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
In celebration of the Walkabouts' 25th anniversary there is a tribute album released by Glitterhouse on September 25th containing Unholy Dreams by Gary Heffern & Beautiful People:
Hi Brett & Rennie, Thanks for Your friendship, I've really enjoyed listening to Your songs and will definitely be back for more visits, Best wishes from New Zealand Dave
Do you need music promotion for your band? We are an online music promotional company who are set out to help musicians get the most out of their online music experience! We promote your music and myspace page to as many people as you need!! We can guarantee you 50,000 incoming friend requests with our friend booster package, which gets you more fans to interact with! We can also bump up your music plays and views through our promotions! By having a lot of plays, views, and friends you can finally get on those myspace music charts resulting in more exposure and finally get music producers to notice you!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP & SUPPORT, ITS MUCH APPREICATED.
WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE, STOP BY MY SITE AND GIVE A LISTEN TO MY NEW CD ( BACK TO MY ROOTS ) THE RAIN & ROCKBOTTOM ARE DEDICATED TO VICTIMS OF THE FLOODS & FAILING ECONOMY
LEAVE A COMMENT OF YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT YOU HEARD.
How's it going? We're just about to release our debut EP titled #957 at the start of December and have put up our next single "And Again" for streaming on our myspace page. Would love to know your thoughts on the track :)
Sitting here in Suffolk, England on a very rainy day. Lovely to hear your tunes. Really beautiful and engaging energy and texture in your music. THank you and keep posting up your songs x
I just finished an EP and would love your feedback ! I've had my music up at Myspace now for about 2 months and could use the support. Could you take a moment and let me know what you think ?
Greetings Handsome Family, paying you a visit to invite you and your friends over for a visit and a pre-release listen to the songs Love And Money and Mammon from the new Telegraph album. You might also enjoy the video for Country Music, although for a few viewers, it might get you, as the song puts it “all riled up”. We’d also love to make some new myspace friends….
..
..
Online Now!
