Angaleena Loletta McCoy Presley (born September 1, 1976) is an American country music singer-songwriter. She is a member of the country trio Pistol Annies, which was formed in 2011 with Miranda Lambert and Ashley Monroe, and has released two solo albums, American Middle Class (2014) and Wrangled (2017).
Early life
Angaleena Presley was raised in Beauty, Kentucky. On May 22, 2012, she married manager/producer Jordan Powell in a small ceremony in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Her father Jimmy Presley Sr., is a retired coal miner and her mother, Cathy Presley (née McCoy), is a retired school teacher. At age 15, her father taught her how to play her first song on his guitar, "Mama Tried" by Merle Haggard. She attended Sheldon Clark High School in Inez, Kentucky, and graduated in 1994 before attending college at Eastern Kentucky University.
Career
Angaleena faced financial challenges after she left Beauty, at one point "living in the ghetto." In 2000, Presley moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she landed a publishing deal nine months later. Presley started work as a songwriter in Nashville in 2002. Presley co-founded Pistol Annies with Ashley Monroe and Miranda Lambert. Their debut album Hell on Heels, released on August 23, 2011.
The group spent much of the next two years touring North America and writing songs for their follow-up album. On May 7, 2013, Pistol Annies released their second album Annie Up. On June 17, 2013, the RIAA announced that the album and single for Hell on Heels had both sold in excess of 500,000 copies, giving Pistol Annies their first Gold Record.
In 2014 Presley released her solo album American Middle Class, co-produced with her husband Jordan Powell.
In 2017, Presley released her second solo album, Wrangled.
Personal life
When Pistol Annies first formed, Presley was going through a divorce. In a Rolling Stone interview, she recalled getting a phone call from friend Ashley Monroe and Miranda Lambert at 2 am. "They had been listening to my record – and probably drinking a lot – and asked me if I wanted to start a band with them. I almost hung up ‘cause I thought it was a prank call, but I went ahead and told them ‘yes,’ and I'm glad I did."
She insists her upbringing was not "the stark, poverty-stricken one as committed to record on the 'Coal Miner's Daughter' by Loretta Lynn. However, the Presley family struggled, and Angeleena continued to faced financial challenges after she left Beauty."
Presley has a son, Jed, born in 2007.
On August 15, 2018, Presley confirmed she was pregnant with her second child (her first with Powell) and gave birth to their daughter Joeleena in January 2019. Presley and Powell divorced in 2022.