When the Belleville Outfit takes to Momo’s stage Saturday, it will be for the last time. The eclectic band’s mix of jazz, swing, bluegrass, and Walter Hyatt covers comes to an end more than three years after it began as an offshoot of the DesChamps Band, a group dedicated to the music of Uncle Walt’s Band.
Speaking with singer Rob Teter and violinist Phoebe Hunt, it’s obvious the breakup comes with a heavy heart and perhaps at an inopportune time. Hunt, the only member originally from Austin, decided in January she wanted to strike out on her own. Besides working with the Outfit, she’s an in-demand side-person and has a couple of other projects in the works.
“I started juggling calendars and was figuring how to make it all work out,” Hunt explains. “At the beginning of this year, I felt that I needed to step away, just for myself. I wanted to be more flexible in my schedule. For me it also came down to a maternalistic decision. I’ve been part of a group, one way or another, for my entire existence, where time commitments are all weighted upon each other, like a family.
“For now, I just felt like I needed some time on my own. Just telling the guys that I was leaving was the first step of a bunch of hard steps to follow. Them choosing not to continue without me affected me in another type of way. I thought that it was possible to continue without me, and for them not to choose to do that, it was like, ‘Ooh, that broke my heart in another way.'”
Teter discloses that the band was in the middle of recording an album with producer Matt Rollings, perhaps best known locally for his work with Lyle Lovett, and close to a record deal when Hunt made her decision.
“I certainly don’t hold it against her,” he says. “She said she couldn’t commit to the schedule that we had in the coming months. I understood that and then we had to make a decision on whether to replace her or not. We talked a lot about it and thought we had an identity as a band. We thought that bringing someone else in could kind of mess that up. We were close with one label, but nothing was signed yet, and that wasn’t there anymore when Phoebe decided she wasn’t part of the band.”
For the immediate future, Hunt plans to relocate to Nashville, where she’ll more easily navigate being part of cellist Ben Sollee’s touring band this summer. There’s also talk of a solo project with Rollings producing.
Meanwhile, Teter hints that some of the music they recorded will eventually make it out in some form. “While it’s unfortunate circumstances,” he declares, “everybody’s friends, nobody’s at each other’s throats. We really feel like Austin has a been great home to us, especially because there’s five of us that aren’t from here. I hope that what happens on Saturday can reflect our appreciation of that.”
This article appears in March 18 • 2011.