Welcome back to our appointment with Independent Interviews.
Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to an explosive all-female band. A band that this year will be at the wonderful independent music festival «North Springs Music Festival» in Tennessee: the Indy Annies!
Hello Breezey and Krista! Thanks for your time.
Let the readers know about yourselves: who you are, where you grew up and when you realized that music would become a wonderful job.
Breezey:
I am a French teacher in Indianapolis and am the lead singer in the Indy Annies.
I grew up in a tiny town north of Indianapolis called Fairmount, the hometown of James Dean.
I have been singing my entire life – I come from a very musical family. I grew up singing in church, I was in show choir in high school and I even toured in a band with my brother and sister for a while in my early 20s.
When I was younger, I wanted to be the next Mariah Carey or Celine Dion, but it wasn’t until I met Krista in my early 30s that I even considered trying to write my own songs.
Music has always been a part of me and now that we’re writing and playing our own music, I can’t imagine that not being a part of my life.
Krista:
I’m from a small town about 25 minutes south of where Breezey grew up: Elwood, IN.
Music is all I’ve ever really known and as a really quiet and shy kid, I guess it is how I learned to express myself from a very young age.
It all started with the Judds: from as early as 4 years old, there is VHS tape evidence of how much I loved them and wanted to play guitar just like Wynonna.
I received my first full-size guitar on my 6th birthday and took lessons for the next 10 years or so in all sorts of styles and played in the classical guitar trio and quartet in college.
My brother is a phenomenal drummer and naturally I wanted to be like him and play drums, which I think shaped my rhythm guitar style tremendously.
I’ve never really considered music a job.
I think a job is something you do for other people or a place you go and punch a clock because that’s what society tells you to do.
I play music because that’s just who I am and what I’ve always done.
What are your biggest influences? What music do you love to listen to? Are there any artists that inspire you and that we can hear in your songs?
Breezey:
The two of us have pretty different tastes when it comes to music and it shows in our own music, but I think that’s part of what makes what we’re doing really special.
We each pull from those different influences and blend them together seamlessly.
I grew up listening to pop (and still love pop music) and those influences come out in the melodies and vocal parts that I write.
Some of my biggest current influences are Jaime Wyatt, Nikki Lane, and Katie Pruitt. They are such phenomenal songwriters, especially Jaime: everything she puts out is so authentic and sincere.
We got to open for her last year and when she told me she liked our songs after our set, I could barely hold it together.
Now when we finish a song, my first thought is, “What would Jaime think of this song?”
Krista:
I went through a lot of musical phases throughout my childhood.
It all started with prime country: Keith Whitley, Vince Gill, Kathy Mattea, that sort of stuff.
I think every guitar player has their Beatles and Led Zeppelin phases, and I’m also a huge fan of Rush, Van Halen and Boston.
Currently, I’ve been listening to a lot of Bob Wills, Ashley McBryde, Steely Dan, Zach Top and basically every Clint Strong video on YouTube.
Some of my favorite pickers are Redd Volkaert, Tom Bukovac, and Joey McKenzie of the Western Flyers.
As songwriters, we are all over the spectrum.
You will get a taste of some of the swing-inspired stuff, some nods to a traditional country sound, and some of the more modern progressions and melodies.
How does the songwriting process work for you? Does one of you write or is it a collaboration?
Breezey:
It is always a collaboration.
We usually sit down with a small idea, maybe a melodic hook or one or two lines of lyrics, and see where it takes us.
We do write individually, but the final products always have a piece of each of us in them.
Some of our songs seem to write themselves: Coldest Thing in Texas, Where I Wanna Be, and Shoulda Known Better (unreleased) all seemed to happen very quickly, while others take us days, even weeks to get right.
Krista:
We’ve had a few co-writes with some other folks as well, but yeah, most of it is just us having a good time.
We do our best work camped out in a hotel room writing all day and venturing out for food and the inspiration of a city far from home.
Have you already toured around the States? Are there any venues where you really loved playing and where you dream of playing one day? Maybe in Europe!
Breezey:
We have done a few roadtrips, but haven’t done any extensive touring.
Last year we got to perform at a couple of really cool spots outside of our usual rotation: Double Crown in Asheville, NC, Pickin’ in the Backwoods Festival in southern Indiana, and the Midwest Country Music Organization’s award show in Iowa.
We were just nominated for Americana Artist of the Year by the MCMO for the second year in a row and we’re so excited to head back out to Iowa in April for this year’s award show.
A couple of dream venues would of course be the Grand Ole Opry some day and Billy Bob’s down in Texas.
