This story originally appeared in the second issue of the Lance.

They walk onto the hardwood stage. One holds a guitar, the other empty handed. Their confidence shines through their white-tooth smiles. They take their places right beside each other, each in front of a microphone. One strums the guitar as the right brown leather boot of the other one taps against the floor. One, two, three times to the beat of the guitar.

She sways to the music, smiling to the crowd. The other with the guitar nods her head, shaking her blonde, curly hair to the rhythm of the song.

“We are Belles and Whistles,” she says as she begins the song.

This mother/daughter duo is not new to this scene.

Junior Kelli Schilken and her mother Jaymie Schilken have been two members of a country band called the Belles and Whistles since Sept. 2011.

Although the band is only two years old, Jaymie has experience.

“I’ve sang my whole life,” Jaymie said. “I really started to sing professionally when I was 16 and started Mulberry Lane with my three sisters.”

Jaymie and her three sisters, Heather, Rachel and Allie, sang in a vocal group called Mulberry Lane in 1999. They traveled all over the world, and their single “Harmless” even made it to the top 30 Billboard adult contemporary.

Despite their success, their band had to come to an end.

“We kind of stopped when we all had kids,” Jaymie said. “I started again once my youngest [child] went to kindergarten. I began singing as a solo.”

As Kelli, Jaymie’s daughter, grew up, Jaymie noticed Kelli began to harmonize while singing in show choir at school. Then Jaymie brought Kelli onstage with her, and formed what is now known as Belles and Whistles.

The name Belles and Whistles was inspired by Kelli’s aunt, who used to call her Kelli Belle, and the name stuck.

The two have played in venues across the country, including the 2013 Country Stampede in Kansas, the Hard Rock Café in Chicago and even the Country genre capital of the world, Nashville.

“My favorite show was one we played this summer,” Kelli said. “It was the Country Stampede in Manhattan, Kansas. We won a fan voted contest and got to perform on the same day as Trace Adkins and Scotty McCreery.”

The pair wrote and produced the self-titled album, Belles and Whistles.

Kelli said their inspiration for writing songs is what is going on in her life. She even gets inspiration from country stars like Taylor Swift or Miranda Lambert.

“When I was solo, I wrote from a different perspective,” Jaymie said. “And now it has her perspective and her life and how she feels.”

And the biggest question of all is: are they going on tour? The answer is:

“I don’t really know yet,” Kelli said. “We’re trying to get with a really good booking agent in Nashville. And if we land that, we will probably go on somewhat of a tour.”

Before she can go on a tour, she has school to worry about.

“It’s definitely difficult to manage grades and having a singing career at the same time,” Kelli said. “I’ll be at sound check reading my Lit. book or on a plane doing my math homework.”

To focus on her music, Kelli is graduating high school as a junior.

You would think one would do more work than the other, but they make sure to share the workload 50/50.

“We work great together,” Kelli said. “We have different personalities, which actually works out great.”

“My favorite part of working as a mother daughter duo is the crazy experiences we have together,” Jaymie said. “We’ve made memories that we will never forget.”