Lonely Heartstring Band See Light and Darkness in ‘Smoke & Ashes’

The Lonely Heartstring Band curiously placed “The Way It All Began” in the middle of their new album, Smoke & Ashes, yet it serves as a cornerstone of the project. Somewhere between sweet romance and saying goodbye, the song conveys a contrast of emotions that are woven throughout the album. They recorded the album with Lake Street Dive’s Bridget Kearney as producer; together they ventured beyond bluegrass boundaries while retaining the acoustic approach that led to an IBMA Momentum Award in 2015, as well as a deal with Rounder Records.

The band is composed of twins Charles Clements (bass) and George Clements (guitar), Gabe Hirshfeld (banjo), Patrick M’Gonigle (fiddle), and Maddie Witler (mandolin). Starting a winter morning in Boston with mugs of hot tea, the Clements brothers fielded a phone call with the Bluegrass Situation.

BGS: Let’s start with “The Way It All Began,” which has a wistful and sweet quality. What were you hoping to evoke in that song?

George: Patrick brought that song to the band, and he told me it was his idea about how a relationship starts. It’s two people who are young and traveling together, trying to capture that reflective, looking-back element.

Charles: I’m pretty sure it’s based on a true story from his life and I think it’s actually bittersweet. It’s a moment that comes together in a relationship, for a summer, then by the end, there’s distance. It’s the way it all began, but the way it ended too.

George: We had a lot of fun arranging that song, coming up with different ideas, like little modulations in the middle with the fiddle.

Did you have a certain sound in mind when you went into these sessions?

George: Yeah, I think we wanted to capture the natural sounds of the instruments as best we could. We recorded this record at Guilford Sound in Vermont and that studio has a really cool, natural reverb chamber, so we were able to capture some spaciousness in that.

Charles: For that song, a high priority was to make sure it had that laid-back, California, spacious, unhurried feeling. We went back and forth on tempos quite a bit actually – that’s too slow, that’s too fast. It’s a delicate thing because you want things to groove and move forward, but you don’t want to lose the character of the song just because you want more energy. A great example of that is Neil Young. He’d do these slow grooves that still keep you rolling forward, but they’re not fast songs.

The song “Smoke & Ashes” has some interesting imagery in there. Several times, you are singing “Come back…” Who are you saying that to?

George: When Patrick and I were coming up to the lyrics to that, it was like a post-apocalyptic song in the sense that we’re losing a lot of things that we love in life. They’re slipping away, like maybe nature is becoming threatened by mankind. I think the “come back” is like, let’s return to the things that matter most. Come back to your senses, come back to reality. Come back to the moon, the sun, the things that are universal.

Why did that song make sense as the title track?

Charles: That’s a good question. We went back and forth on album titles. We settled on it because we think it has good imagery and openness to it. Smoke and ashes can be a pessimistic thing, like things have burned down, but it’s also kind of optimistic. It has a sense of rebirth to it. There’s a sense of ending and starting.

George: We thought it had enough space for the listener to put their own interpretation to it. And I think that “Smoke & Ashes” is a pretty unique track on the album because it’s real slow and spacy, with lots of interesting chord changes. I think we all liked the way that track turned out.

“Just a Dream” has a cinematic, sweeping quality to it. Are you all inspired by movies or film scores when you write music?

Charles: Yeah, when I wrote that song, I think I was letting my imagination run free and create these kind of dreamlike images. … You know, an album is like the inverse of a movie score. The listener obviously has to bring their own imagination. [An album] requires a lot more of an audience than a movie does. Movies sometimes are just gonna give, give, give. With a song you have to bring a little more attention to your own life, your own imagination, and fill it in more with questions about, “What are they trying to say?” I think about that a lot. With songs, you have to supply your own movie a little bit.

Do you all collect vinyl?

George: Charles is a big collector. Patrick has a lot. I don’t have a vinyl collection at the moment because I don’t have a record player. [Laughs] I’ve been moving around so much that I just don’t want to lug all of that around – but someday I’d like to have a collection.

