Honky-Tonk Americana duo The Waymores have announced their sophmore album, The Stone Sessions, for April 8th via the Austin label Chicken Ranch Records. Their first release, the Weeds EP, was cut live in the studio with members of their touring band. For The Stone Sessions, they enlisted the help of Producer, songwriter and pedal steel player, Steve Stone.
Most of the songs were written during the pandemic lockdown and the album was produced and recorded in 2020. Willie Heath Neal and Kira Annalise recorded their acoustic guitars and vocals in the studio and sent the tracks to the other musicians with Stone adding pedal steel and final polishing. The result has the feel of a live session driven by the duo’s robust vocals.
They were joined on the album by collaborators Anders Thomson, who wrote “I Don’t Like the Liquor”, while Katie Shore from Asleep At The Wheel is featured on fiddle on the track “Caught”. The latter was written by Dale Watson who also appears on the song.
Both members of The Waymores performed in the outfit No Count Palookas and they continued having full bands separately until forming The Waymores in 2013. Initially the duo did only local tour runs but branched out cross country all the way to Arizona in 2018 and followed up the following year with UK and European touring. The duo produce, book and manage themselves and love being on the road.
Kira Annalise comments:
Some people assume it’s hard touring together as a couple and living out of a van for more than half the year. It’s not for us. If we’re home too long, we start to get snippy with each other. Once we’re on the road, life is blissful. He’s my best friend and I’m truly honored to be working alongside him.
