Thelma & James

It took some time for working country songwriters MacKenzie Porter and Jake Etheridge, married for several years, to realize they were living with their best collaborators. In 2025, the duo struck a chord with the aching “Happy Ever After You,” which they released under the alias Thelma & James; by the year’s end, they’d fashioned a whole debut, Starting Over, rich in melody, harmony, and Americana arrangements. Porter, born in 1990 in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, had quite a career before coming to Nashville, working as an actress before self-releasing her debut country album in 2014. That same year, a chance collaboration with a fellow actor/songwriter, Jake Etheridge (who’d appear on series like Nashville and Daisy Jones and The Six), blossomed into a relationship. By the time the pair married in 2020, Porter notched a trio of number one singles on the Canadian country airplay charts, including “About You” (co-written with country iconoclast HARDY), “These Days,” and “Seeing Other People.” They were collected with others on the EP Drinkin’ Songs: The Collection; 2024’s Nobody’s Born with a Broken Heart yielded another number one on that chart, “Pickup.” Though Porter and Etheridge kept their work separate from their personal lives, they would find a new, deep well of expression by finishing a song idea together -- ironically, one that expressed a heartache the duo themselves did not feel. “Happy Ever After You” was a visceral mediation on a breakup buoyed by Porter and Etheridge's vocal blend; upon release, it drew praise from the likes of Brandi Carlile, Luke Combs, and John Mayer. As Thelma & James, the pair signed to Nashville label Big Loud (where Porter has a solo deal) and released Starting Over, featuring standouts like “Chainsmokin' Memories” and “First Love.” ~ Mike Duquette