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The 8-Hour All-Female Country Playlist With Macey Isaacs

We are joined by Macey Isaacs on this episode. Macey is a standup comedian in Los Angeles, Co-Host of the SSRI’M OK Podcast and the curator of an 8-hour all-female country playlist on Spotify. 

Mentioned in This Episode:

Show Notes:

We are joined by Macey Isaacs on this episode. Macey is a standup comedian in Los Angeles, Co-Host of the SSRI’M Ok Podcast and the curator of an 8 hour all female country playlist on Spotify. 

  • 24:10 – HARDY Report: Dave talks about “Six Feet Under” (Caleigh’s Song) on this episode
  • 26:47 – Farm boy Update: Mick share’s a story about what Macey deemed to be a suicidal snapping turtle  
  • 30:39 – Dad Life Sound Check: Macey joins the Dads and they discuss songs by Jo Dee Messina, Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen, and Pam Tillis. 

You can find the Country Music Dads playlist on ⁠Spotify⁠ and via our ⁠⁠⁠⁠webpage⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can find all of our back episodes on our website ⁠countrymusicdads.com⁠. Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠ @countrymusicdads. And most importantly, please give us a 5-star review and share the show with all of your friends.

References:

Transcript

I just, and I’m about to be overly general here, and I’m probably going to be offensive, but I don’t care about the man in the pickup truck with his hot girl and the beers in the back of the tailgate before the game and all the things.

I just don’t care.

This is Country Music Dads, the parenting podcast with the twang.

We’re bringing you highly subjective, sometimes questionable, but always 100% authentic country music analysis, as only two dads in the trenches of modern parenting could do it.

My name is Dave, and I am a Country Music Dad.

My name is Mick, and I am also a Country Music Dad, and thank you for joining us.

This episode, we are joined by Macey Isaacs.

Macey is a nationally touring stand-up comedian based in the LA area, and the co-host of the SSRI’m OK Podcast.

She’s originally from Austin, Texas, and therefore a lifelong country music fan.

Now, what makes Macey so interesting to us, is that she curated an eight-hour-long Spotify playlist featuring all female artists.

And when Dave found out about this, he was just blown away.

So that is the premise.

But before we hear from Macey, Dave, what have you been doing while you’ve been working your way through her playlist?

It has been playing in the car while I’m driving the boys around.

In particular, right now, my one-year-old is entering a phase, I think.

And it’s a phase that I forgot about.

It’s his clingy phase.

And unfortunately, he’s clingy to me.

I guess fortunately and unfortunately, because it’s very adorable.

He always wants to be picked up by me.

He has a clear preference for dad right now.

And so it’s great to see the kind of double arms up in the air, looking for the attention.

And it’s very satisfying that I can give him what he wants.

I can pick him up and make him happy.

But that also means that I have to pick him up.

And that means I’m not getting anything else done, or I’m getting less done than I did before.

And I remember this with the other kids too.

At least my middle son had that phase with me also because I spent a lot of time with him.

It can be a little rough when you’re the one person that can satisfy the baby.

So I know moms deal with that a lot.

It is hard to cook dinner one-handed.

Oh yeah, that’s where I feel it the most, where I’m like, do you just leave me alone?

I know it’s a phase though, it’ll pass.

So I’m trying to enjoy it.

Dinner’s taking a long time to cook these days.

It is hard because as you mentioned, they all go through a phase.

Sometimes they just want to see you.

Sometimes they just want to be in the same room.

But you’re in that time where yeah, they just want to be held.

Yeah.

Fun stuff.

Yeah.

Fun stuff.

I love that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We’re on our third kid here, third baby.

It never fails.

I always forget about the stuff that happens with the other two.

So until it hits me again, I’m like, oh yeah, that was a thing.

Well, don’t put it out of your mind completely because you know why?

According to Darius Rucker, you’re going to miss this.

Yeah, that’s true.

Isn’t it just so interesting how we oftentimes in the different conversations we have, we just keep circling back to that song and that episode.

That line is just going to live on and on.

Absolutely.

What’s going on with you?

So we’ve been living on here, a lot going on, very full summer.

Recently, our listeners heard me talk, if I remember correctly, about getting ready for dance nationals down in Branson, Missouri.

So we went down there, did that, and that was great.

That was fun.

It was really nice to see Kate compete again.

I mean, I always love watching her dance just because she enjoys it so much.

But just to see the growth in her and her little dance team throughout the year was pretty cool.

They probably did one of their strongest routines.

In my opinion, it has definitely gotten better throughout the season.

They ended up getting fourth place, and they were happy, and if they’re happy, then that makes the parents happy generally as well.

So, that was fun, and I don’t know how many of our listeners have ever been to the Branson area, but it has changed a lot.

And I’ve only been there a few times, even though I only live three and a half hours away.

But it used to be that Branson was known for the big shows and the artists in residence.

Mickey Gilley had a theater, and Glen Campbell had a theater, and numerous others.

I just can’t think of the names right now.

But those theaters are still there.

Older artists in residence are not.

It’s changed.

Now, a lot of them have passed away.

But now, it’s become more variety show type things where you have guys and gals doing, I guess you would say cover bands where they’re doing a review.

