Call it fate. Call it kismet. Call it chance. Whichever name you’d prefer, it’s by that unseen power that the trio of Northern Virginia’s newest stand-out trio came together, much to the fortune of local music fans.
Call it fate. Call it kismet. Call it chance. Whichever name you’d prefer, it’s by that unseen power that the trio of Northern Virginia’s newest stand-out trio came together, much to the fortune of local music fans.
Rachel Beauregard was standing in Vienna coffee and music house Jammin’ Java when she spied a sullen looking Luke Brindley. Having been introduced briefly by mutual friend Bryan Dawley at a recent show at Wolf Trap, Beauregard approached and picked his mind about his problem.
“I’m just trying to find a female vocalist,” Brindley said.
Funny he should mention that …
“I was like, well … ” Beauregard laughs over the phone as she recounts the meeting. “I just happen to be a female vocalist.”
The pair looped in Dawley for a jam session and the chemistry was instantaneous.
“We played for a few hours and it was like peanut butter and jelly,” recalls Beauregard, who obviously has a fondness for the school days staple.
Their styles complemented each other well, with Brindley’s pop-folk blending with Beauregard’s bluesy voice and Dawley’s pop-country riffs. Reworking some of Brindley’s already-penned tunes as a starting point the band played its first show as Deep River last July at Jammin’ Java. After a smashing reception by the audience, Daniel Brindley, who owns Jammin’ Java with his brothers approached the band to tell the trio he’d already booked them for their CD release show on November 13.
“Of course,” Beauregard says, “we didn’t have a CD.”
Thus begun the crash course recording sessions that culminated in “Ten Mornings,” sure enough, set to be released Nov. 13 at Jammin’ Java.
“We all had day jobs. I’m an actor and Luke and Bryan give music lessons, so we didn’t have a lot of time to record,” Beauregard says. “But we were determined to get the album done, even if we had to work on it from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. every day.”
They ultimately found time early in the day to squeeze in some songwriting and recording (thus the name “Ten Mornings”) and Beauregard says the band is thrilled with the final product, described as “power folk,” for its combination of Brindley’s background in folk and Beauregard’s penchant for wailing like Aretha Franklin. “I will belt your face off,” Beauregard jokes, noting that her passion-filled pipes are a product of her time in her church choir.
Though Deep River began by reworking some of Brindley’s previously celebrated tunes, they’ve upped the collaborative element for the album. “Luke wrote a few tunes solo, but we all collaborated on about half of the tracks.” With some aid from other local musicians like Todd Wright, Beauregard notes that the finished album is “very much a community effort.”
With the album in hand, the trio is now eager to spread its sound on the road. Deep River has already booked some shows and well-known venues like New York’s Living Room, but they’re also taking a more intimate approach as they introduce themselves to the world.
“We’re trying to book a bunch of house shows,” Beauregard says. “We really want to create a kind of front-porch familiarity with our fans and build off the grass roots level.”
Sounds like a solid plan. After all, you can’t leave everything up to fate.
• For more on Deep River, visit deeprivermusic.com. Tickets for the Nov. 13 show at Jammin’ Java are $15. The show starts at 8 p.m.
