Teea Goans was singing in church by the time she was three years old and when she turned eight she was spotted at a talent contest by the Truman Lake Opry. A year later she became a full-fledged member. She continued to perform there every week until she was 17 and opened for Grand Ole Opry acts such as Bill Anderson, Little Jimmy Dickens and Grandpa Jones.
After high school, Teea earned her associate degree at Longview Community College in Kansas City and remained there after graduation. Teea Goans' primary musical influence during those early years was her maternal grandmother - the late Della Lee Faulkner. A locally popular singer in the 1960’s, Faulkner might have pursued a career in Nashville but had to take care of seven children.
In 2002 Teea moved to Nashville, 3 months later she was engaged to high her school sweetheart Brandon, they married shortly afterwards in 2003. Teea started working a variety of jobs, including selling cell phones. Her husband urged her to concentrate on her music and heeding his advice to follow a musical career she started writing songs and singing demos for other writers and played gigs. The first thing she worked on was the Ray Price show at the Ryman Auditorium in 2006, this through radio station WSM, who later asked her to book and run talent for The Opry warm-up show. Along with these duties, Teea continued to write and demo songs. At the Station Inn, Nashville's foremost bluegrass club she sang with The Time Jumpers and met her now producer Terry Choate.
Teea Goans hosted a show called ‘Inside The Opry Circle’ which gave a fan’s perspective from backstage after The Grand Ole Opry's Saturday night shows. From 2010 to 2011 marked a series of firsts for her. In January 2010, on a rare snowbound Nashville day she made her Grand Ole Opry debut at The Ryman Auditorium.
On July 27, 2010 she released her debut album titled, ‘The Way I Remember It’ on the independent Crosswind Music Group label. Also in 2010 she appeared on Larry's Country Diner, a TV series on RFD-TV. Her first video, ‘Letter From God’ was nominated for the 26th annual Midsouth Regional Emmy Awards. Teea Goans hosted the historical live radio broadcast the ‘Ernest Tubb Midnite Jamboree’ for the first time on July 23, 2011.
In July of 2012 Teea released her second studio album called ‘That's Just Me.’ Teea transforms on 'That’s Just Me' four songs almost everyone knows: 'Misty Blue,' a hit for Wilma Burgess, Eddy Arnold, Billie Jo Spears and pop singers Joe Simon and Dorothy Moore, 'I’ve Done Enough Dying Today,' a Top 10 weeper for Larry Gatlin in 1979; and 'Over The Rainbow,' the theme of the 1939 film classic, The Wizard Of Oz, which Goans knew she had to record after witnessing the euphoric reaction of an audience of World War II veterans to her live performance of the song.
Teea’s third album ‘Memories To Burn’ was released in December of 2014 to rave reviews. As usual Teea keeps singing beautiful songs with her beautiful voice. Showing her versatility on this CD with everything from traditional country to a beautiful Gospel song, a pair of Christmas tunes and a pop standard.
Now with her fourth album, ‘Swing, Shuffle & Sway’ available, Teea is ready to show fans new and old that she is the real deal and here for the long haul. The album is filled with original tunes and a few of the classic covers she is famous for.
Alan Mercer: Teea, I want to immediately ask you if the rumor is true, that you followed the New Kids On The Block in your car once?
Teea Goans: (Laughter) How did you know that? That’s the best interview question ever! That is a true story.
AM: Oh, someone told me it might be true. (It was a gentleman in the room who had worked security and he told me just before Teea entered the room)
TG: I grew up loving Country music. That was all I ever listened to growing up. When I was in third grade my friend brought their cassette tape to school and I had never heard anything other than Country music so I was in shock. I thought, these boys are cute and what are they singing? Do they get played on the radio?
AM: That is so funny!
TG: I remember asking her that question and she told me they were huge stars. Of course, I had to hang their posters all over my room. Then, many years later in 2008, the group did a reunion tour so my sister and I decided we would go see them. We had heard that after some shows they go to Waffle House. So, after the show we waited for the busses and then followed them as they got out of town.
AM: You all were brave.
TG: We thought that made sense, they were going to go a little bit out of town. We decide to go a little further and we keep going and they don’t stop. Suddenly, we realize it’s two in the morning and we’re in Chattanooga. (Laughter) We decided then… maybe we went a little too far. We never got to meet them.
AM: Teea, I know you grew up in the middle of the country…
TG: I did, truly it was Central Missouri so it was the actual center of America. I grew up in a tiny town called Lowry City with a population of 600. It’s a farming community.
AM: You also went to Longview Community College. What did you take there?
TG: I got an associate’s degree in Human Services even though music was always my first love. I do love people and I especially love elderly people. My fall back job was going to be an administrator in a nursing home.
AM: I can tell you would be great at that job too.
TG: Thank you. My husband is who gave me to courage to pursue music. I moved to Nashville first and then we got married and he moved out there. I was holding down a regular job working at a Verizon Wireless store. I used to wait on John Conlee. I don’t think he knows that.
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AM: Did you get nervous when Country Stars came in?
