(upbeat music) - [Announcer] This is a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

(bright upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Welcome to "Levitt in Your Living Room."

I am your host Apollonia Davalos.

We'd like to kick off with gratitude.

So first we'd like to thank our sponsors, Dan and Arlene Kirby, the South Dakota Arts Council and the Mortimer Mimi Levitt Foundation.

The Levitt Shell Sioux Falls is part of a national network of outdoor Levitt music venues and concert sites dedicated to strengthening the social fabric of communities.

Presenting a broad array of musical genres and cultural programming, Levitt venue is bringing together families, friends, neighbors of all ages and backgrounds.

Learn more at levitt.org.

Now, get ready to fall in love and be the love you want.

The first Memphis band to be Simon stacks in over 40 plus years reaching number one on iTunes and top five acclaim on billboards, top blues music charts, recipients of the 2018 Blues Music Award for best emerging artists album.

We are excited to have in the studio, Grammy nominated Southern Avenue.

- That's the best intro ever heard of myself.

Can I hire you for touring?

- You can't pay her.

- Can you just talk to me while I get dressed and-- - Oh my gosh!

I would love that.

I would love that.

- I pick out my outfit and this Grammy now.

'Cause I got to feel it, you know.

- Absolutely well Tierinii, Ori, welcome.

We're so excited to have you on the show today.

- Good to be here.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

- Oh.

Awesome.

And who do we have here also?

- This is Marley.

Marley.

(all laughing) This is Marley.

She tours with us.

She tours with us.

- We haven't decided who has the separation anxiety, her or her or me.

- So Tierinii, Ori, for us it's our first time getting to know and meet you.

So could we get a little background to your origin story?

- I was born and raised in Memphis.

I was introduced to music since like the day I was born because my parents are musicians for my church was the family church.

And like my grandfather, like pastor.

So I'm just, I was raised in soul music, gospel music, but like, you know, the era of gospel music was just heavily influenced by blues, which is something I didn't really discover until I met Ori.

And I was like, I don't do blues.

Who's like, "Girl you do blues."

I'm like, okay.

(chuckling) So yeah, I grew up singing in church with my siblings and my sisters in the band.

Two of my sisters were in the band now.

And so I'm just the girl from Memphis that just is in love with music, all genres, because I was only allowed to listen to gospel growing up.

So like, you know, the older I got, the more, I just grew this amazing appreciation for music itself, outside of everything that I known, which wasn't a lot, but I'm just like, I love music.

It's my life.

And it just keeps me breathing and keeps me laugh.

And so, yeah, I met Ori when he came over from-- - Yeah, I'm from Israel originally.

I guess we start all the way from childhood.

(Tierinii laughing) - She said origin.

- Origin yeah.

- That was an A game.

- I play guitar.

I started playing when I was five or six and been listening to soul music, Memphis music, blues, rock, jazz, from my dad's collection.

He's a big music fan and you know, played all my life.

And then around the age around 2013 was touring with my solo band in Europe.

And I heard about the international blues challenge in Memphis that basically there's blue societies all over the world and I can represent Israel in Memphis.

So I did that and won the local competition.

And then 2013 went with my band to Memphis and we reached the semifinals and made a lot of contacts and kind of went back and forth, but kind of toward 2013, '14 and '15, just toured all over America and then had some changes in the band and decided to kind of change things around dramatically and was like, I need a different, I want a different lead singer.

And the one thing that was important for me was to find a singer that writes.

I was like, I need a writing partner, not just somebody who can perform.

So a friend introduced me to her, I saw some of her videos and I was like, this is amazing.

And we met and we connected immediately.

And one of the first things she said, she was like, "I'll do this, but I wanted my sister to play drums."

So I said, yeah, that will work.

And then so basically me and the girls and we had baseball in Memphis and we just started playing and then, you know, make long story short.

After a few months, I realized that there's a lot more into what we were doing that under the umbrella of solo band.

So I offered them to start Southern Avenue together and be partners and not just me hiring them.

And then they agreed and it saved me a lot of money.

(Tierinii and Apollonia laughing) It was the best business move of a done ever.

And that's our Southern Avenue started.

So really a few, three or four months after we met and played with as my band, we started Southern Avenue and things have been happening very quickly since.

