Truth can sometimes slap you in the face. And it does when you listen to the music of Angaleena Presley. Hailing from the small mining town of Beauty in Eastern Kentucky, Presley’s comparisons have likened her to the strong females of country music who have blazed the trail before her: Bobbie Gentry, Dolly Parton, Patty Loveless and, Angaleena’s musical hero, Loretta Lynn. Writing in Nashville since 2002, Presley has established herself as a no-nonsense songwriter, unafraid to tackle the toughest of subject matters.
“A lot of folks first heard of me when I wrote a song called ‘Knocked Up’ that Heidi Newfield cut on her first solo record,” Angaleena said. “People would say, ‘God, honey, that song has balls.’ But I just wrote what I knew. I was pregnant, not married, and felt like the shame of my family.” It was songs like “Knocked Up” and “Look It Up” (a Top 20 single for Ashton Shepherd) that began drawing the attention of writers and artists on Music Row.
“I was in the middle of a divorce, living in the ghetto, sleeping next to my three year old son. And one night, at like 2 a.m., I got a call from my friend Ashley Monroe and Miranda Lambert,” Presley recalls. “They had been listening to my record – and probably drinking a lot – and asked me if I wanted to start a band with them. I almost hung up ‘cause I thought it was a prank call, but I went ahead and told them ‘yes,’ and I’m glad I did.” The result…Pistol Annies, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful band signed to RCA. Their first single, “Hell on Heels,” was written by Presley, Lambert, and Monroe and has been certified gold by the RIAA. Their album, also titled Hell on Heels, debuted at Number One on country sales charts and was picked by many critics around the country, including The New York Times, as the best album in any genre of 2011. The follow up to that record, “Annie Up” was released in May of 2013 and found the trio again topping sales charts and performing on “Today Show”, “The Tonight Show”, “The View” and many more.
“It’s still surreal for me,” Angaleena reflects. “It feels like you can bang your head against a wall trying to knock it down for a long time, and one day it crumbles, and it was all worth it. All I ever wanted was to be like Loretta Lynn…she told the truth and so do I.”
Never one to slow down, Presley entered the studio in January of 2014 with a supporting cast of Nashville’s finest musicians (Keith Gattis, Fred Eltringham, Glenn Worff, Audley Freed) to record her long awaited debut solo album due out later this year, on Slate Creek Records, LLC.
About The Author
