Doo-wop inspired country/punk trio featured at Track 29 Saturday
In some bands, losing a member can be like throwing the emergency brake on creative momentum, but Those Darlins have kept chugging along since losing co-founder and bassist Kelley Anderson in February.
Anderson had been with the Murfreesboro, Tenn.-based punk/country band since it was formed by friends who met at the Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp in 2006.
The remaining co-founders, Nikki and Jessi Darlin, said they miss Anderson (also a Darlin until her departure), but her absence hasn’t slowed them down. Those Darlins made their first European tour this spring and now are working on a third studio project.
“It’s been different, but we all really love what we do and are excited to keep playing music,” Jessi Darlin said. “We just try and stay creative and have fun and keep moving on
After Anderson’s departure, Jessi and Nikki have had to realign themselves to performing as a threepiece, a configuration they haven’t had since drummer Linwood Regensburg joined the band. Since their European run, however, Jessi said they have adjusted well and are comfortable again singing raucous, passionate songs flavored by the harmonies of ’60s doo-wop, the bopping twang of rockabilly and the rawness of early punk.
“We’ve gotten our groove,” she said. “In some ways, [the band] is more like it was in the beginning than it was in the middle. I feel the same excitement.”
Saturday, Those Darlins will make their debut on the stage at Track 29 as the headliner f or a show presented by the Chattanooga Whiskey Co.
Before founding Those Darlins, Jessi and Nikki roomed together in a house across the street from a graveyard. After working together in a screenprinting shop, they would come home and sing Carter Family songs to mourners paying their respects.
That was a simpler time, Jessi said, before the hassles of management, touring and making records, but the band’s performing philosophy maintains a hint of that early purity of purpose.
“I always want there to be a connection; I always try to connect with the audience,” she said. “As long as they had fun at the end of the show, I think that’s a success.”