Backstory Sessions

3 Chord Truths - Bobby Tomberlin

Back with another episode of “3 Chord Truths”, where we talk with songwriters and musicians, and reveal their motivations as well as their amazing backstories.
 
In this episode, we pull up a chair and chat with songwriter, musician, and actor, Bobby Tomberlin. Bobby’s single “I’ve Lived Country Music” provides the backdrop for this really great discussion with someone who has worked with, met, or is friends with many of the legends of country music, as well as some of today’s artist. His stories are funny, sweet, always entertaining, and provide an amazing view of some of the history of the country music genre, as well as Bobby’s personal connections and many experiences. It was a pleasure speaking with him, and we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did making it. We wish to thank Bobby for his time with us talking about his amazing career.
Bobby Tomberlin Bio:
Grammy, CMA and ACM nominee Bobby Tomberlin started out in the music business at the age of 11 in his hometown of Luverne, Alabama interviewing legends such as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Keith Whitley. Mel Tillis gave Bobby his first publishing contract and for the past 14 years, Bobby has been a staff writer for CURB Records Publishing.
Bobby co-wrote the number one country and Top 5 AC single, “One More Day” recorded by Diamond Rio. Bobby also co-authored an inspirational book by the same title. Bobby co-wrote the Top 10 single “A Good Day To Run” with Darryl Worley. Bobby has also had songs recorded by Josh Turner, Faith Hill, Kenny Rogers, Rodney Atkins, Joe Nichols, Terri Clark, Little Jimmy Dickens, the Oak Ridge Boys, Joe Diffie, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ty Herndon, Lee Greenwood, Chely Wright, Linda Davis, Chris Young, T. G. Sheppard, Eddy Arnold and many others.
Some of Bobby’s co-writers include Steve Wariner, Bill Anderson, Mac Davis, Steve Dorff, Phil Everly and Josh Turner.
Bobby is one of the singers on the new CMT hit series, “The Singing Bee”
Bobby has appeared on numerous other television shows including “Opry Backstage” and “The Bad Girls Club” on the Oxygen Network, where he starred in an episode.
Bobby makes numerous live appearances every year across the country and is a featured guest on the Steve Dorff and Friends Songwriter Show.

3 Chord Truths - Frank Moka

We are back with Part 3 of our interview series, 3 Chord Truths, featuring another very talented guest. We have been bringing you guests from different genres and presenting different stories of success in the music, as well as what it takes to achieve the success our guests have achieved thus far, 
Our guest this week is Frank Moka. Frank started as a percussionist at a very young age, spent his youth learning to play, and later went to college to study music theory. He is now the drummer for acclaimed singer, actress, and record producer, Erykah Badu. He also has a "small" 17 pc orchestra project, with a new single out, and is working on an album with the orchestra, along with continuing to tour with Erykah. We recorded this interview with Frank the night before their show in Louisville, KY. Frank's drive and passion for what he does cuts through in his retelling of his youth, career, as well as talking about future projects. We were honored to get a chance to chat with Frank, and really enjoyed our time with him.
We will be bringing you a few more exciting artists with some amazing stories in the weeks to come. We hope you enjoy this great episode with the very interesting, talented, and engaging Frank Moka as well.

A Million Details - Part 1.5

Another episode where we talk about a few different topics near and dear to us,, give some updates on various projects we have going on, talk about some different guests and what they are up to, and some future changes coming to Backstory Sessions. We include some of the history of how we started Level 11 Ventures which is the parent company of Backstory Sessions, a mishap we discovered we made with Backstory Sessions, and what goes into getting the podcast recorded each week. Gearing up for some exciting changes and new things you will see shortly that we are excited to talk about. We also forget a few things, as we tend to do when we record on the spur of the moment like this. Apologies to those whose names we have forgotten or gotten wrong, as iy was not intentional....lol. 

