Luke Combs w/ Jordan Davis and Morgan Wade
There's not an ounce of artifice involved in a Luke Combs concert. The big, burly, bearded country star has a voice to match and a no-nonsense performance style that's all about stepping up to the mic and keeping it real. No pyrotechnics, no stage dives, just pure, honest country music. After his unprecedented string of hits from his first album ("Hurricane," "When It Rains It Pours," "One Number Away") made him a major Nashville star straight out of the gate, he wasted little time in hitting the road hard. In 2017 he launched his first outing as a headliner with the 55-city Don't Tempt Me With a Good Time tour, breaking attendance records along the way, and bringing along openers Ray Fulcher, Josh Phillips, and Faren Rachels. By 2018 he was busy showing the broad range of his appeal by playing shows all over Europe. Not long after, he announced another leap forward with his 2019 Beer Never Broke My Heart tour, which moved the young singer up to the arena circuit, supported by LANCO and Jameson Rogers. Unsurprisingly, most of the venues sold out in just the first couple of days.
~~~~~~~~
What You See Is What You Get debuted at #1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart as well as Billboard's Top Country Albums chart with 172,000 equivalent units sold. It was also a global #1 album, topping charts in Canada, Australia and the U.K. Out now via River House Artists/Columbia Nashville (stream/purchase here), the record enjoyed the largest streaming week ever for a country album with 74 million on-demand streams. It also achieved the biggest first week of album streams ever for a country artist on Apple Music and was the first country album ever to hit #1 on the platform's U.S. overall albums chart, while also setting a new global record for first-week streams for a country album at Spotify and breaking the Amazon Music record for more first-week streams than any other country album debut.
Produced by Scott Moffatt, What You See Is What You Get features 17 songs including the five tracks previously released via The Prequel EP last summer. The EP debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart with all five tracks charting on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Top 25 -- a feat not accomplished by any artist in 60 years since Johnny Cash in 1959. Additionally, Combs' last single, "Even Though I'm Leaving," spent three weeks at #1 at country radio, making it Combs' seventh consecutive #1 -- a first on Billboard's Country Airplay chart. Following this success, Combs' new single, "Does To Me" featuring Eric Church, was recently shipped to country radio.
~~~~~~~~
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1988, country singer Jordan Davis has Southern music roots that run deep--not only is his brother also a country singer, but his uncle, Stan Davis, wrote multiple hits for Billboard-topping country singer Tracy Lawrence. It would be putting it mildly to say that Davis grew up around music, but, ironically, he didn't pursue it as a career until after finishing his degree in conservation at Louisiana State University. Moving to Nashville in 2012, Davis would be exposed to a bright, hard-hitting world of singer-songwriters, citing John Prine and Jason Isbell among his favorites. Synthesizing his influences, Davis worked to come up with a smart, R&B-flavored brand of country rock, and he signed with Universal Music Group Nashville in 2016.
Davis' playful, romantic 2017 single "Singles You Up" reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Country Airplay chart and No. 4 on the U.S. Country chart, eventually going Platinum. The song also wound up on Spotify's Global Viral 50 chart. Davis' second single, "Take It From Me," a feel-good tune anchored by big, twangy riffs, has also performed well since its 2018 release. A singer-songwriter at his core, Davis filled out his debut studio album, 'Home State,' with 10 more great songs, cowriting each one with pop rocker Paul DiGiovanni (Boys Like Girls), who also produced the album. 'Home State' bears a pop-country energy that brings to mind musicians like Sam Hunt and Jason Aldean, and it reached No. 6 on Billboard's U.S. Top Country Albums. In 2017, Davis toured with country rocker Kip Moore's Plead the Fifth Tour. Davis embarked on his first headlining tour, the White Wine and Whiskey Tour, supported by Jillian Jacqueline, in February 2018, which took him to all corners of the U.S.
~~~~~~~~
Morgan Wade has never sounded like anybody else, and for a long time, she thought that meant her songs were just for her. "Honestly, I think that was really good for me," she says. "It made me think, 'Alright, well, I'm not going to sing for anybody else--but I'm singing for myself.'"
Since then, Wade has figured out that when you grow up in Floyd, Virginia, where bluegrass sustains everyone like the Blue Ridge Mountain air but you hear other sounds like pop and punk in your own head, singing for yourself is the way to become the artist you were always meant to be.
