Embracing their newfound freedom, Walker County have seized the opportunity to create music that truly resonates with their hearts. With a determination to stay true to their roots and craft authentic country music, sister duo Ivy Dene and Sophie Dawn have embarked on a journey of self-discovery and artistic expression, meaning that debut album ‘Painted Ponies’ is a testament to their unwavering dedication to their craft and their willingness to break the rules in pursuit of their musical vision.
You can read our review of ‘Painted Ponies’ right here. We were thrilled to catch up with them to talk all about it.
Let’s get this out there, right away, upfront. ‘Painted Ponies’ has absolutely blown me away! What an album!
Oh, thank you. This project has been such a passion project for us. It’s our first independent release and we poured our hearts and soul into it, so to hear you say you love it means a lot to us.
It feels like a third or fourth album to my ears, it’s so accomplished.
It’s funny because we kind of feel that way too. These songs go all the way back to 2015 when we first moved to Nashville so we have our whole journey over the last decade in this album. We wrote ‘Hits Home’ and ‘Double Wide World’ last year to complete the journey.
We really wanted to put these songs out over the years but the label were, like, ‘But we’re looking for this’ or ‘we want to look for this sound in you,’ you know, and so we skipped all these songs but this is the album that we always wanted to release.
If I was part of the label that stopped you from releasing this album I’d have my head in my hands right now wondering about my decision making ability!
(laughter) Thank you, that means a lot.
You were with your label for 9 years which is a long time to be with them and not release an album. What prompted your decision to part ways with them?
We signed up with them during a very transitional time and we felt like the whole time we were with them, things were constantly changing. When we first signed on they were a smaller label and they signed a bunch of ‘baby acts,’ of which we were one. We were then slowly put on the back burner due to the the amount of artists they were dealing with.
It was fine at the time, we were learning about the industry, about ourselves and writing a lot at that time too. It was a growing process for us. We finally got a bunch of songs that we were happy with and then COVID happened and we had to pivot again. Then TikTok exploded, which was another whole transition for us – the label wanted TikToks and said that if songs did well on there they would release them and that started to make us think that we could do that on our own, honestly!
9 years is a long time to be in any relationship when you aren’t feeling heard – when it’s your passions and creativity that aren’t being heard, it’s hard to stay in that same place. We gave it our best shot on the label but it just wasn’t for us in the end. Credit to them because they allowed us to grow into who we needed to be but we’re ready for something new now.
‘Painted Ponies’ sounds like the music of two people who have finally found who they were always destined to be. You’ve always been fighting the trends – Bro Country, Stapleton, Luke Combs, Hip Hop, TikTok, Morgan Wallen – none of them are you.
It’s funny that you say that because we are finally starting to see more female artists like Lainey Wilson and Hailey Whitters blowing up. They are who we are and from places like where we are from. It makes our hearts so proud and it’s such a perfect moment, finally, for our album to hit.
We grew up playing Bluegrass and Gospel and traditional Country music and ‘Painted Ponies’ is a mix of all those sounds and I think it’s the kind of sound that people are dying to hear right now.
The title, ‘Painted Ponies’ is a really powerful, evocative statement with multiple meanings. Can you elaborate on why you chose it as the title for the album?
We’ve both got a number of tattoos, which feeds into the ‘Painted Ponies’ meaning but the song itself kinda came out of nowhere. Our friend, co-writer and producer, Paul Sikes sat with us to listen to all the songs we’d written together over the years. We had a worktape of ‘Painted Ponies’ which we’d forgotten about because we’d written it in 2015. When we listened to it we were, like, how have we forgotten about this? (laughing)
We wanted the song to be the end of the album because it feels, sonically, like the end of a movie. The credits are rolling in the background, right? The song represents the carousel-like journey we had with the label, wondering whether we would ever be able to get to where we wanted to be with them without going round in circles.
I can hear a Broadway-esque ‘Oklahoma’ vibe going on with it.
YES!!!!! (laughing) We love that, it’s a very theatrical song.
Songs like ‘Two Birds’ also have an old fashioned, 50s feel. It feels like you’ve taken something of a risk going down that avenue?
