Based on their name alone, The Goddamsels aren’t your grandparents’ idea of country music. Formed out of the longstanding friendship between Alberta-based singer/songwriters Mallory Chipman and Frédrique “Freddi” MacDougall, The Goddamsels write songs with strong, empowering messages, blended with elements of folk, pop and traditional country, all tied together by their stunning, instinctive harmonies.
It’s all fully displayed on their six-song debut EP, Wayward Daughter, produced by Juno Award nominee Scott Franchuk (Corb Lund, Del Barber, Mike Plume, Scenic Route To Alaska), and out today via Edmonton’s Royalty Records and Bandcamp. As the first single, the title track lays out The Goddamsels’ commitment to sisterhood, drawing inspiration from the past—specifially Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris’ Trio project—and present day artists such as First Aid Kit.
According to Mallory, “‘Wayward Daughter’ is a special kind of love song, a long distance love song between two dear friends that I wrote about Freddi and I, while she was living in Montreal and I was in Edmonton.” Freddi adds, “‘Wayward Daughter’ means a lot to me as it feels like our theme song. It was written about our friendship and I think it is special in that there aren’t many songs like it.”
Indeed, adding their own distinctive twist to country music has been a main part of the pair’s motivation from the moment they hatched the plan to create The Goddamsels in 2020 during the height of pandemic restrictions. Fully aware of each other’s musical strengths and prodigious work habits, Mallory and Freddi quickly found a rhythm writing songs remotely, and by the summer of 2021, they were prepared to record five of them over a three-day session with Franchuk and some of Edmonton’s finest players at Riverdale Recorders, with the sixth song completed by year’s end.
“One of the things that makes this record stand out is that we have put a lot of thought into writing and arranging for two lead vocalists,” Freddi says. “We are also proud to be creating space for new narratives in the country music scene with our choice of content and storytelling.”
Mallory, whose past musical endeavors have reached into the jazz and alternative rock realms, agrees that The Goddamsels is a natural progression from the time they first connected in 2015 while singing cover songs with the house band at Edmonton’s Blue Chair Cafe.
With Wayward Daughter, The Goddamsels are poised to make a powerful first impression within the roots music world—and one that is sure to leave everyone who hears them clamouring for more.
