Kristen Castro, Katy DuBois (Bishop), and Alaina Stacey, otherwise known as Maybe April, are our Swag Spotlight this week.  The ladies took the time to chat with New York Country Swag a few weeks ago about their Opry City Stage debut as well as their latest single “You Were My Young”.  Growing up in all different parts of the country, each member brings a unique backstory as well as influences to the table when creating their unique sound.  Alaina grew up in Chicago, her family was very musical and her brothers were in a band together.  Kristen started her career playing heavy metal music, growing up in California and Katy grew up in Arkansas, interested in theater and dance from a very early age.

As fate would have it, they all ended up at a music industry camp in Nashville in 2012 and chose each other to work together on writing a song to present to the panel by the end of the week. This is not only where the ladies met each other and formed a quick bond but where they decided on their band name. “Alaina and I (Katy) were talking and we were both born in April and we asked Kristen and she was born in December so we said Maybe, and we kind of like that it’s May and April, it was kind of a thing where we asked around the camp what do you think of these names, it was the one people liked, it was only supposed to be our name for that week but it just stuck,” they tell us.

Since then, six years have passed and the ladies have each moved to Nashville and lived in the same house, furthering their bond. “When we decided to move here, we all had been doing our own music thing but we kind of thought, we have this great connection why don’t we try the trio thing out,” they explain.  The three ladies in Maybe April are all songwriters, taking outside co-writes as well and working with writers around town.  Their latest single “You Were My Young” was written with Jason Duke, who has written songs with Kelsea Ballerini including “Dibs” and “The First Time”.  The first song they wrote together back in 2012 was written by three girls who had just gotten through those treacherous high school years filled with heartbreak and typical teenage girl drama, so they tell us “You Were My Young” is the grown-up version of that song.  “Looking back and thinking, at that time it was so awful, I was so sad but I’m okay now,” Kristen tells us.  “We all had gone through that and are able to look back with fresh eyes.”  The track combines their unique blend of country, folk, and Americana while showcasing their beautiful three-part harmony.

Recently they made their Opry City Stage debut in Times Square and play a show at Rockwood Music Hall in downtown Manhattan and said the New York City fans are different from those in Nashville. “We’ve been fortunate enough to play venues where people are actually listening because a lot of times you don’t get that in an audience so at Opry City Stage and Rockwood as well we had great crowds,” the ladies tell us.  “It is just so cool to be able to say I am in New York City, a part of all of the people here who are trying to make it and it’s been really crazy.  It was a dream.”