April 20, 2021 - STAGING Maverick

As their latest single Met Me Now goes to radio, the sibling trio reflect on moving from small town life to Music city in pursuit of their ‘Big Dreams’. Track45 enjoyed their small town life in Meridian, Mississippi. It was where they learnt the tools of their trade, how to play, how to harmonise, but also what it means to be a close knit family – something which is an integral part of the country music genre and part of their identity as a band. Their first EP ‘Small Town’ came out towards the end of 2020. It told the authentic story of the sibling’s upbringing, laying down some roots for the group who have, for so long, been hidden in writing rooms honing their craft and telling other people’s stories. Just a few months later and their second EP ‘Big Dreams’ is garnering lots of positive reviews as it continues the story of the group who swapped their small town life for the big city. Growing up Jenna, KK and Ben were exposed to a lot of different music “Grandma taught us how to play piano and Grandad was our church choir director so music was always around our house.” KK begins. Meanwhile on long car journey’s their parents were playing classic rock and The Beatles; “We were so obsessed with the Beatles we tried to sing in British accents for a little bit” Ben laughs, as he tries to answer my questions in his best British accent! However the trio searched for their own tastes too Ben delved deep into the pop music he heard on the charts, exploring its songwriters, “I was very into the songs Max Martin wrote, songs like Teenage Dream by Katy Perry.” KK developed a love of Soul and Rock n Roll music “I was obsessed with Elvis, so much so that I had a blue fiddle which I named ‘Suede’ after the song ‘Blue Suede Shoes’”. Meanwhile Jenna drew influence from Dolly Parton, George Jones and Tammy Wynette; “For a while when I was about six I would walk round town singing D.I.V.O.R.C.E. and eventually my Mum would say “You’ve got to stop singing that when we’re out.” While the trio explored different genres, they took up different instruments too and began playing together, “We started out playing all the nursing homes round town! Our first real gig was at Dollywood, we did a Bluegrass and Barbecue festival there – four shows a day and that’s when we decided we wanted to pursue music together.” KK looked back fondly on those early performances. Although live shows are a big part of what they do, especially with those harmonies, much of the trio’s success has come from their ability to craft beautiful lyrics and killer hooks. Ben says, with a grin, “I come up with song ideas when I’m on stage. I heard Taylor Swift once walked off stage in the middle of a show to record a voice memo of a song she just wrote whilst performing and then just carried on with the gig! That’s the sort of thing I’d do.” The trio’s varied tastes in music probably helped them to branch out as three individual songwriters in their own right. All three have publishing deals and have had success writing for artists such as Dierks Bentley, Lee Brice and Charlie Puth to name a few. Ultimately they always gravitate back to each other. “When we’re writing for other people it’s somebody else’s story we’re telling, when we’re writing for ourselves it’s very autobiographical, and authentic to us”. The siblings were all heavily involved in the writing and production process of ‘Big Dreams’. “Me + You originally started in a writing session I was in with Hunter Phelps and Charlie Handsome” Ben recalls. “We were talking through ideas and Hunter said ‘What about nothing adds up like Me + You’. So we wrote about half the song and then I took what we had to Jenna and KK and we finished writing it.” From small town beginnings, to moving to Nashville, Track45 are carving out a path in country music that they can walk along together. As they think back on those early days at Dollywood, Jenna ponders “Wouldn’t it be great if we could do this for the rest of our lives? Whether that’s in the street or in a stadium, but preferably in a stadium.” It’s clear that Track45 have achieved a lot, but they still have ‘Big Dreams’ to chase. READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF MAVERICK MAGAZINE! GET YOUR COPY HERE! To stay up to date on the latest country music news, please register to receive our newsletter here. Media contact Zoe Hodges, Editor, Maverick Magazine Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823920 Email: editor@maverick-country.com

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Luke Concannon: Drawn to the Horizon

