Fayssoux McLean
1940—
Fayssoux Dunbar Starling McLean, a Spartanburg native, took classical piano lessons as a child. Her parents’ record collection and her grandmother, Mary Jane, introduced her to jazz, gospel, country, and bluegrass. She grew up singing harmony to the songs she heard.
After college Fayssoux moved to Washington, DC, and got to know a young Emmylou Harris. Harris asked Fayssoux to sing harmony with her on several albums such as Pieces of the Sky and Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town. Those recordings helped millions of fans love country music.
Fayssoux left the music scene in 1993 and moved with her family back to Spartanburg, where she began working as a school speech therapist.
Years later, music journalist Peter Cooper contacted her during research for his book, Hub City Music Makers. With his encouragement, she began singing again with Cooper and guitarist Brandon Turner. Upon his move to Nashville, Cooper produced her Americana albums Early and I Can't Wait.
Fayssoux’s fellow musicians have always held her in high regard. Rodney Crowell likens her voice to “charm, elegance, whippoorwills and magnolia dewdrops.” Emmylou Harris, with whom Fayssoux still occasionally collaborates, says her voice is one of her favorites.
Interesting Fact
Fayssoux stopped singing for about 25 years while she taught, but her love of music called her back. “I’d be doing some kind of educational paperwork, and this wash of music would suddenly come through my head,” she once told a reporter. “Although I still loved teaching, I realized music was starting to take over, and I had to do something about it.”
Sign paired with: James Reese
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