Over The Moon try to coax a Lonesome Bluebird from its solitary nest in their tenderly bittersweet new single and video — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
“This song is basically about a beautiful young woman who is letting the fear of failure or the impression she might be making cause her to miss out on so many of life’s real experiences,” says vocalist and banjo picker Craig Bignell of the Alberta roots duo. “She makes up for it by only focusing on her outer beauty and possessions.”
For the accompanying video, Bignell and singer-guitarist Suzanne Levesque took a cue from a classic film. “We’ve always loved the movie Cat Ballou and the way Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye are always in the shot somewhere, singing songs about the scene. We thought this would be a great concept for the Lonesome Bluebird video.”
After spending their individual careers recording and performing with other artists, the multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriters teamed up both on and offstage. Somewhere between the milestones of meeting and marriage, the Alberta duo discovered that they both draw inspiration from their surroundings, and their voices blend beautifully.
Creating music that reflects the pulse of life lived in a territory that is both rugged and breathtaking, the pair traverse everything from vintage western swing to contemporary cowboy blues. Nowhere is this more apparent than through the soundscape that is this year’s 10-song sophomore album Chinook Waltz, the followup to their acclaimed 2017 debut Moondancer.
“Our concept for Chinook Waltz was to try and convey a feeling that one gets living in the foothills of Southwestern Alberta’s ranching community,” Bignell offers. “It’s beyond beautiful, but also rugged and unforgiving; people help each other here, and a neighbour is just as important as family. Like John Denver’s song Country Roads says: ‘Life is old there.’ We produce and record our music at home, which was a huge learning curve for us, but we feel that we’re able to get the songs and sounds we wanted that way. Words that come to mind to describe it are ‘organic’ or a ‘stone ground sound.’ There are no studio tricks because we don’t know any.”
Watch Lonesome Bluebird above, hear more from Over The Moon below, and meet them at their website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