There’s everything from an Elvis impersonator to a Dolly Parton impersonator to you name it.

So that was just kind of interesting to see how Branson has changed from music.

Now, it’s big into the family vacation and hosting all these youth competitions.

We had to take two cars to Branson.

As soon as Kate performs, she and the older kids jump in the car and drive up to Minnesota, stopping at home to unpack and repack, deal with the chickens, collect eggs.

Then they headed off to Minnesota for the Minnesota Family Lake Life vacation, which we’ve been doing for 20 plus years.

The house we get has a pontoon boat, so we can just take the boat out and go floating anytime we want.

There’s a volleyball court there, so we play backyard volleyball.

But it’s just a whole lot of just sitting around, playing cribbage with the family and doing nothing but relaxing.

That sounds nice after what sounded like a pretty packed schedule in Branson to ship off and do nothing for a change.

It is good, but it can, and people just roll their eyes when I say this.

But for some people like me, it’s hard to relax for an extended period of time.

And I know I’ve shared this with you, you know, off the air before, but I start to go a little bit crazy.

Our guest this week is a dear friend of mine, Macey Isaacs.

Macey is a comedian, a writer, and an actor.

She studied at the GroundLynx here in LA and has featured for comedians such as Shane Torres, Alonzo Baden, Dean Del Rey, and Taylor Williamson.

She has performed in comedy festivals such as 2024’s Netflix is a Joke Festival.

In addition to performing, she also runs a monthly standup show at The Crow in Santa Monica called The Picture Day Show, and recently launched a podcast called SSRI’m OK, where she and her co-host navigate discussions about mental health with the help of experts and comedians.

She’s originally from Austin, Texas, and when I asked her if she listened to Country Music, she said yes, and then sent me an eight-hour-long Spotify playlist consisting entirely of female artists, and it made me kind of question my own listening habits and my understanding of the genre.

So Macey, welcome, and thank you for the education.

Oh, thank you for having me.

When you asked me if I liked country, I was at a place in my life where I could easily say yes, but it hasn’t always been easy to say yes to that question for me because I don’t love a lot of new country.

I struggle with the new country.

That explains it a little bit.

Your playlist was a lot of 90s, maybe.

90s and before.

Yeah.

I’ve heard some songs.

I’ve been listening to it too.

I remember this.

Oh, I forgot about this song.

Oh, I haven’t heard this song in 20 plus years.

I feel like you and Mick are on the same wavelength with the playlist because he’s teaching me a lot about 90s country that I didn’t know before.

I sent Mick your playlist and he was vibing in his office all week.

Mick’s solo this week.

No family at home.

He’s got the whole house to himself.

He can jam to whatever he wants.

Oh, congratulations, Mick.

We needed to get the living room painted.

And it was something that I could not do myself just due to the sheer size and the vaulted ceilings.

So we had to have painters come in and they painted the ceiling as well because I needed to have a few little repairs.

So you can just about imagine when you paint your ceiling, you have to move and cover everything.

And it’s just you don’t realize how much stuff you have in your main living area until you go to move it all.

I love that you had to say like, I was going to be fine with you hiring a painter, but you had to make sure and say, because I have high ceilings.

And you want to make sure that it was that you couldn’t do.

I wouldn’t, if you lived in a shoe box and you didn’t want to paint, Mick, I would be okay with that.

Well, I appreciate that.

But it’s just, you know, this is the only room in the house that I haven’t repainted.

So it’s kind of like, I feel like I got to put that caveat in there, otherwise, then, you know, you’re looking at dad card issues and I don’t want to lose it, you know.

No, I know.

Is the dad card similar to the V card or is it a little different?

What’s the V card?

Thank you for asking because I didn’t want to.

I knew the man card.

The dad card sounds very similar to the man card.

Yeah, I was…

Don’t answer the question.

We can…

It’s your virginity.

It’s your V card, which is what it made me think of.

So it is very different from the dad card.

It’s just another card I’m aware of.

Typically, I think you turn in your V card once you become a dad because, you know…

The jig is up.

Yeah.

Back to your playlist.

It’s been hard to be a country music fan.

Yeah.

And I know, and Dave, I know you like a lot of the new country and, you know, maybe you can send me some stuff that I might appreciate.

I just, and I’m about to be overly general here and I’m probably going to be offensive.

But I don’t care about the man in the pickup truck with his hot girl and the beers in the back of the tailgate before the game and all the things.

I just don’t care.

And I get turned off with that kind of…

There are occasional, like, OK, for instance, Body Like a Back Road.

First heard that song and I was like, no thanks.

Then couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Listened to it and I was like, OK, this actually is catchy.

It’s pretty good.

But the idea of a woman’s body being like a back road, I was like, the initial, the thesis of it, I was like, no.

But then I was like, OK, I’m with it.

I feel like a lot of the newer country, at least the male artists and I liked Kenny Chesey, Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, all that.

That’s where it ends for me for men singing.

Before that, I’ve seen Willie Nelson in concert, I’ve seen Merle haggard.

I’ve seen some of the greats.

So I appreciate that.

You sound like a traditionalist to me because there’s a lot of traditional country fans, they don’t like a lot of the bro country that has become popular in the last couple of decades.

