Underhill Rose: Press

ASHEVILLE — The voices in Underhill Rose may sound familiar. The harmony-driven folk duo, featuring Eleanor Underhill and Molly Rose Reed, was one half of the popular Asheville-based band, the Barrel House Mamas.

After the group disbanded, Underhill and Reed decided they wanted to keep singing together, so in 2009 they formed Underhill Rose, which features a like-minded brand of dusty country soul with gorgeous vocal arrangements that range from sweet and delicate to high and soaring.

“After a lot of time and healing from the Barrel House Mamas breaking up, we decided that we wanted to play music together again,” Underhill says. “At the beginning it was more raw, because we only had two-part harmonies. While, at first, it felt like a void, we pushed ourselves to put it all out there and be very honest. Now that Molly and I have been playing together for about 10 years, we’ve learned the nuances of each other’s musical abilities. We’ve taken on our own essence.”

The group is now gaining momentum with an increasing number of regional gigs. Underhill and Reed recently added bass player Salley Williamson to provide another layer of harmony.

Earlier this year the band released a self-titled album that was recorded with help from some of Asheville’s best players, including guitarist Aaron “Woody” Wood and members of Stephaniesid.

Filled with acoustic strings and pastoral melodies, the effort displays the group’s broad Americana flavors, as well as an attention to song craft that Underhill says takes influence from Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.

“I’ve been influenced by people that use imagery along with a paradoxical view of life,” she says. “There’s a sense when you know a lyric or song is working. It feels like you’re collaborating on some sort of collective conscious level with some of the great songwriters. It feels like you’re channeling something.”

The band plans to hit the road extensively next year, but they’re playing a local show this weekend at the Great Hall at the Grove Park Inn on Saturday afternoon. In addition to this show, they’ll be back at the resort again , Nov. 12 and Dec. 3.

“We’ll be playing there for the rest of the year,” Underhill adds. “Hopefully I can convince the band to whip up some holiday tunes.”

Jedd Ferris writes about entertainment for take5. Email him at jeddferris@gmail.com.

North Carolina's Underhill Rose bring feminine perspective to Americana scene

With Americana music suddenly making noise on the Billboard charts, it's becoming obvious that it's mainly a boys' club that is attracting mainstream attention - at least for now. But what of the female acts who are also hoisting the alt-country flag? One of the most promising rootsy women artists in the Americana scene is Underhill Rose.



Featuring the honeyed harmonies of Eleanor Underhill and Molly Rose Reed, Underhill Rose sprang phoenix like from the ashes of another group, the Barrel House Mamas. Because of the effortlessly smooth ways in which their voices blend, the ladies are sometimes mistaken for sisters; while they might not be related, they are kindred spirits, two women bonding over their mutual affection for folk and bluegrass.

Intrigued, I interviewed them both as they are currently celebrating the release of their self-titled debut album.

Where and when did Underhill Rose form?

Eleanor: We met in 2001 at Warren Wilson College and formed Underhill Rose in the spring of 2009, in Asheville, North Carolina.

There are not many female acts in the Americana scene. How does Underhill Rose fit into what is currently a rather male-dominated genre?

Eleanor: Molly Rose and I both grew up with strong, feminist mothers. I think they taught us the value of not seeing gender as an asset or as a hindrance. Over time, we have learned to see that it is, in fact, both! I’m sure that we may be objectified, or not taken seriously, as artists at times. We have found that our female-fronted band, offering songs that say something critical about the world, has been received as refreshing and inspiring. Overall, we get the sense that people see us as purely passionate conduits for music, and that’s what touches them. When we look out at our audiences, we see many ages of men and women.

Molly Rose: As I see it, being a minority can make or break you. I grew up being the only white girl, for a portion of my early childhood, in the Atlanta area. This experience taught me a lot about being authentic and true to myself, regardless of sex or race.

What is the alt-country scene in North Carolina like? Is it more supportive than competitive?

Molly Rose: We can’t keep up with the alt-country scene in Asheville, let alone North Carolina! There are bands and musicians moving to Asheville from all over the country, in addition to “steadfasts” who have been working the clubs for a while. In our opinion, the health of a music scene relies heavily on how the venues and the media treat the bands. We have some great radio stations, as well as daily and weekly papers that highlight the local scene. We also have a plethora of bars, listening rooms, and restaurants that want live music. There is a tinge of competition that comes when, for example, five bands (who know each other as friends or acquaintances) play on the same night. The fact of the matter is that we want to support each other and a little healthy competition helps to keep us on par with our contemporaries.

