TRHibe – Constantine

By starrymag | November 1, 2021

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

 

 

Q) I know you are a country music sibling group, but how would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard you just yet?

 

Isabella: Well, our original music has always had its roots in country and more so today.  We aren’t afraid to use some newer sounds, but we also reach into pure traditional country at times.  The EP we have in progress has some very traditional country and a few that will test the edge.

 

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

 

Gabby: We love all kinds of music, but we have made good friends who are legendary artists like The Oak Ridge Boys, Doug Kershaw (who sent us a fiddle after we met while performing in Nashville) and we have been mentored and produced by Kent Wells who is Dolly Parton’s producer and musical director.  Dolly is such a great songwriter, singer and performer that she has been in inspiration too.  Those connections deepened our respect for the long journey country music has traveled.

 

Riley: We like new country as well, but this roots country impact has stayed with us.  We listen to pop, classic rock, electronic and even classical music and show tunes as well.  They all give us ideas and influence us.  However, when we sit down to write there is usually that thread of country stitched in somewhere.

 

Q) Your new single “Constantine” is an interesting look at a legend from the Wild West. Talk about how you came up with the concept.

 

Gabby: As we were thinking about our next album, we thought it really needed to have a theme and legends became our focus. Some of the ideas we were developing into songs involved legendary figures – Johnny Cash, Jesse James, etc. So, it was a good fit.  You could say we felt like it would be good to give a nod to the past and in doing so show respect.  Some of the songs we wrote have a more modern feel, others more classic but all involve some kind of legend.

 

“Constantine” was an interesting part of that because we had been thinking of old western icons at the time (some good, some not so good) and when we came to Texas legends (and we have fond memories of our times in Texas), it seemed like the positive characters from the Alamo had been covered.  So, we got to thinking of the villainous types, reading about them and considering how parts of their story may not have been told in the main legend.

 

Isabella: Santa Anna was one – usually the bad guy. We found he had several illegitimate relationships, but some articles talked of him having a special place in his feelings for a girl he had fathered.  His marriages were really just arrangements for money that furthered his military effort, but we wondered if he could have had a caring side many didn’t see.  As with many legends, they grow a little as they are told, and we added our imagination to what it might have been like if you were this one special child that he cared for and had been one of the few good constants in this tough military man’s life.  In the song, we added some suspense with competition for her love, and not telling until the end she is Santa Anna’s daughter. There is a bit of truth and a bit of imagination in this song, but we felt it was really about finding the good that can exist in everyone.

 

Q) Talk about your experience working with your dad, Steve Keen, on the song.

 

Abby:  He has been writing a lot longer than we have and he plays several instruments. So, he is handy when coming up with ideas.  For “Constantine,” he had actually come up with the driving rhythm in the song a long time before we wrote it.

 

Gabby: I always asked our Dad to play that music and then one day the song was written.

 

Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?

 

Gabby: Many love the movement of the song.  Some really like the bridge and the more Spanish feel.  We would say most say it reminds them of old westerns and that was really what we had hoped.

 

Q) How does the video for the track play into the message behind it?

 

Isabella: Well, with COVID affecting travel, we didn’t want to attempt a shoot out of town and with a backdrop of Texas or Mexico we had to be creative. We recalled this beautiful church in a very small town in central Idaho. We scouted it out and loved what we saw, then our video director also loved it, so it became part of “Constantine.”

 

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?  

 

Riley: Wow, that goes either way.  Sometimes we have a lyric.  Sometimes we have music.  Sometimes we have both and they connect.  It is magical when the songs come to life.

 

Q) How much of a hand do you have in the production of your music?

 

Gabby: Normally singing and some playing with input on how it comes to gather (what might be added or taken away here and there).  This time it was mostly us and some help from Nashville players we have gotten to know.  We sent them basic tracks. We did a video/audio connection – they played what they heard, we guided it further then spent a lot of time on our own adding some instrumentation and filling it in.

 

Q) Will there be a full album or EP coming in the near future?

 

Isabella: Oh yes, we are working on it.  We keep having some distractions, but we are moving ahead.   We have the basic music and some audio tracks on every song, but we are not finished for sure.

 

Q) With concerts having been on hold, what have you missed most about being on stage?

 

Abby: We miss the people the most. It’s so fun talking with everyone when we perform.  We have done a lot of performances online and we have performed where we could, but it has been a lot less for sure.  We look forward to everything opening up and getting back out on the road.

 

Q) Where are some of your favorite places to perform and what makes those locations so significant to you?

 

Gabby: The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville was so very special.  We were pretty young when this happened, but we will never forget it.  We performed with a good friend Bill DiLuigi and the crowd was awesome.  We opened for Andy Grammar at a huge amphitheater near Boise and that was really fun because the crowd was thousands and a really big stage so that is something we look forward to again.  Some of our favorite nights have been at small venues where you can actually talk back and forth with the fans – we let them guide the set sometimes.  It’s all been fun.

 

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?

 

Riley: The band is split – Dolly is high on most everyone’s list and probably wins, but Eric Church, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton would be on the A-list, too.

 

Q) What album/band are you currently listening to and why do you dig them? 

 

Isabella – Keith Urban’s new “The Speed of Now part 1”

 

Abby – I have liked and always will like Blake Shelton. I’ve been listening to “Body Language”

 

Gabby – Anne Wilson – “My Jesus”

 

Riley – I like a lot of music but right now, I really like “Fancy Like” by Walker Hayes. I’m checking out the other songs off his “Country Stuff” album.

 

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?

 

Abby: Well in the last couple years that has been the main way to connect with fans.  It also is a great place to discover new music – we like doing that and we hope others discover us, too.

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

 

Gabby: We hope that you find joy in our music and that it lifts you up.  And if it makes you feel good, do your best to pass that feeling on to someone else!  Oh, and keep listening! We love that!