Kevin Bronson on June 11th, 2015

1

The new album from Honeyhoney is indeed sweetsweet, but also tarttart, hothot and smartsmart. “3,” out this week via Rounder Records from the L.A.-based duo of native Ohioan Suzanne Santo and native Bay Stater Ben Jaffe, is a Southern-fried, made-in-Nashville affair that covers a lot of turf. Santo, the singer/violist/banjo-picker, is adept as both a storyteller and confessor, roaring and raw on straight-ahead rockers like “Sweet Thing” and oozing tenderness on weepies like “Whatchya Gonna Do Now” and “Yours to Bear.” Whether plugged in or acoustic, Jaffe’s guitar textures are vintage stuff (the bluesy album closer “Marry Rich” mixes grace and grit), and producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Rival Sons, Houndmouth) is credited by Santo for capturing the duo’s energy. “Dave never let me obsess over my vocals,” Santo says. “He’d just be like, ‘Nope, that was raw, we got it, we’re good.'” The banjo-spiked single “You and I” is exemplary of the fiery chemistry the duo has cultivated over eight-plus years. After their last album (2011’s “Billy Jack”) got lost in the Lost Highway Records’ implosion, it’s great to hear them backback.

||| Stream: “You and I” (or trade your email for a download of it here)

||| Live: Honeyhoney performs July 1 at the El Rey Theatre.

||| Previously: “Punk Kid,” live at Coachella, “Ohio”