How has your music style changed moving from Texas to California?

Well, I think actually now that I live in California, I’m more willing to listen to country.

I think that when I was in high school in Texas, I maybe listened to a little Shania Twain, but that was it.

I didn’t want anything to do with it because it was everywhere.

It wasn’t as fun, but then I came out to California and that’s when I started really appreciating it because not everyone was listening to it.

So I think actually I’ve embraced country music way more being in California.

And I’ve learned a lot about, you know, the California sound.

My husband really likes the Bakersfield Beat Channel on SiriusXM.

We don’t have SiriusXM, but any time we get a rental car or something, we go and see if they’ve got that channel because that’s, you know, Buck Owens and those guys.

Yeah, I know he’s a big Dwight Yoakam guy.

He loves Dwight Yoakam.

And I’ve seen him a few times.

I will say you can bring everything back to Elvis.

Elvis is my main love.

I’ve loved him since I can remember.

And so everything else is like he’s my number one.

And then if you’ve made a chart, everything would be coming from him.

And you can make that argument.

For anyone?

Yeah, lots of people.

I mean, because it’s true.

And I’m not trying to make that sound just try.

But so he influenced so many different things in so many different ways that it’s just, yeah, that’s a strong argument that everything can circle back to him in one way, shape, or form.

Yeah.

And Dwight Yoakam has a great cover of an Elvis song.

And I obviously don’t normally like covers of Elvis songs, but Dwight Yoakam’s Suspicious Minds is really good.

I had one question on your playlist, which I have been enjoying.

Honestly, what I’ve been enjoying the most about it, frankly, is all of the Dolly Parton songs that I have forgotten about over the years.

That woman’s staying power is just unrivaled.

It is amazing.

It really is, and I have to recommend a podcast for you guys called Dolly Parton’s America.

It’s just one season and it kind of talks about her influence.

It’s super interesting because the guy who’s the interviewer, he is the son of a friend of hers.

He has more access to her than most people do because she’s super private.

It’s a really interesting, I think listening to that podcast, because you had asked earlier why I started this playlist, which we should put it in the show notes for anyone who wants it.

Oh, it will be.

Don’t worry.

Before we get, I want to get back to the question that started this whole thing because the Dolly thing was more just a statement, but that’s still a great conversation about Dolly.

But since you brought up the playlist again and link it in the show notes, would you be willing to kind of explain the title a little bit?

Yes.

And we can make an alternate title for your listeners if that’s necessary.

So, Mick, what you’re referring to is that I spell country without the O.

It made Mick blush a little bit when I said it.

I’m not like a huge fan of the C word, not that I’m anti or anything.

I don’t say it in my normal everyday life.

But I feel like the title of a playlist, I love titling playlists.

I think it’s so fun.

And I realized too that a lot of the female, especially the old Dolly, a lot of that stuff is pretty female empowerment.

A lot of these songs.

I mean, there’s Tammy Wynette, Stand By Your Man, which is still included because we want all sides represented.

But a lot of these songs are from the female perspective, and it’s very empowering and strong.

And I think there was a bit of a movement, there has been, for women to reclaim the C word, and a lot of women use that now, sort of take back that.

So I realized that spelling country without the O is pronounced the exact same way, which is really funny to me.

So you are a comedian.

Yeah, and I think that I want people to immediately know that there aren’t any men in this playlist, unless they’re featured.

There are a couple of duets.

Yeah, I was just getting ready to say, I have only heard, because I’m not all the way through it, because this thing is eight hours long, it’s been an enjoyable journey so far.

Like I said, the Dolly Parton songs that are coming back from childhood are just lovely.

But I’ve only heard one male voice so far, and that was a Dolly Parton, Ricky Van Shelton duet.

Yeah, because I still want to support the men who support the women.

You know, they’re allowed in the country playlist.

And when I say the country playlist, I’m saying it without the up.

Yeah, I can tell.

I could hear it.

Macey, I’m appreciative of the playlist because it made me realize that I listen to probably 90% male country artists.

And I always kind of assume those because, oh, I relate more to the guys because I’m a guy.

You mentioned Bro Country.

I liked Bro Country back when I was a bro.

But that was kind of my excuse.

Like, yeah, I’ll listen to some of the women, but maybe I won’t really appreciate it because they’re coming from a perspective that I’m not going to understand.

They’re stay-at-home parents?

Yeah, that’s right.

Now you can suddenly understand the perspective.

Yeah, I need a stay-at-home dad country singer.

That’s the only thing I’m going to listen to.

They’re the ones that get me.

I haven’t found them yet.

But yeah, exactly.

Maybe kind of question.

I was listening to your playlist and there are a lot of bangers on your list.

I was like, I haven’t listened to this because, why?

Because I haven’t given it a try.

I haven’t expanded my horizons.

My Spotify algorithm is probably feeding me more male country artists.

Then I’ve read some things recently about how female artists just are not, statistically, they’re not played on country radio as often as male artists.

There’s an article in the show notes that statistically looked at some of these big radio stations and how infrequently they play female artists.

Even today, when there are some really big stars, there’s Lainey Wilson and Megan Maroney and Miranda Lambert and Ashley McBride, a lot of really great performers and singers and songwriters out there.

