Our Story
The Rhinestone Renegades
What happens when you put 5 chicks in a room with instruments and lots and lots of wine during a global pandemic? They form a female country band of course!
The ladies of the Rhinestone Renegades got together in early 2021 through their music school - Girl Guitar Austin. They formed a country cover band inspired by the women of 90s country - The Chicks, Shania Twain, Trisha Yearwood, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Lee Ann Womack. They now play all types of country music including today’s hits.
Mandy Rowden
A lifelong musician and multi-instrumentalist, Mandy has played all around the US with various bands on guitar, bass, mandolin, keys, drums, and violin. In March of 2007, after having taught privately for 10 years, she combined her love of teaching, playing, wine, and good old-fashioned fun to form Girl Guitar Austin - a music school for women. It was there that she gathered up a few students at Girl Guitar to create a country band who later became the Rhinestone Renegades.
When not playing, touring, teaching, recording, or writing, Mandy spends her time in Lockhart, Tx with her family and two gray kitty cats and, in her downtime, is pursuing a Master's Degree in Music History at Texas State University.
DeDe Lally
DeDe has lived in Austin, Tx since her early childhood and claims to be as close to a native Austinite as you can find these days, having lived here 25 years. She attended the University of Texas at Austin where she earned a Bachelor’s in Psychology. After college she took her love and obsession for dogs to a new level and founded her first business - Pups & Pals Pet Lounge, a dog daycare and boarding facility here in Austin.
Not too far behind her love of dogs is her passion for music. DeDe played guitar and piano throughout her childhood, and was a self-proclaimed “choir nerd” in high school. DeDe joined Girl Guitar as an acoustic guitar student in 2019 where she met the ladies who now make up the Rhinestone Renegades.
When not on stage with the Renegades, she loves taking her dog Reesie out on the paddle board on town lake, or searching for the best dive bars old Austin has to offer.
Tara Nash
Plays bass. Is a total badass.
Carol Evans
Carol is a dentist by day and a fiddle player by night. She received her doctorate in dentistry from the University of Texas and has been practicing dentistry for over 20 years.
Carol played guitar growing up but when Covid hit she decided to challenge herself with a new instrument. The fiddle met that challenge and she quickly fell in love with it.
In 2020, she joined Girl Guitar and helped form the Rhinestone Renegades. She has been playing with the band ever since and has a blast learning from her fellow musicians and performing for audiences.
When not fiddling, Carol enjoys spending time with her friends and family. She likes live music, dancing, pickleball, and travel. She is a passionate musician and is always looking for new ways to learn and grow as a fiddler.
Avery Stewart
Avery first discovered her love for music when she started playing classical piano at age seven. Soon after, in 2010 she joined teen Girl Guitar band RockStella playing bass under Mandy Rowden’s instruction. Since then, Avery has picked up rhythm and lead guitar as well as banjo, drums, and anything else that catches her interest.
She is now an instructor and assistant at Girl Guitar, teaching both group classes and private lessons. A passionate multi-instrumentalist, Avery loves to learn and evolve her relationship with music and to help others do the same. She plans to graduate from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor’s in Rhetoric and Writing this fall. In her spare time, she’s exploring new music, banjo shopping, and spending time with her family and friends in south Austin.
Avery took on the role of guitarist and banjoist in the Rhinestone Renegades in the spring of 2023, taking the place of founding member Kelly Rodriguez.