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Country band Gloriana makes big debut with Swift

Nov. 13, 2009

Courtesy Photo Two of the members of Gloriana, Mike and Tom Gossin, pose with students at Taylor Swift's "Fearless" tour in Dallas. Gloriana received a personal call from Swift to open her tour.

By Taylor Harris
Contributor

Gloriana is a fresh new band that is on a fast-track to success.

This fierce foursome came together in February 2008 and has already accomplished feats that take other artists years and even decades to complete.

Young, driven and talented, this quartet is gaining popularity exponentially. Composed of brothers Tom and Mike Gosselin, Rachel Reinert and Cheyenne Kimball, Gloriana has hit the ground running.

Signing a major record deal less than six months after the band's creation, touring the nation with one of the most prominent artists of this generation and having hit singles on mainstream radio, Gloriana has been doing everything right.

Houston sophomore Morgan Lansdown agrees. "Gloriana has the musical talent to make it big in the country music industry. They have catchy tunes with relatable lyrics making them appealing to country music lovers of all ages," Lansdown said.

Besides catching the eyes of influential producer and songwriter Matt Serletic, whose most recent undertaking is Emblem Records, Gloriana also grabbed the attention of a 19-year-old girl named Taylor Swift. Swift personally called the group to offer them the opportunity to open for her new Fearless tour. This was Swift's first major headlining tour with Kellie Pickler as the special guest.

If this wasn't a dream already, they really needed a pinch once their debut single "Wild at Heart" peaked in the Top 20 of Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart earlier this year. Their second single "How Far Do You Wanna Go?" was recently released.

With all the excitement, the members of Gloriana have stayed humble. One enjoyable aspect is the way the gang involves their fans.

Constant tweets via Twitter, personal videos, contests and Meet and Greets are the status quo for the band. This concept seems to keep the rising stars in reach for the everyday supporter. Through their actions, these 20-something year old musicians let everyone know that fame has not fazed them.

Because of this, the followers have been great to the band. They are nominated for American Music Award's Breakthrough Artist of the Year, which has a purely fan-based voting system.

They represent the country genre and beat out former touring buds Zac Brown Band to make it to the finals. Gosselin explained his take on the nomination.

"We were more just glad for them [Zac Brown Band]. We were like, 'Oh, Zac will definitely get it, and that's awesome because he deserves it.' Then, we ended up winning that preliminary round. What I think it comes down to is our fan base we've developed is very Internet savvy. ...We were really surprised when we saw that we won that preliminary round. Now we are just like, 'Man, I wonder if we have a chance to win the main round.' We'd love to."

In addition to the AMA selection, Gloriana has been staying busy even with the 2009 leg of the Fearless tour complete. Gloriana has been playing with other megastars, including Alan Jackson, Jason Aldean, and Dierks Bentley.

They have also been doing their own shows. These performances include longer sets, more crowd participation, cover songs and more.

Gloriana recently visited Dallas and wowed the crowd at House of Blues on Friday. High energy, interaction with the fans, great group harmony, and covers of old rockers made the atmosphere memorable.

There was even a point during the show where an older woman made her way to the front of the stage and practically started to mosh.

Angela Wyatt of Lucas was in attendance with her 9 year-old son Tyler, who proudly sported his signed T-shirt to school Monday. "Gloriana is just the right mix of music, talent, personality, and style. I look forward to the memories of this intimate show at House of Blues as they grow to bigger venues in their imminent success," Wyatt said.

Fun-loving, prank-pulling, dream-chasing, dedicated musicians, Gloriana creates the perfect balance of country twang with rock attitude.

The band is able to drill into the raw talent of each member and infuse a very distinct feel to its music.

Aside from their undeniable skills and glowing personalities, the foursome's commitment to their music is also helping them gain recognition.

Not only are they on the road for much of the next two months, they will also be teaming back up with CMA's 2009 Entertainer of the Year Taylor Swift in early 2010. See them live as they roll into Texas next March.

Be sure to jump on the Gloriana bandwagon now and beat the craze.

Pick up their debut album to maximize your ears' happiness.

Caution: dashboard drumming and air-guitar strumming are likely to occur. Please plan accordingly.

Grade: A

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