George and Charles Clements have a special card to play in the acoustic folk sibling stakes – when they are harmonising it’s the sound of identical twins that can be heard. The New England duo are joined on their new record ‘Dandelion Breeze’ by drummer Mike Harmon (Grain Thief) and a collection of gifted friends, with the record featuring fiddler Jenna Moynihan (Laura Cortese, Milk Carton Kids), the pedal steel of Rich Hinman (Sara Bareilles, Molly Tuttle), and the tasty playing of pianist/accordionist Brooks Milgate. The record was mixed and mastered by Dan Cardinal (Josh Ritter, Lake Street Dive) at Dimension Sound in Boston, MA.
Born to singer-songwriter parents, George and Charles first found their own musical prominence in the internationally touring grass-roots band The Lonely Heartstring Band, with whom they put out two albums on Rounder Records. Most recently, George could be found playing the role of Paul Simon in The Simon and Garfunkel Story, while Charles often joins the stage with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Now recording as The Clements Brothers marks their first original project together. “With our last band, we were mostly writing separately and bringing songs to the band to be arranged,” explains Charles. “A lot of ‘Dandelion Breeze’ started with George and I sitting in a room in a log cabin up in Maine, just jamming on different ideas, until we had one we were excited about.”
‘Morning Train‘ is an acoustically chugging number that is about more than commuting. George Clements told Americana UK that “Morning Train started as a guitar part written while I was traveling in India during my mid 20’s. The lyrics came much later during the lockdown. It tries to capture the feeling of hoping for a change amid a culture that’s struggling with its identity. The problems can seem overwhelming so all you can do sometimes is sit back and wait out the storm.“
Love this song!