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BIOGRAPHY
For the last 30 years Kim has enjoyed bringing stories to listeners in an authentic way through conversations with artists, authors and others with their own area of expertise. “I am looking forward to diving into our podcasts as it will allow for connected conversations that balance humor and depth. That is something we can’t do with our radio shows for lack of time as they are music driven. My heart is that we build great conversations and that no matter what the topic, the listener leaves with a helpful takeaway.”
INTERVIEW TOPICS
Spiritual Growth: Connecting the Bible with who we are and living life.
Entertainment: Artists, Authors and Creatives.
Lifestyle: Relationships: Parenting, Family, Marriage, Friends
Health & Wellness: mental health awareness, nutrition advice, healthy living habits
Technology: New gadgets, tech trends, artificial intelligence
CONTACTS
Ryan Long, WBCL Afternoon Co-host & Podcast Producer - ryan@wbcl.org
Welcome to Here's the Takeaway. I'm your host, Bindel. The heart of a podcast is to dive into topics that matter to you and find the nuggets that you can take with you and apply to your own life. Enjoy today's episode. Welcome back to Here's the Takeaway Podcast.
Kim:I'm your host, Kim Bindel. Excited to connect with our guest today. She was on season 23 of The Voice Team Kelly Clarkson. Good pick. I'm impressed.
Kim:She was born and raised in Meridian, Mississippi. She has always had a heart for telling meaningful stories through music that point people to Jesus. Love that. As the daughter of former minister of music, she felt a calling to weave music and faith from an early age. Please welcome to the podcast integrity music artist, Holly Brand.
Kim:Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm so glad you're here. So I've been to Mississippi, but I don't think I've been through Meridian before.
Kim:So let's say you and I are gonna go have a girls day in your hometown. What is that gonna look like? What are we gonna do?
Holly:Okay. So we're gonna start off the morning at my parents' house on the back deck, and we're gonna drink coffee Nice. And sit by the fire. My parents' house is, like my safe place because I'm born and raised there, lived there till I got married and then moved to Nashville. It's surrounded by wood.
Holly:So it's just a very peaceful zen
Kim:Nice.
Holly:Moment. And then I would probably have to take you downtown, do some shopping, see see the town area. And I think we would end the day by going to a show at the Riley Center, which is I think one of the oldest Opry houses in the whole country. I'm pretty sure. So we would probably end the night there.
Kim:Okay. Would you get up and sing? I mean, I might, if they There was a lot opportunity. Gotta do it. Of course.
Kim:Alright. So you grew up in this beautiful Christian home, and your dad was a music minister?
Holly:Yes. So this was before worship pastor was what we called it, but he was a music minister by vocationally. So I grew up in church. Southern gospel was what I was raised on in country music.
Kim:Mhmm.
Holly:And I actually hated church growing up and could not wait to graduate and move to Nashville and never walk inside the doors of church again.
Kim:Wow. Mhmm. Okay.
Holly:And then I got saved. And then Jesus.
Kim:Then Jesus. So tell me about that, though. Like, okay, your dad's the music minister, and you have this very intense real feeling about, no, thank you. I do not want it. Mhmm.
Holly:Yeah. You know, I was the role follower growing up. So, like, I never really did anything Right. Outside of the norm. I mean, my parents could just look at me and I would, you know, straighten I just found church to be boring.
Holly:Just didn't like it. I wanted to go home and watch cartoons and I wanted to sing. So I I loved Carrie Underwood, Reba, Leigh Ann Rimes, like that era of country music. And like that's what I was thinking about twenty five eight.
Kim:Well, having listened to your music, you do sound like those. You can tell you can tell that you're influenced Wow. By country for sure and definitely the royalty of country music that you just named. I'm Thank you. Incredible.
Kim:So talk about when you were like, okay, I'm just posing. I'm I'm being kind of a poser right now. Mhmm. Because we've all been there. We've all been there.
