The Weeping Willows
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The Weeping Willows

Forté chat to Laura from the acoustic, folk-laced country duo The Weeping Willows ahead of their upcoming performance at Wyndham City for the last session of the Friday Night Live series.

Hi Laura, thanks for taking the time to chat to Forte! What have you been busy with recently?
The pleasure is all ours! Thanks for having us. We’ve just returned from a fairly epic trip to the Tamworth Country Music Festival. We have made the trek every January for quite a few years now, but this was our biggest festival yet. We performed around 20+ gigs and radio interviews in seven days, and had the chance to play at the Golden Guitar Awards Ceremony, so we are still buzzing a little – or maybe that’s just all the extra coffee we had!

Congratulations on your recent engagement! Do you think this time in your lives will contribute to your next album or the tone/feel of your future music?
Thank you so much! It is a very exciting time and we’ve been overwhelmed by all of the beautiful messages from friends, family and supporters. We’ve been together for over eight and a half years now though so it’s really just an excuse to have a party and eat cake. However, if our songs get any darker after the wedding, you might need to worry!

You recorded your latest album in the US, do you think working alongside award winning artists in the heart of the industry was pivotal in your process?
Absolutely. Not only were we lucky enough to have one of the world’s best engineers but also some incredibly talented musicians who’ve played on some of our all-time favourite albums. That really inspired and pushed us to give our best performances. It also meant that we were surrounded by artists who live and breathe the style, which hopefully helped create a more authentic album.

Your music is described as a mix of Bluegrass-Gothic-Americana. Was this a merging of your major influences or a natural occurrence?
A bit of both, really. Our influences are definitely more towards the bluegrass/Americana end of the country/folk spectrum, but we’re not entirely sure where the Gothic part came from! We didn’t set out to write such a ‘dark’ album, it just sort of came out that way! There were a few ‘lighter’ songs that didn’t make the cut as they didn’t fit the overall mood of the album.

You describe your latest album as stylistically a lot darker. Why do you think your music themes naturally drifted to that place?
I guess the music you listen to on a regular basis generally filters through into your song-writing. Our playlist includes Hank Williams Snr (or his alter ego ‘Luke the Drifter’) and acts such as The Handsome Family, Gillian Welch and Tom Waits. Let’s face it, none of those artists write very happy songs!

Are there any challenges with working as a duo?
The main issue we have is working out the best key for a new song (or cover) that will work for both our voices. As we obviously have very different ranges, it can sometimes be challenging to find a happy medium. Other than that, we have a relatively harmonious work routine.

Last Question- what was your favourite musical moment of the past year?
Seeing our fave, Gillian Welch, play at The Palais Theatre in Melbourne last February. We were second row from the front so we could soak in all the musical goodness!

When & Where: Friday Live Series @ Station Place, Werribee – February 24