#323 - Tigirlily on Being Sisters in a Duo + Signing a Recording Deal and Still Performing on Broadway in Nashville + Growing up In A Small Down in North Dakota

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Speaker 1: Welcome to episode three. We have on the girls from Tiger Lily, their sisters, and just how their whole story came together. It's it's it's pretty amazing. Here is a clip of Somebody does from Tiger Lily's Crazy in the Morning. Somebody enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Yeah, not that I didn't think I would enjoy it. I just didn't know them, But I really enjoyed this interview, So hang out for that. Top five releases this week, Thomas Rhett has a new song called Slow Down Summer. You can't see down fast In this song fine never seen them Riding. At number four, Post Malone and The Weekend have a new song called one Right Now, Thank You So Easy, I Got one coming. At number three Low Cash they have a new EP called Woods and Water and here's a new song called Beach Boys. Let's stick Cavery saying Tennessee catch you, John Cantamaran, get a little bit of rid on ridden shout a lab in the bottom Mum. At number two, Dina Carter released the anniversary edition of her album Did I Shave My Legs for This? There is a new version of Strawberry Wine with Lauren Elena, Martina McBride, Ashley McBride, Kylie Morgan and Vince gil on guitar on the banks of the river. Wrong well, Vaden past. It's funny how those memories the last Extrawberry one sad and at number one, Tanil Towns has a new song called Villain and Me Boys, whats I save? Allless things about myself found to the heavy glass the only leaving if range try to be and he rolled to bruce me to mine. Yeah, there's a villain in the ere. You go check out some new music this week and let's get over and here the interview with Tiger Lily. Thanks for having yeah, sorry that today and we're rolling so anything you say can and we'll be used against. Sorry. I got delayed a few hours today and I called Mike and I said, hey, listen, these girls want to cancel on me. I get it. But thanks for being flexible and coming up here a couple of hours later, your big stars. Now you know I had to, you know, blow off big stars. I was having a minor, minor medical emergency today. No I'm not, and that's why I'm still. I am fine. Feel like I might say no I'm not. You guys are like they really sold out for us. Um No, but I'm great, So it's good to finally meet you guys. So your sisters. Who's the two year older sister? But I look younger because I tell the chubby cheeks like that'll keep me younger for a while. But Krista is twenty three and I'm so Kendra Krista. Yes, you would almost think you were twins because of the case, because the very similar look. Um. And I asked Mike, as it, are they twins, and he said no, But I could see where people confuse that. You also can't tell who's older and who's younger. Um, and you sound like and your your harmony sound like sisters when you get singing together. That's a hard thing to get unless your family. Yeah. We uh, that's a very popular question for us. As are you twins but just sisters? I mean, I wish it could be twins, I guess, but we kind of feel like Anyways, we've been singing together for over eight years and at this point we lived together, we have a career together, we are together seven so might as well be twins? Yes, until they kicked me out. Her and her husband have a house, and I runt from them. So I'm like, just let me know. I guess I want to get out. I like it here. We have to get a few number ones and then you'll move out exactly. So let me get this straight again, because the caves are confusing. Kendra Chris. Yes, and we actually have another little sister, Carly. Our parents could never get it right. What's with the case. I have no idea. Carly are younger sister. Was brooke for a while and it just didn't sit right. So now it's Kendra Christa Carle And usually Carly is the one who's in trouble most. And so if either of us like, you know, we're in trouble by our parents growing up and be like Carly Christa Kendra ah, and yeah, so I figured our name is wrong. I really don't care. No, I answered to both. Honestly, it's it's fine. Is musical the younger sister. You know, we tried to get her to join the band when we were starting out, and she hated being on stage and she loves music to death. She honestly not a huge country music fan, which is kind of funny considering that's what we love obviously she saw she likes Tiger Lily though she's a huge tire early fan, which I guess is the most important part. But no, she loves music, but she would never want to do this. Your parents are they musical? Not at all? Very weird my I mean, we grew up going to church and singing in church all the time, and our parents always played music around us, you know, when we would go to bed at night, in the car, wherever we were at, there was always music. But they and they put us some piano lessons at a young age too. They're always music advocates. But it just was something that came naturally to us. And Kendra love being on stage. Right away. She was doing every talent show she could. I think our grandma forced her to be in this cool Gate country showdown a very very long time ago, so she kind of got the performing bug. And then I caught up to her and started playing guitar and writing songs, and I'm like this, this looks fun. I don't want to be left in the dust. So naturally I started accompanying her for her shows and it was always Kendra and friends, So I really upgraded in the past couple of years, so um started learning harmony. We listened to all these harmony, big harmony bands like Rascoe Flats and stuff growing up, so learned that and we've been doing music ever since. A big decision to make more than a friend, I know, Kendra and Friends was you know, it had a ring to it, but I guess this works a lot better. So, you know the I have a comedy duo that we tour pretty regularly. It's my friend Eddie and myself and we're called Bobby Bones and the Raging Idiots and Eddie's all the Raging Idiots, and it's similar because it is Bobby Bones and the Raging Idiots like Bobby and Friends. And that started because I was doing stand up and I would headline and then the Raging Idiots would play as well. So it ended up being on every sign it was a Bobby Bones and the Raging Idiots and so it was like and he was like, I don't care, I don't give a crap, but I'm glad you stood up and you're more than just two friends. Right. It was a big step for us. So so as the little sister, do you think you pursued music because you loved music or you loved your sister. I think it was a combination, to be honest, I always loved playing music and I don't know what made me start writing songs either at the age of ten, uh but both. And I'm also I'm not competetive. I'm not competitive anymore. But I was like, I don't want her like I gotta do this too. I mean, we played sports as kids, we did everything, and I was always just trying to beat the older sister. That was all it was. So in this, I'm like, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna beat Kendra's main vocals, so I'm not I can't beat her in this. Clearly she's got a thing. Go how do I join? So? How do I join this with a kind of finding my own way in path, in my own role within the duo? Which is weird because people ask us all the time if we fight or disagree on stuff. But I think we've established our roles from a very very young age and it's worked out for us. What are those roles? So I'm assuming you are for better at worth the lead vocalists, Yes, so I do all. I mean, Chris every once in a while, she'll take a lead line here and there, or do like the saground, yeah, a lead background part, but I mostly do all the main vocals. And then I grew up playing piano. I don't play a lot anymore, just