Feels Like Freedom: Twin Kennedy at Indie Week 2015

Born and raised in a small British Columbia, twin sisters Carli and Julie Kennedy have been performing together, and generally attached at the hip (figuratively) since they could talk.

We sat down with the girls of Twin Kennedy at Boots & Bourbon Saloon in Toronto as part of Indie Week 2015 to talk about home, their new single, what to do in Nashville, and more… and then we stuck around to hear the girls hop up on stage and show their stuff as part of the night’s showcase event.

Back in May we ran in the same circles as Carli and Julie during Canadian Music Week, and now they’re back again. We asked what it is they love about Toronto, and why they keep making the trip to visit.

Both Kennedy sisters told us that one of the big reasons they love it in Ontario’s capital is the country music family they get to see. Between Toronto and Nashville it seems you can find most of Canada’s country singers and songwriters. They are happy to have scheduled co-writes and meetings and hangouts with friends they don’t get to see very often. And if we’re lucky new music and projects will come out of that!

Since we were talking about cities, and Nashville came up, we had to ask about their favorite things about Music City.

Julie’s first answer: The People
Carli’s first answer: The “Small Town City” feel

The girls told us what so many artists have told us, we need to take the trip ourselves to hang out and enjoy the city. From the honky tonks to the Sunday night swing dancing there is something to do all the time. Plus, Twin Kennedy regularly hits writers circles to perform when they’re in town, and we’d love to catch some of that.

Did You Know: Salsa dancing skill can be translated to swing dancing? We didn’t either until Carli and Julie told us that they had salsa skills and one night they wandered into a swing night in Nashville where women were limited, and they fit right in. They tell us that they’ll be back for more of that fun!

This year Twin Kennedy was nominated for their first Canadian Country Music Award (Interactive Artist of the Year) so we had to ask a couple questions about it, and their week in Halifax this September.

1) How important is social media to you as emerging artists to stay connected to your existing fans, and also bring new fans in?

The twins told us that social media has been great for them, allowing them to connect with people in Canada, the United States, and all over the world. In fact, 1 super fan made the drive from Massachusetts to Toronto to see their CMW set after interacting almost daily through Twitter. These girls are awesome on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook – click any of those links to check them out and give them a follow.

2) How was the Rise & Shine show at the CCMAs and how did that come together?

It turns out that Twin Kennedy put together the show in partnership with Hilton hotels. They called up Trinity Bradshaw, Livy Jeanne, Lindsay Broughton, and Tenille to put together the ladies of country music morning, and had a great time doing it. They also enjoyed the rest of the week, playing a set at The Lower Deck before hitting the award show and loving the heck out of every minute of the experience.

After we were done talking about all of this and more (we got off track a few times, naturally) Carli and Julie took the Boots & Bourbon stage to play songs from their new album It’s A Love Thing and entertain the Indie Week crowd.

Included in the set was Feels Like Freedom, their newest single which has been at country radio for the month, and getting great reviews and love from fans and the country music community. There’s also a video on the way very soon, so keep your eyes on the Twin Kennedy YouTube channel for that!

We want to thank Twin Kennedy for taking the time to hangout and talk with us for way longer than we planned or expected, it was a lot of fun and we hope to do it again soon. AND we also want to thank them for being awesome.

Carli and Julie have donated 2 CD copies of It’s A Love Thing that we will be giving away to 2 people who donate to our MusiCounts fundraiser on Tilt. Any donation, even $1 enters you to win these CDs and other awesome swag on the way.

Click on the widget to join us in helping a great cause.

And if you still haven’t checked out Twin Kennedy, the time is now!