Pryor and Lee have taken over the New England Country Music social media channels as of late. They recently performed for our “At Home Concert Series” on IG live Tuesday night (12/1), and we had the honor of exclusively revealing their acoustic video of their debut single ‘Y’allsome.’ On top of that, we had the pleasure of chatting with these two before their live with us.
Pryor and Lee are Black River Entertainment’s first country duo to sign to the Nashville based company. The duo consists of Pryor Baird and Kaleb Lee, who were brought together as roommates on the singing competition The Voice. After competing against each other, the pair decided that two is better than one. As Kaleb retold the story of how they became Pryor and Lee, he said “we became really good friends… and I wasn’t living in Nashville at the time. So I would come up and stay with Pryor when I was in town, and we’d always joke around with the idea of doing some songs together. It finally got to the point where we were doing shows together and we were having more fun doing it together.” It was around this time last year that Pryor and Lee was born.
Aside from being the reason they met, The Voice also brought some valuable career lessons. Pyror said they called it boot camp because “You get to play with the best band, the best sound, and some of the biggest artists in the world. So you take all that professionalism with you when you leave and think this is the caliber of where I want to be.” Kaleb said that they’d do it again if they knew they could do it again together.
Their debut single ‘Y’allsome’ has been out digitally since June, but they got their hands on it back in the beginning of the year. It’s written by big time writers Rhett Atkins, Marv Green and JT Harding and produced by Doug Johnson and Chip Matthews. “The tempo, the sound, the lyrics, the vibe” is what made Pryor and Lee jump to cut the single. “We didn’t even know who wrote it at the time [of listening to it], which is a cherry on the top knowing that guys like that were a part of it.”
At the time of coming across ‘Y’allsome,’ the guys were looking for what Pryor and Lee would be putting out first. With one listen, they knew this song was the one – “It hit home as soon as we heard it… this has gotta be a song that we do.” To define their sound, Pryor and Lee were asked to do it in three words: “Bad Ass Country.” The two started laughing and said, “you said three words right?”
They had the opportunity to play their song for the first time at the Daytona 500, which was six months ago. At the time, the duo wasn’t even sure if they were going to cut ‘Y’allsome.’ This performance has a pretty amazing backstory that the guys wanted to tell us about: “We’re doing an acoustic set at the Daytona 500 pre-race and while we’re playing it, Air Force One flies in because President Trump was coming to the race. So during our set, we literally stopped the song halfway through and Air Force One is landing next door to us. It was a really cool moment.” Pryor and Lee were able to restart the song and, to their surprise, fans were singing along with them!
Pryor and Lee also performed the first socially distanced pre-race concert for NASCAR. It was the first time NASCAR has had live music since the pandemic and the duo was honored to be there. “It was weird and super cool at the same time… we were in Bristol and it seats [over 110,000] people but there were 30,000 people there.” This was a great way for the guys to get back to doing what they loved and singing in front of a crowd.
When asked how the creative process has been during this “off time,” Kaleb jumped right in and said “It’s been nuts. We’ve had a lot more downtime than we would’ve liked, however, we’ve been working our asses off and going to writing rooms. We’re doing everything we can to keep this thing going and growing!” They’re booking shows when they can and one of them is happening in a few weeks! The duo is performing on New Year’s Eve at the Hilton in Daytona, Florida. They’re doing a 60 minute acoustic set, opening up for Lee Brice and Tyler Farr. The concert has a different setup than usual – it’s a vertical concert. This means “they set up the stage on the beach in front of the Hilton and we perform for all the people on the decks of the rooms. Buying a ticket to the show is buying a room for the night.”
Speaking of performing, we asked the pair what their favorite songs were to perform live, and they were stumped. After much deliberation, Kaleb came out with ‘The Fireman’ by George Strait and Pryor said ‘Beer Never Broke My Heart’ by Luke Combs. Maybe fans can expect these two songs to make the setlist for New Year’s Eve!
To end their interview, we asked them who their two biggest idols were, musically or personally. Both guys were stunned by this – “Woooow! This is a really good question.” Kaleb said that Theodore Roosevelt and Travis Tritt were his idols, while Pryor said Vince Gill and his dad were his.
Needless to say, this interview was a blast. Pryor and Lee have a confidence like no other and these guys are ready to take the industry by storm. They presented themselves in a way not many up-and-coming artists can. If you didn’t catch them on our IG Live, head over to @necountrymusic to watch it now! In the meantime, stream their debut single ‘Y’allsome’ on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube.