Eighteen-year-old Kaylee Rutland, a Texan contemporary country singer and songwriter, will be playing this year's Dallas Music Fest in it's twelfth consecutive run. Kaylee's musical inspiration comes from artists such as Reba McEntire, Sarah Evans, and Carrie Underwood. "Music has always been something I've wanted to do," says Kaylee, "it's been a huge part of my life since I was a kid." Kaylee's songs primarily deal with themes of friends, faith, and love - things.
"If I hear someone say something that I think would work great in a song, I'll take that knowledge with me and work with it to write my lyrics," she says. When Kaylee is writing songs, she says she is hard on herself because she wants the lyrics and music to sound as good as they can. Once Kaylee has the basic lyrics down for a song, she takes what she wrote and her and her band meet up, jam through it, and bounce ideas off of each other.
It has been about a year since her first EP was released; she is just about done recording her second EP and plans on releasing it sometime very soon. Kaylee just finished recording a song and music video with country stars, Jamie O'Neal and Colt Ford. "It was a real blessing to record with such nice and down to earth people like Jamie and Colt," said Rutland. When Kaylee was just starting out in music, she says her biggest challenge was getting on stage and being comfortable instead of feeling awkward. Other than that Kaylee says rarely has any trouble with her band, pointing out that they get along really well.
Her favorite show she has played so far has been the Pregame Party on the Plaza; she has played this show twice now and has loved it both times. It is a two-hour set that was before the Dallas Stars hockey game. "It was freezing cold but I loved every second of it!" she says. If Kaylee could open up for any artist of her choice, she would choose to open up for Reba McEntire because she is her idol.
As advice to other up-and-coming performers much like herself, Kaylee says to listen to your loved ones and not the skeptics. "The ones you need to listen to are the ones who believe in you," she says, "if you believe in yourself, then other people will start to believe in you. If you believe in yourself, you will succeed." Kaylee ended up playing on one of the headlining spots during the 2014 Dallas Music Festival, and we wish her all the best in her future career. Fore more information on Kaylee, you can visit her website or Facebook page.
"If I hear someone say something that I think would work great in a song, I'll take that knowledge with me and work with it to write my lyrics," she says. When Kaylee is writing songs, she says she is hard on herself because she wants the lyrics and music to sound as good as they can. Once Kaylee has the basic lyrics down for a song, she takes what she wrote and her and her band meet up, jam through it, and bounce ideas off of each other.
It has been about a year since her first EP was released; she is just about done recording her second EP and plans on releasing it sometime very soon. Kaylee just finished recording a song and music video with country stars, Jamie O'Neal and Colt Ford. "It was a real blessing to record with such nice and down to earth people like Jamie and Colt," said Rutland. When Kaylee was just starting out in music, she says her biggest challenge was getting on stage and being comfortable instead of feeling awkward. Other than that Kaylee says rarely has any trouble with her band, pointing out that they get along really well.
Her favorite show she has played so far has been the Pregame Party on the Plaza; she has played this show twice now and has loved it both times. It is a two-hour set that was before the Dallas Stars hockey game. "It was freezing cold but I loved every second of it!" she says. If Kaylee could open up for any artist of her choice, she would choose to open up for Reba McEntire because she is her idol.
As advice to other up-and-coming performers much like herself, Kaylee says to listen to your loved ones and not the skeptics. "The ones you need to listen to are the ones who believe in you," she says, "if you believe in yourself, then other people will start to believe in you. If you believe in yourself, you will succeed." Kaylee ended up playing on one of the headlining spots during the 2014 Dallas Music Festival, and we wish her all the best in her future career. Fore more information on Kaylee, you can visit her website or Facebook page.
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