The Waymores are Willie Heath Neal and Kira Annalise, a married couple from Atlanta who have a couple of albums to their name and a new one ‘Greener Pastures’ upcoming. The singing, songwriting and guitar-playing duo met 15 years ago at a bar in their home state of Georgia. “We were singing covers in a freewheeling ensemble called the No Count Palookas,” Annalise recalls. “We both had touring bands, which can stretch you financially. After years of struggling, we finally decided to collaborate and play locally, as a duo, when we weren’t on the road. The more we performed together, we knew we had something special. We’ve been at it ever since.”
The new album is something of a happy accident – The Waymores headed to LA in 2022 to record a few cover tunes with producer Shel Talmy (The Who, The Kinks) and things went so well they returned in January to record a full album. It was all something of a surprise to The Waymores to get contacted in the first place by Talmy who expressed his interest in working with the duo on a covers recording, picking out a list of songs that were long overdue a new lease of life with a new recording. “An introductory email was sent and when I saw Shel Talmy’s name pop up on my phone I thought someone was punking me,” said Kira Annalise.
The Waymores told Americana UK about choosing this song and working with Shel Talmy: “When Talmy approached us about covering a Prine song, we were ecstatic. We actually pulled another song from the album in order to do this one. We’ve always been huge John Prine fans and to have the opportunity to cut this with these players was such an honor. Having Phil Parlapiano (John Prine’s long time piano player and friend) there on keys knowing that he played on the original track was so fun. The whole band just said “we’re just gonna follow Phil if that works!” It’s a moment we’ll cherish for a very long time. ”
