Angaleena Presley
Quick Facts
Biography
Angaleena Loletta McCoy Presley (born September 1, 1976) is an American country music singer-songwriter. She is a member of the female country trio Pistol Annies, which was formed in 2011 with Miranda Lambert and Ashley Monroe, and has released two solo albums, American Middle Class (2014) and Wrangled (2017).
Career
In 2000, Presley moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she landed a publishing deal nine months later. Through her publisher she met Ashley Monroe, who later brought Presley's music to the attention of her friend Miranda Lambert. The three artists began working together writing songs, which would later become Pistol Annies' debut album Hell on Heels, released on August 23, 2011. The group spent much of the next two years touring North America and writing songs for their follow-up album. On May 7, 2013, Pistol Annies released their second album Annie Up. On June 17, 2013, the RIAA announced that the album and single for Hell on Heels had both sold in excess of 500,000 copies, giving Pistol Annies their first Gold Record. In 2014 Presley released her solo album American Middle Class, co-produced with her husband Jordan Powell. In 2017, Presley released her second solo album, Wrangled.
Personal life
Angaleena Presley was born in Martin County, Kentucky, and raised in Beauty, Kentucky. Her father Jimmy Presley Sr., is a retired coal miner and her mother, Cathy Presley (née McCoy), is a retired school teacher. At age 15, her father taught her how to play her first song on his guitar, "Mama Tried" by Merle Haggard. She attended Sheldon Clark High School in Inez, Kentucky, and graduated in 1994 before attending college at Eastern Kentucky University. Presley started work as a songwriter in Nashville in 2002, and later wrote the song "Knocked Up" from her own personal experience of being pregnant and unmarried. She has a son, Jed, born in 2007. When the Pistol Annies were first forming in the early 2010s, Presley was going through a divorce. She insists her upbringing was not "the stark, poverty-stricken one as committed to record on the 'Coal Miner's Daughter' by Loretta Lynn. That doesn't mean the Presleys didn't struggle, however, or that the singer led a charmed life once she left Beauty." On May 22, 2012, she married manager/producer Jordan Powell in a small ceremony in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. On August 15, 2018, Presley confirmed she was pregnant with her second child (her first with husband Jordan Powell) and gave birth to their daughter Joeleena in January 2019.
Discography
Studio albums
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Sales | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Country | US Heat | ||||
American Middle Class |
| 29 | 14 | ||
Wrangled |
| — | 15 |
| |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart |
Music videos
Year | Video | Director |
---|---|---|
2014 | "Pain Pills" | Traci Goudie |
Songwriting discography
Year | Artist | Album | Song | Co-written with |
---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Angaleena Presley | Wrangled | ||
"Dreams Don't Come True" | Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe | |||
"High School" | Ivy Walker, Sophie Walker | |||
"Only Blood" | Chris Stapleton | |||
"Country" | Michael Wayne Atha | |||
"Wrangled" | ||||
"Bless My Heart" | ||||
"Outlaw" | ||||
"Mama I Tried" | Oran Thornton | |||
"Cheer Up Little Darling" | Guy Clark | |||
"Groundswell" | Ian Fitchuk | |||
"Good Girl Down" | Wanda Jackson, Vanessa Olivarez | |||
"Motel Bible" | Oran Thornton, Trevor Thornton | |||
2014 | Angaleena Presley | American Middle Class | ||
"Ain't No Man" | ||||
"All I Ever Wanted" | ||||
"Grocery Store" | Lori McKenna | |||
"American Middle Class" | ||||
"Dry County Blues" | Mark D. Sanders | |||
"Pain Pills" | ||||
"Life of the Party" | Matraca Berg | |||
"Knocked Up" | Sanders | |||
"Better Off Red" | ||||
"Drunk" | Sarah Siskind | |||
"Blessing and a Curse" | Bob DiPiero | |||
"Surrender" | Luke Laird, Barry Dean | |||
2013 | Pistol Annies | Annie Up | "I Feel A Sin Comin' On" | Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe |
"Hush Hush" | Lambert, Monroe | |||
"Being Pretty Ain't Pretty" | Lambert, Monroe | |||
"Unhappily Married" | Lambert, Monroe | |||
"Loved by a Workin' Man" | ||||
"Blues, You're a Buzzkill" | Lambert, Monroe | |||
"Don't Talk About Him, Tina" | Lambert | |||
"Trading One Heartbreak for Another" | Monroe | |||
"Damn Thing" | Lambert, Monroe | |||
"Girls Like Us" | Lambert, Monroe | |||
"I Hope You're the End of My Story" | Lambert, Monroe | |||
2011 | Pistol Annies | Hell on Heels | "Hell On Heels" | Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley |
"Lemon Drop" | Kirsty Lee Akers | |||
"Housewife's Prayer" | Lambert, Monroe | |||
"Bad Example" | Lambert, Monroe | |||
"Takin' Pills" | Lambert, Monroe | |||
"The Hunter's Wife" | Angaleena Presley | |||
"Family Feud" | Lambert, Monroe, Presley, Blake Shelton | |||
Miranda Lambert | Four the Record | "Fastest Girl in Town" | Miranda Lambert | |
Ashton Shepherd | Where Country Grows | "Look It Up" | Robert Ellis Orrall | |
2008 | Heidi Newfield | What Am I Waiting For | "Knocked Up" | Mark D. Sanders |
Awards and nominations
Year | Association | Category | Nominated Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | American Country Awards | New Artist of the Year | Pistol Annies | Nominated |
2012 | CMT Awards | Breakthrough Video of the Year | Hell on Heels | Nominated |
2012 | CMT Awards | Group Video of the Year | Hell on Heels | Nominated |
2013 | CMT Awards | Group Video of the Year | Takin' Pills | Nominated |
2016 | UK Americana Awards | International Song of the Year | American Middle Class | Nominated |
2018 | UK Americana Awards | International Artist of the Year | Artist | Nominated |
2020 | Grammy Awards | Best Country Album | Interstate Gospel (with Pistol Annies) | Nominated |