The Wandering Hearts Discuss Their Self-Titled Album, Marty Stuart and Graceland

Image credit: Decca Records

The Wandering Hearts have had a rapid rise to fame, named as Bob Harris’s emerging artist of the year in the 2018 Americana UK awards, and winning many plaudits for the powerful writing and great vocal harmonies on their debut album ‘Wild Silence’ released the same year. This year has seen the release of singles ‘Gold’, ‘Over Your Body’ and ‘Dolores’, previewing their forthcoming album ‘The Wandering Hearts’.

Our Americana correspondent David Jarman caught up with Tara, Chess and AJ of The Wandering Hearts recently, to hear about their forthcoming album release, and plans for the coming year.

DJ

You must be very excited that your new album ‘The Wandering Hearts’ will be released on 30th July this year, after a frustrating Covid delay?

AJ

We feel so lucky that we finished the album before lockdown, and were able to fly home just in time.

Tara

We recorded the album in the USA in Woodstock, with Simone Felice and David Barron producing, we’d had our eyes on them for a while, it was a truly magical experience. Woodstock is an amazing place, we were in an incredible studio high up in the Catskill Mountains, packed with weird and wonderful instruments, everywhere was covered with snow, like a scene from the movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’.

DJ

Did you bring in extra musicians to record with you at the studio?

AJ

We recorded with Lee, our regular bass and guitar player, and our manager Steve is an excellent musician too and plays on the album, David Barron played some incredible keys, and Simone played too, so the whole album came together really well, with our in-house team. We stayed in a B&B which had a great music room, and we were able to play through the new songs each evening before recording the next day.

DJ

Did you bring all the songs for the album ready to record?

Tara

Pretty much, we had a long shortlist and a few extras in case they were needed, but we settled very quickly on the songs which made the final cut.

DJ

And you managed to hook up with Marty Stuart while you were out in the States too, following on from you’re meeting up when you supported him on his 2018 tour?

AJ

Yes, we’ve not stopped pinching ourselves, he’s been a great supporter since that tour, inviting us out to the US to tour with him, getting us on stage at the Ryman and Grand Old Opry in Nashville, and giving us one of his songs for the new album.

DJ

And of course his band The Fabulous Superlatives are such great musicians too.

Chess

Yes, they are an amazing band, after we saw them at Graceland Marty said that ‘we’re learning so much about harmonies from you kids’, he is so generous, you know the expression ‘you don’t have to blow someone else’s candle out to make yours shine brighter’, he is the walking definition of that, from meeting fans after his shows to helping fellow musicians he is an absolute total legend, and to have him on the album and record with him at the Cash Cabin is so great.

Tara

He hadn’t actually heard our version of the song when we met up with him at the Cash Cabin Studio, so we played him our version of his song, we have him listening to it for the first time on film, he loved it, and plays on the recording you’ll hear when the album comes out.

Chess

He asked us if we could play him some more of our songs, and if we’d like to hear some new songs, he played some just recorded by his wife Connie Smith, and some of his new stuff too, so we were hearing unreleased tracks, comparing recording experiences, it was just mental. And he’s asked us to be the first international act to play at a new theatre venue he’s opening up at Hempsterville, East Nashville.

AJ

When you’re touring you get very close to your fellow acts, we’d always watch Marty and the Fabulous Superlatives from out front of the stage, watching them perform songs like ‘Old Mexico‘, the way they sing that together gathered round a single mic at the front of the stage, it was mesmerising.

DJ

Tell us more about Cash Cabin, such an iconic place to be recording.

Chess

It was unreal, we got a special tour around the whole estate, where Johnny used to live, the Cabin has June’s piano, and all the personal items like fishing rods, with their name tags, it’s like it’s frozen in time.

DJ

And you visited Graceland too, that also has that very personal feel, all the day to day items from real life.

AJ

Yes, I’m a massive Elvis fan, and I’ve been there once before, you have this expectation of Graceland as palatial, but when you get there it’s actually someone’s home. The first time I visited I had an emotional moment in the meditation garden, I was really upset, I was a wreck, I told the girls about it, but it happened again. When you go round it feels like this person you’ve looked up to for so long has just left the room, and you’re following him around the house.

DJ

And you get the same feeling at Cash’s Cabin?

AJ

Cash’s Cabin had the same impact, but it felt more personal as we had privileged access, it was well special for us, and of course we were there with Marty, who knew Johnny so well.

DJ

It’s always interesting to hear about artists songwriting process, and wondered if you’d be happy to share how you came to write ‘Dolores’, one of your recent releases previewing your forthcoming album?

Chess

Our writing process is a bit different every time, with ‘Dolores‘ the inspiration came from an article I read in Rolling Stone about Dolores O’Riordan, I knew the songs, and the band, but I had no idea about her life, something grabbed me, I shared this with AJ and Tara, and we were writing with our good friend Caitlin, she was writing ideas down as I spoke, and she said ‘I think that’s our song‘. Tara’s Mum would often say to her when she was younger that ‘everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about so be kind‘, and that encapsulated the message and became the central line of the song. It’s a massively moving and poignant song and seems to become more so every day, it’s a sad song but the message is that there is always hope, and light at the end of the tunnel, there is always someone to talk to.

DJ

It seems a song for our times, given everything that has happened over the last year.

Chess

AJ and I were talking about this yesterday, people think this was a song written during the pandemic, but it was written in 2019, one thing that has changed is that we are talking more about mental health and sharing more, and it’s important that this continues after the pandemic has gone away, these issues are always there. We need to carry on the conversation, allow people to be who they want to be, and create safe spaces for people. People also thought that ‘Gold‘ was a pandemic song, but that’s not the case, but these songs have a greater resonance with everything that has happened over the last year.

DJ

Your live shows are a huge part of your identity as a band, you must be looking forward to getting out on the road as soon as you can.

Tara

Yes, we have our tour in UK in August and September, there are still a few tickets available, we’re hoping to do a few bandstand shows before that in the summer, and also hoping to get out to the States in September and October, all being well–we can’t wait to get back on the road!

DJ

Thank you so much Tara, Chess and AJ, best wishes from everyone here at Belles and Gals, have a great tour, and we look forward to your album release.