Favorite Country Duo/Bands that never broke out (2008-2014)

[sabre14]

By request, I'm doing a poll for 2008-2014 (I first did a 2004-2007 poll a couple days ago). I decided not to include groups that came out over the past calendar year, and not including duos/groups who are in the midst of breaking out (Cadillac Three, Brothers Osborne, Old Dominion, Striking Matches). I'm confident that Brothers Osborne will break out anyway. I know the Railers can still salvage their record deal but I'll include them as well. I also didn't include the Pistol Annies since Miranda and Ashley have had plenty of success in their careers.

There was a ton of duos/groups that couldn't break out over the past seven years. If I didn't include one that you feel should have been, then just write them into your post. Please understand there were a ton of groups I had to put down and this took me forever, lol. :)

Tags: Kanenrá:ke, Ten Pound Hammer, .indulgecountry, Zeebz, kw9461, trebor, bigfan101, Dustin J., rsmatto, someguy, jhomes87, Andy, zack97, zjames :)

You may choose up to 10 answers.

[.indulgecountry]

I didn't actually know any of the bands in the other list well enough to vote for any of them, but this is better. I know almost all of these, lol.

Joey + Rory is my runaway favorite here. I own several of their albums (4/6) and just think Joey's voice is marvelous and their musical style is also my favorite type of country, so they're one of my fave country acts. <3

Also voted for:
The JaneDear Girls
Edens Edge
Kate & Kacey
Stealing Angels
Natalie Stovall and the Drive

[bigfan101]

100% agree. Joey and Rory should have been huge. I wish Scott Borchetta had been a judge that season and gave them a shot on his label.

[Deleted]

Edens Edge

Are you sure with Natalie Stovall & The Drive. I think the jury still out there. Also I consider it basically Natalie and that's it.

Hopefully LoCash can re-emerge.

Glad though The JaneDear Girls didn't break thru. Sorry .indulge the lyrics were cringe inducing.

[zjames]

I didn't use all my votes yet because I want to familiarize myself with some of these bands, but Blackberry Smoke is by far my favorite.

I'm super happy they got a #1 country album this year.

[trebor]

Due West
LoCash (Cowboys)
Josh Abbott Band
The Henningsen
High Valley
Sweetwater Rain
Blackberry Smoke
Branch & Dean
Blackjack Billy
Chasin' Crazy

[sabre14]

Jun 29, 2015 16:48:57 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

I didn't actually know any of the bands in the other list well enough to vote for any of them, but this is better. I know almost all of these, lol.

Hence why I didn't tag you in the first poll, lol.

Glad you can participate. I love reading peoples responses in these threads. :)

[sabre14]

Jun 29, 2015 16:51:59 GMT -5 raylatch98 said:

Are you sure with Natalie Stovall & The Drive. I think the jury still out there. Also I consider it basically Natalie and that's it.

They have no record deal. RPM shuttered last year. Natalie and her band can still break out but I find it unlikely, at least for the immediate future.

Natalie makes it a point to highlight her band on purpose, because she wants them to be highlighted. If they weren't a group they wouldn't have branded them as such when "Baby Come On With It" came out. It's similar to when Jonathan Singleton came out with his group, The Grove.

[Deleted]

Jun 29, 2015 16:59:45 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Jun 29, 2015 16:51:59 GMT -5 raylatch98 said:

Are you sure with Natalie Stovall & The Drive. I think the jury still out there. Also I consider it basically Natalie and that's it.

They have no record deal. RPM shuttered last year. Natalie and her band can still break out but I find it unlikely, at least for the immediate future.

Natalie makes it a point to highlight her band on purpose, because she wants them to be highlighted. If they weren't a group they wouldn't have branded them as such when "Baby Come On With It" came out. It's similar to when Jonathan Singleton came out with his group, The Grove.

Wow I had no idea. I thought they were still signed. Shame really they are all so talented.

