Couldn’t Be Happiers On the Making Of ‘Couple(t)s’
What was the creative process like for this particular album?
Organic, luckily. Sometimes creativity can be a slog, but this time it was right in front of us. It had been a year since we released our album Songs for Butchie, and that was too long for Jodi. She’s goal-oriented and can get restless if too much time passes without a project to work on. If CBH were a train, she’d be the engine, and Jordan would be the brakes. Without Jordan, that train is flying off the tracks; without Jodi, it’s going to sit motionless in the freight yard. Anyways, we had a handful of songs we really liked, and we were able to categorize each of them into one of three thematic genres: social commentary, updated folk stories, and relationships. We built the rest of the album with a focus on those three themes. That part was organic because progressive politics, folk music, and our relationship are all major contributors to our individual lives and our marriage.
Were there any challenges or breakthrough moments during the songwriting process for 'Couple(t)s?’
Writing as a married duo comes with both in equal measure. There are some artistic disagreements that arise and, because of art’s subjectivity, simply cannot be litigated reasonably. Those disagreements could be about diction, melodic structure, harmonies, and more. But as a writer, you are invested in your work. So when someone, even the person you love the most, doesn’t agree with your artistic choice, feelings can get hurt. We have each learned over time not to dig in our heels on every hill. We’ve also learned that there is always a breakthrough lurking just ahead, so we keep working until we get there.
Can you talk about any standout tracks on 'Couple(t)s' and what makes them special to you?
“Come Back Tomorrow” is different for us. We tend to write with a three act narrative structure. But CBT is nostalgic for a time when falling in love or getting a driver’s license came with feelings of immense possibility, power, and freedom. To capture those feelings, we needed the right chord structure, the right groove, the right dynamics, and the right lyrics. It was a recipe, and a straightforward narrative was not on the list of ingredients. Jodi spearheaded the tune and really crushed it.
Can you tell us more about you as a duo?
We love each other, yes, but we also just genuinely like being around each other. Always have.. We met in 2013 at an old time music circle, but we were married to other people. We saw each other once every couple months after that, but eventually Jordan moved home to Texas. Unbeknownst to each other, we both were going through a separation just a few weeks apart. On a random Sunday in April, Jordan heard a song on his playlist that reminded him of Jodi. Luckily for him, she didn’t find it weird or creepy when he sent it to her. Instead, we rekindled a friendship that quickly led to a romantic getaway in New Orleans. We got married there a year later. We jumped right into playing music after that, both of us having put it on the backburner for so many years. Our former spouses weren’t wild about our individual musical pursuits, so we zealously began making up for lost time.
Do you aim to convey any specific themes or messages through your music?
Four of these songs are folk tales retold for a modern era; four of them are acts of protest; and four are about love. We take pride in telling stories from unique points of view, and there are plenty in this album. “Plastic Bag Odyssey (I’ll Never Die)” is a first-person narrative from the point-of-view of a plastic bag wreaking havoc on the environment. In “Devil’s Tramping Ground,” the devil reveals the truth behind the legend of the Devil’s Tramping Ground here in North Carolina. And two ghosts share how they became fated to wander the Appalachian mountains in “Brown Mountain Lights.” It’s not that our personal perspective isn’t important – there’s plenty of that in this album. ”Wherever You Go” is all about how Jordan will love Jodi no matter where she is, but sharing stories as experienced by others is equally as important, and perhaps even more challenging to us as writers. We are living during a moment where people demonize immigrants and trans people because they fear the unfamiliar. A good faith attempt to see the world from others’ perspective would lead to a lot more acceptance and a lot more love. We hope this album, in some small way, does that.
