Photo by Shervin Lainez
Sugar + the Hi-Lowsaka Trent Dabbs and Amy Stroupspill on two tracks from their new album, High Roller.
'Bees Left the Trees”
Trent Dabbs: On the first track on the album, 'Bees Left the Trees,” we're talking about Music Row. There's a little bit of a fun tongue-in-cheek happening from the get-go on this album.
Amy Stroup: Think about the stories that came from Music Row, talking about that independent spirit. When Johnny Cash put up the billboard and flipped everyone off, or when Jack White created his own thing with Third Man Records in all its gloryit's amazing!and you see Emmylou Harris lose her record deal and then she made Wrecking Ball really late in life. I've always been inspired by stories of people doing it their way. Even though we're all on Music Row and it definitely contributes to the vitality of the Nashville music scene, you kind of can pave your own way. So we gave a nod to our heroes who have done it.
TD: It's hard to write a song about not being denied, an empowerment song that is the style of music we do, without sounding too full of yourselves.
AS: Just because Emmylou lost her record deal? Look at her. She's still playing music.
TD: She's still a hero to everyone.
'Tennessee Quick”
TD: We have some good friends that come in from California, and that song is as simple as it seems. It's spending time with these people and then missing them when they're away. And I think they long to come back here as much as we long for them to come back here. And now a lot of them are here. It's not a hard sell anymore. I remember when I would talk to people from California 11 years ago and mention Nashville. And there was kind of like this smirk, like 'That's okay, I'm not into country.” But now they're in the line that I'm trying to get through at Fido.
AS: There's one line in that song that talks about sitting on the back porch. I know it's a super simple thing, but we will literally sit on Trent's back porchhe has a little swing, and we just sit there and talk. A couple [of friends from L.A.] were like, 'This is all we're doing tonight?” And then by the end of the night they're like, 'Can we do this again tomorrow?” Nashville offers a great conversation, a simple hang, not necessarily the rat race of L.A. And I think that's what draws people to Nashville. The simple hangs go a really long way.
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