We represented Memphis at the same International Blues Challenge and reached the finals.

And a few months later, we were playing a small club in Memphis and John Burke, the president of Concord Records was recording Melissa Etheridge in town.

He came to this bar at like 1:00 AM and discovered us-- - St. Patrick's day.

- St. Patrick's day.

Yeah.

And then, so he kind of discovered us and wanted to sign us.

And we were sure we were gonna get signed to Concord, which was already amazing as a band that has only been together for less than a year.

Since the moment we actually met not even Southern Avenue.

And then he said, no, I want to sign you to Stacks.

Concord owns Stacks.

And that's when we were really shocked 'cause we realized the amount of responsibility as a Memphis band to that we just met a few months ago to release a record on Stacks.

So we immediately kind of... it kind of upped the level very quickly.

And from there, again, everything just quickly like headlining festivals and the blues music award and you know, 2019, we released a coupon.

And then in 2020 Grammy nominated.

So things have been happening very quickly, but on the other hand, everything happened right at the right time.

So we're not rushing everything, anything we're just doing the best we can and things come to us, we work very hard and take what we do very seriously.

And I think that contributes to the speed that things are happening, but we have a lot more to do.

You know, we're just getting started.

- That's right.

- That's kind of a story of the band and how we came about.

- We know with your different backgrounds, you already have established a discipline in the music.

Yes.

There's a love, there's an inherent, you know, essence that just, you are the music.

And so from the beginning, since things have escalated so quickly, how would you describe the growth between each other, as a band, as an artist, the grow from your very first album to the one that's about to be released?

- I think over time, we've built a lot of trust with each other and I've always been skeptical of everything, but it's my motto to trust the journey and to respect your fellow collaborator as an artist.

And so everyone in the band, we respect each other a lot.

So when we come with ideas, you know, we hear each other out.

It's created a very family like bond because, you know, making music is like making a baby, you know, making an album, you're raising, you're raising a fan base and it's important the information that we want to give out to them and the way we want them to hear it.

So I think over time, we've just earned a lot of respect for each other and it grows and it brings us closer together.

Every challenge just brings us close together-- - Yeah.

Through the experiences we've had, because it's not everybody knows, oh, there's a band they're touring.

They're all jumped together, doing shows, blah, blah.

But for us, again, we've been put in situations where a lot of people might've given up or, you know, offers that we had to sacrifice a lot in order to do.

There's just... through the challenges that life kind of brought to us, we ended up coming closer and closer.

And then obviously, like she said, writing music together is such a sensitive and intimate thing so trusting each other, but we only trust each other because we proved each other along the way that we're in this together.

It's really crazy while we've been through.

'Cause the amount of things we succeeded in is multiplied by a 100 for the amount of times we failed.

So it's being quick, but there's just way more times that we challenges that we had to kinda go through on.

I think that really brought us together.

We've been through in the last five years.

People a lot of times as not as individuals, but as friendship.

So if you test friendships all the time, people go through a lifetime without experiencing what we've been through.

And that just either breaks you or makes you, and we were kind of knock on wood, you know, although again, everything is good, but we're gonna keep going and keep learning about each other every day.

Basically.

- Absolutely.

Life is a journey.

It's a cycle.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

- So tell us about the first song we're gonna listen to today, "Push Now."

What is it about?

What is the meaning behind it?

What inspires it?

- "Push Now" it's a song about taking control of your life.

It's about creating your own opportunities.

It's about digging deep when you feel like you're at rock bottom and just pushing through , a lot of people, they wait for opportunities.

They prepare for these amazing opportunities.

And don't realize that you are the creator.

You create the opportunity.

So once you figure out who you are, you know, it's time for you to get pushing and not just waiting for life to happen.

"Push Now" it's just about being strong and being a go getter, you know?

- Awesome.

Well, everyone let's get ready for our new life's anthem "Push Now".

let's listen.

