On “Now I Know,” Hutson plays a guitar-slinging foil every bit as adept as Nels Cline to Smith’s Jeff Tweedy, stomping through a swirling maelstrom of regret over the end of the latter’s marriage: “When everything means so much, nothing means anything,” he sings, bone-tired weariness hanging on every syllable, regret tinging every chord. The finished creation is both warm and familiar and a startling departure, made evident by the opening track “Be Around.” Ruminations on friendships during those dark times buoyed his spirits and inspired the shimmering ambiance that owes as much to the Flaming Lips as it does to any alt-country touchstones to which Handsome and the Humbles compare.Īnd yet those touchstones remain … polished in ways that are a direct result of the musical intimacy shared between friends who first shared a stage together as teenagers. “They started sounding better than we anticipated, so we just decided that since it’s so hard to get everyone together, we’d just release what we have.”Īlong the way, they migrated to professional studios and recording spaces, adding band members (guitarist Marcus Balanky, former-and-sometimes-fill-in drummer Lauryl Brisson) and friends (drummer Kris “Tugboat” Killingsworth, organist Matt Coker) to sculpt the tracks into a fully realized new record. “I’d lay down an acoustic track, he’d do electric, then I’d do bass and vocals, and we’d go back and do background vocals,” Smith says. Upon those bones, Smith and guitarist Josh Hutson began to bring the record to life in Hutson’s garage (affectionately nicknamed “The Ding Don Den”) using an iPhone interface to record everything but drum tracks on three songs. It’s a profoundly intimate affair, evolving from the skeletal framework of scribbled lyrics in the dead of night and rudimentary chords on an acoustic guitar. “None of these songs are really about my dad, but the sadness I experienced from his death, as well as the loss of my marriage, is pretty much the foundation of this album,” Smith says. ![]() “Alt-Country,” the new album by the Knoxville-based Americana outfit, is built on a foundation of loss that knocked the gregarious and affable frontman to his knees … but in so doing, gifted him with a record that smolders like the orange coals of a once mighty conflagration. Josh Smith, the singer and songwriter for Handsome and the Humbles, knows that all too well. Casual meals and coffee breaks are enjoyed at the Saarinen Tulip table surrounded by Norman Cherner chairs illuminated by a contemporary Gubi multi-light pendant.The best songs, the thinking goes, are the ones written from real-life experiences, but those experiences sometimes exact a heavy toll. ![]() ![]() Wishbone stools stand at the kitchen counter topped with Della Terra quartz from Arizona Tile, an understated surface treatment that clads the wall behind the cooktop stove, too. ![]() The kitchen and breakfast room, which was formerly a TV room, contain quiet but recognizable nods to midcentury design icons. Here, Smith decided to “go a little darker and moodier - a place to do something a little more dramatic” with a stone countertop and textured vessel sink. Another original piece by Privett hangs in the powder room, a space that’s somewhat of a departure in context. In the primary bedroom, a black and metallic abstract painting by Houston-based artist Meribeth Privett provides “a beautiful stark contrast” to the overall sensibility on view. “Even though we’re living in this pristine place, nothing here is so precious you can’t relax,” he says.
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