Chatham Rabbits stand proud amidst other revivalists of old-time folk traditions. In the vein of artists like Gillian Welch or Kelly Hunt, the husband-and-wife folk duo are often informed by traditional roots music in developing their original tunes. With this clear vision driving their musical output, Sarah and Austin McCombie have begun to bubble towards the top of the North Carolina scene with their calmly tenacious sound.
Their next full-length album, The Yoke is Easy, the Burden is Full, is due out on 1 May. Produced by Saman Khoujinian (Mandolin Orange, Sylvan Esso), Chatham Rabbits find their greatest strengths in their storytelling, weaving tales pertinent to the working class and the overarching human condition. “Oxen” weighs the idea that making connections with others is the easy part—that learning how to cope with the ebb and flow of life’s burdens is difficult, but they’re more bearable in the company of friends.
“Clean Slate” captures that early morning phenomenon where one arranges their day. There’s only so much that one can do in the day, but the glass-half-full spin on it is that there’s a beauty in the variety and amount you can accomplish. Chatham Rabbits say, “We wrote this song when we realized that there’s only so much you can do in a day, yet there’s so much you can do. There’s that saying about ‘you have as many hours in the day as Beyoncé’, and we noticed that, as lame as it sounds, that sentiment seriously resonated with us.”