because we're always with the guitar now whenever, whenever we do something um and Kristy naturally just picked up guitar, and she's amazing at harmony and can do all the things that I could not do. So it really just meshed so well together. And and when we play, we know we have we're better at these certain things. I'm better at at main vocals, and you're way better at harmony than I ever will be in your better at guitar, So it honestly works. We don't feel like we're stepping all over each other. And I feel like that's why a lot of bands end up breaking up is because no, I'm better, I'm better, My songs are better. My songs are better. Yeah, the egos getting the way and for us, we try to like leave that aside and just do it's best for Tiger Louie. At the end of the day, a lot of the great duos know their strengths individually that creates a better duo. Um. I'm really good friends with Dan and Shay and have been before they were the massive Dan and Shay, but you could talk to them and Shay sings his face off and it's fantastic. But Dan is the guy that's running the group, and you wouldn't know that because she's upfront. But they understand each other's roles dance, producing the crap. I say crap in a loving way like he's on it. He's sonically there, and he also knows though that without Shay singing, what he's doing isn't going to be near as good as if it wasn't Shay. So you see with duo's Ronnie and Kicks, Brooks and Donn like they know their strengths. I think it also helps that your sisters, right like you, also have been in real life fights, and you probably realize that the fights that you're getting into about music aren't even real life fights because it's it's not, you know, blood fight. I always say, I don't know. Obviously, Dan and Say have a good relationship. They probably seemed like they're brothers at this point, I would imagine, But I cannot be in a band with someone who is just a friend because we have no filter. We'll go into a writing room and say, hey, we are very blunt with each other, uh, just fore warning. But we just tell each other how it is and there's no backlash. There's no one getting offended. It's just like, hey, we're fighting for the best thing for the song, for the band. But we are just so straightforward and our are rebound rate. If we do get in a quick fight is two seconds, like work back at it. And you've had many years to do this. That isn't music related. I mean there's something too being siblings. Yeah, yeah, you have fought about many things. Don't take my clothes. Yeah, that means you also understand that every fight is in death. Most fights aren't death. And if it is a fight that seems like death, you're also gonna get through because you've gotten through it when it has nothing to do with music, right, So I think there's real length to you know, having a sibling as a partner. You guys are from North Dakota. I've been there a few times. I would say, where have you been in North Dakota. I've done some shows I've done and I have I have great memories but wild stories from North Dakota. Really a lot of fans out there. I love it. It's just hard to get there. Oh, it's so. It's so expensive to get there. And we play there a lot, and like to play a full band show up in North Dakota costs a lot of money because you gotta get everybody up there. So I have played in a couple of places. I played in Bismarck in Grand Forks, and I remember it was cold. And here's what I loved about it. I'll do what I didn't like and what I loved because what I didn't like, which is how hard it was to get there. And we drove forever. It's a long ways and it's a long ways with nothing in between. I hate it that much. It was just kind of like I should we'd like to get there, right. But when I got there, I remember I was doing um, I was doing a stand up show in Bismarck, and I was playing at a really nice theater. Did you say okay? Possibly, Yeah, that's definitely. That's the only one, okay, And the people were they were so And I'm from Arkansas, so I say this as someone who comes from an extremely rural town where nobody goes, much smaller though than Bismarck. I felt like they were just happy that I was there. And I really could have just went up on stage and sucked, and they had just been like, but we still love you because you came to see us. And and also I felt pretty good. I performed pretty well that night, and I remember just feeling such love from that crowd, that state, that area. I went to my hotel and they came and tracked me down to my hotel and I was like, and it was this borderline. It wasn't creepy. It was a little bit over the boundary because I was just going to sleep, but it was a loving boundary break. And I remember thinking, I really like these people. They're the most lovely people, the most kind people. They probably just wanted to hang all night, for the whole night. If it would have been if I'd have been in Boston, I'd have been like, guys, chill, I what's happening here? Right? But I was like, you know what, I like it that they're like trying to hang after the show. There was one hotel across from the in they knew, they knew what I was staying, and they were walking down the hall searching for me, and so I should have been scared, but I wasn't. But it was a very loving place where they welcomed me. And we're just happy that I was there. And so for that, I have this this great memory, two memories of going to North Dakota. Yeah, I love that. I mean, I mean so many times when we introduce ourselves that we're from North Dakota, obviously, people always say they've never met anyone from North Dakota and they've never been there. So it really excites us when people actually have been there, be there and have experienced it. And h we played this last weekend in Nashville and there was a big hockey game where the college um hockey team from North Dakota was playing at bridge Stone and so there was a bunch of North Dakotan's in town and we were playing Ain't at Dirk Smentley's Whiskey row Um just like this four hour show on Saturday. And after the show was done, because it was packed with North Codins and we walked in and we like we were like the superstars that we came. Everyone was cheering because our home state is so supportive of what we do and it's a big reason why we've gotten to this point so far. And it's just I don't know, it was just incredible to see that feeling and feel that way. But I talked to the bar staff afterwards and I was like, you know, sorry, it was kind of crazy today, Like there were so many people coming in and da da da da, and they were like, we wanted to be mad, but these people were the nicest people and all they did was drink beer, Like they were just hanging out drinking beer being the nice exactly. They're like, we wanted to be mad, but we couldn't. So when did you two decide that we are going to be a duo and an actual entity? Um? I don't know if it was before you called yourself Tiger Lily, but did you guys sit and decide that we're not going to be and Drew and Friends were going to be? When did that happen? Well, there was one more step, So it was Kendren friends and then and then it was Kendra and Krista. So I made the bill. I made the bill, and then I guess that four I was fourteen, she was sixteen, and we sat down and said, hey, we need a new band name because this is just not cutting it anymore. Kendre and Christ is way too clunky. You know, it's just too hard to say. We did not have the luxury of having a Dan and Shay or Brooks and Done type of thing going on. And our last name is sleigh Ball, so that was out. But we sat down and hey, we need a new band name. So we came up with tiger Lily, which was the first flower to grow in our parents backyard in North Dakota, so it reminded us of home. Changed his sphone to tig Girl Lilly for obvious reasons, and