Brandon and Jamie Fraley first met each other while attending Belmont University in Nashville, TN. Fans may recognize them from touring with other artists. Brandon has touring with the likes of Gretchen Wilson and was the background vocalist & piano player for Danny Gokey for many years. Likewise, Jamie has toured with Jaci Velasquez and most recently was the background vocalist for Carrie Underwood from 2008 to 2012. I was first introduced to Two Story Road's music through being a fan of Jamie while she was touring with Carrie. They are two of the most down to earth and talented people I have had the pleasure of meeting. If you have the opportunity to see them in concert and/or meet them I wouldn't pass it up. Thanks again Brandon and Jamie for taking the time to do this interview. :-)
1. How would you describe your sound?
I guess you could say we fit into the "country pop" category. We definitely enjoy combining the instrumentation of country music and embedding some modern day sounds into it. We recently played to a packed out crowd at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville and there was a large group of people doing line dancing for pretty much every song we played. We absolutely love seeing stuff like that. It's always a nice feeling when you know you audience is having as much fun as we are on stage.
2. What are a few things you learned from touring with Carrie Underwood, Danny Gokey, Gretchen Wilson, etc that you will use in your own career?
We get asked this question a lot and the answer is always the same. Hard work always pays off in the end. No matter if you're just starting out as a new artist, like we are, or you're one of the biggest artists on the planet, like Carrie is, you have to continue to work hard every day. From what we've seen over the years, it seems like success for an artist can come & go like waves in the ocean. When you've got it, you need to ride that wave for as long as you possibly can.
3. What do you think is the key to having your music heard and a successful career?
We believe that whatever kind of success we have will be a direction reflection of our fans. Because of that, we try really hard at engaging them through social media. We want them to feel connected to us. We feel like the more that fans can feel a part of the process of a new act (like us) growing in popularity, the more they'll take ownership of it and know they played a huge role in the growth. It's so important to us that they feel appreciated and never taken for granted. Whenever we win our first televised Country Music Award, we're only going to have a few moments to thank people. Most artists usually thank the fans during that speech and of course we will too. However, we hope that we will have done enough that when we finally get to say "We want to thank our fans for being so incredible to us," we'll have the type of connection with them that they'll know how much we mean it!
4. What are a few of your favorite venues to play in and around the Nashville area?
We've been lucky enough to play the Wildhorse several times now and there's always a great energy when we're on that stage. We recently had the extreme honor of playing our first show at the Bluebird Cafe and that was probably the most magical room we've been in. The Listening Room is another place we always look forward to playing at. However, if we're being perfectly honest, our absolute favorite venue is one we've played at countless times, just never as Two Story Road. To us, the Grand Ole Opry is the most coveted stage in Nashville to be on. Without sounding corny, we believe with everything that's inside of us that Two Story Road will be standing in the center of that stage one day soon.
5. Who are a few artist that you would love to open for?
This is another question we get asked a lot. For us, touring is more than just performing each night. Our answer to this question factors in the whole "tour life". Whoever you're on tour with, you see a lot of. It's always nice when you can tour with people who you're already friends with. With that in mind, we're really good friends with Carrie and Hunter as well as their entire band and crew. We also think that our music is similar to theirs and would like to believe that their fans would enjoy our music. Keith Urban, Little Big Town, & Lady Antebellum would also make the list.
6. Which of your songs do you enjoy playing live most and why?
That's a tough question because when you're a songwriter, you love all your songs. It really depends on the audience we're playing to. Overall, "By The Light Of The Moon" is always a fun one to do. It's got a good beat, it almost has a little 'swampy' feel to it, & the lyrics are fun to sing. We'll end it there because if we start listing more, it'll never end! :-)
7. What is the best advice you have been given and who gave it to you?
This answer is similar to the one we gave earlier about learning things from other artists. The advice wasn't exactly spoken to us, it was shown to us. Over the years, seeing Carrie's success continue to climb, so did her work ethic. We can't begin to tell you how hard she works every day. Some people may assume that when you reach that level, you can just kind of "coast". Not her. As popular as she may be in country music, she never stops perfecting her craft. I'm sure we can all agree that just when we thought her voice couldn't get any stronger, a new song comes out & she wows us like never before. Case in point, how absolutely amazing does she sound on "Something In The Water"!?