Produced by Sadler Vaden--Jason Isbell's longtime guitarist and an acclaimed solo artist in his own right--Wade's full-length debut Reckless is a confident rock-and-roll record that introduces a young singer-songwriter who is embracing her strengths and quirks as she continues to ask questions about who she is--and who she wants to be. Her voice, a raspy soprano that can soothe liltingly or growl, is on brilliant display. "I feel like the last couple of years have been me trying to figure out where I fit in, who I fit in with, and what's going on," Wade says. "I'm almost four years sober, so a lot of the friends I had, I don't really hang out with anymore. When I wrote these songs, I was going through a lot, just trying to figure out who I am."
Now living in Damascus, Virginia, about two hours east of where she grew up, Wade remains connected to the roots that raised her, even as she stretches. "All these bluegrass players would get together out in the streets and play music together," she says of her little hometown. "My grandfather would go up there every Friday night, and I'd go up there with him and my grandma. I remember falling asleep on their laps, just sitting up there, listening to music." When Wade began to write her own songs, country radio was dominated by svelte voices like Shania Twain and Faith Hill--and Wade couldn't hear herself in any of them.
"I'd write songs but didn't tell anybody about it," Wade says. "It was like some kind of secret. Even as a kid, it was what I liked to do: I'd go off into my own little world and write songs and stories."
Wade was 19 and in college when she first performed in public: an open mic in Floyd, backed by a band she had cobbled together via Craigslist. She loved the stage--and soon, her secret writing and singing became a public--and beloved--soundtrack. Wade began touring with her band, the Stepbrothers, and generated a grassroots following and high-profile attention--including that of Vaden.
Asked how she feels about the head-turning voice she used to hide, Wade is characteristically honest, self-deprecating, and insightful. "I still go through moments. I was in the studio two weeks ago and I thought, 'Can I actually sing? Is everybody just mocking me right now?'" She laughs a little and sighs. "I think it just takes a while. After spending all those years feeling like you weren't good enough, it takes time to rewire your brain--to know hey: You really do have a good voice."
Today, with Reckless in tow, Wade is ready to for her voice to be heard. "This is different than anything I've ever done before," she says of the record. "It's opened up a bunch of different lanes--and I'm proud of it. A lot of the songs are about figuring out what the hell I'm doing." She pauses and grins. "Maybe record number two will be a little bit more about knowing who I am."
show less
There's not an ounce of artifice involved in a Luke Combs concert. The big, burly, bearded country star has a voice to match and a no-nonsense performance style that's all about stepping up to the mic and keeping it real. No pyrotechnics, no stage dives, just pure, honest country music. After his unprecedented string of hits from his first album ("Hurricane," "When It Rains It Pours," "One Number Away") made him a major Nashville star straight out of the gate, he wasted little time in hitting the road hard. In 2017 he launched his first outing as a headliner with the 55-city Don't Tempt Me With a Good Time tour, breaking attendance records along the way, and bringing along openers Ray Fulcher, Josh Phillips, and Faren Rachels. By 2018 he was busy showing the broad range of his appeal by playing shows all over Europe. Not long after, he announced another leap forward with his 2019 Beer Never Broke My Heart tour, which moved the young singer up to the arena circuit, supported by LANCO and Jameson Rogers. Unsurprisingly, most of the venues sold out in just the first couple of days.
~~~~~~~~
What You See Is What You Get debuted at #1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart as well as Billboard's Top Country Albums chart with 172,000 equivalent units sold. It was also a global #1 album, topping charts in Canada, Australia and the U.K. Out now via River House Artists/Columbia Nashville (stream/purchase here), the record enjoyed the largest streaming week ever for a country album with 74 million on-demand streams. It also achieved the biggest first week of album streams ever for a country artist on Apple Music and was the first country album ever to hit #1 on the platform's U.S. overall albums chart, while also setting a new global record for first-week streams for a country album at Spotify and breaking the Amazon Music record for more first-week streams than any other country album debut.
Produced by Scott Moffatt, What You See Is What You Get features 17 songs including the five tracks previously released via The Prequel EP last summer. The EP debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart with all five tracks charting on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Top 25 -- a feat not accomplished by any artist in 60 years since Johnny Cash in 1959. Additionally, Combs' last single, "Even Though I'm Leaving," spent three weeks at #1 at country radio, making it Combs' seventh consecutive #1 -- a first on Billboard's Country Airplay chart. Following this success, Combs' new single, "Does To Me" featuring Eric Church, was recently shipped to country radio.
