About The Head And The Heart
The Head and the Heart is an American indie folk band. They were formed in the summer of 2009 by Josiah Johnson and Jonathan Russell . The band also includes Charity Rose Thielen , Chris Zasche , Kenny Hensley , and Tyler Williams . The band is signed to Warner Bros. Records and have released five albums. Their fifth and most recent studio album, Every Shade of Blue, was released April 29, 2022.
The members met and the band was formed through a series of open mic nights at Seattle's Conor Byrne pub in Ballard, Seattle. Josiah Johnson had moved to Seattle from Southern California to attend graduate school, and Jonathan Russell had recently relocated from Richmond, Virginia. They met keyboardist Kenny Hensley, who had also moved to Seattle to pursue musical score-writing, and Charity Rose Thielen, who had recently returned from a year studying abroad in Paris at Sciences Po. Drummer Tyler Williams had been in the band Prabir and The Substitutes in Richmond, Virginia and moved to Seattle to be a part of the Head and The Heart after hearing a demo that Russell sent of the song "Down In The Valley". Chris Zasche was bartending at the Conor Byrne Pub, working aftercare shifts at The Perkins School, and playing in Seattle bands The Maldives and Grand Hallway. He was the last to be added to original lineup.
Johnson explained how the name of the band was chosen: "Your head is telling you to be stable and find a good job, you know in your heart that this is what you're supposed to do even if it's crazy."
Self-burned copies of The Head and the Heart in handmade denim sleeves were being sold at shows within a few weeks, and soon local record stores Easy Street and Sonic Boom couldn't keep them in stock. After a "feeding frenzy" of interest from record labels and managers, the band signed with Sub Pop in November 2010. Sub Pop remastered the album, expanded it with a studio version of their traditional concert closer "Rivers and Roads", and re-recorded one song . The album was re-released in CD format, and for the first time on vinyl LP, on Record Store Day 2011. The band is signed with Heavenly Recordings in the United Kingdom and Europe.
The band toured extensively through 2010 and 2011 in both the United States and Europe, and opened for Vampire Weekend, The Walkmen, Dr. Dog, Dave Matthews, The Low Anthem, The Decemberists, Iron & Wine, My Morning Jacket, and Death Cab For Cutie, as well as headlining their own shows. In March 2011, Seattle's City Arts Magazine named them "Seattle's Best New Band", and the band made their network television debut on April 21, 2011, on Conan. The album reached the Billboard 200 Album Charts at #110 and the record stayed on the chart for ten weeks.
The band's second album Let's Be Still was released on October 15, 2013. Recorded in Seattle and produced together with Shawn Simmons, the first track, "Shake," was aired on the August 5, 2013. Frontman Johnson said of it "...this is the first time that we produced as a full band. This one is everyone's influences equally present and prevalent throughout the album". James Christopher Monger of AllMusic said of the album: "The group's predilection for heartfelt, Avett Brothers-meets-Fleet Foxes roots rock is apparent right out of the gate with "Homecoming Heroes" and "Another Story," both of which utilize familiar folk-rock architecture to spin earnest and familiar tales concerning the two body parts from which the group takes its name." On November 2, 2013, Let's Be Still reached number 10 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The band spent much of 2014 touring in support of the album. Thielen also spent time writing for other artists, including Mavis Staples. Thielen and Matt Gervais got married in 2015.
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