The Krickets

The newest single from The Krickets (which is the final song on their beautiful forthcoming album Redbird), tells an incredible sonic story. It Begins with a beautiful acapella moment, each voice feels like it is being given its very own stage, and we are watching. The subtle beat kicks in, and suddenly it sounds like we are concluding a long journey home.
The women of the Krickets express this rare gift of giving each listener a chance to change the setting they are in, and mentally go somewhere else, by listening to their music. The listener can envision themselves looking out to the horizon, and feeling hopeful for the future, and free in the present. The song is upbeat, comforting, and uplifting, while tugging at your strings emotionally with their lyrics.
It was no mistake that this song landed the final slot on the record, Redbird, in fact it is clear that The Krickets planned that out methodically. It is also clear that this record as a whole, was crafted carefully, executed confidently, and presented gracefully. - Music Exsitence

The Krickets have been winning over the hearts and ears of Americana listeners in 2016, and their continued success has followed them into the New Year. 2016 saw the group garnering acclaim after releasing their charming endeavor, Spanish Moss Sirens. The album's lead single "Cool Cool Water" is a standout, delicately showcasing their ethereal vocals with stunning backing instrumentals.


While 2016 may have been rough on the world, it was very good to The Krickets, with the group snagging the title of "Folk Artists of the Year" at the IMEA Awards, as well as Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Song at the Independent Music Awards. Classified as "Swamp-Folk," the group combines hearty elements of Americana and Country with dashes of Bluegrass for a truly stunning one-of-a-kind sound. Spanish Moss Sirens was produced by Ben Tanner of The Alabama Shakes at Muscle Shoals, which has helped the group bring their influence and style to another level of production. Kick off your year with The Krickets! - Paste Magazine

written by Emily Hinde
When all goes quiet we can hear the voices. Between our eyes and ears are the voices of our parents, our siblings and our friends, and the voices of the memories that live and grow inside us. These voices guide us when we are lost, when we have fallen, and lift us like the wind when the skies are blue. By channeling the voices that echo from the deepest trenches of our minds, The Krickets send chills down your spine and lift you sky high on their debut album Spanish Moss Sirens.


With a hint of Allison Kraus, the Krickets new studio album boasts 10 elegant and transcendent tracks that exemplify what it means to be a modern day folk group. The album is produced by Ben Tanner of Alabama Shakes, and binds itself in a swamp folk feel that is grounded in maturity. Near the beginning of the album, the title track “Song of the Spanish Moss Sirens” elicits a cry of nostalgia that is deeply rooted in a pure and balanced harmonic resonance.


The groups instrumentation and chilling vocals both cut like a knife in down tempo pieces such as “Sweet Home“, and send you dancing like the child you once were in the song “Guinevere”.


In May, Spanish Moss Sirens was released to rave reviews by critics and shot up to the number one position on the Amazon folk charts. Since then, the all female group has made massive waves on the folk scene with their charming, and nostalgic flow of melodies, lyrics, and strings that stream together seamlessly. In their first studio album, they sing about their roots, love, and loss and even embrace a gospel side in their cover of the timeless hymn “Will the Circle be Unbroken.”

Whether you have hit the bottom, or are standing as tall as an Oak Tree, The Krickets Spanish Moss Sirens is sure to quell your fears and give you a little more joy along the way. - No Depression

(slide #3) These four self-proclaimed "Spanish Moss Sirens" are a divine fit for the Gulf Coast crowd, being that their entire aesthetic is built around our neighbors in the Bayou. Proximity should play an important role. Their debut record, produced by Ben Tanner of the Alabama Shakes is one great big Southern lullaby, back to front. Cozy up to someone who gives you the warm and fuzzy feelings on the inside. Perfect date night music! - Jared Boyd - Al.com

Sisterhood (noun): the solidarity of women
based on shared conditions, experiences, or concerns

Women have been brought together through common conditions, experiences and concerns throughout history, and the ladies of The Krickets are no exception. A love of music and desire to help others lead Katrina Kolb (bass), Amanda Kolb (vocals, fiddle), Emily Stuckey Sellers (guitar, mandolin, percussion), and Lauren Spring (guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle) to each other, creating a sisterhood of songwriters, mothers, and friends. This female bond drove the inspiration behind The Kricket’s most recent album Redbird released on October 26.

We had a chance to talk with the Americana ladies about the creation of The Krickets, the new album, and what is to come in 2019.

CN: At what age did you discover music? When did you realize your passion and that this was something you wanted to pursue?

Amanda: When I was 9 years old I started learning to play the mandolin; my mom thought this would be a great first instrument for me to learn. I learned some chords and how to pick a song or two, but I wasn’t very interested in playing. When I was 12, I started learning the guitar and picked that up very quickly. I realized my passion for music when I was 14, when Katrina and I started playing bluegrass music with people our own age. We had several friends in the Pensacola area that were excellent musicians and encouraged us to play with them. Katrina and I also formed a trio with a local friend, a band we named “The Pretty Possums.” We had so much fun with those friends, and looking back, I definitely think I would not have fallen in love with this type of music had it not been for these experiences.

CN: Which musicians have influenced you both personally and as an artist?

Amanda: There have been so many incredibly talented musicians that I’ve seen, or heard, over the years that have influenced me. Whether they influenced me to go home and practice a little more, or to try my hand at songwriting, or even to try and learn a new instrument, there have been countless ways that I’ve been influenced by other musicians.

CN: Being songwriters, can you take us through your song writing process? Do you draw mostly from personal experiences, or from those around you?

Emily: We all collaborated on Redbird. Half of the songs we wrote together and would draw from either a hook one of us already had, or simply from an object in the room. We really wanted to make the writing for this album a group effort and see what we were capable of creating together. We can definitely say that there will be many more albums created this way.

CN: How did you come to create your sound: a blend of bluegrass, Americana, Folk and country?

Emily: Each of us write and three of us sing lead in our band. Drawing from four different musical backgrounds and interests has definitely played a huge role in our sound.

CN: The Krickets were formed at a Breast Cancer benefit, which is a cause near and dear to you. Having never performed together prior to the event, when did it click that you should continue playing together?

Lauren: There’s that moment when the harmony locks in, you fall in the pocket, and it’s just an absolute high. It was a great outlet creatively and we were having too much fun to end it after one show.

CN: Could you tell us about your involvement with The Cricket Fund?

Lauren: Yes, The Cricket Fund was set up by Gulf Coast Sacred Heart Hospital in memorial of a 22yr old named Cristina ‘Cricket’ Russell to provide mammograms to the uninsured in our county. Sacred Heart came up with Mammos and Martinis and asked us to play the gig. We donated our time and tips and wanted to do something more. So, with Cricket’s mother’s permission, we named ourselves The Krickets and began playing gigs. Now we are able to donate $1 of every album sale to the fund. People have been incredibly supportive of the fund. A new branch has been created to provide cmore comprehensive cancer aid called The Cricket Fund Beyond Diagnosis and they have raised enough money to fund mammograms for the next 11 years in our county.

CN: Is there then a connection to the group name The Krickets?

Lauren: Well, while we love and respect Buddy Holly’s Crickets, we wanted to still honor Cristina and keep the name. So to avoid confusion we switched over to Krickets with a ‘K’.

No automatic alt text available.CN: Your Americana album Redbird was released at the end of October. What was it like to work with Grammy-nominated producer Sam Ashworth, who has worked with some of Americana’s best included The Lone Bellow and Joy Williams?

Emily: It was really a joy and an education working with Sam. He put his whole heart into producing this album and added extreme depth instrumentally that matched our lyrics and chords. It truly was a beautiful collaboration. He has an impeccable ear and we’re forever grateful to have worked with him.

CN: It took only five days to record the album, which had to be not only fast but a very fluid process. Could you talk about how the album came together? - The Country Note

The Krickets are a band on the rise, and we have fallen in love with the heavenly quartet. On the heels of releasing their new record “Red Bird” on October 26, the group has just shared the second single from the release “May We Find."

Throughout the track their gorgeous and harmonious vocals take us on a magical journey. The group who are the pioneers of the Folk-Swamp genre keep your attention with every listen. With unique songwriting and beautifully-crafted instrument-work, The Krickets quickly prove they have staying power. - Independent Artist Buzz

52 years ago, it was The Beatles! Now..Meet The Krickets! Great seeing multiple nominee and winner of best folk song at The Independent Music Awards at Lincoln Center. - The Independent Music Awards

Art, particularly music, is a manifestation of creativity birthed from artists’ environments, their influences, their familial ties, and life experiences; it’s no surprise then, that up-and-coming roots outfit The Krickets, born on the wetlands of the Gulf Coast, have distilled the string-centric sounds of their swampy surroundings into a bewitching debut album, Spanish Moss Sirens, out earlier this year.

“We live in this swampy, old Florida kind of place. It’s not a resort-y area where everything’s perfect; it’s all undergrowth and palmettos,” explains band fiddle player and co-vocalist Lauren Spring. “We’re not very fancy, and we’re far from slick in any way, so we decided to go with what we are good at, and that’s a lot of folk harmony. We can also pull off looking like dirty swamp people really well,” she laughs. It’s true—from their chilling three-part harmony, to their band photos taken in alligator-infested waters (Spring assures me it was cold and the gators were slow-moving that day), these four heroines are the embodiment of everything Spanish Moss sirens (or as we Southern folks say, “SIGH-reens”) should be.

The band was born from necessity, when Spring was asked to provide the music for a local breast cancer benefit. “I couldn’t carry a 40-song gig by myself, so I called Melissa, bless her heart, who I knew had been gigging around town, and she played with me,” she says. “We had so much fun for the next couple of years, and we invited Emily to join us. Once we heard that three-part harmony, you can’t help the chills. We’re all super goofy and very inappropriate, and we got along really well. Katrina, our bass player, grew up in Mobile, and she’s probably the craziest one of all of us,” Spring jokes. “She rounded out our sound.”

