Megan Hickey’s The Last Town Chorus is a collection of Brooklyn musicians, lead by Ms. Hickey, the Pittsburgh native, and her elegant lap steel guitar. But before you let the image of a female-fronted Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals creep into your mind, give a spin of TLTC’s Hacktone Records-debut, Wire Waltz. Instead of playing the instrument in a traditional blues sense, Ms. Hickey and company create a spacious and accentual environment to compliment the storyteller, much like Nick McCabe did for Richard Ashcroft in The Verve, and much like Angelo Badalamenti did for so many films of David Lynch, all the result of a unique relationship between a girl and her guitar.
Ms. Hickey, who grew up listening to 80’s new wave and pop country, says that the pairing of these two dynamic elements (Megan’s wide open voice rings out for city blocks, like Hope Sandoval meets Beth Orton, circa-Trailer Park) is the central unity within The Last Town Chorus. Trained in other instruments, Ms. Hickey feels strongly that her true motivation as a songwriter comes simply from the doors the instrument opens. One listen to the jangly “Caroline” from Wire Waltz, and it’s easy to see why. The lap-steel is what pushes songs like “Understanding” into becoming sonic flights through the sky. The song could easily play it safe as a simple ballad, but add the longing howl of a lap-steel – there just to make Wire Waltz that much more as an album – and The Last Town Chorus gives a brand new outlook on roots music.
While Wire Waltz was written, produced, and engineered by Megan herself, this summer she has had the chance to take The Last Town Chorus out on the road, and play with another truly great songwriter, Hacktone label-mate, Mark Olson. Recently, the two performed together at The World Café; a stream was available online courtesy of NPR. Ms. Hickey has also brought her traveling circus through New York twice this summer, first at a free in-store performance at the Border’s in Columbus Circle, and as part of the River to River festival. The Last Town Chorus returns to New York once more, back on the road again with Olson, on August 30t at The Bowery Ballroom.
Ms. Hickey, who grew up listening to 80’s new wave and pop country, says that the pairing of these two dynamic elements (Megan’s wide open voice rings out for city blocks, like Hope Sandoval meets Beth Orton, circa-Trailer Park) is the central unity within The Last Town Chorus. Trained in other instruments, Ms. Hickey feels strongly that her true motivation as a songwriter comes simply from the doors the instrument opens. One listen to the jangly “Caroline” from Wire Waltz, and it’s easy to see why. The lap-steel is what pushes songs like “Understanding” into becoming sonic flights through the sky. The song could easily play it safe as a simple ballad, but add the longing howl of a lap-steel – there just to make Wire Waltz that much more as an album – and The Last Town Chorus gives a brand new outlook on roots music.
While Wire Waltz was written, produced, and engineered by Megan herself, this summer she has had the chance to take The Last Town Chorus out on the road, and play with another truly great songwriter, Hacktone label-mate, Mark Olson. Recently, the two performed together at The World Café; a stream was available online courtesy of NPR. Ms. Hickey has also brought her traveling circus through New York twice this summer, first at a free in-store performance at the Border’s in Columbus Circle, and as part of the River to River festival. The Last Town Chorus returns to New York once more, back on the road again with Olson, on August 30t at The Bowery Ballroom.
