Backstory Sessions

Glory Days

Hello Backstory Fans, and especially all the moms out there! We want to wish all of these special ladies a Happy Mothers Day!   
In this episode we get to sit down with the ladies from Chapel Hart, who happen to have a new album coming out on May 19th. They are gaining a huge following and their appearance on America's Got Talent has pushed them further along the road to success. Getting noticed by country music royalty such as Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn helps too. In this brief interview, we chat with them about these topics, family, the AGT appearance, and their new album, Glory Days, along with their answers to a few other interesting questions. We hope you enjoy this great interview with these amazing ladies.

Oldies?

Hello Backstory family! Welcome to Season 9! In this episode, we chat a bit about a variety of topics ranging from intro music, what constitutes music being classified as an “oldie”, cover bands and impersonators, and more. (You will notice we talk about changing our intro music, but had a technical glitch that prevented us from doing that for this episode. We hope to have that sorted out next week.) We also talk about letting one of us use the others cell phone, and the conversation inspired Cat to write a song, which is at the very end of the episode! Find out what that’s all about, and more in this fun episode. We want to give huge thanks to the amazingly talented Risha Allen for performing Cat’s new song! 

I’m Not Going Anywhere.

Hello Backstory Fans! Tonight marks the end of Season 8! We hope you’ve enjoyed our guests this season as much as we have enjoyed talking to them and bringing them to you. In this episode we present Singer/songwriter, author, and Producer, Kelly Lang. Kelly has a new audiobook available, titled “I’m Not Going Anywhere”. In it Kelly relays many of the lessons she has learned during her life from the adversity she has faced over the years. She reveals the genesis of the title, and the sweet story of what cemented that choice for her. We also hear the story of her long friendship with Olivia Newton John, and Barry Gibb. This is a brief but really interesting talk, and we hope to have Kelly back in the future to dive deeper into her fascinating life. 
We also want to once again thank you, our fans, for listening, and motivating us every day. We will see you all in the near future with an all new season!

A Little of Both

Hello Backstory fans! In this great episode we sit down with country artist, singer/songwriter Makenzie Phipps. Makenzie is a powerhouse vocalist who’s latest single called “A Little of Both” is currently available for streaming, along with some great other songs she was recorded. From covers to originals, Mackenzie’s voice does them all justice. In our chat, she talks about getting her start in music and reforming, and how things are evolving for her currently, performing, and moving to Nashville . It’s a great look At how her career is gathering steam and moving in the right direction. 
 

Back To The Drive-In

Hello Backstory fans! In this episode, we talk with director April Wright. April had previously produced a movie chronicling the rise and fall of the drive in movie theater. In it she examined the history as well as the current state (as of 2013) of this iconic American pastime. She visited almost every state, and many of the drive-ins in each. Her love of these places started when she was very young, and attended the movies with her family, and she has always been fascinated with them. A recent project of hers, “Back to the Drive-in” examines how the industry has changed, adapted, and tried to compete with streaming services of late. She talks to current owners of these facilities and gets great insight into how they are managing to stay open, the hard work involved, and a myriad of other issues these owners face. It’s a fascinating look at this beloved memory that a lot of us share, whether it be as a child watching a Disney movie for the first time, a teenager on a date to see the latest horror movie, or an adult feeling nostalgic about the fun had at the drive in. We also talk a bit about some of our own drive in memories. We hope you enjoy this really interesting episode the April!

The Way Out

Hello Backstory fans! In this episode we sit down with actor, writer, and producer Mike Manning. He got his start in acting in high school productions, and later was cast for a spot on the MTV series The Real World: DC. This would lead to other roles in a Disney movie, tv series roles, and many other acting opportunities, his recurring roll on the long running soap opera, Days of Our Lives among them. He also has multiple Emmy awards thrown into the mix for acting, and producing to round out his resume. His recent movie, "The Way Out" is available to stream now. We chat with Mike about all of these topics and much more in this intriguing episode. His love of acting is evident, and he gives some great insight into how he approaches roles, and what drives him to act.
Mike’s  Bio:
Mike Manning is an American actor, producer, reality television personality and activist. Manning gained fame as a cast member on the MTV series The Real World: D.C.[2] before subsequently embarking on an acting career, appearing in a number of films and television programs, such as the 2014 Disney Channel original movie Cloud 9, in which he played Nick Swift, Hawaii Five-0, Love Is All You Need? (2016), Teen Wolf, The Call, Son of the South and Days of Our Lives.[3] As a producer, his work includes the documentary Kidnapped for Christ,[4] and The Bay, which won the 2020 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series.[5] He won the 2021 Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Performance By a Supporting Actor in a Daytime Fiction Program for his performance as Caleb McKinnon.[6]