~~~~~~~~
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1988, country singer Jordan Davis has Southern music roots that run deep--not only is his brother also a country singer, but his uncle, Stan Davis, wrote multiple hits for Billboard-topping country singer Tracy Lawrence. It would be putting it mildly to say that Davis grew up around music, but, ironically, he didn't pursue it as a career until after finishing his degree in conservation at Louisiana State University. Moving to Nashville in 2012, Davis would be exposed to a bright, hard-hitting world of singer-songwriters, citing John Prine and Jason Isbell among his favorites. Synthesizing his influences, Davis worked to come up with a smart, R&B-flavored brand of country rock, and he signed with Universal Music Group Nashville in 2016.
Davis' playful, romantic 2017 single "Singles You Up" reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Country Airplay chart and No. 4 on the U.S. Country chart, eventually going Platinum. The song also wound up on Spotify's Global Viral 50 chart. Davis' second single, "Take It From Me," a feel-good tune anchored by big, twangy riffs, has also performed well since its 2018 release. A singer-songwriter at his core, Davis filled out his debut studio album, 'Home State,' with 10 more great songs, cowriting each one with pop rocker Paul DiGiovanni (Boys Like Girls), who also produced the album. 'Home State' bears a pop-country energy that brings to mind musicians like Sam Hunt and Jason Aldean, and it reached No. 6 on Billboard's U.S. Top Country Albums. In 2017, Davis toured with country rocker Kip Moore's Plead the Fifth Tour. Davis embarked on his first headlining tour, the White Wine and Whiskey Tour, supported by Jillian Jacqueline, in February 2018, which took him to all corners of the U.S.
~~~~~~~~
Morgan Wade has never sounded like anybody else, and for a long time, she thought that meant her songs were just for her. "Honestly, I think that was really good for me," she says. "It made me think, 'Alright, well, I'm not going to sing for anybody else--but I'm singing for myself.'"
Since then, Wade has figured out that when you grow up in Floyd, Virginia, where bluegrass sustains everyone like the Blue Ridge Mountain air but you hear other sounds like pop and punk in your own head, singing for yourself is the way to become the artist you were always meant to be.
Produced by Sadler Vaden--Jason Isbell's longtime guitarist and an acclaimed solo artist in his own right--Wade's full-length debut Reckless is a confident rock-and-roll record that introduces a young singer-songwriter who is embracing her strengths and quirks as she continues to ask questions about who she is--and who she wants to be. Her voice, a raspy soprano that can soothe liltingly or growl, is on brilliant display. "I feel like the last couple of years have been me trying to figure out where I fit in, who I fit in with, and what's going on," Wade says. "I'm almost four years sober, so a lot of the friends I had, I don't really hang out with anymore. When I wrote these songs, I was going through a lot, just trying to figure out who I am."
Now living in Damascus, Virginia, about two hours east of where she grew up, Wade remains connected to the roots that raised her, even as she stretches. "All these bluegrass players would get together out in the streets and play music together," she says of her little hometown. "My grandfather would go up there every Friday night, and I'd go up there with him and my grandma. I remember falling asleep on their laps, just sitting up there, listening to music." When Wade began to write her own songs, country radio was dominated by svelte voices like Shania Twain and Faith Hill--and Wade couldn't hear herself in any of them.
"I'd write songs but didn't tell anybody about it," Wade says. "It was like some kind of secret. Even as a kid, it was what I liked to do: I'd go off into my own little world and write songs and stories."
Wade was 19 and in college when she first performed in public: an open mic in Floyd, backed by a band she had cobbled together via Craigslist. She loved the stage--and soon, her secret writing and singing became a public--and beloved--soundtrack. Wade began touring with her band, the Stepbrothers, and generated a grassroots following and high-profile attention--including that of Vaden.
Asked how she feels about the head-turning voice she used to hide, Wade is characteristically honest, self-deprecating, and insightful. "I still go through moments. I was in the studio two weeks ago and I thought, 'Can I actually sing? Is everybody just mocking me right now?'" She laughs a little and sighs. "I think it just takes a while. After spending all those years feeling like you weren't good enough, it takes time to rewire your brain--to know hey: You really do have a good voice."
Today, with Reckless in tow, Wade is ready to for her voice to be heard. "This is different than anything I've ever done before," she says of the record. "It's opened up a bunch of different lanes--and I'm proud of it. A lot of the songs are about figuring out what the hell I'm doing." She pauses and grins. "Maybe record number two will be a little bit more about knowing who I am."
