Doug & Telisha Williams

Originating from Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, folk duo Doug & Telisha Williams first encountered each other in their high-school marching band, where he held the role of drum major and she performed as majorette. They assembled a group to appear at a school assembly and later took that ensemble to regional events. When the band ultimately dissolved, the pair kept performing together and gravitated toward a folk approach, even after enrolling in colleges located five hours apart. After marrying and taking positions outside music, they sustained weekend shows until their growing audience allowed them to focus exclusively on performing. Their debut release, No Evil, came out in 2003; it was followed on March 25, 2006, by the national issue of Rope Around My Heart on their own No Evil Records label.