A Million Details - Part1

In this episode we begin another series of podcasts on what it might take to own your own business. Many people are reassessing their priorities and looking for ways to either supplement or replace an income, and exploring starting a business from home, or start a business they always wanted to. We decided talk to various business owners about what it takes to start and run your own business, what some of the drawbacks are, and have them share advice they have for budding entrepreneurs. In future episodes in this series, we will be bringing you discussions with owners of various sized businesses who have found success, and weathered the storm of the million details that must be sorted out in order to achieve that success. We hope you find these podcasts informative, entertaining and helpful, and they give you some insight of how to navigate the minefields you might have to walk through on the path to working for yourself.
Our guests this week are Kim Hammons Minton, and Isaac Abner. Kim owns a thriving coffee shop in Barbourville, KY called "The Ugly Mug", and has been in business for 7 years there. Isaac started "Cumberland River Photo", a video and photography business (also based in Barbourville), with his long time friend, Chris. Both have interesting backstories of how their businesses came to be, challenges they faced during start up, and things they deal with on a daily basis, as well as the effect of Covid on their businesses. We touch on business financing, the role of social media, a recent wedding, and a range of other topics, including what the future may hold for each. Both Kim and Isaac have had different paths to business ownership, but share a similar drive and passion for what they do, which is necessary to push them through the difficult days. We recorded this episode on location at "The Ugly Mug", and thank Kim and Isaac for joining us for this fun and interesting chat and sharing their backstories. 

Jellico Connection

In this episode we chat with actor Bill Allen. Bill is from just over the Kentucky border in Jellico, Tennesee. This also where Cat was born and lived before ultimately settling in KY. We chat with Bill about a variety of film and TV projects he has worked on, his sports prowess, and involvement with various charities in his area. He provides some interesting insight into his career as an actor, and his community involvement. He talks about his latest project below, and we hope you enjoy this wide ranging episode:
 
Bill Allen appeared on the big screen once again as he portrayed the lead burglar in CNBC TV series “Super Heists” pilot episode called “All the President’s Money” Monday night.
Allen, portrayed Amil Dinsio, an infamous burglar who, in collaboration with others, allegedly stole over $12 million of President Richard Nixon’s money from a bank vault in Laguna Niguel, California.
“It is the story of these guys out of Ohio that get a tip from a large mob boss. Nixon had a large slush fund in a bank in California, allegedly, and they go to do this bank robbery of over $30,000,000,” said Allen as he described the episode.
Dinsio and his partners pulled off one of the largest bank heists in American history. The burglary’s investigation by the FBI resulted in the second largest man hunt since John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
“Super Heists” is not the first series in which Allen has appeared. He has also played roles in “Snapped”, “American Detective”, “The Heist”, “Sins of the City”, “Killer Couples” and more.

Stronger Than Pretty

In this episode we talk with model, actress, and producer: the amazing Kate Amundsen. Kate has had a long career in modeling, and moved further into acting as a way to challenge herself in different ways, and later into producing as a further challenge. Kate shares with us her motivations, backstories, and insights into the making of the movie "Donna: Stronger Than Pretty", which is based on a true story, and about many other entertaining stories from her life. In addition, find out about her interest in Judy Garland, and what's coming in the near future from Kate. We thank her for coming by to chat with us, and hope you enjoy this really interesting episode.
Kate's Bio:
Kate Amundsen is an actress and model born and partly raised in Los Angeles. She got her start in the mountains of Utah and New Mexico where she starred in the classic homemade VHS videos as Barry Springer- the epic spin off of the classic Jerry Springer, and the rest is history! Kate convinced her parents to move back to LA at 13 and it quickly worked out in her favor. She has been fortunate enough to travel the world for work, starring and working alongside some of the best in the biz such as Roman Coppola, Amy Poehler and Julia Roberts to name a few. Kate is proud to have landed the leading role for the feature film "Donna", in which she has won Best Actress in several film festivals across the country. You can also catch her making appearances on TV shows such as "Shameless", "Ray Donovan" "The Mindy Project, and "Criminal Minds" to name a few. Kate is currently studying with Stuart Rogers at Stuart Rogers Studios.
 

