Country Star Maddie Font of Maddie & Tae on Helping Design Veterans’ Space in ‘Hometown Heroes’

Maddie & Tae know firsthand what the power of music can do. So, the award-winning country duo jumped at the opportunity to help with a redesign for Operation Song on Nashville’s Music Row for an episode of Hometown Heroes. The Design Network series sees celebs from all walks of life giving back to their roots by spotlighting unsung local heroes and community initiatives that are making an impact. 

For Maddie Font and Tae Kerr, that was collaborating with designer Julie Couch to transform the space where veterans and their families come together to share their stories through songwriting. We sat down with Font to reflect on her experience filming, as well as Maddie & Tae’s evolution and future. 

Before we get into Hometown Heroes, I have to ask you about what it was like meeting Brenda Lee, which you shared in a post on your Instagram. 

Maddie Font: It was so cool. Our record label was throwing a Christmas party and celebrating Brenda Lee’s 80th birthday. Me and my husband are big vinyl collectors, and so he was like, “Would it be weird if you brought our Brenda Lee vinyl, and got it signed?” I was walking around the party with a bag to get her to sign it. She was so wonderful! She was just so excited that we had an original. God forbid anything happens,  I’m running out of the house with my husband, my baby, and my Brenda Lee vinyl. 

Maddie & Tae (The Design Network)

Love it. How did your opportunity with Hometown Heroes come about? 

We were informed about the whole idea behind it. I’d say this was probably late summer, We’re really really passionate about the military and and their families. So when Hometown Heroes came to us with the idea of working with Operation Song, it just felt really natural for us. It’s such a cool way to bring so many different worlds together. We just felt honored to get to be in the first episode, too. Tae and I are very big design nerds, too. Tae’s a lot more traditional design. I’m more DIY, build-it-yourself kind of gal. That’s how me and my husband operate. So it was kind of fun to get to collaborate with our two different approaches, and then also as songwriters kind of bring that element into the mix. 

How was it working with Julie on this with all her experience? 

We are definitely familiar with her and her work, and just how talented she is. This was the first time that we got to work with her. We had very similar visions for everything. We leaned on her more on the aesthetic side. Then she leaned on us for the functionality of the space because the room that we were working with was smaller. But you know Tae and I have written some of our biggest hit songs in like a crusty attic, you know, on Music Row. There is magic and wonderful songs that can be written in any space, but it definitely helps when the space feels inspiring and safe.

What did you think of the final product product? What kind of feedback have you gotten since then from the people using the space to create? 

Julie made it all come together. The storage situation worked out so perfectly. The fact that they’re able to have a desk for the business side of it. There they have the space for that, but everything feels really cozy and cohesive. It felt crowded in there. The Feng Shui of everything looked amazing. I need to find out how many songs have been written in that space, and if everyone’s loving it, so who knows? I might make a little stop on Music Row soon, and just see what’s going on in there.

Do you watch a lot of these types of shows? 

I mean I love all of the networks. There are just so many shows. There is not really one show that I won’t watch, but my husband gets nervous when I’m watching. It means that I’m like, “All right, let’s do a project.” That means, “I want you to do a project.” He is the one who brings my visions to life. It’s a dangerous game when I’m watching The Design Network or anything like that.

What are some of the projects that you guys have done together in your house?

In our first home, we painted and redid our whole entire kitchen like the cabinetry and everything. We did everything ourselves. We built a fire pit and garden boxes, and all that kind of stuff. Then with this current house, we’ve been doing a lot of painting and trim work. My husband built our dining room table. We wanted a custom length. I picked a fancy table out of a magazine and was like, “Can you make this?” And he did because he’s just ridiculously talented. It is fun, but you know when we are out of the touring seasons, and it’s slow and it’s wintertime, I’m itching to do a project. So I think we’re actually gonna start on our garden out here soon. 

 

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A post shared by Maddie Font (@maddiemarlow)

Have you and your husband and your musical partner in crime talked about doing a show like beyond this? Have you caught the bug now? 

Oh, absolutely. I’m putting it on my vision board. Tae and I are very big-vision people. We make vision boards together every year, and after this, we think it would be such fun. Jonah, my husband, he’s a builder. He did a lot of contract work with his dad growing up. His background is with all the building. He was like putting up sheet rock when he was 10 years old. With Josh and Tae, they are more design and a little more of the creative side of things. Then Jonah and I can kind of be the ones that are like, “Hey, this would be really functional. Hey, this doesn’t fit the space.” 

I think it would be fun and a little dream idea. I’m putting it on the vision board that we get to have a show where we all work together. It would be extremely hilarious because we all have way too much fun together. Being parents, we also have knowledge of what spaces are kid-friendly. Kid-proofing a house is a whole undertaking, too.

Speaking of children, how are Tae and the new baby doing? How has it been having kids over these recent years while managing parenthood? 

