Duo kicks off Omni Summer Country Concert Series
Written by Jason Mack | | jmack@toledofreepress.comUpdated: The performance of JaneDear Girls was canceled on May 25. The JaneDear Girls are coming to Toledo on May 26 to kick off the Omni Summer Country Concert Series between tour dates with Jason Aldean and Brad Paisley.
Danelle Leverett and Susie Brown
Danelle Leverett and Susie Brown met six years ago when Brown was playing fiddle for a singer-songwriter in Nashville, and the duo was formed.
“Kris [Bergsnes], a mutual friend, dragged me out to her show and introduced us,” Leverett said. “I called her a couple weeks later to go swimming. We both had our instruments in the back of our cars, so we ditched swimming to write our first song together. We called Kris to help us finish the song. He noticed that first day we were a duo.”
The two members of the duo took different paths to their musical careers. Brown began playing fiddle when she was four years old and grew up in a family band. Leverett started in gymnastics when she was three years old and eventually traveled to Germany to train for the pre-Olympic trials. When she was 13 years old, she quit gymnastics in favor of soccer, basketball, volleyball and track.
“I played sports my entire life, and I broke my wrist pole vaulting when I was 17,” Leverett said. “I had my brother show me a couple of chords on the guitar and started writing songs. We come from two different backgrounds. She’s from the performing side of things, and I moved to Nashville mostly just to write songs. We’ve learned a lot from each other over the last six years. I’ve learned how to be a better performer from her, and she’s learned how to co-write. It’s been really fun.”
The band’s self-titled debut album peaked at No. 10 on the US Country charts. Brown wrote the debut single “Wildflower” about growing up in Utah, and the song reached No. 15 on the charts. Leverett wrote the current single “Shotgun Girl,” which has already cracked the Top 40.
“It’s really exciting to see a song you love and believe in get a shot at country radio,” Leverett said. “This song is very autobiographical. I wrote it at a time when I had a boyfriend and I loved riding around in his truck with him. I helped him pick out the truck he had. I found the truck I thought would best suit us. It had a bench seat, and little did I know bench seats aren’t cool anymore.”
The JaneDear Girls have been touring with Jason Aldean on the “My Kinda Party Tour” and are just starting a tour with Brad Paisley.
“Jason Aldean is one of our heroes in country music right now,” Leverett said. “He’s paving the way for new artists like us to do something different. He loves to rock, and so do we. Every night we get to watch and learn from him, and we get to try to keep up with him. He’s really at the top of his game right now. He’s on fire. For us to be part of his really big tour was an honor.”
The Omni is located at 2567 W Bancroft St. Tickets are available for $10.77 and can be purchased through TicketMaster.com, Culture Clash Records and the Omni box office.
Tags: In Concert, JaneDear Girls, The Omni
