Around 2005, a guitar player Turner knew from church, Bill Able, suggested that Turner form a band and offered to help her put one together. “All I had really sung in my life had been Christian music, gospel music, and a few country songs here and there. That was it,” Turner notes, but Able encouraged her to consider a more soul-focused sound and introduced her to bassist Bryan Grassmeyer and drummer Jack Purcell. Little T and the Z’s were born.

“For me, it was a really hard time in my life. I was not knowing what I was gonna do [and] feeling like I really didn’t have a ‘unit’ in Nashville,” Turner recalls. “That group of guys created a family for me, like a musical family, that I really had never had, and it really set a precedent for any band I’ve ever been a part of ever since.

The Z’s have played together on and off ever since, including on Turner’s 2023 single “Middle of Love,” a cover of a 2016 single by British soul singer Beverley Knight and a staple of Turner’s live sets. “I love the lyrics, the music — it’s fun, it’s light,” Turner says of the song, “and when you’re listening to it, you don’t want to stop.”

This present-day iteration of the Z’s features musician and producer Lee Turner — a studio owner, former house band member on the televised singing competition Nashville Star (USA Network/NBC, 2003-2008), a longtime member of Darius Rucker’s band, and Tiffany’s husband — on keys. The couple met at the Nashville airport baggage claim in 2014 and married in 2016. As Tif&Lee, the two released an album in 2017 (Noel) and a single in 2020 (“When It’s Over”). Tiffany also performs solo and has released two solo albums: Scuffed and Simple (2010) and Five Minutes More (2013).