You might take a listen to the folkish harmonies of sister duo the Hello Strangers and put them in the Americana brand. That would be the correct classification, given today’s musical climate. However, if you listen very closely, you will hear a sound that is similar to that of Emmylou Harris or Sweethearts of the Rodeo — both of whom were regulars on the country radio airwaves back in the late 1980s.
Larissa Chace Smith liked that comparison when it was brought to her attention, telling Billboard, “We definitely have a lot of Emmylou and the Byrds in our music. There’s also some Pure Prairie League and Flying Burrito Brothers, so that’s right on the spot.”
Larissa’s sister Brechyn Chace gave The 615 a little bit of insight as to how they formed their duo, saying, “We started writing together in 2006, when we lived in Austin together. We fell in love with the whole scene down there and decided that we wanted to write. Larissa had been writing songs previously, but when we started writing together, we thought it could be something really cool, and we tried to take it seriously.” Music has always had a special place in the sisters’ lives, going back to their days growing up in Pennsylvania. “We were always surrounded by music in our home,” she recalled. “Both of our grandfathers and our father were professional musicians.”
Larissa said the sibling harmony is something that comes organically. “I think it is something you naturally fall into as siblings. When we were doing dishes together, our mom would always ask us to sing. We always loved putting harmonies together. There was a CD called Do It A Cappella, and we listened to it all the time. We would try to mimic their harmonies. There was a lot of R&B on it. That was a big influence on us, and opened our ears to what we could do vocally.”
The duo have just issued their self-titled debut, which has received plenty of critical acclaim. The disc is a mix of 11 originals and two covers, one of which is a nod to Jim Lauderdale with “What You Don’t Know.” It gets the stamp of approval from the highly respected songwriter, who appears on the cut. “When we heard he was going to be on the album, we couldn’t believe it,” Brechyn admitted. “Then, he showed up in the studio, and we were a little starstruck. But we fell into a little bit of a groove, and he was so easy to work with. He was making us laugh the entire time.”
The other cover on the album might seem a little out of place, but their decision to cover the Doris Day standard “Que Sera. Sera” definitely has musical — and personal — merit. “Our father’s father, Ronald Chace, played second trombone for Les Brown‘s big band during the late 1940s, and during some of that time, he also recorded with Doris Day when she was about 17,” Larissa said. “Our producer got wind of that connection and said that we needed to have something on the album that involved Les Brown or Doris Day. We racked our brains to think of a song that we could arrange in a way that would suit our style and would flow with the album. At first, it seemed so obvious, but after a while we thought about it some more and landed on what we wanted to do with it. It ended up making the album.”
Brechyn said they tried taking the song in somewhat of a different direction. “We did our own arrangement, which is a little more dark. After going over the lyrics, it was so poignant with what was going on with our album. We were wondering what was going to happen next, and we just kept saying ‘What will be, will be.’ It turned out to be a really cool option.”
One of the highlights among the original material is the mysterious “The World Knows Far Better,” of which Larissa said, “It’s funny to talk about how a song originates. It’s sometimes about imagery and an idea floating around in your head. It’s not always blatantly autobiographical. We all have that feeling when the world knows something that you don’t. I can relate to the lyrics. I am a big fan of German author Hermann Hesse, and I was thinking about one of his books and the image of a dark street, and someone standing behind the door, and having lovers walking and the world outside. Somebody’s knocking, but you can’t seem to answer the call of what you need to know, and you feel like a fool. I think a lot of people can relate to that feeling.”
The Hello Strangers’ tour dates:
Oct. 4: Shepherdstown, WV
Oct. 8: Chambersburg, PA
Oct. 10: Albany, NY
Oct. 11: Brooklyn, NY
Oct. 25: Millheim, PA
Oct. 26: Mercersburhg, PA
Nov. 8: Shippensburg, PA