1. As a writer, does it get any easier revisiting crucial moments in life and singing about it in front of an audience?
H.C: I wouldn't say it gets easier, but that's not what I'm after anyway. I try to be present and honest with whatever is happening in my body -- whether it's on stage, or at my desk at home. On tour, performing in different environments, it's impossible to predict how all those energies will collide. Some nights a song's narrative can push me into a tender or sentimental space; other nights I find myself more focused and inspired by how the band feels sonically.
2. With a couple of albums under your belt and collaborations, what has recording music taught you so far?
H.C: Give in to trial and error; be open to experiment. Don't meddle too much or overthink; let your instincts lead you.
3. One artist you’d want to collaborate with?
H.C: Frida Kahlo
4. Your Top 5 country records?
H.C: Dwight Yoakum -- This Time
Randy Travis -- On The Other Hand
Tina Turner -- Tina Turns the Country On!
Willie Nelson -- Phases and Stages / Red Headed Stranger
Loretta, Dolly, Tammy -- Honky Tonk Angels
5. What inspires you to keep going?
H.C: Nature. Curiosity. Family. The making.
H.C: I wouldn't say it gets easier, but that's not what I'm after anyway. I try to be present and honest with whatever is happening in my body -- whether it's on stage, or at my desk at home. On tour, performing in different environments, it's impossible to predict how all those energies will collide. Some nights a song's narrative can push me into a tender or sentimental space; other nights I find myself more focused and inspired by how the band feels sonically.
2. With a couple of albums under your belt and collaborations, what has recording music taught you so far?
H.C: Give in to trial and error; be open to experiment. Don't meddle too much or overthink; let your instincts lead you.
3. One artist you’d want to collaborate with?
H.C: Frida Kahlo
4. Your Top 5 country records?
H.C: Dwight Yoakum -- This Time
Randy Travis -- On The Other Hand
Tina Turner -- Tina Turns the Country On!
Willie Nelson -- Phases and Stages / Red Headed Stranger
Loretta, Dolly, Tammy -- Honky Tonk Angels
5. What inspires you to keep going?
H.C: Nature. Curiosity. Family. The making.
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So starts H.C. McEntire’s sophomore release, Eno Axis. It’s a set of directions delivered with assurance and authority, reaching the listener without pretension almost as a sermon or spell. McEntire has always had one foot planted in the traditional country gospel roots of her upbringing while boldly wrestling with its complications, creating an Americana sound of her own. But that has never rung as true as it does now on the transcendent psalms of Eno Axis.
Unlike McEntire’s solo debut, LIONHEART, which was recorded in sporadic bouts and fits while she was touring, Eno Axis is firmly rooted in place. After two years working all over the world as a backup singer in Angel Olsen’s band, McEntire came home to a hundred-year-old farmhouse tucked away in the woods of Durham, North Carolina, right on the Eno River. Here, McEntire was able to refocus. Like the blue-collar Appalachian kin she descended from, her days were scheduled by the clockwork of the Earth’s rotation: splitting wood, stacking it, weeding and watering the garden, walking the dog past the bridge and back—and every evening on the front porch, watching dusk fall. Eno Axis emerges from this time as the strongest work McEntire has shared yet. |
