Top 5 Favorite Songs of Jan 30, 2017!!!

  1. Chloe Caroline~ “Ready to Come Home”: This song is uplifting, catchy and cute. Also I feel whoever listens to this song can relate to it positive message. The song is also featured in the new motion picture “The Great Gilly Hopkins with Julia Stiles and Kathy Bates.
  2. Abbi Scott~ “Love Wasn’t Ready For Me”: In this song it tells the story of how a young girl gets with a boy and thought she was ready for love, but in time she find out she was not and needed to move on from this relationship.
  3. Ward Thomas~ “Carry You Home”: This song is the first track off the group new album. Both Catherine and Lizzy have amazing voices and together they sound even better. This song has a folk sound to it.
  4. Luke and Mel~ “Bad Habit”: The habit refers to a lover who treats you badly, yet it is tough for you to let them go. Also this song many people can relate too because someone has been in this situation or know someone that has.
  5. The Shires~ “Everything You Never Gave”: This song is about member Ben’s father. This single is a powerful and slow tempo kind of song. This song shows a person can be better parent if their parent (s) was not. Ben can especially relate to this song as he just had his first child.

Music Videos:

Sugar and Steel~ Q & A!!!

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1.     Hi Sugar and Steel, can you guys tell me a little bit about yourselves before you became musicians?

Hi! Well, to backtrack a bit, we met in college. We had both grown up playing guitar, singing, writing and playing in church. So my (Sidnye here!) friend wanted me to go to an open mic night with her, so I reluctantly went (I had a lot of homework!). I get there, and I see this guy across the room. I was already wondering who he was and how he was so good-looking! Haha! He walked up on stage, started playing “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman (is it a coincidence that it’s one of my favorite songs?), and we totally made eye contact! To make a long story short, he came down to meet me after the set and we went on our first date five days later. That’s our little love story and the rest is history. It wasn’t until mid-2015 (after we had gotten married) that we decided to become Sugar & Steel.

2.     How did you guys form your duo and come up with your group name? 

We were both solo artists before we became S&S. I wrote some pop music and Spencer did country, but we decided it would be so much more fun to bring it together now that we were married! It just made sense and we love playing and performing together now.
(Spencer here) I actually came up with the name “Sugar & Steel.” It started as a song idea I had years ago (I call Sidnye “Sugar” as a nickname), and when we were thinking about duo names it popped back into my head. We ran it by some friends and mentors, and everyone seemed to love it. It’s a fun name!

3.     Who are some of your musical icons?

I love 70s music. My favorites are The Eagles, Merle Haggard, Jim Croce, James Taylor, and so many more. We both LOVE Dave Matthews Band, too. (Sidnye again!) Some of my musical icons are DMB, Sara Bareilles, Faith and Tim, Carol King, Carrie Underwood, and so many more. I’m all over the map!

4.     If you guys were not musicians what do you think your careers would be?

Hmmm! We love music. This is a hard one. Spencer loves to teach, and he’s mentioned how fun it would be to be a professor. I love business (that’s what my degree is in), so I’d love to be on the business side of the industry, too. I’d love to own my own company one day when we’re older and off the road.

5.     If you guys sing a duet with a singer or group whom would it be and why?

We’ve talked many times about how fun it would be to do CMT Crossroads with the Dave Matthews Band (can you tell we’re big fans?). His band is insane and the songs are SO fun. It’d be a dream!

6.     What has been an accomplishment that you guys are most proud of so far in your career?

We’ve had such an incredible 2016 and are so blessed. We’ve released new music, have had the incredible opportunity to team up with MoonPie (ummm, can you say DELISH?!), are currently starting to work with Breedlove Guitars and gotten to play some amazing sold out shows! One of our favorite moments was Fan Fair X at CMA Fest this past year. We got to meet so many incredible fans at the Dollar General booth and were so overwhelmed by the support! Were are so thankful for everyone that supports us. 2017 is going to be such a great year and we can’t wait to see what unfolds.

7.     Is there anything new coming up with your music for 2017?

(Spencer again!) We’ve started this year writing and working on a lot of new music. We cannot wait to release our first big single this year. Follow our socials to hear sneak peaks of new songs. We always want to know what our followers think. We’re excited to play some big shows with our band, too. We’ll have 2017 dates up on our website here soon! (www.sugarandsteelmusic.com).

8.     If you had to give advice to an up and coming singer or group what would you tell them.

If we could give advice to an up-and-coming artist, we would tell them to practice hard and never give up. It sounds cliche, but it’s important to keep learning and growing as a musician. It’s also important to stick to what you love even when times get tough, because they will at some point. Stay true to who you are!

