The Honey Dewdrops drop by
August 27th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
The Honey Dewdrops
We told you a little earlier about the Fayetteville Roots Festival, which comes to Greenhouse Grille in Fayetteville on Sunday (Aug. 29).
So, maybe it’s time we told you about one of the bands. We asked a few questions of The Honey Dewdrops, and they were kind enough to answer them despite being quite busy on a tour through Colorado.
The Honey Dewdrops, the husband and wife duo of Kagey Parrish and Laura Wortman, perform at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Here’s what we wanted to know and what they had to say:
Kevin Kinder: “Tell me a little bit about your upcoming record, “These Old Roots.”
The Honey Dewdrops: Our new record is based around traditional or roots themes and sounds with nine original songs and one traditional. We write our own songs and we’re influenced by old country and Southern Appalachian mountain music — with this cd we take what we love about those styles (true stories, earthy instrumental work, harmony singing) and make something new. We recorded the songs live (no overdubs, punch ins, etc.) because we love the energy and in the moment sound you get listening to live recordings. It’s also nice to just play and sing the songs, that’s what we love to do.
KK: When will it be it released?
THD: It’s out now and will be for sale at Fayetteville Roots.
KK: Does it follow in the path of “If The Sun Will Shine,” [the band’s previous album] or does it take another direction?
THD: It follows “If the Sun Will Shine” in that it’s the two of us singing and playing songs we wrote. We feel like the duets are a great way to make music and we’re invested in exploring how that works, this is another duet cd. The sound of “These Old Roots” takes a slightly different direction because we focused on writing songs that take traditional sounds in a new or contemporary direction. Our goal was to take the older influences and write some new songs from the southern mountains. We weren’t going for bluegrass or old-time sound specifically. We’re interested in the energy and emotion from the old songs and how we can translate that today.
KK: Considering that you recorded the songs around a single microphone with no dubbing, does it feel authentic to your live sound?
THD: Yes, what we sound like live is what we sound like on recordings.
KK: Where have you found songwriting inspiration for this album?
THD: Think we already answered this one a little above. Inspiration came from older American folk music. Most of that involved playing string instruments and singing and came before bluegrass. The energy and emotion in those songs have been a big influence. To us the stories and emotions feel true and appealing. That music’s look at life seems to us to be just that, nothing more, and that is very powerful.
KK: Tell me what winning “A Prairie Home Companion”’s 2008 talent show has meant for your career.
THD: We sent our songs to the contest on a whim. We’d been teaching full-time and playing as a hobby for several years. Both of us grew up listening to the show and heard the announcement about the contest and decided we had nothing to lose. At the time, we’d only recorded two or three songs and that’s what they listened to on our Myspace page.
The experience was really good for us. We’d never performed in front of so many people. Getting to do such a serious and professional show opened up a wide world of possibilities including quitting our jobs and playing music full-time. After the show, folks asked us for CDs (which we didn’t have then) and we got a swarm of emails from listeners telling us how much they enjoyed our sound. It was a real boost of confidence and we like to say that our appearance on ‘APHC’ made us take ourselves much more seriously. We recorded our first record and quit our jobs a year later.
KK: We’re having our first Fayetteville Roots Festival this weekend, and clearly, roots and Americana have been finding new fans recently. What do you think is responsible for for the genre’s upswing?
THD: We all saw a real turn of things after the movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” because of the soundtrack. It’s just been progressing since. There’s also been an increase in these types of festivals where the center of attention is really ON the music and not the scene. The purity and honesty of this genre can reach everyone in a way — the more publicity Americana music receives, the more people it reaches.
KK: What was it about this style of music that attracted you to it?
THD: The old songs we’ve been listening to for years are interesting, dark, genuine — coming from a time when this type of music was an expression of a hard life being lived. We’re big fans of songs that look at the human condition and conflict and this type of playing and singing is rooted in those things.
KK: You mention this trip to Fayetteville will be a return trip for you. When was the last time you were here and what was the gig?
THD: During the radio show, we got to know Pat Villines and Mattie Speece (the second-place finishers) really well and they are from NW Arkansas. We had a lot in common and really wanted to do a few gigs together. That summer, we traveled to Arkansas and played several shows with them including Mike Shirkey’s GoodFolk Productions in Fayetteville. It is still one of our favorite shows that we’ve played. We also made a stop through last year for a house concert hosted by 3 Penny Acre.
KK: Are you familiar with any of the other talent on the Fayetteville Roots Festival roster? Have you played with any of them before?
THD: With all the traveling we do, names of musicians are always popping up in conversations or at the venues we play. Everyone in this genre makes a very similar circuit because of the types of venues. We’re really close with the 3 Penny Acre folks and have known Shannon Wurst for just as long. We’ve also met several of the acts at the International Folk Alliance Conference held in Memphis every February. We haven’t shared the stage with any of the others but certainly know who they are and love their music. Bryan Hembree has put together an excellent line-up of talent and we’re really looking forward to hearing the other bands as well as playing at this inaugural festival.