When Rivers Meet

After hearing about the success this husband-and-wife duo from Downham Market had at the recent British Blues Awards, I decided that I needed to give their album a spin, just to see if it really was that good. I was so impressed that I actually sought to speak with them personally just to let them know how good it was. Anyway, they agreed to have a brief chat, and here’s what they had to say.

First of all, we have to talk about the British Blues Awards, right?

It was incredible. Just to be nominated was an honour. We were hoping for one maybe two nominations, but to receive four was a complete surprise, and to win all four was amazing. We just couldn’t believe it, but the support has been amazing.

Do you find it difficult as a married couple creatively?

No we don’t. Everything we do is 50/50, maybe Aaron will come up with some lyrics and we’ll create a melody around that, or Grace will come up with a riff and we can build on that too. Aaron plays guitar and Grace plays fiddle and mandolin, and so both of us can contribute anything that’s needed to create something.

You’re currently recording the next album. How’s that progressing?

Things are going very well actually. We’re currently living in our campervan at the recording studio, and we have been for a few weeks now. Adam, who owns the studio is a proficient musician and plays bass, drums and keys, and he shares our vision when it comes to recording. It makes the whole process a lot more enjoyable. The album will be released in November this year, and will be a year and a day since We Fly Free was released.

How does that carry into your live shows?

We’re touring with King King later in the year, and for that tour it will be just the two of us. Of course the music will be stripped back a little, but it will be how we envisioned it at the start.

Speaking of which, is that something you thought possible?

It’s fantastic. They’re an amazing band, and Alan Nimmo is unbelievable. To be on the same bill is with them is humbling, but it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The past year has been difficult for artists everywhere, how have you adapted to try and keep your momentum going?

It’s important to have a social media presence, and we’ve been putting out a Saturday night live stream every week on Facebook for several months. We’ve made sure that we’re available every week at 8pm, regardless of what we’ve got going on. Interaction with our fans is so important to us, and to see the live streams grow to over a million view has been phenomenal.

So how did you two meet?

We actually met at the Live and Let Live in Downham Market. Aaron approached asking if he knew me from somewhere, but we were total strangers. The rest of course is history, and we’ve been together for 17 years now which is awesome.

So do you have any plans for 2022 yet?

Yes, lots. We’re off to the US next year in August for a few dates, which is really exciting for us. We’re going to be visiting a lot of places where the blues originated, kind of like a pilgrimage, but more than that, it’ll be an influential tour, and it will certainly find its way into our music somewhere along the road no doubt. Which is really cool because we don’t want to start putting out the same album over and over. We can’t wait to get over to the US although we can’t tour every state we certainly hope to in 2023.

Are there any plans for UK dates later on?

That’s something that’s we’re working really hard to put together, we have quite a few dates confirmed all over the UK for 2022, but we can’t announce until this September. We will have have a backing band on our tour next year starting in April, so we can bring the full sound of the albums onto the live stage. It’s a work in progress, but we’re going to make it happen. Our fans deserve to hear live what we accomplish in the studio, we owe them that.