Husband and wife duo Brett and Rennie Sparks. Brett Sparks: Vox, music, guitars. Rennie Sparks: Words, vox, bass, melodica. Sometimes, brother
Darrell Sparks: Drums, vox and super special guests: Stephen Dorocke, David Coulter, Jason Toth, Eric Johnson, Dave Gutierrez
Influences
Gentleman Jim Reeves, Hank Williams, Cole Porter, John Cage, Howe Gelb, noises in basements, John Coltrane, strangers at crossroads, abandoned graveyards, George Jones, stray dogs, hissing cats, Lithium Carbonate (1800mg daily), old men in windbreakers, old ladies in polyester turbans, the clenched fists of small children, Harry Smith and his ilk
Sounds Like
A little bit creepy and a little bit country.
DOWNLOAD OR PREVIEW TONS OF OUR SONGS THROUGH THIS ITUNES LINK ..
Words that in their everyday surrealism have no parallel in contemporary writing...Music that mines the deep veins of fatalism in the Appalachian voice — GREIL MARCUS
As songwriters it's the eerie, ancestral voice of ‘Anonymous’ they ultimately resemble the most
—THE CHICAGO READER
This is music that moves forward by turning the clock back— haunting, primal and strangely heroic
—THE LONDON TIMES
Dark, elemental, mischievous and mournful —MOJO
CHICAGO (January 26, 2009) - Taking place under bowed branches and deep
within winding corn mazes, The Handsome Family releases "Honey Moon" through
Carrot Top Records on April 14, 2009. Their eighth studio release, it
celebrates the duo's twentieth year of marriage with a series of love songs
that sharply contrast the dark themes of their previous seven releases.
Full of an awed sense of emotion in the face of nature's mysteries, Brett
Sparks (music) and Rennie Sparks (lyrics) branch from their usual canon of
the dark and mysterious on "Honey Moon", to establish a theme rooted in the
tradition of 19th century romanticism. For the first time there is no body
count. Not one person dies. There is only one song about a lost love. It is
an album of transcendence, of touching the divine, if only for a moment,
through our love of someone else, even if he is a katydid.
Rennie says of the pivotal point that influenced her writing on Honey Moon,
"We were driving over some mountains in New Zealand listening to The
Platters singing, "Twilight Time," and I could actually feel that gorgeous
song healing little wounds all through my body. Life felt almost unbearably
bittersweet after the song ended and I felt I had no choice except to sit
down and try to write my way back into that mysterious palace where
'heavenly shades of night are falling."
Fans of vocal groups like the Mills Brothers, The Inkspots, and the Platters
for many years, Brett and Rennie's 'song' as a young couple was, "My
Prayer." The Sparks' also have a profound love for the beautiful songs of
great American songwriters like Berlin, Gershwin, and Porter who treat the
subject of love with grace and transcendence. Theirs are songs of human
beings making contact with the numinous. Their melodies and words are the
finest examples of songwriting-- mysterious and sublime.
The prospect of composing an album of love songs and avoiding triteness is
fraught with peril. Brett explains, "Since we decided that all the songs
would address the same theme (love), I decided that musically each one
should be distinct to avoid the pitfalls of other records of this ilk. Each
song should be its own world, have its own style. So it's a record of 12
self-contained entities. There are tin-pan alley songs, country songs, r & b
songs, a bluegrass song, pop songs, jazz songs, and even rock ballads. This
Record represents a concerted attempt to flex all of our songwriting
muscles. Honey Moon is more musically and technically complex than anything
I have ever done. I fell in love with the studio anew."
Recording all their songs in a converted garage studio at the back of their
Albuquerque house, "Honey Moon," is a headphone record with layer upon layer
of cool weird treasures waiting to be discovered with successive listens.
The twosome's seventh CD, "Last Days of Wonder" (June 2006), was one of Mojo's
Top Ten American Albums for 2006 and was called "an unqualified triumph" by
Uncut. Their songs have been covered by many artists, most notably: Andrew
Bird, Christy Moore, The Sadies, Sally Timms and Cerys Matthews.
They have appeared in the movie, I’m Your Man (2005), a tribute to Leonard Cohen as well as Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2004). In 2004, a reader's poll in Mojo named The Handsome Family's third CD, "Through the Trees" one of the ten essential Americana records. Andrew Bird's version of their song, "Don't Be Scared" was recently featured in the movie, The Promotion.
