Stephanie Quayle: Montana’s Most Successful Living Country Artist

Some of the most successful musicians to ever crack a mic or strum a guitar come from Big Sky country; Huey Lewis and Charlie Pride come to mind. Montana is proud of its representatives in the arts, and the brightest country music star from the Treasure State is no exception. Stephanie Quayle, who hails from Bozeman and still lives in Montana, is the state's most successful living country music artist and spoke with me about her recently-released 6th album as well as how much she connects her music with her home state.

Stephanie was named to CMT's Next Women of Country (class of 2019) along with good company; Lainey Wilson and Ingrid Andress were introduced to us that year as well. Stephanie has a penchant for bringing Montana to life for her fans all over the world, as in her breakout single "Whatcha Drinkin' Bout"

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Her New Album Came From Writing During COVID (and featured a local MT beer)

We had so much fun making that song! When we wrote that song I was writing with two other writers who I'd never written with before, and I was like "I'm gonna bring a six pack of Montucky beer and a little bit of whiskey and we'll see what happens. I gotta represent my people! So much fun"

Stephanie Quayle: The Album

When asked about her 6th and most recent collection of music, she's proud to bring her Montana take on country to so many fans:

It feels amazing...I've been making music so many years and I'm really proud to represent our state and bring music to the world that I write and make with awesome humans and hopefully make people smile.

FYI...if you like her stuff, you can buy her stuff HERE

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She Brings Montana To Country Music, Nobody's Done It Like This Before

I asked Stephanie about the possibility that she purposefully sings about the duality of Montana life and her own love story in "Hang My Hat":

I am madly in love with my hubby and so he's very easy to write about. When we came up with the song, my co-writer said "This is a Quayle title," and I'm like well that's awesome! My love of horses and that feeling of being with someone and being unbridled and not fenced in is just very symbolic for me. It's fun to share it in a song like that. It's one of my favorites.

I'm a Montanan. When I think of freedom, I think of Montana. When I think of freedom I think of that endless view and if you can't have that with love then why do it?

To date, Quayle has amassed a following of almost 400,000 followers across all her social media platforms and her latest album has been heard over 2 million times on several platforms. She's also hinted at a tour of the western states:

I'm actually planning on doing a tour in the spring and northwest; all over Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah. We've got a lot of music to share! I love making music and being able to go back out on tour in the spring is gonna feel like the world's back. I just love seeing humans; unmasked, full-facial, chin present humans.

As a proud Montanan who has lived in several states, recorded albums, toured and shared floor space with many other successful country musicians, she shared this pearl of wisdom as not only advice to her younger self, but also to the younger generation of promising young adults in Montana:

Be where your boots are, which means to be present. I lived in fast forward for so long, always in the future that I completely missed out on what was right in front of me. I know tomorrow will get here, I know I have to do some preparations for tomorrow but I'm right here with you right now and that's the greatest gift because it's the only way you can really stretch time.

When you allow the time you're in to be present, it's like you have more than enough time. It's awesome! If I wasn't living proof I could never say it. If I hadn't experience it firsthand I would never say it.

 

We're proud of Stephanie Quayle for making a name for herself and for representing Montana, like only a Montanan can.