uh literally stuck with that. But we get asked so much, when did you decide this is something you wanted to do. We always love music, but we never knew we could have a career out of it. It wasn't something we knew because North Dakota is very much grow up. We go to college four years, you get a job there, you make really good money, stay with your family. That the culture. Obviously, what do you do there? That not not you guys, but where I come from, there was a sawmill. People in my town stayed and worked at the sawmill until the sawmill went out of business and now it's just kind of an s show. But where you guys are from, what do people do when they do stay around? So we're from Haze in North Dakota. So our town is basically coal, oil, um and farming and farming, and that's really the whole state of North Dakota. A lot of farming, oil and coal and up on a farm. Uh No, we grew up in town. Or Dad is actually a respiratory therapist, so he worked at the hospital. So we really had nothing to do with any of the popular industries. But we grew up in town. Our town was people. Um so are graduating classes were thirty and sixty Yeah, about the same size. Um So we always say we don't we write country music from the perspective of being from small town North Dakota because we never experienced the country southern thing that a lot of country artists do. So we try to not right about that as much and more about small town where we come from, what we know, um just to be real and then we can relate and feel like we know what we're talking about a little bit. More people a town that's mostly you know, rural. That's a country as anything else, right exactly. I think it's funny because we grew up thinking, oh, we live in town. You know, we're city girls and stuff, and then we moved to Nashville like, oh we are country. We are really country. Actually, what was when I grew up town was a town called Hot Springs that had twenty people. Um. Little Rock was the massive city that had three hundred thousand people. Um so, I mean Little Rock was like New York City to me in Little in Arkansas? What was town? What was the city? Like? What was that relationship from where you were and how far did you have to drive? Bismarck was our hour away town, nearest Target, Starbucks, anything we wanted like that. So on weekends, you know, to go to Bismarck was the exciting thing to do. Was the trip where you go to Sam's Club or Costco or whatever and uh stock groceries and you know, yeah, so everything that we wanted to do would be an hour away. And then Fargo is the big city of North Dakota, which is not even that big. I mean I think the whole state's population is six hundred thousand people. So it's a really small state. Um, but yeah, fargoes like the cool, hipming trendy sit four hours. So if we went to a concert, like if we went to go see Taylor Swift, we drive to Fargo and it was this the biggest thing ever And it was like we got to eat and go to see Taylor Swift and it was a big deal. It was a huge deal. We just spend the night, Yes, four hours to spend the night. Yeah. Usually, I mean there were trips where we would drive back if my dad had if he was on call or had to work or you know whatever. But most of the time we'd stay the night and then come back the next day. So you're you just said this, so correct me. But if you're teenagers when you come up with the name Tiger Lillard, I mean that's been ten years. It's wild that you have kept that name. No, I know, fourteen and sixteen, because we'll make a lot of dumb decisions at fourteen, and what I say, I'm like, we're still lucky we still like that somehow because now we're twenty three and we've still kept that name. Because a lot of bands go through name changes in that amount of time. Um, so yeah, it's almost been ten years, which makes me feel so old. And then I think about what we've done in Nashville and we're still so new and we still have so far to go, which is really exciting to me, honestly, but it just takes so much time and the hours, the amount of time we've put in, and how much we've learned just by trial and air through doing it in high school and um into college and then moving to Nashville and and all this stuff. Did you guys go to college or one or both? Did you go to college in North Dakota? I went to the University of North Dakota for a semester, and then we really weren't doing well. We kind of are like, how can we do tirely? So I actually stopped going to college, came back home, lived at home while she finished high school, which was that was a big turning point because I think up until that point it was very easy to do, Like our parents would help us out, they would drive us to shows. Yes, we were both in high school and we would do shows on the weekend and it was all very natural, um for us. And then Kendra moved four hours away, and it got really hard to do tiger lily stuff. And at that point I was like, Okay, do we like this as a hobby? Is it something like how we do on the weekends? How far do we want to tin or is this what we want to do? Like where do we see ourselves in five years? And it wasn't North Dakota. It was Nashville. We always had a goal to move to Nashville. So both of you together, which is a big deal, you both knew you would come to Nashville. Yes, it was always in the back of our minds, and so moving from North Dacota to Nashville was like a big deal. It was, I mean, moving to Nashville is a big city. We knew a handful of people, but we didn't know a lot of people. Uh so that was a big move for us. But we we weren't really scared because I think at that point, we're already we had played every single small town in North Dakota. We had played every county, fair we even you know, throughout the Midwest. We had played so many shows and we were like, we kind of had done everything we could, so we can either keep doing this, which would be fine, and a lot of people make a great living plane in their state, or we can move and see what happens. Were you guys getting a little heat in North Dakota, like people were like starting to know you were and maybe a little following at a club or restaurant. Yeah, so we did so much North Dakota. We actually side note, we released a song called North Dakota but many years does not it does not exist anymore anywhere. I'm just gonna put that out there, so don't look it up. But it went viral within the state. And that was a sophomore in high school, and that gave us cred to go to our the We were the openers. If a big act would come into town, they would ask us to open. So they gave us so much trust and credibility. And we would go to our schools when we were still in high school and give speeches and play at at different schools around the state too, which is a really good way for us to get in front of our own peers and have people have an ability to know who we are. And so yeah, we kind of just became the girls. Like if you had a gig or if you had um, you know, an opening slot called Tigerli, so that became what we did. Allow me to be ignorant for a second. Who else from North Dakota has made it in music or just general? The celebrities are Carson Wentz obviously, football player Josh Tohmel actor um Haagy Lee was the last person to be signed by a major record label. If correct me if I'm wrong, I think that's right. So it's been, It's not much so. Whiz Khalifa was born in my not North Yes, on the Air Force base. Though. Okay, well you know with Whiz, I think of Pittsburgh. You know, I think you're big. But I don't know if he claims that, but I do know that I only feel like I can ask these questions with general curiosity. That not being an insult because people ask me the same craft about Arkansas and they're like, what comes from Arkansas? And I'm like, well, Johnny Cash for the Orioles in nineteen I mean, you know, so it's it's pretty