Rickshaw Girl

Hello Backstory fans! Join us for this great episode when we sit down with author Mitali Perkins. Mitali has written numerous Young Adult books, and her book, Rickshaw Girl, has been recently made into a movie. She relays the story behind the book, and how the movie came about, her thoughts about the premiere of the movie, and how it felt to walk the red carpet. Mitali also tells us about how she got into writing, some of her travels, and talks about the writing process for her. Its a great interview with a successful author, and very interesting person. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with her, and know you will as well
A bit more about Mitali in her own words:
,"I was born Mitali Bose in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, and always tried to live up to my name—which means “friendly” in the Bangla language. I had to! Because my family moved so much, it was the only way I could make new friends.
By the time I was 11, I'd lived in Ghana, Cameroon, London, New York and Mexico before settling in California just in time for middle school. Yep, I was the new kid again, in seventh grade, the year everybody barely makes it through.My biggest lifeline during those early years was story. Books were my rock, my stability, my safe place as I navigated the border between California suburbia and the Bengali culture of my traditional home.After studying political science at Stanford and public policy at U.C. Berkeley, I taught in middle school, high school and college. When I began to write fiction, my protagonists were often—not surprisingly—strong characters crossing all kinds of borders, seeking community, and promoting justice."

Three Pines: Sarah Booth

Hello again Backstory fans! In this episode we bring you a second actress from the series "Three Pines",and chat with Sarah Booth. Sarah talks about getting her start in acting, working as a stunt woman at Universal Studios, and what it's like working with her husband on various film projects, along with much more. There are some great stories in this wide ranging interview, with an interesting woman who has had an equally interesting career, that you won't want to miss!
Sarah's IMDb Bio: 
Sarah Booth is a Canadian born, classically trained actor. She is a regular on the upcoming series Three Pines (Amazon Prime) from the producers of The Crown and appeared as a Guest Star on Law & Order: SVU (NBC), Star Trek: Discovery (Paramount+) and Heartland (CBC).Sarah trained in Montreal and continues to work on stage, including her critically acclaimed performance as Una in Blackbird. In 2018, Ms. Booth was the recipient of ACTRA's inaugural Breakthrough Artist of the Year award.Additional film and television work includes recurring roles on Y: The Last Man (FX), Helix (SYFY), The Moodys (Fox) and 21 Thunder (Netflix) as well as lead roles in Trapped (Lifetime), The Scarehouse (Universal) and the single-take feature Last Call. Sarah has appeared on American Horror Story (FX), The Bold Type (Freeform) and best-selling game Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft). Sarah was the face of President's Choice 2021 campaign in both English and French.Sarah used to save the day in Universal Studio's Waterworld live stunt show and challenges her adventurous spirit with horseback riding, running and fitness

Three Pines: Anna Tierney

Hello BackStory fans! In this episode, after we talk a bit about crime dramas, famous Canadians, and Columbo,  we sit down with the amazing actress Anna Tierney. She is an interesting person with an equally interesting backstory, who we thoroughly enjoyed chatting with. A few eclectic topics discussed: renovating houseboats, roller derby, accents, and much more. From Anna’s bio:
Anna Tierney is an English actress, born in Manchester and raised in Northolt, West London. She is the daughter of renowned actor Malcolm Tierney (Braveheart, Lovejoy, Star Wars, Poldark and the original House Of Cards) and visual artist, Andrea Tierney.
In August 2021 Anna began filming as a series regular opposite Alfred Molina in the hotly anticipated 'Three Pines' Inspector Gamache series. The stories, based on the best-selling crime novels written by Louise Penny, have been adapted for screen by Emilia Di Girolamo and can be seen on Amazon Prime.
Anna trained at the Drama Centre London and was supported through drama school through various awards and the support of actors Jeremy Irons, Ian McKellen, Kitty Aldridge, Timothy West, Ian McShane and Roger Lloyd Pack. After graduating she landed a role In the BBC's long running series 'Doctors', where she played Marianne Hartwell.
She created the show 'Skate Hard, Turn Left’ ; a devised, highly physical theatre show performed entirely on roller skates. Over intensive rehearsal periods, she trained the troupe of actors to roller skate, inspired by the sport of roller derby. Anna is a highly skilled skater in real life and played roller derby semi-professionally for 8 years with London Roller Derby. While performing in the hit international tour of the play, ‘Our Country's Good', she performed at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and then for the 25 Year anniversary at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theater. It was here she met her partner, acclaimed musician and singer Gabriel DeSantis.

Chemistry And Signs

Hello Backstory fans! It's our Post Valentines Day episode with our friends Corri Ramey, and Johnathan Stephens. Both are previous guests who talked to us about what it was like teaching during the pandemic a couple years ago, and returned later to give us updates on what they were up to a year or so later. In this episode we catch up again with each, and hear the story of how they went from coworkers to dating. While they havent been dating a long time, the conversation reveals how much they admire and care for each other, and how close they have grown in the past months. There is certainly Chemistry between them, and either through coincidence, or divine intervention, there are many signs that pointed the way to each other, as you will discover. It’s a sweet episode you will enjoy as much as we did recording it. 
PS: On occasion, the editing software does some unexpected things, and doesn’t give us the desired output. As such, there may be a few odd things you’ll notice during listening. We strive to provide quality audio, but sometimes, no matter what we do, it isn’t as good as we would like. We apologize in advance if you find this is the case.