Austin and Sarah McCombie of Chatham Rabbits joined Aaron last week on Live & Local, ahead of the Valentine’s Day release of their new album “Be Real With Me” – and a corresponding tour that includes a stop at Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw.

Visit ChathamRabbits.com.

Named for the “Chatham Rabbit String Band,” which played shows for cotton mill workers in the early 1900s – that band’s guitarist built the house in Bynum that the McCombies bought in 2014 – Chatham Rabbits have only been around for eight years, but “Be Real With Me” is already the duo’s fourth album. This one’s a departure from their previous efforts, though: branching out from their bluegrass/Americana roots, the McCombies brought in T. Gold’s Saman Khoujinian as co-producer and tracked their songs rather than recording them live.

“(We spent) two years in the studio, which is a major first for us,” Austin says. “We built it brick by brick.”

The resulting album is a powerhouse: still recognizably the same Chatham Rabbits, still rooted in the same musical traditions, but now with more instrumentation – synthesizers, drums, even a drum machine – and more freedom to play in the studio.

The full album will be available on Valentine’s Day. Click here to preorder it on Bandcamp.

“I think it’s a big difference,” says Sarah. “This record is thematically about adulthood … and it’s an album that really took nearly 10 years of marriage and eight years of Chatham Rabbits to get to this point. We wouldn’t have been able to make this record a couple of years ago. We gave ourselves plenty of runway to make this album. And we are just so proud of it.”

Khoujinian’s also not the only guest artist who got in on the action. Chatham Rabbits brought numerous other acclaimed musicians to Small Pond Studios in Pittsboro, including Casey Toll (Mount Moriah), Joseph Terrell (Mipso), and another much-loved couple, Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno (Viv & Riley).

“I (used to be) a financial planner,” says Austin, “(and) now that we’re full-time artists, it takes a while to not feel the imposter syndrome or (think) ‘oh man, this could go away at any time…’ And I think finally (with) this record coming out, it’s just security that this is what we’re supposed to be doing. And it feels real now.”

Chatham Rabbits will celebrate the album with an East Coast tour, starting February 12 in Nashville and running through the end of March. (Austin says he’s especially looking forward to a March 28 show at Wilmington’s Kenan Auditorium, a venue he’s loved for years but hasn’t yet played.)

The tour includes a stop in Saxapahaw, for two shows at the Haw River Ballroom: Saturday, February 22, with a full band, and a duo show Sunday, February 23 (with a few special guests). Click here to buy tickets.

Sarah and Austin McCombie stopped by Live & Local to discuss the album and play three songs live in the studio: “Collateral Damage,” “Gas Money,” and “Matador.” Listen:

The post ‘Be Real With Me’: Live & Local with Chatham Rabbits appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

‘Be Real With Me’: Live & Local with Chatham Rabbits

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