While it’s still the festival season for another month, it’s no better time to absorb some string band euphoria. One of our latest discoveries is the cutting harmonies of Sheridan WY quartet The Two Tracks. Cutting undeniable grooves in the road of Americana music with their new release It’s a Complicated Life, the band proudly puts their own spin on their version of the “high lonesome” tradition.
Glide is premiering the sunny “Shiny Penny” (below) off “It’s A Complicated Life” which is a nod to the modern string band work of Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway and Amanda Shires.
Some years ago, Julie and Dave Huebner met in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming with one central thing in common; a love of all kinds of music and a thirst for making it. Along with Fernando Serna (drums/percussion) and Taylor Phillips (bass), they have all knit their passions into the musical family that is The Two Tracks. From their home in the postcard town of Sheridan, the band stirs Western roots and wilderness philosophy into a stew of nourishing connections.
The two trade duties as both vocalists and writers, with songs that traverse the male and female perspectives. Many of their arrangements are built around the uniqueness of Dave’s “standup” cello, which can take the role of a fiddle, or shift to a sultry orchestral solo, while sneaking in as an addition to the potent rhythm section.
It’s a Complicated Life was recorded over the course of five days at The Tractor Shed in Goodlettsville, TN just outside Nashville. It was produced by Will Kimbrough (Todd Snider, Rodney Crowell), mixed by Trina Shoemaker (Indigo Girls, The Wood Brothers), and engineered by Sean Sullivan (Sturgill Simpson, Molly Tuttle). In addition to the band, It’s a Complicated Life features Kimbrough on acoustic and electric guitars and the slide variations of both, along with mandolin, and Hammond organ.
While It’s a Complicated Life paints a rich picture of the rural west, at its heart it is an ode to the human experience; joyful, weary, and bittersweet, buoyed by an unshakable hope for what tomorrow brings. “This is an album about where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going, these are universal stories,” says Dave. “We really hope people find themselves wrapped up in this music much the way we’re wrapped up in our complicated mid-forties, family raising lives.” Sit back, grab yourself a cup of tea – or something a little stronger – and take It’s a Complicated Life for a spin. You’ll find you’re already a part of the family, bonded by melody and intrigued about tomorrow.