Luke Combs w/ Jordan Davis and Morgan Wade
There's not an ounce of artifice involved in a Luke Combs concert. The big, burly, bearded country star has a voice to match and a no-nonsense performance style that's all about stepping up to the mic and keeping it real. No pyrotechnics, no stage dives, just pure, honest country music. After his unprecedented string of hits from his first album ("Hurricane," "When It Rains It Pours," "One Number Away") made him a major Nashville star straight out of the gate, he wasted little time in hitting the road hard. In 2017 he launched his first outing as a headliner with the 55-city Don't Tempt Me With a Good Time tour, breaking attendance records along the way, and bringing along openers Ray Fulcher, Josh Phillips, and Faren Rachels. By 2018 he was busy showing the broad range of his appeal by playing shows all over Europe. Not long after, he announced another leap forward with his 2019 Beer Never Broke My Heart tour, which moved the young singer up to the arena circuit, supported by LANCO and Jameson Rogers. Unsurprisingly, most of the venues sold out in just the first couple of days.
~~~~~~~~
What You See Is What You Get debuted at #1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart as well as Billboard's Top Country Albums chart with 172,000 equivalent units sold. It was also a global #1 album, topping charts in Canada, Australia and the U.K. Out now via River House Artists/Columbia Nashville (stream/purchase here), the record enjoyed the largest streaming week ever for a country album with 74 million on-demand streams. It also achieved the biggest first week of album streams ever for a country artist on Apple Music and was the first country album ever to hit #1 on the platform's U.S. overall albums chart, while also setting a new global record for first-week streams for a country album at Spotify and breaking the Amazon Music record for more first-week streams than any other country album debut.
Produced by Scott Moffatt, What You See Is What You Get features 17 songs including the five tracks previously released via The Prequel EP last summer. The EP debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart with all five tracks charting on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Top 25 -- a feat not accomplished by any artist in 60 years since Johnny Cash in 1959. Additionally, Combs' last single, "Even Though I'm Leaving," spent three weeks at #1 at country radio, making it Combs' seventh consecutive #1 -- a first on Billboard's Country Airplay chart. Following this success, Combs' new single, "Does To Me" featuring Eric Church, was recently shipped to country radio.
~~~~~~~~
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1988, country singer Jordan Davis has Southern music roots that run deep--not only is his brother also a country singer, but his uncle, Stan Davis, wrote multiple hits for Billboard-topping country singer Tracy Lawrence. It would be putting it mildly to say that Davis grew up around music, but, ironically, he didn't pursue it as a career until after finishing his degree in conservation at Louisiana State University. Moving to Nashville in 2012, Davis would be exposed to a bright, hard-hitting world of singer-songwriters, citing John Prine and Jason Isbell among his favorites. Synthesizing his influences, Davis worked to come up with a smart, R&B-flavored brand of country rock, and he signed with Universal Music Group Nashville in 2016.
Davis' playful, romantic 2017 single "Singles You Up" reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Country Airplay chart and No. 4 on the U.S. Country chart, eventually going Platinum. The song also wound up on Spotify's Global Viral 50 chart. Davis' second single, "Take It From Me," a feel-good tune anchored by big, twangy riffs, has also performed well since its 2018 release. A singer-songwriter at his core, Davis filled out his debut studio album, 'Home State,' with 10 more great songs, cowriting each one with pop rocker Paul DiGiovanni (Boys Like Girls), who also produced the album. 'Home State' bears a pop-country energy that brings to mind musicians like Sam Hunt and Jason Aldean, and it reached No. 6 on Billboard's U.S. Top Country Albums. In 2017, Davis toured with country rocker Kip Moore's Plead the Fifth Tour. Davis embarked on his first headlining tour, the White Wine and Whiskey Tour, supported by Jillian Jacqueline, in February 2018, which took him to all corners of the U.S.
~~~~~~~~
Morgan Wade has never sounded like anybody else, and for a long time, she thought that meant her songs were just for her. "Honestly, I think that was really good for me," she says. "It made me think, 'Alright, well, I'm not going to sing for anybody else--but I'm singing for myself.'"
Since then, Wade has figured out that when you grow up in Floyd, Virginia, where bluegrass sustains everyone like the Blue Ridge Mountain air but you hear other sounds like pop and punk in your own head, singing for yourself is the way to become the artist you were always meant to be.