[LBTrocks]

Branch & Dean
Due West
JaneDear Girls
The Farm
Natalie Stovall and The Drive
Eden's Edge
Carter's Chord
Stealing Angels
Joey + Rory (because of "Cheater Cheater")
LoCash Cowboys

[trebor]

Jun 29, 2015 16:53:01 GMT -5 trebor said:

trebor's list of bands/duos    

Most of them are still around and doing good; just not on mainstream radio and maybe it's better that way.
I guess this is no longer a secret: I do adore High Valley. They are improving from album to album.
The Josh Abbott Band: loved last year's "Hangin' Around"; IMO they're way not finished yet. Hope Atlantic will do a proper work with their next project.
Chasin' Crazy are fun and hugely talented; the lead's vocals are amazing! They are still pretty young so everything is still open for them. "This Is How We Do Summertime" was just badly themed and timed.

[sabre14]

Jun 29, 2015 17:27:17 GMT -5 LBTrocks said:

The Farm

"Home Sweet Home" should have been huge. I guess it was a good chart run since it lasted 40 weeks but it was so refreshing when it came out.

[Deleted]

Edens Edge-

Incredibly nice people, I never cared for "Amen" but I thought their album was very strong.

Josh Abbott Band

The Farm-

Pretty quirky group, their debut was definitely a bit weird but I liked it

Blackberry Smoke-

I disagree about them being in here, they had a #1 album this year with "Holding All The Roses" so I'd say their doing pretty good lol.

Joey + Rory

[sabre14]

Jun 29, 2015 18:00:22 GMT -5 zack97 said:

Blackberry Smoke-

I disagree about them being in here, they had a #1 album this year with "Holding All The Roses" so I'd say their doing pretty good lol.

Radio airplay wise, Blackberry Smoke haven't broken through. Probably because there isn't a true format for their southern rock style of country, even when they had a stable label home.

It was either not include some groups that have succeeded in other platforms (album sales, Texas following, Canadian following, secondary airplay like Branch & Dean, etc.) or just include everyone who hasn't broken big at mainstream radio. I agree Blackberry Smoke has done well for themselves but not enough to not have me include them in this poll that is just for fun. :)

[Deleted]

I have quite a few of these artists' songs in my library, but some of them I never really listened to all that much, or its been years since I've listened to them.

The only ones I felt strongly enough about to vote for were The Dirt Drifters, Josh Abbott Band, The Farm, Blackberry Smoke, American Young, and The Railers.

I realize that Blackberry Smoke has built quite a name for themselves, but I voted for them because we're talking about country radio here, so even though they had a #1 album earlier this year and have built up quite a following on the touring circuit, they were unable to land in a favorable label situation to get them on country radio. With Josh Abbott Band, I'm not really sure what's going on there. They were removed from the Warner Nashville website recently, although Matt from Roughstock insists that they're still there (I doubt it--I've never seen an artist taken down from a website only to still be with the label). JAB signed with Warner back in 2012, but they only got 1 single, "Hangin' Around", which stalled at #47 last year. Whether they're still with Atlantic or not remains to be seen, but I do believe that they've been dropped by WMN.

The Railers are another act that is actually still with Warner Nashville, and I bet they'll get a chance with another single either later this year or sometime in 2016. Unfortunately I have my doubts that The Railers will have much success at radio, but we'll just have to wait and see there. American Young is still with Curb but they're highly unlikely to break through; I really enjoyed their 2013 single "Love Is War". I liked The Farm a lot, but the one artist here that I really, really like is The Dirt Drifters, and I'm sad that they hung up their hats.

[zaclord 🌈]

In no particular order, the ones that I would have loved to see succeed:

Carter's Chord
Joey + Rory
Caitlin & Will
The Harters
Edens Edge
Josh Abbott Band
The Henningsens

[gonecountry]

JAB and Dirt Drifters are top down two of my favorite groups of all country groups. JAB is just a fun group and the Dirt Drifters album was a masterpiece IMO.

I did like Harters song If I Run. Joey and Rory had talent.

Others I don't know that well.