CRS 2024: 5 QUESTIONS WITH MARYNN TAYLOR

1) You just released your brand-new single “Small Town Spinnin’”! Tell our readers a little about the song and what they can expect from it.

I wrote it with my friends Erin Kinsey and Josh Kerr. I just think there’s something so fun about a relationship kept secret, especially in a small town! If anyone reading is from a small-town, then you know how talk goes around; gossip is a thing. So, this song is about that and the fun aspect of a relationship in a small town.

2) You mentioned writing the song with Josh Kerr and Erin Kinsey, a rising starlet as well. Take us into that writing session that day. What aspects did each of you bring to the song that helped craft it into what it is today?

Erin actually brought in the idea, and I fell in love with it because I could relate to it so hard being from Rockford, MI. And Josh is just awesome. He knew the vibe right away and what this could be.

I told them about “Make You Mine” being my last single, and how I really wanted something consistent but that would show a different side of me. We were all really digging on that. They are so fun to hang with, but to write with them is a whole other level.

One of my favorite lyrics of the song is, “get the grapevine riled.” I had kinda said that line outloud, but didn’t know that I had said it, and Erin was like, “RILED! Get the grapevine riled! THAT’S AWESOME!”

3)  You had a lot of new music this past year, balancing the edges of fun and upbeat with songs such as “Shakin’ In My Boots” but also getting very vulnerable with “In My Head” and “I love you, remember.” How important was it for you to allow each of these songs to open your diary and capture the gamut of twenty-something emotions so transparently? Can we expect more of this kind of output this year?

That was planned. I wanted to be consistent but to also show different sides of me.

A lot of people don’t know this, yet, but I’m releasing an EP in May called Get To Know Me. The song “Get To Know Me” is probably one of the most vulnerable songs I’ll ever release because the situation is so real, and it is still so real. It will be a weight off my shoulders when I get to release that one.

But I also called the EP Get To Know Me because it’s a crash course into really getting to know me. I’m a young girl in my twenties and life is a little hard, but it’s fun and I wanted to put that aspect in it, too. So, there’s life songs, relationship songs…a really good mix of where I’m at right now.

4) 2023 also saw you making your Grand Ole Opry debut. Take us into that moment and what it meant for you to stand in that circle.

I’ve always loved the Opry. It’s the pinnacle of country music for me, so to get to step in a circle that so many other greats, my favorites, have stepped in was really emotional for me. I got to sing a song called “01,” which is to my younger self, so when I stepped into that circle, I felt like I wasn’t the only one; that my younger self got to be there too. She would have been crazy, so excited…and I was as well, but if I could go back and tell her she made her Opry debut, she would have been so happy.

5) We have so many aspiring songwriters and artists that read our website, so we always like to end by asking this…what is the best piece of advice you can offer?

If you’re moving to Nashville, then you’ve already taken the biggest step. You have to be here! There are people around here doing the same thing and it really is all about the people you know. Be genuine and be kind to everybody. Surround yourself with the right people and own your craft. Play guitar every single day. Sing every single day. Write every single day. Those everyday things are just as big and important as playing on the big stages.

(Interview by: Jeffrey Kurtis/Photo c/o Black River Entertainment)

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