The Lowlies are Caleb and Carolyn Spaulding, a western New York-based husband-and-wife folk duo whose eponymous debut (out October 6th 2023, via Airloom) marks a promising new beginning for this young couple. A read of their bio reveals how they fell in love singing together and pursued those dreams on the road…it wasn’t an easy road…
“…Singing before the sun went down and to the wrong audience (if any had even arrived) sowed a deep seed of discouragement, even if they did enjoy the people they met and the adventure of it all. Underneath, it didn’t fit, and it was obvious.”
The situation they found themselves in soon wore them down to the point where they abandoned those dreams and decided to settle and put down their roots. The ghost of those dreams continued to haunt Caleb, who, while living with ‘well-hid depression’, began labouring as a carpenter. Carolyn started in the local bakery and cleaned offices to make ends meet, and together with their three young children, they live in a modest cabin in Allegheny Forest built by Caleb.
An unexpected phone call from an old friend triggered a chain of events that eventually led to connecting with Grammy-winning producer/composer Tyler Chester (Madison Cunningham, Margaret Glaspy), who heard something special in their home recordings.
It says in the press – You wouldn’t expect that these two young day-labouring parents have a secret – that they’ve been carefully, quietly crafting masterful acoustic songs after they put the babes to sleep. No, you wouldn’t…but neither would you expect such high-calibre music and songwriting to surface on a debut. Just listen to their album’s second single ‘Delta Star‘ and watch the accompanying music video directed by Eric Heine and Luke Haag. While the song’s five verses may, on the surface, seem to cover a short snippet in time – a man on the run trying to reunite with his lover – their tale triggers the imagination, beckoning the romantic to fill in the life gaps.
Caleb wrote ‘Delta Star’ on this lunch break while working a carpentry job, sharing, “It could be that Delta Star is about the journey to leave behind a past you’re ashamed of, shedding your skin to pursue a new life, this time with better bearings. But when the truth feels like a moving target, you pick a point and hope for the best.” The opening two lines of the song capture so much of that sentiment, and could equally be applied to their own life…a journey that has chartered the waters of adversity, hope and a shared dream.
Little Dipper and the northern star
I don’t know if I can run another night farther
Gentle and moving, their music flows with deep sentiment, a humble backdrop to their dreamy harmonies…songs like this deserve to see the light of day.
The Lowlies features an all-star cast of musicians, including LA’s most creative drummer/percussionist, Kyle Crane (Neko Case, Kurt Vile, M. Ward), Joe Plowman (Carsie Blanton, Brittany Ann Tranbaugh), along with bluegrass-folk darling Sara Watkins.
Pre-Order The Lowlies via Bandcamp: https://thelowlies.bandcamp.com/album/the-lowlies
Website: https://www.thelowlies.com/