Twins Jordan and Madison Skinner have shared every moment together. This dynamic duo has been singing since the age of five. With a background in classical music and musical theatre, it was growing up in Southeastern Texas that drew them to country music. Their influences, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Chris Stapleton, and Stevie Nicks. Describing their sound as a blend of blues, rock, and country, they’ve been able to reach a large audience.
Forming the band Jaye Madison, the twins are focused on writing their own music and performing in Nashville where they now reside. They have had the opportunity to perform at The Row and The Cobra with a dream to play at The Bluebird. A team, the two collaborate on both the lyrics and harmonies in the song. Their latest single “Down,” is conversational and displays their strong vocals. During lockdown, the duo has been hosting livestreams and will air a performance of “Pedestal” on Today in Nashville, January 25th. They are currently in the recording process with the plan to release a new album this year. You can find their music on all digital platforms and on their website here.
0 Comments
A collaboration made in heaven, Ava Paige and Katheryn Shipley joined together to release “You Above All.” The song was written in May 2019, at the Global Songwriters Convention. A song driven by Ava, a 15-year-old whose deep connection to God as a source for hope and strength was evident. That strength was tested when Ava was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Watching Ava approach every treatment and diagnosis with grace and determination, it has left us in tears and “You Above All” will too.
On the path to a cancer free life, Ava was joined by Katheryn Shipley. Katheryn is a member of the 2021 Color Me Country Class and known for her latest single “You Love Is Enough.” Together something beautiful was born and to celebrate Kathryn, with the help of Ava’s mom, was able to paste the “You Above All” artwork on The Nashville Sign, a billboard for all to see. Kathryn Shipley says, “I reached out to Ava about a year and a half ago saying let’s do something and she was like sure sounds like fun. It wasn’t in “His” timing I guess the much bigger purpose for this all was in the “works”. And after her performance at the Josie Music Awards and she won as well, I was like I just really felt God shifting me to reach out to her again. And it was a pretty cool moment! She kept pitching different songs she either wrote or was a co-writer on and “You Above All” the demo just hit my heart so hard, yet it was like a fresh breeze across my face. I was like this is the one! And I want you to not only sing on it but play lead acoustic as well”. You can listen to “You Above All” on all streaming platform and on our New Music Friday Playlist here. Today rising Country star Hailey Whitters announces "Living The Dream," a deluxe edition of her critically-acclaimed 2020 album "The Dream" featuring five new songs, will be released on February 26th. The deluxe album finds Whitters moving from fantasizing about “the dream” to actually living it, calling upon her close friends and collaborators Brent Cobb, Jordan Davis, Hillary Lindsey, Little Big Town, Lori McKenna and Trisha Yearwood to contribute vocals to the fresh tracks.
Following the release of her current single “Fillin’ My Cup” (feat. Little Big Town), Whitters today dropped “The Ride” (feat. Jordan Davis), the second track to be pulled from "Living The Dream." “Jordan Davis took me out on his very first headlining tour when I was only an independent artist. I thought that was a bold statement for him to make, and I am very appreciative of him taking a chance on me,” explains Whitters. “He's one of the key reasons I've been able to say I'm ‘living the dream,’ so when thinking about who to collaborate with on this project, he was a no-brainer. I just love his voice and everything he's bringing to the Country format.” “All of the artists featured on this project are responsible for me being able to hang up the apron strings and make music full-time,” says Whitters about "Living The Dream." “The royalties from Little Big Town’s cut on ‘Happy People’ helped pay for part of "The Dream," Brent Cobb and Jordan Davis were two of the first artists to take me on tour, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey are my two songwriting idols and favorite co-creators, and Trisha Yearwood is one of the first artists that got me excited about moving to Nashville and pursuing Country music. I wanted to show fans full circle what ‘living the dream’ looks like for me – from where I started with ‘Ten Year Town’ to the bucket list moments that have resulted since I released my record, "The Dream." I felt it was important to show them what can happen when you don't give up on yourself.” Biddy Ronelle is an Americana singer-songwriter from Derbyshire. The Unsigned Review says of Biddy, “Deep South Americana… if you’re a fan of early Taylor Swift or Lady A, Biddy’s voice reminds us of Hilary Scott.” Having had a stellar come up on the UK Country Scene, Biddy has secured her place at the table for years to come. She brings a rockier take on country music while delivering a stunning display of powerful vocals.
