Staggering and sonically delightful, The Local Honeys deliver power, education, and a healthy dose of uprightness on their two-song release, Dying To Make A Living and Octavia Triangle, out via La Honda Records. Kentuckians through and through, Linda Jean Stokley and Montana Hobbs are exceptionally skilled old-time musicians with robust and dynamic voices that convey striking imagery and commanding emotional depth. This is a humble pair that are tapped in and conscious of their surroundings and the blessings that illuminate their journey; collaboration with friends, heroes, and with each other. A mighty duo with a raw and unfiltered sound, Glide was so pleased to catch up with Montana and Linda. We talked about their new singles, family, standing up for what is fair and just, letters from Tom T. Hall, and so much more.
Can you tell us about the two new singles and the video documentation that came out with them?
Montana: We went to Huntington, West Virginia in October of 2019. We wanted to record a couple of songs that were heavy on our hearts. We went into the studio with our buddy Max Nolte. Max is a great drummer and a fantastic engineer and a hell of a human. He has a studio in Huntington called The Loft and it’s kind of legendary there. We had two songs that we really wanted to pair together and we were feeling very creative at the time. It was cool to document all of this. Our pal Josh Edwards – a phenomenal videographer and musician, and just all-around a creative person – was there with us while we were recording. We reached out to Josh when we decided we were going to put out these songs and he had a bunch of footage from that session that we didn’t know about. I asked him to put together a little mini-documentary to show the behind-the-scenes things that make music so tangible and relatable.
Linda: We also thought it was important to give background to these songs. These are two songs that we did not write but they are our own interpretations of how we learned them and who we learned them from. We wanted to give credit where credit was due. Credit to the songwriters and the people who were gracious enough to share them with us. “Dying to Make a Living” we recorded because it was a couple of months after this miner strike in Harlan County, Kentucky. This huge coal company called Blackjewel Coal – which at the time was the sixth-largest coal company in the nation – went bankrupt and they didn’t tell anybody. They were postponing paychecks and they let two paychecks bounce. They were getting free labor essentially. Coal miners caught on to this and they walked out and stopped a coal train that was coming out with the load of coal they had just mined. They stopped that train and they held it there. They ended up creating an encampment on the train tracks and they wouldn’t let that coal car pass.
Montana: They camped out in the woods and on the train tracks during the hottest heat of the year.
Linda: We went down to Harlin Country and spent just a day out there. It absolutely wore us out. We aren’t exactly made for that heat. We had a lot of respect for these people that were so determined to get what they had earned. That evening we went and played a benefit show for the miners in Pineville, Kentucky. When we went back on tour we started incorporating “Dying To Make A Living” into our set and would tell people about events that were still happening. We would ask people to donate money and send supplies and help however they could.
Montana: We were able to use these performances as a platform to talk to people about this crazy shit that was going on. And how punk-rock this is for these people to fight for what they deserved. There was no bond posted, Blackjewel didn’t go through the right channels to file for bankruptcy and they got away with that bullshit. They got a slap on the wrist.
Linda: We come from families that are very hard working. My Mom’s best compliment she can give another human is “they’re a good worker.” My parents were both involved heavily in farming tobacco and cattle in central Kentucky. There is so much that has to do with your body being at the expense of this labor. My Dad passed away when I was eight years old due to suicide. Suicide runs rampant through a lot of farming communities. It’s one of the leading causes of death among farmers across the world. I did some research and found some information that I thought was particularly interesting. They have linked some mental illness and cognitive issues with pesticide use that many farmers used for decades. It’s not just coal miners that are dealing with breaking down their bodies at the expense of someone else’s profit. This is across the board. And Montana’s parents were both railroaders. We wanted to put out a song that encompassed this idea, the breaking down of the human form to benefit somebody else’s bottom line. It’s crazy because the coal and fossil fuels that come out of our region – everybody wants to profit from them – through the profit doesn’t stay in our region. We find it very interesting. We love history and we love for our songs to be topical.
It’s cool that you’re doing this with music rooted in regional tradition too. That’s sharing history in the music as well. Many layers here.
