After witnessing a glorious display of violin-heavy folk from bands Little Tybee and River Whyless (formerly known as Do It to Julia) at the Hummingbird last Saturday, I was absolutely floored. Luckily, I was able to catch River Whyless’s violinist during takedown.
Jonathan Popham: I’m here at the Hummingbird, in Macon, Georgia with Halli Anderson. So you play the violin?
Halli Anderson: The Violin and the Xylophone. I also sing.
JP: Like a kid out in the rain, I should add. So you are on tour with Little Tybee right now?
HA: We both booked a tour together, we booked the first half, they booked the second. It’s about two months long-seven weeks. We are about a week in right now.
JP: So how has it been going so far?
HA: Great! Wonderfully! I don’t want to jinx it, but the Southeast has been great to us. It is familiar territory, them being from Atlanta, us coming from Asheville. We’ve decided when we hit Texas is when we have really gotten underway. Once we get out of our comfort zone here it will really resonate.
JP: When you get to Austin?
HA: Austin? That’s a whole different ballgame. Band bootcamp. Tons of bands, heat, people and beer. It’s going to be great. It’s a great town. We are obsessed with this one Taco Truck, Torchy’s. We go there every time. Not sure how we are going to find it, but it is our goal. We want to play awesome shows, make people happy, meet other bands, get inspired, and find Torchy’s. But, we’ll be splitting up with Little Tybee once we get to South by Southwest. We’ll tackle it, get back together, and then roll out.
JP: So how many dates do you have left?
HA: Thirty-five. We’ll go all the way out to Seattle and Portland then head back across through Wyoming, Boulder, and Omaha. Then up through Cleveland, Chicago, New York, then down the East coast.
JP: Anything else you’d like to say about the tour? Is there an album?
HA: There is an album. It is called “A Stone, A Leaf, An Unfound Door”—it’s a Thomas Wolfe reference. There is a memorial to him in Asheville. It’s on Bandcamp, so you can get it for free if you want.
JP: Last words?
HA: Yes. We’ll be back in Macon for Bragg Jam.
Needless to say, they killed it. I’m looking forward to seeing what this band will evolve into after this tour. It will certainly be a transformative process.
While they are going to be on the road for a while, you’ll have another chance to catch them here in Macon on July 28th. The bandcamp is riverwhyless.bandcamp.com. The album is “name your price,” so you can get it for free if you really want, you cheapskate.
If you miss that show and don’t download their free album, then you just don’t have any other excuses. Go get the album. Pick up Little Tybee’s while you are at it.
Popham Culture
