Nashville singer-songwriter Emily Hackett stopped by Treehouse HQ ahead of her album release Must Be Present to Win (out June 26) and we got into everything — how a throwaway line from her husband became the title of her album, writing "Butter" in 10 minutes flat and cranking the autotune to full T-Pain, navigating creativity and motherhood when the inspiration window is baby's nap time, and the deeply personal song she wrote about visiting a lost friend in her dreams. We also get into East Nashville, Halloween haunted houses, the wardrobe malfunction costume, and what Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic has to do with all of it.
🎙️ Follow Emily: @ms_emilyhackett
🎵 Must Be Present to Win — out June 26
📍 Treehouse HQ | Nashville, TN
@NoahJacksonLive

0:00 — Welcome to Treehouse HQ
2:00 — Introducing Emily & Must Be Present to Win
5:00 — The listening events: wine, yoga & ceramics
8:00 — Mother and Sunshine: Emily's cyanotype art side hustle
12:00 — "Validation" & the entrepreneurial circus of being an indie artist
16:00 — Where the album title came from (Mikey said what?)
22:00 — Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic & showing up for your genius
26:00 — Creativity after having a baby
30:00 — "Butter": the 10-minute take & going full T-Pain
36:00 — Why Alan Watts is on the record
40:00 — "The Steps": forget the steps, enjoy the dance
44:00 — Mourning your own wedding & the mushroom trip that healed it
51:00 — Brian: the song about a friend on the other side
58:00 — Halloween, haunted houses & the wardrobe malfunction costume
1:05:00 — What is East Nashville really?
1:09:00 — Best food in Nashville (hot takes)
1:11:00 — Advice for independent artists putting out a record
1:13:00 — Outro & where to find Emily

I sat down with my friend Joy Owings for a Halloween special: horror movies, Halloween trivia, and the time she walked into a cadaver lab and found nothing but a head on a table.

Joy is a nurse practitioner who teaches nursing at Belmont, and she's my best friend's girl and my girl's best friend. She's also the biggest horror fan I know. We get into her top picks of the season (Obsession, Backrooms, Hokum), why horror is having a moment, why a nurse who isn't squeamish about blood and guts is scared to death of mold, and why she doesn't like candy (it makes her face go numb). Plus multiple-choice trivia, Halloween jokes that did not land, a jump scare from Adam, and an appearance by Polly the poodle in her Elphaba costume.

Recorded at Treehouse HQ, Nashville.

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0:00 – Welcome, Joy Owings

1:30 – Best & Worst Halloween Costumes (Polly the K9)

3:35 – Can You Get Arrested in a Cop Costume?

5:12 – Halloween Plans: New York & Lord Farquaad

7:00 – The 15-Foot Skeleton Question

7:43 – Halloween Trivia, Round 1

11:53 – The Severed Head: A Cadaver Lab Story

18:31 – Back to Trivia: Before Candy Was Candy

21:10 – The Poisoned Candy Myth & the 1974 "Candy Man" Case

23:49 – Should We Scare Kids? Haunted Houses

26:50 – Watching Horror Alone: Obsession & Backrooms

29:49 – Joy's Top Horror Movies of the Season

33:37 – Joy's Backrooms Theory

36:42 – Why Horror Works: Suspiria, Black Swan, A Quiet Place & Get Out

43:11 – Midterms, Three Days After Halloween

44:00 – Is Being Scared of Halloween Really a Phobia?

45:34 – Polly Joins + What We're Spending This Year

48:02 – Candy Trivia (From Someone Who Doesn't Like Candy)

51:07 – Ranking the Worst Halloween Candy

52:28 – Why Chocolate Costs So Much This Year

54:43 – Not Squeamish About Blood & Guts… But Afraid of Mold

58:27 – Why Joy Doesn't Eat Candy

1:02:00 – Halloween Jokes (Tough Crowd)

1:04:16 – Adam's Jump Scare

1:06:53 – Hot Take: New Horror Beats Old Horror

1:07:57 – Joy's Horror Movie Recommendations

1:12:17 – Wrap Up

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Joy's picks: The Silence of the Lambs, Parasite, Late Night with the Devil, Fresh, Hereditary, Get Out, Us, A Quiet Place, Black Swan

Follow Joy Owings:

📸 Instagram: @almonddjoyyy

🎬 Letterboxd:

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