And so you're platforming and sort of enhancing the profile of, of people who really are just going whichever way the wind blows, right?

Yeah, I think that's so it's sort of a strategically claiming to be cancelled is a very interesting phenomenon that I think you're putting your finger on.

It actually ties to this other line of research that I've done in my lab that looks more at these claims of censorship.

So we don't always call that we don't always put that in the same category as cancellation.

But I've been observing this very same thing that you have, that there's this, it's almost like a new economy of influencers and, you know, people who maybe used to be in journalism or used to be in other sorts of things.

And they've all now claimed to be canceled or censored and they show up on Substack or they show up in podcasts or in podcasts.

You know, on YouTube or whatever.

And I wonder if that's something that you've dealt with at all, that you've looked into, just the rise of AI and the way that it now can promulgate something very insidious, but much, much faster than it ever could before and much more convincingly.

You had to have some moments during high school and in your, you know, your journey of faith where that line was drawn, where you've, you decided, "Okay, th- I'm, I'm representing God here." So any comments about that?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, when I became a Christian when I was 12, the pastor at, um...

The Bible teacher at my school en- ended up becoming the pastor of the church I went to, um, because I s- changed churches.

Um, he was, like, on fire for God, and it was the first time I had seen someone walk with Jesus that way.

And so when we were in middle school, early high school, we would actually, me and my classmates would actually go and pray for people.

[laughs]

... and in your career and just how that story all started.

Yeah.

Um, so my brother passed away in 2017 in a car accident, which was so tragic.

I mean, you know, it, it's something you never think would happen and it, it happened to our family, and it was really hard and, and there was so many days it felt like there's no way we're gonna get through this.

Like, just no way.

Um, but slowly but surely God started to really, like, show up and, um, would speak to us through a friend or through scripture or through nature and, I mean, our faith just was our cornerstone.

Like, it got us through.

What encouragement would you give them, um, as someone who's kind of gone through all of that?

I guess I'm interested from your perspective, do you feel that that's predominantly just a lack of confidence awareness and training or are there potentially other factors sort of laid into it that lead to these sort of experiences?

I do definitely think and we know that doctors who are out there right now, most of them have not been trained to be able to diagnose, manage and treat ME-CFS effectively.

We know that, which is why a major focus of our work, which I might add is completely unfunded, is on clinical education.

It's really, really important.

But the thing I think that frustrates me more than anything else is that It has been proven and evidence is absolutely conclusive that ME-CFS is actually a medical condition.

It's as a result of what's going wrong mechanically in your body's battery, whether it's your mitochondria that are not functioning properly because the effectiveness of the mitochondria is critical or or whether it's your cytokine inflammatory response that keeps... becomes overactive after you've had an onslaught, whether that's an infection like COVID or whether it's the flu or whether it's for some other reason that then your system doesn't actually turn off and it just keeps going.

Long after the infection is gone, your system has been damaged in some way.

Yeah, I guess in terms of considering the potential sort of benefits or harms if we're not differentiating them, why is this so important for clinicians to understand? Well,

Tell us about your background, your family, that song, and how that moment all came to be.

Yeah, I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and I was raised in the church and grew up with just the most incredible family, loving parents, an older sister and an older brother.

And I was the youngest of the three.

Grew up always knowing that I could do whatever I set my mind to.

And my parents always encouraged us to just chase our dreams.

Honestly, it was just a really sweet childhood.

And I'm so grateful for it.

What is that and how can people get involved?

What has that been like for you?

I think that there's not been a ton of it in my career, I would say, but there's definitely been moments where my fate has made me stand out and maybe made me miss an opportunity or two.

My perspective on that is different than I would say maybe the majority of artists is, if I were to guess.

I never wanted to be famous.

I never longed to have a career.

And so when God called me to music and it was kind of handed it to me, like, here's what I want you to do with your life.

And because that's literally how it went.

Tell us just a little bit about your heart behind it and then where our listeners can go to find information about it.

Yeah.

I mean, we were miserable taking those lessons, and we'd have to practice, like, an hour a day, you know, all the, the things that my parents would tell me to do.

And me and my sister and my brother, uh, took lessons.

And so I always loved music.

I loved listening to Christian music, country music.

We grew up on Christian radio.

Um, but then there w- came a moment right around that age of 14, 15 where I, I started loving worship music, and I was listening to it all the time and growing in my faith.

[laughs]

You've been on incredible tour opportunities.

Yeah.

I mean, honestly, there's been so many moments.

Um, I feel like for me, what always means the most is getting to connect with my fans and hear their stories.

Like, if I look back at the last couple years of my life, it's always, like, tours and getting to connect with fans and hear how my music has inspired them, that stands out to me the most.

So it's been a really sweet year, and excited for what's to come.

What did you hear from her in that that either you were proud of her for, or maybe you didn't even realize her perspective on something that has happened in your life?

Honestly, I was so proud of her for just speaking and, uh, and just being honest and bold about, like, what she's walked through.

Take us there, if you would.

Yeah.

Um, when I was 15, my brother passed away in a tragic car accident.

He was 23, and it was beyond devastating.

I mean, it's, it's really hard to explain if you haven't walked through something like that.

But it's, like, very, just very hard.

Um, and not, we're not meant to, to go through that, you know? We were never made for that originally.

And as you think about owning your influence, what are you praying about? What's God stirring in your heart and more?