JaneDear Girls on edge of country-pop mash-up

October 27, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

New country artists can’t listen to their fans enough.

That’s exactly what relatively new country act JaneDear Girls — Susie Brown (vocals, mandolin and fiddle) and Danelle Leverett (guitar) — is doing regarding the selection of their recently released third single, which follows up their top-15 hit “Wildflower” and top-40 track “Shotgun Girl.”

“‘Merry-Go-Round’ is a song the fans have been asking for since the album came out, so we’re excited to put that out and take it to radio,” said Leverett, calling from somewhere in Oklahoma.

“It’s really unique and different, and it has a loop with really driving electric and a hooky center part. Melodically, it’s pretty progressive, but more than anything, it’s a party song. People just like to dance and have fun. We actually have a line dance that’ll be posted online soon for people to learn.”

Formed more than five years ago, the duo has been learning quite a lot about the country- music world of late opening for Jason Aldean and select dates on Brad Paisley’s “H20 II: Wetter & Wilder World Tour.” When listening to the act’s self-titled debut effort, there’s no doubt the twosome is part of the current rock ’n’ country zeitgeist defining Nashville’s sound.

“Regardless of what everyone else is doing, we’d still be doing what we’re doing because that’s what we love to do, but the timing is perfect,” Leverett said. “It just so happens in country music, a lot of barriers have been broken down. Jason Aldean and Reba McEntire just did a rock song with Kelly Clarkson. A band like Sugarland worked with Bon Jovi. So there’s a lot of cross-pollination happening right now. It’s showed that the fans of radio are ready to embrace something that might be just a slight bit different than what’s happened 10 years ago.”

Invariably, the current country-music environment is a mash-up friendly, iPod playlist world. Whereas Leverett cites influences of Hank Williams Sr., Keith Urban and Shania Twain, Brown said she was raised on anything from The Beatles to Nirvana. This explains why she’d love to see the JaneDear Girls one day collaborate with ex-Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighters visionary Dave Grohl.

“I’m not going to claim he’d ever work with us, but if he came knocking at our door, I’m sure we wouldn’t shut it,” Brown said.

For now, it’s just the touring doors that are open for the Jane- Dear Girls, who make their Youngstown area debut Friday at the Dusty Armadillo in Rootstown.