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Right Time 2:270:00/2:27
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Fanning the Flames 2:350:00/2:35
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There's Gonna Be 3:230:00/3:23
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Learn to Get Along 3:080:00/3:08
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Time to Fly 2:120:00/2:12
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Cold Day in Hell 2:330:00/2:33
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Lily Virginia 3:110:00/3:11
Latest album "ravel and twine" (2022)
DOWNLOADABLE FILES
A Town Called Home | Full Bio
A Town Called Home "Ravel and Twine" Album: One Sheet | Track Guide | Lyrics | Song Credits | Cover Art
single release "fanning the flames"
PRESS RELEASE
(PORTLAND, ORE.) – Americana folk country duo, Howdy Darrell and Marilyn Darrell announce the release of their debut album Ravel and Twine on July 8, ahead of their new single release, “Fanning the Flames,” coming out on July 1.
Recorded at King Electric Recording in Austin, Texas, with many stalwart Austin musicians included on the tracks, Ravel and Twine, solidifies this duo’s underpinnings in Texas music while extending beyond state lines to influences unique to their own songwriting. Both songwriters share a personal and direct perspective while incorporating traditional elements of bluegrass, folk, country, and more. This album weaves together close heartfelt harmonies, driving rhythm, and an authentic down-home approach to their own cut of Americana music that merges deep Texas roots with a West coast vibe.
Marilyn observes, “I grew up in Northern California and lived in the Pacific Northwest before moving to Austin. But Howdy is Texas through and through. As we started to write and play music together it was important to not feel like we had to fit a certain mold but instead just be who we were and see what started taking shape. The last couple of years, including our move up to Portland, Oregon, have had a big influence on that. Without being sentimental, the stories in these songs reveal the evolution of a relationship along with a never-ending quest to make a home while reckoning with change and chaos, and longing for the seeming-stability of the past.”
Howdy simplifies, “It’s just real songs by real people.” Then goes on to share, “These songs come out of observations from daily life. Sometimes it’s our own and sometimes it’s us noticing someone else. We’re not trying to be someone we’re not or write about something we don’t know anything about. That’s what makes it real. And I think that’s what makes it relatable.”
“Fanning the Flames” the first single off of the album, was Marilyn and Howdy’s first co-write and is about long distance relationships. While “Right Time” centers around those initial butterflies and anxious feelings that come with having and dealing with a crush. Howdy always jokingly says this is one of the first songs he ever wrote - about his babysitter.
“Learn to Get Along” is a song lamenting life’s choices written by Howdy back when he was living in his hometown near Corpus Christi. While the lyrics and melody for “There’s Gonna Be” came to Marilyn in a dream. An honest take on the stage in a relationship where the new has worn off and you see each other in a new light. Reckoning and wrestling with these inner demons, relationships either transcend into something richer or just fall apart.
The irony of Austin, the live music capital of the world, being too expensive for musicians to afford to live there is rooted in “Time to Fly”. After deciding to buy a house in a small town outside Austin and after many miles of commuting, Marilyn wrote this as an ode to the highway that became like her home and the small town that never quite was. “Cold Day in Hell” was written by Howdy about a jilted lover handling the end of a relationship by galvanizing himself with feelings of unforgiveness. The final Appalachia-tinged track is written by Portland songwriter Kurt Hagardorn that harkens back to an early morning homecoming and brings the album full circle.
As songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, they have learned much from working with many accomplished artists including Wayne Hancock, Grammy-Award winner Joel Guzman, Brennen Leigh, Leo Rondeau, and Noel McKay. Together, A Town Called Home’s take on country music is humble, unpretentious, and timeless. It is rooted firmly in their love for a good melody and thoughtful lyrics creating a song authentic in its story and in its delivery.