{"id":16312,"date":"2019-03-31T05:30:16","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T09:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=16312"},"modified":"2022-05-16T08:28:18","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T12:28:18","slug":"tellico-courage-for-the-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/31\/tellico-courage-for-the-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Tellico: Courage for the Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formed in 2015 by three members of popular bluegrass band Dehlia Low, Tellico didn\u2019t set out to be political. And while the group\u2019s second and newest album, Woven Waters<\/i>, isn\u2019t exactly a musical-political treatise, its songs are informed by the division and unrest that characterize American life near the end of the 21st<\/sup> century\u2019s second decade.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Sandlin Gaither<\/p><\/div>\n

Vocalist, fiddler and guitarist Anya Hinkle emphasizes that Tellico didn\u2019t approach the making of Woven Waters<\/em> with an overall theme in mind. \u201cWe had a pool of songs, some unrecorded material to choose from,\u201d she says. \u201cThe actual selection [is no more than] just a collection of songs. And if they reflect anything at all, it\u2019s just where we are at this point in our lives. It\u2019s not a concept album in the sense of chapters in a book or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hinkle acknowledges that many artists are making political statements of late. \u201cAnd I\u2019m sure it\u2019s no accident on our [album] either,\u201d she admits. In fact, last November, Hinkle penned an essay for No Depression<\/i> in which she explained the background of one of Woven Waters<\/i>\u2019s standout tracks, \u201cCourage for the Morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recalling a trip to Japan mere days after the 2016 presidential election, Hinkle\u2019s essay characterized the contrasting reportage of the election \u2013 Japanese news outlets versus ones at home in the U.S. \u2013 as \u201cthe difference between a nightmare and a bad dream.\u201d She went on to reference Trump\u2019s Twitter attack on American congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis as well as \u201cthe millions of people that faced overwhelming hardship in the face of an impossible political and social system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remarkably, against that sobering backdrop, Hinkle wrote a song that expresses optimism. \u201c\u2019Courage for the Morning\u2019 changed its meaning for me so much since I wrote it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s interesting to notice how songs kind of take on their own meaning.\u201d But the central concept of courage remains key to the song\u2019s message.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe listen to and enjoy music because it helps us make sense of our own lives,\u201d Hinkle observes. \u201cThe meaning of the song, as opposed to being lofty or preachy in any way, is more of a call to action. Because every day there are always things that we can do to bolster up ourselves and others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hinkle recalls listening to a rough mix of the song on her car stereo shortly after the recording sessions were complete. \u201c I was singing along and wondering, \u2018What would it feel like if I heard this on WNCW?\u2019,\u201d she says with a laugh. And at that moment, the point of \u201cCourage for the Morning\u201d revealed itself in a specific lyric snippet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018If somebody would sing along to themselves, \u201cI will walk, I will sing, I will bring a little courage for the morning,\u201d to someone else, that\u2019s it<\/i>,\u201d she says. So even in the face of unsettling news on the TV, radio and internet, finding \u2013 and sharing<\/i> \u2013 courage is what\u2019s important, Hinkle believes.<\/p>\n

The band \u2013 Hinkle plus bassist Greg \u201cStig\u201d Stiglets, guitarist Aaron Ballance and Jed Willis on mandolin \u2013 worked closely with celebrated Celtic musician, Grammy nominee and Asheville resident John Doyle. \u201cWe had the idea to cold-call him and ask him to produce,\u201d Hinkle says, \u201cAnd he said yes.\u201d In addition to an extensive body of work including recordings and performances with many of the biggest names in Irish music, Dublin-born Doyle is skilled behind the recording console. Working with engineer David Arnold, Doyle produced Woven Waters<\/i> quickly.<\/p>\n

The album sessions in a Johnson City, Tenn. studio took place over 10 days. \u201cWe had studio time \u2013 and time with [Doyle] \u2013 that could only happen in that concentrated period,\u201d Hinkle explains. \u201cSo it wasn\u2019t like we could just record a couple of tracks and then come back two months later and record again.\u201d Acknowledging that the band\u2019s chosen method has good and bad points, Hinkle nonetheless believes \u201cit\u2019s one way great albums can be made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tellico used a back-to-basics approach to recording, tracking live in the studio instead of layering individual performances. That approach is key to the record\u2019s organic, you-are-there sonic quality. \u201cMusic happens at a certain time in a certain place,\u201d Hinkle observes. \u201cAnd where you are at that moment is captured there forever, strangely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s new album weds the Appalachian storytelling tradition with a current-day Americana sensibility, but Hinkle is quick to recognize the limitations of song lyrics. \u201cWith a song, you\u2019ve got to leave a lot to the imagination. If you really wanted to really tell a story, you wouldn\u2019t do it in a song,\u201d she admits with a chuckle. \u201cYou\u2019d write a novel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Formed in 2015 by three members of popular bluegrass band Dehlia Low, Tellico didn\u2019t set out to be political. And while the group\u2019s second and newest album, Woven Waters, isn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,41,49],"tags":[237,3756],"class_list":["post-16312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americana","category-interview","category-new-release","tag-asheville","tag-tellico","cat-6-id","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16312"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22968,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16312\/revisions\/22968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}