‘We Lost Ourselves a Bit’ (Exclusive)

Sister country music duo Walker County was completely frustrated.

“We just felt like we were not getting to be able to be ourselves,” says Ivy Walker, 29, during an interview with PEOPLE. “I remember last year we sat down with [writer/producer] Paul Sikes, and we were so frustrated with not being able to put out the music we want.”

And that’s when Sikes had an idea.

“He was like, ‘Girls, he was like, let me produce this record for you,'” Ivy remembers. “Let’s put out all the songs we’ve always wanted to put out. We don’t need the label. We can do this on our own.”

And Walker County do just that on their debut album Painted Ponies. 

“We needed to break free,” says Ivy. “We want to run with this passion that we have for music, and we’re finally taking that opportunity to run. These songs definitely correlate with our whole journey with becoming an independent artist.”

Indeed, Painted Ponies serves as a stunning reintroduction to the two sisters hailing from a small town in Indiana, who moved to Nashville as teenagers in the hopes of making their music dreams come true.

“We were thrown into this world of songwriters,” says Ivy. “It was really overwhelming for Sophie and me, coming from a town of 390 people to moving to Nashville. It was like, ‘Whoa, this is crazy.’”

It was during that time that the duo first met Sikes. 

“We connected on a level that hadn’t connected with any of the other writers we had written with at the time,” says Ivy. “It was a neat experience as songwriters to connect with someone on that level.”

From that point on, the sisters returned time and time again to the creative well of Sikes, ultimately resulting in several songs, some of which would eventually make it into Walker County’s live show while the band was signed with Warner Music Nashville.

“I remember going into the label and saying, ‘We love this song or that song,'” remembers Sophie Walker, 26, during an interview with PEOPLE. “And I remember them telling us, ‘Yeah, it’s good… we like it.’ But me and Ivy were like, ‘No, this should be at radio right now.’ It felt like they were saying that, ‘Yeah, we’ll let you release it, but we’re not going to push it to radio or streaming services or anything.’ It kind of felt like it was a wasted opportunity.”

“We had been with our label for three years, and we just kept on spinning circles with them,” adds Ivy. “They just kept waiting and waiting and we just kept turning in circles. We had so many songs that we were so in love with that we wished they would put out.”

Making the time even more complicated is that Walker County was a young act, eager to please those that had come before them.

“We were wanting to please [everyone at the label],” says Ivy. “We would do what they suggested, and we would try this different kind of songwriting or this different sound. And we as young girls lost ourselves a bit. I think we ended up losing who we truly were in this whole journey. In the end, it wasn’t healthy for us to stay there any longer.”

Eventually, Walker County parted ways with their label, and over the past year, they have put in the work to find themselves, resulting in the songs that make up Painted Ponies, including the revealing single “The Thing About Fences.”

“Being able to find who we really are again and go back to those songs that we were so passionate about in the beginning has been so freeing for us,” says Ivy. “We’re so excited to be releasing this independently and feel so proud of ourselves.”

“These songs stood the test of time,” adds Sophie. “They still hold up. I think country is definitely going back to its roots a little bit more than in the past years — it’s so exciting.”

Walker County has also stood the test of time. 

“Sophie and I have just prayed about every decision, every step of the way,” Ivy concludes. “And if we feel it’s right, we’re going to jump. We’re going to take that leap of faith. That’s what it was for us.”