The Local Honeys at the Jettie Baker Center

“The songs on the album speak for us,” adds Montana, “they’re about what we know, reflections of us as people. We realized we have the power to add our own narrative into Kentucky music.” Through that realization the two were able to uncover and dissect themes unique to Central Appalachia and in turn their own lives, capturing small moments in time that deliver thunderous results. Throughout The Local Honeys, the duo demand to be interpreted as creators and storytellers, not just purveyors of tradition. Similarly, the sounds captured within the project cement their place as innovators and rule breakers. Rollicking banjo meets overdriven guitar hooks, and blue collar rural grit is met with lush melodies and nimble harmonies; it’s a project filled with juxtaposition and it isn’t by accident. It’s reflective of who they are and who they run with. Wells along with members of TylerChilders’ band The Food Stamps -Rod Elkins (percussion) Craig Burletic (bass) -including Josh Nolan (guitar) from Clay City, KY, all lent their expertise and signature groove as collaborators during the session, creating a fluidity, warmth and cohesion that can only be shaped through friendship. “We didn’t want to record any other way than with the people we love and cherish as much as the songs. It was integral to our process,” says Linda. The project was engineered in Louisville at La La Land by Grammy winner Anne Gauthier.

The songs on The Local Honeys speak to a new generation, a new Appalachia, the people who understand the beauty, the struggle and the complexity of contemporary Appalachian life. In “The Ballad of Frank and Billy Buck” Hobbs describes the grace, humor and irony of an aging hillbilly leading up to the final moments of his unjust demise. Or there’s “If I Could Quit” -a song that grapples with the horrors of the ongoing opiate epidemic and the guttural pain of watching a friend deteriorate through addiction. Pride and sense of place runs deep on songs like “Throw Me in the Thicket (When I Die),” a love letter about Linda’s family orchard in Central KY or on “Dead Horses,” a song that offers a glimpse into the hardships and loss attached to rural living. Playful colloquialisms and regional idiosyncrasies also permeate the record as illustrated on “Better Than I Deserve,” a song built around an informal greeting Montana’s Papaw used during her childhood. The album is rounded out with “The L&N Don’t Stop Here No More”, (the only cover on the record written by Jean Ritchie, Appalachian royalty and kin to Hobbs), a song highlighting the hardships of post-coal communities painting an all too familiar scene of contemporary rural Appalachia. Reflecting upon these songs Linda notes, “Songwriting can freeze people in time like a photograph, preserving little nuances particular to specific cultures and I love that.” The Local Honeys come from a long line of storytellers, a lineage of strong Kentucky women who aren’t afraid to tell it like it is and their self-titled La Honda debut is proof it’s in their bones. The duo have mastered the art of telling a good story. The narratives and landscapes they weave into song, the deep understanding and love they share for old time traditions, their undeniable charisma and charm, and their blatant disregard to follow the rules make it clear the duo is poised to become not only the defining voices of their home state of Kentucky but the defining voices of a new Appalachia.

PIERCETON HOBBS
Pierceton Hobbs is a 24 year-old songwriter and musician from Dickenson County, VA.
He first started performing at the age of 13 on the radio and has since built a cult-following centered around his songwriting. In collaboration with Kenny Miles and Hayden Miles, Pierceton recorded and released his first album “FAWN” in 2020 followed by his newest single “The Plague” in 2022.