“Eventually, we needed to make some gas money, so we made a video to raise funds to make a record, and it got real big, real fast,” Spring says of their album-making process. “Melissa’s dad had recently passed away; he’d raised her around those Musicle Shoals Sound session players, he even had his ashes scattered in Muscle Shoals. She begged us to go to there to make the record, like an homage to her dad. We contacted a few studios, but nothing felt right until we found John Paul White’s Single Lock studio, behind his beautiful Victorian house in Florence.” The Krickets worked with Alabama Shakes band member and Single Lock Records co-owner Ben Tanner to produce the album. “Ben was the coolest; he wanted us not to lose our sound in over-production, to keep in the mistakes, and not hire session players,” she recalls. “We made the music.”

The Krickets’ influences decorate the sparkling gem of an album—from the heat of the swamplands and the natural beauty of their surroundings to their dearly departed fathers who introduced them to the music they loved, it’s all there. “We’re staring at the Gulf of Mexico, and the sunsets here will melt your face off, they’re so beautiful,” says Spring wistfully. “There are so many traditions here, crazy history—yellow fever epidemics, ghost ships. There are lots of references to family in our music; there’s a lullaby to Emily’s baby, she was pregnant while we were making the record, and there’s a song for Melissa’s dad. On the back of Katrina’s bass is a giant green-eyed monster, it looks like the monster is pulling back curtains to look out of the bass and we see it the entire time we perform; her dad was an artist before he passed away, and he drew that for her to inspire her to let the beast within her come out when she’s playing.”

This year, The Krickets have made quite an impression on the Americana world with their infectious brand of swamp-folk, winning Folk Artists of the Year at the IMEA awards, and an award at the Independent Music Awards this fall. “None of us had any idea that what we created would blow up like it has, and we’re so grateful,” she adds. “We’re trying to figure out how to handle the attention we’re getting, and we plan to broaden where we’re playing, theaters, listening rooms, and festivals in new markets. We’re going to be scaring a town near you soon.” - Mother Church Pew

The Krickets are a prominent quartet that brings an enchanting look into the Americana-Folk world. Their latest single "Cool Cool Water," taken from the record Spanish Moss Sirens, hears the group taking on a progressive sound that brings a breath of fresh air to a nostalgic and classic sound. As the group brings charming instrument-work and soothing vocals, we hear a gorgeous artistry that flows through the song.

Produced by Ben Tanner from The Alabama Shakes at Muscle Shoals Studios, the group have also garnered critical accolades as this year saw them coming home with awards from both the IMEAs and IMAS. Their charismatic music carries throughout each track on the record, and "Cool Cool Water," offers up the perfect first taste and a group that takes listeners on a storytelling journey, with flares of Americana, Folk and Bluegrass throughout. The Krickets are certainly a mainstay for 2017. - Kurrent Music

"Spanish Moss Sirens" the debut album by Northwest Florida's boggy natives, The Krickets, is a masterpiece of Southern Folk. - SoWal Life Magazine

Krickets Named 2016's IMEA Folk Artist of the Year - International Music and Entertainers Association

Sheer talent, a love of home and some Muscle Shoals magic make beautiful music for The Krickets.

By Steve Houk

During just about any evening down on the Florida panhandle, if you listen closely, along with the sounds of lapping waves or a distant boat horn…you can hear it.

Amidst the Gulf Coast’s swaying cypress trees and blowing palms, amidst the ambling gators, skittering lizards and floating pelicans, amidst the thick marshes and moonlit beaches, there is…music. Oh boy, is there ever. Singers and songwriters are plentiful and plenty talented down here, with many often writing musical homages to, and evoking the legendary lore of, this truly breathtaking part of the world.

No group of artists is more happily steeped in the innate beauty and fascination of their homeland than The Krickets, one of the Gulf Coast region’s musical treasures. A quartet of supremely talented women who recently found brilliance as a powerful folk/Americana quartet, there’s is a tale of four individual talents who became one big one. And no one is more appreciative of where they live, and what they write about, than they are.

“You cannot live here and not be touched by the beauty in what God put out there in front of you,” said Lauren Spring, one of the four multi-talented ladies who make up The Krickets. “It’s absolutely stunning. Every day, in some different way, it doesn’t matter if you’re staring at the water, or you’re staring at an eagle, you’re staring at something pretty awesome every single day. You can’t help being inspired, you can’t help writing songs about it. And to find a group of people who want to do that with you, and they’re like, pretty phenomenal? I’m gonna do it every day.”

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That “group of people” are Spring’s beloved Krickets’ bandmates Melissa Bowman, Emily Stuckey Sellers and Katrina Kolb, and these four forces of nature, their beautiful harmonies wrapped around the sounds of mandolin, guitar, fiddle, banjo and stand-up bass, are like one of those majestic osprey that you see soaring and then diving into the Gulf after fish: they’re flying high and on a mission. With their indigenous panhandle-bluegrass-meets-Americana sound — “swamp folk” as it’s been coined — they’re gigging consistently on the Gulf Coast and beyond to adoring crowds, were just named Best Folk Artist at the International Music and Entertainment Association’s (IMEA) Awards, and recently released their first record, Spanish Moss Sirens to a slew of positive reviews.

The Krickets’ personal connections run deep and wide, sorta like the long strips of Gulf sand bar these ladies have spent time wading along. Sellers and Bowman played with each other years ago in their native Alabama, and after Bowman moved to Port St Joe on the eastern panhandle, she hooked up with Spring amidst some poignant circumstances surrounding a fund raiser for The Cricket Fund (thus the band’s name although with a “K”), which supplies free mammograms to local residents in memory of 22 year-old Port St Joe resident Kristina “Cricket” Russell, who died of breast cancer.

“Lauren was asked to play this Cricket Fund event because they wanted a female musician, and she wanted to have somebody play with her, and knew that I played,” Bowman said. “So we practiced I think one time, and then got together for the event, and we had so much fun practicing and playing that we decided that we wanted to do it as a weekly thing just so that we could get together and see each other and keep playing music. We had a connection on a couple of different levels.”

Sellers eventually moved to the Coast and joined up with Spring and old pal Bowman, and things clicked from minute one. “We knew it was magical,” said Spring. “The first time we heard our three part harmony, I looked around at the audience just to see if anyone else is like, hearing this, I mean, I was thinking, is anybody else picking up on this?” Then Sellers recruited her friend Kolb, and last fall, the Krickets were born. “I was like, you wanna come jam with us and (Katrina) was like, yeah!” Sellers said. “So we all got together, and that was another big explosion of awesomeness.”

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After raising nearly $25,000 from fans and friends via Kickstarter to record Spanish Moss Sirens, The Krickets felt obligated to deliver a worthy product. “It makes you feel responsible to them, you’re accountable to give them something worth what they gave,” Spring said. The band first tried to book sessions at revered Muscle Shoals Sound, not just because of the studio’s legendary reputation, but also because of something deeper and even more meaningful. Bowman’s father had been close with the Swampers, Muscle Shoals’ storied group of session musicians, and after his passing a year before the Krickets’ sessions, she and her family had scattered his ashes in Muscle Shoals. Unfortunately, Muscle Shoals Sound was closed for renovations so they recorded at Sun Drop Sound in nearby Florence. But when The Krickets arrived, they had a special welcoming committee, in both body and soul.

“When we showed up in town to record,” Spring recalled, “his people were there that he used to run with, the Swampers crew, they were there waiting for us with open arms. We felt his presence there too, it’s just magic, it’s all holy, and you couldn’t not feel him there. When we were frustrated or it got harder during the sessions, you could just feel it.”

“I was incredibly nervous because these people, the Swampers, were our heroes,” said Bowman, whose musical lore also includes being babysat for by Drive-By Truckers front man Patterson Hood when she was a kid. “When we were ready to record, I knew we were just standing on the precipice of something great. And the studio itself was really laid back and cool and quirky, and the engineer and the assistant engineer were hilarious. And we could be ourselves, we could make inappropriate jokes and have fun, and also make great music.”

As if the Daddy and the Swampers legend plus recording at a top studio wasn’t enough, the group also had Alabama Shakes‘ touring keyboardist Ben Tanner as their producer, seems he had asked to record the band once he heard some of their demos. It was his ability to let The Krickets’ music remain their own while also making his presence known just enough that made the sessions so successful and fulfilling.

“(Ben) was really encouraging us to stick with our authentic sound and not try to make it sound too perfect and too commercialized,” Bowman elaborated. “He wanted to make sure that we kept the ‘it’ that we have, that thing that we have. So alot of it we did live, alot of the vocals we all sang at the same time in the same room, alot of the instrumentation is done at the same time in the same room. So it was all very real, and he would push us to make the right take, and then would be a wizard on things that just really had to be twerked….wait, is that the right word? Ha! Tweaked.”

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All of the Krickets also have solo or side projects, Spring with her husband Bo in his excellent (and also local) Bo Spring Band, and the others with their own enriching endeavors. But when they get onstage in Kricket mode, it’s all for one and one for all, for sure.

“As far as personalities go, we are actually really good in kind of specializing in different things,” Bowman said. “So it makes it run pretty smoothly when we’re onstage, we have alot of fun and it’s really a joy to be able to share the spotlight and not worry about stepping on people’s toes. This is the least diva-ish group of musicians I’ve ever worked with before, which is hilarious ‘cuz it’s an all-female band.”

And as far as their beautiful, memorable music, it is the spirit of the Gulf Coast that drives them, and fills their music with evocative images of home.

“There’s something healing and sacred about those waters, and I don’t know exactly what it is,” Bowman said. “It was important to us to kind of contribute to the mythology of this area, the panhandle area. I was inspired to write the songs that I did because of Lauren’s song ‘To And Fro’ where she talks about cypress trees, and that was really kind of the song that inspired the whole mood of the album. Kind of like that, ethereal, dark, talking about the water, talking about the area, it really kind of inspired the whole thing.”

