Artist: The Watson Twins
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky; now Nashville
Song: “The Palace”
Album: Holler
Release Date: June 23, 2023
Label: Bloodshot Records
In Their Words: “This song is one of the few co-writes on the album and it came together after we ran into our friend Jacob Sooter (writer/producer) in East Nashville. He suggested we write together and invited Brian Elmquist (The Lone Bellow) to join the session. We spent the afternoon laughing and writing … which set the tone for the song. Leigh had gone to the Nashville Palace the night before we all got together and the iconic honky-tonk was the perfect inspiration to build the scene for the queen of broken hearts. Working in the studio with Butch Walker and our touring band really brought the song to life. You can feel the energy of everyone playing LIVE in the room.
“From concept to creation, ‘The Palace’ video came together in such an organic way. Doors kept opening and we kept saying ‘YES!’ We had been tossing around a video idea that featured Dolly impersonators but knew that would be really hard to pull off in an authentic way. As luck would have it, our friend and fellow Kentuckian, Meghan Love, hosts a Dolly look-alike contest every year at her restaurant Mable’s Smokehouse in Brooklyn. She offered to let us film at the 6th annual contest and the Nashville production crew, Farmuse, jumped on board to bring our ‘Dolly Dream’ to life. We had no idea the joy and celebration we were going to experience that night at Mable’s and ‘The Palace’ was the perfect soundtrack. It was the first time we sang ‘The Palace’ live in front of an audience and it couldn’t have been more fun!” — Leigh & Chandra Watson, The Watson Twins
Photo Credit: Elizabeth O. Baker Photography