Lady Couch – Foolish and Blue (single)

I dag slipper bandet Lady Couch sin aller første single, “Foolish and Blue” på Cafe Rooster Records. Bak det relativt spesielle navnet Lady Couch, skjuler det seg et fyrverkeri av et band som låter som en forfriskende blanding av The Band, Little Feat, Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, Aretha Franklin og The Staple Singers.

Jeg vet at Norge elsker Cordovas, mye på grunnen av måten de har skapt en form for moderne smeltedigel av mange av forutnevnte band. Rent personlig så setter jeg Lady Couch enda høyere, og det skulle vel egentlig si alt.

Jeg så Allen Thompson live første gang jeg besøkte Nashville. Han var en av vokalistene på den uoffisielle åpningsfesten på Basement East – og den fantastiske stemmen hans blåse meg rett i bakken. Han låt som en blanding av Levon Helm og Richard Manuel, og besørget gåsehud fra første tone. Siden den kvelden har jeg ønsket meg en videosession med Allen og gitaren hans, og vi fikk det endelig i boks i 2018, da han spilte tre låter på verandaen vår.

Vi har likevel vært så heldige å få høre Allen i flere sammensetninger hvert eneste år, og i fjor fikk vi endelig høre Lady Couch på The Basement, da de spilte på en Bob Marley-hyllest. Det var naturligvis deres egne låter som traff best, og nå er de endelig klar med sitt første studioprodukt – singlene “Foolish and Blue” og “Heartache”. Førstnevnte fikk vi høre når Allen spilte den på Dust of Daylight Sessions, og “Heartache” har en versjon liggende ute på YouTube med Allen Thompson Band som tydelig er en forløper til Lady Couch.

Frontfigurene Keshia Bailey og Allen Thompson har spilt i forskjellige band i årevis. Allen som frontmann i Allen Thompson Band som leverer americana/country med en lett psykedelisk knekk. Keshia i soulbandet Magnolia Sons.

Når de så møttes, og etterhvert begynte å skrive låter sammen – så fant de en felles interesse i musikalsk historie og etablerte etterhvert musikk-kollektivet Lady Couch, som gjerne teller opp til 12-15 pesoner på scenen, med full blåserekke og en gruppe musikere som bare renner over av kvalitet, spilleglede og kreativitet. Og stemmene til de to vokalistene Keshia og Allen er intet mindre enn overjordisk. Både sammen, og hver for seg. I dag slipper de altså singelen “Foolish and Blue” og “Heartache” på Cafe Rooster Records. Dessverre bare digitalt inntil videre. Vinyl ble droppet pga. Coronakrisen i USA. Men digitalt finner du singelen og kan glede deg over det de leverer.

Vi tok like godt en prat med Allen og Keshia i forbindelse med releasen

DoD: Tell me a bit about your musical backgrounds. You seem to tap from a lot of the 50s and 60s era, while naturally The Band comes to mind as well – while you bring something new to the table at the same time. 

Allen: With 12 people in the band, our list of influences is fairly dense. We all come from fairly different schools, but there is a lot of overlap. Keshia and I both share a big love for 50’s and 60’s soul and country. Especially Stax/Volt, and Early 60’s George Jones, Faron Young, et al. I’m also a big Jam Band fan, and try to bring that improvisational spirit into what we create. We really found common ground in our love for those big 70’s groups that merged all of those influences (Little Feat, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, The Band and The Grateful Dead.)

Keshia: I grew up in East Tennessee so my musical background is rooted in mountain music, gospel, soul, and delta blues. Allen and my love for these genres really are what propelled us into creating LadyCouch.

DoD: Hearing about some of your main influences – how have you worked to build the sound.

Allen: Creating our sound didn’t take a lot of work. Everyone in our band has been a part of the same community for a long time, so we all knew what we were getting into going in. The creating of the music has definitely been the easy part.

Keshia: My main musical influences are the likes of Bessie Smith, Candi Stanton, The Charmells. I love 50’s and 60’s girl groups so we try and keep that doo top feel with the background vocals which blends every song together in that nostalgic way.

DoD: Lady Couch are quite a number of people. Tell me about the rest of the band. Who are they?

Keshia: We are lucky enough to have some of the most talented musicians in the world representing Ladycouch. Every single member is equally involved in our song making process. Horns: Diego Vasquez, Paul Thacker, Robert Gay. Guitar: Mike Ford, Clint Maine. Bass: Gordon Persha. Keys/Bass: Grayson Downs. Drums: Ray Dunham. Vocals: Keshia Bailey, Olivia Burnett, Dana Kalan. Vocals/guitar: Allen Thompson.

DoD: How about your songwriting – you write separately and together, I understand. How do you work? What is it that inspire you to write, and how do you build a song for Lady Couch?

Allen: Keshia and I write separately and then bring it to each other to get it ready to go. We also write with other folks, but the bulk of the LadyCouch material is me and Keshia together. It’s honestly the easiest writing partnership I’ve ever had. We’re pretty in sync most of the time.

Keshia: Our writing style is pretty free. Come up with an idea and share it. Sometimes it may start with a song title, other times it could be a simple melody. Songwriting is a group effort and we want to share every member’s point of view through our individual songs and feelings. Lady Couch wants to represent everyone and give as many points of view as a 4-minute song will allow.

DoD: You talk about how the whole band work together to create, and Keisha said “Lady Couch wants to represent everyone and give as many points of view as a 4-minute song will allow”. Taking into account where you live, how does the community in East Nashville influence or help you guys? There is naturally a lot of competition, but at the same time the East Nashvillians seem to help each other more than focus on backstabbing and stealing gigs, which was a theme on Music Row in earlier years.

Allen: External and Internal politics definitely play a huge role in Nashville. I used to say I’d rather live in LA, because at least there you know pretty quickly whether or not the people you’re dealing with are actually gonna be willing to give you a job. That said, we’re pretty insulated from that in East Nashville. The community is so creative and so supportive. We’re definitely more interested in lifting people up, rather than tearing each other down. It reminds me of Laurel Canyon in the 70’s or Haight-Ashbury in the 60’s. I’m grateful I moved out there when I did. I don’t know what I’d do without those friendships.

Keshia: Nashville has been so supportive! Our music community has really opened its arms and ears to us and we wouldn’t be here without the love of Nashville as a whole.

DoD: How has moving to Nashville impacted your music?

Allen: Keshia and I both grew up in Appalachia. Her in East Tennessee and me in Southwest Virginia. We got to Nashville around the same time and became buds pretty quickly. I think that Appalachian influence definitely plays a huge role in our writing and performance. The shows are more like a revival than a standard (especially for Americana) showcase, and I’m super thankful for that.

Keshia: Allen and I moved to Nashville around the same time and became friends a few years later. A few years after that here we are, LADY COUCH!

Nå er set da opp til dere, kjære musikkvenner – del Lady Couch med venner og kjente, det kommer mer fra den kanten og tro meg når jeg sier at det er om mulig enda bedre.

“Foolish and Blue” er ute på Cafe Rooster Records idag. 

Cafe Rooster Records har en Patreon-side, der du kan få høre musikken de utgir før andre, samt en lang rekke eksklusive opptak og konserter de ikke deler andre steder. Det er dessuten en rekke andre, knallgode spesialfordeler for de som henger seg på.