9.     What do you guys like to do in your free time?

(Sidnye here!) In our free time, we love to read! We call it “shoulder-to-shoulder time” where we’ll take a couple hours, sit by each other, have tea and read! It’s a fun and calm way to wind down after shows or busy meetings. I also personally love to organize (call me weird, but it’s relaxing!) and I also love to study nutrition and watch Friends and Gilmore Girls. Spencer loves playing disc golf, studying for fun and watching Star Wars. We’re essentially a couple of nerds. But at least we have each other, ha!

10. What are some of your favorite songs that you recorded?

Oh, wow! We have a lot of songs that we love for different reasons, but right now I think our favorite that we’ve released is a song called “Forever On My Mind.” You can check it out here! www.soundcloud.com/sugarandsteel/forever-on-my-mind-sugar-steel

11. What are some of your favorite quotes?

One of our favorite quotes right now is one by Aristotle. “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” We want to keep growing as people and as musicians.

12. What do you guys want people to take from your music?

We want people to take away love. It may sound cheesy, but we want our message to be that love does still exist, even when things are tough. We want people to see real, true love in our music and in our lives. We want our songs to speak to people who have that or long for it. We want our music to tell stories and bring hope to people listening.

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Sugar & Steel: Artist Spotlight!!!

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Spencer and Sidnye Askew met at an open mic night at the college they were attending at the time. Both of them moved to Nashville in hoping to be part of the country music world. They first started their careers as solo acts, but just in a short time they became a country music duo. They named their group Sugar and Steel just a little after they got married in September of 2014.

Spencer grew up in Mississippi and was surrounded by a lot of blues music. Sidnye grew up in North Carolina and she listened to a lot of pop and country music. When they brought their different styles together, their harmony fell right into place.

Sugar & Steel want their fans to be able to relate their songs through good and bad times. They also want to represent as a duo that they are doing something they love to do and hope that their fans are doing the same thing in their own lives. If you would like to find more out about this country duo then go take a look at their website www.sugarandsteel.com.

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Social Media Accounts:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sugarandsteelmusic/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sugarandsteel?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sugarandsteelmusic/

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/sugarandsteel

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Top 5 Favorite Songs~ Jan 23,2017!!!

  1. Nikki Lane~ “Jackpot”: “Jackpot is a rock n’ roll country song that is from Lane’s third album “Highway Queen.” Lane wrote this song after she met her boyfriend Jonathan and how she hit a jackpot in the love department. Her new album will be out on February 17th and will be part of the Stagecoach Spotlight Tour.
  2. Karen Jonas~ “Country Songs”: “Country Songs” tells the story about a woman who likes the simple things in life. This song is honest and truthful that many country fans can relate to too.
  3. Leaving Thomas~ “Waiting Kind of Girl”: “Waiting Kind of Girl” tells a story about how the girl in the relationship wants to let know the guy she is seeing she is not the waiting type and want to know if their relationship is going to go anywhere or if she is just wasting her time and she wants out of it before it is to late.
  4. Lady Antebellum~ “You Look Good”: “You Look Good” is easy going type of song, and sounds different for Lady A. This song is also upbeat and can make people forget their problems and just have a good time.
  5. Sam Hunt~ “Drinkin’ Too Much”: “Drinkin Too Much” is an apology note to Hunt’s girlfriend Hannah Lee Fowler. Even those two are back together; their original breakup inspired a number of songs of Hunt’s first album, Montevallo.

Music Videos:

Blue Honey~ Recipes

Today on my “Dee’s Bites” tab of my blog I have three new recipes from country duo Blue Honey they are part of my latest “Artist Spotlight” and “Q & A” tabs, hope you guys enjoy them and if you make one of their recipe make sure to them.

 

Mama’s Sweet Potato Pie

1 large can sweet potatoes (2 cups)

1 stick butter

½ cup milk

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tbls vanilla

add cinnamon if you like

 

Mash potatoes, melt butter, mix all ingredients. Pour in unbaked pie shell. Bake at 350 until firm. Serve with whip cream J

 

Mawmaw’s Dressing

Cook a cake of cornbread the night before and crumble it up in a big bowl. Add 1 egg, 1 melted stick butter, tsp of sage, 1 chopped sauteed onion, salt and pepper to taste, the pour in stock from cooked chicken or use canned chicken broth. Add stock to mixture until it is soupy enough to pour. Pour in long (sprayed) rectangle pan, cook at 350 until top is brown.

Gravy for dressing – use insides of chicken, 2 boiled eggs, broth (mix flour and water til no lumps then add to mixture to thicken the gravy)

 

Kassie’s White Chicken Chili

2 lbs bonelsss chicken thighs

4 cans northern beans – drained

4 cans green chilies

1-2 cans jalapenos

1 can chicken broth

1 pkg taco seasoning

1-2 tbsp cumin (depending on your taste buds)

salt, pepper, cayenne to taste

2 cans corn – drained

Cook everything BUT the beans and corn in crockpot on low 6-8 hours. Towards the end, add the beans and corn. Serve with sour cream and tortilla chips, crackers, or toasts.

