Chris Williams and Steve Varney (also known as Kid Reverie) made their musical connection in 2020 over that most common of shared loves – the love of the banjo. It started out as informal lessons, and since Chris Williams learned to play the banjo at an early age and absorbed a wide range of influences—from New Grass Revival and Bela Fleck to jazz and Americana – we’re guessing that he was in the role of instructor. Kid Reverie, on the other hand, is the project of songwriter, producer, and banjoist Steve Varney, longtime collaborator and touring guitarist for Gregory Alan Isakov. Over time this changed and there developed a song-writing and recording partnership, with each helping the other complete songs.
The pair’s latest release, the new song Haunt Me, is an intense meditation on the holding onto of emotions that carry pain as well as some consolation. Simply, Haunt Me is a song about persistence rather than closure—about holding onto memory, belief, and momentum even when certainty slips away. It’s definitely the slowest of slow burns, that builds in intensity as it unfolds and although the balance may weigh heavier on the painful side Haunt Me builds to an eventual cathartic release, a letting go, or at least a coming to terms in the end.
