Announcing Sugar & The Hi-Lows
Drum roll please...I am so excited to announce a new band project I am collaborating on with one of my favorite artist & friends in Nashville Trent Dabbs. It's called Sugar & The Hi-lows. It's been one of the most fun projects I've had the joy to be apart of in this Music City. If you are hungry for new music with an old sound Sugar & the Hi-lows is your sweet spot. We just released our first single digitally on Tuesday called SEE IT FOR YOURSELF. USA TODAY featured it on their playlist and said, ' The only thing better than the bluesy, garage-rock guitars is Trent Dabbs and Amy Stroup's vocal chemistry.” (Brian Mansfield, USA TODAY.com) We are releasing a full length album on the day of love, February 14, 2012. Stay updated with the latest via Twitter {@sugar_thehilows}, Facebook, & Sugarandthehilows.com. Be sure to grab your copy on iTUNES or AMAZON.com. Oh, and take a second and tweet a hi-lo to us, we'd love to hear from you. Pictures and behind the scenes videos are below...enjoy!
Behind the Scenes YOUTUBE:
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:
SUGAR & THE HI LOWS READY SWEET 50’s/60’s INSPIRED SELF-TITLED DEBUT OUT FEBRUARY 14, 2012
Single “See It For Yourself” To Be Released on iTunes November 15th
NASHVILLE, TN – Sugar & The Hi Lows, the duo of Nashville singer-songwriters Trent Dabbs and Amy Stroup, tap into the heart of the 50’s and soul of the 60’s on their sweet indie-pop self-titled debut. A throw back to a bygone era, its also a throw back to Trent’s Mississippi childhood.
Raised to the soundtrack of Motown, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and The Temptations, the memories the music from that era, “just brings this joy, it brings this happiness,” Trent explains. “With the climate of everything right now – with the economy – you could write the most depressing songs ever, but I really feel like the world needs light; the world needs lighthearted.”
Over the course of three years, the duo have co-written several songs, some of which have been placed on TV shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Parenthood,” and “Private Practice,” to name a few. But the tone has been moody and subdued.
It was during one of their regular co-writing sessions, “We got to talking about [Trent’s] dad and music from the ‘50s and ‘60s,” recalls Amy.“ “My father used to make blanket statements like, ‘It’s not good if you can’t dance to it,’” adds Trent. That day, the duo put a little pep in their step with “Can’t Be the Last Time,” written in less than two hours.
A departure in sound and style from their previous collaborations, the sugary sweet melodies shimmy and sway, while the lyrics are sharp and timeless. On “Can’t Be The Last Time,” Amy coyly sings “this games worth playing/I’ll have you saying/this can’t be the last time/when can I get your loving again.”
“We weren’t really trying to create a band,” explains Amy. “We just wrote this series of songs, but they didn’t feel like an Amy Stroup song or an Amy and Trent duet.” And so, the happy-go-lucky numbers that followed evolved into Sugar & The Hi Lows.
The full length debut Sugar & The Hi Lows will be released on February 14, 2012. In the meantime, the duo will drop the single “See It For Yourself” via iTunes on November 15th.