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Kaylee Rutland
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The 23-year-old from Flower Mound is chasing her dreams in Nashville.
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aylee Rutland was 17 years old when she left her hometown of Flower Mound to pursue her dream of becoming a country singer in Nashville. “When I flew to Nashville for the first time, I was bouncing in my seat up and down,” she says. “I still feel like that sometimes.”
Kaylee Rutland photo by Angela Talley Photography
AN ARTIST TO WATCH
Rutland, whose ultimate dream is to perform on stage at the Grand Old Opry, is well on her way to achieving her goals. At just 23 years old, she has already released one EP, This Side of Me, and is in the studio working on her second. Billboard and Country Living magazine both named her an “Artist to Watch.” The road to country music stardom began in Denton County, where she first performed at a church concert at age 8. As a teenager and Marcus High School student, she wrote songs and performed all over the county, from festivals to coffee shops. She’s moved on to bigger stages since her coffee shop days, and though she sometimes feels some nerves just before a show, she says, “When the music starts playing and I start singing, all the nervous energy goes away,” she says. “Nothing else in my life feels that way.” After making her way to Nashville, she worked on her first EP with singer Jamie O’Neal, who is best known for the song “There is No Arizona.” Rutland says, “She was always good about bringing the best out of me in my voice.”
When her sister, Madie, then 13, was becoming a teenager, Rutland remembered all of her own insecurities from that age. She wrote the inspirational anthem “Do You,” which later became a single, for her sister with lyrics such as “When you don’t know what to say, think, be or do… do you.” “I felt so much when I was talking to her that I was looking at my younger self,” she says. “So ‘Do You’ is my message to her.” “My Man,” in which Rutland tells another woman to stop ogling her boyfriend, is a fan favorite. With its strong banjo line and sassy lyrics, Rutland says it’s fun to play the character in concert. Today, Rutland, who studied music business at Belmont University in Nashville, is in the studio recording new music for her solid fanbase, which includes more than 164,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. —JD
DON
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As co-founder of the Eagles (the biggest selling band in U.S. history), Don Henley has earned the status of living legend. As a solo artist and member of the group, he’s had 25 Top 40 singles and has eight Grammy Awards on the mantle. Local connection: A native of Linden, Texas, Henley arrived in Denton to attend then-North Texas State University in 1967. He studied there for two years. Today, Henley has a home in Dallas and is active in environmental and political causes. Two hits: “Boys of Summer,” “Hotel California” Trivia: Sheryl Crow toured with Henley as a backup vocalist for the End of the Innocence tour in 1989.
“When the music starts playing and I start singing, all the nervous energy goes away. Nothing else in my life feels that way.”
FINDING HER MUSES
O’Neal was also “just a fun person to tell stories that would turn into a song four hours later.” Once, they talked about how glad they were that it was Friday and that they were done for the week. That simple conversation resulted in the single “Pick Me Up.” Inspiration also comes from her family. M A R C H /A P R I L 2 0 1 9 D E N T O N CO U N T Y
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