Tigirlily Gold bring their North Dakota roots front and center on Country & Midwestern, their follow-up to 2024's Blonde, with the sisters turning their upbringing, ambitions and experiences of the past few years into their most personal collection yet.

Kendra Olson and Krista Slaubaugh grew up on 2000s country music, but they also grew up in a part of the country that rarely gets much attention in Nashville songs. Country & Midwestern makes that distinction part of its identity, celebrating a North Dakota version of country life built around family, hard work, small towns, brutal winters and the particular traditions of the upper Midwest.

The album is divided into two chapters. The first, “Country,” leans into the duo’s bigger, more playful side with songs including “Girl’s A Goner,” “70 And Neon,” “I Do Or Die” and “Something To Drink About.” After a brief interlude, “Midwestern” turns toward home, family and the experiences that shaped them, with songs like “Call Your Mom,” “Folgers,” “Grain,” “Blue Jean Blue” and “Plateau.”

That structure gives Country & Midwestern room to show both sides of Tigirlily Gold. There’s plenty of the energy and sister harmonies that helped establish them with Blonde, but the new album digs further into where Kendra and Krista came from and what they’ve learned since leaving North Dakota for Nashville. Both sisters also have writing credits on every song, making the record an especially direct reflection of their own story.

With Country & Midwestern, Tigirlily Gold have made an album about carrying home with you, even when your dreams take you hundreds of miles away.