A European tour is absolutely on our bucket list: France is my second home and I’d love to tour there someday! And of course, we’d come see y’all in Italy!
Krista:
We are just getting started venturing out.
My favorite venue is this place where we did an interview and played a set in Kentucky.
Not only was it a cool venue itself, but it had this tiny go-kart in the green room that we took for laps around the venue after sound check.
Honestly, it doesn’t take much to get me excited about going somewhere I’ve never been before.
It’s all an adventure to me! I would love to go to Europe, especially Eastern Europe.
My brother and his family live overseas and I’d live to play for them and especially my nephew one day.
Do you have other musicians who collaborate with you in the studio and live? Or is it just the two of you?
Breezey:
The two of us do the bulk of the songwriting, but we have done a couple of co-writes.
When we recorded our first album, our whole band went down to Nashville TN to track 12 songs in two days.
We wrote, recorded, and produced our acoustic EP ourselves (just the two of us) in Krista’s home studio.
The only session musician we’ve hired was a pianist for the song Mary on our acoustic EP.
For live performances, we play both as an acoustic duo/trio and a full band.
Krista:
As we’re working on full-length album number two currently, the boys in the band have been really cool to work with workshopping ideas.
There is a lot of positive energy and creative minds hitting the ground running.
What do you love and what can’t you stand about life on the road?
Breezey:
I hate being in the car BUT Krista keeps me pretty entertained.
We have more fun than anyone I know being stuck in the car for ten hours.
I don’t like being away from my dogs, but I love traveling to new places and meeting new people.
I simultaneously love and hate traveling with Krista because she forces me to go to the gym while we’re on the road: we have to stay in a hotel with a fitness center.
She makes sure I make good choices on the road.
Krista:
Other than seeing new places and meeting new people, I love our weird conversations on the road.
Sometimes we make up wild stories about how something came into existence, or we try to do math story problems.
It really is a good time!
I also like trying vegan cuisine with Breezey.
Other than planning what to pack, I can’t stand figuring out time zones.
Why does it have to be so hard?!?
Are you ready to delight the audience at the «North Springs»? It’s a golden moment for independent music: are there artists you love to listen to and maybe with whom you would like to share the stage?
Breezey:
We’re so excited to be at North Springs this year.
I’m excited to see Taylor Hunnicutt and Erin Viancourt. (my two favorite artists, note from Trex!)
I’d tour with either of them in a heartbeat!
Krista:
I second that–definitely ready to soak it all in!
Erin Viancourt has definitely spent some time playing through my car speakers, too!
Your debut album is from 2023 (and an EP in 2024): is there any new music on the horizon?
Breezey:
We’re currently playing a handful of unreleased songs at our live performances and are working on our second full length album.
We don’t have a date set yet, we’re taking our sweet time with this one.
We’re being a lot more intentional with this one and I’m so excited to share it when it’s good and ready.
Krista:
Our approach has been different this time.
Now that we’ve done a lot of tracking successfully in my home studio, we don’t need to rush any of the process to meet a pre-booked studio date.
Which are your favorite songs or are there any that you are more attached to than others?
Breezey:
This is a tough question, but of course I have some favorites.
Coldest Thing in Texas was one of the very first songs we wrote together.
It wrote itself pretty quickly and it’s one of my favorites to perform, especially for new audiences.
It’s so fun to see folks’ reactions when they realize how the song ends.
Habit and Mary are both very personal for me: Habit is a love song for my husband and Mary is a tribute to my grandmother, the greatest woman on earth.
Krista:
Coldest Thing in Texas will always be my all-time favorite.
It has some of those swing elements that just sound great on rhythm guitar and I love the harmonies.
Tomorrow Today is probably a close second.
I had a challenging time (in all the best ways) bringing that one to life in my studio and remember spending a long time trying to create a guitar part.
My favorite part of the whole EP is the moment the bass drops at 1:30 and does those little runs… between the open C guitar and the bass, it just doesn’t get much better than the warmth those instruments created.
Streaming allows you to reach Italy from this side of the ocean, but we know that for an independent musician merchandising is very important: where can we find yours?
Breezey:
We have CDs and T-shirts for sale at all of our performances, but we’re working on getting a store set up on our website so folks can purchase those things from us online as well.
Krista:
And if you don’t have a CD player anymore, you can always use the covers to tile your bathroom or kitchen backsplash! I’ve heard they make great coasters as well.
Thank you for your availability, I can’t wait to see the videos of your live at the North Springs and maybe one day to see you live. Good luck and congratulations again for your music!
Trex.
