 2: but this particular CMA Awards, they had gotten a lot
[23:39] Speaker 2: of nominations, and so she was just everywhere. She was
[23:42] Speaker 2: on the TV, every like TV, like it was crazy,
[23:46] Speaker 2: sitting in her seat and you could just see my earrings.
[23:49] Speaker 2: And it was a little hard because I was so
[23:52] Speaker 2: proud of Haybell. I couldn't believe that that happened. But
[23:57] Speaker 2: I also was sad because I wasn't sitting there and
[24:03] Speaker 2: I had to really think about that, like what is that?
[24:07] Speaker 2: Pay attention? What does that mean? And I think that
[24:09] Speaker 2: was the first the catalyst in Okay, I think God's
[24:12] Speaker 2: prepping my heart for maybe what's coming. But I just
[24:15] Speaker 2: kept making the jewey and the stylists and the artists
[24:18] Speaker 2: kept calling, and it's really just one of a kind pieces.
[24:22] Speaker 2: I do have an everyday line that's you know, not
[24:24] Speaker 2: one of a kind, but most of my pieces. What
[24:28] Speaker 2: I love about what I do is that, you know,
[24:30] Speaker 2: I just get to be creative all the time with
[24:33] Speaker 2: whatever I find all over the world. I shop all
[24:36] Speaker 2: over the world, and I just put these things together
[24:38] Speaker 2: and it's so fun.
[24:40] Speaker 3: You make it so matter of fact.
[24:44] Speaker 2: I mean it kind of is. I mean even my husband,
[24:46] Speaker 2: like I did my own website, I take those pictures,
[24:48] Speaker 2: I did my own logo. Like for me from a
[24:51] Speaker 2: business standpoint, it really felt good to sit in my
[24:56] Speaker 2: jewelry room, this little space I have and listen to
[24:59] Speaker 2: podcasts how I built that, you know that podcast like
[25:02] Speaker 2: listening to Kendrick Scott talk about jewelry, listening to Oh Gosh,
[25:07] Speaker 2: the Spanks founder Sarah Blakely talking about how she started
[25:10] Speaker 2: spanks and hearing these crazy stories of people that sailed,
[25:15] Speaker 2: that failed, that failed, you know, and then they just
[25:19] Speaker 2: stuck with it. So all the while I'm doing this,
[25:22] Speaker 2: thinking I'm crazy, I'm listening to these people say don't
[25:26] Speaker 2: give up, don't give up, don't give up, and I haven't.
[25:29] Speaker 2: It's the little engine that could. But I'm really proud
[25:33] Speaker 2: of it. And my husband, like I was saying earlier,
[25:36] Speaker 2: he would come in here, and you'd go, I can't
[25:37] Speaker 2: believe you're doing this. It's really good. I'm like, I know,
[25:40] Speaker 2: it's interesting, isn't it, because i'd I'd never done anything
[25:45] Speaker 2: like that, so I don't know, it's just finding. I
[25:49] Speaker 2: always say to people, just be open to new adventures
[25:53] Speaker 2: in life. Life doesn't have to be empty and stagnant
[25:57] Speaker 2: and broken, really, you know, carefully be adventurous and you know,
[26:04] Speaker 2: not give up on dreaming. And I'm living proof. I'm
[26:07] Speaker 2: in my forties and starting all over with this crazy thing.
[26:12] Speaker 3: Follow in your.
[26:12] Speaker 4: Heart, Yeah, following your heart and just being passionate about it, right, yes, yeah, which, now, okay,
[26:19] Speaker 4: I'm sorry it took so long.
[26:21] Speaker 3: Brings us to Acres of Diamonds.
[26:24] Speaker 4: Congratulations on, thank you, the the the upcoming EP or
[26:30] Speaker 4: new music. Five more Minutes is the single. Talk about
[26:36] Speaker 4: some of the work behind that, some of the collaborators,
[26:40] Speaker 4: and what folks can.
[26:42] Speaker 3: Expect to you well.
