Kasey, Shane, and a Monkey on a Wire

It’s rare to conduct a phone interview with an artist and feel like you’ve really connected. That’s what happened when I spoke to wife and husband team Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson last week. They were at their home outside Sydney, Australia, packing for a U.S. tour, and seemed thrilled to just be talking to someone from here.

“Shane and I have often joked about if we ever lived in America, it would be in Austin,” Chambers claims. “For the music, obviously, but more for the ribs. We’ve been counting down the weeks 'til we can get to Austin and eat ribs. We don’t really have ribs in restaurants down here, so we’re really excited.”

Austin always had a love affair with Chambers, beginning with her 2000 release The Captain (Asylum). They play a sold-out Cactus Café on Saturday night in support of their first record as a duo, Rattlin’ Bones (Sugar Hill), released next Tuesday. More acoustic bluegrass than anything either of them have done in the past, it recalls the Americana sounds of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings or Buddy and Julie Miller.

“I think this record is closer to the stuff we listen to at home than any record either one of us have ever made,” Chambers asserts.

“It was a challenge because each songwriter has their own process," Nicholson adds. "It was just a matter of us discovering a new process of writing together. 'Rattlin’ Bones' was the first one we wrote together and it was very quick, which boded well for the rest of the record.” It started out as a weekly gig playing rootsy American cover songs at a local club called the Lost Dogs with her father, Bill. “We never rehearsed,” Chambers adds, “but it was great fun and it forced us to learn a new song every week.” The good news is that Bill Chambers accompanies them this week and the show will allow them all, including the elder Chambers, to perform some of their solo work as well as newer material. One of the more interesting results of the new LP is the video for “Monkey on a Wire.” It’s animated, a curious contrast to the music’s strum and twang. “It’s something different,” Nicholson says with a chuckle. “When the idea came up to make an animated video, we were happy to not be involved.”