Kim:Especially when you're raised in the church like I was too. What hit you that you were like, okay. It's time to stop playing. I'm not doing this anymore.
Holly:Yeah. Well, my when I was 14, we ended up moving churches, and my dad was no longer a minister of music revocationally. And so we went back to the church that my parents met at and got married at over thirty years ago. And they forced me to join the youth worship team. I had never led worship before.
Holly:Like, I had sung with the choir, sang with the choir at church
Kim:Mhmm.
Holly:But never really led worship with a team. And I couldn't drive, so I had to go. So I was forced to go. And the first Wednesday night that I led worship, I just I loved it. I felt something different.
Holly:Couldn't quite figure out what it was. And I was baptized when I was, you know, nine, but I didn't really know what I was doing. I was just doing it because all my friends were and that's what you were supposed to do. Right. And so shortly after that, we had that was in the fall of, I think, 2014.
Holly:And then shortly after that, we had a guest pastor come in one Sunday and he was just preaching about, like, do you really know the Lord? Like having a relationship with the Lord. And he ended his sermon with a story about a teenager who was at church, left Sunday service, got in his car and was killed in a car accident, literally leaving the church parking lot. And so his point was, don't wait. If you don't know for sure that you're settled with the Lord, we're not promised literally another minute as you get in your car, so do not wait.
Holly:And that entire sermon, I was just glued. I didn't zone out one time and I felt convicted. I was like, I don't know for sure. I don't feel like I have that relationship with the Lord. This isn't a religion.
Holly:This is a relationship. And I went home, talked to my parents about it. And then that night, walked down the aisle and talked to my pastor and I got saved in the stairwell of that church. Nice. Yeah.
Kim:Where your parents got married and met. Yes.
Holly:And where I met my husband
Kim:and where we got married. It gets even better.
Holly:Even better. What a
Kim:full circle. Love these stories.
Holly:The most Mississippi thing you probably ever heard. So
Kim:great. Did you wear your mom as a wedding dress?
Holly:No. I wanted to wear hers for my rehearsal dinner. Great. But we got married so quick that there just wasn't time. Okay.
Holly:We went from hello to I do in seven months, and that was almost three years ago.
Kim:Okay. Super romantic. What a story to tell. It is truly southern, and I love every inch of it. It is.
Kim:It's so good. Let's talk about music. Okay. Okay? Let's talk about this lovely song, I Know Somebody.
Kim:Where did that come from?
Holly:Yeah. So I wrote that song two years ago at Curb Records in Downtown Nashville and had no idea that we were gonna write that song. So typically, I come into a write with some sort of title idea or concept or just something that I feel like the Lord has put on my heart that we need to write. And I had something completely different. And we all it was three of us.
Holly:And after sharing, okay, I think this is what I wanna write about. All three of us said, I know somebody who's going through insert situations and told a story. And I said, well, I know somebody from my hometown who is 14. Her name is Charlotte, and she has just been diagnosed with cancer.
Kim:And
Holly:she had osteosarcoma near her knee joint. And so she had to have multiple rounds of chemotherapy and ended up having surgery where now her ankle serves as her knee and she has a prosthetic leg and she's an athlete. Wow. Right? But today she's cancer free.
Holly:Yes. So praise God. Woo hoo. But she was the person that I knew that was really struggling. And after I shared that story, one of my co writers said, well, that's what we have to write.
Holly:We have to write I Know Somebody. And it just felt like the Lord kinda took over the room and it was a really easy song to write. It just came right out of us. And the song has become really personal to me, not just because of Charlotte, but because of so many others that I know who've walked through Yeah. A lot of difficult circumstances, divorce and cancer diagnosis and losing family members, loss of jobs.
Holly:Like, everybody knows somebody who's either lived that song or they know know somebody that that has or, you know,
Kim:maybe that maybe they've lived it themselves. Yes.
Holly:Yes. I think everybody needs to hear the hope in the song.
