The Honey Dewdrops Excel in Emotive Expression Throughout “More Than You Should Say” (premiere)

As the Honey Dewdrops, Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish have long and oft illustrated the ebb and flow between their two homes, hailing from the Appalachians of Virginia and since adjusting to the metropolitan sprawl of Baltimore. With a fifth independent album release on the way with Anyone Can See, the Americana duo have honed-in their sound with a broad-set intimacy that fills a small listening room as well as the distance they’ve traveled thus far. Relishing in polish without lacking experience, glimmers of what made previous Honey Dewdrops efforts shine with potential are fully realized in the wide-open roots of their latest. To some, it may be seen as a return to form as the duo focuses more on the sparseness and vulnerability of their performances, rather than bask in more luxurious arrangements.

Ahead of Anyone Can See, the Honey Dewdrops are exclusively premiering “Anyone Can See” with PopMatters. The opening track from off of the forthcoming LP kicks off with plaintive acoustic rhythms that set the stage for Wortman and Parrish to craft a comfortable familiarity in their nostalgic croons. The former’s warm vocals richly resonate as the song’s lead as the latter offers resonant harmonies throughout its chorus. Inundated with precision picking and strumming, the number is an exercise in the Honey Dewdrops’ instrumental strengths as their exactitude, somehow, offers itself more to the passionate emotions that they aim to convey more than it extracts from it.

The Honey Dewdrops’ Anyone Can See releases on 1 March and is available for pre-order now.