Leave a Comment / Exclusives / Rochelle Mills

Travelling the world to reconnect with people and find himself again, Luke Concannon returns with the most truthful songs and a heightened sense of adventure! Musical Chemistry It was the summer of 2005, I was about to turn ten years old when JCB came out. My brother and I thought it was the coolest song we’d ever heard, we played it all holiday and like the cool kids we were, we were slightly ahead of the curve as that December it topped the charts! Less than five years later though, the duo went their separate ways; the pair would sporadically reunite especially for charity performances but it was time for Luke Concannon and John Parker to forge their own paths; “we didn’t quite have the capacity to sustain it over the long term, so breaking up was painful, and disorientating but my inner voice was telling me to carry on alone.” At the time Concannon wasn’t to know the twists and turns on the road ahead as he looked to reconnect with the world and with music. “I remember singing The Beatles song ‘Let it be’ in the back of the car as maybe a 7 year old, really loudly, and loving being inside that sound but it’s been a slow, growing relationship with music. I didn’t really commit to it as a path until I was 21, when I realised my best friend and I had a special musical chemistry.” It was time for Concannon to find out what music meant to him outside of the duo – who was Luke Concannon without John Parker? Hitch Hiking to Palestine Concannon had always had a desire to travel the world “As a young man I felt really drawn to the horizon, to adventure, I felt so pulled to take my back pack and explore the world” and though he toured as part of Nizlopi, there wasn’t really the time for exploration during a run of shows or recording an album. “At 30 I finally went for it and hitch hiked from England to Palestine; it was an extraordinarily enlivening trip. I wanted to be of service and in relationship so I volunteered with the ‘International solidarity Movement’ in the West bank who escort Palestinian Farmers at risk of violence and harassment to their ancestral crops.” That trip shaped who Concannon was as a person and had a big impact on his music. “It’s a powerful place; I can see why religions have been born there, those deserts, open skies and olive trees. Harvesting food as part of a community with local people – I was doing something that felt right and was in line with my values, I felt so happy. A trip like that really helped me – the media can have an indoctrinating effect but meeting and connecting with local folk in the Middle East I lost a lot of my fear and had more of the sense that we are all in this together. I want to write music from that place.” Luke Concannon returned a changed man. Though he’d gone off on this big adventure it didn’t stop him from finding more ways he could connect with the real world and get back to creating music that really meant something to him. He took part in writing retreats and set himself strict routines to allow his creativity to flourish. His latest album ‘Ecstatic Bird in the Burning’ has been performing well in the charts recently and it was a project born out of one such experience. “I booked a retreat on Anais Mitchell’s Family farm, which is up the road from where I live now in Vermont. I would get up at 5am, fast until sun set, and just write and write for a month. By the end of the month I was hitting my stride. I then finished the songs over many early mornings for a year – getting in a couple hours music before the day got going.” Concannon found a deeper meaning in his music, a more authentic sound, so when it came time to record the songs he wanted to capture that authenticity in the production too. “The record was produced by Jim Prendergast who cut his Teeth as a session guitarist in Nashville. He really knew how to get the best out of the core aspects of vocals, acoustic guitar and double bass. I’ve gotten the best recording results when a really synced up band just play as live as possible in a room, then you can really get juices flowing between you and get the spirit high. A lot of old records were recorded like that. It puts the emphasis on listening, presence and musicality.” Off The Grid Concannon draws on so many influences within his music, personal experience is at the heart of all he does. Ever the explorer he looks for inspiration from a range of sources – books by writing coaches like Brenda Ueland and the wide eclectic range of artists he idolises. “I’m loving the new album by Haim, Richard Thompson is a big hero of mine, Rory Mcleod – a huge influence. I love Anais Mitchells songs, particularly Hades town, The hip hop musical Hamilton and Declan O’Rourkes Chronicles of the great Irish Famine.” But he still draws upon the music that he grew up listening to as a child to help in the quest to find his own voice. Artists such as Van Morrison, Tom Waits, U2, Bruce Springsteen and Steve Earle were a few early inspirations for Concannon. His parents played him a lot of traditional Irish music as well and this broad spectrum is evident in his music, it’s helped him to carve out his own unique sound. A sound that has captured the attention of famous faces such as Hugh Jackman and Ed Sheeran. The latter of which gets an honourable mention in Concannon’s latest single ‘Doing Nothing’ a song he took himself off grid to write as he discussed

