The Sweeplings are coming to Gainesville to support their newly released record, "Rise and Fall," and the acoustic duo has an unconventional story as to how they came to be.
Show doors will open at 8 p.m. Thursday at High Dive, located at 210 SW Second Ave. Tickets can be purchased for $10 at the door or $8 in advance on ticketfly.com. There is also a $3 under-21 fee at the door, according to Ticketfly.
Vocalist and pianist Cami Bradley, a Washington native, was a contestant on the famous variety show "America’s Got Talent" in 2013. With a strong, distinctive voice paired with polished piano skills, Bradley finished the competition in sixth place.
Meanwhile, vocalist and guitarist Whitney Dean’s wife was watching the talent show in their hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, when she decided to email Bradley in hopes of getting the two artists to collaborate. Dean’s wife persistently emailed Bradley, regardless of her polite declines, anticipating that she would change her mind.
Eventually, Bradley called Dean and, after more than an hour of speaking on the phone, Bradley invited Dean to fly out to Washington to meet in person.
"That’s when the spark really happened," Bradley said. "(It) was during that time where we were able to play music together and write and be face to face and figured out that there was chemistry there."
Despite living on opposite sides of the country, the duo gets together every so often to let creative juices flow. From filming music videos, writing and producing new songs, and organizing tour dates, The Sweeplings have mastered the craft of working on a tight deadline.
Both Bradley and Dean grew up surrounded by music due to the strong influence music had on each of their parents’ lives.
Dean explains how the root of their music is the idea of being able to "come across with our sound really well with just the two of us."
"And our main goal and focus at the recordings, down to playing live, is that it’s four elements," Dean said. "It’s our two voices put together and then her playing the piano and me playing the guitar."
The duo has an individual sound and characteristic to their music and lyrics that originated from a mixture of many different music styles — like folk and pop.
Dean even described the two as chameleons.
"We soak up a lot of music and information, and then we just become this new crazy color, musically, of whatever we (intake)," Dean said.
Bradley added they aren’t focusing on a specific genre.
"We really just want to be ourselves," she said.
The band places importance on having strong vocals paired with sweeping melodies during their live shows.
Some of their new songs, which they will be playing Thursday, came about from the turbulence each of them had experienced this past year.
Show-goers can expect fresh and current music, as "Rise and Fall" was written in only eight months.
According to Pat Lavery, owner of local booking company Glory Days Presents, the band has received a lot of coverage from NPR lately.
Life, love and loss are some of the main themes that can be heard throughout their album, and "Rise and Fall" is "based around the ebbs and flows of life," Dean said.
The Sweeplings, an acoustic duo with an unusual origin story, will perform Thursday at High Dive, located at 210 SW Second Ave.