(upbeat music) ♪ Two times down on your mind ♪ ♪ You got to feel the groan before you start ♪ ♪ Believe has no good you inform win ♪ ♪ When you find your things that are tough right in you ♪ ♪ Eh you got push, you got no time to wait on it ♪ ♪ You got to push now got to put you waiting on it ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ Push now ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ Push now ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ You got to push now got no time waiting on it ♪ ♪ If mama said knocking out ♪ ♪ Stick 'em focus blow ♪ ♪ You got to take them around that it here win ticket yo ♪ ♪ You got to build it crazy and sometimes a bit insane ♪ ♪ You got to push your limit to see all the possibilities ♪ ♪ You got to push, got no time to wait on it ♪ ♪ You got to push now, gotta put you waiting on it ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ Push now ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ Push now ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ You gotta to push now, got no time wait on it ♪ ♪ Live to fight another day ♪ ♪ Push through ♪ ♪ Live to fight another day ♪ ♪ Push through ♪ ♪ Wu uh push now ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ Push now ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ Push now, eh eh ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Eh ♪ ♪ You got to live to fight another day ♪ ♪ Push through, gotta put you waiting on it ♪ ♪ You got to live to fight another day ♪ ♪ Push through, gotta put you waiting on it ♪ ♪ Ooh push now ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ Push now ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ Push now ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ Push now ♪ ♪ Put up waiting on it ♪ ♪ You got to push now, got no time waiting on it ♪ (audience cheering) ♪ Push now ♪ - I'm sorry.

I don't want to hate, she's a star.

She's the star, but I just love this song so very much.

Oh, wow.

So on this journey, what would you say is the message of your album, your new album as a whole, the story telling what are we as listeners?

You know, because we embody what we listened to and embrace it.

What would you say is the message?

- I think going through life, we encounter, you know, a lot of things, this album really, it encourages you to take responsibility and accountability for your own happiness.

So whatever you feel like you've gone through in life, where you were mistreated, you have to be responsible for what you can control.

And so that's where "Be The Love You Want" comes in.

You have to be the love that you feel like you've missed out on.

If you felt like you were mistreated, you have to be the love that you wish to see in other people.

It's about self accountability, you know, just taking control over the things that you can control.

And no matter we all go through things, you know, we all go through things, but we can choose to let it make us or break us.

And you can just be this beautiful, bright, open light of survival and hope for other people if you just take responsibility for yourself for the way you love yourself, speak kind to yourself and in return, you're gonna be kind to others.

And then they will see that and it'll encourage them to be kind to others.

So it's just about creating a culture of kindness and love and self accountability.

So be the love that you wish to see in others, be the love that you want.

So.

- Thank you.

Your words are actually quite humbling.

And I think it's feedback for ourselves as a self reflection that we all need to hear, think about because we make our communities, right?

We make our families, we make our societies.

So yes, embody be what you wanna see in the world.

And I think that kind of joy, grace is contagious.

(Tierinii and Apollonia laughing) - Yeah.

- So what for you music, when you're in a situation yourself, you know, and you're facing the life's trials, is there an example where music just honed in on a saving grace, you know, music is that survival.

Is there a moment in your life where you felt it personally? '

Cause I feel like your audience, they feel it when they hear your songs.

- I think all of our songs are like that.

I think that starting from, I mean, "Don't Give Up" is on our debut album and it's a self-titled album, but I call it "The Album Don't Give Up."

It's a song that I wrote to tell myself something, to remind myself all the time, because we have a lot of shows and I'm playing guitar a lot.

So I'd rather say something to myself, kind of as a mantra and Tierinii luckily for me on a personal level, she is very similar on that level.

She writes the songs not to preach to others.

Hey, I'm good.

No, you fix yourself.

It's more about, you know, like be the lab.

- It's to myself.

- Yeah.

It's to ourselves - I speak to myself because, I grew up with like seven siblings and like I'm used to hearing such aggression and I grew to speak to myself really aggressively.

So rewiring my brain to be kind to myself.

I begin to write songs to myself that are encouraging, that are kind, that are loving.

Don't give up, it's gonna be all right.

So I write to myself and, you know, be having the opportunity to be an artist, just opens that up to fans.

So it's like, I write for the fans, but ultimately I write to myself, I share this.

- The friends are sharing the experiences we're having and writing about with us.

And luckily for us, I mean, on that level, our experiences are shared by many.

So in a way it's... we're not thinking, oh, let's tell them this.

Let's tell them that.

Let's talk about, like, it's more about how we feel at the moment at that time of writing and really a lot, like "Push Now" is the same and "Be The Love You Want" is the same.