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Encore: Lauren Housley

Leave a Comment / Exclusives / Rochelle Mills

After moving back home to Sheffield and setting up a studio with her Husband, Lauren Housley drew on a wide range of different influences and experiences to put together her latest album ‘Girl From The North’ due out April 23rd. What was the first song you learnt the words to? I think it was Killing Me Softly, I was about eight years old but it’s still one of my favourite songs of all time. We still had cassettes when I was growing up, this was the Fugees version, I would write a lyric down then rewind the cassette and write the next line down and that’s how I would learn the lyrics to the songs. A song that makes you think of touring? Fleetwood Mac, the Rumours album! We’ve often put it on whilst travelling to shows to get us in the mood. I saw The Lumineers a few years ago supporting The Civil Wars, it was the first time I’d seen them live and they walked out on stage to The Chain and that really gets you in the mood for a gig. A live show that changed your life? I used to work at The Sage in Gateshead so I was really lucky, I got to see a lot of great gigs. However, I think the one that springs to mind I actually saw down in London, it was Amos Lee around five years ago. He’d just released his Mountains of Sorrow album so I was expecting a lot of that stuff but he did a lot of his older stuff too. The way he pieced that show together totally blew me away. He has a really great band and he came out with a bit of a Johnny Cash vibe going on and then finished the show with an old R&B classic – the show just really worked as a whole. There were times when he was left on stage on his own, just him and his guitar for songs like A Change is Gonna Come. He kept the audience so engaged. A song that reminds you of growing up? Show me Heaven, I always loved that song but it used to get played in Assembly at school as we walked in. There was that song and Circles in the Sand and I used to think, ‘these are great songs’. I was around six or seven, I was in infant school as I remember walking in in funky slippers and those songs would be playing in the background. A song you can no longer listen to? There’s a heartbreaking song on the last Johnny Cash album that he released before he died, it’s called Hurt. His performance on that song… it makes me cry just thinking about it – its amazing but it’s heartbreaking and I do find it hard to listen to it. An album that made you want to be a musician? Carol King’s ‘Tapestry’ album. I recently did a show at the Sound Lounge curated by Paul Sexton in celebration of the album turning 50, so I got to play a couple of songs off that record. I remember Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow being played a lot when I was a kid and when I heard the album from start to finish I remember thinking, ‘how can you write this many great songs and have them on one album?’ READ THE FULL INTERVIEW IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF MAVERICK MAGAZINE! GET YOUR COPY HERE! To stay up to date on the latest country music news, please register to receive our newsletter here. Media contact Zoe Hodges, Editor, Maverick Magazine Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823920 Email: editor@maverick-country.com

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For King & Country: Bringing people together through music

