How sister duo Tigirlily Gold went from hometown band to country stars – InForum

NASHVILLE — A big dream for Tigirlily Gold came true in May when the sister duo made their debut at the Grand Ole Opry.

“Everyone we’ve looked up to has played that stage,” said 27-year-old Kendra Olson. “To walk into that circle, and every time we walk into that circle, to know that we are a part of country music’s history is pretty chilling.”

But that was just the beginning of Olson’s and 25-year-old Krista Slaubaugh’s big-ticket accomplishments. In the following months, the sisters from Hazen, North Dakota, returned to the famous country music stage seven more times.

The women also performed the national anthem at two NFL games, appeared on the “Today” show in New York, and sang on the red carpet for the 2023 Academy of Country Music Awards. They will even have their version of “Where Are You Christmas” featured in a Christmas Hallmark movie with the same title.

Their most recent check-marked item on their bucket list: attending the Country Music Association Awards on Nov. 8.

“This year has exceeded our wildest dream,” Olson said. “It’s a lot of validation for all the hard work we’ve put in.”

The road to success wasn’t traveled overnight, Slaubaugh said. She and Olson started singing together as young children. Slaubaugh, then 14 years old, and Olson, 16, launched their career in 2013.

The 10-year grind ranged from doing “kitchen covers” to making the Billboard Country Airplay with their original song, “Shoot Tequila.”

The women took a shot at, as their mother, Brenda Slaubaugh, called it, a “needle-in-a-haystack chance.” But there’s no hangover here: just gold.

“It’s not been an overnight success for us,” Krista Slaubaugh said. “I’ve always believed that if you stick anything out long enough that good things are going to come your way. … It’s really cool to see all of those dreams coming true.”

In 2013, Olson and Slaubaugh started singing as an official duo under the name Tigirlily —

Gold was added in 2022.

The two produced songs and videos with the help of friends, playing concerts at North Dakota fairs and venues.

They didn’t know how far the career could take them, they said.

“We just loved singing together, and the fact that it’s taken us this far, it’s been a lot of hard work,” Olson said.

Contributed / Jordan Axtman

One of their first videos was “Just Another Pretty Face.” Chris Harvey, a Hazen Public Schools band and video production teacher, helped them produce the video about a high school girl hoping to be noticed by a boy.

He recalled the sisters being very driven and knowing what they wanted.

“It’s pretty rewarding to see them,” he said of seeing them perform at the Grand Ole Opry.

In 2017, they moved to Nashville to start performing on Broadway, as well as working with other artists to write songs. The rest of the family moved to Nashville a year later, Brenda Slaubaugh said.

The family knew the sisters seeking a music career would be hard, but they didn’t realize how hard until Olson and Krista Slaubaugh moved to the “Country Music Capital of the World,” their mother said.

“You hear how hard it is and have no expectations, but you have to give it a shot,” she said.

Olson said there were a lot of “no’s,” but there also were people who said yes to their music.

“I think just persevering through times when you feel like giving up is a big thing,” she said.

The people they worked with also said they had never seen a state support a band like North Dakota does, Olson said.

“We’re so grateful, and we’re so thankful,” she said. “Kudos to North Dakota.”

The women kept going, saying they were happy and already made it, according to their mother. Anything else was extra.

Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum

And like their hit single says, “Momma didn’t raise no quitter.”

Tigirlily Gold got their big break in 2021 when they signed a deal with Monument Records. The Nashville music company has signed Caitlyn Smith (“I Can’t”) and Walker Hayes (“Fancy Like”) as leading artists, according to their website.

The career progressed from there as Tigirlily Gold and Monument started producing songs together. In July 2021, the women released a self-titled extended play. The five-song release included “Somebody Does,” an anthem telling listeners they are “somebody’s reason.”

The song came out of writing during the coronavirus pandemic, Olson said. When the virus spread across the country in 2020, the women lost their jobs as performers since venues and bars were shut down, Krista Slaubaugh said.

