When you talk about Stephanie Quayle making it “the old fashioned way” in country music, the easy assumption is: it’s the honey blonde’s ability to book her own gigs, haul her own gear and make it happen in the bars, rodeos and fairs across the country. But the Bozeman, Montanan earned her country bonafides by living a life that’s far-flung and experienced.
“When I’d gotten out of high school, I’d taken off for California, which seemed so much closer — to be the artist of California country. I eventually made my way to Nashville, and I thought I had so much life experience by then,” she laughs, “and then some terrible business things happened. When things don’t work out, I just get defiant and try to figure them out.“
Raised on a working ranch with “hundreds and hundreds of acres of alfalfa and just under 100 head of Black Angus,” she developed grit without even thinking about it. She also grew up on the kind of country music cowboys love – and invokes Dolly, Tammy, Loretta and Patsy in a way that suggests immersion not drive-by name-checking for legitimacy.
She found her calling as a foreign exchange student in Fribourg, Switzerland, overhearing some young people saying their band needed a lead singer. She didn’t really speak the language, but – as is her wont – she figured it out. Resourceful, strong, smart and business savvy enough to defy the odds — nothing phases the woman who has since partnered with massive brands like Wrangler, Winnebago, Bass Pro Shops, Murdochs, Harley-Davidson and KOA, to name a few.
Quayle isn’t just the artist, either. Rather than have someone tell her what kind of music to make or how to build her career, she draws on her own life experience with “a different kind of female perspective.”
“I grew up with cowboys, and I consider my Mom the greatest cowboy I’ve ever known,” Quayle explains. “It’s not about gender, it’s a state of mind. Growing up like that, it showed me how much of a gap there is in cowboy culture versus everywhere else. When I’m home, it’s so vast, it gives you this perspective: how big the world is, how small we are, but also how great the opportunities!”
“Every time I’m home I jump on my horse or get in my truck. It’s such freedom, I feel untouchable – and I think without thinking about it, I brought my Montana ways into my music.”
With a strong dose of Western, an emphasis on baritone guitar and a frisky put-it-out there candor, the singer-songwriter leans straight into what’s on her mind. Paired with Alex Kline, award winning songwriter and one of the most notable female producers in Nashville, the two have expanded upon Quayle’s Big Sky Country roots and have further carved out a definitive lane in today’s country landscape.
Recorded almost entirely virtually during the pandemic, the upcoming self-titled album includes singles “By Heart,” “Wild Frontier,” and “I Want The World For You,” along with some brand new material like the comforting “Hang My Hat.” The collection of songs define a new era in Quayle’s musical journey. With a strong dose of Western, an emphasis on baritone guitar and a frisky put-it-out there candor, the singer-songwriter leans straight into what’s on her mind. Paired with Alex Kline, award winning songwriter and one of the most notable female producers in Nashville, the two have expanded upon Quayle’s Big Sky Country roots that cement her place in country music as an artist who authentically carries the genre’s roots into the contemporary landscape of today.
Quayle shares that she found for a lot of her life she’d been running away from Love. This music tells the story of her realization that Love is exactly what she was running towards the whole time.
“As many of us know, 2020 and 2021 changed the course of our live music experiences. Now in 2022, we have so much catching up to do with our fan family. This album is for them,” says Quayle. “It was requested by them and made with them in mind. This collection of music includes some songs they’ve heard, and a few they haven’t. It’s those new songs that really complete this chapter, and sets up what comes next. I hope each listener finds a piece of themselves in this album and the songs become the soundtrack to new memories and moments in their lives.”
It’s working. Rolling Stone Country named her “An Artist You Need To Know,” CMT tapped Quayle as part of their “Next Women of Country” franchise, The Kelly Clarkson Show featured Quayle as a performer and guest, her last three singles garnered over 100 million audience impressions, and the Grand Ole Opry has hosted the get-it-done artist multiple times. Cited by Billboard for her “captivating story-telling,” Quayle serves a powerful dose of self-propulsion tempered with a dollop of “go, girl” affirmation and the above mentioned truth-telling. With a vocal forward tilt, she blazes through her songs with equal parts of wonder, sinew and enough vinegar to shuck the sugary good girl role for an ever-evolving grown ass woman.