Totally! We wrote ‘Two Birds’ early on in our careers when we first moved to Nashville. We grew up with those kind of traditional, storytelling songs and mindset so we wrote a song at about divorce at the ages of 19 and 16, right? (laughing) We had a lot of songs that sounded like that, it’s an ode to our roots.
It’s a credit to our dad who totally fed us, as kids, this diet of traditional Country music which was all we knew when we moved to Nashville. Then we started doing the label thing into our early twenties and we veered into a more Pop direction under guidance from them who were like, ‘We need 5 uptempo songs, 2 ballads but no more than that otherwise people will get bored.’ This is the first project we’ve done where we didn’t consider all those other outside factors – we just picked the songs we loved and ran with it.
A lot of our favourite songs are ballads and slower songs with gorgeous sounds.
Which is why the album works as a whole 11 track journey. It does have quiet moments, it has loud, bombastic moments, funny moments, poignant moments. You mentioned Lainey. I can hear, in songs like ‘What You Don’t Get,’ ‘20%,’ ‘Double Wide World,’ a kind of Miranda Lambert-esque vibe going on too.
Absolutely. I think Miranda was the most influential female artist of our generation. ‘Gunpowder and Lead’ came out when we were in middle school. She was such a bad-ass artist and still is. We love her.
There are also a lot of songs about strength and female empowerment. Was that important to you as a narrative theme on the album?
Definitely. That’s a message we always want to carry. Those type of songs are also empowering for us to sing each night too. We constantly having to tell ourselves that we are good enough and that we should continue chasing our dreams, which is something everybody needs to hear sometimes, right?
‘The Thing About Fences’ and ‘Settling’s For Dust’ are both super-empowering. They must help you both when you have your low days?
Totally! We have been surrounded by people offering us love and support throughout our whole career over the years. People really do believe in us and that helps us to believe in ourselves. That’s where the message in those songs come from.
How close to home are some of the references to people and southern lifestyles in ‘Double Wide World’? Are there people around you who will recognise themselves in the lyrics?
(laughing) We hope not! Our mom was a beautician in our home town for something like 25 years. The town has 395 people in it so we heard some crazy stories over the years. We did try to generalise some of the stories and we did fabricate some lines, obviously, but it was definitely inspired by life in a crazy small town! (laughing) We had so much fun writing that song – we kinda just cut loose during that writing session.
Have you got a particular song that you just can’t wait for people to hear?
‘Small Pond’ is a such a beautiful song – we wrote it about a break up which was very personal. Everyone needs a break up song to listen to and we got to write our very own about a very personal situation so it means a lot. ‘Skeletons’ is a very different and unique song for us so we’re interested to see how that one works with people and ‘Painted Ponies,’ obviously, is one that we can’t wait for people to hear.
Let’s pick up on ‘Skeletons.’ That’s going to be a big song in your live set. Sophie can channel her inner Tommy Lee on the drums and there’s a big rhythmic, southern feel to it. Which songs are you going to have to leave out of your live set – that’s not a decision I would like to have to make!
(laughing) We know!! We’re playing a couple of them in the live shows right now but as soon as the album is out, all bets are off, right? ‘Skeletons’ is going to be such fun to play live. It’s a big singalong but it’s also a deep song too – the meaning behind it is quite heavy, which people might miss as they are singing along to it.
We’ve got more songs that were up for consideration for the album that got put aside for the sake of these 11 right now but hopefully we can put out a deluxe or something a few months down the line and bring some other songs into play that we can’t wait for people to hear either!
The biggest problem you have not being on a label right now, I guess, is not having access to radio and huge promotional tools like TV. Have you worked out a strategy and a way to get these songs out to people?
We’re kinda working with a distribution company that is going to help push out the album as much as they can. That’s been a godsend in that area because they know what they are doing. Artists like Zach Bryan might be getting radio play now but they started out independent, just getting their songs out there, streaming and online. The live shows and the constant touring helps too. Maybe we can tap into some of that?
We want to build a following up from the ground level to where the radio just can’t say no! A lot of artists are happy being independent right now, there’s an excitement and freedom about being in control of your own careers and destiny – we’ve seen others do it and so it’s our time to try that right now.
Walker County ‘Painted Ponies’ is streaming everywhere from today (April 12th). It’s the most classy and poignant album that you won’t have been expecting to fall in love with of the year so far!