3 Chord Truths - Pamela Hopkins

Welcome to the next in a series of our 3 Chord Truths podcasts where we sit down with a singer/musician, and get insights into their careers, motivation, hopes, and backstories.
Our guest this week is the amazing Pamela Hopkins who we thoroughly enjoyed talking with. She is a great guest who shares with us some interesting insight into the commitment it takes to make it in the music business, following your dreams, and how her family and friends, as well as the community has reacted to her career and successes. We wish her continued success in all she does! See links below for more info about her, merchandise, and videos.
Little Rock, Arkansas native Pamela Hopkins is a powerhouse singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Her first Nashville album of all original music was released in February 1995. She returned to the studio to record her second album/EP project released in October 2018. 2 more singles were released in 2019.
Pamela returned to the studio in early2020, to record her next 4 singles with Off the Row Recording Studio. She plans to release 6 singles this year. Pamela regularly performs in piano bars, on cruise ships and clubs across the US. Pamela's song "Givin' a Damn (Don't Go With My Outfit) recently reached 500,000 Spotify streams! 
 
Website: https://www.Pamelahopkinsmusic.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pamelahopkinsmusic
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCepe2h
http://www.Facebook.com/pamelahopkinsmusic

3 Chord Truths - Brett Wells

We return to see the crew at Kentucky Creative LLC in Corbin, KY, and sit down with talented local singer and guitar player Brett Wells who was performing an acoustic set at the space. We talk with Brett about his influences, how he got started performing, what his aspirations are, what song he refuses to play, and a long list of other questions in this short, but intriguing episode. This is the first in a series of podcast interviews we will be presenting with different musicians with varied and compelling backstories.  It is interesting to see the similarities and differences in Brett's comments, and those of our guest next week, Pamela Hopkins, who is also a musician. A third guest will be announced later. We hope you enjoy this episode, and we thank Brett for taking time to talk with us. As always, Jeremy, Billy, and the rest of the great people at Kentucky Creative LLC were gracious and accommodating hosts for us. 

Following Passions

Welcome to another awesome episode! We sit down with the ever fascinating Mika Boorem.  Mika has a long list of acting credits in film and tv, has directed, written, and produced, and has worn many other hats in the film industry during her career. She has traveled the world, started a charity (MadaKilonga), and is driven to do interesting things by her passion for her work, in a male dominated industry. We appreciate her coming by to share her amazing stories with us.
Mika's bio:
Mika Boorem is an American actress who has also ventured into directing. She made her debut with a voice role in 2005’s Whisper of the Heart. She next had her first TV role in an episode of Touched by an Angel. She later had roles in the films The Education of Little Tree, Jack Frost and Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her.
At the same time, she also starred as Alissa Amross on the short-lived series The Tom Show. In the 2000s, she had notable roles in the films The Patriot, Along Came a Spider, Hearts in Atlantis, Riding in Cars with Boys, Blue Crush, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. She also played the recurring role of Harley Hetson on Dawson’s Creek. She recently made her feature film directorial debut in 2018’s Hollywood.Con.
Some trivia: She has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, is an experienced gymnast, and can speak French. 
 

Gaining Perspective

Hello BackStory Fans! In this episode, we chat with the entertaining actor Coutney Gains, who has appeared in many classic films, such as Children of the Corn, Back to the future, Memphis Belle, and Cant Buy Me Love, to name a few. To date, he has appeared in over 100 movies and tv shows in his 30+ year career. During our chat, Courtney relays stories about how he got started in acting, and some of his experiences on set. He is engaging, funny, and shares some great stories with us. This episode also looks at what it takes to get into the business, which sometimes requires unconventional ways to get noticed , although Courtney advises against some of his approaches, and the importance of being in the right place at the right time, as Courtney was at the beginning of his long and varied career. He is also an accomplished musician and talks about his music projects (Ripple Street, and new solo material), as well as movies coming out soon. We hope you enjoy this fun and really interesting episode, and we thank Courtney for coming by to chat with us.