PRINTHymn For Her keeps it all in the family
Country meets punk on one band’s coast-to-coast tour
Jeff Fusco
September 22, 2011 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Punk rock and bluegrass duo Hymn For Her doesn’t know the meaning of the word homesick. It is difficult to miss home when it’s on tour with you, and even harder still for you to kiss your loved ones goodbye when your whole family is coming along for the ride.
For Wayne Waxing and Lucy Tight, stage names for the husband and wife twosome who make up the band, home is a 16-foot 1961 Bambi Airstream trailer that they bought from an older couple just a few years ago. The trailer not only houses the couple’s dog and daughter, but it also acts as a tour bus and a place for the band to record.
This fall, Hymn For Her continues its coast-to-coast tour of the U.S. with a return to Columbia on Saturday, Sept. 24.
Originally from Philadelphia, Hymn For Her now tours full-time around the United States. Always in tow are the couple’s black lab, Pokey, and toddler daughter. The average touring band might not face the challenge of finding childcare, but the group maintains that the decision to tour as a family has been rewarding. “We just like the nomadic lifestyle,” Tight says.
Hymn For Her’s music is best described as a unique hybrid of punk rock and bluegrass mixed with folk rock. The duo began its project in 2007 after playing in the Philadelphia folk rock group Maggi, Pierce and E.J for much of the ’90s and early 2000s. Waxing and Tight drew inspiration from alternative rock groups such as The Pixies, classic rockers such as Led Zeppelin and country and blues artists.
The resulting sound has the experimental charm of The White Stripes with the vocal energy of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Likewise, a healthy dose of layered vocal harmony in nearly every song cements the bluegrass vibe that is prevalent throughout the record.
It was this interesting blend of folk, rock and country that impressed Sideshow’s booking agent Jesse Garcia when the band performed at the club last year. “They’re a powerful little duo, great people; you just have to see it,” Garcia says. “They use some pretty interesting combinations of instruments.”
“I guess the way we play together and our traveling and recording have developed the sound that we have today,” Tight explains. “I don’t know how we got into (bluegrass); it’s just what we have become after playing music for so long.”
As pioneers of this musical genre that they call “punk grass,” Waxing and Tight are producing a mixture that is all their own.
Their unusual repertoire of instruments includes an acoustic guitar, bass drum, harp, banjo and most notably, a three-string guitar constructed from a broom handle and a cigar box.
“The only homemade instrument we have is our cigar box guitar,” Tight says. “A friend of ours made it as a gift, and we just plugged it in and liked how it sounded.”
Despite its many challenges, Hymn For Her chose to record its album while touring and would recommend it to other bands. “It makes it more immediate, more like exactly what you’re doing with the moment,” Tight says.
Listeners can look forward to an energetic live show, a slide show of original photos on a vintage projector and even a classic rock cover or two.