Blue Honey~ Artist Spotlight!!!

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In every medium of fiction, there are no situations more popular and anticipated than a crossover of characters or entities to produce a much higher-stakes endeavor. When you let that happen in real life, especially when music is involved, the results are even sweeter.

Enter Blue Honey, a husband and wife duo in Nashville, TN. Blue Honey is the result of the combined efforts of individually lauded performer/songwriters Troy Brooks and Kassie Jordan, who are each no stranger to attention and success as artists. “We’ve always gotten good reviews in our separate solo gigs,” says Troy. “When we play together, though, especially as an acoustic duo, the response seems to be overwhelming.” Kassie adds: “There’s something special about it, for sure. We seem to read each others’ mind in terms of harmony, too. It’s so easy to sing with him.”

After a long trial run where the two were just using a simple “&” name for their act, there was a spark to make it a full on single presentation. “We were on a road trip to Ohio to play one of our duo gigs, and we still hadn’t really done anything about a name,” explains Kassie. “I was just looking up random stuff and ran across something about an actual type of honey that has a blue tint to it. We just looked at each other and, in that classic sense, we knew that was our name.” Troy elaborates: “My guitar playing is really grounded in the blues, but I really enjoy singing and working in a country scene. Kassie has strong musical influences from Michael Jackson to Patsy Cline. So, when we get together to pop songs out of our heads, they fall somewhere among Americana, Blues, and Country.” In a sense, according to Kassie, Blue represents their blues background, and the Honey is that sweet, sticky harmony that comes from the Country/Americana.

Both Troy and Kassie have lived and worked in Nashville for a number of years and seen it all, playing their individual gigs multiple nights per week for the better part of the past 5 years. On top of that, each side of Blue Honey have released their own respective solo albums to great acclaim. After writing a collective two albums with many Nashville writers, it was easy to know what they expected out of songs for a joint effort. “We both know what the best and worst of co-writes can be like,” Kassie says. “It’s such a relief to write these songs primarily with Troy. It’s amazing because we really want to write for the song, no matter what happens with them. It’s not important what it could sound like on the radio. We just want to write good music we can be happy with. There’s absolutely no judgement if there’s crazy ideas that come out. Anyone who has ever met us knows that we’re crazy anyway.

The first album from Blue Honey is on the way. Keeping with their combined experience and focused direction, the tunes will be self-produced by the pair. On the production, Troy explains, “We have a fair idea what this record is supposed to sound like beyond the roles that Kassie and I play. We want to push the envelope a bit and not just limit ourselves to basic sounds. Try some new stuff with every song.  We hope to be forever learning and growing with our sound, and to just have a great time doing it.

When the music that Blue Honey finally gets to listeners on albums or in shows, Troy and Kassie just want it to get into people’s lives. Kassie puts it quite simply: “It doesn’t matter what happens to this music as long as people can feel some of the songs and relate to them. We want to make music that people will want to listen to when they’re in the car on long trips or have playing at house parties. Maybe they’ll want to share it with their friends because it’s different. Because of who we are and what we mean to each other, this music is intrinsically part of our lives. We just hope that we do a good job relating that and other people will want to have it be part of their life as well.”

 

Vocals, Lead Guitar \\ Troy Brooks

Vocals, Acoustic Guitar \\ Kassie Jordan

 

Social Medias:

Website: http://www.bluehoneymusic.com/#bluehoney-tour

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bluehoneymusic?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bluehoneymusic/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluehoneymusic/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU4CcoR6eJtCA1xWug836mQ

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Blue Honey- Q & A!!!

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  1. Hi Blue Honey, can you guys tell me a little bit about yourselves, before you became a country duo?
  2. How did you guys become a duo and how did you guys come up with your group name?

 

  • Troy and I each had our own band and met in Nashville, playing at lot of the same venues. People told us we should meet, that they thought we’d get along. So then we started dating (now married). My band got picked up by Tyler Farr and I needed a new band, so I started using Troy’s. The more shows we played together, people seemed to really respond to us as a duo. So we decided to try it and it’s been amazing. Wish we’d met sooner!

 

We were on a road trip, on the way to a gig..somewhere. And it kind of just popped in our heads. We were trying to think of a name that sounded country and bluesy. Then I googled “blue honey” and saw that blue honey is actually a real thing! And that no other bands had trademarked that name. So we grabbed it! Since then, we’ve had a couple other bands pop up using that name but we own the trademark so we’re trying to get all that worked out.

