Hailing from Grafton, West Virginia, country group Taylor Made is comprised of siblings Wendy Williams, Greg Duckworth and Brian Duckworth. The group’s hallmark, debuted in their first single “Heavy Duty Beauty”, is their three-part sibling harmony. “Our mom taught us to sing,” explains Wendy. “We would all sing on the back porch and the neighbors would holler out songs they wanted us to sing.” Despite being raised in a home where music was a way of life rather than a hobby, the siblings of Taylor Made are the only three out of the seven total Duckworth siblings that have taken to performing as adults.
Initially performing independent of each other, the siblings formed trio I-79 days before the Colgate Country Showdown with hopes of competing in and winning the competition. Not only did the group win first place, but each individual member also came to the realization that they operated best when performing together. “We started with an acapella note on the first song and, coming out of that big system, there was definitely a ‘wow’ feeling,” Greg says. “It sent a charge through the whole room. You could feel it,” Wendy adds. “We had never experienced that before.” That moment of harmonic convergence wasn’t lost on the crowd – local venue owners were no exception. “We realized we’d been missing that third voice,” explains Brian. “And we didn’t even know to miss it since we’d never tried it before. But the day after the show we started getting calls from people wanting to book us. It snowballed from there.”
Keeping their full time jobs – Wendy is an office manager and home maker, Greg is a West Virginia State Trooper and Brian is a truck driver – they began playing clubs, honky-tonks and fairs throughout the region. Writing songs and packing venues, the trio soon came to the attention of famed artist manager Dale Morris (Alabama, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride and Gretchen Wilson, among others). In addition to helping the group establish their new name, Morris developed Taylor Made’s song collection, all of which were quickly approved by the band’s ever-growing fan base.
After their first single “Heavy Duty Beauty” charted high on both the Indie World Country and Music Row charts, the group signed with West Virginia-based record label Little General Records. Their first single with the label, “Quiet Kind of Crazy”, was produced by Morris and songwriter/producer Dan Mitchell (“If You’re Gonna Play in Texas You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band”), charted #46 on Music Row and made its debut on the Billboard Indicator chart. The trio recently released their latest studio album, “Good Love”, and their first single, also entitled “Good Love”, currently sits at #50 on the Billboard Indicator chart and #47 on Music Row chart.
In each facet of their music, Taylor Made reflects the true spirit of the hard-working men and women that come to their shows, as well as the hard working men and woman they are themselves. “We’re real,” Wendy says. “We’re all bringing experience to the table. We’ve lived our lives, had children, and can related to what we’re singing about. We’re living these songs. We literally started on a back porch in West Virginia – and we’ve gone on to play every place that would have us.” “I go out and drive my truck to feed my kids, just like everyone in our audience gets their work done to take care of theirs,” Brian adds. “What you see is what you get.”
