Maddie Marlow and Taylor Dye lit a spark when they met in 2014 under instruction from the same vocal coach, and through blending of individual styles, put a streak in country music. From the start, they had musical harmony together. St. Patrick’s Day the same year they met, they wrote “Girl in a Country Song,” which rocketed to the top in the country music industry. Following their success with this song came their single “Fly.” In early 2015, they released their first album.

“Start Here” consists of 11 songs from “Shut Up and Fish” to “The Downside of Growing Up.” All share the distinctive twang of country music with a twist of  contemporary melodies. While many of the songs in this album express young love, they are also about the songwriters’ journeys from childhood to young adulthood.

I do not often listen to country music, nor is country music a favorite, however, this particular album and style of the artists appeals to me as it mirrors, to a certain extent, my own journey.

One stereotype placed on country music is the assumption that the music will always concern trucks, girls and whiskey. Maddie and Tae have a couple of those stereotypes, however, they actually mocked the stereotypes with songs like “Girl in a Country Song” and “Waitin’ on a Plane” (rather than on a truck). They were able to put a new spin on country music and continually laugh at both the stereotypes and themselves throughout the songs.

While they have some humored songs such as “Shut Up and Fish,” they also had some serious songs like “After the Storm Blows Through” and “Fly.” For me, their main idea of love seemed to be boyfriend-girlfriend relationships, and while the songs were good, it may have enhanced their album to have more songs on friendship and family as well. My personal favorites were “Smoke” and “Fly.”

Overall their album was good, their words and their ideas as a whole were good, I and enjoyed being in their shoes as country girls for a bit. My score for them is a B+. Those that listen to their album after reading this review hopefully will also enjoy being whisked away into their world for a time.