The Weepies have been on the road for about two weeks, or, as singer/songwriter/guitarist Steve Tannen says, “We’ve been out for about seven shows?” I can hear his band mate, Boston-based singer/songwriter Deb Talan in the background, affirming his estimation. “Seven shows,” he repeats into the receiver.
Right now, they’re driving through the Smoky Mountains in their “little Toyota, packed like a sausage,” on their way to Charlotte from Asheville. Last night, they played at Asheville’s Grey Eagle – one of the best acoustic venues in the region (in my estimation). “It was a great club. We really liked that (club),” Steve admits, without being prompted.
Talan’s cell phone service keeps cutting out, which is plenty to turn these already-delirious road warriors into a bundle of giggles. “That’s so entirely rude, I know,” Steve admits when I call him back for the third time. They’ve pulled over at a Liberty convenience store where they remain for the rest of the call.
“What do you listen to on the road?” I ask them. “Do you subject yourself to hours of backwoods country radio (between cities)? Or are you listening to CDs?”
It’s Deb on the phone now, and she admits the music-obsessed duo of which she is one half avoids the radio at all costs. “Once we’re on the road for two days, we’re at a level of exhaustion that remains throughout the tour. In that state of permanent, slightly irritated exhaustion, I cannot handle the radio at all. Steve would like to flip from station to station to station. As compatible as we are in every other way, that’s the one place where we differ.”
After a brief pause, she adds, “Actually, our way of coping at the moment is listening to The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling, on tape. Last tour, it was Lord of the Rings.”
Say I Am You
Compatibility seems to be a running theme for this Northeast-based duo. When they met at one of Tannen’s solo shows in Boston, they had both separately been obsessed with one another’s work for weeks already. They spent the evening writing songs and splitting a bottle of wine.
They recognize and point out the similarity in their last names (Talan and Tannen), and decided to name their breakthrough CD Say I Am You (Nettwerk, 2006), after a line from a poem by “(some) Turkish mystic poet.” I let it slide that neither Talan or Tannen had ever heard of Rumi until very recently. “Yeah,” Talan admits, “apparently he’s very world-famous, and we just weren’t aware of this. But his poems are beautiful.”
"Songwriterly Radio Music"
The band name, The Weepies, comes from how they view music, in general. “(Our name) The Weepies came from wanting to make music that reaches people in that feelingful place where tears come from … for joy or sorrow … but that intensity of feeling is why we’re drawn to music.”
More specifically? “We just came up with a tagline this morning,” says Talan. “Songwriterly radio music.”
What she means, she explains, is that they want to be on the radio, but they don’t want to “sell out” doing so. They want to be able to reach as many people as possible with music that’s catchy while maintaining its integrity, its honesty, and its emotional impact. It seems to be working. Say I Am You topped iTunes’ folk chart the week of its release. They’ve even heard reports that they’re on Mandy Moore’s celebrity playlist.
Talan admits it feels pretty good: “We feel so crazy lucky to be able to make a living at playing music and writing music. Touring is really draining and difficult in a lot of ways … (but) we feel so lucky every day ... having support for this album out in the world.”