8. Who are a few of your musical influences?
Brandon - Like millions of others I was a huge Stevie Wonder fan growing up. As I started taking piano lessons, I started gravitating to other piano players like Michael W. Smith & Bruce Hornsby. Once I began singing & really enjoying it, I was listening to artists across many genre's. Mariah Carey, Amy Grant, Boyz II Men, Vince Gill and Brian McKnight to Bryan White.
Jamelle - I was also a huge fan of Mariah Carey. I would sing along to her records in my room at the top of my lungs to the point that my parents had to come upstairs to get me for dinner, because I couldn't hear them YELLING for me from downstairs. Whitney Houston, Martina McBride, & Faith Hill were also frequently blasting away.
9. When you are writing a song, which typically comes first the lyrics or the melody?
There's not an exact science to songwriting but more often than not, we start with lyrics, or at least the idea behind the story of the song. The melody typically gets written as the lyrics start to come forward. I'm sure if you asked 5 other songwriters, you could quite possibly get 5 different answers. Regardless of the process, it's always an adventure creating something from nothing.
10. Who would you like to write or collaborate with given the opportunity?
The easiest way to answer that is by saying which artists we hear in our own music. Having nothing to do with the fact that we're friends with some of these folks, we'd have to say that we could really do something fun collaborating with Carrie, Hunter, Keith, Little Big Town, or Rascal Flatts. Again, we feel like our style is somewhat similar to those artists. We feel like at one point or another, they've all influenced our music, so working with them would be a very organic thing to do.
11. If you were given the opportunity to do a CMT Crossroads episode who would you want to do it with?
Wow. Great question. We're pretty sure someone already beat us to the punch, but we've known Ryan Tedder from One Republic for over 10 years. We've loved the music he & his band have put out & always thought it'd be fun to re-connect with them for a Crossroads event.
12. What song do you wish you had written?
Brandon - "The House That Built Me" - I've got a list of favorite songs but I distinctly remember where I was when I heard that song for the first time. Every single word of that lyric, in my opinion is perfect.
Jamelle - hmmm. Thousands of possible answers for this one. I think i'll go with one of my oldest favorites. Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance". What a song!
13. What are 3 of your favorite albums (any genre) right now?
We often after the same taste in music. We're both big John Mayer fans & "Continuum" & "Battle Studies" have been playing a lot lately in the house. Sara Bareilles's "Kaleidoscope Heart" & "Little Voice" constantly resurface in our playlist as well.
14. What is your favorite part(s) of being a country music duo?
Being an artist in general is a lot of work. We feel like the biggest advantage we have is being able to divvy up the responsibility between the two of us. Everything from working the stage, writing a song, to doing interviews. We are constantly helping each other out. We're both good at different things so it's great to be able to lean on one another depending on the task that's in front of us.
15. When you begin touring, what are 3 things you will require on your rider?
The biggest thing is having a wide variety of gluten free food. With both of us having allergies to gluten, that's a must-have! We both have a fondness for dark chocolate so I wouldn't be surprised if that makes the list. Also, we could probably survive for quite some time on pistachios alone, so that would be a great rider item. Other than that, we're pretty easy going people. Who knows, maybe after enough time passes we'll learn how to be diva's & demand only green M&M's. :-)
16. Who are your celebrity crushes?
Ok. I (Brandon) personally think this type of question has a double standard. I think it's fine for a girl to think some guy is cute. However, I don't think that guys (especially those who are married) have the same ability to be honest. However, you asked the question, so we'll answer.
Brandon - I think the blonde from Two Story Road is smokin' hot. (c'mon did you really expect a different answer?)
Jamelle - Aww. Well, I had a whole 'nother answer starting to formulate in my head, but I guess now i'm supposed to say B.Fraley!! Just kidding...obviously he is my one and only. But I don't think he'd mind too much if I confess that I kinda adore Wolverine from X-Men. Yep, Hugh Jackman. But mainly only when he plays Wolverine. There's just something about that mutant...
Brandon - Ok. I'm changing my answer now...HA!
17. What are a few of your favorite gluten free foods?
Our favorite gluten free foods are the same as everyone else's. Pizza, pasta, chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, pancakes,etc...I don't think there's any food you could think of that doesn't have a gluten free version. The problem is trying to remember though the excitement that just because it's gluten free. doesn't mean it's fat or calorie free...yikes! :-)
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