The Lone Bellow and Grizfolk

The Lone Bellow formed in New York in 2010, but prior to that each member were set on their own music endeavor. Brian Elmquist had substantiated a solo career for himself for over 10 years and already had solo albums under his belt. Before moving to New York, Pipkin was located in Beijing, China with her husband, taking part in a variety of music events such as teaching music lessons, acting as a hostess for open mic nights, and performing at venues around the city.

However the conception of the Lone Bellow is often traced back to Zach Williams. Prior to the band’s formation Williams was recording and performing as a solo act and was backed by a supporting band. Williams’ surge in songwriting was spawned by a family crisis in which his wife underwent temporary paralysis due to a horseback riding incident. As a way to cope with his anxiety, Williams kept a journal of his feelings and with the coaxing of his friends he turned these entries into songs. Williams and Kanene’s musical chemistry was first put to a test during the wedding of Kanene’s brother in which they sung “O Happy Day” together. The friends were pleased with how their voices fit together; however, they did not initially pursue any further collaboration considering each lived at the opposite end of the globe.

After a few years passing Kanene moved to New York for culinary school and met up with Williams and Elmquist to contribute to some of the music Williams had been working on as a solo artist. The three hit it off right a way and quickly established themselves as one of the top rising Americana acts in New York. They built themselves a strong fanbase in the city and landed spots opening for the Civil Wars, Dwight Yokam, Brandi Charlie, and the Avett Brothers. By early 2013 the band released their self-titled debut, which was engineered by Nashville producer Charlie Peacock. The album received glowing reviews making No. 8 on People’s Top 10 Albums of 2013 and also did commercially well debuting at No. 64 on the Billboard 200.

The band toured almost non-stop for two years in support of this album and stayed equally busy writing songs on the road. The group had come up with nearly 40 songs by the end of their tour and sought out the National guitarist and acclaimed producer Aaron Dessner to record it. Aaron Dessner was enthused to work with the trio and has since employed several experimental and interesting recording techniques. The band recorded the album in a nineteenth-century church that is now Dreamland recording studio. The album had an early 2015 release date and features some of the group’s darkest material such as “Marietta” and “Call to War”.