Premiere: The Grand Southern, ‘Sleeptalking’

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The Grand Southern
The Grand Southern

The Grand Southern make tender, sweeping Americana — the timeless Laurel Canyon sound that for the L.A. duo of Dash Hutton and Jesse Tyre Karp was actually birthed in Laurel Canyon. Hutton, the singer-drummer who has played with Haim, Wires on Fire, Charlie Clark, Slang Chickens and a host of others, and Karp, the San Francisco-bred singer-guitarist, first got together at the Hutton family home in the Canyon. “We thought the songs were great, and our voices just worked together,” Karp says. “We had all of these cool harmonies right from the start.” Some of their early songs found their way onto television shows, and Grand Southern eventually appeared on FX’s “Married” as the bar band.

That set the stage for the duo’s forthcoming EP, “Traded Heaven,” made with Grammy-winning engineer Dave Way and featuring contributions from keyboardist Tommy King, pedal steel player Greg Leisz, bassist Johnny Flaugher and singers Rachel Fannan and Renee Olstead. The steel-laced confessional “Sleeptalking” comes floating down the Canyon like a sepia-toned photograph carried by the breeze. “When we first wrote this song,” Hutton says, “we had like 10 verses, and the story just seemed to be unfolding so easily. You sing it enough and the important parts stand out and you figure out what to keep.” Adds Karp: “The whole thing came alive in the studio when Renee Olstead sang the duet, such an incredible voice. Greg Leisz added this beautiful baritone guitar on top of his pedal steel playing, giving it that haunting feel.”

The duo’s “Traded Heaven” EP will be out May 23. In the meantime, we’ll be longing for a spin in the Mustang convertible that stars in the video for the title track.

||| Stream: “Sleeptalking”

||| Also: Watch the video for “Traded Heaven”