Interview: SOFIE AND THE NEW RELICS at Mountains, Music & Motorcycles Rally

Mountain View is one of my favorite little towns in Arkansas. It is steeped in history and beauty but notable for the music performed regularly there. Many have made the pilgrimage to play around the square, and during the most recent Mountains, Music & Motorcycles Rally, SOFIE AND THE NEW RELICS added to the growing bands that fill the air with melodious sounds that resonate with the majestic mountains and add to the lore of the region. 

SNR is not just any country band. Comprised of Sofie Smithson of Greenbrier– lead vocals/rhythm guitar, Grady Martin of White Hall- bass, Jude Brown of Cabot – drums, and Wyatt Perry of Bryant – Lead guitar, banjo, and dobro, they are the quickly rising “kid band” that I predict will make a big splash in the music scene very, VERY soon. Yes, they are all teenagers, but seriously....they are that good. They have the talent, they have the charisma, and they have the drive. I was super impressed when I heard them perform, and I was even more impressed during our interview.  

Sofie is not just a singer. She is a storyteller in her delivery of their songs, and if I were to categorize her style, I would say she sounds a bit like Loretta Lynn with a Dolly Parton pep in her voice.....or maybe Miley Cyrus without the husky undertones. And, though she is only a senior in high school, she sings as if she has lived many lives and has had many heartbreaks. She even said during the concert that she hasn’t been through a heartbreak, but she likes to write about them. She does a great job at that, too.  

Like pros, the band has great audience control, and though they have only been together for a year, they are going towards their goal of music domination at a rapid pace. SNR have already recorded an album, and they have people in Nashville interested in their career. There are big things happening around them, and I am so excited to be able to be at the beginning of their journey.  

BWW: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. So, I want to start off by saying that I love your sound. You guys are awesome! How did you guys form your group?  

Sofie: We met at an after-school performance program. It’s where they put you in a band for a summer tour. I was placed in the band with Jude and Wyatt, and then they were in another band with Grady. Then after the summer was over, we decided to form a Christmas band. We were supposed to only have four little gigs. The second one that we had was here in Mountain View, and from there, we were just blessed with so many great opportunities, and we met so many great people. That encouraged us to keep going. So, after Christmas ended, we put away the little Christmas songs and started our own stuff.   

BWW: Right. You played some originals today. They sounded great! Radio worthy.   

Sofie: Thank you. That means a lot.  

BWW: So, have you been writing all of these years, or? 

Sofie: No ma’am, I just started this year, around this time last year. I wrote my first song, and now I'm starting to get into the Nashville scene of cowriting. So, yeah, I'm still very new to it, but I like it.  

BWW: Well, they sound great. You all sound great. You guys seem destined to do this. It’s a very exciting time, especially since it’s only been a year. How do y'all feel about all this happening so fast? 

Grady: It’s been surprising. I think it happened a lot quicker than what we expected it to happen, like a big tidal wave, and we took advantage and rode the wave. When I started doing music, I was told to say yes until you have to say no, so that's the mentality we've been having. We say yes to every gig, do every show, do every opportunity, and then, you know, we have been blessed finding connections through all those opportunities. 

BWW: So, is this what you dreamed of all your life?  

Grady: I’m probably the only one here that could probably say no, because a year ago today, I was not expected to take the music career, but then this happened, and it's like all I do now.  

Wyatt: I honestly didn't know what I was going to do until I started playing with these guys, and then I was like this is definitely what I want to do.  

BWW: How old are you? 

Wyatt: 16  

BWW: You're really good. Really good. How long have you been playing?

Wyatt: It's coming up with four years. I started during COVID. There was nothing to do except play my PS4, and that broke. Then my dad was like ‘hey I'm gonna sell your guitar if you don't start playing it.’ So, I started playing it, and I just kept on.  

BWW: I need to break my son's PS4.  

Wyatt: Actually, it wasn’t broken. It's working right now. He just said it was broken. 

BWW: Alright, so you guys have been going back and forth to Nashville quite a bit. What's been going on there?  

Sofie: We just recorded a bunch of songs in Nashville. We did that for around a week, which was such a cool experience. We all learned a ton. It was one of the most educational weeks we’ve had.  

Grady: It definitely opened our eyes.  

Sofie: It humbled us.  

Jude: We got to meet a lot of studio musicians there. Their whole job is just to record songs for singers like Sofie. They just gave so much amazing wisdom, so much amazing advice about how we need to do things in the future.  

Wyatt: We are so very grateful that we met them. They put us more on the right track.  

BWW: How so? 

Jude: So far, it's been really easy with all of this success that we've been blessed. We’re doing great, you know, but when we got in that studio with all those studio musicians that have been doing it for three times as long as we've been alive, it was really an eye-opening experience. They showed us that there's still a lot more to grow and a lot more to learn. Like for us, I know for me, Wyatt, and Grady, it was almost an end goal. We have so much respect for the studio musicians, because they're so talented and everybody wants them to be on their album.  

Wyatt: When you listen to songs on the radio, that's mostly most of these guys that we've met. They are on the radio.  

BWW: So, at first glance because you are young, do you have trouble with people booking you? 

Sofie: Yeah. Sometimes they're so skeptical about us coming to play just because we are a “kid band,” but we've always been asked back.   

BWW: You guys are better than a lot of adult bands I've heard, so....  

Grady: There’s a lot of places that we’ve gone to that they’ll call back before we even get home and ask when we have another open weekend. 

BWW: How does school fit in with all of this? 

Jude: Our schools have been really understanding. They've given me the leeway of having extra absences, as long as I keep up with my grades. I think Sofie only has two classes this year. 

Sofie: Yeah, I'm a senior, and I only had to take English. So, I just go for two classes and then I get to go home, and I'll just write music all day.  

BWW: That should be your English credit right there. 

Sofie: Right? Like, I'm doing English all day, what you talking about? But yeah, all of our schools have just been so supportive of this, which is so wonderful and such a blessing to us, especially since they are letting us chase this wild dream of ours. 

BWW: That’s awesome. Are you guys being represented yet? Do you have managers? 

Sofie: Right now, it’s my dad. He books us. He’s a retired salesman. 

Jude: Her dad has insane connections. He knows everybody in Arkansas, so that’s where we’ve been lucky.  

Sofie: But everybody's parents in this band have a role which is so amazing. So, like, if you watch an SNR show, from setup to takedown, every parent comes in and they have a role. They're doing something, everybody's got something. We’re very blessed. They are our chauffeurs, our bodyguards, selling t-shirts. We’re super blessed. 

BWW: Ok, so finish this sentence. I wish we could play with..... 

Wyatt: Oooohhhh, that’s a good one. I would love to play with big name people, but I feel like right now where we're at, I would more like to play with these upcoming artists like Zach Top. He’s one of my favorite country singers. He's got a great band, plays great shows, and makes great music. I also like Braxton Keith. He is really cool. But I would just love to tour. I know lots of people that tour hate it, but so far, even though it's not really what we're doing, I think I would love it. 

Before we finished the interview, they named off other artists like Tyler Childers, Whiskey Myers, Carly Pierce, Kacey Musgraves, and Chris Stapleton, but insisted that they would open for whomever wanted them. I have no doubt that this band will win over their music idols and soon the world.  

Coming up tomorrow night, Saturday, Sept. 14, you will be able to catch SOFIE AND THE NEW RELICS at the Pope County Fair in Russellville. For more information, check out their website at https://sofieandthenewrelics.org/ 

  

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