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In late 2014, a new country duo released their first single, “Girl in a Country Song” and caught national attention.

Maddie and Tae are the duo behind “Girl In A Country Song.” It challenged many common themes, like the gender stereotyping of girls present in today’s “bro country.” Bro country is the heavily disputed name for the subgenre of country music that’s heavily influenced by hip-hop, produced by strictly male artists and typically very misogynistic and chauvinistic. Its popularity has been steadily growing.

In “Girl in a Country Song,” the young duo calls out the stereotype of women doing everything for the sole purpose of impressing men, as well as the lack of female representation and perspective in country music. The song made it into the billboard top 100, getting airplay on stations that rarely play country music – and caught national attention.

Now, with their first full-length LP, Start Here, Maddie and Tae keep up the standard of excellence established in “Girl In A Country Song.” The simple but engaging acoustic guitar melodies on most tracks provide welcome relief from the electric guitars and synthesizers becoming ever-more prevalent in today’s country music, “bro country” or otherwise. Most of the songs focus on self-confidence without seeming overly peppy, and the rest of the tracks reflect on love and growing up; leaving every track with a meaning much deeper than surface level.

Their second track to achieve radio airplay, “Fly” was so shockingly different from “Girl In A Country Song” that it almost seemed like two different bands. “Fly” is gentle, sweet and simple. “Girl In A Country Song” is powerful, strong and musically complex.

“With our music, we don’t want to just do one thing. We want to show all these different sides of us and all the different influences that we have. ‘Girl in a Country Song,’ musically, is probably the most out-there for us, because the rest of our record is very acoustic-driven, very organic. ‘Fly’ is a better representation of us musically and lyrically,”Maddie and Tae told Rolling Stone magazine.

Maddie and Tae manage to revert to the simpler aspects of classic country music without completely losing a connection to today’s country and today’s audiences.

The use and highlighting of violin on tracks like “After the Storm Blows Through” bring back a side of country music that hasn’t been seen in years. The instrumentals never distract from a track’s lyrics, but enhance the song as a whole, something that many “bro country” artists struggle with.

Even on tracks that seem like revenge songs, Maddie and Tae still come across simultaneously cordial and not nice. On “Sierra,” they maintain a polite tone while singing “I hope I’m around when you get knocked up or knocked down” which is something most artists do not do. When artists like Carrie Underwood or Miranda Lambert write revenge songs, their anger shows in the tone of their voices, which can be good on certain tracks and for certain situations. But in country music, a less direct anger flows better, and Maddie and Tae have that all figured out.

Maddie and Tae write inspiring lyrics that do not sound cheesy, and can be applied to a variety of situations. Audiences young and old can appreciate the strong voices of both Maddie and Tae, and the music accompanying those vocals. There are not many big female names in today’s country music, but Maddie and Tae are set to change that.

“Start Here” is available on iTunes and Google Play.

The Pathfinder gives ‘Start Here’ a 9.5/10.