Local Band on the Cusp of Stardom

– Dylan Campbell, Reporter

The state of North Dakota has an absence from popular culture, but a band composed of two North Dakotan girls is on the rise as they play their homegrown music across the country. Krista and Kendra Slaubaugh make up the North Dakota native band: Tigirlily Gold, and hope to spark inspiration and joy by trailblazing their own path to success.

Krista and Kendra have been playing music together before they established themselves as Tigirlily Gold.

“We started playing together at a young age. So, at age ten, when Krista started writing songs, she started accompanying me,” Kendra said. “Then, we started writing songs together. Krista started playing guitar, and started harmonizing with me.”

After building their musical foundation, the sisters would confine themselves underneath a singular name: Tigerlily.

“One time, probably at about thirteen and fifteen years old, we got a text to play a show for one hundred dollars. As soon as we knew that we could make a living or get paid to play live music, we never wanted to do anything else in our lives,” Krista said. “We thought, ‘why don’t we make a band out of this?’ So, at fourteen and sixteen years old, we started Tigerlily in high school.”

The Slaubaugh sisters would go on to play their original music across the Midwest as they gained momentum in the music industry.

“Since we were two young girls going for something that was a little off the beaten path. We really felt support from North Dakota to be like, ‘you can do it girls!’ Krista said. “We released a song called, ‘North Dakota,’ and that kind of went viral statewide. After we had released that song, everyone was looking to us for openers or county fairs. They really wanted to jump on the train to support us through our journey.”

Throughout the years, the band has evolved and this is emulated through the growth of their band name.

“We even changed the spelling of Tigerlily to include girl in the middle of it, Ti-girl-lily. We’ve always been about female empowerment,” Kendra said. “Now, we’re Tigirlily Gold. Gold does point back to North Dakota roots as well, like the sunrise, sunset, and wheat fields. Our whole name is reflecting back on North Dakota.”

Prospering in the music industry takes hard work and dedication.

“You have to work really hard to get where you want to be. So much about achieving any sort of dream you have is perseverance and practice. Krista had to learn many different cover songs on her guitar, and that only expanded her ability to write,” Kendra said. “Same with me, vocally, just putting in practice and hours and learning different music. Trying different things to expand your vocabulary as an artist.”

Tigirlily Gold has the tremendous support of North Dakota behind them.

“Whether we fly into Bismarck or Fargo, there’s always people on the plane or at the airport, like ‘welcome home girls!’ It’s really fun that people say hi and welcome us back to the home state,” Krista said. “I think every show, in the first couple of sentences that we say, they will know that we’re from North Dakota. It’s our personality trait, at this point. It’s pretty hard for someone not to know we’re from North Dakota.”

Tigirlily Gold has made a name for themselves in Nashville, Tennessee.

“That was always our dream one day, to move out to Nashville and the big city. Eventually, about a year in Nashville, we started playing down at the honky tonks on Broadway in Nashville. During the pandemic, we found a record deal with Monument Records through selling music,” Kendra said. “They say Nashville is a ten-year town, and we have been doing this for ten years. So, we are finally seeing everything kind of take off.”

After releasing “Shoot Tequila,” amassing over fifteen million streams. Tigirlily Gold is on the verge of a breakout year.

“We do have a full record coming this year. We never had that under the label we’re with, so that’s really exciting,” Krista said. “Any year where we get to release our original music is a good year for us.”