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It’s almost been seven years since we last checked in with the 16-year-old country singer who wrote “Johnny Cash” and held a regular spot at The Rustic. A lot has changed for Frankie Leonie since then.
The TL;DR is that she grabbed her diploma, said, “Screw college,” and spent three years recording her debut album. Somewhere along the way she graduated to a horizontal license and was no longer branded with big Sharpie Xs on her way into the bars she performed in.
“When I was finally of age to go out I started running into some of the musicians that I’ve been playing with since I was like 15 or 16, and they always ask, ‘What are you doing here?’ and I’m like ‘I’m allowed to be here now …'” the 23-year-old says with a laugh.
While she hasn’t had too much trouble growing out of the stigma that might’ve surrounded her as a young performer on stage, she does realize that people may have given her a bit of grace in her early days. Leonie gained invaluable experience from her early start, but it’s also raised the expectations for her future endeavors.
“When you’re 15 or 16 and you’re playing shows and putting music out, almost anything you do is impressive, or at least that’s how people respond to you,” she says. “As you get older, that goes away, so I’m young still, but I’m not this teeny bopper impressing people by doing the bare minimum.”
Luckily, Leonie has always stood out with ease, and her latest single is no exception. “Blue Moon,” which was co-written by Beau Bedford and recorded at the Echo Lab in Denton, is the perfect soundtrack for an introspective rainy afternoon stuck inside. Leonie’s steady voice carries the weight of an unrequited love, and the patient, intentional spacing between her words quietly conveys the heartache behind them.
“My name slips off your tongue / Reminds me of when we / Were young / And dumb,” she sings. “Staying out ’till dawn / In your daddy’s ’61 / Only resting for the sun / When will you call me your own?”
Just because “Blue Moon” is her first release in years doesn’t mean Leonie has been sitting around collecting dust. Most of, if not all the songs from Wasted Breath were written three to five years ago, and since then, they’ve all been put through their paces on stage and developed into more complete compositions.
“For the last couple of years, I’ve been playing mostly solo shows, which I do really enjoy, but most of the songs on this album are a lot fuller than that,” Leonie says. “I think there’s only one that’s just me with an acoustic guitar. I think it’ll be a little bit different than people would expect based on what they’ve seen from me the last few years live.”
She’s also been featured on two songs in the last two years. Her voice harmonizes beautifully with Justin Tipton’s on “Don’t Make Me Sleep Alone,” and “Love Comes Back Around” finds her trading verses with David Forsyth over a twangy guitar-led waltz.
“That’s my favorite part of playing music: getting to sing with other people,” she says excitedly. “It makes it so much more fun when they’re your friends too. My favorite studio days are when nothing really gets done and you just kinda hang out.”
Other than further establishing herself as a musician, Leonie hopes her upcoming album will help get her on the road and in front of more crowds.
“I would love to tour, so I’m hoping that this will open some doors in that aspect,” she says, describing her ideal tour lineup as an intimate singer-songwriter show with locals like Wesley Geiger and Madi Davis.
“Wesley is probably my favorite Dallas songwriter,” she says. “Madi is an incredible person and songwriter who has some Joni Mitchell qualities to her voice.”
Leonie plans to release the full album sometime in the summer and has two more singles ready to tide us over until then. If the rest of Wasted Breath is anywhere near “Blue Moon’s” caliber, then we’re in for a real treat later this year.