We actually went and brought lunch over yesterday, and I got to hold baby Chapel, and he’s so big and wonderful. He’s already six pounds, and growing like a weed. Now with his big sister Leighton. It was just the sweetest moment because my son Forrest is walking now, but he’s not talking. Leighton’s really confused. She asks Forrest, “Would you like to play with me? Wait, I’m confused. Aren’t you supposed to like talk back to me?” It’s so sweet. Tae’s adjusting so well, they’re doing great. 

But I would say balancing being moms and careers is hard. I think people really underestimate it, especially women. It’s wild. We can grow and birth humans and run companies, and we are exhausted. We do need naps, but we are doing it, you know? Tae and I always say, “Everything in life is hard. So, you just pick your head up.” We’ve always wanted to be moms. For us, at least for me, even writing songs is where I think my perspective is so much wider. I just see things so much clearer, which really opens up a lot more inspiration for me, writing-wise, too. We are living all of our dreams. The things that we wanted when we were 15 and started this band, we are living it right now. It is wild.

When you talk about songwriting, you can definitely hear what you describe as “What A Woman Can Do.”  It’s hard to believe this comes a decade after your first album dropped. How is it showing this maturation to people who have essentially watched you two grow up in the business? 

For Tae and I, we have always written our lives. We were never afraid to put our business out there through song. That’s the most beautiful way to connect with people. It’s a very vulnerable art form. We just loved writing exactly where we are in our lives. The artists that we love do that same thing. I think that’s kind of where it comes from. “What A Woman Can Do,” seeing, especially on tour when we would play that song, you would just see so many different generations and ages still connect to that song. That feels like such a win as a songwriter. 

That’s your goal, to be able to write something that you know everyone can see themselves in. It is cool to get to show our fans what our lives are looking like right now, and what a woman can do. We are blown away sometimes by ourselves, where we look up, and we’re like, “Oh my gosh, we are doing the dang thing! Some days are harder than others, but we just feel so blessed and so fulfilled in all aspects of life. 

Next year you’re back on the road for the “Love & Light Tour.” I think back to when I saw you two open for Carrie Underwood a few years ago. You’ve come a long way. What have you taken from these past tours where you’re supporting these big names? 

From Carrie, we saw what it looks like to have kids on the road and go be a superstar on stage. It’s like Mom by day, a superstar at night. We really got to see that firsthand. She was just so gracious. Every opportunity there was she would include us. It was way beyond what we could have imagined. Opening for one of your heroes, I mean Tae, and I have so many videos of talent shows covering her songs. Moving to town, we would just dissect the writing on Carrie’s albums. So just to open up for her was really, pinch me. There  were so many moments where I was like, “There’s no way this is real.” 

Maddie Font at 58th CMA Awards. (Disney/Scott Kirkland)

Anyone else who you learned from? 

I would say one moment that really stuck with Tae and me forever was during the very first tour that we went out on, which was with Dierks Bentley. This was after “Girl in a Country Song” went to number one. We were just on this rocket ship, and we had the best time on tour with him that summer. Tae and I remember he had written something in Sharpie on his forearm. It said, “Celebrate others.” He told us it was just what he was feeling. I think he was having a moment in his career where a single they thought was going to do better, wasn’t. He maybe was getting stuck in that comparison trap, like all of us do. You know when you’re artists, it’s really easy to compare, even at that level. He was like, “I just needed to remind myself to celebrate others and to not get caught up in my own disappointments and just continue to hold space for other people to have big moments.” T nd I have carried that with us for the last 10 years. Right now all these women and girls that are breaking through in country music right now, that are kicking so much butt. That is something that we still carry with us today. We just love watching so many other women just shine.

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What kind of judge do you think Carrie will be on American Idol?

I feel like she’s going to be a tougher cookie than people think. She is a perfectionist. I think that’s part of what makes her so great. I know she’s going to be as sweet and gracious as she is. At the same time, I think she is going to give them the tools and the feedback the contestants need to succeed. I don’t think she’s going to hold back, or at least that’s the Carrie I hope that everybody gets to see.

You mentioned having a vision board. What’s to come in 2025? Perhaps some more new music? 

Yes, we are sitting on gold right now. I wish I could say more, but I will say we have written some of our favorite music we have ever written. We are putting it out next year. We’ve been doing this for 15 years together now where we are just so dialed into what we want to say, what we want our music to feel like. We are chomping at the bit ready to get this music out. On my vision board in 2020 I had the Ryman Auditorium. We are headlining there on May 1 next year. I think it’s going to be more of those goals being accomplished.  More of those dreams I never felt like they could be real are becoming reality. It’s reminding Tae and me to keep dreaming big. 

Catch Hometown Heroes on any of The Design Network platform partners: Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Prime TV, DIRECTV, DISH, Sling, Xumo, Philo, Amazon Fire TV, etc. It is also available via TDN’s YouTube channel.