Girl Named Tom brings spiritual music journey to Atlanta Symphony Hall Oct. 11

Girl Named Tom wants to take listeners on a spiritual musical journey, one close harmony at a time, when the group takes the stage on Oct. 11 at Atlanta Symphony Hall.

The group, comprised of two brothers, Jacob and Caleb Liechty, and their sister, Bekah, is best known for winning “The Voice,” the first vocal group to claim that honor.

Starting with the group’s blind audition, “Helplessly Hoping,” which had all four judges – Kelly Clarkson, Blake Shelton, Ariana Grande, and John Legend – turning their chairs, Girl Named Tom never looked back, winning the competition with Clarkson as their coach.

Before ‘The Voice’

Years before the group auditioned for “The Voice,” the siblings had decided to give music a shot during 2019, right before the beginning of the pandemic.

They drove their parents’ minivan across the country, during which Bekah labeled a “gap year,” playing for anyone who would listen.

“We played in people’s backyards, their living rooms, and sometimes there would be 12 people there, sometimes 40 on a really good night,” Bekah said in an interview with Rough Draft, speaking from the basement of Roxian Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA, the site of their next performance. “We started falling more and more in love with the music as we went, and people were being super encouraging and supportive.”

Encouraged by the fans and their parents, the gap year was extended, and the siblings decided to pursue music as a profession. “The Voice,” they said, gave GNT a chance to expand the platform and play to a wider audience.

“We believe in the music we make, and we are grateful for that platform,” she said. “We learned a lot, and are still learning a lot, because after the show it was a real shock to the system to be booked everywhere. We did 100 shows in 2022 alone.”

While at Republic Records, the group hit the road in 2023 for another national tour, playing never-before-heard original music in addition to their favorite covers. The “One More Christmas” Tour totaled 24 shows, including their first-ever symphony show with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra.

Taking creative control

However, there was a downside, Joshua said, to the fame that “The Voice” brought them, which precipitated a breakup with the record company.

“The ‘Voice’ definitely catapulted us to a level where our artistry wasn’t ready to sustain,” he said. “We toured so heavily that we were unable to release much music to support that rate of touring. We were on a record label that wasn’t a great fit.”

The group took a step back to re-evaluate their work-life balance and “how to make this sustainable long-term,” he said. “We broke up with the record label, so now we get to release music whenever we want and on our own timeline.”

‘The Crazy Ordinary World Tour’

Today, GNT (coined from their early years when the brothers wanted a male sibling and called baby Bekah “Thomas”) is selling out larger venues, like Atlanta Symphony Hall in Atlanta and Southern Theatre in Columbus, OH.

Their typical audience is diverse, comprising of “Voice” fans, older people who embrace harmonic trios like Peter, Paul & Mary, and emerging musicians who are fascinated with the variety in instruments and arrangements that GNT creates.

“The younger folks like hearing us harmonize and thinking about what we do in a more theoretical, technical language, and they come up to us after the show and say, ‘I love to hear how you harmonize’ or ‘I’m trying to learn how to play the guitar,’ ” Joshua said. “They see us as an inspiration, which is very special.”

Caleb said people who attend the shows say their music “gets inside them and touches them in a place that they don’t get in everyday life.”

“That’s definitely a goal of ours: to make a spiritual connection that music can provide,” he said.

Bekah said GNT hopes that attendees coming to their shows “prepare for your heart to expand and swell with the harmonies, and be met with meaningful lyrics that might take you to different places in your mind or different memory lanes.”

“We really feel like music can be healing, so whatever people are walking in with, whatever they are carrying, we just want to help them feel less alone,” she said. “A lot of the music we sing is because we need it too, so to walk with people through this crazy world is a pretty special thing.”

The group is touring with Vitamin String Quartet, a California-based group that “has helped establish classical crossover as a genuine force in contemporary music.”

“Vitamin String Quartet is no ordinary string quartet, incredible performers that will give you a sharp show, then we combine on a number of songs in different orientations where the music is more than a sum of its parts and really raises both of our ceilings,” Caleb said.

During their performances, GNT will feature several originals from its latest record, “Dust to Dust,” which will be available for sale at the concert on vinyl.

The “Crazy Ordinary World” tour, which will include original songs along with classics, continues on Oct. 9 at the American Music Theatre in Lancaster, PA, before heading to Atlanta Symphony Hall on Oct. 11, along with other United States venues through 2026. A limited number of tickets are available for the Atlanta show.

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