Muddy Magnolias get down and dirty at Riverfront Nights

When Rolling Stone writers compiled a list of the 37 Best Things We Saw at CMA Music Fest in June 2014, there was Muddy Magnolias in the No. 4 slot: Best Unsigned Duo.

Rumors that Kallie North and Jessy Wilson were signed on the spot on the basis of that Nashville performance seemed more than credible, to hear the magazine tell it:

"Blending Wilson's New York R&B background (she's written songs for John Legend and Fantasia) with [North's] Texas-to-Mississippi origins, the newly-formed duo capitalizes on powerhouse vocals, no-holds-barred harmonies and a vibe that's like The Band Perry raised on Aretha Franklin - performed as if Mick Jagger and Keith Richards inhabited the Indigo Girls."

On Saturday, July 23, North and Wilson will bring their soulful sound back to Chattanooga (they opened for guitar wizard Gary Clark Jr. at the Tivoli Theater in February) as headliners of the Riverfront Nights concert series.

Singing together since 2013, Wilson and North have combined their childhood musical influences to shape a sound that is rootsy, bluesy, soulful and sexy. Their songs touch on women's empowerment, sexuality, spirituality and race.

"I was raised on soul, hip-hop, R&B and gospel in the North. Kallie was raised on folk, country, gospel and blues in the South. And of course we both know pop music by heart, so it's all there in this big ol' melting pot," says Wilson in the duo's online bio. "It was fun to experiment and say, 'Yo, let's combine a hip-hop verse with a blues chorus or a soul verse with a rootsy chorus and then add pop sounds around it. We just did whatever we wanted.

"We just go with the flow," she adds. "Whenever one of us is inspired by something, the other jumps on board and we try to put it down in song."

Before Muddy Magnolias, Wilson, born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., was a touring background vocalist with mentor and friend John Legend. She contributed as vocalist and co-writer to some of Legend's biggest hits, including "Save Room" and "Heaven Only Knows" alongside Will.i.Am and Kanye West. Additionally, her work on Ledisi and Fantasia Barrino's albums earned her two Grammy nominations and solidified her spot in R&B songwriting.

But in the midst of her success, Wilson found herself creatively boxed in.

"I felt like I was writing the same song over and over again," she says in the bio. "And then I remembered a writing trip I had taken with John to Nashville. The songwriters there were writing about everything from dirt to divinity. I craved that freedom for myself, so I got in my car and made the 14-hour drive."

North, meanwhile, was living deep in the heart of the birthplace of America's music, the Mississippi Delta.

"I moved to the Delta after college and started my career as a photographer," she says in the bio.

After she was given a guitar, North began writing songs at her farm and felt the tug to pursue her newfound creative passion.

"I was so consumed with writing, playing and singing music and someone suggested I go to Nashville," she recounts.

Almost immediately after being introduced, Wilson and North began writing songs - "we had such great chemistry that we became full-time writing partners," says North.

However, they hadn't sung together until they contributed vocals to another artist's demo.

"when they played it back, everyone heard the blend of our voices together and we all just stopped in our tracks. It was an incredible moment," says North.

"There was something we couldn't put our finger on. It felt much bigger than anything we probably would have done on our own," adds Wilson.