Honey & Houston (Photo from Honey & Houston)
By Andy Foltz
NKyTribune correspondent
Normally, a band puts out an album, then tours the world.
Heather Turner and Lauren Houston, the lead vocalists of the local group Honey & Houston, spent time together in Europe, which inspired their collaboration and eventually their debut album, “Barcelona.” The album was released by the Northern Kentucky natives recently during a show at the Southgate House Revival in Newport.
“We toured the world as friends,” said Houston, with a laugh. Houston, who grew up in Morning View, and Turner, a Fort Thomas native, met at an open mic night at Rivertown Music Club in 2006, became instant friends, and have been ever since.
“It was a really memorable vacation,” added Turner, formerly of the band Tupelo Honey. “We told all our friends and family we were going to quit our jobs and move there once we got back.”
“We’re bringing Spain to us,” Houston said of the album. During the live performance of “Barcelona,” she told the wall-to-wall audience, “We love this one because we love this place. It inspired our whole album.”
Indeed, the title track has a bit of a gypsy feel to it, something that is intentional and reflects the melting pot of influences on the band.
“We sort of have a desire to be vagabonds,” said Turner. “The song has a bit of a flamenco vibe, and Barcelona itself has that feel.”
The two things that stand out, both during a live performance and on the album, are the unmatched harmonies between Turner and Houston, and the multi-instrumental wizardry of Mark Cretcher. Cretcher rotates between banjo, mandolin, guitar, and lap steel for the band. Daniel Peterson rounds out the band on drums and percussion.
“I feel pretty fortunate to have come into contact with these ladies,” Cretcher said. “It’s fun to just pick up whatever instrument feels right at the moment.”
The band’s sound is hard to single out for classification, an observation that makes the members chuckle.
“We’re not old-timey blues, we’re not bluegrass, we’re not a country band although we do have a couple of songs that are country,” Cretcher said. “We all have a pretty wide net of interests.”
Photo From Honey & Houston
Indeed, the multi-talented band produced their own album, as well as the cover, using Houston’s photos and Cretcher’s design abilities. Turner and Houston also split the songwriting duties between them.
During the show, Turner told the audience that “Barstools & Bottles” was her favorite song on the album. The chorus of the song is a great example of the harmonization between Turner and Houston. It isn’t just in singing that the pair is in synch, though. The friendship they share leads them to pick up where the other left off in conversation as well as to be very complimentary of one another.
“Heather is a wonderful singer, she can harmonize at the drop of the hat,” said Houston, who was performing on her own prior to joining with Turner.
“I think she got the hang of it pretty quick,” Turner responded.
“Warm Love,” the last song on the album and a cover of Van Morrison, is another example of the way the two voices blend seamlessly. They demonstrated this in their live show when they ended the set with a more up-tempo version of Patty Griffin’s classic, “Long Ride Home,” a beautiful song, but not the easiest to sing. Turner and Houston crushed it to the crowd’s delight.
The band all have steady jobs, but that won’t stop them from hitting the road this summer to promote the album, do some shows, and indulge their gypsy tendencies.
“We will be getting out of town, but nothing’s finalized,” said Houston.
“It’s another dream that will come to fruition,” added Turner.
With more solid efforts like their debut album, it won’t be the last.
I agree totally with this article on Honey and Houston. When Heather first told me that she and Katie would probably not be singing for Tupelo Honey any more, I was so sad because they were so great together. I never would have thought that Heather would ever sound as good with anyone else. She sure proved me wrong. Her and Lauren sound so great together and I love listening to their new CD. As stated in the article, they do harmonize tremendously together.
Great story! Always good to hear about local people who have talent!