“The history of Port St Joe is a folk story that you could not make up if you tried,” Spring added. “I thought it was the coolest story I’d ever heard in my life. Bringing the stories and the traditions and these weird quirky things that are old Florida kind of out into the limelight, it’s just incredible to me.” - Steve Houk - MidLifeRocker.com

"So empowering" - Bree Noble - Female Entrepreneur Musician Podcast

"Soon to be new mom, Emily Stuckey joined us in AREA 251 to talk about the Krickets new Album “Spanish Moss Sirens”, why they chose the name Krickets, how working with a group has made her a better musician & more. Here is the complete interview and a link to listen to their music." Shirtless Tony on 92.1 TheZEW

Hear local music every afternoon at 2:51 on 92.1 the ZEW - Area 251 on 92ZEW

The Krickets: Nominated for Folk Artist, Folk Album and Folk Song of the Year

Folk Artist of the Year

Julia Russo
Lily Lambert
Matt Rouch
The Krickets


Folk Album of the Year

Hearts in the Water – Julia Russo
In Tandem – Sweet Sweet
Moving On – Lily Lambert
Spanish Moss Sirens – The Krickets
The Beautiful and the Damned – Matt Rouch


Folk Song of the Year

(Wanna Say) I’m Sorry – Lily Lambert
Bus to Chillicothe – Matt Rouch
Guinevere – The Krickets - International Music and Entertainer Association

The Krickets Album Release Party
Sunday, June 5, at 7 p.m.
Callaghan’s Irish Social Club, 916 Charleston St., www.callaghansirishsocialclub.com
Tickets: $10 at the door

The power of music has pulled a quartet of women together from across the Gulf Coast. The Krickets’ lineup features Melissa Bowman of Panama City, Florida; Lauren Spring of Port St. Joe, Florida; Emily Stuckey of Fairhope and Katrina Kolb of Mobile. All four have established reputations with their respective projects. Kolb is the bassist for Mobile bluegrass masters Fat Man Squeeze. Spring and Stuckey are known for their solo work. Bowman has earned experience performing alongside her husband in the Bo Spring Band.

In The Krickets, Kolb remains a constant on her upright bass while the rest of the group trade a variety of instruments, from the fiddle to the mandolin. While their mix of classic and modern folk/Americana, highlighted by beautiful harmonies, is extremely refreshing, this aspect is matched by their all-female lineup, a rarity on the Gulf Coast.

“I don’t know if there’s a competition or something, or women just not getting along,” Bowman said. “I think most men would be like, ‘Oh god, it’s an all-girl band. Can you imagine what goes on in that band?’ It’s nice to have girls who are willing to take a step back and not be in the limelight the whole time.”Spring and Bowman laid the groundwork for The Krickets, coming together to perform a benefit for the Sacred Heart Cricket Fund. After spending so much time performing in her husband’s band, Spring found the collaboration with Bowman to be new and exciting. Spring cites Bowman’s attitude toward their duo to be one of the most positive aspects of the pairing. Bowman created a safe environment for Spring to experiment in an unfamiliar musical capacity, which helped her evolve as a musician.
(Photo | facebook.com/thefloridacrickets) The Krickets are Melissa Bowman, Emily Stuckey, Lauren Spring and Katrina Kolb.
(Photo | facebook.com/thefloridacrickets) The Krickets are Melissa Bowman, Emily Stuckey, Lauren Spring and Katrina Kolb.

“I just got so much out of it, because it was a very safe place for me to be good or bad,” Spring said. “It didn’t matter. It was the joy of the harmony and this platform where we could get better and work at your craft. Her willingness to let me get up there is awesome. If she hadn’t created such a safe environment for my fragile ego, it wouldn’t have worked.”
As time passed, Spring and Bowman decided to add to their ranks. Bowman was familiar with Stuckey’s performances and recruited her string and harmonic talents to the lineup. Bowman also brought on Kolb, whose bass added a new dynamic to their sound. Stuckey says her participation in The Krickets allowed her to journey into new musical worlds that were both unfamiliar and glorious.

“When Melissa and I were playing together, I could harmonize,” Stuckey said. “I didn’t really know how to. When the three of us got together, it blended. Katrina adding the bass to keep the groove and everything, that really was like, ‘Wow! We got something special.’”

The quartet busied themselves creating songs for what would become their fittingly titled album, “Spanish Moss Sirens.” The songwriters of the group brought what Bowman describes as the “bones” of a song to their rehearsals. For example, the song “Sweet Home” was composed by Stuckey but morphed into its final state after the group put it through a process they refer to as “Krickifying.”

As they listened to each other’s respective songs, each member would imagine what could be added to it. Ultimately, an individual’s composition would become a group effort, with each member filling any arrangement gaps that appeared. According to Spring, Kolb completed the musical mix by adding her bass “groove.”

“It’s been amazing to me and very inspiring,” Spring said. “I had only written one of my songs when we came to the table for this album. Emily had two of them written. Everybody has to try different parts. It’s been such a generous and giving songwriting process, and you have these tools to work with to hear what this song could be.”

When they finished compiling and shaping songs, The Krickets decided to take the next step and traveled to Sun Drop Sound in Florence to record with producer/engineer Ben Tanner. In addition to being a member of Alabama Shakes, Tanner has established a reputation for being one of Alabama’s most sought-after producers.

He was the perfect match for The Krickets. Even though their vocals were overdubbed, Tanner insisted the group maintain a raw sound, so they performed the instrumental work live in the studio. Tanner also recognized the power in numbers when it came to their vocals, recording their harmonies as a group.

“He did not want us to sound produced and overproduced or lose this weird organic thing going on,” Spring said. “We may not be the most polished musicians, but once we are together we can really create some magic. He recognized that from the start.”

The final cut of “Spanish Moss Sirens” proves both the power of Tanner’s ear as well as the power of The Krickets’ music. In a time where Americana has almost become cliché, The Krickets are revitalizing it. Throughout the album, the group expertly balances both modern and classic influences. “Guinevere” is a classic country ballad highlighted by flawless harmonies. With its low-end bass and steady organ, the haunting “Song of the Spanish Moss Sirens” is one of the most powerful songs on the album. “To and Fro” mixes down-home sounds with a modern drive and just enough vocal reverb to provide a dreamlike vibe. While each song has its own personality, the group collaboration is obvious — there’s an aural bond that’s preserved from beginning to end.

With that said, The Krickets’ show at Callaghan’s may be one of the few times the public will get to catchthe band until the fall. After Callaghan’s, The Krickets will open for The Mulligan Brothers in Santa Rosa Beach on Saturday, June 11. Afterwards Stuckey will have to take a break for another big event, the birth of her child. However, this will give The Krickets a few months to plan their future. - The Lagniappe - Music Editor Steve Centanni

The Krickets - Spanish Moss Sirens - Alt. Country Album
The Krickets - Spanish Moss Sirens - Concept Album
The Krickets - Cool Cool Water - Folk/Singer-Songwriter Song - Independent Music Awards

THE KRICKETS (Panama City, FL) Wow, sometimes you just stumble on something special and I think I did just that with The Krickets. An all-female country-folk group with soaring vocals, harmony, and old-time folk/country styling that drew me in and intrigued me. I see a place for The Krickets in country music. Call me crazy, but my gut tells me there's room for The Krickets on country radio, CMT, and Nashville. I think its wonderful for the band to be blowing up in their own right and doing so independently on the strength of their music. The group labels themselves "female swamp-folk." They just released their debut album "Spanish Moss Sirens" (produced by Muscle Shouls producer Ben Tanner, Alabama Shakes) and recorded at Sun Drop Sound in Florence, Alabama. The band's website reports the album debuted at #1 on Amazon's Folk Release Chart, is in active rotation in over 30 countries, and continues to rapidly gain popularity - all organically. That's truly awesome!

BAND MEMBERS: Melissa Bowman (vocals, guitar, banjo), Emily Stuckey (vocals, guitar, percussion, mandolin), Lauren Spring (vocals, guitar, fiddle, mandolin) and Katrina Kolb (bass). The Krickets have upcoming live shows in Mexico Beach's Music in the Park (Sept. 15th), Backstage Pass, Panama City (Sept. 16th) and the Scallop Fest, Port St. Joe (Sept. 30th). I can see The Krickets becoming a great story of success from a tiny southern town. Listen for yourself and show the love and support for The Krickets at www.thekrickets.com and at www.facebook.com/thefloridacrickets.

- See more at: http://www.soundwerkz.com/#sthash.AB5zbQzV.dpuf - Rob Gilmore - Soundwerks

The Krickets filled Port Theatre to the rafters

By Wes Locher
For the first time in more than a decade the Port St. Joe’s Port Theatre opened its doors to the public last week, welcoming hundreds for the album-release party of local folk act, The Krickets.

Debuting their new album, “Spanish Moss Sirens” in its entirety, local musicians Melissa Bowman (guitar, banjo), Emily Stuckey (guitar, percussion, mandolin), Lauren Spring (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, harmonica) and Katrina Kolb (bass) treated audience members to a sonic experience the was the first of its kind for both the band and the theater.


“We feel so deeply humbled by the love and support this band has received,” said Spring in a post on Facebook. “Thank you to every person who helped make this album and release concert a reality. This experience was one of a lifetime and we are forever grateful to you.

“(We’re No. 1) on Amazon because of you. Hope to those who dare to dream.”

Having raised more than $24,000 for the album on Kickstarter, the group welcomed friends, families and their biggest fans to take part in the record’s release. Online sales took the album to the number one spot on Amazon.com.

“This was one of the most amazing if not the most incredible concert that I've ever been to,” said Ann Comforter, former Port St. Joe Jr./Sr. High School music teacher. “The music was mesmerizing and in this venue, magical.”

