It’s rare when the lead-in to an album is a cello solo. That lets you know right away that Sheridan, Wyoming’s The Two Tracks are not your average Americana band. Their unique sound has earned the respect of versatile musician and producer Will Kimbrough who produced their previous effort Postcard Town and returns for Cheers to Solitude. Grammy-winning Trina Shoemaker mixed the album and Sean Sullivan engineered. Sure, there’s familiar strains of bluegrass, country and rock but this quartet harnesses several disparate influences into their own signature sound driven by two songwriters and lead vocalists, Dave Huebner and Julie Szews (pronounced “Chefs”). Huebner plays that infamous cello and electric guitar while Szews strums the acoustic alongside drummer/background vocalist Fernando Serna and bassist/background vocalist Taylor Phillips. That’s right – some of these tunes have glorious four-part harmonies. Check out the bubbling, effusive “Good Company.”
But, let’s return to that opening track, “Beautiful.” It’s a simple two-chord song urging us to enjoy the beauty of what’s right in front of us, which the quartet delivers so enthusiastically, as a listener you wish you could just share an ounce of their joy – “heaven is right here my friends, staring back at you.” They have a special knack for infectious hooks as heard on Szewc’s compelling “All Women Are Healers” with its economical lead guitar from Kimbrough who adds his special touches on various strings and keys throughout. Bruce Bouton (Kenny Rogers, Garth Brooks) also guests on pedal steel. When we hear “Good Company” Kimbrough delivers a Garcia-like solo amidst those soaring four-part harmonies. Those three songs are about as strong an opening for an album as any roots band has offered in recent memory.
Vocal leads alternate between Szewc and Huebner, the latter of whom is out front for the Kimbrough slide guitar punctuated “Past My Prime.” Huebner’s cello, more subdued this time, introduces the title track where Szewc sings the first verse before the swelling chorus ensues in keeping with the theme of enjoying the moment. Huebner’s cello on the low end provides a great contrast to high harmonies of Szewc and their bandmates. Her “Eternal School Bus” features both Kimbrough’s dobro and Bouton’s pedal steel that support lyrics about nostalgic youth such as “You love watching those fiery colored leaves/Dropping on the ground and whistling through the trees/We make a pile to jump in right before the big freeze/Burying our faces in our childhood memories.”
“Whiskey Please” (pardon the too hard to pass up expression) goes down smoothly with Huebner and Kimbrough’s jangling guitars and Kimbrough’s organ. Heubner takes the vocal lead again on “It’s Too Easy” that picks up in momentum once Kimbrough’s banjo enters and Heubner follows with his own fiddle sounding cello. That majestic Wyoming scenery may play into lines such as “I need a place where it all turns back/Where time is not a clock but a dusty backpack/Where the wildness within can walk that wild empty path/ Oh it’s too easy.” Szewc leads the hoedown “Upside Down” while the closer “Red Yellow Orange” begins calmly with soft cello tones before Szewc sings gorgeously about life’s changes backed by a bed of guitars and pedal steel. It has all the ingredients that make up The Two Tracks DNA – lead cello, great lead vocals, strong lyrics, the right instrumental touches, and glorious harmonies.
Wyoming is a long way from Nashville, but The Two Tracks manage to retain their signature sound without succumbing to some of the Music City glitz that plagues the efforts of some bands. Of course, they are in great hands with Kimbrough steering the ship, Shoemaker mixing, and Sullivan engineering. More than anything though it’s the sheer joy of making music that comes through and a rather inexplicable inviting warmth that makes it seem as if they would be nice folks to get to know in regular conversation.