With two babies between them and another on the way, Maddie and Tae are no doubt basking in the joys of new motherhood these days. But don’t think that means the hit-making duo is neglecting what they call their first baby: a music career that’s now 10 years old and counting.
“We still treat him like a baby,” Maddie Marlow Font, 29, tells PEOPLE. “We’re still feeding her.”
Of course, these two artists would describe their careers with estrogen-driven sex. Starting with the 2014 hit, “Girl in a Country Song,” they tackled golden female themes. And now they deliver more treasures with the release of their latest EP on Friday, What a woman can doa six-track project brimming with their trademark heart, soul and sass.
But the new music also reflects the duo’s evolution, not just as artists, but as women — most notably in their joint title track, which offers a vivid portrait of female strength: “When your heart is drowning / staring at mountain / wondering how it’s ever going to start / with her perfect timing / you will soon discover / what a woman can do.”
Maddie Marlow Font and Taylor Dye Kerr of Maddie & Tae.
Lily Nelson
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“With almost every record, we’ve time-stamped where we are in life,” says Font. “Musically, I feel like Kacey Musgraves says, there’s a ‘deeper well,’ and I think you can hear that from both of them.”
Surely much of that depth comes from their entry into motherhood, a role that many female country artists consciously delay or even set aside. Tae Dye Kerr, who is 28 and married to songwriter and producer Josh Kerr, admits the duo were well aware of the idea that babies could be “career suicide”. However, after so many years of pursuing their music, both women welcomed their roles as husbands in their mid-20s and were excited to become mothers. When Kerr got pregnant in 2021, her duo partner immediately declared it a “surprise blessing.”
Soon, however, life threw the women on a different curve when Kerr was diagnosed with a high-risk pregnancy that canceled their tour and she spent a month in a Nashville hospital. Her daughter Leighton was born two and a half months premature and spent the first 53 days in neonatal intensive care. Today the little girl is happy and healthy. Kerr, meanwhile, had to do the hard work of processing the trauma of that anxious time.
“I’ve definitely come a long way,” she says.
She said that the therapy helped her to heal, but she attributes the most credit to “the joy that Leighton brings to our lives.”
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So much so that Kerr is now expecting her second child, a boy, due in November. It’s a pregnancy that took no small amount of courage — Kerr admits she thought she’d never do it again — but she also took the important step of undergoing cervical surgery to prevent another premature birth.
“That,” she says, “certainly gives me peace.”
Leighton’s arrival, the two women say, required adjustments on the tour, whether or not it included the baby and Kerri’s husband. When Kerr had to leave Leighton at home, she says, “it messed with my brain a little bit. Sometimes I would go on stage and say, I’m not one hundred percent here, so what’s wrong with me? And then I just realized, you know what? I have something at home that I love very much, and I adore and miss it. But I am allowed to enjoy this. I don’t have to feel guilty.”
Font and Kerr increased their level of difficulty last year after Font gave birth to her son Forrest. (He just turned 1 on Monday; his dad, Jonah Font, is Maddie’s high school sweetheart.) The two artists have since alternated their tours and tours with their families.
“It’s just a beautiful, chaotic life in the best way,” says Font.
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One travel trick they learned from Carrie Underwood, their former co-star and mother of two: Instead of hotel rooms, Kerr says, they rent a home so their kids can “be free and have space and still live their childhood even though it’s on the road.” .”
Both women sigh heavily—and in unison—as they appreciatively describe their husbands’ roles in their children’s lives.
“I mean, heroes,” Kerr says.
“Literally heroes,” agrees Font. “Josh didn’t work all year so he could go on tour with us and Leighton. And Jonah was a stay-at-home dad this season.”
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Font and Kerr readily agree that motherhood has shaken their priorities, but Kerr says, “I think one of the superpowers that God has given us women is the ability to wear many hats. It takes a lot of separation and balancing, but we’re just learning as we go.”
Font says: “I used to be such a perfectionist and like everything had to be so complex. Now I’m going to show up and be the best boss, wife, mom, and best friend I can be, and that’s all I can be. I can go to bed knowing I did my best.”
As for perfection?
“That’s not on the table,” Font says with a laugh. “I don’t even want to at this point. It’s too much.”
Of course, this new chapter of their lives crept into their music. One surprise on the new EP: Font co-wrote two songs, “Free Like” and “One Hit Wonders,” without Kerr, who was on maternity leave at the time.
“I don’t like it,” Font says of the sessions (which included other writers). “It’s like Batman without Robin or PB without J.”
Still, Kerr takes pleasure in noting that Font sang both parts on the demo for “One Hit Wonders,” a mid-tempo track with a sexy, breezy vibe, and Font channeled his absent partner expertly. The harmonic line, Kerr says, “was exactly what I would have chosen,” and she used it as a guide for the final version.
More recently, Kerr has taken on an entirely new role, the first time in the duo’s career as a singer. Her characteristic deeper register can be heard on two tracks, “Heart They Didn’t Break” (released last year as a single) and “What a Woman Can Do”.
“The heart they didn’t break”
Font says that she, as well as fans, have long asked Kerr to share the lead duties, but Kerr has resisted. “I love to sing harmony!” she insists.
What made her change her mind was telling the story of “Heart They Didn’t Break,” a tender tribute to one girl emotionally saving another. “It just made so much sense,” Kerr says of taking the lead. “That song seems like we wrote it, even though we didn’t. It also feels like our friendship.”
That session, she says, gave her the confidence to take the lyrics to “What a Woman Can Do,” and Font enjoyed the challenge of harmonizing. “It’s a thousand percent harder!” he declares, praising his partner as “the queen of harmony”.
The exchange of singing roles opened them up to new creative ideas, says Font, “and I think that makes us a bit different from other duos.” You don’t really hear a lot of duos switching leads like that.”
Kerr and Font had a lot to celebrate this week besides the EP’s release: On Monday, they received their 10th consecutive nomination for CMA Duo of the Year. They are also enjoying their last headlining tour, which ends early next month so Kerr can begin maternity leave. She says that she is looking forward to experiencing the last two months of pregnancy for the first time: “It feels so strange, because even though I have been pregnant before, I experience everything as new things.”
Meanwhile, Font is looking forward to giving her best friend a new baby shower, something else that fell out of sight with Leighton’s early arrival. Font has also been working on possible baby names, at least to extend her record.
“She called Leighton, actually,” Kerr confirms.
“I was helping,” Font corrects him, recounting how Kerr later suggested the name to her husband, who pointed out that he had suggested the same name a month before, and she had rejected it.
Kerr laughs, “It just had to come out of my best friend’s mouth!”
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Maddie & Tae ‘What a Woman Can Do’.
Lily Nelson
It is obvious that the bond between these two women is getting stronger every year.
“She’s stuck with me,” Kerr says. “It’s just real sisterhood.”
“Chosen family,” agrees Font.
The two now live about 20 minutes apart in the Nashville area, but dream of one day sharing an acreage where they can raise their families and grow gardens. Of course, he will continue to play music. That part won’t change. But they say there is a motive. When they started, they now admit, material ambitions were predominant. But now, they say, they are chasing personal fulfillment.
“I’m driven by emotions and feelings,” says Kerr. “Whatever that looks like, I just want to be happy and I want to feel grateful in whatever that looks like.”
Font agrees, adding, “I’m really driven by peace, whether I’m working on music that brings me peace or simply finding a balance with motherhood and career. Peace. That’s my jam.”
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Source: HIS Education