And going back, "Keep On" our second album.

It's just that you get what you put out, which has a similar message to "Be The Love You Want" in a way.

- We have to create the calm within the chaos.

You have to be that center.

So that's what-- - And we're working on it on a daily basis.

(Tierinii and Apollonia laughing) So again, this is not telling you what we've accomplished and do it.

It's more about join us in this journey of-- - It's a practice.

- Yeah.

So - And have you heard from your audience in some way, maybe through social media, maybe them coming to you in person at the end of a performance.

- Yeah.

- And is there a story where they shared with you, how your music has impacted their lives?

- The stories never end.

The stories never end and it really makes us emotional because we get like, people like on their deathbeds have made it out of the hospital or, parents that have lost parents, but we're listening to, "Don't Give Up" as they transitioned.

Like it gets like really, really close.

Like it hits close to home.

It does make you feel like these people are me.

Well, I mean, 'cause we are, we are all at the same, we are all connected and when people connect to your music.

That's a spiritual connection.

So when we get these stories, it's just like, it's very humbling and yeah, it makes me emotional and it makes me feel like my life isn't being wasted.

- Yeah.

We're always in that kind of, in a nutshell, it's like, we're all here.

There's a purpose for all of us here.

And the goal for all of us is to always kind of understand what we're good at and then excel in it.

And what we are good at is that, it's not necessarily playing or performing or what we're good at is, oh, apparently like I we didn't know that, but apparently what we're good at is exactly that, is being with people, supporting people and being with them through hard times.

And it's not, again, it's not something we thought about doing.

It's just, we just wrote again, we just wrote for ourselves and then it ends up being a service that, like we're kinda on a mission from God here.

We're kinda doing something that is on a bigger scale, even though we are on a smaller scale on a personal level, but then it ends up being bigger.

And I think that's why a lot of our fans feel like personal connection with us more, you know, because we're very personal.

And also just to say, as individuals, the entire band like TK and our drummer, her sister, and we're all very, very personal, very real people.

We don't... we're very real.

So when we write, when we meet the fans, when we meet everybody we are who we are, and we're not trying to play some, you know, like, I dunno, just be somebody who we're not.

And it comes through the songs basically.

- Absolutely.

I feel like we can things stand the test of time through their authenticity, you know?

And when we are our most authentic self music does become that universal language where truly speaks to everyone.

You bring us together, one heartbeat, one song, (Tierinii and Apollonia laughing) the next number we're gonna listen to is, "Let's Get It Together" what's this one about?

- Oh my goodness, it's also about self accountability.

The world goes up in chaos.

I think the song was inspired by a lot of, you know, the riots that were happening and like, you know, people that when people are hurt and aren't being heard, things get chaotic and things get violent.

And this song is not just pointing fingers saying, y'all got to fix this.

This song is saying, we got to get it together.

We have to fix this so.

- Yeah, let's get it together really.

- Wow.

"Let's Get It Together."

Check it out.

(upbeat music) ♪ How do this will get turned upside down ♪ ♪ We can tell enough of the wrong places ♪ ♪ When we in a rock and seem we kinda fall back ♪ ♪ But we're in happy just put together ♪ ♪ And when it blows up in our face ♪ ♪ we don't have no one we have to blame ♪ ♪ There are nos are failure ♪ ♪ So am afraid to stop compare ♪ ♪ We can rise ii we can work hard ♪ ♪ And we gonna shoot down the first ♪ ♪ Faced with fear in our hearts ♪ ♪ Don't delay ♪ ♪ As long as you're gone ♪ ♪ We're one body ♪ ♪ Humanity ♪ ♪ Self destruction ♪ ♪ Is what we do ♪ ♪ We got to get together ♪ ♪ We have to get it together ♪ ♪ We need love in all the places ♪ ♪ In our hearts that's knows corruption and nothing ♪ ♪ And the proud will possess ♪ ♪ It's as if we'll do the test ♪ ♪ Just like all they won't forget ♪ ♪ 'Cause there is tears when mothers weep ♪ ♪ We got no one to pick us up ♪ ♪ It's as if we don't care ♪ ♪ We gonna riot 'cause we're hurt ♪ ♪ And they gonna shoot down the first ♪ ♪ Place with tears in our hearts ♪ ♪ Won't delay ♪ ♪ It's not what is not ♪ ♪ Where one got it ♪ ♪ Humanity ♪ ♪ Self destruction ♪ ♪ Is what we need ♪ ♪ We got to get it together ♪ ♪ We have to get it together ♪ ♪ We have to it together ♪ ♪ We have to get it together ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ We got love ♪ ♪ All ♪ ♪ One love comes with as we come ♪ ♪ We need the record free ♪ ♪ We got to get it together ♪ ♪ Having people killed outside now ♪ ♪ We got to it together ♪ ♪ We got to get it together ♪ ♪ Weeeee a aah ♪ ♪ We need love ♪ ♪ We need love ♪ ♪ All of this will get turned upside down ♪ (audience cheering) - Thank you so much.