The band name holds weight for the members, honoring their fan and Port St. Joe resident Kristina “Cricket” Russell, who in 2012, at the young age of 22, lost her fight against breast cancer. - The Star

We want to tell you about a young lady and her two bands that have music just oozing out of their very souls. Lauren Spring who is a member of an all-gal band called The Krickets (yes with a “K”), and along with her husband Bo form the Bo Spring Band. The Krickets play a down home Americana blend of music with harmonies so tight that even their vibrato blends wonderfully like the waves rolling into their Florida home-base. This quartet is made of of Lauren, Melissa Bowman, Emily Stuckey and Katrina Kolb. Husband Bo heads the other team with his solid baritone and great folk-rock sound. The common denominator of these two groups is Lauren with her great songwriting and soul-touching vocals. Now it would be an easy thing to do a review of everyone involved here due to the level of talent but we suggest you check them all out It’s just a guess but I’d bet these folks are passionate about music. It surely shows in what they are doing. We wish all of them the very best and hope to hear much more from the whole crew. The Krickets just raised some Kickstarter funds for an album and we can’t wait. - Dusty Gus Americana Review

“Red Bird” by The Krickets
Indie folk band The Krickets bring to us a dream inspired gem that is beautifully haunting and melodic called “Red Bird”. The talented and inspiring women compliment each other perfectly creating a refreshing folk/soft-rock gem that catches you off guard and becomes a pleasant surprise for the senses. There’s something so surreal and otherworldly about the lyrics and melodies that is really refreshing to find for it pulls us into an unknown world in which this soundscape unfolds especially for us all. Remember their name and make sure to add this amazing must listen track into your playlists for more is on the way and if this track serves as an example, then it will amazing. Enjoy!

… Everytime she would start to talk I could never understand what she was saying, and I’d wake up. While having these dreams I saw redbirds everywhere I went day to day.
Emily of The Krickets - Wolf In A Suit

STUDIOAMPED
The Krickets
Season 11 Episode 5 | 58m 46s

From Port St. Joe, Florida, it’s acoustic swamp folk harmony with The Krickets, performing live on the Amos Studio concert stage. Now in its eleventh season, WSRE’s StudioAmped concert series features regional artists performing original music.

Aired: 02/05/19
Rating: NR
Video has closed captioning. - PBS Channel / Studio Amped

The title track of their beautiful forthcoming album, which is the final song on their beautiful forthcoming album Redbird, tells an incredible sonic story. It Begins with a beautiful acapella moment, each voice feels like it is being given its very own stage, and we are watching. The subtle beat kicks in, and suddenly it sounds like we are concluding a long journey home. The women of the Krickets express this rare gift of giving each listener a chance to change the setting they are in, and mentally go somewhere else, by listening to their music. The listener can envision themselves looking out to the horizon, and feeling hopeful for the future, and free in the present. The song is upbeat, comforting, and uplifting, while tugging at your strings emotionally with their lyrics. It was no mistake that this song landed the final slot on the record, Redbird, in fact it is clear that The Krickets planned that out methodically. It is also clear that this record as a whole, was crafted carefully, executed confidently, and presented gracefully. - All Music Trends

Described by Paste as having "a truly stunning, one-of-a-kind" sound, female Americana foursome The Krickets - Amanda Kolb (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, lap steel), Emily Stuckey (guitar, percussion, mandolin), Lauren Spring (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Katrina Kolb (bass) - just released their sophomore album, Redbird.

Produced by Grammy nominee Sam Ashworth and recorded at Brown Owl Studios in Nashville the album has everything from traditional country to folk rock steeped in heavenly harmonies and an earthy instrumentation. Here, the women answer their Essential 8 where they speak about Redbird's eye-catching artwork, songwriting inspiration, their go-to food on the road, and more!

Amanda Kolb, vocals/fiddle:
What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out?
The best advice I would give is to be confident in your gifts and abilities, and to not compare yourself to anyone else.

What is your favorite (or first) concert you have ever attended?
When I was 9 years old, my family and I attended a Ricky Skaggs concert in Biloxi, MS. This was the first real concert I had ever been to, and even though it was not a huge production, it still left a huge impact on me. I remember falling in love with fiddle music (at the time, Bobby Hicks and Andy Leftwich were both playing fiddle for Ricky) and thinking how awesome it would be to play the fiddle.

Emily Stuckey, vocals/guitar:
Did you have a musical mentor? If so, who was it and how did they influence you?
Julie Sweet. She taught me to sing with everything I got and to never apologize for any mistakes musically.

​Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
Mostly from a current mood or situation that impacts me on a spiritual level enough to translate into song.

​Lauren Spring, vocals, guitar banjo:
Is there a recent release you cannot stop listening to?
John Prine - Tree of Forgiveness. I can’t listen to it without smiling. ‘When I Get To Heaven’ came on when I was trying to work out and instead of sit-ups, I was just laying there giggling at the lyrics. That album is useless for a workout, but food for my soul.

Please share the story behind your album’s artwork.
Our Redbird album’s artwork deliberately features a female cardinal. She’s often hidden in the background, in muted tones doing some serious nurturing in a nest somewhere. We loved the grace in her role and while she’s not as flashy as her partner, her song is no less beautiful or worth being heard. Gary Houston of Voodoo Cat Design creates a gorgeous album cover that really let her shine.

Katrina Kolb, bass:
What’s your favorite/”go-to” food on the road?
I want to say a Whataburger with everything, but for the past few months I’ve been eating less meat. Emily got me hooked on veggies and hummus. Also, I just tried pistachios for the first time the other day, and I would like to add them to the list of favorites as well.

What has been your biggest success?
I think our biggest success has been a culmination of everything we’ve experienced that has pieced us together as the band we are today. We’ve been a band for a long time. When I first joined the band, I had no expectations. I just knew that the joy I felt when playing our songs was something I wanted to keep experiencing for as long as possible. The time we’ve shared together as bandmates and friends has been so rewarding, and I would account our mindset of loving and appreciating every moment along our way as having a lot to do with that. - The Daily Country

WFSU talks with local musicians known as The Krickets. The band is made up of Emily Stuckey, Lauren Spring, Katrina Kolb, and Melissa Bowen. Each woman is an accomplished musician, but it wasn't until a concert benefiting The Sacred Heart Cricket Fund that the group came together. - WFSU Local Routes

The dust has settled and the Port Theatre will open its doors to the public tonight for the first time in over a decade. emailprint
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The Krickets will release their new album "Spanish Moss Sirens" tonight with a lantern-lit concert at the Historic Port Theatre in Port St.Special to The StarThe Krickets will release their new album "Spanish Moss Sirens" tonight with a lantern-lit concert at the Historic Port Theatre in Port St. Joe.

By Wes Locher

Posted May 19, 2016 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 19, 2016 at 7:53 AM

The dust has settled and the Port Theatre will open its doors to the public tonight for the first time in over a decade.
Local band The Krickets will hold a concert at the historic venue at 7 p.m. ET to celebrate the release of their album “Spanish Moss Sirens.”
The all female super group, featuring local musicians Melissa Bowman (guitar, banjo), Emily Stuckey (guitar, percussion, mandolin), Lauren Spring (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, harmonica) and Katrina Kolb (bass) came together after playing in various bands over the past several years, joining forces under a new moniker.
That moniker honors Port St. Joe resident Kristina “Cricket” Russell, who in 2012, at the young age of 22, lost her fight against breast cancer.
According to the group, the Krickets may not have ever formed had Bowman and Spring not met while playing a concert to benefit the Sacred Heart Hospital on the Gulf Cricket Fund, which supplies free mammograms for women in Gulf and Franklin counties and Mexico Beach.
The theater, open only for this special event, was purchased last year by local non-profit organization the Port Theatre, Art & Cultural Center (PTACC), which is dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of the theater. The group began the process of cleaning up the venue in April with some help from local volunteers who supplied the elbow grease.
The first wave of cleaning helped to remove wood, sawdust, tables and equipment left over from the theater’s last role as an auction house under Wade and Paula Clark.
Though renovations have yet to officially begin, the concert will feature a lantern-lit show, welcoming attendees to get a mental image of the “before” prior to the makeover beginning.
“We're calling it a ‘Skeleton Party’ due to the fact that (the venue) hasn't been fully used as a theater in decades, and renovations are set to take place soon after the party,” Stuckey said.
Located on Port St. Joe’s Reid Ave. and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Port Theatre has long been seen as a potential central hub for the downtown business district and was pointed to as an “untapped resource” by state officials as part of the Competitive Florida Partnership.
From that Competitive Florida process came an application for a state historic preservation grant for $350,000 which was awarded to the PTAAC by the Florida Legislature.
Conceptual designs for refurbishing the building’s unmistakable façade and a renovated interior were donated by architect Carter Quina of Quina Grundhoefer Architects in Pensacola.
Once complete, the theater will serve as a venue for performing and cultural arts within Gulf County.
“We’ve spent seven years working on this,” said Natalie Shoaf, who sits on the PTACC board of directors. “We hope, once complete, the theater will be an anchor for downtown and help with tourism. It will also help kids in the community, providing something for them to go and see that Port St. Joe doesn’t currently have.”
Page 2 of 2 - Tickets for the album release concert will be available at the door for $25. For more information on The Krickets visit www.thekrickets.com. For more information or to volunteer assistance with the PTACC, visit www.historicporttheatre.com or email HistoricPortTheatre@gmail.com.
“The concert is a step in the right direction,” said City Commissioner Rex Buzzett. “I hope it’s the first of many more events to be held at the theater in the future.” - Port St Joe Star

The Krickets have come back even stronger since we first heard them on their debut album, “Spanish Moss Sirens”. Getting ready to kick off the beginning of a new chapter, this all female Americana group delivers chilling vocals on their first single, Redbird, and title track of their upcoming sophomore album, due out October 26th, 2018. From the first chord to the last, this song haunts you in the best way possible.

The song was written about a dream Emily was having about her grandmother who passed away. “In the dream she was always trying to whisper something important in my ear,” she says. “Every time she would start to talk I could never understand what she was saying, and I’d wake up. While having these dreams I saw redbirds everywhere I went day to day.”

