By Scott Anderson
ome duos just go together like peanut butter and jelly. Peaches and Herb. Captain and Tennille. Sonny and Cher. Amanda June and Shreveport’s own Cole Vosbury. The duo performs as The Lovers. It’s a match that was made in Music City heaven. “We moved separately to Nashville,” Vosbury said. “We met the first night I was there. Our friend Walker Hayes did a thing, and Amanda got up and sang. I knew right then I wanted to write with her.”
It didn’t take them long to build a connection. “We figured out we lived across the street from each other,” June said. “We started hanging out with all the free time we had. We would do stuff together, especially write music. He was touring a lot since he had just gotten off The Voice.”
Vosbury was a contestant on season 5 of The Voice in 2013, a fact that was all but lost on June. “My roommates and parents had watched the show,” she said. “I didn’t even know who he was. We just got along really well. In 2016, we started The Lovers. From then on, we have been out playing every show together.”
The duo caught its first break with its song “Let’s Get Lost.” It was a song June started with another friend but finished with Vosbury. But it was entrepreneur and former professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek who put the song over the top. “Amanda’s friend from Dayton, Ohio, is married to Rob,” Vosbury said. “We met him in Ohio, Christmas of 2015. He was intrigued by the fact that I was on The Voice. He said, ‘If you ever make a music video, send it to me and I will post it on all my platforms.’”
The Lovers did make a video for “Let’s Get Lost.” And when it was finished, they sent it to Dyrdek. “He stuck to his word,” June said. “That got us 60,000 to 70,000 views overnight. That lit a trail. It is our biggest song so far, now with 2.5 million streams. And it all started because he shared it.”
They enjoy seeing people’s reactions to the song. “A lot of people have picked it as their first dance song,” June said. “People relate to it more than we do now. But it was a snippet of our life at that time.” That time included eight years in Nashville. But over time, June and Vosbury grew disenchanted with life on Music Row.
“We liked Nashville the first year that I lived there,” Vosbury said. “I was bouncing around doing the Nashville thing. But I wasn’t finding any joy in it. I got back to making music by myself in a room. That’s the way that I work best. Amanda stepped into that realm.”
“I can’t work with anyone else without Cole there,” June said. “You have to be able to be yourself and feel comfortable. That’s why we gravitated to each other.”
“You have to be true to yourself or deny your true self to please people,” Vosbury added. “That’s not something we could do. I don’t like music made by committee.”
The Lovers left Nashville and moved to Shreveport, where they continue to write and record their own music. They also have a deal with BMG to create music for television and film. “We’re always coming up with stuff for that,” Vosbury said. “It’s always challenging and fun creatively.”
June and Vosbury also enjoy performing locally. They play at Bears on Fairfield and 2Johns in Bossier City. They also would like to put together shows with other local songwriters. “We’re big into supporting local businesses,” Vosbury said. “We want to get the word out to have folks come see us and support local artists. This community has a lot of really cool stuff and people. It has a focus on the arts, which I really love.”