TG: I would always get star struck. He and Vern Gosdin would come into the store and I was always excited. Anyway, I worked there for a couple years and my husband, Brandon said I didn’t need to work there anymore. He said, “You moved here to sing and we’ll make it work.”
AM: What a blessing he was.
TG: He is the best. He really is. That helped me start learning the networking of Nashville by meeting people and I was able to spend all my time focusing on my music career. I ended up as a part-time promotions person for WSM Radio.
AM: Is that something you had imagined before?
TG: It was a weird place to end up that I never expected. I grew up listening to the Opry on WSM so I was always a fan, so it was strange for me to end up working there.
AM: What did they have you doing?
TG: The very first event I did was The Ray Price Show at the Ryman. Ray Price is my number one and I was selling T-shirts. (Laughter) I got to do a lot of things through that job.
AM: What was something else you did?
TG: I ended up producing the Grand Ole Opry warm-up show with Keith Bilbrey and even ended up hosting a show on there, called ‘Inside The Opry Circle.’ I had zero broadcast experience but the producers thought I could host a show.
AM: Did that excite you?
TG: It terrified me to think about it. The first night I hosted the show was the night Carrie Underwood got inducted into the Opry. The first two interviews that I ever did were Vince Gill and Garth Brooks.
AM: Were you star struck at all?
TG: Slightly! (Laughing) I was a mess. Both of those guys were my guys. I was probably the biggest fan of both those guys growing up in the 90’s. I would hate to go back and listen to those interviews now because I’m sure I sound like a scared puppy.
AM: Now you are used to being around all kinds of stars.
TG: Oh yes. It was good the job at WSM allowed me to get to know a lot of artists as a person. I didn’t tell anyone I sang. I wasn’t going up to people and saying I’m a singer too.
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AM: That was smart of you.
TG: I wasn’t trying to play that card because I didn’t want anyone to think I was trying to take advantage of the opportunity I had to be there. I didn’t want anyone to think I was only doing this job so I could be a singer. That was never my intention.
AM: How did people learn you could really sing?
TG: One Monday night after an event we had at the Hall of Fame we all went to hear a band called The Time Jumpers. I knew a couple of guys in the band and they saw me in the audience and asked me to get on stage and sing. So, I did a couple of songs with them and after the show was over, their manager at the time, Terry Choate, who is now my manager, came up to me and said, “Who are you? We need to make a record.” That was in 2008.
AM: Your debut album is stunning in every way. It’s timeless.
TG: Thank you very much. That’s the best thing I could hear.
AM: Tell me about your Grand Ole Opry debut. It was snowing!?!
TG: Here’s the deal. It was January 2011. The first record had come out in late 2010. I had never done the Opry obviously. I am sitting at home. There was a snowstorm on the way. Nashville doesn’t get snow very often. If they get a quarter of an inch they close the schools down. My husband called and said he would be home early due to the city going on lockdown.
AM: That’s the way all Southern cities are.
TG: So, he comes home at 3:00 in the afternoon and I am literally in my pajamas. I have no make-up on. I am in for the night. Then my phone rings and it’s a number I do not recognize so it went to voicemail of course. I checked the message and it’s Steve Gibson, who is the music director at the Opry. He said they had a couple of people who couldn’t make it in and could I be there to play the Opry at the Ryman?
AM: Oh my goodness! I bet your energy level shifted into overdrive!
TG: I said I would walk to the Ryman if I had to. I don’t remember much, honestly. There was a lot of screaming and running around. I grabbed the first thing I could find in my closet and threw myself together.
AM: Did you have to get there immediately?
TG: Yes, we had a four-wheel drive truck and got there on time. I did a quick rehearsal. A few of the guys that were on my record were part of the band so it was handy because they already knew the music. It wasn’t even a full-blown rehearsal. We were in my dressing room with a couple of charts.
AM: Who introduced you?
TG: Jean Sheppard was the first person to introduce me on the Opry. She was a trailblazer.
AM: Did you feel the history?
TG: Yes, I absolutely did. It felt like I stepped into a dream. It was something I had imagined happening my whole life. Suddenly I was there doing it and it was surreal.
AM: What do you remember the most?
TG: The first thing I remember was seeing the lights on the balcony. For me the first time at the Ryman was so perfect.
AM: It was destiny. You belong there.
TG: It felt like it. For me there was no better way to start this journey. That was my goal from first grade on. I always said I wanted to sing on the Opry and there I was doing it. Everything from here on out is icing on the cake. I will never forget that night. It was great how it happened because I didn’t have time to get nervous.
AM: I’m sure you’ve been back, haven’t you?
TG: I’ve done it five or six more times and it’s magical every time.
AM: Your new album, ‘Swing, Shuffle & Sway’ is out now!
TG: I am so excited! I can’t wait to share it with more people. I have some new material that no one has heard before along with a few covers. We’ve got Gospel, a little Country, a little Swing and little bit of everything. There’s a lot of variety. The original songs are so good. There is still great Country music being written.
AM: Traditional good quality Country music is fully alive!
TG: It certainly is. I’m grateful to the people who support the music and helping to keep it alive. I’m doing my part and they are doing there’s. We can’t do it without each other.
To learn more about Teea Goans visit her web site https://www.teeagoans.com/