About The Narrow Road - Southern Gospel Duo
Phyllis Ricker & Robin Engala aka The Narrow Road are an Americana / Southern Gospel Duo based in East Tennessee.
Coming from a large musical family, Phyllis Ricker grew up as a member of The Ricker Family Singers and began playing & singing Southern Gospel music at the age of 3 years old.The family band would perform all around East Tennessee in local Baptist churches. At the age of 7 Phyllis began playing the guitar, after being introduced to the instrument by her now late father, Donnie Ricker, who is her greatest inspiration. Phyllis is known for her signature alto voice, her tone being as rich and warm as the 1963 Gibson J45 guitar she plays. Phyllis continued to develop her skills as a singer/songwriter and guitarist to a level where she toured professionally as a solo artist and with the Southern Gospel group The Principles.
Robin Engala started playing the guitar at 9 years old watching her father play as the lead guitarist and singer in his own bands. It was the 1970’s when the singer/songwriters movement was popular that formed and shaped Robin’s stylistic, passionate expression of home, love and faith.
Phyllis and Robin met in 2006 when Robin was at one of Phyllis’ gigs and was invited up to play a song; they have been playing music together ever since.
Together Phyllis and Robin merge the sounds of their stories together to create a fresh and classic fusion of Vintage Southern Gospel, Folk, and Soul. Imagine if Willie Nelson and Elton John merged their sounds together, it would create the perfect lane or rather… The Narrow Road.
Today Phyllis & Robin are both in their 60s and have matured in their sound. They are in no way planning on laying aside their musical endeavors despite a culture in the entertainment industry that puts an expiration date on musical dreams. Phyllis and Robin as The Narrow Road aim to inspire people that feel as if they're counted out of the race and show the world that it's never too late to finish strong.
"Phyllis and I are a living testimony to the goodness of God. He is our portion, our hope and joy, a constant presence in these trying times. It is my prayer that you may hear His voice and feel His heart in these songs. He gave them to us to share with you, so that you will know that He is the Lord thy God and there is no other.
The Father loves you and is calling you home.” - Robin
Forward from Victory Boyd:
How do I begin to tell the story behind this photograph?
We're from completely different worlds, completely different American experiences... completely different generations... Completely different stages in our music career... So how did these 2 white women from the hills of rural East Tennessee become one of the very few collaborators that I've partnered with in my career?
It could have only been God.
When I worked on Kanye's team as a songwriter I saw a unique process of creativity where genius is unlocked from an individual, not because the ideas are clearly profound, but rather because the individual that the ideas are coming from is revered with high esteem and treated like the greatest of all time. This kind of faith and appreciation of art is why the Mona Lisa painting is revered in the way that it is. Simply because everyone agrees that it's valuable.. then it is.
I started to think about how many creative geniuses are walking around in broad daylight, with no team, no one that affirms or appraises their value.. yet still they have the audacity to believe in themselves and appraise their own value against all odds. That's what I saw in Robin and Phyllis, a Southern Gospel Duo that goes by the name The Narrow Road. They never let their age or gender or lack of industry experience hold them back.
With Kanye, I saw the process of taking raw material that most would consider rubbish and turning this raw material into hit songs. Could it be that the songs became hits because we believed they were by faith even before they were fully formed. Of course when working with my country sisters here, we had a lot more odds against us than Kanye did.. the budget was always tight... my schedule was always busy... but finally after 3 years of taking one step at a time, "RISE UP" is finally out.
The Making of "Rise Up" by The Narrow Road....
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