What happened with the Barrel House Mamas and how far did the band go in terms of achieving success?

Eleanor: The Barrel House Mamas originally formed for, what was to be, a one-time performance at Warren Wilson College. We were all students at the time who had gotten together in a dorm stairwell to practice harmonies. We had such a good time that we kept getting together. Once we all graduated, we decided to give ourselves a shot as a real live band. We ended up touring the Southeast for about three years, “weekend-warrior style”. We each maintained full-time jobs during the work week and hit the road on the weekend. We played venues and festivals as far west as New Orleans and as far north as Maryland. We were also flown to Los Angeles, where we auditioned for the ill-fated Fox TV show, The Next Great American Band. We also released one album, Gathering.

Although we were gaining much success, it was difficult to gauge when we should “quit our day jobs” and take the gamble on a full-time music career. Having a 9 to 5 job and then spending all of our free time either practicing or piled into a Subaru was exhausting. At the time of the breakup, we were a bit jaded and tired. Plus, we all had personal issues to tend to. It became divisive.



Molly Rose: It took a little while for the “Molly Rose and Eleanor faction” to recover and rest. After a few months had passed, we decided to continue making music. We had a lot of unrecorded material, we sounded great, and we worked well together. At that point, we realized that we had an amazing opportunity to make a new and uniquely fresh sound. So, Underhill Rose was born.



What are the group's musical influences and how do they contribute to the band's sound?



Molly Rose: I was more exposed to church and gospel music at a young age, while Eleanor’s childhood was surrounded by show tunes and ballads. Otherwise, we both grew up listening to The Beatles and classic rock, like a lot of other people in our generation. We both listened to Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt, as well as harmony-based groups like Trio (Emmylou Harris, Linda Rondstadt, and Dolly Parton), CSN&Y, and Simon and Garfunkel. In the '90s, we began listening to the budding hip-hop scene and R&B. In high school, Eleanor enveloped herself in Phish and The Grateful Dead. At that point, I was getting more deeply acquainted to folk and singer/songwriter music.



Eleanor: I think we have our parents to thank for the firm, diverse foundation of music that we both grew up with. By sheer chance, our influences are quite similar. All of those influences have fused together with the mountain music we discovered at Warren Wilson College. The vocal harmonies that pull from the early days of listening to Trio and folk music, combined with the powerful vocal melodies of R&B, are very apparent. These days, it all comes down to a great melody, good lyrics, and heartfelt singing.



Molly Rose: It’s also important to mention how lucky we were to grow up during Lilith Fair, which was one of the first female featured national tours. It gave us positive role models for playing music.



Who is the group’s primary songwriter?



Eleanor: We both write songs for the band. In the beginning, I would write a lot more than Molly Rose. I would normally have her in mind to sing the lyrics as I wrote them. I have always felt like we had a sort of Townsend-Daltrey relationship. But, as we have progressed and gained experience as musicians, the process has switched. I am singing more and Molly Rose is writing more. We’ve each gained confidence and efficacy in the aspects that used to be our weaknesses. I think that it is very important to continue to challenge ourselves as artists, so that we don’t become bored or overly co-dependent.



What are the band's current goals?



Molly Rose: We are committed to always being artists. We are currently planning the Underhill Rose tour for 2012, which includes playing venues and festivals around the Southeast. We also hope that this tour includes being an opening act (we would love to open for acts like The Avett Brothers or Mumford & Sons). We are also adding our friend Salley Williamson on upright bass. She should help us hone in on a third harmony.



Eleanor: For our fans…don't worry, Gary Oliver will be staying! He will be playing drums and guitar.



Do the members have day jobs to stay afloat while in the band? If so, how does the band juggle such a schedule?



Molly Rose: Oh, yes. Right now, we do have other jobs that require our time. This keeps us playing “weekend warrior” style. Obviously, it requires a lot of dedication and planning to stay focused while we work as much as we do. However, we’re keeping our spirits bright and excited. We look forward to a future where we can focus on our music 100% of the time.



What does the band hope to acquire with the CD?



Eleanor: Our plan is to build a fan base. We hope that our music will garner radio airplay and that people will go to our website, buy a CD, and come see a show. We are so proud to finally have a product that authentically represents us.