- Yes.

We just like to thank again our sponsors, Dan and Arlene Kirby, the South Dakota Arts council and the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation.

We come together here and we build community through music and having Southern Avenue in house tonight.

They're teaching us just that.

So be sure to check them out on their website, SouthernAvenuemusic.com, and also give them a follow on their social media.

Okay.

Great.

Next question.

But I have a fun one.

So your album art, there's an elephant on it.

(Apollonia laughing) For the new album.

Can you give us a little behind the scenes, the inspiration behind this design?

- She's not our only pet.

(Tierinii and Apollonia laughing) No, I'll say my angle.

And then she can say her.

It's like we... my angle, like the reason I liked it is because I, first of all, first two albums, we had our faces on there and I was just like the labels were like, well, people need to see your faces because like you look good or whatever that is.

It's like, they need to understand who you are.

And I get that, but I'm not like, I think that an album is an artistic form on the musical side, but it's also an opportunity to be artistic on the design and the art.

And my goal was like not to have our faces on there, but come up with something that will be artistic and unique to us.

And I think Tierinii came up with the elephant itself, but that's the bigger picture.

That's like the big.

- My sister's obsessed with elephants.

And whenever people ask her, she's got an elephant tattoo, TK, the drummer, and they ask her, oh, what does it mean?

And she's like, oh, it's wisdom.

It's courage.

It's all these amazing things - Family.

- But for the most important thing is that it represents family.

And that's who Southern Avenue is like, we are a family band, especially after going through everything that we go through on our journey.

Like we are a close knit family.

And I felt like at this point in our careers, our followers understand like that they're a part of our family, you know, because we connect on just a very special level.

So I wanted the elephant to represent this point in time where we've made it to establishing that we are very loving, positive, encouraging people.

And we are all in this together as a family unit.

So that's why I chose the elephant.

And then I think our manager had a friend that was a designer and he put it all together and we all loved it.

It was a lot easier than picking photos 'cause - The design.

The design is a, I don't remember how you call it technique, but.

- It's you know, this it's like scrap booking, how do you scrapbook?

What do you call it when it's like - So you cut different shapes and different images, photos, and then you put it together and then you take a photo of it.

- Oh yes.

- So it's not... there's a word - There's a word.

- I forgot.

- Yeah.

It's not quite collage.

- It's a collage.

That's what it is.

It's a physical collage.

- But my apologies to those who do know the real name, (Tierinii and Apollonia laughing) but that it was cool because he's an artist.

And he's the one that literally, when we got the basic, the first versions, he just moved things around and it was very artistic experience.

And that's what I wanna have, like, we were creating art.

So the whole, the design of the album, the music, even on the CD, everything needs to be artistic.

Now a photo is artistic as well.

Not saying anything negative, but it's a bit more basic.

So it is an artist that created that.

And that's kind of, you know, I really, really like it.

And also the colors we chose, the entire concept was very bright-- - We wanted bright colors.

- Summery, and again, and very happy and positive just because if we have a chance in music and art, if we have a chance to bring anything to the table, anything to this universe.

So we want it to be positive again for everybody else, but also for ourselves, you know?

- Yeah.

I'm excited to get it, to do what the physical copy for the music.

- Oh, August 27th is when it's released.

- August 27th.

- We have two singles out "Push Now" and "Moving to The Light."

We wrote "Moving to The Light" with Jason Mirez, which was awesome to work with.

And Michael Goldwasser his producer, it was a great experience.

And again, with Jason, it was like, what song do we wanna write?