But they’re still not playing them.

They’re still playing mostly Morgan Wallen and Post Malone and Jelly Roll on the radio.

It is interesting though, because I’m a radio guy.

I’m old enough that I did not really grow up what we would call the internet generation, where it was a lot easier to find the music you liked.

I grew up, I listened to what was playing on the Tractor AM radio, which only got country stations.

But you’re right, it is as you’re flipping through the radio dial.

I don’t know, it’ll be interesting to see what this article that they’ve read, the percentages, but it will be interesting to read this article and to see if it goes into the why.

Because female country artists are just as good.

And it seems like the listenership, there’s just as many females listening to country as men, I would assume, or close to.

That’s really a complicated question.

And the record labels that influence what gets put on country radio will say that it’s because we’re giving people what they want and more people want, even the female listeners, they want to hear the male artists.

But it’s kind of a chicken or the egg thing.

If you’re not putting female artists on the radio, people aren’t discovering the female artists.

And so then it’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I have a short anecdote about this.

I played basketball growing up, Mick.

And I remember I was a sophomore in high school and I’m on the bus.

We’re on our way to a game and the radio’s on and my coach, who was a male, changes the channel.

I don’t remember what it was.

He was a female singer and he was like, I can’t stand female singers.

And I was like, he’s a basketball coach for us.

And he has a daughter.

And I was like, what?

Like I was shocked.

And he goes, there’s only two females I can listen to.

I can listen to the band Heart and I can listen to Evanescence.

Otherwise, no females.

And I was like, oh my God.

I thought I was like in a movie.

This is insane.

And I guess I just don’t truly believe that to his ear, those are the only two.

So it’s some sort of masculine something happening.

Macho.

I listened to your Boy Named Sue episode.

I will say I really liked that episode.

Oh, thank you.

Yes.

And it sounds like maybe my basketball coach was called Sue from his dad, maybe called him Sue.

And that’s why he can’t listen to female artists or something.

Yeah.

It’s like he had this rule.

That’s his rule.

And Whit Hart and Evanescence?

What?

Any more thoughts of either one of you on the playlist?

I will say The Chicks, their new album, came out maybe a couple of years ago.

Gaslighter is incredible.

And to me, The Chicks, the Dixie Chicks, The Chicks Have Learned should be their new title.

They’re new.

The Dixie Chicks Have Learned.

So that was fun for me because that was a band that I listened to as a child who to me, their early odds, their 90s country that came out with a new album that I think is fantastic.

So that’s on the playlist a lot.

I also noticed Kesha is on the playlist, which I thought is really cool and interesting now because there’s an artist named Kaitlin Butts that just released a single and it was a cover of a Kesha song from that same album.

It was Hunt You Down.

Yes, it’s a great song.

I’ll have to listen to that.

Yeah, she didn’t really change it that much.

I listened to both of them and I was like, wow, Kesha writes country songs.

We have a few regular segments that we wanted to share with you, Macey.

So the first, speaking of bro country, my favorite artist is kind of country.

His name is Hardy and he got his start doing a lot of writing for Florida Georgia line.

So during the Hardy report, I like to educate everyone as the preeminent West Coast Hardy apologist on whatever Hardy is up to lately.

So he just came out with a new album this summer.

There is a single that he released before the album released.

It’s called Six Feet Under, Callie’s song, Callie is the name of his wife.

When he released it as a single, it’s kind of this like slow ballad love song, which is not Hardy’s forte.

I don’t know that I can picture Hardy singing a ballad.

Exactly.

Hardy is a screaming, yelling, middle fingers in the sky kind of a guy.

That’s what I love about him.

So when he released the single and I saw that, this is a love song about his wife, I was a little bit disappointed.

I didn’t really give it a chance.

Now that I’ve listened to it in the context of his album, he closes out his album with it.

I have a new appreciation for it.

Hardy is, he’s a good songwriter, even though he’s doing a bunch of like hard rock metal type stuff right now.

He writes some good songs and Six Feet Under is about, he actually talks about this near-death experience that he had.

He was in a tour bus crash a couple of years ago, where he had some major injuries.

The tour bus flipped over and everyone on board was knocked unconscious.

The driver was in the hospital for weeks and everyone came out fine.

I’m not sure what the driver status is now, but he survived.

I think that incident led to him having some reckoning with some mental health issues of his own.

He was having some panic attacks.

He had to go to therapy and figure it out because of that experience.

So I thought it was just a deeper song than I expected.

So good job, Hardy.

He’s very versatile.

He can do love songs.

He can flip you off.

He can scream at you.

When you said the title was Six Feet Under, Cali’s song and that’s his wife, I thought it meant he killed his wife in this song, which I was fine to go with too.

But yeah, now she’s six feet under.

Thankfully.

No, it was not a murder bullet about killing his wife.

I don’t know if that would play real well these days.

Artie can sing about killing another dude, but I don’t think he should sing about killing his wife.

No.

We’re not there yet.

No.

So, the other segment we do, Mick has an urban homestead in Kansas City, and we like to hear about what he’s doing on the farm.

The best thing that happened this week from an urban farmstead scenario was, I went out to get the mail yesterday, and I see this car pulled over in front of the road that goes in front of the house.

