Biography

“An ensemble of well-crafted, crowd-pleasing, dance-inducing toe-tappers that will find a home in your disc player for an extended stay. This is an excellent project from start to finish.” – Lucky Boyd, MyTexasMusic.Com


“I love to spin newer country artists like Leyla Fences and Sunny Sweeney who "get it" when it comes to REAL country music." - Ken Hippler, DJ “Good & Country”, KFAI, 90.3 Minneapolis/106.7 St. Paul


"Leyla is proof that honky-tonk is still alive and well and fun to listen to when done well. Liars, Cheats & Fools makes you want to grab a cold beer and dance a two-step and then tell off an ex, but maybe not in that order. At a time when country music doesn’t sound like country music, Leyla Fences is a breath of fresh air." - Andrea Guy, Mossip


“If you like real, honest to goodness Texas country music, you can’t go wrong with Leyla Fences. This CD won’t ever be confused with pop-country, country-rock, or any other over hyphenation of the style. If you take your country like your whiskey, straight with no chaser, then this is the disc for you.”
- Dan MacIntosh, ReviewYou


"Leyla Fences has a voice that you'll remember after you've heard it once...the classic sound and unvarnished approach is going to appeal to a lot of the regular fans out there that wonder "what happened to country music?"" - Wildy Haskell, Wildy's World

ABOUT LEYLA AND HER NEWLY RELEASED DEBUT CD "LIARS, CHEATS & FOOLS"

“I’ve never heard anybody describe my songs as sweet or romantic” Texas born singer/songwriter Leyla Fences says when asked to describe her music. She hesitates before grinning and adding “but then again, no one’s ever called ME that either!”

Leyla’s debut album Liars, Cheats & Fools presents traditional country music fans 13 original tracks of self-penned dancing, drinking and cheating songs with Texas flavor, modern lyrics, sonic production and sassy wit. Never sweet, rarely romantic and always fun, Leyla’s songs hook you immediately with her smart style, bold personality and “a sense of humor kin to the songs of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Gretchen Wilson.” (Kaye Wright of Kaye G. Wright Studios in Dallas)

On Liars, Cheats & Fools not even the songwriter herself is immune to her say-it-like-it-is commentary and the more you listen, the more you’ll hear. “Fans of great female-offered country music will enjoy the disc and will revel in the fresh subject matter” writes Lucky Boyd of MyTexasMusic.Com. No doubt Leyla is a “woman’s woman” Boyd adds and Kaye Wright agrees: “There are a lot of women who relate to these lyrics and, while they might not be able to find the words to say what they are feeling for themselves, they can trust Leyla’s songs to say it for them.” But even though women might be Leyla’s biggest fans, they aren’t her only fans. “Anyone who likes good music and is partial to country is going to enjoy this album,” says Chip Butters, Owner & Chief Engineer, ButterSound, Seattle.

With a steel guitar and fiddle on almost every song, this CD will remind you of country music the way it used to be. “I found myself listening to today’s mainstream country and feeling two things,” says Leyla, “one, that it didn’t sound like country music anymore and two, that even though songs today might still portray everyday life, it’s mostly only the happy, picture-perfect parts. I sure wasn’t hearing songs that I could relate to based on what I was living at the time so I decided to write about those experiences – even though they didn’t all have fairytale endings.”

“The performances on the disc are exceptional” says Boyd as Leyla manages to convey real human emotion whether she is calling a spade a spade (as in the tracks Love Doesn’t Work Like That and Let Him Go) or honoring the strength of the human spirit (like in The Net or The Other Side). Vocally she gets it right too with a voice that is “Texas-raised country, edgy but true, powerful but controlled, and perfect for her style of writing” Boyd adds. “Leyla’s music is 100% genuine,” writes Andrea Wallace of 288 Vocals, “and with a voice and style that are uniquely hers, she tells stories of everyday struggles and encourages us to live each day to its fullest.”

Always danceable and never pretentious, the clean sound of these original tunes lets every word and note be heard while tasteful production allows listeners to get the same great connection with the songs that her live audiences enjoy. Liars, Cheats & Fools is “a real nice mature sounding line between classic Nashville country & modern sonic production and lyrics” says Butters.

Leyla’s journey to this first CD has been anything but a straight line. Although she experienced a typical Texas suburban upbringing, as a middle-child born under the sign of the bull she was happiest when she was stirring things up so she took off from home earlier than most and set out to explore the world’s wider pastures. Her zigzag has taken her around the world from foreign language and culinary studies in the U.S. and abroad to climbing the corporate ladder in Latin America and Europe. With her wanderlust satisfied, her career aspirations realized and a newfound understanding that everything she was looking for could be found at home, Leyla has settled on Texas soil where her love for traditional country music began and where she’s been kicking up dust at Texas Dance Halls and Opry Houses.

Learn more about how Leyla is keeping it country at www.leylafences.com