Austin, Texas
It’s a Family Affair

Exploring emotionally wrought and immersive themes with a low key and, oftentimes, quietly riveting style, Austin, Texas’ Penny & Sparrow draw meritorious comparisons to successful duos from today (The Swell Season) and yesterday (Simon & Garfunkel) with a catalog that is equal parts haunting and stunning. Their latest record, Let a Lover Drown You, elevates disparate, contemplative lyrical tropes with layers of Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke’s luminous vocal harmonies and lush arrangements. For the album, Baxter and Jahnke drew creative inspiration from a variety of sources, including, according to Baxter, “Slim Whitman, James Cleveland & The Angelic Choir, Anaïs Mitchell, East of Eden, Stephen Sondheim, [the film] Cabin in the Woods and a ton of other stuff.” Musically understated but polished, Penny & Sparrow are committed to woodshedding their songs on the road and “smiling a lot at the possibilities” that their upcoming spring and summer tours are expected to bring. Noted Alabama studio musician and producer David Hood brought “humility, creativity and a willingness to work” to the Muscle Shoals, Ala., space where they laid the album down. Reflecting on the experience of working with John Paul White (The Civil Wars) and Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes) on their latest release, Baxter says: “If we never got to do music again, it’d be worth it just to claim them as family.”