Produced by Sadler Vaden--Jason Isbell's longtime guitarist and an acclaimed solo artist in his own right--Wade's full-length debut Reckless is a confident rock-and-roll record that introduces a young singer-songwriter who is embracing her strengths and quirks as she continues to ask questions about who she is--and who she wants to be. Her voice, a raspy soprano that can soothe liltingly or growl, is on brilliant display. "I feel like the last couple of years have been me trying to figure out where I fit in, who I fit in with, and what's going on," Wade says. "I'm almost four years sober, so a lot of the friends I had, I don't really hang out with anymore. When I wrote these songs, I was going through a lot, just trying to figure out who I am."
Now living in Damascus, Virginia, about two hours east of where she grew up, Wade remains connected to the roots that raised her, even as she stretches. "All these bluegrass players would get together out in the streets and play music together," she says of her little hometown. "My grandfather would go up there every Friday night, and I'd go up there with him and my grandma. I remember falling asleep on their laps, just sitting up there, listening to music." When Wade began to write her own songs, country radio was dominated by svelte voices like Shania Twain and Faith Hill--and Wade couldn't hear herself in any of them.
"I'd write songs but didn't tell anybody about it," Wade says. "It was like some kind of secret. Even as a kid, it was what I liked to do: I'd go off into my own little world and write songs and stories."
Wade was 19 and in college when she first performed in public: an open mic in Floyd, backed by a band she had cobbled together via Craigslist. She loved the stage--and soon, her secret writing and singing became a public--and beloved--soundtrack. Wade began touring with her band, the Stepbrothers, and generated a grassroots following and high-profile attention--including that of Vaden.
Asked how she feels about the head-turning voice she used to hide, Wade is characteristically honest, self-deprecating, and insightful. "I still go through moments. I was in the studio two weeks ago and I thought, 'Can I actually sing? Is everybody just mocking me right now?'" She laughs a little and sighs. "I think it just takes a while. After spending all those years feeling like you weren't good enough, it takes time to rewire your brain--to know hey: You really do have a good voice."
Today, with Reckless in tow, Wade is ready to for her voice to be heard. "This is different than anything I've ever done before," she says of the record. "It's opened up a bunch of different lanes--and I'm proud of it. A lot of the songs are about figuring out what the hell I'm doing." She pauses and grins. "Maybe record number two will be a little bit more about knowing who I am."
read more
There's not an ounce of artifice involved in a Luke Combs concert. The big, burly, bearded country star has a voice to match and a no-nonsense performance style that's all about stepping up to the mic and keeping it real. No pyrotechnics, no stage dives, just pure, honest country music. After his unprecedented string of hits from his first album ("Hurricane," "When It Rains It Pours," "One Number Away") made him a major Nashville star straight out of the gate, he wasted little time in hitting the road hard. In 2017 he launched his first outing as a headliner with the 55-city Don't Tempt Me With a Good Time tour, breaking attendance records along the way, and bringing along openers Ray Fulcher, Josh Phillips, and Faren Rachels. By 2018 he was busy showing the broad range of his appeal by playing shows all over Europe. Not long after, he announced another leap forward with his 2019 Beer Never Broke My Heart tour, which moved the young singer up to the arena circuit, supported by LANCO and Jameson Rogers. Unsurprisingly, most of the venues sold out in just the first couple of days.
~~~~~~~~
What You See Is What You Get debuted at #1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart as well as Billboard's Top Country Albums chart with 172,000 equivalent units sold. It was also a global #1 album, topping charts in Canada, Australia and the U.K. Out now via River House Artists/Columbia Nashville (stream/purchase here), the record enjoyed the largest streaming week ever for a country album with 74 million on-demand streams. It also achieved the biggest first week of album streams ever for a country artist on Apple Music and was the first country album ever to hit #1 on the platform's U.S. overall albums chart, while also setting a new global record for first-week streams for a country album at Spotify and breaking the Amazon Music record for more first-week streams than any other country album debut.
Produced by Scott Moffatt, What You See Is What You Get features 17 songs including the five tracks previously released via The Prequel EP last summer. The EP debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart with all five tracks charting on Billboard's Hot Country Songs Top 25 -- a feat not accomplished by any artist in 60 years since Johnny Cash in 1959. Additionally, Combs' last single, "Even Though I'm Leaving," spent three weeks at #1 at country radio, making it Combs' seventh consecutive #1 -- a first on Billboard's Country Airplay chart. Following this success, Combs' new single, "Does To Me" featuring Eric Church, was recently shipped to country radio.