The Handsome Family record all their songs in a converted garage studio at the back of their Albuquerque house. In their live performances they are sometimes up to a six-piece band and sometimes just Brett and Rennie. They have toured extensively throughout the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Green Light Go Publicity
National: Janelle Rogers
Jrogers@greenlightgopublicity.com
FEBUARY 12TH @ SAIL INN - HILLGRASS BLUEBILLY PRESENTS: THE 3RD ANNUAL "LOSER'S BALL" featuring: DEX ROMWEBER (of "Flat Duo Jets" fame), EXENE CERVENCA (of "X" fame) & OUR OWN "FLATHEAD"...
Twenty years on from the FLAT DUO JETS, who created the template for stripped down rock and roll that’s been copped by the White Stripes and a thousand far less clever bands, Dex Romweber has teamed up with his sister Sara (Let’s Active, Snatches of Pink) for the first time on the debut album by the Duo, Ruins of Berlin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Romweber
In August of 1976 Exene moved to Los Angeles, because she knew she had to get out of Florida. She arrived in town with $80 in a paper bag and wound up living with 5 people in a 1-room apartment in Ocean Park. A short time later she began working in Venice in the library at the literary arts cente
BIG NEWS! Just landed a job in Chicago so I finally get to go back where I belong..
Any way here is the first ever Dysfunctionells music video of "Little Richard's World of Mirth" from the good people at Copyright Schmopyright, Inc. and Unnecessary Art, Ltd. I hope you like it...SPREAD THE WORD
Hey Dude, Hows Tricks.. Our band The Kayas will be main support to Twisted Wheel at Birmingham Academy on the 11th Feb.. Was hoping you might come, tickets are available online at gigsandtours.com, and we hope you like our tunes.. :) Anyway, take it easy.. and if its easy.. Take it home!! x
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: ++49 6101 544613 Mobil: ++49 171 6903352 E-Mail: Ch.Lamitschka@t-onine.de E-Mail: Info@CountryMusic-Magazin.de www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
The purpose of life is not to be happy – but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all. Thank u for the friendship. Hope your day is going great, if u can follow me on twitter (http://twitter.com/ladytina86). Much love.
I am going to tell you a story. It was written by Cervantes, our spanish famous writer, author of "The Quixote". It's a poem which tells about a girl, always under her mother's eye, guarded by her mother's fears. This girl claims that she must be her own guard, no matter the guards she has around. I composed a song based on this poem and included in the song are some "touches" of spanish popular music. My intention is to evoke the image of the girl looking through the window with sorrow and listening to the street musiciens walking along. The title of the song is "COPLAS DE MARIALONSO" and it is displayed on my page. I invite you to have a listening...Amparo García-Otero. Singer and songwriter. Spain.
Great show in Melbourne, i got some wonderful photos :) have fun playing the Speigel Tent in Sydney, I saw M Ward there a few years back, it's a great place to play.
What: Hank Williams: Lost Highway By Randal Myler and Mark Harelik
This musical biography follows the life and career of legendary country singer-songwriter Hank Williams from his humble beginnings in Alabama to his triumphs at Grand Ole Opry and eventual self-destruction at age of twenty-nine.
Hollywood screen actor and former member of the Blue Man Group, Tahmus Rounds, stars in this critically acclaimed play featuring more than 20 Hank Williams' hits including "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Hey, Good Lookin' " and "Move It on Over."
Directed by Elizabeth Craven.
"The best example of a musician's bio put on stage that I've ever seen. Wonderfulâ¦delightfulâ¦marvelous." âNY Post.
WHEN: Jan. 8 to Feb. 7, 2010 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
TICKETS: $15 to $35 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sundays: General $35; Senior (62+) $28; Youth (13-21) $28; Child (5-12) $15 8 p.m. Thursdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays: General $25; Senior $20; Youth $20; Child (5-12) $15
LOCATION: 6th Street Playhouse â GK Hardt Theatre 52 West 6th Street, Santa Rosa Located in historic Railroad Square
CAST: Tahmus Rounds as Hank Williams, Arnold House as Tee Tot, mollie boice as Mama Lily, Shannon Rider Urquhart as Audrey Williams, Jim Peterson as Jimmy, Chris Rovetti as Leon, Dave Zirbel as Shag, Tim Sarter as Hoss, John Craven as Fred âPapâ Rose, and Kendell Carroll as the waitress.
Hope to see you there!!!
Also Chris Rovetti (Leon) will be performing with his band the Rovetti Experience at the Black Rose in Santa Rosa, Friday Feb. 12th at 7:30pm. 21 and up please. Also there is no cover charge. Hope you can
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Online Now!
