Channing & Quinn

My dad grew up in Hendersonville, TN, and his folks were from the Holler of Kentucky.  He spent his youth jumping into a lake off of the rocks in Mr. Cash's backyard.  Sure enough, if you took a bike ride down the narrow roads of Hendersonville in the 1960's or 70's, you'd find nearly every driveway adorned with an RV of some sort, ready to take its residents to whatever stop on their gospel or bluegrass tour.

Outsiders think that Nashville's all country music and barbecue.  Well, it is a lot of that.  But it's also one of the few towns in this country where music is an active part of life.  Yeah, music is everywhere.  But would you try to tell me that some kid from Seattle is more likely to play, say, trumpet, than your average New Orleans high schooler?  Not bloody likely.  The same goes for fiddle, guitar, or real vocal musicianship in the blue ridge mountains.

I did not need to be told that Channing & Quinn had roots in Tennessee when I saw them play at The Cave in Chapel Hill back in 2012. 

First of all, Channing's voice, Vaudeville with Dolly's vibrato, silenced the entire bar full of bitter Chapel Hill townies.  "Is she going to go for that note?  She's going for it.  She hit it.  Hit it every time."

She tap danced without a hint of irony. I have actually seen a few performers make woeful attempts at tap dancing.  This was different.  Channing was skilled. Because she's from Nashville.

Meanwhile, Quinn seemed just as pleased to be a part of the experience as I was, smiling with his ukulele, or glockenspiel, or whatever new instrument he picked up for each song.

Do you know how hard it is to find musicians who are actual Musicians in Chapel Hill?!

Not to mention they have a number of songs in their repertoire with lyrics that hold your attention.

The only quibble I could possibly have with this duo is that their country or vaudeville references might pigeonhole them into an area of music that might not be moving forward as successfully as *wave these days.  Fortunately for them, they vary it up enough on each of their releases to keep from getting overlooked by people like me.

Which is lucky for me, because it is no unreasonable statement to say that Channing has one of the best voices you can hear in 2014.