Brandi Carlile (USA)

• Band Members: Brandi Carlile, Tim and Phil Hanseroth

• Discography: Brandi Carlile (2005), The Story (2007), Give Up The Ghost (2009), Live At Benaroya Hall (2011), Bear Creek (2012), The Firewatcher's Daughter (2015), Cover Stories (2017) & By The Way I Forgive You (2018)

• Website: http://www.brandicarlile.com/

We have been big fans of Brandi Carlile for a while now. She is a wonderful Grammy nominated singer-songwriter and producer. Born in Ravensdale, Washington, she dropped out of high school to pursue a career in music, teaching herself piano and guitar. Her first commercial album, 'Brandi Carlile', was released to critical acclaim but to limited commercial success. Brandi garnered wider recognition and commercial success with her 2007 single 'The Story', from the album of the same name. 'The Story' turned gold in 2017, having sold 500,000 copies to date. Brandi most successful album to date, 'The Firewatcher's Daughter' earned her a Grammy Nomination for Best Americana Album and peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200.

Brandi has released six albums including 'The Story' (2007), 'Give Up the Ghost' (2009)  'Live at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony' (2011), the last reaching number 14 on the Top Rock Albums chart. In May 2017, Brandi released 'Cover Stories, Brandi Carlile Celebrates 10 Years of The Story, An Album to Benefit War Child'. Featuring 14 artists covering tracks from the original The Story album, including Adele, Pearl Jam and Dolly Parton, it debuted at number 30 on the Billboard Chart. Her seventh album, 'By The Way, I Forgive You' is due to be released on February 16, 2018.

Brandi Carlile's music through the years has been categorized in several genres, including pop, rock, alternative country, and folk. She said of her style, "I've gone through all sorts of vocal phases, from pop to blues to R&B, but no matter what I do, I just can't get the country and western out of my voice." Brandi has been a part of several activism campaigns and advocates for causes ranging from spreading awareness for health issues to women empowerment.

Brandi won Seattle's City of Music Breakthrough Award for 2010. The same year, she was a nominee for "Outstanding Music Artist", for her album 'Give Up the Ghost', at the 21st GLAAD Media Awards. Her 2015 album 'The Firewatcher's Daughter' was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album.

CAIN (USA)

• Band Members: Taylor, Madison and Logan Cain

• Discography: The Cains EP (2015)

• Contact:

• Website: http://thecainsofficial.com/

For our next showcase artists we take another trip to the big 'N' Nashville, the current home of Alabama brother and sister trio The Cains. They released a very good and mega catchy single and video back in February called 'Knock Knock', which we all love very much here at LCM HQ. It's taken from their self titled debut EP released in 2015. We think there are big things ahead for the band and are really looking forward to their debut album and seeing them live for the first time at the 'Buckle and Boots' festival in Stockport. 

Shortly after learning how to talk, the Cain siblings were harmonizing with each other. The two sisters and brother from Hartselle, Alabama have shared a lot over the years, but their passion for music is what has brought them together as The Cains, a country band with unique harmonies and a variety of influences.

Taylor, Madison and Logan Cain are not only singers and songwriters, but also multifaceted entertainers and musicians who play guitar, piano, bass, harmonica and more. It all started when eldest sibling, Taylor, learned her first song on the piano at 5 years old and, a few years later, began teaching her younger siblings to sing harmony with her. A few years of practice and three college degrees later, the group has banded together as The Cains to write, record and release their own original music.

While their harmonies are reminiscent of earlier sibling groups such as The Everly Brothers and The Carpenters as well as more current acts such as Secret Sisters and The Band Perry, The Cains have created their own iconic style of harmony. Besides drawing from their own DNA, their original music features compelling, edgy lyrics that evoke emotion and is inspired by a vast combination of genres from country, soul and pop to Americana, folk and contemporary Christian. Their sound can be described as The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac meets Echosmith. Even with a variety of influences, The Cains know exactly what they want in their music – honesty.

It all started at World Harvest Outreach Church where the trio gave their first performance of “Mary Did You Know” at the annual Christmas play. From that moment on, performing together became the new norm for the trio. The siblings were home-schooled together until their teenage years when they each enrolled in Hartselle High School. They were all members of the Hartselle High Cheerleading Team and each graduated at the top of their class.

The three of them would later attend Troy University in Troy, Alabama and, for the first time in their entire lives, wouldn’t share a bedroom. After they all relocated for college (and moved back in together), Logan, Madison and Taylor became very involved at Troy and slowly began making music again.

In between Logan’s practices with the Troy University Cheerleading Team, Madison’s work with the Chi Omega women’s fraternity and the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Taylor’s work with Troy University’s up-and-coming music industry program, the three of them would perform at various religious, volunteer and university-related functions.

