Since making their UK debut at C2C just two years ago, siblings Kendra and Krista – better known as Tigirlily Gold – have become beloved by the country community here.
Known for their sassy yet emotionally rich songwriting and warm, engaging stage presence, the pair have since been back across the pond earlier this year where they played the C2C Spotlight Stage, as well as scoring their first Top 40 hit with ‘I Tried A Ring On'. Last month they also released their debut album ‘Blonde'.I spoke to the duo shortly after the album release to find out what the reaction has been so far, what they learned from the process of making the album, their ACM Award win, playing their first ever stadium show and what's happening next.
Last time we spoke was when you were here for C2C in March – what's been happening since then?
Kendra: Well a lot has happened [laughs] since March when we saw y'all. But honestly I feel like going over to the UK for C2C festival really kicked off just a crazy, crazy year. Since we have seen you we released our debut album called ‘Blonde' which I know we played a lot of that music when we were at C2C festival. We've been touring a whole lot, and working our song at country radio – it's called ‘I Tried A Ring On'. So it's been very, very busy over here.
Krista: I guess since we saw you we probably won an ACM Award as well! [laughs] That was after we saw y'all. So a lot has happened.
Just a bit! So I guess we should start with the album – how have you found the response has been to it so far?
Krista: Oh my gosh, we are so happy with the response. I mean, we started working on this record three years ago. We've had these songs for a very long time. But to see people choose their favourites, and comments, and see them sit down with the record and listen front to back has really been so gratifying and we're so glad it's out.
Are there any songs that people have gravitated towards that have surprised you at all?
Kendra: Well there's three songs on the record, ‘Stupid Prizes', ‘Bleeding Love' and ‘Only Once', that were brand new to everybody when the album dropped. And so to see people connecting to those has been really, really fun. ‘Stupid Prizes' I think is a dark horse on the album. It's a song that probably is my favourite on the album, one of two favourites, and we waited til the album came out to release that one and people have really been gravitating towards that. And the cover of ‘Bleeding Love' that we did, people are kind of surprised by that in a good way, so it's been fun to see.
I did want to ask about the ‘Bleeding Love' cover – what was it that particularly drew you to that song?
Krista: Yeah, so both Kendra and I, we played on Broadway which is the main honky-tonk strip in Nashville for three years of our lives, and we did four-hour covers. And ‘Bleeding Love' was a cover that we played down there, and no matter what crowd we played it to people just lit up and loved that song. And we also love singing that song. So when we stopped playing on Broadway we kept it in our Tigirlily set, so we've been playing the song for three years out live. And it's become a part of the show. And our producer said “hey, y'all sound great on that, why don't you just cut a version of it yourselves?” And so we did. So he was right about that. And it's just such a lovely song and we're just honoured that we got to do our own version of it.
I've read elsewhere that you wrote 40 to 60 songs for this record, so was it hard to get it down to just 10?
Kendra: It's always hard to get it down to just 10, but for our debut album we really wanted to make sure that there was no filler tracks, that every song had a point and a meaning and every song was a little bit different and said something different. So when it came down to it, if there was two similar songs that we were choosing between, I think 90 per cent of the time Krista and I agreed on the same choices. And there's still songs that we wrote for this last record that may come around again on future records. But for this record in particular, we really did agree when it came down to it about what songs to choose.
And were there any songs you either found particularly easy to write or particularly challenging?
Krista: Yeah, so I would say ‘Blonde' and ‘Move On' were probably the easiest to write. ‘Blonde' was the first song we wrote for the record, and we finished it in maybe two to three hours. It just kind of fell out. But other songs like ‘I Tried A Ring On', took a few different writing sessions.
Kendra: It's just whatever the song requires. Sometimes it's right off the bat, sometimes you need to kind of revise them.
Is there anything that you feel you've learned from making this album?
Kendra: Well, we learned a lot. I mean, it's been three years in the making, so honestly personally both of us have gone through a lot in the last three years. We've been many shades of blonde [laughs] in the last three years. But I think professionally we've learned so much.
Krista: I think at the end of the day we've learned that we just have to be unapologetically ourselves and who we are, and especially as newcomers in this industry trying to break through, even if it's a little bit harder, we have to hone in on our sound and what makes us unique, what makes us different, and go full force in that direction and not worry about what other people or doing or what music they're making. We just have to focus on our craft and that's been a really good lesson for us.
You've also mentioned winning an ACM Award – huge congratulations on that! How was that whole experience for you, both winning the award and performing at the ceremony as well?
Krista: Oh my gosh, it was the best week of our lives. So we actually found out that we won our award two days before the awards show, because they announced Best New Female, Best New Male and Best Group or Duo that same night, two days before the awards show. But when we won the award we were standing by stage about to play a show. And we really wanted to win and had high hopes but until you hear the words ‘and the ACM for New Duo or Group of the Year goes to Tigirlily Gold', you can't really believe it until it happens. And Kendra and I just started crying and we're holding each others' hands, and then we gotta go play a show, which is so much fun.
Kendra: But the actual awards show, we were equally excited and equally a little bit nervous. We played our song ‘I Tried A Ring On' and I think that what made that moment real for us was when we saw the line-up of artists. It was Jelly Roll, it was Cody Johnson, it was Kelsea Ballerini, it was Lainey Wilson, all these people, and sandwiched in between were Tigirlily Gold.
I also wanted to ask you about getting to play your first stadium show recently with Brad Paisley – how was that?
Kendra: Oh, it was amazing. We were direct support for Brad, we got to play an hour set. You know, when you're doing an opening show, you're not usually getting an hour long performance. You're usually getting 20 to 30 minutes. So to be able to do almost our full set ahead of Brad was amazing. And seeing him perform and just how good he is, and how he interacts with the fans, and his band was incredible. But yeah, our first stadium show on the same week of our album release was a pretty fun way to celebrate. And Brad gave us a shout out on stage and we were freaking out because we love him so much. It was a really, really great experience.
Are there any songs you're particularly enjoying playing live at the moment?
Krista: I think both Kendra and I would say right now our favourite song to play is ‘Stupid Prizes'.
Kendra: And then always ‘Shoot Tequila'. ‘Shoot Tequila' never fails either! [laughs]
What's next for you both? I know you've got some tour dates over the summer and obviously promoting the album as well, so will that be the main focus for the rest of the year?
Kendra: Yeah, honestly the main focus is touring, trying to get this album heard by as many people as possible. Already starting to write for record two, so it just really never stops. Always creating, always playing shows. Really hoping to get back to the UK in the next year, maybe even do a headlining tour of some sort would be amazing. But yeah, just all the above!
I was going to ask if you had plans to come back to the UK but I think you've answered that one already…
Krista: Kendra and I have always said it's a priority. Playing C2C, our first C2C two years ago, the UK fans are so lovely. We're gonna really try at least once a year to make it over there.
You've mentioned you're already writing for the next record so can you give us any hints about that?
Kendra: Honestly I can't really give you any details because we're kind of in the exploration phase of it. I can tell you we're not gonna take a 180 pivot from ‘Blonde'. You can expect more Tigirlily Gold music. We're not gonna try to do a 180 on people!
Tigirlily Gold's debut album, ‘Blonde', is out now on Monument Records/Sony Music Entertainment.
