Maybe April featuring Kate Lee & Forrest O’Connor (both of the Grammy winning Mark O’Connor Band)
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“Looking for the next emerging trend in country music? We have two words for you: girl groups…These are some of the players to watch for:…Maybe April…” — Phyllis Stark, Billboard
Maybe Aprilis a Country Americana group made up of Katy DuBois (Bishop) and Alaina Stacey. Hailing from Jonesboro, AR and Chicago, IL, they met in the summer of 2012 at a music industry camp in Nashville, TN. They wrote a song that would later take them to Los Angeles to play at a GRAMMY week event, along with Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, Allen Shamblin, Gavin DeGraw, J.D. Souther, Joy Williams from the Civil Wars, and many others. Since then, amongst hundreds of shows, the girls have opened for Brandy Clark and Sarah Jarosz, played Pilgrimage Music Festival and IBMA’s Wide Open Bluegrass Festival, and had their video “Last Time” premiered on CMT. Maybe April is recognized for their harmonies, strength as instrumentalists, original songs, and shared roles as frontwomen, each adding something different from their musical backgrounds to create a unique sound somewhere in between Americana and Country. Their love for each other and their music continues to push them in their endeavors in Nashville, where they have been based since 2013.
Americana duo Kate Lee & Forrest O’Connor earned national recognition as co-lead singers and primary songwriters of the O’Connor Band, a group they co-founded along with O’Connor’s father, seven-time CMA Award-winning violinist Mark O’Connor. They wrote the majority of the band’s first album, Coming Home, which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Bluegrass Albums Chart and won a GRAMMY Award in 2017.
Both independently and as part of the O’Connor Band, Lee and O’Connor have collaborated with Paul Simon, Zac Brown, Kenny Loggins, Clint Black, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Dan Tyminski, and many others. Their music has accumulated more than half a million streams on Spotify, and they have performed at the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium, and Fenway Park, as well as some of the most prominent festivals and performing arts centers around the country.
Lee and O’Connor were introduced in 2014 by Nashville-based arranger Kris Wilkinson (Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum, Brandi Carlile), who believed their powerful, expressive vocals and writing sensibilities would align. O’Connor, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard and former Tennessee State Mandolin Champion, shared a love of ‘60s classic rock, ‘70s folk rock, ‘90s country, bluegrass, and modern pop music with Lee, a Belmont graduate and violinist who frequently backed up stars ranging from John Legend and Kelly Clarkson to Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood at the CMA Awards and CMA Country Christmas shows. They soon began performing together as a duo, and their first EP, The Demonstration, reached #13 on the iTunes Singer-Songwriter chart with no label or promotion campaign. After performing for three years with the O’Connor Band, they’re excited to focus again on their duo project with the help of a backing band featuring two-time national mandolin champion Isaac Eicher, GRAMMY Award-winning bassist (and Doctor of Music) Geoff Saunders, and country vocalist Mallory Eagle.