In 2012, The Cains heard about a competition that was taking video submissions for a chance to open for Andrew Ripp and Dave Barnes at WorkPlay Theater in Birmingham, Ala.; however, they heard of the opportunity only one day before the contest was scheduled to end. The three of them made the executive decision to skip class and write their first original song, “Stay On Board;” and as luck would have it, they won. Only 30 minutes after The Cains were added to the bill, the show sold-out. The performance was a huge success and solidified their underlying desire to pursue a music career together.

“We’ve been performing and singing together our entire lives – literally since we were five, six and seven years old. It’s always been our passion, but after we won the competition to open for Andrew and Dave at WorkPlay, everything changed. Not only did we begin to believe that we really could make a career out of this, we saw that we had a legitimate fan base that believed in us! That night was the beginning of our journey,” commented Taylor Cain.

What started out as the designated musical guest for World Harvest Outreach Church’s annual fish fry turned into a sophisticated group of singer-songwriters who defied the odds and won a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to open for some of their biggest musical influences while also showcasing their own original music.

In the fall of 2014 after each of them graduated with honors from Troy University, The Cains packed up their small-town Alabama life and began the all-too-familiar pilgrimage to Nashville’s Music City; however, nothing about this band was mundane. The group released their debut album, Stay On Board, in October of 2014 and their debut single “Be Yourself With Me” hit radio. The single would produce a debut Top 50 on the MusicRow Country Breakout chart and garner the group MusicRow Magazine‘s DisCovery Award – achievements almost unheard of for an independent act.

In March of 2015, hot off the heels of a successful radio debut and packed performances at Country Radio Seminar 2015, The Cains broke onto the U.K. Country music scene with their first international appearance at London’s Country to Country (C2C) festival, Europe’s largest and most well-attended Country music event of the year. During C2C 2015, The Cains performed for festival attendees at the O2’s Saloon Stage and Town Square Stage. In addition to their C2C performances, The Cains also had the opportunity to open for the U.K.’s Bill Kirchen Band at London’s Tingwick Village Hall.

“C2C was such a special time for us,” commented Logan Cain. “Not only did we get to impact people, we directly watched that impact happen. We had the opportunity to perform for thousands of music fans that were completely soaking in the music. It’s not every day you get to receive such love and encouragement from complete strangers. We got to write songs with local artists in London and make great friends. Country to Country was a huge milestone for us and we are thankful for that experience and the souls we met there every single day.”

The Cains’ sophomore release, “Journey’s End,” received airplay on Sirius XM’s The Highway "On The Horizon", and the group released a new, self-titled EP on July 21, 2015.

Most recently, The Cains have partnered with Bravo TV’s hit reality series “Southern Charm” to write and record original tracks that recap recent happenings within the series. Bravo TV features The Cains’ original tunes along with lyric videos on their website, www.BravoTV.com.

With new music on the horizon and a successful U.S. Country Radio Seminar and U.K. Country to Country Festival already under their belts, it is safe to say that 2015 has aligned to be the year of the Cains.

Of the new music, Madison Cain commented, “I can confidently say that this new EP is the most authentic project we have ever created. Everything from the songs to the production to the artwork and photography has our fingerprints all over it. We did not make any compromises and we can’t wait to get the music to our fans.”

The Steel Woods (USA)

• Band Members: Jason Rowdy Cope , Wes Bayliss, Johnny Stanton and Jay Tooke

• Discography: Straw In The Wind (2017), Old News (2019)

• Contact

• Website: https://thesteelwoods.com

Straw In The Wind (2017)

Old News (2019)

The Steel Woods’ sophomore Thirty Tigers album, ‘Old News’, represents a creative leap for the southern roots rock songwriting team of Alabama native Wes Bayliss and his North Carolina partner Jason “Rowdy” Cope, who completed their first recordings barely months after they first met.

Recorded in Asheville, NC at Echo Mountain Studios, the site of an old church during a six-day break in a hectic touring schedule, the new double-vinyl disc (the follow-up to 2017’s critically acclaimed Straw in the Wind) features more original songs and, for the first time, the whole band participated – including the rhythm section of bassist Johnny Stanton and drummer Jay Tooke – playing in a single room, cutting the tracks virtually live.

“We really hone in on what we do, our strengths as a band, establishing a musical identity,” explains Wes about their latest effort. “The first album, we were still figuring out our sound, so what came out, came out. This time, we had a premeditated blueprint, a real plan.”

The songwriting partnership between Bayliss and Cope continues to grow, mature and blossom. “Over time, you find out a person’s strengths and weaknesses, and it just happened to turn out his strengths are my weaknesses, and vice versa.”

Part Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, dual-guitar southern blues-rock with elements of R&B, country, bluegrass, gospel, blues, folk and metal, the descriptively named, Nashville-based band deepens its resolve on a theme-driven album that joins the mystery train of the past with the full-speed loco-motion of the present, seeking to bring people together with the universality of music.

Conceptually and musically, Old News delivers a set of songs at once eternal with lyrics wrenched from today’s headlines, featuring mythic reverberations and social critiques to boot. The album mourns an idealized past but isn’t afraid to point the way to a better future that enlists the best of both worlds.