Tennessee native Travis Rice has shared the stage with Craig Morgan, Randy Travis, and Travis Tritt, among others, and this year participated in his first-ever CMA Music Festival. Garnering new fans alongside critical praise, including the DisCovery Award from music critic Robert K. Oermann, Rice, who recently released his touching new single, "When The Fish Didn't Bite," kindly took the time to talk about his roots, the single and much more.

You played basketball and graduated college with a business degree, so when did you know that music was what you wanted to pursue professionally?
I played ball my whole life and when that was over I had no idea what I want to do - that’s when music took a hold of me in a much more serious way. A friend asked me to play a benefit and when I stepped out on that stage in front of an audience for the first time, it was like a drug to me. I put myself outside my comfort zone and honestly, I was hooked. I never felt anything else that made me feel that way, except when I was on the ball court, and I figured that if I was that passionate about it and got that much enjoyment from it, then I should see where the road would take me.  

Did you always gravitate to country music?
As far as songwriting, yes, but I didn't grow up in a musical family.  Dad’s radio broke in his truck when I was little and he didn’t get it fixed for ten years – but music was something I always gravitated to.    As I was growing up I always had music playing and as cliché as it sounds, I wanted to learn to play an instrument in high school because I thought it might help me get a date (laughing).

Initially, when I got into the guitar I wanted to be the lead in a rock band, but I realized pretty quickly I didn’t have the natural ability for that, so instead, I focused on writing songs  and found out that I had something I wanted to say. I didn’t write in a journal or talk about my feelings, so music became my journal, the place where I put my emotions and wrote about what I was going through. I wasn’t performing those songs yet, it was my way to deal with things, which eventually turned into a desire to perform. And in time, I found that people connected with my songs. It all happened very organically.

-Tara

Based in London, Two Ways Home - Isabella Mariee, who is originally from Vienna, and Lewis Fowler, who grew up in Gloucestershire – are ready to make their mark as country music’s newest duo. Having released their latest EP, Better Days earlier this year, the twosome is currently in Nashville and immersed in songwriting. During a break from their busy schedules, Isi and Lewis kindly called to talk about their roots, “Better Days,” and more.

How did the two of you come together as a duo?
Lewis Fowler (LW): We met through friends at university. Isi was a year above me and I auditioned to be in her rock cover band by playing the guitar solo in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” The band didn’t pan out, but we began writing together and attending open mic nights and it grew from there. We went around London searching for other guys who wanted to play old country and after a musical search, we found three guys who are absolutely great - Clancy, Dom, Chris.

Coming from a European background, what drew you to country music?
Isabella Mariee (IM): We were both interested in music, but didn’t know what kind of style we wanted. When we sang together, our harmonies lent themselves to country and the more we sang and played it, the more we fell in love with the genre. We really love Lady Antebellum, Brothers Osborne, Lucie Silvas and Josh Kelley.

LF: I didn’t grow up listening to so much country music, I listened to bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Eagles, but as I played guitar, I realized the style of guitar I enjoyed playing lent itself to country - and it ended up being a nice transition going from AC/DC to country music. When I was younger, I never thought music was anything more than a pipe dream, but after studying at university and meeting Isi, I realized what I wanted to do and just stuck at it.