[26:43] Speaker 2: Acres of Diamonds is the title of the new EP
[26:45] Speaker 2: we have coming out May twenty third, and you know
[26:51] Speaker 2: it is a labor of love. You know, we had
[26:54] Speaker 2: a lot of songs to choose from, and we just
[26:55] Speaker 2: all kind of my team came together and said, these
[26:58] Speaker 2: are the ones acres of diamonds. Is the title cut
[27:01] Speaker 2: because it's about what I've been building outside of the
[27:05] Speaker 2: music industry, this simple life. To me, that is full
[27:09] Speaker 2: of diamonds. You know, my kids are the acreage and
[27:13] Speaker 2: they are the diamonds, and that's what we've built, my
[27:15] Speaker 2: husband and I this life. So I thought that was
[27:18] Speaker 2: important for the listener to know, Hey, this is where
[27:22] Speaker 2: I've been. Five more Minutes is the latest single, and
[27:26] Speaker 2: it's really just about not something where you look back
[27:29] Speaker 2: and regret that you weren't present in a moment, but
[27:32] Speaker 2: just a favorite moment that, gosh, if I could just
[27:34] Speaker 2: go back for five more minutes to be so fun.
[27:36] Speaker 2: Like one of the lines in the song is riding
[27:38] Speaker 2: my pink huffey bike. My daddy got me this amazing
[27:42] Speaker 2: pink huffy bike and I loved it and I wrote it.
[27:45] Speaker 2: Every day barefoot, they're all over the place, and sometimes
[27:50] Speaker 2: I'll look outside and see kids riding their bikes and
[27:53] Speaker 2: I think, oh, I wish I could just do that
[27:55] Speaker 2: again for five more minutes, you know, like that. So
[27:59] Speaker 2: it's just a song to just kind of maybe just
[28:04] Speaker 2: hopefully make us all more aware of the places and
[28:07] Speaker 2: times in front of us that we can be really present,
[28:10] Speaker 2: you know, and so it's it's one of my favorites.
[28:14] Speaker 2: And then we have this big song coming out. It's
[28:20] Speaker 2: a song called Black Selica. My daughter was like, what
[28:23] Speaker 2: is that? And I'm like, it's a car that was
[28:26] Speaker 2: really cool back in the day. But I wrote it
[28:29] Speaker 2: with Ashley Monroe and Mickey Reeves and Ashley I was like,
[28:34] Speaker 2: why don't you sing on it? You know, why don't
[28:37] Speaker 2: you let let's feature you on this song because she's magnificent,
[28:41] Speaker 2: Like her voice is stunning. It's I called it like
[28:45] Speaker 2: a beautiful butterfly the other day. You know, it knows
[28:48] Speaker 2: where to land, it knows how to surround the lead,
[28:51] Speaker 2: like she just has her place in this track, and
[28:54] Speaker 2: I'm so proud of it. Paul Sykes did it for us.
[28:57] Speaker 2: So that is something that she really exciting to me
[29:00] Speaker 2: that we got to do that together. And in fact,
[29:04] Speaker 2: Black Silica is kind of based off of that boy,
[29:07] Speaker 2: that baseball player that I dated back and with what
[29:10] Speaker 2: I really meant to say, so we kind of put
[29:14] Speaker 2: all of our minds together and had our own little
[29:16] Speaker 2: contribution to the song that meant something to us and
[29:19] Speaker 2: so that's exciting. And then I did a cover of
[29:22] Speaker 2: a Harry style song fall In. We had a list
[29:24] Speaker 2: of covers and I was like, what do we do?
[29:25] Speaker 2: I listened to all kinds of music, and I was like,
[29:27] Speaker 2: I just love that song. So that kind of became
[29:30] Speaker 2: the one that we decided on. I just love the
[29:33] Speaker 2: lyrics of that song, like I love the intimacy and
[29:36] Speaker 2: the pain. I love paint, like I love the love
[29:40] Speaker 2: song kind of paint right, So it just worked. It's
[29:43] Speaker 2: a Cindy song. And then a song called so Glad
[29:46] Speaker 2: You're Mine I wrote a while back about I've been
[29:49] Speaker 2: married twenty three years and it's kind of a song
[29:52] Speaker 2: about just really solidifying being in love even this far
[29:57] Speaker 2: into it. Like I just love the idea of telling
[30:00] Speaker 2: his love songs, telling this story. So I'm proud of it.