“At that time, we thought, ‘We’ve been doing this for eight years. We could easily throw in the towel,’ ” she said.

The sisters asked themselves if they should change careers, Krista Slaubaugh said. Instead, they got on

TikTok,

where they now have over 690,000 followers, and started to build an audience.

Still, they struggled to write music, Olson said, especially a love or breakup song.

“Is that actually helping anybody out there?” she asked. “We felt a little defeated.”

The two decided to write an open letter to the world, but took it from the stance of asking themselves what they would say to each other, Olson said.

She noted that people have different battles, and no one knows what they are going through. The song was a message for people to be kind to one another, she said.

Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum

Fans messaged the duo about how “Somebody Does” helped save their lives, the sisters said.

“It was really the first time we had felt like a song was bigger than ourselves,” Olson said. “That song will be the most special to us, just in the way it’s helped people.”

Krista Slaubaugh said all the two want to do is make a positive impact on people, so it was a lot to process the messages of hope.

“We’re just happy that our music is really making a difference in people’s lives,” she said. “We value people so much. I’m so glad.”

The song has 6.4 million listens on Spotify, but the duo was just getting ready for a double shot.

Tigirlily Gold released “Shoot Tequila” in January. They wanted a song that got everyone in the venue on their feet to dance and cheer, Olson said.

“I had the idea of ‘Shoot Tequila,’ in my notes, kind of being like a friend, a bad friend or maybe an ex-boyfriend that you keep wanting to go back to,” she said.

The song has become their “Honky Tonk” anthem, Olson said. Others have also made it theirs.

Alyssa Goelzer/The Forum

“Shoot Tequila” has been streamed on Spotify over 14.6 million times, and it charted on Billboard. People have created multiple TikTok videos featuring the song, from bachelorette parties taking shots to people dancing on boats during a summer trip to the lake.

Even people in the United Kingdom were “dancin’ on the bar.”

“Every song we put out, we just want as many people to hear it and enjoy it as possible, but ‘Shoot Tequila’ has really taken on its own life,” Krista Slaubaugh said.

It has prompted some listeners to buy shots for the duo as they perform, which is why they save the song for last, Olson said.

“It’s hard on your body to be out on the road,” she said. “We’re trying to take care of ourselves as best as possible.”

Every now and then, the two will take a shot with the crowd, but they said they know their limits.

“We’re definitely getting a little crazy, but not too crazy,” Olson said.

The past year has been a crazy one full of firsts, Brenda Slaubaugh said. She said she still gets goosebumps seeing her daughters’ videos, adding the women have a great team behind them.

“I don’t know how this happened, but it’s happening,” she said. “Their dreams are really coming true.”

The Opry has been welcoming, Olson said. Krista Slaubaugh noted that they got to talk with country star Vince Gill after they finished their performance.

“There’s really not another place you go into and it’s legends from different decades and eras of country music,” Krista Slaubaugh said. “It’s really cool to pay it forward and get advice from all of these people who have been in the industry for so long. They kind of take us under their wing.”

Singing their first NFL national anthem at Lambeau Field for a Green Bay Packers game on Sept. 28 held special meaning for Olson. She was born in Wisconsin.

The women aren’t new to singing the songs before a crowd, but the national anthem makes them the most nervous to sing because they want to honor veterans and military members, they said.

“You want to make them proud,” Olson said. “You want to do the song justice. It’s always a really big honor.”

Jared Olson

Tigirlily Gold sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a second NFL game this year when the Carolina Panthers played the Texans in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Oct. 29.

The last 10 years have been a lot of hard work, but it’s been rewarding, Olson said. She said she and her sister have faced struggles that have made them want to give up.

The two said they wouldn’t have a career without their fans. It’s why they share big updates, like being invited to perform on “Today,” on social media for followers to see, they said.

Tigirlily Gold said they hope to take the fans on this journey with them for many more years to come.

“They’ve been there with us through the whole journey,” Olson said as she thanked their fans. “It’s been so fun to share all these moments with the people who do support us.”