With voices like silk, these women redefine the swamp folk genre and give it an entirely new sound that will be stuck in your head for weeks, and have you craving more. Emerging with smoke, the first few seconds of the single paints a clear scene in your head, one that feels like a dream. And with each verse, brings more and more chills to your body. It’s very obvious that these women were born to sing.

“Is this love or is this warning?” A favorite lyric sung through the second half of the song. This song has everything, the perfect combination of sultry voices, earthy strings, and powerful lyrics. If this is only the beginning of this new era, the world is not ready for the rest. - Modern Mystery

The Krickets are an all female swamp folk band that Paste Magazine describes as “…a truly stunning, one-of-a-kind sound.” Produced by Ben Tanner of the Alabama Shakes and recorded at John Paul White’s SunDrop Sound in Florence, AL, The Krickets released a debut album called “Spanish Moss Sirens” in May of 2016. The album earned them the 2016 IMA Folk/Singer Songwriter Song of the Year Award for “Cool Cool Water”, the 2016 IMEA Folk Artist of the Year and an International Acoustic Award Nomination in the Folk category for the song “To and Fro”.

After another successful kickstarter in January 2018 the Krickets went back into the studio with Grammy nominated producer Sam Ashworth to record their second full length studio album, Redbird, which will be released on October 26.

Today Glide is excited to premiere the new music video for Redbird’s title track. With a sneaky and ominous banjo and sultry vocals, the song showcases the group’s ability to harmonize angelically while also rocking out on acoustic instruments. The four members of The Krickets can effortlessly straddle folk, bluegrass, country and Americana, and at the core they are a powerhouse ensemble who can write songs that are as catchy as they are emotionally poignant.

One of “Redbird” songwriters, Emily Stuckey Sellers, offers her own story behind the song:

“‘Redbird’ was written about a dream I continually had after my Grandmother passed away. In the dream she was always trying to whisper something important in my ear. Every time she would start to talk I could never understand what she was saying, and I’d wake up. While having these dreams I saw redbirds everywhere I went day after day. After she passed I had extreme feelings of guilt because I couldn’t be with her more, or cure her while she was sick. One evening while working on concepts for our upcoming album, I started playing this really solemn but moving guitar riff. Next thing I knew the dream I’d been having was now a song, later to be ‘Redbird’ (my grandmother). The dreams stopped after the song was written.”

Additionally, the band has offered a more in-depth story of inspiration behind the redbird and the concept for the video:

Folklore says seeing a redbird or a cardinal means you’re being visited by someone who has passed away and the video for redbird touches on the connection one feels with a love one after they’ve gone. Specifically in the video, this person is her grandmother coming to her in a dream trying to tell her something, but Emily keeps waking up before she can understand what her grandmother is trying to say. The frustration and contemplation she feels over the dream is reflected in the video through the music and flashback scenes with the character of her grandmother. The connection of showing them both sleeping in the same spot, walking the same steps, wearing the same heirloom ring are all supposed to drive home how strong their connection is.

The video was shot by Vivid Bridges Studios and Sunset Pictures Company with director Ben Rosenau. It was filmed partially in the Historic Port Theater in downtown Port St Joe, Fl and partially in a gorgeous old Florida mansion called the Steamboat House built in 1840. Long fabled to be haunted, this was the obvious choice for a supernaturally vibed music video. Crazy couple of stories around the house, a week prior, Lauren had been on vacation and decided to pick a beach read called The House on the Forgotten Coast. The southern gothic thriller was a great story, Lauren read it in a day and didn’t think another thing about it. The very next weekend, they arrived at the house the director scouted and chose without them ever having seen it. It. Was. the. Same. House. From. the. Book. (like the actual house the book was based on right down to the paintings on the wall. Lauren freaked and still isn’t over it)

The entire band has seen redbirds like crazy ever since they decided to make that song the album’s title track. The reason the director Ben chose the house was because while in the yard of the house, wondering which house to choose, a redbird came and landed right on the yard in front of his feet and looked at him. - Glide Magazine

Our guests this week on the show a bit of everything are alma deting which is a jewelry maker liège who works mainly gold to create beautiful jewelry and Franca Rizzo and Stephanie Wunderbar who she we'll talk about the dance workshop nia. As far as music, on the menu we will discover " Spanish Moss Siren " the first album of the quartet of female folk " the krickets " and we will hear how Dominique White Francard to realize her dream of kid with " it's a teen dream ". A bit of everything (this is from Monday to Saturday on rcf cork 93.8 FM (www.rcf.be) to 13 h10 (rerun the next day at 08 h40 - except for the show Saturday, which is not repeated). A bit of everything is produced and presented by Eric Cooper) - Un Peu De Tout - RCF Liege

Ready for a harmonically driven, exquisitely produced, swamp folk record straight out of of Mobile, Alabama?

Katrina Kolb (bass), Melissa Bowman Weigle (banjo), Emily Stuckey Sellers (guitar, mandolin, percussion), and Lauren Spring (guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle) are The Krickets. Redbird is their new album.

The best part? They recorded it in five days. The location? Brown Owl Studios in Berry Hill. The producer? Sam Ashworth who has worked with acts like Lone Bellows and Joy Williams. Throw in special guests such as Bruce Bouton on pedal steel and Jeff Taylor on mandolin and accordion and we’ve added some delicious icing to this cake. Bouton is known for his work with Garth Brook and Reba McEntire; that’s definitely a slice of iconic name-dropping if I’ve ever seen one.

Stories of love, hope and struggle are delivered over engaging sonic tapestries that will have you feeling joy, sadness, empowerment and spiritual nourishment while slapping your knee, stomping your foot and swaying in emotion with the slower, less energetic ballads featured on this 11-track, Folk-rockin’, Americana-infused, Bluegrass-spiced masterpiece.

The Krickets originally formed to play a breast cancer benefit for The Cricket Fund. The Mammos and Martinis event was a memorial for Christina “Cricket” Russell and only featured female talent. Although the ladies had never performed together, they were surprised by the undeniable chemistry and the massive amount of fun that was had that evening. It was only natural they became The Krickets. They were surprised once again when they used Kickstarter to fund their first album. The response was overwhelming.

Redbird, their follow-up to that debut (Spanish Moss Sirens), was also funded through Kickstarter. In April 2018, The Krickets headed to Nashville to work with Sam Ashworth. Five days, 11 songs and surviving Emily’s morning sickness left the girls exhausted, but the work they produced is a well balanced mix of Folk, Americana and Bluegrass that is radio-ready and guaranteed to attract attention from a wide array of music listeners.

Circling back the the group’s history, they are donating $1 from the sale of every album to The Cricket Fund which provides women’s health services to the uninsured.

Listen to Redbird on Spotify.

Connect with The Krickets on their official website. - Middle Tennessee Music / Joshua Smotherman

If Ursula the sea witch lived in the swamp in stead of the sea, The Krickets would have to guard their voices. - Vie Magazine

page 28 feature in the Women of Bluegrass Issue - The Bluegrass Standard

For a band that originally came together to play a cancer benefit show for the Cricket Fund (set up in memory of Christina “Cricket” Russell—more on that later), The Krickets have accomplished quite a bit in two short years. In 2016, they cut their debut, Spanish Moss Sirens, in Muscle Shoals with Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes) producing. This past October, they released Redbird, which was recorded at Brown Owl Studios in Nashville and produced by Sam Ashworth (Lone Bellows, Joy Williams–formerly of the Civil Wars).

The Krickets, comprised of Lauren Spring (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo), Emily Stuckey (guitar, percussion, mandolin), Katrina Kolb (bass), Melissa Bowman Weigle (banjo—though now replaced by Katrina’s sister and multi-instrumentalist, Amanda) stick to and refine their “swamp-folk” sound, shifting through different shades of dark and light throughout “Redbird.”

The heart of the album lies in the title track, which is a prime example of the Krickets’ Southern gothic/noir sensibility. A solemn, meditative guitar riff accompanies Stuckey’s enticing vocals, with some sparse banjo lines adding tension to the piece. The lyrics describe how Stuckey would continually dream about her Grandmother shortly after she had passed away. In the dream, her Grandmother would try to whisper something, but Stuckey would wake up before deciphering what was said. What’s more bizarre is that Stuckey would often see redbirds during this time—in traditional folklore, seeing a redbird or cardinal means that you’re being visited by someone who has passed away. Without this added context from the band, the lyrics still depict a feeling of longing and regret, but Stuckey’s anecdote only heightens the haunting mood of the song.

Others, such as “Waiting in Vain,” further emphasize the dark, brooding vibe shown in “Redbird,” this time with a poignant fiddle and guitar segment. Rather than lamenting a deceased family member, this describes one pining for a lost lover. A similar situation is expressed in “You Didn’t Come After Me,” though this track seems to march in defiance of an old flame rather than live in the past.

Despite these somber moments, there are instances of hope and optimism throughout all of “Redbird.” “A Love Like Mine” describes the elation and joy felt when spending time with loved ones, with some fiddle and pedal/lap steel giving an additional ethereal effect. “May We Find” closes the album on a sweet note, beginning with an angelic three-part a cappella harmony and calling us to “find our way home” to a place of hope and love.

“Redbird” gives us equal doses of grief and hope—an album that is its own yin and yang. Even in the album’s bleaker moments, the Krickets still focus and emphasize the importance of making the most of the time you have and spending it with those you love. Check out their video of the title track here, and be sure to order your copy here, as $1 per album sold is donated to the Cricket Fund, which helps fund mammograms for women who cannot afford them. - Americana Highways

(Krickets featured at the 1:43 mark of the 2 hour show)

The Troubadour Show 164. Produced and presented by John Godfrey.
The show originally broadcast on
Wednesday 8th June 2016 on www.bluesandrootsradio.com
Thursday 9th June 2016 on www.asburymusic.com
Two hours of the best new releases and some old favourites.
Alt Country, Americana, Country, Folk, Rock, Roots and Singer Songwriters.
www.troubadourshow.com
Follow on twitter @TroubadourShow
www.facebook.com/thetroubadourshow
email - john@troubadourshow.com - The Troubadour Show with John Godfrey

The Krickets
Posted by: PCLiving 5 days ago

By Nick May, Photography by Joe Alonzo
The idea of an all-girl band is almost an anomaly in today’s music culture. It’s unorthodox. It might even be downright unfamiliar to you, but there’s no denying it’s something special.
Bay County is full of bands. Unique bands. We’ve got a chip on our shoulder for those who say we’ll never amount to anything more than bar tunes and Buffett covers. But even in this culture, it’s hard to find a composition that doesn’t include at least a few Y chromosomes (dudes).
The Krickets are one such composition, living and flourishing right here in Panama City. With influences like Fleetwood Mac and The Civil Wars, their sound is one that invokes grander ideas than mere toes in the sand. It’s Folk. Raw. Woodsy. Three voices married to their strings and to each other. Maybe you’ll swear to having heard them at a peace march long ago.
When Melissa Bowman (Panama City), Lauren Spring (Port St. Joe), and Emily Stuckey (Santa Rosa Beach) decided to start The Krickets, it wasn’t just about girls playing music. “Part of it is the music and how much fun we have, but part of it is that we are forever connected to The Cricket Fund,” says Bowman, who sings and plays guitar. The Cricket Fund (named for Kristina “Cricket” Russell, who died of breast cancer at 22) is established through Sacred Heart Hospital and helps to provide mammograms to the uninsured in Gulf and Franklin counties. Though they only met a handful of times, Cricket’s story had a big impact on the band. Big enough to become their namesake. “We asked Cricket’s mom if we could call ourselves The Krickets in her honor,” they explain.
Fully funded in their first crowd funding campaign, the Krickets recently released Spanish Moss Sirens, a 10-song, full length album with Single Lock Records in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. One dollar from each album sold will directly benefit The Cricket Fund. I caught up with The Krickets to learn a little bit more about what makes them who they are, and just what it is they’ve set out to do in addition to making great music.
Nick May: Congratulations on your first album!
Melissa Bowman: Thank you! What a crazy few months it has been!
Nick May: Let’s get to know you. How long have you been a band?
Melissa Bowman: Technically, the three of us have been together since last August. We call ourselves a musical unicorn, to have an all girl band with three lead singers.
Nick May: It’s just the three of you, correct?
Melissa Bowman: Emily, Lauren and I make up the permanent members of the band. Katrina Kolb lives in Alabama and plays upright bass with us when she can. She plays on the record with us.

The Krickets
Nick May: You all play guitar, correct?
Emily Stuckey: I like to say I attempt, but enjoy it. My voice is my main instrument.
Melissa Bowman: Emily also plays mandolin and percussion. Lauren plays fiddle and mandolin. I stick to guitar and stomping with my boot.
Nick May: No lady drummers yet?
Melissa Bowman: That would be Emily with her little red drum kit.
Nick May: Who writes a majority of the music and lyrics?
Melissa Bowman: We each write the “bones” of our own songs, musically and lyrically, and then we leave it up to the others to “Kricket-fy” it.
Nick May: Are any of your songs about Kristina [“Cricket”]?
Melissa Bowman: We don’t have any songs about Cricket, yet. We have a lot of recurring themes in our songs; water, trees, death, life. Songs that tell stories and some that are more emotional and internal.
Nick May: What are some of your musical influences?
Emily Stuckey: Well, I know we all love Dolly Parton!
Lauren Spring: Allison Krauss, The Civil Wars, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac.
Nick May: I love seeing Zeppelin and Dolly Parton in the same list. How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?
Emily Stuckey: Folk, for sure.
Melissa Bowman: Harmony driven, eery folk/rock with strong Southern influence. Our originals flirt with a darker side.
Nick May: Do you feel that comes from where you grew up?
Melissa Bowman: I was raised in Alabama. My dad was from The Shoals area, and that pretty much shaped my life.
Emily Stuckey: I grew up partly in a small town in Alabama and Jackson, Mississippi. My Mom is from the Mississippi Delta. We grew up listening to The Delta Blues.
Nick May: What do you think you were able to accomplish sound-wise for the record? What vibe does it carry?
Melissa Bowman: We managed to come out of the studio with a very authentic, haunting ‘swamp folk’ sound.
Click to listen to The Krickets' album on Spotify.
Click to listen to The Krickets’ album on Spotify.
Nick May: Let’s talk a little bit about your crowd funding campaign. How much money did the band ask for originally?
Melissa Bowman: $15,000. We reached that in a week I think.
Nick May: How much did you end up raising?
Melissa Bowman: $24,079 dollars.
Nick May: You must have a crazy loyal community of fans.
Melissa Bowman: We do! I’ve never felt so loved. It makes me feel like this was our purpose. This very moment.
Nick May: What has the release response been like so far?
Melissa Bowman: The record came out in May and debuted at #2 for Movers and Shakers on Amazon. We also have been #3 on global downloads for radio stations across the world.
Nick May: So exciting. Congratulations on all the praise!
Nick May: What does the band hope to accomplish, aside from merely recording and releasing the album?
Melissa Bowman: To help The Cricket Fund grow.
Lauren Spring: Agreed
Nick May: Would you say you are activists with a heart for music, or musicians with a heart for activism?
Melissa Bowman: Musicians first.
Emily Stuckey: My heart is definitely in music. Always has been.
Lauren Spring: Same.
Nick May: So the opportunity to help others is definitely an added bonus to fulfilling a passion.
Melissa Bowman: A bonus and a joyful responsibility. The Cricket Fund created the band!
Nick May: What hopes do the three of you have for the future of the band?
Melissa Bowman: I just want it to keep being fun and meaningful!
Emily Stuckey: Really and truly, as long as I’m singing, I’m happy!!
Nick May: Emily, Lauren, Melissa, thanks so much for your time.
See The Krickets play live at Marie’s Bistro, Lookout Lounge, Little Village, The Bowery Station, The Ghetto Palace and more. Buy their album from Single Lock Records this year, and check out their website at - Panama City Magazine

article pictured on link - The Lynn Haven Ledger

Thursday night the stage at the Port Theatre was no longer empty. The Krickets, a folk band with local roots took to the stage. They're named after Kristina "Cricket" Russel, a Port St. Joe woman who died from breast cancer at 23. - News Channel 7

The Krickets make music at a point where the Old World mets the New, where European folk meets country music, where Americana meets ethereality, where heaven bound harmonies join with traditional sounds and where delicacy meets drive. They work with familiar forms for sure but as always it “ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it.” And boy, the way that they do it is mesmerising. They call their deft musical blend “swamp-folk” and whilst it does sometimes run along the sultry and primal lines that such a name infers, it feels slightly self-self-deprecating for such rich and glorious music. Their previous release, Spanish Moss Sirens may have been closer to such a label but RedBird is built of more delicate and intricate stuff and the result is a rather elegant Americana sound.


For an album that was recorded in just five days, it is surprisingly textured and wonderfully layered, but also spacious enough that the music doesn’t get in the way of, what for most will be the main talking point, the harmonies. A Love Like Mine in particular builds to a majestic and sweeping crescendo driven by voices so full of love and longing. The title track is a jaunty staccato beat and a slow simple groove which reminds me of the ballpark that bands such as Wildwood Kin are working in on the opposite shore of The Atlantic and May We Find is bluegrass being made over for a younger and wider audience.

RedBird is the logical next step from Spanish Moss Sirens. It stays connected with the down home essence that lies at the heart of the music but sounds bigger. Not in regards to volume or musical weight, but somehow more dramatic, more beautiful, more emotive, more exquisite…just more. Folk, roots, country music…call it what you will, is always looking to stay relevant and move forward, the art of course is to do so without losing site of where you have come from. RedBird is the sound of a band showing the upmost respect for the music traditions that they have grown up with whilst ensuring that those traditions are not only not forgotten but allowed to flourish. - Dancing About Architecture

COVER: $8

Female swamp-folk band that just released their debut album, Spanish Moss Sirens. Produced by Ben Tanner of the Alabama Shakes an recorded at SunDrop Sound in Florence, Alabama. Debuted at #1 on Amazon’s Beller Sellers list, Hot New Releases List and Folk Release charts. All four members are singer songwriters in their own right but when they got together to play a charity gig for Sacred Heart Hospitals’ “Cricket Fund” to help fund mammograms for the uninsured, they felt the magic. Gigging in the bars along the Gulf Coast, a couple of playful videos of originals and covers garnered enough attention for them to start a kickstarter campaign. Their fans showed up in full support and famed Muscle Shoals producer, Ben Tanner agreed to produce their newly written album and the rest is history.

To learn more about The Krickets, visit: http://www.thekrickets.com/ - Manci's Antique Club

Hometown: Fairhope, Alabama (Emily); Auburn, Alabama (Melissa); and Mobile, Alabama (Katrina).
Latest Album: Spanish Moss Sirens
Personal Nicknames: Melissa: Lissa. I tried to get people to call me "Shades" in third grade, but it never took.


If you had to live the life of a character in a song, which song would you choose?

Emily: "Caldonia" by B.B. King
Melissa: I would be a siren from "The Song of the Spanish Moss Sirens." Is it fair for me to pick my own song? I just really like sirens!
Katrina: The narrator in "Freeborn Man," but as a woman.

Where would you most like to live or visit that you haven't yet?

Emily: The Mediterranean Islands
Melissa: I would love to visit every continent before I die, but especially go to Japan and have a Cha No Yu (tea ceremony).
Katrina: I'd love to travel anywhere new. Doesn't matter where.

What was the last thing that made you really mad?

Emily: No sleep.
Melissa: The last thing that made (insanely) mad was this afternoon, when I was taking an online orientation that took an hour and then magically disappeared right before I finished it. I have to do it all over again.
Katrina: They didn't have the dipping sauce I wanted at the Little Caesar's tonight.


