Country music newcomers Josh and Zach Carter are only 19, but already on the fast track to a promising music career, thanks to the twins’ tight harmonies and some timely, lucky breaks.
Influenced by the likes of country’s Rascal Flatts, Brooks & Dunn and Keith Urban, as well as John Mayer, the Everly Brothers and Gavin DeGraw, the Akron, Ohio-reared brothers—according to their artist bio—scored a chance meeting with an MTV executive in Los Angeles in 2008. That, in turn, led them to CMT, and upon completing high school, the duo began pursuing a country career full time under the development of CMT Music and Meteor 17.
Country Singers Team with Veteran Nashville Songwriters
Now based in Nashville, the Carter Twins spent much of ’08 crafting songs with Music Row songwriters and are awaiting the summer release of their debut record, which features the pair’s first radio single, Heart Like Memphis, penned by in-demand tunesmiths Blair Daly, Ashley Gorley and Lee Thomas Miller.
“We get asked a lot what the meaning behind Memphis is, and it’s really open to interpretation,” Zach said in a March 16, 2009, press release. “We’ve enjoying hearing what our fans think it means. To us, it’s at story about a girl who has gone through some tough times, but it makes her a stronger person in the end.”
Although the brothers’ album—which is being overseen by Frank Rogers, Billboard magazine’s 1 country producer—is not yet completed, Heart Like Memphis is already available via download on CMT, CMT.com, iTunes and Rhapsody and reportedly not only yielding an online audience but also rising at country radio.
Carter Twins' First Country Song Earns the Duo Country Fans & Praise at Country Radio
Available since mid-March, the pair’s freshman single, without the aid of radio, scored more than a half-million streams on MySpace and is currently climbing its way up the digital charts, with 12,000 units sold through iTunes and a spot amid the Top 50 iTunes Country Singles Chart.
Additionally, according to a March 23 e-mail report from the Carters’ publicist, Kristin Palmer, the duo has embarked on a busy spring promotional tour, the twins’ first, that’s already proved fruitful when it comes to showing off their brotherly harmonies and songwriting.
“These cute, young, hip and talented boys have the potential to engage a whole new younger country (demographic),” observed Tanya Burko, music director of WGGY in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in a March e-mail.
Similarly, Scott Mahalik, program director for San Francisco’s KBWF, reported via e-mail, “The Carter Twins are our secret weapon song,”
As for the artists, they’re still waiting to listen to their inaugural single on the radio.
“We still haven’t heard our song on the radio yet, other than when we were playing it in a radio station,” Josh said in a March 16 media statement. “We will probably freak out when we hear it. I’m going to crank it up loud, roll the windows down and tell everyone around me that it’s our song on the radio.”
Country Music Duo Launches Debut Concert Tour
In spite of their young age, pianist Zach and guitarist Josh are no strangers to the live-music arena—a fact that will come in quite handy when the act begins touting this summer, including stops in their Cleveland, Ohio, hometown, as well as Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville and an April 25, 2009, post-race concert at Nashville’s Sommet Center following the city’s annual Country Music Marathon.
For more information about the Carter Twins, or to sample their music, please visit the brother’s official MySpace music page.
Lisa L. Rollins - Texas native Lisa L. Rollins, Ph.D., is an award-winning feature writer, interviewer and journalism educator.
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