Andie Kay Joyner and Heather Stalling had to experience life before they felt ready to write about it. When they met in the early 1990's, both were already accomplished musician/vocalists. Stalling was an award winnig fiddler coming off a two-year run as a support player in Branson, MO. Joyner was still a teenager, but had sung in front of thousands of people at countless performances. Each had grown up in musical families that exposed them to bluegrass, folk, and traditional country music. F...
Andie Kay Joyner and Heather Stalling had to experience life before they felt ready to write about it. When they met in the early 1990's, both were already accomplished musician/vocalists. Stalling was an award winnig fiddler coming off a two-year run as a support player in Branson, MO. Joyner was still a teenager, but had sung in front of thousands of people at countless performances. Each had grown up in musical families that exposed them to bluegrass, folk, and traditional country music. For the next decade, the girls further groomed themselves for their own band by separately backing Texas artists, such as Mark David Manders, Max Stalling, Johnny Lee, Tommy Alverson, Bob Schneider, and others. The girls took a Tuesday night residency at the legendary Dallas honky-tonk, Adair's Saloon for almost a year. After several failed relationships, a handful of song-worthy misfortunes, and countless all-night jam sessions, their songwriting began to draw from very specific situations. Soon, there was more than enough material to complete an album. Ms. Stalling and Ms. Joyner even co-produced their debut CD, blacktopGYPSY, with Austin resident Adam Odor at famed Cedar Creek Studios. The album is a montage of styles representing the songwriters' varied influences and phases of musical interest. The traditional country material one might expect of a fiddler and country vocalist is certainly there. blacktopGYPSY moved from the studio to the stage early 2006, and with the addtions of stellar musicians, Sam Swank on lead guitar, Jerry Mowery on drums/percussion, Scott Harper on bass guitar, and Darcy Starcher on background vocals, are turning the page to a new era in Americana music.
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