SUGAR + THE HI-LOWS

HOMETOWN: Nashville
MEMBERS: Trent Dabbs (guitar, vocals), Amy Stroup (vocals)
ALBUM: Sugar + the Hi-Lows, out now
WEBSITE: sugarandthehilows.com

The old-school sound of Sugar + the Hi-Lows was born three years ago, when Trent Dabbs and Amy Stroup got together to write songs in Nashville. Dabbs brought along a vintage amplifier, which turned the conversation toward their favorite music from the 1950s and ’60s. Before long they’d written several throwback tunes that set the scene for their retro duo. “We weren’t really trying to treat it like a band,” Stroup says. “We just wrote this series of songs, but they didn’t feel like an Amy Stroup song or an Amy-and-Trent duet. It really felt like its own thing.” They see their mission as putting a little pep into the step of fans coping with an increasingly complex and challenging environment. “With the climate of everything right now, with the economy, you could write the most depressing songs ever,” Dabbs says. “But I really feel like the world needs light.”