Angaleena Loletta McCoy Presley (born September 1, 1976) is an American country music singer-songwriter. She is a member of the country trio Pistol Annies, which was formed in 2011 with Miranda Lambert and Ashley Monroe, and has released two solo albums, American Middle Class (2014) and Wrangled (2017).
Early life Angaleena Presley was raised in Beauty, Kentucky. Her father Jimmy Presley Sr., is a retired coal miner and her mother, Cathy Presley (née McCoy), is a retired school teacher. At age 15, her father taught her how to play her first song on his guitar, "Mama Tried" by Merle Haggard. She attended Sheldon Clark High School in Inez, Kentucky, and graduated in 1994 before attending college at Eastern Kentucky University. On May 22, 2012, she married manager/producer Jordan Powell in a small ceremony in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Career Angaleena faced financial challenges after she left Beauty, at one point "living in the ghetto." In 2000, Presley moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she landed a publishing deal nine months later. Presley started work as a songwriter in Nashville in 2002. Presley co-founded Pistol Annies with Ashley Monroe and Miranda Lambert. Their debut album Hell on Heels, released on August 23, 2011.
The group spent much of the next two years touring North America and writing songs for their follow-up album. On May 7, 2013, Pistol Annies released their second album Annie Up. On June 17, 2013, the RIAA announced that the album and single for Hell on Heels had both sold in excess of 500,000 copies, giving Pistol Annies their first Gold Record.
In 2014 Presley released her solo album American Middle Class, co-produced with her husband Jordan Powell.
In 2017, Presley released her second solo album, Wrangled.
Personal life When Pistol Annies first formed, Presley was going through a divorce. In a Rolling Stone interview, she recalled getting a phone call in 2009 from friend Ashley Monroe and Miranda Lambert at 2 am. "They had been listening to my record – and probably drinking a lot – and asked me if I wanted to start a band with them. I almost hung up ’cause I thought it was a prank call, but I went ahead and told them ‘yes,’ and I'm glad I did."
She insists her upbringing was not "the stark, poverty-stricken one as committed to record on the 'Coal Miner's Daughter' by Loretta Lynn. However, the Presley family struggled, and Angeleena continued to faced financial challenges after she left Beauty."
Presley has a son, Jed, born in 2007.
On August 15, 2018, Presley confirmed she was pregnant with her second child (her first with Powell) and gave birth to their daughter Joeleena in January 2019. Presley and Powell divorced in 2022.
Discography Studio albums Title Details Peak chartpositions Sales US Country US Heat American Middle Class Release date: October 14, 2014 Label: Slate Creek Records 29 14 Wrangled Release date: April 21, 2017 Label: Thirty Tigers Records — 15US: 2,300 "—" denotes releases that did not chart
Music videos Year Video Director 2014 "Pain Pills" Traci Goudie
Songwriting discography Year Artist Album Song Co-written with2021Wanda JacksonEncore"Good Girl Down"Wanda Jackson, Vanessa Olivarez, Jordan Breane Simpson 2017 Sunny Sweeney Provoked "You Don't Know Your Husband" Mark D. Sanders, Sunny Sweeney Angaleena Presley Wrangled "Dreams Don't Come True" Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe "High School" Ivy Walker, Sophie Walker "Only Blood" Chris Stapleton "Country" Michael Wayne Atha "Wrangled" "Bless My Heart" "Outlaw" "Mama I Tried" Oran Thornton "Cheer Up Little Darling" Guy Clark "Groundswell" Ian Fitchuk "Good Girl Down" Wanda Jackson, Vanessa Olivarez "Motel Bible" Oran Thornton, Trevor Thornton 2014 Angaleena Presley American Middle Class "Ain't No Man" "All I Ever Wanted" "Grocery Store" Lori McKenna "American Middle Class" "Dry County Blues" Mark D. Sanders "Pain Pills" "Life of the Party" Matraca Berg "Knocked Up" Sanders "Better Off Red" "Drunk" Sarah Siskind "Blessing and a Curse" Bob DiPiero "Surrender" Luke Laird, Barry Dean 2013 Pistol Annies Annie Up "I Feel A Sin Comin' On" Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe "Hush Hush" Lambert, Monroe "Being Pretty Ain't Pretty" Lambert, Monroe "Unhappily Married" Lambert, Monroe "Loved by a Workin' Man" "Blues, You're a Buzzkill" Lambert, Monroe "Don't Talk About Him, Tina" Lambert "Trading One Heartbreak for Another" Monroe "Damn Thing" Lambert, Monroe "Girls Like Us" Lambert, Monroe "I Hope You're the End of My Story" Lambert, Monroe 2011 Pistol Annies Hell on Heels "Hell On Heels" Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley "Lemon Drop" Kirsty Lee Akers "Housewife's Prayer" Lambert, Monroe "Bad Example" Lambert, Monroe "Takin' Pills" Lambert, Monroe "The Hunter's Wife" Angaleena Presley "Family Feud" Lambert, Monroe, Presley, Blake Shelton Miranda Lambert Four the Record "Fastest Girl in Town" Miranda Lambert Ashton Shepherd Where Country Grows "Look It Up" Robert Ellis Orrall 2008 Heidi Newfield What Am I Waiting For "Knocked Up" Mark D. Sanders
Awards and nominations Year Association Category Nominated work Result 2011 American Country Awards New Artist of the Year Pistol Annies 2012 CMT Awards Breakthrough Video of the Year Hell on Heels 2012 CMT Awards Group Video of the Year Hell on Heels 2013 CMT Awards Group Video of the Year Takin' Pills 2016 UK Americana Awards International Song of the Year American Middle Class 2018 UK Americana Awards International Artist of the Year Artist 2020 Grammy Awards Best Country Album Interstate Gospel (with Pistol Annies)
References
External links Pistolannies.com Kentucky.com Theboot.com Rollingstone.com