And I’m looking, and there I see two people standing out, and this guy’s got this umbrella, and he’s tapping at this thing in the road.

So I’m, you know, holler at him, and I’m like, you guys okay?

Or, you know, whatever, as I get closer, there is a snapping turtle on the side of the road.

Now, this wasn’t just any snapping turtle.

This thing was at least 12 to 14 inches long, and probably 10 inches wide.

He was a big guy.

And they were trying to get him across the road.

So the way my house sits is I live across the street from a golf course, and I hate it, because it used to be a cow pasture, and I love that.

But the urban sprawl took it away, you know, but that’s neither here nor there.

So right across from us on the golf course is where the pond is.

And then there’s a spillway from the pond that goes under the road and then into my property here.

It used to be an old creek when it was a cow pasture, but now it’s just the runoff from the golf course and the subdivision and everything like that.

So this is not uncommon to see snapping turtles and regular turtles get displaced and try to figure out a way to get back and forth.

But what is more uncommon is to see somebody like stop and try to help the turtle.

I’ve done it before, but generally most people just don’t.

So this guy is out there and he’s got the umbrella and he’s trying to get it to bite on the umbrella.

And his wife is coming up behind and she’s trying to grab the turtle from behind so that she can pick it up.

And this is a big turtle.

This woman was like so brave.

I’m like, yeah, I don’t even know if I would try that.

I usually use a shovel and just try to scoop the thing up and relocate it.

But it was too big and so strong that as soon as she would try to grab it, it would just wiggle out of her hands.

But God bless that woman for trying to grab the turtle and get it across the road safely, you know?

Then I went and yeah, it worked because I went and got a shovel.

Because it was just so big and we use that to get him back down into the creek.

But yeah, definitely.

And just, you know, again, kudos to that brave lady for trying to pick up.

I don’t even know what this thing had to weigh 30 pounds.

It was big and solid.

Kudos to you for being the hero.

Yeah, well, she was, they were the first heroes.

I just kind of came along.

They’re the ones that stopped and got it off the road and at least into the grass.

So let me get the shovel and because I’ve had to do this before because they get disoriented.

But if the turtle was suicidal and you kept ruining his plans.

I don’t think a turtle lives to be that old and is suicidal.

That’s why I just say disoriented.

I do think a turtle that lives a long time is kind of like, you know, I’m done.

I’ve done my time.

My joints hurt.

It’s time for me to go.

Yep.

You just delayed the inevitable, Mick.

He’s like, Gosh, dang it and he turns around and you got to go all the way back to the road.

Nice going, Mick.

So the next segment we do, we do something called the dad life sound check where we share a song that’s been hitting us in a particular way.

Macey, have you been listening to anything that has been extra meaningful to you recently?

Yes.

I haven’t mentioned her yet as Jo Dee Messina.

What about my favorite female country artist?

She’s incredible.

Yes.

I was Googling because I was like, what happened to her?

Where is she?

She was actually doing a show not far from me and I really wanted to go, but I wasn’t able to set a show that night.

But I think she was battling cancer for a little while, which is why we didn’t hear from her.

But she’s back and I would say Lesson in Leavin, which is a cover, but by her is the song I chose.

Somebody’s going to give you back what you’ve been giving.

Yeah, I think she started to show up because Cole Swindell did a kind of a remake.

It wasn’t a cover, it was a remix sort of, of Heads Carolina.

And I think she showed up at one of the award shows finally that people were calling for.

They’re like, why hasn’t he collaborated with her?

There was a great song to begin with and a much better song to begin with.

I’ll have to look that up and see what show that was.

Yeah, I have enjoyed the Jo Dee Messina songs that have popped up as I’ve been working my way through the playlist.

And yeah, one of my top five, probably female artists, just love her.

My song of the moment is a song called Rodeo Clown by Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen.

A guy named Darryl hiding in a barrel, red nose and a painted on frown.

It seems like they’re kind of characters.

They actually just saw Randy Rogers up in Paso Robles and he and Wade Bowen do these collaboration albums.

They’re a big Texas country music scene guys that have been around for a long time.

And a lot of their songs are kind of funny.

And Rodeo Clown, it’s your typical country trope where woman leaves the cowboy.

But in this case, she leaves him to go be with the Rodeo Clown.

That hurts even more because he’s a clown.

Yeah, it’s a wonderful song.

And it means something to me right now because I’ve spent a lot of time with the boys.

And there are times where I think that the role that I play is the clown role in my household.

And that’s what helps the whole family dynamic when I’m the butt of all the jokes.

I have a neighbor who’s a playwright and he sent me this.

We’re kind of talking about the creative process.

And he sent me this video by Ethan Hawke where Ethan Hawke was giving a little monologue about creativity and how sometimes you have to play the fool was his takeaway.

And that’s why I feel at home a lot that it’s my job to play the fool sometimes.

And when you’re dealing with young kids, that’s what they respond to.

The goofy grown up, you don’t care who’s watching.

And I’m just going to make a funny voice or do a funny dance.

So Rodeo Clown does that for me too.

Everybody plays the fool.

I think everyone should play the fool.

It’s healthy.

Especially when, as Dave said, dealing with kids because laughter is excellent medicine.

