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\nAn unusual musical path led a Montana guitar-and-vocal duo to play bossa nova, open for Frank Zappa<\/b>‘s son, win a songwriting contest and record their debut album in Asheville. But guitarist Max Hatt<\/b> takes it all in stride, saying, \u201c I don’t think things have changed very much, other than us having the opportunity to really refine what we’ve been doing all along.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hatt and vocalist Edda Glass<\/b> first got together musically in Helena, Montana. There they formed a group called Rio to play bossa nova standards. \u201cWe worked quite as much as anybody else in the state,\u201d Hatt says. But the duo’s musical aspirations went beyond their repertoire of songs by Brazilian jazz legend Jo\u00e3o Gilberto<\/b><\/a>. Hatt and Glass won a grant that would finance some demo recordings, and they began writing their own songs. But \u201cthere really weren’t any venues to play it in,\u201d says Edda Glass.<\/p>\n The original songs of Max Hatt \/ Edda Glass \u201care very inspired by the west, the grandeur of the landscape,\u201d Glass says. \u201cPeople often comment on the amount of space in our music, that we don’t fill it up,\u201d adds Hatt. \u201cI think that’s reflective of the nature of the west, where there are a lot of open spaces, good places for self-reflection and introspection.\u201d<\/p>\n The duo’s music is informed by bossa nova, but ventures beyond that style. \u201cAll these songs were originally written as guitar jazz trio instrumentals,\u201d Glass says. \u201cEdda wrote all these beautiful vocals for them.\u201d He compares the original music to the classics they still play at many shows: \u201cThey’re obviously in a different language, and the setting’s a little different \u2013 it’s not Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro; it’s somewhere in rural Montana \u2013 but for us, the aesthetic is very similar.\u201d<\/p>\n Glass says that when she and Hatt relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico, \u201cSuddenly we started to find audiences who were actually interested in listening to a song start to finish, in a more concert-style environment.\u201d Hatt and Glass decided to take part in the NewSong Music Contest, held annually at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. They won the Grand Prize, and the award package included album sessions at Asheville’s Echo Mountain Recording Studio, with Pat Sansone<\/b> producing.<\/p>\n Sansone \u2013 a member of Wilco<\/b> and leader of his own side-project band Autumn Defense<\/b> \u2013 was one of the NewSong judges and quickly became an admirer of the music of Max Hatt \/ Edda Glass. Hatt says that \u201cPat has been incredibly supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n The Echo Mountain sessions that yielded Ocean of Birds<\/i> (released May 20) featured world-renowned, Asheville-based percussionist River Guerguerian<\/b><\/a>. \u201cHe’s a super drummer and a positive person with great energy,\u201d says Hatt. Glass agrees: \u201cHe really embodies the Asheville vibe. He brought a lot of great texture to the album.\u201d<\/p>\n The songs on Ocean of Birds<\/i> display a conversational quality. Lyricist Glass admits, \u201cMy favorite way to hear them is as solo guitar pieces. Before they have lyrics, they still have a sort of mystery attached.\u201d But Glass’ clear, supple vocals add an additional emotional dimension to the music. The duo’s songs are subtle, contemplative, and often melancholy; qualities that might not seem likely to go over well when opening for the electric guitar pyrotechnics of Dweezil Zappa<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"max_edda\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/max_edda.jpg\")
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