Linda: Yeah, along with “Dying To Make A Living” we decided to record “Octavia Triangle.” We learned “Octavia Triangle” from one of our mentors when he was in his late 70’s. We go to this camp every year called Cowan Creek Mountain Music School in Whitesburg, Kentucky. People go to learn all different traditional Kentucky instruments. Montana and I have been instructors there for many years. One of our mentors, Jimmy McCown, his mother, wrote “Octavia Triangle.” Jimmy shared that song with Montana. He was so eager and willing and free with his knowledge, just an incredible human being, and a fantastic musician. Jimmy said we could record that song. He was living around Huntington so we were able to invite him to record that song with us.
He played banjo on “Octavia Triangle”?
Linda: Yeah. Unfortunately, Jimmy passed away in 2020. Nearly a year to the date from when we had our recording session together. It was very sudden and unexpected. The recording is very personal to us. To be honest I still get choked up and emotional listening to it. It’s a very special thing to get to learn from your heroes and even more special to get to share time and space to create with them. We’ll never forget Jimmy McCown and all the love and support that he showed us. This song is a tribute to him, his widow, his family. Jimmy was a superstar in the Kentucky old-time music community. It feels special to have that time capsule with him singing his mother’s song. We feel very proud of that.
Tell me about your experience working with La Honda Records and that little family.
Linda: It’s been great. We have known Travis and Connie, who are the evil geniuses behind La Honda. We met them via Colter Wall. We went on a couple of tours opening for Colter and at the time Travis was his tour manager. On our very first European tour, we went to like ten countries. We’d been out of the country before but never touring like that, with a show in a different country every day. Travis really was mindful and took care of us and showed us the ropes. We knew Connie, she worked so graciously on the cover art for our second album, The Gospel. We had this intimate connection with them and when they started La Honda we were kind of tapping our fingers on the table saying, ‘When are you going to work with us?’ They fucking signed us in the middle of a pandemic. What kind of crazy people would do that? They have really helped us. They have been wonderful.
I’ve heard only good things about La Honda Records. It’s all about finding a family, people that cares about you and what you are doing. That’s really special.
When did you guys meet Colter Wall and how did that connection and friendship begin?
Montana: Let’s see, how did we meet Colter? His management invited us to a show in Cincinnati. Linda couldn’t go so I went by myself. He and his band were opening for Margo Price. Another one of our good friends got invited as well and he had on a wolf mask on all night. Got drunk and followed Colter and his band to the Waffle House. Years later Colter told me, ‘I thought that guy was your boyfriend and I thought you got mad and left him to follow us around. And I hated you. I never wanted to see you again.’ (both laugh) I told him, not my boyfriend. We immediately clicked with Colter. We liked what he did, his whole demeanor was right up our alley. Watching him grow, when he came out with Songs of the Plains, I was like, YES. He has done it. He has literally written a love album to his home, to Saskatchewan. It’s him through and through.
Did I see that Tom T. Hall wrote y’all a letter?
Montana: Yeah, you did. He actually wrote us two letters. That’s our pride and joy and our biggest accomplishment. A couple of years ago after we graduated college we decided to go to Olive Hill Arts & Education Center and we hosted a songwriter workshop for kids. We called it “Crafting Little Tom T. Halls.” The lady who worked to house us and put the event on was also named Linda. Somehow she connected us with a woman who used to babysit Tom T. Hall. And he’s like 90 years old so I don’t know how old this lady was but she used to babysit him. Basically, we sent a CD of our first record through a bunch of middlemen to Tom and he wrote us a handwritten letter back. It came to Linda’s house. A letter from the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Unbelievable. What’s in your tape-deck?
Linda: I am obsessed with Mississippi Records cassette tapes. Have you listened to these?
Mississippi Records in Portland?
Linda: Yes.
Far out! That’s the second shout-out in a row they have gotten. Langhorne Slim shouted them out in the last interview I did.
Linda: There is a tape-series. I have a few of them and they’re all different genres. One of my all-time favorites is #36, “Folky Soul Music and Soulful Folk Music.” When you open it up there’s just a tape with sharpie written #36 on it and this little comic that you can follow along to. I love it. I got this one first because it had Roger Miller doing “What Are These Things with Big Black Wings.” It also has Norma Tanega on it, Nina Simone, it’s killer.