And we’ll get into that a little bit later in the show.

Macey, I need to thank you for the song that I am choosing because it is one of my all-time favorite songs, going back to 1991 when this song was released.

And I just remember hearing this song.

And it was just all, it’s just so beautifully written.

And the way it is sung, the melody from the singer’s voice, it just captures it.

And it’s Pam Tillis.

Maybe it was Memphis.

And I’ve liked that song for so long, but right now, the reason that that song is kind of on the forefront is every year, my other dad buddies, my tribe, and I take the kids on a dad’s trip.

And this year, we’re actually going to Memphis.

A couple of days ago, maybe it was Memphis, comes up on the playlist, and I’m like, all right, we’re going to go to Memphis, and this is this is Hitten.

Now, the song is all about romance and lost love and everything of that nature.

So we’re not going to Memphis for romance, but still it’s Memphis.

That’s the point.

It’s Memphis, and it’s a beautiful song, and we’re going to see a lot of music inspired attractions when we’re in town.

We’re going to take the kids to Sun Studios, and we’ll probably drive by Graceland.

I don’t know what their tours are up to right now.

Last I heard they were $39, but that’s just a little too much to go see a Golden Cadillac or whatever he’s got in there, unless you are a diehard Elvis fan.

For you, it might be worth it.

Maybe you’ve been.

I’ve been three times.

Okay.

But for 16 kids, that starts to add up.

You can do some other things that are just as culturally significant, i.e.

Sun Studios, a lot cheaper.

But anyway, that’s my choice.

Maybe it was Memphis, Pam Tillis, just a beautiful, beautiful song that I have enjoyed for a long time.

So Macey, we had a little bit of, almost got into a segue of your comedy in your podcast.

When I made the comment of sometimes laughter is some of the best medicine.

So let’s just kind of start diving into that comedy.

What inspired you to be a stand up comic?

How did you get into it?

When college, I started taking some improv classes.

I never thought I would be a comedian by any means, but I always loved comedy.

I was pretty shy growing up and pretty serious.

So it really surprises my parents.

My dad can’t believe that this is what I’m doing.

He’s very confused.

But I started taking improv and I met someone in an improv class who asked me if I had ever done stand up and she thought I would be better at that.

And so I said, no, that’s kind of seemed scarier, but I was definitely looking for something else.

Improv didn’t fully, I like it a lot, but it didn’t, I didn’t fully click in.

So I started in a stand up comedy class in 2015 and then just never stopped.

I was just like, I think this is it.

I just like knew kind of after that first class, I was like, I think this is actually what I’ve been looking for.

So I’ve been doing it for nine years now.

And I think looking back to, I think a lot of comedy has what that’s gotten me through really hard times.

I still need like a comedy sitcom to fall asleep.

It just like at the end of the day, it’s just kind of what gets me grounded and peaceful.

And I put on the sleep timer and every night I fall asleep to a different sitcom that is comforting to me.

So I think comedy is very comforting.

Do you have a go-to?

Like what is your, when you need to decompress, what always works for you?

It’s either I Love Lucy or The Golden Girls or Seinfeld.

Those are my three pretty much.

Right now I’m watching, because anything with Julia Louis-Dreyfus works for me.

So she was in The New Adventures of Old Christine, which is a really funny show that I think a lot of people have forgotten about, because it was on in the early 2000s and I’ve been watching that before bed.

But those other ones, Seinfeld, I Love Lucy, Golden Girls, those are the tried and true.

Yeah, Seinfeld does it for me too.

I don’t think I can fall asleep to it, but I can rewatch episodes of that forever, even if I know what the punchlines are.

Yeah, it doesn’t matter.

Yeah.

We have been trying to introduce the teenagers.

So I’ve got two, I got an 18, a 16, and then a 10.

And my 10 is a very old 10 because she’s third child.

So she’s exposed to a lot of things that a typical 10-year-old will not be exposed to.

It’s just the way it works when you have the third child and such as life.

But we’ve been trying to expose the kids to a lot of the stuff that we enjoyed in our younger years.

And Seinfeld is one of them.

And sometimes they just kind of look at us with the, why is this funny?

Because the world has just changed so much.

We just kind of like, we hesitate to say you had to be there, but, you know, so we try to do the, it was just different then, you know, this made sense back then.

But it’s still, it is a very timeless classic.

And I can picture, I can picture in my mind, even though I haven’t seen the episode for a long time, the candy episode, the Candy Factory.

That’s just something that always stays with you.

Yes.

Timeless.

I love Lucy is always on in my house.

When I was growing up, my mom was a big fan.

So that kind of, it’s very nostalgic.

I haven’t seen an episode in a long time.

It’d be interesting to watch another one now that I’m an adult.

You should show your kids.

I Love Lucy is different than Seinfeld.

I Love Lucy is a lot more physical.

And I think it’s funnier to the masses.

Seinfeld is, I think, the dialogue and the…

I think another reason why maybe that your kids don’t like it is, I almost don’t think it’s because you had to be there.

I think they need to be a little bit older.

Possibly.

To really get it.

And it’s not that they don’t like it.

Yeah.

They sometimes just don’t get it.

And maybe to your point, it’s just maybe they’re not…

They haven’t got into adult type situations yet or anything.

