Tiger Alley

TIGER ALLEY  - PRESS RELEASE  - SEPTEMBER 2023
Katy Rose Cox and Sophia Johnson have both already had long careers in the music industry, performing roles as ‘side-men’ in multiple projects for over 20 years. They are extremely accomplished instrumentalists, used to playing supporting roles to other artists. They are also both accustomed to being the only girl in the band, roughing it as one of the boys, and doing much of the grunt work without the glitz and glamour of the spotlight. These separate but shared experiences formed the initial spark of friendship between them and continues to be a unifying force in their musical partnership.
Their joint project ‘Tiger Alley’ sees Cox and Johnson step outside of their positions as band members to become the co-fronting leaders of their own band, developing their unique sound as singers and song writers, bringing with them their considerable instrumental skills. 
The culmination of Tiger Alley’s work to date is their exciting debut release ‘Sizzlin' Summer’; a thirteen song full album of all original material, written, arranged, performed and produced by themselves.  “We feel really confident about what we are bringing to the table” says Cox, “and that is a hell of a lot of experience! This album has been a long time coming, we have both done so many recording sessions and work for other people, it was time to truly take the reins creatively.”
Over 10 years ago native Brit Sophia was on a US tour and she had a chance meeting with El Paso born Katy in the place of so many musical connections; Austin, Texas. The pair hit it off immediately as friends, but their creative venture has been a slow burn through the beginning and endings of other projects, life events, and Sophia’s move Stateside to establish herself professionally as a firm fixture on the scene of her new home, the live music capitol. 
Flip forward to 2023 and Tiger Alley have moved from a fledgling idea of a band to a fully formed dynamic live act with a debut album packed full of catchy hooks, sophisticated arrangements and an assured sense of their own sound and style. The eclectic mix of songs on ‘Sizzlin Summer’ is a direct result of the pair having spent so much time studying the nuances of their multiple influences, all of which are included under the umbrella term of Americana music. There is an authenticity to the playing and an understanding of the craft of songwriting that cannot be faked.
The combination of a British guitarist and an American fiddle player makes Tiger Alley’s sound both vibrant and distinct, intertwining their individual but complimentary voices both vocally and instrumentally. Cox’s writing has a definite cinematic quality inspired by her fascination and love of the desert of West Texas and New Mexico, which is obvious in songs like  ‘Ghost of Ray Leon’ and ‘Ozannah’, (think Morricone with an old time fiddle) while her love of early rock and roll is clearly displayed on tracks like ‘Eugene’ and ‘Wicked Ways’.  
In contrast Johnson’s songs have a cathartic and confessional element; “Katy writes these wonderful, fantastical, stories with characters and a plot line. I am stuck in therapy exercising my mental deamons!” Sophia jokes.  Never the less, her songwriting also gives her a vehicle to showcase her prowess in different guitar styles. Proving her self equally at home playing a twanging phaser laden electric guitar on the band’s first single “Blue Jay”, or deftly swinging out twin lines on her arch-top on “Holding My Head Up High” or shredding some bluegrass on her Martin on “Sweet Nebraska Boy”.
A shared love of both vocal harmony and instrumental virtuosity, is clearly a key binding element for the songwriting duo. For Tiger Alley the harmonised twin lines of the guitar and fiddle are definitely as important a feature of the sound as the singing voices.
“I was blown away when I first saw Sophia play and just kept thinking ‘she’s just like me when she improvises, she really goes for it’. Women still fight for equal air time on country music radio, but people at least talk about that in the public sphere. The fact female instrumentalists are still vastly underrepresented is barely even discussed.” says Katy.
“We didn’t have to hire a ton of other instrumentalists to make our record, and that gave us a lot of control with regards to the overall sound. We are so proud to put our music out into the world with exclusively our own stamp on it, under our own name” says Sophia.
When music is how you have payed the bills for your entire adult life, the prospect of carving out your own path in unchartered ground is just par for the course. People respond to authenticity, and it is especially important in country music. Tiger Alley have it in spades.