 

  1. Who are some of your guys favorite singers and groups?

This is a tough one because we both like so many different kinds of music. Off the top of my head I’d say Buddy Miller, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, Patty Griffin, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Stevie Wonder…I could go on and on!

 

  1. Where do you guys see your group in the next 5 to 10 years?

 

Hopefully still playing music! And loving it just as much as we do now.

 

  1. Is there any new things come up with your music for 2017?

 

In 2017 we’ll be releasing our very first music video and a new EP! Super excited about the single for this video! It’s called “Angels Come Home.” We will preview it on our website and release it to youtube shortly after. Hoping to have that out in March so stay tuned!

 

  1. What is one of your guys favorite songs that you ever recorded?

 

I kind of get little crushes on new songs so right now I’d say “Angels Come Home.” That might be because it’s fresh. But I’m in love with the production (shout out to Nathan Meckel!) And the words, and Troy’s guitar, just everything about it.

 

  1. What is one accomplishment that you guys are most proud so far that happen in your music careers?

 

We recently sang the National Anthem at the Belk Bowl in front of 43,000 people. THAT was amazing.

 

  1. If you guys were not musicians what do you think your careers would be?

 

Something with music still. Maybe on the management side, or engineering. Troy and I both went to school for audio engineering. So we have that in our back pocket just in case haha

 

  1. If you guys could do a duet with a famous singer or group who would it be and why?

 

Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, or Eric Clapton

 

  1. If you had to give advice to an up and coming singer or group what would you tell them?

 

Never stop. When people shut the door in your face, prove them wrong.

 

  1. What are some of your guys favorite quotes?

 

“Play as if it’s your last time.” Eric Clapton

“You can fail at something you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance doing what you love.” Jim Carrey

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The Morrison Brothers Band-Artist Spotlight!!!

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The Morrison Brothers Band is from Washington, D.C. The band moved to Nashville after completing three self-released albums, they also continue to have a high percentage of their music selling on different digital music websites and was the main headliners many times at the well known 9:30 Club.

The brothers play a unique brand of country/rock music. The band was formed in 2007 by brothers Truman and Willie Morrison. The other members of the band are brothers Matt and Kevin Nolan. Also Derrick Royer is part of the band he plays the bass.  In the past the brothers opened up for Merle Haggard, Old Dominion and Maggie Rose. They also got the chance to share the stage with some of the biggest acts of country music today such as Alan Jackson and Tim McGraw. In May 2016 fellow D.C. native and country singer-songwriter Maggie Rose produced the band’s new self-titled EP for Play It Again Records.

The band also wrote and recorded the new theme song for The Washington Capitals hockey team for Comcast Sport Net. Their video for this theme song can be seen on television before each game. If you would like to listen to their music it is available on Spotify and iTunes. For any up coming news for the band you can check out their website http://themorrisonbrothersband.com.

The Band:

  • Willie Morrison: vocals
  • Truman: guitar
  • Matt: drums
  • Kevin: guitar
  • Derrick: bass

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Social Media Accounts:

The Morrison Brothers Band: Q & A!!!

MORRISON-BROTHERS-FACEBOOK.jpgQuestions:

  1. Hi can you guys give me a short bio about yourselves before you became a country band?
  2. Who are some your musical icons?
  3. What are some of your guys favorite venues to play at?
  4. If you guys were not in music business what do you think your jobs would be?
  5. Where do you guys see  your band in the next 5 to 10 years?
  6. If you guys could do a duet with a famous singer or band who would it be and why?
  7. Is there anything new coming up in your music? 2016? 2017?
  8. What is one accomplishment that you guys are most proud of so far in your career?
  9. What is your all time favorite song that you ever recorded?
  10. If you had to give advice to an upcoming country act what would you tell them?
  11. What is one of your favorite quotes?

 

Answers:

  1. Most of us were in school, some studying music. With the exception of the youngest member Kevin Nolan, it wasn’t until after college that things really accelerated for the band because we were able to give ourselves fully to it.

 

  1. Little Feat, The Beatles, The Allman Brothers, Merle Haggard, Bruce Springsteen, Citizen Cope, The Black Crowes, Zac Brown Band, Delbert McClinton, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Otis Redding, this could go on for pages.

 

  1. 9:30 Club and Basement East,

 

  1. Not desk jobs. We all thrive moving around and meeting people and staying active and creative, so I think whatever our jobs would be they would not be 9-5 desk jobs.

 

  1. At the top of our game. Still doing what we do, just on a larger scale.

 

  1. Dead: Otis Redding. Alive: Van Morrison.

 

  1. We will be putting out new music in 2017 that we are very proud of. Our best work yet.

 

  1. There is no one accomplishment we are most proud of. It’s all a part of the package of being a band.

 

  1. Caroline & Carolina

 

  1. Write, write, write.

 

  1. “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

-Oscar Wilde

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