Aberdeen is a duo made up of Caleb Maitland and Jordan Anderson. Anderson said they had been co-writers for eight or nine years. “He was one of the first people I met when I moved to Nashville,” she said. “Every time we wrote together, it was just really fun and the songs we came up with were so unique from what we would write with other co-writers.”
While they made a great songwriting team, both Maitland and Anderson pursued solo careers. Anderson said one day they accidently wrote a duet. Maitland said they decided to form a duo about a year later.
Maitland said it wasn’t a hard decision for him to give up his solo career to form a duo because he never really wanted to be a solo artist. “I was always more drawn to being in a band so we could kind of share that load,” he said, adding that Anderson had success as a solo artist, but they felt like the shoe fit when they joined together. Maitland said a song called “Let Goodbye Have The Last Say” was the song that kind of launched Aberdeen. He described the song as making sure when the relationship is over that goodbye be the last thing that the couple says to each other.
The band’s latest single is called “Faith,” a song Anderson wrote about Maitland’s wife and her battle with breast cancer last year. Maitland said the song is really Anderson’s story of how his wife handled it and what she saw going through it.
Anderson said they stopped touring last fall so Maitland could be there for his wife. “That time was actually a really big blessing to get to just write a ton,” she said. Anderson said during that time they have written some of what have been our most favorite songs that they have written as a duo. They plan to go into the studio this fall to record another album.
Maitland saidnHaving a duo partner like Anderson was unbelievable, adding that she allowed me to take that time and do what I needed. ” The music and ability to write was actually very healing. I was able to take my mindset and focus on something that wasn’t as heavy and wasn’t as concerning,” he said. Anderson said she felt that their writing became more honest during that time.
Aberdeen has returned to touring now. One thing that is unique about their performances is both Maitland and Anderson sing, which allows they to cover songs by male and female country artists. They do a lot of original songs and they both sing on those as well. Anderson said she doesn’t know that they ever had an actual discussion about who would sing which songs, but she said they both loved the classic duos back in 90s country and before that. She said they just decided cohesively that they wanted to be a duo where it was equally yoked across the board.
Both Maitland and Anderson were influenced by country and pop artists. “For me growing up, Shania Twain was a huge influence,” Anderson said. She said she also listened to a little bit of Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. She said she loved the melody lines of pop and the story telling of country.
Maitland grew up listening to a lot of southern gospel in my home, but also grew up listening to Gladys Knight and a lot of R & B singers like Whitney Houston. “My favorite singer of all time is Celine Dion,” he said, adding that he listens to both old and new country.
More information about Aberdeen can be found on their website at www.aberdeenband.com. They can also be found on social media.