Spark of creativity
I’m With Her makes time to be a band
There’s a moment when a group of musicians decides to become a band. Usually that moment doesn’t come just before they take the stage for an impromptu gig at the Sheridan Opera House in Telluride, Colo.
With their families steeped in roots music, Americana stars Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Boston’s own Aoife O’Donovan as teenagers began crossing paths at concerts and festivals — O’Donovan is the daughter of Brian O’Donovan, host of WGBH’s “A Celtic Sojourn.” But it wasn’t until 2014, at a festival in Telluride, that the trio sat down to play together.
“We sensed it from our first jam,” O’Donovan said. “We said, ‘OK, let’s do it, let’s be a band, let’s tour, let’s write a record.’”
Naming themselves I’m With Her, they wanted to get started right away. They couldn’t. All three artists had successful solo careers with upcoming albums and tours on the way. Eventually they got around to recording an LP, “See You Around,” in 2016.
“(Then in 2016) Sarah Jarosz’s album won two Grammys so she needed to promote that and Sara Watkins and I had recent albums,” O’Donovan said ahead of I’m With Her’s Friday show at the House of Blues. “So we finally released it in 2018 and haven’t stopped touring since … doing something like 150 shows a year.”
I’m With Her’s debut record manages to cram each member’s musical personality into a single work. They accomplish this without ever having the music feel forced. Threepart harmonies flow from angelic modern gospel music to rugged Appalachian vocals. The instrumentation glides from roots rock to something approximating string band chamber music.
“The three of us come to this project with our own strengths, which is what makes a band a band,” O’Donovan said. “It was immediate how naturally we fell into certain harmony parts. We all have a flexibility in our range to move around and into different colors.”
The trio didn’t want to just collaborate as musicians but as writers. So instead of bringing in completed tracks or covers, they spent hours together crafting choruses, hooks and melodies.
“We were trying to avoid bringing in finished material and found we had a lot of trust and respect for each other as writers,” O’Donovan said. “We also found a pretty big lack of ego. People took criticism very well. I’m sure we will have bumps in the road at sometime, but right now we have a real connection writing together.”
I’m With Her released a new single, “Call My Name,” last month. Sadly, the song doesn’t preview a second album — when this tour wraps, all three will move on to other projects. The trio just wanted something fresh to toss into their set list. But it is encouraging they pulled a fresh track together so quickly.
“We basically wrote the whole of ‘Call My Name’ in a hotel room in Breckenridge, Colo., in a couple of days,” O’Donovan said. “It was hard to do when we had spent so much time on the road, but it showed us just what we can do if we have to.”
After new solo albums and tours with other bands, it seems I’m With Her could put together a killer record in a couple of weeks.