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North Carolina’s most beloved roots music outfits, Chatham Rabbits, join Rachel Sumner’s exciting new band Traveling Light for a special co-bill evening at The Word Barn.
ABOUT CHATHAM RABBITS
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As one of North Carolina’s most beloved roots music outfits, Chatham Rabbits has swiftly emerged from the fertile Americana scene in the Triangle. The husband-and-wife duo of Sarah and Austin McCombie favors rustic, minimalist acoustic arrangements—mainly clawhammer-style banjo and guitar that showcase deftness and maturity with their songwriting. The duo has a way of connecting with their audiences that is warm and universal. Chatham Rabbits’ first album All I Want From You (2019) was recorded with the help of Watchhouse’s Andrew Marlin, and their sophomore album, The Yoke is Easy, The Burden is Full, released May 1, 2020.
Their song “Oxen” was named one of the “Top Folk Songs of 2020" by Paste Magazine and the band has been covered by Garden & Gun Magazine, American Songwriter, and No Depression. Their ingenuity during the Covid-19 crisis led to the building of their own venue, The Burrow, and the creation of their mobile concert experience, The Stay at Home Tour which took Chatham Rabbits to 194 neighborhoods in 2020-21. The duo is currently filming a new television show for PBS NC, On the Road with Chatham Rabbits for PBS NC that will premiere in Spring 2022.
ABOUT RACHEL SUMNER & TRAVELING LIGHT
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With songs as sweet and biting as the nectar and venom in her voice, Rachel Sumner has been captivating audiences throughout the northeast with her exciting new band Traveling Light. While their instrumentation and textures show roots deep in bluegrass and traditional folk music, Sumner's lyric-forward writing and penchant for snaking chord progressions demand something beyond folk conventions, highlighting the acrobatic range of her brilliant bandmates Kat Wallace (fiddle/harmonies) and Mike Siegel (upright bass).
Sumner is no stranger to the stage. She spent her early career on the bluegrass circuit, singing and writing with the genre-bending Boston group Twisted Pine. Since setting out on her own, Sumner's songs have been critically acclaimed, winning the Lennon Award in the folk category of the 2021 John Lennon Songwriting Contest for her song "Radium Girls (Curie Eleison);" earning her a spot in the Kerrville New Folk Competition; and being chosen two consecutive years by WBUR/NPR as one of the top Massachusetts entries in the Tiny Desk Competition.
Originally a classical flutist from the dusty Mojave desert, Sumner relocated from California to Boston a decade ago intending to study Composition and Film Scoring at Berklee College of Music. While at school, she found herself in the orbit of roots musicians like Molly Tuttle, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, and John Mailander who introduced her to a trove of traditional music, started her off with a few chords on the guitar, and encouraged her to write her own songs. In the short time since, Rachel has become one of the most vital voices in Boston's thriving roots music scene. Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light will release their debut LP in the summer of 2022.