Whereas I love Lucy.

Yeah.

I don’t want to use…

We use your word physical because it’s not slapstick, but it’s definitely situational humor.

And that is something that everyone can relate to.

Yes.

Let’s talk a little about your new podcast, Macey.

SSRI’m OK.

So Mick and I are both stay at home dads.

And in the stay at home dad community, mental health is a really big topic.

We talk about it a lot.

We talk about our self care a lot and how important it is.

There are in our network, we have multiple times a week.

There are mental health check-ins where the dads can call in and talk to other people about whatever they’re going through.

So I thought it was really cool to see your podcast pop up where you’re going really deep into mental health issues, but with your unique perspective as a comic.

So tell me about how you guys came up with that idea and what it’s all about.

Well, my co-host Bijan Zarabi, he is a resident doctor at Harvard and we met in a stand-up comedy class in 2015.

So we’ve been friends for a while now and he went a different direction.

We both went different directions, but he has been wanting to do a podcast for a while of talking about mental health.

So when we talked about it, he was like, I really want you to come on and just be kind of the comic relief.

So he’s so funny and I think we already had a dynamic.

So it was kind of easy to jump in to a podcast.

And I just think that, you know, I shared before that comedies really helped me through hard times, but I’ve battled depression and anxiety.

And I think it’s always sort of a battle.

And so I love to learn new things about it and ways that I can help myself.

If I can be a part of something that does that for other people and can make people laugh, that’s great.

So that’s kind of the reasoning behind it.

The name SSRI, it’s a take on the antidepressant SSRIs.

Some people don’t get the title.

And so a lot of the psychiatrists think it’s so funny that the people that aren’t really on SSRIs are like, what, is that a boat?

It’s like, no, it’s a medication.

And then we wanted to do a positive spin on it.

So, you know, SSRI’m OK, you know.

So that’s kind of why we wanted to do it.

And it’s been really fun.

And I think it’s also, I’ve learned a lot, which is great.

Yeah, it’s very educational.

I learned what an SSRI is from the podcast because I didn’t understand the title at first.

But now that I do, I’m smarter now.

You guys, it’s very informative and lighthearted.

And I think that’s just a really important and interesting way to come at a serious topic, just because people are real serious out there.

Everything’s serious.

The world’s falling apart.

So it’s nice to kind of acknowledge that there’s some challenging topics out there.

But to do it in a way that is entertaining and funny.

I think there’s a really cool angle that you guys take.

Well, thanks.

You talked about how your co-host is a doctor in residency and everything there.

So kind of walk us through the balance of medical and laughter.

And I’m going to circle back to laughter is the best medicine, you know, that I’ve mentioned twice already, because I do firmly believe in that.

But just kind of walk us through how the show is structured.

How are you balancing the two?

We get in the weeds quite a bit.

And like the episode that was just released this week is, we had a psychiatrist on talking about his theory on why he thinks we’re all feeling a lot more lonely and isolated.

But the episode coming out next week is about ADHD and living with that and dealing with that.

So we do do more general topics and then sometimes we do more specific.

But I think it’s kind of, it is a hard balance.

But I’m kind of there as the normal person.

So if things start to get too scientific or too in the weeds, I’m like, I’m so sorry.

I don’t know what’s going on.

You know, it’s my job to sort of be like, you guys are being too medical.

No one understands anything you’re saying.

Let me try to…

Let me see if I understand what you’re saying.

I think that another thing too is sometimes we bring on more comedians, which that’s really fun.

And so we’ll talk to a comedian who suffers from, like the one coming out next week, we talked to a comedian who actually deals with ADHD.

So it’s not so the whole episode isn’t too scientific.

It’s also like living with whatever it is.

I think, though, it is a hard balance because you do get, if you get two psychiatrists on there that all understand the same lingo, we’ve had to pause and be like, oh wait, we need to define what that is.

I’ll notice if I kind of start zoning out, I’m like, oh, that means, okay, we gotta back up.

You know, this is too much.

And I think the, you know, like you were, like you’ve been talking about, I think that’s the laughter part is very important but that comes maybe secondary to, I mean, I like to think it’s just as much a part of the podcast since that’s sort of my role.

But I do think first and foremost, it’s a mental health podcast, I guess.

That’s great because, and that’s really what I was hoping your answer would be when I asked the question, because so often it seems to me when I try to listen to any type of an educational podcast, especially one, you have one of two things happens, or maybe one of three things, depending on how many thoughts I come up with here, as they’re swirling around in my brain.

If you have a single person, they have a tendency just to drone on and on.

If you have two people, to your point, if you have two psychiatrists talking to each other, well, they just have a tendency to go off into academia land and the listener’s lost also.

So, the third option is having co-hosts that balance each other, where you can learn something, one of two different possible ways.

If you’re maybe somebody that is dealing with some depression or anxiety and you have enough working knowledge through talking with your therapist or counselors or medical health person that you deal with, you have enough knowledge where you can maybe understand some of the technical things that the doctors are talking about.

But I oftentimes find that I learn the most when things are expressed in the layman’s terms.

So to hear you say that you guys really try to balance those with each other, that sounds fantastic.

And I’m excited to listen to it.