What's the best concert you've ever attended?

Emily: Dr. John sitting in with Widespread Panic.
Melissa: The best concert ever was Nine Inch Nails in Atlanta in 200....4?
Katrina: Any bluegrass fest.

Whose career do you admire the most?

Emily: Julie Sweet
Melissa: The career I admire the most is my sister's. She's a wine maker in Oregon and has given up so much to pursue her passion. She always faces her fears head on and follows her wildest dreams.
Katrina: I admire anyone with passion who does anything with love.

What are you reading right now?

Emily: Uncommon Faith -- Felicia McQuaid
Melissa: Right now I'm reading The Lost World and a compilations of short stories by H.P. Lovecraft.
Katrina: Choke by Chuck Palahniuk


Whiskey, water, or wine?

Emily: Wine
Melissa: Whiskey. Jameson.
Katrina: Whiskey

Facebook or Twitter?

Emily: Facebook, Twitter leaves me clueless
Melissa: Facebook. I’m still not sure how to use Twitter
Katrina: FB. (Why is the Gram not an option?)

Grammys or Oscars?

Emily: Grammys
Melissa: I've never been a big awards ceremony fan. I've never paid attention to them.
Katrina: Grammys - The Bluegrass Situation

Ready for a harmonically driven, exquisitely produced, swamp folk record straight out of of Mobile, Alabama?

Katrina Kolb (bass), Melissa Bowman Weigle (banjo), Emily Stuckey Sellers (guitar, mandolin, percussion), and Lauren Spring (guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle) are The Krickets. Redbird is their new album.

The best part? They recorded it in five days. The location? Brown Owl Studios in Berry Hill. The producer? Sam Ashworth who has worked with acts like Lone Bellows and Joy Williams. Throw in special guests such as Bruce Bouton on pedal steel and Jeff Taylor on mandolin and accordion and we’ve added some delicious icing to this cake. Bouton is known for his work with Garth Brook and Reba McEntire; that’s definitely a slice of iconic name-dropping if I’ve ever seen one.

Stories of love, hope and struggle are delivered over engaging sonic tapestries that will have you feeling joy, sadness, empowerment and spiritual nourishment while slapping your knee, stomping your foot and swaying in emotion with the slower, less energetic ballads featured on this 11-track, Folk-rockin’, Americana-infused, Bluegrass-spiced masterpiece.

The Krickets originally formed to play a breast cancer benefit for The Cricket Fund. The Mammos and Martinis event was a memorial for Christina “Cricket” Russell and only featured female talent. Although the ladies had never performed together, they were surprised by the undeniable chemistry and the massive amount of fun that was had that evening. It was only natural they became The Krickets. They were surprised once again when they used Kickstarter to fund their first album. The response was overwhelming.

Redbird, their follow-up to that debut (Spanish Moss Sirens), was also funded through Kickstarter. In April 2018, The Krickets headed to Nashville to work with Sam Ashworth. Five days, 11 songs and surviving Emily’s morning sickness left the girls exhausted, but the work they produced is a well balanced mix of Folk, Americana and Bluegrass that is radio-ready and guaranteed to attract attention from a wide array of music listeners.

Circling back the the group’s history, they are donating $1 from the sale of every album to The Cricket Fund which provides women’s health services to the uninsured. - Indie Music Discovery

The Krickets To Release Sophomore Album, RedBird, Produced by Sam Ashworth (Lone Bellows, Joy Williams), Available on October 26, 2018
“Classified as ‘Swamp-Folk,’ the group combines hearty elements of Americana and Country with dashes of Bluegrass for a truly stunning one-of-a-kind sound.”
– Paste Magazine
Mobile Alabama-based quartet, The Krickets, announce the release of their sophomore album, RedBird, on October 26, 2018. Redbird, produced by Sam Ashworth (Lone Bellows, Joy Williams), was recorded at Brown Owl Studios in Berry Hill in a fast and furious five days. The album includes special guest Bruce Bouton (Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire) on pedal steel and Jeff Taylor on mandolin and accordion on “May We Find”.
Comprised of Katrina Kolb (bass), Melissa Bowman Weigle (banjo), Emily Stuckey Sellers (guitar, mandolin, percussion), and Lauren Spring (guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle). The Krickets are a sisterhood of singer-songwriters. Their 11 song harmony-driven “swamp-folk” album, Redbird, reveals stories of love, hope and struggle told with an unapologetic feminine strength.
Redbird stand-outs include the title track, inspired by a dream Emily continually had after her Grandmother passed. In the dream, her Grandmother was trying to whisper something important in her ear. Would wake up before she could understand what she was communicating. While having these dreams, she saw RedBirds everywhere. Once she wrote the song, the dream stopped. “A Love Like Mine” is about the feeling of complete happiness felt when in a favorite place. “May We Find” closes the album with an a cappella three-part harmony. It’s a message of hope and love. It closes the album with the band’s wish that we all find peace and a call to celebrate the moment.
How Did It All Come About?
The women of The Krickets originally got together to play a Breast Cancer Benefit for the Cricket Fund in memorial of Christina “Cricket” Russell. They only wanted female musicians for their “Mammos and Martinis” event. Although the women had never played together, they gave it a shot. The had great chemistry and a blast. They decided to keep playing together and call themselves The Krickets in Christina’s honor. (Not to be confused with Buddy Holly’s Crickets, hence the ‘K’). They decided to try out a Kickstarter to make an album, rallied more support than they ever imagined. So went to Muscle Shoals to record with producer Ben Tanner of the Alabama Shakes. The album, Spanish Moss Sirens, won Folk Album of the Year at the IMEAs and Folk Song of the Year at the Independent Music Awards in 2016.
Like Spanish Moss Sirens, RedBird began with a kickstarter campaign and the band went to Nashville in April 2018 to work with Grammy nominated producer, Sam Ashworth. They worked on two songs a day. Usually beginning with a percussion track and a light acoustic guitar track laid down by Ashworth to get them started. The brutal schedule of recording 11 songs in 5 days, alongside Emily’s morning sickness, therefore left them dazed. Ultimately, The Krickets are so proud of the album they made.
The Krickets donate $1 from the sale of every album to The Cricket Fund which provides women’s health services to the uninsured.
In June of 2018, member Melissa Bowman Weigle decided to leave the group to stay closer to her family. Bassist Katrina Kolb’s sister, Amanda, a multi-instrumentalist and singer, stepped in to fill that void.
The Krickets will be playing select dates in 2018 and touring in 2019. Check https://www.thekrickets.com/ for the schedule. - She Roxz

