Sister Hazel
12-6-2017
It starts with a lighter in the dark, held high by a true believer whose favorite band is telling his story onstage.
Multiply that by thousands of other fans in that venue and thousands more that same night in venues across America. Each one of those lights testifies to the power of music to touch a listener’s soul.
Sister Hazel has been there. For more than 20 years, these five friends have built the kind of musical communication that comes only with time, talent and commitment. From bars and clubs back home in Gainesville, Florida, to theaters, arenas, college campuses and open-air festivals, they’ve seen audiences light up the night like seas of stars.
But they’ve been on the other side too. Bassist Jett Beres remembers the first time he heard guitarist/singer/songwriter Andrew Copeland’s lyric, “I’m just a kid from Gainesville watching Petty with my lighter in the dark,” for his song “Something To Believe In.” “It gave me chills,” Beres says. “It’s who we were. It’s who we still are. It’s the beauty of music.” His bandmates agreed, and thus their new album harks back to the roots of their story through its title, "Lighter In The Dark." Recorded in Nashville’s Tin Ear Studio and produced by their longtime engineer and Nashville studio fixture Chip Matthews, the album affirms the band’s longstanding ties to Music City, which date back to 2005 and include collaborations with all-star songwriters Lee Brice, Luke Laird and Hillary Lindsey, sessions with production heavyweights Garth Fundis and Scott Parker, guest appearances by Pat Buchanan, Tom Bukovac, Steve Hinson, and other local session aces.
As their lucky 13th release, it also ties together the many threads that make up the band’s tapestry: the restless, road-hungry rush of “Fall Off The Map” and “Run Highway Run,” the deep-country dive of “Prettiest Girl At The Dance,” the sentiment and swagger of “Take It With Me,” the exhilaration of romance on a shoestring with the album’s debut single, “We Got It All Tonight,” written by Music Row stalwarts Chris Destefano, Ashley Gorley and 2015 BMI Songwriter of the Year Rodney Clawson.
It adds up to 14 tracks, most of them co-written by members of the band, some of them with outside writers all of them branded by their balance of harmony blends with distinctive lead vocals, instrumental polish with raw soul - and above all, their fusion of multiple influences into that unique Sister Hazel sound.
They draw from the talents of guest artists too. You can’t miss Darius Rucker’s voice on “Karaoke Song.” Sister Hazel has been playing the song live for a while, ever since Rucker, Copeland, and Nashville songwriter Barry Dean put it together. And on the stark heartbreak ballad “Almost Broken,” fast-rising artist Jillian Jacqueline adds a haunting complement to Copeland’s lead vocal. But that’s not all that makes Lighter In The Dark a milestone in Sister Hazel’s history. Through decades of exhaustive touring as well as developing their Lyrics For Life Charity, the Rock Boat cruise, Hazelnut Hang and other annual fan gatherings, they’ve drawn from, processed and reflected back their synthesis of American music. As Trojanowski notes, “I come from a jazz background. Ryan comes from the blues, Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Allman Brothers, Ken and Drew have a lot of Indigo Girls and James Taylor in their hearts. And we’re all huge Eagles fans.”
“Through it all, we’ve just kept getting better as a band,” Newell adds. “We’ve matured as songwriters. Each time we record, I feel more proud of our new album than the last one because I can hear us still growing.” “And we’ve always been unclassifiable,” Beres concludes. “We’ll put out a record and go, ‘What is it? Is it country music? Is it Southern rock? Is it pop? is it college acoustic, alternative?’ It doesn’t matter! It’s just us doing what we’ve always done. We’re writing about who we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going. And we’ve never done it as well as we have on Lighter In The Dark.”
OPENER: WILD ADRIATIC - Rooted in the rowdy spirit of rock & roll, Wild Adriatic has built an international audience on a combination of groove, grit and guitar-heavy swagger.
It starts with a lighter in the dark, held high by a true believer whose favorite band is telling his story onstage.
Multiply that by thousands of other fans in that venue and thousands more that same night in venues across America. Each one of those lights testifies to the power of music to touch a listener’s soul.
Sister Hazel has been there. For more than 20 years, these five friends have built the kind of musical communication that comes only with time, talent and commitment. From bars and clubs back home in Gainesville, Florida, to theaters, arenas, college campuses and open-air festivals, they’ve seen audiences light up the night like seas of stars.
But they’ve been on the other side too. Bassist Jett Beres remembers the first time he heard guitarist/singer/songwriter Andrew Copeland’s lyric, “I’m just a kid from Gainesville watching Petty with my lighter in the dark,” for his song “Something To Believe In.” “It gave me chills,” Beres says. “It’s who we were. It’s who we still are. It’s the beauty of music.” His bandmates agreed, and thus their new album harks back to the roots of their story through its title, "Lighter In The Dark." Recorded in Nashville’s Tin Ear Studio and produced by their longtime engineer and Nashville studio fixture Chip Matthews, the album affirms the band’s longstanding ties to Music City, which date back to 2005 and include collaborations with all-star songwriters Lee Brice, Luke Laird and Hillary Lindsey, sessions with production heavyweights Garth Fundis and Scott Parker, guest appearances by Pat Buchanan, Tom Bukovac, Steve Hinson, and other local session aces.
As their lucky 13th release, it also ties together the many threads that make up the band’s tapestry: the restless, road-hungry rush of “Fall Off The Map” and “Run Highway Run,” the deep-country dive of “Prettiest Girl At The Dance,” the sentiment and swagger of “Take It With Me,” the exhilaration of romance on a shoestring with the album’s debut single, “We Got It All Tonight,” written by Music Row stalwarts Chris Destefano, Ashley Gorley and 2015 BMI Songwriter of the Year Rodney Clawson.
It adds up to 14 tracks, most of them co-written by members of the band, some of them with outside writers all of them branded by their balance of harmony blends with distinctive lead vocals, instrumental polish with raw soul - and above all, their fusion of multiple influences into that unique Sister Hazel sound.
They draw from the talents of guest artists too. You can’t miss Darius Rucker’s voice on “Karaoke Song.” Sister Hazel has been playing the song live for a while, ever since Rucker, Copeland, and Nashville songwriter Barry Dean put it together. And on the stark heartbreak ballad “Almost Broken,” fast-rising artist Jillian Jacqueline adds a haunting complement to Copeland’s lead vocal. But that’s not all that makes Lighter In The Dark a milestone in Sister Hazel’s history. Through decades of exhaustive touring as well as developing their Lyrics For Life Charity, the Rock Boat cruise, Hazelnut Hang and other annual fan gatherings, they’ve drawn from, processed and reflected back their synthesis of American music. As Trojanowski notes, “I come from a jazz background. Ryan comes from the blues, Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Allman Brothers, Ken and Drew have a lot of Indigo Girls and James Taylor in their hearts. And we’re all huge Eagles fans.”
“Through it all, we’ve just kept getting better as a band,” Newell adds. “We’ve matured as songwriters. Each time we record, I feel more proud of our new album than the last one because I can hear us still growing.” “And we’ve always been unclassifiable,” Beres concludes. “We’ll put out a record and go, ‘What is it? Is it country music? Is it Southern rock? Is it pop? is it college acoustic, alternative?’ It doesn’t matter! It’s just us doing what we’ve always done. We’re writing about who we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going. And we’ve never done it as well as we have on Lighter In The Dark.”
OPENER: WILD ADRIATIC - Rooted in the rowdy spirit of rock & roll, Wild Adriatic has built an international audience on a combination of groove, grit and guitar-heavy swagger.