Penny & Sparrow

One Liner: Duo making indie-folk-rock magic after meeting at UT

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie rock, folk rock, gentle sounds

Home: Austin and Alabama

Poster Position: Level 3 (14)  (like three days in, they already changed the dang poster, dangit)
Weekend Two Only.  

Sunday.

Thoughts:  There was a time a few years ago when it felt like every new band was Thing & Thing.  Shovels & Rope.  Penny & Sparrow.  She & Him.  Iron & Wine.  Mumford & Sons.  I know there are others, I actually thought this was a different band when I pulled it up that was a mother and daughter.  There it is - Cliffs & Caves.  Strangely, there is no Wikipedia entry for this band.  They feel big enough to be online.  Maybe I'm thinking of a different band.  Also, strangely, Penny Sparrow was a white woman in South Africa who compared "littering black beachgoers to monkeys," and was sentenced to two years in prison!  Holy shit!  I mean, those words are definitely rude and offensive and ugly, but prison time!  South Africa does not mess around!

This is not a racist African lady.  This is a pair of dudes making soft, folky indie tunes who met in Austin while attending UT.  They started out playing cover songs at local bars, calling themselves random names like Dallas Cowboys or Utah Jazz.  They came up with their name because one venue said they needed a real name, so they cribbed it from a friend who wrote under that pen name.  That was back in 2013, and they've released albums steadily even since.  Strangely, the guitarist lives in Austin but the singer lives in Alabama.  Eight-ish albums, and some live discs and EPs, over that time, quite a bit of production.

The most streamed tune, by quite a bit, comes from 2019's Finch.  "Eloise" clocks in with 34.8 million streams.

The instruments don't even kick in for like a minute.  Always curious why some people shape their mustaches the way they do.  Like, why does his go down and cover the corners of his mouth.  Grosses me out a little.  But a really pretty song - Bon Iver or Lord Huron feels to me - and amazing harmonies.  Also, I would be terrified about that bird eating my ear off.  That album also boasts their second-most streamed, "Don't Wanna Be Without Ya," with 20.3 million.  But I'm going to give you another that shows up on their newest album, 2022's Olly Olly.  "Need You" has 10.2 million streams.

Sweet song.  Makes me think of a Jason Isbell lyric with the storytelling part.  But the chorus is cute and full of SAT words.

Yeah, these guys are really good.  This is nice music.  Not so sure about a festival set, feels like music to lounge to late at night or on the back porch during a rainstorm or something.  But sure, stamp of approval!