Closest Stranger is the latest offering from country duo Two Ways Home, and the high quality, gutsy country EP was reviewed on The Indiependent a few weeks ago, which you can read in full here. We got to chat to Isabella and Lewis more about their new EP, why they both feel a strong connection to Nashville and regularly travel to the state, plus plenty more…
The Indiependent: Isabella, you’re originally from Vienna and Lewis, you’re from the Cotswolds – how did your paths cross?
Isabella (Isi): We actually met at University in London after I decided classical music wasn’t my thing and decide to move to England to study popular music performance.
The Indiependent: How did you come up with the name for your duo?
Both: We both really like this Kiwi artist called Kimbra and she has a song called ‘Two Way Street’. We really liked the idea of having a reference to our two different heritages and after going through a lot of different names, we finally settled on Two Ways Home.
The Indiependent: What features of country music draw each of you to listen and create that style?
Isi: I love the instrumentation and also how harmonies unfold in a good country song.
Lewis: I first got into modern country through listening and transcribing Brad Paisley guitar solos and really getting into how country players approach writing guitar parts. I also love the full harmonies bands like Little Big Town and Lady Antebellum use in their music.
The Indiependent: What is so special to both of you about Nashville that you return there again and again to write tracks?
Lewis: I think we both love the friendly small town nature of Nashville. Being complete outsiders with no contacts when we first went to Nashville four years ago, we found that we made friends fast and in the last three trips there we have been lucky enough to co-write with some brilliant writers and artists and have also made some great friends.
The Indiependent: All the songs on your latest EP Closest Stranger feel personal – are any of them based on real life experiences?
Isi: I think even if the concept of the song isn’t born out of something deeply personal, we both draw on what has happened to us personally as this makes the song more authentic. I think/hope a listener can tell when a songwriter is being sincere or not.
Lewis: I think almost everything we write is based very closely on personal experience unless we are writing with another songwriter who had brought a clear story or concept to the table, but even then we try and draw on past experience to make the meaning of the song more relatable.
The Indiependent: In ‘Don’t Give Up On Me Tonight’, you specifically mention Birmingham and Austin – were these random choices or places with a connection to each of you?
Lewis: I think this is the first song I can remember writing or at least releasing that has place names in. I grew up in the vicinity of Birmingham and when I was younger that was the nearest big city. I saw a lot of my first gigs there spent some time there when I was younger. We wrote the song with an artist/songwriter called Logan Brill and she, funnily enough, had a connection with Birmingham, Alabama so it seemed like a good fit for the song as it’s relatable for both the UK and US. Both Logan and I had also both been to and loved Austin. I had a particularly eventful SXSW trip a few years back, which is still very vivid in my memory!
The Indiependent: Would you say there has been a progression in sound etc between your two previously released EPs, and your latest collection?
Isi: I feel like we are constantly developing. The special thing about this EP is the fact that it was recorded in London but mixed and mastered in Nashville.
Lewis: We also spent more time in the studio with this one and have slightly thicker/fuller arrangements than previously. The producer (Maxime Obadia) is a great pianist so we have more piano and keys on this production, especially in ‘Don’t Give Up On Me Tonight’ which has a really nice piano part that compliments the track perfectly.
The Indiependent: You guys are hosting ‘The Round Up’ song-writers events in Soho during this summer – how did this celebration of the best UK country music first come about?
Both: Whenever we go to Nashville we always go and see writers’ rounds; they are such commonplace in America (Nashville in particular). We both found the format of the night so entertaining and you get an insight into how the songwriter writes and what goes on behind the song. After our trip to Nashville in October 2016 we decided that we wanted to bring this concept back to London, so in February 2017 we did.
It has been great for us to try out new material and to meet other songwriters and hear their stories. We have recently joined forces with CountryLine and changed our venue to a more Central London location at Gail’s Kitchen, Soho.
The Indiependent: Which country stars/song-writers have you welcomed at the ‘Round Up’ events so far?
Both: We just had our 6th ‘Round Up’ so in total that must mean we’ve had 18 singer/songwriters this year so far! We won’t list them all but I feel we started strong with Katy Hurt, Catherine McGrath and Ann Bailey and since we’ve had great writers such as Laura Oakes, Jake Morrell, Holloway Road and Megan O’Neill
The Indiependent: Which festival/venue are you looking forward to playing most in the summer?
Both: We are really looking forward to River Town Festival in Bristol and also really looking forward to Folk on Dock in Liverpool. We also have a headline show coming up at the Green Note on the 18th of August, which we are really excited about.
The Indiependent: If you could pick a musician to perform with, dead or alive, who would each of you pick?
Lewis: I think I’m going to go with someone who is not with us anymore because there is always a chance that I could play a future show with one of my idols who are still alive. For me, I think it would have to be Freddie Mercury. In my opinion, the man was such a legend both in song-writing and performing.
Isi: Dead; it would have to be Prince, just because he is amazing and I love his voice and style. Alive; I really would love to do a duet with Steven Tyler. I think his voice is just incredible and so contrasting to my own that I feel like it would be a great fit.
Interview conducted by Georgia Stephenson