Charles: Maddie, our mandolin player, has probably the largest collection in the band.

Do you turn each other onto music that you discover on your own?

George: Oh yeah. We spend so much time in the van. That’s all we do in the van, either listen to audiobooks and podcasts, or just show each other new music. We’ve got a big text thread going where things will get sent out sometimes.

Charles: Yeah, the Lonely Heartstring Band text thread goes back about five or six years now. It’s full of stuff! (laughs)

George: Somebody should transcribe that. It would be a great, hilarious coffee table book.

I like to hear you all sing together on “Only Fallen Down.” So I wanted to ask, who are some of the vocal groups that you really enjoy?

George: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young comes to mind. We also really like The Wailin’ Jennys. Charles and I grew up with a lot of Everly Brothers and Simon & Garfunkel, though that’s more two-part harmony.

Charles: The Trio album – Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt. That’s powerful three-part harmony there. And obviously the Bluegrass Album Band, as a model of how to do tight, three-part, bluegrass harmony.

That song seems to be about a temporary setback, but with a sense of determination to go on. Do you see some parallels in your own life? That decision to forge ahead through the challenges?

George: Yeah, like every day. [Laughs] Being in a band is not easy. There are always challenges in relationships. So I think the lyrics reflect an intimate relationship between two people but it can have a universal appeal. Any time you have a challenge or you feel like you’re ready to give up, you can always change your attitude and say, “Well, yeah, this is a setback. I can pull myself up by my bootstraps and keep on going.”

In that song, there’s a line that says something like “Reach out for a hand to pull me through.” That’s a line that we came up after the song was written. That line replaced another one lyric. I really like that line because I think the hardest thing to do when you’re down is to ask for help. Sometimes we wallow in our own misery, and I think what you have to do is ask for help. You don’t have to do it on your own, basically. If you’re having a tough time in life, there are always people who want to help. That’s the amazing thing about the human spirit. We are here to help each other.

Charles: “Only Fallen Down” is a simple song when you think about it. It has a clear, straightforward message. I think that song stands out on the album because it is like a Beatles-esque sweet song. It’s very direct, not trying to be obtuse or metaphoric. I think we were ready for something like that, where you can feel good, like a simple soul song where we’re not trying to say anything other than that simple idea.

Do you think your audience will hear a departure from your prior album when they hear this one?

George: Yeah, I think they will. When I listen to our first record, it’s a little more traditional style – although not super traditional. We still had our own take on things. But this record doesn’t have any covers. It’s all our own original music. I think it reflects more of our unique musical sensibilities without trying to be anything other than what we are. We’re not using electric instruments, we’re not using drums. We still have that Lonely Heartstring Band sound.


Photo credit (on location): Louise Bichan
Photo credit (studio): Mike Spencer

LISTEN: Ari & Mia, “Little Bit Like Me”

Artist: Ari & Mia
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Little Bit Like Me”
Album: Sew the City
Release Date: March 1, 2019

In Their Words: “‘Little Bit Like Me’ is a conversation between myself as an adult and myself as a nine-year-old. In the song, I reflect on the sense of creativity and openness that came naturally to me as a child, and I wonder if I’ve lived up to the expectations I set for myself back then.” — Mia Friedman

“I love ‘Little Bit Like Me’ because of its simple intention and the sweet melody that mirrors it. The song’s nostalgic message feels relatable and honest, and the process of arranging it together was seamless. It clicked right away.” — Ari Friedman


Photo credit: Kat Waterman

WATCH: Bob Bradshaw, “Every Little Thing”

Artist: Bob Bradshaw
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Every Little Thing”

In Their Words: “‘Every Little Thing’ is a song about the small things that go wrong in a relationship, that can seem like the end of the world at the time. It’s a plea for keeping things in perspective. In the video, things haven’t worked out so well for the singer and, as he haunts the apartment where a relationship has ended, the next couple are being shown around by a realtor. Will they too come undone by ‘every little thing’?” — Bob Bradshaw


