Sarah, what was your inspiration to play clawhammer banjo?
“The inspiration was that I always loved to sing, and still voice is my preferred instrument. But I was really into old-time music when I started college and I went to my favorite band’s concert—they were called the South Carolina Broadcasters—and at the time they were looking for a banjo player. They saw I was singing the words to their songsand knew every word and everything, and so they said, ‘We’d love to audition you, but you need to learn to play the banjo.’ And so that was my inspiration. I want to be in this band. And I will say, clawhammer is hard, but I think it’s an accessible form of playing and if I can learn, anyone can.” — Sarah
What family members inspired you the most?
“Our family members inspire us for different reasons. Some have crazy, kooky stories. Some have sentimental, heartbreaking stories. I think various members from both of our families have creativity or work ethics that we really admire.” — Sarah
How are you doing so far on your goal to play all 100 counties?
“We’re at 54 counties. We really need to hit a bunch of counties in northeast NC. Bertie County, I’m looking at you. Greene County. Anybody up in the Elizabeth City area—holler at your girl. We need to play those counties.” — Sarah
Have you performed in other countries? Do you know if you have fans in other countries?
“We’ve performed in Canada. Toronto. That’s about the extent. That’s the farthest, our most international concert. But we’d love to go overseas. We have quite a few fans, specifically in the UK, and we’ve had a lot of interest too in the UK. A lot of people don’t know this, but actually Japan has a really, really strong bluegrass culture because bluegrass actually started around the time of World War II, and while there were US soldiers in Japan they brought bluegrass music with them. We’ve had a lot of interest in Japan. I hope we get to go!” — Sarah & Austin
What other musicians inspire you?
“The list is really long. I think we have such a rich music scene in the Triangle that we’re inspired by a lot of our peers. That’s a really cool thing to be able to say. We have sort of a pocket here, almost like Nashville does, with Watchhouse, Mipso, Sylvan Esso. We have so many bands here that are just killing it, just doing so well.” — Austin
What was your most surprising moment during the filming process?
“I think honestly looking back at the show after it was edited I was like, wow—we finally got used to having the crew around. When you’re looking at one person with a relatively small camera, you don’t really know what they’re capturing. You’re just doing your thing. I knew this team was so capable, but to see what they captured was really special.” — Austin
“There were moments captured that I had no idea anyone was there filming. We were just really fortunate. We had a team that was incredible at sneaking in there and getting these very sweet moments. I also learned how it was possible to be even more exhausted after shows. Not only do we perform on stage, but then we also have a camera in the car with us.” —Sarah
How hard is it to share your lives so authentically?
“I think what I admire most in musicians and people I love and follow is authenticity and honesty and transparency, and I hope that people feel like we emulate that. Because I know how much it’s meant to me to see people—I always use Brandi Carlile as an example, as my favorite artist—she is just so real. And I’ve always loved that, and I hope that we bring that to the table.” — Sarah
What lessons from raising horses and farming have you applied to your songwriting, if any, and vice versa?
“The title of our next record isIf You See Me Riding By, so I think there’s something in that metaphor, that tune. Horses have like this spiritual connectedness to humans. It’s something that’s hard to explain unless you experience it. I think our animals definitely inspire our songwriting.” — Austin
“Specifically in regard to the horses and riding, for me when I’m riding—you have to be so aware of your surroundings and the animal. You have to be very safe, and you can’t be focused on other things. So it’s the one place—maybe some people get there by knitting or yoga or swimming or whatever—it’s the one place where I can go and zone out. Otherwise, my brain is like ‘zing!’ I run on 100 all the time, and it’s the only time when I can chill. I think that helps my songwriting a lot.” — Sarah
