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The JaneDear Girls' hit country song "Wildflower" features a solo played on a vintage electric Mandocaster mandolin bought in Salt Lake City.
The young woman singing lead is Alpine native Susie Brown, one-half of the flowering female duo.
The group is, without hyperbole, on fire: It's the most successful country act with a Utah connection since the height of SHeDAISY's fame. (Sorry, Julianne Hough.)
The JaneDear Girls are opening shows for the equally red-hot Jason Aldean all across America, and last month, they were nominated for the Academy of Country Music Awards' Top New Vocal Duo or Group. That nomination came even before their debut self-titled album was released, followed by a Feb. 6 mention in the New York Times "Playlist" feature.
This is the moment that Brown, 26, former homecoming queen of Highland's Lone Peak High School, has been dreaming about since she moved to Nashville seven years ago.
"I really felt like [Nashville] was where I should be," said Brown, a jet-black-haired singer whose short bangs and bright red lips bring to mind Bettie Page, the late queen of pin-ups.
Behind that pin-up-quality smile • Brown's eye-catching image might hide the fact that the Utah musician is no overnight success. She started developing serious musical chops when she picked up the violin at age 4. She won her age group in the Utah State Fiddle Contest at age 10 and played other instruments along with her six siblings in The Charlie Brown Family Band, which performed at ski resorts, fairs and This Is the Place Monument.
The JaneDear Girls' record label, Warner Music Nashville, believes the act will appeal to fans of musicians such as Shania Twain. "They are young, youthful and fun," said Scott Hendricks, senior vice president of artists and repertoire for the Nashville label. "They're putting their stake in the ground. They are covering a spot that is missing in country music."
Brown was raised in Alpine, the same Utah County hometown of The 5 Browns (no relation). She was the youngest of seven and was born in the family home.
Her childhood friend Amy Kendall met Brown when both played violin in Highland's Mountain Ridge Junior High orchestra. Brown was in the first violin section, and Kendall was in the second. "She would practice five to six hours a day," said Kendall, who said friends used to call Brown "Curly Sue" because of the ringlets she wore pulled back into a ponytail. "I knew she would end up in music."
Despite describing her and Brown's group of friends as "definitely nerdy" and "not in the popular crowd," Kendall said Brown always stood out, at school or at church. (Brown is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) "She fit in anywhere," Kendall said. "She's always been very, very sweet. Everyone liked her. She was just so nice, cute, a tiny little thing."
Most of Brown's free time was spent line-dancing at Salt Lake City's Club 600, playing in her family band and performing in a high-school band called the City Cowboys. After high school she attended Utah Valley University for two years, but felt uninspired in classes such as woodworking.
Nashville calling • After an unsuccessful audition for the televised reality show "Nashville Star," Brown said she knew she had to go to Nashville to pursue what she really wanted to do. "When I first moved to Nashville, I didn't know anyone," she said.
Luckily, the first weekend she went to church and met Annelise LeCheminant, an aspiring singer-songwriter originally from Bountiful. Besides playing music at church, LeCheminant showed Brown around town and helped her get settled. LeCheminant said she was immediately impressed by Brown's talent, unassuming kindness and dedication.
"I've seen people come with a sense of entitlement, expecting a record deal in a year," said LeCheminant, now a musician in Los Angeles. "It doesn't work that way. [But] she's a tough cookie. She knew what she wanted, and she knows what hard work can do."
It wasn't Brown's low soprano that first made inroads in Nashville — it was her skill as an instrumentalist. She began backing country singer Shannon Brown, who charted four singles on the Billboard country charts including her 2002 cover of Deborah Allen's "Baby I Lied."
Brown's name started floating around the music scene, and Trisha Yearwood eventually invited her to play guitar for her band.
Musical sisters • When Brown wasn't on tour, she worked with Danelle Leverett, her future partner in The JaneDear Girls. Six years ago, Brown met Leverett, a singer, guitarist and banjo player, at a songwriters showcase. They exchanged numbers, and Leverett called Brown two weeks later. "We sounded so much alike," Brown said. "We sounded like sisters, with one voice. We wrote three songs that first weekend."
Soon, Leverett quit her job. Brown would arrive at Leverett's house every morning at 10 a.m., and they would write songs together until 11 p.m. Compared with Brown, Leverett was a late bloomer. "Danelle didn't become a musician until she was 17," Brown said. Instead, she focused on high-school gymnastics and track and field; a pole-vaulting injury led her to pick up the guitar.
Once together, the duo clicked. They wrote hundreds of songs together and began playing showcases around town, but it took time before they could eliminate taco soup and other cheap dishes from their diets.
It might have been discouraging — to someone else. "She never mentioned quitting," said Kendall, adding that over the years when she called to talk to her friend, it always seemed as if Brown were heating another bowl of ramen noodles. "She never stopped what she was doing."
Making it in the music world takes persistence and patience. Or as LeCheminant says: "Nashville can beat people up," adding that Brown is "very driven, and very smart."
On her way to rockin' success • In 2009, the pair's big break came when they met John Rich, a successful solo artist, producer and songwriter who had been in Lonestar and Big & Rich. Rich asked to hear two songs, and they played "Baby It's You" and "Saturdays in September."
Soon thereafter, Rich arranged for the young women to meet Hendricks, who has produced an astonishing string of 82 Top 10 country hits, 45 of which went all the way to No. 1. He has backed successful musicians such as Alan Jackson, Blake Shelton, Trace Adkins and Faith Hill, among many others.
"Rich is a persuasive guy, but it didn't take much persuading," Hendricks said. "They're all-American girls. They're both class acts. These two girls are very driven, and they work very hard, and they've worked for a long time."
Hendricks signed the two to a deal in 2009. "The people I see make it offer something that is unique and different," he said. What sets the duo apart is that besides writing their own music, they have an edge. They recorded 17 songs for the album (including B-sides), and 16 were up-tempo, Hendricks said. "They're rockin'."
Partnering The JaneDear Girls with the newest country superstar, Aldean, is a good match, Hendricks believes. Both appeal to a youthful audience, and like The JaneDear Girls, Aldean will "rock your face off," Hendricks said.
That is, Aldean will rock the faces off everyone except for The JaneDear Girls. Their smiling faces should be around for a good long while.
The JaneDear Girls
The duo's debut self-titled album was released Feb. 1.
Watch "Wildflower" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC0IhlquYlI
Watch Susie Brown at age 10 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi0mMkYwVOs
Vote for The JaneDear Girls in the Academy of Country Music Awards' Top New Vocal Duo or Group award at http://www.acmcountry.com/home.