Hangin’ & Sangin’: I’m With Her

From the Bluegrass Situation and WMOT Roots Radio, it’s Hangin’ & Sangin’ with your host, BGS editor Kelly McCartney. Every week Hangin’ & Sangin’ offers up casual conversation and acoustic performances by some of your favorite roots artists. From bluegrass to folk, country, blues, and Americana, we stand at the intersection of modern roots music and old time traditions bringing you roots culture — redefined.

With me today in the Writers’ Rooms at the Hutton … I’m With Her — Sara Watkins, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sarah Jarosz. So great to have you guys here. New record, See You Around, just out a few weeks ago. How fun is this? How much fun are you guys having?

Aoife O’Donovan: We’re having so much fun! It’s a beautiful day here in Nashville, and it’s great to be playing music.

I saw your show last night at the Station Inn. There’s something absolutely magical about the three of you. And, during the show, I kept trying to think, who else would’ve worked within this sort of a thing? And I kept coming up empty. I couldn’t think of someone who had both the instrumental prowess, and the vocal ability, and just the shine that you three have together. What is it? What’s the X factor?

Sara Watkins: I really like that there are three of us, too. Three is a nice number for a band. I feel like it makes the writing and arranging process a little more efficient. It’s easier to go toward each other and find a common goal with the three of us. Where, with a four- or five-piece, that can sometimes make things a little bit … it just changes it. It’s really nice having a tight three-piece.

It was almost accidental how the three of you came together. Was the magic there from the very first time you sang together?

Sarah Jarosz: Yeah, I would say so. It definitely felt a little bit like a spark. We did a workshop, sort a singer/songwriter workshop at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival with some other great musicians, as well — Tift Merritt, Nicki Bluhm. They’re so great, we love them. Because of everyone’s crazy schedules at the festival, it just so happened that the three of us were able to get together before to have a little something prepared for the workshop.

I remember sitting backstage in a tent behind the main stage at Telluride, we worked up a couple songs. I remember one of them was Aoife’s song “Magpie,” which is not the easiest song in the world, and I just remember thinking how seamlessly we all fell into it. That was kind of the first moment where I remember thinking, “this is really cool.” And then, later on that night, putting together a little 20-30 minute set was also pretty seamless. And I think, something that we’ve talked about before is that, we have a shared love of similar music, kind of a shared well that we’re pulling songs from, and so it was kind of easy to put a little set together.

I’m so fascinated by the vocal interplay and how you choose who takes lead, and who comes in on this part, and then who sneaks in under here, etc. What’s the process of working all of that out? Just a bunch of trial and error or following your hearts?

SW: It can happen, sometimes, where it’s just an idea, “Oh, maybe you should sing this part!” But a lot of times, the harmony arrangements and the instrumental arrangements happen during the process of writing. We’ll definitely tweak things after the song’s written, but it’s pretty much in there in the composition, a lot of it. And sometimes it’s just as simple as, one voice is drawn to this part, and then we switch. I don’t know. It’s never something we argue about.

It’s magic!

SW: And we like that we can switch around a lot and try to mix different textures — like if Jarosz is on top versus either of us, if we can mix it up and change the blend at different times, try to make it effective.

AO: And using a lot of duo and unison singing and not always having to rely on a three-part harmony blend separates song from song and arrangement from arrangement to really play around with the different combinations we have available to us.

It makes the live show, in particular, that much more captivating. It’s this constant flow, but it was just so seamless, as well. Like, “Oh, we’re switching here. We’re doing this.” It was just choreographed so beautifully.

SW: We’re dancers, too! [Laughs]

Two things really struck me last night, watching you guys play. One was the people in the crowd. There were Milk Carton Kids there, Béla and Abby were there, Ron Pope was there, Caitlin Canty got name-checked from the stage because she knows about being stuck on hills in Vermont. [Laughs] The level of admiration and adoration from your peers is really off the charts. That’s cool, right? That must feel really good.

SW: Yeah, I don’t know how much of it is adoration …

Oh, people love you guys.

SW: We all really enjoy the fact that we have a ton of friends who we love. We love their musicianship, and we’re really good friends. And we’re in this scene together, and we’ve known these people for so long. It’s really special that Béla and Abby were there, because I remember being at Telluride Bluegrass Festival trying to sneak backstage when the Flecktones were playing, when I was 12 years old, and I was just desperately trying to sneak past the guards or, I don’t know, make them think I was cute and let me in or something. Did not work. Go figure. So that’s a scene that I think about a lot when I see Béla, because we’ve all looked up to him — and his scene and his generation — our entire lives, and it’s pretty cool to get to be in a place where he is supportive of us. That whole thing — the way that each generation welcomes the next in this culture — I think is really, really special. It’s a very warm place, where we are now.

