Sixpence None The Richer

Fronted by the angelic-voiced Leigh Nash, rhythmically grounded by drummer Dale Baker and composed mainly by guitarist Matt Slocum, Sixpence None The Richer’s music is textured by cello, violin, hurdy-gurdy, muted trumpet, mellotron, accordion and pedal steel. The lyrics are dense – poems of stand-alone beauty – even “Kiss Me,” with its whimsical singsong words.

“It was written about three years ago,” said the 22-year-old Nash. “[Matt] wrote it in his hotel room in Holland. We were doing a couple of shows out there and he wrote it after reading a story by Dylan Thomas. I was so excited. I knew when he played it for me that it was so different from anything I’ve heard him write before but it was very catchy. I knew it could do something.”

And it has. The song has landed in such TV shows as “Dawson’s Creek,” “Party Of Five,” “The Young And The Restless,” “Trinity,” “Cupid” and the feature film “She’s All That,” which ultimately helped Sixpence None The Richer sell some 200,000 copies of its album to date.

The band had waited a long time for such recognition. The Texas-formed band signed its first record deal in the early ‘90s with Rex, a Nashville-based Christian indie label. Nash was just 16. Although the music isn’t gospel or blatantly religious, Nash said they signed with a Christian label because, “We’re Christians and that’s the way we see the world. What Matt’s writing about is coming from a Christian human being.”

The group released two albums – its debut, The Fatherless And The Widow, and follow-up, This Beautiful Mess – and toured extensively with such bands as 10,000 Maniacs and The Smithereens. In 1996, Slocum relocated to Nashville to be closer to Rex, but as soon as he arrived, the label filed for bankruptcy.

“We weren’t aware of what a record company could do for you. We were very young and naive and they weren’t doing much,” Nash said. She moved to Music City, along with Baker, three months after Slocum. “They had a lot of bands and were putting out a lot of stuff and spending a lot of money and we were touring really hard and there wasn’t much to back that up.”

To make matters worse, a huge conglomerate called Platinum bought Rex and expected Sixpence None The Richer to fulfill its contract, Nash said. “We thought that was absurd and we fought that and eventually got out of having to record for them, but that was after about two years of not being able to do anything.”

During those two years, Nash got married and the band maintained its enthusiasm for the music it produced, even if its enthusiasm for the business had waned. “Matt and I are really in love with this music, so that’s absolutely what kept us together – and faith in God,” she said. “He’s definitely put us together for a reason and this is kind of our calling, for now, anyway. I couldn’t give up on this music.”

One of Sixpence None The Richer’s record label showcases was at the infamous Viper Room in Los Angeles. It was there that A&R guru John Kalodner heard “Kiss Me” and eventually landed the song on the soundtrack of the teen flick “She’s All That.”

Meanwhile, Slocum continued to write new material and the band waited for major label offers to materialize. It wasn’t long before the trio was approached by Nashville Christian artist Steve Taylor to be the inaugural signing on his Squint label, which is distributed by ADA in the U.S.

“[Steve] had an idea of putting out this label and we were fans of his music and he had been fans of ours for a while, too. He hated to see it dying because of this ridiculous situation, so he really put himself out there and worked really hard to make the label happen, as we were getting ready to make our new record. It was really wonderful how it worked.”

Nash, Slocum and Baker didn’t have any concerns giving another indie label a shot. The band liked and trusted Taylor and shared the same vision. Sixpence None The Richer recorded its self-titled album with Taylor at the production helm and released it on Squint. It was later remixed by Bob Clearmountain.

While the placement of “Kiss Me” in film and television projects has contributed immensely to Sixpence None The Richer’s current popularity, the trio has always gone the extra mile, hitting the road on a shoestring budget for the sheer love of playing together.

“We toured an incredible amount the first four years we were together. With the album before this, This Beautiful Mess, we really knocked ourselves out for that one and it didn’t really go anywhere,” she laughed.

The trio is still knocking itself out, performing an estimated 16 dates a month, Nash said, but under much better circumstances. “The label’s really on top of things, so that helps us out a lot. We know they’re working hard and that helps us to be motivated and work really hard, too, and it pays off.”