Photo credit: Liz Linder

LISTEN: Crooked Still, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”

Artist: Crooked Still
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”
Album: Crooked Still Live At Grey Fox – July 16, 2006
Release Date: November 9, 2018 (vinyl reissue)
Label: Signature Sounds

In Their Words: “When we played Grey Fox back in 2006 we felt like we had really made the big time! This live recording caught an amazingly true snapshot of the band at that moment in time. Crooked Still had first played ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ at the Cantab Lounge, the iconic bluegrass dive bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where we used to gig in the band’s earliest days. (Bluegrass night at the Cantab is still going strong, by the way.) Aoife O’Donovan and Heather Masse (The Wailin’ Jennys) used to sing it, along with so many other terrific duets they worked up while they were in college together. This live Grey Fox version doesn’t have Heather on it, of course, but it has plenty of other things going for it. We’ve come full circle by finally releasing it on vinyl!” — Greg Liszt


Photo credit: Aaron Farrington

WATCH: Jay Psaros, “Dear Jane”

Artist: Jay Psaros
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Dear Jane”
Album: The Trees Beyond the Town
Release Date: December 14, 2018
Label: PB and Jay Records

In Their Words: “Most love affairs require a third party, but not in this case. What happens when the affair is with oneself? A true story about a once-forbidden love, the selfish attempts to justify its validity, and ultimately, its one-sided demise.” — Jay Psaros


Photo Credit: Kayte Darling Photography

A Minute In Boston With Will Dailey

Welcome to “A Minute In …” — a BGS feature that turns musicians into hometown reporters. In our latest column, Will Dailey take us through Boston, Massachusetts.

Boston, where the first seed of our massive republic was planted, is a mecca of higher learning, higher rents, higher level of road rage and musicians exhibiting their talents at the highest of levels. It has always amplified itself with authentic grit and an addictive urgency. I present to you Belly, Letters to Cleo, Buffalo Tom, Mission of Burma, The Cars, Pixies, Evan Dando, Guster, Amanda Palmer, and Lori McKenna. More recently, Ballroom Thieves, Darlingside, Marissa Nadler and other countless professional touring artists. If you’re seeking songs in Boston, simply stand in its center and breathe deep, as I’ve done my whole life. It is the place I go to refill, refresh and remember.

Getting Here
It’s the hub of the universe! How do you not know how to get here? You are going to want to take a flight to Logan Airport or drive in from the west via the Massachusetts Turnpike. From the North coming down 93 is always like entering the atmosphere to see the city on the horizon as you drive past Melrose and Stoneham. But getting here is the easy part. Being here requires a Zen-like approach. The roads won’t make sense and their designlessness will be exacerbated by the speed at which the city moves. Boston has life and requires your attention.

Where to Stay 

 

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Don’t be blue. Our walls are covered in rock and roll history. Come checkout the #VerbVibe. 💙

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If you’re planning on visiting Fenway, stay at The Verb Hotel. Each room has live rock photography from around Boston, yours truly included. There is no shortage of restaurants in the area. Citizens Oyster Bar is a favorite. Liberty Hotel, a former jail house, has great restaurants and a central location. The views of the Charles River are beautiful. The Eliot Hotel is said to be haunted.

 

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Good Morning Boston!! Buenos días Massachusetts!! Bom-dia @eliotsuitehotel !!! . . . Segundo dia do outono 🍂 e o friozinho famoso de Boston já toma conta da cidade. . . . Agora, estou no bairro de Back Bay, no começo da famosa Newbury St. Ao lado da Berklee escola de música, do Fenway Park, da Prudential Tower e do Museu de Belas Artes. São inúmeras atrações turísticas a uma curta distância aqui do hotel. . . . E eu, que adoro caminhar e descobrir cada cantinho dos destinos por onde passo; já vou aproveitar e curtir esse domingão exaGERAdo aqui em Boston! . . #boston #massachusetts #eliothotel #hotel #city #usa #boutiquehotel #modern #exageranomundo #citypass #bostoncity #bostoncitypass #luxury #downtown #downtowncrossing #gopro #goprohero6 #goprobrasil #theeliothotel #america #nature #garden #green #igersboston #igboston #fall #fall2018

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Must-sees


Know that staying in Cambridge or Somerville also counts as staying in Boston. The real Boston may be hiding in an Airbnb in that perfect neighborhood spot so you can pretend to be Ben Affleck pretending to still be from there.