cool that you have your state behind you, because that does give you some confidence coming here. But I assume when you and I know that's true, when you come to Nashville, it's like you're starting over nobody gives a crap, but we knew that at least. So there's and I say this in the most complimentary way, there's a hundred versions of you out there and you're just trying to gasp for air to find how you're different and what your sound is. So when you decide to move to Nashville, you pack up a truck. This is it the U haul? What do you do? Our parents helped us drive down. Did Grandma grandpa even come? Yeah? Yeah, I think our grandma grandpa, whole family thing. We just from North Dakota to Nashville, drove down and we so we were moving to Nashville. And then we actually signed up for college at Belmont and Mt s U UM and we like register for classes at both because we didn't know really how we were going to get down here and what the way was yet. And then we realized that tuition, since we were in state, was about the same at Belmont as it was at Mt SU And then we got some grants to go to Belmont UM and things like that, so it ended up working. We so we both started out at Belmont as sophomores, which is why a lot of people think we're twins as well, because we graduated at the same time. So you guys went and finished school. Then when yeah, we have our music business degrees. Baby, Well I thought the story was you went, you said, okay, schools not for me. We tried it, We're going to do music. But you came back. I I. She had to pull me a little bit. Kendra cried on her first day school, like I can't go back to this. What am I doing? What are you guys doing at Belmont? Then? Are you learning? Are you vocal? Or did music business? Yeah? Because we were, I mean we we kind of thought we were writing songs so much and doing so much that we want We wanted knowledge in my contracts and know what it meant in a different area. And so um we went from music business and got that degree. Finished up during COVID, so we never actually like walked to the stage, but after just finished twenty Yeah, so you're playing as you're going to school. Yes, So Nashville looks like the earliers of Nashville. You just really hit it hard because when you moved to town, everybody is says you have to do everything right away. You have to really just network and bust your button, try to do everything you can. So we're going to school full time, playing three or four times downtown Nashville on Broadway. So it's four hour sets, three times a week to make a living. So you wanted to stay in Nashville, you know, and writing three I guess three times a week. So we had no social lives, I mean, which is okay. I mean, that's how we met all of our people. But um, that's just what you got to do when you came to Nashville. And there were times we were exhausted and why are we doing this? We're playing all these four hour gigs and it feels like no one's listening. What's the point? I feel like that today? It never leaves you ext Why am I doing this? So that never leaves? But you do it because yeah, you still somehow even when you feel like, oh, I don't know if I can do this another day, then you just you keep doing it because what else are you going to do? Because this is all you've known and done and what else is still this is still better than something else, you know what I mean? And we told ourselves when we moved down here, we want to do whatever it takes to make a living off of music. That's always been our day one, our bottom line, make a living off of music, doing whatever kind of gigs you can, but do music. And so that's why we started playing downtown where it's like, hey, we can meet so many cool people downtown because you have people people don't realize. It's all parts of America and other countries coming to Nashville to see country music. And so you're gonna meet all these new people. And we got to play our original songs. And yeah, it's exhausting gigs, but we made that work. Put the banner up so people can follow you on Instagram. Yeah, but it's all worth it. And I don't know, there's just no one straight line to success, but we just did whatever it took. Honestly, I think that straight ish line to success. And this is as cliche as possible, but it's just grinding it out, hard work and not quitting when you should probably quit, can quit. If you can make it past that point, that's usually when the as things happen. If you start thinking, maybe this isn't for me, it's not. It should be so difficult, you have to question yourself, and when questioning yourself, you should go, Yeah, that's right, I am doing this. It's it's stupid and and it's it's people shouldn't be doing this, but I want to do it. I'm going to do it. Someone's going to do it, so it might as well be using. So you're where did you start playing in Nashville? Because you got to make those calls? Yeah, so we first the first bar was at Nudi's Honky Talk. So our parents loved that when we called and said, hey, mom and dad, we you know we're playing at Nudi's. How did you get the gig? Did you call yourself and like hustle on the phone. I don't remember had it. We had to audition, but I think our drummer at the time had a connection there and was like, hey, do you guys want to jump in on this gig? You have to do an audition thing. And so we did the audition. I remember we missed class for the audition. It was so personal audition when you to go and play for like we play the four hour gig. The audition was a full four hour. They said, hey, we'll give you a really I mean not crappy, but yeah, Monday morning shift, there's no one it's very low risk for them obviously if we suck. So they're basically seeing if we can play for four hours and entertain the crowd. And they liked us enough to keep us around. And then we played at Bailey's, which is now a different bar. It's lucky. Let me stop for a second. You're playing four hours in your first gig. Do you have four hours of material or you have an hour and a half that you're just kind of occasionally different. No, we didn't repeat songs. We sat down and learn what it's. I think on our set list is sixty five songs, but then you take requests the whole time as well, so you at least if no one requests the song during the entire four set, you can play sixty five songs and right away, you know, I didn't have all those lyrics memorized, but I knew everything well enough to get through four hours of material. Now we've done it so much to where I have most things requested or um on our set list memorized, which is crazy, because I was terrified out of my mind when we started doing that, because we were so spoiled the North Dakota. Honestly, we were so spoiled because nine Minutes paid very well to our ninety minute sets, half originals, half covers, even half hour opening sets for really cool people. Um, we did have a We had a pretty good attitude coming down there. Though we weren't like, oh, We're the best thing ever to happen to Nashville. We knew we were starting over, so we kind of had to go back to ground zero again and learn all these songs, but which actually was a great thing for us. So thank you so much better because of everything that you were forced to learn. Oh. I even listened to my voice four years ago and like, how much more relaxed I sing now, And how much I've grown into my voice just from singing all these cover songs and honestly, just the wear and tear of the voice. I think it's given me some more rasp and like do we smoke or do we play Broadway? Cannot tell? But no, it's I would encourage any artist you know wanting to get better. It's a little terrifying, but it kind of throws you in right away and you have to figure it out. You sink or swim kind of situation basically. But then after we did those two bars. We got an audition shift