And then Tierinii and me were like, the instructions we gave Jason was let's write about something positive about, you know, anything positive and density and fun.

And then we got that from him.

And then we put hours into it and Jason is a great, great person to work with because he's so positive.

He's music is so positive.

And he's a perfect combination with to write You know, for us, because we're thinking about the same kind of thing, same, I don't know how to call it, but it kind of attitude to life.

Okay.

- And you have to have, because you're not just a musician, you're not just a singer because you are writers and working together with him.

There's a certain communication, a language chemistry that must take place that, you know, you have this understanding.

- We didn't, unfortunately we didn't ride in the same, but because of the pandemic, it was remote.

But again, like once you're on the same-- - It's aligned.

It's all aligned.

- Yeah.

Once you find somebody who thinks like you from the core, then you don't have to work too hard on it.

You know, it was very organic and natural and fun to do.

So yeah.

We'll definitely send you a copy.

- Yes, I'm so excited.

I'm so honored.

- Signed by us and Marley.

- What, oh my God.

So for our next song, "Love You Nice and Slow."

We, you know, is this a dance number?

What is the vibe you're getting?

- I feel like, Ori play this amazing guitarist.

And I just felt like, oh, this is so Frankie, Beverly and Maze.

I was like, it's reminds me of like the end of summer, where it gets a little rainy.

And, you know, you want to your boo, you know, this song is about holding space for someone without having strings attached and just being like, Hey, you look like you're having a rough time friend.

And I know what that means.

So, you know, it's about that time as the first lyric.

And that basically just sums it up.

I'm going to love you, nice and slow because you feel like you need, you look like you need a little love.

- I think we all need a little love.

Let's let's up fall in love with "Love You, Nice and Slow."

(upbeat music) - This is nice and slow all right?

(upbeat music) ♪ It's about the time ♪ ♪ We're not crossing a line ♪ ♪ We know weather is cool ♪ ♪ And the rain falls through ♪ ♪ We don't have to talk about it ♪ ♪ Keep between you and I ♪ ♪ When we'll show the loving ♪ ♪ And I'll love you nice and slow ♪ ♪ I can't express my kinda love ♪ ♪ No baby don't move ♪ ♪ There's a place when you got ♪ ♪ When I put in the good ♪ ♪ And I know just the way I need it ♪ ♪ I got feels you've been ♪ ♪ Together home with you get dressed up ♪ ♪ We'll be late ♪ ♪ We're not in Cape town ♪ ♪ Oh I'm in the mood ♪ ♪ Ooh baby yes ♪ ♪ It's about the time ♪ ♪ When I cross your mind ♪ ♪ When the weather is cool ♪ ♪ And the rain falls through ♪ ♪ We don't have to talk about it ♪ ♪ Keep this sweet and low ♪ ♪ When we'll show the loving ♪ ♪ And I love you nice and slow ♪ ♪ This you can't blame about it ♪ ♪ And I know you know how to ♪ ♪ Fold me up and tie me up ♪ ♪ But if only I let you ♪ ♪ And I know just when you need it ♪ ♪ I got feels that you're feeling ♪ ♪ To get hot when you get stressed out ♪ ♪ Baby let me love you and kiss now ♪ ♪ Ooh I'm in the mood ♪ ♪ Ooh baby come through ♪ ♪ It's about the time ♪ ♪ When I cross your mind ♪ ♪ When the weather is cool ♪ ♪ And the rain falls through ♪ ♪ We don't have to talk about it ♪ ♪ Keep it sweet and low ♪ ♪ Bring me your sugar loving ♪ ♪ And I'll love you nice and slow ♪ ♪ Ooh I'm in the mood ♪ ♪ Ooh baby come through ♪ ♪ Ooh I'm in the mood ♪ ♪ Ooh baby come through ♪ ♪ We don't have to talk about it ♪ ♪ Keep it sweet and low ♪ ♪ Bring me your sugar loving ♪ ♪ And I'll love you nice and slow ♪ - Put your hands up.

♪ It's about the time ♪ ♪ When I cross your mind ♪ ♪ When the weather is cool ♪ ♪ And the rain falls through ♪ ♪ We don't have to talk about it ♪ ♪ Keep it sweet and low ♪ ♪ Bring me your sugar loving ♪ ♪ And I'll love you nice and slow ♪ ♪ I'll love you nice and slow ♪ (audience cheering) - Thank you all.