Get yourself clothed in the best vintage threads at Great Eastern Trading Co. in Cambridge and make sure to ask owner Neph if he’s playing at Wally’s Café while you’re in town. Down the road are The Plough & Stars and Toad, both iconic hole-in-the-wall live venues.

 

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Midweek marquee magic. 🎩 🎞

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Take the T up a mile into Brookline to see a film on a 70mm projector at the Coolidge Corner Theater. The velvet curtain still draws back to reveal the screen. But do not leave the city with completing the museum trifecta: Museum of Fine Arts, Institute of Contemporary Art, and my personal favorite, The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Eats & Drinks

George Howell Coffee is the realest bean in all of Beantown. Dok Bua in Brookline for authentic Thai food. Saltie Girl and Island Creek Oyster Bar are the top destinations for oysters. Lone Star for tacos in Cambridge or Brighton. Santarpio’s in East Boston for Boston’s best slice and truest experience. Craigie On Main if you are feeling like tinctures in your drinks and dropping some dime on a meal that feels both adventurous and home-cooked.

Across from Toad in Porter Square in Cambridge awaits delicious ramen at Yume Wo Katare. And if you find yourself in Harvard Square head over to The Sinclair for drinks and music on Monday night to hear Matthew Stubbs for Downbeat Mondays. I’ll be there.


Photo of Boston: Pixabay.com/ Skeeve
Photo of Will Dailey: Michael Spence
Photo of Great Eastern Trading Company: Will Dailey
Photo of Matthew Stubbs at Sinclair: Eddy Leiva

WATCH: Mile Twelve, “Rocket Man”

Artist: Mile Twelve
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Rocket Man”
Release DateSeptember 26, 2018

In Their Words: “We wanted to explore covering material outside of the bluegrass genre, and our bassist Nate suggested Elton John’s classic ‘Rocket Man.’ When we listened to the original recording we loved all the twists and turns in the arrangement, all the effects and quirks that create such a surreal soundscape. We were excited to try to recreate that on our acoustic instruments. When we started playing it live crowds really responded, so we decided we had to make a recording of it. We really hope this video helps the song reach more people who will connect to our version.” — Mile Twelve


Photo courtesy of the artist.

LISTEN: Lay Low Moon, “Second Floor Apartment”

Artist: Lay Low Moon
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Second Floor Apartment”
Album: On This Day Last Year
Release Date: August 17, 2018
Label: Battlement Records

In Their Words: “‘Second Floor Apartment’ gave voice to some of the feelings of confusion and bitterness that came from having recently been involved in a relationship that had to be kept a secret. I can remember wanting it to work so badly at the time, and for the situation to just be different and more conventional — but there was just no way for that to be the case. So, I just felt very trapped in a cycle of crippling anxiety and overwhelming euphoria. Neither extreme felt harnessable or manageable. This song was the result of having finally found my way out of the cycle — and is an illustration that choices aren’t always obvious, and that life isn’t always ‘neat,’ – it’s messy and complicated at times. We’re often confronted with decisions in life that don’t seem to have any possible ‘win-win’ outcome.” — Seán McKenna


Photo credit: Michael D. Spencer

STREAM: Twisted Pine, ‘Dreams’

Artist: Twisted Pine
Hometown: Boston, MA
Album: Dreams
Release Date: June 8, 2018

In Their Words: “As a band, we have a diverse range of influences in many genres of music. Dreams is an experiment in stretching our stylistic boundaries, mixing bluegrass instruments with some of our favorite pop music, and represents just a glimpse of the many artists we are inspired by.”