A Conversation with Caitlin Cary (continued)

PM: You've sung lots of harmony and lead vocals on a number of records. But wouldn't you say that the blend you have with Thad is pretty uncanny, I mean, one of your best on record?

CC: It is really special. And I think what's coolest about it is that our voices are kind of similar. It's not exactly brother/sister, but we are in a similar range. I mean, I tend to be singing the high part, but he absolutely can sing high harmonies to me, and does. He's got a big range, and I have a pretty big range. But something about the consonance of our voices, I think, is part of what works.

PM: Yeah, there's a timbre there that's very sympathetic.

CC: Yes. I never like to think of myself of somebody who sings with any vibrato at all, because I try really hard to just sing plain. But I think that, really, everybody has some vibrato, and when two of them go together, that makes a fit.

PM: Right. Yeah, I think it's great. Have you guys discussed touring with a backup band that, say, does a batch of your songs and a batch of his, and then songs from Begonias? I mean, is that a working paradigm or...?

CC: It's funny that you ask that, because we just were talking about that. We've been trying to work out a tour in Europe, and a whole big thing just fell through, which sucks.

PM: Damn.

CC: But we'll get there and make it work. We were wondering should Tres Chicas go, and then have me and Thad up and front Tres Chicas. And I thought, oh, God, that would be a hell of a lot of singing for me in a night. I don't know if I can handle that.

PM: Right.

CC: But I think that for me right now it's really good to keep my head focused on the project at hand. And so Thad and I are doing songs just from this record, and a couple--we do "She Ain't No You," which I sang on his record. And we do "Thick Walls Down," which he helped me write for When You Weren't Looking. And since we definitely need some more rock songs for the kind of sets I'm talking about, where people start talking when you sing the beautiful quiet songs--

PM: Right, and for the end of the show.

CC: Yeah, exactly. So we are doing a few from each other's older material. But for the most part we're kind of keeping our heads in this. And we set up the stage in what we call "duet mode," where we're facing each other a little bit, and singing right at each other, into each other's eyes. It feels good just working Begonias right now.

I actually managed to chase away a fan last night who came up to me, and he was this kind of frat boy guy. And he said, "I love Whiskytown. Are you going to do any Whiskeytown songs?" I think I was polite, but I told him that by no means would he hear any Whiskeytown, and he just left.

[laughter]

CC: Some people don't really know the tactful way to talk to musicians right before we go on.

PM: Right. Breach of protocol.

CC: Yeah.

PM: Let's see. On the record, somebody did a very good job of keeping the instruments out of the same range. For instance, where there's an organ part voiced very high, there's a tremolo guitar going on very low, et cetera. Whose influence did that tend to be?

CC: Well, Brad played most of the keys.

PM: Oh.

CC: Logan did a little bit, but Brad played all the organ parts.

PM: I see.

CC: But I think that what you're talking about just came from having really pro people in the studio, people who--I mean, Pete Finney on the pedal steel and--

PM: He's really something...

CC: --and Will Kimbrough and Pat--it's mostly a matter of having great players who'll listen and fit in and not play when they shouldn't.

PM: Yeah.

CC: We just made this record with some grownup bad asses, really. [laughs] And they were excited to get to do this record. Both Pat and Pete were saying, "Man, it's so rare that we get to play real country music in Nashville, and it's so rare that we get to track live." Especially Pete, I think, because he's frequently called upon at the end of the recording process, when everybody's gone, and it's him and his cup of coffee.

PM: [laughs] Ah, you never think about that, but that's so true.

CC: That must be kind of lonesome.

PM: Everybody's gone home. Ah.  continue

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