Leave a Comment / Exclusives / Rochelle Mills

Almost a whole year has passed since for KING & COUNTRY last played an arena show. The Covid 19 pandemic has had a detrimental affect on the live music sector and on some of the artists careers, others however have risen magnificently from the ashes. Joel and Luke Smallbone have not dwelled on what they haven’t been able to do during this time but instead have focused on what they can do. The fruitful year of 2020 began for the boys last January when they took home two Grammy’s; one for ‘Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance’ for their duet with Dolly Parton on ‘God Only Knows’ and one for ‘Best Contemporary Christian Music Album’ for their record ‘Burn The Ships’. Not long after this victory, the pair, like many others would have their tour cut short and would return home indefinitely. The World as we knew it was changing drastically but as everyone was encouraged to keep apart, Joel and Luke – who make up the duo, looked at ways they could bring people together. Faith, Family And Music The brothers were in a fortunate position when the world shut down, both were returning home to a supportive family and Joel acknowledged that, “Family has been magnificent in this time, I almost have a little embarrassment in saying family has been so wonderful because for so many it’s been so difficult.” Joel married fellow Contemporary Christian artist Moriah Peters in 2013 but due to the nature of being touring musicians they have spent much of those seven years away from home. “My wife and I have travelled mutually for most of our marriage, so we’ve had more time now than we’ve ever had at home together.” Faith too, played an important role in getting Joel through the uncertainty of the situation – “Another synonym I would use for faith is hope, we all need a little bit of hope. So we’re looking into the future and we can either look into it with a bleak outlook or we can have this anticipation that even through the suffering there will be good on the other-side.” Despite enjoying a well earned break, with this positive attitude the pair were determined to pick up where they left off and continue to unite the World with their music. “In such a desperate time as this, to be able to offer music – to create it, to release it – it’s profound to have that opportunity.” A number of projects began to bubble just below the surface. First came a song that had been in the writing process long before ‘Burn The Ships’ was first released. ‘Together’ would see the Smallbone brothers team up with Tori Kelly and Kirk Franklin, for the first instalment. They debuted it on a live stream event dubbed ‘Together: A Night of Hope’ which attracted 90,000 live impressions across social media and sent the song racing up the Billboard Christian music charts. It seems Luke was right when he said “I think that song is for this moment – the pandemic”. The Writing Process Although from the outside looking in, songwriting looks like it comes easy to the pair who often team up with such hitmakers as Josh Kerr, Jason Ingram and Ben Glover, Joel has a love-hate relationship with the craft. As he drove in to a songwriting session he said “We have a very temperamental relationship, writing and I, it’s one of the most gratifying things you can do in your career. It can also be some of the most embarrassing, humbling and difficult moments because when you break it down you’re dealing with something invisible and something very spiritual – you’re pulling all these melodies and ideas out of nowhere. It’s actually a beautiful, sanctifying process because we do a lot of co-writes and in that you have to stay very humble with the whole room. Unless you have an idea of what you want to present, it’s hard to have an emotional connection to a song. So songwriting is a friend and a foe for me, a lover and an enemy.” He divulges the process behind one of their most popular hits, certainly amongst country music fans – the grammy award winning collaboration with Dolly Parton. “God Only Knows was a phrase I had written down that I always found very ironic. Americans throw it around very flippantly ‘God only knows why this crap happened’. So I started to peel back the layers of the phrase and this interesting idea that there is a lot of things that God only knows and yet he still loves us, accepts us, cheers us on and wants to be connected with us.” Little did he know as he sat in that writing room that day, just where that idea would take them. “Dolly was just marvellous, they say don’t meet your heroes but if this is anything to go by then definitely meet your heroes!” The collaboration that followed not only introduced them to the legendary singer and helped to bag them another Grammy, but it opened a whole World of possibilities within country music – a genre they had grown up surrounded by but never really explored. “It was a bit like living next to the beach, but never going and then all of a sudden you move away from it and you realise how wonderful it was. In this case, we grew up in the country music capital of the World with all of these wonderfully gifted people living down the street from us and it wasn’t until we collaborated with Dolly – I mean what a marvellous way to be introduced to the country music community – but it wasn’t until then that we found this beautiful affinity with members of the country music community and it opened pandora’s box for us.” Country Music and Christianity Country music and christianity have always had a strong relationship, so despite sonically being quite far removed from the

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20 April 2021

Interscope Records and UMG Nashville Announce Partnership to Release Upcoming Kacey Musgraves Album

Ziggy Alberts: An Adventure to Last a Lifetime

‘Big Dreams’ are coming true for Track45

Luke Concannon: Drawn to the Horizon

Encore: Lauren Housley

For King & Country: Bringing people together through music

Caylee Hammack releases ‘Small Town Hypocrite’ with Chris Stapleton