Born and raised in the small town of Clinton, MS, Shelly Fairchild grew up in a musical family where everyone sang. After receiving her first guitar at the age of six, her aspiration to be a country singer was set. Soon she was singing at school music events, community functions, and state fairs, and competing in talent competitions. At Mississippi College she majored in communications and theater while earning a minor in music. She appeared in local stage productions of Always Patsy Cline, Grease, and Godspell, and was a member of a national touring company for the musical Beehive. In 2001 she moved to Nashville, where she hoped her fiery stage show and powerful, blues-inflected voice (not to mention her rock & roll attitude) would attract some attention. It did. Fairchild signed with Columbia Records Nashville, and her first single, “You Don’t Lie Here Anymore” (written with Sonny LeMaire and Clay Mills), was released late in 2004, with another Fairchild original, “Tiny Town,” supporting it. Her debut full-length, Ride, produced by veteran Buddy Cannon and guitarist Kenny Greenberg, saw release early in 2005 on Columbia.
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Sounds Like: Piano ballads and a bottle of wine; country soul with an L.A. sheen
For Fans of: Rihanna, Sam Hunt, Faith Hill
Why You Should Pay Attention: Raised in Colorado, Ingrid Andress traveled the country with her father, who worked as a trainer for the Colorado Rockies and New York Mets. She seemed destined to pursue sports herself, but passed on playing volleyball in college for a vocal scholarship at Berklee College of Music. There, Andress’ songwriting caught the attention of one of her instructors, hit songwriter Kara DioGuardi, who signed her to her publishing house. The Lady Gaga fan won the Unsigned Only Music contest for her song “Footprints” and went on to score song placements with pop stars like Charli XCX and Akon. Andress’ own music, however, leans toward pop-friendly country ballads.
She Says: “Even though the stuff I do is country, because country to me is the place where I feel most fulfilled, I love stepping into L.A. and New York with all these extreme personalities and have to take them on and write for them. That’s also a part of me. I consider myself a pop songwriter, but as far as I am as a person or artist, I’m nothing like Lady Gaga. I love the stories and songs, and country really supports that, which is why I like it.”
Hear for Yourself: Debut single “Stranger” is a soulful, stripped-down ballad about remorse and yearning to make the same mistake twice. J.G.
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Sounds Like: Harmony-drenched Southern pop-rock with slick production and giant hooks
For Fans of: Little Big Town, the Lumineers, Grace Potter
Why You Should Pay Attention: Durham, North Carolina six-piece Delta Rae have been regional favorites for years, drawing enthusiastic crowds at major festivals like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. Now the band is signed to the Valory Music Co. (under Big Machine Label Group), having just released a four-song EP titled A Long and Happy Life. So far label life doesn’t seem to have changed the group’s sound too drastically, though they have adopted a slicker production style that should make these new tunes more radio-ready. The infectious pop of the EP’s title track will please Little Big Town and Lady Antebellum fans alike, with just enough of the band’s jam roots to reach the festival crowd.
They Say: “Our first single, ‘A Long and Happy Life,’ was inspired by my experience working as a caretaker to a Southern author named Reynolds Price,” says singer Ian Hölljes. “Reynolds was 76 when I met him and had been in a wheelchair for 25 years, the result of radiation therapy that saved his life from cancer. I lived in his home for a year and assisted in every aspect of his daily life and work as a writer. He taught me what it looked like to be a professional artist and to overcome incredible hardships to pursue the work you love. That spirit infuses a lot of what inspires Delta Rae’s music and is at the heart of what we understand country music to be about.”
Hear for Yourself: Massive harmonies and bright, soulful vocals make “A Long and Happy Life” the kind of windows-down song that becomes the soundtrack to summer. B.M.
