White Rock's Alanna and Brianne can't claim to be seasoned performers – yet.
But there's a feeling in the air that all that could change very soon.
It's been only six months since the tuneful, photogenic Finn-Morris twins started working seriously on their folk-country act, yet they've already been invited to play as headliners at Vancouver's Jericho Folk Club (the gig is this Tuesday, May 22, 8 p.m.), and they're also booked for a spot at the Little Big stage at this year's Merritt Mountain Music Fest in July.
Only 14 years old, the Holy Cross Regional High School students have already played several business functions in Vancouver, including a mining executives' dinner to support the Vancouver Children's Hospital Foundation.
And, they've showcased their original songs in a workshop at the 2011 BC Country Music Association's awards week in Coquitlam.
The current Jericho Folk Club show itself comes as a result of a set at an open-mike night there last year at which the precocious duo wowed the club's Lynn McGown and headliner Graham Tait of the Calgary Folk Club.
Even before that – starting last May – the pair's efforts were attracting attention through busking sessions at Granville Island.
It seems the only place Alanna and Brianne aren't being recognized is on the Semiahmoo Peninsula. Expect that to change, too, as sharp-eared – and eyed – local music entrepreneurs discover the girls' sound and fresh-faced appeal.
It doesn't hurt that their mom, Cheryl Finn, is a classically-trained piano and theory teacher at the Semiahmoo Academy of Music and their dad, Eamonn Morris, is a lawyer and part-time keyboardist who used to be part of the show band Killarney and is currently resident maestro for Port Coquitlam's Giggledam Comedy Dinner Theatre.
But Finn is quick to say that music is not the career that either of them would have chosen for their daughters.
"We're letting them do this now and see where it goes," she said. "As long as they work at it and keep their marks up."
She did insist the girls take business classes at Holy Cross to help them deal with the all-important economics of being professional musicians, and while the twins were initially resistant to the idea, they say business is now among their favourite subjects.
But while they're gaining valuable help in technique from vocal coach Judith Rabinovich and acoustic guitar instructor, Josh Pitre, the girls' interwoven lead-line-and-harmony style on both originals and covers – which has drawn comparisons with their favourite band Perry, Taylor Swift and the Everly Brothers – is evolving rapidly and organically, and largely to the girls' own dictates.
"They've taken music in a different direction than my husband and I," said Finn. "It comes very naturally to them and we're letting them go with it. They've kind of blown us away as well."
The girls – who were born in Burnaby but grew up in White Rock – have been singing all their lives, but started thinking seriously about music as a career after Brianne got a guitar at the age of 12.
In performance, the girls trade lead and harmony roles effortlessly – their clear, unforced singing a seemingly natural extension of their bubbly personalities – accompanying themselves proficiently on guitars, ukeleles and banjo.
"It's a cheater, a six-stringed banjo tuned like a guitar – it's a ganjo," explained Brianne, who appears the more whimsical of the pair, while Alanna appears more reflective in nature.
They don't argue over material much, even though Brianne has a greater tolerance for old country and bluegrass than Alanna, who personally favours the new country of singers like Swift, even though she recognizes the importance of covering older material that audiences can identify with.
Their original songs – such as In My Heart, which can be heard on their website, and a brand new tune, Part Of Me – are crafted with a maturity that seems beyond their years.
Neither is shy about singing in public and they can see where their past participation in musical theatre, including a school production of Annie, has helped boost their confidence in performing.
"I like the whole acting thing as well as singing," said Alanna. "And when you get up on the stage to sing you have to be a bit of an actor, too."
"You have to go up there even when you're not feeling like it – it's very much like an act as well," said Brianne.
Both girls are looking forward to the upcoming Jericho Folk Club and Merrittt gigs – the latter will be their first experience having a house band back them.
And they're also excited contemplating an upcoming trip to Nashville, where they've been invited to play at a house concert.
"As soon as we get off the plane we have to go and sing – it'll be like how it feels to be a star," Alanna said.
"Nashville is the place of dreams – if dreams come true," added Brianne.
"We're very excited to go there – we're going to try to play in some of the coffee houses."
The Jericho Folk Club is at 1300 Discovery St. (Jericho Sailing Centre), Vancouver, and the cover charge for the Alanna and Brianne performance is $10.
For more information on the act, visit www.reverbnation.com/alannabrianne