at dirt Alas Whiskey Row, and that's the place where we've ended up and loved just every you know, not every minute, but that's been a great place for us because the vibe there and the people that come in and it's really just fit what we do um with the crowd. So we did a Sunday morning audition shift there and then we they liked us, so they gave us the really late night shifts and then we started to get the weekend shifts and the night shifts and now, um, we still play. We only have a few gigs left for this year, but we still if we're in town, we'll play Saturdays from like two thirty to six thirty because we just we can't say it. We're like, we can't stop. What's what's the money situation there? Do you guys make pretty good on tips? So you make this year post COVID the tips are literally insane. Yeah, I don't know what's happened. I don't know if people just want to spend money or if or if we've just become maybe better or if they I don't know what the reason is. But so you make a little bit off the bar, and everyone always asked this. You make like a small small fee off your base rates, but most of the money comes through tips and people just requesting or people just loving what you do. And uh, that's another reason why it'd be hard hard for us to just ever I want to give that up, because you just you really make great money down there if you're doing it in a right way. The interesting thing about you guys here today, and I haven't really had this experience with any artist yet, is that you have a published do you have a record? Do? And And I'm again I'm gonna be as compliment or as possible because I mean this in the best way. Yeah, you're still playing Dirk's bar. I know it. You have a you, they're manager, their label, your publicist even even hey, even hoity Twitterer, your publicist. When you say it like that, no, listen, I got them all. And so I know on the scale you know that to have your own publicist yet to still be playing a bar on Broadway right now, I haven't seen that. And you guys have real heat on you. I'll say it again because as of the direction you're going, you could easily probably just go hey, we're too good for this right now. We really want to focus on but but you haven't. And I think it says a lot where you come from. I think it says a lot to you have obligations that you're going to fulfill and that you just want to keep playing. So I actually say that in a wonderful way, that it will be freaking crazy if I walk down and you guys are playing. People don't even know they should actually come to a show, because that's not random people playing. It's somebody that you that you can already see big things starting to happen for which has been fun because this year, a lot of people who have seen us in the past, you know, come down and they say, we want to see you because we know you're gonna be done with this soon, and you know we probably will be. It is we always said we don't have to do Broadway anymore, when if we ever get a record deal or if we ever get a publishing deal, we don't have to do this anymore. But we've it's been hard for us to totally just cut it off just because it's, first of all, just been our source of income. It's been our source of building fans it's been so much for us in the past few years that total really just cut it off. You know, when we did get these deals would have Terrif it was terry, it was still terrifying, and we're still terrified. Totally just cut it off, even though we can be absolutely fine without Well, it's also not you know, just speaking honestly, you don't get a record deal and be a millionaire. No, no, no, no no. You get a record deal and you have the opportunity to hopefully possibly make some money maybe eventually. But but it means somebody's going to spend money on you, right, They're investing in you, yes, and and that's really the hardest thing to get in this talent is for somebody to believe in you and spend their own money in you, because that means they see dollars, and dollars means they see something you guys could produce for them. It's all the business. But absolutely, you don't get to be in the business unless somebody believes that you're pretty good. And so you're playing how many more I gotta know, how many more these dark shows do you have at the bar the rest of the year. We only have three? Okay, you guys have to go to these shows. I'm telling my people listen to this right now the next three Saturdays, next three Saturdays from two six thirty, and then we honestly in the new year, really don't know what's going to happen anymore. I do know if it were me, I wouldn't do anymore. So maybe three more total. Yep, you gotta admit, Mike, that's pretty awesome. It's awesome. We just don't have I don't have people because we're at my house right now. I don't heck or even the radio show. I just don't have people at my house who I don't think are going to be stars, have been stars or creating stars. And so the fact that you guys, I feel that way about you YouTube, that you're still playing these shows like people have to go, they have to go. I'm selling tickets. I felt. Yeah, So I do want to play some of your music, and I want to get back into your life. I'm very interested in it. But here is track one off the Tiger Lily EP. This is my thing written by YouTube, and my buddy Walker hates I'm still making me goes. I'm gonna keep doing my keep danger whatever that he wrote that with Walker, I'm assuming before fancy, like was Mike did Walker open the show for me in North Dakota? You know? Was that one Walker? Because Walker was on the road with me for about a year. He came and we we um, you know, toward and he was the middle act, and he would get the crowd up and then I would go and just half half bomb and half be great. But he was always great, and we became really close friends. And I actually was with him this morning a little bit and he's tired, which is the best, like embrace and you two are going to deal with this too. I mean he was exhausted. I had him and we were doing some stuff together. He was so tired that I was like, I don't even know you right now, but but I knew him because I am that way too. I've had some parts of my career where it's just been overload and you're like, you get a lot of things at once, and you're like, I have to do them because we're working so hard to do them. I'm not gonna say no, um, but it's I can I can hear the Walker Hayes a little influence in the song too. Yeah, Yeah. That was our first rite with Walker actually, and we were the first time we had met him and also the first time I wrote it Smacked. Yeah, it was a lot of first It was kind of like, oh, we're actually getting some attention to where we feel kind of important right now and very nervous because we didn't want to mess it up. We I think we were fifteen minutes early for this podcast, by the way, because we're just you know, we're very timely people and don't want to mess anything up. Ever, because I'm so hard, I'm timely. You're right on time. She keeps me on time. But anyways, we walk into Smack Publishing and Walker's then we were already big fans of him and we thought he was really cool. Um, you broke up with me, big fans of all that stuff. Um. But the coolest thing about Walker is he had no idea we had anything going on whatsoever. All his publisher told him was, hey, you want to write with these two two girls, sister. I mean he didn't have to, he didn't have to write with us at all. But um, we all vibe really well because we don't throw anything away every you know that he has all about the weird ideas obviously, words to chill with the words man like us every words basically a rapper. I mean, I think one of his biggest influences mckailmorey says or something he actually love macolm or something. But anyways, we had such a blast spreading my thing. We