Yes, her latest single was written by Nick Jonas – yes, she is an advocate for women in country music – and yes, she is the most adorable little sprite to descend upon Music City like a swarm of Fireflies since Audrey played muse for Hank; but what sets April Kry apart from droves of talented tomatoes in this town? Incontestable voice.
I have the fortune, (sometimes misfortune), of hearing lots of demos and press kit EPs and I can honestly say that something in April’s vocal captured my attention straightaway. One of the issues I have with modern country is that sometimes we choose to sacrifice emotion for power in female vocals. We don’t run into that problem with April Kry. From the heartfelt candidness of “Daddy’s Little Girl”, to the window down head bobbing “Fireflies”, April delivers a distinct earthy style with all of the vocal prowess necessary to convey such emotion.
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Let’s start at the beginning of April Kry:
I started doing music when I was really young. My dad was a worship leader in our church. He would sing all the time and I would get up there with him. So, I kind of always knew I wanted to do music from a very young age. When I was in middle school and high school I picked up the guitar and started writing my own stuff, and that’s how I fell into the country genre. I really loved the lyricism of the songs.
You sang on Regis & Kelly:
I got called to sing background vocals for Enya. That was an amazing experience. I got to go on the show and, she had a Christmas album out, so I was just singing background vocals for that. I was maybe eighteen.
You came to Nashville to record:
I came to Nashville and just started writing and trying to find myself as an artist. I worked with some producers and writers and did my first EP here. And got some song placements on some reality shows. It was a good first start for me here.
Fireflies is a fun, poppy song, I really like that one:
It is. We wanted it to speak for itself. We were building it around the lyrics, and we just felt like the production really spoke to the lyrics. I’m really happy with how it came out.
Do you usually write on guitar:
I do usually. I’ll go in sometimes with my piano player and he’ll pluck out a melody. We’ll write that way sometimes.
Do you always know the style you’re writing for when you write:
No. Honestly, it’s different every time I go into a session. That’s kind of what I love about doing writing sessions. You really don’t know. I’ll go in with an idea and it’ll come out something totally different. And that’s what so cool about it.
The new single:
Daddy’s Little Girl. Definitely a cool story. Kevin Jonas Sr., he had written this song with his son Nick, when Nick was eleven. It’s based on a true story about a woman they were very close with who passed away and left her daughter, her nine month old daughter, with the father. As soon as he told me that story I was like, wow, that is extremely heartwrenching. He had been looking for a country female vocalist for this song for a really long time, since they wrote it, and he [Nick Jonas] is really good friends with the head of my label. He listened to me sing the cover of Martina McBride’s song “A Broken Wing” and he was like, “I think this is the girl for this song”. I literally learned it the day before.
Tomato Talk. Go:
Well, after everything that came out, all of the comments that were made about women being played on country radio, Martina McBride came out and gave her opinion and that just brought a light to everything. It gave me this idea to go out and get people’s opinions on the subject. So I wrote a couple questions down and I was like, ‘I’ll just go out and see what people are thinking are thinking about this’. It’s on Youtube and I’m out on Broadway, in Nashville, just going up to people and asking them their thoughts.
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Click below for the full interview including April’s thoughts on my question regarding authenticity in modern country music and more about Tomato Talk.
Visit AprilKry.com for upcoming events, music, booking, and social media links
