Teen Country Band Temecula Road are Headed For Success
In 2014, Temecula-based performer and vocal coach Gwyn Sanborn had been working with sisters Maddie and Emma Salute for about four years and, although she knew they had exceptional talent, they also seemed to be missing a piece to their puzzle. When Sanborn had the sisters join forces with her new student, Dawson Anderson, she knew she had created something special.
“The girls were always very good but needed something extra and, when Dawson came in, I felt his voice would be a great asset to their performance,” Sanborn said. “I was so excited to hear them and, together, they were fantastic. Their blend was awesome and they have a very unique sound, unlike anything else I’ve heard.”
Sanborn asked the newly formed trio to headline her monthly concert series, Country Live at the Merc, as well as the annual Rock the Oaks charity concert for the Oak Grove Center. Both performances were very well received by the community and the three teens haven’t parted since.
After solidifying their sound, Maddie Salute (15), Emma Salute (17) and Anderson (17) decided their band name should pay tribute to the hometown they loved and Temecula Road was born. But why would three teens from Southern California choose country music as their genre?
“When we were younger our parents just watched CMA and CMT and we listened to the country music stations growing up,” Emma Salute said. “We just grew up listen to country music and it sort of became our inspiration.”
Since Temecula Road’s inception, the band has performed at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville and in venues throughout the west coast and have even opened for some of country’s biggest names including Joe Nichols, Jessie James Decker and, most recently, for several performances of Kenny Roger’s farewell tour.
Opening for country superstars Sara Evans, at Pala Casino on September 24th and Martina McBride at Pechanga Resort & Casino on September 30th, Temecula Road has reached the kind of success many new acts take years to achieve, almost overnight. But that skyrocketing success has seen its consequences for three performers so young.
“At first, our friends were very supportive, but we’ve since lost a lot of them due to changing to online school and how things have been going while we’ve been doing this, but we’ve found out who our true friends are,” Maddie Salute said. “Now, those friends we have left, and our family, are being very supportive.”
“But now that we’re getting bigger, those friends are starting to come back,” Emma Salute added. “It’s interesting to see how they treat us now.”
Luckily for the teens, their families see the importance of giving them well-rounded, balanced lives; insisting they take every weekend off to just be normal kids. As songwriters, Temecula Road takes advantage of their downtime and uses it to feed their art.
“We don’t work every single second of every single day because we have to leave some time to just experience other things, because that really helps with our writing,” Anderson said. “Some days, we’ll sit down to write and it will be really fun and upbeat, and some days just feel like a ballad, with a more mellow tone. It depends on what we’re feeling, but we always write about personal experience.”
With social media praise from not only their fans, but also some of their idols including Carrie Underwood and others, its certain that Temecula Road’s star is on the rise; something their creator and original vocal coach predicted years ago. Though, due to music industry contract issues, Sanborn no longer works with the band, she is certain Temecula Road has a long and successful road ahead.
“Dalton has a major drive to really lead in this industry and the girls are really growing and learning, as this continues. I think they have a great future ahead,” Sanborn said. “They can go as far as they want to and there’s no limit to how good they can be. They’re good kids and, if they stick with it and they really work hard, they can be the next Lady Antebellum.”
For information and tour dates for Temecula Road, visit www.temecularoad.com.
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@temecularoad @theyarecoping Best of Luck.