~~~~~~~~
Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1988, country singer Jordan Davis has Southern music roots that run deep--not only is his brother also a country singer, but his uncle, Stan Davis, wrote multiple hits for Billboard-topping country singer Tracy Lawrence. It would be putting it mildly to say that Davis grew up around music, but, ironically, he didn't pursue it as a career until after finishing his degree in conservation at Louisiana State University. Moving to Nashville in 2012, Davis would be exposed to a bright, hard-hitting world of singer-songwriters, citing John Prine and Jason Isbell among his favorites. Synthesizing his influences, Davis worked to come up with a smart, R&B-flavored brand of country rock, and he signed with Universal Music Group Nashville in 2016.
Davis' playful, romantic 2017 single "Singles You Up" reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Country Airplay chart and No. 4 on the U.S. Country chart, eventually going Platinum. The song also wound up on Spotify's Global Viral 50 chart. Davis' second single, "Take It From Me," a feel-good tune anchored by big, twangy riffs, has also performed well since its 2018 release. A singer-songwriter at his core, Davis filled out his debut studio album, 'Home State,' with 10 more great songs, cowriting each one with pop rocker Paul DiGiovanni (Boys Like Girls), who also produced the album. 'Home State' bears a pop-country energy that brings to mind musicians like Sam Hunt and Jason Aldean, and it reached No. 6 on Billboard's U.S. Top Country Albums. In 2017, Davis toured with country rocker Kip Moore's Plead the Fifth Tour. Davis embarked on his first headlining tour, the White Wine and Whiskey Tour, supported by Jillian Jacqueline, in February 2018, which took him to all corners of the U.S.
~~~~~~~~
Morgan Wade has never sounded like anybody else, and for a long time, she thought that meant her songs were just for her. "Honestly, I think that was really good for me," she says. "It made me think, 'Alright, well, I'm not going to sing for anybody else--but I'm singing for myself.'"
Since then, Wade has figured out that when you grow up in Floyd, Virginia, where bluegrass sustains everyone like the Blue Ridge Mountain air but you hear other sounds like pop and punk in your own head, singing for yourself is the way to become the artist you were always meant to be.
Produced by Sadler Vaden--Jason Isbell's longtime guitarist and an acclaimed solo artist in his own right--Wade's full-length debut Reckless is a confident rock-and-roll record that introduces a young singer-songwriter who is embracing her strengths and quirks as she continues to ask questions about who she is--and who she wants to be. Her voice, a raspy soprano that can soothe liltingly or growl, is on brilliant display. "I feel like the last couple of years have been me trying to figure out where I fit in, who I fit in with, and what's going on," Wade says. "I'm almost four years sober, so a lot of the friends I had, I don't really hang out with anymore. When I wrote these songs, I was going through a lot, just trying to figure out who I am."
Now living in Damascus, Virginia, about two hours east of where she grew up, Wade remains connected to the roots that raised her, even as she stretches. "All these bluegrass players would get together out in the streets and play music together," she says of her little hometown. "My grandfather would go up there every Friday night, and I'd go up there with him and my grandma. I remember falling asleep on their laps, just sitting up there, listening to music." When Wade began to write her own songs, country radio was dominated by svelte voices like Shania Twain and Faith Hill--and Wade couldn't hear herself in any of them.
"I'd write songs but didn't tell anybody about it," Wade says. "It was like some kind of secret. Even as a kid, it was what I liked to do: I'd go off into my own little world and write songs and stories."
Wade was 19 and in college when she first performed in public: an open mic in Floyd, backed by a band she had cobbled together via Craigslist. She loved the stage--and soon, her secret writing and singing became a public--and beloved--soundtrack. Wade began touring with her band, the Stepbrothers, and generated a grassroots following and high-profile attention--including that of Vaden.
Asked how she feels about the head-turning voice she used to hide, Wade is characteristically honest, self-deprecating, and insightful. "I still go through moments. I was in the studio two weeks ago and I thought, 'Can I actually sing? Is everybody just mocking me right now?'" She laughs a little and sighs. "I think it just takes a while. After spending all those years feeling like you weren't good enough, it takes time to rewire your brain--to know hey: You really do have a good voice."
Today, with Reckless in tow, Wade is ready to for her voice to be heard. "This is different than anything I've ever done before," she says of the record. "It's opened up a bunch of different lanes--and I'm proud of it. A lot of the songs are about figuring out what the hell I'm doing." She pauses and grins. "Maybe record number two will be a little bit more about knowing who I am."
show less
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