Musical ability runs in the family, Biddy’s mother was a punk rock songwriter in the 80’s. This of course influenced Biddy’s love of the crossover country/rock sound. She began playing instruments at a young age and she now also works as a professional theatre performer having appeared on the West End and internationally. Biddy is currently the lead female vocalist in the multi-award winning stage show, The Chicago Blues Brothers. “There’s nothing that compares to the thrill of performing your own work live or hearing your songs on the radio” says Biddy. Growing up in the Derbyshire countryside Biddy made sure to note, “We might be UK based, but we also ran barn dances!” Biddy feels a deep connection with country music because of the storytelling saying, “It should and will always come back to this - it’s an honest music form.” Brandy Clark, Brandi Carlisle, Delta Rae, Melissa Ethridge, Tanya Tucker and Lucinda Williams are Biddy’s musical inspirations. Similar to these ladies, Biddy’s music brings both the light and dark together to tell stories that need to be heard. Giving your first autograph is something no artist will ever forget. While performing live on BBC London, Biddy says, “it was a highlight and nerve wracking! First and last time I have been asked for my autograph which I think I will always remember. In musical theatre, the first time I stepped on to Edinburgh Playhouse’s stage was special as it was such a milestone moment for me.” Prior to the pandemic, Biddy was set to go on a 2020 UK tour. In the future, Biddy desperately wants to tour and book festival gigs as a full band so as to create very theatrical experiences. She also plans on writing more for other artists and digging into her catalog of previously written material. Biddy is planning on releasing two EP’s this coming year! “I think I have a rough plan for the next year or so - I want to release two EP’s as they feel like split personalities. One dark country, one on the lighter side.” These two separate collections will convey Biddy’s life experiences. She says, “I feel that my story writing is drawn from life experiences - good and bad. There are light and dark moments just like everyday life. I also like telling outlaw stories and creating worlds to escape in.” You can find Biddy Ronelle on social media @biddyronellemusic and by searching her name on all streaming platforms. Watch out for her piano live streams on Facebook and stay tuned for her new single dropping in the Spring! Author: Haley Moloney Today JP Saxe and Maren Morris release and premiere the video for their collaboration "Line By Line." Teasing the release, the two took to Twitter complimenting one another, JP suggesting "we should maybe make one [song] together sometime cuz I'd love that a lot." The release was announced earlier this week and the two artists sat down with Zane Lowe on Apple Music to discuss the process and life during COVID. Read the highlights: JP Saxe: I mean, well, first and foremost, I was just beyond excited to get to meet and write with Maren, because I'm such a massive fan. And we have the shared experience of being really in love with other songwriters and being kind of in this every day adventure of trying to summarize what it feels like to love somebody in a song. And often a song can be a really intimate place to fully represent how big love can be. And I think this song is us making our best attempt. Maren Morris: Very effortless. I mean, at least that was my perspective of the day. I can't speak for JP or Jimmy Robbins who we wrote it with. But it was our second day writing. We had two days together last summer, JP and I, which is crazy. This is still a very, very new song to even us, the creators of it. But no, it just clicked. And I realized just very instantly once JP that just blurted the line out "immortalizing my sincerity," I just was like, "Okay, I'm working with someone that loves the turn of a phrase, loves the art of a lyric." And I was like, "Are you sure you're not from Nashville?" Because that's very much what we're about here. But no, it was so effortless if I could be so bold to say. And I definitely think that us both being in love and in relationships with songwriters, it really felt like something that only we could write, at least this way. And so I love writing songs about songs, but especially a love song about a song. JP Saxe: Yeah, I mean, I think as songwriters, we have the blessing of a curse in the curse of just really intense introspection at all times. We are able to think ourselves into and out of beautiful things because we're constantly analyzing the emotional space in our lives. Part of why I relate to this song so much and why I was so excited at the beginning of our session when Marin said, "I've been wanting to write a love song for songs," is because as a weirdo kid growing up in Canada with too many feelings and not very many friends, songs were the first place I really figured out what it meant to have a relationship with myself, to be curious about myself, to look inward and to navigate what it meant to have a dialogue with myself. And to this day, I don't feel closer to myself anywhere than sitting at an instrument. Maren Morris: …I’m so fortunate to be able to write with people that I've made music with in the past. And then meeting people like JP along the way has been so rewarding for me to just get out of my comfort zone and write with really talented lyricists, with writers. And so, yeah, I'm always on the hunt for peeling the next layer back of what a song is and what it chemically does to us. I feel like we got to explore that in a really deep way with line by line that day in the room. And being married to a songwriter, I definitely know how frustrating it must be for our partners to be like, "Okay, we just got super ------ at one another. I'm not going to be able to process this until my write tomorrow. So I'll talk to you after that.” With COVID and everything, I canceled my tour for the year. So that was definitely sad. But at the same time, I've never had this much time to myself to write and not have an end point or some sort of time lock on it. With my second record, I feel like I had to write that so quickly. And I'm not trying to disparage it by any means. I just think now I'm just so excited to have some space to write. And I have got, I would say, mostly a full record written. And I'm leaving in a couple of weeks to start recording with Greg Kurstin. And I'm bringing my baby with me. I mean, things are very different than they were this the second time around with Rural. I mean, I have a kid now. And he's perfect. And the silver lining of everything getting canceled tour wise is that we are really getting to have all this time that we wouldn't have had the same way with Hayes. So, that's been great. So yeah, just more writing, more recording, more like becoming a better parent. And we'll get back on the road when it's safe. But I think this is such a creative time for all creatives. And so I'm just trying to lean into it and not worry about a deadline. There's a lot of songs coming in because there is no deadline. Watch the video below and listen here. |
NewsletterARCHIVES
May 2024
|