Being authentically true to yourself is important, and no one else knows that best more than country duo Walker County.
Nearly a decade ago, sisters Ivy Dene and Sophie Dawn Walker signed their first-ever record deal with Warner Music Nashville, however, they felt restricted with their releases. They had a differing idea for themselves sonically and envisioned a different future.
Fast forward ten years later and the girls finally feel at home.
The newly independent standouts teamed up with collaborator and long-time friend Paul Sikes, who has worked for the likes of Lainey Wilson and Cody Johnson, for their 11-track country assemblage, Painted Ponies, which is now available on all music streaming platforms as of Friday (April 12).
“To say we are proud of our debut album ‘Painted Ponies’ would be an understatement. We have almost 10 years of love and lyrics poured into this project. We are so excited to share with the world these songs we have loved for so long. We hope y’all love it as much as we do,” Walker County shared in a statement.
Singles “Double-Wide World” and “Hits Home” emerged earlier in the year, and paved the way for accompanying songs “20%” – a relational song – “Handwritten” – a love story spoken through the eyes of their grandfather – and newest lead single, “The Thing About Fences.”
To celebrate the release, Ivy and Sophie made their way to Austin, Texas to talk all about their latest venture while walking the red carpet at the 2024 CMT Music Awards last Sunday (April 7). The girls ran into Celeb Secrets host Juliet Schroder, where they opened up about taking control of their artistry while teasing the release of their highly-anticipated independent project.
“It’s been a passion project for us this past year. We’re so thrilled,” Ivy revealed. “Some of the songs are from 2015 when we first moved to town. They’ve been in our back pocket and we’re independent artists now, so we’re getting to release what we want to release. It’s so freeing and we’re really proud of this.”
While the girls agreed that it is overwhelming being in the driver’s seat for every aspect of their career, Sophie shared that it’s exciting to be at the forefront of their artistry.
“It’s so exciting to have full creative control on it. We have had so much fun just being like ‘let’s do it,'” she said.
“It’s full of real damn good country songs,” Ivy added with a laugh. “There’s some uptempo, there’s some slow ballads. There’s songs about our home, songs about heartbreak, but it’s mainly about taking control of our artistry and getting to put out something that we’re super proud of. That’s what it symbolizes to us.”
Up next, Walker County will be taking their project on the road and playing CMA Fest 2024 in Downtown Nashville on June 8th on the Hard Rock Stage alongside some of country’s fresh up-and-coming acts. You can find more deets by visiting the girls’ website at walkercountrymusic.com.
For more on Walker County’s music, make sure to watch our full interview with the girls from the 2024 CMT Music Awards below and don’t forget to let us know what you think of Painted Ponies by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sliding into our DMs on Instagram at @celebsecretscountry.
LISTEN TO “PAINTED PONIES” HERE:
With reporting from Juliet Schroder. For more coverage from the 2024 CMT Music Awards, click here. For more Country news, visit CelebSecretsCountry.com.