Kim:It the Beautiful. It is beautiful. And it's so great to hear the background on that because I had sarcoma cancer. Wow. And so it's interesting that it's just beautiful that Thank you.
Kim:That was your inspiration, precious soul that inspired you to write that. How lovely is that? It's incredible. You're a great writer. Oh, thank you.
Kim:You're really a great writer. Thank you. So let's talk about one thing he wouldn't do. Yeah. Where did that come from?
Holly:That was my first single or my first song ever. And that was I also was one of those rights where I actually didn't have a title idea. I was like, guys, I don't I ain't got nothing today. And we just started talking and that's some of my favorite rights where you walk in and, like, you do the small talk, like, what's been going on with lives? And something comes from the conversation that you're having.
Holly:And so we were just talking about, you know, there's so many opinions nowadays about who Jesus is. And like if Jesus was here on Earth in 2026, how would he respond to x y z situations? All the stuff. Mhmm. And we were talking about that.
Holly:And one of my co writers said, but you know one thing you wouldn't do? You wouldn't give up. No matter what you're going through or what you've done, no matter what your past looks like. I don't know what he for sure, what he would say and how he would respond. But I do know one thing, he wouldn't give up and he would keep pursuing.
Kim:Then you guys, like, walk right into the title of the song.
Holly:Like
Kim:Yes. There's one thing you wouldn't do.
Holly:There's one thing you wouldn't title. And I
Kim:was like, that's a great title.
Holly:So we wrote it, and I wrote it in May 2025 and turned it in, and my ANR called me immediately. And she was like, Holly, this this is your best. Wow. I love it. And so we released it in October.
Holly:And yeah. So good. Beautiful writer. Thank you.
Kim:Beautiful writer. Let's have a little bit of fun. Okay. Okay? Okay.
Kim:Let's go ahead and do a rapid fire for Holly. Ready? Okay. So first thing that comes to your mind, it's all good. Alright?
Kim:Alright. And some of these are have a little bit of a southern twist, especially this first one. Is it gonna be coffee or sweet tea? Coffee. Me too.
Kim:I like that. Early mornings or late nights? Oh, late nights. Night has to be because you're an artist. Yeah.
Kim:Nashville writers round or big stage show? Oh.
Holly:I know. I love writers rounds. You do? Okay.
Kim:Have you been to Bluebird in Nashville? I
Holly:got to sing at it last year, and it was great. Yay. I loved it. You've been my Bluebird debut?
Kim:Check off the list. That is awesome. Alright. One worship song you never get tired of.
Holly:I never get tired of one worship song. Oh.
Kim:There's too many. Right? There's a lot
Holly:oh, goodness of God, Bethel. Okay. I sing that song at literally all of my big shows. Just the writing the writing in that is so good and the truth in it. Could Very grounding.
Holly:It is. I could listen to it every day. I could sing it every single day, and it's still the truth in it just still moves me every single time.
Kim:I love that. So That is good. Alright. I think I know the answer to this. Boots or sneakers?
Kim:Boots. Yes. She's got some very cool boots on today. I absolutely love them. You said there's a pocket inside of them Yes.
Kim:To hold all your stuff.
Holly:You can put your lip gloss, your ID, your cash. Who knew?
Kim:Yeah. I'm gonna get some boots. I think I'm gonna go shopping for some boots. Okay. Song you wish you wrote.
Holly:Song I wish I wrote. I love all music. This is the this is the problem. Okay. My playlist is full of all different sorts of genres.
Holly:K. Let me think. Song I wish I wrote?
Kim:That's a hard one.
Holly:That is hard. Because you're
Kim:going all kinds of genres. I'm gonna go I'm gonna literally go home and listen to my plays. They listen to Carm and be like, that one does. That's the one I wish I wrote. It's okay.
Kim:We'll move along.
Holly:It's okay. Okay.
