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#Nathaniel rateliff backup singers tv

“The lyrics are damn near perfect, and achingly sincere. “If this song had been around 50 years ago it would’ve been cut by Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner and it would be considered a stone cold classic today,” said Leahy. One clear favorite among fans and the team was honeyhoney’s original song, ‘Arrow of Love.’

#Nathaniel rateliff backup singers skin

“But by the skin of our teeth we got it all down and are proud of the tunes we created.” “It got a little down to the wire on our end between touring and other projects,” shared Jaffe and Santo, who both write and perform as solo artists, as well. “I’m sure in some instances I went with the cover version because that had been the song I was thinking of when I wrote the script, but we used a lot of originals too.” “We would audition both the original and the cover song to picture and went with the one that felt right,” said Garcia. “So the final plan was to hedge our bets: record ten covers and ten originals, so for every episode we had a reliable backup.” “Since this was our first time all working together, I think the idea of using all original songs just seemed a bit too treacherous,” recalled Leahy. Leahy credits the duo as prolific songwriters who were able to keep up with the often fast pace of television.

It’s more of the foot tapping sway back and forth kind of tunage.” “Although, no one really dances to our music. Writing songs for a scripted television show turned out to be a great exercise, in terms of taking us outside of the normal ‘song and dance,’ said Santo. “It was a really interesting challenge for us, for sure. The duo ended up writing an original song for each episode of season one, as well as the season one theme song, ‘Fine By Me.’ While Jaffe had done some previous work writing songs for television, this gig upped the ante considerably. Honeyhoney (Suzanne Santo & Benjamin Jaffe) per… One of those originals: ‘One Too Many’s Not Enough,’ which was featured in episode three. “And then once we had honehoney on board and we knew what great songwriters they were, we thought ‘well maybe we should have them read the scripts and try writing some originals that kinda fit with the stories.’” “I think the concept began as ‘let’s just pick ten songs for them to cover,’ recalls Leahy. And Leahy realized that would open up some interesting possibilities. “We were mostly just trying to figure out who the hell this genius man was and were stoked that he and Jonathan wanted us to be a part of the project.”īut the two were up for the unusual adventure and after a few phone calls to work out details, Jaffe and Santo signed on. “When we first met Greg, we had a meeting in his office that is decked out, double wide trailer style, equipped with wood paneled walls and taxidermy,” said Jaffe. “They stood out to me right away and after sitting down with them and discussing the show it was clear we were all meant to work with each other,” said Garcia, who also created the cult hit sitcom My Name Is Earl. Not many duos can pull this off while also delivering incredible vocals.” There’s acoustic guitar, electric guitar, fiddle, banjo, drums, bass, hand percussion and keyboards on these songs, and they’re all played by Ben and Suzanne. “They’re also both multi-instrumentalists, which is crucial. Either can sing lead, either can harmonize,” Leahy observed of Jaffe and Santo.

Over that time they had released three albums and built up a worldwide following for their bluesy alt country Americana sound. Of the artists considered, Leahy had known honeyhoney for about a decade, following their early career when they were signed to Ironworks (Kiefer Sutherland’s label with musician Jude Cole). I sent Greg a bunch of ideas, artists I knew and loved, having no idea if we could get them or not.” Ben Jaffee (l) and Suzanne Santo (r) with Jake Gideon (c) who engineered, mixed, and produced the recordings for The Guest Book. “Early on I think we agreed that the format which might work best was a male / female duo. “ called me up to ask if this was something we could pull off, and of course I was thrilled to give it a shot,” said Leahy.

#Nathaniel rateliff backup singers tv

This unique approach of having a “house band” for a TV show required some creative thinking on the part of Leahy. (Get it now: Amazon | Apple Music | iTunes | Spotify)

But it’s only now that fans can get their hands on the songs featured throughout season one, finally available via a soundtrack album. Honeyhoney perform this Nathaniel Rateliff cove…Įagle-eyed fans recognized honeyhoney performing onstage in the episode, later confirmed by Garcia and The Guest Book’s music supervisor, Jonathan Leahy.