Angaleena Presley makes her first appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live on the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown. A member of the Pistol Annies alongside Miranda Lambert and Ashley Monroe, Presley has the makings of an old-school country-music star. She grew up in Beauty, Ky., across the Tug River from West Virginia, and her father was a coal miner. Thanks to her parents, she grew up listening to Carole King and Janis Joplin, as well as Ralph Stanley, Merle Haggard and Bill Monroe.
But Presley was also a fan of the Indigo Girls, and sometimes skipped school and drove to Loretta Lynn's home at Butcher Holler to seek inspiration. Her first solo album, American Middle Class, plumbs the depths of rural life in modern America and serves as a memoir of her colorful upbringing. Along the way, it's earned comparisons to songwriting heavyweights like Lori McKenna and Matraca Berg.
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