Jamelle and Brandon Fraley met at Belmont University, when she was a freshman and he was a senior. It didn’t take long for the two vocal majors to become each other’s biggest fan (they married in 2002). Nashville (where the private liberal arts university is located) also took notice of the two talented artists. Major Bob Music’s Mike Doyle helped Brandon get a songwriting/producing deal with Sony Music Publishing right out of college. Undergrad Jamelle’s vocals caught the attention of Grammy Award winning writer/producer Tommy Sims and she began working in the studio with him on his records.
Brandon became part of Gretchen Wilson’s road team in 2005. He played piano and was her main background vocalist on the tour that included over 120 shows a year. In 2008, Jamelle began touring with Carrie Underwood, singing background vocals (when you hear her voice, you’ll understand why she paired so well with Carrie).
In 2010, Brandon became Danny Gokey’s tour bandleader. Jamelle was able to join him when she wasn’t on the road with Carrie.
Brandon remarked, “We are so appreciative of Danny letting us be a part of his concert night after night. Whenever Jamelle was able to join me on my tour with Danny, he’d want her singing background vocals on every song & let us have a “moment” to share our story during the concert.”
Here is a video of Brandon sharing their story (he sings Keith Urban’s “Raining on Sunday“)
As successful as they were touring with other artists, it had to be very difficult being apart so much. The duo wrote “Better When You’re Home“, which could be an anthem for traveling musicians (or anyone whose career takes them away from home). In the song, their vocals layer on top of each other’s before blending into one.
When asked if this song is part of their story, they replied,
“Absolutely. It certainly wasn’t written to be an anthem for traveling musicians but since it was composed while we were both traveling apart from one another, it’s no surprise that this song hits close to home with anyone who travels for a living. At the end of the day, it’s always nice to know that whoever is home by themselves can handle being on their own & isn’t completely miserable (that would make it so much harder to leave), but they certainly do prefer it when you’re home with them.”
After having collectively performed in over 1,000 shows (along with numerous appearances on the Grand Ole Opry stage) Brandon and Jamelle realized
“that when they sing together it literally sounds like one voice, and they are better singing together than they ever were apart. … Two incredible stories, finally traveling down the same road.”
Two Story Road was born. Together they have posted a number of songs their website .
Not forgetting their fans, the duo is well aware of the impact their songs can have on them and carefully select songs to record.
“It’s an extremely humbling feeling knowing you can impact someone with a song. It really makes us think that much harder when we’re writing lyrics to a song or thinking about a cover of someone else’s song to sing. We’re aware that the music we sing can have a profound impact on people and we certainly don’t take it for granted. As much as we like to throw fun, silly songs in our set list that put a smile on the face of our audience, we hope that by the end of the night, they walk away feeling better than they did when they first showed up.”
Brandon and Jamelle treasure their fans.
“We do our best to make sure neither one of us takes ourselves too seriously. At the end of the day, we’re no different from the amazing fans that show up to see us perform. We have good days and bad days just like everyone else. We look at our career as something that we get to share with our fans. We love being able to share our success stories with them because without them, there wouldn’t be any.”
Brandon and Jamelle are currently in the studio recording their debut album. When we asked if they will be writing/co-writing all the songs?
TSR: “I (Brandon) have been producing records for other artists for many years now. To date, I have actually produced all of the TSR demos that are up on our website & various social media pages. Mark Bright (Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Sara Evans) will actually be handling most of the producing responsibilities for our first CD. Mark knows my skills as a producer so I’ll definitely be having some input along the recording process. We are so excited and honored to have Mark on board and can’t wait to see what we all come up with.
Although we have written a lot of songs in preparation for our first CD, we’ve always had the mindset from day #1 that the best song wins, no matter who wrote it. We’re fairly confident that most of the songs will be ones that we had a hand in writing, but don’t be surprised if you see one here or there without our name on it. Whether we’re writing a song by ourselves or with someone else in the room, it’s always an interesting experience. It’s easy to let yourself get psyched out knowing that your walking into a room that your hoping to be walking out of in a few short hours with a song that, at that moment, does not exist. It’s always an interesting journey, sometimes harder than others, but nonetheless, we enjoy the process.”
We had to ask how hard it is on deciding which song to choose as their national debut single and why?
“That’s a tough question with an even tougher answer. Although we’ve shown our fans a lot of the new material we’ve been writing for our debut CD, we’d like for there to be some songs that our fans will be hearing for the first time on that CD. Having said that, there are a couple of tunes that we’ve purposely been keeping up our sleeves that we think might make for a good single. There are also a couple of songs that our fans know very well that we think also might make a strong case as a debut single. Sorry to disappoint, but you’ll just have to wait and see. ☺”
The duo recorded Celine Dion’s “The Prayer” as a Christmas present for Brandon’s parents in 2007, so is a Christmas album in the future?
“We can’t say for certain when a TSR Christmas album will be released, but it is definitely something we are already looking forward to doing. If it were up to Jamelle, it’d be the first thing we release. ☺”
For more information on Two Story Road click HERE. Trust me you will not be disappointed.
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