Molly Rose: Incidentally, we are also are in the process of forming a foundation. A portion of Underhill Rose’s performance proceeds will benefit two distinct causes: agricultural education and school gardens, along with global humanitarian efforts. Currently, part of our performance proceeds go to a project called Community to Kenya, which is one person's quest to expand awareness about issues of displacement in Kenya. It also teaches sustainable farming methods. So, anyone who supports us will be supporting these causes.



Eleanor: It’s really simple: we’re drawn to music because of its ability to portray the human experience. We hope that our album touches people and that they truly enjoy it. It is our way of contributing to the world.

From Bold Life Magazine, March 2011:

Molly Rose Reed has always loved harmony. That should come as no surprise to anyone who's heard her sing with Underhill Rose. But it wasn't until she moved from Atlanta to Black Mountain to attend Warren Wilson College that she ever considered music as her life's focus.

"I've sung all my life, because it brings me a lot of joy," Reed says. One of her biggest early influences was Trio — Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, and Dolly Parton. "They harmonized with each other, so I learned how to hear those harmonies, with the help of my dad. In the car we would listen to tapes or the radio, classic rock or something. He would say, 'Okay, I'm going to sing a low harmony, you sing the high one.' I learned steadily over time how to hear harmonies."

At 17 she arrived at Warren Wilson with plans of being an environmental scientist. "I quickly realized that that did not stir my soul whatsoever, but that people do, and stories about people. I had performed some out and about, but I was incredibly shy," she says.

"Some people step into other personalities when they get onstage, and that's really not what I am. I almost wish that I had that capability. But I've found that I'm very similar onstage to how I am in my daily life, for better or for worse.

"I definitely learned more about performing once I came up here." Her love of harmony singing quickly transferred into a love of mountain music. She took a finger-picking blues guitar class, and learned tunes from Songcatcher and O Brother Where Art Thou.

"Warren Wilson is a school where everybody works and supports the school," she says. "There's a global way of thinking. 'What are the broader implications of me doing this one little thing that I'm doing right now?' So whether it's composting or going to a protest or whatever it is, there are always broader implications. It makes everybody more intelligent about what human beings are here to do. There's a certain intelligence that comes with having a global perspective, and it's not necessarily bookish, but it is just being a citizen of the world."

Impromptu vocal sessions on campus led to the formation of the country roots group, The Barrel House Mamas, with Eleanor Underhill and Jane Kramer-Edens. "We'd sit in stairwells at school and sing together," Reed recalls. "Once we were done with school we decided to make a go of it and see what happens. We made music together for the love of music, and as friends. And what none of us realized is that there's a business that goes along with it. You have to be able to get the right kind of help to make a band happen. It's not just about making music. That lesson was an interesting one."



The Barrel House Mamas released an album, Gathering, which was named a top regional release of 2006 by WNCW listeners. They became a quartet with the addition of Anna Bauman-Smith. But the group broke up in 2009 before getting a chance to release a follow-up. Molly Rose Reed and Eleanor Underhill decided to move forward together.

"We did a lot of soul searching in the creation of Underhill Rose," Reed says. "We'd been through a lot of devastation with The Barrel House Mamas going in different directions. We basically both decided the same thing — that music was our contribution, and that we were better together.

"Our voices have always gone well together, but it's taken a lot of work for the two of us to match each other. Stylistically we're different. Eleanor's phrasing is very different than mine. But we can just look at each other and know where the other ones' going to go or is about to jump with their voice or with their instrument — what the song should do. We send psychic faxes to each other. We have a lot of synchronicity."

The duo is hoping for a late-spring release of a new CD, recorded at Collapseable and Echo Mountain studios in Asheville. "Eleanor and I thought, 'Okay, reset button. Let's make a little bit of money and make an album.' So that's what has happened. We have all new songs, and I just think that there's a beautiful evolution for the two of us musically. Coming from the Barrel House Mamas, we still have the great vocal harmonies, but I have to say that the songs just really are very, very soulful. I think people will really like it."

Two songs previewed on their website, "2000 Miles" and "West Side," show off that trademark sweet mountain soul, and vocal blend to die for. "We each present songs and then work on them from there. If I write a song, Eleanor helps come up with harmonies and solo lines. She might have a recommendation to switch some words around, and I have definitely done that with her songs as well.

"We're keeping it fun. We're just trying to get our record out, share our songs with people, and see what happens. That's the point. Enjoy yourselves and do what you can to make your contribution. And ours is, right now, through music."" Two songs previewed on their website, "2000 Miles" and "West Side," show off that trademark sweet mountain soul, and vocal blend to die for."

" I don't think I have ever heard to voices that blended better together."