Hope's influences have been rural South Carolina Southern Baptist church music, Ralph Stanley, Blind Willie Johnson, Sister Vestal Goodman, Roscoe Holcomb, Hank Williams, Sr. and Johnny Cash.
Steve has been especially inspired by the Delta musicians, particularly Son House.
Born in the woods of South Carolina, Hope Nunnery experienced gospel music from an early age. As a little girl, she listened in awe to the Southern Baptist Church music, and was fascinated by the genre's melodic, melancholy undertones. She has kept this influence tight and close to her heart, adding blues, country, old time and bluegrass to create a cornucopia of pure American roots music.
Hope's poignant lyrics evoke a determined passion for the expression of what has been lived and felt, leaving little room for double entendres or half words. The result is a constant tapping into far corners of childhood memory to paint haunting images of life, religion, family, and love, like these verses in "Little Pink Radio:"
"Mama got a black eye, she staring out the window
Puffin on a Pell Mell, coffee getting colder, she
Big and fat and pretty, better than a movie star
Mama sweet foot tapping to the sound of the soft guitars."
Hope's evocative vocals add credence and seriousness to her lyrics. She sings with an authority that is at times motherly, at times sisterly, infusing the accompanying chords with a sense of urgency that is primal, not hasty.
Steve Tarshis—an accomplished musician who has been involved with American roots music as a player, composer and educator for his entire adult life—has been Hope's "partner in crime" for many years now. Inspired by the Delta musicians, particularly Son House, Steve complements Hope's vocals by adding his own voice to the mix, together with an extra dose of melodic, tasty guitar playing.
Steve—a talented player with a penchant for endearing sweet slides on the resonator—has worked with artists ranging from Bo Diddley to the Joffery Ballet, as composer, guitarist and arranger.
The Hope-Steve duo packs a punch together, creating music that, it feels, is relentlessly looking for a passage to freedom, a feeling perhaps better explained by Hope's own words in "Spare Me a Set of Wings:"
"Just say a little something, just send a little sign,
I'm all racked up with worry, till you ease my mind.
Can you spare me a set of wings when I die?"
This is not your run-of-the-mill, dentist-lounge music, this is, as the title of Hope and Steve's album says, "Wilderness Lounge" music.
Hope & I got our formal educations together and saw each other on a daily basis but it wasn't until 1973 that we became neighbors and "connected" with our love of music; and that lead to an enduring friendship...uncanny as it may seem, though we haven't seen each other in many years,that "true" friendship bond is still tightly tied between us. I feel every emotion of every word she sings in her lyrics and strums on her guitar.Rememeber ,"silence" between friends is never true silence......our hearts are always speaking to each other's.Best of luck with the new cd!