Kim:Alright. Most played artist on your phone right now. Who are you listening to? Ella Langley. Okay.
Kim:Alright. And one thing fans would be surprised to know about you.
Holly:I wanted to be a storm chaser
Kim:if music didn't work out.
Holly:So Twisters, that was gonna be my life.
Kim:That doesn't scare you at all.
Holly:Not at all. Well, now living in Nashville and living in an apartment, I get a little bit more wigged out.
Kim:Mhmm.
Holly:Because there's not really anywhere for me to go. Right. If something happens. But I love weather. I it fascinates me.
Holly:I love to watch videos about it. Like, seriously,
Kim:that was my backup plan.
Holly:Like, storm there was a show on the weather channel, I think called Storm Temperatures. It was, like, my favorite thing when I was teenager.
Kim:It's awesome.
Holly:But now I sing instead,
Kim:so it worked out. Much safer.
Holly:Much safer. Much safer. My mom's happy.
Kim:I know. She's like Thank god. Let's stick with the singing. Alright. So we haven't talked too much about it, but you got to go on The Yes.
Kim:Okay. Has there been like, you know, you before you went on The Voice and you after you went on The Voice. What what's the difference?
Holly:I would say maybe maybe a little bit more sure of myself. Mhmm. I've always struggled with my confidence. That's something I've had to battle for a long time and always just second guessing myself and doubting myself. And when I went on The Voice, there's so many good singers.
Holly:Right. And you're just hopeful when when you get there because Right. Everybody's good. Right. And I feel like my coach Kelly really helped me learn how to be sure of myself.
Holly:And in our rehearsals, she like, always the first pass in rehearsals was not my best because I was I was nervous.
Kim:I was singing
Holly:in front of Kelly Clarkson. And every time after she would be like, you have the range, you have those notes that you're trying to hit in you, it's when you doubt yourself and you second guess that, like, you you panic. She was like, if you would just not do that, you would you would be fine. And I learned the importance of not comparing to other people. The Lord gives everybody different gifts.
Holly:Mhmm. And it's really easy to look at somebody else and go, what about that? Well, I don't have that. Just to have a lacking
Kim:Yes.
Holly:Mentality about yourself. And I feel like, you know, that experience taught me how to not do that and how to be sure in what the Lord has given me and to embrace that Right. And to focus on that.
Kim:It's hard because so it's hard to stay in our lane. It's like, oh.
Holly:It is.
Kim:Because that looks interesting over there, but it is distracting. It is. That's so distracting for what you were designed for. Yeah. So I know there has got to be some girls growing up in the South right now or the North or whenever who have a dream in their hearts.
Kim:What would you say to them?
Holly:I would say just go for it. It might sound a little cliche and something that is said a lot because it's something that was said to me. But you never know until you try. My philosophy is always just ask. The worst somebody can do is say no, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Holly:When I moved to Nashville, I didn't know anybody. And I literally just DMed people and asked them to write with me and went to so many coffee meetings. I just asked because what's the worst that can happen? So I would say just go for it. You never know until you try.
Holly:And you also never know what the Lord's gonna do with that. You never know what's right around the corner. So do it. Go for it.
Kim:Oh, love it. Do it. We'll take that. I could talk to you all day long. You are so much fun.
Kim:Thank you. Holly, thank you so much for being here. I really do appreciate
Holly:for having me. Yeah. So much fun.
Kim:Absolutely. It's girl chat. I love it. Girl time. Thank you for being with us today.
Kim:I hope there was a nugget that you took away that maybe there's something that you've got that you really wanna do that God's put on your heart. Go for it. Ask lots of questions and just jump. Go for it. Thanks for being with us today.
Kim:We'll see you next time. Hope that you enjoyed today's episode of Here's The Takeaway. I'm your host, Kim Bindel. Please give this episode a like or a thumbs up and share with your friends. Also, don't forget to follow this podcast for more great content when the next episode drops.
Kim:We'll see you next time.