East Nashville’s Adrian + Meredith are a married couple with a passion for roots music that found their sound together. Adrian comes from a rock and punk background where he played the acoustic guitar in the style of clawhammer banjo, while Meredith comes out of the old-time music scene. And while their music is primarily Americana in origin, they shake things up a bit by adding in some Eastern European melodic flourishes, as well as a healthy dose of gypsy swing. On their new album, More Than a Little, the duo offers up more roots goodness with a compelling set of folk, old-time, swing jazz with a punk sneer and a good healthy dose of rock ‘n’ roll energy.
Adrian + Meredith tell us about the song “Bank” that we’re premiering today: The underlying current of business in the music industry is far removed from the financial “smoke and mirrors” that even musicians put upon themselves. Nobody talks about the money, at any level of career. Even 30-plus-year veterans still play for the “exposure”. “Fake it until you make it” was never a motto we felt comfortable with, even though all our heroes are still struggling financially. Something to look forward to. Instead, we’ve always traded it for owning our current situation, and in-turn, own what we’ve accomplished, and recognize why the deals for fame get decided. We’re taking the career-musician path, and understand the long-term goals still aren’t that glamorous, but we have to be who we are. The balance of touring, selling, booking, recording, and most importantly writing, is constant, and the case with writing ‘Bank’ with a week off the road. You can hear the digging-in nature of a live club-show performance in the writing of ‘Bank’s’ sound. It is an unspoken call to our onstage-energy, physical distance from the Nashville machine being on the road, our well oiled-machine, and our Eastern-European roots.”