Live Report: Trousdale bring country-pop soaked harmonies to Dolan's

Thursday July 21 saw the American country-pop outfit Trousdale hit the Kasbah stage at Dolan's for a night of spine tingling country-pop music.

Consisting of Quinn D’Andrea, Georgia Greene, and Lauren Jones, Trousdale originated from the University of Southern California’s esteemed Popular Music program. The band established in 2014 with their first release coming about six years later in 2020.

On their first ever headline tour across Europe, the acoustic trio made a stop in Limerick's Dolan's for an intimate midweek gig with support from Dublin-based family band CARRON.

CARRON is made up of sisters Méabh and Mella Carron accompanied on the night by Darragh, Méabh's new husband, on guitar. Stepping on to the stage at around twenty to nine, the trio were extremely grateful to Trousdale for bringing them along on their two dates in Ireland. Brandishing an excellent connection between the trio - the tight harmonies and tone to the sisters' voices screams Celtic Disney princess. Think HAIM, Dianna Agron and Anna Camp all combined with an Irish twang.

Stunning covers of Florence + the Machine's 'Shake It Out', and a mash up of Ed Sheeran's 'Don't', Blackstreet, Dr Dre, and Queen Pen's 'No Diggity', plus Macklemore's 'Thrift Shop', made sure the audience wasn't short of familiar songs. However, when it came to original material, CARRON struck all the right chords. With a slew of tracks already released on streaming platforms, the sisters informed the audience they're working on an album. Their original tracks were where their harmonies and vocal tricks shone through, with one song 'Numb' including a stunning canon towards the end. The stunning vocals amalgamated with effortless guitar created a wonderful listening experience. It was evident these tracks came from the core of the sisters' familial bond, adding an element of sweetness to every perfectly written lyric. The small but attentive crowd responded gleefully to CARRON's set, praising the trio as they left the stage.

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Announced by John Hennessy of Seoda Shows, Trousdale arrived on the stage dressed in brightly coloured denim jumpsuits. From the moment they arrived on stage, the all female band had the audience in the palm of their hands. They opened the show chatting about their previous night's show in Whelan's, where their keyboards fuse blew - "silly Americans" they called themselves. They joked about how the person who helped them fix it had worked for the Cranberries adding: "Guess they're a big deal here??"

After their pleasantries, the trio started into their first song 'Bad Blood' from their forthcoming album. My jaw hit the floor. With only an acoustic guitar, a keyboard, a foot tambourine, and shakers, the group made a better sound than most full bands I've seen. The three vocal layers of folk-country rival any Taylor Swift or The Chicks track I've heard, giving me goosebumps from the first note right up to their last song. I couldn't fault Trousdale even if I wanted to. Even my die-hard punk boyfriend was speechless at their performance.

The LA based singers performed a solid mix of unreleased and older tracks, including personal highlights of 'This Is It', heavy country track 'Point Your Finger', 'If I'm Honest', and 'Wouldn't Come Back'. Listening to the powerful lyrics featured in every song, it's no surprise the band have spent days in Nashville with expert songwriters Natalie Hemby and Jon Bellion. As a self-confessed country-pop fanatic, I knew this band wouldn't be a hard sell, but there was something about forgetting 'Night Changes' is a One Direction song when it's covered so well that blew my mind.

While all three singers were phenomenal, Georgia Greene's vocal was the most remarkable voice I have ever heard live. My eyes brimming with tears for a majority of the night, Georgia's voice filled the room in a staggering way - for such a small woman, the power of her voice is indescribable.

Before the group finished up their set, the audience begged for "one more tune", with a member of the audience informing the group "this is how we do it in Ireland." After checking in with the promoter, the band agreed to two more tracks - one audience request and one cover. 'Better Off', a beautifully soulful, anthemic track, was specially requested by the audience, leaving the crowd with chills. Clearly very close to guitarist Lauren, this song felt deeply personal. Finishing up with an exquisite cover of The Eagles' 'Heartache Tonight', these three Americans brought a Limerick crowd to their feet.

In a quick interview after the show, Trousdale spoke about their love for Ireland. "We're having the best time. We said it on stage but everyone here is so nice, like WAY kinder than in the States, and it's been shocking," the group confessed. "We put a few places down that we knew we definitely wanted to come to and Ireland was one of them. Then we had our European booking agent put together the shows for us and we've been just really blown away by the response that we've gotten and by the kindness."

Naming their musical influences as The Chicks, Taylor Swift, Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, The Eagles, Johnny Marr, Sara Bareilles, The Beatles, and so on, guitarist Lauren explained: "We all grew up with very different musical influences so I think they all kind of play in to our writing."

Finally, the trio gave me a sneak peak into what's coming up for them as a band. The group revealed they're currently hard at work writing their first album, with the lead single to come early this Fall. "The whole thing will probably be due sometime early next year and we're producing it ourselves."

Having heard a small preview from this forthcoming album, I won't be surprised if Trousdale is an international household name by this time next year.

Check out Trousdale's latest single 'Do Re Mi' below.