- Okay.

You guys are amazing.

Oh my gosh.

Oh, "Love You, Nice And Slow."

Again, I can't wait till this full album is released.

I'm feel like I'm gonna have, it's gonna be on repeat for life.

- Thank you.

- So there's a fine line between music making and music business, right?

How do you keep that energy, passion, drive, without 'cause the, you know, the business, can be harrowing a bit at times and you know, what does it look like for you to maintain that drive through it, to keep your voice?

You know, so people are not redefining or redesigning you and all those things.

- It's my job to be the artist.

And if my voice isn't being heard as an artist, then I'll let him do all my dirty work.

Like, listen, this isn't gonna work to get them.

Luckily we have a great team.

- You need a good team.

You need a good team around you.

And, you know, we wouldn't be here with you today without an amazing team behind us that carries our message.

All from, you know, from the record label, agent, the manager, especially our manager, Jonathan, like you have to have somebody that knows you, that represents you without calling you every minute to ask any questions.

So we don't feel like, especially her.

I mean, I'm more involved on the business side because mentally I can handle it, but for Tierinii and even for me, like he does, I don't have on every little thing being involved.

'Cause I trust somebody to represent me.

On the other hand, again, the there's karma in the world and there's we all have a meaning while we're here, as long as we are doing the best that we can in terms of music and work and touring and being on time, all the way to choosing the right studio, whatever.

I dunno, whatever that is.

As long as we doing the best that we can, we can not do anything more that means that we can't beat ourselves over business aspects or whatever it is.

You know, if there's a show and we did everything to promote it and everything, to let people know we're there.

If for some reason, two people show up, we're gonna play for those two people like there's no tomorrow because we did our best.

And so for us, it's really been like that.

It's a very, you know, it's a good question because music business can ruin careers 'cause as artists, we're so sensitive and we're so fragile, even the tough ones, we're all fragile because we give everything we have on, you know, we write from our hearts and then if something is negative happens with it or doesn't work out, then we freak out.

And so you cannot, like we said, like Tierinii just say, we cannot control what happens to us.

We just can control we do about it.

And I think that's been our focus and we are very blessed and very lucky to have a really good team behind us that we trust.

- They know us.

- And yeah, they do know us and you know, it's, I think that's really, really important.

But again, in the beginning I was managing and I was booking and I was doing everything when we met the girls.

And then when we started Southern Avenue, I was doing everything.

I did the best that I could, but then things started falling.

Like Jonathan found us and he was like, you guys are great.

Let's work together.

And then the agent and then everything kind of starts falling together.

And then you end up being where we are today.

Again, we got discovered in a small bar in Memphis and got signed to a label in LA that owns a label in Memphis.

You know, I almost flew back to Israel in 2015, but I was like, no, I'm gonna change a singer.

I'm gonna find like so many moments during this time we could have given up.

We could have, you know, but we were lucky.

Things just happen.

And it might, I always told them, it might take a year for things to happen.

You might take 40 years.

We just can't give up.

We just need to do what we do and do the best that we can.

And then we'll get our chance.

We'll get our turn.

That's how music business work.

There's a cycle.

And every time it's somebody else's turn to be, you know, where they need to be to be successful.

I don't know what it means these days, but it's a cycle and everybody gets their turn.

You just gotta be patient and work hard.

Patient and then you get it.

And you know, we waited, on a personal level, all of us as individuals, and then as a group and we are where we are today, we still have a lot more to go.

It's not like we're the top of the mountain, we're climbing very, very well, very fast, very stable, and very responsibly, you know, climbing up.

And we're very proud of what we've been doing.

And I'm very proud of, you know, of us accomplishing what we accomplished and, you know, we can't wait to just, you know, keep doing what we're doing really.

- I'm just blessed myself to meet you on this climb.

Just know, I'm your number one fan now.

I'll be cheering you guys yes.

So two additional questions, when people think of the Memphis sound, right.

And it is an immersion of many different things.

We touched on this a little bit earlier, and you are not one thing, you know, there's no way to put your music in a box, you know?

So when people let's say, ask me, what is Southern Avenue?

