Hovvdy Stays True to Texas on New Self-Titled Album

ATX-launched duo talks songwriting and special unplugged release shows


Charlie Martin and Will Taylor of Hovvdy (Photo by Adam Alonzo)

You can take the band out of Texas, but Hovvdy’s allegiance to their home state remains stronger than ever.

Since gaining traction in Austin’s 2010s DIY scene, Dallas-born collaborators Charlie Martin and Will Taylor have shapeshifted from slowcore up-and-comers into beloved indie rock heavyweights. Each new release sees the pair expand upon their musical tool belt, adding dreamy new dimensions without sacrificing lo-fi eclecticism and melancholy alt-country twang.

Before jetting overseas for a European tour, the duo debuts their self-titled fifth album with a free in-store at End of an Ear on Saturday, following a sold-out, unplugged underplay at Hole in the Wall. Though Taylor guessed they’ve maybe only played there once as Hovvdy, he says, “I know Charlie played there with his old band, and I played drums in a country band there, like, way too much.” Martin adds: “Getting started in the Austin music scene back in 2014, that was always the spot.”

In a lot of ways, I think we appreciate and embrace being from Texas more than ever, having some distance. – Charlie Martin

Austin Chronicle: A lot has changed since y’all last talked to the Chronicle in 2018, when Cranberry came out. What’s your relationship to Austin now?

Charlie Martin: My wife and I moved to St. Louis a few years ago – she’s in law school here. It was a bummer to leave all of our friends. We still have a community of close friends in Austin, and it definitely feels weird to come back and not have a place that’s my place.

Will Taylor: Since moving to Nashville, I feel it more than ever now: I do miss Texas, and Austin specifically. Reconnecting with the beginning of our band and the friendships that spawned from it – that’s still really important to us. That’s why we wanted to come and do a one-off show and hang out.

AC: How would you say the project has evolved since those early days?

CM: It’s been such a slow, slow evolution. It’s funny you mentioned Cranberry because that record was a touchstone [as] the last project that Will and I did all by ourselves in terms of engineering and mixing. After that record, we were trying to build on the sound and experiment a lot. Whereas with this record, we were interested in going back to the core sound of Cranberry and have a more expansive version of that, versus trying to do something brand new.

WT: From the Cranberry times to now, I’d be surprised and happy that we’re still chugging and that we’ve accomplished some things we want to do. It’s interesting – I feel like we’ve changed in every way possible, and we’re also kind of the same band. We have the same values and try to be true to ourselves as best we can.

AC: Tell me about the recording process for the album. There’s a live feel that really comes across.

WT: In the beginning, we had a discussion with [co-producers] Andrew Sarlo and Ben Littlejohn, who were a lot more involved this time around. We basically all agreed that we didn’t want to make True Love again. We wanted to challenge ourselves and the processes that we’ve become comfortable with. A lot of the energy that we tried to capture was of getting closer to the song, and closer to us. We just tried to pull back, record with more minimal equipment, and go back to the basics.

CM: With this record, there’s a lot of trust and collaboration. We did a lot of basic tracking live together, and that’s something we’d never done before. For the majority of songs, we didn’t use a metronome or a click, so we wanted the record to have this living and breathing texture to it.



AC: How do y’all experiment and stay playful, while remaining so true to a sound that is totally Hovvdy?

WT: I think it naturally falls out of us in a way, with the songwriting style we have, and a lot of it has to do with the guitar tuning we use. The songwriting style is so developed within the band that it’s almost difficult to remove at times, but it’s what really makes our band sound special. A lot of times I’m like, “Why can’t I make something that doesn’t sound like Hovvdy?”

CM: I like to think that the content of the songs does change as our lives change in significant ways, but we’re also just leaning on songwriting as this therapeutic tool. Our goals, in terms of how the songs ideally impact people, are pretty consistent – we just want the music to be uplifting and helpful to the audience.

AC: With a few lyrical nods to your home state, it seems like Texas remains a major inspiration for the new project.

WT: We still identify as a Texas band. I’m curious to see how that unfolds over the next five or 10 years, but as of now, we still identify with Texas. Even though we’re not there, our lyrical and emotional core all points back to Texas. Whether it be a reflection of childhood or friendships that we had there or the beginning of our band, most things that we’re looking back on tend to be there.

CM: In a lot of ways, I think we appreciate and embrace being from Texas more than ever, having some distance. The Taster version of our band was like, “We’re called Hovvdy, and it’s ironic because we’re a slowcore band.” We were trying to get in with the East Coast DIY scene, whereas now we’re all grown up and trying to go back home to play a show at Hole in the Wall.

Hovvdy Performance & Signing

Friday 26, Hole in the Wall [sold out]

Saturday 27, End of an Ear

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KEYWORDS FOR THIS STORY

Hovvdy, Charlie Martin, Will Taylor, Hole in the Wall, End of an Ear

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