Our Year in Review ~ 2015

We had an amazing 2015 and performed at fifty seven venues. 

Here are a few highlights from 2015.

MY OWN DIXIE ALBUM RELEASE

Fire Escape Cafe, Chanute, KS and

Horizons at Prairie Ridge, Erie, KS

Weekend Launch Parties

This past weekend, we held our launch for My Own Dixie.

The CDs arrived in the mail in the nick of time on Thursday night. 

Here are a few pictures from our weekend launch. 

My Own Dixie Launch Parties Planned

We hope you'll be able to join us for one of our local Album Launch Parties planned for this next weekend. Online music sales for My Own Dixie will be available early April. Until then, here's a sneak listen to one of the songs on our album ~ The Loving Kind.

My Own Dixie Launch Dates

My Own Dixie ~ Releasing Soon

My Own Dixie, our first all-original album will release the end of this month. This has been a long journey full of hills and valleys that began in 2013--but one we hope will have been well worth the wait.

The new album showcases ten original songs, written and arranged by Maggie, including award-winning title Ballad of a Love Miscast, a 2014 Indie-International Songwriting Competition folk-division winner. Wrong, another album tune, was selected and performed for the NewSong Showcase at the 2014 Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS.

The lyrical maturity and growth on this album shows heart and depth in the sisters' approach to harmony. Accompanying the girls on fiddle, mandolin, and bass are the Eicher Family (Shelby, Isaac, and Nathan), professional musicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who round out this album to near perfection, bestowing the Vogts Sisters with wings to fly.

Final Recording for New Album

This past weekend we returned to Hall of Fame Recording Studio in Neodesha, KS for our final recording on our new album. 

Recording Vocals on Our New Album

This past weekend, we returned to Hall of Fame Recording Studio in Neodesha to start tracking the vocals for our new album. We had a forecast of scattered thunderstorms, so wasn't sure how things would go, but fortunately, the recording went smoothly with no thunderbolts wrecking our day.

We made it through our first five songs, and we're really excited about how things are sounding. 

Russell Head, and Larry Brockway, the sound engineers and producers for this project are doing a great job of advising and mentoring us along the way, and even helped us find our "sweet spots" in our microphones. Who knew there was such a thing! 

As we head into June, our calendar gets really busy, but we're looking forward to returning to the studio later this summer to finish off the last five songs. This project has been a long and slow journey, but we want to express our sincerest thanks and gratitude to everyone who has helped with it. We couldn't do this without you!

Our next performance will be at Good Ol' Days in Fort Scott, KS on Saturday, June 7. We'll sing from 4-7:00 PM with short breaks on the hour. (Please note on the schedule link above that our performance times have changed.) Plan to stop by our tent at 1st and Main.  Hope to see you there! 

Isaac Eicher on Mandolin

Last week we were privileged to meet and listen to Isaac Eicher, the mandolin player for our upcoming album. 

Isaac is the youngest in the Eicher family but is most accomplished for his 23 years. He is the 2012 and 2013 Oklahoma State Mandolin champion as well as the 2006 Walnut Valley Festival Mandolin Champion and 2010 Second Place winner in the National Mandolin Championship. 

He has been playing music since he was young and is a member of the Tulsa Playboys and the jazz ensemble, Mischievous Swing--both with new album releases. 

We are honored to have Isaac and his brother Nathan, and father, Shelby, as musicians for this album and look forward to sharing the music with you in the months ahead. 

Listen to this YouTube recording from Mischievous Swing below. Purchase the album HERE. 

Recording with Musicians

Last week we had our first official recording session for our new album. The day began around noon as we worked through the songs and chord sheets and ended at 3:30 AM. A long day, but the music is sounding awesome!

This is the first of several sessions we'll have at the Hall of Fame Recording Studio.  At this session, we met with Oklahoma musicians Shelby and Nathan Eicher, members of Mischievous Swing. 

Pictured above is Nathan, bass-player extraordinaire.

Russell Head recorded a rough version of the songs on his guitar.

Shelby on his fiddle--he is an amazing fiddle player!

These guys made our music shine. We are eager to share our new songs with you and will keep you updated. Next, we meet with Isaac Eicher to record sets on his mandolin.  

The Vogts Sisters to Record New Album

It's been a long wait, but we are excited to announce that we will begin recording sessions this month on our second album of all original music. 

We'll be doing the sessions at Hall of Fame Recording Studio in Neodesha, KS, with producers/engineers Larry Brockway and Russell Head. 

We're thrilled to have Shelby (Fiddle), Isaac (Mandolin), and Nathan Eicher (Bass) as musicians on the album. 

The Eicher's are members of Mischievous Swing, who released their first album this past fall. You can find it HERE. Shelby is also the band leader and fiddle player for the Tulsa Playboys, who just released a tribute album to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. Learn more about that album HERE.

We are very excited about having these guys back up our vocals on this album. You can bet this album is going to sound GREAT! Stay tuned for more updates about the recording sessions in the weeks ahead!

Recording Songs at Hall of Fame Music Studio

We recently visited the Hall of Fame Music Studio in Neodesha, KS to record demos of some more new songs. The last time we were there during Spring Break, we recorded five original songs. We recorded another five this time. 

Lee Head helped get us set up back in the "vault."

Maggie being her usual "goofy" self

Russell Head set up the sound and then played guitar for the set

Clinton (CJ) Brown helped with the sound. 

We are looking forward to returning again soon for a more polished recording with studio musicians. 

Our next performance will be in a few weeks on Friday, August 9, at the 2nd Street Coffee Shop in Ozark, MO. If you live near there, mark your calendar and make plans to attend! We'd love to see you! 

Hall of Fame Recording Studio

Yesterday we had an opportunity to meet with Larry Brockway at the Hall of Fame Recording Studio in Neodesha, KS to go over a few songs with him. 

Larry LOVES the Beatles. 

Maggie and Abigail spent the first few hours going over original songs, and we were delighted to learn that Larry loved them! Larry has been in the music business for over forty years and has lots of experience with musicians and artists.

Russell Head, our dear friend, adviser, and mentor set up this meeting for us and was there to work the set. He brought Lee Edward and CJ to help. Great guys, all of them!

The entrance to the sound rooms.

This hallway is really cool, set up as a lounge area. It was once a bank vault. 

Through the next door is a large room divided into sections for recording, with another enclosed room for recording vocals. 

That's where the girls spent the next few hours.

Larry at his work station - awesome equipment!

All in all, it was an incredible day. The girls recorded rough cuts of six or seven songs. We're looking forward to returning to the studio later this spring to get through a few more songs. It's going to be an exciting summer! 

New Goals ~ New Songs

As the girls head into the new year, they're eager to start on a new project--new songs, new goals.

One of their main goals this year is to compile a set of Maggie's original songs and record them as an EP or even a full album. 

We're looking forward to working with Russell Head once more on this project. Thanks Russ for all you do! 

We're starting to get a few concerts on our SUMMER AND FALL CALENDAR. If you know of any city festivals that might be a good match for our music, please contact us.