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Sounds Like: The country-rock soundtrack to your next keg party, filled with slide-guitar strut, boogie-woogie bluster and thick Texas accents
For Fans of: Blackberry Smoke, A Thousand Horses, the rowdy side of Red Dirt
Why You Should Pay Attention: Already familiar faces on the Texas circuit, the Drugstore Gypsies raise honky-tonk hell on their self-titled debut, whose boozy highlights fit somewhere between Exile-era Rolling Stones and Eric Church’s “Drink in My Hand.” The guys also make room for power ballads and sexed-up salutes to life on the road, filling the cracks with Telecaster twang and Hammond organ. “This is our life,” insists frontman Duke Ryan, who speaks with the rapid-fire confidence of a carnival barker. “There are no sundresses or tailgates or cornfields here. We’ve played every bathroom stall from here to high hell, and we’re writing about the things we’ve seen on the road.”
They Say: “The biggest root of our sound is rock & roll,” adds Ryan. “Some people call it ‘Texas country.’ We’ve played shows with guys like Stoney LaRue, and that’s great, but we’re pulling from the Eagles, the Rolling Stones, Van Halen, Aerosmith. To us, that falls into the vein of rock & roll.”
Hear for Yourself: “Breaking the Law” sings the praises of a jailbird-in-training, saluting Southern rock icons like Lynyrd Skynyrd along the way. R.C.
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A group of Southern rock traditionalists from Nashville, the Steel Woods lay claim to the sound pioneered by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Like Skynyrd, the Steel Woods balance heavy blues-rock with Southern poetry, and this quartet add a bit of plain-spoken outlaw country to the mix, as evidenced on their 2017 debut Straw in the Wind.
Prior to forming the Steel Woods, guitarists Wes Bayliss and Jason “Rowdy” Cope were both pursuing musical careers. Cope found work as a session musician and played in Jamey Jonhson’s band, but once he met Bayliss at a Nashville gig, the two clicked. First they became friends, then they wound collaborating, adding bassist Johnny Stanton and drummer Jay Tooke to round out the lineup. An eponymous EP came out in 2016, and the next year saw the release of Straw in the Wind on Thirty Tigers.
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Take the voice of Terri Clark, add Dolly Parton’s songwriting, and throw in Bonnie Raitt’s guitar skills and you get a talented new artist named Ashley McBryde. This free-spirited singer-songwriter pens honest, country lyrics and has a raw twang in her voice that can be heard on her self-titled debut album.
McBryde describes her sound as “… sort of a rag-tag gypsy kind of thing. It’s classy-trashy, it’s a very clean dirty, it’s got a little trailer on it, and its probably lived in the back of a covered wagon most of its life.”
The winner of the state of Arkansas’ 2004 Colgate Country Showdown songwriting competition is honored to call Carl Jackson, songwriter for artists such as Garth Brooks, Vince Gill, and Ricky Skaggs, her mentor from age 12. She has opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artemis Pyle’s self-titled band, blues singer Barbara Blue, country artist Chris Cagle, and played gigs at the world-famous honky-tonk, Tootsies. After winning over huge audiences in Jonesboro and Memphis, she made her lifelong dream come true when she moved to Nashville in 2007.
McBryde grew up on a farm in Mammoth Springs, AR, with a big musical family of eight. Her dad gave her a mandolin to play at age four, because she couldn’t leave his guitars alone. Never the shy type, she got her first taste of singing in front of an audience when she was invited on stage a year later to sing while at one of the many bluegrass festivals her family attended. By the time she was nine, she had outgrown the mandolin, moved on to learn the guitar, and had written her first real song, “Fight the Flames”, at age 12. Years later, while playing at her friend’s house, she was given the nickname “Ashley Guitar” because of her love of the instrument.
In October 2005, McBryde recorded her self-titled album at a private studio in Nashville. Released in January 2006, this heart-wrenching album displays simple and honest lyrics that run the gamut of emotions. McBryde describes her album as “something you would put in and listen to if you were driving in the rain.”
Her CD features her playing the acoustic guitar and lyrics that paint a picture way beyond her years. Her music can make people tear up, or light their eyes up with joy. She’s had people dancing when there was no dance floor and captivated the audiences’ attention when conversation once filled the room.
Carl Jackson gave the young writer some advice regarding her songwriting that she carries with her. She said he explained it to her by saying, “You’re not the one writing the songs. The songs are writing you. You have no idea that you are writing the soundtrack to your life.”
Learn more about Ashley McBryde www.AshleyMcBryde.com
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