L I V E D J • N E W S O U N D S Y S T E M • PA R T Y L I G H T I N G
Katie and Mike West
9 : 30 pm-1 am
SAT & SUN
Ward ParkWa y Lanes
Barrett emke
1523 W 89th St, Kansas City, MO • 816.363.2700 • wardparkwaylanes.com
Meet
ZEEBRAA
at the Folk Alliance International Conference
TrucksTop Hon ey moon’s
K atie W e st interviews T H e car per Fa mi ly’s Katie and Mike West, of the Lawrence husband- wife duo Truckstop Honeymoon, are no strangers to adversity. They survived Hurricane Katrina, for one thing. And throughout their trials, music has been their constant — a strength audible on the pair’s most recent album, 2011’s fierce Steamboat in a Cornfield. The Carper Family’s Melissa Carper, Beth Chrisman and Jenn Miori might not be related by blood, but they sound like a classic family band on their latest album, Old-Fashioned Gal. Carper can sound like Dolly Parton or Emmylou Harris, depending on the song, and her bandmates swoop in with flawless backup singing that takes a page from the enchanted bluebirds known to harmonize with Snow White. In Austin, the Carper Family enjoys a hometown reputation as a peerless live act. West: What is it like on the road with the Carper Family? Carper: We drive Judy, Jenn’s new Dodge minivan. Jenn and Beth sit in front and talk and listen to music and take pictures for Instagram and tweet. We get along most of the time, and usually we have some sort of adventure, like getting lost or staying on an organic farm and sleeping in a barn or drinking whiskey all night with a local bluegrass band. Do you practice harmonies in the van? We don’t practice harmonies much in the van. Sometimes we trade the banjo around — we’re all learning clawhammer banjo — but there’s not a lot of singing, except with the radio. Sometimes we work on writing new songs. “Fancy Pants” was composed primarily in the van, the last two verses. We’re working on a new one called “Queen of the Honky-tonk/ King of Fools.” Sometimes we make set lists and do band-meeting stuff, answer e-mails. Do you stop at roadside attractions? Last summer, we stopped at the Little House on the Prairie homestead, near Independence, Kansas, one-time home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. In Alaska, Beth had us stop at a spot on the side of the road where fresh water from a glacier comes pouring out of a pipe in the side of a
Courtesy of the artist
Melis sa Car per
www.zeebraamusic.com
Melissa Carper (center) with her Family mountain. We all filled up our water jugs with the coldest, most refreshing water ever. What was your best night on tour ever? Our best night on tour ever was last November, when we got to play live on A Prairie Home Companion in Dallas. We got to sing a few of our songs, compose music for a few jingles that Garrison Keillor wrote, and sing “Deep in the Heart of Texas” and the Powder Milk Biscuit theme song with the house band. It was the biggest audience we’ve ever played for. Worst? Someplace we don’t even want to name. Five people in the audience — two were friends — followed by a lecture from the club owner about how to run our careers. And he didn’t want to pay our guarantee. That kind of stuff makes us sad and wish we worked in a coffee shop or were massage therapists or something. Who is on your conference must-see list? A lot of them are buddies we’ve met over the years: Betse Ellis, Della Mae, Foghorn Stringband, John Fullbright, Shinyribs — the Gourds’ Kevin Russell’s amazing new project. Also: Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellies; our guitar heroes Bill Kirchen and Redd Volkaert, who are teachers at the camp; Cahalen Morrison and Eli West; Kansas City Bear Fighters; and, of course, Truckstop Honeymoon.
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FEB.19-22 HEAR THEM BEFORE YOU SEE THEM
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Truckstop Honeymoon plays at midnight Wednesday, February 19, on the Washington Park Place 1 Stage. The Carper Family plays at 10 p.m. Saturday, February 22, on the Pershing South Stage.
E-mail natalie.gallagher@pitch.com pitch.com
FEBRUARY 20 -26, 2014
the pitch
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