were talking to him just about our story and basically we're like, hey, no matter what happens, we're just gonna keep doing our thing in music and life. And that's one of the best things have happened for us. So we wrote that story. And also we're in our early twenties and all just about life, relationships, career and just all the things you go through in your twenties, thirties, whatever. Doesn't really stop, I guess at any age. So people have told me from listening to this song, but he is so cool and uh we love Look we wrote another one on the EP two with him. Well, you make a good point. You never actually stopped doing your thing no matter what age you are, exactly, So fifties, sixties, seventies, you have a different version when you get older, exactly. Somebody does I know, because I've programmed the Women of Our Country show it's a national show that I do, and um I put this in as not only that, but the spotlight artists on our on my Countdown thank you, thank you so much. We didn't know about that, and we saw it the radio stations on Contact. No one told us and someone was DM me Nust being like, you guys are gonna be on Bobby Bones and I'm like, I was like, don't get excited about this. I was like, this is probably spam. And then we were like in Cool Springs at them all eating Chinese food and we were like, oh, this is real, and we were so psyched. So thank you. So funny because usually what happened to someone because the Countdown show is massive, two hundred cities and stations in different countries. But someone from that Countdown show calls somebody I don't know who they called. They go, hey, you're gonna be on. Here's some assets if you want to post them. If not, don't worry about it. But the fact that someone to hit you up like hey, you're gonna be on that, that's hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. Like our fans was telling us because they heard it on their local station basically, and they were like, you guys are gonna be on the Bobby Bones Show tomorrow. I'm like, what here is that song? Somebody does get out with some data looks somebody does you know? With you? Guys? Where did was it social media that made other people look at you that hadn't looked so so far? The people do you haven't played in front of the people you haven't been in the room with. Wasn't playing music on TikTok? Where so much said hey we need to pay attention to these girls. Yeah, I mean a combination of things. We feel like we've been doing social media for so long. We used to do YouTube a lot. Being from North Dakota, you just how two otherwise you didn't reach anyone else. Um. Then we started Instagram and Twitter, and then during the pandemic we got on TikTok because we were just bored out of our minds and I really were canceled, like what do we do? I was totally anti TikTok because I was like, I cannot dance, I can't do any of this stuff. And you know, we started posting covers that we had learned for literally Broadway gigs, and people started catching on. And then we posted a tidbit of somebody does posted it on TikTok and reels. It actually went more viral on reels reels, which is interesting. A lot of people don't know that. They always say TikTok, but it actually went more viral on Instagram. Um, and so that was the most viral we'd had an original song go before, and we we didn't write it to be viral. I know a lot of people ask, like, do you think about the viral, like the virability when you're writing now, And honestly, we don't at all, because that is too much to think about wild just writing music. Also, yeah, I didn't want to cater songs to TikTok either. No, I mean, you can always find ways to market songs after you write them. But yeah, was the first time we had really felt a song go viral and we had we I think we have over five dred thousand followers on TikTok now, and our Facebook and Instagram have really increased in the last year. And that's just all because we've been posting videos of us singing or you know, my husband will dance or jump in a dancing video of us through doing a stupid dance or things like that. Um. But yeah, social media has been really great to us, and I think about how many shows you'd have to play to reach that many people. And if you use social media in a great way, it can do really great things for you. The first that my thing was that the one you said that really hit first on social media. No, somebody does Well. We had covers go viral, like we did Can't Helpful and Love by Elvis, and we did Landslide. People really love the like angelic Harmony things from us, so we would do a lot of that. Um and that stuff went viral, and then Somebody Does was the first probably original to go viral. When you get that first viral anything, it's pretty awesome, it's a it's addicting. Yes, then you just chase it, oh yeah, because you're like, wow, we just had a video go big, Like why did it go big? What can I how can we do this again? And if we don't do it again, don't mean we suck. I mean it starts to really be like something like you're messing with your mind. But when you have something that's original, go big, I gotta imagine that that is just so much more fulfilling. Oh, yeah, oh yeah. That was the first time people were covering the song before it was out, and we had never had that. We you know, we are fans, have always liked our music, but never before was it people who had never heard of us. They didn't care if we were Tiger Lily or not. They didn't care about us necessarily. They just loved the song. They just love the song. And I always say, I don't even know if it would have mattered who put this song out, but um, obviously luckily it was us. But we were just so thankful that the song reached so many people, and it was this song particularly because it has such a positive, impactful message and I think it really coming out of the pandemic here especially hit the right time. People are alone, they feel isolated. Um, they don't know if they matter enough. And we just really wanted to give the old hug, which is what we were talking about in the writing room that day, because we were looking, I don't think the world wants to hear another love. I cannot do a love another love and break up some people? You care about that? Right now? I'm like, there's so much going on, right do they do care about you? But that day that's how we felt. So I was looking at some of the people that you guys have written with Walker obviously, when you're ate with Walker, he was an artist that was starting to have some roots as an artist, but was known as just a wonderful songwriter, great dude, just different thinker as far as Walker, but now Shane mcinally Trevor from Old Dominion, Josh Osborne like, these are real heavyweights. Yeah, the first couple of times you get in these rooms, are you so intimidated that you're afraid to speak? Or do you have so much confidence you're like, I know what I'm doing. It's a it's a middle ground. It's nice to have each other each other. Yes, we always have each other because we always write together. So that's really nice because being alone in that situation would be a little more terrifying to me. And our first write with uh Shane and Josh was actually UH over Skype or whatever, so it wasn't as intimidating because we weren't actually in the same room. But I remember logging onto the zoom call for that though, when I was like, I'm just praying I liked the song. I wasn't doubting that we would come up with something. I wasn't doubting their abilities or our abilities. I just wanted to like the song that I wrote with Shane mcinally and Josh Osborne because that's a big deal. And we waited for that right for how much longer years ever since moved to Nashvillette. So we wanted to write with uh and we did. We ended up cutting the song. We liked the song. So hell are