If you take a look at the vast history of country music in New Jersey, you’ll find there isn’t a vast history of country music in New Jersey, which is what makes twin sister country duo Spinn a bit of an anomaly. Stephanie and Cheryl Lynn Spinner are city girls with country hearts, and while their New Jersey home may not be known for country music, they’re putting their cowboy boot imprint on the Garden State, and the rest of the country.
This past year Spinn won country music station NASH FM’s NASH Next regional competition – which featured over 750 bands – earning them a trip to Nashville to perform in the finals, and tour with the other Top 10 finalists from around the country. Hitting the stage with their unique mix of traditional country – including Cheryl Lynn playing the Autoharp – playful banter, and a heaping dose of humor, Spinn wins people over with both their music, and their personalities. With two successful EPs already under their belt – A Little Crazy, and City Country – and a third, titled Freedom, on its way this summer, Spinn are thoroughly enjoying living out their dreams. Having recently released their first single off of the EP, "Time, Love and Freedom", the fun-loving sisters kindly took the time to answer their Essential 8 where they talked about their love of pizza, Song Roulette, their dream venue, fan gifts, and so much more! With any particular song, was there an “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect? With our new single “Crazy For You”, the chorus came together pretty quickly, within 5 minutes actually which is a record time for us. It gave a false sense of confidence actually haha. While we were writing the verses, we loved them, but the song just didn’t seem perfect to us. Our “ah-ha” moment happened a few days later when we realized “OH obviously” and flipped the versus around. So little insider information, the second verse of Crazy For You actually started out as the first verse. Makes way more sense this way! How do you kill the long hours in the van? We play Song Roulette! It’s very high pressure, we go around the car and everyone takes turns playing songs from their iPod that they think the band would love. We all have very eclectic tastes in music and we get pumped about spreading new artists we’ve found or new releases. It could be anything from Chris Stapleton, Alessia Cara, Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers, to Justin Timberlake. The rabbit holes we find ourselves down make long drives seem much shorter! What’s your favorite/”go-to” food on the road? Pizza! Over the years we’ve found that pizza is really the only thing we can stomach before big shows. Coming from the NYC area we can definitely be pizza snobs, but we’ve figured out that if you think of it just was “bread, sauce, and cheese” any slice will do in a pinch!
What are your “must have” albums for the road?
Big go to albums on the road for us are albums we love from start to finish. Miranda Lambert’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and “The Nerve” from Weight of These Wings, Brantley Gilbert’s “Just As I Am”, Lincoln Parks “Hybrid Theory”, and Goo Goo Dolls “Dizzy Up The Girl” are some of our favorites. We may be the only people who still have CD Books in our cars! What’s your dream venue and why? The Grand Ol’ Opry is our dream venue for sure! We’ve made it a point to go to a show at the Opry every time we get to Nashville since we were little and it was still at the Ryman, and there’s nothing like that energy anywhere else in the world. The fact that up-and-comers get the chance to share a bill with greats like Ricky Skaggs, Bill Anderson, Trace Atkins, while being blown away by Carrie Underwood, and watching roots players who can barely walk shred away at their instruments is second to none. Is drinking at gigs a positive or a negative? A few years ago we would have told you having a drink at a show was imperative at gigs haha! Now that the stage is like home and we’re more comfortable than off being completely un-buzzed is perfectly fine, but the first few times were definitely a lot of nerves. We do like to party at our locals showers so you’ll see us with a beer on stage or taking shots with fans afterwards. But we never get drunk, Steph can’t sing when she’s drunk...like at all... Do you have a favorite gift from a fan? Steph plays the tambourine a lot on stage, and one day a fan showed up to a gig with a jazzed up tambourine for her! It was painted pink with glittery rhinestones and it has Spinn in black on it. So adorable, we love it! Is there a recent release you cannot stop listening to? Carly Pearce’s “Hide The Wine”. LOVE that song, her style, her voice. We were obsessed with her first single “Every Little Thing” and this follow up did not disappoint, very excited for her. Website/Facebook/Twitter
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