Much like their name, the Wonder Women of Country know how to do the right thing when duty calls. After sharing some bills together leading to the trio intentionally touring and doing some song swaps during their shows, Kelly Willis, Brennen Leigh and Melissa Carper were constantly being asked by fans about when they would officially do something together.

This year, the trio answered the call by officially baptizing themselves with the powerful and fitting name, as it only makes sense for a super group to be superheroes. Replacing capes and leotards with cowgirl boots, pretty dresses and sharp suits, and weapons and gadgets with stringed instruments, the trio became the Wonder Women of Country.

“I gotta say, it's nice when you arrive somewhere and somebody says, ‘Are you the Wonder Women?’ Why yes we are,” laughs Carper. They are currently celebrating the release of their first self-titled EP and will perform on Friday, April 26 at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck.

"It's nice when you arrive somewhere and somebody says, ‘Are you the Wonder Women?"

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“I was just really blown away with Brennan and Melissa and really enamored with their sound and jealous and hoping that they would maybe let me in on a little of that magic,” says Willis who sent the artists an email to set up their first run of shows together.

“We thought we were being catfished. We weren't sure it was her at first,” says Leigh of receiving the email from the Texas songwriting legend. “Of course we were thrilled and we've had so much fun doing this.”

The lightheartedness and merrymaking these Wonder Women share on and off stage definitely comes across on their new EP. Short and sweet with six perfect tracks, the new release captures each artist's strengths together and separately with many cowrites in the bunch and John Prine’s “I Have Met My Love Today” closing out the album.

Carper presented the song to the group knowing it would benefit from their unmistakably rich harmonies and they included it on the EP as fans often requested they commit to record following their live performances.

Leigh describes how the trio were all in the middle of a tour and needed to come up with some material pretty quickly with the gals meeting in the hotel lobby before checking out to play their songs for one another.

“I think it took us about 30 minutes to decide,” says Leigh of the tracks. “We must have just been on a similar wavelength or something because the songs all mesh together really well. Unfortunately, we didn't have a ton of pre production time. We sort of chose them and then hopped in the studio and I think some cool alchemy happened.”
Carper and Leigh share many co-writes on the album and have a history of counting on each other to bounce ideas off of each other and support one another. The duo revisited the beautiful track “Won’t Be Worried Long” which they began in 2019 and finished it just in time for the album.

The “alchemy” or the “magic” as Willis was seeking originally is in full force on the EP as each artist in their own right has that uncanny ability to have one foot in some sweet time of gone by and another not only in the present but also the future of country and traditional roots music and hopefully a place where women’s strengths and super powers can be not only celebrated but normalized.
“That's the goal and that's the trick,” agrees Willis whose track “A Thousand Ways” plays out as a timeless story of a lover feeling that their partner did nothing to avoid losing them.

“To be fresh sounding music but that has all that great history to it as well,your influences and where you came from, all of that.” All three artists come from different places with varying career paths but share a common sensibility in their love for a good song and traditional influences like Jimmie Rogers and Hank Williams.

“It’s like having an accent,” explains Leigh. “You can learn a new language but you can't hide your accent and my accent is country music from the mid 20th century so we can try to write a pop song and it still has that what other people like to call ‘twang’ to it to it, that classic sound but for me it's totally unconscious. I don't do it on purpose but what's cool is we are modern people so we're going to write about living in 2024 but it's just going to have that accent.”

The trio's super strength comes from their lush and unmistakable harmonies where each members distinct voice finds its perfect place on the sonic wavelengths leaving the listener with the knowledge that something truly special is happening on record and on stage.

“Harmony is very country music right, that's just like part of the secret sauce,” says Willis as the group discusses their ability to perfectly play off their range of voices adding, “I think that is what makes voices go well together is when they are really different. You bring different textures and mixtures that are interesting.”

Throughout the EP, the Wonder Women of Country added to their "secret sauce" with touches of accordion by Ginny Mac and steel guitar from Chris Scruggs on the sweet track and another Leigh, Carper cowrite, "Fly Ya To Hawaii."

Though they all come from different parts of the country and none of the three Wonder Women are from Texas, the Lone Star State is a huge part of their experiences individually and collectively and all three members are well versed in country music and recognize the importance of knowing where the sounds they chase and celebrate originate.

Originally from Oklahoma and growing up in Virginia before relocating to Austin in the 90s, Willis became a beloved member of the Texas songwriting legacy club and a staple in the Austin music scene and beyond.

Leigh, originally from North Dakota and now based in Nashville grew up singing harmonies at home with her brother and has built her impressive career as not only a great country picker and multi instrumentalist but as a strong songwriter with four albums under her belt and another on the way.

Leigh left Texas six years ago but she will also have Texas roots as she was legally made an honorary Texan and refers to the Lone Star State as “VorTexas” as it keeps calling her back.

Hailing from Nebraska and now calling Austin home, Carper has released four albums and is about to release her fifth and join Asleep At The Wheel for a summer tour. Through her years of busking and singing harmonies in The Carper Family and Sad Daddy, Carper knew the goal for this trio when it came to melting their voices together.

"It just makes sense that you would get your education about music,” says Willis. “From where this music started and learning what a country song is and being able to write one and to know where it’s coming from as opposed to just hearing modern country music and trying to write a song based off of that. You can learn the original stuff and then take it anywhere you wanna take but you really ought to know it and have that foundation and that knowledge.”

It's amazing and yet another testament to their super powers as artists that all three busy members can find ways to carve out time to be together for this tour, making their fans and each other happy. "It's kind of beautiful that this project fits in between all the other stuff that we do," says Willis. "It's lovely that way." 

The Wonder Women Of Country EP is available for streaming and purchase now.  They will perform at McGonigel's Mucky Duck on Friday, April 26, 2425 Norfolk, show at 9:30 pm, tickets $58 for standing and online streaming.