you? But who is the coolest or a say, most famous person to comment? I wanted your TikTok's where you go? Oh that's pretty cool. They just comment this blue checkmark by their name and they commented on the TikTok. I don't know, but Lady Antebellin followed us the other day, so that was cool. Yeah, it's uh, you know stuff like that. I mean we I commented, well, we were part of this six five house early on and all the celebrities like Keith Urban, so our stuff a little big town share of the stuff. Um. So we got a lot of tension from that. Is there in that? And I've gotten to know not closely, but through some things like this Ashley Cook that's her name, right, Actually make sure I'm getting names right, Um, Priscilla blocked for maybe a little bit. What is that like with all of you there at the same time? All right again? Are you all fighting for air on that account? So none of us really knew what we were doing when we started it, Ashley and Chris who was the other guy who kind of started it, Chris Rudigger. He's just kind of a new artist doing that thing. No, no one, it's not dissolved. The main group that did it, we never really get together. It's kind of like we were all had so much time in pandemic. We all would meet and just make cool cover videos together and then everyone got really busy basically, which was great. You know, everyone's doing their own thing, their own soul. It's really fun for while it lasted. But we don't know, we haven't done it so long. I think it's um, you get in, you learn, you go, okay, this was cool, Now let me go do a thing. And we met really great people through it. I mean honestly, we talk to each other all the time, the people in the group and the artists, and we keep up and encourage everyone, you know, on whatever whatever everyone's doing and things like that. So that's fun. It wasn't. I really didn't feel like it was everyone fighting for the camera. It was everyone just kind of chilling, having a good time, getting to know each other sort of thing. Uh, was based off the l A thing, right, wasn't like so TikTok And I still I am kind of figuring this out even though we were in it. On TikTok, there's houses, So there's in l A. They have certain houses that really famous TikTok ers go to and create content, or like the Hype House or something. Yeah. Yeah, And so Ashley and Chris had this idea for the six one five house, which would be like nash the Nashville House. We're up and coming people who were bigger on TikTok could come together and collaborate based I don't know if it matters. I don't really consider you guys. I knew that you got when I was like looking over some notes, I was like, oh, yeah, I guess they did have a part of that, But I don't really consider you guys part of that foundation good or bad. No, No, it was just kind of it was super fun for while we did it, and uh, you know, we'll always kind of be a part of it, I guess, but we haven't been able to do it for a while. So you guys are both in your twenties. When I say, Travis Barker, Okay, what do you think of, well, now, Courtney Kardashian. But I know that's the relie, but yeah, this is the this is the thing that I have with you with my wife, and she's twenty nine and she doesn't know Travis Barker from Blank two. It's just a generation thing. She's like, I know Travis Barker from Courtney Garder. Actually I know. I was like, I shouldn't say that, but do you How do you know Travis Parker? Is that Corney Kardashia? Well, I mean I knew his name, but now I've just seen him in the news so much lately because of that, so that's the most recent memory of him. People compare you mostly to whom the Dixie Chicks, probably because everybody gets compared with everybody knew gets compared to somebody older. I mean, we don't really sound like the Dixie Chicks, but definitely like the vibe when we play um and just like that energy is something we definitely want to have in our career, and I think that's a great, great compliment. Um. And then and sometimes Sugarland just because I have more of an alto voice and I listened to Jennifer Nettles growing up so much, so sugar Land a little bit. Jennifer Nettles, you don't sound like Christian Bush fun that way. Um, But Sugarland Dixie Chicks are what surprising is we actually don't get compared to Maddie and Tait. Obviously they've been crushing it for plast six or seven years, and uh, I've actually never met them. They seem like IMPI they don't like you guys, but they are. But I was like, because obviously it's what you, you know, worry a little about, is you know, both girl duos and there people get to comparis against each other. And it's been actually really nice because I think we have such different sounds, um, just sonically. And but yeah, I think it's like there's to me, there's so much more room. I always say this too, It's like why does there have to be one girl? Do there's so much more room for all the girl duos or whatever. So but yeah, mostly Dixie Chicks And then uh, I don't know if people the Maddie and Take comparison, I haven't heard it. I understand get it when you say that. If people starting comparing you to Maddie and Take, that's awesome because that means are comparing you to people that have made it exactly. I mean we've gotten that. Like a couple of times. I just say thank you. I mean, what else am I supposed to say? And then then you grow your direction like it's awesome to be compared to somebody who is known enough to be compared to. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you guys did The Young and the Restless as you as your first major TV Yes, yeah, our first time in l A was doing that. What do you do? So? So we played r EP songs for the Sony Sync department out of l A. So this is for people listening. It's like for TV movies to play songs and shows, yes, commercially. So we were like expecting maybe one of our songs to be placed somewhere, but instead, after that meeting, um, one of the ladies, Abbey said she there's this thing I could cast you guys in for The Young and the Restless, the soap opera would would that be something y'all would like. And we've never really acted. I mean we've done stuff in school plays in high school. Did in the show too. Oh yeah, we had lines and everything. Oh yeah, it was a whole scene. So so we actually got the part, which was something I thought we were going to be casted for and not actually get it. You know how this industry is like, Okay, maybe that'll happen, maybe not on the soap oper Sure it's not gonna happen. So we we did get the parts and we flew to l A and we had just one little sing. I mean, it wasn't like this whole episode, but we had lines that we had to memorize. Do you remember your line? We love hearing that our songs means so much to our fans, or something like that. But they asked us as Tiger Lily in The Young and the Restless, so they wrote in their characters as a girl from the show was a huge Tiger Lily fan, so we surprised her in a coffee shop and then talk to her and sang it also makes people think that you're a bigger it's a bigger deal than you. She's a huge fan of Tiger why why aren't I you know? And then they said they've had Jewel and Katy Perry and Lionel Richie and all these really famous people in the show. And I'm like, how did we get this? And you sang a cafella on the show. We sang dig Yourself, the song we wrote with Shane and Josh and Trevor Um and we just, you know, because you always do that when you're in a coffee shop with someone, you just burst. The line was, would you like to hear one of our sneak preview of one of our new songs? I know you really did yourself? And I don't even have my guitar. It was full on like snaps, Yeah, here is some of dig Yourself. This is actually from the young and they just not everything's always about Joe because you've got against you show un will