Born in Dallas, TX, folk duo Penny & Dime met in an unconventional way. Kylie Valigura and Krystle Wahnschaffe, both singer-songwriters looking to collaborate, turned to the only place they knew—craigslist. After a few awkward emails and voice memos sent back and forth, an in person meet up was set. Cut to a sunny Saturday afternoon at a local coffee shop where they both showed up wearing the exact same shoes. If that’s not fate, what is?
A partnership was born and these independent singer songwriters became a duo. Described as having “harmonies for days,” Krystle and Kylie have been performing around central Texas for over the last three years with gigs at Opening Bell Coffee, Spinster Records, Waco wineries, and more. Penny & Dime released their self-titled debut album April 17th, 2020 and were recently nominated for “Best New Artist” by the Dallas Observer.
1) Tell us about your journey as a band.
It started on craigslist. We are both transplants to Dallas and when we got here, we didn’t really know how to meet people to make music with. Cue Kylie putting out an ad and Krystle replying. We sent a few voice memos back and forth and then decided to meet up at a coffee shop.
Our first “jam session” was a little awkward. But we pushed through it and started writing some originals. The first song we ever wrote together ended up on our album - “Runaway.” Kylie said “I have some lyrics…” and gave them to Krystle. She wrote the melody and harmony. It evolved a lot but that was our first true collaboration.
We started learning more covers. Then we finally played our first open mic night together. It was the first time either of us had done something like that with an original song. We were hooked.
We have been playing local shows across Dallas at coffee shops, bars, and restaurants for the last couple years. We are excited to make the leap to paid venues once the pandemic permits.
2) It really does seem like it was meant to be. Who are some of your influences? Who would you be most excited about calling you and asking you to open for them on tour?
We love female-driven bands. Some of our primary influences are bands that weave vocals seamlessly. We would be thrilled to open for First Aid Kit. We always joke that it isn’t fair they met so early in life [they are sisters] and that we had to wait until our 20s to find each other.
Other influences include Haim, Bailen, The Overcoats, and Eisley.
3) All great bands! You guys have excellent taste. Tell us how music has influenced your lives. Any specific stories of times when you heard a song and thought, "I want to do that?"
At the core of it, we have both wanted to do it as long as we remember.
Kylie’s parents always joke that she has been singing since she was a baby. Choir, church choir, plays, musicals, voice lessons, finally teaching herself guitar. She is mostly self taught.
Krystle would record on her cassette tape in her room and would write songs. She did choir and musical theater all throughout school. When she got to college, a roommate had a guitar and she was hooked.
4) Describe your songwriting and collaboration process.
It changes with every song we write. Sometimes Kylie writes the lyrics and Krystle will do the melody. Sometimes we both come up with an idea and will co-write. We try and go on one songwriting retreat every year. The sheer volume of what we have written versus what we have actually recorded is pretty crazy. So many things will never see the light of day. We have a pretty extensive google doc system where we drop ideas, lyrics, inspiring videos and quotes.
5) What are your goals? What do you see in the future for Penny & Dime?
Our dream is to go out on tour and play live shows with a full band. We had a tour planned for our album release this year with a full band but everything got cancelled due to the pandemic. It’s actually been a really interesting time to make music. So much of that relationship happens in person. We love our local Dallas community so not being able to play or go to shows of our favorite local bands has left a real hole in our hearts.
Trying to recreate that online has been tough. Something about live music, the stuff that gives you goosebumps, doesn’t always translate over Facebook live and choppy internet.
We are already working our next album. It will be fun to see our sound evolve. We feel like we came so far in finding our voice on our first album that we can’t wait to get back in the studio to keep pushing it.
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Thank you, Kylie and Krystle!