Saturday, June 14, 2014

Band Interview: Kaylee Rutland

By Jake O'neil


Eighteen-year-old Kaylee Rutland, a Texan contemporary country singer and songwriter, will be playing this year's Dallas Music Fest in it's twelfth consecutive run. Kaylee's musical inspiration comes from artists such as Reba McEntire, Sarah Evans, and Carrie Underwood. "Music has always been something I've wanted to do," says Kaylee, "it's been a huge part of my life since I was a kid." Kaylee's songs primarily deal with themes of friends, faith, and love - things.

"If I hear someone say something that I think would work great in a song, I'll take that knowledge with me and work with it to write my lyrics," she says. When Kaylee is writing songs, she says she is hard on herself because she wants the lyrics and music to sound as good as they can. Once Kaylee has the basic lyrics down for a song, she takes what she wrote and her and her band meet up, jam through it, and bounce ideas off of each other.

Kaylee and her band plan on releasing their second CD sometime in the near future - it has been about a year since her first EP was released. Kaylee also recently wrapped up recording a song and filming a music video with country stars, Jamie O'Neal and Colt Ford. "It was a real blessing to record with such nice and down to earth people like Jamie and Colt," said Rutland. When Kaylee was just starting out in music, she says her biggest challenge was being comfortable on stage in front of a crowd when she originally felt awkward being in front of so many people.

If Kaylee could open up for any band or performer in the world, she would want to open up for her idol, Reba McEntire. Kaylee's favorite show she has played so far has been the Pregame Party on the Plaza - a two-hour set prior to a Dallas Stars hockey game. She has been lucky enough to play this event twice. "It was freezing cold but I loved every second of it!" she says.

As advice to other up-and-coming performers much like herself, Kaylee says to listen to your loved ones and not the skeptics. "The ones you need to listen to are the ones who believe in you," she says, "if you believe in yourself, then other people will start to believe in you. If you believe in yourself, you will succeed." Kaylee ended up playing on one of the headlining spots during the 2014 Dallas Music Festival, and we wish her all the best in her future career. Fore more information on Kaylee, you can visit her website or Facebook page.




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