Surviving The Music Industry

Ben and Emily of Carolina Story first met in Memphis, TN. The Arkansas and South Dakota natives took a chance on a start-up school program, but more importantly, they started their relationship as they were forming the band. They admit it was never easy from the beginning. Ben shares the financial and emotional woes of writing in Nashville when they first began as a duo. The constant no's or being told that they are left of center began to take its toll. Ben and Emily swore they wrote the last song that they'd ever write. Even life's moments were validating them for more of a domestic lifestyle, but then serendipity has a way of kicking the doors wide open. Now celebrating their second LP, Dandelion, we take a look at how their producer Paul Moak helped them discover the value of a character as opposed to the ego of an artist. Then the identity of a married duo and the challenges of when work meets life. As songwriters, you share pretty deep feelings that most wouldn't tell their spouse that can sometimes be