[30:04] Speaker 2: You know. It's again, a lot of people have worked
[30:07] Speaker 2: really hard. My team has worked really hard on helping
[30:09] Speaker 2: bring this to life, because because we're independent, we're doing
[30:12] Speaker 2: it a different way, and so it feels good and
[30:15] Speaker 2: I'm excited.
[30:17] Speaker 4: I love the independent aspect of it. I love more
[30:20] Speaker 4: and more that artists are able to be independent in
[30:24] Speaker 4: their thinking and their strategy with it. I think one
[30:28] Speaker 4: of the beautiful things about what's happening with maybe by
[30:32] Speaker 4: necessity in some cases, but in general, that artists can
[30:36] Speaker 4: have the confidence to be independent. I think that's really cool.
[30:41] Speaker 2: It is it's scary, you know, it's scary at first
[30:43] Speaker 2: because I had come back from just the time frame
[30:47] Speaker 2: where it was only a record deal and then radio.
[30:51] Speaker 2: When I jump back into this, it's like, this guy's
[30:54] Speaker 2: the limit. You can do it any way you want
[30:56] Speaker 2: to do it. And I'm like, well, I need some structure,
[30:57] Speaker 2: like what I need? I need amateurs. I'm not designed
[31:01] Speaker 2: that way. And so I just found an amazing manager
[31:06] Speaker 2: and she's a believer, she's a champion and she's she's
[31:10] Speaker 2: just amazing. And we just started building this like learning
[31:15] Speaker 2: about how to do it independently, and it's it's been
[31:22] Speaker 2: really hard and really beautiful and we have learned a lot.
[31:27] Speaker 2: I feel like sometimes we laugh. I'm like, we've accomplished
[31:30] Speaker 2: a lot in our little you know, almost two years
[31:33] Speaker 2: of doing this together. Like, but I'm very excited about
[31:37] Speaker 2: what's to come. And the good thing about independence too
[31:41] Speaker 2: is just the freedom to pivot when we need to,
[31:45] Speaker 2: if we want to also, I get to just go
[31:48] Speaker 2: pick up my son from school until he's driving. Officially
[31:52] Speaker 2: she can do the same for her daughter. We just
[31:54] Speaker 2: kind of, hey, I'm out at three, I got to
[31:56] Speaker 2: go to some baseball games. You know. There's just there's
[31:59] Speaker 2: a beauty of it. Now that it's getting busier, it's
[32:03] Speaker 2: getting busier, but we'd both agree that we put the
[32:07] Speaker 2: things that mattered most in first, you know, in its family.
[32:13] Speaker 3: Will you be taken taken to the road a bit?
[32:16] Speaker 2: I absolutely want to go on the road. I mean
[32:19] Speaker 2: my hope is to you know, be a part of
[32:21] Speaker 2: some sort of tour at some point. We have a
[32:23] Speaker 2: few shows coming up, one in the fall that's being
[32:27] Speaker 2: solidified now in Georgia. But ultimately i'd love to be
[32:31] Speaker 2: back just on some sort of tour. It's so fun
[32:34] Speaker 2: to do that, and you know, so we'll see what
[32:38] Speaker 2: lies ahead.
[32:40] Speaker 3: You have such a great attitude with it all. It's so.
[32:44] Speaker 4: You know, authentic and empowering and inspiring, and the music
[32:51] Speaker 4: is really awesome as well.
[32:53] Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Well, I know I try to.
[32:56] Speaker 2: I'm not always as positive. There are days are hard,
[33:00] Speaker 2: you know, in all aspects of life. I think we
[33:02] Speaker 2: all go through moments where we're like, is this the
[33:05] Speaker 2: right thing to do? And you know you just have
[33:08] Speaker 2: to backtrack and think of how it all fell into place.
[33:11] Speaker 2: I can't deny the open doors. You know that it's
[33:15] Speaker 2: just been really divine and really beautiful.
[33:18] Speaker 3: Well, Cindy Thompson, congratulations on everything.
[33:21] Speaker 4: I'm so grateful that you came on Taking a Walk
[33:24] Speaker 4: and I know our audience, including me, are rooting for
[33:29] Speaker 4: you in this exciting next chapter of your life.
[33:33] Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I'd love talking with you.
[33:37] Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
[33:39] Speaker 1: Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
[33:43] Speaker 1: and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
[33:47] Speaker 1: a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
[33:51] Speaker 1: and wherever you get your podcasts.

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