The Price Sisters turn family harmonies into rising bluegrass career
Written By Ava Hyland
For twin sisters Lauren and Leanna Price, bluegrass music didn’t begin on a stage or in a recording studio. It began in living rooms, kitchens, and on front porches where family members gathered at the end of the day and sang together.
“Whenever all of our family would get together in the evening, if it was on the front porch in the summer or in the kitchen in the winter, Mom and Dad would sing together,” Lauren said. “Daddy played guitar, and everybody would kind of just join in one way or the other, singing old country songs and things.”
Those casual family sing-alongs eventually grew into something much bigger. Today, Lauren and Leanna perform as The Price Sisters, a bluegrass duo known for their tight harmonies and traditional sound. Over the past decade, they have built a career performing across the United States and internationally, releasing multiple recordings and even stepping onto one of country music’s most iconic stages.
Still, the sisters say their musical story began with family traditions that made music a normal part of everyday life.
“We grew up with a lot of music around,” Lauren said. “Both sides of our family, it seems like music was just a big part of it.”
ROOTED IN FAMILY TRADITION
On their father’s side, relatives were known for their singing voices. On their mother’s side, music often came through instruments and listening to records — especially from their grandmother, whom they called Nana.
“Our Nana played piano,” Lauren said. “She taught herself to play for church when she was actually 3 years old, and every time we would go down and visit, she was always playing.”
Music also extended even further back in their family history. Their great-grandmother played the fiddle with her siblings at square dances in the early 1900s, something the sisters grew up hearing about.
“We’d always heard those stories,” Leanna said. “There were lots of stories about our dad’s side of the family singing and playing banjo, too. It was never really a career path for anyone — music was just something everyone in the family loved.”
Growing up surrounded by that environment, the sisters naturally began singing together early in life.
“We’ve really been singing together, I think, since we could talk,” Lauren said. “Because it was just always there.”
FINDING THEIR SOUND
Their parents eventually encouraged that interest by buying the girls their first instruments when they were around 9 years old and enrolling them in lessons at a local music store.
At the time, the sisters simply enjoyed playing music together and learning songs. They weren’t thinking about careers or genres, and they didn’t even realize the music they were playing had a specific name.
“We didn’t really know that bluegrass music was actually its own thing,” Lauren said. “I think we had Bill Monroe’s song ‘Uncle Penn’ on a record or ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky,’ but that was probably about it.”
Instead, much of what they heard growing up came from classic country and folk artists their parents loved.
“There was always an Alison Krauss CD in the car,” Leanna said. “And Vince Gill and Johnny Cash. That’s what we listened to, whether we recognized it as bluegrass or not.”
As they got older, the sisters began discovering more about bluegrass through music camps and festivals. The songs they already knew and the instruments they played fit naturally within the genre.
By their teenage years, the sisters were performing more often in their community. Their parents helped them find opportunities to sing at small events and local gatherings.
“Mom and Dad would take us to places growing up,” Lauren said. “We started playing little firemen’s carnivals and community events if somebody would ask us to come sing.”
Those early performances helped them gain confidence on stage. One opportunity in particular stood out when they were still in high school.
At 17 years old, the sisters traveled to Rosine, Kentucky — the hometown of bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe — to perform on the RFD-TV program The Cumberland Highlanders. The show was filmed at the Bill Monroe Homeplace, making the opportunity even more meaningful for young musicians interested in bluegrass.
“It was like the biggest deal ever,” Leanna said. “We’d never done anything like that.”
For the teenagers, appearing on national television felt like a major milestone and one of their first experiences performing outside their local community.
LOCAL STAGES TO NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
After high school, the sisters continued their education at Morehead State University, where they became part of the school’s traditional music program.
While still in college, their professional career began to take shape. In 2016, during their junior year, the sisters signed their first professional recording contract with Rebel Records, a respected bluegrass label.
“We were really fortunate that we got to meet Dave Freeman, who was the head of Rebel at the time,” Leanna said.
The opportunity came after the sisters attended the International Bluegrass Music Association conference. Producer Bill Thornbury happened to hear them sing and expressed interest in working with them. Thornbury later produced the sisters’ first professional recording, an EP released through Rebel Records in 2016.
“That was amazing,” Lauren said. “We had never experienced anything like that up to that point.”
The EP introduced their music to a wider audience and opened the door to more performance opportunities. After graduating from college in 2017, the sisters released their first full-length album and began touring more regularly.
By 2019, their touring schedule expanded even further when they assembled a full band to perform with them on the road — a group that has largely stayed together since. That same year also brought an international milestone when the band spent a month touring in Germany.
“We didn’t really get our first official touring band until 2019,” Lauren said. “But from that point on, we’ve been touring with mostly the same musicians, and that’s been really special.”
Following that tour, the sisters began planning another record. Although the pandemic delayed those plans, the project eventually came together with Ronnie McCoury of the Del McCoury Band producing the album.
“We reached out to him, and he expressed interest in working with us,” Lauren said.
The album was released in 2024 through McCoury Music. Soon after its release came one of the biggest moments of the sisters’ career — their debut performance on the Grand Ole Opry.
“In March of ’24, with that record, we were able to debut on the Grand Ole Opry as a band, which was the top of our bucket list,” Lauren said.
Today, the sisters continue performing while balancing personal and professional changes. Leanna married last fall and moved back to Ohio, while Lauren now lives in Owensboro with her husband, Scott Napier.
Napier serves as director of the bluegrass and traditional music program at Owensboro Community and Technical College. Lauren also works at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro.
“My title is special projects manager, but that involves a lot of work with our programming, whether it’s field trips or the artists that come in,” she said.
Working at the museum keeps her connected to the broader bluegrass community. Occasionally, that connection comes full circle.
“There have been several times where somebody comes in and asks to see me,” Lauren said.
She recently met a young fan visiting the museum who was wearing a Price Sisters T-shirt and carrying a fiddle.
“I said, ‘Oh my goodness, I like your shirt.’ I asked if she had seen us play, and she said yes,” Lauren said.
STILL IN HARMONY
Despite their growing success, the sisters say the most meaningful part of their career remains performing together.
“We’re twins, so of course we have little spats like all siblings do every now and then,” Leanna said. “But we’ve always been really, really close.”
Their lifelong connection shows in their music.
“We know what each other’s thinking,” Lauren said. “We know how the other’s feeling if something’s working in the moment or if it’s not. We definitely have each other’s back.”
Even after performing with other musicians and taking on individual projects, the sisters say nothing quite compares to sharing the stage together.
“It’s really hard to be on stage without Leanna — it’s just weird,” Lauren said. “But it’s also really cool to get to do this with your twin sister.” OL
