After crossing paths for years, the Fruit Trio and the Laura Love Duo decided to go with fate and tour together.

“Laura and I are buddies. We have common goals and common dreams,” says Susan Keynes, member of Fruit Trio. “We hang out together and have good times.”

Fruit Trio consists of Keynes, Mel Watson and Sam Lohs, with each member playing lead singer/songwriter occasionally.

“The focus has been featuring each songwriter equally,” Keynes says.

“There’s not just one person carrying the whole show.”

These Australian artists have played together for nine years and toured in the United States for the past five years. Keynes says the time they have spent together has drawn the group into more than just a band and into a relationship of sorts.

“We’ve developed and grown up together on the road,” Keynes says. “It’s been a real challenge, like trying to hold a marriage together.”

Fruit Trio is just a part of the five-member band, Fruit. Throughout the nine years the band has played together, Fruit has won every significant music award in Australia and gained an army of Aussie fans along with many in the United States.

“Our audience is very broad, encompassing everything in between,” Keynes says. “It’s people that enjoy connecting to each other.”

The Laura Love Duo believes its fan base is just as extensive as the Fruit Trio’s. The audience does have one general vein, liberal thinkers, says Laura Love, singer/songwriter of the Laura Love Duo.

Laura Love Duo, part of the five-member band, Laura Love, consists of only Laura Love and Jen Todd. Love and Todd have been playing together for about five years and toured in the United States and Europe.

Love’s music reflects a past riddled with turmoil. Dealing with a mother in and out of mental institutions and moving between orphanages, foster homes, convents and homeless shelters has given her several strong personality traits. She says she believes her strength and will to survive has dictated many aspects of her music. She released a book of memoirs last month, “You Ain’t Got No Easter Clothes,” detailing her struggles of growing up in poverty in Nebraska in the 1960s.

“I love seeing the country and having exchanges with people,” Love says. “I hope to be able to keep making a living playing music and touching people.”