Sheer talent, a love of home and some Muscle Shoals magic make beautiful music for The Krickets.
By Steve Houk
During just about any evening down on the Florida panhandle, if you listen closely, along with the sounds of lapping waves or a distant boat horn…you can hear it.
Amidst the Gulf Coast’s swaying cypress trees and blowing palms, amidst the ambling gators, skittering lizards and floating pelicans, amidst the thick marshes and moonlit beaches, there is…music. Oh boy, is there ever. Singers and songwriters are plentiful and plenty talented down here, with many often writing musical homages to, and evoking the legendary lore of, this truly breathtaking part of the world.
No group of artists is more happily steeped in the innate beauty and fascination of their homeland than The Krickets, one of the Gulf Coast region’s musical treasures. A quartet of supremely talented women who recently found brilliance as a powerful folk/Americana quartet, there’s is a tale of four individual talents who became one big one. And no one is more appreciative of where they live, and what they write about, than they are.
“You cannot live here and not be touched by the beauty in what God put out there in front of you,” said Lauren Spring, one of the four multi-talented ladies who make up The Krickets. “It’s absolutely stunning. Every day, in some different way, it doesn’t matter if you’re staring at the water, or you’re staring at an eagle, you’re staring at something pretty awesome every single day. You can’t help being inspired, you can’t help writing songs about it. And to find a group of people who want to do that with you, and they’re like, pretty phenomenal? I’m gonna do it every day.”
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That “group of people” are Spring’s beloved Krickets’ bandmates Melissa Bowman, Emily Stuckey Sellers and Katrina Kolb, and these four forces of nature, their beautiful harmonies wrapped around the sounds of mandolin, guitar, fiddle, banjo and stand-up bass, are like one of those majestic osprey that you see soaring and then diving into the Gulf after fish: they’re flying high and on a mission. With their indigenous panhandle-bluegrass-meets-Americana sound — “swamp folk” as it’s been coined — they’re gigging consistently on the Gulf Coast and beyond to adoring crowds, were just named Best Folk Artist at the International Music and Entertainment Association’s (IMEA) Awards, and recently released their first record, Spanish Moss Sirens, which has not only garnered a slew of positive reviews, but was just nominated for three Independent Music Awards for Best Alt-Country Album, Concept Album and Folk Song (Cool Cool Water). Seems they’ve caught that fish.
The Krickets’ personal connections run deep and wide, sorta like the long strips of Gulf sand bar these ladies have spent time wading along. Sellers and Bowman played with each other years ago in their native Alabama, and after Bowman moved to Port St Joe on the eastern panhandle, she hooked up with Spring amidst some poignant circumstances surrounding a fund raiser for The Cricket Fund (thus the band’s name although with a “K”), which supplies free mammograms to local residents in memory of 22 year-old Port St Joe resident Kristina “Cricket” Russell, who died of breast cancer.
“Lauren was asked to play this Cricket Fund event because they wanted a female musician, and she wanted to have somebody play with her, and knew that I played,” Bowman said. “So we practiced I think one time, and then got together for the event, and we had so much fun practicing and playing that we decided that we wanted to do it as a weekly thing just so that we could get together and see each other and keep playing music. We had a connection on a couple of different levels.”
Sellers eventually moved to the Coast and joined up with Spring and old pal Bowman, and things clicked from minute one. “We knew it was magical,” said Spring. “The first time we heard our three part harmony, I looked around at the audience just to see if anyone else is like, hearing this, I mean, I was thinking, is anybody else picking up on this?” Then Sellers recruited her friend Kolb, and last fall, the Krickets were born. “I was like, you wanna come jam with us and (Katrina) was like, yeah!” Sellers said. “So we all got together, and that was another big explosion of awesomeness.”
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After raising nearly $25,000 from fans and friends via Kickstarter to record Spanish Moss Sirens, The Krickets felt obligated to deliver a worthy product. “It makes you feel responsible to them, you’re accountable to give them something worth what they gave,” Spring said. The band first tried to book sessions at revered Muscle Shoals Sound, not just because of the studio’s legendary reputation, but also because of something deeper and even more meaningful. Bowman’s father had been close with the Swampers, Muscle Shoals’ storied group of session musicians, and after his passing a year before the Krickets’ sessions, she and her family had scattered his ashes in Muscle Shoals. Unfortunately, Muscle Shoals Sound was closed for renovations so they recorded at Sun Drop Sound in nearby Florence. But when The Krickets arrived, they had a special welcoming committee, in both body and soul.
“When we showed up in town to record,” Spring recalled, “his people were there that he used to run with, the Swampers crew, they were there waiting for us with open arms. We felt his presence there too, it’s just magic, it’s all holy, and you couldn’t not feel him there. When we were frustrated or it got harder during the sessions, you could just feel it.”
“I was incredibly nervous because these people, the Swampers, were our heroes,” said Bowman, whose musical lore also includes being babysat for by Drive-By Truckers front man Patterson Hood when she was a kid. “When we were ready to record, I knew we were just standing on the precipice of something great. And the studio itself was really laid back and cool and quirky, and the engineer and the assistant engineer were hilarious. And we could be ourselves, we could make inappropriate jokes and have fun, and also make great music.”
As if the Daddy and the Swampers legend plus recording at a top studio wasn’t enough, the group also had Alabama Shakes‘ touring keyboardist Ben Tanner as their producer, seems he had asked to record the band once he heard some of their demos. It was his ability to let The Krickets’ music remain their own while also making his presence known just enough that made the sessions so successful and fulfilling.
“(Ben) was really encouraging us to stick with our authentic sound and not try to make it sound too perfect and too commercialized,” Bowman elaborated. “He wanted to make sure that we kept the ‘it’ that we have, that thing that we have. So alot of it we did live, alot of the vocals we all sang at the same time in the same room, alot of the instrumentation is done at the same time in the same room. So it was all very real, and he would push us to make the right take, and then would be a wizard on things that just really had to be twerked….wait, is that the right word? Ha! Tweaked.”
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All of the Krickets also have solo or side projects, Spring with her husband Bo in his excellent (and also local) Bo Spring Band, and the others with their own enriching endeavors. But when they get onstage in Kricket mode, it’s all for one and one for all, for sure.
“As far as personalities go, we are actually really good in kind of specializing in different things,” Bowman said. “So it makes it run pretty smoothly when we’re onstage, we have alot of fun and it’s really a joy to be able to share the spotlight and not worry about stepping on people’s toes. This is the least diva-ish group of musicians I’ve ever worked with before, which is hilarious ‘cuz it’s an all-female band.”
And as far as their beautiful, memorable music, it is the spirit of the Gulf Coast that drives them, and fills their music with evocative images of home.
“There’s something healing and sacred about those waters, and I don’t know exactly what it is,” Bowman said. “It was important to us to kind of contribute to the mythology of this area, the panhandle area. I was inspired to write the songs that I did because of Lauren’s song ‘To And Fro’ where she talks about cypress trees, and that was really kind of the song that inspired the whole mood of the album. Kind of like that, ethereal, dark, talking about the water, talking about the area, it really kind of inspired the whole thing.”
“The history of Port St Joe is a folk story that you could not make up if you tried,” Spring added. “I thought it was the coolest story I’d ever heard in my life. Bringing the stories and the traditions and these weird quirky things that are old Florida kind of out into the limelight, it’s just incredible to me.” - Music Planet Radio

Favorite folk band, The Krickets are back with another live performance, recorded exclusively for SCENES Media, from Nashville’s Skyville. This song will make you understand more about why Paste Magazine has called this band’s music, “a truly stunning, one-of-a-kind sound.”

Band member Melissa Bowman, who in addition to vocals and guitar also brings percussion and mandolin to the band, wrote this for her late father.

Bowman shares that the song, “Voodoo Resurrection” makes her feel that, “as long as I’m playing music, he’s always with me- he’s always with me in some way.”

Bowman sings with all of her heart, “It’s for you I strum I the strings, you’re the reason that I sing,”

You’re really going to want to wait until the end of the video to hear the acoustic instrumentation and The Krickets’ four beautiful voices harmonizing.

“With this song you’ll never be gone,” the four band-members sing. Bravo, Krickets. With harmony and voices like yours, we certainly are not going anywhere. - SCENES Media

The Krickets released an album Oct. 26, 2018, but they didn’t tell anyone.

The Gulf Coast Americana band was proud of its record, “Redbird,” but realized something much bigger occupied the minds of Florida Panhandle residents — the aftermath of Hurricane Michael. Most of the members — Emily Stuckey, Katrina Kolb and Amanda Kolb — live in Mobile, Alabama, but they all once lived in Florida, so the hurricane affected much of their fan base.

One member, Lauren Spring, still lives in Port St. Joe.

“You can’t feel morally right about self-promotion at that time,” Spring said. “Even focusing on music or art fades into the background while people are trying to survive, and rightfully so. My own home took on 12 feet of water. I was so rattled ... We had to really put this piece of artwork on hold for a while.”

Many places in her area are in some stage of rebuilding, Spring said, though some are still in the initial stage. The labor force is overwhelmed, she said.

The Krickets will bring its new album to a performance at ArtsQuest: A Fine Art & Fine Craft Festival on May 11-12. It will mark the all-female band’s first time to perform at ArtsQuest.

How have fans reacted to the album since the hurricane?

WANT TO GO?

WHEN: 5 p.m. May 11

WHERE: ArtsQuest: A Fine Art & Fine Craft Festival, Town Center of Grand Boulevard at Sandestin, Miramar Beach

It was pretty wild, but our fans have been incredible. We had a lot of Kickstarter supporters who helped us fund the album, who were there for us every step of the way. These people were living in campers in their driveways and would still show up for a show and buy albums. It blew our minds. They wouldn’t take no for an answer, and they were so supportive. It definitely affected our reach to new audiences because we couldn’t put a whole lot of promotion behind it. It still released Oct. 26 as an album, and we were incredibly proud, but we really didn’t feel right about talking about it.

Tell me about the album title, “Redbird,” and the title track.

My bandmate, Emily, was the person who came up with the original idea for that song. She dreamt that her grandmother was trying to tell her something. Every single time she got to the place where she was almost going to say it, Emily would wake up. She was so frustrated because she missed her grandmother. She had just passed away. She really wanted to understand whatever this message was her grandmother was trying to tell her.

She started working on this riff. The song has that haunting banjo riff in it. It, hopefully, depicts some frustration and gives a feeling of what Emily was going through at the time.

The story of the redbird, or a cardinal, it’s just folklore, but if you see a cardinal after someone’s passed away, it’s supposed to be a visit from them from the other side as a comforting thing. Right after she had this dream, she started seeing redbirds everywhere. We thought it was a beautiful message for the album. Everyone’s been through something like this. We really wanted to believe that messages of love and comfort were for coming from the other side for everyone.

I read you all intentionally put a female cardinal on the cover.


You’re absolutely correct. My feminist side comes out roaring when I talk about this. We’re a female band. We felt like, for the album cover, we wanted the cardinal that was featured to be a female because we feel like the male is flashy and he has all these brilliant colors. He gets all the attention most of the time. Even though the female’s colors are a little muted, and she’s back at the nest keeping the home fires burning, it doesn’t mean her song is any less beautiful or doesn’t deserve to be heard.

What was the overall theme of the record?

A lot of the songs reflect some of the emotional stuff we’ve all been through. Several of the bandmates were or are young mothers at the time. Everyone’s married. We’re not 20 years old. We have a little bit of life experience. Once you have those experiences — you’ve had long-term relationships and children — it’s definitely fodder for songwriting.

Do you have a favorite song?

We love them all for different reasons. Some are upbeat; some are slow and haunting.

There’s a great song on there called “Waiting in Vain.” It’s a folk song. It has some violin in it. Emily wrote a gorgeous melody. I love playing that because I get to play twin fiddles with my bandmate during the song, so that’s a selfish thing, because I love playing the fiddle with Amanda.

The Krickets, our namesake is a girl in Port St. Joe who passed away at 22 from breast cancer. Her name was Kricket Russell, which is why we’re called The Krickets — that was her nickname. After she passed away, we were asked to perform at a cancer benefit for a new fund set up in her name. We agreed to do it and we had so much fun. We had such a ball doing it, we decided, ‘Let’s just be a band and always do this.’


The very first song on the album is called “I Am Strong” and that one’s written to all of our folks out there facing cancer. One wonderful friend and fan of ours, she’s been amazing and supported The Krickets too much probably. She’s a physician and she just beat cancer. That song was written with her in mind, too. She’s often out in the audience, and we all cry and are happy for her and happy she’s with us.

What message would you want listeners to take away from the album?

We closed the album with a song called “May We Find.” The lyric is “May we find our way home.” I think whatever your home is — whether it’s a job, a person or a place — it was our blessing to end the album with, we sure hope you find it. May we all find a home.

What are your current band goals?

We really just want to go out and play the music first. It’s so much fun to go connect. Above all else, music is about the connection with us. We want to make sure we have that experience with the audiences and we get to go play – for them and with them and see if that music touches people.

We’re always writing. It’s like a disease. You have to let it out. We’re excited all the time about new songs. When we have about 20 or more, we decide it’s time to make a new album and go to work. We’re probably about a year away from a new album.

We really still want to dig into this one. - NWF Daily News