DOWLOAD BIO
MISS WILLIE BROWN
BONAFIDE
“We have fought for everything to be as real as it could possibly
be,” says Amanda Watkins, “so to say that this album is bonafide,
that’s all we’ve wanted.”
“The purity of something being exactly what it is—that’s the
definition of ‘bonafide’,” adds Kasey Buckley. “So that just had to
be the title of the album.”
Kasey and Amanda—usually found finishing each other’s sentences,
talking over each other, making each other laugh and cry—are the
two singers and songwriters who make up Miss Willie Brown, and the
release of their album, BONAFIDE, marks the arrival of a major new
force in country music. With raw, honky-tonk-style emotion and
irresistible rock & roll swagger, the duo is both a reminder of
the classic power of a song and a fresh look toward music’s
future.
“I love the Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Some people think
that’s not ladylike—but we don’t want to just give you music, we
want to entertain you,” says Amanda.
The Miss Willie Brown saga begins, like so many of the best
stories, in a barbecue restaurant. Less than four years ago, West
Virginia-born Amanda, an aspiring songwriter, was the new girl
showing up for work at Baby Blue’s BBQ in Los Angeles. Kasey, a
Texas native and struggling actress, was the head waitress. (“I
thought, ‘she makes the schedules, so she’s gotta like me!,’”
recalls Amanda.)
After determining that they were both interested in writing songs,
they made plans to sit down and see what they could come up with
together. Amanda was skeptical—collaborative writing sessions
during a stint in Nashville had never worked out—but discovered
that she and Kasey clicked immediately. That first night, the pair
wrote four songs; “Gospel Song” would eventually become the final
song on their self-released EP, BLACKOUTS AND POLAROIDS.
“From there it really was just one thing after another,” says
Kasey. “If we’re writing these songs, I guess we should sing ‘em,
so let’s come up with a name. I guess if we’re playing shows, we
should get flyers, and we’ll need to let people know what we sound
like, so let’s make an album. And suddenly, we got signed.”
No doubt it feels like a rocket launch to Miss Willie Brown, who
took their name from one of their early songs, “Big Willie Brown,”
which was inspired by Kasey’s father. But these women had a lot of
work to do in a hurry. They may have connected instantly, but they
still needed to figure out how to harness and focus their
creativity. “When we first got together,” says Amanda, “she could
write all these words and stories, and I could write a melody and a
chorus—I was solid in getting to the point of the song. But our
weaknesses got stronger from being together.”
“Amanda can write music that sounds like what I’m saying,” says
Kasey, describing the pair’s chemistry, “and I can write words that
sound like her music.”
In addition to growing as songwriters, Miss Willie Brown needed to
find its identity as a singing and performing duo—especially since,
unlike most lead-and-harmony groups, the two women split lead
vocals from song to song. For Kasey, who had never sung previously
in any serious way, the learning curve was brutally steep.
“I’ve been singing since I was five,” says Amanda, “and what the
band and I have been able to learn in front of empty rooms, Kasey
had to do in front of 400 people, or on national television. I’ve
spent twenty years learning what she had to learn in six
months.”
“Good Fight” is a song that made us feel like we had arrived at a
whole new level,” says Kasey. “We’re honest, truthful women, and we
tell our truths. But that was the first song where everything came
together and it was what everyone was looking for, including
us.”
As word started to get out about Miss Willie Brown, one great
source of pride for Amanda and Kasey was how far they were able to
take the project on their own, with full control and independence.
The song, “Mad Dog” got placed prominently on Lifetime’s ARMY WIVES
and they became the first unsigned band ever to play late night
television on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Though the group has been introduced to the world with such bad-ass
calling cards as the title track to BONAFIDE or the album’s
funked-up “Sick of Me” (“They say that playing with fire/Kinda like
we are/Leaves you bleeding”), Miss Willie Brown offers more tender
emotions on songs like “Freeland,” the story of two women waiting
for their men to return from fighting overseas. “It’s about how the
people at home sacrifice for our country, too,” says Kasey. “We did
those other songs on national television, but since we put
‘Freeland’ up as a little home video on Youtube, we get emails
every day about it.”
As their songs finalize into the recordings on BONAFIDE, Kasey and
Amanda are also quick to give credit to producer, Keith Stegall,
who has worked with the likes of Alan Jackson, George Strait, and
Zac Brown. “Keith really jumped into our heads in terms of knowing
what we like,” says Amanda, while Kasey adds that “it was
astounding to find someone as connected to our vision as we
are.”
Through the high-speed adventure of the last few years, the women
of Miss Willie Brown have been able to stay laser-focused on what
is most important to them. “Amanda and I made a promise to each
other a long time ago that we would do whatever was best for the
song,” says Kasey. “It’s hard to do a lot of the time, because
interests conflict and collide. But the song is everything.”
That conviction, passion, and pure honesty shine through on the
songs of BONAFIDE. Amanda Watkins and Kasey Buckley have come a
long, long way in a very short time, but that hasn’t rattled their
confidence or slowed their ambition.
“There’s too many things that are serendipitous about our
relationship,” says Kasey. “We don’t believe in coincidences. We
believe that we were brought together for a reason, and we’re going
to ride this train as long as it goes.”
