Meet Trailblazer Carly Smith and Laura Stratton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carly Smith and Laura Stratton.

Carly and Laura, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
We are Carly Ricks Smith and Laura Paige Stratton, and we are the founders, managers, writers, and principal performers for the musical group Foxfeather. While we have been writing and performing together for nearly a decade and a half, we formed Foxfeather in the fall of 2013. We craved a more concrete outlet and decided that forming a solid entity would be a great way to focus our energies and compile our work. Since we co-write our songs, releasing material under a group name was an obvious choice. In the six years since Foxfeather’s conception, there have been tons of changes, from instrumentation to band size, but we, Carly and Laura, have been a steadfast constant.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Our road has been full of hurdles! Honestly, at times, we questioned whether the universe was telling us to stop, to give up. But, every time, we decided it was just challenging us to work harder, to be better, to hone our skills, to refine our goals. That “hindsight is 20-20” thing is funny, through every struggle we can look back and understand a lesson. We think that is key to the success of any project, humility. There is no definitive ‘WAY’ to create your art and your dream, you learn as you go. We have learned so much about what fuels us as artists and as women.
As with many male-driven industries, it is a struggle for us women to be taken seriously, and there will be times that we will want to scream at the top of our lungs in frustration. There is no way to describe how far professionalism, punctuality, confidence in self and confidence in your product, and kindness can take you in these situations. Stand up for what you know is right, and stand up for your vision, be as educated as you can about the environments that you are entering, and above all learn to say ‘No.’ Not every opportunity will be right for you, there is nothing wrong with that.

We’d love to hear more about Foxfeather.
Foxfeather is unique in our flexibility in genre, instrumentation, and size. As stated before, the core will always be Carly Ricks Smith and Laura Stratton, but we are fortunate to have a stellar band supporting our material and our message. Mark Dabrowski on bass, Oliver Jacobson on fiddle, Blake Smith on electric guitar, Jay Eliot and Jakob Edelstein on drums and Kate Farmer on harmony. Depending on the setting we can bend our sound and performance to the audience. We mix tones of blues, rock, indie, and country, to form what we like to call Sultry Alt-Americana.

So much of the media coverage is focused on the challenges facing women today, but what about the opportunities? Do you feel there are any opportunities that women are particularly well-positioned for?
As Colorado artists and women, we are impressed with and inspired by the ever-growing community of female musicians and the support we feel from these peers. Healthy competition goes hand in hand with any successful business, but, the women within the Colorado music scene seem to take this one step further. We, Carly and Laura, coined a phrase a few years back, “Strong Women, Strong Arms.” This simple idiom seems to express everything about how we are feeling these days. Yes, we face daily challenges as women in this world, but through our strength and through the strength of our sisters we can hold each other up, hold each other accountable, hold each other to the light. Our participation in this celebration of each other will only open our world more and create more and more opportunities. We feel a shift, and we are braced and ready to seize the moment.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.foxfeathermusic.com
• Email: foxfeathermusic@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/foxfeathermusic
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/foxfeathermusic
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/foxfeathermusic
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/108AzVhRi2EU5wcLFzUNQs

Image Credit:
Courtney Nicholson-Paine

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.