Why Cry is a new musical duo including Dan Dukich and Chelsie Newhard. The music is modern folk with lots of clever words and some truly amazing harmonizing. You should check out their new album How Now and spend a second or two on the cover.
Please tell me about Why Cry. Listening to your crystal harmonies it feels like you have known each other forever, but that may not be true.
Why Cry is Dan Dukich and Chelsie Newhard doing songs and singing. We really didn’t know each other too well before we became acquainted musically. Our friend, Michael Anderson from the band Kiss the Tiger, was making a sort of homoerotic variety show to be performed at Dusty’s Bar in NE Minneapolis. We were both invited to participate and happened to sing “Birds” by Neil Young and “Not” by Big Thief together. You hit the nail right on the head, Ann; when we heard our voices braided together for the first time there was a deep sense of knowing that seemed to predate our corporeal meeting. These elusive mechanics were really exciting and eventually propelled us to investigate ways we could continue to collaborate. Our first album, How Now, sounds off on some of those investigations.
How did you create or concoct the album cover for your debut album, How Now? It’s eye catching.
Our friend Michael Sommers illustrated the album cover. Michael’s an incredible and acclaimed theater artist, scenic designer and puppeteer whose work spans more than 40 years. He and his wife, Susan Haas, founded Minneapolis’ beloved Open Eye Theatre in the year 2000. The work they make and the community they gather has acted as an artistic polestar throughout much of our lives. When it came time to make the album art for How Now, Michael was at the top of our list and we entered dream-come-true territory when he said yes. We gave him the album and asked him to draw whatever he heard. One of Michael’s super powers is being able to speak in hidden images. Every time you look at the cover you can see something new, which is what we hope happens when you listen to the album.
If you’ve ever seen the Bare Bones Halloween show, Body of Mind feels like the next generation, fully produced version of some of their music. There’s a hint of ritual that draws in the listener with some nods to childhood rhymes. What was the inspiration for the song?
We wrote Body of Mind in about 15 minutes. All of the words and music just came pouring in. The biggest task was getting out of the way so that the odyssey could unfold unfettered by our doubts or expectations. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact impetus for the song. But listening back to the recording we can hear the singers navigating subjective truths through objective realities. Like a prayer whose instructions live in the expression of the question. For this album, we were interested in making songs that live and die as duets. A song like “Body of Mind” forces us to tightly lock in our breath, phrasing, and harmonies with one another. It’s like a train that’s leaving the station and you either have to jump on or get left behind. We should also mention, Jon Bakken played upright bass and Alissa Jacobsen played fiddle on this song. Once we heard both of their soulful, musical contributions, our love and understanding of the song deepened. One of the gifts of collaboration is being able to see your own ideas through someone else’s perspective… you can learn a lot!
Your songs have more words than most. I love that in a song. I love the clever lyrics, quick allusions and snapshots. When you’re creating songs, which comes first – the lyrics or the music?
If only they were so well-mannered to neatly allow one after the other! They often arrive as an unruly barrage. One of our jobs as songwriters is to curate, edit, and translate that barrage into something compelling to ourselves and a listener. Music is feeling. Words are thought. One without the other a song it is not. When done truthfully, the relationship between a song’s feelings and thoughts is a place of dynamics, contradictions, nuance, and mystery. The hope is that a listener comes back again and again to experience that relationship and makes the song new with the unfolding of their own life.
Where can folks find you – online or on stage?
Online at www.whycrymusic.com and @whycrymusic on social medias. Onstage August 5 at Greenway Recordings and August 22 at Birdhaus. October tour dates are coming soon. Thanks so much for having us, Ann.
Mostly Minnesota 