you really did yourself? Why don't you did yourself? A home making all the way to shut up? But I don't know, Fun says, So what's the next Obviously we'll get into the holidays so that it's kind of a checkout time in this town, but like, what's the plan for next year? Do you guys have I mean we've been writing a lot lately. I feel like we definitely go in seasons of full on promo, new music releasing, and now, um, we still have some fun stuff coming for the holidays actually, which is exciting because we never fully stop. Um, but we are just writing a lot and hopefully into the studio again with project number two next year. I mean, we don't have a date set or anything, and um, thankfully I think hopefully Shane will produce again. We we love that guy and it's been so fun working with him. And UM, I listened to actually the podcast that you did with Shane four years ago. Yeah, I listened to that this morning and I was like, I just feel like this is what I should listen to, and it was just fun hearing he only had Caitlin and Walker at that time, and uh, we're now with him and this label and it's just it's really fun. So I did reminisce on that this morning. Well, Caitlin and Walker are my favorites, but very incredible and have made such a point too, because I feel like they both were super talented, very undervalued, where I am not talented and very overvalued. So I took them both out with me just to make my shows better so that hey, I took them both on the road and they would just blow my audiences away and I would be like that, I'm talking about my favorite artist if you just give him a shot. Yeah, And so it's been so cool to see both of them explode, even Caitlin with Dominion. Now, oh yeah, they're incredible. Um, you got you're in at the right time with this group, and now we're very, very very lucky we were in good hands Monuments. It's such it was such an out of the box venture at first, but it wasn't so much out of the box. It was just a little ahead of its time. But now the time is catching up with it and they're sitting there waiting at the right time, taking the right decision. Had this huge, massive hit this year, and I'm just so happy for him and and all the success that he's had, and um and and all the Monument team, and it's just been fun seeing everyone really succeed this year, and you know, us getting to see the small parts of it all and uh, now being a part of this whole team. But yeah, we gotta sometimes to take a step back and look at ourselves. A year ago and say how. I mean, we're very We've worked really hard for it, so I'm not going to undermine us at all. But how did we get here? I mean, we're very, very fortunate, because I've always said it, Yeah, it takes hard work, talent, but it's also luck too. The right person just has to hear you got to work hard to get into look. Yes, work really hard to get to the look. I mean the goal is to work so hard that people are confused. How you became an overnight sensation? Yeah exactly, I mean, and it's to grind it out for ten fifteen years. All of a sudden something hits and they're like, wow, wow, loo, could you did it overnight? And you're like, okay, whatever you think, I'll take it. But you know, and it's such a luxury. And I'll say this to you now, before you get so tired. I was talking about Walker, and there are seasons of my years where I live so exhausted because it took me so long to hit in any way that it's you'll start to get irritable and tired and and a bit resentful. But that's what you worked for to be able to be tired and exhausted doing what you love to do, what you moved across the country to do. So this is gonna blow up for you, guys. I can I can see it. I don't say that too many people. This is this is gonna be a really big deal for you guys. You two is gonna be great, is gonna be fantastic. It's gonna snowball for you guys. But it's also gonna get so tiring. You're gonna be I mean, relationships are gonna be strained. You're gonna have to but it's awesome. And when that happens to you, you just remember, we're so lucky to be this tired. Yeah, I love that so much. And then you eventually get out of it and you'll you'll be like me and you have a shoe close like a hundred pair of shoes and get and it gets great again. But just the one nugget to take from me here who has been in a struggle situation for a long time, is that it gets really it's so much harder than it does right now. And I know you guys feel like you've worked so hard to get here. It gets so much harder. But as you're dying. Just remember you're so lucky to be dying because I get to see big things for you guys. Thank you so much much, thank you for that. I don't even say that to me. I didn't tell Shane that. I thought. I was like, Shane, you know we done a couple of years. I was like, show, we think about that so much. As we worked eight years to get to this point. We're just starting so much. We just signed our record deal and that's when you know, finally National starts paying attention and you start getting all these big things. But we're just starting. You have been a pleasure to talk to you. I did not expect to do an hour with you guys. Oh well, mostly I'm just like, hey, let's talk about some stuff. We'll see where it goes. But you guys have it. I don't exactly know what it is. But that's the best thing about it. I haven't heard saying in person. I've just heard your music on you know, you playing it on Spotify or watching you guys on Instagram um or TikTok. But you just have it. So and your sister, so I believe you will stay together. Yes, we will have to do you have to so let me say this, by the way, I'll play one more. Let's play Everybody's on Something. Here's the track four. Everybody's on s Everybody's on him model, but still everybody anything, Everybody's on song. I mean that might be a favorite one on the record. Honestly, you know, I played it last, and I hate to always say that's my favorite because but I think of the songs, I think that that one of that group of five songs is my favorite one, just because we'll get them all in. Mike here has known you forever. Time. It takes one to know one together. Some time it's not you know, but they know your someone whoever you can follow Tiger Lily and let me say it's spelled differently, like you mentioned, it's tie girl, yes, Billy, tie girl Lily. Yes, it's still said tiger Lily. Yes, but you could probably be confused easily tie t I girl Billy. That's even weird to say like that. That's perfect though, it's it's exactly how you just said Tiger Lily on TikTok. They're just over, you know, killing it everywhere. Let me go over to the room. Usually go to the guys. Mike is there anything you'd like to say before we wrap this up. I would say my one North Dakota story is when I was with you selling merch, I took a picture with somebody and I thought it was somebody who would recognize me from the show. And the reason they take a picture with me because they had never seen a Mexican. Sadly will say, there's not a lot of diversity North Kota. But I'm so sorry, but it was the nicest form of racism. I forgot about that. Yeah, I read anything you'd like to say to Tiger Lily. I don't have any racism story. That's great, but I think you all are great and I enjoyed it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Well. With that, we will will say goodbye, and I just don't don't expect this to be the last time that I see you guys. And most people, I would say, one out of five people after they leave this room at the radio show, they die or retire. So I feel good about you guys. I love that. I though they are you guys. Go check out Tiger Lily. Uh they're doing three more Dirk shows and that's never gonna happen again. I'm gonna tell you because they're they're blowing up all right. Good to talk to you guys, Thanks for having us M