A Little Too Picture Perfect…but just whose picture?
By Andrew Fersch
The Osmond’s made it cute to be overachieving child musicians, or maybe it was the Jackson’s, or some other absolutely adorable and inseparable clan that proved that family still meant something here in America, even if it was just the good part of the family that you saw on your TV screen. Everyone loves a child who is dressed up and playing a role for our amusement but who says the children want any part of it?
Siblings Lillie Mae, Frank, Scarlett, and Amber-Dawn started out the same way; by virtue of their parents desires not their own. There was no Jypsi when a six year old Lillie Mae was dragged onto the road with the rest of the brethren to tour (and play onstage with) her parents. And there was no question as to whether the children wanted to or not, it was just expected of them. And although they do give the ‘rents credit for starting them out, they want to make it clear that Jypsi is theirs, it’s the child that they created and that they have grown to love.
“We trained for years, played a lot growing up, and our parents toured for years with us on the road,” Amber-Dawn told me recently over the phone, only to have her brother chime in pretty quickly adding, “Dad played instruments, we were just forced to play, it’s amazing that it became our dream.” But it did.
After slaving away four hours a day on Lower Broadway in Nashville at Layla’s (after several years on the road) they got a big break that few others can claim to have gotten, someone walked in, sat down, and within a few songs offered them the deal that they currently have with Arista Nashville. It was actually so surreal that Amber-Dawn didn’t believe it was really happening, and that should come as no surprise.
With the sheer number of musical acts out there one has to stand out and shine pretty brightly these days to catch someone’s eye to the point that they are being sought out for a record deal – those years of being forced to tour with their father were clearly paying off. And although they don’t like to credit the parents too much, they do pay homage to their upbringing with their band name.
“Our whole lives we’d travel all around in a motor home. We had racked our brains for names and it just sounded perfect. And we spell it differently because we do everything differently,” Amber-Dawn related to me recently after playing California’s Stagecoach Festival – one of many festivals they are slated to appear at this summer.
Although there is a little bit of Wisconsin cheese in a statement like that, it’d be foolish to say that they don’t have the musical chops to be taken seriously or age on their side to excuse them for their reckless (and sometimes a big goofy) youthful enthusiasm (which can occasionally come off as overly eager or hyper on stage yet still very endearing). They may not be re-writing the country rule book with their fiddles, picking, harmonies and mandolin, but they are certainly trying to bring a youthful exuberance into it that is the same reason why people fell in love with little Michael Jackson in the first place. He stood for what had made people love music in the first place – innocence.
The four members of Jypsi were kind enough to indulge my teacher-ly instincts and each answered a prompt that I made for them!
Lillie Mae - Music is..... inspiration to the world. Nobody lives without music in some way or another. You can’t live without music. It’s like breathing. Being able to make music on the road with your brother and sisters is simply the greatest pleasure in life. It makes the world go round. Our mother once said the world would be a better place without music… funny having kids who wouldn’t live without it. I think that our music helps bring in young listeners to country because we’re young and our look is unique. It’s a beautiful thing that somehow seems to be forgotten. No matter what happens in our career, we’ll always play. That’s all that counts.
Frank - My sisters are..... the most fun, talented, brilliant, beautiful women in the world. They give you pure heart with every note they play and sing as well as everything they do in life. They are my favorite people in the world.
Scarlett - Fashion is.... art. It’s a major part of who we are as individuals and as a group. Fashion is another way, besides music, for us to express our personalities. Sometimes I can change my outfit and makeup 5 times a day depending on how my mood switches. We live for fashion.
Amber-Dawn - Our family is.... very very close. We hang out with each other all the time and always know what each other are thinking. We even finish each other’s sentences!