Well, thank you.

I’m excited.

I’m going to, I think you should start with one of my favorite episodes so far that we’ve done is the couples therapy episode.

It’s about relationships and we interview a couple’s sex therapist and she’s so kind.

And even if there’s any like listeners who aren’t in a relationship, I still think it’s very interesting.

But if people that are in a relationship, I also think it can be beneficial.

So that would be if you’re going to listen, I’d start with that one.

So, OK, I’m glad you’ve mentioned that because oftentimes with podcasts, people don’t necessarily know where to start.

They’re like, should I start at the beginning?

Are they going to constantly go back and reference things?

Or can I just kind of cherry pick based on what the topic title sounds like?

So I’m glad that it sounds like yours don’t necessarily need to be built upon and stacked.

No, no, you just go with whatever you’re interested in.

All right.

So before we wrap things up, any other questions for Macey, Mick that are floating around in the trees?

Or should we go get them?

Mick, they’re out there.

So Macey, tell our listeners where they can find you and your podcast and anything else that you’re putting out there right now.

Yeah, you can find me on, I’m on all the things like Instagram and I reactivated Facebook and do all that.

It’s at Macey Isaacs, M-A-C-E-Y-I-S-A-A-C-S.

It’s tricky when both first and last name aren’t easy to spell.

But that’s, that’s my name and maceyisaacs.com.

That’s where I update all my shows that I’m doing.

And, and then the podcast is SSRI’m OK on all the platforms.

So I’m reachable, findable.

Yes, we will link them in the show notes and so you can also find them there.

And the last thing we like to do with our guest is a quick lightning round.

So three questions.

When you’re ready, I’ll start with the first question.

I’m so excited.

Right or wrong answers.

That’s not true.

There is one question that has a wrong or right answer.

I’ll just leave it at that.

I really hope I can impress Mick because he didn’t like me bringing up that the turtle was suicidal, so I have to come back from this.

OK.

Question number one, who is the best George, Jones or Strait?

That’s really hard.

I’m going to say Jones, but I do actually really respect the other one.

The other one.

The other one will go unnamed.

Yeah.

Yeah.

George Strait has a really funny Christmas song.

It’s like Christmas Strait to you or something like that.

And he spells it like it’s the last name.

That’s anyway.

OK.

Next question.

Yeah, we we mentioned one of our episodes, we mentioned the George Strait Christmas albums because I just I looked up to see how many there were.

There are a lot of George Strait Christmas albums.

There’s like seven, eight.

There’s there are so many.

Next question.

What song or artist is your country music Guilty Pleasure?

Guilty Pleasure is so hard because I feel so proud of all of my likes for country music, at least.

I’m going to say I already said the Body Like a Back Road song I enjoyed, which is very embarrassing.

I’m going to say it’s kind of a general thing.

But even though I don’t like Bro Country because I don’t like the oh, oh, I have one.

That one by the girl who it’s the story is OK.

They get in.

She’s like she gets hit.

He picks her up in the truck because she’s been hit by her boyfriend.

It’s kind of a more recent one.

Dave knows this song well because it is sung by Hardy and Lainey Wilson.

That’s it.

That’s my guilty pleasure.

Because I heard it for the first time last Christmas and I was like, this is what?

And then I loved it.

I get where you’re coming from for sure.

Sorry, that took a while to get there.

Final question.

If you could have a drink at a honky tonk with anyone, who would it be?

I have to say Elvis, but I’m not ready for that.

You know what I mean?

Obviously, but if somehow Jeannie could grant that wish, I’d be like, I can’t.

I’m not strong enough.

That makes perfect.

Was I supposed to say, was Jesus the right answer, Mick?

No, you get to answer whatever you want.

And all of your answers were great.

You only got one question wrong.

It’s George Strait?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Interesting.

That’s not right, actually.

That’s not what I would have.

Mick and I disagree on this one.

So I think your answer was great to me.

He stopped loving her today.

Are you kidding me?

I know.

All right.

It’s great.

That’s all right.

Man, I thought Mick was going to be a George Jones guy.

I can’t do it.

All right.

I can’t do it.

But what I can do is say thank you.

Because this has been one hell of an episode.

It has been a lot of fun.

I think we have shared some great information, both on music and life in general with our listeners.

Macey, we just can’t be any more appreciative for you taking time out of your day to join us.

So thank you very much.

Thank you for sharing where our listeners can find you.

As far as where our listeners can find us, it is countrymusicdads.com for all back episodes on the Instagram and Facebook.

It’s countrymusicdads.

And we would love to hear some feedback on this show and any other shows at countrymusicdads.gmail.

Thank you guys so much for having me.

This was so fun.

I could I could keep going.

So thank you.

This has been really fun.

I appreciate it.

Anytime you want me back, I’m here.

I’ll just be I’ll just sit here.

And Lainey Wilson featured on Waiting in the Truck, so you can put it on the Country Music Dads.

Waiting in the Truck.

Yeah, so that’s it.

It qualifies.

Yeah, it does.

Feel free to add it whenever you’d like.

All right.

Oh, yeah.

Thanks again, Macey.

I felt like you had something, Mick.

I just, I watched the thought actually floating into the trees right behind you.

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