Girl Tones at Bonnaroo, 6/14/2026
It’s not often that you’ll find sisters Laila Crowe and Kenzie Shultz flailing around a moshpit. Why? Because they’re usually the musicians onstage commanding the sweaty crowd of headbangers.
This is what Crowe and Shultz — the duo behind the Bowling Green, Ky.-born rock outfit Girl Tones — tell me on a sweltering summer day, sitting on the patio at The Basement ahead of a show. Full of energy and feminine rage, Girl Tones have gained momentum in recent years with their punk- and riot-grrrl-influenced performances. They’ve toured with fellow Bowling Green indie rockers Cage the Elephant as well as The Velveteers, Dexter and the Moonrocks, hey, nothing and Silversun Pickups.
With Crowe primarily on drums and Shultz on guitar and lead vocals, the pair knows how to electrify a crowd. Often dressed in colorful tights and Doc Martens loafers, with a certain twee-meets-1960s je ne sais quoi to their stage fashion, the sisters have developed a distinctive, noisy and delightful unruly rock sound that refuses to hold back. Though they trained in classical cello and piano, the pair formed Girl Tones in 2018 amid a small yet bustling music scene in their hometown, which had a significant impact on their early years.
“We definitely cut our teeth in Kentucky, in Bowling Green specifically,” Crowe says, adding that they got their start playing house shows and DIY gigs, sometimes traveling a couple hours away to Somerset, Ky., for a show. They also played many sets at the bygone Bowling Green venue Tidball’s. “It was a really good scene. And then COVID came and it kind of killed all the momentum, which was really sad, but it definitely taught us a lot.”
The two draw inspiration from standout rockers like The White Stripes, The Kills, Queens of the Stone Age, Beck and Red Hot Chili Peppers — whose records were all frequently played around their house growing up. Their sibling dynamic helps them mesh well together, particularly when they’re onstage.
Girl Tones
“We’re used to arguing with each other and getting over it and getting resolutions out of it — because at the end of the day, I mean, we’re family, so that trumps everything,” Crowe says. “There’s not a ton of creative conflict, and we usually have good unspoken communication, especially with live shows. And I feel like that’s what makes it flow so well. … We’re just in tune with each other without having to necessarily say it and lay out, ‘Oh we’re gonna do this at this point.’ We just know.”
This extends to their songwriting too. Crowe says they often (ahem) drum up their best new material when they’re supposed to be practicing their existing songs.
“We just end up messing around because we both hate practicing,” Crowe says. “So then we just procrastinate while we’re down there. And then that’s when you come up with new stuff — and then you eventually don’t want to play that because you don’t want to practice. It’s just a never-ending cycle.”
While Girl Tones have become known for their heavier rock sound, Shultz explains they don’t want to be confined to just one genre.
“I would say ultimately we are a rock band,” says Shultz. “But we also want the freedom to explore and do what we want to do. So a general kind of umbrella term is rock, but overall we have acoustic stuff. We have a song that is a piano ballad, and I just feel like we’re diverse under that umbrella of rock.”
The pair will take the stage at East Nashville’s Tomato Art Fest on Friday, Aug. 7, for what will be their fourth performance in Middle Tennessee this year, including a Bonnaroo set that got cut off early due to an unrelenting downpour. So far, all of the duo’s released discography includes singles like the most recent release “Stubborn Mouth” from May, along with their 2025 debut EP, Blame (produced by Cage the Elephant’s Brad Shultz). However, they’re planning to release their debut album later this year.
“It’s sooner than you think,” Kenzie Shultz says. “Let’s just say that.”
