Fayssoux Starling McLean is an American country singer. Emmylou Harris says "I've always loved Fayssoux's voice. She's one of my favorite singers."

Rodney Crowell Rodney Crowell (born August 7, 1950) is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles on Hot Country Songs, all from his 1988 album '' Diamonds & Dirt''. ...

says "Charm, elegance, whippoorwills and Magnolia dewdrops: these are the things that come to mind when I hear Fayssoux sing."

Biography

Early history

Fayssoux grew up in

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest city in the state. For a time, the Off ...

. Early musical influences included her parents' eclectic record album collection, bluegrass and country music on the radio, and her grandmother Mary Jane, who sang and played piano. Fayssoux preferred to sing harmony, rather than melody.

Emmylou Harris

While attending the University of Virginia, McLean met her soon-to-be husband John Starling. They lived in the Washington, D.C. area, where she taught speech therapy in public schools and John became a founding member of the

Seldom Scene The Seldom Scene is an American bluegrass band that formed in 1971 in Bethesda, Maryland. The band's original line-up comprised John Starling on lead vocals and guitar, Mike Auldridge on Dobro and baritone vocals, Ben Eldridge on banjo, Tom Gr ...

. One night, John visited a Georgetown club and brought Emmylou Harris home to meet Fayssoux. This was the first of a number of evening singing sessions, in which Fayssoux also met

. Fayssoux and Emmylou became friends, and while continuing to work as a speech therapist, Fayssoux added harmony vocals to Emmylou's early

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

albums, including '' Luxury Liner'', ''

Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town ''Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town'' is the fifth studio album by American country music artist Emmylou Harris, released in 1978. The album reached number 3 on the Billboard Charts, ''Billboard'' charts, with three charting singles: "To Daddy" (wr ...

'', ''

Elite Hotel ''Elite Hotel'' is the third studio album by American country music artist Emmylou Harris, released in 1975. ''Elite Hotel'' was Harris' second album to be released in 1975, preceded by the widely acclaimed ''Pieces of the Sky''. ''Elite Hotel'' s ...

'' and ''

Pieces of the Sky ''Pieces of the Sky'' is the second studio album and major-label debut by American country music artist Emmylou Harris, released on February 7, 1975, through Reprise Records. Although she had released the obscure folk-styled '' Gliding Bird'' fi ...

''. She also sang duets with Harris on " Spanish is the Loving Tongue" and "Green Rolling Hills."

Later career

In 1993, Fayssoux dropped out of the music scene altogether, and returned to Spartanburg with her second husband E. T. McLean and their daughter, where she continued work as a school speech therapist. In 1997, Peter Cooper called her for an interview for his book ''Hub City Music Makers'', Fayssoux began singing harmony with Cooper at book signings, and eventually she began singing lead. Peter Cooper helped produce Fayssoux's first solo album, Early, featuring harmony vocals by Harris. Other guests on the album include David Ball,

Ricky Skaggs Rickie Lee Skaggs (born July 18, 1954), known professionally as Ricky Skaggs, is an American neotraditional country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, ...

The Whites The Whites is an American country music vocal group from Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It consists of sisters Sharon White and Cheryl White, and their father, Buck White. Sharon on guitar, Cheryl on bass and Buck on Mandolin. Formed in 1972, ...

, and

Lloyd Green Lloyd Lamar Green (born October 4, 1937) is an American steel guitarist noted for his extensive country music recording session career in Nashville performing on 116 No.1 country hits including Tammy Wynette's “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” (1968), Charlie ...

. Cooper also produced Fayssoux's second album ''I Can't Wait'' which features Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, and Mark Fain. Both albums were released by Red Beet Records. Fayssoux sings and plays guitar in a duo with accompanist Brandon Turner and she also leads a band, the Bluegrass Messengers.

Discography

Solo albums

* 2008: ''Early'' (

Red Beet The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant, usually known in North America as beets while the vegetable is referred to as beetroot in British English, and also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet, dinner beet or golden beet ...

) * 2014: ''I Can't Walt'' (Red Beet)

With Emmylou Harris

* 1975: ''

'' (

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repe ...

) * 1975: ''

'' (

) * 1976: '' Luxury Liner'' (Warner Bros.) * 1978: ''

'' (Warner Bros.) * 1979: '' Blue Kentucky Girl'' (Warner Bros.) * 1981: '' Cimarron'' (Warner Bros.)

Also appears on

* 1972:

Mike Auldridge Mike Auldridge (December 30, 1938 – December 29, 2012) was an American Dobro player and a founding member of the bluegrass group The Seldom Scene. The ''New York Times'' described Auldridge as "one of the most distinctive dobro players in the ...

– ''Dobro'' ( Takoma) * 1974: Mike Auldridge – ''Blues and Blue Grass'' (Takoma) * 1976: The Rosslyn Mountain Boys – ''The Rosslyn Mountain Boys'' (

Adelphi Records Adelphi Records is an American independent record label founded in 1968 and incorporated in 1970 by Gene Rosenthal. History The label name was crafted by Rosenthal to suggest a combination of the Greek oracle, nearby Adelphi, Maryland, as well ...

) * 1977:

Billy Joe Shaver Billy Joe Shaver (August 16, 1939 – October 28, 2020) was an American outlaw country singer and songwriter, as well as an actor. Biography Shaver was born in Corsicana, Texas, and raised by his mother, Victory Watson Shaver. Until he was 12 ...

– ''Gypsy Boy'' ( Capricorn) * 1977: John Starling – ''Long Time Gone'' ( Sugar Hill)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Starling McLean, Fayssoux Living people American women country singers American bluegrass musicians Singers from South Carolina Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Country musicians from South Carolina People from Spartanburg, South Carolina University of Virginia alumni