What do they sound like?

You know, what is their music?

How help me explain that to everyone?

How would you describe your sound?

- You know, some people think Memphis and they go, oh, Elvis.

And some people think Memphis and like Memphis and they go, oh, out great.

You know, it's soul, it's rock and roll.

It's blues, it's gospel.

It's, you know, it's Southern rock.

It's just, it's feel good music.

It's a melting pot.

It's like, you know, everything you would find in the Delta just, you know, in one place.

So I think we're just a nice blend of American soul, you know?

- Yeah.

That's a good way to put it.

(all laughing) It's hard to describe ourselves.

That's for the critics or for the fence where we're just writing music that means a lot to us.

And every song deserves a different style or a different angle.

And that's why you said you're so many things because every song is deserved something else.

And we figure it out when we write it.

And that's how it comes out.

And we might do a polka album next, who knows?

I have no idea, (all laughing) but whatever, you know, it's just, whatever comes out, but it is different because I come from Israel, I grew up on this music, but I also grew up on a lot of other genres.

And what I had on radio was not what she heard on radio.

So growing up.

So it's just that.

And again, me and her write a lot of the songs, but her sister TK, our drummer, she contributes as well.

Evan, our base bar contributes.

So it's not a solo artist that does everything.

It's not a band that one person does everything.

We're really a group of people and we like to have everybody chime in and contribute.

So it's unique.

And that's what, as long as we're unique, I'm personally good with that.

Like, you know, whatever is that they call us you know.

- I love that, unique definitely.

There's not a song that is alike.

And that's what I love and look for in an album.

- Yeah.

We try to do that.

- Yeah.

Thank you for that.

Last question, is there anything that I haven't asked you already that you like to share with us?

Maybe it's an... you you're already so, you know, you've already been so personal and connected with us about drive, being positive, be a reflection of yourselves.

Is there any other additional message of hope that you'd like to leave with us about, Hey, if you're an artist, continue on perseverance again, you touched on this, but anything at all?

- I don't know.

I mean-- - Don't give up.

- Yeah, no.

I mean, I think that first of all, you know, buy our music and listen to our upcoming album because we can't wait to share it with the world.

Other than that, I think I am, we are but like I said, on a personal level, I am a great example of how he doesn't matter where you're from 'cause we in South Dakota and it's a bigger, smaller state.

And I think that maybe if there's any person out there, seeing this and they're artists and they're they play and you know, it doesn't matter where you're from.

I'm from the other side of the world from a small town on the beach in north of Tel Aviv.

And I had no, no I did not expect to be where I am today in South Dakota doing what I'm doing, you know?

So it doesn't matter where you're from know that you have a place in the music world.

And like I said, just before, it's like, you have to wait for your turn as long as you work hard.

And I hope that our story will inspire younger or older artists that feel like the world is closing in and they don't know how am I gonna be able to afford?

And I slept in the van for three months at a Walmart parking lot because when I was changing singers and everything, because I knew that this is nothing like, I will do this, but I know where I'm going to.

So the sacrifice is, you know, is very, very... know that you can make it out of anywhere in the world, South Dakota, North Dakota, Israel, you know, I don't know, middle of Africa, middle of Asia.

Like there's stories of people that ended up fulfilling their dreams, making their dreams come true.

And it's just possible.

But I think that's the only kinda message that I can kinda add that might inspire people that otherwise, you know, when you see somebody doing what you want to do and they went through what you're going through, maybe it inspires them to push, you know, the same and believe in themselves.

- Yeah.

- That's all about it.

- Oh my gosh.

Thank you both Tierinii, Ori for being with us.

This has been a remarkable moment and lesson in, we all have a purpose, you know, do not give up.

You know, we are a reflection, be the reflection of joy and grace that you wanna see in the world.

And that is how each individually can make a difference.

This has been such an honor, everyone, please give, follow them, learn more, get all of their music, study up, visit them SouthernAvenuemusic.com.

Again, give them a follow on social media.

And I'm gonna thank our sponsors for bringing you here today.

We're this moment.

Thank you, Dan and Arlene Kirby, the South Dakota Arts Council, and of course the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation.

I am your host Apollonia Davalos.

Thank you for joining us.

I love you.

Mwaaah!

(upbeat music)