Them Coulee Boys “Namesake” Album Release w. The Lowest Pair
*The Parkway Theater requires Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination or Negative Test Result for entry to all events. This policy is detailed here.*
Friday, October 8, 2021
7 pm Doors // 8 pm Show
$35 VIP
$20 Advance General Admission
All Ages
Ticket sales are final and non-refundable.
Them Coulee Boys celebrate the release of their forthcoming new album, Namesake, along with a full set performed by beloved Americana duo The Lowest Pair.
Them Coulee Boys craft a brand of Americana that blends folk, punk, bluegrass, and rock & roll — renowned for their signature 4-part harmonies, banjo stomp, and rhythm section punch. Their trusty van has propelled them thousands of miles across the country and into the hearts of strangers, who tend to leave each show feeling like family. It's music that creates community through the shared experience of joy and giving a shit.
With three full-length albums and an EP behind them, including 2019's Die Happy (produced by Trampled by Turtles' Dave Simonett on Lo-Hi Records), the band has garnered international attention and earned press in American Songwriter and The Bluegrass Situation, as well as tours with TBT and a spot on the songwriter's Cayamo Cruise. In 2020, they were named Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Band to Watch, and were nominated for band of the year by the Wisconsin Area Music Industry. When the world stopped in 2020, the band holed up in their practice space and began writing, and the end result is their brand new effort, Namesake.
Namesake sees the band following a new trajectory. The record lives and breathes, and is both intimate and bombastic. Equal parts bear hug, gut punch, and a steadying hand. It's your sweet aunt who makes delicious pies and your wiley uncle not afraid to hit a bit of the hooch. Ultimately, it's about the acceptance that comes with family and old friends: none of us are perfect, but there's enough love out there to make up for it.
Recorded at The Hive in the band's hometown of Eau Claire, WI, a small Wisconsin city infamously blessed with a wealth of musical talent, Namesake was produced by Grammy-winner Brian Joseph, who has worked wtih the like of Paul Simon, Sufjan Stevens, Ani Difranco, The Indigo Girls, and Bon Iver (for which he earned his Grammy for producing and engineering, Bon Iver).
The Perfect Plan is masterfully crafted. — American Songwriter
The Lowest Pair are Kendl Winter and Palmer T. Lee, two kindred spirits who first met on the banks of the Mississippi while touring the Midwest festival circuit. Born and raised in Arkansas, Winter found herself drawn to the evergreens and damp air of the Pacific Northwest, as well as the boundless music scene of Olympia, Washington. She released three solo records on Olympia-based indie label, K Records, and performed in ramblin’ folk bands and anarchic punk bands before serendipitously meeting Palmer T. Lee in 2013. Lee had built his first banjo when he was 19 from pieces he inherited and began cutting his teeth fronting Minneapolis string bands before convincing Winter that they should form a banjo duo. Now, as The Lowest Pair, they have recorded and released five albums together, relentlessly toured North America, and ventured to the UK twice, playing over 500 live shows over the past five years.
After each releasing solo albums via Conor Oberst’s Team Love Records in 2018, Winter and Lee began working on The Lowest Pair’s most recent album release, The Perfect Plan (2020). As a songwriting team, the duo tends to see artistic sparks all around them — in poems, people, ideas, experiences – and throughout the process of writing these new songs, they felt the need to push their creative limits. They turned to producer Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes who took them to ARC Studios in Omaha, Nebraska, and set them in a soundscape backed by a slate of session players that lifts the album from simple folk into spirited Americana and beyond.
Clawhammer banjo and acoustic guitar still hold the heart of The Lowest Pair, but the fleshed-out sound of The Perfect Plan leans gently into Winter's punk past, as well as the sonic playground of her mind, to set the band down a new path on their musical journey. Fans already know the chemistry between Palmer’s Midwestern charm, those long winters spent listening to a steady diet of Townes Van Zandt and John Hartford, and Kendl’s poetic and playful way with words. Kendl’s voice finds the link between Nanci Griffith and Gillian Welsh, and her barefoot-in-the-cool-river-water mystique, combined with Palmer’s worn paperback ease, always makes for a captivating sound, but what’s new this time around is both the expansion of musical sounds (harmonica, drum, bass, violin, mandolin) and an incredible sharpening of their song craft.