And the other thing — nice segue Watkins — the second thing that really struck me was the joy that was so obvious between the three of you. Watching Aoife’s face while she was watching either of you solo, it was everything! [Laughs] It was such a beautiful part of it, and I think that’s the X factor — the joy. It’s wonderful to see musicians loving what they’re doing like it’s day one.

SW: A huge part of what I love about being a musician is the community of players. That’s an enormous piece of what I love about this life as a musician. The fact that I get to work closely with great musicians who are really good friends of mine and then coming together at festivals and catching up. When you’re a kid growing up, you’re sharing tunes that you’ve learned and new things that you’ve learned, working up songs from your favorite people’s records. And, over the years, sharing that life and sharing that rhythm, and now being at a place where the family of musicians has grown and grown. It’s a really fun thing.

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I’m With Her, ‘Waitsfield’

If only there were someone giving out nickels for every time the term “supergroup” is used. We’d all be rich. It’s not an altogether uncommon designation, as perhaps it ought to be, especially in bluegrass and its nearest offshoot genres, where virtuosity and technical prowess aren’t luxuries, but commodities. Nearly every outfit could ostensibly be labeled a “supergroup.” Even more so after each member’s bio and qualifications have been flamboyantly posited. But here, in this Tunesday, you can trust that “supergroup” won’t be bandied about.

I’m With Her (aka Sarah Jarosz + Aoife O’Donovan + Sara Watkins) — is a supergroup. The artistry, ease, precision, and personality of their just-released debut album, See You Around, corroborates this claim through each and every track, but the legitimacy of the moniker is cemented with the record’s lone instrumental, “Waitsfield.” These three women are all inimitable songwriters and vocalists, so they certainly didn’t need to include a tune … but they did … for the benefit of all of us. “Waitsfield” is rollicking and playful, a whimsical mandolin/fiddle dialogue that lopes and waltzes and dashes about. It doesn’t need to be a shred-fest to illustrate, undeniably, that not a single I’m With Her-er has relinquished any of her bluegrass chops — even while they each delve into sonic territories far from their respective starting points. The charm of the song isn’t shadowed by its frenetic energy; it’s enhanced — especially at the end, when they each breathe a sigh of relief, chuckle, and exclaim, “We made it!” We knew they would. They’re a supergroup.

BGS Class of 2018: Preview

At only 11 days old, this year already looks to be a stellar one for roots music. From Marlon Williams to John Prine, Sunny War to Bettye LaVette, artists young and old are making some of the best records of their careers, and it is a thrilling thing to behold. Here are some of the releases that our writers are most excited about you hearing.

Brandi Carlile: By the Way, I Forgive You

Marlon Williams: Make Way for Love

Anderson East: Encore

HC McEntire: Lionheart

Courtney Marie Andrews: May Your Kindness Remain

John Prine: TBD

Gretchen Peters: Dancing with the Beast

Sunny War: With the Sun

Lindi Ortega: Liberty

— Kelly McCartney

* * * * *

Stick in the Wheel: Follow Them True

Belle Adair: Tuscumbia

Julian Lage: Modern Lore

Red River Dialect: Broken Stay Open Sky 

Jerry David DeCicca: Time the Teacher 

Ed Romanoff: The Orphan King

Haley Heynderickx: I Need to Start a Garden

Various: The Ballad of Shirley Collins OST

Bettye Lavette: Things Have Changed

— Stephen Deusner

* * * * *

Brandi Carlile: By the Way, I Forgive You

First Aid Kit: Ruins

Lucy Dacus: Historian

Anderson East: Encore

Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour

Jack White: Boarding House Reach

Darlingside: Extralife

I’m With Her: See You Around

Calexico: The Thread That Keeps Us

Sunflower Bean: TBD

— Desiré Moses

* * * * *

Anderson East: Encore

Marlon Williams: Make Way for Love

First Aid Kit: Ruins

Loma: Loma

Femi Kuti: One People One World

Joan Baez: Whistle Down the Wind

S. Carey: Hundred Acres

They Might Be Giants: I Like Fun

— Amanda Wicks

* * * * *

Jack White: Boarding House Reach

Brandi Carlile: By the Way, I Forgive You

Ashley McBryde: TBD

Brothers Osborne: TBD

Joshua Hedley: TBD

Traveller: TBD

Bruce Springsteen: TBD

Courtney Marie Andrews: May Your Kindness Remain

John Prine: TBD

Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour

— Marissa Moss

* * * * *

High Fidelity: TBD

I’m With Her: See You Around

Ms. Adventure: TBD

Hawktail: TBD

Missy Raines: TBD

Jeff Scroggins & Colorado: TBD

— Justin Hiltner

* * * * *

Sunny War: With the Sun

I’m With Her: See You Around

David Byrne: American Utopia

Hawktail: TBD

Jamie Drake: TBD

Bahamas: Earthtones

Fruition: Watching It All Fall Apart

Darlingside: Extralife

— Amy Reitnouer