Evan Ballew: How did the band first come together?
Michelle Humber: Nate and I met at Rock Rabbit, which isn’t here anymore, but it was like a legendary place in Pinedale. We reconnected there, because I guess we had technically met before. And then Nate asked me to get together to write songs. And I said ‘yes,’ even though I didn’t think he was going to be any good at it. And I was like, ‘oh my God, this guy’s like a really good songwriter.’ And we just hit it off.
Nate Curry: Ryan, our friend, the drummer, who plays on the album, he had some recording equipment. We ended up just recording that at a ranch here in Pinedale.
MH: He’s like, I got everything set up. We got to record these songs.
EB: Did you all find that the songs evolved since first writing them to when you actually got in this studio to record them?
NC: In a sense, yes. I love the way it sounded, but I think that the core of the songs are pretty much the same. And we intentionally wanted to keep the idea of us recording in that ranch house. We didn’t want it to be too produced, so we really wanted to kind of keep them close to their original form.
EB: Would you all be able to describe what your songwriting process is like?
NC: I work out in the Jonah Field and I have a long drive and to pass the time, I just look at the landscape and I think of stories and that’s how I write.
MH: Well, and then you bring it home and he plays it like over and over and over again, and normally I come in like towards the last quarter of the song and help him finish. I just started writing a song the other day and it’s literally the first time I’ve started writing a song since I was probably in my twenties.
EB: Would you all be able to describe what the experience is like being a working artist out in a town like Pinedale and in a state like Wyoming?
NC: I don’t like to think of it as something that I want to pursue for money. We kind of just do it for the sake of just, you know, having fun and making music.
MH: We’re in our early mid 40s. We’ve got two kids, we’ve got two jobs. So in all honesty, we get offered gigs and have to turn them down just because we have a lot of conflicts, the kid’s got a sports game, that sort of thing. That is tougher to navigate than being in Wyoming. I think if we were trying to pursue music, it would be tough. You know, being here in Pinedale, we’re not really trying to make a living with it. We’re in more of a space where we’re just playing for fun and just want toget the songs out there
EB: How’s the music community in Pinedale?
NC: For such a small town there are so many really good musicians. Fun people to play with.
MH: And even the theater group is big here and there’s a choir and just a ton of music… some really talented people here in Pinedale for sure, especially for such a small town.
EB: How important of a role do y’all think songwriting plays in the world today?
NC: I think it’s hugely important. Art, for the sake of art, is an incredibly valuable tool for trying to make sense of things. And it’s important, I think, to show people that that’s a good tool to have to just navigate life. You should absolutely express yourself in artistic ways and then write a cringey song. People like that stuff.
MH: There is a lot of value in hearing when people mess up and then they still are like playing with it.
EB: What’s the best advice that you’ve received in your time as an artist that you still fall back on?
NC: You know, the thing about music is you can play it forever. You can play until you die. And I felt like that always took the pressure off.
MH: I think I’ve learned a lot of this from Nate, actually. There’s so much value in just writing the songs and singing them and putting them out there. Understanding that we just have to reshape what we think success is. Because that is success, right? Getting together with the people that you love and care about and having a great time and playing great music and feeling that joy. Like you don’t need to be popular and be selling millions of records.
NC: Your limitations are what create your style.
Listen above for KHOL’s conversation with Michelle Humber and Nate Curry.
